Memoirs of Anne C.L. Botta,: written by her friends. With selections from her correspondence and from her writings in prose and poetry.

Dinne C.. 3otta
refers to these receptions in his "John Godfrey's
Fortunes": "I have been fortunate enough to obtain
entrance to the' Literary Soirees' of another lady
whom I will not name, but whose tact, thorough refinement of character and admirable culture, drew
around her all that was best in letters and in the arts.
In her salon I saw the possessors of honored and
illustrious names. I heard books and pictures discussed with the calm discrimination of intelligent
criticism. The petty vanities and jealousies I had
hitherto encountered might still exist, but they had
no voice; and I soon perceived the difference between those who aspire and those who achieve."
In a letter dated New Year's Day, 1848, he says:
"Last night I attended Anne Lynch's' Conversazione,' and met Grace Greenwood, Willis, Morris,
Read, Healy, Griswold, Mrs. Ellet, Gillespie, Kate
and Mary Sedgwick. We had a dance and most delightful conversations, together with recitals. Grace
repeated her' Ariadne,' Read his' Bards,' and Kate
Sedgwick Miss Barrett's' Bertha in the Lane.'"
If I were to mention all that has been written of
these popular receptions, and the names of the prominent people who attended them, it would take up
too much space. I will only say that all the best
writers, poets, and artists of the time, living in or passing through New-York, attended her "evenings." It
was at one of these that Poe gave the first reading of
"The Raven."
One of the pleasant features of these receptions
consisted in several Valentine Festivals. Most of the
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