(_Dedicated to Sheridan Knowles_)
[The following letter from the Editor of _Putnam’s Monthly_ was
kept by Melville with the rejected MS. of the ‘Two Temples.’
It is now published together with the Essay to which it refers,
both for its intrinsic interest and as evidence of the date at
which the ‘Two Temples’ was written.]
OFFICE OF ‘PUTNAM’S MONTHLY,’
10 PARK PLACE, NEW YORK,
_May 12, 1854_.
DEAR SIR,--I am very loth to reject the ‘Two Temples’ as the
article contains some exquisitely fine description, and some
pungent satire, but my editorial experience compels me to be very
careful in offending the religious sensibilities of the public,
and the moral of the ‘Two Temples’ would sway against us the whole
power of the pulpit, to say nothing of Brown, and the congregation
of Grace Church.
I will take this opportunity to apologise to you for making a
slight alteration in the ‘Encantadas,’ in the last paragraph of
the ‘Chola Widow,’ which I thought would be improved by the
omission of a few words. That I did not injure the idea, or
mutilate the touching figure you introduced, by the slight
excision I made, I received good evidence of, in a letter from
James R. Lowell, who said that the figure of the cross in the
ass’s neck, brought tears into his eyes, and he thought it the
finest touch of genius he had seen in prose. The only complaint
that I have heard about the ‘Encantadas’ was that it might have
been longer.--Very truly, Your obedient,
CHAS. F. BRIGGS.
H. MELVILLE, Esq.