Lang’s reply was an article in the Illustrated London News on “The Art of Mark Twain.”  Lang had no admiration to express for the Yankee, which he confessed he had not cared to read, but he glorified Huck Finn to the highest.  “I can never forget, nor be ungrateful for the exquisite pleasure with which I read Huckleberry Finn for the first time, years ago,” he wrote; “I read it again last night, deserting Kenilworth for Huck.  I never laid it down till I had finished it.”

     Lang closed his article by referring to the story of Huck as the
     “great American novel which had escaped the eyes of those who
     watched to see this new planet swim into their ken.”

LETTERS, 1890, CHIEFLY TO JOS.  T. GOODMAN.  THE GREAT MACHINE ENTERPRISE

     Dr. John Brown’s son, whom Mark Twain and his wife had known in 1873
     as “Jock,” sent copies of Dr. John Brown and His Sister Isabella, by
     E. T. McLaren.  It was a gift appreciated in the Clemens home.

To Mr. John Brown, in Edinburgh, Scotland: 

Hartford, Feby 11, 1890.  Dear Mr. Brown,—­Both copies came, and we are reading and re-reading the one, and lending the other, to old time adorers of “Rab and his Friends.”  It is an exquisite book; the perfection of literary workmanship.  It says in every line, “Don’t look at me, look at him”—­and one tries to be good and obey; but the charm of the painter is so strong that one can’t keep his entire attention on the developing portrait, but must steal side-glimpses of the artist, and try to divine the trick of her felicitous brush.  In this book the doctor lives and moves just as he was.  He was the most extensive slave-holder of his time, and the kindest; and yet he died without setting one of his bondmen free.  We all send our very, very kindest regards. 
                         Sincerely yours
                                   S. L. Clemens.

If Mark Twain had been less interested in the type-setting machine he might possibly have found a profit that winter in the old Sellers play, which he had written with Howells seven years before.  The play had eventually been produced at the Lyceum Theatre in New York, with A. P. Burbank in the leading role, and Clemens and Howells as financial backers.  But it was a losing investment, nor did it pay any better when Clemens finally sent Burbank with it on the road.  Now, however, James A. Herne, a well-known actor and playwright, became interested in the idea, after a discussion of the matter with Howells, and there seemed a probability that with changes made under Herne’s advisement the play might be made sensible and successful.

But Mark Twain’s greater interest was now all in the type-machine, and certainly he had no money to put into any other venture.  His next letter to Goodman is illuminating—­the urgency of his need for funds opposed to that conscientiousness which was one of the most positive forces of Mark Twain’s body spiritual.  The Mr. Arnot of this letter was an Elmira capitalist.

To Jos.  T. Goodman, in California: