Streets. Its southern windows look out upon Lafayette Park, and beyond
it at the confronting White House, peculiarly suggestive to Col. Hay
of historic days and men; and as he labors on his History of Lincoln,
I imagine, the view of the once home of the martyr is a source at once
of sadness and of inspiration. In the same street, one block to the
west, lived George Bancroft; diagonally across the park, and in full
view, is the house where was attempted the assassination of Secretary
Seward, and near where Philip Barton Key was killed by Gen. Sickles;
opposite the east front of Col. Hay’s house is St. John’s, one of the
oldest Episcopal churches in the District of Columbia, much frequented
by the older Presidents. It was here that Dolly Madison exhibited her
frills and fervor. Before the days of American admirals, tradition
says that one of the old commodores, returning from a long and far
cruise in which he had distinguished himself, and starting for St.
John’s on a Sunday morning, entered the church as the congregation
was about repeating the Creed. As soon as he was in the aisle, the
people stood up, as is the custom. The old commodore, being conscious
of meritorious service, mistook the movement for an expression of
personal respect, and with patronizing politeness, waved his hand
toward the Rev. Dr. Pyne and the congregation, and said: “Don’t rise
on my account!” The whitened sepulchre of a house to the west of Col.
Hay’s, was the residence of Senator Slidell--the once international
What-shall-we-do-with-him? The eastern corner of the opposite block was
the home and death-place of Sumner. In the immediate neighborhood are
the three clubs of Washington--the Metropolitan, Cosmos, and Jefferson.
The first has the character of being exclusive, the second of being
scientific, and the third liberal. In the one they eat terrapin; in
the other, talk anthropology; while in the last, Congressmen, Cabinet
officers and journalists are “at home,” and a spirit of cosmopolitanism
prevails.
The author of “Pike County Ballads” and “Castilian Days,” and the
biographer of Lincoln, is about sixty-four years of age. In person, of
average height; gray hair, mustache and beard, and brown eyes; well
built, well dressed, well bred and well read, he is pleasant to look
at and to talk with. He is a good talker and polite listener, and
altogether an agreeable and instructive companion. As a collector he
seems to be jealous as to quality rather than greedy as to quantity.
His shelves are not loaded down with so many pounds of print bound in
what-not, and his pictures and works of art “have pedigrees.” I found
great pleasure in examining a fine old edition of Lucan’s “Pharsalia,”
printed at Strawberry Hill, with notes by Grotius and Bentley. A much
more interesting work was “The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells,
Printed by Adam Islip, 1635.” On the fly-leaf was written: “E. B.
Jones, from his friend A. C. Swinburne.” My attention was called to the
following lines:
Mellifluous Shake-speare, whose enchanting quill,
Commanded mirth and passion, was but Will.
They suggested the Donnelly extravaganza; and I discovered Col. Hay to
be of the opinion which well-informed students of English literature
generally hold--namely, that Mr. Donnelly’s ingenuity is equalled only
by his ignorance. There was also a presentation copy of the first
edition of Beckford’s “Vathek,” and De Thou’s copy of Calvin’s Letters,
with De Thou’s and his wife’s ciphers intertwined in gilt upon its side
and back, expressive of a partnership even in their books; and rare and
costly editions of Rogers’s “Italy” and “Poems.” It will be recollected
that the banker-poet engaged Turner to illustrate his verses, and the
total cost to the author was about $60,000. Among objects of special
interest are the bronze masks of Mr. Lincoln, one by Volk (1860),
the other by Clark Mills (1865). It is a test of credulity to accept
them as the counterfeit presentments of the President. There is such
a difference in the contour, lines and expression, that, as Col. Hay
remarked, the contrast exhibits the influences and effects of the
great cares and responsibilities under which Mr. Lincoln labored; and
although both casts were made in life, and at an interval of only five
years, the latter one represents a face fifteen years older than the
first.
Over the library door are two large bronze portraits, hanging on the
same line; one is of Howells, the other of James. Residence abroad,
and that attention to and study of art to which “An Hour with the
Painters” bears evidence, enabled Col. Hay to make a selection of
oils and water-colors, pen-and-inks and drawings which is not marred
by anything worthless. Before referring to these, I must not pass a
portrait of Henry James, when twenty-one years of age, painted by
Lafarge. A Madonna and Child, by Sassoferrato; St. Paul’s, London,
by Canaletto; a woman’s portrait by Maes; four pen-and-ink sketches
by Du Maurier, and one by Zamacois; two by Turner--of Lucerne and
the Drachenfels (see “Childe Harold,” or the guide-book, for Byron’s
one-line picture of the castellated cliff); a water-color by Girtin,
Turner’s over-praised teacher; and a collection of original drawings
by the old masters--Raphael, Correggio, Teniers, Guido, Rubens and
others,--surely there is nothing superfluous in his collection; and
the same elegant and discriminating taste is exhibited in all of Col.
Hay’s surroundings. The poet has laid aside his lyre temporarily, and
with Mr. Nicolay, late Marshal of the Supreme Court, devoted himself to
preparing for _The Century_ what, at the time it was written, was the
most exhaustive memoir of a man and his times ever written on this side
of the Atlantic. Conscious of the depth, height, and breadth of their
theme, the writers did not propose to leave anything for successors to
supply on the subject of Mr. Lincoln’s administration.
Reflecting that though scientific workers were plentiful in Washington
there was but a sprinkling of literary men, I asked Col. Hay what he
thought of the capital’s possibilities as a “literary centre.” His
opinion was that the great presses and publishing-houses were the
nucleus of literary workers; but that the advantages afforded, or to
be afforded, by the National Library and other Government facilities,
must of necessity invite authors to Washington, from time to time, on
special errands, or for temporary residence.
B. G. LOVEJOY.
[Since his residence in London as Ambassador to the Court of St. James
and his resignation from the position of Secretary of State, Col. Hay
has divided his time between Washington and his summer home at Lake
Sunapee, in New Hampshire.--EDITORS.]
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
AT CAMBRIDGE
Colonel Higginson looks back on the anti-slavery period as on something
quite unusual in human experience. He believes there has been no
other movement of the moral consciousness in man since the period
of the Puritan upheaval which has given such mental quickening and
force to those taking part in it. He sees in it the better part of
his training as an author; and it has guided him in his relations to
the social and intellectual agitations of his time. His training as
a reformer he cannot forget; and he still remains first of all the
friend of human progress. In 1850, he lost his pulpit in Newburyport
because of his zealous advocacy of the anti-slavery cause, in season
and out of season. At the same time, he was the Freesoil candidate for
Congress in the northeastern district of Massachusetts. He became the
pastor of a Free Church in Worcester, not connected with any sect,
and organized quite as much in behalf of freedom in politics as for
the sake of freedom in religion. He was connected with all the most
stirring anti-slavery scenes in Boston, and he eagerly favored physical
resistance to the encroachments of the pro-slavery party. He joined
in the Anthony Burns riot, in which he was wounded, and which failed
only through a misunderstanding. He was a leader in organizing Freesoil
parties for Kansas, and spent six weeks in the Territory in that
behalf. He was one of those who planned a party for the rescuing of
John Brown after his sentence at Harper’s Ferry; and he early offered
his services to the Governor of Massachusetts on the breaking out of
the Civil War. His zeal for the blacks was so well known, that it
inspired the following lines of some anonymous poetizer:
There was a young curate of Worcester
Who could have a command if he’d choose ter;
But he said each recruit
Must be blacker than soot
Or else he’d go preach where he used ter!
In fact, he recruited two companies in the vicinity of Worcester,
and was given a captain’s commission. While yet in camp he received
the appointment to the colonelcy of the First South Carolina
Volunteers--“the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the
United States during the late Civil War,”--nearly six months previous
to Colonel Shaw’s famous regiment, the 54th Mass. Volunteers.
Col. Higginson signed the first call, in 1850, for a national
convention of the friends of woman’s suffrage, which was held
in Worcester. One of the leaders of that movement since, his
fifteen-years’ defence of it in the columns of _The Woman’s Journal_
shows the faithfulness of his devotion. His connection with the Free
Religious Association proves that he has been true to the faith of
his youth, and to his refusal to connect himself with any sect in
entering the pulpit. When that association lost its pristine glow and
devotion, with the passing of the transcendental period, he still
remained faithful to his early idea, that all religious truth comes
by intuition. His addresses before it on “The Sympathy of Religions”
and on “The Word Philanthropy” indicate the direction of his faith in
humanity and in its development into ever better social, moral, and
spiritual conditions.
Whatever the value of the independent movement in politics, which
has given us a change in the political administration of the country
for the first time in a quarter of a century, it doubtless owes its
inception and strength largely to those men, like Curtis, Higginson,
and Julian, who were enlisted heart and soul in the anti-slavery
agitation, and who got there a training which has made them impatient
of party manipulation and wrong-doing. Had these men not been
trained to believe in man more than in party, there would have been
no independent organization and no revolution in our politics. In
1880, Colonel Higginson was on the committee of one hundred for the
organization of a new party in case Grant was nominated for a third
term; and four years previously he placed himself in line with the
Independents. In 1884, he was the mover of the resolution in the Boston
Reform Club for the calling of a convention, out of which grew the
independent movement of that year. The resolutions reported by him were
taken up in the New York convention and the spirit of them carried
to successful issue. He was a leading speaker for the Independents
during the campaign, giving nearly thirty addresses in the States of
Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The
chairman of the Massachusetts committee wrote him after the campaign of
the great value of his services, and thanked him in the most flattering
terms in behalf of the Independents of the State.
Colonel Higginson is an author who finds his intellectual inspiration
in contact with Nature and man, as well as in books. His essays on
out-door life, and on physical culture, show the activity of his nature
and his zeal for all kinds of knowledge. He easily interests himself
in all subjects; he can turn his mind readily from one pursuit to
another, and he enjoys all with an equal relish. He has a love of
mathematics such as few men possess; and, when in college, Professor
Peirce anticipated that would be the direction of his studies. During
the time of the anti-slavery riots he one day met the Professor in
the street, and remarked to him that he should enjoy an imprisonment
of several months for the sake of the leisure it would give him to
read La Place’s “Mécanique Céleste.” “I heartily wish you might have
that opportunity,” was the Professor’s reply; for he disliked the
anti-slavery agitation as much as he loved his own special line of
studies. Colonel Higginson has also been an enthusiastic lover of
natural history, and he could easily have given his life to that
pursuit. Perhaps not less ardent has been his interest in the moral and
political sciences, to the practical interpretation of which his life
has always been more or less devoted. Not only has he been the champion
of the reforms already mentioned, but he has been the zealous friend of
education. For three years a member of the Massachusetts State Board
of Education, he has also been on the visiting committees of Harvard
University and the Bridgewater Normal School for several years. He was
in the Massachusetts Legislature during 1880 and 1881. He has been an
active member of the Social Science Association; and he is now the
President of the Round Table Club of Boston, which grew out of that
organization.
This versatility of talent and activity has had its important influence
on Colonel Higginson’s life as an author. It has given vitality,
freshness, and a high aim to his work; but it has, perhaps, scattered
its force. All who have read his principal works, as now published in
a uniform edition by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., will have noted that
they embody many phases of his activity. There are the purely literary
essays, the two volumes of Newport stories and sketches, the out-door
essays, the volume of army reminiscences, and the volume of short
essays (from the _Independent_, _Tribune_, and _Woman’s Journal_)
devoted to the culture and advancement of woman. The admiring readers
of the best of these volumes can but regret that in recent years his
attention has been so exclusively drawn to historical writing. Though
his later work has been done in the finest manner, it does not give a
free opportunity for the expression of Colonel Higginson’s charming
style and manner. The day when he returns to purely original work, in
the line of his own finished and graceful interpretations of nature and
life, will be hailed with joy by the lovers of his books.
Any account of the personal characteristics of Colonel Higginson would
be imperfect which omitted to mention his success as a public speaker
and as an after-dinner orator. He was trained for public speaking on
the anti-slavery platform, a better school than any now provided for
the development of youthful talent. When preaching in Worcester he
began to deliver literary lectures before the flourishing lyceums of
that day. As a lecturer he was successful; and he continued for many
years to be a favorite of the lyceum-goers, until the degeneracy of
the popular lecture caused him to withdraw from that field of literary
effort. The lecture on “The Aristocracy of the Dollar,” which he now
occasionally gives to special audiences, has been in use for more than
twenty years, and it has been transformed many times. Another well-worn
lecture is that on “Literature in a Republic,” which he repeats less
often. Among his other subjects have been “Thinking Animals” (instinct
and reason), and “How to Study History.” The paper in the “_Atlantic_
Essays” on “The Puritan Minister” long did duty as a lyceum lecture;
and those who have read it can but think it well fitted to the purpose.
On the platform Colonel Higginson is self-controlled in manner, and
strong in his reserved power. He does not captivate his hearer by the
rush and swing and over-mastering weight of his oratory, but by the
freshness, grace and finish of his thought. He often appears on the
platform in Cambridge and Boston in behalf of the causes for which
those cities are noted, and no one is more popular or listened to with
greater satisfaction. Perhaps he only needs the passion and the stormy
vigor of a cause which completely commands and carries captive his
nature to make one of the most successful of popular orators. During
the political campaign of 1884 his addresses were marked by their force
and fire; and he was called for wherever there was a demand for an
enthusiastic and vigorous presentation of the Independent position. As
an after-dinner speaker, however, Colonel Higginson’s gifts shine out
most clearly and reveal the charm of his style to the best advantage.
It is the public rather than the private side of Colonel Higginson’s
character which has been thus revealed; but it is the side which is
most important to the understanding and appreciation of his books. It
is the quiet and busy life of the scholar and man-of-letters he leads
in Cambridge, but of a man-of-letters who is intensely interested in
all that pertains to his country’s welfare and all that makes for the
elevation of humanity. He is ready at any moment to leave his books
and his pen to engage in affairs, and in settling questions of public
importance, when the cause of right and truth demands. Quickly and
keenly sympathetic with the life of his time, he will never permit the
writing of books to absorb his heart to the exclusion of whatever
human interests his country calls him to consider.
Born and bred in Cambridge, Colonel Higginson lived in Newburyport,
Worcester, and Newport from 1847 to 1878. In the latter year he
returned to Cambridge, and took up his residence in a house near the
University. Soon after, he built a house on Observatory Hill, between
Cambridge Square and Mount Auburn Cemetery, on ground over which he
played as a boy. It is a plain-looking structure, combining the Queen
Anne and the old colonial style, but very cosey and homelike within.
The hall is modeled after that of an old family mansion in Portsmouth;
and many other features of the house are copied from old New England
dwellings. A sword presented to Colonel Higginson by the freemen of
Beaufort, S. C., the colors borne by his regiment, and other relics
of the Civil War, decorate the hall. To the left on entering is the
study, along one side of which are well-filled book-shelves, on
another a piano, while a bright fire burns in the open grate. Beyond
is a smaller room, lined on all sides with books, in which Colonel
Higginson does his writing. His book-shelves hold many rare books; a
considerable collection by and about women, which he prizes highly and
often uses, he presented to the Boston Public Library, where it is
known as the Galatea Collection. His study has no special ornaments;
its furniture is simple, and the book-cases are of the plainest sort.
The most attractive article of furniture the room contains is his
own easy-chair, which came to him from the Wentworth family, where
it had been an heirloom for generations. Back of the parlor is the
dining-room, which is sunny and cheerful, adorned with flowers, and
adapted to family life and conversation. The pictures that cover the
walls all through the house have been selected with discriminating
appreciation. Many indications of an artistic taste appear throughout
the house; and everywhere there are signs of the domestic comfort the
Colonel enjoys so much. His present wife is a niece of Longfellow’s
first wife. Her literary tastes have found expression in her “Seashore
and Prairie,” a volume of pleasant sketches, in the publication of
which Longfellow took a hearty interest; and in her “Room for One
More,” a delightful children’s book. Domestic in his tastes, his
home is to Colonel Higginson the centre of the world. Its “bright,
particular star” is his daughter of twenty, his only child, to whom he
is devotedly attached. His happiest hours are spent in her company, and
in watching the growth of her mind.
Everything about Colonel Higginson’s house indicates a refined and
cultivated taste, but nothing of the dilettante spirit is to be seen.
He loves what is artistic, but he prefers not to sacrifice to it the
home feeling and the home comforts. He writes all the better for his
quiet and home-keeping environment, and for the wide circle of his
social and personal relations with the best men and women of his time.
His literary work is done in the morning, and he seldom takes up the
pen after the task of the forenoon is accomplished. Most of his work
is done slowly and deliberately, with careful elaboration and thorough
revision. In this manner he wrote his review of Dr. Holmes’s “Emerson”
in _The Nation_; and his essays in the same periodical following the
deaths of Longfellow, Emerson, and Phillips. He thoroughly enjoyed
the writing of the papers published in _Harper’s Monthly_, which were
reissued in book form as his “Larger History of the United States,”
and he entered on the task of hunting out the illustrations and the
illustrative details with an antiquarian’s zeal and a poet’s love
of the romantic. His address on a Revolutionary vagabond shows the
fascination which the old-time has for him in all its features of
quaintness, romance and picturesqueness.
Colonel Higginson finds the morning hour the most conducive to
freshness and vigor of thought, and the most promotive of health of
body and mind. After dinner he devotes himself to his family, to
social recreation, to communings with and studies of Nature, and to
business. He is quite at home in Cambridge society; and, being to the
manner born, he enters into its intellectual and social recreations
with relish and satisfaction. He is a ready and interesting converser,
bright, witty, full of anecdote, and quick with illustrations and
quotations of the most pertinent kind. His wide reading, large
experience of life, and extensive acquaintance with men and women
give him rich materials for conversation, which he knows how to use
gracefully and with good effect. He readily wins the confidence of
those he meets. Women find him a welcome companion, whose kindliness
and chivalric courtesy win their heartiest admiration. They turn to
him with confidence, as to the champion of their sex, and he naturally
numbers many bright and noble women among his friends.
He is a dignified, ready and agreeable presiding officer. As a leader
of club life he is eminently successful, whether it be the Round Table,
the Browning, or the Appalachian Mountain Club. He enjoys a certain
amount of this kind of intellectual recreation; and fortunate is the
club which secures his kindly and gracious guidance. Very early a
reader of Browning, he is thoroughly familiar with the works of that
poet, and rejoices in whatever extends a knowledge of his writings.
Especially has he been the soul of the Round-Table Club, which meets
fortnightly in Boston parlors--an association full of good-fellowship,
the spirit of thoughtful inquiry, and earnest sympathy with the best
intellectual life of the time.
As Colonel Higginson walks along the street, much of the soldier’s
bearing appears; for he is tall and erect, and keeps the soldier’s
true dignity of movement. His chivalric spirit pervades much that he
has written, but it is tempered and refined by the artistic instinct
for grace and beauty. He has the manly and heroic temper, but none
of the soldier’s rudeness or love of violence. So he appears in his
books as of knightly metal, but as a knight who also loves the rôle of
the troubadour. A master of style, he does not write for the sake of
decoration and ornament. He is emphatically a scholar and a lover of
books, but not in the scholastic sense. A lover of ideas, an idealist
by nature and conviction, he sees in the things of the human spirit
what is more than all the scholar’s lore and knowledge wrung from the
physical world. He is a scholar who learns of men and events more than
of books; and yet what wealth of classic and literary allusion is his
throughout all his books and addresses! Whether in the study or in the
camp, on the platform or in the State House, his tastes are literary
and scholarly; but his sympathies are with all that is natural, manly
and progressive.