lectures on Lincoln, one especially at Petersburg, among the old friends of the dead President, which was greatly enjoyed.

Along in the early eighties he met Jesse W. Weik, who was studying Lincoln, and together they planned and wrote "the long contemplated biography," which finally appeared in three volumes in 1889. Much of the writing was done by Mr. Weik from copious notes furnished by Mr. Herndon, who was now far advanced in years and too infirm for the drudgery of writing the three volumes. Unfortunately the firm of Bedford & Clark failed soon after the book appeared, and the hopes of Mr. Herndon were all but dashed to pieces. Besides, he was deeply wounded by certain critics who, though they had never seen Lincoln, wrote as if they knew more about him than the man who had been his partner for many years. Cast down but not destroyed, he planned a new edition of the biography, and was fortunate in securing the aid of Mr. Horace White who wrote a notable chapter descriptive of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The new edition, with important alterations, omissions, and additions, was published by D. Appleton & Company, but alas, as fate would have it, Mr. Herndon did not live to see his dream come true. It appeared in two volumes in 1892, with a brief introduction by Mr. Horace White in which we read these words, every syllable of which is true:

What Mr. Lincoln was after he became President can be best understood by knowing what he was before. The world owes more to William H. Herndon for this particular knowledge than to all other persons taken together. It is no exaggeration to say that his death removed from earth the person who, of all others, had most thoroughly searched the sources of Mr. Lincoln's biography and had most attentively, intelligently, and also lovingly studied his character. . . . Their partnership began in 1843, and it continued until it was dissolved by the death of the senior member. Between them there was never an unkind word or thought. When Mr. Lincoln became President, Mr. Herndon could have had his fortunes materially advanced under the new Administration by saying the word. He was a poor man then and always, but he chose to remain in his humble station and to earn his bread by his daily labor. . . . As a portraiture of the man Lincoln- and this is what we look for above all

things in a biography - I venture to think that Mr. Herndon's work will never be surpassed.

IV

While engaged in preparing the biography

without whose aid it would never have been written - Mr. Weik came to know Mr. Herndon intimately and to admire him for his sturdy hon esty, his lofty motives and his passion for truth. Writing of Mr. Herndon as he knew him, Mr. Weik gives the following discriminating estimate of the man, noting at once his strength and his obvious limitations.

My acquaintance with Mr. Herndon began soon after my graduation from college in the seventies. I had gone to Springfield to study Lincoln and met Herndon for the first time in the dingy room which he and his partner had occupied for an office. From this time forward I was destined to share, to the end of his days, the confidence and close association of this rare man and generous friend; and shall never cease to be thankful for the affinity that grew up between us. From Herndon I learned how to measure Lincoln, to dissect his moral structure and analyze his mental processes. No other man ever lived who knew as much about the immortal Railsplitter, who comprehended him so thoroughly, who had dug so deep and laid bare the springs of action, the motives that animated his "clear head, brave heart, and strong right arm." With implicit and almost fanatical devotion Herndon clung to Lincoln, and we do not have to go far to find evidence that the latter, throughout all the memorable and tempestuous times that made him great, bared his heart and soul to "Billy" Herndon with all the candor and confidence of a brother.

His unvarying and inflexible devotion to the truth was the predominating trait in the character of William H. Herndon. In this respect he resembled his illustrious companion. Both men, up to a certain point, were very much alike. But there was a difference. Lincoln, deeply cautious and restrained, was prone to abstract and thoughtful calculation. Herndon, by nature forceful and alert, was quick, impulsive and often precipitate. If he detected wrong he proclaimed the fact instantly and everywhere, never piling up his wrath and strength as Lincoln did for a future sweeping and crushing blow. He never stopped to calculate the force,

momentum or effect of his opposition, but fought at the drop of a hat, and fought incessantly, pushing blindly through the smoke of battle until he was either hopelessly overcome or stood on the hill-top of victory. Younger than Lincoln, he was more venturesome, more versatile, and magnificently oblivious of consequences. Conscious of his limitations he knew that he was too bold, too extreme to achieve success in politics, and he therefore sunk himself in the fortunes of his more happily poised partner. When, in the days yet to come, the searchlight of truth is turned on the picture, posterity will be sure to accept the verdict of Herndon's friends, that he was a noble, broadminded, honest man; incapable of a mean or selfish act, brave and big-hearted; tolerant, forgiving, just, and as true to Lincoln as the needle to the pole.1

During the last year of his life, while preparing the second edition of his biography of Lincoln, Mr. Herndon wrote frequent letters to Mr. Horace White, who was assisting him. By the kindness of Mr. White those letters are now before me, and they are interesting as so many glimpses of the writer in his last phase, as well as for a number of valuable and curious bibliographical facts which they reveal. Again and again he refers to the crusade for tariff reform then going on, and other movements of contemporary politics in which he was deeply interested, but these matters may be omitted. Only excerpts need be given:

April, 1890: In reply let me say that I never wrote a page, paragraph, sentence, or word for Lamon's Life of Lincoln, and never suggested to him any course or method to be pursued in his book. I sold to Lamon for $2,000 a copy of my manuscripts of the Lincoln records, facts which I had gathered up in 1870-1. Lamon used my name, I suppose, to give his book some popularity. If what facts and opinions he got from me were stricken out of his book there would not be much left of it, as I think. The reason why Lamon did not finish the second volume was because of a threecornered fight. Lamon and Black had a quarrel about the book, and they had a quarrel with their publishers. Lastly, Holland's review of the book, which was a mean thing, 1 Mss., prepared by Mr. Weik, July 4th, 1910.