1853-1867.
IDLEWILD AND LAST DAYS.
Mr. and Mrs. Willis, with their children, had passed the summer of 1850 at
Cornwall, in the highlands of the Hudson, boarding at the farmhouse of a
Mrs. Sutherland. They grew so attached to the beautiful neighborhood that
they resolved to make it their home some day, and with this in view, in
the fall of the same year, they had bought the fifty acres of land which
afterwards became widely known as Idlewild. This little domain lay upon a
shelf or terrace on the western bank of the Hudson, lifted some two
hundred feet above the level of the river, at the point where its waters
received the slender tribute of Moodna Creek. Behind the site chosen for
the house was a wild ravine, shaded by hemlocks, at the bottom of which a
brook, swollen to sizable rapids and cascades by the spring freshets, but
a mere trickle in midsummer, ran down to join the creek. The location
seemed destined by nature for a gentleman’s country seat, from its
variety of surface, its contrasting prospects, and its noble timber. The
outlook in front was upon a wide bend of the river and the opposite
heights and distant mountain perspectives of the eastern shore. Behind the
house was a private landscape of glen and forest, sunk away quite out of
sight of the sails and steamers that passed continually up and down the
watery highway before the front door. To the south, a mile away, was the
imposing shape of Storm King, a mountain which owes its baptism to Willis,
having previously figured in geography as Butter Hill. Four miles below
this were West Point and the gate of the highlands, and on the other bank
General Morris’s summer home of Undercliff. Four miles above Idlewild was
the considerable town of Newburg, for a market; and only a mile from his
door, the post office village of Moodna.
Willis’s trip to the tropics had been of small benefit to his health, and,
on his return in the summer of 1852, he joined his family at their
boarding place at Cornwall. His doctor warned him that a return to New
York would be at the risk of his life. He had grown tired, himself, of the
city and of gay society, and longed for the repose of the hills. _Levavit
oculos ad arces._ In the hope that rural quiet and the drier air of the
highlands might restore his health, he decided that autumn to begin
building at once, and to take up his permanent abode in the country.
During the winter and spring he remained with his family at the
Sutherlands’, and busied himself in superintending the erection of his
house, laying out roads and paths, cutting vistas through his trees,
building stone walls, constructing a dam for his brook, and reporting
progress in gossipy letters to the “Home Journal.” In the spring of 1853
the New York house was sold, and on the 26th of July Idlewild received its
tenants.
Willis had a happy knack at inventing names, and if everything that he
wrote should become obsolete, he will still have left his sign manual on
the American landscape and the English tongue. “Idlewild” was an apt and
beautiful name, and like Sunnyside, the place became and remains one of
the historic points of the scenery of the Hudson. The story that Willis
tells of the origin of the word is this: The old farmer and fisherman who
owned the land--uncle of the “Ward boys,” of aquatic fame--was showing him
over the property, and Willis, inquiring the price of this particular
piece, was answered that it had little value, being “an idle wild of which
nothing could ever be made.” I fancy that this little anecdote is in part
a myth, invented after the fact to give the name a history and a
justification. Willis was particular, not to say fussy, in such matters,
and the title finally chosen was obtained by a process of elimination from
a list that I have seen, of several hundred “pretty, fond, adoptious
christendoms,” such as Everwild, Mieux-ici, Lodore, Loudwater, Idle-brook,
Wanderwild, Up-the-brook, Shadywild, Loiterwild, Demijour-brook, etc.
Thus ten years after the break-up of his home at Glenmary, he had again
pitched his pavilion--this time for good--by green pastures and running
waters. Henceforth he abjured fashionable life and devoted himself to the
domesticities; to the care of his health and his grounds, the
entertainment of his guests, and the preparation of his weekly letter to
the “Home Journal.” There was little left in him of that dandyism which
had distressed his critics. But the old coats and hats which he loved to
wear were worn with a certain grace peculiar to the man. He could not put
on the seediest garment without straightway imparting to it an air of
jauntiness. He was fond of pets and was a most playful and affectionate
companion to his children, the number of whom gradually increased to five
by the birth of a third daughter, Edith, on September 28, 1853, and a
second son, Bailey, on May 31, 1857. All of these survive, but his last
child, a daughter, born October 31, 1860, lived only a few minutes.
From early spring till after Christmas the family at Idlewild kept open
house, having almost always company staying with them, and in summer
constantly receiving transient guests. The place had become celebrated
through Willis’s descriptions in the “Home Journal.” Cornwall was growing
to be a summer resort, and there were daily visits to the glen and to the
house from all manner of people. Willis’s habit was to breakfast in his
own room and write till noon. Sometimes he would take a stroll to the post
office or the glen before dinner. After dinner he would write letters or
do “scissors work” before the afternoon drive or ride. The evening was
spent with his guests, or, if the family were alone, he would write again
and come down to a nine o’clock supper.
From the trivial incidents of this daily life he wove his correspondence;
enough of it, at last, to fill two volumes, “Out Doors at Idlewild” and
“The Convalescent;” the former dedicated to Mr. Grinnell, the latter to
Doctors William Beattie and John F. Gray, his physicians, and both books
addressed more particularly to the author’s “parish of invalids.” These
letters have by no means the literary merit of the “Letters from under a
Bridge,” and it was, perhaps, presuming too far on their claim to even
contemporary respect to bind them up at all after they had once done duty
in the newspaper column. They were eagerly read, nevertheless, as they
appeared from week to week, and a sympathetic public was interested in
Willis’s kindly prattle about his landscape gardening, his tree planting,
the deluges in his brook, his children, his horses and dogs, the
eccentricities of his country neighbors, the humors of his poultry, the
daily voyage of the family wagon to Newburg, the sleighing on the frozen
Hudson, and the occasional picnics and excursions to Storm King, West
Point, Poughkeepsie, or remoter points. Willis found himself not without
amusement, becoming something of a country gentleman and public-spirited
bulwark of society, taking part in local interests. There was a
picturesque little Episcopal church a mile from Idlewild, in which he
became a vestryman and used to pass the plate. Once he even made a speech
at a public meeting, in favor of dividing the county. Letters XXXIX. and
XL. in “Out Doors at Idlewild,” giving a graphic description of the ascent
of Storm King, are perhaps the best thing in the volume.
Among the many guests attracted to Idlewild by the hospitalities of its
owner and his inviting pictures of his highland retreat were numbers of
literary men and artists.[11] Bayard Taylor, Charles A. Dana, De
Trobriand, of the “Courrier des États-Unis;” Hicks and Kensett, the
painters, came up from New York at various times, and rambled, bathed, or
otherwise disported themselves in the glen. Whipple and Fields ran across
from Boston and made a pleasant visit of two or three days, of which both
afterwards gave reminiscences. Fields loved to recall an anecdote that
Willis told him, “of his watching a little ragged girl, one day in London,
who was peering through an area railing. A window of a comfortable
eating-house gave upon this area, and a man sat at the window taking a
good dinner. The child watched his every movement, saw him take a
beefsteak and get all things in readiness to begin; then he stopped and
looked round. ‘Now a pertaty,’ murmured the child.”
In the summer of 1854, Willis had a call from his down-river neighbor,
Washington Irving, and repaid it at Sunnyside in 1859, in company with J.
P. Kennedy and Lieutenant Wise, the author of “Los Gringos,” who had both
been passing a day or two with him at Idlewild. Irving drove them through
Sleepy Hollow, as recounted in “The Convalescent,” in which this visit
fills an agreeable chapter; and Willis characteristically begged his host
to give him his blotting-sheet for memorabilia, as being “the door-mat on
which the thoughts of Irving’s last book had wiped their sandals as they
went in.” “The Convalescent” (1859) was the last book which Willis
published, if we except some late editions of his poems, but there are
gleams in it, here and there, of the wit and fancy that never quite
forsook him. There was, for instance, a long and very dark covered bridge
over Moodna Creek, which he always entered with dread, when on horseback,
and which he described as giving “a promise of emergence to light on the
other side, which required the faith of a gimlet.” Upon the whole, it
would be a very difficult reader who should refuse to admit the plea which
the author urges in behalf of books of “The Convalescent” kind. “I learned
also, to my comfort, that Nature publishes some volumes with many leaves,
which are not intended to be of any posthumous value--the white poplar not
lasting three moonlight nights after it is cut down. Even with such speedy
decay, however, it throws a pleasant shade while it flourishes; and so,
white poplar literature, recognized as a class in literature, should have
its brief summer of indulgence.”
Willis found that his best medicine was horseback riding, and spent as
many hours as he could in the saddle. His horses and dogs were a great
source of amusement to him. One of his special pets was Cæsar, a superb
Newfoundland, that had been with Dr. Kane on one of his Arctic voyages,
and was afterwards presented to Willis. When it died its grave at Idlewild
was marked by a marble slab, the gift of Brown, the famous Grace Church
sexton, with an epitaph of his own composition. The slab was on exhibition
for a time, in July, 1862, at Barnum’s museum, and the inscription on it
ran as follows:--
CÆSAR,
WHO MADE THE VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC
REGIONS WITH DR. KANE,
AND WAS AFTERWARDS THE FAVORITE DOG OF THE CHILDREN
OF IDLEWILD,
LIES BURIED BENEATH THIS STONE.
Died December 7, 1861, aged thirteen years.
Thy master’s record of thy worth made thee of great renown,
And caused this tribute to thy memory from Sexton Brown.
In 1854 a book was published which became the occasion of many
heart-burnings, and of accusations against Willis that have not yet ceased
to go the rounds of the newspapers. This was “Ruth Hall, a Domestic Tale
of the Present Time,” by Fanny Fern. The lady who wrote under this pen
name was his younger sister, Sarah, the author of much cleverish
literature--“Fern Leaves,” and the like--which once enjoyed a prodigious
circulation. She was the _enfant terrible_ of the family, a warm-hearted,
impulsive woman, but not always discreet. By the death of her husband,
Charles Eldridge of Boston, she had been suddenly reduced from comfort to
poverty. She afterwards contracted an unfortunate marriage with a Mr.
Farrington, from whom she was finally divorced. To support herself and her
children, she turned instinctively to literature, in which she at last
made a decided hit. Among other things she offered some contributions to
the “Home Journal;” but Willis, whose literary taste, though certainly not
severe, was fastidious in its way, could not see merit enough in his
sister’s writing, and disliked what he regarded as its noisy, rattling
style. He felt obliged to decline her articles, but that there was any
literary jealousy in this, as is intimated in “Ruth Hall,” will hardly be
believed, when his eagerness to welcome and patronize young writers is
remembered. It seems to have sprung from an original opposition in
character and taste between the two. But it naturally made hard feeling
and led to recriminations. Mr. James Parton, who was then sub-editor of
the “Home Journal,” took Fanny Fern’s part, and the acquaintance thus
begun soon ripened into an engagement of marriage. There was a scene, in
consequence, in the office of the “Home Journal,” and Mr. Parton retired
from the paper, his place being supplied by Mr. T. B. Aldrich. Smarting
under a sense of neglect by her kinsfolk, Fanny Fern wrote and printed
this novel of “Ruth Hall,” in which, under a very thin mask of fiction,
she washed a deal of family linen in public. Willis figures therein as
Hyacinth, a “heartless puppy,” who worships social position, has married
an heiress, inhabits a villa on the Hudson, and is the prosperous editor
of the “Irving Magazine.” When Ruth asks him to help her by printing her
pieces in this periodical, he coldly assures her that she has no talent,
and advises her to seek “some unobtrusive employment.” But when she
becomes famous and begins to get letters from college presidents, begging
her for her autograph, and from grateful readers, saying, “I am a better
son, a better brother, a better husband, and a better father than I was
before I commenced reading your articles. God bless you!” then, under
these triumphant circumstances, Hyacinth, who had given $100 for a vase
when Ruth was starving, is proud to point out to a friend, as they sit
together in the porch of his country seat, a beautiful schooner tacking up
stream with “Floy,” his sister’s _nom-de-plume_, painted on the bows.
Against this caricature of himself Willis made no public protest. When a
man is wounded in the house of his friends, his only refuge is silence.
But in private and to his intimates he asserted that the attack upon him
in “Ruth Hall” was most unfair; that he _had_ helped his sister in the
early days of her widowhood, but that after her second marriage and
divorce he had ceased to have any communication with her, and felt
justified in letting her alone. Willis was doubtless a man who took his
responsibilities lightly. But had he felt called upon to do his utmost for
Fanny Fern, even to the end, it is easy to see how his hands were tied in
various ways. He had an expensive family of his own, whose support
depended upon his pen. His home on the Hudson had been purchased with his
wife’s inheritance. As to paying his sister for articles in the “Home
Journal,” supposing them to have been otherwise acceptable, the editors
were constantly reiterating that the paper did not, as a rule, pay its
contributors anything, and could not afford to do so. It paid its own
editorial staff, and that was all. Contributors were glad to write for it
for the pleasure of seeing themselves in print.
Willis continued to put forth permutations and combinations of old matter
under new titles, as long as his books would sell. “Fun Jottings,”
“Ephemera,” “Famous Persons and Places,” and “The Rag-Bag” were all made
up from the contents of previous volumes, or the teeming sheets of the
“Mirror” and “Home Journal.” But in 1857 he published something new, “Paul
Fane,” his only novel, and the only book which he wrote as a book, and not
as one or more contributions to periodicals. So exclusively a
_feuilletoniste_ had he made himself, that any talent for construction on
a larger scale which he may once have had was quite frittered away.
“It has been with difficult submission to marketableness,” he had
written in his preface to “Dashes at Life,” “that the author has
broken up his statues at the joints and furnished each fragment with
head and legs to walk alone. Continually accumulating material, with
the desire to produce a work of fiction, he was as continually
tempted by extravagant prices to shape these separate forms of
society and character into tales for periodicals; and between two
persuaders--the law of copyright, on the one hand, providing that
American books at fair prices should compete with books to be had
for nothing; and necessity, on the other hand, pleading much more
potently than the ambition for an adult stature in literary fame--he
has gone on acquiring a habit of dashing off for a magazine any
chance view of life that turned up to him, and selling in
fragmentary chapters what should have been kept together, and
moulded into a proportionate work of imagination.”
If “Paul Fane, or Parts of a Life Else Untold” was a response to this
artistic craving for unity in a sustained work, its author had waited too
late. It was, in effect, a poor novel; and--what was unusual with Willis,
even at his thinnest--it was dull. The story is told in the first person,
and the hero is a young American artist, who, feeling his social equality
challenged by a look in the eyes of a cold English girl of high birth, is
driven abroad by a restless determination to put himself on a level with
any nobility that hereditary rank can bestow. He brings the haughtiest
daughters of Albion to his feet. Three or four women fall in love with
him, including the original offender and her aunt, but he will none of
them. It is Willis’s old theme of nature’s nobleman versus caste. The
novel was an experiment, before the times were ripe, in that field of
international manners which has since been so cleverly occupied by Henry
James. It tries to deal with the perplexities and real miseries, which
arise not so much from the deeper conflicts of character as from the
attempt to adjust hostile social standards. Mr. James has made a very
interesting story out of the simple episode of a young English lady
marrying an American, coming to America to live, and then, not finding
American ways to her taste, taking her husband back to England with her.
But Willis was not well equipped for success in this field. He could not
keep his fancy in check; there must be a dash of romance, of exaggeration
in his tale. And he was a quick observer rather than a patient student of
manners, as of other things. He lacked the sober, truthful vigilance of
James and Howells. Miss Firkin, in this book, an overdone Daisy Miller,
and Blivins, an American type once rumored to have existed, but
inconceivable at this distance of time, show how far his execution fell
below the fine and solid work of our contemporary realists. There are
passages of vulgarity in “Paul Fane” which are a surprise in any book of
Willis’s, but which came rather from the weakness and failure of his hand
in its attempt to execute scenes of broad humor, than from any crudity of
feeling. This kind of violent and assumed indelicacy on the part of
naturally refined writers, when they are trying to put on the healthy
coarseness of a Hogarth or Teniers, is a not uncommon phenomenon;
daintiness mistaking coarseness for the strength of which it is often a
sign or an accompaniment.
In “The Convalescent” were included narratives of a trip to the
Rappahannock, to Nantucket, and to the horse fair at Springfield,
Massachusetts. In July, 1860, Willis accompanied Mr. Grinnell on a journey
to the West,--reported for the “Home Journal” as a “Three Weeks’ Trip to
the West,”--going to Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Chicago, and as far as
Madison, Wisconsin; then descending the Mississippi in a steamboat to St.
Louis, and returning East by way of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
In Willis’s later writings his verbal affectations gained upon him to an
intolerable extent. “Mr. N. P. Willis,” says Bartlett in his “Dictionary
of Americanisms,” “has the reputation of inventing many new words, some of
which, though not yet embodied in our dictionaries, are much used in
familiar language.” One of the phrases which Bartlett accredits to him is,
“the upper ten,”--originally and in full, “the upper ten thousand of New
York city.” This seems likely to keep its place in the language.
“Japonicadom” took at the time, but has now gone out. He had a fondness
for agglutinations. “Come-at-able” is a convenient word which is traced to
his mint; and Professor George P. Marsh, in his “Origin and History of the
English Language,” lends the weight of his authority to Willis’s
“Stay-at-home-itiveness,” as a synonym for the Greek οἰκουρία, and the
early English _studestapelvestnesse_. But such philological monsters as
re-June-venescence, worthwhile-ativeness, fifty-per-centity, with which
some of his books are strewn, have a painfully forced effect, and the
trick became, from repetition, a tedious mannerism. Punning, likewise,
was a habit which grew upon him, though both of these offenses are
commoner in his private correspondence than in his published work.
At the outbreak of the civil war in the spring of 1861, there was a rush
of newspaper men to Washington. It was decided that the “Home Journal,”
too, should have its war correspondent, and accordingly Willis, bidding
good-by to Idlewild, flung himself into the tide of journalists, soldiers,
politicians, office-seekers, contractors, and speculators of all sorts,
setting toward the seat of government. At Baltimore he stayed over a day
with his friend Kennedy, who was prominently mentioned for the
secretaryship of the navy, and who went on to Washington with Willis,
where the latter introduced him and Reverdy Johnson to Mrs. Lincoln. The
feeding of the “Home Journal” press with “Lookings-on at the War” proved a
longer job than Willis had anticipated. It kept him in Washington for over
a year, with occasional furloughs for a hurried visit home. He had always
been curiously indifferent to politics. His opinions had been Whiggish,
and he was, of course, a Union man. But he retained a secret sympathy with
the South, and a liking for “those chivalrous, polysyllabic Southerners,
incapable of a short word or a mean action,” whom he had known at
Saratoga years before. Nevertheless, he dropped his light plummet of
observation into the boiling sea of the civil war, where it was tossed
about at no great depth below the surface. It is interesting to compare
his letters from the capital with the patriotic fervor and swing of such
martial sketches as Theodore Winthrop’s “Washington as a Camp.” The war,
indeed, may be said to have made Willis and the kind of literature which
he cultivated obsolete for a time. A more earnest generation of writers
had come to the fore, who struck their roots deeper down into the life of
the nation. Mr. Derby, the publisher, proposed in 1863 to make a book out
of Willis’s “Lookings-on at the War,” but the project hung fire for some
reason, and “The Convalescent” remained, as has been said, his last
publication in book form.
Willis found all the world at Washington; among the rest, Lady Georgiana
Fane, whom he presented to Mrs. Lincoln. “Fancy anticipating this at
Almack’s twenty-five years ago!” he wrote of this conjunction, in a letter
to Mrs. Willis. He met Charles Sumner, whom he had known in Boston, and
had a long talk with him about the political situation; found Pierpont,
the poet, employed as a clerk in one of the departments, and got rooms for
him and Mrs. Pierpont in the house where he lodged himself; was
introduced to General McClellan and to the cabinet officers, and the
numerous congressmen and brigadiers who swarmed Pennsylvania Avenue and
crowded the lobbies at Willard’s. He went out to all manner of receptions
and dinner parties, and became quite a favorite with Mrs. Lincoln, who
drove him out frequently in her barouche, had him to dine _en famille_ at
the White House, sent him flowers, and promised him a vase presented to
the President by the Emperor of China. In one of his letters to the “Home
Journal,” he had described her as having a “motherly expression,”
whereupon she addressed him the following note:--
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 24th_.
MR. N. P. WILLIS:
_Dear Sir_,--It will afford me much pleasure to receive yourself and
ladies[12] this evening. Of course anything Mr. Willis writes is
interesting, yet, pardon my weakness, I object to the “motherly
expression.” If you value my friendship, hasten to have it corrected
before the public is assured that I am an old lady with
_spectacles_. When I am _forty_, four years hence, I will willingly
yield to the decrees of _time_ and fate.
Rather an indication, is it not, that years have not passed _us_
lightly by? I rely on you for changing that expression before my age
is _publicly_ proclaimed. Quite a morning lecture, yet you
certainly deserve it. Be kind enough to accept this modest bouquet
from
Your sincere friend,
MARY LINCOLN.
A sudden fit of sickness had hindered Willis’s plan to follow the army to
Bull Run--fortunately, no doubt, as the correspondent who took his place
was made prisoner. He afterwards took horseback rides into the enemy’s
country, once narrowly escaping capture near Mount Vernon, and made
excursions to Fortress Monroe, Manassas, Old Point Comfort, etc. On March
15, 1862, he was of the party which visited Harper’s Ferry at the
invitation of the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Hawthorne,
too, was of the party and reported the occasion in his article, “Chiefly
about War Matters,” in the July “Atlantic” of that year. “Hawthorne is shy
and reserved,” wrote Willis in one of his letters to his wife, “but I
found he was a lover of mine, and we enjoyed our acquaintance very much.”
Emerson and Curtis lectured in Washington while Willis was there, and
Greeley dined with him in January, 1862. The novelty and excitement of
life at the capital were agreeable at first, but he soon grew homesick and
pined for his beloved Idlewild.
In consequence of the war, the circulation of the “Home Journal,” a large
proportion of whose subscribers were in the South, had fallen off
seriously. Willis found himself greatly straitened, and was obliged to
close his country house for a time. Mrs. Willis and the children had spent
the winter and spring of 1861-62 at New Bedford, with her father. In April
she rented Idlewild and went with her family to pass the summer at
Campton, near Plymouth, New Hampshire. In June Willis left Washington and
joined her at Campton for a few days, and then returned to New York and
took lodgings for himself. Morris’s health had grown so feeble that it
became necessary for his partner to apply himself more closely to the
management of the paper and do double work. He had been much opposed to
the renting of Idlewild, and it troubled him to think of the place in the
hands of strangers. He paid it a visit in August, by invitation of his
tenant, a Mr. Dennis, and was very hospitably treated. In the autumn of
the following year (1863) Mrs. Willis opened at Idlewild a little school
for girls, in the hope of persuading her husband to leave New York and
come home for life. He appreciated her energy and devotion,--shown through
long years of failing health and fortune,--but he doomed himself to
homeless exile, and refused to abandon his post. He was opposed to the
school project, as he had been to the renting of Idlewild, unreasonably,
no doubt, since something of the kind had to be done. But it touched his
pride, and with increasing illness there grew upon him a morbid horror of
dependence on any one. He fancied that he could work better in his New
York lodgings. By 1864, moreover, Morris had become quite imbecile, and
the responsibilities of editorship weighed more and more heavily on
Willis. He remained at New York, therefore, running up to Idlewild for an
occasional visit of a day or two, over Sunday, or sometimes for a week at
a time. In July, 1864, General Morris died. Willis was deeply moved as he
stood by his coffin. “My beloved old friend,” he wrote, “looked
wonderfully tranquil, and so sweetly noble that I could not forbear giving
him a parting kiss, though William sobbed as he looked on. So passes from
earth one who loved me devotedly.” After Morris’s death Willis took into
partnership a young man named Hollister, who had capital and enthusiasm;
but the business management of the “Home Journal” began to fall more and
more upon the shoulders of its present editor, Mr. Morris Phillips.
The story of the last few years of Willis’s life is a melancholy chronicle
of failing powers, and of persistent struggle with disease and narrowing
fates. He had long borne up against ill health with the gay courage of a
cavalier. His pen faltered, but nothing that it wrote gave signs of
bitterness or discouragement. Toward the last his temper, which had been
uniformly sweet, sometimes grew irritable and morbid, though nothing of
this appeared in his writing. As early as 1852 he had fancied that he had
consumption, but his cough turned out to be merely “sympathetic,” and his
lungs were pronounced sound. His disease finally declared itself as
epilepsy, and resulted at the last in paralysis and softening of the
brain. He was subject for years to epileptic fits, occurring periodically,
usually on the tenth day. During these attacks, so long as his strength
lasted, he was extremely violent, but as he grew weaker, they simply made
him unconscious, leaving him greatly prostrated when the fit was over. The
true nature of his malady was, for some years, known only to his wife and
his physician, Dr. Gray, who feared that it might injure Willis’s business
and literary interests if it were publicly understood that his brain was
affected, or in danger of being affected. Willis was himself very
sensitive on this point, and begged that no stranger might see him during
his attacks. Accordingly, the matter was kept secret as long as possible.
After Willis’s death, one of his physicians, Dr. J. B. F. Walker, printed
some “Medical Reminiscences of N. P. Willis,” in the course of which he
said: “Not only was he a martyr to the agonies of sharp and sudden
attacks, but he suffered all the languors of chronic disease. With the
exception of Henry Heine, there has hardly been a man of letters doomed to
such protracted torments from bodily disease.”
Under these trying circumstances he exhibited a persistence in his work
which astonished his friends. They had not thought that such endurance was
in the man. But from some underlying stratum of character, some strain of
toughness inherent in his Puritan stock, he brought up resources of will
and stubbornness which resisted all appeals. Though complaining sometimes
in his letters that he was “pitilessly overworked,” he declared his
intention of dying in harness, and clung to his desk and his lonely
lodgings till the doctors pronounced him a dying man. A part of the
summers of 1865 and 1866 he spent at Idlewild, but the autumn of the
latter year found him still at work in the city. He was now so weak that
he often fainted in the street and had to be carried to his rooms. His
partner, Morris Phillips, was untiring in his attentions; and finally,
early in November, he brought him home to Idlewild, Willis yielding at
last to the united entreaties of his wife, his father, and his sisters,
and the imperative command of his doctor, to stop work. But he had come
home only to die. He kept his room and seldom went down-stairs. During the
first month he had some enjoyment of the home associations, taking
pleasure in the daily visit of his children, and listening to the reading
of poetry, more for its soothing effect than for any intellectual
apprehension of it. He soon became helpless and slept much of the time,
and when waking lived in continual visions and hallucinations. His
recognition of his family was fitful during the last six or eight weeks of
his life. He was watched and cared for by his wife and faithful Harriet,
and no strange hand ministered to him or marked his failing consciousness.
He died on the afternoon of the 20th of January, 1867,--his sixty-first
birthday,--so quietly that the single watcher could not say when. He was
taken to Boston, and buried in Mount Auburn. The funeral service of the
Episcopal Church was read over his body in St. Paul’s Church, by the Rev.
P. D. Huntington, the bookstores of the city being closed, in token of
respect, while the service lasted. His pall was borne by Longfellow, Dana,
Holmes, Lowell, Fields, Whipple, Edmund Quincy, Dr. Howe, Merritt Trimble,
and Aldrich. “I took the flower which lies before me at this moment, as I
write,” says Dr. Holmes, in a recent number of the “Atlantic,” “from his
coffin, as it lay just outside the door of Saint Paul’s Church, on a sad,
overclouded winter’s day, in the year 1867.”
The obituary notices which were published after Willis’s death made it
evident that he had, in a sense, survived his own fame. They were
reminiscent in tone, as though addressed to a generation that knew not
Joseph. It was forty years since he had come before the public with his
maiden book. It was twenty since he had put forth anything entitled to
live; and meanwhile a new literature had grown up in America. The bells of
morning tinkled faintly and far off, lost in the noise of fife and drum,
and the war opened its chasm between the present and the past. For a time
even Irving seemed sentimental and Cooper melodramatic. Yet these survive,
but whether Willis, whose name has so often been joined with theirs, is
destined to find still a hearing, it is for the future alone to say. “He
will be remembered,” wrote his kinsman, Dr. Richard S. Storrs, “as a man
eminently human, with almost unique endowments, devoting rare powers to
insignificant purposes, and curiously illustrating the ‘fine irony of
Nature,’ with which she often lavishes one of her choice productions on
comparatively inferior ends.”
But, laying aside all question of appeal to that formidable tribunal,
posterity, the many contemporaries who have owed hours of refined
enjoyment to his graceful talent will join heartily with Thackeray in his
assertion: “It is comfortable that there should have been a Willis.”
FOOTNOTES
[1] This statement needs, however, some qualification. Mr. Clark, of Clark
& Maynard, who publish Willis’s poems, tells me that there is a steady
sale for these of about two hundred copies annually. Fifty years after
date this is not bad. How many copies of _Something and Other Poems_,
issued in 1884, will be asked for at the booksellers’ in the year of grace
1934? The copyright of most of Willis’s poems having lately expired, a
cheap reprint of them has just been put forth, bearing date 1884 and
forming No. 352 of “Lovell’s Library.” This seems to point to a continued
popular demand. His prose writings are at present out of print. The fourth
volume of _Stories by American Authors_ contains his “Two Buckets in a
Well,” and it is understood that the publishers of that series have in
mind the publication of a volume of selections from Willis’s prose.
[2] The book here mentioned was her compilation, _Stories of American Life
by American Authors_, printed in 1830, to which reference was made in
chapter III. A number of Willis’s letters to Miss Mitford are published in
_The Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford_, from one of which the above
passage is taken.
[3] It was doubtless this article which encouraged Bates in the _Maclise
Portrait Gallery_ to describe Willis as a “sumph” and “N(amby) P(amby)
Willis.”
[4] Mrs. Child.
[5] Not written by Willis.
[6] In a late anthology, this poem of Willis is included under the
melodramatic title _Two Women_. An author’s choice of a title is almost as
much to be respected as his text. In this instance, Willis’s own selection
was not only much the better, but it is interesting as probably suggested
to him by lines that were favorites of his in Longfellow’s translation
from Uhland:--
“For, invisibly to thee,
Spirits twain have crossed with me.”
[7] See also his paper on _The American Drama_, for an elaborate review of
_Tortesa_, which, with all its defects, he thought the best American play.
[8] See Gill’s _Life of Poe_ for a fac-simile letter of Willis to Poe.
[9] An allusion to the interlocutors in Willis’s _Cloister_ and _Cabinet_,
dialogues between the editors of the _Mirror_ in not very successful
imitation of the _Noctes Ambrosianæ_.
[10] Cambridge, January 13, 1844.
[11] J. Addison Richards visited Idlewild to make sketches for his
illustrated article in _Harper’s Magazine_ for January, 1858, _q. v._ for
a full description of the place.
[12] Lady G. Fane and Mrs. Clifford.
APPENDIX.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The following is a list of the first editions of Willis’s books. In a few
instances these were published first in England. In such cases the London
edition only is given. Most of his later works were published
simultaneously, or nearly so, in England and America. In such cases only
the first American edition is given. Of the various collective editions of
his verse, published since 1844, only the final and most complete is
mentioned, viz., the Clark & Maynard edition of 1868 (No. 29). No really
complete edition of Willis’s writings has ever been printed. The first
collective edition which laid claim to being complete was entitled: The
Complete Works of N. P. Willis. 1 vol., 895 pp. New York: J. S. Redfield,
1846. The thirteen volumes in uniform style, issued by Charles Scribner
from 1849 to 1859, form as nearly a complete edition of Willis’s prose
since 1846 as is ever likely to be made.
1. Sketches. 96 pp. Boston: S. G. Goodrich, 1827.
2. Fugitive Poetry. 91 pp. Boston: Peirce & Williams, 1829.
3. Poem delivered before the Society of United Brothers, at Brown
University, on the Day preceding Commencement, September 6, 1831,
with other poems. 76 pp. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1831.
4. Melanie and Other Poems. Edited by Barry Cornwall. 231 pp.
London: Saunders & Otley, 1835. The first American edition was
published by Saunders & Otley, at New York, in 1837, and contained
some additional pieces. 242 pp.
5. Pencillings by the Way. 3 vols. London: Macrone, 1835.
This was an imperfect edition. The first complete edition was
published by Morris & Willis, in the “Mirror Library,” New York,
1844.
6. Inklings of Adventure. 3 vols. London: Saunders & Otley, 1836.
7. Bianca Visconti; or, The Heart Overtasked. A Tragedy in Five
Acts. New York: Samuel Colman, 1839.
8. Tortesa; or, The Usurer Matched. A Play by N. P. Willis. New
York: Samuel Colman, 1839. Nos. 7 and 8 were published in one volume
in England. Two Ways of Dying for a Husband. 1. Dying to keep Him;
or, Tortesa the Usurer. 2. Dying to lose Him; or, Bianca Visconti.
245 pp. London: Hugh Cunningham, 1839.
9. À l’Abri; or, The Tent Pitched. New York: Samuel Colman, 1839.
This was published as Letters from under a Bridge, together with
poems, by George Virtue, in London, 1840; and under the same title,
with the addition of the “Letter to the Purchaser of Glenmary,” by
Morris & Willis in the “Mirror Library,” New York, 1844.
10. Loiterings of Travel. 3 vols. London: Longman, 1840. Published
in America as Romance of Travel; comprising Tales of Five Lands. 1
vol. New-York: S. Colman, 1840.
11. The Sacred Poems of N. P. Willis [Mirror Library]. New York,
1843.
12. Poems of Passion, by N. P. Willis [Mirror Library]. New York,
1843.
13. Lady Jane and Humorous Poems [Mirror Library]. New York, 1844.
14. Lecture on Fashion before the New York Lyceum. New York, 1844.
15. Dashes at Life with a Free Pencil. New York: Burgess, Stringer &
Co., 1845.
16. Rural Letters and Other Records of Thought at Leisure. New York:
Baker & Scribner, 1849.
17. People I Have Met. New York: Baker & Scribner, 1850.
18. Life Here and There. New York: Baker & Scribner, 1850.
19. Hurrygraphs. New York: Charles Scribner, 1851.
20. Summer Cruise in the Mediterranean. New York: Charles Scribner,
1853.
21. Fun Jottings; or, Laughs I have taken a Pen to. New York:
Charles Scribner, 1853.
22. Health Trip to the Tropics. New York: Charles Scribner, 1854.
23. Ephemera. New York: G. W. Simmons, 1854.
24. Famous Persons and Places. New York: Charles Scribner, 1854.
25. Out Doors at Idlewild; or, The Shaping of a Home on the Banks of
the Hudson. New York: Charles Scribner, 1855.
26. The Rag Bag. A Collection of Ephemera. New York: Charles
Scribner, 1855.
27. Paul Fane; or, Parts of a Life Else Untold. A Novel. New York:
Charles Scribner, 1857.
28. The Convalescent. New York: Charles Scribner, 1859.
29. The Poems, Sacred, Passionate, and Humorous of N. P. Willis.
Complete edition. 380 pp. New York: Clark & Maynard, 1868.
The following list includes the works, edited, compiled, and partly
written by Willis, but not the various journals and magazines of which he
was editor.
1. The Legendary. Edited by N. P. Willis. 2 vols. Boston: Samuel G.
Goodrich, 1828.
2. The Token. A Christmas and New Year’s Present. Edited by N. P.
Willis. Boston: S. G. Goodrich, 1829.
3. American Scenery. From Drawings by W. H. Bartlett. The Literary
Department by N. P. Willis, Esq. 2 vols. London: George Virtue,
1840.
4. Canadian Scenery. From Drawings by W. H. Bartlett. The Literary
Department by N. P. Willis, Esq. 2 vols. London: George Virtue,
1842.
5. The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland. Illustrated by Drawings
from W. H. Bartlett. The Literary Portion of the Work by N. P.
Willis and J. Sterling Coyne, Esqs. London: George Virtue, 1842.
6. The Opal. New York: J. C. Riker, 1844.
7. Trenton Falls. Edited by N. Parker Willis. 90 pp. New York:
George P. Putnam, 1851.
8. Memoranda of the Life of Jenny Lind. By N. Parker Willis. 238 pp.
Philadelphia: Robert E. Peterson, 1851.
9. The Thought Blossom. A Memento. New York: Leavitt & Allen, 1854.
INDEX.
Aberdeen, Lord, 151, 186, 189.
Adams, John, principal of Phillips Academy, 18, 27.
Adams, William, 27, 28.
Album, The, 49.
Aldrich, T. B., 298, 336, 350.
Alger’s Life of Forrest, 316.
Allston, Washington, 91.
Amaranth, The, 101.
Amateur, The, travesties Willis, 90.
American Monthly Magazine, The, 20, 21, 51;
established by Willis, 82;
contributors to, 83, 84;
Willis’s contributions to, 84-88;
discontinuance of, 98, 99; 206, 207, 265.
American Review, The, 275.
Andover, school life at, 18-20.
Annuals, The, 77-80.
Antrobus’s, Lady, a Supper at, 159.
Appleton, T. G., 82.
Apthorp, Mrs., her seminary at New Haven, 57.
Athenæum, The, Willis’s contributions to, 164, 216, 217.
Atlantic Monthly, The, 345;
reminiscences of Willis in, 351.
Atlantic Souvenir, The, 49, 77.
Aytoun, W. E., his parody of Melanie, 181.
Bailey, John, an ancestor of Willis, 4.
Baillie, Joanna, Willis’s acquaintance with, 160, 163-165, 167; 271.
Barry Cornwall. See _Procter_.
Bartlett, W. H., 128, 221, 222, 249.
Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms quotes Willis, 341.
Beattie, Dr. Wm., 97, 149, 166, 330.
Beecher, Edward, 35, 94, 95.
Belknap, Abigail, 5.
Benjamin, Mary, Willis’s engagement to, 96, 97, 140;
poem to, 97, 183.
Benjamin, Park, 83, 96.
Berkeley, Grantley, his duel with Maginn, 196, 197.
Bermuda, visit to, 321.
Blackwood’s Magazine, 180, 195.
Blessington, Margaret, Countess of, Willis’s introduction to, 131,
134, 135;
her receptions at Seamore Place, 137-139;
her position in literature and society, 137, 138, 158, 159;
her kindness to Willis, 141, 148, 156, 165, 168;
letter to Willis, from, 173, 174; 151, 186, 192, 193, 237, 246,
251, 270, 283.
Bolney Priory, 283.
Bonaparte, Jerome, entertains Willis at Florence, 120.
Bonaparte, Lucien, 159.
Boston, Willis’s residence in, 10, 16, 17, 71-99;
literature and society in, 83, 92, 93;
Willis’s feelings toward, 99.
Boston Courier, 86, 87.
Boston Latin School, 16, 17.
Boston Recorder, established by Willis’s father, 9;
his contributions to, 48, 49, 52, 71.
Boston Statesman, 89, 91.
Boston Traveller, 90.
Botta, Mrs. Vincenzo, 293.
Bowring, Sir John, 111, 119, 141, 194, 271.
Bristol Reporter, 49.
Brother Jonathan, The, Willis a contributor to, 259, 260, 262,
263; 239.
Brown, Sexton, his epitaph on Cæsar, 332.
Brown University, Willis’s poem before, 100, 104.
Bryant, W. C., 49, 217, 220, 291, 308, 310, 313.
Buckingham, J. T., 86-88.
Bulwer, E. L., 138, 141, 237.
Bushnell, Horace, 32, 33, 47.
Byron, Ada, 164, 168.
Byron, Lady, 164, 168, 216.
Cæsar, Dr. Kane’s dog, 334.
Campbell, Thomas, a dinner with, 166, 167; 149, 245.
Cape Cod, letters from, 322, 323.
Carr, Mr., offers Willis Secretaryship at Tangiers, 112.
Censor, The, 90.
Channing, W. E., 144, 216;
Willis’s Sketch of, 164.
Charleville, Lady, 156, 157.
Cheney, J., 80, 81.
Child, Mrs. L. M., 80, 90, 199.
Cholera in Paris, the, 114, 115.
Christian Examiner, The, 48.
Christian Watchman, The, 49.
Christopher North. See _Wilson_.
Cincinnati Monthly Review, 216.
Citation and Examination of William Shakespeare, MS. of given to
Willis, 131.
Class Day poem, 59.
Clay, Henry, 221, 242.
Clifton, Josephine, plays in Bianca Visconti, 231-233.
Colvin, Sidney, on Willis, 133.
Concord, N. H., school life at, 16.
Congdon, C. T., his Reminiscences of a Journalist quoted, 260.
Conic Sections Rebellion, 47.
Connecticut Journal, 49.
Constantinople, visit to, 126-128.
Cooper, J. F., entertains Willis in Paris, 110, 111;
Willis’s defense of, 216; 136, 210, 291, 306, 351.
Cork, Dowager Countess of, 166.
Corsair, The, 227;
established by Porter and Willis, 239-242;
Willis’s contributions to, 243, 244, 247, 249, 253;
Thackeray’s letters to, 253-256;
suspends publication, 259, 260; 265.
Coughton Court, visit at, 172.
Court Magazine, The, Willis’s contributions to, 140, 154, 206.
Cox, William, 103.
Culprit Fay, The, 217.
Dalhousie, Earl of, Willis’s visit to, 149, 150, 152;
letters from, 174, 190; 189.
Dalhousie, Lady, 149, 190;
letter from, 191.
Dana, C. A., 63, 332.
Dana, R. H., 350.
Dawes, Rufus, 84, 91, 92.
Day, Jeremiah, 35.
De Forest, Mrs., 58.
Dewey, Dr. O. P., 308, 310.
Diary, Passages from Willis’s, 165-169.
Dickens, Charles, Willis’s acquaintance with, 264.
Disraeli, Benjamin, 138, 237, 252, 253.
Doane, G. W., 81.
Dollar Magazine, The, Willis’s editorship of, 260.
D’Orsay, Count Alfred, 75, 138, 158, 166, 237, 251.
Douglas, Francis, 8.
Douglas, Lucy, 6, 55.
Down Town Bard, lyrics by, 267.
Drake, J. R., 217, 292.
Duganne, A. J. H., his Parnassus in Pillory, 298.
Durant, Henry, Willis’s room-mate at Yale, 31, 40.
Duyckinck, Evert A., 293.
Dwight, Louis, 27, 28.
Dwight, Louisa. See _Louisa Willis_.
Eastern Argus, The, 8.
Edinburgh, visit to, 150.
Edinburgh Review, The, 118, 194.
Eglintoun Tournament, 244.
Emerson, R. W., 16, 345.
England, Willis’s arrival in, 130;
residence in, 135-179;
liking for, 135-137;
second visit to, 243-259;
third visit to, 276, 283-286.
English, T. D., 275.
Erie Canal, the trip along, 60, 61.
Europe, Willis’s life in, 107-179;
influence of, on his character and writings, 107-110.
Everett, Edward, 16, 18, 167;
Inklings dedicated to, 206.
Fable for Critics, A, passage from, 302.
Fane, Lady Georgiana, 246, 343, 344.
“Fanny Fern.” See _Sarah P. Willis_.
Fay, T. S., edits the Mirror, 100;
his writings, 102, 103; 132, 284, 291.
Felton, C. C., 206.
Fields, J. T., 271, 332, 350.
Fishwoman’s Son, The, a parody of Willis, 304.
Flint, Rev. Timothy, 216, 217.
Florence, Willis’s residence at, 119-125.
Fonblanque, A. W., 138;
offended by Pencillings, 192, 193.
Forget-Me-Not, The, 77.
Forrest, Edwin, Willis involved in his divorce suit, 307-321;
assaults Willis, 312-314.
Forrest, Mrs. Edwin, _vide supra_.
Forster, John, his Life of Landor quoted, 133, 264.
Franklin, Benjamin, 6.
Franklin, Lady, 163.
Franklin, Sir John, 160.
Fraser, James, 197, 237.
Fraser’s Magazine, reviews Pencillings, 194-197.
Fuller, Hiram, 273, 276, 286.
Germany, visit to, 284, 286.
Gibson, John, teaches Willis to Sculp, 121.
Gift, the, 82, 262.
Glenmary, 32, 163, 220;
description of, 223;
Willis’s life at, 223-231;
sale of, 263; 264, 285, 329.
Godey’s Lady’s Book, Willis a contributor to, 260-263, 266, 286;
parodied in, 303, 304.
Godwin, Parke, 308-310, 313.
Goodrich, S. G., 49, 72;
his impressions of Willis, 73-75, 77, 81, 89, 90.
Gordon, Duke of, visit to the, 151, 152; 186;
his opinion of Pencillings, 190.
Gore House, Lady Blessington at, 156, 158, 193, 194, 252.
Graham’s Magazine, Willis a contributor to, 260-262, 266.
Gray, Dr. J. F., 330, 348.
Greeley, Horace, 293, 345.
Greene, Nathaniel, 91.
Greenough, Horatio, his friendship with Willis abroad, 110, 120, 121.
Grigsby, H. B., his reminiscences of Willis at college, 47, 48.
Grinnell, Cornelia. See _Cornelia Grinnell Willis_.
Grinnell, Hon. Joseph, 121, 287, 321, 323, 330, 340.
Grisi, Julia, a supper with, 159.
Guiccioli, Countess, 112, 119, 165, 168.
Halleck, Fitz Greene, 56, 102, 220, 264, 291.
Harding, Chester, 63, 92.
Harper’s Ferry, excursion to, 345.
Harper’s Monthly Magazine, description of Idlewild in, 332.
Harvard College, 17.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 72, 74, 80, 345.
Hildreth, Richard, 83.
Hillhouse, James, his influence on Willis, 70.
Hoffman. C. F., 292, 293.
Holmes, Dr. O. W., his recollections of Willis, 75; 271, 350, 351.
Home Journal, The, 15, 163, 215, 266;
established by Morris and Willis, 287;
character of, 288;
Willis’s contributions to, 273, 288-290, 293, 322, 325, 328, 330,
338, 340, 342, 344;
associate editors of, 296, 298, 335, 336; 304;
on Edwin Forrest, 308, 311, 314, 319; 337;
its circulation, 346; 347.
Howe, Dr. S. G., with Willis in Paris, 110, 111; 350.
Idlewild, 93, 307;
Willis’s country seat, 326-350;
description of, 326, 327, 332 _note_;
naming of, 328, 329; 345-347, 349.
Imaginary Conversations, Landor’s intrusted to Willis, 131.
Independent Chronicle, The, 6, 7.
Ireland, tour of, 244-246.
Irving, Washington, 136, 140, 291;
exchanges visits with Willis, 332, 333; 351.
Italy, residence in, 119-125.
Jackson, Andrew, 135, 196.
Jacobs, Harriet, 276, 350;
story of her escape from slavery, 284, 285.
Jeffrey, Lord, a dinner with, 150; 194.
Jenkins, Joseph, 28, 93;
marries Mary Willis, 30.
Johnson family, The, of Stratford, Conn., 55.
Kemble, Charles, 246.
Kennedy, J. P., letter from, 318; 332, 342.
Killinger, Freiherr Von, letter from, 217, 218.
Knickerbocker Magazine, The, 292.
Knickerbocker School, The, 290-293.
Ladies’ Companion, The, 157, 261.
Lafayette, Marquis of, 110.
Lamb, Charles and Mary, a breakfast with, 141.
Landon, Miss L. E., 80, 86, 184, 197, 237, 238.
Landor, W. S., Willis’s relations with, 131-135;
letter from, 134; 141, 271.
Langdon, Octavus, entertains Willis at Smyrna, 128, 129.
Ledger, The, 66.
Leech, John, 165.
Legendary, The, edited by Willis, 72, 75, 80, 81.
Leigh, Augusta, 164.
Leipsic, The great fair at, 286.
Lennox, Lady Sophia, 151.
Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, 342, 343;
letter from, 344.
Linonian Society, The, 37, 41, 51;
poem before 271.
Literati of New York, The, 274, 293.
Livingston, Miss Adele, visit to at Skaneateles, 62.
Lockhart, J. G., 77;
his attack on Pencillings, 185-190, 193, 196, 199.
London, residence in, 137-149, 154-169.
London Literary Souvenir, 77.
London Morning Herald, 129.
London Morning Chronicle, 286, 287.
London Times, on the Willis and Marryat affair, 202, 203, 205.
Longfellow, H. W., a fellow townsman of Willis, 1-3; 10, 117, 220,
269 _note_, 350.
Lover, Samuel, 253.
Lowell, J. R., correspondence with Willis, 300, 301;
his estimate of Willis, 66, 302; 350.
Lucca, Baths of, 122.
Lunt, George, 75, 83, 91.
Lyceum, The, 49.
Lynch, Miss Anne. See _Mrs. Vincenzo Botta_.
McLellan, Isaac, 20, 83.
Maclise Portrait Gallery, 196 _note_.
Macready, W. C., 253, 308.
Madden, R. R., his Life of Lady Blessington quoted, 151, 192, 245;
impressions of Willis, 156, 157.
Maginn, Dr. William, reviews Pencillings, 195, 196, 199;
his duel with Berkeley, 196, 197.
Malta, sojourn at, 130.
Marryat, Frederick, 89, 154, 193;
his quarrel with Willis, 197-206; 234.
Marseilles, letter from, 109; adventure at, 124.
Marsh, G. P., 341.
Marshall, Emily, 62; acrostic to, 98.
Martineau, Harriet, her impressions of Willis, 142-148.
Mediterranean, Cruise up the, 125-129.
Memorial, The, 49.
Metropolitan Magazine, The, Willis’s contributions to, 140, 154, 206;
its review of Pencillings, 89, 197-201.
Michell, William, 178, 179, 251.
Millingen, Dr., 128.
Mirror Library, The, 269.
Mitford, Mary R., 76, 142, 152.
Moncrieff, Lady, 150, 159.
Moore, Thomas, 141, 160, 171;
his remarks about O’Connell, 186, 188, 192, 193.
Morgan, Lady Sydney, 163, 253.
Morris, G. P., editor of the Mirror, 100;
his character and talents, 100-102; 110, 112, 155, 197, 206;
coolness between, and Willis, 236-239;
establishes The New Mirror, 265;
Evening Mirror, 273;
National Press and Home Journal, 286-88;
Willis’s affection for, 296, 297, 347; 303, 327.
Morse, S. F. B., 110.
Motley, J. L., 82, 96.
Musical World, The, 15.
Mustapha, the perfumer, 127, 128, 213.
Nahant, 88, 92, 209, 212.
National Press, The, started by Morris, 286, 287.
Neal, John, 1, 81, 303.
New England Galaxy, The, 88.
New Haven in 1827, 37-39.
New Mirror, The, established, 265, 266;
Willis’s contributions to, 266-269, 288, 308, 338;
suspends publication, 272; 296, 299, 300.
New Monthly Magazine, The, Willis’s contributions to, 140, 154, 155,
161, 206, 227, 249.
New World, The, 239.
New York Albion, 259.
New York Commercial Advertiser, 306.
New York Courrier and Enquirer, 242, 307, 320.
New York Courier des États Unis, 332.
New York Evening Mirror, edited by Morris and Willis, 266, 273, 275,
286.
New York Evening Post, 291, 313.
New York Herald, on the Forrest testimony, 310, 311.
New York Mirror;
Willis becomes editor of, 99;
described 102, 103;
Willis’s foreign correspondence in, 103, 104, 114, 115-119, 129,
130, 153, 172, 184, 185, 188, 189, 197, 201, 206, 237;
Willis ceases to edit, 236;
discontinuance of, 265;
miscellaneous contributions to, 48, 141, 155, 193, 215, 221, 223,
231, 233, 236, 249, 261; 145, 282, 238, 256, 284, 292.
New York, literature and society in, 290-294;
Willis’s residence in, 288-290, 294.
New York Spirit of the Times, 238.
Niagara, 62, 219, 221.
Norfolk Beacon, 47.
Norton, Caroline, 141, 184, 237, 253.
North American Review, The, 2, 206.
O’Connell, Daniel, 186, 188, 192.
O’Conor, Charles, 314.
Opal, The, 82, 262, 286.
Otis, Mrs. H. G., 93.
Owego, N. Y., 32, 222, 223, 225-227, 262.
Pardoe, Miss, 160, 163.
Paris, residence in, 110-115;
wedding trip to, 178.
Park Street Church, 4, 11, 35, 93, 94;
excommunicates Willis, 95.
Parnassus in Pillory, passages from, 298-300.
Parton, James, 296-298, 335, 336.
Parton, Mrs. James. See _Sarah P. Willis_.
Patterson, Commodore, 125, 129.
Paulding, J. K., 102, 243, 292.
Payson, Rev. Edward, 9.
Percival, J. G., 70, 80, 184, 217.
“Peter Parley.” See _S. G. Goodrich_.
Phillips, Morris, 288, 296, 297, 347, 349.
Pierpont, Rev. John, 343.
Pike, Albert, 83, 84.
Pirate, The, prospectus of, 240.
Placide, Harry, 231.
Poe, Edgar A., his relations with Willis, 273;
impressions of Willis, 274, 275; 206, 217, 269, 293, 295, 296, 303.
Poniatowski, Prince, 120.
Porter, Admiral Ker, 164.
Porter, Jane, Willis’s friendship with, 160, 163-166, 170, 172, 176,
177.
Porter, Dr. T. O., letters to, 225, 234, 238, 248, 249;
associated with Willis on the Corsair, 239, 240, 254, 259.
Portland, Maine, Willis’s birthplace, 1, 8, 10.
Potomac Guardian, 6, 7.
Praed, W. M., 163.
Procter, Bryan Waller, 138;
edits Melanie, 180.
Pumpelly, Geo. J., 32, 223.
Quarterly Review, The, abuses Pencillings, 133, 185-191, 194, 197.
Quincy, Edmund, 350.
Ramsay, Lord, 150, 190;
letter from, 174, 175.
Rand, the portrait painter, 166, 227.
Raymond, H. J., 307.
Remember Me, 82.
Republic, The, 33.
Rives, Mr., appoints Willis _attaché_, 113.
Robinson, H. C., a breakfast with, 141.
Rogers, Samuel, 149, 165.
“Roy,” Willis’s _nom de plume_, 48.
Ruth Hall, caricature of Willis in, 334-337.
Saratoga, letters from, 100;
described in Inklings, 209-211; 281.
Sargent’s Magazine, 262.
Scioto Gazette, 6.
Scotland, visit to, 149-152.
Scriptural poems, origin of, 10;
estimate of, 66-69.
Seamore Place, 137, 156.
Sharon Springs, letters from, 322.
Shaw, Mrs. Fanny, her friendship with Willis, 160-162, 165, 166, 170.
Shawsheen River, the, at Andover. 20-22.
Shirley Park, at Croydon, 160, 161, 169, 170, 278.
Sigourney, Mrs. L. H., 75, 80, 81, 84, 184, 261.
Silliman, Benjamin, 35, 36, 49.
Skaneateles, visit to, 62.
Skinner, Mrs Mary, her intimacy with Willis, 160;
letter to, from Willis, 161-163;
letter from, to Jane Porter, 176; 165, 219, 278.
Slingsby Papers, the, 63, 77, 154, 155, 207, 211.
Smith, Forbearance, 76.
Smith, Horace and James, 138, 246.
Smyrna, visit to, 128, 129.
Snelling, W. J., lampoons Willis, 88-90, 198, 199.
Stace, Mary. See _Mary Stace Willis_.
Stace, Gen. Wm., 170, 171, 243, 262.
Stanhope, Sir Leicester and Mrs., 141, 165, 166.
Staunton, Sir Geo., 156.
Stepney, Lady, 156, 246.
Steventon, Vicarage, 283, 284.
Stoddard, R. H., visits Glenmary, 228.
Stone, W. L., 81, 306.
Storm King, named by Willis, 327, 331.
Storrs, Dr. R. S., 351.
Stuart, Isaac, 28, 30.
Stuart, Lady Dudley, 159.
Sumner, Charles, 220, 343.
Susquehanna, rafting on the, 227.
Talfourd, Serjeant, 174, 249.
Taylor, Bayard, 117, 119;
befriended by Willis, 298; 299, 331.
Telegraph, The, 49.
Thackeray, W. M., 215;
writes for the Corsair, 253-256;
his notices of Willis, 256-259; 352.
Thought Blossom, The, 82.
Throckmorton, Sir Chas., visit to, 170, 172.
Token, The, 49;
edited by Willis, 72-74, 77, 80, 81.
Trenton Falls, first visit to, 62;
described, 76;
letters from, 322-324.
Truth: a New Tear’s Gift for Scribblers, lampooning Willis, 89.
Tupper, M. F., 165.
Undercliff, 247.
Unitarians, 11, 16, 17, 18, 32, 93.
United Brothers, Society of, poem before, 104.
United Service Gazette, The, 205.
United States, the, cruise of, 125, 129.
Upper ten thousand, the, 256, 341.
Utica, N. Y., visit to, 61.
Vail, Minister, 156.
Van Buren, John, 33, 34;
engaged in Forrest suit, 34, 316;
challenged by Willis, 317, 318.
Van Buren, Martin, 110, 222.
“Veritas,” letters to the Mirror, 237, 238.
Verplanck, G. C., 293.
Vienna, projected visit to, 284.
Vincent, Wm., 244, 283.
Virtue, Geo., 221, 244.
Voorhies, Mrs., 308.
Walker, Dr. J. B. F., medical reminiscences of Willis, 349.
Wallack, James, plays Tortesa, 232-234, 246.
Washington, correspondence from, 221, 222, 287;
during the war, 342-346.
Washington National Intelligencer, 263, 266.
Watts, Alaric A., 77.
Webb, J. W., his attacks on Willis, 242, 307, 320.
Webster, Daniel, commends Pencillings, 119; 214.
Weld, H. H., 260.
Westminster Review, The, 111, 194.
Wheaton, Henry, 284.
Whipple, E. P., 332, 350.
Wikoff, Henry, recollections of Willis, 33, 34; 35, 37, 58, 239;
his part in the Forrest case, 34, 308, 312.
Willis, Bailey, 5, 329.
Willis, Charles, 5.
Willis, Cornelia Grinnell, 121, 287, 308, 310, 316, 318, 319, 326,
343, 346.
Willis, Edith, 329.
Willis, George, 4.
Willis, Grinnell, 294.
Willis, Hannah Parker, her character and influence, 13, 14;
her death, 275.
Willis, Imogen, 264, 276, 284, 288.
Willis, Julia, 15, 45, 140.
Willis, Lilian, 294.
Willis, Louisa, 28, 284.
Willis, Lucy, 19.
Willis, Mary, 30.
Willis, Mary Stace, her engagement and marriage, 170, 171, 176, 177;
letter to, from Willis, 176, 177; 219-221, 228, 243, 244;
her death, 276; 278.
Willis, Nathaniel, Sr., 5, 6.
Willis, Nathaniel, Jr., his education and character, 5, 7, 8, 11-13;
edits three newspapers, 8-10; 17, 26, 95.
Willis, Nathaniel Parker, born at Portland, 1;
ancestry, 6-10;
home and school life, 11-17;
at Andover, 18-30;
at Yale College, 31-70;
begins his literary career in Boston, 71-82;
edits the American Monthly, 82-100;
goes abroad as foreign correspondent of the New York Mirror, 100-106;
spends five months in Paris, 110-115;
a year in Italy, 119-125;
half a year in a cruise up the Mediterranean, 125-130;
four months more in Italy, Switzerland, and France, 130;
two years in England, 130-179;
marries, 177;
returns to America and travels and corresponds for the Mirror,
219-222;
settles at Owego, N. T., 223-238;
starts the Corsair, and makes a second trip to England, 239-259;
returns to America and edits Brother Jonathan, 259-263;
sells his place at Owego and moves to New York, 263;
edits the New Mirror, 265-272;
the Evening Mirror, 273-275;
loses his wife and makes a third visit to England, 276;
taken ill in London, 283;
makes a short visit to Germany and returns to America, 284;
marries again, 287;
edits the Home Journal and makes his residence in New York, 287-307;
becomes involved in the Forrest divorce case, 307-319;
is assaulted by Edwin Forrest, 312-314;
goes on a health trip to Bermuda, the West Indies, and the Southern
States, 321;
buys a country home on the Hudson, 326;
life at Idlewild, 329-334;
spends the first year of the war at Washington, writing letters to
the Home Journal, 342-346;
takes lodgings in New York, 346, 347;
in failing health, 347-349;
dies at Idlewild, 350.
_Writings_:--
Absalom, 48, 49, 66, 296.
Absent, the, 155.
À L’ABRI. See LETTERS FROM UNDER A BRIDGE.
Albina M’Lush, 85, 90.
American Literature, 216.
AMERICAN SCENERY, 128, 221, 222, 244.
Annoyer, the, 75, 90, 97.
Bandit of Austria, the, 251.
Baron von Raffloff, 85.
Belfry Pigeon, the, 183.
Betrothal, the, 232, 233.
Better Moments, 69, 169.
Beware of Dogs and Waltzing, 277.
BIANCA VISCONTI, 231, 232, 234, 235, 249.
Birth-Day Verses, 13, 77, 183.
Born to love Pigs and Chickens, 279.
Broadway, a Sketch, 262.
Brown’s Day with the Mimpsons, 258.
Burial of Arnold, the, 48, 59.
By a Here and Thereian, 154.
Cabinet, the, 299.
CANADIAN SCENERY, 244, 247, 248.
Captain Thompson, 85.
Chamber Scene, 155.
Charming Widow of Sixty, A, 265.
Cherokee’s Threat, the, 39, 57, 63, 155, 207.
City Lyrics, 267, 268.
Cloister, the, 299.
Confessional, the, 183.
Contemplation, 82, 98.
CONVALESCENT, THE, 330-333, 340, 343.
Countess Nyschriem and the Handsome Artist, the, 277.
Daguerreotype Sketches of New York, 266.
DASHES AT LIFE WITH A FREE PENCIL, reviewed by Thackeray, 256;
estimate of, 276-282; 262, 286, 325, 338.
Death of Arnold, the. See the Burial of Arnold.
Death of Harrison, the, 270.
Death of the Gentle Usher, the, 85.
Dedication Hymn, 97.
Departed Improvisatrice, the, 242.
Diary of Town Trifles, 267.
Dilemma, the, 216.
Divan, the, 242.
Dying Alchemist, the, 105.
Dying for Him. See TORTESA THE USURER.
Edith Linsey, 39, 62, 63, 65, 76, 85, 88, 155, 161, 183, 212, 213,
277, 323, 324.
Elms of New Haven, the, 271.
Elopement, the, 84.
EPHEMERA, 216, 261, 264, 276, 288, 289, 337.
FAMOUS PERSONS AND PLACES, 286, 337.
Fancy Ball, the, 84.
Female Ward, the, 92, 279.
First Impressions of Europe. See PENCILLINGS BY THE WAY.
Fitz Powys and the Nun, 261.
Flirtation and Fox Chasing, 277.
Florence Gray, 183.
Four Rivers, the, 153, 223.
Fragments of Rambling Impressions, 216.
F. Smith, 63, 85, 88, 92, 155.
FUGITIVE POETRY, 97.
FUN JOTTINGS, 337.
Gallery, the, 242.
Getting to Windward, 277.
Ghost Ball at Congress Hall, the, 280, 281.
Gipsy of Sardis, the, 127, 129, 155, 212, 213.
Hagar in the Wilderness, 296.
HEALTH TRIP TO THE TROPICS, A, 322.
High Life in Europe and American Life, 276.
HURRYGRAPHS, 322.
Idle Man, the, 86.
Imei the Jew, 233.
Imogen and Cymbeline, 265.
Incidents in the Life of a Quiet Man, 85.
Incidents on the Hudson, 154, 218.
Inkling of Adventure, An, 85.
INKLINGS OF ADVENTURE, 178, 206;
estimate of, 207-215; 217, 247, 276.
Inlet of Peach Blossoms, the, 280.
Invalid Letters from Germany, 286, 322.
Jephthah’s Daughter, 66.
Jottings, 267.
Jottings Down in London, 253.
Just You and I, 267.
Kate Crediford, 280.
LADY JANE, 260, 269-271.
Lady Rachel, 277.
Lady Ravelgold, 86, 167, 252.
Larks in Vacation, 63, 85, 155.
Lazarus and Mary, 68.
Leaves from a Colleger’s Album, 76.
Leaves from a Table-Book, 261.
Leaves from the Heart Book of Ernest Clay, 252, 256, 277, 279.
LECTURE ON FASHION, 272.
LETTERS FROM UNDER A BRIDGE, 127, 132, 207, 223;
estimate of, 224-231; 236, 242, 248, 249, 263, 269, 282, 302,
322, 330.
Letters of Horace Fritz, Esq., 85.
Letter to the Unknown Purchaser and Next Occupant of Glenmary, 263.
LIFE HERE AND THERE, 325.
Lines on leaving Europe, 13, 179, 236.
Lines to Laura W----, 58.
Log in the Archipelago, A, 130, 206.
LOITERINGS OF TRAVEL. See ROMANCE OF TRAVEL.
Loiterings of Travel, 153.
Lookings on at the War, 342, 343.
Lord Iron, 181, 182.
Lost Letter Rewritten, A, 130.
Love and Diplomacy, 154, 213, 277.
Love in a Cottage, 268.
Love in the Library. See Edith Linsey.
Lunatic’s Skate, the, 17, 20, 46, 154, 218, 277.
Madhouse of Palermo, the, 154.
Mad Senior, the, 155.
Marquis in Petticoats, the, 262.
Meena Dimity, 279.
MELANIE AND OTHER POEMS, 161, 164, 166, 179-181;
estimate of, 181-184; 236, 270.
MEMORANDA OF THE LIFE OF JENNY LIND, 324.
Minute Philosophies, 88, 206.
Misanthropic Hours, 52.
Miss Jones’s Son, 279.
More Particularly, 267.
Morning in the Library, A, 88.
My Adventures at the Tournament, 244.
My Hobby--Rather, 154.
New Year’s Verses, 71.
Niagara, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence, 60, 62, 154, 212, 218.
Nora Mehidy, 279.
Notes from a Scrap Book, 215.
Notes upon a Ramble, 85.
On a Picture of a Girl, 81.
On Dress, 82, 286.
On the Death of a Young Lady, 57.
Open Air Musings in the City, 322.
OUT DOORS AT IDLEWILD, 330.
Paletto’s Bride, 251.
Parrhasius, 105.
Pasquali, the Tailor of Venice, 85, 252.
Passages from an Epistolary Journal, 253.
Passages from Correspondence, 261.
Paulding the Author disinterred, 242, 243.
PAUL FANE, 121, 151;
estimate of, 338-340.
P. Calamus, Esq., 84.
Pedlar Karl, 85, 154, 207.
Pencil, the, 242.
PENCILLINGS BY THE WAY, 85, 100, 104;
estimate of, 115-119; 126, 130, 138, 152, 153, 157, 178;
profits from, 184, 185;
reception of, by British press, 185-199; 193, 206, 207, 213;
translation of, 218; 236, 237, 249, 253, 269, 284, 298, 325.
PEOPLE I HAVE MET, 256, 325.
Phantom Head upon the Table, the, 278.
Pharisee and the Barber, the, 17.
Picker and Piler, the, 155, 227, 277.
Pity of the Park Fountain, the, 268.
Plain Man’s Love, A, 322.
POEM DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF UNITED BROTHERS, 104.
POEMS OF PASSION, 269, 275.
Poet and the Mandarin, the, 280.
Portrait, A, 98.
Power of an Injured Look, the, 82, 262.
Poyntz’s Aunt, 157, 261, 265.
Psyche before the Tribunal of Venus, 81.
Quarter Deck, the, 242.
RAG-BAG, THE, 338.
Revelation of a Previous Life, A, 278.
Revenge of the Signor Basil, the, 155, 213, 277.
Reverie at Glenmary, 230.
ROMANCE OF TRAVEL, 236, 248;
estimate of, 249-252; 276.
RURAL LETTERS, 286, 322.
Ruse, the, 81.
SACRED POEMS, 269.
Sacrifice of Abraham, the, 48, 49.
Saturday Afternoon, 81, 98.
SCENERY AND ANTIQUITIES OF IRELAND, 244, 247, 248.
Scenes of Fear, 63, 85, 155.
Scholar of Thebet Ben Chorat, the, 105.
Scrap Book, the, 86.
Scribblings, 86.
She was not There, 169.
SKETCHES, 66, 72, 73, 98.
Sketches of Travel, 153, 172, 221, 247.
Slipshoddities, 267.
Soldier’s Widow, the, 81.
Sparklings of Tenth Waves, 215.
Spirit Love of Ione S----, the, 279.
Spring, 236.
Story writ for the Beautiful, A, 243.
String that tied my Lady’s Shoe, the, 100.
Substance of a Diary of Sickness, the, 88.
SUMMER CRUISE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, A, 325.
Tales of Five Lands. See ROMANCE OF TRAVEL.
Tent Pitched, the. See LETTERS FROM UNDER A BRIDGE.
Tête-à-tête Confessions, 86.
Those Ungrateful Blidginses, 279.
Thoughts in a Balcony at Daybreak, 155, 168.
Thoughts while making the Grave of a New-Born Child, 264.
Three Weeks’ Trip to the West, 341.
To ----, 100.
To ----, 155.
To a City Pigeon, 81, 106.
To a Face Beloved, 193, 236.
To Edith, from the North. See To M----, from Abroad.
To Ermengarde, 216, 236.
To M----, from Abroad, 97, 183.
To my Mother from the Apennines, 13, 183.
To the Julia of Some Years Ago, 289.
Tom Fane and I, 154, 207.
Tom Hat, the, 82.
TORTESA THE USURER, 233-235, 248, 249, 274 _note_.
TRENTON FALLS, 324.
Two Buckets in a Well, 2 _note_.
Two Ways of Dying for a Husband. See BIANCA VISCONTI and TORTESA
THE USURER.
Unseen Spirits, 269.
Unwritten Music, 84, 294.
Unwritten Philosophy, 76, 142.
Unwritten Poetry, 76, 142.
Upon the Portrait of the Hon. Mrs. Stanhope, 141.
Usurer Matched, the. See TORTESA THE USURER.
Violanta Cesarini, 250, 251.
What I saw at the Fair, 286.
While We hold You by the Button, 267.
Widow by Brevet, the, 130.
Wife’s Appeal, the, 105.
Wigwam _v._ Almacks, 282.
Willis, Richard Storrs, 7, 14, 284, 298, 308, 310, 316.
Willis, Sarah P., “Fanny Fern,” 14;
writes Ruth Hall, 334-337.
Wilson, John, 52;
breakfast with, 150;
reviews Melanie, 180, 181; 185, 189.
Winthrop, Theodore, 58, 343.
Woodworth, Samuel, 100.
Woolwich, 170, 172.
Woolsey, T. D., 35, 42.
Yale College, 17;
Willis’s career at, 31-70;
condition of, in 1827, 35-37;
poem before, 271.
Youth’s Companion, The, established by Nathaniel Willis, 9; 49.
Youth’s Keepsake, The, 82.
American Men of Letters.
EDITED BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.
A series of biographies of distinguished American authors, having all the
special interest of biography, and the larger interest and value of
illustrating the different phases of American literature, the social,
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_Washington Irving._ By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.
_Noah Webster._ By HORACE E. SCUDDER.
_Henry D. Thoreau._ By FRANK B. SANBORN.
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_J. Fenimore Cooper._ By THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY.
_Margaret Fuller Ossoli._ By T. W. HIGGINSON.
_Ralph Waldo Emerson._ By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
_Edgar Allan Poe._ By GEORGE E. WOODBERRY.
_Nathaniel Parker Willis._ By HENRY A. BEERS.
_Benjamin Franklin._ By JOHN BACH MCMASTER.
_IN PREPARATION._
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It is a very charming piece of literary work, and presents the reader with
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It would hardly be possible to produce a fairer or more candid book of its
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“NOAH WEBSTER.”
Mr. Scudder’s biography of Webster is alike honorable to himself and its
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Mr. Sanborn has written a careful book about a curious man, whom he has
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Mr. Frothingham’s memoir is a calm and thoughtful and tender tribute. It
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“MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI.”
Here at last we have a biography of one of the noblest and the most
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Mr. Higginson writes with both enthusiasm and sympathy, and makes a volume
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“RALPH WALDO EMERSON.”
Dr. Holmes has written one of the most delightful biographies that has
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A biography of Emerson by Holmes is a real event in American
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“EDGAR ALLAN POE.”
Mr. Woodberry has contrived with vast labor to construct what must
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⁂ _For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price by
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