James Russell Lowell - A Biography - Vol I (Paperback)

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. - 1901 - PREFACE - THE existence of the two volunles of Letters of Janzes Bussell Lozoell, edited by Charles Eliot Norton, has cletermined the character of this biography. If they had not been published, I might have made a Lye antl Letters which would have been in the main Lomells own account of himself, in his voluminous corresl ondence, allnotatecl only by such further account of him as his letters failed to supply. As it is, though I have had access to a great many letters not contained in Mr. Nortons work, I have thought it desirable not so much to supplement the Letters with other letters, as to conlglement those volumes with a more formal biography, using such letters or portions of letters as I print for illustration of my subject, rather than as the basis of the narrative. I have kept the Letters always by my side as my main book of reference by the courtesy of their editor and by arrangement with their publishers, RIessrs. Harper Brothers, I have now and then drawn upon then1 where it seemed especially desirable that Lowell shoulcl speak for himself, but their greatest use to me has been in their disclosure of Lowells personality, for they ndoubtedly contain the cream of his correspondence. I have, however, had other important material for my use. First of all, Lowells collected writings in verse and prose, and some ui collected writings, both in print and manuscript. After all that a biographer can do, after all that Lowell himself can do through his letters, the substantial and enduring revelation of the mail is in that free converse which he had with the world in the many forms which his literary activity took. After this I mustagain thank Mr. Norton for his generosity in placing in my hands a large body of letters and papers, which he liolds as Lowells literary executor perhaps even more for tlie wise counsel with which he has freely aided me in the course of the work. Without his coijperation the biography could not have been written in its fulness. My thanks are due, also, to the friends and the children of the friends of Lowell who have sent me letters and other material to Miss Charlotte P. Briggs, daughter of the late Charles F. Briggs, the warm friend of Lowell in his early literary life to Mrs. Sydney Howard Gay, who sent me not only letters, but the original manuscript of Lomells coiltributions to the National A n t i - l i v - ery Standard to Mrs. Richard Grant White to Dr. Edward Everett Hale, whose James Russell Lowell and his Priends has beell a pleasant accompaniment to my labors to General James Lowell Carter for the use of his fathers letters to Col. T. TV. Higginson to Mrs. S. B. Herrick to Mrs. Mark H. Liddell for Lowells letters to Mr. John W. Field to Mr. R. R. Bowker to Mr. R. W. Gilder to Mr. Edwin L. Godkin to Mr. Howells, Mr. Aldrich, Mr. De Witt Miller, Mr. J. Spenser Trask, and others. CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 27 September, 1901. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. ELJIWOO A D SD THE LOWELLS . l IV. IN THE ASTI-SLAVERRYA SKS . . 151 VI. SIX YEARS . . 270 VIII. AN END AND A BEG L I L Y I SG . . 346 IS. THE A TLASTICJ OSTIILY . . 405 LIST O F ILLUSTRATIONS PAQK JA IE RU S S SELLL OWELL . . Frontispiece From a pliotog aph by Gutekunst taken in 1889. REV. CHARLESL OWELL . . 10 From a painting by Rand, in the possession of Charles Lomell. JANE R S U SSELLL OWELL I N 1843 . . 116 Etched by TV. H. TV.Bicknell, from the painting by TVilliam Page. MRS. CHARLESL OWELL . . 30G From a painting by Rand, in the possession of Jaines Duane Lomell. 31 s. I AR W IA HI TE LOWELL ...