UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES UNIVERSITY of CAUFOKWi* AT LOS ANGELAS LIBRARY BY THE SAME AUTHOR American Lands and Letters. THE MAYFLOWER TO RIP VAN-WINKLE. With 94 Illustrations. Square 8vo. $2.50. American Lands and Letters. LEATHER- STOCKING TO POE'S "RAVEN." With 115 Illustrations. Square 8vo. $2.50. English Lands, Letters and Kings. FROM CEILT TO TUDOR. i2mo. $1.50. English Lands, Letters and Kings. FROM ELIZABETH TO ANNE. i2mo. $1.50. English Lands, Letters and Kings. QUEEN ANNE AND THE GEORGES. i2mo. i. so- English Lands, Letters and Kings. LATER GEORGES TO QUEEN VICTORIA. 121110. $1.50. Xeatber*Stocfeing Uo poe's "IRaven" BY DONALD G. MITCHELL NEW YORK CHAKLES SCRIBNER'S SONS MDCCCXCIX 146131 COPYBIGHT, 1899, BY CHAKLES SCRIBNEK'S SONS TROW DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK oo 7Y? TT/.e LITTLE GROUP OF GRANDCHILDREN BORN AND BRED UPON THE SHORES OP THAT GREAT LAKE WHERE THEY BUILD CITIES AND BURN THEM AND BUILD EXHIBITION PALACES (WHICH OUTSHINE ALL EXHIBITS) I DEDICATE THIS SECOND VOLUME OF AMERICAN TALKS TRUSTING IT MA Y FIND A KINDLY READING IN THEIR HUSTLING WESTERN WORLD AND SPUR THEM TO KEEP ALIVE THAT TRAIL OF HOME JOURNEYINGS INTO THESE EASTERN QUIETUDES UNDER THE TREES WHICH WE GRAYHEADS LOVE D G. M. EDGEWOOD, June, iSgq PREFACE. record begins with times when the wrathy independence of General Jackson made itself heard in Congressional corridors and when young ears were listening eagerly for new " " o foot-falls of the brave Leather-Stocking in o "*. the of it closes with paths American woods ; and j> .C. the and memorable notes of the Raven f lugubrious ' of Poe. "3 I had hoped to extend the record to embrace many another honored American name whose birth-date belongs to the second decade of the " " present century. But the tale of four hun dred pages of text which confronts me is a warn- viii PREFACE. ing to stay the pen. A great welter of provision- ary notes, upon the table beside me, carries dates, memoranda, hints, and many an explosive jet of comment respecting the bouncing brilliancies of the Beecher family the staid, orderly journey man work of such as the Duyckincks or of Tuck- flashes erman ; odd whiles, too, there through this welter of notes, touches of the lambent hu mor of Saxe, or of Frederic Cozzens ; we hear the click of Henry Herbert's reel, interchang ing with the click of his Oxford classicism, and that further click of the pistol, which (by his own hand) wrought his death. We have glimpses of that handsome New Eng- lander Motley, who tiring of effort to kindle romance on "Merry-Mount" went over seas to light up great Dutch levels with historic fires lurid at times but always high, and shining and fine. Then lifts into view that notable group of writers which, toward the close of the second decade of the century, came, within the same PREFACE. ix twelvemonth (1819), upon the stage of life. Among these were Dr. Parsons hardly yet ac credited his due laurels of also song ; Whipple, turning his protuberant eyes, full of keen discern ment, upon all ranges of work, and reporting thereupon in language that flowed like a river. J. G. Holland was another who put New Eng " " land flavors into a clever Bitter-Sweet verse, " " and into his Poor Kichard prose, the exal tations of common-sense. Melville of whom we have had brief speech was among these " Nineteeners," and gave a lively Munchausen relish to his stories of the Southern Seas. The " " good, gray poet, Whitman was a boy when these were boys, and never saw suffering without if he coarse weeds into himself suffering ; gather " his Leaves of Grass," we forget and forgive it when he doffs his cap, in reverent and courtly fashion to "My Captain/' Last of this group is that dominant figure among them who joined to poetic graces the x PREFACE. large tact of a diplomat, and who (as the ob servant and entertaining Dr. Hale has recently shown to us) by his tender and gracious humani " " ties made the man Lowell a worthier person age than even Lowell the poet. That budget of memoranda within which I see the kindly light on these names and other such come and go, I turn over and put away, and handle again loath to part wholly with them yearning a little to say more than an old man should be permitted to say. Allans done! let us lay our dead notes to cover, without ever a will whimper ; and we listen, with the rest, to the new and younger and keener talk ers these to ; may bring the work a larger famil with the or fuller iarity subject, knowledge ; bnt not surely a more earnest love for things and men American, or a sharper resolve to tell only the truth. EDGEWOOD, June, 1899. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE IN NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA, . ... 2 OTHER CITIES, INNS, AND LIBRARIES, ... 17 Two GEORGIANS, ........ 23 FROM WEST TO EAST, ...... 28 POET BANCROFT, 33 ROUND HILL SCHOOL, ...... 36 LIBRARIAN COGSWELL, ....... 42 BANCROFT AS POLITICIAN AND HISTORIAN, . 46 OFFICE-HOLDER AND DIPLOMAT, . .51 GEORGE P. MARSH, ....... 59 HOME AND SECOND EMBASSY, ..... 67 CHAPTER II. HORACE BUSHNELL, ....... 75 A VITAL PREACHER, ....... 79 THE MAN AND THE ARTIST, ..... 87 A MAN OF OTHER METTLE, ...... 95 xii CONTENTS. PAGE JOURNALIST AND MAN OF THE WORLD, . 100 LONDON, OWEGO, AND IDLEWILD, .... 106 THREE NEW YORKERS, 114 SOUTHRONS AND DR. WARE, . .118 CHAPTER III. A NEW ENGLAND SAGE, ..... 135 EMERSON AT CONCORD, ...... 141 EARLY EXPERIENCES AND UTTERANCES, . 144 GEORGE RIPLEY AND BROOK FARM, .... 155 AND OTHER BROOK-FARMERS SYMPATHIZERS, . 165 Two DOCTORS, ........ 169 FULLER-OSSOLI, ........ 177 ALCOTT OF THE ORPHIC SAYINGS, .... 184 CONCORD AGAIN, .... 188 CHAPTER IV. HAWTHORNE, ........ 202 COLLEGE MATES AND ASSOCIATIONS, . 211 FROM COLLEGE TO MANSE, . .215 THE SURVEYORSHIP AND LlFE AT LENOX, . 226 LIFE IN BERKSHIRE, ....... 232 IN . RELIGIOUS QUALITIES HAWTHORNE, . 237 NEW CHANGES, 240 HAWTHORNE'S PERSONALITY, ..... 243 EUROPEAN LIFE, ........ 254 HOME AGAIN AND THE END, ..... 260 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PAGE A NATURALIST, 271 REFORMER AND WRITER, ...... 276 THOREAU'S LATER REPUTATION, .... 278 A POET'S YOUTH, 282 A HARVARD PROFESSOR, 287 LATER WORK AND YEARS, ...... 294 ANOTHER NEW ENGLANDER, ..... 305 A HALF-KNOWN AUTHOR, ...... 322 CHAPTER VI. POET AND PROFESSOR, ...... 332 As AUTOCRAT, 342 SOME OTHER DOCTORS, 354 HORACE GREELEY, ....... 359 THE CHAPPAQUA FARM, 366 BRED IN THE PURPLE, ...... 373 SOLDIER AND POET, ....... 377 PHILADELPHIA TO NEW YORK, 383 FORDHAM AND CLOSING SCENES, 38i) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE . Frontispiece From a photograph taken by Mayal, in London, in 1860. PAGE CITY HALL AND PARK, NEW YORK, ABOUT 1830 1 THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON IN 1837 . 3 From an engraving by Bentley, after a drawing by Bartlett. PHILIP HONE . .... 5 From an engraving by Rogers. LOOKING UP BROADWAY FROM ST. PAUL'S CHURCH IN 1830 7 From a Swedish engraving by Akrell, after a drawing by Rlinckowstrom. DAVID HOSACK 11 From an engraving by Durand of the portrait by Sully. THE OLD CAREY BOOK-STORE IN PHILADEL PHIA 12 Corner of Chestnut and Fourth Streetn. HENRY C. CAREY 13 From an engraving by Sartain. GIRARD'S BANK, PHILADELPHIA, IN 1831 . 15 From an engraving by Sears, after a drawing by Hurton. xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, PHILADELPHIA, IN 1831 21 From an engraving by Sears, after a drawing by Burton. RICHARD HENRY WILDE . .25 From an engraving by Sartain of a portrait by Johnson. AUGUSTUS B. LONGSTREET . .27 From an engraving by Buttre. THE CITY OF CHICAGO IN 1831 . .29 From an English lithograph, THE OLD ADAMS HOME AT BRAINTREE, MASS 31 ROUND HILL SCHOOL ABOUT 1829 . 37 Front, a copy of an old lithograph owned, by Colonel J. R. Trumbull. DR. COGSWELL 43 GEORGE BANCROFT IN 1854 . .49 From the crayon portrait by Samuel Lawrence (considered by Mr. John C. Bancroft the best portrait extant oj hisfather). MR. BANCROFT IN HIS LIBRARY AT WASH INGTON 53 From a photograph taken about 1884. GEORGE BANCROFT 57 From a photograph taken at Newport in 1884. GEORGE P. MARSH HOMESTEAD AND BIRTH PLACE AT WOODSTOCK, VERMONT . 61 GEORGE P. MARSH 63 FRAGMENT OF A LETTER FROM GEORGE P. MARSH . 71 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii PAQE LAKE WARAMAUG 76 HORACE BUSHNELL 81 After the crayon portrait by Rowse. BUSHNELL PARK 93 ASCENT TO THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON . 98 N. P. WILLIS 101 From a photograph loaned by Mr. Peter Gilsey. GEORGE P. MORRIS 103 From an engraving by Hollyer, after a drawing by Elliott. N. P. WILLIS IN HIS LATER YEARS . 104 Copyright by Rockicood. FRAGMENT OF A LETTER FROM N. P. WILLIS 108 " IDLEWILD," N. P. WILLIS'S HOME ON THE HUDSON Ill MONUMENT TO STEPHENS, CHAUNCEY, AND ASPINWALL AT COLON .... 115 From a photograph, loaned by Mr. S. Deming. THE STEPHENS TREE 116 From a photograph loaned by Mr. S. Deming, JOHN R. BARTLETT 118 From an engraving by Buttre. C. FENNO HOFFMAN 119 From an engraving by Dick, after the portrait by Inman. xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS .... 121 From a daguerreotype. THOMAS SMITH GRIMKE .... 123 J. P. KENNEDY 127 From an engraving by Whelpley. TITLE-PAGE OF "THE KNICKERBOCKER " MONTHLY MAGAZINE . 129 W. WARE 131 YALE COLLEGE IN 1820 .... 133 EMERSON 137 From a portrait by Bawes. EMERSON AT HIS DESK . 145 EMERSON'S HOUSE AT CONCORD . 146 A CORNER OF EMERSON'S STUDY . 147 EMERSON IN 1847 151 GEORGE RIPLEY 156 THE POOL AT BROOK FARM .... 157 IN THE WOODS AT BROOK FARM . 163 JOHN S. DWIGHT 165 WM. HENRY CHANNING .... 166 From a loaned photograph by Thomas Wet^foorth Higginson.