"I gazed abashed,

Child of an age that lectures, not creates,
Plastering our swallow-nests on the awful Past,
And twittering round the work of larger men,

As we had builded what we but deface."

His deep religious nature is evident throughout the poem, though his creed is larger than that of his Puritan ancestors. Softened by the touch of an all-embracing sympathy and charity, he finds that

"God is in all that liberates and lifts,

In all that humbles, sweetens, and consoles."

480. Wilful Caprice. In

The Cathedral we have a strik

ing instance of the wilful caprice with which his muse sometimes startles us. At the hotel in Chartres he met two Englishmen who mistook him for a Frenchman.

"My beard translated me to hostile French;
So they, desiring guidance in the town,
Half condescended to my baser sphere,

And, clubbing in one mess their lack of phrase,
Set their best man to grapple with the Gaul.
'Esker vous ate a nabitang?" he asked:

'I never ate one; are they good?' asked I;

Whereat they stared, then laughed, and we were friends."

Considered in the most favorable light, the poet's wit on this occasion can hardly be said to display particular brilliancy; and to introduce the incident into a grave and elevated poem is a bit of freakishness that makes "the judicious grieve."

481. Prose Writings. Of Lowell's prose writings, there is not space to speak in detail. The three volumes entitled "My Study Windows" and "Among My Books" (two volumes) are made up of essays. "My Study Windows" is of greatest general interest. It opens with three delightful papers entitled "My Garden Acquaintance," "A Good Word for Winter," and "On a

Certain Condescension in Foreigners." In these the keen wit, kindly humor, and shrewd observation of Lowell appear at their best. Of his various garden acquaintance, to give a single quotation, he says: If they will not come near enough to me (as most of them will), I bring them close with an opera glass, a much better weapon than a gun. I would not, if I could, convert them from their pretty pagan ways. The only one I sometimes have savage doubts about is the red squirrel. I think he oölogizes. I know he eats cherries (we counted five of them at one time in a single tree, the stones pattering down like the sparse hail that preludes a storm), and that he gnaws off the small ends of pears to get at the seeds. He steals the corn from under the noses of my poultry. But what would you have? He will come down upon the limb of the tree I am lying under till he is within a yard of me. He and his mate will scurry up and down the great black walnut for my diversion, chattering like monkeys. Can I sign his deathwarrant who has tolerated me about his grounds so long? Not I. Let them steal, and welcome. I am sure I should, had I had the same bringing up and the same temptation. As for the birds, I do not believe there is one of them but does more good than harm; and of how many featherless bipeds can this be said?"

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482. An Eminent Critic. Lowell occupies a foremost place among American critics. For the critic's office he was eminently qualified, both by natural gifts and broad scholarship. The two volumes of "Among My Books " are devoted chiefly to elaborate studies of " Dryden," Shakespeare Once More," "Dante," Spenser," "Wordsworth," "Milton," and "Keats." In each case a wide range of reading is made to contribute its treasures. The essays, supplied with numerous foot-notes, are learned to a degree that is almost oppressive. Lowell displays a deep insight and great soundness of judgment. His style is rich in allusion. At times it is epigrammatic; and again it is not unlike his own description of Milton's style. "Milton's manner," he says, "is very grand. It is slow, it is stately, moving as in triumphal procession, with music, with historic banners, with spoils from

every time and region; and captive epithets, like huge Sicambrians, thrust their broad shoulders between us and the pomp they decorate." Now and then his humor lights up a sentence or paragraph in the most unexpected way.

483. Diplomatic Career. As a few other of our literary men, Lowell was appointed to represent this country abroad. His diplomatic career detracts nothing from his reputation. He was appointed minister to Spain in 1877, and three years later minister to England. Without any occasion to display great diplomatic gifts, he filled his post faithfully, and fostered international good. feeling. In the social and literary circles of England his culture and genius gained for him a proud distinction.

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484. Democracy and Other Addresses." - Lowell was frequently called on for addresses. Among his works is a volume entitled “Democracy and Other Addresses." He was not an orator so much as a refined and scholarly speaker. He spoke in an earnest, conversational tone, depending upon the weight of his utterance to secure the attention and interest of his hearers. He made no use of gesture. He did not soar to the heights of impassioned utterance, of which we must believe him to have been capable. He did not move a great popular assembly, but to the scholarly and cultivated he was a delightful speaker.

485. Death. score and ten.

Lowell lived beyond the allotted age of three His latter years were sweetened by the tribute of honor and love which a great people united in paying him. He died Aug. 12, 1891, recognized at home and abroad as a man of high gifts and noble character. He is, perhaps, our best representative man of letters. An English critic has fairly expressed the feeling abroad: "No poetic note higher or deeper than his, no aspirations more firmly touched towards lofty issues, no voice more powerful for truth and freedom, have hitherto come to us from across the Atlantic."

FOR FURTHER READING AND STUDY

The annotated selections, pages 555-575, include "What Mr. Robinson Thinks,' ""The Present Crisis," and "The Vision of Sir Launfal."

In addition the student should read "An Incident in a Railroad Car," "A Glance behind the Curtain," "The First SnowFall," "For an Autograph," "A Fable for Critics," "Mahmood the Image-Breaker," "The Courtin'," "The Pious Editor's Creed," "Under the Old Elm," and "Commemoration Ode " from Lowell's poems; from his prose, "My Garden Acquaintance," ""A Good Word for Winter," and "On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners" - all from "My Study Windows."

Horace E. Scudder's "James Russell Lowell," Edward Everett Hale's "Lowell and His Friends," and F. H. Underwood's " James Russell Lowell."

For critical estimates consult the general bibliography and Poole's "Index," particularly W. D. Howells's "A Personal Retrospect," Scribner, September, 1900. E. C. Stedman's" Poets of America."

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

486. The Burns of New England. - Whittier has been called the Burns of New England; and that title is not without justification. He owed the first awakening of his poetic talent to the Scottish bard; and, like him, he has cast a glory over the homely scenes of his native region. In the choice of his themes he is less a national than a sectional poet. Less cosmopolitan than Longfellow and Lowell, he is preeminently the poet of New England. It is the spirit,

the legend, and the landscape of New England that are reflected in his verse.

487. Ancestry and Early Home. - John Greenleaf Whittier sprang from Quaker ancestry, and the memory of the wrongs inflicted upon his sect at an earlier day never left him. He was born near the town of Haverhill, Mass., Dec. 17, 1807. The house was an old one, surrounded by fields and woods; and in front of it, to use the poet's words, a brook "foamed, rippled, and laughed." The Merrimac River was not far away. He helped to till an unfriendly soil, and in his leisure hours he wandered over the hills or loitered along the streams.