I have been quite unwell, or I should have ans'd you sooner. Yours of Nov. 26th, with check for Twenty Dollars, ($20) (herewith returned) was duly rec'd—Thank you most fervently, my friend—But I don't feel at all like writing a notice or biography of Halleck1—(nor indeed capacitated for it)—I met H. once in Park Place, N. Y. & remember his looks & talk—but I dont think I can write ab't him—Thank you & the Messrs: Appleton—Please send me word of the rec't of this—
Walt WhitmanCorrespondent:
General James Grant
Wilson (see the letter from Whitman to Wilson of May 21,
1879) was the author of Bryant and His Friends
(1886). In 1888 Whitman said: "I knew Wilson very well—he was a cordial
and convincing character. . . . Wilson belongs to the conventional literary old
guard in New York" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in
Camden, Monday, August 13, 1888). On April 8,
1887, Wilson invited the poet to stay with him during his New York
visit.