Party feeling in Pennsylvania ran very high at the time, and in the course of a political controversy, he became involved in a quarrel with Col. Eleazer Oswald, who had been an officer of artillery during the Revolutionary War; and this difficulty resulted in a duel which took place in January, 1786, in New Jersey, opposite to Philadelphia, in which Mr. Carey was wounded in the thigh, from the effects of which he did not entirely recover for many months. He, subsequently to the duel, greatly disgusted his second and others, by performing, as he says, “a gratuitous act of justice, which was probably one of the best acts of my life”—that of publishing a card retracting the charges he had made against Colonel Oswald. In October, 1786, in partnership with five others, he commenced the publication of the _Columbian Magazine_, to the first number of which he contributed four pieces, one of which, “A Philosophical Dream,” was an anticipation of the state of the country in 1850, in which, strange as these predictions must have seemed at the time, are now quite remarkable in their realization. In December, 1786, owing to the difficulty of realizing profits from so many partners and other causes, he withdrew. In January, 1787, he issued the first number of the _American Museum_, a magazine intended to preserve the fugitive essays that appeared in the newspapers. This publication, sets of which, in 12 volumes, 8vo, now exist in a number of public and private libraries, is one of great value, and presents a graphic and truthful record of the times. It was issued for six years, and brought to a close in December, 1792, after a hard struggle for life. About this time he married Miss Bridget Flahavan, the daughter of a highly respectable citizen of Philadelphia who had been ruined by the Revolution. Mr. Carey’s wife was an industrious, prudent, economical woman, with, as he says, a large fund of good sense, but, equally with himself, without means. The match was, as he acknowledges, imprudent; but he and his wife determined to indulge in no unnecessary expense, and they carried out this resolution faithfully, even when he was doing a business of $40,000 to $50,000 per annum, and with the happiest results. When he relinquished the _American Museum_, he commenced bookselling and printing on a small scale. His store, or rather shop, was of very moderate dimensions; but, small as it was, he had not full-bound books enough to fill the shelves—a considerable portion of them being filled with spelling books. He procured a credit at bank, which enabled him to extend his business; and by care, indefatigable industry, the most rigid punctuality and frugality, he gradually advanced in the world. For twenty-five years, winter and summer, he was always present at the opening of his store.