Letter from Samuel Barlow to George Curtis

Samuel Barlow writes to George Ticknor Curtis about Curtis' James Buchanan manuscript that contains material on Buchanan's engagement to Miss Anna Coleman. Barlow argues that Curtis "should not print any considerable portion of what you have written, on the subject of his engagement to Miss Coleman." The engagement, as Barlow explains, "was finally broken by the death of the lady" and that Buchanan "never spoke of this matter." Barlow also describes Harriet Lane as "a model gentlewoman, the peer in grace, beauty & manner" and "truly, the first Lady in the land." Curtis eventually published a two volume biography, the Life of James Buchanan, fifteenth president of the United States, in 1883. Transcript included.