Chapter I: 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 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_.

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CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. HIS BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE 1

II. HARVARD COLLEGE 15

III. LITERARY WORK IN COLLEGE 25

IV. CONCORD 43

V. BOSTON IN THE FORTIES 55

VI. THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS 70

VII. A MAN OF LETTERS 78

VIII. LOWELL AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER 102

IX. HARVARD REVISITED 125

X. LOWELL’S EXPERIENCE AS AN EDITOR 147

XI. POLITICS AND THE WAR 170

XII. TWENTY YEARS OF HARVARD 192

XIII. MR. LOWELL IN SPAIN 215

XIV. MINISTER TO ENGLAND 237

XV. HOME AGAIN 262

INDEX 287

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ILLUSTRATIONS

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL _Frontispiece_

From the crayon by S.W. Rowse in the possession Page
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 COLLEGE CLASS _facing_ 50

From a printed copy lent by Mrs. Elizabeth
Scates Beck, Germantown, Pa.

FACSIMILE OF PROGRAMME OF VALEDICTORY EXERCISES OF _facing_ 52 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 THE BOSTON MISCELLANY. _facing_ 86 (The Authors’ names are in the handwriting of Nathan Hale)

FACSIMILE OF LOWELL’S LIST OF FRIENDS to whom he _facing_ 92 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, ROBERT CARTER, AND JAMES _facing_ 114 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 CRITICS PROOF-SHEET WITH _facing_ 162 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 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 LONGFELLOW _facing_ 188

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

From a photograph kindly lent by Mrs. Charles
F. Briggs, Brooklyn, N.Y.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IN HIS STUDY AT ELMWOOD _facing_ 268

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 AT ELMWOOD _facing_ 270

From a photograph by Mrs. J.H. Thurston,
Cambridge.

FACSIMILE OF LETTER FROM MR. LOWELL TO DR. HALE, _facing_ 274 November 11, 1890

FIRST TWO AND LAST TWO STANZAS OF MR. LOWELL’S _facing_ 284 POEM MY BROOK

From the original MS. in the possession of the
Rev. Minot J. Savage, New York, N.Y.

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JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
AND HIS FRIENDS

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