CHAPTER XVII

THE LAST YEARS

1888-1891

Lowell went again to England in the spring of 1888, and in June to

Bologna, where he was a delegate from Harvard on the occasion of the

celebration of the eight hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the

University. He received from Bologna the degree of Doctor of Letters. He

left London for the continent on Saturday the 9th of June and was back

in a week. He had a most uncomfortable experience, being attacked

severely by the enemy which now seemed to be always lying in wait for

him. He gave an outline of his discomfiture in a letter written to Mr.

Norton three weeks after his return to London.

“My gout began in Bologna. It announced itself on Tuesday by an illness

which prevented me from venturing out, and so a very pretty speech in

Italian which I had in my head remained there to the great loss of

mankind. Doctor Weir Mitchell[103] came to me at once on hearing of my

disorder, so that I was able to be out next day to receive my degree

with the rest. As I walked home from the ceremony I found myself very

lame and foreboded what was coming to pass. I got off with Story to

Milan by the train leaving Bologna at 1 A.M. I spent Thursday in Milan,

where I provided myself with felt slippers, and next day started for

London to escape being ill in an Italian inn. I got through the

thirty-one hours’ journey fairly well with the help of the Glasgow

delegates Ramsay and Ferguson, who helped me in every way. I don’t think

my journey did me any harm. By the time I reached Calais on Saturday I

was able to get on my boot again and thought I had got over the worst,

but next day I had to resign myself to my sofa, and for ten days was in

intense pain. The whole foot in every joint and the ankle were inflamed.

For three days the other foot (in the toe joint only) took sides with

its mate, and I was discouraged. This, however, passed off, and last

Thursday [5 July] I was able to be dressed. To-day I have my boots on,

though _stropeato. Ecce tutte._”

He was in Whitby again in August, living as he liked so well now to do

with his books and letters and few friends and the walks which were

little more than easy strolls. He wrote to his friend Mrs. Leslie

Stephen who was at St. Ives in Cornwall: “I am still pretty lame (do you

know I begin to think that I am really seventy at last, and not playing

that I am) and can take only short walks. But I hope that the air here

will gradually blow the years out of me again. And the fish diet, too, a

far more invigorating animal here than in your sleepy Southern waters

which have done nothing but sun themselves and doze since Sir Cloudesley

Shovel’s days. What are your pilchards when you contrive to catch ’em,

and your gurnards (of which latter indeed nothing is left but a

petrified head fit only for the table of a geologist that ever I heard

of) to our cod and whiting and ling, to speak of no others, with their

flesh hardened by constant struggle with our cold Northern waters? Why,

your poor fellows have to come all the way hither to catch even a

herring, while we have them fresh from the sea every morning. I wish I

could send you a few as we know them. And where is your Abbey? We are

under the special protection of B. V. Sanctæ Hildæ with the added flavor

in our prayers that she was a king’s daughter and therefore of our set,

and with that sympathy for our special infirmities that comes of

knowledge. If you have any saint ’tis some fellow with a name you can’t

pronounce, and who understands nothing but Cornish, whereas Hilda spoke

English, as Freeman has proved over and over again.”

To Mr. Norton, who had been advising with him on some points in the

translation of Dante, he wrote from Whitby: “You put me some pretty

stiff conundrums, but I will try.... The swoon at the end of the canto

(Inferno III.) is a nut too hard for my hammer. I have turned it and

tapped it on every corner that seemed hopeful without making so much as

a crack in it. Tambernic and Pietrapana might fall on it in vain. I must

have expressed myself clumsily in my last letter. I did not mean to

counsel paraphrase in the text, but at foot of page for the help of the

Philistine to whom all poetry is a dead language. At best the

translation of a poem is a waxen image of the living original, and being

too literal is to dress it in the very clothes it wore as if the reality

were in them.

“I do not know whether I told you that my last attack of gout had left

me more infirm than ever before. I am still lame in both feet, though I

insist on walking in the hope of getting limber and because without

exercise I can’t sleep. We have had disastrous weather here, a cold of

Antenora, with fierce winds to drive it in. Even the stones of the Abbey

seem to feel it and shudder. I am sitting by a fire as I write. For the

first time I begin to think myself capable of growing old.[104]

“I am in the same lodgings as last year, which is a pleasure to me, with

kind, simple people, who do all they can to make me happy. They are very

like our New England country folk, except in accent, almost the same

thing in fact.”

In this letter Lowell intimates one of the physical ills that were

attacking him, the loss of sleep. One of his friends and admirers, Canon

Stubbs, gave this reminiscence,[105] not long after Lowell’s death.

“Some years ago,” he writes, “I was in the habit of meeting him from

time to time at the country house of a common friend. One especial

evening--a ‘golden night of memory’--I shall never forget. After dinner

one of the guests asked Lowell to read one of his own poems. This

request he playfully put aside, but he began to talk to us about

Wordsworth, and read to us part of the ‘Laodamia,’ commenting, as he

read, much I confess to my surprise, on the narrowness and limited

experience of Wordsworth, and the one-sided development of his

intellectual powers. Then some chance expression turned the current of

his talk, and he began describing, with all the quaint humor and

delightful raillery of which he was so complete a master, a special

antidote to sleeplessness which he said he had himself lately

devised,--the invention of new chapters in Cæsar’s Commentaries on the

Gallic War. I wish I could remember the chapter which he then recited.

The aptness of the Latin phraseology was irresistibly funny. It told

‘how Vercingetorix and his army, retreating before Cæsar, had taken

refuge on a high, rocky hill, strongly fortified and precipitous on

every side, from which at first Cæsar had despaired of dislodging him

without a long siege. But while Cæsar was considering these things an

opportunity of acting successfully seemed to offer. He noticed a fissure

in the rock, which on investigation by night was discovered to pierce

the hill from side to side. [Here we expected the anachronism of

dynamite or gunpowder. But no; Lowell more justly appreciated the

natural genius of Cæsar.] Knowing that the winter was now nigh at hand,

Cæsar ordered two legions of soldiers to block up with clay and twisted

willow work the opposite ends of the rocky cleft, and then, having

filled the chasm with water, to await the issue. That night the frost

came; the water expanded; the high rock was cleft asunder; and down came

Vercingetorix and his army. For this success’--Lowell concluded--‘a

supplication of twenty days was decreed by the Senate upon receiving

Cæsar’s letter.’”

After a visit to St. Ives, Lowell returned to London and remained there

till the middle of November. His friends the Misses Lawrence were at

Wildbad. As he never quite finished his couplets to Mrs. Gilder, so he

never quite exhausted the playful names he gave these two ladies. “O

Giminy,” he wrote from London, 1 October “(for I have exhausted all

other ways of expressing your twinship in my affection, and any opening

exclamation will suit the context), O Giminy, I say, how can you be

happy in a hotel that Klumpps with a double p like a man with a club

foot, and in a town which, by its own confession, is both wild and bad?

What are you doing there? Taking the baths? You can’t soak the goodness

out of you, if you try never so hard, that’s one comfort. You ‘admired

the traces of the Romans at Treves’ did you? Pray, did you see the Holy

Coat? _That_ is what the place is famous for, bless your innocent souls.

And then your single room at Munich with ‘2 or 3 Bismarcks, as many

Gladstones and Döllingers’ in it. Do you expect me to believe _that_? It

would have been uninhabitable had there been only one apiece of them,

and you know it. You trifle with my understanding. Smoky London, indeed!

The sky to-day is like a gigantic blue bell tipped over to pour out the

sunshine it cannot contain. And the town is emptily delightful and one

does not see a soul one knows from one end of the week to t’other. I

shouldn’t mind its being fuller by a dozen or so, my Ambidue among them.

Indeed, I was thinking yesterday of writing to ask where you were and

when you were coming back to the lovers who (all but one of them) make

me so jealous. The middle of October seems a great way off to that

single inoffensive one, but ’tis better than nothing. I shall be here

till the middle of November, and you will let me know the moment you

come, won’t you?

“I haven’t the least notion where Wildbad is, and you give no

geographical details, so I don’t feel sure that this will ever reach the

Hôtel Klumpppppp though there can’t be two of that name even in this

most patient of worlds. Did Wagner ever set it to music? Methinks

’twould have suited his emphatic and somewhat halting genius. But I

shall try for a guide-book, and if this never reaches you, I shall be

consoled with thinking that you will never know how little you have

lost.

“I am very well, almost as well as before my gout; but I am rather dull,

as you were just saying to each other. However, your return will

brighten me, and you shall take me to the play and the opera and Madame

Tussaud’s just as often as you please. And I invite myself to dine with

you too--I mean two. Am I not generous? The nearer I get to the end of

my sheet (like a prisoner escaping and doubtful where he was going to

drop) the more I wonder where Wildbad is. I shall ask at a foreign

book-shop. That is the simplest plan, for they are all kept by German

Jews who know every place where Christians are plundered the world over.

And if a Bad of any kind does not come within that definition I am

greatly mistaken. My only doubt would be as to whether you were

Christians? Well, you have always treated me as if you were. Good-by.”

Lowell spent a night at Chester with Mr. Hughes and sailed from

Liverpool 22 November. He spent the winter of 1888-1889 at his sister’s,

Mrs. Putnam’s, in Boston. He found himself physically depressed and

disinclined to any effort. A hasty acceptance of an invitation to

lecture in Philadelphia brought him intolerable discomfort, and he

begged to be let off, if it could be done without prejudice to his

hosts. “It is absurd,” he wrote, “but I was made so. I won’t torment

myself by speaking in public any more. With any such engagement on my

mind, I can do nothing else, and indeed do nothing but think about

that.” Dr. Mitchell at once released him, and Lowell wrote in reply, 27

December, 1888: “I got your welcome letter last evening, and when I

first looked in the glass this morning I was pleased to find my hair

less gray than when I went to bed. You never wrote a better

prescription. My mind has been relieved of what really seemed to me an

intolerable weight, for, whether it be from old age or whatever cause, I

have been undoubtedly inert both in body and mind since my attack of

gout last summer.” On the same day he wrote to Mr. Gilder: “Many thanks

for your welcome home. I am miserably dumpy, thank you, with the remains

of my tedious fit of gout last summer, which continues to hold my

frontier posts as the British did ours after the treaty of 1783. But I

hope to go on to Washington early in February in time to get back for my

seventieth birthday, which I can’t spend in the tents of Kedar.”

Lowell’s visit to Philadelphia and Washington is pleasantly reflected in

his letters. His son-in-law, Mr. Burnett, was at that time a member of

the House of Representatives, and Lowell, though he expressed a fear

lest his lion’s mane should blow off, was entertained agreeably and came

away with an admiration for many of the public men he met. His

seventieth birthday came shortly after his return to Boston, when he was

given a dinner at the Tavern Club over which Mr. Norton presided. “I was

listening to my own praises for two hours last night,” he wrote to Mrs.

Fields, “and have hardly got used to the discovery of how great a man I

am.” He heard these praises again in a more public way when the _Critic_

of New York made its number for 23 February a “Lowell birthday number,”

having collected warm tributes of affection and admiration from seventy

men and women of note in America and England. By an ingenious

alphabetical arrangement the editor displayed his letters from Y to A,

the astronomer Young heading the list and the poet Aldrich closing it.

The English names naturally were fewer in number, but they included

Tennyson and his son, Gladstone, Lord Coleridge, Lang, Locker-Lampson,

and Palgrave; amongst his own countrymen were those yet his seniors,

Holmes, Whittier, Mrs. Stowe, the elder Furness, and President Barnard,

while the poet Parsons born in the same year and a host of juniors

joined in the chorus of loving praise. As Dr. Horace Howard Furness

truly said: “It is no small tribute, in itself, to Mr. Lowell that we

should all be thus ready to praise him to his face.”

Lowell had set the date for his annual pilgrimage to England at 27

April, but a pressing invitation to speak on the 30th of that month at

the great celebration in New York of the hundredth anniversary of

Washington’s inauguration as first president, which he tried in vain to

decline, compelled him to postpone his departure for nearly a month.

Meanwhile he worked somewhat fitfully at literature, belabored as he was

with letters and social distractions. Mr. Aldrich asked him to write for

the _Atlantic_ a paper on John Bright, who had just died. At first he

thought he could write it, but a fortnight later he wrote: “There is no

use in trying. Cold molasses is swift as a weaver’s shuttle compared

with my wits. I have essayed every side of the subject like a beetle in

a tumbler and find myself on my back after each attempt. So you must

let me give it up.” It was characteristic of his unfailing interest in

all genuine literature, new or old, that he should at the same time have

written to Mr. Aldrich his pleasure in a poem, “Deaths in April,” in the

current _Atlantic_. “Too intricate and even obscure I thought it here

and there, but perhaps the intricacy is of forest-boughs and the

obscurity nothing more than the gloom which they teach light to

counterfeit. Never mind, ’tis the Muses’ utterance.”[106]

The special piece of writing which did occupy him for awhile, an

introduction to Isaak Walton’s “Complete Angler,” may fairly be called

one of the happiest of his literary appreciations. He writes, to be

sure, to Dr. Mitchell that he is “thoroughly fagged” with the work, but

to the unsuspecting reader who comes upon it in the volume of Lowell’s

“Latest Literary Essays and Addresses” there is the sense only of a

quieter tone than he finds in the Gray, for example, in the same volume.

There is no lack of acuteness, rather one is struck with the delicacy of

the criticism, but the special charm is in the delight which Lowell

takes in his sunny-tempered author. It is as if he had been thoroughly

fagged when he took Walton down and as he read the “Lives” and the

“Complete Angler” was drawn within the cheerful mind of Walton and

warmed himself at the open fire of his charity. The paper has the value

one finds so often in Lowell’s writings, of reflecting the writer’s

mood, and one who has followed Lowell into the recesses of his

consciousness of age can scarcely fail to bear him company when he finds

him writing of Walton: “But what justifies and ennobles these lower

loves (of music, painting, good ale, and a pipe), what gives him a

special and native aroma like that of Alexander, is that above all he

loved the beauty of holiness and those ways of taking and of spending

life that make it wholesome for ourselves and our fellows. His view of

the world is not of the widest, but it is the Delectable Mountains that

bound the prospect. Never surely was there a more lovable man, nor one

to whom love found access by more avenues of sympathy.”

The after-dinner speech for which Lowell consented to postpone his

summer journey to England was in response to the toast “Our Literature.”

The speech appears as the last piece of literature which Lowell

published in his collected writings, and it is a coincidence that this

should stand at the end of his career, when at the beginning, if we may,

not unnaturally, count _The Pioneer_ as his formal bow in the profession

of letters, stood the announcement of his outlook on national

literature. Nearly forty-seven years lie between the two deliverances.

As a young man of twenty-three he scouted the idea of an artificial

division between the literature of America and that of England, he

deprecated the too close dependence upon the current judgments of

English writers for the press, and he pleaded eagerly for a natural

literature in America, the free reflection of a free people. Now, with

the reflection of age he considers in his brief space those fundamental

principles which make for the endurance of a national literature,--the

right sense of proportion between things material and things spiritual,

the necessity of inviolable standards, the dependence upon the whole

literature of the world. His last word is a word of hope, as was

befitting a prophet of literature, standing at the end of the first

century of a nation’s life, as years are measured from the consciousness

of existence.

“The literature of a people should be the record of its joys and

sorrows, its aspirations and its shortcomings, its wisdom and its folly,

the confidant of its soul. We cannot say that our own as yet suffices

us, but I believe that he who stands a hundred years hence where I am

standing now, conscious that he speaks to the most powerful and

prosperous community ever devised or developed by man, will speak of our

literature with the assurance of one who beholds what we hope for and

aspire after become a reality and a possession forever.”

* * * * *

Lowell sailed for England 18 May, 1889, and spent five months there at

his customary haunts in London and in Whitby, revisiting his old friends

and preferring the intimate associations to the social functions. “You

ask me so many things,” he writes to Mrs. Clifford from Radnor Place, 17

June, “in such a breathless way--all of them disparate, and some of them

desperate--that I know not which way to turn. Besides, haven’t you

confessed that you set springes in your notes? And how can I tell but

that every? is a springe (they look like it), and that I may not find

myself dangling like an unwary hare with no chance ever to put my foot

into anything again? However, I will tread cautiously and give each of

’em a little preliminary shake to see if there be any mischief in ’em.

“1st. Will I come to tea Thursday? I turn it over gingerly--it lies

quite still and doesn’t seem likely to go off with a jerk. I think it

harmless and answer ‘yes.’ I don’t like the artist being there with her

pictures, for that may incur me the expense of several fibs, and I am

not sure how many I have left.

“2d. Do I know Miss----? This looks more suspicious and I give it a wide

berth.

“3d. Have I read ‘A Conversation in a Balcony’? Here I seem safe enough

because I haven’t. So I reply boldly, ‘I have sent for it and will read

it.’

“4th. Will I take your head off? This is a specific proposition and

therefore less likely to have any _dolus_ hidden in it, and you offer me

a prodigious bribe. But no, I won’t! I have a better opinion of your

top-piece than you have (for the moment), and think it more useful and

becoming where it is. Moreover, there was never head heard of that

looked well after it was off except Charlotte Corday’s, and this is

worth your consideration, and I am sure (since you are a woman) will

have it. So we will wait. But I will come Thursday.”

There is a playfulness about all Lowell’s letters during this last

summer he was to spend in England, a pleasure in little things, as in

his walks and encounters, and a deep draught of delight in the sea. His

month at Whitby lengthened to six weeks, and he was reluctant to leave

this secluded corner. Here he read Dante and Milton, Lope de Vega and

Calderon, Byron, and some old French texts. He felt uncommonly well, and

he even wrote a poem, “The Brook,” for which the _New York Ledger_ had

offered a generous sum.

When Lowell returned to America he went back to Elmwood. Mrs. Burnett

had arranged to return with her children and make a home there for her

father, and it was with a long sigh of content that he settled himself

in a place which was endeared to him by lifelong attachment. Yet it was

with some discomposure that he looked upon the changes going on in the

neighborhood. The village of Cambridge had long ago become a city,

though still retaining a lingering village air, but now houses were

creeping toward the confines of the town and filling those great empty

spaces which had given him the sense of delightful roominess. He was a

genuine conservative as regards places, and no doubt his English

residence had confirmed his conviction that it was well to strike root

deeply in planting the family, which is the greatest conservative force.

A few years before, when he was minister to England, I brought him news

of the neighborhood, and his brow clouded as I reported the rumor that

more horse-car tracks were to be laid near Elmwood. “I never, never

will go back there to live,” he declared vehemently, “if they make these

inroads on my place.” He had been forced to reduce the area of the

estate as it was in his father’s day and his youth, but he was jealous

of any further encroachment on the integrity of his little patch of

land, and in a world of change about him clung tenaciously to his

foot-hold.

* * * * *

During the winter of 1889-1890 Lowell occupied himself with preparing a

uniform edition of his writings, and answered one or two of the

applications he had for poems or papers. His own needs were few, he

lived simply, and he was under no stress of necessity, but he was eager

to turn over with increment the little estate he had to his daughter and

her children. Mr. Howells had interested himself in procuring a poem

from Lowell for _Harper’s Monthly_, for which a liberal sum was paid,

and Lowell, when the transaction was over, wrote him: “I happened to

want the money, and though one cannot write a poem for money, one is

glad to get what one can for it once written. You partly know how it is

with me. My heart’s desire is to leave Mabel as independent as I can,

and what I leave will, at best, hardly go round among so many. Now I had

got myself into a place where I could not keep certain promises I had

made without encroaching on my principal. Your benefice will just tide

me over. The sacredness of my little pile has become almost a cult with

me.”

[Illustration: _The Hall at Elmwood_]

In preparing his writings for a new definitive edition, Lowell did much

more than merely see to an orderly arrangement. He took great pains with

his prose, going over his various papers with care, and tucking in new

sentences, or erasing sentences he did not like. He did not meddle much

with his poetry; he wished indeed he might get rid of some of his

juvenilia, and it was suggested that he should dismiss them to the

back-yard of an Appendix. The question was raised if it would be well to

date his poems, for the student of literature rightly values the

opportunity of marking development in the author he is at work on, but

the objection was made that such dating coming from him would be

authoritative, and would give sanction to those publishers who lined the

legal fence and were ready to seize upon an author’s work the moment it

was technically out of copyright, whether the author were living or not,

and whether he and his family still had an interest in an undisturbed

possession. It was in answer to all this that be wrote me: “_Manet

litera scripta_ is a law which might have given points to that of the

Medea and Persians. There is no good in squirming. If one could only

learn it early enough! I must bear my penalty. I must march through

Coventry with my tatterdemalions, whether I like it or not. As for

dates, as I have never kept copies of my books (in some of which dates

were given), I could not hunt them down without more trouble than it is

worth. I had not thought of the bucaneer (I leave out one intrusive _c_)

objection till you suggested it. It is enough. Let them go hang!--both

dates and bucaneers. And my Lord Chief Justice Holt (wasn’t it he who

first made the unrighteous distinction between the property of authors

and that of their worsers?), let him swing amidst of ’em! This settles

the Appendix.”

Lowell loved the minutiæ of verbal criticism. It was part of his

jealousy for the purity of the language, and meant that touch which the

artist gives. Slovenliness was his abhorrence, and free as he was with

the vernacular, he made a clear distinction between the undress and the

dress occasions of speech. I transmitted to him at this time a criticism

which took him to task for the use of the form “try and.” He replied: “I

am much obliged to Mr. ---- for his friendly interest in my English. The

phrase ‘try and,’ like ‘come and,’ is to some extent conversational, but

it is idiomatic. There is plenty of authority for it. Here is one from

Thackeray, who uses it often:--

“Don’t they try and pass off their ordinary-looking girls? &c.’[107]

“You will observe that in the passage criticised by Mr. ---- I am

supposing another person to speak, and therefore made it purposely

familiar. ‘Come and’ occurs in the first motto of the Bay Colony: ‘Come

over and help us’--from the Bible, ‘Come over into Macedonia, and help

us.’ Matthew Arnold uses it, and I think it is in Shakespeare also.”

In the spring of 1890 Lowell suffered from what he called the “first

severe illness of my life.” It proved indeed to be the beginning of the

end. For six weeks he kept his bed, and when he was able at last to

crawl about, his physician forbade even the briefest journey. He had

been asked to give an address in Vermont, and he was obliged to write:

“I am not yet allowed even to drive out or to use my legs except in

loitering about my own grounds. So you see that Castleton is as

impossible to me as Mecca.... Let me add that I have a special

partiality for Vermont as the New England State which maintains most

persistently our best traditions.”

To Mr. Godkin he wrote, 29 April: “I have had rather a hard time of it,

and for a day or two Wyman had fears. The acute symptoms ceased a month

ago, and I am now doing well, but my malady has somewhat demoralized me

and I must consent to be an invalid for a good while yet. ’Tis my first

experience and I don’t like it. Moralists tell us that pain is for our

good, but even the gout has failed to make me think so, and this was

even harder to bear.” But he had been amusing himself with some verses

on “infant industries” which he sent in this letter, giving them the

title, “The New Septimius Felton.” They were printed in the _Nation_

with the title, “The Infant Prodigy.”

On the second of May he wrote from Elmwood to Mr. Gilder, who was to

give the poem that year before Φ. Β. Κ. in Cambridge: “You may be sure

that I shall support you with my sympathetic presence at Φ. Β. Κ. if my

legs will by that time support me, as I have now every reason to think

they will. I made an excursion to Cambridge (by horse-car) yesterday, my

first adventure of the kind for fourteen weeks, and am none the worse

for it.”

Of course a summer in England was out of the question, and Mr. Leslie

Stephen, one of the friends who made so large a part of an English

summer to Lowell, came instead to America to see Lowell once more in his

home. There he found him amongst his books and with the squirrels

gambolling outside, but the days of long walks were over, and even the

social pleasures which Lowell could share with his guest were few and

simple.

He saw the completion of the revision of his writings, and the ten

comely volumes standing all a-row were a fair evidence to him that he

was not so indolent as he was wont to call himself. His malady left him

little power for any continuous work, but he wrote the introduction to a

reprint of the first edition of Milton’s “Areopagitica,” a brief paper

on Parkman for the _Century Magazine_, and a trifle for the

Contributors’ Club in the _Atlantic Monthly_. It may be that he glanced

at the six volumes of his own prose when he wrote of Milton: “He must

have known, if any ever knew, that even in the ‘sermo pedestris’ there

are yet great differences in gait, that prose is governed by laws of

modulation as exact, if not so exacting, as those of verse, and that it

may conjure with words as prevailingly. The music is secreted in it, yet

often more potent in suggestion than that of any verse which is not of

utmost mastery.” And then follows a brief sentence which has in it the

very charm he is praising. “We hearken after it as to a choir in the

side chapel of some cathedral heard faintly and fitfully across the long

desert of the nave, now pursuing and overtaking the cadences, only to

have them grow doubtful again and elude the ear before it has ceased to

throb with them.”

It was characteristic of him that he should write to Mr. Gilder: “...Now

what I wish to know is, how soon do you want the Parkman? I have

just had an offer of a thousand dollars for a short paper of

reminiscences, and I think I might make something that would at least

_do_, out of my boyhood. I want the money--I always do, more’s the pity,

but want it particularly just now that I may help a friend who is in

straits. May I write this first? The Parkman is more than half done, and

all thought out.” Plenty of money lay within Lowell’s grasp if he would

sell his name and a few hours of work, but he never had been able to

make merchandise of his art, and it cost him an effort, when he was

asked to name a price, to cast his name into the balance. His

publishers, finding him putting off the volume on Hawthorne, held out

the promise of a very liberal payment as soon as they could have the

book, but he did not get beyond the preliminary business of re-reading

his author. Yet the needs of a friend offered the requisite stimulus.

The article in the Contributors’ Club was a humorous defence of certain

American locutions and forms of spelling against half-learned

objections. It was a return to a favorite theme and contains an amusing

sketch of a proof-reader whom we take to be his old friend Mr. George

Nichols. The club is in a vein which naturally assumes a half antique

manner, and the treatment shows that smiling acceptance of the

prejudices of learning which is the scholar’s defence against the logic

of the pedant. Even this trifle, unsigned, and inconspicuous in its

setting, could not get printed finally without two or three hurried

notes from its author, amending and adding to it, and the last proofs

were returned with a sigh: “I thought the thing livelier than I find

it--it kicked so lustily in the womb. But nothing is good after ’tis

born!”

If Lowell was growing old, so also were others with whom he had had

lifelong associations. Whittier was twelve years his senior, and though

all his life an invalid, never lost his singing voice, and Lowell wrote

him, 16 December, 1890:--

DEAR FRIEND WHITTIER,--I had meant to write you a word of thanks

for your “Captain’s Well” [in the _New York Ledger_], but that with

some other good intentions was hindered of fruition by my illness.

It seemed to me in your happiest vein--a vein peculiarly your own.

Tears came into my eyes as I read it.

Since I could not write then, I do it now to wish you and all of us

many happy returns of your birthday. It is partly a selfish wish,

for the world will seem a worse world to me when you have left it,

but it is not wholly so. The universal love and honor which attend

you, and in which I heartily join, are of excellent example, and it

is well that you should live long to enjoy them.

Faithfully yours,

J. R. LOWELL.

Dedications, those shy birds, came fluttering about Lowell in these

days. One was in an anonymous volume of verse from a friend dear for her

own sake and her mother’s. It had come to him in manuscript first and

then revised. When it came first, he wrote: “I am perfectly satisfied

with the dedication--how should I not be? But how, in any case, could I

look such a gift horse in the mouth? I should like it _quand même_ as a

proof of your affection, for that is the main thing; ‘Only, only call me

dear!’” and two days later, when an alternate form came: “Yes, I like

this better. I could not have discussed what you should say in such a

case, but you have shown your woman’s wit (as I thought you would) in

divining what I stole from Coleridge and he from Lessing.”

Dr. Weir Mitchell inscribed to him his volume “A Psalm of Death and

other Poems,” and Lowell acknowledged the honor: “I am very proud of my

book. You know how in the tray for visiting cards those of the more

socially distinguished drift to the top (by a kind of natural selection)

where they may be better seen of such, and so your volume lies

conspicuously on my table by some happy chance, that everybody who

comes to see me is sure also to pick it up and look at it. I read it

through as soon as I got it and with entire satisfaction. Without

partiality I like it better than any of its predecessors, and I have

told you how much I like _them_. Your touch, I think, is more assured,

and the slag more thoroughly worked out of the ore. I shan’t tell you

which I like best any more than I should think of showing any preference

among my grandchildren, though I am conscious that I obscurely feel

something of the kind. Without indelicacy, however, I may mention a

favorite passage. It occurs on the leaf following the title-page, and

seemed to me every way admirable. It will be a treasure to me so long as

I live. I have had no sharp attack since the middle of November, but for

the last three weeks have been in so wretched a valetudinarian way that

Mabel has called in Wyman again. I am beginning to think ’tis Old Age

after all. I fancy I know how a bear feels during hibernation when he is

getting near the end of his fast.”

A fortnight after this Lowell wrote again of himself, to his friends the

Misses Lawrence: “I ought to have written long ago to thank you for your

dear remembrance of me at Christmas. It was not ingratitude but sheer

unconsciousness of the goings on of Time. I have been a wretched

valetudinarian, and the days dribble away from me ere I am aware. I

don’t mean that I have been seriously ill again; but I don’t get strong

and seem in a lethargy half the time. However, I still reckon on the

approaching visit of Doctor Spring, whose prescriptions have always done

me good. They are simple enough,--birds and bees and things,--but they

do wonders for me. My great bother now is that the least exertion tires

me. Yet I believe I am as happy as most men. At any rate, I have had my

share. You have been a part of it, and I have you still, thanks to your

persistent kindness.

“We have had a better winter than you (thanks to our admirable form of

government), but more snow than for several years. This has made the

roads merry with sleighs. I myself have been out in a sleigh two or

three times and enjoyed it in a quiet way. To-day it is raining and

eating away the snow very fast.... Spite of your crusty winter I should

have been glad to share it with you. I am so true a lover that I love my

London even in the sulks. ’Tis the best place for dwelling in the world

except this house where I was born.”

Not long after Lowell began his work at Harvard, he came into his

class-room one day, and before giving his regular lecture, spoke to his

students a few pointed words regarding Dr. Henry Ware Wales, who had

recently died, and whose name is perpetuated in the University by the

books he gave and by the Sanscrit professorship which he founded. Dr.

Wales had been his friend from boyhood, and Lowell spoke kindly and

touchingly of his amiability and generosity; but then he passed to a

graver theme suggested by the superb courage with which his friend faced

Death. As one reads these passages in connection with Lowell’s own

final experience, one cannot fail to hear almost a prophetic voice.

Little stress has been laid in these pages on the keen suffering which

marked the closing months of Lowell’s life, but suffering there was,

almost unbearable. Above this physical pain, however, rose the

courageous spirit which does not lose itself in vain murmurings.

Something of his cheerful encounter with death appears in his letters,

and he made light to his friends of his pain; but the physicians who

attended him knew through what he was passing.[108] Hear then how he

spoke of Dr. Wales thirty-five years earlier, when he himself was in

full vigor.

“I saw him frequently in Rome a few months before his death, and I can

speak from my own knowledge. Just before coming to Rome, I had been

reading over the Philoctetes of Sophocles, little thinking that I was so

soon to find the story of that hero acted over again under my eyes by a

coeval and friend. Like Philoctetes, his grievous wound was in a single

limb, or rather in a single joint--and yet there he lay, otherwise a

strong man, utterly helpless, and hopeful only of that release which

comes to all. His island of Lemnos was the bed from which he could not

rise. He was perfectly aware of his situation. He had studied medicine,

and knew that his death warrant was signed. And here it was that he

showed a courage and a firmness which were truly heroic. He told me

that he had no hope, that he saw death approaching, and I shall never

forget the expression of his face as he said it. He looked into the

distance as if he literally saw the messenger of his doom, and measured

him with a fearless and unquailing eye, as a braver man measures an

antagonist. He spoke alike without levity and without selfish

sentimentality. He did not wish to die, nor did he pretend it, but like

a true man he fronted Death like an equal, advanced to meet him

cheerfully, and did not wait to be dragged to his door like a culprit. I

have stood on many battlefields, but here I was present at the battle

itself. I saw what the ancients declared the noblest prospect for human

eyes,--at once the noblest and most tragic,--a brave man meeting Fate.

For it was Fate,--the wound was apparently a trifling one, but the arrow

was poisoned. There was no escape.

“Rome was at its gayest, and he knew it. The great Easter throng was

gathered before St. Peter’s to receive the blessing of him whom his

subjects curse. The great dome shone with that illumination so beautiful

that one might almost rank it as a new constellation suddenly created

upon the purple evening sky of Italy. And all the while he lay there

chained--suffering pains which no opiate could entirely deaden--and

uttered no complaint, nay, was cheerful. And now it was that his studies

stood him in good stead. As he had been faithful to virtue and honorable

aims, so were they now not unfaithful to him. He felt the truth upon

his sleepless pillow of Cicero’s _pernoctant nobis_. Those invisible

visitants that thronged his chamber came not with faces of reproach, but

with countenances of hope and consolation, on which truly the light of

Easter morning, of the Resurrection, was shining.

“It is proverbial that all men die game. But it was not the mere act of

dying which tried his courage and serenity. It was the lying in prison

under sentence of Death, and it was the prison of the Inquisition, too,

where he was hourly tortured.

“It is not, then, as our benefactor, it is not as my schoolmate,

classmate, and the friend of nearly twenty-five years, it is not merely

as the scholar, that I feel impelled to commemorate him here. It is as

an example of how refined studies refine and elevate the character, how

they give a vantage ground impregnable to chance and pain and death; it

is as the heroic man, quietly and without hope of fame or credit,

fighting the good fight in that single combat in which any one of us at

any time may be compelled to take up the gauntlet of that foe who fights

with enchanted weapons, against which there is no hope.

“He is now dead and nailed in his chest.

I pray to God to give his soul good rest.”

The spring of 1891 came and Lowell had cheerful hope of further work. He

had not dismissed literature because he had collected his writings into

a series of books. He meant to write more, to bring together more

scattered papers for a volume and to make at least one more collection

of his poems. Meanwhile he read--his books were close at hand and his

constant friends. He re-read Boswell’s Johnson for the fourth time, and

he read the recently published full diary of Walter Scott. He took up

novel reading, rather a new taste, and amused himself with

contemporaneous society in England as depicted by Norris. At Mr.

Bartlett’s suggestion, the whist club to which he had been so faithful

held one more meeting which he made out to attend. But though he could

go out but little, he had a pleasant glimpse of the world that lay about

his house,--the earliest and the best known world to him. He had had a

flat dish with stones in it conveniently placed in his garden, and

connected it with his water pipe so that his little friends the

thrushes, the orioles, and squirrels might have free use of the modern

improvements to which he was indifferent enough.[109] Outside of his

bedroom window a pair of gray squirrels had nested, and as he was

imprisoned there by the illness which now closed in about him, he looked

with kindly interest on their gambols in the treetops. His is friends

came as he could see them, and he entertained them with humorous

diatribes on his gaoler gout. Now and then he could pencil a letter or

note, sending a message perhaps to some equally bound sufferer, as when

he commiserated his old friend Judge Hoar, shut up with an attack of

inflammatory rheumatism, and whimsically cautioned him against

mistaking it for the gout which he himself was enduring. A faint smile

plays about these last expressions of his kindly nature, as he seems to

wave the world aside that he may take his friends by the hand. Death

found him cheerful, and he passed away in the middle of the bright

summer.

APPENDIX

A. THE LOWELL ANCESTRY

I. _Paternal._[110]

1. The first American ancestor of the Massachusetts Lowells was PERCEVAL

LOWELL, written also LOWLE, who came from Somersetshire, England, in

1639, when he was 68 years old, and was one of the early settlers of

Newbury, Mass., which was organized in 1642. He wrote a poem on the

death of Governor Winthrop, and died in Newbury, 8 January, [1664/5].

2. Perceval Lowell brought with him to America two sons, JOHN and

RICHARD, and a daughter JOAN. John, the elder brother, was made a

Freeman in 1641; he was a deputy from Newbury to the General Court in

1643-1644. He died in Newbury in 1647, aged 52 years.

3. His son JOHN was born in England, and came to America when he was ten

years old, with his father and grandfather. He was a cooper by trade,

and made his home first in Boston and then in Scituate. He was thrice

married, the third time to Naomi Sylvester, a sister of his second wife;

he moved later to Rehoboth, Mass., but finally returned to Boston, where

he died 7 June, 1694. He had nineteen children in all.

4. EBENEZER LOWELL, fifteenth son of John Lowell, his mother being

Naomi [Sylvester] was born in Boston in 1675, and married in 1694

Elizabeth Shailer. He was a cordwainer, which sounds more dignified than

shoemaker, and died in Boston, 10 September, 1711.

5. JOHN LOWELL, son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth [Shailer] Lowell, was born

in Boston, 14 March, 1703/4. He was graduated from Harvard in 1721, and

married Sarah, daughter of Noah and Sarah [Turell] Champney, 23

December, 1725. On 19 January, 1726, he was ordained pastor of the Third

Parish in Newbury, which became the First Parish in Newburyport, when

under that name the part of Newbury up to that time designated the

Waterside was set off as a separate township in 1764. Mrs. Lowell died

in 1756, and the Rev. John Lowell married again in 1758 Elizabeth,

daughter of Robert Cutts, Jr., and widow of the Rev. Joseph Whipple. The

Rev. John Lowell died in Newburyport, 15 May, 1767.

6. JOHN, son of John and Sarah [Champney] Lowell, was born in Newbury,

17 June, 1743. He took his bachelor’s degree at Harvard in 1760, and

under the arrangement of those days, which recorded the members of a

class in order of social dignity, he was seventh in a class of

twenty-seven. He studied law in Boston with Oxenbridge Thacher [H. U.

1698], and was admitted to practice in 1763. He returned to his native

town and at once became prominent in public affairs. In 1767 he drew up

a report upon a letter from the selectmen of Boston concerning the

measures to be taken to frustrate the encroachments of Great Britain. He

served for several years as one of the selectmen of Newburyport, and in

May, 1776, was one of the five representatives of the town in the

General Court. He removed to Boston in 1777, and the next year was

chosen a representative to the General Court from Boston. In 1779 he was

elected a member of the convention for framing the constitution of the

State. In 1781 he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress. In

1782 he was appointed by Congress one of the three judges of the newly

created Admiralty court of appeals. In 1784 he was one of the

commissioners to establish the boundary line between Massachusetts and

New York. On the adoption of the constitution of the United States,

President Washington appointed him Judge of the U. S. District Court in

Massachusetts. In 1801 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Circuit

Court for the first circuit, under the new organization of the

judiciary.

He married, in 1767, Sarah, daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth [Cabot]

Higginson, and had by her three children, Anna Cabot, John, and Sarah

Champney. His wife, Sarah, died 5 May, 1772, and he married again, 31

May, 1774, Susanna, daughter of Francis and Mary [Fitch] Cabot, by whom

he had two children, Francis Cabot, founder of the factory system in

Lowell, and Susanna. His second wife, Susanna, died 30 March, 1777, and

he married a third time Rebecca, daughter of James and Katharine

[Graves] Russell, of Charlestown, and widow of James Tyng, of Dunstable,

Mass. By her he had four children, Rebecca Russell, Charles, Elizabeth

Cutts, and Mary. He died in Roxbury, Mass., 6 May, 1802.

He was for eighteen years a member of the corporation of Harvard

College, and was one of the founders of the American Academy of Arts and

Sciences. His son, the Rev. Charles Lowell, stated: “My father

introduced into the Bill of Rights the clause by which slavery was

abolished in Massachusetts. My father advocated its adoption in the

convention, and when it was adopted, exclaimed: ‘Now there is no longer

slavery in Massachusetts; it is abolished and I will render my services

as a lawyer gratis to any slave suing for his freedom if it is withheld

from him,’ or words to that effect.”

7. CHARLES LOWELL, son of John and Rebecca [Russell] Lowell, was born in

Boston, 15 August, 1782. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1800,

travelled in Europe 1802-1805, and on his return to Boston was made

pastor of the West Congregational Church in that town, and remained its

pastor, either active or emeritus, till he died. He was married, 2

October, 1806, to Harriet Brackett, daughter of Keith and Mary [Traill]

Spence. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society

in 1815, and was its recording Secretary from 1818 to 1833, and

corresponding Secretary from 1833 to 1849. He was stricken with partial

paralysis in the autumn of 1851, and died 20 January, 1861.

The children of Charles and Harriet Traill [Spence] Lowell, were

1. Charles Russell, born 30 October, 1807; he married Anna Cabot

Jackson, 18 April, 1832, and died 23 June, 1870; their children

were

i. Anna Cabot Jackson, married to Dr. Henry Elisha Woodbury.

ii. Charles Russell, Jr., commissioned Brigadier General, who died

20 October, 1864, from wounds received at the battle of Cedar

Creek.

iii. Harriet, married to George Putnam.

iv. James Jackson, commissioned first lieutenant, 20 Massachusetts

Volunteers, and died 4 July, 1862, from wounds received at

Glendale, Va., five days previous.

2. Rebecca Russell, born 17 January, 1809; died, unmarried, 20 May,

1872.

3. Mary Train Spence, born 3 December, 1810, died 1 June, 1898; she

married, 25 April, 1832, Samuel Raymond Putnam, and their children

were

i. Alfred Lowell Putnam.

ii. Georgina Lowell Putnam.

iii. William Lowell Putnam, who was commissioned 10 July, 1861, 2d

lieutenant, 20th Massachusetts Volunteers, and was killed in the

battle of Ball’s Bluff, 21 October, 1861.

iv. Charles Lowell Putnam.

4. William Keith Spence, born 23 September, 1813; died 12 February,

1823.

5. Robert Traill Spence, born 8 October, 1816, died 12 September,

1891; he married Marianna Duane, 28 October, 1845, and their

children were--

i. Harriet Brackett Spence.

ii. Marianna.

iii. Percival.

iv. James Duane.

v. Charles.

vi. Rebecca Russell.

vii. Robert Traill Spence, Jr.

6. JAMES RUSSELL, born 22 February, 1819; died 12 August, 1891.

When the Rev. Delmar R. Lowell was collecting material for _The

Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America_, he had for use two

letters from Lowell, which he has printed in facsimile in his

volume, and kindly permits me to copy.

ELMWOOD, 12 July, 1875

DEAR SIR,--Whether Coffin was right in making Ebenezer born in 1685

or no, I cannot say, but Rev. John L. of Newbury was son of _an_

Ebenezer, and I doubt if there were two contemporaneous with each

other. This John--my great-grandfather, can hardly have doubted his

descent from Perceval, since I have books from his library in which

he spells his name Lowle; and I have always understood that a

silver seal of arms (in my brother’s possession) came from him. My

father (as you rightly suppose) had more knowledge on this point

than any one else, but I fear he never made any written record of

it. If I should find any such, I shall gladly communicate it to

you. That you and I are kinsmen I have never doubted since I had

the pleasure of seeing you some thirty odd years ago; when I was

struck with your likeness to the portrait of my ancestor, the Rev.

John of Newbury. As he graduated in 1721, his father _must_ have

been born earlier than 1685, one would think, unless, indeed, the

parson was as precocious as his son and grandson, both of whom

graduated before they were seventeen. But this is hardly probable.

Ebenezer’s father, I remember, was named John.

My father had talked with men who remembered his great-grandfather,

Ebenezer, as a very respectable old gentleman with a goldheaded

cane. Dining once with a friend in Philadelphia, I was surprised to

see a handsome tankard with _our_ arms on it. He told me it came to

him by inheritance from the Shippens, one of whom had married a

Lowell. I believe we have the right to quarter Levesege, one of our

forbears having married an heiress of that name. Theirs is a very

pretty coat, three dolphins _passant, or_.

If you are making out a pedigree you must be on your guard, for I

have been told that all the foundlings of the city of Lowell (and

there are a good many of them) are christened with the name. And it

is sometimes assumed. Some twenty years ago I received a letter

from a person in New York informing me that he was about to assume

the name. I paid no attention to the letter, thinking it a trick

(as I am sometimes the subject of such) to get an autograph, but,

sure enough, he presently sent me a newspaper in which was

advertised a legal authentication of his change of name.

The family came from Yardley in Worcestershire, where, I believe,

some monuments of them remain in the churchyard. They were a

_visitation_ family. I hoped to visit Yardley the last time I was

in England, but was prevented by being suddenly summoned to

Cambridge to receive a degree. The only Lowells now left in England

that I could find are the descendants of Rev. Samuel of Bristol,

England, who went back from America--or, rather, whose father went.

My father saw him in England seventy years ago, and the

relationship between them was recognized on both sides. How near it

was I have no means of knowing. I have somewhere, but cannot lay my

hand on it, a deed of the first John Lowle of Newbury. It is

witnessed by Somebody who came out as clerk with Perceval, and

seems to be in his handwriting. _How_ we are descended from

Perceval I know not, but Ebenezer must have known who his

grandfather was, and his son would hardly have ventured (in those

more scrupulous days) to have assumed arms that did not belong to

him. Perceval wrote some verses (neither better nor worse than such

usually are) on the death of the first Governor Winthrop. You will

find them (with a palpable error or two of copier or printer) in

the appendix to the second volume of Winthrop’s “Life and Letters.”

I remain,

Very truly yours,

J. R. LOWELL.

* * * * *

ELMWOOD, 23d July, 1875.

DEAR SIR,--I have no doubt you are right in putting the birth of

Ebenezer L. in 1675. My father in his family Bible says he died “in

1711 _æt._ 36.” The faded ink shows that this was written many

years ago, and I have no doubt he had authority for it. He goes on

to say that his widow “married Philip Bougardus, Esq., and died

1761, leaving one daughter married to Eneas Mackay.”

I have searched in vain for a bundle of pedigrees (collected by my

father) which seem to have gone astray during my two years’ absence

in Europe. They carried the family back to the thirteenth century

(I think), and were obtained from the Heralds’ Office.

I don’t wonder you think the blunted arrows unsightly. They are all

wrong. The arms are a hand grasping three _crossbow bolts_, a very

different thing, and with very formidable points to them, as I

trust those of the family will always have. I brought home three of

them from Germany in ’52. They are shaped thus [Illustration:

right-facing arrow], the shaft of oak, the _feathers_ of lighter

wood, and the head steel. The transverse section of the head would

be a diamond ◇.

I think it plain that my father knew all about Ebenezer, wherever

he got it. If I can aid you in any way, I shall be glad to do so.

I remain,

Very truly yours,

J. R. LOWELL.

II. _Maternal._[111]

1. ROBERT CUTT is supposed to have come from England to this country

previous to 1646, going first to the Barbadoes, where he married Mary

Hoel, and afterward to Portsmouth, N. H. He removed thence to Kittery,

Me., and died there 18 June, 1674.

2. ROBERT, sixth child of Robert and Mary [Hoel] Cutt, was born in 1673.

He married Dorcas Hammond, 18 April, 1698, and died 24 September, 1735.

3. MARY, daughter of Robert and Dorcas [Hammond] Cutt, was born 26

December, 1698. She married, 16 May, 1722, William Whipple, afterward

one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and died 28

February, 1783.

3a. ELIZABETH, sister of Mary (3), was born 20 March, 1709. She married,

20 March, 1709, Rev. Joseph Whipple, brother of William Whipple, just

named; and after his death she married for her second husband, 23

October, 1727, Rev. John Lowell (son of Ebenezer).

4. MARY, daughter of William and Mary [Cutt] Whipple, was born 13

January 1728/29, 1 September, 1748, Robert Traill, a merchant in

Portsmouth, from the Orkney Isles, who remained a British subject, and

left the country in November, 1775. Mary [Whipple] Traill died 3

October, 1791. Robert Traill, after the Revolution, was a collector of

the revenues in the Bermudas.

5. MARY, only daughter of Robert and Mary [Whipple] Traill, baptized 24

May, 1753, married Keith Spence, of Kirkwall, Orkney, who had settled as

a merchant in Portsmouth. Later he became purser of the frigate

Philadelphia. Mrs. Spence died 18 January, 1824.

6. HARRIET BRACKETT, daughter of Keith and Mary Whipple [Traill] Spence,

was born 26 July, 1783; she married the Rev. Charles Lowell, 2 October,

1806, and died 30 March, 1850.

CHILDREN OF JAMES RUSSELL AND MARIA [WHITE] LOWELL.

1. Blanche, born 31 December, 1845; died 19 March, 1847.

2. Mabel, born 9 September, 1847. She married, 2 April, 1872, Edward

Burnett, of Southborough, and died at Elmwood, 30 December, 1898. Their

children are:

i. James Russell Lowell Burnett, now James Burnett Lowell, his name

having been changed at the request of his grandfather.

ii. Joseph.

iii. Francis Lowell.

iv. Esther Lowell.

v. Lois.

3. Rose, born 16 July, 1849; died 2 February, 1850.

4. Walter, born 22 December, 1850; died 9 June, 1852.

B. “LIST OF COPIES OF THE CONVERSATIONS TO BE GIVEN AWAY BY THE ‘DON’”

This is the heading of a sheet in his own handwriting which Lowell drew

up for Robert Carter’s instruction. He entrusted the distribution of the

books to his friend, as he himself was off on his wedding journey.

1. W. L. Garrison, with author’s respects.

2. C. F. Briggs (by Wiley & Putnam, N. Y.), with author’s love.

3. Mrs. Chapman, with author’s affectionate regards.

4. T. W. Parsons, copy of _Poems_ and _Conversations_ with author’s

love (a note to go with these).

5. John S. Dwight (left at Monroe’s bookstore, Boston), with

author’s love.

6. W. Page, with author’s love.

7. R. C., with author’s love.

8. Rev. Dr. Lowell. Dedication Copy. Ask Owen to send it up.

9. Charles R. Lowell, Jr., with uncle’s love (No. 1 Winter Place).

10. _Rev. Chandler Robbins, with author’s sincere regards (Monroe’s

bookstore)._

13. J. R. L. 3, through Anti-slavery office, care J. M. McKim.

14. Mr. Nichols (printing office), with author’s sincere regards.

{15. R. W. Emerson, with author’s affectionate respects.

{

{16. N. Hawthorne, with author’s love.

Both these in one package, directed to Hawthorne and left at Miss

Peabody’s.

17. _Frank Shaw, with author’s love_.

18. C. W. Storey, Jr., with happy New Year. I suppose Mr. Owen will

allow me 20 copies, as he did of the _Poems_.

If the “Don” thinks of any more which I have forgotten, let him

send them with judicious inscriptions.

19. “To Miss S. C. Lowell, with the best New Year’s wishes of her

affectionate nephew, the author.” (Mr. Owen will send this up.)

20. Joseph T. Buckingham, Esq., with author’s regards and thanks.

A letter to Lowell from John Owen, dated 10 April, 1845, mentions a copy

of the book which Lowell had sent with a letter to Miss Brontë.

C. A LIST OF THE WRITINGS OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, ARRANGED AS

NEARLY AS MAY BE IN ORDER OF PUBLICATION

NOTE. Titles of Poems are set in _Italic type_. Titles of books are

in small capitals, either ROMAN or _ITALIC_ as the books are in

prose or verse. Conjectural writings have their titles enclosed in

brackets.

[The titles as far as the _Class Poem_ are of contributions to

Harvardiana.]

1837.

_Imitation of Burns._ September.

_Dramatic Sketch._ September.

New Poem of Homer. September.

A Voice from the Tombs. October.

_What is it?_ October.

Hints to Theme Writers. October.

Obituary. October.

_The Serenade._ October.

The Old Bell. October.

The Idler, No. I. November.

_Saratoga Lake._ November.

Hints to Reviewers. November.

Skillygoliana, I. November.

1838.

_Scenes from an Unpublished Drama, by the late G. A. Slimton, esq._

January.

_Skillygoliana_, II. January.

Chapters from the Life of Philomelus Prig. February.

_Skillygoliana_, III. February.

The Idler, No. II. March.

Skillygoliana, IV. April.

_A Dead Letter._ May.

[_Extracts from a Hasty Pudding Poem._] June.

_Translations from Uhland._ i. Das Ständchen; ii. Der Weisse

Hirsch. June.

_To Mount Washington, on a second visit._ July.

_Song_: “A pair of black eyes.” July.

_CLASS POEM._ |“Some said, John, print it; others said, Not so; |

Some said, It might do good; others said, No.” | Bunyan. |

MDCCCXXXVIII. | Poem dated, Concord, August 21, 1838.

1839.

_Song_: “Ye Yankees of the Bay State.” Boston Post, 27 February.

_Threnodia on an Infant._ Southern Literary Messenger, May. Signed

H. P.

1840.

[All the contributions this year were to the Southern Literary

Messenger.]

_Sonnet_: “Verse cannot tell thee how beautiful thou art.” March.

Signed H. P.

_Song_: “What reck I of the stars when I.” March. Signed H. P.

_Sonnet_: “My friend, I pray thee call not _this_ Society.” March.

Signed H. P.

_The Serenade_: “Gentle, Lady, be thy sleeping.” April. Signed H.

P.

_Music._ May. Signed H. P.

_Song_: “O, I must look on that sweet face ones more before I die.”

June. Signed H. P.

_Song_: “Lift up the curtains of thine eyes.” June. Signed H. P.

_Sonnet_: “O, child of nature! oh, most meek and free.” June.

Signed H. P.

_Isabel._ June.

_The Bobolink._ July. Signed H. P.

_Ianthe._ July. Signed H. P.

_Flowers._ July. Signed H. P.

1841.

_A | YEAR’S LIFE.| by | James Russell Lowell._ | Ich habe gelebt

unb geliebet. | Boston: | C. C. Little and J. Brown | MDCCCXLI.

_Callirhoë_, by H. Perceval, dated 1841. Graham’s Magazine, March.

_Ballad_: “Gloomily the river floweth.” Graham’s Magazine, October.

_Merry England._ Graham’s Magazine, November.

_The Loved One._ National Anti-Slavery Standard, 16 December.

_Sonnet_: “Great truths are portions of the soul of man.” The

Liberty Bell.

1842.

_Sonnet to Keats_, dated March, 1841. Boston Miscellany, January.

[_Agatha_], dated September, 1840. Boston Miscellany, January.

_To Perdita Singing_, dated February, 1841. Boston Miscellany,

January.

_Song_: “Violet! sweet violet!” Graham’s Magazine, January.

_Sonnet_: To the Spirit of Keats. Arcturus, January.

_Sonnet_: Sunset and Moonshine. Arcturus, January.

_Sonnet_: “Poet! thou art most wealthy, being poor,” dated November

25, 1841. Arcturus, February.

_An Ode_: “In the Old Days of awe and keen-eyed wonder,” dated

December, 1841. Boston Miscellany, February.

_Sonnet_: “Like some black mountain glooming huge aloof,” dated

October, 1841. Boston Miscellany, February.

_Rosaline._ Graham’s Magazine, February.

_Sonnet_: “If some small savor creep into my rhymes.” Graham’s

Magazine, February.

_Fancies about a Rosebud pressed in an old copy of Spenser._

Graham’s Magazine, March.

[Getting up.] Boston Miscellany, March.

[Disquisition on Foreheads. By Job Simifrons.] Boston Miscellany,

March.

The Old English Dramatists. (Unsigned.) Boston Miscellany, April.

_Sonnet_: “Whene’er I read in mournful history,” dated 25

September, 1841. Boston Miscellany, May.

The Old English Dramatists, No. II. Boston Miscellany, May.

_The Two_, dated November, 1840. Boston Miscellany, May.

The First Client. (Unsigned.) Boston Miscellany, May.

_Sonnet_: “My Father, since I love, thy presence cries,” dated

November 29, 1841. Arcturus, May.

_Sonnet_: “The hope of truth grows stronger day by day,” dated

December 10, 1841. Arcturus, May.

_Sonnet_: “I love those poets, of whatever creed,” dated April 20,

1841. Arcturus, May.

_Sonnets_:

I. “As the broad ocean endlessly upheaveth.”

II. “Once hardly in a cycle blossometh.”

III. “The love of all things springs from love of one.”

IV. “A poet cannot strive for despotism.”

V. “Therefore think not the Past is wise alone.”

VI. “Far ’yond this narrow parapet of time.”

The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, May.

Reprinted in Poems as “On reading Wordsworth’s Sonnets in

Defence of Capital Punishment.”

_Farewell._ Graham’s Magazine, June.

_A Dirge._ Graham’s Magazine, July.

_A Fantasy_, dated 12 January, 1842. Boston Miscellany July.

[_The True Radical._] Boston Miscellany, August.

The Old English Dramatists, No. III. Boston Miscellany, August.

_Sonnet_: “Poet, if men from wisdom turn away.” (Unsigned.)

National Anti-Slavery Standard, 1 September.

_The Shepherd of King Admetus._ Boston Miscellany, September.

_An Incident in a Railroad Car_, dated Boston, April, 1842. The

United States Magazine and Democratic Review, October.

[_To an Æolian Harp at Night_], dated February, 1842. Boston

Miscellany, December.

_Sonnet_: “Great Truths are portions of the Soul of man.” The

Liberty Bell.

_Sonnet_: “If ye have not the one great lesson learned.” The

Liberty Bell.

_Pierpont_: “The hungry flames did never yet seem hot.” The Liberty

Bell.

1843.

Introduction. The Pioneer, January.

[_Voltaire._] The Pioneer, January.

[_The Follower._] The Pioneer, January.

_Sonnet_: “Our love is not a fading earthly flower.” The Pioneer,

January.

The Plays of Thomas Middleton. The Pioneer, January.

_The Rose._ The Pioneer, January.

[Dickens’s “American Notes.”] The Pioneer, January.

[Hawthorne’s Historical Tales for Youth.] The Pioneer, January.

_A Parable._ The United States Magazine and Democratic Review,

February.

_The Moon._ Graham’s Magazine, February.

Song Writing. The Pioneer, February.

_To M. O. S._ The Pioneer, February.

[The Book of British Ballads.] The Pioneer, February.

[Longfellow’s “Poems on Slavery.”] The Pioneer, February.

[Macaulay’s “Lays of Ancient Rome.”] The Pioneer, February.

[_Two Sonnets to Wordsworth._] Graham’s Magazine, March.

_The Street._ The Pioneer, March.

_Stanzas on Freedom_, sung at the Anti-Slavery Picnic in Dedham, on

the Anniversary of West-Indian Emancipation, 1 August.

_In Sadness._ Graham’s Magazine, August.

_Prometheus_, dated Cambridge, Mass., June, 1843. The United States

Magazine and Democratic Review, August.

_Forgetfulness._ New York Mirror [copied into National Anti-Slavery

Standard, 7 September.]

_A Glance behind the Curtain._ The United Magazine and Democratic

Review, September.

_A Reverie._ Graham’s Magazine, October.

_The Fatherland._ The United States Magazine and Democratic Review,

October.

_POEMS_ | by | James Russell Lowell | Cambridge: | Published by

John Owen. | MDCCCXLIV.

1844.

_Rallying Cry for New England against the Annexation of Texas_, by

a Yankee. Boston Courier, 19 March.

New Translations of the Writings of Miss Bremer. North American

Review, April.

Introduction to Whittier’s “_Texas: Voice of New England_.” Boston

Courier, 17 April.

_A Mystical Ballad._ Graham’s Magazine, May.

_New-Year’s Eve, 1844; a Fragment._ Graham’s Magazine, July.

_On the Death of a Friend’s Child_, dated Cambridge, Mass.,

September 3, 1844. The United States Magazine and Democratic

Review, October.

_A Chippewa Legend._ The Liberty Bell.

CONVERSATIONS | ON SOME OF | THE OLD POETS | by | James Russell

Lowell |

“Or, if I would delight my private hours

With music or with poem, where, so soon

As in our native language, can I find

That solace?”

PARADISE REGAINED.

Cambridge: | Published by John Owen | MDCCCXLV.

1845.

_To the Dandelion._ Graham’s Magazine, January.

_A Song to my Wife._ The Broadway Journal, 4 January.

_The Epitaph_: “What means this glosing epitaph?” dated Rockwood,

7 February, 1844. The Broadway Journal, 11 January.

Our Position. Pennsylvania Freeman, 16 January.

_Now is always best._ The Broadway Journal, 25 January.

_An Epigram on Certain Conservatives._ The Broadway Journal, 25

January.

[Texas]. The Pennsylvania Freeman, 30 January.

_Anti-Texas_, written on occasion of the Convention in Faneuil

Hall, January 29. Boston Courier, 30 January, under title _Another

Rallying Cry by a Yankee_.

Edgar Allan Poe. Graham’s Magazine, February.

[The Prejudice of Color]. The Pennsylvania Freeman, 13 February.

_Remembered Music._ The Broadway Journal, 15 February.

The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The Broadway Journal, 22

February.

The Church and the Clergy. The Pennsylvania Freeman, 27 February,

27 March.

_The Ghost-Seer._ The Broadway Journal, 8 March.

[President Tyler’s Message on the African Slave Trade]. The

Pennsylvania Freeman, 13 March.

[The Union]. The Pennsylvania Freeman, 10 April.

_An Incident of the Fire at Hamburg._ Graham’s Magazine, May.

Review of Fitz-Greene Halleck’s “Alnwick Castle, with other Poems.”

The Broadway Journal, 3 May.

_Lines on reading of the capture of certain fugitive slaves near

Washington._ Boston Courier, 19 July.

_To the Future._ Graham’s Magazine, August.

_Orpheus._ The American Review, August.

_To a Pine Tree_, dated Elmwood, July 16, 1845. The Harbinger, 2

August.

_A Contrast._ The Liberty Chime.

_The Falconer_, afterward, abridged, _The Falcon_, dated 26

November, 1845. The Liberty Bell.

_The Happy Martyrdom._ The Liberty Bell.

_Verses suggested by the Present Crisis_, afterward _The Present

Crisis_. Boston Courier, 11 December.

_An Interview with Miles Standish._ Boston Courier, 30 December.

1846.

_To the Past._ Graham’s Magazine, January.

_Lines on the Death of Charles Turner Torrey._ Boston Courier, 23

May.

Anti-Slavery in the United States. London Daily News, 2 February,

18 March, 17 April, 18 May.

A Letter from Mr. Ezekiel Biglow of Jaalam to the Hon. Joseph T.

Buckingham, editor of the Bottom Courier, inclosing a poem of his

son, Mr. Hosea Biglow (_Biglow Papers_, I.) Boston Courier, 17

June.

Daniel Webster. National Anti-Slavery Standard,[112] 2 July.

_The Royal Pedigree._ Boston Courier, 4 December.

_The Oak._ Standard, 31 December.

1847.

_Letter from Boston_, postmarked 27 December, 1846. The

Pennsylvania Freeman, January.

_Above and Below._ The Young American, January.

_Si descendero in infernum, ades._ The Harbinger, 10 January.

_The Search._ Standard, 25 February.

The New Timon. North American Review, April.

_Hebe._ The Young American, May.

D’Israeli’s Tancred, or the New Crusade. North American Review,

July.

_Letter from a Volunteer in Saltillo_ (_Biglow Papers_, II.).

Boston Courier, 18 August.

_The Landlord._ The People’s Journal, 4 September.

_What Mr. Robinson thinks_ (_Biglow Papers_, III.). Boston Courier,

2 November.

_Extreme Unction._ The Liberty Bell.

_Remarks of Increase D. O’Phace, esquire_ (_Biglow Papers_, IV.).

Boston Courier, 28 December.

1848.

_POEMS_ | by | James Russell Lowell.| Second series. | Cambridge:

Published by | George Nichols.| Boston: | B. B. Mussey and Company.

| 1848. Copyright, 1847.

Review of Tennyson’s “Princess.” Massachusetts Quarterly Review,

March.

Browning’s Plays and Poems. North American Review, April.

_Ode to France_, dated February, 1848. Standard, 6 April.

The French Revolution of 1848. Standard, 13 April.

Shall we ever be Republicans? Standard, 20 April.

_The Debate in the Sennit_ (_Biglow Papers_, V.). Boston Courier, 3

May.

_The Pious Editor’s Creed_ (_Biglow Papers_, VI.). Standard, 4 May.

_A Parable._ Standard, 18 May.

An Imaginary Conversation. Standard, 18 May.

_A Letter from a Candidate for the Presidency_ (_Biglow Papers_,

VII.). Standard, 1 June.

The Sacred Parasol. Standard, 8 June.

_Freedom._ Standard, 15 June.

The Nominations for the Presidency. Standard, 29 June.

Sympathy with Ireland. Standard, 29 June.

_A Second Letter from B. Sawin, esq._ (_Biglow Papers_, VIII.).

Standard, 6 July.

What will Mr. Webster do? Standard, 13 July.

_Leaving the Matter open_, a Tale by Homer Wilbur, A. M., reprinted

in Introduction to _Biglow Papers_. Standard, 27 July.

_To Lamartine._ Standard, 3 August.

The Buffalo Convention. Standard, 10 August.

The Irish Rebellion. Standard, 24 August.

Fanaticism in the Navy. Standard, 31 August.

Exciting Intelligence from South Carolina. Standard, 7 September.

Editorial article, beginning: “When we first went to the theatre,

that which delighted us most, among the thousand and one marvels,

was the swiftness with which a change of costume was effected.”

Standard, 14 September.

_To the Memory of Hood._ Standard, 21 September.

_Another Letter from B. Sawin, esq._ (_Biglow Papers_, IX.).

Standard, 28 September.

Editorial article, beginning: “Chance has thrown in our way a stray

number of the ‘Christian Observer.’” Standard, 5 October.

Review of “The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen.”

Standard, 12, 26 October.

_The Day of Small Things_, afterward _To W. L. Garrison_. Standard,

19 October.

READER! _Walk up at once (it will soon be too late) and | buy at a

perfectly ruinous rate_ | a | FABLE FOR CRITICS; | or | BETTER-- |

_I like, as a thing that the reader’s first fancy may strike, | an

old-fashioned title-page, | such as presents a tabular view of the

volume’s contents--_ | A GLANCE | AT A FEW OF OUR LITERARY

PROGENIES| (_Mrs. Malaprop’s word_)| from | THE TUB OF DIOGENES; |

A VOCAL AND MUSICAL MEDLEY. | That is, | a SERIES OF JOKES. | BY A

WONDERFUL QUIZ, | _who accompanies himself with a rub-a-dub-dub_,

FULL OF SPIRIT AND GRACE, | _on the top of the tub_. | SET FORTH IN

| _October the 21st day, in the year ’48_. BY | G. P. PUTNAM,

Broadway.

_Ode_, written for the celebration of the introduction of the

Cochituate water into the city of Boston, 25 October.

_The Ex-Mayor’s Crumb of Consolation_: a Pathetic Ballad. Standard,

26 October.

_To John G. Palfrey._ Standard, 2 November.

Calling things by their Right Names. Standard, 9 November.

Melibœus Hipponax. | _THE BIGLOW PAPERS_, | Edited, | with an

Introduction, Notes, Glossary, | and Copious Index, | by Homer

Wilbur, A. M., | Pastor of the First Church in Jaalam, and

(prospective) member of | many Literary, Learned and Scientific

societies, | (_for which see page v._) | Cambridge: Published by

George Nichols.

_The Sower._ Standard, 16 November.

Editorial article, beginning: “If, as it has been often said,

America be a kind of posterity in relation to Europe.” Standard, 23

November.

Editorial article, beginning: “The recent decision of the English

Government.” Standard, 30 November.

The Works of Walter Savage Landor. Massachusetts Quarterly Review,

December.

_Ambrose._ Standard, 7 December.

The President’s Message. Standard, 14 December.

Review of Whittier’s Poems. Standard, 14 December.

El Dorado. Standard, 21 December.

A Washington Monument. Standard, 28 December.

1849.

_The Mill_, afterward _Beaver Brook_. Standard, 4 January.

Editorial article, beginning: “There is no need of any speculation

as to the course Whigs as Whigs will take.” Standard, 11 January.

Our Southern Brethren. Standard, 18 January.

Politics and the Pulpit. Standard, 25 January.

Ethnology. Standard, 1 February.

_The Parting of the Ways._ Standard, 8 February.

Mr. Calhoun’s Report. Standard, 15 February.

The Moral Movement against Slavery. Standard, 22 February.

Editorial article, beginning: “Next to the charge of being

possessed with only a single idea.” Standard, 1 March.

_A Day in June_, afterward, enlarged, _Al Fresco_. Standard, 8

March.

Editorial article, beginning: “The long succession of Democratic

rulers has at length been broken.” Standard, 15 March.

Mr. Clay as an Abolitionist.--Second appearance in Fifty Years.

Standard, 22 March.

_Lines_ suggested by the Graves of Two English Soldiers on Concord

Battle-Ground. Standard, 29 March.

_An Oriental Apologue._ Standard, 12 April.

Editorial article, beginning: “The German poet Schiller in a little

poem.” Standard, 19 April.

Anti-Slavery Criticism upon Mr. Clay’s Letter. Standard, 26 April.

_King Retro._ Standard, 10 May.

Editorial article, beginning: “In the Standard of April 19th an

article was copied.” Standard, 10 May.

_Bibliolatres._ Standard, 24 May.

Mobs. Standard, 14 June.

_Two Sonnets_, afterward named _Trial_. Standard, 28 June.

Longfellow’s Kavanagh: Nationality in Literature. North American

Review, July.

The Roman Republic. Standard, 12 July.

Fourth of July in Charleston. Standard, 26 July.

Moderation. Standard, 9 August.

_Eurydice._ Standard, 23 August.

_Kossuth._ Standard, 6 September.

Editorial article, beginning: “Our readers have had, from time to

time, the privilege of seeing extracts from Southern newspapers.”

Standard, 20 September.

Editorial article, beginning: “Every now and then we see it

asserted.” Standard, 4 October.

_To ---- _: “We, too, have autumns, when our leaves.” Standard, 18

October.

Canada. Standard, 1 November.

_The Lesson of the Pine_, afterward enlarged and entitled, _A

Mood_. Standard, 15 November.

California. Standard, 29 November.

Review of “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,”

Massachusetts Quarterly Review, December.

General Bem’s Conversion. Standard, 6 December.

Editorial article, beginning: “The last European steamer brings us

what is said to be the final determination of the Turkish

government in regard to the Hungarian exiles.” Standard, 13

December.

_The Burial of Theobald._ The Liberty Bell.

_The First Snow-Fall._ Standard, 27 December.

1850.

What shall be done for the Hungarian Exiles? Boston Courier, 3

January.

_New Year’s Eve, 1850._ Standard, 10 January.

A Review of Judd’s “Philo.” Standard, 24 January.

Editorial article, beginning: “When King Log first made his avatar

among the frogs.” Standard, 21 February.

Compromise. Standard, 7 March.

Mr. Webster’s Speech. Standard, 21 March.

_Out of Doors._ Graham’s Magazine, April.

Editorial article, beginning: “In the comment which we made a

fortnight ago on Mr. Webster’s speech.” Standard, 4 April.

_Mahmood the Image Breaker._ Standard, 18 April.

_Dara._ Graham’s Magazine, July.

_The Northern Sancho Panza and his vicarious Cork tree._ Standard,

18 July.

Pseudo Conservatism. Standard, 14 November.

_A Dream I had._ Standard, 28 November.

_To J. F. H._, afterward _An Invitation to J. F. H._ Graham’s

Magazine, December.

Mr. Bowen and the Christian Examiner, I. Boston Daily Advertiser,

28 December.

1851.

Mr. Bowen and the Christian Examiner, II. Boston Daily Advertiser,

2 January.

_Anti-Apis._ Standard, 30 January.

_Appledore_, No. V., in _Pictures from Appledore_. Graham’s

Magazine, February.

_The Unhappy Lot of Mr. Knott._ Graham’s Magazine, April.

_On Receiving a piece of Flax Cotton_, dated 18 April, 1851.

Standard, 1 May.

1853.

_The Fountain of Youth._ Putnam’s Magazine, January.

_Our Own, his Wanderings and Personal Adventures._ Putnam’s

Magazine, April, May, June.

A Moosehead Journal. Putnam’s Magazine, November.

1854.

_The Singing Leaves._ Graham’s Magazine, January.

_A Winter Evening Hymn to my Fire._ Putnam’s Magazine, March.

_Without and Within._ Putnam’s Magazine, April.

Fireside Travels. Putnam’s Magazine, April, May.

Leaves from my Italian Journal. Graham’s Magazine, April, May,

July.

[_Without and Within, II. The Restaurant._] Putnam’s Magazine, May.

_The Windharp._ Putnam’s Magazine, December.

_Auf Wiedersehen._ Putnam’s Magazine, December.

1855.

_Hakon’s Lay._ Graham’s Magazine, January.

_My Appledore Gallery_, No. I. _August afternoon_, afterward with

changes I.-IV. of _Pictures from Appledore_. The Crayon, 3 January.

_My Appledore Gallery_, No. II. _Sunset and Moonset_, afterward VI.

of _Pictures from Appledore_. The Crayon, 31 January.

_Invita Minerva._ The Crayon, 30 May.

1857.

_The Origin of Didactic Poetry._ Atlantic Monthly, November.

_Sonnet_: “The Maple puts her corals on in May.” Atlantic Monthly,

November.

The Round Table. Atlantic Monthly, November.

_My Portrait Gallery._ Atlantic Monthly, December.

Memoir of Shelley, prefixed to The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe

Shelley. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

1858.

Béranger (translated from Sainte-Beuve). Atlantic Monthly,

February.

_The Nest._ Atlantic Monthly, March.

Review of Guerrazzi’s Beatrice Cenci. Atlantic Monthly, March.

_Happiness._ Atlantic Monthly, April.

Mr. Buchanan’s Administration. Atlantic Monthly, April.

Review of Smith’s Library of Old Authors. Atlantic Monthly, April,

May.

_Epigram on J. M._ Atlantic Monthly, May.

_Beatrice_, afterward _Das Ewig-Weibliche_. Atlantic Monthly, June.

_Shipwreck._ Atlantic Monthly, June.

Review of Dramatic Works of John Webster. Atlantic Monthly, June.

The American Tract Society. Atlantic Monthly, July.

_The Trustees’ Lament._ Atlantic Monthly, August.

The Pocket Celebration of the Fourth. Atlantic Monthly, August.

_The Dead House._ Atlantic Monthly, October.

A Sample of Consistency. Atlantic Monthly, November.

1859.

White’s Shakespeare. Atlantic Monthly, January, February.

Longfellow’s “The Courtship of Miles Standish.” Atlantic Monthly,

January.

Holland’s “Bitter-Sweet.” Atlantic Monthly, May.

Allibone’s “Dictionary of Authors.” Atlantic Monthly, June.

Trübner’s “Bibliographical Guide to American Literature.” Atlantic

Monthly, June.

Notice of “Index to Catalogue of Boston City Library.” Atlantic

Monthly, June.

Notice of “Memoir of Theophilus Parsons.” Atlantic Monthly, July.

Dana’s “To Cuba and Back.” Atlantic Monthly, July.

Palmer’s “The New and the Old.” Atlantic Monthly, September.

Copeland’s “Country Life.” Atlantic Monthly, September.

Review of “Dictionary of Americanisms,” and other works on

Language. Atlantic Monthly, November.

Coolidge and Mansfield’s “History and Description of New England.”

Atlantic Monthly, November.

Gould’s “Reply to the Statement of the Trustees of the Dudley

Observatory.” Atlantic Monthly, November.

_Italy, 1859._ Atlantic Monthly, December.

Notice of “Forty-four Years of the Life of a Hunter, being

Reminiscences of Meshach Browning.” Atlantic Monthly, December.

Milburn’s “Ten Years of Preacher-Life.” Atlantic Monthly, December.

Notice of “A First Lesson in Natural History.” Atlantic Monthly,

December.

Dante. Appleton’s New American Encyclopædia. Reprinted, May, 1886,

in fifth annual report of the Dante Society.

1860.

Notice of “Sir Rohan’s Ghost.” Atlantic Monthly, February.

_To the Muse._ Atlantic Monthly, March.

Marsh’s “Lectures on the English Language.” Atlantic Monthly,

April.

Hawthorne’s “The Marble Faun.” Atlantic Monthly, April

Notice of “Poems by Two Friends.” Atlantic Monthly, April.

Norton’s “Notes of Travel and Study in Italy.” Atlantic Monthly,

May.

Webster’s “American Dictionary of the English Language.” Atlantic

Monthly, May.

Worcester’s “A Dictionary of the English Language.” Atlantic

Monthly, May.

Coles’s “Dies Iræ.” Atlantic Monthly, June.

Collins’s “A Voyage down the Amoor.” Atlantic Monthly, June.

Lowell’s “Fresh Hearts that failed Three Thousand Years ago.”

Atlantic Monthly, June.

The New Tariff Bill. Atlantic Monthly, July.

Wedgwood’s “A Dictionary of English Etymology.” Atlantic Monthly,

August.

Leslie’s “Autobiographical Recollections.” Atlantic Monthly,

September.

Trowbridge’s “The Old Battle Ground.” Atlantic Monthly, September.

July reviewed by September (with W. B. Rogers). Atlantic Monthly,

September.

The Election in November. Atlantic Monthly, October.

Mr. Jarves’s Collection. Atlantic Monthly, October.

Olmsted’s “A Journey in the Back County.” Atlantic Monthly,

November.

Whittier’s “Home Ballads and Poems.” Atlantic Monthly, November.

A Plea for Freedom from Speech and Figures of Speech Makers.

Atlantic Monthly, December.

Bryant’s “A Forest Hymn.” Atlantic Monthly, December.

Stoddard’s “Loves and Heroines of the Poets.” Atlantic Monthly,

December.

Palmer’s “Folk Songs.” Atlantic Monthly, December.

1861.

The Question of the Hour. Atlantic Monthly, January.

Prior’s “Ancient Danish Ballads.” Atlantic Monthly, January.

Chambers’s “Edinburgh Papers.” Atlantic Monthly, January.

Holland’s “Miss Gilbert’s Career.” Atlantic Monthly, January.

E. Pluribus Unum. Atlantic Monthly, February.

Parton’s “Life of Andrew Jackson.” Atlantic Monthly, March.

Rose Terry’s “Poems.” Atlantic Monthly, March.

Holmes’s “Elsie Venner.” Atlantic Monthly, April.

The Pickens-and-Stealins’ Rebellion. Atlantic Monthly, June.

_Ode to Happiness._ Atlantic Monthly, September.

_The Washers of the Shroud._ Atlantic Monthly, November.

Self-Possession _vs._ Prepossession. Atlantic Monthly, December.

1862.

_Birdofredum Sawin, Esq., to Mr. Hosea Biglow_, Atlantic Monthly,

January, March.

Arnold’s “On Translating Homer” and Newman’s “Homeric Translation

in Theory and Practice.” Atlantic Monthly, January.

_Mason and Slidell: a Yankee Idyl._ Atlantic Monthly, February.

Müller’s “Lectures on the Science of Language.” Atlantic Monthly,

March.

_A Message of Jeff Davis in Secret Session._ Atlantic Monthly,

April.

_Speech of Honble Preserved Doe in Secret Caucus._ Atlantic

Monthly, May.

_Sunthin’ in the Pastoral Line._ Atlantic Monthly, June.

1863.

_In the Half-Way House._ Atlantic Monthly, January.

_Latest Views of Mr. Biglow._ Atlantic Monthly, February.

Russell’s “My Diary, North and South.” Atlantic Monthly, March.

Story’s “Roba di Roma.” Atlantic Monthly, April.

_Two Scenes from the Life of Blondel._ Atlantic Monthly, November.

1864.

_Memoriæ Positum_ R. G. S. Atlantic Monthly, January.

The President’s Policy. North American Review, January.

Longfellow’s “Tales of a Wayside Inn.” North American Review,

January.

Whittier’s “In War Time.” North American Review, January.

Stedman’s “Alice of Monmouth.” North American Review, January.

_The Black Preacher._ Atlantic Monthly, April.

McClellan’s Report. North American Review, April.

Gurowski’s Diary. North American Review, April.

Diplomatic Correspondence. North American Review, April.

Beecher’s Autobiography. North American Review, April.

Thackeray’s “Roundabout Papers.” North American Review, April.

Chaucer’s “Legende of Goode Women” and “Child’s Observations on the

Language of Chaucer.” North American Review, April.

Jean Ingelow’s Poems. North American Review, April.

Barnes’s “Poems in the Dorset Dialect.” North American Review,

April.

_To a Friend who sent me a Meerschaum._ Spirit of the Fair, 12

April.

FIRESIDE TRAVELS. | By | James Russell Lowell. | _“Travelling makes

a man sit still in his old age with satisfaction and travel over

the world again in his chair and bed by discourse and thoughts.”_

THE VOYAGE OF ITALY, BY RICHARD LASSELS, GENT.

Boston: | Ticknor and Fields. | 1864.

The Rebellion: its Causes and Consequences. North American Review,

July.

Hazlitt’s “Poems of Richard Lovelace.” North American Review, July.

The Next General Election, [afterward, McClellan or Lincoln.] North

American Review, October.

1865.

_On Board the ’76._ Atlantic Monthly, January.

Palfrey’s “History of New England.” North American Review, January.

_Mr. Hosea Biglow to the Editor of the “Atlantic Monthly.”_

Atlantic Monthly, April.

Reconstruction. North American Review, April.

_Gold-Egg: a Dream Fantasy._ Atlantic Monthly, May.

Scotch the Snake, or Kill it. North American Review, July.

Lord Derby’s “Translation of the Iliad.” North American Review,

July.

_Ode Recited at the Harvard Commemoration._ Atlantic Monthly,

September.

Thoreau’s “Letters.” North American Review, October.

Parkman’s “France and England.” North American Review, October.

1866.

_What Rabbi Jehosha said._ The Nation, 18 January.

_A Worthy Ditty._ The Nation, 25 January.

Carlyle’s “Frederick the Great.” North American Review, April.

The President on the Stump. North American Review, April.

Swinburne’s “Tragedies.” North American Review, April.

_Mr. Worsley’s Nightmare._ The Nation, 5 April.

_Mr. Hosea Biglow’s Speech in March Meeting._ Atlantic Monthly,

May.

_To J. B. on sending me a seven-pound trout._ Atlantic Monthly,

July.

_At the Commencement Dinner_, on acknowledging a toast to the Smith

Professor, 19 July.

_The Miner._ Atlantic Monthly, August.

The Seward-Johnson Reaction. North American Review, October.

Wendell Phillips in Congress. The Nation, 4 October.

1867.

Fitz Adam’s Story. Atlantic Monthly, January.

Ward’s “Life and Letters of Percival.” North American Review,

January.

_Hob Gobbling’s Song._ Our Young Folks, January.

_A Familiar Epistle to a Friend._ Atlantic Monthly, April.

Lessing. North American Review, April.

_An Ember Picture._ Atlantic Monthly, July.

Rousseau and the Sentimentalists. North American Review, July.

Parkman’s “France and England in North America.” North American

Review, July.

Uncle Cobus’s Story. Our Young Folks, July.

_The Nightingale in the Study._ Atlantic Monthly, September.

The Winthrop Papers. North American Review, October.

A Great Public Character. Atlantic Monthly, November.

1868.

_In the Twilight._ Atlantic Monthly, January.

Witchcraft. North American Review, January.

Shakespeare Once More. North American Review, April.

_After the Burial._ Atlantic Monthly, May.

_A June Idyl._ Atlantic Monthly, June.

Dryden. North American Review, July.

_The Footpath._ Atlantic Monthly, August.

“Poems of John James Piatt.” North American Review, October.

Mr. Emerson’s New Course of Lectures. The Nation, 12 November.

_UNDER THE WILLOWS | and | Other Poems._ By | James Russell Lowell.

| Boston: | Fields, Osgood & Co., | Successors to Ticknor and

Fields. | 1869.

My Garden Acquaintance. The Atlantic Almanac, 1869.

1869.

_The Flying Dutchman._ Atlantic Monthly, January.

On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners. Atlantic Monthly,

January.

A Look before and after. North American Review, January.

Bartlett’s “Familiar Quotations.” North American Review, July.

A Good Word for Winter. The Atlantic Almanac, 1870.

1870.

_The Cathedral._ Atlantic Monthly, January.

_THE CATHEDRAL._ | By | James Russell Lowell. | Boston: | Fields,

Osgood & Co. | 1870.

Hazlitt’s “Library of Old Authors.” North American Review, April.

AMONG MY BOOKS. | By | James Russell Lowell, A. M. | Professor of

Belles-Lettres in Harvard College. | Boston: | Fields, Osgood & Co.

| 1870.

Chaucer. North American Review, July.

A Virginian in New England Thirty-five Years Ago, Introduction to.

Atlantic Monthly, August.

1871.

Pope. North American Review, January.

Goodwin’s “Plutarch’s Morals.” North American Review, April.

MY STUDY WINDOWS. | By | James Russell Lowell, A. M. | Professor of

Belles-Lettres in Harvard College. | Boston: | James R. Osgood and

Company. | Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood & Co. | 1871.

1872.

Masson’s “Life of John Milton.” North American Review, January.

The Shadow of Dante. North American Review, July.

1874.

_Agassiz._ Atlantic Monthly, May.

_An Epitaph._ The Nation, 1 October.

_Jeffries Wyman._ The Nation, 8 October.

1875.

Spenser. North American Review, April.

_Sonnet to F. A._ Atlantic Monthly, May.

_Ode read at the Concord Centennial._ Atlantic Monthly, June.

_Joseph Winlock._ The Nation, 17 June.

James’s “Sketches.” The Nation, 24 June.

_Sonnets from over Sea._ Atlantic Monthly, July.

_Under the Great Elm._ Atlantic Monthly, August.

_The World’s Fair, 1876._ The Nation, 5 August.

_Tempora Mutantur._ The Nation, 26 August.

_The Dancing Bear._ Atlantic Monthly, September.

1876.

Forster’s “Swift.” The Nation, 13, 20 April.

“The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.” The Nation, 27

April.

_A Misconception._ The Nation, 10 August.

_Campaign Epigrams_: A Coincidence; Defrauding Nature; The Widow’s

Mite. The Nation, 14 September.

_Campaign Epigrams_: Moieties; The Astronomer Misplaced. The

Nation, 12 October.

AMONG MY BOOKS. | Second Series. | By James Russell Lowell, |

Professor of Belles-Lettres in Harvard College. | Boston: | James

R. Osgood and Company, | Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood

& Co. | 1876.

_An Ode for the Fourth of July, 1876._ Atlantic Monthly, December.

1877.

_Birthday Verses._ Atlantic Monthly, January.

_Bankside._ The Nation, 31 May.

Motley (a Note). The Nation, 7 June.

_THREE MEMORIAL POEMS._ | By | James Russell Lowell.| Εῖς οἰωνὸς

ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης | Boston: | James R. Osgood and

Company, | Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood & Co. 1877.

_Night Watches._ Atlantic Monthly, July.

1880.

After dinner speech at _Déjeuner_ to American actors. Reported in

The Era, London, 2 August.

1881.

Garfield. Spoken in London, 24 September.

_Phœbe._ The Century, November.

Stanley. Speech at Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, 13 December.

1882.

_Estrangement._ The Century, May.

1883.

Fielding. Address at Taunton, England, 4 September.

1884.

Wordsworth. Given 10 May.

Democracy. Delivered at Birmingham, England, 6 October.

1885.

Coleridge. Address at Westminster Abbey, 7 May.

An after dinner speech at the Celebration of Forefathers’ Day in

Plymouth. 21 December.

Books and Libraries. Address at Chelsea, Massachusetts, 22

December.

Speech as presiding officer at dinner of Massachusetts Reform

League, 29 December. Printed in Boston Post, 30 December.

1886.

_International Copyright._ The Century, February.

Gray. New Princeton Review, March.

Oration in Sanders Theatre on the Two Hundred and Fiftieth

Anniversary of the Foundation of Harvard University. Delivered 8

November.

DEMOCRACY | and Other Addresses | by | James Russell Lowell |

Boston and New York | Houghton, Mifflin & Company | The Riverside

Press, Cambridge | 1887 [Copyright, 1886.]

1887.

_Credidimus Jorem regnare._ Atlantic Monthly, February.

_Fancy or Fact?_ Atlantic Monthly, March.

Speech at Authors’ Reading, 28 November.

The Progress of the World. Introduction to “The World’s Progress.”

Gately & O’Gorman, Boston.

1888.

_The Secret._ Atlantic Monthly, January.

_Endymion_: A Mystical Comment on Titian’s “Sacred and Profane

Love.” Atlantic Monthly, February.

Some Letters of Walter Savage Landor, Introduction to. The Century,

February.

The Late Mrs. Ann Benson Procter. The Nation, 29 March.

_Turner’s Old Téméraire_: under a Figure symbolizing the Church.

Atlantic Monthly, April.

The Place of the Independent in Politics. Address delivered before

the Reform Club of New York, 13 April.

POLITICAL ESSAYS | By | James Russell Lowell | Boston and New York

| Houghton, Mifflin and Company | The Riverside Press, Cambridge |

1888

_HEARTSEASE AND RUE_ | By | James Russell Lowell | Boston and New

York | Houghton, Mifflin and Company | The Riverside Press,

Cambridge | 1888

1889.

“Our Literature.” Response to a toast, on the hundredth Anniversary

of Washington’s Inauguration, 30 April.

_How I consulted the Oracle of the Goldfishes._ Atlantic Monthly,

August.

Introduction to Walton’s “Angler,” published by Little, Brown & Co.

The Study of Modern Languages. Address before the Modern Language

Association of America.

1890.

_The Infant Prodigy._ Signed F. de T. The Nation, 1 May.

_In a Volume of Sir Thomas Browne._ Atlantic Monthly, July.

_Inscription for a Memorial Bust of Fielding._ Atlantic Monthly,

September.

Introduction to Milton’s “Areopagitica,” published by the Grolier

Club.

WRITINGS OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. Riverside Edition. 10 volumes.

Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

“Thou Spell, avaunt!” Atlantic Monthly, December.

_My Brook._ New York Ledger, 13 December.

POSTHUMOUS.

1891.

LATEST LITERARY ESSAYS | and Addresses | of James Russell Lowell. |

Boston and New York | Houghton, Mifflin & Company | [1892 |

Copyright, 1891.]

_His Ship._ Harper’s Monthly, December.

Shakespeare’s Richard III. Atlantic Monthly, December. (Read first

before the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, in 1883.)

1892.

_On a Bust of General Grant._ Scribner’s Magazine, March.

The Old English Dramatists. Harper’s Monthly, June.

Marlowe. Harper’s Monthly, July.

Webster. Harper’s Monthly, August.

Beaumont and Fletcher. Harper’s Monthly, October.

Massinger and Ford. Harper’s Monthly, November.

THE | OLD ENGLISH DRAMATISTS | By | James Russell Lowell | Boston

and New York | Houghton, Mifflin and Company | The Riverside Press,

Cambridge | 1892.

Parkman. The Century, November.

1893.

LETTERS OF | James Russell Lowell | Edited by Charles Eliot Norton

| New York | Harper & Brothers Publishers | 1894 [In two volumes.]

Humor, Wit, Fun and Satire. The Century, November.

The Five Indispensable Authors [Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Goethe,

Shakspere]. The Century, December.

1894.

The Function of the Poet. The Century, January.

Criticism and Culture. The Century, February.

The Imagination. The Century, March.

Unpublished Fragments from College Lectures: i. The Study of

Literature; ii. Translation; iii. Originality and Tradition in

Literature; iv. Choice in Reading; v. The Search for Truth; vi.

Close of Lectures at Cornell University; vii. Elements of the

English Language; viii. The Poetic and the Actual; ix. Poetry in

Homely Lines; x. Style; xi. Piers Ploughman; xii. Montaigne; xiii.

The Humorous and the Comic; xiv. First Need of American Culture.

The Harvard Crimson, 23 March-4 May.

Fragments: i. Life in Literature and Language; ii. Style and

Manner; iii. Kalevala [with translation]. The Century, May.

Lowell’s Letters to Poe. Scribner’s Magazine, August.

1895.

_LAST POEMS_ | of | James Russell Lowell | Boston and New York |

Houghton, Mifflin and Company | The Riverside Press, Cambridge |

MDCCCXCV

1896.

_THE POWER OF | SOUND_ | a Rhymed | Lecture by James Russell Lowell

| Privately | Printed | New York | MDCCCXCVI

1897.

LECTURES | ON | ENGLISH POETS | By | James Russell Lowell |

--“Call up him who left half-told

The story of Cambuscan bold”

Cleveland | The Rowfant Club | MDCCCXCVII

1899.

IMPRESSIONS OF | SPAIN | James Russell Lowell | Compiled by |

Joseph B. Gilder | with an introduction by A. A. Adee | Boston and

New York | Houghton, Mifflin and Company | The Riverside Press |

1899

_Verses written in a copy of Shakspere._ The Century, November.

1900.

_Verses_: i. Written in a gift copy of Mr. Lowell’s Poems; ii.

Written in a copy of “Among my Books;” iii. Written in a copy of

“Fireside Travels.” Atlantic Monthly, December.

D. THE LOWELL MEMORIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY

_From the London Times, Wednesday, 29 November, 1893_

Mr. Leslie Stephen yesterday unveiled the memorial which has been placed

in honor of the late James Russell Lowell at the entrance to the

Chapter-house, Westminster Abbey. The memorial includes a window and a

bust underneath, which is said to be an admirable likeness of the late

American Minister. The window has been erected by Messrs. Clayton and

Bell, and consists of three lights. In the centre is the figure of Sir

Launfal, from Lowell’s poem of that name, below is an angel with the

Holy Grail, and in the lowest compartment the incident of Sir Launfal

and the leper is represented. The right light has the figure of St.

Botolph, the patron saint of the church of Boston, Lincolnshire, from

which the Massachusetts city, Lowell’s birthplace, derived its name;

below is the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. The light on the left

contains the figure of St. Ambrose, one of the reputed authors of _Te

Deum Laudamus_; below is a group representing the emancipation of

slaves. In trefoils above the side-lights are shields bearing the arms

of the United States and the United Kingdom.

Mr. A. J. Balfour was asked to take the chief part in yesterday’s

ceremony, but was prevented by illness from attending.

The Dean of Westminster presided, and the Chapter-house was filled with

a numerous audience. Among those who had been invited, and the greater

number of whom were present, were the Lord Chancellor and Lady

Herschell, the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, the Speaker of the House of

Commons, the Earl of Rosebery, Lord Knutsford, the Dowager Countess of

Derby, the Earl and Countess of Pembroke, Lady Arthur Russell, Lord and

Lady Coleridge, Lord and Lady Reay, Lord Aberdare, the Earl and Countess

Brownlow, Lord and Lady R. Churchill, Adeline Duchess of Bedford, Lord

and Lady Playfair, the Countess of Ashburton, Mr. J. Chamberlain, M. P.,

and Mrs. Chamberlain, Mr. Shaw Lefevre, M. P., the diplomatic

representatives of America, Italy, Greece, Russia, Spain, Denmark,

Germany, and France, Judge Hughes, Professor Huxley, Archdeacon Farrar,

Sir Henry James, M. P., Sir J. Hassard, representing the Archbishop of

Canterbury, Mr. Rathbone, M. P., General and Mrs. Clive, Miss Balfour,

Mr. and Mrs. Gosse, Mrs. Lynn Linton, Mr. Spencer Lyttelton, Dr.

Martineau, Mrs. Richmond Ritchie, Mr. and Mrs. Smalley, Mr. W. Besant,

Miss Bradley, Mr. and Mrs. Darwin, Mrs. A. Murray Smith, Mr. and Mrs.

Birrell, Mr. F. W. Gibbs, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. George Meredith, Mrs.

Humphry Ward, Mr. Dykes Campbell, Mr. G. Du Maurier, and Mrs. Matthew

Arnold. Sir William Harcourt was unavoidably prevented from attending by

Ministerial business.

The Dean of Westminster said that he had been asked to take the chair on

this interesting and suggestive occasion. They had met in that venerable

and stately building to pay some tribute to the memory of one who, from

the first day which he spent in this country up to the date of his

death, had endeared himself to an ever-widening circle of friends, and

who had for many years been the representative in the Queen’s dominions

of that great Republic of the West. He would leave it to others to speak

of Mr. Lowell’s great qualities, and of the position which he held as a

poet, a humorist, and essayist. Mr. Lowell was worthy to be reckoned

among the great writers of our tongue--Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser,

Milton, Dryden, and those poets whom we had so lately lost. They all

deeply regretted the absence of Mr. Balfour and its cause, but they

gratefully recognized the service which Mr. Leslie Stephen was rendering

them by his presence. There was no one to whom the task of speaking of

Mr. Lowell could so wisely be entrusted. In the presence of the American

Ambassador he might, perhaps, be allowed to speak of the special fitness

of the place in which they were assembled--which was a part of the

ancient Abbey, the very heart and centre of that Benedictine monastery,

and used solely as the daily meeting-place of the monks. There was no

spot in the kingdom or in the world which could compare in historic

interest and significance with that in which they were met. That part of

the Abbey with which so many associations had gathered, and which was

now known by the name of Poets’ Corner, dated from the period of the

commencement of the House of Commons, whose members in the earliest days

and for three centuries of its existence were summoned within the walls

of the Chapter-house. Thus the room where they were sitting was not only

the meeting-place of the Benedictine monks of Westminster, but it was

also for a long period the ordinary meeting-place of the Commons of

England. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the Chapter-house was

vested in the Crown, and was still so vested, and it was by the

permission of the First Commissioner of Works that the present meeting

to do honor to a great American was held. For three more centuries after

the Commons had ceased to be summoned to the Chapter-house, the house

was used, he would not say as a lumber-room, but as a record-room in

which were stored the invaluable documents which belonged to the House

of Commons and the various Government offices. One deficiency, however,

long remained, which his dear and illustrious predecessor long tried to

remove. The late Dean endeavored to induce successive Governments to

fill the windows with stained glass, but without success. After his

death, however, one of the windows was filled. No meeting could have

been more representative of the whole English-speaking race than the one

which was held when that window was unveiled. He could imagine that he

was still hearing the words which fell from Mr. Lowell on that occasion,

_Si monumentum quæris, circumspice_. No words could have been more

eloquent or impressive than those used by the American Minister of that

day. That was the first time he himself had the pleasure of hearing Mr.

Lowell’s voice. The next historic meeting in that room was one called to

unveil a painted window, the gift of the Queen, which was inserted in

memory of Lady Augusta Stanley. That meeting, also, Mr. Lowell attended.

Two years afterwards he had had the privilege, in his capacity of Dean,

of summoning a meeting with a view to honor the American poet

Longfellow, to whom a memorial stood in Poets’ Corner. A fourth meeting

was held in memory of one to whom as poet and thinker the older

generation owed so much. It had been his privilege to place a bust in

memory of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Mr. Lowell on that occasion made one

of the most sympathetic and appreciative speeches to which he had ever

listened. They would all agree that no more suitable spot could be

chosen on which to perpetuate the memory of one who was not only for

many years the representative in this country of the great American

Republic, but was so great an ornament to that language and literature

which were the common heritage of Americans and Englishmen alike.

* * * * *

Speeches were made also by Mr. Leslie Stephen, Mr. J. Chamberlain, M.

P., and Mr. Bayard, the American Ambassador.

INDEX

[Titles of periodicals, and of books, articles, and poems by J. R.

L. are printed in _Italic_ type.]

Abolitionists, scored by J. R. L. in _Class Poem_, i. 56;

J. R. L. identifies himself with, 191, 197;

independence of, in 1848, 213;

separated from, ii. 16.

Adams, John, J. R. L. remembers hearing of the death of, i. 19.

Adee, Alvin A., on J. R. L.’s insight into Spanish character, ii. 244.

Adirondack Club, formed by W. J. Stillman, i. 404;

its membership, 405.

“Adirondacs, The,” by R. W. Emerson, i. 404; ii. 175.

“Africa,” by M. W. L., i. 369.

African coast, approach to, i. 313.

_Agassiz_, i. 400;

compared with other poems, ii. 175;

the portraits in, 176;

J. R. L. on, 177, 178;

the patriotic feeling in, 190.

Agassiz, Louis, a member of the Adirondack Club, i. 405;

death of, ii. 174.

_Aladdin_, taken from _Our Own_, i. 353.

Alcott, Amos Bronson, characterised in _A Fable for Critics_, i. 240.

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, a tenant of Elmwood, i. 1;

J. R. L. thanks him for his praise of _Under the Willows_, 125;

takes possession of Elmwood, 150;

J. R. L. to, on a doctorate, 169;

leaves Elmwood, 185;

J. R. L. to, on fleeing to the mountains, 186;

J. R. L. to, on contributions to the _Atlantic_, 297, 388.

Alfonso, king of Spain, J. R. L. presents him with the

President’s congratulations, ii. 224;

J. R. L. is presented to, 227;

his marriage described, 230.

_Al Fresco_, i. 269; ii. 41.

Allen, Alexander Viets Griswold, ii. 69, note.

_Ambrose_, i. 228.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, J. R. L.’s membership in, i. 446, note.

American Archæological Institute, ii. 326.

“American Conflict, The,” by Horace Greeley, reviewed by J. R. L., ii. 53.

American Literature, J. R. L. on, ii. 361-368.

_American Politics_, the address J. R. L. did not give, ii. 351.

_American Review, The_, Poe’s “Raven” published in, i. 163.

_Among My Books_, first series, published, ii. 144;

second series, 196.

Anderson, Major Robert, ii. 25.

_Another Rallying Cry by a Yankee_, i. 168.

Antwerp, ii. 170.

“A pair of black eyes,” poem beginning, i. 54.

Appleton, Thomas, goes to hear J. R. L. lecture, i. 373.

_Appleton’s Journal_, edited by R. Carter, ii. 144.

_Arcturus_, a literary journal, i. 95.

“Areopagitica,” Milton’s, J. R. L. writes an introduction to, ii. 398.

“Are we Christians?” J. R. L. on, ii. 165.

Art, J. R. L.’s relations to, ii. 86.

“Atalanta in Calydon,” ii. 92.

_Athenæum, The_, quoted, ii. 293.

Atlantic Club, The, i. 447.

_Atlantic Monthly_, origin of, i. 408-413;

its value to Whittier, 417;

its sale, 418;

its timeliness, 419;

its anonymous character, 422;

policy of, as

affirmed by J. R. L., 424;

interest of the public in, 425;

its freedom from competition, 427;

reviewing in, 430;

clubs that sprang from, 446;

designed to be a political magazine, ii. 1;

compared with _Standard_, 3;

J. R. L.’s political articles in, 17;

the second series of _Biglow Papers_ asked for by editor of, 35;

an anonymous writer in, describes J. R. L.’s comments on the Jews, 301.

_Auf Wiederschen_, i. 368.

“Auld Lang Syne,” by Max Müller, quoted, ii. 263.

Authors’ readings, ii. 333;

address by J. R. L. before, 361.

“Autobiography of a Journalist” referred to, i. 404.

“Autocrat, The, of the Breakfast Table,” i. 426.

Azeglio, Massimo d’, i. 395.

Bachi, Pietro, instructor in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese

at Harvard in J. R. L.’s youth, i. 27.

Ballads in J. R. L.’s early years, i. 12.

“Band, The,” i. 89.

Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, J. R. L. comments on, ii. 194.

Barlow, Joel, ii. 361.

Barrett, Elizabeth Barrett, afterward Mrs. Browning,

contributes to the _Pioneer_, i. 111;

reviewed by Poe, 165.

Bartlett, John, friend of J. R. L., and member with him of whist club, i. 271;

verses to, by J. R. L., ii. 96;

calls the whist club together for the last time, 407.

Bartol, Rev. Cyrus Augustus, colleague of Charles Lowell,

discourages the publication of his sermons, i. 8, note;

C. L’s attitude toward, as regards salary, 234, note.

Beaver Brook, J. R. L.’s early rambles to, i. 19.

_Beaver Brook_, i. 228, 232.

Bell, Mrs. Helen Choate, J. R. L. to, on Feltham, ii. 350.

Bell telephone, ii. 328.

Benton, Joel, defends J. R. L., ii. 192;

and draws out a letter in response, 193.

Béranger, J. R. L. translates Sainte-Beuve’s article on, ii. 77.

Bernini, the angels of, i. 319.

Bethune, Rev. George Washington, i. 155.

Beverly, J. R. L. describes life at, i. 365, 366.

_Bibliolatres_, i. 228.

Biglow, Hosea, J. R. L. regrets making him a bad speller, i. 261;

thinks of educating him, 261.

_Biglow Papers_, first series, quoted, i. 21;

begun in _Boston Courier_, 201;

published also the _Standard_, 256;

origin of, in J. R. L.’s mind, 257;

their success referred to by J. R. L, 260;

progenitors of, 261;

bad spelling in, 261;

revised for publication, 261, 262;

the apparatus of, 263;

success of, 264;

expressive of New England, 265;

and of Lowell, 265;

eclipsing _A Fable for Critics_, 266;

relation of, to _Sir Launfal_, 268;

second series, 400;

not liked by Mrs. Lowell, 428;

introduced by Hughes in England, 454;

demand for more, ii. 32;

first of second series written, 34;

second series compared with first, 36;

quoted in newspapers after the Spanish war, 94;

Introduction to second series, 102.

Birmingham and Midland Institute, address before, ii. 313.

Black, Charles C., a friend of J. R. L. in Italy, i. 317;

helps him to London papers, 320;

gets up private theatricals, 331.

_Blackwood’s Magazine_, reputation of, in America, i. 419;

model of the _Atlantic_, 421.

Blaine, James Gillespie, J. R. L. rejoices over the defeat of, ii. 204;

corresponds with J. R. L when Secretary of State, 285;

is succeeded by Mr. Frelinghuysen, 290, note;

had chosen successor to J. R. L. in anticipation of

election to the presidency, 317;

divides the Union League Club in Chicago, 352.

Blarney Castle, J. R. L. visits, ii. 152.

Bliss, Edward Penniman, ii. 202, note.

Blondel, a prototype of Lincoln, ii. 43.

Bologna, J. R. L receives degree at, ii. 379.

_Books and Libraries_ quoted, i. 30; ii. 326.

Boott, Francis, i. 318.

Bores, passage on, in _A Fable for Critics_, i. 246.

_Boston Courier_, J. R. L. contributes to, i. 168, 174.

_Boston Daily Advertiser_, J. R. L.’s lecture reported in, i. 373;

on Commemoration Ode, ii. 64.

_Boston Miscellany, The_, a literary journal, i. 98;

J. R. L’s contributions to, 98, 99;

is merged in _Arcturus_, 99.

Boswell’s Johnson frequently read by J. R. L., ii. 407.

Bowen, Francis, controversy of, with Mrs. Putnam, i. 304.

Bowker, Richard Rogers, gives an account of the Lowells in London, ii. 267;

on J. R. L.’s perplexities in presenting ladies at court, 298.

Boyle, Miss Mary, entrusts Landor’s letters to J. R. L., ii. 342.

Brackett, Dr., of Portsmouth, i. 19.

Bradburn, George, projects a magazine, i. 7.

“Brahma,” by Emerson, the quidnuncs on, i. 415;

J. R. L. on, 415, 416.

Brattle, Thomas, i. 2.

Bremer, Fredrika, describes the Lowell household, i. 298.

Brewster, Sir David, a teacher of Charles Lowell, i. 7.

Briggs, Charles Frederick (Harry Franco), i. 110;

J. R. L. makes the acquaintance of, 114;

criticises _A Legend of Brittany_, 129;

letter to, from M. W., 129;

projects _Broadway Chronicle_, 130;

condemns customary marriage ceremonies, 131, note;

starts the _Broadway Journal_, 156;

seeks contributions from J. R. L. and M. W. L., 156;

offers to make a contract with J. R. L., 157;

upon compensation, 158;

objects to J. R. L.’s first article, 159;

abandons his paper, 160;

corresponds with J. R. L. regarding Poe, 163-166;

receives a visit from J. R. L. and M. W. L., 173;

J. R. L. to, on his anticipated child, 179;

J. R. L. to, after the birth of Blanche, 181;

is amused over J. R. L.’s French exercise, 182, and note;

J. R. L. to, on Anti-Slavery, 183;

and on the training of Blanche, 185;

is notified of _A Fable for Critics_, 238;

asks after it, 239;

has it offered to him as a New Year’s gift, 240;

accepts it, and proposes distribution of profits, 242;

writes J. R. L. to retain passage on Miss Fuller, 245;

does not like Bryant, 245;

hears of _Sir Launfal_, 266;

comments on _The Changeling_, 279;

writes to J. R. L. of Willis and Mrs. Clemm, 282;

begs J. R. L. not to undertake editorship, 287;

J. R. L. writes to him of _The Nooning_, 300;

is editor of _Putnam’s Monthly_, 348;

looks to J. R. L. for contributions, 350;

receives _Our Own_, 351;

J. R. L. to, on magazines popularity, 352;

on _Cambridge Thirty Years Ago_, 354;

prints M. W. L’s verses, 358;

J. R. L. to, on the death of M. W. L., 360;

on his own appointment at Harvard, 376.

Bright, Henry, sends grouse to Longfellow, i. 346.

Bright, John, J. R. L. essays to write a paper on, ii. 388.

Bristol, J. R. L. visits, ii. 157.

Bristow, Benjamin H., a candidate for the presidency, ii. 203.

_British Poets_, J. R. L. helps edit the, i. 364; ii. 101.

_Broadway Chronicle, The_, projected by C. F. Briggs, i. 130.

_Broadway Journal, The_, edited by C. F. Briggs, i. 154;

J. R. L. and M. W. L. contribute to, 156, 538-160;

is discontinued, 160.

_Brook, The_, ii. 393.

Brooks, Phillips, makes prayer at Harvard Commemoration, ii. 364.

Brown, Charles Brockden, ii. 364.

Browning, Robert, poems of, reviewed by J. R. L., i. 290, 291;

met by J. R. L., 381;

his dramas to be read, not seen, ii 70;

met by J. R. L. in Venice, 272.

Bruges, ii. 170.

Bryant, William Cullen, in _A Fable for Critics_, i. 245;

criticise J. R. L., 245, note;

J. R. L. uneasy over his judgment on, 253;

A New Englander in New York, 420;

his “Waterfowl,” ii. 365.

Buchanan, James, criticised by Parke Godwin in the _Atlantic_ ii. 3;

and by J. R. L., 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 21.

Buckingham, J. T., editor of _Boston Courier_, J. R. L. addresses, i. 174;

a hater of slavery, 175.

Bulfinch, Charles, architectural works of, i. 26.

Bull-fight, J. R. L. witnesses a, ii. 234.

Burke, Edmund, ii. 362.

Burleigh, C. C., editor of _Pennsylvania Freeman_, i. 152.

Burnett, Edward, marries Mabel Lowell, ii. 150;

entertains J. R. L. in Washington, 387.

Burnett, Mabel Lowell, _see_ Lowell, Mabel;

edits Donne with Mr. Norton, ii. 102, note;

makes J. R. L. a grandfather, 166;

meets J. R. L. on his return from Europe, 185;

J. R. L. writes to her of Mrs. Lowell’s illness, 253;

and of his transfer to England, 255;

with her husband visits England, 258;

makes a home for J. R. L. in his last days, 393.

Butler, Benjamin Franklin, J. R. L. comments on, ii. 194;

a byblow of Democracy, 324.

Byron, his “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,” i. 250, note;

his “muddy stuff,” 337, 338.

Cabot, Arthur, buys Elmwood, i. 5.

Cabot, James Elliot, i. 411;

his “Life of Emerson,” ii. 366.

Cæsar, J. R. L. offers a new paragraph to his Commentaries, ii. 383.

Calderon, i. 269.

Calhoun, John Caldwell, satirized by J. R. L., i. 215-218.

California, J. R. L. on discovery of gold in, i. 177.

Cambridge, England, J. R. L. visits, to receive a degree, ii. 184.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, the birthplace of J. R. L., i. 1;

its character as a college town, 25;

its connection with Boston in J. R. L.’s boyhood, 26.

_Cambridge Thirty Years Ago_, addressed to W. W. Story, i. 22;

published in _Putnam’s Monthly_, 353.

Campagna, the, J. R. L.’s first view of, i. 318;

his walks in, 322, 328, 338.

Cánovas del Castillo, J. R. L. comments on, ii. 233, 244, 246;

views of, on Cuba, 254.

Carlisle, ii. 156.

Carlyle, Thomas, satirized by J. R. L. in his _Class Poem_, i. 57;

in the apparatus of _Biglow Papers_, 263;

paper on, by J. R. L., ii. 89;

modification of judgment concerning, 90;

assessed, 91.

Carman, Bliss, ii 389.

Carter, Robert, associated with J. R. L. in the _Pioneer_, i. 99;

his career, 100, 101;

writes a card explaining J. R. L.’s silence, 107;

letters of J. R. L. to, from New York, 109-114;

letter of J. R. L. to, on going to Philadelphia, 152-155;

J. R. L. writes to, in Pepperell 274;

writes on the Hungarian question, 304;

letter to, from J. R. L. at Terracina, 343;

reports J. R. L.’s lecture before Lowell Institute, 373;

asks J. R. L to write for _Appletons’ Journal_, ii. 144;

interests himself in J. R. L’s political preferment, 202;

wishes to print the Fourth of July ode, 203.

Cass, Lewis, satirized by J. R. L., i. 215-217.

Castellar y Rissoll, Emilio ii. 244.

_Cathedral, The_, quoted, i. 17, 18, 380;

composition of, ii. 139;

first called _A Day at Chartres_, 140;

the pleasure it gave J. R. L., 142.

Caucus, speech of J. R. L. at, ii. 206-211.

“Centurion, The,” in _A Fable for Critics_, i. 242.

_Century Magazine, The_, on Lincoln and Lowell, ii. 71;

interested in international copyright, 333.

_Certain Condescension in Foreigners, A_, ii. 122, 262.

Chace, Senator, of Rhode Island, ii. 326.

Chamonix, ii. 171.

_Changeling, The_, i. 274;

praised by Briggs, 279.

Channing, Edward Tyrrel, i. 36.

Channing, William Ellery, ii. 364.

Channing, William Francis, contributor to the _Standard_, i. 193.

Chapman, George, ii. 354.

Chapman, Mrs. Maria Weston, manages bazaar, i. 181;

one of the editors of the _National Anti-Slavery Standard_, 192;

proposes to J. R. L. to contribute, 196;

overrates his popularity, 197.

Chartres, J. R. L. visits, i. 380;

gives title at first to _The Cathedral_, ii. 140.

“Chastelard,” ii. 92.

Chaucer, treated by J. R. L. in _Conversations_, i. 134;

quotation from paper on, ii. 88;

his appropriation of others’ work, 132.

Chelsea, J. R. L.’s address at, ii. 326.

Chester, J. R. L. at, with Canon Kingsley, ii. 153.

Chicago, address at, by J. R. L., ii. 351.

Child, David Lee, editor of the _Standard_, i. 192.

Child, Francis James, edits the _British Poets_, i. 364;

J. R. L. shows him the _Commemoration Ode_, ii. 63, 68, note;

likes _Fitz Adam’s Story_, 104;

accompanies J. R. L. to Baltimore, 213;

his popularity there, 214;

J. R. L. to, on the St. Andrews affair, 300.

Child, Mrs. Lydia Maria, the “Philothea” of, i. 80;

characterised by J. R. L. in the _Pioneer_, 105;

her “Letters from New York,” 114;

her editorship of the _Standard_, 192;

in _A Fable for Critics_, 245.

_Chippewa Legend, A_, i. 125.

Chivers, T. H., i. 375.

Choate, Rufus, J. R. L.’s article on, ii. 14.

Choir, village, J. R. L.’s characterization of, i. 20.

Christ, and Christianity, i. 169.

Christ Church, Cambridge, ecclesiastical home of loyalists, i. 2;

J. R. L. attends, ii. 311.

Church, the, J. R. L.’s comments on, in _Conversations_, i. 141-145;

a bulwark of Paganism, 170.

_Church and the Clergy, The_, J. R. L.’s articles in

_Pennsylvania Freeman_, i. 169.

Civil-service reform, importance of, ii. 194, 202;

reference to, at caucus, 210;

address on, by J. R. L., 377.

Clarke, James Freeman, in politics, ii. 201.

_Class Poem_ by J. R. L., i. 48, 50, 51, 53, 54, 56-61.

Clemm, Mrs., Poe’s mother-in-law, J. R. L.’s relations with, i. 282.

Cleveland, Grover, elected president, ii. 316;

J. R. L.’s judgment on, 324.

Clifford, Mrs. W. K., J. R. L. to, on confidants, ii. 323;

J. R. L. to, in response to an invitation, 391.

Clough, Arthur Hugh, comes to America on same boat with J. R. L., i. 346;

his reception in Boston and Cambridge, 346;

describes the Lowell household, 347;

J. R. L.’s judgment of his “Bothie,” 347;

Cranch reminds J. R. L. of, ii. 96.

Coercion Act, J. R. L. on, ii. 281.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, J. R. L. becomes

acquainted with the poems of, i. 32;

J. R. L. compares his own odes with those of, ii. 44, note;

his want of scruple in matters of literary honesty, 134;

J. R. L. on unveiling the bust of, 321.

Colosseum at Rome, i. 338.

_Commemoration Ode_, i. 400;

tried on F. J. Child, ii. 63;

exhausts J. R. L., 64;

to be read aloud, 66;

its composition, 67;

its power to stimulate, 70;

a shrine of Lincoln, 71.

Concord, Massachusetts, J. R. L. sent there in suspension from college, i. 47;

his life there, 50-56.

“Conquest of Canaan,” Dwight’s, ii. 361.

Contributors’ Club, article in, by J. R. L., ii. 398.

_Conversations on some of the Old Poets_, quoted, i. 17;

books published, 132;

its contents analyzed, 134-145;

reviewed by Poe in the _Mirror_, 163;

compared with later work on same subject, ii. 354.

Cooke, Philip Pendleton, ii. 362.

Cooper, James Fenimore, in _A Fable for Critics_, i. 254;

has no desire to start a magazine, 419;

characterized, ii. 364.

Copyright, J. R. L. on, ii. 326-332.

“Cornwallis, The,” village drama of, i. 25.

_Courtin’, The_, i. 300.

Cranch, Christopher Pearse, visits J. R. L., ii. 95;

his ill-success, 96.

Crawford, Thomas, i. 332.

_Crayon, The_, Stillman’s journal, i. 367, 378.

_Credidimus Jovem regnare_, ii. 368.

_Critic, The_, publishes a “Lowell Birthday number,” ii. 387.

Cromwell, treated poetically by J. R. L., i. 124;

wanted by him for America, ii. 28.

Crosby & Nichols, publishers of the _North American Review_, ii. 47.

Cuba, Spanish relations with, ii. 254;

rumors of American purchase of, 255.

Curtis, George Ticknor, recalls Mr. Wells’s school, i. 23.

Curtis, George William, and _Putnam’s Monthly_, i. 348;

his “Prue and I,” 350.

Cushing, Caleb, J. R. L.’s article on, ii. 14, 15.

Dall, Mrs. Caroline Healey, quoted on Charles Lowell, i. 10.

Dana, Edmund, brother of R. H. D., Jr., i. 22.

Dana, Richard Henry, ii. 365.

Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., an early friend of J. R. L., i. 22;

death of, commented on by J. R. L., ii. 296.