A few drops from the sea, which may not be missed, will suffice for me." In the early days of 1852 death took from him one of his dearest friends, and the following letter, written in February, 1852, to Rufus Griswold, Esq., expresses his sentiments:-- "I sincerely regret that circumstances over which I have no control prevent my participation in the services commemorative of the character, literary and moral, of my lamented friend the late James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
"I can scarcely yet realize that he is no longer with us, for the announcement of his death came upon me most unexpectedly.

The pleasure of years of close intimacy with Mr.Cooper was never for a moment clouded by the slightest coolness.

We were in daily, I can truly say, almost hourly, intercourse in the year 1831 in Paris.

I never met with a more sincere, warm-hearted, constant friend.

No man came nearer to the ideal I had formed of a truly high-minded man.