Autograph letter signed : New York, to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1843 July 31.

Concerning the fact that Graham's Magazine had not paid EBB for her contributions; referring to a contemporary American financial scandal, in which the state of Mississippi was refusing to make a payment of $5 million to the state of Pennsylvania; telling her that he had written to George Palmer Putnam directly; explaining that the editor of Graham's Magazine had misrepresented the arrangement; writing that he had chosen Graham's Magazine as a good place to publish her work for several reasons: "Firstly, because of its wider circulation, I thought your interests would be better served, because its Editor seemed anxious for your contributions & willing to pay for them, promptly, and because, having had no previous money-dealings with him, I supposed faith would be kept and, finally, because I was not unwilling to sue him if I could"; telling her that he has written to the offices of the magazine in Philadelphia multiple times and has not so far had an answer; mentioning that he has held back the last two poems she sent him; promising her that he himself will pay the sum in question, though "not just at present for money runs low with all authorship & attorneyism, at this time, but at the very earliest moment of commanding it"; informing her that Graham's Magazine has published two poems from the first batch she sent, in two different issues, and he has only been waiting for the publication of both issues to send her copies; discussing the writings and character of a "Dr. Channing" (possibly William Ellery Channing), about whom Mathews had written a eulogy; discussing the lack of invention in American literature; adding in a postscript that he thinks he may have written the wrong address on a parcel of books he mailed her and asking if she could send to Wiley & Putnam for them, particularly because George Palmer Putnam is leaving London soon and he is afraid that Putnam's successors in the office will misplace the parcel.