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Subscriptions or Advertisements for the "American Literary Gazette" will be received by the above Agents, and they will forward to the Editor any Books or Publications intended for notice. OUR CONTINENTAL CORRESPONDENCE. APRIL 15, 1867. PARIS, March 1, 1867. THIS has been the fortnight of letter-writing. I mentioned to you some time since MM. Michel Levy intended publishing the complete correspondence of Heinrich Heine. As soon as his widow heard of it she brought suit to restrain the publication. The newspapers mentioned it, and expressed a hope she would, upon reflection, desist from the legal proceedings. She replied by this letter:"Sir: How did you hear of the action I have brought against M. Michel Levy? I lead a very retired life, and do not make a noise about the sentiment which has led me to avenge the memory of my husband outrageously insulted. These are the facts. I have often heard it said that literary men are mere children in business compared with publishers. I am a woman; judge of my inexperience when I entered into business arrangements with M. Michel Levy. But he was so kind, so obliging, I could not have thought of distrusting him. One day, touched by his solicitude, I told him some foreign publisher had issued letters from my husband which were styled private, but which really were fabricated. I was distressed by it, but how could I bring suit in Germany? M. Levy replied, Procure me the volumes and I will sue the publisher, laying the damages at $20,000. I mention these figures for the sake of accuracy. I desired only one thing, namely, to prevent that publication, and I was so fortunate as to meet a protector who would see that I attained my ends! I investigated the matter, and was led to purchase seven volumes in German, which I gave to him. Months, years passed away. I requested M. Michel Levy to return me the volumes I had confided to him, as he made no use of them in the defence of my rights; but he was always so busy, and those German books were so far away under piles of books, that I waited patiently, and was still waiting, when I heard, in a very indirect way, M. Michel Levy was about to publish the fabricated and translated letters, which, at one time, had excited his anger. This is the reason I have brought suit. Did you know these facts, sir? You will no longer have a right to laugh at me. You, in turn, have played M. Michel Levy's game. You thought he told you about a curious lawsuit, while his object was to get ten lines from you in your newspaper, knowing perfectly well that written by you they would be a recommendation which would enable him to sell, before the decision of the courts, a great many volI remain, WIDOW HENRI HEINE." umes. M. Michel Levy replied: "Sir: The reflections raised in your mind by the action brought against us by Mme. Heine concerning her husband's correspondence, the first two volumes of which we have published, have led to a so-called correction signed by her, and she accuses you of being good naturedly my lawyer to puff me. You know how unfounded the latter accusation is. As to the substance of the discussion, it is not in a newspaper; I can fully explain it. I content myself by saying, in order to justify myself, that the first article of the contract I made with Mme. Heine, on the 28th January, 1865, runs: 'Mme. Henri Heine sells and cedes to MM. Michel Levy Frères-1st. The full and entire property of all the published and hereafter to be published works of Henri Heine. 2d. The exclusive right of translation into French of all the works of Henri Heine published in German. 3d. The right of translation into French of all the posthumous and unpublished works of Henri Heine which may be published.' By virtue of rights conceded me in so explicit a manner by this article I have had translated Henri Heine's Correspon dence,' which forms the 19th, 20th, and 21st volumes of the original edition of the Complete Works of Henri Heine,' published at Hamburgh, by MM. Hoffman & Campe, the publishers by contract, in the same manner as I am of Mme. Heine, and the German publishers of her husband above forty years, as I have been his French publisher these last fourteen years. This origin of my translation is a material fact which is easy to be ascertained, and which Mme. Heine, or rather her advisers, have not taken the trouble to examine, but which cannot escape the attention of a court of justice. MM. Binger Brothers, of Amsterdam, have published an unauthorized edition of some of Henri Heine's works. This is the edition which Mme. Heine complained to me about two or three years ago, and of which she gave me a copy as evidence, in case I thought proper to bring suit against the publishers. But I borrowed absolutely nothing from this edition. I have never translated one single line from it. which I should have demonstrated to Mme. Heine, if before sending me process she had been good enough to call on me about the business, as my good relations with her perhaps should have prompted her to do. I still hope that, convinced of my good faith, after seeing these palpable proofs of it, Mme. Heine will dismiss the suit which blundering advisers have made her bring so thoughtlessly against me. I remain, etc. MICHEL LEVY. P. S. Mme. Heine speaks of her inexperience, and suggests that I took advantage of it when I made my contract with her. Now I did not negotiate it with Mme. Heine. It was with M. Embden, a Hamburgh merchant, Henri Heine's cousin and friend, whom she charged with the business and who came to Paris expressly to arrange the matter with me. Mme. Heine had nothing to do with it except to write her name at the foot of the contract, just as she probably did at the foot of the letter she sent you." Widows do not seem to have changed since the days of the elder Mr. Weller. Here is a letter from M. Dupin, the well-known dramatic author, about an anecdote often told of Scribe (with whom he wrote sixty-five pieces) which deserves a place here. It is addressed to M. Timothée Trimm (M. Leo Lespès), the chief editor of "Le Petit Journal." "Sir: An anecdote as improbable as ridiculous about Michel et Christine was told some years since in a stupid pamphlet. Scribe and I, not expecting the anecdote would be repeated by other people, did not think worth while to refute it. M. Timothée Trimm has echoed this improbable story, which can astonish nobody; for although very old as a newspaper writer, M. Timothée Trimm is very young in theatrical matters; besides, he touches superficially on every question, and perhaps he was unable to find in his encyclopædia a report of the first performance of Michel et Christine. This is the pretended anecdote: The day of the first performance of Michel et Christine, Scribe invited Dupin to come to his box. The piece was played. What was M. Dupin's astonishment when the actor who announced the authors mentioned his name. and when Scribe said to him: 'It is the five act melodrama you gave me, I have made a one act piece of it.' Now was it possible I could not know my piece when I was present at every rehearsal, and not one. of them took place without my assistance? M. Timothée Trimm says I was in the theatre the night of the first performance. He ought to know that an author, fearing his barque may founder, does not willingly expose himself to hear the roar of an angry pit. Thank heaven, our barque reached port |