"an agreeable...my heart is not": MTL to Mercy Ann Levering, July 23, 1840, in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 18.

Far more likely, Lincoln's own misgivings: Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I, p. 173; Donald, Lincoln, pp. 8687; Paul M. Angle, Appendix, in Carl Sandburg and Paul M. Angle, Mary Lincoln, Wife and Widow (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1932; 1960), p. 331.

"in the winter...whole heart to me": Joshua F. Speed to WHH, November 30, 1866, in HI, p. 430.

Lincoln's change of heart...Matilda Edwards: Douglas L. Wilson, "Abraham Lincoln and 'That Fatal First of January,'" in Douglas L. Wilson, Lincoln before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1997), pp. 99125.

"A lovelier girl I never saw": MTL to Mercy Ann Levering, December [15?], 1840, in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 20.

"aberration of mind...violation of his word": Browning, quoted in Nicolay, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln, p. 1.

no evidence that Lincoln ever made his feelings known: Elizabeth Todd and Ninian W. Edwards interviews, September 22, 1865, [18651866], July 27, 1887, in HI, pp. 133, 444, 623.

"never bear to leave...the strength of it": Jane Bell quoted in Wilson, "Abraham Lincoln and 'That Fatal First of January,'" in Wilson, Lincoln before Washington, p. 110.

"his ability and Capacity...support a wife": Elizabeth Todd Edwards interview, 18651866, in HI, p. 443.

driving up the marriage age: Fidler, "Young Limbs of the Law," pp. 26667.

"is a jealous mistress...constant courtship": Joseph Story, "The Value and Importance of Legal Studies. A Discourse p.r.o.nounced at the Inauguration of the Author as Dane Professor of Law in Harvard University, August 25, 1829," in The Miscellaneous Writings of Joseph Story, ed. William W. Story. Da Capo Press Reprints in American Const.i.tutional and Legal History, gen. ed. Leonard W. Levy (Boston, 1852; New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), p. 523.

Lincoln drafted a letter...lost his nerve: Joshua F. Speed interview, 18651866, in HI, pp. 475, 477.

"To tell you the truth...kissed her": AL, quoted in Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Life of Lincoln, p. 169.

This second confrontation: Wilson, "Abraham Lincoln and 'That Fatal First of January,'" in Wilson, Lincoln before Washington, pp. 103, 112.

"ability to keep...gem of [his] character": AL to Joshua F. Speed, July 4, 1842, in CW, I, p. 289.

"not single spies...battalions": William Shakespeare, "Hamlet," act 4, scene 5, William Shakespeare Tragedies, Volume 1. Everyman's Library (New York and Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992), p. 105.

details of Speed leaving Springfield: Kincaid, Joshua Fry Speed, p. 15.

Speed's departure would bring: James Conkling to Mercy Ann Levering, January 24, 1841, and Levering to Conkling, February 7, 1841, quoted in Wilson, "Abraham Lincoln and 'That Fatal First of January,'" in Wilson, Lincoln before Washington, p. 117; Burlingame, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln, p. 100.

"I shall be verry...pained by the loss": AL to Joshua F. Speed, February 25, 1842, in CW, I, p. 281.

worried that he was suicidal: James H. Matheny interview, May 3, 1866, in HI, p. 251; Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, p. 39.

"Lincoln went Crazy...it was terrible": Joshua F. Speed interview, [18651866], in HI, p. 474.

"delirious to the extent...he was doing": Browning, quoted in Nicolay, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln, p. 2.

"Poor L!...truly deplorable": James Conkling to Mercy Ann Levering, January 24, 1841, quoted in Wilson, "Abraham Lincoln and 'That Fatal First of January,'" in Wilson, Lincoln Before Washington, p. 117.

was called hypochondriasis: See J. S. Forsyth, The New London Medical and Surgical Dictionary (London: Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, 1826), p. 379; Robley Dunglison, M.D., A New Dictionary of Medical Science and Literature, Containing a Concise Account of the Various Subjects and Terms; with the Synonymes in Different Languages; and Formulae for Various Officinal and Empirical Preparations, Vol. I (Boston: Charles Bowen, 1833), p. 508; German E. Berrios, "Hypochondriasis: History of the Concept," in Vladan Starcevic and Don R. Lipsitt, eds., Hypochondriasis: Modern Perspectives on an Ancient Malady (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 320.

"I have, within...to my existence": AL to John T. Stuart, January 20, 1841, in CW, I, p. 228. Dr. Henry did not receive the postmastership of Springfield.

"I am now the most...it appears to me: AL to John T. Stuart, January 23, 1841, in ibid., p. 229.

Hoping medical treatment..."without a personal interview": Joshua F. Speed to WHH, November 30, 1866, in HI, p. 431.

the nadir of Lincoln's depression...most certainly die: Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, p. 39.

"done nothing...desired to live for": Joshua F. Speed to WHH, February 7, 1866, in HI, p. 197.

"ideas of a person's...perceive him": William G. Thalmann, The Odyssey: An Epic of Return. Twayne's Masterwork Studies, No. 100 (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992), p. 39.

"To see memory...thought with others": Bruce, "The Riddle of Death," in The Lincoln Enigma, p. 141.

"thou midway world...and paradise": AL to Andrew Johnston, April 18, 1846, in CW, I, p. 378.

critical to "avoid being idle": AL to Joshua F. Speed, February 13, 1842, in ibid., p. 269.

"business and conversation...bitterness of death": AL to Joshua F. Speed, [January 3?, 1842], in ibid., p. 265.

he delivered an eloquent address..."than a gallon of gall": AL, "Temperance Address. An Address, Delivered before the Springfield Washington Temperance Society," February 22, 1842, in ibid., p. 273.

"An outstanding...future growth": George E. Vaillant, Adaptation to Life (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977), p. 27.

"quite clear of the hypo...in the fall": AL to Joshua F. Speed, February 3, 1842, in CW, I, p. 268.

"much alone of late...countenances me": MTL to Mercy Ann Levering, June 1841, in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, pp. 25, 27.

mutual friends conspired: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 93.

"worse sort...can realize": AL to Joshua F. Speed, February 25, 1842, in CW, I, p. 280. For correspondence between Lincoln and Speed discussing Speed's doubts during courtship of f.a.n.n.y Henning, see AL to Speed, [January 3?], February 3, and February 13, 1842, in ibid., pp. 26570.

"sailed through clear": AL to Joshua F. Speed, July 4, 1842, in ibid., p. 289.

"'Are you now'...impatient to know": AL to Joshua F. Speed, October 5, 1842, in ibid., p. 303.

and was, in fact, very happy: AL to Joshua F. Speed, March 27, 1842, in ibid., p. 282.

description of the wedding: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, pp. 9798; Helm, The True Story of Mary, pp. 9395.

"Nothing new here...of profound wonder": AL to Samuel D. Marshall, November 11, 1842, in CW, I, p. 305.

"Full many a flower": Thomas Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," in The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 3rd edn., ed. Alexander W. Allison, et al. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1983), pp. 24950.

"His melancholy...as he walked": Herndon, "a.n.a.lysis of the Character," ALQ (1941), p. 359.

"No element...profound melancholy": Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 146.

"This melancholy...with his brains": Henry C. Whitney to WHH, June 23, 1887, in HI, p. 616.

"his face was...ever looked upon": Joseph Wilson Fifer, quoted in Rufus Rockwell Wilson, Intimate Memories of Lincoln (Elmira, N.Y.: Primavera Press, 1945), p. 155.