George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

In the summer of 1827 a journey to Niagara ended by visits on the Hudson, and is thus sketched in a letter to Mr. Daveis:—

Of these journeyings you are already partly misinformed, and, as Nic Bottom would say, I will finish that matter myself. We have—as you heard—been to the Westward, but eschewed the Springs,¹ not desiring fashion, but health. We had several bright spots in our journey: first, West Point, where my old friend Thayer's gallantry gave the ladies a beautiful entertainment; then Trenton Falls, more beautiful than those of Tivoli and Terni; then Mr. Wadsworth's magnificent establishment, where we passed two days; then Niagara itself, where we spent four days in constantly increasing delight and astonishment; then, on our return, Kaatskill, where, as Natty Bumpo says, ‘you see all creation’; then Governor Lewis's, on the North River, where we spent four days with the Livingston family, and one with Mrs. Montgomery, the widow of him who fell before Quebec; and finally Northampton. This is the general plan of our journey, which occupied six full weeks very pleasantly, . . . . and, all things considered, I hardly know when I have passed the same length of time more to my mind.

In the following summer, that of 1828, Mr.Ticknor and Mrs. Ticknor made a trip to Quebec. This was succeeded by an excursion to Sandwich, on Cape Cod, with Mr. Webster, who found much comfort in their society at this time, saddened as he was by the recent death of his wife, to whom Mrs. Ticknor had been much attached; while Mr. Ticknor's friendship for him was full of sympathy. During this visit the following hasty letter went to Mr. Prescott:—

my dear William,—Mr. Webster has been out shooting all day, and brought home a fine quantity of beetle-heads, curlews, and other things whose names I do not remember, but which I doubt not are very savory. He has placed a part of them at my disposal, and, as I do not know anybody to whose recollection I wish to be agreeably recalled more than to that of your household, I have made up a little box for you. It will come just in season for your Saturday's dinner, and I wish I were with you, though it is cool, quiet, and comfortable here. . . . .

A. Thorndike and his household came to-day. He brings two dogs,