tion. Mr. Godwin says: "All his papers of this period bear witness to constant and ever renewed attempts in different forms to paint her (Nature's) varying aspects."

"He hums to himself of flowers, groves, streams, trees, and especially of winds which abounded in the region in which he lived. Among other things, he began an Indian story after the manner of Scott's Highland Poems, but judging by the little of it that was executed, the descriptive quite overmastered the narrative parts." (See p. 141 of Godwin's Life for specimens of poems of that period.) "He wrote at this time The Yellow Violet just before leaving Bridgewater on a visit to Cummington."

"Another poem, Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood, published in the North American Review, 1817, under the title of A Fragment, was composed in an old forest fronting his father's house."

1817.

On December 15, 1817, he walked over to Plainfield, a town seven miles from Cummington on the opposite hillside. Mr. Godwin says in his Life of Bryant: "As he walked up the hills very forlorn and desolate indeed, not knowing what was to become of him in the big world which grew bigger as he ascended and yet darker with the coming on of night. The sun had already set, leaving behind it one of those brilliant seas of chrysolite and opal which often flood the New England skies. While he was looking upon the rosy splendor with rapt admiration, a solitary bird made wing along the illuminated horizon. He watched the lone wanderer until it was lost in the distance, asking himself whither it had come and to what far home it was flying. When he went to the house where he was to stop for the night, his mind was still full of what he had seen and felt, and he wrote those lines, as imperishable as our language, To A Waterfowl:

He who from zone to zone

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone

Will lead my steps aright!

"He remained in Plainfield eight months, and then entered into a partnership with George H. Ives, of Great Barrington. In June his father wrote to him from Boston that Mr. Willard Philips (an old Hampshire friend) desired him to contribute something to his new Review. The younger Bryant either was not tempted, or was too busy to make reply. The father, while his son was at Bridgewater, discovered the manuscripts of Thanatopsis, The Fragment, and a few other poems carefully hidden away in a desk."

The first number of the North American Review appeared in May, 1815. Mr. Tudor acted as editor until 1817, when it passed entirely into the hands of a club. The chief members were Richard H. Dana, Edward T. Channing, and Willard Philips. Edward T. Channing (brother of William Ellery Channing) afterward became Boylston Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard College. Philips was a tutor at Harvard, but became Judge of Probate and writer of law books. Thanatopsis was carried to Philips. Dana said: "Oh, Philips, you have been imposed upon. No one on this side of the Atlantic is capable of writing such verses." Thanatopsis was published in September. Prefixed were four stanzas on the subject of death, which had no connection with it and were not intended for publication.

1818.

In March, 1818, Mr. Bryant wrote To a Friend on his Marriage, Version of Simonides, and in July an essay on American poetry. The department of original poetry in the North American Review was discontinued in 1818. The essay on the Happy Temperament was published in No. 9, p. 206. In June, 1818, he reviewed Paulding's Backwoodman.

At Mr. Philips's suggestion he wrote an essay on American poetry for the July number, a recent collection of American poetry by Solyman Brown furnishing the subject. On the 29th of January, 1818, he delivered an address before the Bible Society of Great Barrington. This was published in the Berkshire Star of February 6, 1818. In the spring of 1824 the editorship of the North American Review was changed, Mr. Alex

ander and Edward Everett taking charge. They rejected a critique by Mr. Bryant on The Idleman, and he stopped writing for the magazine.

1819.

Mr. Bryant was interested in the local affairs of the town in which he lived, and on March 9th he was elected Tithingman of his native town, whose duties consisted in keeping order in the churches and enforcing the observance of the Sabbath. He was also elected Town Clerk and appointed Justice of the Peace. (Note.-"An old gentleman still living makes it a boast that he was 'jined' to his first old woman by Squire Bryant.")

1820.

"On the 20th of March, Mr. Bryant's father, who had been ill for a year or more, died at the age of fifty-three. The memory of this loss clung to him for many years."

"Save the fragment called the The Burial-Place, begun and broken off in 1819, Mr. Bryant had written nothing since he entered upon his practise in 1816. The pieces sent to the North American Review were taken from his scrap-book."

"Soon after his father's death, while he was yet full of the sentiment it inspired, an appeal was made to him by the Unitarians in aid of a collection of hymns. Mr. Henry D. Sewall, the editor, applied to Miss Catherine M. Sedgwick, of Stockbridge, to use her efforts in his behalf, and the result was that six hymns were sent for the collections." (See note, p. 163, of Godwin's Life.)

"On the 4th of July he delivered an oration in the Stockbridge church."

1821.

Mr. Godwin says, speaking of this period: "Mr. Dana's project for a periodical to be called The Idleman, and to consist of poetry, essays, criticisms, and historical and biographical sketches, enlisted Mr. Bryant's warmest interest from the beginning. As early as May, 1821, Mr. Channing asked his assistance for it, suggesting That a literary frolic now and then is the best restorative for a conscientious but overworked

and jaded attorney.' In reply Mr. Bryant put The Yellow Violet at Mr. Dana's disposal, and enclosed another piece, Green River. He also contributed to it A Winter Piece, The Burial-Place, and a Walk at Sunset."

"Not long after his settlement at Great Barrington, he met at a village sociable the young lady, Miss Fanny Fairchild, who afterward became his wife. The depth of his attachment was not revealed to him until the object of it was temporarily called away. He began to pity himself very much in rhymesOh Fairest of the Rural Maids is the only one of these poems the author has cared to print." (See note, p. 167, of Life for Another.) "On Miss Fairchild's return they became engaged, and on the 11th of June, 1821, were married at the house of the bride's sister, Mrs. Henderson." (See letter of Mr. Bryant to his mother announcing the event, p. 169 of Godwin's Life.)

"A few months after his marriage Mr. Bryant was surprised by a communication from the secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College, Mr. U. J. Spooner, requesting him 'By a unanimous vote of the Society' to deliver the usual poetical address at the next commencement." (See letter to Mr. Spooner dated April 26, 1821, pp. 170-171, of Godwin's Life; also letter to his wife dated August 25th, pp. 171–172.)

"His poem called The Ages was delivered August 30th in the Old Congregational Church of Cambridge. Before leaving Boston he consented to have it published with his other poetical effusions. The result was a small pamphlet of 44 pages published in September and containing eight poems: The Ages, To a Waterfall, The Fragment from Simonides, Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood, The Yellow Violet, The Song, Green River, and Thanatopsis. The October number of the North American Review contained an elaborate criticism. The entire collection was copied into a selection of American Poetry, by Mr. Roscoe, published by Allman, London, 1822. Blackwood for June contained a favorable criticism."

1823.

"The revolt of the Greeks from Turkish rule excited his interest. In December, 1823, he delivered an address on the

subject in Great Barrington. He also wrote a farce for the stage called The Heroes, but it was a failure."

His friends were very anxious for him to come to New York. Henry J. Anderson at this time had revived the Atlantic Magazine (published for a while by Robert J. Sands). Bliss and White, the publishers, paid him $500 a year and authorized an expenditure of $500 more. (See letter to his wife from New York under date of April 24, 1824. Godwin's Life, p. 189.) 1824.

Theophilus Parsons established the United States Literary Gazette in Boston, publishing the first number April 1st. Mr. Bryant's first contribution was a poem called Rizpah.

A letter written to his friend, Richard H. Dana, at Cambridge, Mass., under date of July 8th, says: "You inquire whether I have written anything except what I have furnished to Parsons (for United States Literary Gazette). Nothing at all. I made an engagement with him with a view in the first place to earn something in addition to the emoluments of my profession, which, as you may suppose, are not very ample; and in the second place to keep my hand in, for I was very near discontinuing entirely the writing of verses." He also mentions in this same letter the narrative poem of the Spectre Ship. This is partly extant in manuscript, but was never published.

His work at this time consisted largely of reviews. See North American Review, No. 11, p. 384; Review of Miss Sedgwick's Redwood. North American Review, No. 19, p. 42; Poems of Henry Pickering. North American Review, No. 20, p. 245; Review of Percy's Masque, by James T. Hillhouse. Besides these the manuscripts of many minor writers were sent to him. He was patient with all, returning often elaborate corrections and advice.

Mr. Bryant fixed two dollars apiece as his compensation for these writings. The publishers, however, offered him $200 a year for an average of 100 lines a month, about 163 cents a line. Mr. Philips's account, rendered in 1826, shows that of the 1821 edition of his poems, 750 copies were printed and only 270 sold; a profit of $15, minus eight cents, for five years' sale.