Chapter IX: Horace in the Rôle of Mæcenas

In a letter to his sister Sophia, July 21, 1843, written from Mr. William Emerson's house at Staten Island, Thoreau says:--

"In New York I have seen, since I wrote last, Horace
Greeley, editor of the 'Tribune,' who is cheerfully
in earnest at his office of all work,--a hearty New
Hampshire boy as one would wish to meet,--and says, 'Now
be neighborly.' He believes only or mainly, first in the
Sylvania Association, somewhere in Pennsylvania; and
secondly, and most of all, in a new association, to go into
operation soon in New Jersey, with which he is connected."

This was the "Phalanstery" at which W. H. Channing afterward preached. A fortnight later, Thoreau writes to Mr. Emerson:--

"I have had a pleasant talk with W. H. Channing; and
Greeley, too, it was refreshing to meet. They were both
much pleased with your criticism on Carlyle, but thought
that you had overlooked what chiefly concerned them in the
book,--its practical aims and merits."

This refers to the notice of Carlyle's "Past and Present," in the "Dial" for July, 1843, and shows that Mr. Greeley was a quick reader of that magazine, as Thoreau always was of the "New York Tribune." From this time onward a warm friendship continued between Thoreau and Greeley, and many letters went to and fro, which reveal the able editor in the light of a modern Mæcenas to the author of the Musketaquid Georgics.

No letters seem to have passed between them earlier than 1846; and in 1844-45 Thoreau must have known the "Tribune" editor best through his newspaper, and from the letters of Margaret Fuller, Ellery Channing, and other common friends, who saw much of him then, admired and laughed at him, or did both by turns. Miss Fuller, who had gone to New York to write for the "Tribune," and to live in its Editor's family, wrote:--

"Mr. Greeley is a man of genuine excellence, honorable,
benevolent, and of an uncorrupted disposition. He is
sagacious, and, in his way, of even great abilities. In
modes of life and manners, he is a man of the people,--and
of the American people. With the exception of my own
mother, I think him the most disinterestedly generous
person I have ever known."

There was a laughable side even to these fine traits, and there were eccentricities of dress and manner, which others saw more keenly than this generous woman. Ellery Channing,--whose eye no whimsical or beautiful object ever escaped,--in the letter of March, 1845, already cited, thus signaled to Thoreau the latest news of his friend:--

"Mumbo Jumbo is recovering from an attack of sore eyes, and
will soon be out, in a pair of canvas trousers, scarlet
jacket, and cocked hat. I understand he intends to demolish
all the remaining species of Fetichism at a meal. I think
it is probable it will vomit him."

Thoreau wrote an essay on Carlyle in 1846, and in the summer of that year sent it to Mr. Greeley, with a request that he would find a place for it in some magazine. To this request, which Mr. Greeley himself had invited, no doubt, he thus replied:--

"_August 16, 1846._

"MY DEAR THOREAU,--Believe me when I say that I _mean_ to
do the errand you have asked of me, and that soon. But I
am not sanguine of success, and have hardly a hope that it
will be immediate, if ever. I hardly know a work that would
publish your article all at once, and 'to be continued'
are words shunned like a pestilence. But I know you have
written a good thing about Carlyle,--too solidly good,
I fear, to be profitable to yourself, or attractive to
publishers. Did'st thou ever, O my friend! ponder on the
significance and cogency of the assurance, 'Ye cannot serve
God and Mammon,' as applicable to literature,--applicable,
indeed, to all things whatsoever? God grant us grace to
endeavor to serve Him rather than Mammon,--that ought to
suffice us. In my poor judgment, if anything is calculated
to make a scoundrel of an honest man, writing to sell is
that very particular thing.

"Yours heartily,

"HORACE GREELEY.

"Remind Ralph Waldo Emerson and wife of my existence and
grateful remembrance."

On the 30th of September Mr. Greeley again wrote, saying,--

"I learned to-day, through Mr. Griswold, former editor of
'Graham's Magazine,' that your lecture is accepted, to
appear in that magazine. Of course it is to be paid for at
the usual rate, as I expressly so stated when I inclosed
it to Graham. He has not written me a word on the subject,
which induces me to think he may have written you.[10]
Please write me if you would have me speak further on the
subject. The pay, however, is sure, though the amount may
not be large, and I think you may wait until the article
appears, before making further stipulations on the subject."

From the tenor of this I infer that Thoreau had written to say that he might wish to read his "Thomas Carlyle" as a lecture, and desired to stipulate for that before it was printed. He might be excused for some solicitude concerning payment, from his recent experience with the publishers of the "Boston Miscellany," which had printed, in 1843, his "Walk to Wachusett." At the very time when Thoreau, in New York, was making Greeley's acquaintance, Mr. Emerson, in Boston, was dunning the Miscellaneous publishers, and wrote to Thoreau (July 20, 1843):--

"When I called on ----, their partner, in their absence,
informed me that they could not pay you, at present, any
part of their debt on account of the Boston 'Miscellany.'
After much talking all the promise he could offer was,
'that within a year it would probably be paid,'--a
probability which certainly looks very slender. The very
worst thing he said was the proposition that you should
take your payment in the form of Boston Miscellanies! I
shall not fail to refresh their memory at intervals."

But I cannot learn that anything came of it. Mr. Greeley, as we shall see, was a more successful collector. On the 26th of October, 1846, he continued the adventures of the wandering essay as follows:--

"MY FRIEND THOREAU,--I know you think it odd that you have
not heard further, and, perhaps blame my negligence or
engrossing cares, but, if so, without good reason. I have
to-day received a letter from Griswold, in Philadelphia,
who says: 'The article by Thoreau on Carlyle is in type,
and will be paid for liberally.' 'Liberally' is quoted
as an expression of Graham's. I know well the difference
between a publisher's and an author's idea of what _is_
'liberally'; but I give you the best I can get as the
result of three letters to Philadelphia on this subject.

"Success to you, my friend! Remind Mr. and Mrs. Emerson of
my existence, and my lively remembrance of their various
kindnesses.

"Yours, very busy in our political contest,

"HORACE GREELEY."

It would seem that "Griswold" (who was Rufus W. Griswold, the biographer of Poe) and "Graham" (who was George R. Graham, the magazine publisher of Philadelphia), did not move so fast either in publication or in payment as they had led Mr. Greeley to expect; and also that Thoreau became impatient and wrote to his friend that he would withdraw the essay. Whereupon Mr. Greeley, under date of February 5, 1847, wrote thus:--

"MY DEAR THOREAU,--Although your letter only came to hand
to-day, I attended to its subject yesterday, when I was in
Philadelphia, on my way home from Washington. Your article
is this moment in type, and will appear about the 20th
inst., _as the leading article_ in 'Graham's Magazine' for
next month. Now don't object to this, nor be unreasonably
sensitive at the delay. It is immensely more important to
you that the article should appear thus (that is, if you
have any literary aspirations) than it is that you should
make a few dollars by issuing it in some other way. As to
lecturing, you have been at perfect liberty to deliver it
as a lecture a hundred times, if you had chosen,--the more
the better. It is really a good thing, and I will see that
Graham pays you fairly for it. But its appearance there is
worth far more to you than money. I know there has been
too much delay, and have done my best to obviate it. But I
could not. A magazine that pays, and which it is desirable
to be known as a contributor to, is always crowded with
articles, and has to postpone some for others of even less
merit. I do this myself with good things that I am not
required to pay for.

"Thoreau, do not think hard of Graham. Do not try to stop
the publication of your article. It is best as it is. But
just sit down and write a like article about Emerson,
which I will give you $25 for, if you cannot do better
with it; then one about Hawthorne at your leisure, etc.,
etc. I will pay you the money for each of these articles
on delivery, publish them when and how I please, leaving
to you the copyright expressly. In a year or two, if you
take care not to write faster than you think, you will have
the material of a volume worth publishing,--and then we
will see what can be done. There is a text somewhere in St.
Paul--my Scriptural reading is getting rusty,--which says,
'Look not back to the things which are behind, but rather
to those which are before,' etc. Commending this to your
thoughtful appreciation, I am, yours, etc.

"HORACE GREELEY."

The Carlyle essay did appear in two numbers of "Graham's Magazine" (March and April, 1847), but alas, no payment came to hand. After waiting a year longer, Thoreau wrote to Greeley again (March 31, 1848), informing him of the delinquency of Griswold and Graham. At once, his friend replied (April 3), "It saddens and surprises me to know that your article was not paid for by Graham; and, since my honor is involved in the matter, I will see that you _are_ paid, and that at no distant day." Accordingly on the 17th of May, 1848, he writes again as follows:--

"DEAR FRIEND THOREAU,--I trust you have not thought me
neglectful or dilatory with regard to your business. I have
done my very best, throughout, and it is only to-day that
I have been able to lay my hand on the money due you from
Graham. I have been to see him in Philadelphia, but did not
catch him in his business office; then I have been here to
meet him, and been referred to his brother, etc. I finally
found the two numbers of the work in which your article
was published (not easy, I assure you, for he has them not,
nor his brother, and I hunted them up, and bought one of
them at a very out-of-the-way place), and with these I made
out a regular bill for the contribution; drew a draft on
G. R. Graham for the amount, gave it to his brother here
for collection, and to-day received the money. Now you see
how to get pay yourself, another time; I have pioneered
the way, and you can follow it easily yourself. There has
been no intentional injustice on Graham's part; but he is
overwhelmed with business, has too many irons in the fire,
and we did not go at him the right way. Had you drawn a
draft on him, at first, and given it to the Concord Bank to
send in for collection, you would have received your money
long since. Enough of this. I have made Graham pay you
$75, but I only send you $50, for, having got so much for
Carlyle, I am ashamed to take your 'Maine Woods' for $25."

This last allusion is to a new phase of the queer patronage which the good Mæcenas extended to our Concord poet. In his letter of March 31, 1848, Thoreau had offered Greeley, in compliance with his suggestion of the previous year, a paper on "Ktaadn and the Maine Woods," which afterwards appeared in the "Union Magazine." On the 17th of April Greeley writes:--

"I inclose you $25 for your article on Maine Scenery, as
promised. I know it is worth more, though I have not yet
found time to read it; but I have tried once to sell it
without success. It is rather long for my columns, and too
fine for the million; but I consider it a cheap bargain,
and shall print it myself, if I do not dispose of it
to better advantage. You will not, of course, consider
yourself under any sort of obligation to me, for my offer
was in the way of business, and I have got more than the
worth of my money."

On the 17th of May he adds:--

"I have expectations of procuring it a place in a new
magazine of high character that will pay. I don't expect
to get as much for it as for Carlyle, but I hope to get
$50. If you are satisfied to take the $25 for your 'Maine
Woods,' say so, and I will send on the money; but I don't
want to seem a Jew, buying your articles at half price to
speculate upon. If you choose to let it go that way, it
shall be so; but I would sooner do my best for you, and
send you the money."

On the 28th of October, 1848, he writes:

"I break a silence of some duration to inform you that I
hope on Monday to receive payment for your glorious account
of 'Ktaadn and the Maine Woods,' which I bought of you at
a Jew's bargain, and sold to the 'Union Magazine.' I am to
get $75 for it, and, as I don't choose to _exploiter_ you
at such a rate, I shall insist on inclosing you $25 more in
this letter, which will still leave me $25 to pay various
charges and labors I have incurred in selling your articles
and getting paid for them,--the latter by far the more
difficult portion of the business."

In the letter of April 17, 1848, Mr. Greeley had further said:--

"If you will write me two or three articles in the
course of the summer, I think I can dispose of them for
your benefit. But write not more than half as long as
your article just sent me, for that is too long for the
magazines. If that were in two, it would be far more
valuable. What about your book (the 'Week')? Is anything
going on about it now? Why did not Emerson try it in
England? I think the Howitts could get it favorably before
the British public. If you can suggest any way wherein I
can put it forward, do not hesitate, but command me."

In the letter of May 17th, he reiterates the advice to be brief:--

"Thoreau, if you will only write one or two articles, when
in the spirit, about half the length of this, I can sell it
readily and advantageously. The length of your papers is
the only impediment to their appreciation by the magazines.
Give me one or two shorter, and I will try to coin them
speedily."

May 25th he returns to the charge, when sending the last twenty-five dollars for the "Maine Woods":--

"Write me something shorter when the spirit moves (never
write a line otherwise, for the hack writer is a slavish
beast, _I_ know), and I will sell it for you soon. I want
one shorter article from your pen that will be quoted, as
these long articles cannot be, and let the public know
something of your way of thinking and seeing. It will do
good. What do you think of following out your thought in an
essay on 'The Literary Life?' You need not make a personal
allusion, but I know you can write an article worth reading
on that theme, when you are in the vein."

After a six months' interval (November 19, 1848), Greeley resumes in a similar strain:--

"FRIEND THOREAU,--Yours of the 17th received. Say we are
even on money counts, and let the matter drop. I have
tried to serve you, and have been fully paid for my own
disbursements and trouble in the premises. So we will move
on.

"I think you will do well to send me some passages from one
or both of your new works to dispose of to the magazines.
This will be the best kind of advertisement, whether for
a publisher or for readers. You may write with an angel's
pen, yet your writings have no mercantile money value till
you are known and talked of as an author. Mr. Emerson
would have been twice as much known and read, if he had
written for the magazines a little, just to let common
people know of his existence. I believe a chapter from one
of your books printed in 'Graham,' or 'The Union,' will
add many to the readers of the volume when issued. Here
is the reason why British books sell so much better among
us than American,--because they are thoroughly advertised
through the British reviews, magazines, and journals which
circulate or are copied among us. However, do as you
please. If you choose to send me one of your manuscripts
I will get it published, but I cannot promise you any
considerable recompense; and, indeed, if Munroe will do it,
that will be better. Your writings are in advance of the
general mind here; Boston is nearer their standard. I never
saw the verses you speak of. Won't you send them again? I
have been buried up in politics for the last six weeks.
Kind regards to Emerson. It is doubtful about my seeing you
this season."

Here the letters ceased for a time. "Munroe did it,"--that is, a Boston bookseller published Thoreau's "Week," which was favorably reviewed by George Ripley in the "Tribune," by Lowell in the "Massachusetts Quarterly," and by others elsewhere; but the book did not sell, and involved its author in debt for its printing. To meet this he took up surveying as a business, and after a time, when some payment must be made, he asked his friend Greeley for a loan. In the interval, Margaret Fuller had written from Europe those remarkable letters for the "Tribune," had married in Italy, sailed for home in 1850, and died on the shore of Fire Island, near New York, whither Thoreau went with her friends to learn her fate, and recover the loved remains. This was in July, 1850, and he no doubt saw Mr. Greeley there. A year and a half later, when he was seeking opportunities to lecture, he wrote to Mr. Greeley again, in February, 1852, offering himself to lecture in a course at New York, which the "Tribune" editor had some interest in. The reply was this:--

"NEW YORK, _February 24, 1852_.

"MY FRIEND THOREAU,--Thank you for your remembrance, though
the motto you suggest is impracticable. The People's Course
is full for the season; and even if it were not, your name
would probably not pass; because it is not merely necessary
that each lecturer should continue _well_ the course,
but that he shall be _known_ as the very man beforehand.
Whatever draws less than fifteen hundred hearers damages
the finances of the movement, so low is the admission,
and so large the expense. But, Thoreau, you are a better
speaker than many, but a far better writer still. Do you
wish to swap any of your 'wood-notes wild' for dollars? If
yea, and you will sell me some articles, shorter, if you
please, than the former, I will try to coin them for you.
Is it a bargain? Yours,

"HORACE GREELEY."

Thoreau responded at once with some manuscripts (March 5), and was thus addressed, March 18, by his friend:--

"I shall get you some money for the articles you sent
me, though not immediately. As to your long account of a
Canadian tour, I don't know. It looks unmanageable. Can't
you cut it into three or four, and omit all that relates
to time? The cities are described to death; but I know you
are at home with Nature, and that _she_ rarely and slowly
changes. Break this up, if you can, and I will try to have
it swallowed and digested."

A week later he sent a letter from the publisher, Sartain, accepting the articles for a low price,[11] and adds: "If you break up your 'Excursion to Canada' into three or four articles, I have no doubt I could get it published on similar terms." April 3, 1852, he returns to a former proposition, that Thoreau shall write about Emerson as he did six years before on Carlyle.

"FRIEND THOREAU,--I wish you to write me an article on
Ralph Waldo Emerson, his Works and Ways, extending to one
hundred pages, or so, of letter sheet like this, to take
the form of a review of his writings, but to give some
idea of the Poet, the Genius, the Man,--with some idea of
the New England scenery and home influence, which have
combined to make him what he is. Let it be calm, searching,
and impartial; nothing like adulation, but a just summing
up of what he is and what he has done. I mean to get this
into the 'Westminster Review,' but if not acceptable there,
I will publish it elsewhere. I will pay you fifty dollars
for the article when delivered; in advance, if you desire
it. Say the word, and I will send the money at once. It is
perfectly convenient to do so. Your 'Carlyle' article is
my model, but you can give us Emerson better than you did
Carlyle. I presume he would allow you to write extracts for
this purpose from his lectures not yet published. I would
delay the publication of the article to suit his publishing
arrangements, should that be requested.

"Yours,

"HORACE GREELEY."

To this request, as before, there came a prompt negative, although Thoreau was then sadly in need of money. Mr. Greeley wrote, April 20:--

"I am rather sorry you will not do the 'Works and Ways,'
but glad that you are able to employ your time to better
purpose. But your Quebec notes haven't reached me yet,
and I fear the 'good time' is passing. They ought to have
appeared in the June number of the monthlies, but now
cannot before July. If you choose to send them to me all in
a lump, I will try to get them printed in that way. I don't
care about them if you choose to reserve, or to print them
elsewhere; but I can better make a use for them at this
season than at any other."

They were sent, and offered to the "Whig Review," and to other magazines; but on the 25th of June, Mr. Greeley writes:--

"I have had only bad luck with your manuscript. Two
magazines have refused it on the ground of its length,
saying that articles 'To be continued' are always
unpopular, however good. I will try again."

It seems that the author had relied upon money from this source, and a week or two later he asks his friend to lend him the expected seventy-five dollars, offering security, with mercantile scrupulosity. Promptly came this answer:--

"NEW YORK, _July 8, 1852_.

"DEAR THOREAU,--Yours received. I was absent yesterday.
I _can_ lend you the seventy-five dollars, and am very
glad to do it. Don't talk about security. I am sorry about
your MSS., which I do not quite despair of using to your
advantage.

"Yours,

"HORACE GREELEY."

The "Yankee in Canada," as it is now called (the record of Thoreau's journey through French Canada in September, 1850, with Ellery Channing), was offered to "Putnam's Magazine" by Mr. Greeley, and begun there, but ill-luck attended it. Before it went the paper on "Cape Cod," which became the subject of controversy, first as to price, and then as to its tone towards the people of that region. This will explain the letters of Mr. Greeley that follow:--

"NEW YORK, _November 23, 1852_.

"MY DEAR THOREAU,--I have made no bargain--none
whatever--with Putnam concerning your MSS. I have indicated
no price to them. I handed over the MS. because I wished
it published, and presumed that was in accordance both
with your interest and your wishes. And I now say to you,
that if he will pay you three dollars per printed page,
I think that will be very well. I have promised to write
something for him myself, and shall be well satisfied with
that price. Your 'Canada' is not so fresh and acceptable
as if it had just been written on the strength of a last
summer's trip, and I hope you will have it printed in
'Putnam's Monthly.' But I have said nothing to his folks
as to price, and will not till I hear from you again. Very
probably there was some misapprehension on the part of C. I
presume the price now offered you is that paid to writers
generally for the 'Monthly.' As to Sartain, I know his
'(Union) Magazine' has broken down, but I guess he will pay
you. I have seen but one of your articles printed by him,
and I think the other may be reclaimed. Please address him
at once."

"NEW YORK, _January 2, 1853_.

"FRIEND THOREAU,--I have yours of the 29th, and credit you
$20. Pay me when and in such sums as may be convenient.
I am sorry you and C. cannot agree so as to have your
whole MS. printed. It will be worth nothing elsewhere
after having partly appeared in Putnam's. I think it is a
mistake to conceal the authorship of the several articles,
making them all (so to speak) _editorial_; but _if_ that
is done, don't you see that the elimination of very
flagrant heresies (like your defiant Pantheism) becomes a
necessity? If you had withdrawn your MSS., on account of
the abominable misprints in the first number, your ground
would have been far more tenable.

"However, do what you will. Yours,

"HORACE GREELEY."

Thoreau did what he would, of course, and the article in Putnam came to an abrupt end. The loan made in July, 1852, was paid with interest on the 9th of March, 1853, as the following note shows:--

"NEW YORK, _March 16, 1853_.

"DEAR SIR,--I have yours of the 9th, inclosing Putnam's
check for $59, making $79 in all you have paid me. I am
paid in full, and this letter is your receipt in full. I
don't want any pay for my 'services,' whatever they may
have been. Consider me your friend who _wished_ to serve
you, however unsuccessfully. Don't break with C. or Putnam."

A year later, Thoreau renewed his subscription to the "Weekly Tribune," but the letter miscarried. In due time came this reply to a third letter:--

"_March 6, 1854._

"DEAR SIR,--I presume your first letter containing the $2
was robbed by our general mail robber of New Haven, who has
just been sent to the State's Prison. Your second letter
has probably failed to receive attention owing to a press
of business. But I will make all right. You ought to have
the Semi-weekly, and I shall order it sent to you one year
on trial; if you choose to write me a letter or so some
time, very well; if not, we will be even without that.

"Thoreau, I want you to do something on _my_ urgency. I
want you to collect and arrange your 'Miscellanies' and
send them to me. Put in 'Ktaadn,' 'Carlyle,' 'A Winter
Walk,' 'Canada,' etc., and I will try to find a publisher
who will bring them out at his own risk, and (I hope) to
your ultimate profit. If you have anything new to put
with them, very well; but let me have about a 12mo volume
whenever you can get it ready, and see if there is not
something to your credit in the bank of Fortune. Yours,

"HORACE GREELEY."

In reply, Thoreau notified his friend of the early publication of "Walden," and was thus met:--

"_March 23, 1854._

"DEAR THOREAU,--I am glad your 'Walden' is coming out.
_I_ shall announce it at once, whether Ticknor does or
not. I am in no hurry now about your 'Miscellanies;' take
your time, select your title, and prepare your articles
deliberately and finally. Then, if Ticknor will give
you something worth having, let him have this too; if
proffering it to him is to glut your market, let it come to
me. But take your time. I was only thinking you were merely
waiting when you might be doing something. I referred
(without naming you) to your 'Walden' experience in my
lecture on 'Self-Culture,' with which I have had ever so
many audiences. This episode excited much interest, and I
have been repeatedly asked who it is that I refer to.

"Yours,

"HORACE GREELEY.

"P. S.--You must know Miss Elizabeth Hoar, whereas I
hardly do. Now, I have offered to edit Margaret's works,
and I want of Elizabeth a letter or memorandum of personal
recollections of Margaret and her ideas. Can't you ask her
to write it for me?

"H. G."

To the request of this postscript Thoreau attended at once, but the "Miscellanies" dwelt not in his mind, it would seem. He had now become deeply concerned about slavery, was also pursuing his studies concerning the Indians, and had little time for the collection of his published papers. A short note of April 2, 1854, closes this part of the Greeley correspondence, thus:--

"DEAR THOREAU,--Thank you for your kindness in the matter
of Margaret. Pray take no further trouble; but if anything
should come in your way, calculated to help me, do not
forget.

"Yours,

"HORACE GREELEY."

In August, 1855, Mr. Greeley wrote to suggest that copies of "Walden" should be sent to the "Westminster Review," to "The Reasoner," 147 Fleet Street, London, to Gerald Massey, office of the "News," Edinburgh, and to "---- Wills, Esq., Dickens's Household Words," adding:--

"There is a small class in England who ought to know what
you have written, and I feel sure your publishers would not
throw away copies sent to these periodicals; especially
if your 'Week on the Concord and Merrimac' could accompany
them. Chapman, editor of the 'Westminster,' expressed
surprise that your book had not been sent him, and I could
find very few who had read or seen it. If a new edition
should be called for, try to have it better known in
Europe, but have a few copies sent to those worthy of it,
at all events."

In March, 1856, Mr. Greeley opened a new correspondence with Thoreau, asking him to become the tutor of his children, and to live with him, or near him, at Chappaqua. The proposition was made in the most generous manner, and was for a time considered by Thoreau, who felt a sense of obligation as well as a sincere friendship towards the man who had believed in him and served him so seasonably in the years of his obscurity. But it resulted in nothing further than a brief visit to Mr. Greeley in the following autumn, during which, as Thoreau used to say, Mr. Alcott and Mr. Greeley went to the opera together.