The Project Gutenberg Ebook, James Russell Lowell and His Friends, by Edward Everett Hale
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The Project Gutenberg eBook, James Russell Lowell and His Friends, by Edward Everett Hale This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: James Russell Lowell and His Friends Author: Edward Everett Hale Release Date: February 19, 2015 [eBook #48311] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL AND HIS FRIENDS*** E-text prepared by KD Weeks, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, David Garcia, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/lowellandfriends00halerich Transcriber’s Note Footnotes appear sparingly. The ten instances have been moved to the end of the text. Illustrations and photographs were not included in pagination. They have been re- positioned to avoid falling mid-paragraph. To reduce download time, the illustrations are presented as smaller images. By clicking on the image, one will open a larger image. The image will open in the current tab or window; a right click should permit one to open the image in a separate tab/window. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL From the crayon by S.W. Rowse in the possession of Professor Charles Eliot Norton JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL AND HIS FRIENDS BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE WITH PORTRAITS, FACSIMILES, AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge COPYRIGHT, 1898 AND 1899, BY THE OUTLOOK COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii PREFACE When my friend Mr. Howland, of the “Outlook” magazine, asked me if I could write for that magazine a Life of James Russell Lowell, I said at once that I could not. While there were certain periods of our lives when we met almost daily, for other periods we were parted, so that for many years I never saw him. I said that the materials for any Life of him were in the hands of others, who would probably use them at the proper time. Then Mr. Howland suggested that, without attempting anything which should be called a Life of Mr. Lowell, I might write for the “Outlook” a review, as it were, of the last sixty years among literary and scientific people in Boston and its neighborhood. I do not think he wanted my autobiography, nor had I any thought of preparing it for him; but he suggested the book which is in the reader’s hands. This was in April, 1897. I began my preparation for the book with great pleasure. I was cordially helped by friends of Lowell, who opened to me their stores of memories and papers and pictures; and on the 1st of January, 1898, the first number of a series of twelve was published in the “Outlook.” This series is iv now collected, with such additions as seemed desirable, and such corrections as were suggested by kind and courteous readers. I should like to acknowledge here personally the courtesy and kindness of the different friends of Mr. Lowell who have rendered such cordial assistance; but really there are too many of them. In trying to prepare a list, I found that I was running up far into the hundreds, and I will not therefore name any one here. On another page the reader will see how largely we are indebted to friends of Mr. Lowell who have furnished us with pictures. To the friends who have loaned us letters or memoranda from diaries or other recollections of him, I must express in general my cordial thanks. EDWARD E. HALE. ROXBURY, April, 1899. v CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. HIS BOYHOOD AND EARLY 1 LIFE II. HARVARD COLLEGE 15 III. LITERARY WORK IN 25 COLLEGE IV. CONCORD 43 V. BOSTON IN THE FORTIES 55 VI. THE BROTHERS AND 70 SISTERS VII. A MAN OF LETTERS 78 VIII. LOWELL AS A PUBLIC 102 SPEAKER IX. HARVARD REVISITED 125 X. LOWELL’S EXPERIENCE AS 147 AN EDITOR XI. POLITICS AND THE WAR 170 XII. TWENTY YEARS OF 192 HARVARD XIII. MR. LOWELL IN SPAIN 215 XIV. MINISTER TO ENGLAND 237 XV. HOME AGAIN 262 INDEX 287 vi ILLUSTRATIONS JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Frontispiece From the crayon by Page S.W. Rowse in the possession of Professor Charles Eliot Norton. ENTRANCE TO ELMWOOD facing 4 From a photograph by Pach Brothers. REV. CHARLES LOWELL 8 From a painting in the possession of Charles Lowell, Boston. THE PASTURE, ELMWOOD facing 12 From a photograph by Pach Brothers. EDWARD TYRREL CHANNING facing 18 From the painting by Healy in Memorial Hall, Harvard University. NATHAN HALE facing 36 From a photograph by Black. LOWELL’S POEM TO HIS facing 50 COLLEGE CLASS From a printed copy lent by Mrs. Elizabeth Scates Beck, Germantown, Pa. FACSIMILE OF PROGRAMME OF facing 52 VALEDICTORY EXERCISES OF THE HARVARD CLASS OF 1838 Lent by Mrs. Elizabeth Scates Beck, Germantown, Pa. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL facing 74 From the crayon by William Page in the possession of Mrs. Charles F. Briggs, Brooklyn, N.Y. MARIA LOWELL facing 78 From the crayon by S. W. Rowse in the possession of Miss Georgina Lowell Putnam, Boston. CHARLES F. BRIGGS facing 84 From an ambrotype by Brady lent by Mrs. Charles F. Briggs, Brooklyn, N.Y. FACSIMILE CONTENTS PAGE OF facing 86 vii THE BOSTON MISCELLANY. (The Authors’ names are in the handwriting of Nathan Hale) FACSIMILE OF LOWELL’S LIST facing 92 OF FRIENDS to whom he presented copies of Conversations on the Old Poets. “The Don” was Robert Carter From the original MS. owned by General James Lowell Carter, Boston. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL facing 96 From a daguerreotype, taken in Philadelphia in 1844, owned by E.A. Pennock, Boston. JOHN LOWELL, JR. facing 112 From a painting by Chester Harding in the possession of Augustus Lowell, Boston. JOHN HOLMES, ESTES HOWE, facing 114 ROBERT CARTER, AND JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL From a photograph by Black owned by General James Lowell Carter, Boston. CORNELIUS CONWAY FELTON facing 134 From a photograph lent by Miss Mary Sargent, Worcester, Mass. ELMWOOD facing 138 From a photograph. JAMES T. FIELDS facing 150 From the photograph by Mrs. Cameron. MOSES DRESSER PHILLIPS facing 154 From a daguerreotype kindly lent by his daughter, Miss Sarah F. Phillips, West Medford, Mass. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES facing 158 From a photograph taken in 1862. FACSIMILE OF A FABLE FOR facing 162 CRITICS PROOF-SHEET WITH LOWELL’S CORRECTIONS Kindly lent by Mrs. Charles F. Briggs, Brooklyn, N.Y. WILLIAM WETMORE STORY facing 164 From a photograph by Waldo Story lent by Miss Ellen Eldredge, Boston. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL facing 168 From a photograph taken by Dr. Holmes in 1864. The print is signed by both viii Holmes and Lowell, and is kindly lent by Charles Akers, New York, N.Y. SYDNEY HOWARD GAY facing 178 From a photograph lent by Francis J. Garrison, Boston. ELMWOOD facing 182 From a photograph by Miss C.E. Peabody, Cambridge, Mass. ROBERT GOULD SHAW facing 184 From a photograph lent by Francis J. Garrison, Boston. WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM facing 184 From the crayon by S.W. Rowse in the possession of Miss Georgina Lowell Putnam, Boston. CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL facing 184 From the crayon by S.W. Rowse in the possession of Miss Georgina Lowell Putnam, Boston. JAMES JACKSON LOWELL facing 184 From a photograph kindly lent by Miss Georgina Lowell Putnam, Boston. FRANCIS JAMES CHILD facing 186 From a photograph lent by Mrs. Child. HENRY WADSWORTH facing 188 LONGFELLOW From a photograph, taken in 1860, lent by Miss Longfellow. ASA GRAY facing 196 From the bronze tablet by Augustus St. Gaudens in Harvard University. LOUIS AGASSIZ facing 198 From a photograph lent by Francis J. Garrison, Boston. CHARLES ELIOT NORTON facing 202 From a photograph taken in 1870. THE HALL AT ELMWOOD facing 210 From a photograph by Mrs. J.H. Thurston, Cambridge. WHITBY facing 240 From a photograph kindly lent by The Outlook Company. THOMAS HUGHES facing 258 From a photograph. WILLIAM PAGE facing 266 ix From a photograph kindly lent by Mrs. Charles F. Briggs, Brooklyn, N.Y. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IN facing 268 HIS STUDY AT ELMWOOD From a copyrighted photograph taken in the spring of 1891 by Mrs. J.H. Thurston, Cambridge. This is probably the last picture of Mr. Lowell. ROOM ADJOINING THE LIBRARY facing 270 AT ELMWOOD From a photograph by Mrs. J.H. Thurston, Cambridge. FACSIMILE OF LETTER FROM facing 274 MR. LOWELL TO DR. HALE, November 11, 1890 FIRST TWO AND LAST TWO facing 284 STANZAS OF MR. LOWELL’S POEM MY BROOK From the original MS. in the possession of the Rev. Minot J. Savage, New York, N.Y. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 1 AND HIS FRIENDS CHAPTER I HIS BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE One cannot conceive more fortunate or charming conditions than those of the boyhood and early education of James Russell Lowell. You may study the babyhood and boyhood of a hundred poets and not find one home like his. His father, the Rev.