The Letters of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Volume IV The Letters of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Volume IV: 1857–1865 [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674598768, 9780674598584

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THE L E T T E R S OF

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

VOLUME IV

1857-1865

THE LETTERS OF

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow EDITED BY

Andrew Hilen

VOLUME IV

1857-1865

The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts 1972

© i972 hy the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Typography by Burton Jones Library of Congress Catalog Card Number SBN

674-52728-3

66-18248

Contents Volume I V Chronology PART THIRTEEN

In a Troubled World, 1857-1860 Letters No. 1566-1840 PART FOURTEEN

The Deepest Wound, 1861 Letters No. 1841 - 1 9 1 2 PART F I F T E E N

A Slow Recovery, 1862-1864 Letters No. 1913-2202 PART SIXTEEN

Era's End, 1865 Letters No. 2203-2306 Short Tides of Works Cited Index of Recipients

ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME

IV

following page 136 PLATE

ι.

Portrait in crayon of Frances Appleton Longfellow, 1859, by Samuel Worcester Rowse ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 9 0 1 ) . Longfellow Trust Collection.

PLATE

π.

Photograph of Charles Appleton Longfellow, 1862. Longfellow Trust Collection. Photograph of Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow, 1862. Longfellow Trust Collection.

PLATE

in.

Photograph of Alice Mary Longfellow, 1862. Longfellow Trust Collection. Photograph of Edith Longfellow, 1862. Longfellow Trust Collection. Photograph of Anne Allegra Longfellow, 1862. Longfellow Trust Collection.

P L A T E IV.

Photograph of Longfellow at Nahant, c. 1858. Longfellow Trust Collection. Group photograph of Harriot Appleton, Frances Lathrop Beebe, Harriot Sumner Appleton, Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Appleton Longfellow, Eleanor Ann Shattuck, and Longfellow at Niagara Falls, June 1862. Longfellow Trust Collection. following page 254

P L A T E V.

Photograph of Longfellow, c. 1860. Longfellow Trust Collection.

P L A T E VI.

Photograph of Longfellow, 1862. University of Washington Library. Tintype of Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, c. i860. Longfellow Trust Collection. vii

ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE

vu.

Photograph of Private Charles Appleton Longfellow at White Oak Church, Va., March 30, 1863. Longfellow Trust Collection. Photograph of Longfellow and Charles Sumner, Washington, D.C., December 8, 1863. University of Washington Library.

PLATE

vin.

Photograph of Cornelia Fitch, 1864. Longfellow Trust Collection.

CHRONOLOGY 1857

Longfellow's fiftieth birthday, February 27. Becomes member of the Saturday Club, May.

1858

Publication of The Courtship of Miles Standish (Boston: Ticknor & Fields), October.

1859

Receives LL.D. from Harvard, July 20.

1860

Private issue in prose of The New England Tragedy (Boston: Ticknor & Fields), June. Buys Wetmore Cottage, Nahant, with Thomas Gold Appleton, December.

1861

Death of Frances Appleton Longfellow, July 9, and of Nathan Appleton, July 14.

1862

Death of Cornelius C. Felton, February 26, and of Commodore Alexander Scammell Wadsworth, August 9. Resumes translation of Dante, February. Accompanies sons, mother-in-law, daughter, and friends to Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Montreal, June 4-16.

1863

Charles Appleton Longfellow runs away to Civil War, March 10; contracts camp fever, June; and is wounded, November 27. Publication of Tales of a Wayside Inn (Boston: Ticknor & Fields), November.

1864

Charles Appleton Longfellow discharged from the army, February 15. Death of Robert James Mackintosh in London, April 25, and of Nathaniel Hawthorne, May 18. Meets Cornelia Fitch, June.

1865

Private issue of his translation of The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Volume I (Boston: Ticknor δε Fields), February. Death of James Greenleaf, August 22, and of Judge Barrett Potter, November 16. Founds Dante Club with James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton, October.

PART

THIRTEEN

IN A T R O U B L E D 1857-1860

WORLD

IN A T R O U B L E D WORLD I

8 5 7 - 1 8 6 0

ALTHOUGH THE DRAMATIC EVENTS of 1 8 5 7 - 1 8 6 0 in the world at large ruffled the surface of Longfellow's placid life in Cambridge, he rarely reacted to them in his letters, although he did so with some frequency in his private journal. T h e economic recession of 1 8 5 7 , for example, which caused him only slight financial embarrassment and no alteration in his style of living, was barely mentioned in his correspondence. If the war for Italian independence moved him to compose the lines "Enceladus," he remained content with this minor contribution to the Italian cause. Only the slavery problem excited emotional comment. On M a y 29, 1858, he felt vexed at seeing plover on the table of the Saturday C l u b dinner. "Proclaimed aloud my disgust at seeing the game laws thus violated," he wrote in his journal. "If anybody wants to break a law, let him break the Fugitive-Slave L a w . T h a t is all it is for." H e had become a thoroughgoing Republican, urged on by his instinctive dislike of slavery and by his confidence in the political judgment of Charles Sumner. H e thus found it easy to adopt a partisan position at the beginning of the Buchanan administration. " T h e Reign of Old Buchanan and the rest of them, begins to-day," he wrote in his journal on March 5, 1 8 5 7 . "A poor piece of business at best. Before long we shall have a sad state of things — imbecillity on horseback." T h e "sad state of things" in fact arrived with the Dred Scott decision of March 7 and the hanging of John Brown on December 2, 1859. T h e latter event caused him to utter in his journal a bloodthirsty proclamation, quite out of character with the calm attitudes usually expressed in his letters: " T h e Second of December 1859! T h i s will be a great day in History! T h e date of a N e w Revolution; quite as much needed as the old one!" U p o n the election of Abraham Lincoln in November i860 his satisfaction at "the triumph of the good cause" quickly led to a belligerent attitude toward South Carolina's secession, which rivaled the mood of the shriller critics of the South. " W h a t I am afraid of is, not that they will go," he wrote on December 20 to Sumner of the Carolinians, "but that the North will yield. T h e tone of the Boston papers — the Atlas only excepted — is very weak and spiritless . . . Humiliating!" As the nation moved on its troubled course toward the Civil W a r , Longfellow enjoyed a domestic life that was the envy of his contemporaries. T h e Craigie House, filled with books, with objets d'art of two continents, and

3

IN

A TROUBLED

WORLD

with children whose exuberances were controlled by servants in kitchen, bedroom, parlor, and coach house, became an even more compelling magnet for distinguished (as well as undistinguished) American and European visitors. Almost every week there were guests for tea or dinner, some of whom stayed the night when the weather or the lateness of the hour discouraged their departure. An important part of Longfellow's routine was a regular trip to Boston, to attend a lecture, a play, an opera, a concert, to talk shop with authors and publishers in the back room of the Old Corner Bookstore, or to dine with the Saturday Club, the Atlantic Club, or with Nathan Appleton at No. 39 Beacon Street. In the summers there was Nahant, offering escape from the dust and noise and heat of town. It was a good life, as exciting as a life can be that is circumscribed by publicly imposed boundaries of social and intellectual respectability. In such an atmosphere it was difficult for Longfellow to devote himself to creative work, and he failed to reach fully the goals of his ambition. Though he did not despair in his journal as often as he had during his Harvard years, he nevertheless left evidence there of his impatience with the demands made on his time. "I often say to myself," he wrote on January 27, 1857, '"Well, what will happen tomorrow to break up my studies.' And the morrow always brings something to keep me from what I want to do, in the way of reading and writing." Despite the apparent tranquillity of his life and the outward trappings of success, he suffered from a sense of failure whenever he was not deeply engaged in writing a poem or a book. On November 23, 1857, shortly before beginning The Courtship of Miles Standish (on which he had made an abortive start a year earlier), he wrote that he was about to give up in despair. "The days of quiet and of study seem to be over, and I lead the life of any respectable gentleman, whose time is frittered away with the nothings of every-day existence. Alas! out of such a life comes nothing of any pith or purpose. The result is zero." Nevertheless, overcoming the seemingly insatiable demands of family and friends, visitors and correspondence, Longfellow continued to write. In 1857 he finished "John Endicott" and composed "Santa Filomena," "The Discoverer of the North Cape," "Daybreak," "The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz," and "Sandalphon." In 1858 he finished The Courtship of Miles Standish. In 1859 he wrote "The Children's Hour," "Enceladus," "Snow-Flakes," and "The Bells of Lynn." And in i860 he wrote "A Day of Sunshine" and began Tales of a Wayside Inn with "Paul Revere's Ride" and "The Saga of King Olof." One reason for the modesty of his production over this four-year period is that Longfellow was no longer goaded by the determination to succeed, for success was already his. Living up to that success was somehow more frustrating than reaching for it. In those moments when he felt that he was not adequately exploiting his talents, however, he could at least take comfort in the sales figures of his books. On March 3 1 , 1857, shortly after his fiftieth

4

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

birthday, he listed in his journal the number of copies sold to that date. The result is impressive by any standard. Voices of the Night 4355° Ballads and Other Poems 40470 Spanish Student 38400 Belfry of Bruges 38300 Evangeline 35850 Fire-Side & Seaside 30000 Golden Legend 17188 Hiawatha 50000 Outre Mer 75°° Hyperion 14550 Kavanagh 10500 In 1859, after an unexplained hiatus of four years, Longfellow resumed his daily letter calendar, and although the record is not without omissions, it provides a fairly complete list of the hundreds of correspondents with whom he was occupied until his death. For the period 1857-1860 he wrote at least 526 letters. Of these, 275 have survived in manuscript or other form and are collected here. In general, they reflect an untroubled life in a world on a collision course with catastrophe. As he wrote his polite, controlled, dispassionate paragraphs, he could hardly suspect that a personal tragedy would soon strike him a blow that would rend his life as violently as the cannonade of Fort Sumter would rend the life of the nation.

1566.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

$100. Cambridge Jany. 2 1857 Dearest Annie, A week or two ago I sent as a N e w Year's Present to Aunt Lucia, a box of English Breakfast tea. I hope it arrived safely and is such as she likes. It is the same that we are using; and we think it very good. To-day I send you Harry's last Bill, paid, and a N e w Year's present for yourself, in the shape of a cheque, as usual. I do not hear anything from Eliza, to whom I wrote on hearing of the assault upon her father. I trust all has gone on well. Please send me Alex.'s address at the South. 1 Your box and Lizzy's letter have arrived. Many thanks for all the pretty presents, which have delighted the children very much. 5

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

With good wishes for Happy New Years in abundance to you and Aunt Lucia, Affectionately H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Alexander Longfellow was aboard the coast survey schooner Meredith Sound, Georgia.

1567.

in Sapelo

To Sigismond Thalberg1 Cambridge

Jan 5 1857.

My Dear Sir, Enclosed I have the pleasure of sending you the autograph of Washington, which I promised you on Saturday, and which I am very happy to add to your collection. It is a curious autograph; being, as you see, the signature to a Lottery Ticket! It has also the advantage of a date. Your beautiful music of the stormy Saturday night is still lingering in my ears; and hoping to have the great pleasure of seeing and hearing you again of Thursday, I am, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully Henry W. Longfellow Mr. Thalberg. MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library,

ADDRESS: Mr. Thalberg/Tremont House

I. Thalberg ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 7 1 ) , Swiss-born pianist and composer, was performing in the Music Hall, Boston. Longfellow, who had attended his first concert on Saturday, January 3, described him in his journal as "a quiet gentleman-like man; who played quietly and without parade or extravaganza of any kind. W h a t delicious playing! Even, distinct, melodious to the last degree."

1568.

To Samuel Austin Allibone

Cambridge Jan 9 1857. Dear Sir, I hope you will pardon my long delay in answering your two letters, and in thanking you for that Western squib, which was manufactured entirely out of the imagination of some illustrious penny-a-liner. Enclosed I send you, as you desire, another of the Hiawatha pencils.1 I am very glad to hear that your Dictionary is going on bravely; and I shall greatly rejoice in its appearance and its success, of which I feel very certain.

6

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

With best wishes for a Happy New Year to you, and good comfort in your work, I am, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι. Allibone had written to Longfellow on June 3, 1 8 5 6 , requesting "one of the pencils used by you in writing out the far-famed Hiawatha," to replace one he had lost. H e repeated the request on October 18. T h e "Western squib" is unrecovered.

1569.

To Bernard Rölker Camb. Jan. 9. 1857

My Dear Rölker I am really sorry that I ever said a word to you or to anyone else, against your going to New York. It was merely the utterance of my feeling at the moment; not at all a deliberate opinion; for my deliberate opinion is that you did right in going; for the reasons you stated, and which are unanswerable. I am grieved that it should have caused you a moment's uneasiness. You know how naturally the heart says to a friend "Don't go away!" when we know he must go, and our judgment says he ought to go.1 Well, I will try to explain it and put it all right in the quarter you allude to.2 And New York has you at last. The great Briareus clutches you with his hundred hands. The thousand streets of the city, "Strecken wunderliche Bande Dich zu schrecken, und zu fangen Aus belebten, derben Masern Strecken sie Polypenfasern Nach dem Wandrer."3 And so away goes the little village of Boston, and as you look back seems only a "rural district" in the distance! Adè! I was heartily sorry not to see more of you when you were here on your "flying horse"; but the brief glimpse, and the two words were better than nothing. I should have liked a long chat, in the evening, by the fireside, with a bottle and green glasses (not spectacles). That shall be the next time and may it be soon. You think this letter dull, I know you do, because it brings you no news from 54 Beacon St.4 I cannot help it. I have been so busy these 7

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

first days of the year, that I have not been there, save for a morning call, on New Year's Day, when I could stay but a moment and saw — nobody. For you Dear Rölker, a Happy New Year! Many Happy New Years! May they stretch on, like the visionary kings in Macbeth, in a long line, but not with threatening aspects, "to the crack of doom."5 We have had here a very cold beginning of the year. On Twelfth Night we gave a little party to Hattie Appleton and a sleigh-full of school-girls. Just as they arrived, out went all the gas! We received our guests by firelight. It was very funny. But we got well lighted up again before long; and had dancing in the Library, with a Twelfth Night King and Queen, and the Christmas evergreens still hanging about. By way of pictorial illustration I insert Beck's advertisement from the Transcript of last evening.® I hear he is going to Europe for three years! My wife and the children all send you a Happy New Year! Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT : unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι. See Letter No. 1562. Rölker had written on December 30: "You know, with how heavy a heart I went, and what made me go. Are not the reasons for my going the same now, as ever? are they not stronger? Friendly social relations are pleasant, very pleasant, but they give us no bread. I was sorry you uttered the above wish elsewhere. I think you will say upon second thought, that I acted rightly; at least I think so now more than before, only I should have done it years sooner." 2. That is, explain it to Mary Louisa Bangs ( 1 5 6 2 . 1 ) . 3. Adapted from Goethe's Faust, I, 3896-3900: "Stretch with wondrous coils/To scare you and to grasp you/And from massive lifelike gnarls/Octopus tentacles reach/ For the wanderer." 4. Presumably the address of Miss Bangs. 5. Macbeth, IV, i, 1 1 7 . 6. Charles Beck (267.6) had advertised his furnished house in Cambridge for rent. Boston Transcript, XXVIII, No. 8 1 3 8 (January 8, 1 8 5 7 ) .

1570.

To William Emile Doster1

Cambridge, Jan. 13, 1857 Dear Sir The "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns" was written in 1825, and was suggested to me by a paragraph in the North American Review, vol II, p. 39°· "The standard of Count Pulaski, the noble Pole, who fell in the attack on Savannah, during the American Revolution, was of crimson silk, embroidered by the Moravian Nuns, of Bethlehem, Pa." 2

8

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

The banner is still preserved: you will find a complete account of the matter in Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution.3 The last line is figurative. I suppose the banner to have been wrapped about the body, as is frequently done. Truly yours Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from handwritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Doster ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 1 9 ) , a member of the Yale class of 1857, took a law degree at Harvard in 1859, became a brevet brigadier-general during the Civil War, and thereafter practiced law in Bethlehem, Pa. He is identified as Longfellow's correspondent in a note that accompanies the handwritten transcript. 2. The quotation and the reference are inaccurate. See the North American Review, X X (April 1825), 390. 3. Benjamin J. Lossing, The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution (New York, 1 8 5 1 - 1 8 5 2 ) , π , 391-393·

1571.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Jan 13 1857 Dear Sumner, Mrs. [Simon] Greenleaf died last night, suddenly, of the same disease, that Mr. Greenleaf had — a disease of the heart. I send you the sad news, knowing the interest you always felt in the family, and particularly in Mrs. G. Yours ever H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1572.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Cambridge Jan 17 1857. Dearest Annie, I fear no one has written to tell you of Mrs. Greenleaf's sudden death. It took place on Tuesday morning last at day-break; and she was buried in Mount Auburn on Friday. She died in the same way as her husband, of disease of the heart. The first attack was at two o'clock in the morning. From that she recovered; but a second came on at daybreak, and was fatal. Fortunately Caroline1 had a friend with her — Miss Webster;2 — but the shock was very great; though not without warnings. What has become of Sam? We hear nothing from him; and get no answer to letters. Is he ill?

9

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

Inclosed is an old Bill of Harry's. Please put it with the rest. I will attend to the case of instruments as soon as I can; unless you have found one to your liking in Portland. Perhaps we had better gratify him in his fancy for the German silver. I should have done this already but for the extreme cold weather.3 Fanny joins me in much love to you and Aunt Lucia. Ever Yours H. W. L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Caroline Augusta Greenleaf Croswell ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 7 9 ) , daughter of Mrs. Simon Greenleaf. 2. Possibly one of two unmarried daughters of John White Webster ( 2 9 1 . 2 ) : Catherine Prescott Webster (d. 1 8 6 5 ) or Mary Anne Webster (d. 1 8 6 6 ) . 3. T h e "case of instruments" was for Harry Longfellow.

1573.

To Ferdinand Freiligrath

Cambridge. Jan. 29. 1857. My Dear Freiligrath, Your two letters, announcing Hiawatha1 came long ago, but the poem itself, only two days since, — too late to thank you by the America. I have been waiting for it impatiently; — and its not arriving is my reason for not writing sooner. It is admirable, this translation of yours, as I knew it would be from the samples sent before. A thousand and a thousand thanks for it, and may Cotta pay you, as the broker paid Guzman de Alfarache in money, sahumada, y lavada con agua de ángeles.2 On page ι o i I have come upon a passage which was changed in the proofs, I sent to Bogue, and which he promised to hand to you. It is in the description of the sturgeon : "Er der Schrecken aller Fische, Der Verderber er der Salmen Der Verschlinger auch des Harings."3 This was changed to: As above him Hiawatha In his birch canoe came sailing, With his fishing line of cedar," because the sturgeon, I found, was never guilty of the crime of frightening nor eating his fellow-fishes. i o

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

If I find anything else, I will mark it for you. But thus far this is the only thing. W h a t you say in the Preface of the close of the poem is very true. T h e contact of Saga and History is too sudden. But how could I remedy it unless I made the poem very much longer? I felt the clash and concussion, but could not prevent, nor escape it.

Feb. 4. And now — my dear Freiligrath tell me about yourself and your own household. T h e dear little face you sent me (without the name) interests me very much. W h i c h of your daughters is it? Write me out all the names and ages of your children over again. I like to keep pace with them from year to year. Here are mine Charles Appleton 12 Ernest Wadsworth 10 Alice Mary 6 Edith 3 Anne Allegra 1 Pardon me as an author, I have written them out like the Table of contents to [a] volume of lyric poems! T h e last year was not fruitful in poems to me. Still I hope to make up for it this year; and to have a small volume ready by autumn. 4 I am delighted to hear that Leutze 5 has taken "Hiawatha" in hand; and hope he will persevere. I am afraid Bogue's Illustrated Edition will be stopped by his death. This is a great pity.® Once more let me satisfy my own heart by thanking you for your labor of love on this book. W i t h kindest regards to your wife and a kiss all round to the children, Ever yours H. W . L. 7 p.s. Is it best to continue the old address, or change to your place of business in town? MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from handwritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . See 1489.2. 2. Mateo Alemán, Guzman de Alf orache, Pt. I, Bk. iii, Ch. 3: "perfumed and bathed in the water of angels." 3. T h e original version (VIII, 4 1 - 4 3 ) , of which this is Freiligrath's translation, was: "He the terror of the fishes,/The destroyer of the salmon,/The devourer of the herring." These lines appeared only in the first London edition of 1855. Subsequent English editions and all American editions contain the corrected lines. 4. Never published. 5. Emanuel Leutze (1816-1868), German-American artist, was noted for his historical paintings, among them "Washington Crossing the Delaware." I I

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

6. Poetical Works, illustrated with upwards of one hundred and sixty engravings on wood, from designs by Jane E. Benham, Birket Foster, etc. (London, 1856). Bogue had died in November 1856. 7. The instruction "over" follows the signature.

1574.

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. Feb 2. 1857 My Dear Ticknor Here is another Bill of Lading, but no Invoice. This must be the wine, I suppose, as the other contained dresses. Two dresses, my wife says; price unknown, being a present from her brother. I do not know that there is anything else in the box. I am very sorry to give you so much trouble; and am greatly obliged to you for your kindness. Yours truly H. W. L. MANUSCRIPT:

1575.

University of Washington Library.

To Thomas Gold Appleton

Cambridge Feb. 10 1857 My Dear Tom, Fanny has doubtless anticipated me in announcing the safe arrival of two precious cases. When the first came I boldly signed a declaration, that it contained "Wine." It was opened at the Custom House, and lo! — two beautiful dresses. Then came box No 2. This surely is the wine. It is opened and behold! "une poupée articulée, blonde [a talking doll, blonde]"! Well, it will be my turn next; and box No 3. will come all in good time. I have for a long time been wanting to write you about your horses: but you know that the basis of our social system is "the greatest annoyance of the greatest numbers;" — and I am still beleaguered by a set of people, who send me poems to look over, and such things. You remember — just as of old; and so I miss the steamers and my friends. Now of the horses. They are at board in the country, at 1.25 per week each. Suppose they are there from Nov. 1. to May 1. —twenty five weeks —it will cost only $62.50. and with all the incidentals of getting them up there and back again, you will be considerably within the $100.00. Selling them was out of the question. It would have been giving them away. So said the wise stable-keepers. James1 says the carriage needs new wheels. These will cost about ι 2

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

$30.00 half of which I will pay. But perhaps this had better wait your return; though if you say so, I will have it done, and get all ready before that desirable event takes place. This will save you some trouble — which is a great saving; — and will not give me any, for there is a good wheel-wright close at hand, and the carriage is standing idle in the coachhouse. What has become of James I do not know. He is probably soaring and hovering about, ready to pounce upon you when you re-appear. It was rather a gloomy Summer to me down there in Mountford's shanty by the sea. I did not walk beyond the gate for two months. We missed you exceedingly. Still I think it is well we did not go out with you. The clock has not yet struck for that performance. I wonder what Fanny is writing you, as she sits there by the study-fire in a green morning gown? I must not let my wheels run in the same track. Here is something I am sure she has not said. George Curtis writes from the Happy Island thus "We have 'glorious' sleighing, and my wife and I 'splendidly' enjoy it. She is very well, and a two-months' Benedick wonders how he was so long unmarried! What about Tommo?"2 This is the first report we have had from him since his wedding. Notwithstanding his wondering, it is lucky for him that he was not married sooner; for he would not have been married so well. Of [John Lothrop] Motley I have not seen half enough. He has dined with me once, and been out for an evening; but that is not half enough. He was never so handsome — so witty, so clever, so agreeable. We are so sorry he could find no house in Cambridge. He tried hard, but failed. Do you see anything of Philarète Chasles this winter? If so, say I have his letter, and will reply soon. He has written a review of Hiawatha in the "Débats," which I have not seen.3 Have you? Sad indeed is this tragedy of the Crawfords! They must be now in Paris. Say some kind words from us to them. Or is he really dead? Mrs. C. left here at an hour's notice, so to speak.4 Hoit the artist is dead.5 His pictures were sold last week. I bought the Rembrandtish "tête de vie[i]llard [old man's head]," which has done duty at so many Boston Exhibitions. Hunt's Flower Girl® is charming, and [Eastman] Johnson has had some beautiful oil paintings in the Athenaeum. The Paige Venus is there; and beside it a head of the Rev. Waterston casting a side-long, upturned glance at her, most comic to behold.7 Ever affectionately H. W. L.

13

IN MANUSCRIPT:

A

T R O U B L E D

W O R L D

Longfellow Trust Collection,

ι. A servant employed by Tom Appleton. 2. See 1467.1. The "Happy Island" was Staten Island. The letter from Curtis is unrecovered. 3. Journal des Débats Politiques et Littéraires, April 20, 1856. 4. An exploratory operation in Rome had revealed that Thomas Crawford was suffering from cancer of the eyeball. Louisa Ward Crawford left Boston early in February to be with him in Paris. He died on October 10, 1857. 5. Albert Gallatin Hoit (b. 1809), portrait and landscape painter, had died in West Roxbury on December 18, 1856. 6. Also called "Child Selling Violets," by the American artist William Morris Hunt (1824-1879). 7. A reference to "Venus Rising from the Sea" by the New York artist William Page ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 8 5 ) and to a portrait (artist unknown) of Robert Cassie Waterston ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 9 3 ) , wealthy and conservative Unitarian minister of Boston.

1576.

To John Williamson

Palmer1 Cambridge F e b . 2 4

1857.

M y Dear Sir, It gives me great pleasure to grant your request, and I ought rather to thank you for giving my pieces a place in your collection, which promises to be so beautiful. I return, as you desire, the lists and letters, and remain W i t h best wishes Yours truly H e n r y W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT:

Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

ι. In a letter of February 20, 1857, Palmer ( 1 8 2 5 - 1 9 0 6 ) , Baltimore-born physician and author, had asked Longfellow for permission to include "The Singers" and "To an Old Danish Song-Book" in his anthology Folk-Songs: A Book of Golden Poems Made for the Popular Heart (New York, i860). 1577.

To Evert Augustus

Duyckinck Cambridge

March 2

1857

D e a r Sir, Y o u are quite at liberty to use the poems you mention, in your edition of Willmott, though I wish you would substitute some other in the place of " B e w a r e , " w h i c h is trivial, and a translation. 1 A s to making use of Gilbert's Illustrations, that is a question I cannot answer, having no control over them. I must refer you to M r . Routledge. 2 W i t h much regard Yours truly H e n r y W . Longfellow M

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

MANUSCRIPT: New York Public Library (E. A. Duyckinck Papers). 1. The Poets of the Nineteenth Century, selected and edited by the Rev. Robert Aris Willmott . . . with English and American additions, arranged by Evert A. Duyckinck . . . illustrated with one hundred and thirty-two engravings, drawn by eminent artists ( N e w York, 1857). In a letter of February 26 Duyckinck had asked permission to include "Hymn to the Night," "Resignation," "King Witlaf's Drinking Horn," "Beware," and "God's Acre." "Excelsior" was substituted for "Beware" and "God's Acre." 2. Four illustrations by Gilbert were used, on pp. 471, 473, 476, and 477.

1578.

To Charles

Miel1

Cambridge March 2 1857 Dear Sir, I accept with much pleasure your polite invitation for Tuesday evening; though Mrs. Longfellow regrets that it will not he in her power to accompany me. Many thanks for the extract from M . de Sacy's article in the Débats, 2 which you were so kind as to send! I remain, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . A former Catholic priest, according to Longfellow's journal entry of May 1, 1856. The Boston Directory for 1857 lists him as a "professor of French," living at 6 Park Square. 2. Samuel Ustazade Silvestre de Sacy (1801-1879), a member of the French Academy, was a leading writer on the Journal des Débats. The article referred to is unidentified. Miel's extract from it, in his letter of February 28, reads: "l'auteur du charmant récit d'Evangeline, le Bostonien Longfellow, vient de créer, dans un poème d'Hiawatha, l'épopée la plus naive et la plus touchante, écrite dans un rhythme neuf et avec un talent incomparable [the author of the charming tale of Evangeline, the Bostonian Longfellow, has created in the poem of Hiawatha, a most ingenuous and touching epic, written in a new rhythm and with an incomparable talent]."

1579.

T o Ticknor & Fields

[Cambridge] March 2. 1857 T o Messrs Ticknor & Fields. Please deliver to Major Redpath a complete set of my writings, for the Manhattan Library, 1 and pass to my account. Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι 5

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

ι . James Redpath ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 8 9 1 ) , Scottish-born journalist, editor, and militant abolitionist. His title apparently derived from his close association with the fighting forces of John Brown during the Kansas disturbances of 1 8 5 5 - 1 8 5 6 . T h e library in Manhattan, Kan., was founded in 1 8 5 7 .

1580.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. March 4. 1857 Dearest Annie, Here are a few documents about Harry: an old letter and a new one, and a new Bill, just paid. We are all well, enjoying Mrs. Kemble's Readings from Shakespear.1 How are you and Aunt Lucia and what are you enjoying? I see in the papers Mr. Motley's death.2 How are Judge Potter and Eliza? We are to have Mr. Robert Storer in Cambridge — almost a neighbor, though not a near one. We hear little or nothing from Sam. He grows a bad correspondent as bad as Yours affy. H. W. L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Fanny Kemble was appearing at the Meionaon, in Tremont Street, Boston. 2. Edward Motley, uncle of the historian, died in Portland on February 27, aged seventy-four (Boston Transcript, X X V I I I , No. 8 1 8 2 [March 2, 1 8 5 7 ] ) .

1581.

To Thomas Gold Appleton

Camb. Marchó 1857 My Dear Tom, I think that you and I could not do a better thing, than buy Mountford's Cottage at Nahant; of course supposing he will sell it. He is now in Paris and you might negocíate the matter with him. It is one of the best situations at Nahant: on some accounts the very best. He has been offered $6000. We can go higher than that—as high even as $8000. without giving too much, as things now go. The house is poor; and needs repairs; and we should have to add to it. But the situation is so commanding, that I do not want it to slip through our hands. What say you? At all events, see Mountford, who is now in Paris; and ask him to let us have the refusal of it (or me, if you decline the partnership.) I asked this of his agent some time ago; but some other people are cutting in, and trying to get it. So pray lose no time. 16

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

Let us find out if he will sell and at what price; and at all events [obtain] the promise that he will not give any body else the preference.1 Mr. Dutton is dead; aged 82P In greatest haste to catch the mail, Yours ever, H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, of Baring & Co/London.

ADDRESS: Thos. G . Appleton Esq/Care

1. Longfellow's plan to buy the Mountford cottage ( i 5 3 2 . 3 ) did not succeed. 2. Warren Dutton ( 1 7 7 4 - 1 8 5 7 ) , a lawyer, had died on March 3 (Boston Courier, L X V I , No. 1 3 4 9 7 [March 6, 1 8 5 7 J ) .

1582.

To Jean-Ba-ptiste François Ernest de Chatelain

Cambridge March 9 1857 My Dear Chevalier, If the old saying be true that "Speech is Silver, and Silence Golden," what a golden correspondent you have in me! Well; with all the occupations, distractions and interruptions of a man with five children, what hope is there for me, in this way? Alas! little or none, I fear. The two copies of your translation of "Evangeline" reached me safely. It is beautifully done; and I certainly have not the audacity to follow your suggestion, and try to make emendations. Far be from me the thought. The same I must say of your version of "The Voices of the Night." 1 I do not dare to suggest anything, where all is so well. Many thanks, also, for the "Simples Poèmes," and the "Beautés de la Poésie Anglaise,"2 which are executed with a most vigorous and at the same time most delicate hand. I think you have a wonderful way of seizing the key-note of a poem, and entering into the spirit and mood! Do you know, that last Summer I came very near going to England? My passage was engaged, and only a few days before sailing, I accidentally struck my knee, and was obliged to give up the voyage. I could not walk for three months; nor am I yet fully restored. So much for a slight tap on the knee! I accepted the disappointment philosophically: but I had a sad Summer. I hope that you and Mme. de Chatelain are both well and I beg you to present her my compliments and respects. Meanwhile with great regard and best wishes, I am, my Dear Sir Yours very faithfully Henry W. Longfellow ι 7

IN A T R O U B L E D MANUSCRIPT:

N e w York Public Library

Chevalier de Chatelain/27

WORLD

(Montague Collection),

Grafton Place/Euston

ADDRESS:

Square/London

M.

le

POSTMARK:

3 MR24 5 7 ι . See 1 4 3 6 . 3 . 2. De Chatelain's Simples Poèmes ( 1 8 5 7 ) contained a specimen of his Beautés de la Poésie Anglaise, later published in five volumes (London, 1 8 6 0 - 1 8 7 2 ) .

1583.

To Samuel Carter Hall1

Cambridge March [9] 1857 My Dear Sir, I beg you to accept my most cordial thanks for your beautiful gift, "The Royal Gallery of Art," 2 and for the friendly remembrance which prompted you to send it. Such works are a great source of delight to every lover of Art; often I shall turn its pages over, and never without a grateful thought of the donor. I have now two charming presents to remember you by; — this and the Parian Inkstand, in which I hope to find all those unwritten songs, which, as the Spaniards say "han quedado en el tintero [have been left in the inkwell]." Begging you to present my compliments and respects to Mrs Hall, I am, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Bowdoin College Library. ι. Hall ( 1 8 0 0 - 1 8 8 9 ) , British author and editor, was the husband of Anna Maria Fielding Hall ( 1 8 0 0 - 1 8 8 1 ) , writer of novels and tales of Irish life. 2. The Royal Gallery of Art, Ancient and Modern: Engravings from the Private Collections of Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Albert, and the Art Heir-Looms of the Crown, at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, and Osborne, ed. S. C . Hall (London and Manchester, n.d.), 2 vols. This work, in the Longfellow House, is inscribed, " T o the Poet Longfellow with the grateful homage of S. C . Hall."

1584.

To Robert James Mackintosh

Cambridge March 9 1857 Dear Mackintosh, Our famous project of a visit to England has vanished into thin air. It was a pleasant dream; and came very near being a reality; and a delightful reality it would have been, no doubt. But that little rap on the knee settled the question, for a long, long while I fear; as my knee is not well yet, and the dream has not come again. 18

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 7

A vague surmise is floating through my brain, that you have never received due thanks for sundry presents sent from Antigua, in the shape of sugars, sweet-meats and the like. As father of the family which devoured them, I should not have neglected this so long. Let me thank you now, and say how pleasant and acceptable were the gifts. I was extremely sorry that on your way home from the West Indies you did not come through Boston. People who meet so seldom in life as we have done become almost as myths to each other. But your portrait, painted by Tom, hangs in my dressing room, and I see you night and morning, as I go in and out, which keeps up my faith in your real existence.1 But Mary and the dear children; — them I have seen more lately, and see more distinctly. My best love to them all. "Eva's Stone" is a landmark here in our Cambridge walk. The children stop and sit down to rest upon it, as she used to do, God bless her. We are having rather dark days in our political world. The present administration is the most shaky old piece of Cabinet-work you can possibly imagine; and the Supreme Court has just pronounced a decision in a Slave case, which makes one shudder with alarm and indignation.2 Only let us not despair in this momentary triumph of things evil. Very truly and affectionately Yours, my Dear Mackintosh, Henry W. Longfellow. p.s. May I trouble you to mail the enclosed; and if necessary, to put Colnaghi's3 address upon Mr. Hall's letter. It is Colnaghi the print-seller and publisher. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. This portrait is no longer in the Longfellow House. 2. T h e Dred Scott decision. 3. Dominic Paul Colnaghi Ci79°— print dealer and chief partner in the firm of Colnaghi & Company, London, publishers of The Royal Gallery of Art ( 1 5 8 3 . 2 ) .

1585.

To John E. Tilton1

Cambridge March 10 1857 Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your letter, and have been to Mr. [William D.] Ticknor's to see the charming picture of "Hiawatha's Wooing."2 One is hardly an impartial judge in a matter which so nearly concerns one's self; but the work seems to me to be done with a delicate and skilful hand, and a good deal of poetic feeling. I beg you to present my compliments and acknowledgments to the

19

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artist, and to accept my thanks for the present of the picture, which I receive with much pleasure. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCMPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . Tilton (d. 1867) was a bookseller and print dealer of 188 Essex Street, Salem. 2. T h e artist of this picture, a lithograph distributed by Tilton, is unknown.

1586.

T o Evert Augustus

Duyckinck

Cambridge March 13 1857 M y Dear Sir, T h e idea of an Extract [from Evangeline] does not strike me very favorably. Some lyric poem, I think, would be better, and I suggest "Oliver Basselin," in Putnam's Magazine. 1 But if Darley 2 is to illustrate the poem, it would be best to let him select, or at all events to consult him, would it not? I remain, Dear Sir, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow Evert A. Duyckinck, Esq. MANUSCMPT: N e w York Public Library (E. A . Duyckinck Papers). 1. See 1577.1. "Oliver Basselin" appeared in Putnam's

Monthly,

V (May

1855),

457-458. 2. Felix Octavius Carr Darley ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 8 8 ) , artist and illustrator of American classics. For his illustration of "Excelsior," see Willmott and Duyckinck, The Poets of the Nineteenth Century, p. 479.

1587.

T o Samuel Austin

Allibone

Cambridge March 19 1857 M y Dear Sir, I suspect that you have already seen all the notices of any importance upon my writings, as they have appeared in the English Periodicals, to all which you of course have access. Those which occur to me are in Blackwood. Feb. 1852 Frazer April 1853. 1 In France there are papers in the Revue des Deux Mondes. Journal des Débats; 2 within two years, but the dates I cannot give you. In Germany, in

20

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 7

Herrig's "Handbuch der Nordamerikanis[c]hen Nationalliteratur" and in the Allgemeine Zeitung Morgenblatt. 3 But I have seen none of these continental notices, except that in the "Revue des Deux Mondes"; — and do not know whether they are favorable or unfavorable. Hoping that you are getting on bravely with your work, and that we shall soon have the satisfaction of seeing it, I remain, Dear Sir Yours faithfully Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. "Longfellow's Golden Legend," Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, L X X I (February 1 8 5 2 ) , 2 1 2 - 2 2 5 ; Fraser's Magazine, X L V I I (April 1 8 5 3 ) , 3 6 7 - 3 8 2 . 2. Arthur Dudley, "Poètes et Romanciers de L'Amérique du Nord," Revue des Deux Mondes, VIII, Ser. 1, Pt. 2 (November 1854), 6 1 7 - 6 4 6 ; Philarète Chasles, "Le Chant d'Hiawatha," Journal des Débats Politiques et Littéraires, April 20, 1856. 3. L. Herrig, Handbuch der Nordamericattischen Νational-Literatur (Braunschweig, 1854), pp. 42-49. The notice in the Morgenblatt is unidentified.

1588.

T o James Thomas Fields Cambridge

March 19 1857

Dear Fields, Say to Mrs. Barrow that I am very sorry; but in my next volume there will be nothing of sufficient length and mark to offer for Mrs. Barrow's recitation. You know most of the pieces that will go into it; and can confirm what I say. Send me out any notices you have of Julia's Tragedy. 1 By some accident the "Evening Transcript" failed us last night. T h e "Traveller" and "Journal" I got this morning. Have you anything else? How have you settled the Baird business?2 I shall see you on Saturday; till then, if not longer, Yours H. W . L. p.s. Please get from London "Love Letters of Mrs. Piozzi written when she was Eighty to the handsome Actor William Augustus Conway aged Twenty seven." [London, 1843] 8 vo. Sewed 2 s. On the Catalogue of John Russell Smith, 3 4 Old Compton Street, Soho Square. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library.

2 I

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

1. Julia Ward Howe's play Leonore; or, The World's Own was performed at W a l lack's Theatre, N e w York, on March 16. A brief notice of it appeared in the Boston Transcript, X X V I I I , No. 8 1 9 6 (March 18, 1 8 5 7 ) . 2. See Letters No. 1 4 5 9 and 1 4 6 1 . On March 18 Longfellow wTote in his journal: "Fields came to see me about Baird's illustrated Edition of my poems, which he wishes to get out of the market. Offer to bear half the expense of buying the plates, to destroy them." 3. Smith ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 9 4 ) , a bookseller and bibliographer specializing in topography and philology, published catalogues of second-hand books that were bibliographical events.

1589.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Cambridge March 20 1857. Dearest Annie, I have just written to Harry to say, that upon reflection, I think he had better not try to enter a year in advance but go on regularly through the College Course. And as Willie intends, if possible, to pass next year in Cambridge at the Scientific School, 1 it seems to me a very good time for Harry to come as Freshman; as they could have rooms together, and Willie's influence would be very good. Enclosed is a letter from Harry, thanking me for the instruments. I tell him he must thank you, not me. T h e cost of the case was only $4.00. Is it still your wish to have this deducted from your next Dividend? Have you written to Sam? I am a little troubled about him. T h e papers say he has had the Varioloid. I hope to hear soon; and think some friend would write, if he were seriously ill.2 W e have a snow-storm to-day. What have you? Sunshine, I hope. Give my love to Stephen, and tell him I hope everything is going well with him. But I am sorry he has given up his commission.3 Also kind remembrances to Aunt Lucia, and Lizzie and Margaret Codman, 4 whom I am glad you have with you. Ever affectionately H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. See 1 5 3 9 . ι . Longfellow's letter to Harry is unrecovered. 2. Samuel Longfellow's attack of varioloid was followed by three weeks of lumbago. See Samuel Longfellow: Memoir and Letters, ed. Joseph May (Boston and N e w York, 1 8 9 4 ) , pp. 1 9 5 - 1 9 6 . 3. See 1 4 1 8 . 1 . 4. Margaret Codman ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 9 9 ) , daughter of Randolph A . L . Codman ( 3 0 . 3 ) and his wife Elizabeth Ware Stephenson ( 4 1 . 2 ) , was Longfellow's first cousin, once removed.

22

CAMBRIDGE, 1590.

To Frances Anne

1857

Kemble

Camb. March. 23 1857 Dear Mrs. Kemble, May I take the liberty of presenting Dr. Howe, 1 of Cambridge, who wishes to speak with you about a Course of Readings in Cambridge, which is greatly desired by the inhabitants. Dr. Howe is desirous of doing anything he can to facilitate the arrangements, if such a proposition should be agreeable to you. Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . Estes Howe ( 1 8 1 4 - 1 8 8 7 ) , son of Mrs. Sarah Howe ( 8 0 5 . 1 0 ) , received an M . D . degree at Harvard in 1 8 3 5 t u t did not practice after 1 8 5 2 , when he became treasurer of the Cambridge Gas Light Company.

1591.

To Charles

Sumner

Camb. March 25 1857 My Dear Sumner Fanny is writing to Tom this morning, and I slip this into the letter, as a kind of "Ron jour," to let you know that we are thinking of you. 1 Ere this, you will have seen your Cathedral at Ro[u]en; yours if admiration can make it so. Was it the same as of old? Ere this you will have trodden the pavé of the Place Vendôme, and the asphalte of the Roulevard des Italiens; — are they the same as of old? Are they not a little tarnished? Ah me! Julia Howe has just returned from N e w York, where she has been to see her Tragedy acted. She is radiant and triumphant — she is Corinna at the capítol!2 For when the play was over Miss Heron 3 the heroine stepped forward to the stage box where Julia sat, and amid thunders of applause, knelt down, and presented her a crown of flowers! The judgment of the critics on the play is various. I send you by to-day's mail a few specimens. Fanny joins in kindly remembrances. Enjoy yourself. Get well fast and fleetly. Which can you do better? Ever thine H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Dissatisfied with the slowness of his recovery from the beating on May 22, 1 8 5 6 , Sumner had decided to regain his health in Europe. He left N e w York on March 7 and returned to Boston on November 19, 1 8 5 7 .

23

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2. Perhaps an allusion to the Greek lyric poetess Corinna (c. 500 B.C.). 3. Matilda Agnes Heron ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 7 7 ) , Irish-born American actress, was famous for her interpretation of Camille.

1592.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce Check$ 120.

— Cambridge

April 2 1857

Dear Annie, Harry has not yet made his appearance, but I am looking for him every minute, it being now a little past nine in the morning, and the ground covered with snow. On getting your letter yesterday, I went to Parker, the seller of Evangeline,1 to execute your order; but found he had removed to a distant part of the town. I had not time to go in pursuit of him, but will attend to the matter tomorrow, so that you shall have the print before the tenth. Inclosed is a check for the April Dividend. You see I have deducted the price of the Instruments, as you desire. I am glad to hear your good news of Sam.2 I wonder if he is happy in Brooklyn? Dr. Nichols is looking very well — never better — in his best mood, when I saw him two days ago. Mrs. N. I have not seen for some time. Fanny and all the girls are ill with influenza; even little Annie is coughing and wretched. My knee has been troubling me again. The slightest thing throws me back; and when I think I have got quite well, something suddenly gives way, and lets me down again. With much love to Aunt Lucia Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Frederick Parker had been a partner in the dissolved firm of Parker, Elliot & Company, book and print sellers of 5 0 - 5 2 Cornhill, Boston. T h e Evangeline was the Faed etching (Letter No. 1 4 4 8 ) . 2. That is, that he had recovered his health.

1

593·

George Ripley1

Cambridge April 7 1857 My Dear Sir, The poem you ask about, I cut from a newspaper, when I was a boy, and have it still in a Scrap-book. It is entitled "A Night on the Alps," and credited to an "English Paper." The author is unknown to me; but must

24

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

be some Englishman, born in Switzerland, judging from the line "Pride of the land that gave me birth"; for I feel quite sure the poem is not a translation. In "Hyperion" [Book III, Chapter 1] I omitted two stanzas, the last two, as being inferior to the rest. April 8. I have just discovered the author of the poem. It is James Montgomery. The title of the piece is "The Alps; a Reverie." and this is "Part II. Night." There are several alterations. The line "Pride of the land &c" is changed. The version in "Hyperion" is the original form of the piece, as first published in the newspapers. The other is altered, but not improved, for the author's "Complete Works." Yours faithfully Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library. ι. Ripley ( 1 8 0 2 - 1 8 8 0 ) , Unitarian minister and leader of the Brook Farm colony, 1 8 4 1 - 1 8 4 7 , was at this time literary editor of the New York Tribune.

1594.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Ap. 21 1857 Dearest Annie I am very sorry to hear of the mishap which befell "Evangeline." Please send her back to the Agent, Mr. Elliott,1 Washington St. opposite Adams House. The fault must lie in the Express; as I ordered the picture to be done up with extreme care, on account of the previous breakage. I have not yet paid the bill, and shall see all set right before doing so. Next time it shall go in a box or by private hand; the Express being an institution established mainly for the purpose of breaking every thing that can be broken. It is like West Point; only the strongest get through. Was the style of frame satisfactory? If you have any changes to suggest now is the time. We have to-day a furious North East snow storm! I hope Harry's visit was agreeable to you. I thought him improved. Write me your views and wishes about him so that we may act in concert. With much love to Lucia, &c Yours ever H . W . L.

25

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MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. See 1 5 9 2 . ι . Lucius A . Elliot, print seller, had recently formed his own company at 3 2 2 Washington Street, Boston.

1595.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April 21. 1857 My Dear Sumner, W e have to-day a furious North Easter, reminding one of Dante's tempest in the Inferno; "della piova Eterna, maledetta, fredda e greve. Grandine grossa, ed acqua tinta, e neve Per Γ aer[e] tenebroso si riversa;"1 premonitory of the rain of acqua tinta or ink, which I am preparing to shower upon you. Your letter reached me on Saturday, and was a great refreshment to my mind. It suggested peace and tranquillity. Hôtel de la Paix! — Rue de la Paix! and all the cannon of Austerlitz silent in the Place Vendôme! When I awoke this morning, I lay thinking of it, and how glad I should be some day to open my eyes in the Hôtel de la Paix — Rue de la Paix. If you were here, the thing which would most interest you to-day is Gurowski's book "America and Europe"; — four hundred solid pages, without gossip of personalities. Here are the contents. Chap I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.

Population. Character. Democracy. Self-government. Slavery. Manifest Destiny. Foreign Elements.

VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII.

Education. The Press. The Pulpit. The American Mind. Customs, Habits &c. Country & City. Conclusion.

I have read as yet only one chapter — that on Slavery. It is very good; strong, direct, solid; with a fine page on the possible future of Africa, rising like a palm-tree in the midst. I wish I could send you the book, that you might read these fifty pages on Slavery. He closes with these

26

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

words "The Slave States, separated and alone, would sink at the best into absolute insignificancy, would become of less interest than are the Papuans or Polynesians for the great association of mankind." 2 Burritt in his last "Bond of Brotherhood" records his visit to you, and says "We were rejoiced to find the great temple of his brain restored, and his whole person full and large." Of me he says; "I think he will join the movement, and sign the call for a National Convention." 3 I fear you are now feeling some reaction from the excitement of a first week in Paris. Be careful; and not too dissipated. Remember the chorus in Lucrezia Borgia, "La gioia dei profani È un fumo passeggier."4 I have sent you one or two newspapers with accounts of Julia Howe's Play. I hope you received them. The papers have been too ferocious; though it is true that the great defect of the piece is in the plot, and it is too late to remedy that. Give our love to the Crawfords. You give us but a dark picture of his condition and his hopes. But I trust some favorable change will take place. W e have not yet determined where to go for the Summer; but are on the lookout for a house. Never fear: something will turn up. You are for Switzerland it seems. W e will think of you eating Swiss cherries in the lovely Valley of Interlachen. But I think you will cross into Italy. A week in Venice would be full of delight. Or will England like a great magnet, draw you back? For my part, I think I should wish to meet the Spring on the southern slope of the Alps; and cross and re-cross the mountain passes, and swallow as much mountain air as possible. It agrees with you; and may be just now the best thing. I am glad you have said a good word for Boileau. He seemed to me a thoughtful, excellent young man; very superior to most young diplomats. It was an interesting glimpse you gave me into the great Walewski palace. 5 If you meet Miss Hensler® tell her I met her sister in the street yesterday, looking very fresh and handsome. That will be as good as a bouquet. Well — I have written myself blind. T h e snow-storm still rages, and Erny comes blowing through it from school with cheeks like apples. He sends you his love; but will not write to you, because you never answered his letter a year ago. Amour propre blessé [wounded pride]!

27

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Ever thine, with kindest remembrances and all kinds of good wishes from Fanny, H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Cf. Inferno, VI, 7-8, 1 0 - 1 1 : "the rain/Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy;/ . . . Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow,/Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain." 2. Adam G. de Gurowski, America and Europe ( N e w York, 1857), p. 229. 3. From Elihu Burritt's journal entries for February 5 and 4, 1857, in Bond of Brotherhood, n.s., No. 81 (April 1857), 138. 4. Act II. Scene 5: "The joy of profane life/Is a transitory vapor." T h e opera, by Gaetano Donizetti ( 1 7 9 7 - 1 8 4 8 ) , was first performed in 1833. 5. Count Alexandre Florian Joseph Colonna Walewski (1810-1868), the natural son of Napoleon and the Polish countess Marie Walewska, was at this time the French minister of foreign affairs. Sumner had written on April 2, 1857: "Everything about him was marked by complete elegance, including his brief and pretty Italian wife. In the immense rooms a human being, whether host or guest, seemed like an object in one of those great sea-shells." With regard to Gauldrée de Boilleau, first secretary of the French legation in Washington, Sumner wrote: "One of my first topics with him [Count Walewski] was with regard to Boileau, the French Secretary at Washington, who is about to become consul at Calcutta, a lucrative post, but out of the diplomatic career. I spoke of Boileau's talents and learning and urged his advancement in the service which he had begun and which is most honorable. T h e Minister replied; but he has married a person without fortune, and on this account he cannot wait the slow advance of the diplomatic service. I then inquired if he could not pass back from the consular to the diplomatic service: — Now, Monsieur; c'est impossible, and he again dwelt upon the marriage with a person without fortune. Thus is the romance of that marriage crowned by his renunciation of most distinguished prospects in the diplomatic career." See also Sumner Memoir and Letters, III, 531. 6. Elise Frederica Hensler (b. 1836), Boston-bom opera singer, was performing in Paris at this time. Sumner had seen her on March 27 ([Sumner Memoir and Letters, III, 530). In 1869 she became the Countess of Edla and wife of Ferdinand II ( 18161885), the titular king of Portugal.

1596.

To John Sullivan Dwight

Camb May 4 1857 Dear Dwight, Have you thought of the enclosed Subscription?1 I hope you will have some names to add. Yours truly, Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Mass. I. A subscription list "to enable Mr. Thayer to complete his Life of Beethoven." Longfellow gave $50. Alexander Wheelock Thayer ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 9 7 ) , member of the Harvard class of 1843, made the biography of Beethoven his life's work. It was first published in German in three volumes, Berlin, 1866-1879. See Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 401-402.

28

CAMBRIDGE, 1597.

1857

To Robert Ervin Galpin

Cambridge May 4 1857 Dear Sir Yours of April 30 containing Account, and Check on Housatonic Bank for $128.19. has been duly received, and I beg to thank you for the same. I believe I have still in the Hous[atoni]c Bank a small balance from previous account; $40.73. At least, I find a memorandum to that effect, but having no Bank Book, am not sure. Would you be kind enough to inquire if it is so? I forgot to send you word about painting the new bam. I think with you it had better be done. Please have it painted, blueish-gray or clay color. What you have done about the farm is entirely satisfactory, and the charges moderate. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours with regard Henry W. Longfellow Robt. E. Galpin Esq MANUSCRIPT: Stockbridge Library Association.

1598.

To Mary Appleton Mackintosh

Cambridge May 4 1857 My Dear Mary, When you see my handwriting instead of Fanny's you will immediately imagine something. But this time it is only the Queen of England.1 Fanny is in bed with an Influenza, and cannot write. So I eagerly seize the opportunity. I have thanked Mackintosh for all the charming presents, and trust to you to divide and distribute our thanks to the respective donors. They are all beautiful; but most of all, and above all the agate cup, the whole history of which I am anxious to know.2 Somebody must know all about it. Perhaps even it was in the Catalogue of the sale. Pray send that, if you have nothing more. Shall you remain at Brighton all Summer? and are we to direct our letters to the old place — Park Place — as before? Let us know, for we are often in doubt. Spring opens tardily with us, green and rainy, like your dear island. What we are to do this Summer, is not yet quite certain. If possible, it will be Nahant; so as to have the children in hourly peril of their lives,

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by way of excitement. That magic word reminds me of Tom. W e rather think he will be with us this Summer, though he does not distinctly say so. The corner stone of the Appleton Chapel, in the College grounds, was laid on the 2nd. inst. with "appropriate ceremonies," as the papers say.3 Next time, I hope Fanny will be well enough to send you a long letter, with all the news, which I carefully exclude. Affectionately Yours H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Queen Victoria gave birth to Princess Beatrice (d. 1 9 4 4 ) on April 14, 1 8 5 7 . 2. This agate cup is in the Longfellow House. 3. See 1 3 1 9 . 1 .

1599.

To Robert James Mackintosh

Cambridge May 4 1857. Dear Mackintosh, All the presents came safe and sound, two days ago, and produced a great sensation among the little folks. You know there is always a great fascination in opening boxes, and always has been since the first, the famous classic one, out of which all the presents flew away, except one; — and that one was left to suggest the witty definition, that gratitude "is a lively sense of favors yet to come." 1 Ours have come unharmed; though how the Custom House officers consented to let the beautiful agate cup pass through their hands without breaking it, remains a mystery. I am as much pleased with my present as any of the children with theirs. Do you know the history of it? Is it a Benvenuto Cellini? As a souvenir of Rogers2 it possesses a double charm; and is a symbol of his hospitality, which he dealt out to me with open hands and doors when I was in London last. Requiescat! What you say of Slavery is very true and very sad. When one lifts that stone, all manner of reptiles creep out, and show their ugly eyes. Nevertheless, it must be lifted, and tilted quite over. With our united thanks to you and Mary Very truly Yours Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι . C f . La Rochefoucauld, Maximes, No. 298. 2. Samuel Rogers, the poet, whom Longfellow had met in London in 1 8 4 2 . See Letter N o . 7 2 5 .

30

CAMBRIDGE, 1600.

^ 5 7

To Catherine Eliot Norton

[Cambridge] May 4, 1857. Dear Mrs. Norton, I will come with the greatest pleasure.1 Alas! in what isolation we live here! I did not know you had returned to Cambridge. Fanny, I am sorry to say is quite ill with the Influenza. I hope you will have some good news to tell me of Charles. Yours ever truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library,

ADDRESS : Mrs. Norton/Shady Hill.

ι . For breakfast on May 6 to meet Joseph Longworth ( 1 3 9 5 . 0 . See M S Journal.

1601.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. May. 4 1857 My Dear Sumner, I have just written to Tom, and slip this in for your edification, though my eyes are weary and the "pregnant hinges of my knee"1 give me pain, standing here at my desk. Since my last, some ten days ago, nothing new has happened. George [Sumner] dined with me on Monday; was as cheery and pleasant as a man can be on a rainy day. We drank Tom's health in Beaune of his own sending, and yours in Verzenay champagne, with a crimson and gold label; Emanuel Vitalis Scherb being also present on the occasion, and assisting in the ceremony. George brought your last letter, which he had just received. You were suffering from influenza. We have all been through it; and sympathize with you. How it took the shine out of Paris, even, that wretched cold! I hope you have got well over it. Take good care of yourself; — but enjoy — enjoy — enjoy — as much as you can. I dont pretend that this is a letter. It is only a salutation — a good morning — a kind of "Three cheers for Sumner!" a waving of a handkerchief from my balcony; — or any other figure of speech that means friendship and good wishes. If you can lay your hands on the two Nos. of the "Journal des Débats" containing two separate mentions of me — one a year ago — one later, — one by Philarète Chasles, one by De Sacy — please send them.2 Ever thine H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

3 ι

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

ι . Cf. Hamlet, III, ii, 61.

2. See 1587.a and 1578.2.

1602.

To Thomas Gold

Appleton

Copy "p.s. Please give my love to Tom, when you write to him, and tell him it is quite time he came back. M y wife says daily 'What's this dull town to me Tom is not here.' " J. L. Motley. Certifié conforme aux écritures [handwriting certified genuine]. H. W . L. Camb. May 14. 1857. Dear Tom This is from a note I received this morning from Motley. Reste à savoir si vous aurez le cœur de résister à cet appel amical [It remains to be seen if you have the heart to resist this friendly summons]. Dont you see the blooms on our peach-trees, and the cherry blossoms white as snow? Dont you hear the stamping and neighing of your steeds, coming down from the country, and saying ha! ha! to the East Wind? Since I last wrote you, nothing very wonderful has happened, unless it be the appearance of "blue Heron, the Shu-shu-gah" at the Boston Theatre, whom Curtis calls "a Bowery Rachel." 1 I have not seen her. But I have seen the Norwegian Ole Bull — 2 pale, sad, and shaking with fever and ague. He is on his way home; and if you stay the Summer in Europe why not go to Bergen and see II. . .||3 dining with Parsons.4 Prescott had never been on a horse-rail road before, and had wondered that I proposed to get out at Charles Street, having a vague idea "it would take him to his own door." Speaking of birth-days, Agassiz' fiftieth, or Golden Birth-day comes on the 28th. and we have invited him to a dinner at Parker's.5 Dresel and the other Teutons are to "bring him a Serenade." ||. . ,||6 T h e Charles, like a hinge opens the door upon Sumner. How is our Hero? Greet him from me. And Crawford too! I came upon his "Excelsior"7 — the dead youth — in a darkened chamber yesterday — of a sudden — and it startled me, like a ghost. Fanny is not very well; influenza, and pain enough. She laments she cannot be out to smell the blossoms she only sees from the window, or in handfuls brought up by the children.

32

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 7

Have you seen Mrs. Gaskell's (that is not spelt right, I know) "Life of Charlotte Bronté"?8 It is intensely interesting. What a "Yorkshire Tragedy" that is! and what a picture of desolation is poor old Ugolino Bronté in his Haworth "Tower of Famine"! half-blind, and groping about, brancolando, for his dead children.9 Verily they had the "patience and the faith of the Saints." Read the book, and hereafter never murmur nor complain at anything, which may befall you. It begins to clear, out of doors. A schooner, with all sails set, is going through the meadows, and the white steam-trail of the rail-way strikes Brighton, like the comet that is coming. &c. &c May. 16. Remarkable coincidence of thought in two great writers. "Genius is accuracy." G. T . C. 1 0 "Tillemont, whose inimitable accuracy almost assumes the character of genius." Gibbon. 11 It is still raining; and this afternoon there is to be a boat-race on Charles River, between the "Huron" — a college boat, and the "Volante" — of Boston. Charley and Erny are, of course, in high spirits; and are to view the contest from the roof of Fay's 12 new house on the Milldam. Sumner sends me a "Journal des Débats" with Philarète [Chasles]'s notice of Scudo's "Le Chevalier Sarti." 13 It must be an interesting novel. Scene Venice. I hope you will buy it. I have written to Curtis in New York, about Mme. de Bury's wish to be Paris correspondent of some good paper;14 and have proposed "Harper's Weekly" or the "Tribune." I hope to have his answer before I close this letter. May 17. "lo dico seguitando," as saith the gran padre of Tuscan song.16 The boat-race came off yesterday, in spite of the rain. The Boston boat forty five seconds ah||ead o||f Harvard. I was at your rooms in Winter street yesterday: and took away your Electric Machine, to exorcise the foul fiend from Fanny. I did not see Bridget, but saw her sister, who was glad to hear that "Mr. Appleton was well and enjoying himself in Paris." Our Summer arrangements are as follows. If Lovering (not the Profr.) gets Phillip's cottage at Nahant, we get Tucker's; 18 which will answer our purpose quite as well as Mountford's, as it commands the boat landing, the favorite haunt of the boys; and we shall be able to hear 33

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the "Nelly Baker" let off her steam from 9 to 10 P.M., our daily serenade last Summer; and we might miss it, if farther off. W e have formed a Dinner Club, once a month at Parkers — Agassiz, Motley — Emerson — Pierce [Benjamin Peirce] — Lowell — Whipple — Sam [uel Gray] Ward — John Dwight — [Horatio] Woodman — myself and yourself, when you choose to come. W e sit from three o'clock till nine, generally, which proves it to be pleasant. 17 Addio. Ever thine 18 MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι . Matilda Heron ( 1 5 9 1 . 3 ) . 2. Ole Bornemann Bull ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 8 0 ) , Norwegian violinist, who became the Musician in Tales of a Wayside Inn. Longfellow had been present at his first concert in Boston on May 2 1 , 1844 CMS Journal). 3. Approximately fifty words missing from mutilation. 4. Presumably Theophilus Parsons (56.2), an intimate friend of William Hickling Prescott. 5. Longfellow presided at the birthday celebration for Agassiz and read his commemoratory poem "The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz" ([Works, III, 59-60). Others in attendance were Emerson, Whipple, Horatio Woodman, Lowell, Hillard, Dwight, Samuel Gray Ward, Benjamin Peirce, Motley, Holmes, Felton, and Otto Dresel (c. 1826-1890), German-born pianist and composer ( M S Journal). 6. Approximately fifty words are missing here from mutilation. 7. Crawford's sketch in plaster of Excelsior. See Life, II, 345, n. 1. 8. London, 1857. 9. Patrick Brontë ( 1 7 7 7 - 1 8 6 1 ) , father of the Brontë sisters, was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire, from 1820 to his death. Longfellow associates him with Ugolino della Gherardesca (1220^-1289), Italian nobleman, whose death by starvation with his sons and grandsons is described by Dante in the Inferno, Canto XXXIII. 10. Presumably George Ticknor Curtis ( 1 1 9 5 . 5 ) . 11. Autobiography (Everyman's Library Edition, p. 136). 12. Richard Sullivan Fay ( 1 8 0 6 - 1 8 6 5 ) , Boston merchant. 13. Philarète Chasles, "Le Chevalier Sarti, par P. Scudo (Hachette. Un volume)," Journal des Débats Politiques et Littéraires, April 19, 1857. 14. Marie Pauline Rose Stuart, Baroness Blaze de Bury ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 9 4 ) , a Scottish woman, was wife of the French writer Ange Henri Blaze de Bury ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 8 8 ) . A contributor to both French and English journals, she had written a review of Longfellow's poetry in the Revue des Deux Mondes under the pseudonym Arthur Dudley (see 1587.2). 15. Inferno, VIII, 1: " I say, continuing." 16. Joseph Swain Lovering ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 9 4 ) and William Warren Tucker ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 8 5 ) were Boston merchants and Beacon Street neighbors. For the Phillips' cottage, see 1332-3· 17. The Saturday Club had been formed the previous year. Longfellow had only recently become a member, and Appleton was enrolled in 1859. See Edward Waldo Emerson, The Early Years of the Saturday Club, 1855-1870 (Boston and New York, 1 9 1 8 ) , p. 19. 18. The signature has been cut away.

34

CAMBRIDGE, 1603.

To Charles

^ 5 7

Sumner

Camb. May 19. 1857 My Dear Sumner, I shall not have the pleasure of inscribing on the outside of this letter the magic words "Hôtel de la Paix — Rue de la Paix," which sound like the ringing of church bells. I do not believe you have yet reached that dear, old, dingy London; but your parting words were; "After two months direct to London." I obey. I send you by to-day's post Felton's article in the Courier on Miss Heron's "Medea." 1 A few days after it appeared — (this is sub rosa) Felton was at the theatre, and at the close of the play, went behind the scenes, into the foyer, where he found Hillard ( ! ) who introduced Miss Heron; and Miss Heron, who was grateful for his praise, bent over and kissed Felton's hand, saying "Allow me this, for the love I bear you!" Now, Felton had taken with him two ladies, Mrs. Greenough and Mrs. Becker,2 to give them a peep into the mysteries of the Bona Dea behind the green curtain; and they, not knowing the secret of the article in the Courier, were struck dumb at these demonstrations of affection on the part of the "Dame aux Camélies," and began to wonder what kind of company they had got into. Keep this anecdote for your own private amusement. Thanks for the "Débats." Jules Janin's articles are like breakfast rolls, crisp and light — well leavened and well baked. Some how or other, the oven is hotter in Europe than it is here, and things get better done. I hoped also for a few words from you, to tell me how you are, that being always the thing uppermost in my mind. George [Sumner] was here at dinner yesterday, and said he had no letter, but hoped I had. So we are quite in the dark about you; but are afraid you may have too much excitement. Take good care of yourself. In my last, I wrote you about Gurowski's book. It has not made a sensation; and I am afraid the Count will be disappointed. Lieber has gone back to New York, and feels pretty sure of getting the Professorship of History in Columbia College. Greene is also a candidate. His book has now a chance of being brought out, without Congressional aid.3 George has got an offer from Little & Browne, of 50 cents a volume, or $3.00 per copy; — first edition to be 1500, which would give Greene $4500. out of whh. he would have to pay the stereotype plates, (and might pay something too,)4 which unkind remark I beg you to set down to the fatal facility of this pen, and to the influence of a brisk and bleak East Wind, that is blowing over the peach blossoms and the lilac buds. Tom writes that he sees you often, and that you tell him all that is

35

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WORLD

going on in the great world. From this I infer that you are in the great world, quite as much as is good for you. But T o m has not written by this last steamer, and so, as I said before, we are without your news, and are a little anxious to hear from you. And poor Crawford! Is there any hope? Is he in London? Fanny Kemble has gone back to Lenox. O n hearing of her brother's death she at once sent out $5000, all her Winter harvest from the Shakespearian farm, to his children! 6 Addio. Ever thine H . W . L. p.s. Henry McKeen 6 is dead. N o doubt, suicide. It is so whispered. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Boston Courier, LXVI, No. 13,221 (May 14, 1857). Felton praised the performance: "Next to Rachel's Phèdre we should not hesitate to place Miss Heron's Medea, in all the great qualities that make up a classical representation of an antique masterpiece." 2. Possibly Mrs. David Greenough, mother of the sculptor, and Mrs. Alexander C . Becker, both widows and close neighbors of Felton in Cambridge. 3. See Letter No. 1553. 4. T h e parenthetical remark has been deleted with ink. 5. John Mitchell Kemble (b. 1807), philologist and historian, died on March 26, 1857. 6. Henry Swasey McKean ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 5 7 ) , a Harvard tutor, 1830-1835, was the son of Joseph McKean ( 1776-1818), Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard, 1809-1818.

1604.

T o Otto Dresel

Cambridge May 20 1857 M y Dear Sir I feel more and more, that the lines I sent to you are not the thing for the purpose, and yet I have not been able to hit upon anything else. In this dilemma, I venture to propose, that you should compose the music without words for a Serenade, and I will find some occasion to send or read to Agassiz my words without music. T o my ear, at night and in the open air, instruments sound better than voices; and something embodying your thought, mingled with a Ranz des Vaches or other Swiss melody, would have a better effect than a Song. 1 Yours very truly with great regard Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT : Harvard College Library.

36

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

i. Longfellow had agreed to write the lyrics for a song to be composed by Dresel for presentation to Agassiz by his students on the eve of his birthday. For details concerning the midnight serenade, see Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, ed., Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence (Boston and New York, 1886), II, 542-543. Longfellow read his verses the following evening at the birthday dinner at Parker's.

1605.

To Bernard Rölker Cambridge

May 28 1857

M y Dear Rölker, You are right in your surmise. I have delayed writing to you from day to day, because I had your secret,1 and yet could not speak of it, as you had not spoken; and to write to you and yet ignore what most nearly touched you seemed like wearing a mask, and being guilty of a kind of treachery. W e l l — it is very sad and tragic. This is the worm-wood and fennel in the cup, we all drink of more or less. You have acted nobly through the whole matter — and as becomes a man of strength and delicacy of feeling; and can have no reproaches to make. Your brother's departure and illness are also very distressing; and to bear these two sorrows at once will try the temper of your soul. I am sure you will bear up bravely, as Milton says, "nor bate a jot O f heart or hope, but still bear up and steer Right onward." 2 M y wife sends you her kind regards and sympathies. She has been ill for three or four weeks, and is just getting out again. Your other friends here are well. Felton is busily engaged in investigating the spiritual rappings, and in writing articles in the "Courier" on the subject. 3 Lowell has just finished his lectures for the Term. T h e y have been I believe very successful. But Cambridge hardly seems to me the Old Cambridge. W e miss you on Sunday; and the afternoon talks and the music are no more. W e are hoping to have Tucker's Cottage at Nahant for the Summer, having lost the one of last year, a little unfairly I think. N o matter I am content with either or none. "Handle-Entsage [Negotiate-Relinquish]." Thine with friendliest greetings H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House), ENDORSEMENT: Rec'd — 30th May

37

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WORLD

ι. Longfellow had noted in his journal on January i, 1857, that Rölker's engagement to Mary Louisa Bangs was broken. 2. "To Mr. Cyriack Skinner upon His Blindness," 11. 7-9. 3. See the Boston Courier, LXVI, No. 13,231 (May 25, 1 8 5 7 ) and No. 13,233 CMay 27, 1857). Felton's articles are facetious in tone and advance the notion that spiritualism can effect the "ultimate recovery of the lost treasures of classic literature and of the unrecorded history of the past."

1606.

To John Sullivan

Dwight

Camb. June 4 1857 My Dear Dwight, I was going to ask your permission to pass my pen through the word "sweet" in your introduction to the poem on Agassiz, when our discussion of the best title drew my attention off, and I forgot it. Perhaps it is not too late now. 1 Yours truly H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. "The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz" appeared in Dwight's Musical Journal, X, No. 10 (June 6, 1857), 73.

1607.

To Adolf

Böttger1

Cambridge June 8 1857 My dear Sir, I beg you to accept my warmest thanks for the copies of your translations of "Hyperion" and "Hiawatha." They are executed with great skill and elegance, and the practiced "pen of the ready writer." 2 On first looking at "Hiawatha," I regretted that you should have omitted the Indian names in so many instances. By doing this, you lose a little of the local coloring — a little of the flavor of the forest; though you gain in smoothness of versification. Do you not, however, lose more than you gain? I am sorry the communication between Germany and America is so tedious and uncertain. I should like very much to possess copies of your books; though I suffer so much from bad eyes, that now-a-days I read as little German as possible, as the German type is not favorable to the eyesight. Let me thank you for the honor you have done me by your beautiful translation of these books of mine into "mein geliebtes Deutsch [my Β»

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 7

beloved German]"; and to congratulate you on the successful manner in which you have done the work. I remain, Dear Sir, W i t h great regard, Your obliged, Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Colgate University Library. 1. Böttger (1816—1870), translator, dramatist, and poet, had recently published Hiawatha ( 1 5 2 1 . 2 ) and Hyperion: Eine abenteuerliche Geschichte (Leipzig, 1856). 2. Cf. Ps. 45:1.

1608.

To Edward Everett

Cambridge June 10 1857 Dear Mr. Everett, I am much indebted to you for your kind note, and the red and blue posters.1 W e l l — what can one say? Our American Légion d'honneur, Garter, Golden Fleece — seems to be the giving a name to an Omnibus, a Hotel, or a Steamboat. I have thus far escaped the Order of the Omnibus; that would have been an "ironie sanglante [outrageous irony]," in any case; and on the whole am happy to have hero and heroine to bear such honors for me. Please accept my best acknowledgments for your kindness, and believe me, Very sincerely Yours Henry W . Longfellow Hon Edward Everett. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society,

ENDORSEMENT: Rec'd 12 June 57.

ι . Everett had written on June 4, 1857: "When I was at St Louis the other day, I went on board a noble first class steamer called the 'Hiawatha'; and heard of another which I did not see, bearing the name of your heroine. I thought it might afford you some pleasure to see the accompanying indications of the extent to which you have taken hold of the mind of the West."

1609.

To Samuel Austin

Allibone

Cambridge June 21 1857 M y Dear Sir, You are quite right in your supposition. William Longfellow was the first of the name who came to this country, and from him all of the family in this country are, I believe, descended. He lost his life in a shipwreck at the age of thirty nine.

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Coffin in his "History of Newbury," says of him; "Longfellow, William, born in 1651, in Hampshire England, came to Newbury m. Anne Sewall 1676 He was drowned at Anticosti 169ο." 1 As to Mr. Poe, I never knew what made him so ferocious and pertinaceous in his criticisms upon me. I never met him; though one or two letters passed between us, when he was Editor of Magazines in Richmond and Philadelphia. These letters related solely to contributions for his periodicals and were very civil and friendly even. They were a year or two anterior to his criticisms.2 With great interest in your work, which I am glad to know you are elaborating with so much zeal, Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . Joshua Coffin, A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newbury, from 163$ to 1 8 4 5 (Boston, 1 8 4 5 ) , p. 308. 2. See Letter No. 598.

161 o.

Newbury port, and

West

To Samuel Longfellow

Camb. June 27 1857 My Dear S "Not lost, but left behind" A gold pencil case. A pair of India-rubber overshoes, of the sandal pattern, supposed to belong to you. The first, for safe-keeping, I shall take with me to Nahant, whither we go in a few days. The second I shall leave here in the wood-closet, between the Study and Library; so that you can take them on your way to Portland, if you feel inclined. At Nahant, you will find us at "Hood's, under the Hill," opposite the old Whitney tavern.1 Hoping to see you there in the course of the Summer. Ever affectionately H. W. L. MANUSCRIPT: Smith College Library. ι . T h e Hood property was owned by the four sons of one of the original settlers of Nahant, Abner Hood ( 1 7 3 3 - 1 8 1 8 ) . Of the several Hood cottages, Longfellow rented

40

NAHANT,

1857

the one at 3 6 8 Nahant Road, across the street from the Whitney Hotel at 369 Nahant Road. Both buildings are now private residences.

1611.

To an Unidentified Correspondent

Cambridge July. 4 1857. Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for sending me the old family document. For us it is a curiosity; and makes a chapter, or at least a paragraph in our history. Begging you to accept my best acknowledgments for your kindness, I remain, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House).

1612.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce $100

— Camb. July. 6. 1857.

Dearest Annie, I have not time to write to-day; only to inclose you this check. Ever thine H. W. L. p.s. Please say to Alex, that his box of Wine goes to-day. We are just starting for Nahant. I hope soon to see you in Portland. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection.

1613.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Nahant July 16 1857. Dear Annie, You will hear from Mary [Longfellow Greenleaf] that Harry has entered [Harvard] College, without conditions, which is very creditable to him. I hoped to see him in Cambridge yesterday, but he had gone back to Stockbridge. I engaged rooms some time ago, thinking Willie would be with Harry for the first year; and feeling quite safe about him. But now Willie has an offer from Washington; and what shall we do for a chum for H.? I do

41

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not know that Mrs. Humphreys1 would let a Freshman alone have those particular rooms. Did Alex, receive his box of wine? It was sent on the 7th. I should like to know if it reached him; if not, I must inquire about it. When can I come down to see you with the boys? Love to all Yours ever H . W . L. p.s. I send a couple of letters from Stockbridge. Please read and answer them. They are rather yours, than mine. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Presumably Mrs. Sophia Humphrey, whose house was near Harvard Square (Cambridge Directory for 1856).

1614.

To Charles Sumner Hood's under the Hill. Nahant. July 23 1857.

My Dear Sumner, Do you remember the two great willows in the village street, and the old house under their shade, where years ago Motley wrote the first chapters of his "Dutch Republic"? Well — in that house are we lodged for the Summer, with Tom and Mrs. Horatio Greenough.1 And what better can I do this rainy morning, than write to tell you so, and to thank you for your letter, which cheered our hearts exceedingly, with its tidings of your well-being. We dined at your friend Lodge's2 two days ago to meet the Motleys, who are here on a farewell visit. They sail for Europe next month; and you will see them either in London or Paris, about the beginning of September. Last week I dined with Prescott, to meet Lord Napier, whom I liked very much; and who made a charming speech at the Alumni dinner at Cambridge the day before. Young Mr. Russell was also there, a very modest and agreeable young man; a nephew of Lord John.3 I sent you Lord Napier's speech; and think you will like it, as we generally agree in such matters. Mrs. Kemble is passing the Summer here, with her daughter;4 and they are both very happy and very amiable. It has been raining all night and all day as it only can rain in America; — and the "Roston Cadets" encamped on a bleak hill near [Frederic] Tudor's cottage; at which the Quaker in you, if he is not dead, will quietly smile!

42

NAHANT,

1857

July 25. I began my letter in rain; I end it in sunshine. So may our lives end! I am touched by the words of kindness of unknown friends in England,5 which you send me in your letter. I have been thinking of them this bright Sunday morning, and wondering if, by any chance, I shall ever see them face to face, or only as now reflected in letters dimly. When you return to England in September you will of course go to the North. Pray stop a day at Carlisle, and drive out to Scaleby Hall and see Miss Farrar. From her letters and from Felton['s] description she must be a charming person. 8 1 enclose you a card of introduction. Mrs. Kemble has just dashed by in her phaeton, going to church. Sanford was here a few days ago, with singed wings;7 — and Brazilian Fletcher, with his Genevan wife, 8 who almost shed tears on seeing Agassiz. T h e sound of his voice was like a Ranz des Vaches to her ears. But this is too much in the vein of "Fidelius" of the Evening Transcript!9 If you meet Dickens, or Thackeray or Carlyle or Forster, remember me to them, if they still retain any memory of me. Try to write me once more before you come back. Only once more — it is such a pleasure to get a letter from you. I say nothing of politics. There is nothing very cheering, except the anti-slavery movement in Missouri and Mr. Helper's book, from Carolina — also anti-slavery.10 Yours ever with kind remembrances from Fanny and Tom, H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Louisa Ingersoll Gore Greenough (d. 1 8 9 1 ) , widow of the sculptor. 2. John Ellerton Lodge ( 1 8 0 7 - 1 8 6 2 ) , owner of clipper ships in the China trade and father of the author and politician Henry Cabot Lodge ( 1 8 5 0 - 1 9 2 4 ) . 3. Sir Francis Napier, tenth Baron Napier ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 9 8 ) , was British envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in Washington, 1 8 5 7 - 1 8 5 9 . Odo William Leopold Russell ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 8 4 ) , nephew of the statesman Lord John Russell ( 1 7 9 2 - 1 8 7 8 ) , was attached to his legation. For Lord Napier's speech, see the Boston Transcript, X X V I I I , N o . 8348 (July 1 7 , 1 8 5 7 ) . T h e other guests at Prescott's dinner, held at Lynn on July 1 7 , were Robert Charles Winthrop ( 9 2 0 . 3 ) , Amos Adams Lawrence ( r 3 3 2 . i ) , their wives, and Charles King ( 4 4 6 . 9 ) . See M S Journal. 4. Sarah Butler ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 9 0 8 ) , subsequently mother of the novelist Owen Wister (1860-1938). 5. According to Sumner's letter of June 26, 1 8 5 7 , these "unknown friends" were George Douglas Campbell, eighth Duke of Argyll ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 9 0 0 ) ; Caroline Anne Davenport Littleton, Lady Hatherton ( r 8 0 9 - 1 8 9 7 ) ; and Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh Earl of Shaftesbury ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 8 5 ) . 6. See 1 4 2 1 . 1 .

43

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

7. Henry Shelton Sanford ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 9 1 ) had been American secretary of legation in Paris, 1849-1854, and charge d'affaires in 1853. He resigned after disagreeing with a decision by the new minister, John Young Mason ( 1 7 9 9 - 1 8 5 9 ) , that plain civilian dress should be discarded as the diplomatic uniform. 8. James Cooley Fletcher ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 9 0 1 ) , clergyman, had spent 1 8 5 5 - 1 8 5 6 in Brazil as an agent of the American Bible Society and was co-author of Brazil and the Brazilians (Philadelphia, 1857). He married Henrietta Malan in Geneva in 1850. 9. "Fidelius" was the pseudonym of the New York correspondent for the Boston Transcript. 10. Hinton Rowan Helper ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 0 9 ) , writer and businessman of North Carolina, was the author of The Impending Crisis (New York, 1857), a work used by the Republican party as a campaign document in i860.

1615.

To Horatio Woodman

Nahant July 31 1857. Dear Mr. Woodman, It is all right. On speaking to Mr. Appleton I found that he did not consider himself elected a member of the club, but only a candidate.1 I therefore invited him for last Saturday; and we should have been present but for the weather, which was so bad here in the morning, that we thought there would be no boat, and gave it up. I hope to do better next time; for the club dinners are so agreeable that I do not like to miss any of them. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society, ι. See 1602.17.

1616.

To Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nahant Aug 5 1857 Dear Hawthorne, Before leaving Liverpool please send me a dozen of milk-punch and a game-pie, if you do not depart before the season at which they appear. Charge the same to Ticknor; or rather let me know the cost, and I will refund the money into the coffers of said Publisher. I wrote you last Summer how very near I was to going to England, and how it all fell through.1 The plan has never again been resumed; nor will it be until somebody burns down my comfortable house, or I am in some other way made wretched and restless. Do send me some news of yourself. I have nothing since the charming 44

N A H A N T ,

1 8 5 7

sketch of "Ut[t]oxeter" in the papers, and that was some time ago. 2 I hear that you are going to the Continent, and have no plan of coming back yet; which is very right. But can you work with your pen in those fascinating, foreign countries? I never could. Remember me kindly to your wife, and to Mr. Bright, and think of me often as Yours ever H. W . L . p.s. I trouble you with two letters for the post. N . Hawthorne Esq. MANUSCRIPT:

Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia,

ι . This letter is unrecovered. 2. "Uttoxeter" was first published in The Keepsake, ed. Miss Power (London, 1857), pp. 1 0 8 - 1 1 3 , and collected in Our Old Home ( 1 8 6 3 ) .

1617.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant Aug. 1 3 1 8 5 7 Dear Fields, I return the letter of Mr. Woods. 1 Please say in answer to him that no particular "Jesuit College" was intended; 2 and that the little church at Damariscotta was not founded by Father Rasle, 3 but only the catholic faith, out of which the church arose. If you can make out the name signed to this other letter, please send a copy of my poems, and charge to me. It is very hot here to-day: the mercury in the thermometer quite out of sight. So is the thermometer itself. Yours truly H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT:

Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

ι. Fields had written on August 4: "I enclose a letter which has been a long time on its way to me." This statement and the fact that Mr. Woods was interested in Catholic matters suggest that he was Julian Edmund Tenison-Woods ( 1 8 3 2 - 1 8 8 9 ) , English geologist, naturalist, and a Roman Catholic convert, who emigrated to Tasmania in 1854 and was ordained deacon and priest in 1856. 2. Possibly a reference to the Jesuit mission described in Evangeline, Part II, Canto iv. 3. Sébastien Rasle ( 1 6 5 8 - 1 7 2 4 ) , Jesuit priest who established a mission among the Abnaki Indians in Acadia and later at Norridgewock, Me. His opposition to the English colonists resulted in his being shot by them during a raid.

45

IN A T R O U B L E D 1618.

WORLD

T o William Davis Ticknor

Nahant Sept 2 1857. Dear Ticknor, I return the Bill of Lading with my endorsement. Invoice there is none. Instead thereof I enclose the Bills of the Parisian makers, both of the side board and of the porcelaine, which may serve to show what is in the cases. I am very sorry to give you so much trouble, and thank you accordingly. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House).

1619.

To Alexander Wadsworth

Longfellow

Nahant. Sept. 5. 1857 Dear Alex. M y friend Mr. Scherb is very ill at some hotel or boarding-house in Portland. 1 As soon as you get this, try to find him out; — (probably at Mrs. Jones's.) 2 — and see that he has all he wants, will you. Please supply him with any funds he may need and charge to me; and above all things do not delay: as the face of a friend is the best medicine. Yours ever H . W . L. p.s. I enclose this to Mr. Scherb, that he may put his address upon it. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: Alexr. W . Longfellow/Portland/ M e ENDORSEMENT: H W L . Sept 5. 5 7 / M r Scherb sick at/Miss. Jones —to be relei/ved and money furnished ι . Scherb had written to Longfellow on September ι and made an emotional appeal for help. On September 28 he described his illness: "Owing to violent mental agitation, combined with a predisposition induced by repeatedly getting the feet wet, I was attacked by an inflammation of the intestines, and particularly by a spasmodic affective of the muscle which opens and shuts the nerve of the bladder." 2. See 1 0 4 4 . ι .

1620.

To Alexander Wadsworth

Longfellow

Nahant Sept 7 1857 Dear Alex. I wrote you on Saturday about my friend Scherb, who is ill in Portland, but I do not know at what house. Pray find him out, if you can,

46

NAHANT,

1857

without loss of time; and supply him with what funds he may want; and I will send you a check for the same, when I get back to Cambridge. Poor fellow! he seems to be in very low spirits and feels very ill. Cheer and comfort him, a little. Yours in great haste H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, Portland/Me/Immediate,

POSTMARK:

ADDRESS: Alexander W . Longfellow Esq/ NA||HANT

MASS

SEP||

8

ENDORSEMENT:

H W L . Sept. 7/57 Nahant/about Scherb/to cheer and comfort him/and supplymoney.

1621.

To Johann Georg Kohl1

Nahant Sept 10 1857 M y Dear Dr Kohl, I have been looking for you many a pleasant day; but not having you, must content myself with the next best thing, your letter, which reached me yesterday. Your laborious Summer is a reproach to my idle one; and you have your reward. You have something to show to our "great task-master," (as Milton says) 2 while I can only stammer poor excuses for the wasted days! W e shall be in Cambridge early next week, and shall hope to see you well and happy. Meanwhile accept my compliments on your "Reisen im Nordwesten d. V . Staaten" 8 which I am forced to read very slowly and at intervals, the German type is so injurious to my eyes. I have read enough to see that the work is very interesting, and conscientious, as I knew it would be, coming from you. M y wife joins me in kind regards Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. ι. Kohl (1808-1878), German geographer and traveler, spent 1854-1858 in the United States and several months in Cambridge in 1857. Longfellow had first met him on June 4 and saw him frequently thereafter ( M S Journal). 2. Cf. "How Soon Hath Time," 1. 14. 3. Reisen im nordwesten der Vereinigten Staaten ( N e w York, 1857).

1622.

To Samuel Ward

Nahant Sept 10 1857 M y Dear Hypolito, I am ashamed to ask you to wait even a single day for so small a sum; but I have it not with me, nor have I any deposit in the bank to draw

47

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

upon. Can you wait till next week? I shall then go back to Cambridge; and will send you two hundred and fifty, if you can make that do. I should send you the whole had I not been straining a point to oblige a neighbor, and lending him all my available funds — (and more too) to redeem his house and garden. Ah, my dear Hypolito! It makes my heart ache to think of your calamities and perplexities! Can you wait the little while I ask; and will you forgive my sending the smaller sum of the two? Your secret shall be kept safely. I will not venture to say, how much your letter touches me. 1 Siempre tu verdadero amigo [Ever thy sincere friend] Victorian. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Sam Ward's situation had reached a desperate low with the final marriage and the complete depletion of his personal fortune. See Lately Ward: "King of the Lobby" (Boston, 1965), pp. 2 0 8 - 2 1 1 . As a result panic of 1857, Longfellow found it difficult to respond to his friend's generosity he would have preferred.

1623.

collapse of his Thomas, Sam of the August plea with the

To Samuel Ward

Cambridge Sept 15 1857 My Dear Sam, I reached the "classic Shades" yesterday afternoon; and by the earliest post send you the enclosed. I wish I could double it, but for the reasons mentioned in my last, I cannot. What more of Crawford? The last accounts were very sad and discouraging. I had a note yesterday from Sumner, dated "Hotel de la Paix, rue de la Paix!" What a murmuring sound of rest there is in those words! He was just starting for England, having eaten his last dinner in Paris. Says nothing of his health; which is a good sign. I scribble this in great haste, standing at my study window, and having fifty things to do. So farewell Thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT : unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection.

48

CAMBRIDGE, 1624.

ι 857

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Cambridge Sept 16 1857 Dear Annie, I received the enclosed this morning; and have answered it by saying that I would communicate its contents to my brothers and sisters, and inform him of their decision, when I heard it. The chief point to be considered is what will be best for Nellie. Poor girl! I pity her.1 You had better now draw forth the Judge's long hidden epistle,2 and see what he says therein. Mary [Longfellow Greenleaf] will write you tomorrow. With much love Ever thine H. W . L. p.s. A letter came this morning for Sam; yellow cover; post-mark Fall River: business hand. What shall be done with it? Evening. Sam has arrived. It would not be possible for me to invite Ellen to visit us at this time! MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. See 1 1 5 1 . ι . T h e writer of the letter, possibly Judge Preble, had apparently asked the Longfellow family to assume the care of Ellen Longfellow. 2. Presumably concerning the disposition of Stephen Longfellow's children after his divorce from Marianne Preble Longfellow ( 1 0 9 8 . 1 ) .

1625.

To Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Camb.

Sept 22 1857

Dear Alex. Thanks for your note and the Spanish "Excelsior."1 The Translator is wrong in using the word "Gloria." He should have retained "Excelsior," without doubt. Also the line ¡"Esta es nuestra noche final de ventura!" should be "el último á dios," or "la última despedida del aldeano."2 Otherwise the version is very spirited and good. Please give my thanks to Mrs. Smith3 and through her to the translator — to my Executioner — Verdugo. I am much gratified to receive this mark of his regard.

49

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

Can you not wait till the first of Oct. for the money advanced to Scherb? I am very much straightened by the Summer campaign. Yours with much love to Lizzie H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: Alexr. W . Longfellow/Portland. ENDORSEMENT: H W L . Sept 22. 1857/Spanish translation of/Excelsior ι. A manuscript copy of this translation, by Manuel Garcia Verdugo and entided "La Gloria," is in the Longfellow Trust Collection. 2. "Excelsior," st. 6,1. 3 : "This was the peasant's last Good-night." 3 . Possibly Elizabeth Oakes Smith ( 7 7 0 . 2 ) .

1626.

To Octavia Walton

LeVert Cambridge

Sept 28 1857

Dear Mrs. Le Vert, On my return from Nahant a few days ago, I had the great pleasure of finding your two volumes,1 and your friendly note waiting for me, with their genial welcome; and I hasten to acknowledge your kindness, and to thank you for your remembrance of me, and for this token of your regard. I have not yet had that propitious hour of leisure and quiet, which one needs to read a book as it should be read; — but I have read enough to see in what a generous and enjoying spirit you have seen and described the Old World. I am quite sure that living so long near Florida, you have secretly discovered the Fountain of Perpetual Youth — la Fontaine de Jouvence, for which De Soto sought in vain. Many thanks to you for this draught from it, which will quicken and refresh, among your multitude of friends, none more than, Su seguro Servidor [Your constant servant] q.s.m.b. [who kisses your hand] Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι. Souvenirs of Travel (Mobile and N e w York,

1627.

To Alexander Wadsworth

1857), 2

vols.

Longfellow

Camb. Oct. 1. 1857 Dear Alex. I inclose you a cheque for $ 1 3 0 . advanced to Mr. Scherb. I am very sorry to have made you wait for it; but this is a "commercial crisis!" In greatest haste Yours ever H . W . L.

50

CAMBRIDGE, MANUSCRIPT: land/Me.

Longfellow Trust Collection, POSTMARK:

BOSTON

MASS.

^ 5 7

ADDRESS: 2

OCT

Alex. W .

ENDORSEMENT:

Longfellow/PortH W L — Oct.

1.

1857./check for $ 1 3 0 for Scherb

1628.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Oct. 6 1857 Dearest Annie, Your Dividend from the Tremont Bank I send you by Mary, who goes to Portland tomorrow. Can you get on for a while without my usual addition? This quarter I come very short in funds, owing to the impossibility of getting money due to me. So we must wait patiently for better times. I return also the Judge's letter unopened. I do not wish to enter into any discussion or controversy with him. You must consult with Mary and James as to what it is best to do for Ellen. 1 With much love to Lucia. Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Some indication of the family problem involving Ellen Longfellow is provided by Samuel Longfellow in a letter to Longfellow of October 1 3 , 1 8 5 7 : "Since I learn from Portland that Ellen wishes to be with her mother I think decidedly that she had best go to Washington. Any pecuniary charge for her falls rightfully on the Judge [Preble] — while certainly we would not see her want."

1629.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Oct. 24 1857 Dear Annie, Mary is gone and has left me the enclosed to send to you. She will write you from New York, or said she would. I am sorry for Ellen; but do not see my way clear to give any advice. It is a wretched piece of business altogether.1 Harry says you were glad to see him, though I dare say you thought his visit was rather a wild-goose-chase, as I did. Still, I sympathized with him in wanting to see his sister; and yielded the point. In great haste, with much love to you all, Ever yours affect [ionatel]y. H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . T h e matter was complicated by the fact that Judge Preble had died on October l i . Anne Pierce wrote on November 1 9 : " A s for Nell. I am more and more convinced

5 ι

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

that the decision of Mary and Sam to help her in, and after, her return to her Mother, is the only thing compatible with existing circumstances, and the best, that we can do as things are." What eventually happened to Ellen Longfellow is not known.

1630.

To John Gorham Palfrey Camb. Oct. 25 1857

My Dear Palfrey You are right in your conjecture. Mr. Mackay is the author of a volume of Poems called "Voices from the Mountains and from the Crowd" republished by Ticknor and Co. One of these voices is the Song of "There's a Good Time Coming." He has also written a prose work on "Popular Superstitions" and is moreover Editor of "The Illustrated London News." 1 He is staying with Mr. Fields (James T . ) — Charles St. a few doors from the "Ear and Eye Infirmary"; and if you have time to call you will find him a quiet and agreeable man. I had a note yesterday from Sumner. He had just left Lord Brougham's2 and was at Glasgow on his way to the Highlands. He says "As the time for return to America draws near, I regret keenly that I am not yet entirely well." Yours ever truly H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. I. Longfellow had met Charles Mackay ( 1 8 1 4 - 1 8 8 9 ) , Scottish poet and journalist, on October 23 ( M S Journal). His popular song "The Good Time Coming," written in 1846, appeared in the Ticknor & Fields edition of Voices from the Mountains and from the Crowd (Boston, 1 8 5 3 ) , pp. 202-204. His Memories of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds appeared in London in 1841. He served as editor of the Illustrated London News, 1852—1859. 3. Henry Peter Brougham, Baron Brougham and Vaux ( 1 7 7 8 - 1 8 6 8 ) , British statesman and jurist, was a founder of the Edinburgh Review and lord chancellor of England, 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 3 4 .

1631.

To Samuel Austin Allibone

Cambridge Nov 3. 1857 My Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for the proof-sheets,1 which I have kept longer than I intended, wishing to get the dates and numbers all correct. I have struck out a few lines, but send you enclosed, a list of Translations, which I think more valuable than the matter omitted. Every thing

52

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 7

else I leave to you; You have treated me in the most friendly and generous spirit; and have given me I am afraid too large a share of your book. In your Notice of my father, I have also run my pen through a line or two, but to fill up the gap I send you Willis's Hist. Address, wherein you will find a passage marked p. 25. which I should like to see inserted in your Notice, if possible.2 The reference to the Reports must be to his Arguments as there given. And then the question is, whether my father can properly come into a Dictionary of Authors; as he never made a book of any kind! The question seems to answer itself. Still, I send you the pamphlet, and perhaps you may put in a word or two of what Mr. Willis says, instead of what you say of William Longfellow. With great regard Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. [Enclosure to Letter No. 1631.] Translations.3 In Italian. Evangelina, tradotta da Pietro Rotondi. Firenze 1857. In German. Longfellow's Gedichte iibersetzft] von Carl Böttger. Dessau. 1856. Gedichte von H. W. Longfellow. Deutsch von Alexander Neidhard[t]. Darmstadt. 1856. Balladen und Lieder von H. W . Longfellow. Deutsch von A. R. Nielo. Münster. 1857. Hyperion. Deutsch von Adolf Böttger. Leipzig. 1856. Evangeline. Aus dem Englischen. Hamburg. 1857. Evangeline. Aus dem Englischen, von P. J. Belke. Leipzig. 1854. Das Lied von Hiawatha: deutsch von Adolf Böttger. Leipzig 1856 Der Sang von Hiawatha. Übersetzt von Ferdinand Freiligrath Stuttgart und Augsburg. 1857. Der Spanische Student. Übersetzt von Karl Böttger Dessau. 1854. In French. Évangéline; suivie des Voix de la Nuit, poèmes traduits par Le Chevalier de Chatelain. Jersey 1856 I have corrected the list of volumes sold; thinking it best to have it in round numbers, though I rather understate the amount by so doing.

53

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. 1. Of Allibone's A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors, Living and Deceased, from the Earliest Accounts to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia, 1858), Vol. I. 2. William Willis, An Address Delivered Before the Maine Historical Society, at Augusta, March 5, 1857; Containing Biographical Notices of the Former Presidents of the Society (Portland, 1 8 5 7 ) . The notice of Stephen Longfellow appears on pp. 1 7 2,5. For the passage marked by Longfellow, see Allibone's Dictionary, p. 1 1 3 0 . 3. Allibone expanded this title to: "The following list of Translations of a number of Longfellow's works will interest the reader." He then used the enclosure as printer's copy, for the direction appears within brackets in the left-hand margin of the sheet: "Printer please return this letter with proof."

1632.

To Ferdinand

Freiligrath

Camb. Nov 3. 1857. My Dear Freiligrath, Some mauvais plaisant [mischievous wag], or pennyless penny-a-liner must have invented the paragraph about my eyes. They are neither better nor worse than they have been for some years, since 1843, that is hertzlich schlec[h]t [very bad], for all purposes of work, but otherwise giving me no pain nor trouble. If I let them alone, they let me alone; but when I want them to do me the favor of reading or writing in the evening, they decline. This crowds all my writing into a few morning hours, and plays the very mischief with my correspondence. I sometimes think that another Summer on the Rhine with a judicious mixture of Water-cure and Grape-cure would make all right again. But all visions of travel float away and dissolve like a beautiful mirage. The trouble there is in getting my babies to Nahant in Summer, with all the go-carts and nurses, warns me of the perils of any longer journey, and admonishes me to "let well alone." Therefore, though thy parlour fireside looks very tempting and thou standest with both hands full of cigars, and like the "Skeleton in Armour," "Streckst wie ein Supplicant Nach mir sie aus du!";1 (Böttger not Freiligrath) alas I cannot come. I can only send you friendliest greetings for the present. Can you tell me anything of A. R. Nielo? 2 He has sent me a translation of my Lyrics, very cleverly done I think; though in the first stanza of the aforesaid "Skeleton" occurs this odd misprint,

54

CAMBRIDGE,

1857

"Nicht von Gewärz bedeckt Starrt deine Faust." 3 W i t h much love to you all, and a prayer for a long letter all about yourself your hopes and prospects Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι. Adolf Böttger's translation of st. ι, 11. 7-8: "Stretched, as if asking alms,/Why dost thou haunt me?" 2. August Rudolf Nielo of Braunschweig was the translator of Baliaden und Lieder von H. W. Longfellow (Münster, 1857). 3. Gewärz is a misprint for Gewürz (spices). The translation is of st. 1, 11. 5-6: "Wrapt not in Eastern balms,/But with thy fleshless palms."

1633.

T o Charles Sumner

Cambridge Nov 5 1857 M y Dear Sumner, I am afraid I have been very negligent in writing. Thinking of you always as riding on the top-most wave of life in England, I have forgotten there might also be lonely hours, which a letter might enliven. Yours from Glasgow came safely. I am very sorry you missed seeing the young lady of Scaleby Hall, 1 and she writes me that she was greatly troubled at not being at home to welcome you. Your letter from Inverary Castle has just arrived, and quite overwhelmed me with its purple tints, and its glimpses of faces, that I might see, but alas! shall not. Only what you say of yourself saddens me. 2 You must not come home; certainly not yet — not yet! I put before all other things whatsoever your complete restoration. It will not do to go limping through the remainder of your life with a tangled brain, and an aching heart. Therefore, come what may you must not return to your work till you are perfectly well. Follow the councils of "the old wise men." I am afraid that some of our letters have never reached you. Both Fanny and myself wrote you from Nahant; and those letters you probably did not get; as you say nothing of them. Deduct these from the account, and I shall rise a little in your esteem. T h e times are very bad and very sad, and the Winter coming! A new Magazine called "The Atlantic Monthly" has just been established by Philips & Sampson. Here is my contribution to N o 1. For the old Legend see Mrs. Jameson's "Legendary Art" II. 298. T h e modern application you will not miss. In Italian one may say Filomela or Filomena. 3

55

IN

A

TROUBLED

WORLD

Ever thine, with friendliest greetings from Fanny and T o m , ( w h o has bought a house in C a m b . ) 4 H W . L MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection,

ι. Fanny Farrer ( 1 4 2 1 . 1 ) . 2. Sumner had written in his letter of October 22: "My general health is very good; but I have not yet exterminated all of my debility, and eminent medical authorities warn me against returning home until this is done." 3. Longfellow's "Santa Filomena" appeared anonymously in the Atlantic Monthly, I, No. ι (November 1857), 22-23. According to the Roman version of the Greek legend, the gods turned Philomela into a nightingale after she had been violated by Tereus, king of Thrace. Longfellow applied the name to Florence Nightingale, whose heroism during the Crimean War he celebrates in the poem. For Mrs. Jameson's work, see 1156.2. 4. Longfellow recorded in his journal on September 28, 1857, "Tom buys Rev. Wm. Newell's house in Phillips' Place, for $7600.00 and becomes for the first time in his life a landed proprietor!"

1634.

To Alexander

Wadsworth

Longfellow $70.00

Camb. N o v 2 0

1857.

M y Dear Alex. T h e enclosed should have been sent sooner. Let me know if it comes safe. M a n y thanks for it, and for your kindness to my friend Vitalis Scherb, w h o during his convalescence continued to write a Course of Lectures on the Apocalypse! W h e n do you go Southward? and is there any chance of our seeing you on the way? I think you might contrive it so as to pass one night with us, or at least to dine. W e hear indirectly that M a r y and James are in N e w Orleans; and hope to hear from you that all is well at Highfield. I think I must sell my land in Portland, as being the easiest thing to throw overboard in this gale. W h a t do you think? E v e r yours H . W . L. Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: Alexander W. Longfellow/ Pordand/Me. POSTMARK: [mutilated and indecipherable]

MANUSCRIPT:

56

C A M B R I D G E ,

1635.

^ 5 7

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge Dec 7 1857 My Dear Sumner, Here they are — two of them — and the only two I have — and I wish they were better worth sending. Also the autograph for Mrs. Norton;1 — to which may be added the same wish. I did not go in to say farewell to you; because farewells are becoming too frequent, and not to be sought after very eagerly. It was just as well to say it as we did, at my own door in the starlight, like lovers — rather than among the politicians at the railway station, in broad daylight.2 I shall call for the books immediately.3 Thank you. For the last three days the weather has been resplendent. It is April not December. We have slept through the Winter, and Spring has begun again. To-day we are looking for Curtis; who lectures in Boston tomorrow night.4 Do not forget to say, when you write to Mrs. Norton, how much pleasure it gives me to send her the enclosed, and how much I am gratified by her good opinion. Yours ever H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton ( 1 8 0 8 - 1 8 7 7 ) , English poetess and the former Miss Sheridan ( 8 1 . 2 ) . 2. Sumner had arrived in Boston from Liverpool on November 19 and departed two weeks later for Washington. Longfellow said farewell to him on December 1 ( M S Journal). 3. According to Sumner's letter from New York of December 3, the books were François Jérôme Léonard de Mortemart Boisse, Comte de Marie, La Vie Élégante à París (Paris, 1 8 5 7 ) , and an unidentified work by John Kenyon ( 7 4 3 . 3 ) . 4. George William Curtis lectured on "Sir Philip Sidney, or the Gentleman" before the Mercantile Library Association in the Tremont Temple on Wednesday evening, December 9 (Boston Transcript, XXVIII, No. 8470 [December 8, 1 8 5 7 ] ) .

1636.

To George William Curtis Camb. Dec 12 1857.

My Dear Curtis, We shall be delighted to see you on Wednesday; but I hope to get a glimpse of you in Boston to-day, by some lucky chance, if only to congratulate you on the birth of the young "ten-pounder," whose auspicious entrance into this "world of sin and sorrow" gives us both great pleasure. Let us hope he will live and reform it.1 57

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WORLD

So till Wednesday next [December 16];—when you are invited by Agassiz to a dinner given to Tommo [Thomas Gold Appleton], on his advent in Cambridge, after which, we shall drive up to Watertown to hear you speak of Sir Philip. In greatest haste Yours ever Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Francis George Curtis (d. 1 9 3 6 ) graduated from Harvard in 1 8 7 9 and took his M . D . at Columbia in 1 8 8 3 .

1637.

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge Dec 14 1857 Dear Sumner, Pazienza! Pazienza and always Pazienza! I feel with you all that you feel; — the wretched weariness of inaction — the longing for the strife. But Pazienza! "They also serve, who only stand and wait." 1 Let the Democrats fight it out among themselves! On Saturday, I sat next to Fremont at dinner; and told him the good service you had rendered Boileau, by speaking to Walewski, in his behalf; though I did not tell him of Walewski's answer.2 He seemed much pleased; and thought your friendly words would bear fruit in some way, and at some time. Many thanks for a peep at the letter of Lady Hatherton. Anything else you may have from the other side of the Atlantic would be pleasant to see. Who do you think sat on my other side at the Fremont dinner? Hillard!3 The Courier people express strong disgust at Buchanan. They find they have been sold. Pardon the freedom of the expression and Veuillez bien [Be good enough] &c H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Milton, " O n His Blindness," 1. 14. Sumner had written on December 10: " I am comfortable and unhappy; for I can do no work." 2. See 1 5 9 5 . 5 .

58

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 7

3. Hillard had apparently supported Buchanan, the Democratic victor over Frémont (Republican) and Fillmore (Know-Nothing) in the presidential election of 1856.

1638.

To Mary Ann Lothrop1

Cambridge Dec 17 1857 Dear Miss Lothrop, I send you the Spanish South American music we were speaking about last evening. You will find it very peculiar. Particularly No. 9 "El chocolate" is very odd. When you have no farther use for it, you may send it, if you please, to Messrs. Ticknor & co. Booksellers, and it will reach me safely. Or if more convenient send it by Sawin's Express No 4 Court Square. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . T h e identification is conjectural. Of the two unmarried daughters of Rev. Samuel Kirkland Lothrop ( 1 8 0 4 - 1 8 8 6 ) , minister of the Brattle Square Church in Boston, Mary Ann (b. 1 8 3 7 ) was the elder. Her sister was Olivia Buckmaster Lothrop (b. 1 8 4 1 ) .

1639.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Dec 17 1857

No copies of "The Warden [of the Cinque Ports]" can be found, except among proof-sheets which are too clumsy for your purpose. As soon as I can lay my hands upon any you shall have them. You see by the enclosed advertisement that I have lost a letter from Victor Hugo. 1 Geo W Curtis is passing a couple of days with us. Yesterday we had a dinner at Agassiz', with red and white Falernian wines; and then drove to Watertown, where Curtis delivered a brilliant Lecture on "Sir Philip Sidney, or the Gentleman." Kohl went with us, and was delighted. It was something quite new to him. Curtis is troubled about your health. He is afraid you will injure yourself in Washington, and wishes you safe back in easy, old, dissolute Europe. H. W. L. p.s. Curtis sends his affectionate remembrances. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . T h e accompanying newspaper clipping in French advertises a reward for the re-

59

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WORLD

covery of two letters addressed by Victor Hugo to the French surgeon Jules René Guérin ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 8 6 ) , for forwarding to Dr. Vincent Lafon, a physician of N e w Orleans, and to Longfellow. Mary Longfellow Greenleaf presumably sent the clipping to Longfellow from N e w Orleans.

1640.

To an Unidentified Correspondent

Cambridge Dec 24 1857 Dear Sir, In reply to your question concerning the poem entitled "The Footsteps of Angels," I would inform you that it was first written in the year 1838: but revised and put into its present shape in the year following. As far as I remember no one particular incident suggested it; but all the events mentioned in it had their share. Thanking you for the friendly interest you express in my writings, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT : Yale University Library.

1641.

To Samuel Longfello tv

Camb. Dec. 28 1857 My Dear Sam, I am afraid I cannot do what you ask.1 I have written a Hymn for the new Chapel here, which will be dedicated in the Spring; and there seems nothing more for me to say on the subject. I ought to have sent you word sooner, but there will no doubt be time enough and the ready pen of somebody to supply the want. We are all well here, and send you much love and many Happy New Years. Fanny hopes you will soon recommence this long interrupted correspondence. She had yesterday a letter from Mrs. Mackintosh; who sends her kind remembrances, and also great commendation of you from Miss Sterling.2 Good bye. Yours affect. H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Samuel Longfellow had written on December 1 5 : "You were kind enough to write me a Hymn for my ordination [Works, I, 288] : so I am going to ask you to write one for the dedication of my new Chapel." 2. Unidentified.

60

CAMBRIDGE, 1642.

1858

To Bernard Rölker "Heute noch auf stolzen Rossen Morgen durch die Brust geschossen!"1

Cambridge Jan. 4 1858 My Dear Rölker, Thanks for your cordial greetings and Happy New Year! It came like a hail in the dark from one ship to another, at sea; for we have got floated apart in some sense, after sailing so long side by side. But it is pleasant to know that we are still within hailing distance, and can see each other's signals. And I send you back the greetings ten-fold, with all good wishes, repeated by all the crew of this ship in which I sail, and of which I am master and owner! Very sad, as you say, has been the last year. The downfall of families has something very tragic in it; and recalls vividly the lamentations of Guido del Duca in Dante's Purgatorio, over the ruin of old Florentine houses. "La casa Traversara, e gli Anastagi E l'una gente e l'altra è diretata."2 Il. . .Il3 but never heard anything but good of him. The Becks have returned as you probably know; and are well; and I think about ready to sail for Europe again! though I do not know that they have any such plan.4 By all your friends II. . .||5 MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι . Cf. Wilhelm Hauff, "Reiters Morgengesang," 11. 8-9: "Today astride splendid steeds/Tomorrow shot through the chest!" 2. Purgatorio, XIV, i o 7 - r o 8 : " T h e house of Traversara, and th'Anastagi,/And one race and the other is extinct." In lamenting the recent death of his friend Charles H . F. Moring ( 1 1 7 4 . 7 ) , Rölker had written lugubriously on December 3 1 , 1 8 5 7 : " W h a t changes around us! H o w many who then looked down proudly upon others, are brought down low! It has been painful to me, to hear of the many disasters among families in Boston." W h o m Rölker had in mind, besides Möring, is not known. 3. About fifteen to twenty words are missing from mutilation. 4. See 1569.6. 5. About fifteen to twenty words are missing from mutilation.

6l

IN 1643.

To William

A TROUBLED

WORLD

Winter

Cambridge Jan 6 1858. M y Dear Sir, W h e n I met you the other day at Ticknor's, I had not received your friendly letter, or I should have thanked you for it, and for the poems it contained; for being at best a "painful p e n m a n " I had always rather talk than write. So now I will only thank you, and reciprocate your good wishes for a H a p p y N e w Year; and w h e n you have time and heart to come again to Craigie House, through the snow, and "through the darkness" 1 — w e will read the poems to the music of the wind, and illustrate them with lamp-light and fire-light. I am sorry to hear that you have had troubles of late; and trust they are ended. 2 T h a t , too, is " T h r o u g h the Darkness"! I send you an autograph, with m u c h pleasure, and remain V e r y truly Yours H e n r y W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, L o n g f e l l o w T r u s t Collection, Mr. W m . Winter/Cambridgeport/Mass.

POSTMARK: [ m u t i l a t e d ]

ADDRESS:

ENDORSEMENT:

Received January 7th. 1858. — / N o answer/required ι . T i t l e of one of the poems sent to L o n g f e l l o w b y W i n t e r in his letter of January ι . It appeared in the Boston Transcript, X X V I I I , N o . 8476 ( D e c e m b e r 15, 1 8 5 7 ) . 2. W i n t e r had written: "In truth, life has been a fiery furnace to me of late, and I haven't had the heart to go m u c h abroad, or to write much either."

1644.

T o Anne Longfellow

Pierce

$100. Cambridge. Jan 15 1858. Dear A n n i e , If the World's correspondence depended upon us two, a nut-shell a year would be enough to contain it all; and what would become of the Post Office? W e have truly a splendid W i n t e r ; so mild and benignant to the poor in these hard times. T h e horizon begins to brighten a little in the world commercial, so that I can begin again my contribution to your comfort. Harry will be with you soon; and I think you will find him m u c h improved. H e has done very well this T e r m ; and I have heard no complaint of him from any source. I thought I was to pay his bills here. Is it not so? 1 I have done it in all cases except for clothes, w h i c h he said you had paid.

62

CAMBRIDGE,

1858

I send you a note of what I have paid, thus far. Next week the Bills for Tuition, Board and Room rent will come in. I will look out for all these matters. With much love to all, affectionately yrs. H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Anne Pierce responded to this query on January 18: "In regard to his expenses I thought it would be better for him, in regard to the habits with which he ought to begin life, if his clothing and personal expenditures were limited to his own and my smaller means, than yr. more generous ones — for it would be ruinous to him if in these things yr liberality was in keeping with the expenses of his education."

1645.

T o Jean-Bap tiste François Ernest de Chatelain

Cambridge Jan. 25 1858. M y Dear Sir, You will be vexed to know that your "Contes de Cantorbery" 1 — sent to me in June did not reach me till January! This will explain to you my silence and lift me out of the category of ingratitude, which some one has so well defined, as "I'independence de cœur [independence of mind]." Verily you are an admirable translator; and in this work you have surpassed yourself. T o undertake it, you must have had, like Griseldis, "sous la mamelle gauche et courage et grand cœur;"2 and in the execution, in your choise old words and phrases — like fine old cob-webbed wine, with a slight tang of the cork, you show how very skilful you are — how ambidextrous in both languages, — and moreover what insight you have into the heart of the matter. For my own part I have nothing to show for the past year: though I hope in the Spring or Summer to bring out a volume of Lyrics. 3 I beg you to present my best regards to Mme. de Chatelain, and to accept, with her, my good wishes for a Happy N e w Year. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow M. Le Chevalier de Chatelain. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Contes de Cantorbéry, trans, into French verse . . . by the Chevalier de Chatelain (London, 1 8 5 7 ) . 2. "Yet in the brest of hire virginitee/There was enclosed rype and sad corage" — de Chatelain's rendition of 11. 219-220 of Chaucer's "The Clerk's Tale." 3. The Courtship of Miles Standisk, and Other Poems was not published until October 16, 1858.

63

IN A T R O U B L E D 1646.

WORLD

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Cambridge Feb. 14 1858. My Dear Annie, Thanks for your letter, and the hint about Dr. Nichols's book, which he has not mentioned to me, though I knew he was at work upon something; and the other day he read me a passage from something he had just written, but did not say what it was.1 Put me down for two copies. The times are very hard still, or I would take more. I have sent word to Mrs. Sumner,2 but have not yet received her answer. But if she wishes for a copy, I will let you know. I was yesterday at the funeral of Mrs. Cushman, (Salumith Owen) 3 whom you remember as a school girl. She died of lung fever. You would be much pained to see Dr. Nichols looking so sallow and fallen away. But let us hope he will rally, and enjoy after all a serene old age. We are all well at the Craigie House, excepting colds among the children. Sam, I hear, has a very pretty church in Brooklyn. From Alex, nothing. You must give me news of him and of Mary. Ever affectionately, with my love to Lucia, and Annie Wadsworth, H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collectipn. ι. Rev. Ichabod Nichols' Hours with the Evangelists was published posthumously in two volumes (Boston, 1 8 6 0 - 1 8 6 4 ) . 2. Mrs. Harriot Foster Coffin Sumner ( 1 3 1 6 . 1 ) . 3. Salumith Wadsworth Owen Cushman, a native of Pordand and the sister of Longfellow's former publisher John Owen (498.4), died on February 13.

1647.

To Charles Sumner Cambridge

Feb. 23 1858

My Dear Sumner, I vainly hoped to catch one more glimpse of you before you left us; and went [to] town for that purpose on Thursday morning, but you had departed — evaded — erupted! On the same day we had the sad news of Prescott's illness. It was a stroke of paralysis; short and sharp. He is now well over it; and out again. I have not seen him; but [Theophilus] Parsons who has, and who is one of coloro che sanno,1 says he is as well as ever he was! That, however, is never quite true of anybody over fifty.2 How are you? Are you as well as you were while going through the "course of engravings" under Dr. Thies? 3 He was confined to his bed for a fortnight after you left us; passed through a crisis, and is "as well as

64

CAMBRIDGE,

1858

ever he was," or better; for he told me the other day, with an air of triumph, that he was able to wear a boot, which he had not done for a long while! Thanks for the garden seeds. May we eat together the fruits thereof nex[t] Summer! Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. 1. Cf. Inferno, IV, 1 3 1 : "those who know." 2. Prescott had suffered his first stroke on Thursday, February 4. He died a year later of a second attack. 3. In January Sumner had embarked on a rigorous course of study of engravings under the tutelage of Louis Thies Çd. 1 8 7 1 ) , subsequently curator of the Gray Collection of Engravings at Harvard, 1862-1870, and university lecturer, 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 6 4 . Thies, a native of Hanover, Germany, and an art connoisseur of wide reputation, had married Clara Crowninshield ( 2 3 4 . 3 ) ¡ n 1843. See Diary of Clara Crowninshield, pp. xxviii-xxx.

1648.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Feb. 24 1858.

My Dear Senator, Everybody asks me "Have you heard from Sumner?" Worcester, Folsom, Lowell, Mrs. Sawyer, Mrs. Rantoul, and the little lame man in gray,1 all ask "Have you heard from Sumner?" I answer "No; not lately," and the next day Da Capo. 25th I was just going to ask you for a letter, and lo! I get it without asking. The wish drew it like a magnet. I groan with you over the iniquity of the times. It is deplorable; it is heart-breaking; and I long to say some vibrant word, that should have vitality in it, and force. Be sure if it comes to me I will not be slow in uttering it.2 Thanks for Story's letter, which I return herewith. Letters from Italy always make me insane. I spring the whole length of my chain. I say Amen! to your last words, and wish you could dine with us today; for we have venison and red Falernian, which is better than Burgundy. Farewell. I shall write often. Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

65

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WORLD

ι . Jane Elizabeth Woodbury Rantoul ( 1 8 0 7 - 1 8 7 0 ) was the widow of Robert Rantoul ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 5 2 ) , lawyer and antislavery Democrat. T h e "little lame man in gray" is identified in Longfellow's journal on May 8, 1 8 5 8 , as a " M r . Philips," an art exhibitor who "dropped his H's about in a fearful manner, regardless of expense." Mrs. Sawyer is unidentified. 2. In a letter of February 2 2 Sumner had written: " I long for another Anti-Slavery Poem from you — something to leaven yr next vol. Think of it — do."

1649.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Marchz 1858. Dear Sumner, I return the letter of the Duchess, which is interesting and good to read.1 (Why does Walker2 spell Dutchess with a t, as if it meant the wife of a Dutch man?) We have this morning the loveliest fall of snow, windless, and descending with the feathery feet of Hermes. Tomorrow we shall roll in the mud, like old Priam, when he heard of the death of Hector. You remember the Cambridge mud, and will understand what we have to go through. I am glad you are in New York. A wise move. Keep aloof as long as possible from the great political barracoon of Congress. Enclosed is a letter3 which may interest you. Please send it back when you have read it. Fanny and the children are all well, and send much love to you. Remember us to Greene and to Lieber and the Jays, if you see them. H.W.L. MANUSCRtPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. wife 2. 3.

This letter to Sumner from Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Campbell ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 7 8 ) , of the Duke of Argyll ( 1 6 1 4 . 5 ) , is i n the Harvard College Library. Presumably James Walker ( 3 7 8 . 5 ) , president of Harvard, 1 8 5 3 - 1 8 6 0 . Unidentified.

1650.

To Benjamin Eddy Cotting1 Cambridge. March 4 1858.

I have the pleasure of knowing Signor Fontana,2 and though I have never heard him lecture, he has read to me some portions of his Course on the Kingdom of Naples. These I have found very interesting and written with ability. I think

66

CAMBRIDGE,

1858

they could not fail to be acceptable to the public; and he has my best wishes for his success. Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. T h e identification is conjectured from the fact that the letter is among the Lowell Institute Papers in the Harvard College Library. See 1 4 3 0 . 1 . 2. G . B. Fontana was a language teacher of 16 Florence Street, Boston.

1651.

To Charles

Sumner

Cambridge March 14 1858. My Dear Sumner, It is Sunday morning; and the wind East. I can not go to chapel, having been two days ago treacherously stabbed in the back by a sharp icicle; (figuratively speaking) in other words having an ache in the lumbaginous region : vide Worcester. So I will write a short epistle to my absent friend, the dissipated young man at the Brevoort House. George [Sumner] being now with you, will have told you all our news; — the Ladies' Fair — the Emersonian Lectures, Choate's discourse on Jefferson, Hamilton and Burr — the three events of the past week, in social life. The political doings, and Cushing's infamous phrase, you have seen in the newspapers. 1 What are you doing? I think of you as walking on sunny pavements; and sitting at Operas, listening to the deep bass of Formes, chanting "II catalogo è questo," and other Puritannical airs and anthems from the great psalm book of Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus. 2 I am sorry to hear you speak so despondingly of Coggswell. 3 I hear that he is at Roxbury, and hope to see him. I met Prescott a few days ago and had a walk with him to South End. He was cheery — and bore no mark of his late attack. He says he is kept upon [a] very low diet. No meat, no wine — nothing but vegetables and water. He said rather pathetically "I should like now and then a glass of champagne!" Remember me to Gurowski and tell him I liked his book on America very much. 4 H . W . L. p.s. W e had letters from Mrs. Mackintosh by the last steamer. The[y] have at last taken a house " N o 2. Hyde Park Terrace Kensington Gore." I have also letters from Germany. A translation of the "Golden Legend" is to appear there shortly, by the Baroness of Hohenhausen.

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She was a great beauty in Chateaubriand's day; and is mentioned with admiration in his "Mémoires d'Outre Tombe."5 Here is a scrap to show you what Scherb is about Prof. Scherb's Sunday Lectures at the Bedford Street Chapel, SECOND Ιst Lecture — The Hebrew Prophets; 2d — The Messiah of the Jews; 3d — The Messiah of the Christians; 4th — The Martyr Church and St. John's Apocalypse; 5th — Christ's Second Advent; 6th — The Millennium. To commence Sunday, 14th inst., at 7V2 P.M. Tickets for the six lectures $1 50, at Ticknor & Field's, Phillips, Sampson's, Crosby & Nichols's, and Urbino's foreign bookstore. Single lectures 50 cents. TuThF&S mh 9 e COURSE: T H E MESSIAH AND HIS KINGDOM,

I wish for his sake that prophets would spell their names profits. Here is a puff for Emerson from somebody's bellows Now. Mr. Emerson, in his lecture on "Works and Days," said many things worthy to be repeated a thousand times. Among the numerous striking passages that lodge in our memory, is the following: The days are God's best gifts to man, but, like many other gifts, pass by unheeded and unappreciated. We ask a friend, What are you doing now? and are answered, I have heen doing thus and so, and am going to commence some other work soon, but just now I am not doing anything. And yet we complain that we have no time. An Indian Chief of the Six Nations once said a wiser thing than any philosopher. A white man remarked in his hearing that he had not time enough. Well, replied Red Jacket, gruffly, I suppose you have all there is! He is the wisest and best man who can crowd the most good actions into now.7 I furnished that joke to the Philosopher [Emerson], at a dinner party. Ask George if he published the following proclamation in the Transcript. Will some fair one correspond with me? I am 28 years of age, am pretty good looking, dark curly hair, dark eyes, height 5 ft. 10 in., straight as an arrow, generous to a fault, love sport, have a keen perception of the ridiculous, and can love, oh! how I can love! Just try me. Address HENRY P. HARTFORD, Boston. It mh 13® MATRIMONIAL.

Has Dr. Kohl been to see you? He is in Brooklyn, and I have sent him your address, though only two days ago. I like him, and esteem him highly. Who wrote the sketch of Allston in the new Cyclopedia? 9

68

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 8

March 1 5 . I have just received the " S u m n e r Gazette." T h e " S u m n e r flouring Mill,"

Article on the

whose manager is "now prepared to grind

and

bolt," is rather amusing, considering the wicked double meaning of the words. 1 0 MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι. The references are to a charity fair for the benefit of the Boston Provident Association at the Music Hall, March 9-12; a series of Wednesday evening lectures by Emerson at the Freeman Place Chapel, Boston (see Letters of Emerson, V, l o i n ) ; a lecture by Rufus Choate before the Mercantile Library Association at the Tremont Temple on March 1 1 ; and an unidentified remark by Caleb Cushing ( 1 5 2 2 . 1 ) , spokesman for the Democrats and anti-abolitionists in the Massachusetts legislature at this time. 2. Karl Johann Formes ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 8 9 ) , German operatic bass, had come to America in 1857, where he remained a favorite for twenty years. Longfellow here alludes facetiously to Leporello's comic aria describing the "catalogue" of Don Giovanni's love affairs in Act I of Don Giovanni. Mozart's baptismal name was Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Lat. Amadeus). 3. Sumner had written on March 3: "Poor Cogswell! I fear that the hand of death is upon him." Cogswell survived, however, until 1871. 4. See 1595.2. 5. Elise Philippine Amalie, Freifrau von Hohenhausen (1789-1857), is quoted in Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe, Pt. III, Bk. ii, Ch. ι. Her translation of the Golden Legend was eventually published by her daughter, Elise Felicitas Friederike, Freifrau von Hohenhausen ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 9 9 ) , in Leipzig in 1880. 6. Boston Transcript, XXIX, No. 8549 (March 12, 1858). This clipping is pasted on the sheet. 7. Boston Transcript, XXIX, No. 8550 (March 13, 1858). The clipping is pasted on the sheet. 8. Ibid. 9. New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, ed. George Ripley and Charles A. Dana (New York, 1858-1863), I, 385-390. The author of the article is not known. 10. Unidentified. 1652.

T o Charles

Sumner T h e Modern Petrarch.

A gentleman with matrimonial desires, by this method seeks acquaintances. Any lady who does not disapprove of this manner of acquiring friends will please address

MATRIMONRAL.

A. V A U C L U S E ,

Π15

Box 1684, Boston P.O. 1

FS&W3t«j

Camb. M a r c h i ò

1858

Dear Sumner, Sometimes in the narrow and dirty lanes of the newspapers appear such romantic signs as the above, inviting unwary females to enter

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WORLD

mysterious doorways, leading more likely to some disreputable Tivoli or Jardin Mabille, 2 than to any respectable Paradise, terrestrial or otherwise! Knowing that in newspapers you read only the double-shotted, heavyloaded leaders, I think it my duty to send you now and then brief notices of the imaginative and ideal world, and to call your attention to the romantic element in common life. Here again is something rare and curious. FATALITY. — Eight days before the death of Rachel, a foreigner of distinction called upon her and sent up his card. She received him, and a pleasant conversation ensued, at the close of which on rising he begged for an autograph, as an especial favor. She acceded, and wrote as follows: "In eight days from now, I shall begin to be devoured by verse and biography, R A C H E L . " The gentleman made a gesture of refusal. "Take it, take it," said Rachel, "it may perchance be the last words I shall ever write." And she told the truth.3

For verse read worms! In the next No. of the "Atlantic Monthly" look for a poem of mine entitled "Sandalphon." 4 Pardon me for sending you so much froth! I have Schoolcraft's work — five quarto volumes; but it belongs to you. You lent it to me "till called for." 5 March 17. I see you have gone back to Washington. That town needs washing sorely. H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. This clipping from the Boston Transcript, X X I X , No. 8543 (March 5, 1 8 5 8 ) , is pasted under Longfellow's heading "The Modern Petrarch." 2. Possibly a reference to the Italian writer Pier-Luigi Mabil ( 1 7 5 2 - 1 8 3 6 ) , author of Teoria dell' arte de' giardini (Bassano, 1 8 0 1 ) . 3. This clipping from an unidentified newspaper is pasted on the sheet. 4. I (April 1 8 5 8 ) , 7 4 4 - 7 4 5 · 5. See Letters No. 1 3 7 2 and 1500. In a letter of March 16 Sumner had asked if Longfellow had Schoolcraft's work "that the 6th and last vol. just published may take the same destination."

70

CAMBRIDGE, 1653.

To Thomas Gold

^ 5 8

Appleton

[Cambridge] March 18. 1858. Dear Tom, I have given the bearer one dollar. It seems to [be a] case of charity to a worthy person. H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection,

1654.

ADDRESS: T . G . Appleton Esq

To George Edward Ellis

Cambridge March 26 1858. M y Dear Sir, I most cordially join with you in recommending Mr. Fields to the President and Trustees of Harvard College, as worthy of receiving the honorary Degree of Master of Arts at the next Commencement. It seems to me right and becoming to pay this compliment to one, who not having had the advantages of a Collegiate training, has so successfully cultivated his literary tastes and talents; and I should be very glad to have him receive this mark of recognition and consideration. If you think it necessary I will write directly to the President; though perhaps this note, seconding your proposition, will be as well. I find, on conversation with Professor Felton, that he takes the same view of the subject with ourselves, and will not fail to say a good word in furtherance of the object. 1 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow Rev. Geo: E. Ellis. MANUSCRIPT : Brown University Library. ι . T h e Harvard Corporation voted on June 5, 1858, to confer the degree on Fields. See Professor Longfellow of Harvard, p. 105.

1655.

To James Walker Cambridge

April 3 1858

Dear Sir, I have received the accompanying letter from Mr. Ellis, with the request to forward it to you, if I concurred with him in his views. I not only do concur with him, but wish also in a separate note to second the application, which he makes. I have known Mr. Fields for many years; he is a gentleman of refined 7 ι

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and cultivated tastes, and a great lover of literature. It seems to me, that the Degree of Master of Arts, from the University, would be an appropriate recognition of his literary abilities and predilections. Hoping that Mr. Ellis's application may be favorably received, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Papers, XXV, 80. PUBLISHED: Professor Longfellow of Harvard, p. 105.

1656.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

$124.00 Camb. April 6 1858 Dear Annie, Here is your little Dividend from the Tremont Bank. I wish it were ten times as large as it is. Also a letter from Louisa Baylor, in which there is something for you to meditate upon. Please let me know as soon as you can, what you think of it. 1 There is a vague rumor in the air, that you are coming to see us soon. I hope it is true; and the sooner the better. W i t h much love to all, Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. This letter from Longfellow's cousin (see 1431.1) describes the death of her mother and asks advice whether her sister, Anne Denison Wadsworth, should live in England with the Baylors (Charles G. Baylor was American consul in Manchester) or in Portland with Anne Pierce. The latter responded on April 9: "You understand enough of things to see that Mr. Baylor is behind all this, and I know him well enough to know that he will leave no plausible plan untried to accomplish his purpose of getting Anne with Luly [Louisa] — in other words, Anne's income within control of his own hands . . . But the facts I want to state are these that it was Anne's own free choice and act . . . to come here . . . [and] if all were to say she must go, or had better go, and gave her the money in hand to go, nothing would induce her to go." Anne Wadsworth remained with Mrs. Pierce.

1657.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April 7. 1858 M y Dear Sumner W i l l this find you at the Brevoort House [in N e w York]? or in Washington? or will it never find you?

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I was tempted to keep Halleck's letter as an autograph, but conscientiously return it. George [Sumner] thinks you read too much in the Astor Library. Can you not be idle? and keep out of doors? Felton is quite ill. Since his return from Washington this winter he has not been well. He cannot recover his strength. Dr. Wyman 1 thinks he must go away for a while; and he is turning his longing eyes upon Europe again. So you must not be surprized to read his name some morning among the passengers of an outward bound steamer. I am acquainted with Mrs. Clemm; receiving from her occasionally such notes as she has written to you. 2 Do you know "The Spanish Conquest in America" by Arthur Helps? 3 An interesting, valuable book, I should say. He has looked deeply into the subject of Slavery. Livingston's "Africa" has also much for you in it.4 H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. Dr. Monili Wyman ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 9 0 3 ) , who received an M.D. at Harvard in 1837, was a prominent Cambridge physician. 2. Mrs. Maria Poe Clemm ( 1 7 9 0 - 1 8 7 1 ) , Poe's aunt and mother-in-law, wrote fifteen recovered letters to Longfellow, 1850-1866, in most of which she asked for financial assistance. See Steveft Allaback, "Mrs. Clemm and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow," Harvard Library Bulletin, XVIII (January 1970), 3 2 - 4 2 . 3. Sir Arthur Helps ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 7 5 ) , English historian and clerk of the privy council, 1860-1875, wrote The Spanish Conquest in America and Its Relation to the History of Slavery and to the Government of Colonies (London, 1 8 5 5 - 1 8 6 1 ) , 4 vols. 4. David Livingstone ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 7 3 ) , African missionary and explorer, published Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa in London in 1857.

1658.

To James Cooley Fletcher

Camb. April 13 1858 Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for your kindness in sending me "La Thaumaturge du X I X Siècle"; 1 and having now sufficiently perused its marvellous pages, I will leave it for you with our friend Fields at "the Corner." 2 I am extremely sorry that I cannot comply with the request of your publisher Mr. Childs. 3 I have so often declined similar applications from other sources, that I should place myself in great embarrassment if I granted this, which otherwise I would do, for many reasons, with alacrity. I regret to hear that Mrs. Fletcher has been so ill, since we had the

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pleasure of seeing her in Boston; but hope that she is now quite well again. Mr. and Mrs. Fields have had a narrow escape of going to Europe! He had almost made up his mind to go; but the inexorable hand of Business, — at once the benign goddess and the avenging Nemesis of the Americans — arrested him just as he was stepping on board the steamer! I forgot! — this is a great secret! Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Museu Imperial, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 1. Don Francesco di Lucia, La Thaumaturge du XIXe siècle, ou Sainte Philomène, vierge et martyre (Lyon, 1 8 5 1 ) . Largely because of the author's zealous, imaginative arguments, the Congregation of Rites instituted a Mass and an Office of St. Philomena in 1855. In 1961, however, the Congregation struck Philomena's name from the list of saints for lack of historical verification. 2. The office of Ticknor & Fields at the corner of Washington and School streets, Boston. 3. George William Childs ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 9 4 ) , senior partner in the publishing firm of Childs & Peterson, Philadelphia. Fletcher had reported in his letter of April 1 that Childs wanted Longfellow's written opinion of Brazil and the Brazilians ( 1 6 1 4 . 8 ) .

1659.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April 20 1858. My Dear Sumner, We are deeply grieved to hear you have had a relapse. Do take better care of yourself. If need be, give it all up, and go to Europe at once. That is best and wisest. The Note has not yet been presented. I shall not pay it, of course; and hereby acknowledge my endebtedness to you in the sum of Two Thousand Dollars, till such time as I can see Howe, and put the matter right, in a business way. 1 I am now going down to see Felton. He is better, but I heard last night that he had made up his mind to go to Europe; — the grand catholicon, universal hair-dye and Parr's life-pill, all in one! Just as I write this, Felton comes in. He sends his love to you, and sails from Boston on the fifth of May for Liverpool, en route for Athens! — where he hopes to be on the first of June. Ostend — Cologne — Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Trieste, by rail. Then by steamer to Corinth, and so to Athens. Will you go? Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

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i. Sumner had lost this note when his pocket was picked on a train. See Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, p. 334. On May 22, in Boston, Longfellow obtained a receipt from Samuel Gridley Howe as follows: "Received of H. W . Longfellow two thousand dollars, on account of Charles Sumner, being for payment in full of note given to said Sumner, and mislaid, and this is discharge for the same."

1660.

T o James Thomas Fields

Camb. April 27. 1858. Dear Fields, Could you lend me Frank Forester's "Field Sports" 1 or any other book of the kind to amuse Charley, who is shut up in the house with a cold. Yours truly H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Frank Forester was the pseudonym of Henry William Herbert ( 1 8 0 7 - 1 8 5 8 ) , English-born teacher in New York, translator, editor, and writer of historical romances and sporting books. Frank Forester's Field Sports was published in London in 1848 and in New York in 1849.

1661.

T o Felix Octavius Can

Darley1

Cambridge April 30 1858. M y Dear Sir, I have not written you sooner about the drawing, because it did not reach me till three days ago! Mr. Fields says that when it arrived in Boston it was completely shattered, notwithstanding the word "Glass" written four times upon it. He sent it to Cotton's2 to be re-glazed, and there and at Ticknor's it has been all the time without my hearing of it, as it was directed to Ticknor & Co. and not to me. I shall send it to you, as you desire, by Express today or tomorrow. It is a beautiful sketch; full of sentiment and delicate handling. If I criticized anything in it, it would be the old woman's presence in the room, which rather interrupts the converse of the two friends. 3 I hear that your brother William 4 has been here, and am very sorry that he did not let us know it. With many thanks to him and you, I remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia, MENT: Answered May 2d 1858 ι. The identification is conjectured from internal evidence.

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2. Presumably N . D. Cotton, stationer, of 272 Washington Street, Boston. 3. The sketch, unlocated, may have illustrated the conversation of Miles Standish and John Alden in Part I of the Courtship of Miles Standish. 4. William Henry Westray Darley ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 7 2 ) , of Philadelphia, was a musician of modest talent.

1662.

To Alpheus Spring Packard

Cambridge April 30 1858. My Dear Sir, If anything could induce me to deliver a Poem in public it would be your friendly letter and the pleasant occasion.1 But I have a positive repugnance to doing this kind of work, probably from not recognizing in myself any capacity for doing it well. For this reason I habitually decline all invitations however urgent; and have already declined two this year, from the Peucinian Society in Brunswick. You see therefore that it will be impossible for me to accept yours, though it comes to me in such a form as to make refusal difficult. There is among soldiers a kind of nervous tremor known by the name of the "cannon fever." Something analogous to this falls upon me whenever I think of appearing in public. I cannot get over it. The faces of an audience seem to me so many cannons — so many muzzles aimed directly at me. I take refuge behind the bulwarks of the "everlasting No!" Yours with greatest regard Very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. In a letter of April 27 Packard had asked Longfellow to read a poem at the Bowdoin commencement before the "Society of the Alumni."

1663.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. May 4. 1858. Dear Sumner, Though I have not written, I have not lost sight of you for a moment. I hear of you from George, from Howe, from Felton; but not such good news as I could wish. Why do you not come to us? Now that the wretched Kanzas juggle is over, perhaps you will. 1 Felton says he will take good care of you, if you will go to Athens with him. But he is going too fast, and too soon. He sails tomorrow. I shall be there to see him depart.

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Surely the best thing for you too is Europe. There is no good in halfway measures and compromises of any kind. Last night we were at the play, to see Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mathews.2 He is a capital actor as you know; and she, (if you do not mean to give this note away for an autograph, I will venture to say) piquante, pimpante, flamboyante [lively, smart, flashing] ! I saw George at a distance looking grave at the exaggerated English style of acting. I shall have his views tomorrow, Wednesday. Again, soon, Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . On April 30 Congress had reached a compromise after much debate on the vexed question of the slavery or antislavery status of Kansas. T h e proslavery Lecompton Constitution was to be submitted to popular vote, and if approved, Kansas was to be rewarded with a federal land grant. T h e voters rejected the Constitution in August, and Kansas ultimately became a free state. 2. Charles James Mathews ( 1 8 0 3 - 1 8 7 8 ) , English comedian and dramatist, was on his second American tour. On February 1 5 , 1 8 5 8 , he married as his second wife Lizzie Weston Davenport of N e w York, one day after her divorce from the actor Adolphus Hoyt Davenport ( 1 8 2 8 - 1 8 7 3 ) .

1664.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. May 11 1858 My Dear Sumner, The bell has just rung noon; and if I do not write at the top of my speed the mail will go without my letter, and that it must not do. Yours of yesterday made me very sad; because I see by it that you are so; and no wonder. But do not lose courage. Every thing depends on that, and on your leaving Washington without delay. You must come away from that place where the miasma of the National Hotel seems only typical and symbolical of the unwholesome air in the greater National Hotel. So do depart at once. We all think so. We must send you again over the sea; and the sooner the better. Everett's apology I have not seen. It seems incredible; but nothing is now incredible but truth and righteousness in politicians.1 Be of good cheer, and come speedily. With much love from Fanny; Ever thine H. W. L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

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ι . Sumner had written on May 7: "Meanwhile I observe that Mr E. apologizes for signing the testimonial to me! What next! Really is there any end to the baseness which Slavery engenders in all its supporters — even 1000 miles off." On July 16, 1858, Longfellow attended a dinner party at which Everett was present. His journal entry for that day casts further light on the incident: "Everett said he had just signed a petition for something or other. I could hardly refrain from asking him if he 'signed it without reading it,' or under the effects of an anodyne,' — as he said at the South he had done the Sumner testimonial, the coward!" T h e Sumner testimonial was signed in June 1856 by twenty people, including Longfellow, who subscribed $ 1 0 each for the purpose of "expressing to the HON. CHARLES SUMNER, in some permanent and appropriate form, our admiration of his spotless public and private character, of our lively gratitude for his dauntless courage in the defense of freedom on the floor of congress, and, especially, of our unqualified approbation of his speech in behalf of F R E E K A N S A S , delivered in the senate on the 20th of May last, — a speech characterized by comprehensive knowledge of the subject, by logical acuteness and by Spartan intrepidity in its chastisement of iniquity, — for which he has well nigh lost his life, at the brutal and cowardly hands of a creature, for which, thanks to the rarity of its appearance, the English tongue has, as yet, no appropriate name" ( M S , Massachusetts Historical Society).

1665.

To Lucius A. Elliot1

Cambridge May 25 1858 Dear Sir, I have just received your note, with the remittance, which I am quite sure will cover all expenses. I am only sorry you should have given yourself any trouble about so slight a matter; but hope that for the public good you will make Thompson 2 refund the amount. As matters now stand, it seems impossible to send a picture glazed, the distance of one hundred miles by Express, without having it broken. I have tried the experiment over and over again, and invariably with the same result. This is very discreditable to those who undertake to carry parcels safely. I remain, Dear Sir Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Columbia University Library. ι . T h e identification is conjectured from the fact that Elliott was the printseller from whom the Evangeline print for Anne Pierce had been bought. See Letter No. 1594. 2. Thompson & Company, freight agent of 8 Court Street, Boston.

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1858

To Thomas Bailey Aldrich1

Cambridge May 26 1858 Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure of receiving the volume you were so kind as to send me, and beg leave to return you my best acknowledgments for the gift and for the friendly thought which prompted it. The Poem is very charming; full of color and perfume as a rose. I congratulate you on your success. Some time, when you are passing through Boston, I wish you would find time, or make it, to swerve aside as far as Cambridge, and the old Washington Head-Quarters. It would give me great pleasure to make your personal acquaintance, and, to assure you of the interest I take in your literary career. I remain, Dear Sir, with best wishes and regards, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. I. Aldrich ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 0 7 ) was at this time on the staff of the New York Home Journal and had recently published his second volume of poetry, The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth (New York, 1858).

1667.

To Charles Deane1 Cambridge

May 28 1858

My Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure of receiving your friendly note, and your very valuable gift of Bradford's Hist, of Plymouth, for which I beg you to accept my hearty thanks and acknowledgments. The work is beautifully printed; and we cannot thank you too much for your zeal and labor in rescuing the "long-lost manuscript" from the oblivion of the Fulham Library,2 and producing it in so handsome a style. Of all the old chronicles of New England this is certainly the most important; and I hardly need assure you how glad I am to have it in my library. I remain, Dear Sir With great regard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Charles Deane Esq MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Deane ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 8 9 ) , a Boston merchant, published among other historical works an edition of Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston, 1856).

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2. Bradford's manuscript had been found in the library of the Bishop of London at Fulham in 1855. Deane's edition was made from a copy procured by the Massachusetts Historical Society. The original manuscript is now in the Massachusetts State Library.

1668.

To George William Curtis Camb. May 29. 1858.

My Dear Curtis, I am glad there is a chance of our seeing you before long. We were so very much disappointed on that fatal Wednesday. It was not our own child that was hurt; but our man's. Luckily, not much of an accident.1 But that was not it. We stood ready and gaily caparisoned at the gate waiting for the triumphant horse-rail-road car to bear us to your lecture. But it did not come. There was some mysterious delay, and it was too late, having ordered no carriage; and so with aching hearts we gave it up, and read the garbled report in the next day's papers! We did not fairly get over it for a week — not the report, but the disappointment. Mrs. Folien fully corroborates the paternal views taken of that remarkable young (south-sea) Islander, with all his teeth!2 Was I wrong in sending Langford? He seemed so weary and sad, I could not help it.3 Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

1. The details of the accident are not known. It occurred on Wednesday, May 5, when Curtis delivered a lecture entitled "Fair Play for Women" before the Mercantile Library Association. See the Boston Transcript, XXIX, No. 8595 (May 6, 1858). 2. Eliza Lee Cabot Folien ( 1 7 8 7 - 1 8 6 0 ) was the widow of Charles Folien (427.8). Curtis had written on May 26: "Our island [Staten Island] is lovely in this moist May and the islanders are fresh and fair as roses, — especially the youngest one, who is not six months old until June 5th — and has already six teeth!" 3. Benjamin Franklin Langford was author of the poem Alvin of Eñe; or, The Mourner's Choice (Lahore, 1854). Longfellow had given him a note of introduction to Curtis, who had replied on May 26 that he would do what he could for him: "But I have told him frankly what he ought to do. If he means to live by his wits, he must be willing to begin as he can, not as he would." In a letter of June 1 Langford asked Longfellow for financial help and summarized his plight: "I arrived in this country from India, two months since; not with wealth or even moderate means, for I had suffered and lost much in India; but owing, on the contrary, a portion of my passage money, amounting to $ 1 2 5 . . . 1 have been literally bearing all my wealth upon my person."

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Ï858

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. May 29 1858 Dearest Annie, Your note brings very sad tidings, and quite unexpected, of the Colonel's death.1 It seems like part of my youth taken away suddenly, so much and so pleasantly are my earlier days associated with him and with his amiable family. The hours passed under their hospitable roof have always a great charm in my recollection; and when I think of the many sorrows they have had to bear, my heart bleeds for them. I have written to Aunt Stephenson a few stammering lines of sympathy; but alas! how inadequate are all words on such occasions. The letter is enclosed.2 Pray forward it as soon as you can; and write me again soon about her. In haste Yours afïect[ionatel]y. H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. Col. Samuel Stephenson (39.3). 2. Unrecovered.

1670.

To John Williamson Palmer

Cambridge May 31 1858. My Dear Sir, I had the pleasure of receiving your letter this morning, as I was on my way to Boston. The Comedy did not however come with it; but no doubt will arrive this evening or tomorrow.1 Being in town I thought I would not lose this opportunity of saying a good word for you to the Manager of the Howard; and accordingly called upon Mr. Barrow; had a few moments chat with him on the subject, and bespoke an immediate and friendly examination of the Play, when it should arrive.2 If I get it to-night he shall have it to-morrow; so that there may be no delay, beyond what is inevitable in all matters of the kind. With great regard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Dr. J. W . Palmer. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Palmer's letter was dated May 28, 1858, from New York. His play The Queen's Heart; a Comedy, in Three Acts (Boston, 1 8 5 8 ) was published within weeks.

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2. Jacob Barrow, husband of Julia Bennett Barrow ( 1 5 1 4 . 1 ) , the "Directress" of the Howard Athenaeum, was the "Sole Manager" of the theatre. He gave Palmer's play four performances — June 30, July 1, 6, and 8. Longfellow attended the first night and found the play "Very successful; and well acted" ( M S Journal).

1671.

T o Charles

Sumner

Camb. June 3. 1858 My Dear Sumner, I am thinking of you this bright Summer morning. It is here half past ten o'clock. With you it must be dinner time.1 I hope you are enjoying that cheerful meal; though it makes my head reel to think of it; with the pent-up atmosphere, and the sun glinting in at the cabin windows! Let us waive the subject, if you please; for when this reaches you, you will have tasted the delectable viands of Paris; and I hope you are already better for it; — and better for escaping the inevitable fret of political life among the "unterrified" and "unbleached" democracy. (This latter epithet is from Hogg's life of Shelley, just pubd.). 2 You must not read American newspapers. They are bad for people in robust health; and much worse for invalids; and you will be shocked to hear Seward, Wilson and Hale uttering a louder war-cry against England, than any of the Slavery men. And now of more private matters. In the first place, I have just finished a Poem of some length, an Idyl of the Old Colony times — a bunch of May-flowers from the Plymouth woods. The title is "The Courtship of Miles Standish;" — June 23. Is it not a shame? A yawning gap of twenty days! Well — so goes my life. It seems to consist chiefly of gaps. It is all interruption; — and no longer a peaceful flow. Here is your "Vanderbilt" already returned, making the shortest passage on record — the news in a week, the steamer herself in nine days. W e got your letters from Cowes; and are cheered by them. Ah! if you will only take time enough. Do not, I beg of you, have any arrière pensée [mental reservation], either of politics or anything else. Take it easy, and get well. That is the one important thing; — in fact the only really important thing. What a sad affair is this of Dickens. Immensely exaggerated no doubt; but sad enough at least. How discouraging it is, and disgusting, to see how eagerly and recklessly a fair reputation is dragged through the mire of the streets.3

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You will meet Felton in Paris and dine together at the "Trois Frères" joyously; turbot and chablis, and all the rest of it. Know, then, by these presents that I also had a turbot a few days ago, brought by Capt. Leitch from England. 4 He is the Sempronius of sea-captains. "Honneur à toi, grand homme T a voile triomphante a rapporté dans Rome Des cigognes et des turbots." So sings Louis Bouilhet; winding up with "Et tu pourras surgir de la poudre du sol Le jour où fumera, sur la table romaine, Un sauglier sauvage, à la sauce troyenne Plein de langues de rossignol."5 These suggestions are for the imagination of a convalescent! I am now looking for the aforesaid Sempronius Leitch, who is coming to dine today (Wednesday) with George [Sumner]. Among the small matters which may amuse you, is this; I have bought a billiard table, and set it up in my study; preparatory to building a pavillion in the garden for it, and its uses. I hope we shall play many a game there together, you and I. So you must be practicing on your travels, or I shall beat you. Lady Napier is here on her way to Nahant. I have seen her once and had a long talk with her. She is a darling. Lord N . remains behind at Washn. on account of this wretched business of "visitation."6 June 24. George and the captain came punctually to dine yesterday; and lo! another turbot appeared! But this time it was an American one; quite equal to the English, I think; but Sempronius said no; — it has less flavor and is less solid and flaky. It was served with "still Catawba," instead of chablis; — and was really very delicate and nice. How sweltering hot it is to-day! I am melting into my shoes, and can only write by little snatches. June 28. Another break! — I wish I could get a distinct view of you as you now are. The last account is not very agreeable; namely that the French surgeons are torturing you, by applying white-hot irons to your spine. 7 1 hope it is not so.

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Try rather ice-cold water. Go to Marienberg at Boppard on the Rhine, where I should like to be now, if anything were the matter with me. Think seriously of this. It is so easy to do it; and I am so confident of its good effects. I can not too strenuously urge the trial of this natural, tranquil pleasant remedy. Do not disdain it! I have had a meeting of the Mass. Historical Soc. at Head Quarters. Among other things Geo: Livermore8 exhibited a volume of AntiSlavery Tracts, once owned by Washington, strongly bound, and having his signature on each! Fanny joins me in much love. Ever affectionately H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Still suffering from invalidism as a result of his beating by Preston Brooks C1527.1), which made it impossible for him to work, Sumner turned to Europe again for therapy and on May 22 left New York for Havre aboard the steamer Vanderbilt. 2. Thomas Jefferson Hogg, The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley (London, 1858), I, Ch. vi. Hogg's phrase is "the unbleached web of transatlantic freedom." 3. Dickens' long-standing difficulty with his wife, a matter of public knowledge and speculation, culminated in their separation in 1858. See Edgar Johnson, Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph (New York, 1952), II, 904-926. 4. John Leitch ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 8 3 ) , a Scot, was master of the Cunard steamer Europa. 5. Louis Bouillet, "Cigognes et Turbots," 11. 28-30 and 57-60: "Hail to thee, great man/Thy triumphal sail has brought to Rome/Storks and turbots." "You may arise from the dust of the earth/On the day that steamily, on the Roman table,/There will be a wild boar prepared with Trojan sauce/Full of nightingale tongues." Bouillet ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 6 9 ) , French poet and playwright, dedicated his poem to Asinius Sempronius Rufus, "mortel inimitable,/O toi qui le premier fis servir sur la table/La cigogne au pied rouge et le turbot marin! [inimitable mortal,/O thou who first had served at table/ The red-footed stork and the turbot of the sea!]" 6. Lord Napier ( 1 6 1 4 . 3 ) , whose political sympathies were with the South, had recommended discontinuance of the "visitation" of American vessels by ships of the Royal Navy on patrol against the illegal slave trade. His wife, Anne Jane Charlotte Lockwood, Lady Napier ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 9 1 1 ) , spent the summer at Nahant. 7. For details of this treatment, see Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, PP· 333-342· 8. George Livermore ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 6 5 ) , a commission merchant of Boston, was a book collector and antiquarian.

1672.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. June 10 1858 My Dear Greene The wine has come safely, and in good condition; a sound, hale, manly wine; strong as Sampson or Indian Kwasind. Many thanks. Enclosed is the amount of Pradelli's.1 $11.63 I hope I have spelled 84

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his name wrong, as he does mine; — cutting me in two in the middle, and honoring me with a capital F. I am ashamed to say, that I have not read Irving's Washington nor your Review of it. But yesterday I got both; and shall do it at once, beginning with the Review, which I hear highly spoken of.2 With that haste "which mars all decency of action,"3 Yours H.W.L p.s. Let me know if this reaches you; as I suppose Tuckerman's successor is appointed by this time, and may be already at work between Boston and N.Y. 4 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. A wine dealer. 2. Four volumes of Irving's five-volume Life of George Washington ( N e w York, 1 8 5 5 - 1 8 6 0 ) had appeared by this time. For Greene's review, see the North American Review, L X X X V I (April 1 8 5 8 ) , 3 3 0 - 3 5 8 . 3. Purgatorio, III, ι ι . 4. Possibly a reference to Gustavus Tuckerman ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 9 7 ) , Boston merchant and first cousin of Henry Theodore Tuckerman ( 4 3 7 . 1 4 ) , but Longfellow's meaning is obscure. In the following year Gustavus Tuckerman moved to N e w York, where he spent the rest of his life.

1673.

To Francis Lieber

Cambridge June 12 1858 Dear Lieber, I am much obliged to you for your Inaugural, which I have read with pleasure and profit; as I do whatever you write, for your writings have the rare quality of momentum, — weight and motion combined.1 In this Discourse you illuminate the summits of your theme, very skilfully; and your figures of speech are very appropriate and felicitous. Thanks also for your letter. Unfortunately I was not one of the importers of the Italian wines; though I have tasted them. They are rather hot and heady, and the red Falernian very good. Parsons and Gould2 are the Importers; and I am to have a share in their next order, which is already on the way. They cost about four dollars a dozen; and suggest Burgundy and Sauterne, but can hardly be said to resemble them. In great haste Yours ever truly Henry W . Longfellow p.s. I am not enough in the councils of the "Atlantic Monthly" to answer your question.3 Send to Professor Lowell. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library.

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ι. Lieber's inaugural address at Columbia College, delivered on February 17, was entitled History and Political Science, Necessary Studies in Free Countries ( N e w York, 1858). 2. Presumably Theophilus Parsons and Benjamin Apthorp Gould ( 1 7 8 7 - 1 8 5 9 ) , father of the astronomer of the same name ( 1 3 6 5 . 2 ) , principal of the Boston Latin School, 1 8 1 4 - 1 8 2 8 , and subsequently a Boston merchant. 3. Lieber had asked in a letter of June 8 if the Atlantic Monthly would review his inaugural address.

1674.

To Thomas Gamaliel Bradford1

Cambridge July 2 1858. My Dear Sir, As we go to Nahant on Tuesday next, I would be obliged to you, if you would send me the Quarter's school Bill to-day, so that I may not abscond in your debt. I am not quite sure, that it will be convenient to send the boys up regularly for the few remaining days and if you will mark the ground you would like to have them go over, I will try to instruct them myself. Yours with great regard, Very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι. Bradford ( 1 8 0 2 - 1 8 8 7 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1822, kept a school in Boston attended by Charles and Ernest Longfellow, 1858-1860.

1675.

To Charles Sumner

Nahant. July 10 1858. Dear Sumner, Here we are by the sea-side once more! In Wetmore's cottage looking south-west toward Boston, dimly seen across a low sandy strip of the main-land.1 We arrived here three days ago, and on the same day arrived your letter of June 10th. with its date, like the burden of a ballad "Hotel de la Paix Rue de la Paix." But this time it is not Peace, but a hot iron! What Mediaeval torment have you been going through? We learn it all from the papers and your heroic behaviour under the "heroic practice" of the French Surgeon!2 When I read the description of the moxa, and its application to the back of the old Jesuit, in the "Juif Errant"3 I little thought it would ever come so near me as it has now. Well; I suppose you have done wisely; at all events I hope so; but I still reiterate what I 86

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said in my letter a fortnight ago, — that I have more faith in cold water, than in hot iron, and wish you were at the baths of Marienberg on the beautiful Rhine. At any rate it seems, you are to be cooled off with baths [at Aix-les-Bains] .4 That is good. I believe in baths; enjoy them above all curative methods; and urge them continually upon all invalids. It is Nature's method; and the wonder-working Spring, discovered by some valetudinarian cow is rightly placed under the patronage of a Saint. I hope to hear soon of good results, and returning vigor, and spirits. W e have a letter from Mrs. Mackintosh, expressing much interest in you. She wants to see you, and says she should write to you if she knew your banker. Furthermore she announces the marriage of Parthe Nightingale to Sir Harry Verney — "an excellent man, who has a grown-up daughter, (married perhaps) and no other children." "He cares for all that most interests Florence N . and nothing really interests him so much as to help his fellow creatures in every possible way." 5 The Napiers are here at the Hotel, and are affable and courteous. Tom is with us. There is good news from Felton who is in Athens, and so well that "he cannot believe he was ever ill." Agassiz is suffering from over use of his eyes. He cannot use them at all now; not even to read; and feels very much alarmed, in consequence. I wrote you in my last about my new Poem, which will not be out till September. The subject is "The Courtship of Miles Standish" — the well-known adventure with my maternal ancestor John Alden. 6 T h e Heroine's name is Priscilla; and so you have the chief characters and the chief incident before you, taking it for granted that you remember the anecdote. I am now going upon something more important. Ever affectionately with love from all of us H.W.L. p.s. It seems safest to direct to your London Bankers. Baring & Co. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Longfellow rented this cottage on the ocean side of Willow Road for $450 plus taxes and "pew rent" from Thomas Wetmore ( 1 7 9 5 - 1 8 6 0 ) , wealthy Boston lawyer. After Wetmore's death Longfellow bought the property with Thomas Gold Appleton and spent the rest of his summers there. 2. The "French surgeon" was actually the French-American physician Charles Edward Brown-Séquard ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 9 4 ) , well-known at the time for his pioneer discoveries concerning the nervous system. He theorized that Preston Brooks's blows had injured Sumner's neck and spine even though they had been delivered on his head. He treated the injuries with a counterirritant, in this case the moxa, a method involving the application of a fiery substance to the naked skin. Brown-Séquard was professor of physiology and the pathology of the nervous system at Harvard, 1864-1867. 3. Eugène Sue, Le Juif errant, Vol. XX, Ch. vii ("La torture"). 4. The brackets are Longfellow's. 5. Frances Parthenope Nightingale ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 9 0 ) , sister of the Crimean War heroine,

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married Sir Harry Verney ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 9 4 ) , country gentleman and member of Parliament, on June 2, 1 8 5 8 . Verney had four sons and three daughters by his first wife. 6. For Longfellow's relationship to John Alden, see Life, III, 4 2 7 .

1676.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

check Nahant July 13 1858 Dearest Annie, I have been very tardy this time in sending you your quarterly remittance, owing to the hurry and confusion of marching my little army down to this place. I send it to-day, and hope it will not be the less welcome for being so late. Were you not greatly shocked at having Dr. Nichols return to you looking so ill? I hope to hear he is better. Remember us to him and to Mrs. Nichols very cordially. We have a cottage here this Summer, and enjoy it much. The boys are always on the water, and Charley was to-day expressing the wish, that he might be "upset in a punt"! With much love to all your household Ever affectionately H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection.

1677.

To James Russell Lowell Nahant

July 23 1858.

My Dear Lowell, Here is a little poem, which I have received with the request to forward it to the Editors of the "Atlantic Monthly." I submit it to your friendly consideration. The author's name is on the back of it. Is that endorsement sufficient; or shall I add my own?1 Stillman is coming down to Nahant for a day, early next week. I wish you would come with him. You will find us at Wetmore's Cottage; you know it; — where the Storys used to stay. I pray you, come : and say to Stillman, that I have no plans that will interfere with his.2 I am right glad you reviewed Choate; with his Irish National Democrats! And very ably you have done it. Did you see the ponderous reply in the Courier?3 This is an idle life we are leading here. I hope it is good for us. It is almost too lazy; but I rather like it, notwithstanding. Yours ever H. W . L. 88

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p.s. Do you know anything of a Frenchman "Eug. Barrier [dit Vallange]"4 who comes with letters from "un homme de lettres de Ν. York" name not mentioned, probably [Henry Theodore] Tuckerman. He announces himself by an "Ode à la Révolution," printed on the same sheet, he writes on.6 MANUSCRIPT:

Harvard College Library.

ι . The poem, "A Night in June" by William Winter (Winter to Longfellow, July 19, 1858), did not appear in the Atlantic Monthly. 2. Stillman (1453-2) and Lowell went to Nahant on July 27, where Stillman completed a portrait of Longfellow begun on June 25 ( M S Journal). 3. A critical review of Choate's recent Fourth of July address appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, II (August 1858), 374-382. The "ponderous reply" was printed in the Boston Courier, LXIX, No. 16 (July 20, 1858). Rufus Choate (367.6), who had helped organize the Whig party in Massachusetts, became a Democrat in the election of 1856 and denounced the Republicans as sectional and anti-Union. 4. The brackets are Longfellow's. 5. Eugène Barrier, whose pseudonym was Vallange, called himself a "licentiate of the French Academy." He had written to Longfellow on July 21 on a sheet with the printed date "New-York 8 Avril 1858" and a poem in twenty-six stanzas, "Dédié aux Républicains le Futur, Troisième Partie de la Trilogie du Passé du Présent et de Futur ou Ode À la Révolution." In a letter of July 29 he identified the "homme de lettres de Ν. York" as Eugène Quesne, editor of "Echo français, New York," and asked Longfellow's help in finding employment in a printing office or as a tutor in Boston. Between 1858 and 1861 Barrier bombarded Longfellow with twenty-four letters, the replies to which are unrecovered.

1678.

To Robert Ervin Galpin

Nahant July 27 1858 Dear Sir, I hereby acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 22nd. with a check on the Housatonic Bank for Forty Dollars.1 In future, if equally convenient to yourself, I should prefer a check or draft on some Boston Bank; unless there be some Boston Bank which will cash the checks of the Housatonic. I remain, Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow Rob. E. Galpin Esq Stockbridge Library Association, A D D R E S S : Robert E. Galpin Esq/ Stockbridge/Mass. P O S T M A R K S : B O S T O N M A S S J U L Y 28/PAID

MANUSCRIPT:

ι . In partial payment of the rent for Longfellow's Oxbow Farm.

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Τ o William Winter

Nahant July 3 1 . 1 8 5 8 . My Dear Sir, Your two letters have reached me safely and on receiving the first, I despatched the Poem enclosed to the Editors of the Atlantic Monthly, as you desired. Their decision in regard to it I have not heard; and I suppose they will write to you and not to me. I thought the poem very delicate and graceful: but Editors judge for themselves, and consequently I cannot foretell its destiny. I shall be very happy to subscribe for Mr. Jackson's Bust of Howard Payne; but I do not think the Music Hall an appropriate place for it, and cannot put my name to the paper as now worded. Paine was not a Musician; but a writer of plays. He did not compose the music of "Home Sweet Home," nor any other music, that I ever heard of. Why, then, put his bust in the same hall with Beethoven? It ought to stand in the vestibule of the Boston Theatre. 1 Hoping that this may find you in better spirits than when you wrote me, I remain, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. I. This bust, by the Maine-born sculptor John Adams Jackson ( 1 8 2 5 - 1 8 7 9 ) , was to be commissioned in marble. John Howard Payne ( 1 7 9 1 - 1 8 5 2 ) , actor, dramatist, and diplomat, wrote "Home, Sweet Home" for his operetta Clari ( 1 8 2 3 ) .

1680.

To William Sidney Thayer1

Nahant Aug. 9. 1858. My Dear Sir, I send you with much pleasure an order for the Sumner Portrait. It is not at Cotton's, but at Williams's two doors from Summer Street.2 Hoping that you enjoyed your visit to the beautiful town on the Ashuelet, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). I. Thayer ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 6 4 ) , a journalist connected with the N e w York Evening Post and subsequently U . S . consul in Alexandria, wrote from Keene, N . H . , on August 2, requesting authority to purchase Longfellow's second copy of an unidentified engraving of Sumner.

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2. Williams & Company and Morris Cotton, booksellers, were located at 100 and 1 2 0 Washington Street, respectively.

1681.

To ]ames Thomas Fields Nahant

Aug 10 1858.

Dear Fields, Will you for the enclosed draft on Lippincott & Co. send a copy of Routledge's Ed. of my Poems with Portrait, to "Robert Patterson Esq U.S. Mint. Philada. for Miss Julia Tutwiler." The accompanying letter will explain the whole matter.1 I cannot send the Ambrotype — not having any to send : and if the draft will not cover the expense of a Routledge, instead thereof let it be a Portrait, in a simple frame; and if possible let it be forwarded to-day or tomorrow, so as not to fall short of the birth-day. I return the Eng. Papers with many thanks. Yours ever H . W . L. p.s. When are you coming down to dine with me? Please return Tutwiler's Letter. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . In this letter of July 2 1 , 1 8 5 8 , Henry Tutwiler ( 1 8 0 7 - 1 8 8 4 ) , headmaster of the Greene Springs School for Boys in Alabama, 1847—1884, had asked Longfellow to send a daguerreotype or ambrotype as a birthday gift to his daughter, who was attending school in Philadelphia. Julia Strudwick Tutwiler ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 9 1 6 ) became, like her father, an innovative educator in Alabama. Robert Patterson ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 9 0 9 ) , a Philadelphia lawyer, had been clerk to the director of the U . S . Mint since 1 8 4 5 .

1682.

To Charles Sumner

Nahant Aug 12 1858. My Dear Sumner, I have received your two letters by your two hand-maidens;1 and I am appalled at the agonies of pain you are suffering day and night. It is useless for me to reiterate, like an idiot or a parrot my one idea "Water Cure": therefore I am silent; and console myself with the thought that perhaps already you are comforted with the Baths of Aix. Will it not comfort you also to know, that the greatest sympathy is felt for you here by all kinds of people? Lady Napier spoke with great interest and feeling of you the other night, and what pleased me as much as anything, said with great emphasis; — "Of course, I am on his side!" — and yesterday at a dinner given to the Hist. Soc. by [Frederic] Tudor, at his cottage,

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Frothingham, Editor of the Boston Post, who sat next to me, showed a good deal of emotion in speaking of you, and said many things pleasant for me to hear. He said with emphasis that "he hated slavery!" — and I replied "I wish you would come out against it in your paper;" whereat he turned all sorts of colors. W e are leading an idle life here at Nahant; and the little leisure I can contrive to secure to myself is filched away from me by unmeaning letters; — invitations to lecture; requests to do some thing or other for somebody I never heard of. Most of them I feel bound to answer. But here is one that I shall not answer. An "entire stranger," as he calls himself writes thus, after apologies &c "Now I want you to write me a few lines for a Young Lady's Album to be written as an Acrostic to read My Dearest One. If you will please immagine yourself a young man, loving a beautiful young Lady who has promised to be your wife, and then write as you would for yourself you will much oblige one who has been an ardent admirer of your poems." Then at the bottom; "Send Bill"! W e are looking to-day for the arrival of the Steamer, bringing your friend Senior;3 and George is troubled in his mind lest he fall into wrong hands at first, and get a wrong point of view in regard to Slavery and the position of the North on that subject. W e expect them both down to dine with us tomorrow, or the next day, as wind and weather may permit. I shall do all I can in my small way to entertain your friend. Agassiz, Lowell, Emerson and some others have gone to the Adirondac country, to camp out and do many wonders. Agassiz is to weigh the brains of trout, which the others are to catch. Emerson has bought himself a double-barrelled shot gun for the occasion; on hearing which, I respectfully declined joining the party! They have been out ten days, and so far we have not heard of anybody's being shot.4 You have already rejoiced at the success of the Atlantic Telegraph, the great news of the hour, the year, the century! T h e papers call Field, "Cyrus the Great"; and all the poets begin to twitter, and chirp, and hop about, celebrating the event in the feeblest little songs you ever heard. U p to the present date no good thought uttered. 8 "Miles Standish" will not be out till next month. I get in England one hundred and fifty pounds for the advance sheets; — a good round sum, for a small book. 8 1 hope you will like it. W e have a wet, cold Summer. You remember this cottage of Wetmore's on the southern side of Nahant. Boston is right in front of my window, dimly seen through the mist. Close at hand are our boats. Charley is just now rowing off to his sailboat in a punt. H e revels in the sea. Even Erny has a boat, "rowed on 92

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both sides" as Homer describes that of Ulysses;7 as if any boat was ever rowed on one side only! I sit waiting to hear the first message of Queen Victoria, by the telegraphic wire under the sea, called by several poets the "electric nerve!" Meanwhile I write you all this nonsense. To come back to Paris. Pray make the acquaintance of the Père Enfantin; 8 if he be still alive. I have just been reading a pamphlet of his in reply to the Père Félix,9 on the interpretation of Christianity which is beautiful, and written in such a true and elevated and gentle a spirit, that it has inspired me with a desire to know him. Can you find him out; or is he already at Père-la-Chaise?10 Remember me to M. Carlier,11 and to Ampère, whom you do not mention. And would it not amuse you to see Philarète Chasles. If you meet Mme. Lamartine, do put that matter right about the Subscription in this country.12 None was ever opened here, though all expressed a willingness to take part therein. Mrs. Jameson has got it all wrong about Ticknor & Fields. They did not want to mutilate her book, but to publish an edition without the engravings. A very bad plan, I think, but not a dishonest one, as they first wrote to consult her on the subject, and ask her terms. She answered "One Thousand Dollars," which they would not give. I have not heard that they made her any offer : but will ask about it.13 Here I leave off for to-day; leaving a little space to report upon Senior "and his Journal," his "Doom's Day Book!" in which he writes every night; so George reports. I will record for you the advent of this "Recording Angelus or Anglus," (or Anglo-Saxon). Aug. 15. The steamer "Niagara" is in; but no Senior appears. Probably he has postponed his journey; and the Doomsday Book still remains open. Fields was here two days ago. I asked him about the matter of Mrs. Jameson's book. It was "Sacred and Legendary Art." I was right in my account of the matter. The only mutilation proposed was the omission of the Engravings, and the references and allusions to them in the Text. I was wrong in saying no offer was made to her. Fields says an offer was made, but he did not recollect the amount. Farewell and get well! Find the Baths of Aix, or any others, that will hide you from the hot irons of the surgeon. I shall hope to hear from you again soon. Sam Austin is very ill. So ill that Mrs. Wadsworth has come down from Genesseo.14 Ever thine, with Fanny's love — H. W . L.

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p.s. The London address is still good, I suppose. I have forgotten the French one. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . In a letter of July 24 Sumner identified the "two hand-maidens" as Grace Ashburner Sedgwick ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 8 9 7 ) , niece of Catherine Maria Sedgwick, and Mrs. Mary Sheldon Ritchie ( 1 0 9 0 . 7 ) . 2. Richard Frothingham ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 8 0 ) , historian and Democratic legislator, was managing editor of the Boston Post, 1 8 5 2 - 1 8 6 ; . Longfellow first wrote "Morning Post" but corrected himself in pencil. 3. Nassau William Senior ( 1 7 9 0 - 1 8 6 4 ) , English economist and critic, whom Sumner had first met in England in 1838. 4. William James Stillman ( 1 4 5 3 . 2 ) , who organized the Adirondack outing, later described his effort to recruit Longfellow: " I did my best to enroll Longfellow in the party, but, though he was for a moment hesitating, I think the fact that Emerson was going with a gun settled him in the determination to decline. 'Is it true that Emerson is going with a gun?' he asked me; and when I said that he had finally decided to do so, he ejaculated, 'Then somebody will be shot!' and would talk no more of going." The Autobiography of a Journalist (Boston and N e w York, 1 9 0 1 ) , I, 240. 5. Cyrus West Field ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 9 2 ) , Massachusetts-born financier, promoted the first submarine telegraph cable between Europe and America. Messages were interchanged between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan on August 16, but the cable ceased functioning several weeks later and was not successfully laid until 1866. 6. Published in London in 1858 by W . Kent & Company. 7. A variant translation of άμφΐ€\ίσσας (Odyssey, III, 1 6 2 ) . 8. Barthélémy Prosper Enfantin ( 1 7 9 6 - 1 8 6 4 ) , French socialist. 9. Réponse au R. P. Félix sur les 4e, $e et 6e Conférences de Notre-Dame ( 1 4 , 2 1 et 28 mars i 8 y 8 ) (Paris, 1 8 5 8 ) . T h e Rev. Pater Célestin-Joseph Félix ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 9 1 ) was a well-known Jesuit teacher. 10. Largest of the Parisian cemeteries. 1 1 . Auguste Carlier ( 1 8 0 3 - 1 8 9 0 ) spent two years in the United States, 1 8 5 5 - 1 8 5 7 , and wrote several works on American institutions. 12. Maria Anna Eliza Birch ( 1 7 9 5 - 1 8 6 3 ) , an Englishwoman, married the French poet and politician Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine ( 1 7 9 0 - 1 8 6 9 ) in 1823. Lamartine's financial difficulties in 1858 caused his friends to offer a public subscription for him. Sumner had written to Longfellow on July 24: "Poor Lamartine! His subscription languishes, and people seem to think it would do no good if completed. I cannot but think that the idea of his extravagance is exaggerated. Certainly he lives now with the greatest simplicity." 1 3 . Sumner had written on June 27: "Mrs. Jameson has been for 4 years occupied with the Savior in Art, and finds the subject very difficult, particularly with her feeble health. She never reed, a farthing from America, and thinks it hard that publishers so respectable as Τ & F should presume to mutilate her book." 14. Samuel Austin ( 9 8 6 . 1 ) died on September 15.

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To James Ripley

1858

Osgood1 [Nahant]

August 19, 1858

In the "Ladder of St. Augustine," for "The revel of the treacherous wine" read "The revel of the ruddy wine." 2 That is the original reading and is much better than the present one. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Luther S. Livingston, A Bibliography of the First Editions in Book Form of the Writings of Henry Wads-worth Longfellow (New York, 1908), p. 60. ι . Osgood ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 8 9 2 ) , a Bowdoin graduate of 1854, became a clerk in Ticknor & Fields in September 1858 and a junior partner in the firm in 1865. In 1870 he became the senior partner in James R . Osgood & Company, the successor firm. 2. This correction was made in the second printing of The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems (Boston, 1 8 5 8 ) , p. 124.

1684.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant Aug 21 1858. Dear Fields, What answer shall I make to the enclosed letter from Kent & Co? 1 Where shall you be tomorrow, and can I see you? Please send me a word of reply by Erny, who will call for it on his way back. If you are going to Swampscott, why not go this way? Nay, better; — my ideas grow clear as I write, come down and dine with me this very day. But remember you must come by land, as the boat is too late; our dinner hour being half past two. In fine, do what is "wisest and best;" and remember that on Sunday we dine at one o'clock, in case it should be more convenient for you to come then. Yours every truly H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι . This letter, dated July 29, 1858, concerned the English edition of The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems: "Having arranged with Messrs Ticknor for the early sheets of your new volume of Poems it is very important to us (especially as we have agreed to pay them double the price of former works of yours) that we should if possible retain the sole right of printing it in this country. It occurs to us that this could be accomplished if the preface, introduction, a few notes or a short complete Poem were written by an Englishman, making that Copyright, in short anything that could prevent piratical publishers printing it complete would answer the purpose." Longfellow's answer of August 24 is unrecovered, but he apparently followed Fields' advice in a letter of Saturday [August 2 1 ] : " I see no objection to Kent's plan if he

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can secure to himself the republication in the way he proposes and I wd. say so to him." The English edition contained a preface supplied by the publisher.

1685.

To James Thomas Fields Camb. Sept. 21. 1858.

Dear Fields, I have just got a letter from Park Benjamin, who is much annoyed, that you have not sent him an early copy of "Miles Standish" and have given the preference to the "Tribune" and [not to] the "Churchman." 1 He says he made application to you for sheets in advance, and you have taken no notice of his letter. In answer I tell him, that perhaps you never received his letter, and that the matter shall be set right, without delay. Shall it not? I see that Miss Kimberly announced "Miles Standish" among her readings this Winter!2 Yours ever, H . W . L. p.s. Benjamin's address is 24 West 17th Street, New York. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). 1. In a letter of September 20, Benjamin had written that he wished to "make an anticipatory notice and some extracts in 'The Churchman' — of which I am Literary Editor." 2. Harriet Kimberly, Connecticut-born actress and elocutionist, made her Broadway debut in December 1850 as Julia in James Sheridan Knowles' The Hunchback. She gave recitations from both Hiawatha and the Courtship of Miles Standish in 1 8 5 7 1858 and subsequently won her greatest fame as Zoe in Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon.

1686.

To Adam Gurowski

Cambridge Sept 23 1858 My Dear Count Your salutation from the Water Cure was very pleasant; and I am glad you find something to like in my new book. In a week or two, I shall send you a copy. But where shall I send it? To Brattleboro' or to New York? I hope you are not taking the Water Cure as a remedy, but only as a pleasure during the hot weather. We have been, as usual, at Nahant; and have occasionally had news of you from stranger or traveller — second-hand only, and as it were di rimbombo [by reverberation]. Even this is better than nothing.

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1858

Sumner writes me from Paris, "Hotel de la Paix — Rue de la Paix." Poor fellow! there is little peace for him, with his weary brain, and his torments of fire; for you know he has been undergoing the application of the moxa; and is now cooling himself at the baths of Aix in Savoy. Let us hope for the best, in this as in all things. Yours faithfully H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Boston Public Library.

1687.

To OsmondTiffany,

)r.

Cambridge Sept 23 1858 My Dear Sir, I had yesterday the pleasure of receiving your letter, and the copy of your new book "Brandon,"1 which you have had the kindness to send me. I hasten to thank you for it, mindful of the many interruptions, which often prevent me from reading a book as speedily as I could wish. From what you say of your Novel, I am sure I shall be interested in it; and I have often thought the life of Mrs. Craigie furnished matter enough for a romance.2 So far, at least, you have been very fortunate in your theme; and I do not doubt you have made good use of such good materials. I shall read the volume immediately. Meanwhile let me thank you for it, and express to you my best wishes for its success with the public. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Osmond Tiffany Esq MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. 1. Brandon; or, A Hundred Years Ago: A Tale of the American Colonies (New York, 1858). "The story," wrote Tiffany in his letter of September 21, "or that portion of it involving the fortunes of Lucy, had some slight foundation in fact, being derived from the experience of your late friend Mrs Craigie, who was a relative of mine." 2. Mrs. Craigie C382.3) had suffered the "romantic" fall from an opulent life with her husband to the grim, restricted life of a landlady after his death in 1819.

1688.

To E. H. Butler & Company

Cambridge Oct 14 1858. Gentlemen, I had the pleasure of receiving some weeks ago your letter, but not till last evening the copy of your "Gallery of English and American Poets,"1

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w h i c h must be my apology for not having thanked you sooner for your kindness in sending it to me. It is a splendid volume and does great credit to the typographical Art. Please accept my best acknowledgments for this mark of your regard, and my best wishes for the success of this beautiful work. Begging you to present my compliments to M r . Coppée, w h o m I had the pleasure of meeting some years ago at N a h a n t , I remain, Gentlemen, Yours truly H e n r y W . Longfellow E . H . Butler & C o . MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. 1. The Gallery of Famous English and American Poets, with an Introductory Essay was edited by Henry Coppée ( 1 3 7 4 . r ) , at this time professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, and published by the firm of E. H. Butler & Company in Philadelphia in 1859.

1689.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

$124. C a m b . Oct. 14 1858 Dear A n n i e , Here, after a little delay, is your Dividend and my Appendix. W i l l i e reports A u n t Lucia's safe arrival at the " O l d Original," and [I] hope she enjoyed her Cambridge visit as much as w e did. It was very pleasant to us to see her here; and to have our children see her. 1 A n n i e W a d s w o r t h was in, for a moment last evening, looking very well, and seeming very happy. 2 In haste Ever affectionately H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, $100. Div. $24.

ANNOTATION Çby Anne Pierce"): Cheque

ι. Lucia Wadsworth had spent ten days as the Longfellows' guest, September 29October 8 ( M S Journal). 2. Anne Wadsworth was attending the Agassiz school for young ladies in Cambridge (1549.2). See Letter No. 1656.

1690.

To Charles

Sumner C a m b . Oct. 17

1858

M y Dear Sumner Y o u r two charming letters from Aix-les-Bains and Ragatz, give me a lively and sunny glimpse of you, enjoying the languid delights of con-

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valescence. T h e last I received on my way into town yesterday, and let your sister Julia read it to your mother. It gave them both great pleasure. I send you VandenhofFs advertisement. 1 "Miles Standish" was published yesterday; and at noon Ticknor told me he had sold over five thousand copies in Boston, besides the orders from other places. H e printed T e n Thousand before publishing; and has another ten in press. T h i s will do very well; and is rather a triumph in its way, considering the hard times. Oct. 18. T h e papers to-day say VandenhofFs Reading was a success; 2 and Tom, who was present, confirms the statement. So much for my little matters. In my next letter I dare say, I shall have some funny things to tell you about the book, and the notices thereof. Meanwhile, what most troubles me is the thought, that you seem bent on going back, like the Ghost of Hamlet's father "to the sulphurous and tormenting flames."3 I hope you will not do it. I think your nervous system must be already sufficiently shattered by the previous torture. It is a pity I have not some nice little bits of news to send you this time. T h e only event of the week is the arrival of your sister Julia from California. I never saw her looking better, if so well. But they have doubtless written you all this from 20 Hancock St. T h e weather is splendid this Autumn. I never saw such a succession of warm golden days. M y pavilion in the garden, for a Billiard Room is nearly finished. T h e Billiard Table proves a great resource for idle hours. With much love from Fanny Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. A n advertisement from the Boston Transcript, X X I X , No. 8 7 3 4 (October 16, 1 8 5 8 ) , is pasted at the top of the sheet: "LONGFELLOW'S FORTHCOMING POEM M I L E S S T A N D I S H ' S C O U R T S H I P , A Perfect Picture of Puritan Life, Will be read for the first time, BY MR. GEORGE VANDENHOFF, Saturday Evening, 16th Oct. And also, from the same volume, a charming Lyric, founded on a Hebrew legend, called SANDALPHON, THE ANGEL OF PRAYER! T h e reading to commence at iVi o'clock precisely, at Freeman place Chapel, (Beacon st.) Tickets at Messrs. Ticknor & Fields', and at the door. M W & S o i l . " George Vandenhoff ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 8 5 ) , English-born actor, had made his American debut in 1 8 4 a as Hamlet. After 1 8 5 8 he limited his stage appearances to readings. 2. See Boston Transcript, X X I X , No. 8 7 3 5 (October 18, 1 8 5 8 ) . 3. Hamlet, I, v, 5.

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1

To John Samuel Hill Fogg

Cambridge Oct. 18 1858. Dear Sir, You ask me almost too difficult a questiçn. It would require a closer study of the various Translations of Dante, than I have ever given them, to authorize me to pronounce on their several merits, and say which is really best. But I think highly of the last, Cayley's. 2 It is in the terza rima, the metre of the original; a difficult task, but well done. I think you would like it. You will find it at Ticknor's. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Maine Historical Society. ι. Fogg ( 1 8 2 6 - 1 8 9 3 ) , Bowdoin graduate of 1846, received an M . D . at Harvard in 1 8 5 0 and practiced medicine in South Boston. In a letter of October 15 he had asked Longfellow to recommend the best English translation of Dante. 2. Charles Bagot Cayley ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 8 3 ) , English poet and translator, published his translation of the Divine Comedy in London ( 1 8 5 1 - 1 8 5 5 ) , in four volumes.

1692.

To Anne Jane Charlotte, Lady Napier

Cambridge Oct 30 1858. Dear Lady Napier, I have taken the liberty of sending you a new volume of Poems of mine, which I beg you to accept as a token of regard and as a souvenir of the Summer. Mrs. Longfellow joins me in kind remembrances to you and yours. Do not let the dear boys1 forget us. They will be men with beards before we see them again, perhaps; but we shall always associate them with Nahant, and see them as boys playing by the sea; — Willy gravely and silently steering the boat, and Jack half up to his knees in water, saying, "Never mind. I like to have wet feet. It makes me cool." Please give our love to them both, and our kind remembrances to Lord Napier, and believe me always Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, DRESS: T o / L a d y Napier/Washington

Longfellow Trust

Collection,

AD-

ι . William John George ( 1 8 4 6 - 1 9 1 3 ) , who became the eleventh Baron Napier, and John Scott ( 1 8 4 8 - 1 9 3 8 ) . IOO

CAMBRIDGE, 1693.

^ 5 8

To Julia Ward Howe

Cambridge, Nov. 4, 1858 My dear Julia, I was very sorry not to join your party last night at the Bay; but Fanny being ill with influenza I could not think of leaving her to amuse myself with a Tragedy, though it were 'Hamlet' and the actor, Booth, whose impersonation of the Dane is, I hear, very fine.1 Nevertheless, many thanks for the remembrance and the invitation. Will you accept this copy of 'Miles Standish,' and turn towards it the sunny side of your nature, which is so genial and pleasant. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript of entry in Anderson Galleries catalogue of December 20, 1 9 1 7 , Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι. Edwin Thomas Booth ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 8 9 3 ) played a three-week engagement at the Boston Theatre, October 25-November 1 3 , 1 8 5 8 .

1694.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Nov. 21. 1858 My Dear Sumner, I have had a new honor bestowed on me; not F.R.S. nor L.L.D. but as follows. "Target Shooting. The Manchester Guard were to shoot the other day, the two highest prizes being; ι. North and Savage's revolving pistol $25. 2. Longfellow's Works. $8" 1 What do you think of that? There must be a mistake in the title of the first work. It evidently should be "South and Savage." December 14. 1858 An extract from some letter of yours, in the newspapers, is quite cheering.2 But you must not come home this Winter. All your friends, and I most of all, absolutely forbid it. Stay where you are, till you get well. But, no more fire! No more moxa! No more medicine! I have just had a nice letter from Mme. Puls[z]ky. If you go to London do find them out. Their address is "No 13 St. Albans Villas. Highgate Rise." But what am I saying? In London you will have no time to look any body up! ι οι

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WORLD

I sometimes wish I were travelling in Europe with you. It would be delightful to see certain places together; and certain people. Among them Victor Hugo. This is the twelfth letter I have written this morning. Not very long letters — you know I never sin in longitude. So pardon this little scrap of a note, signifying nothing. "Miles Standish" has had a most extraordinary "march"; twenty five thousand in two months. Ehninger of New York has made eight Illustrations, which are to be published incessantly, as you say in Paris.3 Darley has also made a drawing of the last scene, and Ames is painting a large oil picture of the same.4 So much for my little song. George is busy lecturing. Howe I have not seen since last June! Palfrey is well; and about publishing the first vol. of his History of New England. 5 Ever affectionately thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. This announcement, altered slightly by Longfellow, appeared in The North and South, and New Britain, II, No. 2 (November 13, 1 8 5 8 ) , 3. The editor of the paper was Elihu Burritt ( 1 3 2 1 . 1 ) . 2. Possibly the letter of September 1 1 , 1 8 5 8 , from Aix, Savoy, printed in Sumner Works, I V , 4 1 1 - 4 1 2 . 3. John Whetten Ehninger ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 8 9 ) , Columbia graduate of 1847, was a genre painter. His illustrations of the Courtship of Miles Standish, photographed by Mathew Brady, were published in December 1 8 5 8 by the N e w York firm of Rudd & Carleton. 4. F. O. C. Darley's drawing was published and widely distributed by J. E. Tilton & Company of Boston. The oil painting by Joseph Alexander Ames ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 7 2 ) is unlocated. Ames, a self-taught painter, had a studio at this time at 41 Tremont Street, Boston. 5. See 1 5 1 0 . 1 .

1695.

T o James Thomas Fields Cambridge, November 22, 1858

Has a copy of 'Miles Standish' been sent to Elihu Burritt, the learned Blacksmith, who is now editor of a newspaper called 'The North and the South,' in New Britain, Conn.? If not pray let one go in that direction, as he is always very friendly and I should not wish to have him neglected. Here is a scrap from his last paper, which will amuse you : 'TARGET SHOOTING' The Manchester Guards were to shoot the other day, the highest prizes being: ( 1 ) North and Savage's Revolving Pistol $25. ( 2 ) Longfellow's works $8.

102

CAMBRIDGE,

1858

W h a t do you think of that? Have you seen Mrs Balmanno's elegant volume 'Pen and Pencil'? 1 Look at the list of subscribers at the beginning where I am set down as 'James Wentworth Longfellow, Esq.' H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow H o u s e ) . 1. Mary Balmanno, Pen and Pencil ( N e w York, 1858). Mrs. Balmanno, born in Derbyshire, England, and a resident of N e w York City for many years, was an artist, composer, and poet of minor talents.

1696.

T o William Davis Ticknor Camb. N o v 25 1858

Dear Ticknor Enclosed (or inclosed — take your choise — I never know which it is, and am tired of looking it out in the Dictionary) you will find a cheque on Chs. River for $67.10. for Tremont Bank Interest. 1 ( I know very well how to spell that word.) I should not have bothered you about this matter; but this is the first day I have been out of my bed since Sunday; and it quite escaped my mind, till the last moment. I have had a violent and disagreeable attack of something or other — (name unknown and of no consequence) but I hope I have seen the worst of it and am on my legs again to-day. Still, as "there is no peace for the wicked" 2 — (not even a piece of pie) I am allowed no dinner on this Puritan Holiday — on which so many gladiatorial turkeys have died. Yours truly H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton W a l l e r Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . T h e details of this business arrangement are not known. 2. C f . Isa. 48:22.

1697.

To JohnWhetten

Ehninger Cambridge

Nov. 27 1858.

M y Dear Sir, I am delighted with your Illustration of the Bridal Procession. It is alike good in general effect, and in the details. T h e figure of Priscilla is particularly charming; and the contrast between the three principal heads very effective; — not to mention the great beauty of the grouping !°3

IN

A TROUBLED

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of the three. It is an admirable picture; of which I could say a great deal, were I talking, and not writing. One or two little points only seem questionable; but I am sure you have an answer ready. T h e lower part of Standish's armour seems unnecessarily cumbersome; and "Raglan, the steer," does not look quite curly and hirsute enough about the head for a young bullock. Both Appleton and my wife are equally charmed with this drawing; and I would with the greatest pleasure write something for the Publishers to make use of, had I not always and even in some very urgent cases, declined doing so. W i t h best wishes Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow p.s. In looking over my note I find I have very inadequately expressed my feelings about your drawing; and have also forgotten to say, that you can make use of any passages of the Poem you may desire by way of letter-press. I am very curious to see the other Nos. of the Series. If they are equal to this, you may promise yourself a great success. J. W . Ehninger Esq. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection.

1698.

T o Ferdinand Freiligrath

Camb. Nov 30 1858. M y Dear Freiligrath, This will be handed to you by Professor [Francis James] Child of our College, who brings you also the long-promised Pipe from the Red Pipe Stone quarry. It is no sham, made for sale; but a Pipe, bought from the very hands and lips of an old chief in Minnesota, and given to me by the person who bought it. Accept the calumet! Smoke it with the bearer; who will be happy to know you, and whom you will be happy to know. It is very long since I heard from you; and surely the fault is not mine. W i t h much love to you and yours Ever truly Henry W . Longfellow 104

CAMBRIDGE,

1858

p.s. I requested my London Publisher, M r Kent, to send you a copy of "Miles Standish," which I hope he did not neglect to do. 1 F. Freiligrath Esq MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . William Kent (d. 191 o, aged eighty-nine), bookseller and publisher of Paternoster Row, had absorbed David Bogue's firm in 1857. See Letter No. 1684.

1699.

T o Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Dec 4. 1858 Dearest Annie, Young Harry has got a good deal run down, and has not attended his College Classes for a month or more. H e proposes to make you a visit which perhaps will do him good. 1 How are you all? W e are all more or less ill with Influenza; particularly little Alice who is in bed and quite down with it, aches and fever, and all that. So it is pretty dull here just now in the old Craigie House. Let us hope the prospect will brighten soon. Mr. Ehninger, an Artist in N e w York, has made some charming sketches of "Miles Standish," which I think you will like — or some of them at least. Farther than this there is nothing new in our world. W i t h much love from Fanny, Ever affect[ionatel]y. H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Longfellow's nephew, as erratic a student at Harvard as his father had been at Bowdoin, was not destined to graduate from college. In a letter to Mary Longfellow Greenleaf of December 12, 1858, Anne Pierce wrote a frank appraisal of her ward's condition: "The Dr. says there is no disease whatever, but his nervous system is run down by excessive smoking, that if he follows his prescriptions he will be entirely well and in full health in two months — if he goes on as he has the last four months he won't live two years. I only hope I may keep my temper while he stays, for I do feel dreadfully out of patience with the boy for the course he has foolishly taken — so to unfit himself for every thing by such indulgence — give up all study and do nothing but lie on his bed and smoke a pipe all day with the strongest tobacco . . . My sympathies are not very tender in this case, as you see, for the boy really looks better than he did last autumn — appetite excellent and no suffering — only want of energy — looks so like laziness one's Christian charity must be active to remember it is induced by a sufficient cause, however unpardonable that may be. Perhaps it is a climax — that good may yet come from. I desire to be judicious and turn it to good account if possible — but hasn't it struck dread into my plan of not having him come home this winter at all?"

105

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To James Thomas Fields Camb. December 5. 1858 1

Dear Fields, T h e letters, — where are they? Some answer I must send about the portrait. Please return them; and let me make reply.2 Do you wish to publish a volume of Poems for Miss Orne of Cambridgeport?3 Have you any English newspapers, or Reviews? I am not fairly on my feet, yet; and all the household are suffering more or less with Influenza. Ehninger's pictures from "Miles Standish" are charming. You should see them. Shall you have any of the English Illustrated edition of Miles? I see it advertised.4 I am deeply grieved for Whipple. That is a sad — sad story; — how sad, no one knows who has not experienced it. I feel very much for him and his wife. 5 Yours ever H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT:

Henry E. Huntington Library.

1. The date is presumably incorrect, for Fields answered this letter on Saturday, December 4 ( M S Henry E. Huntington Library). 2. According to Fields's letter, the portrait was to be an engraving of Longfellow's head from a daguerreotype by Whipple & Black of 96 Washington Street, commissioned by J. E. Tilton & Company of Boston. 3. Fields's answer was no. Caroline Frances Orne ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 9 0 5 ) had written Sweet Auburn and Mount Auburn, with Other Poems (Cambridge, 1844). Her next and final volume, Morning Songs of American Freedom, was not published until 1876. 4. Presumably the edition published by Routledge, Warnes, & Routledge in 1859 with illustrations by John Gilbert (BAL 12433). 5. Charlotte Hastings Whipple, the youngest child of Edwin Percy Whipple (805.4), had died on November 28, aged three years, eleven months.

1701.

To Stephen C. Masseti1

Cambridge Dec 9 1858 My Dear Sir, You will find the little poem we were speaking of — "The Evening Star" — in Vol II. of my Poems, p. 332. (small edition. Vol I. 3 1 4 ) . It begins "Just above yon sandy bar" &c I am not very sure that you will find it suited to your purposes, but

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hoping that you may, and that I shall some day have the pleasure of hearing you sing it, I remain, Very truly Yours Henry W . Longfellow Stephen Massett Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Cornell University Library. ι . Masset (c. 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 9 8 ) , London-torn composer, vocalist, imitator, and elocutionist, known professionally as "Jeems Pipes of Pipesville," had called on Longfellow on November 29 ( M S Journal).

1702.

To Arabella Stuart Bowen1

Cambridge Dec. 1 1 1858 Dear Mrs. Bowen, Instead of one I send you half a dozen autographs, and with best wishes for the success of the Fair, remain Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . W i f e of Francis Bowen ( 4 8 5 . 2 2 ) . In a letter of Nov. 6 she had written: "It has occurred to me that for Lady Washington's sake, he [Longfellow] might be willing to give his autograph, (with a few words perhaps) for the benefit of our Fair, — and the good of the old church?" T h e church was presumably Christ Church, Cambridge, which was raising money for a chime of bells that were installed on April 8, i860. Lucius R . Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 7 7 (Boston, 1 8 7 7 ) , p. 309.

1703.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Dec 13 1858 Dear Annie, Please send and get for me the "Portland Transcript" for Dec 4. and forward by mail. 1 I send you to-day a New York paper, with an account of Ehninger's Illustrations of "Miles Standish;" 2 and hope soon to send the Illustrations themselves. W e are improving here slowly. Alice is nearly well, but colds and coughs still hang about the house like rooks about a rookery. I hope Harry is better; and the rest of you quite well. Affectionately H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . This issue of the Transcript Longfellow's poem "Daybreak."

( X X I I , No. 35, p. 2 7 7 ) contained a printing of

I O7

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2. An announcement of the took of illustrations (see 1694.3) appeared in the New York Tribune, XVIII, No. 5504 (December 11, 1858).

1704.

To William Davis Ticknor

Cambridge Dec 13 1858 Dear Ticknor, Enclosed is a receipt (Blue and Gold — the uniform of Ticknor and Fields) which will answer till I am in town and can sign the book as usual. 1 That little edition is having an extraordinary run. A handsome little heifer, with a good deal of milk. I trouble you with this parcel for Mr. [Charles Day] Kellogg, because I do not know his address. It used to be (in 1854 — my Boston Directory comes down no later) 50 Water Street. T o save you trouble let one of your young men put the address on the parcel, and Sawin will do the rest. Yours truly H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι. The receipt, a photostat of which is in the Longfellow Trust Collection, reads: "Cambridge December 13. i858./Received of Messrs Ticknor & Fields, Six Hundred Dollars for right to print Oct. 1000 Poems 32 mo 175. Dec. 2000 d[itt]o d[itt]o 3îo d[itt]o 500 Hiawatha 75 Henry W. Longfellow." The Blue and Gold edition of Longfellow's poems was published in two volumes by Ticknor & Fields in 1857.

1705.

To Ferdinand

Freiligrath

Cambridge Dec 14 1858 My Dear Poet, As my wife is writing to her sister in London I slip this in to say "Good morning." Bayard Taylor was here at supper last night; said he saw you in London — looking well and handsome, therein confirming the report of the "Weser Zeitung," and Julius Rodenberg. 1 All this was pleasant for me to hear; and gave a grace to our roasted chestnuts and Chablis. Has Child made his appearance at your door? and have you smoked the Kinnekanik in the Red-stone Pipe, so rude and simple, and with its 108

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 8

small capacity of holding tobacco, suggestive of the self-denial of the Indian? Only a thimble-full! I suppose filling it often helped the savage to pass the time pleasantly, as making his cigarillos helps the Spaniard to "kill the enemy." You were disappointed of course. You expected a Pipe-stem flaunting with feathers and red beads and the like. So did I. But it came in this simple guise, and so I sent it. Ka[h]gegahga[h]bow[h] is still extant. But I fear he is developing the Pau-Puk-Keewis 2 element rather strongly. Find time to write me a good long letter all about yourself: the life you lead, the books you read. Did you ever hear of the Baronesse of Hohenhausen at Frankfort on the Oder? and do you know anything of her translation of the "Golden Legend." 3 With much love to your wife, Ever Yours H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Julius Rodenberg ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 9 1 4 ) , German author and editor, was a friend of Freiligrath. The Weser-Zeitung was a liberal newspaper of Bremen, founded in 1844. 2,. Mischief-maker in Hiawatha. See Cantos X V I and XVII. 3. See 1651.5.

1706.

To Charles

Sumner [Cambridge]

December 17. 1858

George was here yesterday at dinner, and read me a part of your last letter, which is very cheering and comforting. I am very glad you are going to stay, till you make a complete thing of it. This is the short Session, you know; and you may quietly make up your mind to abstain from it altogether. "So say the old wise men," whom I have often quoted to you. Now you have a long lease — a whole year before you, to get quite well. Devote it to that end. That is a delicious anecdote of yours about Humboldt and Ticknor, with his "sentiments nobles" — his "edel Gefühle"! — noble sentiments "when he was here." "Ye Gods it doth amaze me" &c. &C1 Shakespear reminds me of Fanny Kemble, who is now reading in Philada. and has a volume of Poems in the Press of Ticknor — not celuiI o9

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là [that one] but celui-ci [this one].2 Enclosed is one of her Sonnets. It is addressed to — or rather alludes to — her second daughter. There is another about Sally, which I think far better, which she read to me the other day. 3 There is a controversy going on in the papers about Priscilla's Spinning wheel; one party saying that wool is never spun on a wheel with a treadle, but only flax. T h e other side says it may be. M y theory is that the wheel without a treadle is a later, New England contrivance, or invention. N o European I have met with here can remember a wheel without a treadle in the old country. Please take note of what you see, and ask people if wool is not spun in Europe on the small wheel with a treadle. Agassiz says it is, in Switzerland, Tyrol, Bavaria and Black forest.4 Such mighty matters occupy our minds! How far is it to Little Pedlington? 5 Ever thine H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

1. Julius Caesar, I, ii, 128. Sumner's letter to George Sumner is unrecovered. Baron Alexander Humboldt (711.20) made an expedition to Central and South America and Cuba in 1779-1804. George Ticknor saw much of him during his visits to Europe in 1817-1819, 1836, and 1856. 2. That is, not George Ticknor but William Davis Ticknor. Frances Anne Kemble's Poems was published by Ticknor & Fields in 1858. 3. Neither of these sonnets, alluding to Frances Kemble Butler ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 9 1 0 ) and Sarah Butler ( 1 6 1 4 . 4 ) , can be positively identified. A pasted clipping, presumably of the first sonnet, has been torn from the manuscript. 4. See The Courtship of Miles Standish, Pt. Ill, 11. 45-46, and Works, II, 364η. 5. See 394.1.

1707.

To John Gorham Palfrey

Cambridge Dec 24 1858 Dear Palfrey, I will join you, with great pleasure, in sending the quarter cask of Capri to J.T.B, though I sincerely pity the receiver and drinker of thereof, it being a very fiery and wicked wine, tainted with all the vices (and all the old shoes) of Tiberius. Caveat Potator! Enclosed, as business men say, "please find" five dollars, my portion of that amount necessary to the taking off of that elderly gentleman, who will never hold up his head again, if he drinks that "Borgia wine." 1 i i o

CAMBRIDGE,

1858

A much more wholesome and valuable gift is this, which you send me — this Cabinet Wein — this Ausbruch, and first volume of your History. 2 A thousand thanks for it. I shall read it with the greatest interest. May all success attend it! as I am confident will be the case, hearing already the first voices of praise in the papers. Yours ever, truly, Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . Palfrey had written on December 22: " A t Mr. J. T . Buckingham's desire, Cfharles] Gfreeley] Loring [1794-1868] imported for him a quarter-cask of Capri. W h e n it came, Mr. Buckingham said he could not take it, for he had not the need for it. Hearing of this, four of us proposed to give five Dollars each towards sending the generous liquor to the old gentleman for a N e w Year's gift. Perhaps you would like to be a fifth." Some of Longfellow's early poems had been published in Buckingham's New-England Magazine. See 192.6 and Letter N o . 193. 2. See 1 5 1 0 . 1 .

1708.

To Samuel Austin

Allibone

Cambridge Dec 28 1858. M y Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your very valuable Christmas Present, the First Vol. of your "Dictionary of Authors," 1 and hasten to offer my warmest thanks for your kindness, and my heartiest congratulations on the completion of so much of your great undertaking. Of course, as yet, I have but plunged into it here and there, and almost at random; but I have always found my man, and his works, and a great deal of information, which I could find no where else, unless by plodding over the same tangled and weary road, that you have just been over. W e all owe you a great debt of gratitude — how great none of us can yet say. It will take a long while to find out all that is in this volume; but a glance through its pages suffices to show the extraordinary zeal and labor of the author. That his work may be crowned with complete success is the cordial wish of, M y Dear Sir, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow. S. Austin Allibone Esq MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library,

I I I

PUBLISHED: TO the Literature

of

the

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Language What a Dictionary of Words Is to the Language tionary of Authors . . . (Philadelphia [ 1 8 5 9 ] ) , p. 3.

Itself: Allibone's

Dic-

ι . See 1 6 3 1 . 1 .

1709.

T o Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Cambridge. Jan 2nd. 1859. Dearest Annie, I have just come from the Chapel, where I heard news that will afflict you greatly. Dr. [Ichabod] Nichols died this (Sunday) morning at half past eight o'clock; sinking away in a kind of lethargy without pain. There will be to you something consolatory in the thought, that he closed his life so tranquilly — and passed away on this sunny morning — it being Sunday also! I know no farther particulars of his death. I was there a few days ago. His grandson told me that he saw no one; and they feared this would prove his last illness, as it has. In our own house we are getting on pretty well; influenza nearly gone from all of us. Will you not come up for a few days? I do not know the day of the funeral; but the Daveises 1 can tell you. I sent last week, to your care, a box for Uncle John. 2 Please forward as soon as you can. It was paid through. Can you get me from Dr. [John Taylor] Gilman, two autographs of Mr. Judd. A gentleman in England writes to me to procure them for him. 3 Ever affectionately H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. T h e family of Charles Stewart Daveis ( 6 6 . 2 ) . 2. John Wadsworth ( 1 7 8 1 - 1 8 6 0 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1800, was the oldest surviving member of Peleg Wadsworth's family. 3. T h e "gentleman in England" was Henry Arthur Bright ( 1 2 4 8 . 2 ) . Sylvester Judd ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 5 3 ) , pastor of the Unitarian church in Augusta, Me., 1 8 4 0 - 1 8 5 3 , had incorporated his religious and social idealism in two novels, Margaret: A Tale of the Real and Ideal, Blight and Bloom (Boston, 1 8 4 5 ) and Richard Edney and the Governor's Family: A Rus-Urhan Tale (Boston, 1 8 5 0 ) .

171 o.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Cambridge Jan 6 1859 Dearest Annie, I send you enclosed a little New Year's Present — a cheque for $ 100. Please let me know if you get it safely. ι ι 2

CAMBRIDGE,

1859

The funeral services of our dear Dr. Nichols yesterday were impressive but not gloomy. The rooms were not darkened; but wore their usual aspect; so that one almost looked to see him come in at the door! In great haste Yours ever aff[ectionatel]y. H . W . L. p.s. Do not forget the Judd autographs. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection.

1711.

T o George Routledge & Sons

Cambridge Jan 8 1859 Gentlemen, I am very much obliged to you for your kindness in sending me a copy of your beautiful illustrated Edition of Wordsworth's Poems. 1 It is a choise and exquisite volume; and I shall place it among my literary treasures as one of the rarest. I have not yet seen your "Miles Standish;" though I see it advertised in the London Papers. When may we look for it here? With many thanks I remain, Your Obt Sert Henry W . Longfellow Messrs Routledge & Co. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia, MENT: ansd Jan 1 0 / 9 ι . The Poetical Works N e w York, 1 8 5 8 ) .

1712.

of William

T o Anne Longfellow

Wordsworth

. . . With

a Life

ENDORSE-

(London and

Pierce Cambridge

Jan 17 1859

Dearest Annie, Have you thought of the Judd autographs? Can you send me a nice specimen of father's handwriting for Mr. Bryant, whose letter you may return to me if you please. 1 Has the box of wine for Uncle John arrived? How did you get through the cold week? W e suffered a little; and Charley has been very ill with rheumatism and jaundice combined! yellow as an orange, and helpless as a baby. He is better now. In great haste H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι ι 3

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

ι. In a letter from Boston on January 4, a W . Bryant had requested "some letter or other paper in the handwriting of your late father to preserve among other memorials of the like nature of the distinguished and honored 'Sons of Maine.' " The only W . Bryant in the Boston Directory for 1858 is William Bryant, mariner, of 1 Bremen Street, East Boston.

1713.

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge Jan 20 1859. Dear Senator, Your letter to Ernest, for which he thanks you very much, informs us of your whereabout. Do not leave the South of France without visiting Aigues-Mortes. "la cité poitrinaire Qui meurt comme un hibou dans le creux de son nid," as sings Jean Reboul, the Baker-poet of Nîmes. 1 I should also hunt him up; as well as Jasmin at Agen. Here are two poetic pilgrimages for you to make, which I think would be very interesting. Yesterday Agassiz brought me a letter from a friend of his in Montpellier, who mentions seeing you daily; says you are attending a course of Lectures on Rousseau; and adds "sa santé s'améliore [his health is improving]." The "Old Guard" have just been celebrating Webster's Birthday, with a dinner.2 It was presided over by that illustrious Patriot Caleb Cushing, who made a speech containing all Lemprière's Classical Dictionary, and part of Adams's Latin Grammar, and was altogether the most Sophomoric speech ever made by a grown up man. I send you3 Felton's remarks. The whole affair reminds me of Iriarte's Fable of "The Bee and the Drones;" — how they got the dead body of a Bee out of an old hive, with great praise and pomp, performing "Unas grandes exequias funerales, Y susurrando elogios inmortales"4 Only think of the Old Whigs hob-nobbing with Cushing, and Hallet,5 and the rest of them! Fletcher Webster6 made a speech; pointed to a motto on the wall, "Union, now and forever!" and said that was "all his father had left him!" This recalls Gil Bias, and his parting from his father and mother; "Ils me firent présent de leur bénédiction, qui étoit le seul bien que j'atI 14

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 9

tendois d'eux!" 7 Young Lord Cavendish 8 made some remarks, and spoke of Webster (so say the papers) as Benjamin Webster, mixing him up with Franklin, about whom he had heard Everett make an Oration the day before! These are windy times — windy times! You have learned already, by paper or letter, [of] the recall of Lord Napier. 9 Motley, I see, is getting great renown in Belgium, for his History. Whither go you from Montpellier? Would I were with you. How it would air my whole soul, to be in the South of France for a month or two. I wonder if I shall ever be there? It seems to grow more and more difficult for me to pull up my anchors. Hoping to see you one day Minister at London, and to dine with you there, with much love from all under this roof, Ever thine H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT

: Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι . Reboul, "Nîmes," Pt. IV, 11. 4-5: "the consumptive city/That dies like an owl in/the hollow of its nest." Longfellow comments on Reboul ( 1796-1864), whose sobriquet derived from his vocation as baker, in the supplement to Poets and Poetry of Europe (Philadelphia, 1871), pp. 841-843. 2. A public dinner honoring Daniel Webster's birthday was held at the Revere House on January 18. Longfellow, who did not attend, read accounts of it in the newspapers. T h e Boston Transcript, XXX, No. 8813 (January 19, 1859), published extracts from the remarks of Caleb Cushing, Rufus Choate, and Cornelius Felton. 3. T h e phrase "a passage cut out of" has been deleted here by a pencil stroke. 4. Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa, "La Abeja y los Zanganos," 11. 18-19: "Some grand funeral obsequies,/And murmuring immortal eulogies." 5. Benjamin Franklin Hallett (1797-1862), Boston journalist and influential Democrat. 6. Fletcher Webster ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 6 2 ) , Daniel Webster's son and a Harvard graduate of 1833, was surveyor of the port of Boston, 1850-1861. H e was killed at the second battle of Bull Run. 7. Bk. I, Ch. ι : "They made me a present of their blessing, which was all I expected from them." 8. Frederick Charles Cavendish (1836-1882), second son of Sir William Cavendish, seventh Duke of Devonshire (1808-1891), became chief secretary for Ireland in 1882 and was murdered shortly thereafter in Dublin by members of a secret political society. 9. From his post as minister plenipotentiary in Washington.

1714.

T o Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Cambridge Jan 21 1859 Dearest Annie, Your note has just reached me, and Harry happening to be here, I handed him the enclosure. I think there are dangers here as elsewhere, but no greater, for the Vacation; and, as you seemed so reluctant to have him idling in Portland, ι ι 5

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

I had already given my consent to his remaining in Camb. He says he wrote to you about it yesterday. I do not think College is a good place for him. He had better be in some active employment, if you could only find one. But that is the difficulty. So we must worry along six months more — to the end of the year. He has not brought me in his Bills yet for the Term. I told him last Term, that I should pay only his regular and necessary expenses. Thanks for the autographs. I will send you by Alex, the book for Aug. Gilman.1 Uncle John writes that the box of wine has reached him safely. Thanks, also, particularly for the photograph of Dr. Nichols. It is an excellent likeness; and standing at the right distance very effective. And how well you packed it! Even the Boston and Portland Express, that can break almost anything, could not break that. The portraits of our father and mother I have long desired and intended to have copied life size in oil, by [Eastman] Johnson; but he does not make his appearance in these regions; so perhaps I must put up for the present with photographs. But are they permanent? I will hold consultation with Alex, about the matter when he comes. I have had them fade quite out and disappear, as I hope all that have been made of me will do. We are pretty well here now; though Charley has had a rough week of it, with rheumatism! Alice has just come in, wading home from school, and sends her love to you, as do we all; and likewise to Aunt Lucia. Tell her that Mrs. Sumner had a Reception on New Year's day; she is well; but Mrs. Derby (John) 2 is very ill — fading away slowly. Ever affect[ionatel]y. H.W.L. p.s. The letter to Judge Story is just the thing. But I must find out who Mr. Bryant is before giving it to him. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Augustus H . Gilman ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 9 5 ) w a s the nephew of Dr. John Taylor Gilman ( 1 1 6 2 . 1 ) , with whom he resided. He later joined the U . S . N a v y and rose to the rank of captain. 2. Eleanor Coffin Derby ( 1 7 7 9 - 1 8 5 9 ) , widow of Capt. John Derby ( 1 7 6 7 - 1 8 3 1 ) , died on March 30. See 92.7.

1715.

To William Sumner Appleton Camb. Jan 24 1859

Dear William, All right! You have only to present yourself tomorrow morning, (Tuesday) with your carpet bag, at the Western Railroad station, and ι 16

CAMBRIDGE,

1859

you will find your Niagara Party very happy to see you. They take the morning train for Albany — at eight o'clock, I believe, or half past.1 Yours in great haste H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, New York Public Library, ADDRESS: William S. Appleton Esq/39 Beacon Street/Boston ENDORSEMENT: Uncle Henry ι. In his journal entry for February 2, Longfellow remarks that Agassiz, Felton, and Tom Appleton returned from New York on February 1. They may have constituted the Niagara Party referred to here.

1716.

To James Thomas

Fields

Private. Camb. Jan 25 1859 Dear Fields, I am afraid I shall not be at the Burns' festival to-night.1 I am suffering great pain from lumbago; and can hardly get out of my chair. I beg you to express my regrets to the President,2 and to make a little speech for me. I am very sorry not to be there. You will have a delightful supper, or dinner; whichever it is;—and human breath enough expended to fill all the trumpets of Iskander3 for a month or more. I behold as in a vision, a friend of ours, with his left hand under the tails of his coat, blowing away like mad;4 and alas! I shall not be there to applaud! All this you must do for me; and also eat my part of the haggis, which I hear is to grace the feast. This shall be your duty and your reward. Yours crippled with pain, as in hours of ease, HW.L. p.s. I shall read your little speech with satisfaction in the morning papers.5 MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι . A dinner in honor of the hundredth birthday of Robert Burns, held at the Parker House for approximately 275 guests. A n account of the proceedings appears in the Boston Transcript, XXX, No. 8819 (January 26, 1859). 2. John Steele Tyler (1796-1876), Boston insurance broker and son of Royall Tyler ( 1 7 5 7 - 1 8 2 6 ) , the playwright, novelist, and jurist. 3. Iskander Beg or Scanderbeg (c. 1404-1468), Albanian national hero. Longfellow's poem "Scanderbeg," written in 1873, was incorporated in Tales of a Wayside Inn (Works, IV, 239-245). 4. Presumably George S. Hillard. T h e Transcript account reports that he "responded to a toast — 'The Minstrels and Minstrelsy of Scotland' — in a speech of great length." 5. Fields did not speak on this occasion. ι

17

IN A T R O U B L E D 1717.

To Charles

WORLD

Sumner [Cambridge]

January 30, 1859.

It is Sunday afternoon. You know, then, how the old house looks, — the shadow in the library, and the sunshine in the study, where I stand at my desk and write you this. T w o little girls are playing about the room, — A. counting with great noise the brass handles on my secretary, "nine, eight, five, one," and E. insisting upon having some paper box, long promised but never found, and informing me that I am not a man of my word! And I stand here at my desk by the window, thinking of you, and hoping you will open some other letter from Boston before you do mine, so that I may not be the first to break to you the sad news of Prescott's death. Yes, he is dead, — from a stroke of paralysis, on Friday last [January 28] at two o'clock. Up to half past twelve he was well, and occupied as usual; at two he was dead. We shall see that cheerful, sunny face no more! Ah me! what a loss this is to us all, and how much sunshine it will take out of the social life of Boston! I sent you by the last steamer the proceedings, speeches, etc., of the Burns dinner [in Boston], I was not there, but I hear that [Hillard] made a regular fiasco, — persisting in reading a speech forty minutes long; the audience noisy and impatient, and sending him strips of paper with the words, "Stop, stop! for Heaven's sake stop!" and he plunging on, with his speech before him, in type for the next day's Courier. Emerson's speech is charming; do you not think so?1 Lord Radstock is here, — an Irish peer, with his lady, whom all delight in. 2 p.s. Feb. ι. 1859® Only a few days ago I met Prescott in the street. He was joyous and merry, and said he was going to cut off his whiskers because they were growing gray! I expostulated in the same vein, saying that gray hair was very becoming; to which he replied, laughing, "What have we to do with becoming, who have so soon to be going." And so he left me; and my last remembrance of him is only a sunny smile at the corner of a street! MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered to the postscript; text from Life, II, 376. Postscript manuscript in Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Emerson's speech was reproduced in the Boston Transcript, X X X , N o . 8 8 1 9 (January 26, 1 8 5 9 ) . See also The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Edward Waldo Emerson (Cambridge, 1 9 0 3 - 1 9 0 4 ) , XI, 4 3 9 - 4 4 3 .

I18

CAMBRIDGE,

1859

2. Granville Augustus William Waidegrave, Baron Radstock of Castletown ( 1 8 3 3 1 9 1 3 ) , was married to Susan Charlotte Calcraft ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 8 9 2 ) . Longfellow first met him on January 19 at a breakfast party given by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. On January 22 Longfellow and his wife called on Lady Radstock in her boarding house on Tremont Street: "Irish servant in shirt-sleeves, shows us up! A Pleasant call; she is so natural and agreeable" ( M S Journal). 3. A clipping from an unidentified newspaper is pasted to the sheet here: "The funeral of the late William H. Prescott took place yesterday afternoon. The services for the dead were held at the First Church, in Chauncey street, where the deceased worshipped. Rev. Mr. [Rufus] Ellis [1819-1885], the pastor, officiated. The church was densely filled. The form of service was according to the Chapel Liturgy, consisting of selections from Scripture and prayer. Two funeral anthems were also sung by the choir. We presume that suitable arrangements will be shortly made to take more public notice of the event so universally deplored."

1718.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Feb. 3. 1859. Dear Annie, Here is something decidedly unpleasant; but out of which good may come.1 Harry thinks it very unjust and all that sort of thing; but I hope it will have its effect. He professes to be penitent and promises altogether to reform; but I am afraid there is some radical defect in his disposition, which will defeat a good many resolutions yet. I have told him to send you his Tailor's and shoe-maker's Bills; as it is right you should see them before you pay them. The others I shall attend to myself. Thanks for Mr. Peabody's Sermon.2 It is very good; and I think must give satisfaction to the Dr's friends; as far as any thing of the kind can. We had a brief but pleasant visit from Alex and Lizzy, who I hope got safe home. You will hear, or see in the papers the death of Mrs. Fellowe's. Poor old lady! She is at rest at last. She was eighty nine years old!3 With much love Yours ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. Have you read Mrs. Sweat's novel?4 I hear it very highly spoken of. Long live Portland! Portland forever! MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . An unrecovered letter from President James Walker of Harvard regarding the scholastic and other delinquencies of Harry Longfellow. 2. Andrew Preston Peabody, A Sermon Preached at Portland, Maine, at the Funeral of Rev. Ichabod Nichols (Boston, 1859). 3. See 834.4. I

19

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WORLD

4. Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat, Ethel's Love-Life: A Novel (New York, 1859). The author, whose novel treats of lesbianism, was the wife of Lorenzo De Medici Sweat ( 3 0 4 . 1 ) , a Portland lawyer.

1719.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Feb. 8 1859 Dear Fields, Ponder upon this letter of the ancient Schoolcraft, and send me such reply as I can forward to him. 1 I see by a Catalogue received this morning, that there is a large collection of autographs for sale at No. 16 State Street;2 and among them two letters of mine, of three and four pages each. If you happen to pass that way, would you take the trouble to run your eye over them, to see if they ought to be suppressed, seized, confiscated and destroyed, as containing private matters not meant for the public. At the same time you might gratify your curiosity by reading No. 442 "Fields, J.T., Post. Fine als. 8vo" Yours truly H.W. Longfellow p.s. Thanks for the charming new book, full of the cream of human kindness. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι. In a letter of January 29, Schoolcraft had asked Longfellow to help him find a publisher for a recasting of his Indian work ( 1 3 7 2 . 1 ) into an encyclopedia. 2. Address of Charles H. Morse, dealer in autographs and coins.

1720.

To Charles

Sumner [Cambridge]

February 13, 1859.

Aigues-Mortes! Decidedly you will go to Aigues-Mortes, and see in imagination the sailing of St. Louis for the Holy Land. 1 Where have I read about it, and why does it make such a picture in my mind? Lowell has lately written in the Atlantic a couple of very clever articles on Shakespeare. Here is a recondite joke from one of the pages: " T o every commentator who has wantonly tampered with the text, or obscured it with his inky cloud of paraphrase, we feel inclined to apply the quadrisyllable name of the brother of Agis, king of Sparta." 2 Felton was the first to find out the joke, and to remember, or discover, that this name was Eudamidas! T h e Atlantic flourishes. Holmes is in full blast at his "Breakfast-

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table."3 Charles Norton has lately contributed two good articles on Dante's Vita Nuova, with analysis and numerous translated passages.4 I wrote you on the 20th January, and again on the 30th, and sent you papers, one with Emerson's speech at the Burns dinner, and one with notices of [W. H.] Prescott. His death is greatly deplored; a very sincere grief. Hallam, too, is dead,5 — a week before Prescott. Theodore Parker and his wife have gone to Cuba for his health, his lungs being affected; and Dr. Howe and his wife have gone with them.® Altogether it has been a very gloomy winter, rainy and wretched in an unusual degree. I wish we were all at Montpellier with you. What do you mean by your "morning torment"? You are not undergoing the fire again, are you? Heaven forbid! February 2 1 . I hoped to write you a long letter; but the inevitable interruptions of our daily life have thrown me out. To-morrow Lowell's friends give him a birthday dinner, he having reached la quarantaine, — the grand Lent of life! 7 And next Saturday — no, next Sunday — is my fifty-second birthday. So slide the glasses in the great magic-lantern! Love from us all. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, II, 3 7 7 - 3 7 8 . ι. Aigues-Mortes was founded in 1246 by Louis IX, who embarked from the town on his two crusades in 1248 and 1270. 2. Lowell's review in two parts of Richard Grant White, The Works of William Shakespeare, appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, III (January 1859), 1 1 1 - 1 2 1 ; (February 1859), 241-260. The quotation is from the second part, p. 244. 3. The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table first appeared as installments in the Atlantic Monthly. 4. Atlantic Monthly, III (January 1859), 62-69; (February 1859), 2 0 2 - 2 1 2 . A third and final installment was published in the March issue, pp. 330-339. 5. Henry Hallam (b. 1 7 7 7 ) , English historian, had died on January 21. 6. For details of this trip, see Julia Ward Howe, A Trip to Cuba (Boston, i860). Theodore Parker and his wife, Lydia Dodge Cabot Parker ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 8 0 ) , left Cuba in May for Europe. He died in Florence on May 10, i860. 7. "Lowell's friends give him a dinner at Parker's — this being his fortieth birth-day. Holmes read a Poem, and so did Emerson, and so did Lowell, and there was a good deal of speech-making —'crackling of thorns' [Eccles. 7:6] — to keep the social pot boiling" ( M S Journal, February 22, 1859).

1721.

To William Pitt F essenden

Cambridge Feb. 14 1859 My Dear Fessenden, I wish to bespeak your friendly interest in favor of the "Letters of Gen. Greene" now before your Committee, which I certainly would not

121

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A TROUBLED

WORLD

do if I did not feel they were very important historical documents, second to none but the Washington Papers, and worthy to stand side beside with these 1 on the same shelf. T h e Editor, G . W . Greene, grandson of the General, is an old friend of mine; he is a man of talent and learning; has all his life been a diligent student of history; and is fully competent to the undertaking. 2 I wish it were possible to see you as you migrate North and South, with the other Birds of Passage. But you flit by invisible to me; and I only see you when you alight at the end of your flight — and then only through the newspapers. Yet I remain, as of old and ever, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . Corrected to "side by side these." 2. Despite an earlier failure (see 1 5 5 3 . 0 , Greene persisted in his attempt to obtain a congressional subsidy for the letters of General Greene. Fessenden, who was a member of the Senate library committee, may have tried to help, but the second effort also proved fruitless.

1722.

T o George Washington

Greene

Cambridge Feb 14 1859 Dear Greene I wrote to Fessenden by the first post after getting your letter, and I hope what I said may be of service; — and that the Committee will make a strong report in your favor. I write this in greatest haste. Better half a loaf, than no bread. It is only a word to say, that I have not neglected your affair. D o not forget to send me the address of the merchant who "selleth the blood-red wine" of Spain; nor the wonderful ingredients of that "Fontaine de Jouvence," in which you bathe your hyacinthine locks every morning. N o news from C h . Sumner. Master George is in the West. Ever Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

I 22

CAMBRIDGE, 1723.

^ 5 9

To Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Cambridge Feb 14 1859 My Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your letter — and have communicated with two publishing houses in Boston — Little & Brown and Ticknor & Fields on the subject of your new work. 1 Mr. Little said he was already in correspondence with you on the subject; and I herewith send you Mr. Fields' reply. I am very glad you have undertaken to remodel your work in this way. You will make it much more available to the public, and much easier of reference, on any given topic of Indian antiquities. Readers do not like to hunt a subject down through several volumes: and besides the cost of your great work puts it beyond the reach of many who would delight in it. I am inclined to agree with Mr. Fields — that Philadelphia is a better place to publish it than Boston. With my best wishes, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Henry R. Schoolcraft Esq MANUSCRIPT: Library of Congress. ι . T h e letter to Little & Brown is unrecovered.

1724.

To Adam Orth Behm1

Cambridge Feb. 1 7 1859 Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your flattering invitation to read a Poem before the Goethean Society of your College; and beg you to express to the gentlemen of the association my thanks for this mark of their consideration. It will not, however, be in my power to accept their friendly call. I have long ago left that field of labor, and have no inclination to enter it again. Regretting that I cannot meet your wishes on this occasion, I remain, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow Mr. A. O. Behm. MANUSCRIPT: Franklin and Marshall GOETHEAN/Literary Society/LIBRARY.

College

123

Library,

STAMPED

ANNOTATION:

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

ι. Behm ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 9 2 1 ) , a freshman at Franklin and Marshall College, was corresponding secretary of the Goethean Literary Society. In October 1859 he moved to Lafayette, Ind., where he practiced law from 1865 until his death.

1725.

T o Samuel

Longfellow

Camb. Feb. 17 1859 Dear Sam, In the last N o of the "Ledger" M r Bonner states that he has got possession of some early m.s. poems of mine, which he intends to publish in his paper, and also in a Book, "presuming I shall have no objection." 1 But I have great objections; and I want you to call upon him without delay, No 44 Ann St. and to suggest this consideration of two points. ι. Are these poems really mine, or has he been imposed upon, which I think is the case, as I have no recollection of any such poems, and do not believe there are any in existence. 2. If they are genuine, he would do himself and me great injury by publishing them. You had better ask to see them; and by all means see Mr. Bonner himself. I am sorry to trouble you with this, but it is urgent, and you can speak with more authority than any one else. Yours aff[ectionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. New York Ledger, XIV, No. 51 (February 2 6, 1859), 4: " W e now have, in our private drawer, in manuscript, some of the very first poems which Longfellow ever wrote, for which we paid a curiosity-hunter a high price. W e presume that Mr. Longfellow would not object to the publication in our Book of Poetry of those early efforts of his genius." Robert Bonner ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 9 9 ) , journalist and turfman, bought the Ledger in 1851 and established it as one of the most popular newspapers of the period. The poems referred to are not identified and do not seem to have been printed.

1726.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Feb. 21 1859 Dear Annie, I wrote you two or three weeks ago, enclosing a letter from Dr. Walker concerning Harry. Did it reach you? I have been to see the President on the subject. He says if Harry does not do better next Term, he must be taken away. What a pity! and what a return for all your care, and patience. Annie Wadsworth seems very well and happy. She has a very sweet,

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quiet disposition; and I think it fortunate she chose Cambridge for the rest of her school-days. 22nd. W e are all pretty well now, after endless colds and influenzas. To-day is a holiday; and the boys are whistling and stamping about so merrily that I hardly know what I am writing. Tell Aunt Lucia that Mr. Sumner has found in the Library of Montpellier, in France, among the papers of the Countess of Albany (wife of the Pretender, Stewart) a letter in French, written to the Countess by Mrs. Martha Derby, describing a journey from Boston to Washington! 1 How strangely things come to light. Good bye. Let me hear from you soon. W e have a splendid day for the Washington Birthday. Yours ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Louisa, Countess of Albany ( 1 7 5 2 - 1 8 2 4 ) , had married Charles Edward Stuart ( 1 7 2 0 - 1 7 8 8 ) , the Y o u n g Pretender, in 1772. She left him in 1780 and became the mistress of the Italian poet Vittorio Alfieri ( 1 7 4 9 - 1 8 0 3 ) and, after his death, of the French artist Baron François Xavier Pascal Fabre ( 1 7 6 6 - 1 8 3 7 ) . For the journey, see Sumner's letter of January 24, 1859, in Life, II, 372.

1727.

To Charles Eliot Norton

[Cambridge] March. 14. 1859. Dear Charles, 1 am very glad I can furnish you with the books you desire, to go on with the Studies on Dante, so well begun by your two papers on the "Vita Nuova," which I have read with great pleasure and satisfaction. Long, long ago I planned a book to be called "An Introduction to the study of Dante." It was to contain a translation of ι Boccaccio's Life 2 T h e Vita Nuova. 3 T h e Letters of Fra Hilario. 4 T h e Vision of Frate Alberico 5 Schelling on the "Divina Commedia." 6 Anecdotes &c. from the Novellieri. 7 T h e best things said upon Dante by Carlyle, Macauley and others. &c. &c. N o w I make it all over to you, if you will undertake it. W i l l you? 1 125

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How the birds twitter and sing this bellissima giornata di Primavera [most beautiful spring day]! Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. Norton did not undertake a book on Longfellow's plan, although he translated The New Life (Boston, 1 8 6 7 ) . Longfellow himself incorporated much of the material listed here in the notes and illustrations to his translation of The Divine Comedy. See esp. Works, IX, 3 5 3 - 3 5 5 , 3 6 4 - 3 6 8 , 4 2 2 - 4 2 5 , for Fra Ilario, Boccaccio, and Frate Alberico; and Works, X, 3 6 2 - 3 7 5 , 3 7 5 - 3 8 7 , 4 1 1 - 4 2 2 , for Carlyle, Macaulay, and Schelling.

1728.

To Frances Farrer [Cambridge]

March 20, 1859.

At last the winter is gone, with all its gloom and all its splendor, which have been about equally mingled. I hope it has passed happily with you at Scaleby Hall. For my own part, I am delighted to hear the birds again. Spring always reminds me of the Palingenesis, or re-creation, of the old alchemists, who believed that form is indestructible, and that out of the ashes of a rose the rose itself could be reconstructed, — if they could only discover the great secret of Nature. It is done every spring beneath our windows and before our eyes; and is always so wonderful and so beautiful!1 MANUSCHiPT: unrecovered; text from Life, II, 3 8 1 . ι. C f . Longfellow's poem "Palingenesis," Works, III, 1 2 6 - 1 2 9 .

1729.

To Henry Arthur Bright Cambridge

March 25 1859

My Dear Sir, I am greatly obliged to you for your letter, and the Autographs, and your notice of "Miles Standish," which breathes the most kindly spirit.1 I ought to have thanked you sooner, but have been delayed, waiting to accomplish your desires, touching certain American autographs, part of which I enclose. Mrs. Julia Howe, I am sorry to say, after making two distinct promises, has slipped away with her husband to the Island of Cuba, and so defrauded you of her delicate hand-writing. I send you, therefore, only the other two.2 The sky of Europe looks very dark and stormy.3 And this, if nothing else, would be enough to deter me from the visit I have sometimes ι 26

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thought of, and once thought so near. We have five children; and I think I may have said to you before that there are five good reasons for staying home. Hawthorne writes from Italy, that we may look for him in the Summer. He has had a gloomy winter in Rome and does not like his residence there. He thinks that England has spoiled him for the Continent. See the mischief your hospitality has done! — quite "taken the shine out" of Italy even! Mrs. Longfellow joins me in kind remembrances, and I remain, my Dear Sir, Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow. Henry A. Bright, Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Norman Holmes Pearson, N e w Haven. ι . T h e notice does not accompany the manuscript and is unidentified. 2. In his answer dated June 9, Bright thanked Longfellow for autographs of Edgar Allan Poe and Sylvester Judd. 3. Despite attempts by the British to prevent it, war broke out between Austria and Piedmont (allied with France) on April 29. A n armistice was concluded on July 8, but turmoil prevailed in the Italian states for years.

1730.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. March. 28 1859 Dearest Annie, I am glad to hear you are coming to Cambridge. The sooner the better. Your boy is in a very bad way. He has had some break with some young lady;1 and is in great despair; &c. &c. &c. What a pity she ever came here! For my part it seems no kind of use trying to force this boy along against his will. He had better be in some other place and occupation. He has no self-control, and seems to think it very fine not to have any. For what Bills did you send him money? Please let me have the list, and amount. Ever affect[ionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Apparently Harry Longfellow's cousin Anne Denison Wadsworth (see 1 6 8 9 . 2 ) . Fanny Longfellow's letter to Mary Longfellow Greenleaf, April 1 3 , 1859, throws light on the situation: "Annie [Pierce] has been passing a few days with us, and a week with Mrs [Ichabod] Nichols, having been brought here at this time by anxiety about Harry, who came very near being sent away [from Harvard] and may be yet if he is not more careful. W e have all felt very troubled about him, he seems so reckless of his future, so 1 2

7

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indolent and so much in danger of wrecking himself altogether. W e fear Annie Wadsworth is one disturbing influence in his atmosphere, and it is really a pity she is here during his College life, but perhaps without her he would be equally indifferent to rise. He wants to get away to join his uncle Alex this summer, but Annie thinks that an unwise project, for his undisciplined nature, and will not take him from College to gratify such a whim."

1731.

To John Jay Smith

Cambridge March 29. 1859. Dear Sir, I hope you will pardon me for leaving your letter so long unanswered. Owing to bad eyes, I have become a very negligent correspondent, and have to claim the indulgence of my friends. I am glad to hear that you propose a new volume of curious antiquities, and wish I had something to contribute.1 Nothing remains of Miles Standish in Boston, but his sword; a long rapier, in the Mass. Hist. Soc. I think that at Plymouth there are some other things; but I am not very good authority on such matters. Mr. Isaac P. Davis has long ago gone to his rest. Mr. Shurtliff 2 still survives, and is well and working. I hope you will print Washington's agreement with his Butler. It is a very curious document.3 Of the Craigie House there is no good view which has not already been engraved. With best wishes Ever truly Yours Henry W . Longfellow Jno. Jay Smith Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Library Company of Philadelphia. ι . Smith and his collaborator, John Fanning Watson ( 1 7 7 9 - 1 8 6 0 ) , Pennsylvania businessman and antiquarian, were preparing a second series of their American Historical and Literary Curiosities (Philadelphia, 1 8 4 7 ) . It was published in N e w York in i860. 2. Nathaniel Bradstreet ShurtlefE ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 7 4 ) , genealogist, antiquary, and mayor of Boston, 1 8 6 8 - 1 8 7 0 . 3. Apparently a reference to Washington's agreement, not with his buder but with his gardener, Philip Bater, who was not to "suffer himself to be disguised with liquor" except with the consent of General Washington, who agreed to allow him "four dollars at Christmas, with which he may be drunk 4 days and 4 nights; two Dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose; two Dollars also at Whitsontide, to be drunk two days; A Dram in the morning, and a drink of Grog at Dinner or at Noon." John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington (Washington, D.C., 1 9 3 9 ) , X X I X , 206-207.

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To Samuel Austin

^ 5 9

Allibone

Cambridge April 15 1859. M y Dear Sir, Your letter has just reached me, reminding me of one that came before, and of my negligence in not replying sooner. You have set the matter all right. Let us not give it another thought; and it shall be as if it had not been! 1 I am much rejoiced to see the universal appreciation of your work; and the due recognition of your patience, labor and skill. In the Art. "Browning" first line of third paragraph — should not "Sordellfl" be "Sordello"? Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι . In a letter of March 31, Allibone had apologized for the fact that his publishers had printed a letter by Longfellow (possibly Letter No. 1708) in a circular to promote sale of the Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors. He denied complicity in the matter and promised that the letter would be withdrawn from circulation.

I733·

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April 25 1859. M y Dear Sumner, So you have passed along the Cornice and the Riviera and are in "Genoa la Superba!" So says your letter to me from Nice, and your last to George [Sumner], which he read to me two days ago. I only wish you were stronger that you might have no draw-back in your enjoyment. N o w let me tell you about matters here. T h e Howes have not yet returned from the Island of Cuba but Dana has, and has written a book on the subject — "To Cuba and back."1 Out of a three weeks absence he makes a book of two hundred and fifty pages. It is not yet published, but will appear incessantly. Palfrey is well. Has just got a letter from you. His history is very successful; and he is at work on the second Vol. 2 To-day is a dark, dreary day; one of many wet and comfortless Spring days. Charley is kept in doors by rheumatism; — and is whistling and yawning in the Library, where also his mother sits on a sofa reading a novel called "Counterparts"; 3 — while I stand here at my desk in the Study, pointing the tip of my pen towards you and Italy. You say to me as King Olaf said to his Scald; "Write me a Song with a Sword in every line!" 4 But how write War-songs, if there is to be no war? And how would it all rhyme with the "Arsenal at Springfield," and 129

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your discourse on the brass-cannon, which the astounded keeper has not yet forgotten, I dare say!5 What you say, or quote about the "Père de Famille" is pretty true.® It is a difficult rôle to play; particularly when, as in my case, it is united with that of the "Oncle d'Amérique," and general superintendent of all the dilapidated and tumble-down foreigners, that pass this way! Lord Lyons7 has arrived, to take Lord Napier's place. I hear that the latter is in Boston, but have not seen him. The whole air is tainted with the case of Sickles, the notorious, who has shot Mr. Key in the streets of Washington, and is now on trial for it; as you must ere this have read in Galignani['s Messenger]. The trial is, if possible, a greater scandal than the liaison and the murder. All that is bad in the profession of the Law, or rather in the practice of the Law, is in full development; bickerings, recriminations, and all the rest of it. Only the two prosecuting lawyers, Ould and Carlysle preserve anything like dignity or decency. I can hardly imagine anything worse than the counsel for the defence. You know how the bad Americans do things. Suffice it to say, this tragedy is becoming a farce, through their management. Need I say, that the murderer will no doubt go free! — for the sake of "the sanctity of the marriage relation, and the protection of our homes." ! ! !8 All well here and at your house. I suppose you know, that you have a nephew?9 Yours affectionately H.W.L. p.s. I dined two or three days ago at Gardner Brewers;10 — a sumptuous dinner; — with Wilson, 11 Banks, Chs. F. Adams, Burlingame, Dr. Holmes, Whipple, Fields and others. A Mr. Schurz was there, from Wisconsin, a German and a Republican; — who made a good speech the other day at a dinner on Jefferson's Birth Day. He is a friend of Freiligrath's; — studied at Bonn; and being a German Patriot, has taken refuge in the Far West. He is a keen, sharp-looking young man, and can move the scalp of his head in a wonderful manner, as if ready to give it up, at the first appearance of a tomahawk. He is said to be a man of talent and influence.12 Agassiz, you will be glad to know, is in full success. The State has given One hundred thousand dollars to found a Museum of Nat. Hist, at Cambridge; — Frank Gray's Executors Fifty Thousand more; and by private subscription Seventy thousand have been raised; making over two Hundred thousand to start with! A good round sum! Thies is appointed Curator of the Gray Engravings;13 and is delighted 130

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with the office, though the salary is too small to mention, after the above handsome contributions. Emerson is giving a course of Lectures in Boston. Whipple has the Lowell [lectures], and is treating of Shakspear and his contemporaries.14 Your young Artist-friend Wight 15 is painting for me a copy of his head of Humboldt; which I am going to present to the Nat. Hist. Society of Portland; which having a particular reverence for him, have his image on their seal &c &c. Such are the little matters that occupy us here, while you scour the Ausonian plains. And it occurs to me, that while scouring them you might embellish life by sending home a cask or a case of Aliatico, Chianti, or Montepulciano. Say a good large demijohn of each. I understand that Mrs. Kemble is at the Revere; but we have not seen her. She is on her way to England, I believe; and perhaps will keep company with this [letter] across the sea. But I am not sure of it. Mr. and Mrs. Little (Little & Brown) 16 will at all events, and you will probably meet them in Italy, whither they are bound. This reminds me that Greene had another disappointment this year in the appropriation for his grandfather's Letters. Hopes held out, and no fulfilment. He bears it patiently, having got used to it. What good thing has yet come out of the "bright and spotless Administration of James Buchanan"? Our dear Country has fallen into dreadful hands; but there are signs of a signal retribution at hand. As for you, you must not think of returning till you are thoroughly well. No matter the Congress; nor Politics nor Party. Just get well. Remember me particularly to the Motleys and the Storys. Addio! MANUSCRIPT: L o n g f e l l o w T r u s t Collection. ι . To Cuba and Back: A Vacation Voyage (Boston, 1 8 5 9 ) , dedicated to the members of the S a t u r d a y C l u b . 2. S e e 1 5 1 0 . 1 . 3. Elizabeth Sara S h e p p a r d , Counterparts, or the Cross of Love ( L o n d o n , 1 8 5 4 ) , 3 vols. 4. C f . " K i n g O l a f s C h r i s t m a s , " 11. 2 5 - 2 6 , in Tales of a Wayside Inn (Works, IV,

83). 5. According to S a m u e l Longfellow, S u m n e r , w h o h a d accompanied the Longfellows on the part of their w e d d i n g journey that took them through Springfield, h a d endeavored "to impress u p o n the attendant that the m o n e y expended u p o n these weapons of war would h a v e been m u c h better spent u p o n a great library" (Life, II, 2 ) . 6. I n a letter from N i c e of M a r c h 16, S u m n e r h a d quoted the following lines from Diderot's Le Père de famille, I, ν : "Germeuil. — Si vous n'êtes pas heureux, quel père l'a jamais été? Le Père de Famille. A u c u n — M o n ami, les larmes d'un père coulent souvent en secret. — ( Π soupire — il p l e u r e ) [Germeuil. — If you are not happy, what father ever has been? Le Père de Famille. N o n e — M y friend, a father's tears flow often in secret. — ( H e sighs — he c r i e s ) ] . " ι 3 ι

IN

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7. Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, second Baron and first Earl Lyons ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 8 7 ) , served as British minister to the United States, 1858-1865. 8. On February 27, 1859, in Lafayette Square, Daniel Edgar Sickles ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 9 1 4 ) , Democratic congressman from New York, shot down Philip Barton Key (b. 1818), United States attorney for the District of Columbia and son of Francis Scott Key, whom he suspected of intimacies with his wife. His trial for murder lasted twenty days and became a cause célèbre. His attorneys, Edwin McMasters Stanton ( 1 8 1 4 - 1 8 6 9 ) , who became Lincoln's secretary of war, and James Topham Brady ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 6 9 ) , a leading New York lawyer, successfully pleaded temporary insanity, and Sickles was spared to become a controversial field officer during the Civil War and an undiplomatic minister to Spain, 1869-1873. The prosecutors were Robert Ould ( 1 8 2 0 - 1 8 8 1 ) , later Confederate commissioner for exchange of war prisoners, and James Mandeville Carlisle (1814-1877)· 9. Son of Julia Sumner Hastings (1327.3). 10. According to his journal, Longfellow dined with the Boston merchant Gardner Brewer (1806-1874) on April 14. 1 1 . Henry Wilson ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 5 7 ) , former shoemaker and Massachusetts legislator, U.S. senator, 1855-1873, and Vice President, 1873-1875. 12. Carl Schurz (1829-1906), German revolutionary, came to the United States in 1852 and became an energetic Republican partisan. He subsequently enjoyed a varied career as Union soldier, lawyer, diplomat, and statesman. 13. See 1647.3. 14. Emerson delivered three lectures at the Freeman Place Chapel, March 23, March 30, and April 6; and three at the Boston Music Hall, April 13, 20, and 26. Whipple's twelve Lowell Institute lectures on "The Literature of the Age of Elizabeth" were delivered March 15-April 22 (Boston Transcript). 15. Moses Wight (1827-1895), portrait and genre painter. His portrait of Alexander von Humboldt is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 16. Charles Coffin Little (1799-1869), a founder of the firm of Little, Brown & Company, married as his second wife on January 18, 1854, Abigail Wheaton (d. 1893), sister of Robert Wheaton (1039.1). 1734.

T o Charles

Sumner Cambridge

April 2 7

1859

M y Dear Sumner, Yesterday I had the great pleasure of receiving your very amusing letter from Florence. H o w characteristic that scene at the "Sasso di Dante"! — and how very clever Marini's mot upon Malherbe! 1

When

your great work on "Expectoration" appears, let me have an early copy. For the title-page, as you are rather fond of mottoes, you can have crache, il est perdu

"S'il

[If he spits, he is lost]"; or "Expectoration! heavenly

maid, descend." I see by last evening's paper, that D e Tocqueville is dead. But no particulars of time and place are given. C a n it be truer12 H o w e has got back [from C u b a ] . I had a letter from him yesterday. H e is full of indignation against the Legislature for giving permission to place the bronze Webster in the swallow-tail coat in the State House

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grounds; and wants to have a statue of you put on the other side of the gateway. I think you would rather die first! 29 th. There is a crazy French Poet here, Barrier de Vallange, who has written an Epic on "L'Indépendance Américaine," in two octavo vols.3 He expects to sell one hundred thousand copies in Paris, and one hundred thousand more in the Départements; if not he shall consider it a fiasco! But a greater folly still! — he has written a letter to President Buchanan, requesting him to withdraw Mr. Mason 4 from Paris and appoint me Minister in his place! On your return from Italy, I invite you to dine with me, at my hotel in the Champs Élisées! Que dis-je [what do I say]? to dine with me? Nay, to take up your permanent abode under the American flag! Agassiz has got quite run down with over-working his brain. I drove him out yesterday in an open carriage. He is triumphant with his new Museum — having a fund of over two hundred thousand dollars! T h e building will be begun immediately. Meanwhile Aggassiz goes to Switzerland for the Summer. You will see him there if you come that way. Sickles is acquitted; the Law being of "no consideration," as it was not the Fug. Slave Law. Our civilization, like our native grape, has a tang of barbarism in it. A smack of Indian revenge, or Corsican Vendetta. I have at length seen Howe. He was perfectly well in the tropics, but is ill again with head-aches the moment he gets back to Boston. He says this climate kills him. Have you read Michelet's new book "L'Amour"? It is both poetic and physiological — a wonderful book in its way. I am glad he has had the courage to say such things. It might be called the "Husband's Enchiridion." It is very sympathetic, and true, and sometimes droll; as when he says "Je crois avoir sérieusement supprimé la vieille femme. On n'en rencontrera plus."5 T h e cause of Woman has never been so ably pleaded before. Read it; "pour vous préparer d'avance [to prepare yourself in advance]." May 3. This should have been a longer letter. But I have to-day an inflamed eye — blood-shot as an Autumn Sunset; and must refrain. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

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ι. In a letter from Florence on March 26, Sumner had related his experience at the tomb of Dante: "As I stood near the Sasso di Dante, filled with reminiscence of the poet, and looking at the dome, studying it carefully with my glass . . . I thought that I heard familiar voices — soon the words 'South Carolina' and 'niggers' reached me; but I still looked at the dome. As I turned to go away I saw three splashes of tobacco-juice; that was all." This anecdote reminded Longfellow of Giambattista Marini ( 1 5 6 9 1625), the Italian poet, who commented on the constant spitting of the French poet François de Malherbe ( 1 5 5 5 - 1 6 2 8 ) by saying that he had never known "d'homme plus humide, ny de poète plus sec [of a man more wet, nor of a poet more dry]." The mot is to be found in Jean Louis Guez de Balzac's Les entretiens de Feu Monsieur de Balzac ( 1 6 5 7 ) . 2. Alexis de Tocqueville died in Cannes on April 16, 1859, aged fifty-three. 3. See 1677.5. Only one volume of Barrier's epic appears to have been published, Premier chant: L'Indépendance Américaine, poème épique en vingt chants ( A s e n , 1869). 4. John Young Mason ( 1 7 9 9 - 1 8 5 9 ) , Virginia legislator and diplomat. 5. Jules Michelet, L'Amour (Paris, 1858), Introduction, Pt. Ill: "I think I've definitely got rid of the old woman. We'll see no more of her." Michelet argued in his book that the new woman had to be made free, but by her "hero-husband" through marriage and not by her own efforts.

1735.

T o Charles Sumner

Camb. June 13. 1859 My Dear Sumner, Your letter from Rome and Turin came by the last steamer, and I lose no time in replying. To-day comes the Journal des Débats, showing that you have reached Paris. You have probably found there my last, dated April 17. 1 and this may find you in London, on yr. way homeward. Then the great question rises, severe and sad. Are you quite well? If not you must not come back. If you are, then we will bear you on our hands in triumph! But be cautious. Follow good advice. "Too soon" is a fatal word. You have actually been in the midst of wars and armies! Did it give you the "cannon fever" as it did Göthe of old? W e have a different kind of fever here. The fever of hope for the Italians, and read eagerly the news. England, that is the English Govt. — does not appear well. It evidently wants to side with Austria, which is shameful. Have you read Kossuth's Speech? 2 Meanwhile, here in the Craigie, we are devoting ourselves to Art. T . B. Read has been painting a very successful Portrait of me — down to the knees — standing at my desk, with the clock behind. He is now doing the three girls in one group; a charming picture. Rowse has also just finished for Tom a crayon head of Fanny; 3 — and I have had a duplicate made by Wight of his head of Humboldt, and presented it to the Nat. Hist. Society of Portland.

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So much for our quiet life, for the last month. Agassiz, Winthrop and Choate sail on Wednesday for England. Agassiz goes on without delay to Switzerland, where he passes the Summer with his mother at Lausanne. Thanks for the Journal des Débats. Achard's letter from Casale is very interesting; — and below in the Rez-de-chaussée [ground floor] of the Feuilleton Janin fiddles away as merrily, as ever!4 This is Monday. A cold, cloudy day; with splashes of rain against the windows. Scherb will be out to dine. W e shall drink Burgundy — that is he will. I shall not. W e shall talk of the War; the horrors thereof, and the hopes thereof; and of any other little matters, that the German may bring in his wallet from Krähwinkel or Little Pedlington! George [Sumner] comes on Wednesdays; but Scherb I cannot nail down to that day. He changes his perch to Monday; why, I have never been able to discover, unless he wishes to be supreme on the occasion — the sole guest. Well, the first and only toast shall be your good health! There is something like a quarrel between Kirk and Ticknor in regard to writing Prescott's Life. Ticknor is to do it; offers Kirk half the glory, and all the profits if he will assist. Kirk declines. The whole or none; naturally enough not liking to play second fiddle. The book was to appear as Ticknor's, with mention honorable of Kirk in the Preface! I believe there was an agreement between Prescott and Ticknor, that whichever survived the other, should write his life, and look after his literary affairs. I wonder why it is, that some people are always in hot water! Can you tell? It is also said, that Ticknor is opposed to Kirk's continuing the History of Philip. But this I believe is not exactly so. He only advises him not to do it. All this I learn from Felton.5 Hillard also goes to England this Summer. But when I know not. Good bye. Much love from us all, Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Letter No. 1734. The date should he April 27. 2. In a letter from Turin on May 18, Sumner had described his journey from Rome through the war zone: "From Rome to this present centre of political interest! On my way from Genoa in the train I was never out of sight of French soldiers, all draggled in mud, for it has rained for several days, and sheltering themselves as they could. At one turn of the road were as many as 1000 horses at rest tied to a line running the length of the road. At Alexandria the signs of preparation thickened. Here in Turin within a few hours only of the Austrian ports all is tranquil." Kossuth's antiAustria speech in London on May 20, 1859, was reported in the New York Tribune, XIX, No. 5657 (June 8, 1859). 3. See Plate I. Samuel Worcester Rowse ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 9 0 1 ) was a Maine-born painter, illustrator, and lithographer. 135

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4. A letter from Louis Amédée Eugène Achard ( 1 8 1 4 - 1 8 7 5 ) , the French novelist, written from Casale in the war zone on May 19, appeared in the Journal des Débats Politiques et Littéraires, May 23, 1859. Below, in "Feuilleton du Journal des Débats," is an article by Jules Janin, "La Semaine Dramatique." 5. John Foster Kirk ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 9 0 4 ) , Prescott's private secretary, 1848-1859, eventually edited the historian's complete works in sixteen volumes (Philadelphia, 1 8 7 0 - 1 8 7 4 ) . George Ticknor published the Life of William Hickling Prescott (Boston, 1864) without mention of Kirk in the prefatory note.

1736.

To George William Curtis

Cambridge June 14 1859 My Dear Curtis, Pray say to Mrs. Oakey for me, that I received and answered both her letters, with hardly a day's delay; taking only time enough to make the necessary inquiries for Dr. Hinkel. 1 Unluckily she forgot to give me any precise address. So in answering her letter — her first letter, I took what she gave, namely "Staten Island." Seeing this would not do, in the second I ventured upon "New York"; — equally unsuccessful! it seems. But "Box 3496" shall set all right. I could do nothing for Dr. Hinkel. There is no vacancy here at present. Luckily, instead of sending back the Lieber certificate I had it put on file for future reference, if needful. It is in the President's hands; and waits Mrs. Oakey's orders. This is a Newport day; soft, and saturated with moisture. The ink spreads as I write. So does your Novel,2 as you write, but in another sense. We read it from week to week, with great interest. Even the children read it. I said to little Annie the other day, "Annie, you are a trump!" She looked up very gravely and answered "Mr. Curtis is writing a story about Trumps!" Mouths of infants &c. You must not stop for a year at least. Give the later parts of the story as much expansion as the beginning, which is capital, and a faithful delineation of schoolboy days, and you are safe, and successful. Yes; we go to Nahant in July; to the Story cottage where you puffed so many cigars sea-ward in the preterite-definite days — "nei dì che furono."3 I wish we could hope to see you there this summer; but what with the wife, and the baby, and the new house, and the Novel, and the Easy Chair,4 how can the Lounger come? Fanny joins me in much love to you all; and so would Tommo [Tom Appleton], if I could get at him in season; but I am bent upon having this letter go at once, and cannot wait for him. Ever affectionately Yours H.W.L.

136

Frances Appleton Longfellow, 1859, by Samuel Worcester Rowse

Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow, 1862

Anne Allegra Longfellow, 1862

Longfellow at Nahant, c. 1858

Niagara Falls, 1862. Left to right: Harriot Appleton, Frances Lathrop Beebe, Harriot Sumner Appleton, Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Appleton Longfellow, Eleanor Ann Shattuck, Longfellow

NAHANT,

!8

5 9

MANUSCRIPT: Boston Public Library. 1. Sarah Williams Sullivan ( 2 1 2 . 6 ) , who in 1840 married as her second husband William Forbes Oakey ( 1 8 0 7 - 1 8 8 8 ) , lived at this time on Staten Island. In a letter of April 24, 1859, she had sent Longfellow the translated credentials of Dr. Hinkel, a German immigrant who had been instructing her children, with a statement that he was applying for "any opening in Cambridge." 2. Τrumps: A Novel ( N e w York, 1 8 6 1 ) . T h e work was published serially in Harper's Weekly, beginning April 9, 1859, and running successively until January 2 1 , i860. 3. Alessandro Manzoni, Il cinque maggio, 1. 77: "in the days of long ago." T h e Story cottage was usually referred to as the Wetmore cottage. See Letters No. 1677 and 1 6 7 5 . 1 . 4. Curtis' regular editorial essay in Harper's Monthly Magazine.

1737.

To Frederick Swartwout

Cozzens1

Nahant. Mass July 7. 1859 My Dear Sir, Many thanks for "Acadia," and the pleasant, friendly words you say therein of "Evangeline." It is an extremely interesting volume — both witty and wise, and I am sure will be a very successful one. In one matter let me set you right. You are wrong in supposing "Evangeline" to have been suggested by the "Neutral French" of Mrs. Williams.2 The story was told me — that is the bare outline of it — by a friend of Hawthorne, who had been urging him to write a tale on the subject. I said to Hawthorne; "I wish you would give it to me for a poem." He did so immediately, not seeming to care about it, nor desiring to write on the theme.3 Are you not rather hard on the Puritans? They marched under orders, of course, from the British Govt. 4 Hoping the result of your "Month among the Blue Noses" may be as the Spaniards say "Health and Pistareen[s]" salud y pesetas — I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. Fred S. Cozzens Esq MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. 1. Cozzens ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 6 9 ) , a N e w York wine merchant of literary interests, had recently published Acadia; or A Month with the Blue Noses ( N e w York, 1 8 5 9 ) . 2. See 643.2. 3. C f . Letter No. 962. 4. T h e forced deportation of the Nova Scotia Acadians in 1 7 5 5 was carried out by an army of N e w Englanders (Puritans) acting under orders from King George II.

I 3 7

IN A T R O U B L E D 1738.

To Anne Longfellow

WORLD

Pierce

Nahant July 19 1859 Dearest Annie, I have received your letter, and am sorry that Harry shows the same disposition still. I wrote to him when I paid his Stockbridge Hqtel Bill, and told him, that in future I should pay no more bills, but those of Mr. Hoffman, namely $12.00 per week. 1 I went to see Mr. Preble 2 at the Navy Yard; and nothing is to be looked for in that quarter. With the best intentions, he has no power to do anything more than recommend a candidate, and is not in the way of knowing when there is a vacancy. Stephen is on board the receiving ship, waiting to be draughted. They say he is excellent on board ship, but cannot be trusted on shore.3 He has authorized Willie to draw half his wages, and invest for him. I think there is a good deal of hope of his coming out well at last. I dissuaded him from going to Portland which he seemed inclined to do before shipping. Now, he cannot. Another letter for Annie W . enclosed. I hope to come myself before the month is out. With much love to Lucia, Ever affect[ionatel]y H.W.L. p.s. Thank Lewis for the newspaper.

4

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. On April 26, 1859, President Walker had written to Anne Longfellow Pierce CMS copy, Harvard University Archives), suggesting that she withdraw Harry from college. He left early in May and returned to Stockbridge, where he apparently found refuge with his former schoolmaster Ferdinand Hoffman (1442.3). 2. George Henry Preble ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 8 5 ) , Portland-born lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was stationed at the Charlestown navy yard. He rose subsequently to the rank of rear admiral. Longfellow called on him on June 16 ( M S Journal). 3. Stephen Longfellow had enlisted in the navy and was aboard the U.S.S. Minnesota. 4. Lewis Pierce ( 1 8 3 2 - 1 9 1 5 ) , a Portland lawyer, was the nephew of George Washington Pierce. The paper was possibly the Portland Transcript mentioned in Letter No. 1703.

1739.

T o Terézia Walder Pulszky

Nahant. July 21 1859 Dear Mme Pulszky, I had the pleasure of receiving some months ago your friendly letter, and the charming little book of Plays for children, 1 which I read with a

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double interest, for its own sake and as coming from you. First of all, let me thank you for your kind remembrance of us, and then for the gift. Be assured, in return, that your memory, and that of your husband, is still fondly cherished by us, and with it the pleasant hope that we may meet once more, either on this side of the sea, or in Europe. W e are watching with intensest interest the grand march of events in Italy, and hoping that good may come to Hungary also. W e often think of you, and trust that your exile is drawing to a close, and that what has been lost may be restored. W e are passing the Summer at this sea-side place, only a few miles from Boston, which is full in sight from our windows. But our home is still in the old house in Cambridge. M y wife joins me in most cordial and affectionate remembrances to you and your husband; and I beg you to believe me ever Sincerely Yours Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . Three Christmas Plays for Children, with music by L. Jansa and illustrations by C . Armytage (London, 1858). Mme. Pulszky had written on October 27, 1858: "This delightful epic [Hiawatha] in fact, first aroused in them [her children] the desire of mimic representation, more or less natural to every child and suggested to me the idea of writing little Plays, without any other view than to give some natural food to their imagination. Allow me to offer them to your children."

1740.

T o William Davis Ticknor Nahant

July 23, 1859

Dear Ticknor, W i l l you be kind enough to pay the enclosed and pass to account. Randidge 1 Cook

Ι4·5°

.75 $15.25 Yours truly H.W.L.

MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι . George L. Randidge, tailor and draper, 25 School Street, Boston.

139

IN A T R O U B L E D 1741.

To James Russell

WORLD

Lowell

Nahant July 25 1859 My Dear Lowell, Of course I will come to the dinner in honor of the Autocrat's Fiftieth Birth Day! 1 When are we to see you here? After the Adirondac business2 or before? Try to come if you can find time. I say I will come to the dinner on the 29th August; but I shall neither speak nor sing. I do not mean to be a dull man for nothing, but claim all the privileges and immunities thereunto appertaining. Yours ever H.W.L.L.L.D. 3 p.s. By the way, — in counting the guests at the dinner, — did you think of Appleton? He is an old friend and admirer of the Doctor. If you happen to be at the Cambridge Post Office to-day, please tell the Post-master to forward his — (Appleton's) letters &c to Nahant. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . T h e dinner in honor of Oliver Wendell Holmes was held at the Parker House on August 29, with Cornelius Felton presiding. Longfellow was one of eighteen guests (Life, II, 3 9 3 ; Professor Longfellow of Harvard, pp. 9 2 - 9 3 ) . 2. T h e third excursion of the Adirondack Club. 3. Harvard had awarded Longfellow the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws at the commencement exercises of July 20, 1859, though he himself was not present to receive it. See Professor Longfellow of Harvard, pp. 9 2 - 9 4 .

1742.

To Charles Sumner

Nahant Aug 4 1859. My Dear Sumner, 1 I should write to you much oftener than I do, but my wretched life is riddled and consumed by a useless and foolish correspondence with troublesome people, till in my despair I curse Cadmus for inventing letters.2 Your last came to me here two days ago. I read it on my way across the meadow, under the willows, where Prescott used to walk; so that I went with you and him on either side of me, and mused on many things — your endless breakfasts, and dinners for ever and ever, in London, and your solitary baths in Dieppe; and beheld your dear head emerging from the sea like Chrysaor's, or Leander's, or to come nearer home, like one of these boulders under the window on the edge of the sea, covered with sea-weed! The same day brought us a letter from Mackintosh, who says that if

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NAHANT,

1859

he knew the deacon of your church, he would send him word that you were dining at the Star and Garter, Richmond, with Mrs. [Caroline] Norton on Sunday! Since I last wrote you, George has delivered a Fourth of July Oration — solid, sober, literally paved with facts, which he pounded in so hard, as considerably to hurt some of the Aldermen, particularly the Dred Scott fact, which jammed the lovers of fiction very badly.3 [Pause of one hour, during which the undersigned takes a bath, or rather tries and fails, owing to low tide and high wind. The Unwashed continues.]4 Felton is wasting his time and talents in two newspaper controversies. He is maliciously accused of being converted to Spiritism; from an unbeliever to have become a Spiritist, (that is the word now, not Spiritualist). Controversy No 1. Then one of the Keyhole correspondents of the Tribune accuses him of having wilfully suppressed the name of Wendel Philips, in counting the votes at the last meeting of the Alumni — malicious and false accusation! — and a great deal of time and ink to set this right!5 Hillard has gone to England for the Summer; means to try the Water Cure at Malvern. Mr. and Mrs. Stowe likewise sailed in the last steamer. Choate, as you must already know — started for England, but died at Halifax. 6 Dana has gone for his health to California and means to go to China, and come home by the way of India and Egypt, — remède héroïque. I have seen Dr. Hayward,7 who gives good report of you; thinks you will come back thoroughly well; but must be careful. I have written a lyric on Italy entitled "Enceladus," from which title your imagination can construct the poem. It is not a war-song; but a kind of lament for the woes of the country.8 To celebrate your return I have some delicious Spanish wine — a whole cask of it — "Alicante, vino tinto," equal to that in the "Drei Mohren" in Augsburg, whose thirsty Weinkarte you sent me. With kind memories of all the house Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . A clipping from the Boston Advertiser, X C I V , No. 1 7 (July 2 I > 1 8 5 9 ) 1 is pasted to the sheet following the salutation: " T h e honorary degree of Doctor of Laws ( L L . D . ) was conferred upon George Barrell Emerson of Boston, George Perkins Marsh of Burlington, Vt., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of Cambridge, [and] Charles Sumner of Boston. T h e announcement of Mr. Sumner's name was received by the assembly with a cordial burst of applause." Emerson Ç 1 7 9 7 - 1 8 8 1 ) had retired from professional life in 1 8 5 5 after forty years of teaching in secondary schools; Marsh ( 9 8 4 . 3 ) was appointed first U . S . minister to Italy in i860.

141

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

2. Legend attributes to Cadmus the introduction into Greece from Phoenicia of an alphabet of sixteen letters. 3. George Sumner's speech appeared in the Boston Transcript, XXX, No. 8953 (July 5> 1859). In the last part of the speech he criticized the conservative element ("the Aldermen") in Boston who had approved the Dred Scott decision. 4. Longfellow's brackets. 5. The accusation was first reported in the New York Tribune, XIX, No. 5695 (July 25, 1859). Felton responded with two letters in Nos. 5700 (July 30) and 5703 (August 3). 6. On July 13, 1859. 7. George Hayward ( 1 7 9 1 - 1 8 6 3 ) , Boston surgeon and professor of clinical surgery at Harvard, 1835-1849, who had recently been in Paris, where Sumner consulted him. 8. According to his journal, Longfellow wrote "Enceladus" on February 3, 1859 (Life, II, 377).

1743.

To William Davis Ticknor Nahant

A u g 4 1859

Dear Ticknor Please send a copy of "Hiawatha" by mail to Έ . J. Gale Drawer 116 P.O. Albany." 1 and charge the same to my account. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Indiana University Library. ι. Egbert J. Gale, salesman for a wholesale grocer, lived at 56 Division Street, Albany, N . Y . He disappears from the Albany directories after 1864.

1744.

T o Samuel Gray Ward1

Nahant August 9 1859. Dear Ward, I have not answered your letter, because I have been reflecting a little upon the subject of the Adirondac Club, and have pretty much made up my mind — if it is not too late to say so — not to join. 2 I wished to become a member solely on account of my boys; but there seem good and sufficient reasons why boys should not go. I think there is a pretty general feeling that they would be rather in the way; and as I am not a sportsman, and probably should never join one of the expeditions, 142

NAHANT,

1859

though they are very charming to the imagination, if there is no objection, I shall withdraw my name without more ado. Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow S. G. Ward MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. Ward ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 9 0 7 ) was the American agent of Baring Brothers, London. See 544.9. 2. Longfellow had been elected a member of the club in June (William James Stillman to Longfellow, June 24 [ 1 8 5 9 ] ) .

1745.

To James Thomas Fields NAHANT, A u g u s t 1 2 , 1 8 5 9 .

A thousand thanks for your charming letter from the Isle of Wight, with its suggestive date of Bonchurch (the only church you went to that day), and the spirited outline sketch of the Idyllic Poet serenely ploughing his windy acres.1 How much you have enjoyed! I have heard of you in London, — your breakfasts without end, and dinners forevermore. The Idyls [of the King] are a brilliant success. Rich tapestries, wrought as only Tennyson could have done them, and worthy to hang beside T h e Faerie Queene. 2 I believe there is no discordant voice on this side the water. Even George Blunt 3 has put a sugar-plum in his mouth, to speak of them with more dulcet accents than usual. And so you go on, seeing all the notable men and notable things. Meanwhile, the summer is not so propitious to me at the seaside. I feel as if I were on board ship; and you know what that means, — ill half the time, and unwell the rest. I begin to think that travelling is "a great medicine;" and this passing one's life, as I do, in two jails — the Sing Sing of Cambridge, and this salt-water-cure of idle Bostonians — is rather monotonous. T o give you an idea of the amusements provided for the patients, I enclose you a programme of this evening's performance;4 eagerly awaiting which, I pass the day in writing letters, — to Fields and others. But the children! — they thrive and rejoice. Here come the three girls bursting into the room, fresh from a bath. Well, I have kissed them all, and written them a little letter apiece, and turned them all out; and now proceed. Next time, tell me about Hawthorne and his new book;5 and about your walks and talks with the publishers. I have not seen any English papers this summer, and am therefore rather in the dark. Occasionally, one of Ticknor & Co.'s advertisements in the Transcript glares at me like MS

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

a lantern; and I am dazzled with the names of new books gathered by your hand in London. As soon as you got fairly out of the country, I published 'Enceladus,' in order to contribute fifty dollars to the Italian "widows and wounded." 6 Mr. Prentice, of Louisville, is of opinion that you may shout, "Enceladus, arise!" a long time, before he will recover "from his third Nap." 7 Items, by the "key-hole" of the Transcript: E. P. Whipple is at Pigeon Cove. Darley is also there; this distinguished artist is soon to lead to the hymeneal altar Miss J. C., of Cambridge. 8 Pigeon Cove is their wellselected nest for the summer. James R. Lowell has gone to the Adirondacks. The "Autocrat" is at Newport. Emerson is on crutches, — Monadnock have "trundled him down its stones."9 William Winter is in Cambridgeport. M y wife sends her thanks, special and especial, to yours, for the kind remembrance, and the jessamine from Tennyson's garden. "Thank her very much indeed," she says, from the adjoining room. Our united love and good wishes to her in return. And now, Benedictas benedicat [May the Blessed One bless]! MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, II, 3 9 0 - 3 9 1 . ι . Fields and his wife had sailed for Europe in June and returned to Boston a year later. His sketch of Tennyson at Farringford, Isle of Wight, is contained in his letter of July 18, 1859 ( M S , Henry E. Huntington Library): " A tall stooping figure clad in sober grey, beard full and flowing, moustache, long stringy hair, and spectacles. His voice is shaggy-rough, and his gait moves with his voice. His 'near sight' does not improve his general appearance, as you may imagine. In his own house and grounds Çhe owns some hundred and fifty acres) he stumbles about in a kind of Tennyson fix which he does not seem to be trying to move away from . . . I will note down here that he strikes me constantly as the greatest man I have ever met in England. His knowledge is most wonderful, and when he talks he says things that are apt to send a thrill with the words. His usual tone is a low unmelodious thunder-growl, but when he chooses he can melt as well as rasp with his Lincolnshire tongue." 2. Longfellow had read Tennyson's Idylls of the King (Boston, 1 8 5 9 ) on July 19 and 20. " T h e first [Enid] and third [Elaine] are very superior; and could have come only from a great poet. T h e second [Vivien] and fourth [Guinevere] do not seem to me so good" CMS Journal, July 20, 1 8 5 9 ) . 3. Presumably a punning reference to George Lunt ( 7 4 2 . 1 ) , whose The Age of Gold had been Fields' first, unsuccessful publishing venture in American poetry, and who was now editor of the Boston Courier. 4. In his journal entry for this date Longfellow noted that there was a moonlight "Excursion Party" with music aboard the Nelly Baker, the small steamer that went between Boston and Nahant. 5. Transformation: or, The Romance of Monte Beni CLondon, i 8 6 0 ) , 3 vols. T h e American edition, published by Ticknor & Fields, was entitled The Marble Faun: or, The Romance of Monte Beni CBoston, i 8 6 0 ) . 6. "Enceladus" appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, I V (August 1 8 5 9 ) , 220. 7. George Dennison Prentice ( 1 8 0 2 - 1 8 7 0 ) , journalist, wit, and minor poet, was

144

NAHANT,

1859

editor of the Louisville Daily Journal. T h e last line of "Enceladus" moved him to his pun on Napoleon III, who had aided Piedmont against Austria. 8. Darley married Jane Colburn (d. 1 9 1 6 , aged eighty-eight), daughter of the innovative mathematics teacher Warren Colburn ( 1 7 9 3 - 1 8 3 3 ) , on October 20, 1859. Longfellow attended the wedding ( M S Journal; Life, II, 3 9 4 ) . 9. C f . " I lame him, clattering down the rocks" in Emerson's poem "Monadnoc," 1. 342. Emerson sprained his foot, not on Mount Monadnock in N e w Hampshire, but "in coming down Wachusett" in Massachusetts. Letters of Emerson, V , 1 6 1 .

1746.

To Emily Allibone1 NAHANT,

August 18, 1859.

Your letter followed me down here by the seaside, where I am passing the summer with my three little girls. The oldest is about your age; but as little girls' ages keep changing every year, I can never remember exactly how old she is, and have to ask her mamma, who has a better memory than I have. Her name is Alice; I never forget that. She is a nice girl, and loves poetry almost as much as you do. The second is Edith, with blue eyes and beautiful golden locks which I sometimes call her "nankeen hair," to make her laugh. She is a very busy little woman, and wears gray boots. The youngest is Allegra; which, you know, means merry; and she is the merriest little thing you ever saw, — always singing and laughing all over the house. These are my three little girls, and Mr. Read has painted them all in one picture, which I hope you will see some day. They bathe in the sea, and dig in the sand, and patter about the piazza all day long, and sometimes go to see the Indians encamped on the shore, and buy baskets and bows and arrows. I do not say anything about the two boys. They are such noisy fellows it is of no use to talk about them. And now, dear Miss Emily, give my love to your papa, and good-night, with a kiss, from his friend and yours. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, II, 3 9 2 - 3 9 3 . ι. Daughter of Samuel Austin Allibone. In a letter to Longfellow of July 5, 1 8 5 9 , she had described herself as "nearly nine years old."

1747.

To Charles Munde1

Nahant Aug. 18 1859 My Dear Sir I have this morning had the pleasure of receiving your letter, and am glad to know that my nephew is safe under your roof and care. There can be no doubt, that the treatment will be of great service to him.2 1

45

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

In reply to your question concerning Mr. Schaad, I am sorry, to say that I have no remembrance of him. T h e name is not unfamiliar; perhaps some letters may have passed between us; very possibly I may have seen him; but if so I no longer recollect it, nor when, nor where. I am therefore quite unable to give you any information in regard to him. 3 I beg you to give my kind remembrance to my nephew, and tell him to be patient. With much regard Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow p.s. I enclose you a check for $40.00 on account. Dr. Chs. Munde. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι. Munde (d. 1887, aged eighty-two), an exiled German physician, conducted a hydropathic sanatorium at Florence, on the Mill River near Northampton, Mass., from 1850 to 1865. He was the father of the distinguished German-American gynecologist Dr. Paul Fortunatus Munde (1846-1902). 2. The details of Harry Longfellow's flight to Dr. Munde are not known, although Fanny Longfellow's letter to Mary Longfellow Greenleaf of August 5, 1859, which describes his state, suggests that his brother, William Pitt Preble Longfellow, may have arranged it: "We have sad news today from Harry. A young man [Ferdinand Hoffman], once assistant at the school in Stockbridge, and just from there, tho' belonging in Andover, kindly came down here to tell Henry that Harry was in a sad way, lying in bed all day smoking, and taking laudanum, and they were evidently frightened up there for the consequences. He seems to have given up all exertion, and is in an alarming condition of mind and body. Henry at once sent a telegram to Willy to go up there and take care of him." 3. John Christian Schaad was a Swiss-born teacher of modern languages in the Pittsburgh High School and librarian of the Young Men's Mercantile Library when he wrote the first of seven letters to Longfellow on August 9, 1856. He was the author of Ocean Waves in Lyric Strains, a Requiem; and Other Poems, by the "hermit of St. Eirene" (Pittsburgh, 1856).

1748.

To Bernard Rölker

Nahant Sept. 9 1859 M y Dear Rölker Your letter came swift and sure, with a perfect placer of Postage stamps, which gave infinite delight, and no little occupation to many little hearts and hands. It was very kind and considerate of you not to forget; and what you say of promises made to children is very just and true. Many thanks. Alice sends you hers in the enclosed. So you are already in the whirl of city life again. Every where the Summer tide ebbs town ward again. W e still linger here for a day or two longer, and then go back to the no less quiet Cambridge. I think my only

146

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 9

dissipation will be to take the boys to Portland, to see the Great Eastern come steaming up the harbor.1 Farewell. My wife and all the household join in kindest remembrances. Ever faithfully H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι. At 18,914 tons gross, the Great Eastern was the largest and most publicized ship of the day. Launched in England in 1858, she proved a commercial failure, although in 1866 she was used successfully to lay the Atlantic cable. Longfellow and his boys were not on hand in Portland to greet the ship on its maiden voyage.

1749.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce Cambridge

Sept 18 1859

Dearest Annie, I have postponed writing to you from day to day in the hope of hearing something from Dr. Munde. A[t] length a letter has come, which I enclose.1 We will discuss the contents when I see you. W e are much obliged for your br[o]ad and catholic invitation, "Come one, come all." I shall come with the boys, and perhaps Alice; but I am afraid Fanny will not venture herself in the rush of railroads.2 She will write to you tomorrow. On what day is the "Great Eastern" expected? W e got home [from Nahant] on Thursday; just in time to escape the storm; and I confess I am glad to be again under our own roof. With much love to you all Ever affect[ionatel]y H.W.L. p.s. Your letter to Fanny contained a Postscript, to which I send an answer within. I find that Fanny has already written. I enclose her note.3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. Unrecovered. 2. Longfellow does not mention in his journal having made this trip to Portland. 3. Unrecovered.

M ?

IN A T R O U B L E D 1750.

To James

WORLD

1

McClelland

Cambridge Sept 22 1859 My Dear Sir Will you do me the favor to dine with me on Saturday at a Club, where you will meet Emerson, and Agassiz, if he comes back in the steamer of this week, as is expected. We dine at 2 1 / 2 o'clock, at Parker's in School St. and I will call for you at your hotel a few minutes earlier. If you will be kind enough to leave an answer with the clerk of the Revere House, the bearer will call for it. Yours faithfully Henry W. Longfellow James McClelland Esq MANUSCRIPT: T h e Carl H. Pforzheimer Library. ι. McClelland (d. 1 8 6 6 ) , a Glasgow lawyer, had called on Longfellow on September 2 1 with letters from Charles Mackay ( 1 6 3 0 . 1 ) and John Pringle Nichol ( 9 7 0 . 5 ) .

1751.

To Edward Everett

Cambridge Sept 30 1859. My Dear Sir, It will give me very great pleasure to meet Sir Henry Holland1 at your table on Tuesday; and I am much obliged to you for giving me the opportunity. I remain Truly Yours Henry W. Longfellow Hon Edward Everett. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society,

ENDORSEMENT: Rec'd 1 Octr. '59

ι . Holland ( 1 7 8 8 - 1 8 7 3 ) , "physician in ordinary" to Queen Victoria, was a prominent London social figure.

1752.

To James Lorimer Graham, Jr.1

Cambridge Oct. 1 1859. Dear Sir, I have written a stanza for you under the Portrait; not the one you suggested, but something more appropriate; and will send the parcel by Express on Monday, it being too late to-day. Many thanks for Mr. Schuyler Hamilton's book on the National Flag.2 I shall read it with interest. I see by his Preface, that he does not 148

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 9

favor the idea of deriving the Stars and Stripes from the Washington coat of arms. I still think there is some connection between the two. If one could only be quite sure that what we have is really the old family escutcheon, and not, so to speak, hera[l]dic back-water from the flag! W i t h much regard Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow J. Lorimer Graham Jr MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia, ADDRESS: James Lorimer Graham Jr Esq/4 Washington Square/New York, POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MASS OCT I

ι. Graham (1835-1876), wealthy New York dilettante and subsequently American consul general in Italy, had sent Longfellow his own portrait with a letter of September 25, asking that it be returned with an autograph and inscription. 2. History of the National Flag of the United States of America (Philadelphia, 1852). Hamilton (1822-1903), soldier and engineer, was the grandson of Alexander Hamilton.

1753.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Oct. 3 1859. Dearest Annie, I have only time this morning to send you your October Dividend; and to say that I have received your letter and the Florence Documents 1 which I will return to you by Mary [Longfellow Greenleaf] at the end of the week. I think, upon the whole, you had better let Harry come home now. Captain Davis has written for me to Capt. Dupont, in Harry's behalf. I hope some thing better will offer itself than the African station.2 This is no career; and Harry ought really to be about something permanent. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . These documents, unrecovered, presumably dealt with Harry Longfellow's problems. Florence, a post-village on the Mill River, was near Dr. Munde's hydropathic establishment. 2. With Stephen Longfellow now safely if temporarily in the navy (1738.3), Anne Pierce contemplated a similar solution for Harry. Captain Charles Henry Davis (610.7) had recently returned from the Pacific Squadron for duty in Cambridge as editor of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, a journal he had founded in 1852. Samuel Francis D u Pont (1803-1865), U.S. Navy, who was later to play a prominent role in the Civil War, was in Boston as captain of the Minnesota.

149

IN A T R O U B L E D 1754.

WORLD

To Ticknor & Fields

[Cambridge, October 13, 1859] To Messrs Ticknor & Fields Please deliver to Revd. Mr. Fowler1 a copy of "Miles Standish" and charge to Henry W. Longfellow p.s. If you have any other books to give to a Literary Institution2 here is a good chance. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library,

ENDORSEMENT: T . Oct. 1 3 / 5 9

ι . Possibly William Chauncey Fowler Ç 1 7 9 3 - 1 8 8 1 ) , Yale graduate of 1 8 1 6 , Congregational minister, author, and son-in-law of Noah Webster. H e lived at this time in Durham, Conn. 2. T h e Durham Academy, if the identification of "Revd. Mr. Fowler" is correct.

1755.

To ] ames Walker

Cambridge October 14 1859. Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your letter and the Diploma of the Degree conferred upon me by the Government of Harvard College at the last Commencement. I beg leave, through you, to return to the gentlemen my best acknowledgments for this mark of their consideration and good will, and to expregs to them the assurance of my unabated interest in the welfare of the College. I remain, Dear Sir, Very faithfully Yours, Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Papers, X X V I , 3 2 7 . of Harvard, p. 93.

1756.

PUBLISHED: Professor

Longfellow

To James Walker

Cambridge Oct 14 1859 Dear Sir, I received yesterday a note from Mr. Lander, father of the artist, — requesting me to inform you "of the safe arrival, in excellent order, of Christopher Gore Bust" executed by his daughter for the College.1 He adds: "The appraisal at the Custom-house required the case con150

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 9

taining the Bust to be opened for inspection but allowed it to be done at Williams and Everett's Store, Washington St. where the Bust is on exhibition — I understand 'tis a privilege claimed by the artist, to exhibit his or her work, so that I have taken this liberty for a brief term; the Bust however is entirely at the control of the College, and the property of the Corporation — but remains in perfectly safe hands till called for." I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Rev. Dr. Walker MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Papers, X X V I , 3 2 9 . of Harvard, pp. 1 0 6 - 1 0 7 .

PUBLISHED: Professor

Longfellow

ι. Louisa Lander ( 1 8 2 6 - 1 9 2 3 ) , Salem-born sculptor now living in Rome, had been commissioned by the Harvard Corporation to prepare a marble bust of Christopher Gore ( 1 7 5 8 - 1 8 2 7 ) , whose philanthropy to the college had resulted in the completion in 1 8 4 1 of Gore Hall, the library building where the bust was to be placed. Her father, Edward Lander, had written to Longfellow on October 1 2 . For details, see Professor Longfellow of Harvard, pp. 1 0 5 - 1 0 7 .

l

757·

To Robert Carter1 Cambridge

October 20 1859

M y Dear Sir, I reply promptly and briefly as follows. I do not know the date of Hawthorne's birth. Miss Elizabeth Peabody would be likely to know. It must have been as early as 1807: probably 1806. 2 W e were classmates; Class of 1825. Dr. Cheever was of the same class, [Franklin] Pierce and Stowe, a year before us. Prentiss and Hale, a year after us.3 From 1825 to 1837 Hawthorne was living in Salem, writing the Twice Told Tales. T h e first thing of his I ever saw in print was "The Gentle Boy" in the "Token." 4 I think this may be the "anonymous Romance" of Allibone; I never heard of any other. Of the Lenox Hegira, I know not the date; nor of the return to Concord. 5 T h e obscure period of ten years or more after his leaving College — was intellectually a very important one to Hawthorne. I have seen the old house in Salem, within whose sombre walls he passed them musing and meditating. He seldom went out till after dark; but sat the whole day ι 5

1

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A TROUBLED

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in his room reading or writing; and sometimes without either reading or writing, but holding his pen in his hand, waiting for the inspiration. Use this discreetly, if you please. He told it to me himself; 6 but perhaps would not like to see it in print, in just this shape. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow p.s. Do you ever meet Gurowsky? If so, I beg you to remember me to him. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. ι . Carter ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 7 9 ) , author, editor, and close friend of James Russell Lowell, with whom in 1843 he had founded The Pioneer, was at this time associated with George Ripley and Charles A. Dana in compiling the American Cyclopxdia ( 1651.9). In a letter of October 18, 1859, he revealed that he had been assigned the taslc of writing a sketch of Hawthorne's life and asked Longfellow for the information given here. 2. Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804-1894) was his sister-in-law. 3. Longfellow's college acquaintances not previously mentioned in his letters were Calvin Ellis Stowe (1802-1886), theologian, educator, and husband of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Sergeant Smith Prentiss (1808-1850), lawyer, orator, and W h i g congressman from Mississippi, 1838-1839. John Parker Hale ( 1 1 1 0 . 3 ) was a member of the class of 1827. 4. The Token; a Christmas and New Year's Present, ed. S. G. Goodrich (Boston, 1832), pp. 193-240. 5. Hawthorne spent the period May 1850-November 1851 in Lenox. He returned to Concord in June 1852. 6. In a letter of June 4, 1837. See Life, I, 264-265.

1758.

To George William Curtis

Cambridge Oct. 20 1859 M y Dear Curtis, You know I do not like to give letters of introduction, but this morning I could not help it, and have given young Winter a line to you. He wishes to try his fortunes in N e w York, as a writer for the papers! I have strongly dissuaded him; but as he has begun the dream, I suppose it must go on to its natural conclusion. If you can say a good word for him to the Harpers, to whom I have written, it would be very kind of you. You understand I am not laying any social claims upon you, only asking the "crumbs of comfort" which will naturally fall from your heart and lips, on seeing the young man coming up to London (figuratively speaking) without friends or fortune, (literally speaking). 1

152

CAMBRIDGE,

1859

Fanny joins me as ever in kind remembrances, and in the hope of seeing you next. Will you stay with us? Pray do? Ever thine H.W.L. Geo. W. Curtis. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. William Winter shortly established himself in New York as an editor of the weekly Saturday Press.

1759.

To Harper Brothers Cambridge

Oct. 20 1859.

Gentlemen, My pleasant recollections of the times that are past, when I began my literary career with you, make me take the liberty of introducing to your friendly offices, the bearer, Mr. William Winter, a young poet and man of letters, of whose abilities I think highly, and in whose success I feel a friendly interest. If there is anything for him to do in your Monthly or your Weekly, I hope you will give him a chance. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Messrs Harper Brothers MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library.

1760.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Nov. ι 1859. Dear Annie, I have delayed writing in the hope of having some good word from Capt. Davis. He tells me he has not yet reed, any answer from Dupont. He also says that a fine ship is fitting out in Philadelphia for the Mediterranean. At my request he has written to Capt. Palmer, the commanding officer.1 As yet I get no answer. He does not think there is much chance. I shall try to see him to-day or tomorrow; and hope to get something definite, one way or the other. With much love, in which Fanny joins, to Aunt Lucia and yourself. Ever aff [ectionatel]y H.W.L.

153

IN A T R O U B L E D MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow T r u s t Collection, Me.

WORLD

ADDRESS: Mrs. A n n e L . Pierce/Portland/

P O S T M A R K : C A M B R I D G E M A S S NOV I

1 . James

Shedden

Palmer

(1810-1867),

U.S.

Navy,

commanded

the

steamship

Iroquois at this time. K n o w n throughout the fleet as "Pie-crust Palmer," he served with distinction in the Civil W a r and rose to the rank of rear admiral.

1761.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Nov 8. 1859 Dear Annie, Too late, again! Here is Capt. Palmer's answer to Davis. I am doubly sorry; because the Irroquois goes to the Mediterranean. 1 The Cross you send does not please me : nor would that of the Golden Legend do; it being so very Catholic. Why have any? It will only be another delay, and annoyance; and would not add to the beauty of the book, while it would increase the expense some fifteen dollars or thereabout. For my part, in such a book I should prefer a simple title-page.2 I am sorry to hear, that Aunt Lucia is suffering from rheumatism. The usual remedy is Colchicum; but that is apt to derange the digestion, I believe. I will see Davis again; but I have no great hopes in that direction. With much love from us all, Yours ever H.W.L. p.s. The Bust is in the study! I shall not be taken by surprise.3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow T r u s t Collection. ι . In Palmer's letter from N e w York of N o v e m b e r 3 he stated that he had already appointed his "Captain's clerk." A n n e Pierce replied on Saturday [November 1 2 ] : [Harry Longfellow] worked very

"He

well the fortnight with his U n c l e [Alexander Long-

fellow], but his pay $ 1 0 . might as well, or better, [have] been thrown a w a y without going through his hands. Billiards, borrowing

money, smoking etc. are still persisted in. Y o u

cannot hold him in the right." 2. A n n e Pierce was involved in the publication of Remembered Sermons of Rev. lchabod

Nichols

Words,

from

the

(Boston, i 8 6 0 ) .

3. It is not clear which of several busts in Longfellow's study is referred to here.

1762.

To Henry Oscar Houghton1 [Cambridge]

Nov. 15. 1859

Passing your door, I leave a card to say, that it gives me great pleasure to accept your invitation for this evening. 2 Yours truly H.W.L.

154

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 9

MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. Houghton ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 9 5 ) , Cambridge publisher, founded in 1852 the firm that in 1880 became Houghton Mifflin & Company. Longfellow's note to him is written on a calling card. 2. In a letter of November 14 Houghton had invited Longfellow to meet the employees of his firm "together with several literary gentlemen, authors, publishers &c."

1763.

ToJohnNeal Cambridge

Nov 18 1859

My Dear Neal, I have just had the pleasure of receiving from the Publishers a copy of your new novel "True Womanhood." 1 But as these five hundred substantial pages are not to be read in an hour and a day, (at least in my style of reading,) I must thank you first and read afterwards. The Preface has the true flavor; and I have no doubt the whole book is permeated with it. Thanks! many thanks! And as gratitude is a "lively sense of favors yet to come,"2 do not forget that Autobiography is what biography ought to be!3 I was sorry not to see Akers, on his way to Europe. I think highly of him, as you do. Mr. Beckett called, and we had a good deal of talk about his poem. I also spoke to Ticknor on the subject; but whether Mr. Beckett saw him I do not know.4 Very truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Sherwood Picking Estate (on deposit, Harvard College Library). 1. True Womanhood: A Tale (Boston, 1859). 2. Cf. La Rochefoucauld, Maximes, No. 298. 3. Longfellow's pun refers to Neal's contemplated Wandering Recollections of a Somewhat Busy Life: An Autobiography, which he did not publish until 1869. According to the Recollections (p. 1), it was Longfellow who encouraged him in the project. 4. Sylvester Breakmore Beckett ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 8 2 ) , a Portland journalist, published his poem Hester in Portland in 1860.

1764.

T o Alexander Wadsworth

Longfellow

Camb. Nov. 30 1859 Dear Alex. Please call at the Express Office, tomorrow or next day, and ask for a box of tea, which ought to be in Portland by that time.

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It is English Breakfast, of very superior quality; — a Christmas present for your wife; to whom also our love. Ever Yours H.W.L.

MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library.

1765.

To Pierre Munr0 Irving

Cambridge Dec 16 1859. My Dear Irving, Though it is better "to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting,"1 yet I have refrained from knocking too soon at your door, from a fear that it might disturb you, more than it would comfort you. I beg you to believe, however, that none the less sincere has been my sympathy with you, and your bereaved household, for whom, though for the most part a stranger, I yet feel as a friend. Last evening at a meeting of our Historical Society, I presented the inclosed Resolutions. If they fall short of what you would have desired, remember that on such occasions a certain reticence is always better than any over-statement. George Sumner could not be present; but a letter from him was read, and I presume will be published with the other proceedings.2 With affectionate remembrances, Dear Irving, Ever Yours, Henry W. Longfellow. Pierre M. Irving MANUSCRIPT: Yale University Library. ι. Eccles. 7:2. Washington Irving had died on November 28. 2. For Longfellow's address and resolutions, see Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1858-1860 (Boston, i860), pp. 393-395, 422-423.

1766.

To George Washington Greene

Cambridge Dec 19 1859. My Dear Greene, A thousand thanks for your "Bibliographical Studies," which I have received and read with very great pleasure.1 You have treated the subjects with the skill of an artist and the tenderness of a friend. I am rejoiced that you have done it, and done it 156

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 5 9

now, when the country is just beginning to have some conception of what it owes to Cooper and Irving. A few evenings ago, at a special meeting of our Historical Society, I endeavored to enforce the same truth in regard to Irving, by some remarks and Resolutions. Everett, also, spoke, and Felton and Holmes, and Col. Aspinwall, an old London friend. 2 Some of these things you may see in the newspapers; and if they are ever brought together in a pamphlet form, I shall send you a copy. George Sumner could not be present, but wrote a letter. Do not trouble yourself about the Spanish Wine. I have a quantity of it. Ever Yours, as of old H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. Longfellow confused the title. Greene's Biographical Studies ( N e w York, i 8 6 0 ) contained essays on Cooper, Thomas Cole, Thomas Crawford, and Irving. 2. For their remarks, see Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society ( 1 7 6 5 . 2 ) , pp. 3 9 5 - 4 2 2 .

1767.

To William Makepeace

Thackeray Cambridge

Dec 19 1859 1

Dear Mr. Thackeray, I feel flattered by your invitation to write for the "Cornhill Magazine," and would do so with pleasure, were I not under an obligation to the "Atlantic" people here, to send them anything and everything I may write for periodical publication. I am sorry that you did not make out your visit to us this Winter. But then we shall get your Magazine, and that is a consolation. Sumner's books arrived safely. I saw them on his table, standing in goodly array, and looking very attractive in their handsome leather jerkins. Appleton is in New York folâtrant et s'amusant [playing and amusing himself]. He had your friendly greeting before he went, and left behind for you a kindred message. With assurances of the regard, with which you are always thought of and spoken of under this roof, Very truly Yours Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library.

I57

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ι . For Thackeray's letter to Longfellow of November 16, 1859, to which this is a response, see Gordon Ray, ed., The Letters and Private Papers of William Makepeace Thackeray (Cambridge, Mass., 1 9 4 5 - 1 9 4 6 ) , I V , 1 6 4 - 1 6 5 .

1768.

T o George Washington

Greene

Camb. Dec 20 1859 M y Dear Greene I wrote you yesterday to thank you for your book, and to say how much I liked it. Not having your new address, I directed to the care of Mr. Putnam. To-day I have your note from "St. Mary's Hill" and know where to find you. 1 Thanks for Elliot's "water-proof roof-cement," which having copied I return herewith. 2 Thanks also for your offer touching the wine. Catalan I have in abundance; and Alicante; — but I shall like to taste the Italian, if the Genoese or Neapolitan merchants do not spoil it, by fortifying for the voyage, which is a great folly. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. Greene's address was " A t St. Mary's Hill — Buckwood — (Tarrytown P . O . ) . " 2. In a note of December 18 Greene had written: " I enclose you (at last) Elliott's prescription which I must ask you to return when you have used it, as I have no copy."

1769.

To Charles

Sumner Cambridge

Dec 20 1859. 1

My Dear Sumner, W e shall be looking for you at Christmas; but shall you come this week? I want to make sure of you for one evening to meet Mrs. Kemble, but cannot fix the day, till I consult with you both.2 I am very eager to see you, and to hear about your Washington life. From what you write to Felton, I fear you find it more intolerable than ever. There is nothing new here, but the Meeting of the Hist. Soc. to pass Resolutions in honor of Washington Irving, in which I took part; as did Everett, Felton, Holmes and Col. Aspinwall, and George by letter. Did you ever have the whooping-cough? Four of our children have it together; and all day long, and all night long, we hear 158

CAMBRIDGE, "The wolf's long howl from Oonalaska's shore."3 Hoping soon to behold your face, Ever truly thine H.W.L. p.s. Duly received two vols of Congress[ional] Globe; for which all thanks. p.s. I forgot to send rny felicitations to President Felton. Present them for me in due form. I never before had a friend who was President of anything above a Debating Society, or possibly a Savings Bank or something of that kind!4 Please ask the Austrian Minister if he knows Mr. Karl Keck of "Schloss Aistersheim, nächst Wels in Oesterreich oh der Enns [Castle Aistersheim, next to Wels in Austria on the Enns]." He has sent me a very clever translation of "The Golden Legend"; 5 and seems to be a gentleman of leisure residing on his estates and devoting himself to literature and science, particularly Botany. Well, at last a Speaker! I only hope he is really a Republican.6 Mrs. Kemble begins her Second and last Course of Readings on Monday. This will take the place of the Opera; — a dying swan, that sings till Saturday.7 These are the most important items of news. What are we coming to? Here is a notice8 of a French novel, which in reality is almost as licentious as Casanova, and yet highly recommended toute nue [stark naked] in English! Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. After an absence of eighteen months in Europe, Sumner had arrived in Boston from Liverpool on November 2 1 . Longfellow, who visited him immediately, found him "looking hale and hearty, and calling himself 'a well man!' " ( M S Journal). On December 5 he took his seat in the Senate for the first session of the Thirty-Sixth Congress. 2. T h e evening eventually fixed on to meet Fanny Kemble, who was in Boston to deliver a series of Shakespeare readings, was December 28 ( M S Journal). 3. Thomas Campbell, "Pleasures of Hope," Pt. 1 , 1 . 66. 4. Presumably a reference to Felton's consideration for the presidency of Harvard. He was elected by the Corporation on January 26, i860, confirmed by the Overseers on February 16, and inaugurated on July 19. 5. Die Goldene Legende, German by Karl Keck (Vienna, 1 8 5 9 ) . Keck (d. 1894, aged seventy) wrote eleven letters to Longfellow, 1 8 5 9 - 1 8 7 7 . 6. Longfellow's remark was premature. With no single party in majority, the House of Representatives dragged out a bitter contest for Speaker for eight weeks. Finally, on 1 5 9

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February i, i860, after forty-four ballots, a coalition elected William Pennington ( 1 7 9 6 - 1 8 6 2 ) , a Republican. 7. Longfellow remarked in his journal on November 2 3 that these were "her 'Last Readings' as she calls them — meaning to close her career in Boston." 8. Unrecovered.

1770.

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. Dec 20 1859 Dear Ticknor, A very pleasant dinner we had on Saturday. I hope you enjoyed it as much as your guests did. 1 May I trouble you to post these two letters? Very truly Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. I. Longfellow's journal entry for December 1 7 reads: "Dined with Ticknor, publisher, at Parker's; — an Atlantic Dinner. T h e other guests Emerson, Lowell, [Edmund] Quincy, Holmes, Charles Norton, and Agassiz who came in by accident, thinking it the Adirondac Club, and stayed, being warmly urged thereto. A very agreeable dinner; after which walked out to Cambridge, with Agassiz and Lowell."

1771.

To John Charles Peters1

Cambridge Dec 28 1859. M y Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for your kindness in sending me the copy of the Knickerbocker Magazine, containing your remarks upon Mr. Irving. 2 I read them with deep interest, as I do everything relating to him. I suppose you have Mr. Everett's Sketch of Irvings Life, read before the Mass. Hist. Soc. It was published in the Boston Daily Advertiser and in the Courier, 3 and I suppose in some of the New York Papers. Should the proceedings of the Society be collected in a pamphlet form, I will see that a copy is sent to your address. Inclosed you will find a paragraph from the Boston Evening Transcript. The writer is the Revd. Charles Brooks of Medford, Mass. 4 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours with regard Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library. ι. Peters ( 1 8 1 9 — 1 8 9 3 ) , a prominent homeopathist of N e w York who denounced the method in 1 8 6 1 , was Washington Irving's physician from 1 8 5 2 to his death. On I 6 O

CAMBRIDGE,

i860

December 22 he wrote Longfellow for references to newspaper and magazine articles about Irving. 2. Knickerbocker, LV (January i860), 9, 94, 96-99, 1 1 3 - 1 2 8 . The brief essay on "Washington Irving as an Invalid" by Dr. James Oscar Noyes ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 7 2 ) , proprietor and chief editor of the Knickerbocker at this time, was compiled from notes provided by Dr. Peters. 3. Boston Advertiser, XCIV, No. 143 (December 16, 1859); Boston Courier, LXXI, No. 143 (December 16, 1859). See also 1766.2. 4. Boston Transcript, XXX, No. 9097 (December 21, 1859), in which Brooks (485.12) recounted two tributes to Washington Irving by the English poet Thomas Campbell and the French scientist Dominique François Jean Arago ( 1 7 8 6 - 1 8 5 3 ) .

1772.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce Camb. Jan 3 1860

Dear Annie, Here it is at last! I found it carefully put away in this envelope for you. I had forgotten where I had secreted it.1 Last week I sent an illustrated "Hiawatha" for you, and one or two books for the children at Highwood [Highfield]. The weather is bitter cold here. Yesterday it was ten below zero, and I met Mrs. Nichols going to Boston. I hope she did not freeze. She said she had just reed, a letter from you. Harry has cold weather for his first voyage. I hope it may do him good in many ways; but it seems a rough remedy.2 Much love and many Happy New Years. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι. A design for a cross, to be used as an emblem for Rev. Ichabod Nichols' Remembered Words. See Letter No. 1761. 2. Anne Pierce's letters to Longfellow of January 23, April 4, and 13, i860, indicate that Harry Longfellow signed aboard the freighter Gauntlet and arrived on March 9 in London, where he left the ship because of illness, worked his way back across the Atlantic in a packet, and returned to Portland early in April.

1773.

To Henry Theodore Tuckerman

Cambridge Jan 3 1860 My Dear Tuckerman, A thousand thanks for your kind remembrance and for the copy of your "Character and Portraits of Washington";1 and as many apologies for not having thanked you sooner. Put it down, I pray you, to the hurry and confusion of the closing year and the Christmas Holidays; and not to any wilful negligence on my part. I like your book very much. It is both interesting and valuable; and 161

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alike good in matter and manner. I am very glad to own a copy; and am sincerely obliged to you for such a New Year's Present. I beg you to remember me to Dr. Francis, with my best wishes to him for many a Happy New Year, notwithstanding his unforgotten sorrow.2 Also to Lieber, and Greene and any other friend of mine you may meet. With many a "felice capo d'anno [Happy New Year]" Yours faithfully Henry W . Longfellow Henry T . Tuckerman Esq MANUSCRIPT: H e n r y E . Huntington Library. ι . The

Character

and Portraits of Washington

( N e w York, 1 8 5 9 ) . T h e edition was

limited to 1 5 6 copies. 2. John W a r d Francis, eldest son of Dr. John Wakefield Francis ( 4 3 5 . 5 ) , had died on January 20, 1 8 5 5 , aged twenty-two.

1774.

To James Freeman

Clarke1

Cambridge Jan 4 i860. My Dear Sir, Knives and forks do not strike me as a very appropriate gift for a bachelor. But who knows what may happen? Having such an incentive to house-keeping, perhaps our friend may seriously ponder on the matter. At all events I do not wish to be left out in any present to Charles Sumner, and will thank you to put my name down among the subscribers.2 Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Rev. J. Fr. Clarke MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library,

ADDRESS: Revd. Jas. Freeman Clarke/Boston.

P O S T M A R K : BOSTON MASS J A N 4

ι . Clarke ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 8 8 ) , transcendentalist and reformer, was minister of the Church of the Disciples, Boston. 2. According to a note by Clarke attached to the manuscript, the service of knives and forks, bought by "some gentlemen" as a gift for Sumner, had once belonged to Lajos Batthyány ( 1 8 0 6 - 1 8 4 9 ) , first constitutional prime minister of H u n g a r y

(1848),

w h o committed suicide when his government w a s overthrown and he was put under sentence of death.

I 62

CAMBRIDGE, 1775.

i860

To Joseph Worcester [Cambridge, January 6, i860] 1

Allow me to congratulate you on the successful completion of so great a work; 2 and that you have no occasion, in closing your Preface, to repeat the memorable and melancholy words of Dr. Johnson, at the close of his.3 That the public may appreciate your labors for the good cause of "English undefiled," 4 and your work be received with the applause it so justly merits, is my sincere wish. MANUSCRIPT:

unrecovered; text from Boston Courier, LXXII, No. 17 (January 20,

i860). ι . The date is established by Longfellow's letter calendar. 2. Worcester's A History of the English Language (Boston, i860). Longfellow's letter was printed as an endorsement of the book. 3. "I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise." 4. The Faerie Queene, Book IV, Canto II, Stanza 32.

1776.

To Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff

Camb. Jan 1 2 i860. Dear Sir, I shall be pleased to have my name used in so good a cause.1 Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT:

Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

ι . This note appears on a blank sheet of a printed circular marked "Proof," which had been sent to Longfellow with the annotated request, "Please inform Nathl. B. Shurtleff whether your name may be used on this circular in accordance with the vote of the committee." The printed circular reads: " S I R / A t a recent Meeting of the ASSOCIATION OF T H E A L U M N I OF HARVARD C O L L E G E , the undersigned were appointed a Committee to take measures for the Erection of a S T A T U E OF J O S I A H QUINCY, in commemoration of his eminent public services, and as a token of the respect and affection of those who have personally known him, or been associated with him, in the many important offices which he has filled with so much credit to himself and advantage to his country. An honor of this sort is usually reserved for the illustrious dead; but, in this case, it seems peculiarly appropriate that it should be paid to the living. Mr. QUINCY is still with us, but at so advanced an age that the opinion which is entertained of him by the present generation may be supposed fairly to represent the calm and unbiased judgment of posterity, while it is founded, of course, upon the larger knowledge and warmer sympathies of those who have seen his face and heard his words. "A public testimonial of the love and gratitude of those who have been his contemporaries during a portion of his career may fitly herald the honors which will be awarded to him by history and tradition. From 1805 to 1813, Mr. QUINCY represented his native State in Congress; for six years he was Mayor of Boston; for sixteen years he

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was President of Harvard College. If we add his services upon the Bench and as a Member of the State Legislature, it appears that his public career has been at least as long and varied as that of any native of New England. As an author, his contributions to history and biography form a portion of our standard national literature. It is little to say of him, that he has been eminently successful in all the distinguished stations that he has held, and that no stain has fallen upon his honor, no imputation upon his patriotism. During most of the time that he was in office, political agitation was rife, and other causes of dissension were not wanting; but he invariably secured the respect of his opponents, and the warm attachment and gratitude of his friends. His manliness and independence of character, his unquestioned integrity and fidelity to public trust, his acknowledged abilities, and his life-long devotion to the best interests of the community in which he lived and of the country at large, have fairly earned for him the highest honors which it is in the power of this generation to bestow. "It is proposed to erect his Statue in one of the halls of Harvard College; which Institution, for a longer time than any other, enjoyed the exclusive benefit of his services. The estimated cost of the work is about $8,000; and the execution of it is to be confided to Mr. W I L L I A M w. S T O R Y , who was graduated under Mr. Q U I N C Y ' S Presidency, and who is favorably known as an artist from his excellent statue of his father, the late Judge S T O B Y , one of Mr. Q U I N C Y ' S oldest and most valued friends. "Any contribution which you may be willing to make for this object may be forwarded to B E N J A M I N s. R O A C H , Esq., of Boston, who is the Treasurer of the Fund. " N A T H A N I E L p. B A N K S , Chairman, CHARLES F. ADAMS. J A M E S W A L K E R , Vice-Chairman. C O R N E L I U S C. F E L T O N . L E M U E L SHAW.

GEORGE LIVERMORE.

J O H N G. P A L F R E Y .

WILLIAM GRAY.

CALEB CUSHING.

GEORGE R . R U S S E L L .

RALPH W. EMERSON.

CHARLES E. NORTON.

H E N R Y W. LONGFELLOW.

RUSSELL STURGIS."

Roach is presumably a misprint for Rotch. Benjamin Smith Rotch ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 8 2 ) , wealthy merchant of Boston and New Bedford, was a Harvard graduate of 1838. Lemuel Shaw ( 1 7 8 1 - 1 8 6 1 ) , jurist, was the father-in-law of Herman Melville. William Gray ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 9 2 ) was a Harvard overseer, 1866-1872. George Robert Russell (18001866) was a retired Boston merchant. Story's statue of Quincy, completed in 1878, now stands in Sanders Theater, Harvard.

1777.

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge Jan 31 1860. My Dear Sumner, January shall not die, though he is at his last gasp, without leaving you something in his will, namely a letter from me. It will not make you very rich, but it will ease his conscience, and mine; and you will not feel hurt at being cut off with a shilling. I return with all care Mrs. Tennyson's note; and send you multitudinous warnings from my wife and myself, to take better care of your Milton autograph, or, by the Forty Thieves, some fine morning you will find it missing. It will be stolen from under you, as Sancho Panza's ass was by Ginés de Pasamonte, and you will be left sitting on the covers.1 164

C A M B R I D G E ,

Ï 8 6 o

We miss you very much; and condole with you on Macauley's death; and Mrs. Follen's, also, a faithful soul departed and a loss to us all.2 Have you read Tennyson's "Sea-Idyl"? You will find it in the last No. of Harper's Weekly.3 Geo. Curtis has been here with a stirring lecture.4 Both Hillard and Ticknor have spoken of Macauley before the Hist. Soc. but I did not hear them.5 I beg you to remember me to Mr. Schleiden® when you next meet him at dinner. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Don Quixote, Pt. I, Bk. iii, Ch. 9. T h e note to Sumner from Emily Sarah Sellwood Tennyson ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 9 6 ) is unrecovered. Sumner's autograph of Milton is in the Harvard College Library (Life, II, 3 9 9 η ) . 2. Thomas Babington Macaulay had died on December 28, 1859; Mrs. Folien ( 1 6 6 8 . 2 ) on January 26, i860. 3. IV, No. 161 (January 28, i 8 6 0 ) , 5 1 . 4. Curtis lectured on "Modern Infidelity" at Cambridgeport on January 26 ( M S Journal). 5. See Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, I V ( 1 8 5 8 - 1 8 6 0 ) , 4 2 6 4 2 7 . A special meeting of the society had been held on January 26 to adopt resolutions on Macaulay's death. 6. Rudolf Matthias Schleiden ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 9 5 ) , minister to the United States from the Hanseatic Republic and the Free City of Bremen, 1 8 5 3 - 1 8 6 4 , was a particular friend of Sumner.

1778.

To Emma Martin Marshall Cambridge near Boston

Feb. 4. 1860

My Dear Mrs. Marshall I have two nice letters to thank you for, and so many apologies to make for not having thanked you sooner, that I know not how nor where to begin. Emerson says; "Never apologize!"1 So, if you please, I will not, but devote the space to something pleasanter. I hope you received a volume of Poems,2 which I requested my London publisher to send you last year. It contained the poem on Children, which I am glad has given you pleasure, and another, "Sandalphon" which I think you will like. All is well with us here in Cambridge; and it is delightful to see by your letters how happy you are in your children. A wonderful world is that of childhood; and to most people almost a foreign country, whose language they have forgotten. 165

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3

Here is a strip I cut from a newspaper. Portland was my native place and these good English ladies the first English people I ever saw. T h e name is connected with my earliest recollections of boyhood. Ever very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Cf. "Self-Reliance": "Let us never bow and apologize more." 2. The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems. 3. Unrecovered.

1779.

To Hickling, Swan & Brewer

Cambridge Feb. 6 i860 Gentlemen, In your favor of Jan 20th. you informed me that the extract from my letter to Dr. Worcester had been withdrawn from your advertisement. Yet in to-day's Advertiser I find a portion of it still remaining. I take the liberty of calling your attention to it, bein£ sure it has been retained without your sanction.1 I remain, Gentlemen, Your Obt. Sert. Henry W . Longfellow Messrs Hickling, Swan and Brewer. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι . T h e extract from Longfellow's letter to Joseph Worcester was first printed in the Boston Courier. See Letter No. 1 7 7 5 . T h e altered advertisement to which he here objects appeared in the Boston Advertiser, X C V , No. 31 (February 6, i 8 6 0 ) . Hickling, Swan & Brewer were the Boston publishers of Worcester's book.

1780.

To Emory

Washhurn1

Cambridge Feb. 9 1860 My Dear Sir, I believe you are the chairman of the Library Committee, and I take the liberty of suggesting, if not too late, that Mr. Ticknor, publisher, of the firm of Ticknor & Fields, should be put upon that Committee. He is a gentleman of experience in relation to Books, which would make his services valuable; and for many years has made donations to the Library, to a considerable amount, which might be acknowledged in this way.

166

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Commending the subject to your consideration, and hoping you will excuse the liberty I take, I remain, Dear Sir Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Bowdoin College Library. ι. Washburn ( 1 8 0 0 - 1 8 7 7 ) served as Governor of Massachusetts, 1 8 5 4 - 1 8 5 5 , and as a professor of law at Harvard, 1 8 5 6 - 1 8 7 6 . He was chairman of the college library committee at this time.

1781.

To Charles Deane Cambridge

Feb. 10 i860

My Dear Sir, I had the pleasure last evening of receiving the copy of "Wingfield's Narrative" 1 which you were so kind as to send me, and which I shall read with much interest, both for the sake of what is in it, and because you have published it in such an attractive form, that one cannot help reading it, if he would. Meanwhile accept my best thanks for your friendly remembrance of me, and believe me Ever faithfully Yours Henry W . Longfellow Charles Deane Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Edward Maria Wingfield, A Discourse of Virginia, printed from the original manuscript in the Lambeth Library, ed. with notes and an introduction by Charles Deane (Boston, i860). Wingfield (fl. 1 5 8 6 - 1 6 1 3 ) was an original grantee of the Virginia charter and president of the colony, April-September 1607.

1782.

T o William Giles Dix

Cambridge Feb. 10 i860 My Dear Sir, I am a very negligent correspondent, as you well know; and this time quite inexcusable in not thanking you sooner for your kind note, and for your souvenirs of Irving; the leaves from the house where he lived, and from the churchyard, where he is buried. I shall preserve them with pious care, pressed between the leaves of the "Sketch Book." Thanks, many thanks; and I hope it is not too late; though I fear you may already have taken flight from Tarry town. I am glad you liked, what I said of Irving before the Hist. Society. It is ι 67

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not easy to speak on such occasions. The fear of saying too little is apt to make one say too much; and the fear of saying too much to make one say too little. He is a great loss to us all; which we shall feel more and more. With my best wishes, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Wm. G. Dix Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library.

1783.

To William H. Ferris1

Cambridge Feb 10 i860. Dear Sir, The beautiful bronze inkstand you have been so kind as to send me, has arrived safely, and the first thing that comes out of it is the enclosed copy of the "Psalm of Life," which you desire to posses [s], and which it gives me great pleasure to send you. What is left behind in the inkstand — "lo que ha quedado en el tintero," as the Spaniards say; what that bronze owl will hoot to me about the dead bird in his claw, or other matters of moment, — only time will show. At present he only says, I must lose no time in thanking you for so beautiful a present. I remain, Dear Sir, with best acknowledgments Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow Mr. Wm. H. Ferris MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Ferris ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 8 7 ) , a clergyman, was a member of the N e w York Methodist Conference for the forty-four years before his death.

1784.

To Thomas Buchanan Read

Cambridge Feb. 18 i860 My Dear Read, I have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr. Bidwell, Editor of the "Eclectic Magazine," who is desirous of having your portrait of me done in mezzotint by Sartain, for his work.1 Have you any objection; and do you think this use of it would be any 168

CAMBRIDGE, i860 detriment to the proposed line engraving, which Ticknor & Fields are anxious to have for their edition of Poems? Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. ι. Walter Hilliard Bidwell ( 1 7 9 8 - 1 8 8 1 ) owned and edited the Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, 1846-1881. The mezzotint by John Sartain C1047.2) appeared in XLIX, No. 4 (April i860), facing p. 439. A brief essay on Longfellow is in the same number, pp. 566-568.

1785.

To Chañes Henry Davis

Cambridge March 9 i860. My Dear Davis, Thanks for the "Testimony of the Rocks," and the trouble you have taken about it. But what an absurd quotation!1 This is what I said of the bird-tracks. It is in a poem "To the Driving Cloud [11. 3-6]." "Wrapt in thy scarlet blanket, I see thee stalk thro' the city's Narrow and populous streets, as once by the margin of rivers Stalked those birds unknown, that have left us only their foot-prints! What, in a few short years, will remain of thy race, but the footprints?" Only a geologist — one who had been baulked and baffled2 — would be likely "to take heart again," on seeing rain-drops and bird-tracks in the rocks; which though scientifically interesting, are not morally encouraging. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι. In his The Testimony of the Rocks; or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed (Boston, 1859), pp. 1 1 6 - 1 1 7 , Hugh Miller ( 1 8 0 2 - 1 8 5 6 ) , Scottish geologist and author, suggests that the famous line "Footprints on the sands of time" in " A Psalm of Life" had its origin in Longfellow's knowledge of die geologic fossils of Connecticut. 2. Miller committed suicide.

1 6 9

IN A T R O U B L E D 1786.

To Jules Amédée Barbey

WORLD

d'Aurevilly Cambridge, Mass. America. March 13. i860.

My dear Sir, I hope you will pardon me for not having sooner answered your very friendly letter, and thanked you for the beautiful poems and translations you were so kind as to send me. 1 My only excuse is that I have been waiting the arrival of the books which Mrs. Carey announced to me as being on the way, but which, I am sorry to say, have not yet reached me.2 I will wait no longer; but thank you with all my heart for this mark of your consideration and regard; assuring you that it gives me sincere satisfaction to know that any thing I have written has given you pleasure, and paying you my compliments on the happy gift of song, displayed in your own charming verses. It has always been one of my day-dreams to visit Normandy; and who knows, but it may some day become a reality! If this should ever be, I should make no apology for knocking some "beau matin [fine morning]," at the door [of the] "Missionaire Eudiste"3 of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. ( I read it millionaire, — and is it not so in the true riches?) What pleasure this would give me! I still believe that the books are not lost, but only delayed; and that I shall have an opportunity hereafter of writing again to thank you, which I now can only do d'avance. Very faithfully, HENRY W . L O N G F E L L O W . MANUSCRIPT: imrecovered; text from Maurice and Eugénie de Guérin, eds., Le Livre Hirondelles (Caen, 1 8 6 7 ) , pp. 63-64.

des

ι. Barbey d'Aurevilly ( 1 8 0 8 - 1 8 8 9 ) , French man of letters of Saint-Sauveur-leVicomte (Manche), wrote to Longfellow on January 21, 1859, but did not identify the works mentioned here. Longfellow remarked in his journal on March 13, however, that Barbey d'Aurevilly had "translated some of my poems into French." 2. Harriet Mary Carey had translated J. Barbey d'Aurevilly, Laocoon; a Forgotten Rhyme (Caen, 1 8 5 7 ) . Her letter to Longfellow is datelined Brussels, February 3, 1859· 3. The Eudistes were members of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, founded by Jean Eudes ( 1 6 0 1 - 1 6 8 0 ) at Caen in 1643.

170

CAMBRIDGE, 1787.

i860

To Luther Bradish1 and Others

Cambridge March 19 i860. Gentlemen, I have had the honor of receiving your polite invitation to join you in celebrating the birth-day of Washington Irving. It would give me great pleasure to be present on the occasion, and particularly to hear Mr. Bryant's Address;2 but as it would be extremely inconvenient for me to leave home at the time mentioned, I shall be obliged to decline, though with great regret, your friendly summons. I remain, Gentlemen, with much regard, Your Obt. Sert. Henry W . Longfellow L. Bradish Esq. and others MANUSCRIPT: New-York Historical Society. ι. Bradish ( 1 7 8 3 - 1 8 6 3 ) , lawyer, diplomat, and philanthropist, was president of the New-York Historical Society from 1849 to his death. 2. William Cullen Bryant, A Discourse on the Life, Character and Genius of Washington Irving, Delivered before the New York Historical Society . . . 3d of April, i860 (New York, i860).

1788.

To Richard Griffin & Company Cambridge

March 26 186c.

Gentlemen, I am much obliged to you for sending me the enclosed for revision; and hope you will pardon me for not returning it sooner.1 I decidedly prefer the original form of the notice; though if you see fit you may add the following list of my books. I remain, Gentlemen Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Coplas de Manrique. 1833. Outre-Mer. 1835 Hyperion 1839. Voices of the Night 1839. Ballads and Other Poems 1841. Poems on Slavery. 1842 T h e Spanish Student 1843. The Belfry of Bruges 1846. Evangeline 1847. Kavanagh 1849. T h e Seaside and the Fireside 1850

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The Golden Legend 1851. The Song of Hiawatha 1855. The Courtship of Miles Standish. 1858 MANUSCRIPT: British Museum, PUBLISHED: Amandus Johnson, "Some Unpublished Longfellow Letters," German American Annals, V, n.s., No. 3 (May and June 1907), 183. ι. Enclosed was a biographical sketch of Longfellow, prepared by Griffin & Company, publishers of Ave Maria Lane, London, for their Comprehensive Dictionary of Biography; Embracing a Series of Original Memoirs of the Most Distinguished Persons of All Countries, Living and Dead (London and Glasgow, i860).

1789.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Cambridge March 31 i860 Dearest Annie, How long, long, long it is since we heard from you last! From which silence I infer that nothing wonderful has happened in the Old House. The "First Class Hotel which Portland has so long wanted," is doubtless now shutting out the sunshine of your Eastern windows. Perhaps even curious travellers are already looking thoughtfully at your pump in the back yard, from their station in the drawing-rooms or upper chambers! I hope it does not annoy you much; though the perpetual pounding cannot have been pleasant.1 Neither Willie nor anybody here has had a line from Harry, or heard a word of him; which would be strange if he were not very peculiar.2 Let me know if the enclosed3 reaches you safely. Mild rebuke. Much love to Aunt Lucia. Fanny is in great grief at the death of her Aunt Wm. Appn.4 to whom she was much attached. Mrs. Sumner is failing; and far from well. Ever affect[ionatel]y Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. The mansion built by Commodore Edward Preble in 1806 had recently been rebuilt into a hotel named the Preble House. It stood on the corner of Congress and Preble streets, directly east of the Wadsworth-Longfellow House. 2. See 1772.2. 3. Presumably a check. 4. Mary Anne Cutler Appleton, wife of William Appleton ( 5 1 3 . 2 ) , died on March 29, aged sixty-six.

172

CAMBRIDGE, 1790.

i860

Το Α. Ε. Sloan1

Cambridge March 31 i860 Dear Sir, In reply to your favor I beg leave to say that I have no objection whatever to your inserting the "Psalm of Life" in your book. As to other pieces I am afraid I shall not be able to suggest any not already known to you. W i t h good wishes for your success Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. According to the U.S. Census Record, i860, of Somerville, Tenn., Sloan (aged forty) was the New York-born principal of the Somerville Female Institute. He had written to Longfellow on March 28 requesting permission to include "A Psalm of Life" in a work to be called A Hymn Book for School and College.

1791.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April 20. i860. Dear Sumner, It is "ever so long" since a letter passed between us; though you have kindly filled up the gap, with newspapers, pamphlets and books, and an occasional old French addition, or hotel bill, extending to the imagination its invitation de diner far cœur [to go without dinner], at the "Trois Frères" or "Café de Paris" or elsewhere. O for a quiet day with you at Cannes, with its fields of flowers and orchards of orange [s]! For I am sick of our dreary American politics, and hate to see you dragged any longer through such mire! Your speech on Hyatt's imprisonment is one of your best; calm, brief and statesman-like; and your little échauffourée [scuffle] with Mason, rather exciting. 1 You shove him out of the boat as Virgil did Philippo Argenti, in the Stygian pool! with a kind of "via costà con gli altri cani."2 But we have only the telegraphic account. Pray find time to tell me how you are. George [Sumner] was here on Wednesday, limping with a sharp neuralgic attack in the foot. Addio! with kind regards from F. Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Sumner spoke in the Senate on March 12 against the imprisonment of Thaddeus Hyatt C 1 8 1 6 — 1 9 0 1 ) of New York for contempt in refusing to answer questions by a

173

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committee investigating John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. T h e chairman of the committee was James Murray Mason ( 1 7 9 8 - 1 8 7 1 ) of Virginia, drafter of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and a leader of the southern-rights wing of the Democratic party. Hyatt, the wealthy inventor of the bull's-eye glass lens and a prominent abolitionist, spent three months in the Capitol prison before being released on June 15. For details and Sumner's remarks, see Sumner Works, IV, 426-434. 2. Inferno, VIII, 42: "Away there with the other dogs."

1792.

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge May 1 i860 M y Dear Sumner, "Eldorado" in the Dakotah tongue would be "Mazaskazi-maka" — as musical as Massachusetts, and not to be thought of for a moment.1 Decidedly that will not do. Let us try again. Omaha, Óttawa, names of tribes; both good. Osséo, — "Son of the Evening Star" — from the old Chippewa Legends. May 2. Either Omáha or Óttawa would do very well; but neither is characteristic. Up to the present date I find nothing better than Mazáska. which means, in English, money — the mighty Dollar even! and is the first part of Eldorado! Unluckily the true Indian accent is on the first syllable. I have transferred it for ease of parlance. May 3. Too late! I see by the last evening's paper, that the Territory is already called Idaho! — said to mean "Gem of the Mountains." It certainly does not in Dakotah — or what is the use of my Dakotah Dictionary? Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . On April 26 Sumner had written: " T h e Chairman of the Committee on Territories in the House asked me to give him a good Indian name for the region now known as Pike's Peak, West of Kansas, which it may bear first as [a] Territory and then as a State. The region is famous for its gold, but it has not yet been organized. I told him that I would ask you to do it. He was charmed, and added tell him to send three names

ι 74

CAMBRIDGE,

i860

— so as to leave us a choice — and as soon as possible. It must not be Dacotah, for that belongs to the region above; nor Chippewa . . . What is El Dorado in Indian?"

793·

1

To John Williamson Palmer

Cambridge May 7 i 8 6 0 My Dear Sir, I am afraid, — though I am sorry to say so, — that it will not be possible for me to comply with your wishes, and write a Prelude for your volume. 1 Eight I have already written for as many volumes of my own; and it is bad pumping in a dry well. I should get at best only wet sand. I am rather sorry also that you have changed the title of your book. "Folk Songs," though not perfectly expressing the character of the work, was more poetical and rare; and much to be preferred, I think, to the present one. Mr. Houghton, 2 who takes great pride in the work, has shown me a few pages, which are very beautiful. With regrets and best wishes, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Dr. J. W . Palmer p.s. Is the facsimile poem of mine wh[ic]h you give? respectably well written?3 Let me give you a good one. p.s. A good motto for the Title page would be Wordsworth's benediction on the Poets, in his "Personal Talk" Sonnet I V [11. 9—14]. "Blessings be with them &C&C

MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . In a letter of April 27 Palmer had begged Longfellow "for a Proem, of from five to ten stanzas" for his anthology Folk-Songs: A Book of Golden Poems Made for the Popular Heart (see 1576.1). 2. Henry Oscar Houghton (1762.1), printer of the anthology. 3. Palmer used a facsimile of a manuscript copy of Longfellow's "The Singers" as a frontispiece for his volume.

1794.

T o Charles

Sumner

Camb. May 8 i860 Dear Sumner, I should doubtless write you often, if events often occur[r]ed in this silent land, which I thought might have an interest for you. But only

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look at our events! They are like those of the Vicar of Wakefield's life — migrations from the blue bed to the brown!1 Here is one of more than usual intensity. A gentleman in Europe sends me a translation of "Excelsior" in German, by Hunold of Innspriich, and writes; "On the day his translation appeared in the 'Boten für Tirol' the students of Innsprüch meeting him in the street rushed towards him, embraced him and kissed him with such joy and transport, that he looks upon that moment as the brightest and happiest of his life!" 2 Have you read Hawthorne's new book?3 Miss Hosmer has returned home on account of her father's illness — paralysis!4 Pardon me for not sending back the enclosed in my last.8 I forgot it. Thanks. Fanny joins me in much love to you. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. See 1409.3. 2. The writer is unidentified. Balthasar Hunold ( 1 8 2 8 - 1 8 8 4 ) was a Swiss poet and art historian, whose translation appeared in Boten für Tirol, 1859, p. 1265. 3. The Marble Faun: or, The Romance of Monte Beni. 4. Harriet Goodhue Hosmer ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 9 0 8 ) , Massachusetts-born sculptor, had been residing in Rome. Her father, Hiram Hosmer ( 1 7 9 8 - 1 8 6 2 ) , was a physician of Watertown, Mass. 5. In a letter of April 24 Sumner had written, "Read the enclosed, and tell me how to answer the question," which may have had to do with the naming of the Idaho Territory.

1

795·

To James Russell Lowell

Camb. May 22, 1860 Dear Lowell, If you will put the proper address upon this letter1 and forward it, you will greatly oblige Yours ever H.W.L. 2 p.s. Buchanan Read is here for a few days. Do find time, if possible, to come and see him. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. T o Robert Traill Spence Lowell ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 9 1 ) , brother of James Russell Lowell and rector of Christ Church, Duanesberg, N.Y., 1 8 5 9 - 1 8 6 9 . Longfellow's letter to him, dated May 2 1 , i860, is unrecoveied. 2. The instruction "over" follows the signature.

176

CAMBRIDGE, 1796.

Í86o

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge June 6 1860 My Dear Sumner, On Monday morning, when I saw from my dressing-room window the beautiful sunrise, I thought of you, and said "The Sun of Austerlitz!" So it has proved to be. You seem to have routed the Russians, horse, foot and dragoons.1 I say seem; for when your Speech came last night in the papers, the type thereof was so small and illegible, that in this blind household we could only read the Introduction; which is admirable. To-day I hope to get a copy in more readable form. If not, I shall certainly put my eyes out with what I have. I send you enclosed the Transcript notice.2 The Traveller says; "No nobler specimen of American eloquence can be found, than this logical, bold, spirited, clear and learned exposition of the 'Barbarism of Slavery' . . . Mr. Sumner, who has no idea of sacrificing the right to the expedient, has given utterance to vital truths in words of vital energy."3 In haste Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. On June 4 Sumner, appearing in the Senate in evening dress and white gloves, delivered a four-hour philippic on "The Barbarism of Slavery," in which he lashed the South for insisting that slavery was a beneficent institution. See Sumner Works, V,

1-174a. Boston Transcript, XXXI, No. 9237 (June 5, i860). 3. Boston Traveller, XVI, No. 55 (June 5, i860). The Traveller text of Sumner's speech on page one.

1797.

carried the entire

To Thomas Gold Appleton

Cambridge June 7 1860 My Dear Tom, Thanks for your letter and the rail-road information. I am afraid nothing will come of it. Even Niagara can not start my broken wheel.1 If I do go you shall hear of it in season. Enclosed is a letter from Miss Bernard,2 who left Boston on Tuesday last; regretful, and full of good intentions of returning next year. After two days of rain we have again a triumphant sun; and this afternoon we go to Mrs. Gardner's Fête champêtre in Brookline,3 with your grays, who have been out but once for four days.

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The illustrious Trap has been recovered, by an advertisement in the "Transcript" — the useful paper!4 Found in low company, at stables, and not over-joyed at being brought back to his solitary country life. With best regards to Mr. Gay, 5 Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1 . In a letter from Lenox of June 3, Appleton had pressed Longfellow to join him for a holiday at Niagara. 2. Unrecovered. Longfellow's address book lists "S. Agnes Bernard, Care of Hewitt Bernard. Crown L a w Depart [men] t. Quebec. Canada East." Hewitt Bernard ( 1 8 2 5 1 8 9 3 ) , Canadian soldier and civil servant, was presumably a brother. T h e Longfellow Trust Collection contains one letter ( 1 8 6 2 ) from S. Agnes Bernard and one letter (undated) from Theodora Folks Bernard, the mother of Hewitt Bernard. 3. Catherine Elizabeth Peabody ( 1 8 0 8 - 1 8 8 3 ) was the wife of John Lowell Gardner ( 1 8 0 4 - 1 8 8 4 ) , Boston merchant and financier. T h e "rural entertainment" at Green Hill, her summer home in Brookline, was presumably in honor of her new daughter-inlaw, Isabella Stewart Gardner ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 9 2 4 ) , whose marriage to her son had taken place on April 10, i860. 4. Longfellow's advertisement for his Scotch terrier ran in three numbers of the Boston Transcript, X X X I , Nos. 9234-9236 (June 1, 2, 4, i 8 6 0 ) . 5. Winckworth Allan Gay ( 1 8 2 1 — 1 9 1 0 ) , landscape painter of West Hingham, Mass.

1798.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. June 14 i860. Terribile Frate! You have done your work fearlessly, faithfully, fully! It was disagreeable, but necessary; and must remain as the great Protest of civilization against Barbarism in this age. Esto perpetua!1 George dined here yesterday. He says your delivery of the speech was admirable. Its great simplicity gives it awful effect. In rhetoric you have surpassed it before; in forcible array and arrangement of arguments, never! Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. "Be thou everlasting!" These were the last words of Paolo Sarpi ( 1 5 5 2 - 1 6 2 3 ) , the Italian prelate, scientist, and statesman known as "Brother Paul," spoken with reference to Venice.

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CAMBRIDGE, 1799.

i860

To Ferdinand Freiligrath

Camb. June 20. i860. Dear Freiligrath, The bearer of this, a brother of mine, — Revd. S. Longfellow, must not pass through London without calling to ask after you and yours, and to bring me faithful report of your well-being.1 As this letter will probably be two years old before it reaches you, I am discouraged from saying more. With many kind remembrances to your wife, Ever truly Henry W. Longfellow. p.s. I used to think myself the greatest delinquent in letter-writing. Allow me gracefully to yield the palm to you! MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library. ι . Samuel Longfellow had recently resigned his Brooklyn pastorate and departed for Europe on June 30, where he remained until August 1 8 6 2 .

1800.

To Karl Keck

Cambridge. Mass. June 20. 1860 Dear Sir, As I cannot come in person to thank you for your admirable translation of "The Golden Legend," I have taken the liberty of sending my brother to do it for me! He will be rambling through your beautiful Tyrol this Summer, and I should feel very guilty if I let him go by Schloss Aistershaim without stopping to present my best regards to you, to whom I am so much endebted. Your letter of Deer. 31 reached me safely, and I have distributed the cards among scientific men.1 The "Passionsspiel" in the Legend is not a translation from the German, nor from any other old original; and I hope that in a future edition you will restore it.2 With great regard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Karl Keck. Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Keck had sent Longfellow some calling cards and asked him to give them to Americans who would be interested in exchanging botanical information and specimens.

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2. Keck had omitted " T h e Nativity: A Miracle Play," which precedes Part I V of the Golden Legend.

1801.

To Johann Georg Kohl

Cambridge Mass. June 20 1860 My Dear Dr. Kohl, My last letter1 to you was from Nahant, many months ago. On my return to Cambridge I had the great pleasure of receiving yours of Sept ι . 1859. In it you told me of your visit to Weimar, and of the many kind things said of me there which were very flattering, and pleasant to hear, considering all the associations of the place, and the memories that haunt it.2 You told me also of your labors there, which interested me very much; though my cheeks grew hot with shame when I heard that our Government and the Coast Survey had as yet done nothing!3 I gave your friendly greeting to Mr. Palfrey, who was gratified by your remembrance. He makes due and honorable mention of you in the Preface of his first volume.4 T h e second, he tells me, is now in press. Your old friend Charles Sumner has just made an elaborate speech in the Senate on "The Barbarism of Slavery;" — full, fearless, faithful. Some people think it violent; but the language is not, only the facts are — terribly so; — the statistics, and the conclusions. As Louis Blanc once said; "Il n'y a rien de brutal comme un chiffre."5 At all events, it is the great Protest of Civilization against Barbarism in this Nineteenth Century; and shows Sumner to be again in full vigor of mind and body. If you read the American papers, you will see that we have this time four candidates for President, and Vice President; Lincoln and Bell and Douglass and Breckenbridge and

Hamlin, Everett,

Republican; Old Whig; Democratic d[itt]o d[itt]o!e

There is a campaign for you! Four Richmonds in the field, and all sanguine of success. I have lately received a letter from Mr. Tauchnitz of Leipzig, who has published some of my books in his "Collection," and sends me a handsome sum for copyright! which I think very honorable dealing and much to the credit of the Trade in Germany. 7 In a few days we go to Nahant to our cottage overhanging the sea, whence I wrote you last Summer; a pleasanter home than the one you saw us in.8

180

C A M B R I D G E ,

i 8 6 0

Your friends here all hold you in lively and affectionate remembrance. Mr. Thies is well and happy. Mr. Scherb well, but not happy. He has not alas! the talent of success. They both greet you in the most friendly manner; as does Mr. Palfrey. My Brooklyn brother sailed for Europe on Saturday. He means to pass a Winter in Germany; but whether the next, or the one after is uncertain. M y wife and all the house hold are well, and warmly salute you Ever Yours H. W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of California Library, Berkeley. ι . Unrecovered. 2. Kohl had written: " I was allready once to Weimar in the course of this Summer Seize [Season], and then I heard allready your praise flowing from lips, from which I should have liked you would have heard it yourself, from those of the present grandduchess, the daughter of King William of Holland. She is, though not exactly a beauty, still a very agreeable and a most accomplished Lady." Longfellow's admirer was Wilhelmina Frederica Louisa Char lotta Marianne ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 8 3 ) , the divorced wife of Frederick Henry Albert ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 7 2 ) , fourth son of Frederick William III of Prussia. 3. Kohl wrote Geschichte des Golfstroms und seiner Erforschung von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf den grossen amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg (Bremen, 1 8 6 8 ) apparendy at the request of the U . S . Coast Survey. 4. History of New England (Boston, 1 8 5 8 ) , I, xiv: "Dr. J . G . Kohl, whose return to his own country the scholars of this do not cease to regret, contributed to my knowledge of the movements of the early voyagers to this continent." 5. "There is nothing as brutal as a number." Blanc ( 9 8 7 . 7 ) was at this time a political refugee in England. 6. Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 9 1 ) of Maine were nominated at the Republican convention in Chicago on May 16. Earlier, on May 9, the remnants of the Whig and American parties had met in Baltimore, where they formed the Constitutional Union party and nominated John Bell ( 1 7 9 7 - 1 8 6 9 ) , senator from Tennessee, 1 8 4 7 1859, and Edward Everett. T h e Democrats having failed to nominate their candidates at the convention in Charleston, April 2 3 - M a y 3, one wing of the party reassembled at Richmond on June 1 1 and again at Baltimore on June 28 and nominated the proslavery candidates John Cabell Breckinridge ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 8 7 5 ) Kentucky and Joseph Lane ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 8 1 ) , Kentucky-bom senator from Oregon. T h e other wing met at Baltimore on June 18 and nominated Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel Vespasian Johnson ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 8 0 ) , governor of Georgia, 1 8 5 3 - 1 8 5 7 . 7. Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 9 5 ) founded the house in Leipzig that published the highly successful Tauchnitz editions of British and American authors. Longfellow's poetical works had appeared in two volumes in the Tauchnitz Collection of British Authors in 1856. See B A L 1 2 4 1 3 . In his journal entry of June 1 5 Longfellow states that he received $ 1 5 0 for the "copyright on his Edition of my books" and erroneously identifies his correspondent as Nicholas Trübner ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 8 4 ) , German-born publisher and scholar of London. 8. See 1 6 7 5 . 1 . When Kohl visited him at Nahant in 1857, Longfellow was staying at "Hood's under the Hill." See 1 6 1 0 . 1 .

181

IN A T R O U B L E D 1802.

WORLD

To Charles Sumner

Camb. June 27 1860 My Dear Sumner, I hoped to see you before going to Nahant; but that hope must be given up, as we go in a day or two; and you will hardly be here before the Fourth. Enclosed I return Mr. Short's letter,1 with regrets, that I cannot comply with the request made in it. I do not know Dean Alford 2 personally, nor even by letter, and if I should introduce Mr. Short to him, the Dean might well turn round and say; — "Pray, Sir; and who introduces you?" which would be awkward. I want very much to see you. Come to Nahant as soon as you can, by the morning boat; — a cool sail and a warm welcome. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Unrecovered. Charles Short ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 8 8 6 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1 8 4 6 , served as president of Kenyon College, 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 6 7 , and as professor of Latin at Columbia, 1867-1886. 2. Henry Alford ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 7 1 ) , dean of Canterbury, 1 8 5 7 - 1 8 7 1 .

1803.

To John Liptrot Hatton1

Cambridge June 28 1860 Dear Sir I have had the pleasure of receiving your note of the 13th. but the music has not yet come to hand. As I leave town in a day or two for the Summer, and fear it may not reach me before I go, I must thank you for it in advance, and say how much gratified I am that you should have selected just this piece. From what I know already of the character of your music, I feel confident that this is successful. I hope soon to have the satisfaction of verifying this opinion; and meanwhile remain Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow J. L. Hatton Esq MANUSCRIPT: University of California Library, Los Angeles, ADDRESS: J. L. Hatton Esq/3 Goswell Street E . C . [London] POSTMARK: LONDON 2 J Y 2 3 60 ι . Hatton ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 8 6 ) , English composer and director, informed Longfellow on June 1 3 , i860, that he was forwarding his musical adaptation of the lines "It was fifty years ago" from " T h e Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz" ( 1 6 0 2 . 5 ) . X82

CAMBRIDGE, 1804.

i860

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. June 28 i860 Dear Ticknor, I have just reed, a letter from Mrs. Clemm, with a cry for help. What became of [the] subscription started by Mrs. Davis?1 do you remember? Did she go away without taking her money? You need not take the trouble to write, if you will remember to tell me on Saturday. Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. ι. Maria Mott Davis ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 9 7 ) of Philadelphia, daughter of Lucretia Coffin Mott ( 1 7 9 3 - 1 8 8 0 ) , the Quaker reformer, had been acquainted with Poe and was apparently a friend of Mrs. Clemm. The latter's "cry for help," a plea for $20 to enable her to travel to New Orleans, was contained in a letter from Alexandria of June 26, i860.

1805.

To Maria Poe Clemm

Cambridge July 2 i860. Dear Madam, I have the pleasure of sending you enclosed a small sum1 subscribed by several friends at the suggestion of Mrs. Davis, and which until receiving your letter, I supposed had been already forwarded to you by her. For greater safety I send a cheque upon a Boston Bank, which will need your signature on the back. Any Bank in Alexandria, I suppose, will pay you the amount; if not, Messrs Corcoran & Riggs of Washington will, as I am personally known to them. I sincerely hope that the sum sent will be sufficient for your purposes, (though I wish it were much larger.) and that you will be able to make the journey you so much desire. I enclose also the signatures you request, and remain With best wishes Your Obt. Sert. Henry W. Longfellow p.s. Please let me know if this reaches you safely, directing to Nahant, Mass where I go for the Summer. MANUSCRIPT: Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, PUBLISHED: Arthur H. Quinn and Richard H. Hart, eds., Edgar Allan Poe: Letters and Documents in the Enoch Pratt Free Library (New York, 1 9 4 1 ) , p. 69. ι. $30 (Maria Poe Clemm to Longfellow, July 8, i860).

183

IN A T R O U B L E D 1806.

WORLD

To William Davis Ticknor

Nahant July 18 i860 Dear Ticknor, Be kind enough to say to Mr. Washburn that I will take both rooms, and the carriage for both days. We shall be in Worcester on the afternoon, or evening of the 23rd. Many thanks to Mr. Washburn for the trouble he has taken.1 Please also sign and send this enclosed telegram; as letters may miscarry or be delayed. Yours truly H.W.L. 7 To Henry S. W ashburn, Esq Worcester. Mr. Longfellow will take the rooms and the carriage.2 MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House), ι . Henry W . Washburn, a friend of Ticknor, was founder and owner of a wire works on Dorchester Avenue, Boston. H e maintained a residence at this time in Worcester, where Longfellow arrived on July 23, accompanied by his son Charles and Charles's friend William Pickman Fay ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 8 7 8 ) . On July 24 and 25 they watched the college and city regattas on Lake Quinsigamond, and on July 28 they returned to Nahant, having visited Stockbridge, Lenox, and Pittsfield. 2. Presumably the text of the telegram.

1807.

To Alice Mary Longfellow

Worcester. July 26 1860. Dearest Alice, You laughed at me for taking two volumes of Goldoni; do you remember? You were right; I have not read a single page! For by day, I have been too busy, and at night, I could not see, having no great lamp, and no gas. I hope Hattie1 has been with you; and that you have had a bright, gay week; no rain and no cold winds; and that the water has been warm for bathing. We are just starting for Stockbridge; so I must give you a kiss and say farewell till Saturday. Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House). ι . Harriet Maria Spelman ( 1 8 4 8 - 1 9 3 7 ) was a playmate and neighbor of the Longfellow girls. In 1868 she married Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow.

184

WORCESTER, 1808.

To Edith

xS6o

Longfellow

[Worcester] July 26 i860. My Darling Edie, Here is a little letter for you; that you may know I am thinking about you often and loving you always. I have seen a good many little girls since I left you, but none like my little Edie. I have not heard any crying in the morning lately; so I suppose you have been very good, and have not cried at all. Kiss Mama for me, and I will pay you on Saturday. Papa MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

1809.

To Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow

Worcester. July 26 i860. My Dear Erny, T h e Boat-races are all over; and in an hour or so we start for Springfield, and so on to Stockbridge. And now I wish you were with us; because this part of the journey you would enjoy, and you would be a companion and chum to me. Willie and Charley are so taken up with each other, and with Harry Stanfield, 1 who came a day after us, that I do not see much of them. I do not think you would have had any great pleasure here these two days — excepting an hour or two at the Lake. The rest would have been rather tedious to you. So, upon the whole, I think you were wise not to care about coming. I hope you have had a pleasant week at Nahant; and have not upset your boat nor fallen over-board, nor had a sun-stroke in bathing. I heard yesterday that Charley Lovering 2 was here, but I did not see him; and I suppose he had not time to hunt us up. Good bye, my dear boy. As we mean to be back on Saturday, we shall reach Nahant almost as soon as this letter. Your affectionate friend «ΤΊ /-Ί » I he Governor MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, Mass.

ADDRESS: Ernest W . Longfellow/Nahant/

POSTMARK: WORCESTER MASS, J U L

26

ι. Henry Robinson Stanfield ( 1 8 4 4 - 1 9 1 2 ) , son of a Boston merchant, was a close friend of Charles Longfellow. 2. Charles Taylor Lovering ( 1 8 4 6 — 1 9 1 5 ) was the son of a Boston importer who kept a cottage at Nahant.

185

IN A T R O U B L E D 181 o.

To Frances Appleton

WORLD

Longfellow Stockbridge. Friday evening July 26. 1860

Thanks, Dearest, for your letter, which reached Stockbridge just two hours after us; namely at seven o'clock. The invisible electric telegraph sent a thrill through me! — but alas! I cannot write you in return: as I must be careful. One dim candle only not sufficing. I write even this with fear and trembling. Since our arrival we have had a heavy thunder storm, with a torrent of rain. Bad for Charley, whose cough is not much better, though perhaps not quite so deep. Otherwise he is well and is having a grand time of it, with Willie and Harry, who has also come on to Stockbridge. It strikes them as very quiet! Heavenly quiet; and all the old fascination hanging about it still, to me! Before the storm, I walked the whole length of the town under the grand trees, and had a glimpse of the Ox-Bow. If Charley is not better tomorrow, we may possibly stay over Sunday. So dont be very much disappointed if the evening boat does not bring us. Good night, beloved. A thousand and a thousand times thine H.W.L. p.s. I wrote from W . this morning to Erny and the girls. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1811.

To Hannah E. Davie

Nahant July 31 i860. Dear Miss Davie, I have just returned from a visit to Berkshire, and my absence from Nahant must be my apology for not answering your letter sooner; as I did not receive it till my return. W e shall be very sorry not to have you in Cambridge; but are not surprised that Mrs. Bryant 1 wishes to keep you with her; and if you are happy and contented with your change, Prudence certainly says "Stay." About our little school in Cambridge there is still an uncertainty. If we were there we could easily ascertain in a day or two the probabilities of success. But that cannot be done here.2 Judging, therefore, impartially, and putting aside my wishes for what 186

NAHANT,

i860

might be, I think it would be wise to stay the Winter through with Mrs. Bryant. Only remember your House of Refuge, and come to me in any emergency. With much regard Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. 3 p.s. I have seen Mr. Huntington's Poem; thank you. Kind regards from Mrs. L. and from the little ones a kiss apiece. MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library, Cohasset./Mass.

ADDRESS: Miss H . E. Davie/at Mrs. Bryant's/

POSTMARK: NAHANT MASS I AUG

1. Elizabeth Brimmer Sohier ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 9 1 6 ) was the wife of Henry Perkins Bryant ( 1 8 2 0 - 1 8 6 7 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1840 and a physician and naturalist of Boston and Cohasset. Hannah Davie was employed by the Bryants as governess to their two daughters. 2. In a letter from Cohasset of July 2 1 , Miss Davie had written: "Mrs. Bryant has asked me to say decisively whether I intend to remain with her this winter, as she proposed writing some other little girls to become my pupils to form a little class with her daughters. I told her I had thought of renewing my little class at Cambridge, provided I could ensure pupils enough to make it answer: and that I was not quite certain how far I might be considered as pledged to do so, that I did not know whether any steps had been taken for it, but that I would ascertain." 3. William Reed Huntington ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 9 0 9 ) , a member of the Harvard class of 1859, had composed the class poem entitled " T h e Cliffs of Gaspé." H e subsequently became an Episcopal clergyman.

1812.

T o Henry Whitworth

Jones1

Nahant July 31 i860. M y Dear Sir, Your friendly note and the volume of music have reached me safely by the faithful hands of our friend Fields; and I should have thanked you sooner, but I have been running about in the country, and was out of the way. And now here at the sea-side I cannot hear Mr. Romer's music; 2 having no one to sing to me. But I can read it a little, and imagine that I hear your voice again; and, I assure you, that goes a great way. Accept my best thanks for your kind remembrance. I always recall with great pleasure our meeting in Boston, and beg you to remember me most particularly to your cousin Mr. Russell, whom, with yourself, I ever hold in pleasant memory. I remain, Dear Sir Very sincerely Yours Henry W . Longfellow.

187

IN A T R O U B L E D

WORLD

p.s. Fields continues to pine for England; and is very hard upon his fore-fathers for not staying at home, and minding their business. H. Whitworth Jones Esq MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. 1. Jones (d. 1 8 9 1 , aged seventy-two), a Londoner, toured America in 1 8 5 8 with his cousin George Russell ( 1 8 2 8 - 1 8 9 8 ) , subsequently a barrister, judge, and member of Parliament. James T . Fields introduced them to Longfellow on October 28, 1 8 5 8 ( M S Journal). 2. Francis Römer ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 8 9 ) , a member of the firm of Hutchings & Romer, music publishers of London, was a composer of songs, cantatas, and forgotten operas. Longfellow wrote in his journal on October 30, 1 8 5 8 : "After dinner to Felton's, where Mr. Jones sings some of Romer's music to my verses, very beautifully."

1813.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant Aug 8. i860. My Dear Fields, I copy from memory and may have missed a word here and there, perhaps; but I think not. I am sorry it will not reach you in season for tomorrow's steamer. Such a great effort of memory took time!1 There is an ominous thundering on my left. This window looks straight at Boston; and the town is hidden by rain. A storm is coming down upon us, as strong as your next No. of the Atlantic; — say forty thousand! I will leave my perch here, overlooking the sea; and go down and read George Sand's "Beaux Messieurs du Bois Doré," a new novel.2 I wish I might hope to see you again at dinner before we leave Nahant. Is there any reasonable chance? If you have anything very novel or amusing from England, pray slip it into my mysterious drawer. Yours truly H.W.L. p.s. I have written long ago to Mr. Jones thanking him for the music. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. 1. Fields had requested an autograph copy of " T h e Rainy D a y " for Elizabeth Williams Green Stanhope, Lady Harrington ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 9 8 ) , wife of the fifth earl of Harrington, Leicester Fitzgerald Charles Stanhope ( 1 7 8 4 - 1 8 6 2 ) , the friend of Byron. 2. Les Beaux Messieurs de Bois Doré (Paris, 1 8 5 7 ) .

188

NAHANT, 1814.

T o Octavia Walton

i860

LeVert

Nahant Aug 25 i860 Dear Mme LeVert, Your letter from Newport, going first to Cambridge, did not reach me here, till Thursday, and then too late to take the boat for Boston on that day. But on Friday I went up with all speed, and full of the hope of seeing you and your daughter. You can imagine my disappointment, when the clerk at the Revere House said: "They left this morning for N e w York!" I am extremely sorry that I have lost this chance of seeing you once more, and of making the acquaintance of your daughter. If you had only stayed till Saturday! But I suppose the mist and the rain drove you away. And where will my apology and my regrets find you? As the safest way, I shall direct them to Mobile; remaining, in great grief and much lamentation, Ever very truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT:

1815.

University of Washington Library.

T o Charles Sumner

Nahant Sept 5 1860 Caro Sumner, It will be impossible for me to be with you at dinner tomorrow; because the Lynn coach that met the seven o'clock down train, is taken off; and as Tom is away, and Charley is away, and the coachman is away, I cannot very well pass the night in town. Scusate e compatite [excuse and pity me] ! Give my best regards to Mr. Schleiden, and tell him how much I regret not seeing him, and how much pleasure it would give me if he could pass a day with us at Nahant. I am sorry to be out of the way, when he passes through. I want to talk with him about our friend Kohl; and the chances of our doing anything for him, in this country. If you will come down next Sunday, you shall have a better dinner than the last; with a chowder acco[m]paniment obbligato, — anzi obbligatissimo [indispensable, — in fact, most indispensable]! Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

189

IN A T R O U B L E D 1816.

WORLD

To James Gaspard Maeder1

Nahant Sept 8th. i860. Dear Sir Your favor has been forwarded to me at this place, and in reply I beg leave to assure you that it will give me great pleasure to have you make use of "The Children's Hour," as you suggest. I am glad that you like the Poem well enough to set it to Music, and wish you much success with the Composition &c. I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Mr. Maeder MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from front cover of the sheet music for " T h e Children's Hour," composed by Maeder (Longfellow Trust Collection, Longfellow House). ι . Maeder (d. 1 8 7 6 ) , Irish-born composer and music teacher of N e w York, was the husband of Clara Fisher Maeder ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 9 8 ) , the English-American actress and singer.

1817.

To Alexander Wadsworth

Longfellow Nahant

Sept 9 i860.

Dear Alex. Thanks for your letter and for your hospitality to Charley, who came back delighted with his visit. He seems to have enjoyed it thoroughly; is charmed with Casco Bay and the Islands in it; and wants me to buy one of them forthwith! I am glad he gave you no trouble, and made a favorable impression on his friends. He sends you much love, and remembrances to the Steward of the Meredith, with whom he had much talk, and whose capacity as cook he extol [1] ed highly. I was very sorry not to see you. If we had reached Portland in season for the Meredith I should have gone down with you. But I was shy of the "Jack of Clubs," though a good boat and a swift. 1 I called upon Edwd. Daveis, but he was out. But as the papers seem to be in order, it is all right. I hope the land may speedily rise in value, and be of use to you and yours.2 We have a cold storm here. It may delay you in Portland long enough to get this before you go down the Bay. Farewell, and love to all. Ever Yours aff. H.W.L.

190

CAMBRIDGE,

i860

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: Alexander W . Longfellow Esq/ Portland/Me. ANNOTATION (on address cover): H W L Nahant. Sept. 9 60/Washington St Lot (stamp and postmark cut away) ι . Longfellow had accompanied Charles to Portland on August 27 and saw him oif in a small boat, the "Jack of Clubs," to spend a week with his uncle aboard the Coast Survey schooner Meredith. Alexander Longfellow described the boy's arrival aboard the schooner in a letter of September 3 : " I regret very much that I did not see you when you were here and that you did not venture down to Harpswell with Charlie — this saline youth boarded the Meredith over the port bow from the 'Jack of Clubs' and swept her decks with his carpet bag and umbrella, so I surrendered at discretion and placed my squadron, of one schooner and three boats at his orders . . . What a passion he has for salt water and boating! . . . Altho skipper Charlie is a fine boy we must admit that he is a great nauticus . . . Send him down again sometime." 2. Longfellow had proposed to deed his share of a parcel of land on Munjoy Hill in Portland to Alexander. The legal details were being handled by Edward Henry Daveis (496.4), but the transfer was not actually effected until 1864.

1818.

To Jacob Sheafe Smith1

Cambridge Sept 1 5 1860 M y Dear Sir, I forward to you by to-day's mail the new Triennial. 2 Yesterday Mr. La Fayette Dennett made his appearance, armed to the teeth with his letter of introduction. I read it, and very quietly said "This letter is a forgery." He looked aghast; denied the fact; said he could prove the contrary. &c. &c. 3 I read him a lecture on the crime he was committing, and the danger he was exposing himself to, and dismissed him abashed and crest-fallen. I enclose you the letter, as you request, and remain Yours with great regard Henry W . Longfellow J. S. Smith Esq. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library, Gorham/Me

ADDRESS: Jacob S. Smith Esqe./

ι . Smith ( 1 7 8 6 - 1 8 8 0 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1805, had known Longfellow's father. He lived in Gorham, Maine. 2. T h e triennial catalogue of Harvard College, issued in i860. 3. Lafayette Alonzo Dennett (b. 1 8 4 0 ) was a fanner's son of Buxton, Me., a village not far from Gorham. His letter of introduction ( M S , University of Washington Library) is datelined "Gorham in the state of Maine sept i 8 6 0 " and introduces him as "a young man of fine character, with some education and much ability." It is signed, "Your Aged Friend, Jacob S Smith."

191

IN 1819.

A TROUBLED

WORLD

To Henry Parkman Sturgis1

Cambridge Sept 18 1860 M y Dear Sir, I hope you will pardon me for keeping so long the volume you were kind enough to lend me early in the Summer. I return it to-day with many thanks. M . Gironière is certainly a man of mark, and his adventures very strange and interesting. W e have read his book with great interest and delight; and are indebted to you for a very charming companion by the sea-side.2 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: American Antiquarian Society. ι . Sturgis (1806-1869) was a merchant of 80 State Street, Boston. 2. Presumably Paul Proust de la Gironière, Aventures d'un Gentilhomme hreton aux Iles Philippines, avec un aperçu sur la géologie et la nature du sol de ces îles (Paris, 1855).

1820.

T o Luigi Monti

Cambridge Sept 19 i860 M y Dear Monti, I hope you will pardon me for not thanking you sooner for your kind invitation to be present at the presentation of the flag to Captain Pojero. Having just returned from Nahant, I found a thousand litttle things to do, which put it out of my mind, till it was too late either to go or to excuse myself. Last evening we had the pleasure of reading your address on the occasion, which is very spirited and appropriate. It must have been a beautiful scene. 1 Hoping to see you soon, I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Elena di Majo, Rome, Inn," pp. 162-163.

PUBLISHED: Characters in "Tales of a Wayside

ι . The Sicilian bark Anonimo, commanded by Captain Pojero, had arrived on August 31, the first ship to fly the flag of Garibaldi's "Free Sicily" in Boston harbor. On Monday, September 17, a formal presentation of the flag to Captain Pojero was made by Luigi Monti on behalf of the Italian Committee of Boston. T h e proceedings, attended by the mayor of Boston, President Felton of Harvard, and others, were reported in the Transcript, XXXI, No. 9326 (September 18, i860).

192

CAMBRIDGE, 1821.

i860

To James Thomas Fields Camb. Sept 20 i860

M y Dear Fields, T h e Poems are not worth sending. Let me run over them again this morning; and perhaps in the afternoon you shall have them. I have "no end" of Poems sent me for candid judgment and opinion. Four cases on hand at this moment. A large folio came last night from a lady. It has been chasing me round the country; has been in East Cambridge and in West Cambridge; and finally came by the hands of policeman Saunderson 1 to my house. I wish he had "waived examination, and committed it" (to memory.) What shall I do? These Poems weaken me very much. It is like so much water added to the Spirit of Poetry. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . Joseph Sanderson ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 8 3 ) was the "principal constable" of Ward I, Cambridge CCambridge Directory for i 8 6 0 ) .

1822.

To Hannah

E.Davie

Cambridge Sept 21 1860 Dear Miss Davie, A ship-letter has just arrived for you post-marked "Rochester." Not knowing whether you have returned to Boston, or are still at Nantasket, I do not venture to send it to either place, but keep it till I hear from you. If you do not answer this, I shall infer that you have left the sea-side, and shall "try Boston," as the Post Office people say. W e are all safe and sound at home, and hope to see you as soon as you get back. Yours with much regard Henry W . Longfellow p.s. I think, upon the whole, that you will get the letter sooner if I send it to Mr. [Henry Perkins] Byrant 64 Beacon St. and accordingly do so. MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library.

1

93

IN 1823.

A TROUBLED

WORLD

ToG.R.Buell

Cambridge Sept26 [i860] 1 Dear Sir, If I were in the habit of lecturing, I should accept your polite invitation with pleasure. But it is now a long time since I have discontinued it. I must therefore beg you to hold me excused. I remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Mr. G . R. Buell MANUSCRIPT: Connecticut Historical Society. ι . The year is from Longfellow's letter calendar. His correspondent is unidentified.

1824.

T o an Unidentified

Correspondent

Cambridge Sept 26 1860 Dear Madam Absence from home, and the many little matters one always finds waiting on returning, have prevented me from answering your letter at an earlier moment. It is so delicate a task for one who writes verses to sit in judgment on the verses of others, that for a long time past I have declined doing so. You must pardon me, then, if I only say of those you sent me, that I was pleased with their spirit and the correctness of their versification. How successful they would be if published I cannot take upon myself to prophecy nor am I willing to take the responsibility of saying that they ought to be published in a volume. I should rather advise to try first the venture of a newspaper. Take the nearest to you, and see the result. W i t h best wishes, I remain, Dear Madam, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Yale University Library.

1825.

T o George Edward Hoadley1

Cambridge Oct. 3 1860 Dear Sir, I am greatly obliged to you for the little cross made of the "Charter Oak." It is a valuable memento of the Past, and in a certain sense of my ι 94

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own Past, for it was an ancestor of mine, Mr. [Joseph] Wadsworth, who hid the Charter in the Oak. 2 I enclose the autograph you desire, and remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Mr. Geo E. Hoadley MANUSCRIPT: Connecticut Historical Society. ι. Hoadley (d. 1 9 2 2 , aged eighty-six), a Hartford merchant, bequeathed a valuable collection of manuscripts and memorabilia to the Connecticut Historical Society. 2. See Letter No. 1 5 5 4 .

1826.

T o Charles Eliot Norton

Cambridge Oct 1 1 i860. My Dear Charles, It will give me great pleasure to dine with you at Parker's on Thursday, to meet Dr. Ackland of Oxford. 1 Thanks for the kind remembrance, and the opportunity of making the acquaintance of a friend of yours. I have heard of you, now and then, during the Summer, through those birds in the air, who carry messages; and have as often wished I could pass a day with you at Newport. But the "Père de famille" always hears "a voice you can not hear," 2 and sometimes several voices, and sees any quantity of little beckoning hands, entirely invisible to the naked eye of a bachelor. Fanny joins me in much love to you all, and I am, as ever, my Dear Charles, Affectionately Yours Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT : University of Washington Library. ι. Henry Wentworth Acland ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 9 0 0 ) , regius professor of medicine at Oxford, 1 8 5 8 - 1 8 9 4 , accompanied the Prince of Wales (later Edward V I I ) on his American tour in i860. After the dinner at the Parker House, Longfellow met the prince and other members of his suite and attended a ball in his honor. See Longfellow's journal, October 1 8 (Life, II, 4 0 7 - 4 0 8 ) . 2. Thomas Tickell, "Colin and Lucy," 1. 25.

1827.

To Hannah E. Davie

Cambridge Oct. 15 i860 My Dear Miss Davie, It would be a thousand pities if such a true and loyal Briton, as you are, should not have a sight of your Prince!

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So I write to say that you will have an excellent chance to see him on Thursday. He will pass down Beacon street on horseback, to review some troops on the Common; and you from a balcony can wave your handkerchief and say in your heart "God bless him." Mrs. Appleton desires you to come to her house; unless you prefer to be with your little flock at the grandpapa's.1 On Friday the Prince visits the College. But as this is a Scholastic visit there will be no chance for ladies except at College Windows, or under the trees on the Green. Still, if you will pass the day with us, we will do our best. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library. ι . T h e Beacon Street residence of John Bryant ( 1 7 8 0 - 1 8 6 5 ) , merchant, shipowner, and father of Hannah Davie's employer, Henry Perkins Bryant Ç 1 8 1 1 . 1 ) .

1828.

To Robert Ervin Galpin

Cambridge Oct 15 1860 My Dear Sir, I send you enclosed a cheque on the Charles River Bank for Three Hundred and Thirty two dollars, which will cover the Bill for repairs and provide for the other little matter you mentioned. I am sorry to hear that Mrs. Galpin is ill; and hope that her illness is but slight and will soon pass over. I recall with great pleasure my day's visit at Stockbridge, and our ramble over the Ox-Bow. As to the expenditure, I am quite satisfied. I am sure we could not have made our tenants comfortable with less; and a smile of satisfaction from Mrs. P. is surely worth something.1 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow R. E. Galpin Esq MANUSCRIPT : University of Washington Library, ι . Longfellow's tenant farmers were named Phelps.

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i860

To Thomas Gold Appleton [Cambridge, October, i860] 1

Norton's Woods in a Bath chair. Cook, also, has a charming little wife (Miss Huntington of Lowell) 2 and lives in Dr. [James] Walker's house, the Dr.3 When I next write I hope to tell you that Abraham Lincoln is Patriarch of America. With much love from Fanny, who has written to you once, Ever aff. Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Both Longfellow's correspondent and the date of this fragment are conjectural. 2. Josiah Parsons Cooke ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 9 4 ) , Erving Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at Harvard, 1 8 5 1 - 1 8 9 4 , married Mary Hinckley Huntington of Lowell in i860. 3. T h e remainder of the fragment appears on the back of the sheet.

1830.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Nov 6 i860 Dear Annie 1 shall send you by Express, tomorrow, Paid, one box, containing 2 bottles of Sherry, excellent; and good for Aunt Lucia. 2 bottles of Italian Sweet wine, good for you, and other young ladies, who may like it. ι bottle, which having its name upon it need not be named here. The sweet wine is in the Champagne bottles. Also, in the box two small paper boxes, containing; a silver cream-jug, Fanny's wedding present to Annie Wadsworth;1 — and a cap for Aunt Lucia, also from Fanny. I hope it will not arrive full of saw-dust; but it probably will. Don't let us know it if it does; for as I packed the things up, I should feel badly. And just now, on this "Sixth of November," I am feeling very well and full of faith in the triumph of the good cause, to which you and I belong.2 With much love Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCBIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Anne Denison Wadsworth ( 1 1 1 1 . 2 ) married John Doane Wells ( 1 8 3 4 - 1 9 1 1 ) , a member of the Harvard class of 1 8 5 4 and a recent graduate of the Divinity School, on November 20, i860, in Portland.

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2. The day after the election of Abraham Lincoln, Longfellow wrote in his journal: "This is a great victory. One can hardly overrate its importance. It is the redemption of the country. Freedom is triumphant."

1831.

To Elizabeth Cory Agassiz

Camb. Nov 12 i860. Dear Mrs. Agassiz Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to dine with you to-day; but I am engaged at a dinner in town in honor of Mr. Dana the "returned Californian." 1 Greatly deploring that I cannot be with you, I remain Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Dana had recently completed a voyage round the world begun in July 1859. See Robert F. Lucid, ed., The journal of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass., 1968), Vol. III.

1832.

To Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz [Cambridge]

Nov. 12. i860

My Dear Agassiz Behold!1 Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. This note is pasted to the back of a holograph of "The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz. May 28. 1857."

1833.

To John Williamson Palmer

Cambridge Nov. 13 i860. My Dear Sir, I should have written you sooner, but the book came long after the letter, and I waited to see it before writing. It is a beautiful volume,1 and well repays your long labor and patience and perplexity. Many thanks for the dedication, which is very pleasant to me, as a mark of your regard. My wife has written to thank you for the book. How often will the 198

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lamplight shine upon its pages, through the long Winter evenings that are coming! And how often we shall think of you and thank you as we read. On page 6. I find one of my own blunders, which arose from taking pieces from newspapers. The poem on Music is not by Dryden, I believe. Ellis in his "Specimens of Early English Poets" [London, 1801] vol III. p. 158 gives it, and I suppose rightly, to William Strode, with another stanza.2 This I mention with an eye to your next edition, which I think will not be long in coming, the work is so beautiful and satisfactory. With best wishes Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT:

Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

ι. Folk-Songs: A Book of Golden Poems Macie for the Popular Heart. See 1576.1. Palmer had sent the book to Fanny Longfellow. 2. Longfellow had attributed "Music" (properly, "In Commendation of Music") to Dryden in The Estray: A Collection of Poems (Boston, 1847), p. 32. George Ellis ( 1 7 5 3 - 1 8 1 5 ) , English author and anthologist, correctly assigned the poem to William Strode ( 1 6 0 2 - 1 6 4 5 ) , minor poet and dramatist.

1834.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Nov 19 i860 Dear Sumner, I return with thanks the letter of "my Duke and my Duchess."1 Excellent friends are they to you. You will have no supper, you say, after your Lecture tomorrow night. Well, then we will all go supperless to bed, and doubtless we shall all feel the better next morning. But the Lecture; — look for us among the listeners.2 Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι. Unrecovered, but presumably from the Duke and Duchess of Argyll ( 1 6 1 4 . 5 and 1649.1). 2. Sumner had prepared a lyceum lecture on Lafayette, which he delivered on several occasions in New England and in New York and Philadelphia during the last months of i860. Of his performance in Boston on November 20, Longfellow wrote: "Chs. Sumner's Lecture on Lafayette; very elaborate, and some two hours long! I was struck with the prodigious memory of the man; not once glancing at his notes, if he had any, for date or sequence of fact" ( M S Journal). For the lecture, see Sumner Works, V, 369-432.

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1835.

WORLD

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Dec 12. i860. Dear Sumner, Thanks for your letter of four lines, one of which I could not read! Thanks for the four volumes of "The [Congressional] Globe," none of which I shall read! Thanks for the Fourth volume of the "Japan Expedition," which you are going to send me! 1 When South Carolina has gone out of the Union, I shall believe she is going. She is the Gascony of America. 2 Did you see in the "Boston Journal" a letter to Caleb Cushing, signed "A Jackson Democrat"? He divided the country into the "United States" and the "Benighted States."3 Here is a Note for your work on the "Barbary States."4 "The last piratical expeditions were about the end of the 12th century, and in the following century thraldom, or slavery, was, it is understood, abolished by Magnus the Law Improver." Laing. Heimskringla. I. 1 1 2 Read in the same work, Sigvat's "Free-speaking Song"; (vol II. p. 374)· T h e description of the Thing [Assembly], with the "grey-bearded men in corners whispering" is good. So is "Be cautious — with this news of treason Flying about — give them no reason."5 I only hope we shall stand firm. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust

Collection.

1. Presumably Matthew Galbraith Perry, Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, Performed in the Years 185z, 1853, and 1854 (Washington, D.C., 1856). No fourth volume was published. 2. Sumner had written in a letter of December 3: "S.C. will go out; then Alab and Mississ; the great question is, can Georgia be saved? Some say yes; others say no. Then, if all these go, where will the contagion stop?" 3. Boston Journal, XXVIII, No. 8576 (December 10, i860). The writer also called Cushing "a double-minded, self-seeking, time-serving politician" for having joined the southern seceders from the Democratic party who nominated Breckinridge in a separate convention. See 1801.6. 4. See 9 4 1 . ι . 5. Citations are from The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway, trans, from the Icelandic of Snorro Sturleson, with a preliminary dissertation, by Samuel Laing (London, 1844), 3 vols. This work was a principal source of Longfellow's "The Saga of King Olof," on which he was working at this time. See Longfellow and Scandinavia, pp. 98—103.

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To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Dec. 20 i860 Dear Fields, In "Paul Revere" as given in the Transcript I find six lines left out. I hope it is not so in the Atlantic. 1 T h e lines follow immediately after "The fate of a nation rode that night," and are rather essential, I think, to the picture. Perhaps I accidentally omitted them in copying for the press. In haste, and general wretchedness from a cold Yours truly H.W.L. He has left the village and mounted the hill, And beneath him, tranquil and broad and still, Is the Mystic meeting the ocean-tides; And under the alders that skirt its edge, Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides. p.s. All the week I have been shut up in the house with influenza. If you have anything amusing, pray send it. I have troubled Ticknor with a Custom House duty, to-day. I hope it will not give him much annoyance. Thank him and soothe him. Thanks for the stamps! MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . Boston Transcript, X X X I , N o . 9402 (December 18, i 8 6 0 ) ; Atlantic Monthly, V I I (January 1 8 6 1 ) , 2 7 - 2 9 . Fields's reply of December 1 4 [21?], i860, appears in James C . Austin, Fields of the Atlantic Monthly (San Marino, Cal., 1 9 5 3 ) , p. 86.

1837.

To Charles

Sumner

Camb. Dec 20 1860 Dear Sumner, Our brave Gascons do not come up to time. They promised to march out on the seventeenth, tambour hattant [with beat of drum]; and behold! some of them still drawing pay in Washington, and others passing Resolutions instead of passing the Rubicon. 1 What I am afraid of is, not that they will go, but that the North will yield. T h e tone of the Boston papers — the Atlas only excepted — is very weak and spiritless. What a document I sent you yesterday!2 Humiliating!

201

IN A T R O U B L E D W O R L D Really the English papers have better and stronger articles on the subject than any of our own, that come under my notice. Having been shut up for the last ten days with influenza I have seen hardly any one; and know not the bruits qui courent [rumors that are spreading], except those in the papers. What absurdities you must have to hear! I need not say to you "Stand firm"; as you never could stand in any other way. Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. On the day that Longfellow wrote this letter, Sumner's prophecy came true, when a convention in Columbia, S.C., called by the state legislature, voted to secede from the Union. Four days later the convention issued a "Declaration of Immediate Causes" in justification of its action, whereupon the "contagion" of secession spread rapidly. 2. Unidentified.

1838.

To Edward Duffield Neill1 Cambridge

Dec 21 i860

Dear Sir, I hope you will pardon me for not writing sooner to thank you for the Stereoscopes of Minnehaha. I had the misfortune to mislay your letter and could not remember the exact address. I am very much obliged to you for your kindness, and beg you to make my acknowledgments and compliments to Mr. Whitney the artist.2 To be sure, I have only imaginary associations with the place, never having seen it except in day-dreams. But the views have none the less value on that account; and as I look at them, I begin to think, that I have been there, or am there while I look. I particularly like No. 6 with the little foot-bridge. This seems to me the most perfect. With renewed thanks I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow E. D. Neill Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Macalester College Library. 1. Neill ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 9 3 ) , Presbyterian clergyman and educator of Saint Paul, wrote to Longfellow as secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society. H e was the first president of Macalester College, 1 8 7 4 - 1 8 8 4 . 2. Joel Emmons Whitney C 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 8 6 ) , daguerreotypist of Saint Paul. According to

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Neill's letter of October i860, the stereoscopic views were nine in number. T h e y are in the Longfellow House.

1839.

To Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow

Camb. Deer. 29 1860 My Dear Alex, Your box arrived safely on Christmas day, and the contents are much admired, particularly as being your handiwork and your wife's. The 1

adorns the Library, with other evergreens, and the cigar-holder is

not to be banished to the Billiard room, but has a more honorable station in my study. Many thanks. I hope our box reached you safely. In great haste Ever aff[ectionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, Portland,

POSTMARK:

ADDRESS: Alexander W . Longfellow Esq./

BOSTON M A S S D E C 3 1

ENDORSEMENT:

H . W . L . Deer.

31st.

i860 ι. A Christmas monogram made for Fanny Longfellow by her sister-in-law. I H S , a contraction of the Greek word for Jesus, is often thought of as an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Iesus Hominum Salvator.

1840.

To Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Camb. Dec 31. 1860. My Dear Dana, Will you do me the favor to sup with me tomorrow (Tuesday) evening to meet Mr. Field, and Apthorp and others?1 Please say "Yes" to bearer, from your bed-room window, as I shall send this before you are up in the morning, so as to make sure of you. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow p.s. Come between half past eight and nine, if you please. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι . According to his journal, Longfellow entertained six guests at a supper party on January 1 : John W . Field ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 8 7 ) , a wealthy Philadelphian and friend of Lowell; Lowell; Robert East Apthorp ( 7 6 4 . 6 ) ; Hamilton Gibbs Wilde ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 8 4 ) , portrait, genre, and landscape artist of Boston; Charles Eliot Norton; and Dana.

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FOURTEEN

THE DEEPEST WOUND 1861

T H E D E E P E S T WOUND ι 861

1861

T H E YEAR was a climactic one both in the history of the United States and in the personal life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Ten slave states followed the angry course of South Carolina in seceding from the Union, and on April 12, with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the nation finally turned to violence to settle a quarrel that had outgrown the uneasy compromises of a quarter-century. The first shots of war found Longfellow at the height of his career. He was fifty-four years old, a household name in every state of the Union, a happy father and devoted husband, surrounded by all the material comforts of life. Although he was an ardent Republican and an enthusiastic supporter of Senator Sumner's policy of no compromise with the principles of antislavery, the cannonades and confusions of the battlefields in Virginia were only faintly heard in the elegant rooms of the Craigie House. His belligerency was moral rather than emotional, in part because his sons were still too young for battle. He was confident that the South would be put down quickly — a common mistake in the North — and he had no reason to suspect that his private life would be drastically wrenched by an event quite unrelated to the alarums and excursions of the Civil War. The blow fell on July 9, 1861. Longfellow was in his study, while his wife, in the adjoining library, was sealing small packets of her two younger daughters' hair with burning wax. The cause of the accident that followed has never been precisely determined, but Fanny Longfellow's light summer dress somehow caught fire. In an agony of terror she ran to her husband, who tried to smother the fire by wrapping her in a rug. According to Cornelius Felton, who described the scene in a letter to Sumner on July 10 ( M S , Harvard College Library), the rug proved too small to be effective, and Fanny Longfellow ran away from her husband and then back again into his arms. As Longfellow tried desperately to assist her, he himself received serious burns about the face and hands. The next day, after her excruciating pain had been relieved first by ether and then by a coma, Fanny Longfellow died. Her husband, overcome by remorse and the fever of his own wounds, was unable to attend her funeral. N o one who reads Longfellow's manuscript journal, with its celebrations each year of his engagement and wedding anniversaries, can fail to appreciate the depth of his devotion to his wife. No evidence exists to suggest that the

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marriage was less than ideal. In Letter No. 1889, written five weeks after the tragedy to his sister-in-law Mary Appleton Mackintosh, Longfellow described in candid, emotional terms the love of which he had been deprived: "How I am alive after what my eyes have seen, I know not. I am at least patient, if not resigned; and thank God hourly — as I have from the beginning — for the beautiful life we led together, and that I loved her more and more to the end . . . You can understand what an inexpressible delight she was to me, always and in all things. I never looked at her without a thrill of pleasure; she never came into a room where I was without my heart beating quicker, nor went out without my feeling that something of the light went with her. I loved her so entirely, and I know she was very happy." Longfellow's marriage to Fanny Appleton lasted for eighteen years. Eighteen years later, on July 10, 1879, he revealed in "The Cross of Snow" that time had done little to dull the sharpness of his loss: In the long, sleepless watches of the night, A gentle face — the face of one long dead — Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led T o its repose; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died. During the first six months of 1861, before the frightful accident that changed the character of his life, Longfellow wrote at least 1 1 7 letters, 47 of which survive and are printed here. After July 10 he secluded himself at Nahant and in the Craigie House while struggling to control his grief. His mourning expressed itself in a number of negative ways. He almost entirely abandoned his journal, gave up writing poetry, withdrew from social events, and made no plans. Though he was not alone at this time in experiencing the anguish of a violent death in the family, because the Civil War had already begun to bring home its tragedies to other households, the survivors of fathers, sons, and brothers killed in battle had at least the consolation of suffering in a noble cause. Longfellow was doubly shocked by the apparent meaninglessness of his loss. As he slowly regained emotional equilibrium and as his own burns healed, he began again the monumental task of managing

208

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his correspondence. During the last six months of 1861 he is known to have written only 50 letters, 25 of which have survived to document the most distressing period of his life.

1841.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce Camb. Jan 1. 1861

Dear Annie, I have only time this morning to wish you and Aunt Lucia a Happy New Year, and to enclose this little present, Ever affect. H.W.L. $100.00 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1842.

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. Jan. 9 1861 Dear Ticknor, Mr. Clark 1 in making out the account did not give me any list of Editions, as usual. Please supply the deficiency; as I want to see if my entries square with yours. Can you send me a copy of Miles Standish in sheets? Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . John Spencer Clark ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 9 2 0 ) , became a partner in the firm.

1843.

financial

clerk of Ticknor & Fields, later

Thomas Gold Appleton

Camb. Jan 12. 1861. My Dear Tom, Thanks for your letter;1 thanks for Fanny's splendid dresses; and pardon for my tardy reply! Everything came safe and in perfect order, as Fanny has already told you; and the ball dress will make its first appearance this week, at a ball to be given by Mrs. Chadwick2 at Papanti's Hall.

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A month or more ago a letter came to you from Mme. de Bury, with request for me to open it, if you were away. I attended to the business (North American imbroglio again) and wrote to her immediately.3 Pray ask her if it is all right. I bought the Nahant Cottage, with you, at $5000, supposing you were of the same mind as when we last talked about the matter. But if you do not like it, when you return I will take your half off your hands. I had not time to consult you on the subject, as Eldredge4 wanted an immediate answer, the heirs being rather in a hurry, when they had once made up their minds to sell, and there were other purchasers hovering about. I hope you are enjoying life in Paris, and the soft hotel existence, which I always liked so much, and should like now extremely, if it were possible. You need not hurry home on your father's account. He is all right again. It was only the debility of the Indian Summer weather, I think; and the Winter cold sets him up once more. He seems quite as well as when you went away; but is disturbed and unhappy about the secession movement. In the papers you see all that is going on. In this region there is no excitement about the matter; and nobody seems to be frightened except the "Four Georges" of the Courier clique. 5 Do not forget Fanny's photograph; — carte de visite style, is what she wants, for a book. When you go over to London Charley wants you to get him the very last touch of young man's hat — (not stove pipe) something original and stunning. Size of head 21 1 / 2 inches. This is a memorandum for you on your way home, next Summer. Field is still here; and sups with us (Curtis and others) on Saturday next. Good bye. Ever affectionately yours H.W.L. p.s. Compliments to Carlier, and thanks for his "Mariage aux Etats Unis."6 MANUSCRIPT: Parkman D. Howe, Boston. ι. From the Hotel Mirabeau, Paris, November 29, i860. 2. Louisa Read Chadwick ( 1 8 2 1 — 1 9 1 3 ) , wife of Christopher C . Chadwick, a Boston merchant of 58 Beacon Street. 3. Longfellow's letter to Mme. Blaze de Bury ( 1 6 0 2 . 1 4 ) is unrecovered. 4. James Thomas Eldredge ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 8 9 ) , a real estate broker of 23 Congress Street, Boston. 5. George Lunt ( 7 4 2 . 1 ) edited the Boston Courier, 1 8 5 7 - 1 8 6 2 , in which George Stillman Hillard had a financial interest. T h e two other "Georges" were presumably George Ticknor and his nephew George Ticknor Curtis ( 1 1 9 5 . 5 ) . All four shared 2 I O

C A M B R I D G E ,

1 8 6 1

strong proslavery views. Longfellow also refers obliquely to The Four Georges (London, 1 8 5 5 ) , lectures delivered by Thackeray in America, 1 8 5 4 - 1 8 5 5 . 6. Auguste Carlier, Le Mariage aux États-Unis (Paris, i860).

1844.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Jan 20 1861

My Dear Sumner, A letter from you would be most gratifying and cheering! Find time, I pray you, amid your thousand and one occupations to write me a line. I heard it whispered yesterday, that there was danger of Felton's not being reappointed (or re-elected) as Regent of the Smithsonian; and the whisperer added, that it was owing to opposition from you. If so, I know on what grounds it must be, and do not think them sufficient. But I hope it is not so. Felton is Northern in his feelings, and, I understand, voted for Lincoln. And when one thinks of the immense adverse pressure to which he must have been exposed, that is enough for a Smithsonian Regency.1 Consider the old days and the old friendship and do not act, in this matter, too much in the "high old Roman fashion,"2 unless you see a necessity which I cannot. I say nothing of politics, for what is the use of talking. The events of the last month only strengthen my convictions, and you know well enough what they are. I hope there is some truth in the report, that négociations are on foot for making Maryland and Delaware Free-States.3 Fanny sends kindest regards. Yours ever H.W.L. p.s. Where is Signor Giorgio [George Sumner]? MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Sumner responded on January 23: "False in every respect! Never have I uttered a word or had a thought adverse to Felton's renomination as a Regent of the Smith. Inst.; nor have I heard of any body else who has. This is another instance of falsehood about me circulated in Cambridge . . . I have long wished to see the day when the ostracism of estimable men in places of scientific and literary character should cease; and when a man should not be regarded as incompetent for such trusts because he is Anti-Slavery. I do not think Felton blameless in this respect. Indeed, unless I have been mis-informed he has within his sphere helped in this ostracism. But I would not have him treated as I understand he has treated others. Never through me shall he have anything but kindness and regard." Felton was reelected to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution on March 2, 1861. 2. Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, IV, xiii, 87. 3. In an attempt to preserve the Union, Senator John Jordan Crittenden ( 1 2 4 5 . 5 ) 2

11

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WOUND

had introduced a peace resolution in Congress on December 18, i860, which would have recognized slavery south of latitude 36 o 30'. The resolution was unacceptable to Lincoln and was consequently rejected. Longfellow here refers to an attempt to salvage a part of the compromise. Both Maryland and Delaware lie north of Crittenden's boundary.

1845.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Jan 29 1861 1

Dear Sumner, Thanks for your letter. It sets that matter all right, and at rest forever. I liked the first part of Mr. Seward's Speech but not his propositions. We can never have any clause inserted into the Constitution which shall even seem to favor Slavery. Let us make an end of that business once and forever.2 South Carolina reminds me of "Ancient Pistol," and before the play is over will have to eat an uncommonly large leek.3 Tragic as secession is, it has also its ludicrous side. The six fugitive states look very much like six paupers leaving the Union Workhouse. Is it worth while to advertise them, and pursue them? It may be too late for that. But keep the Forts and the Ports; and matters will mend. A man here from the West says "the Country will be saved by — Pork!" When the supply is cut off, the South can no longer feed its Slaves, and must yield. Yours ever without compromise or concession, H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. An unidentified newspaper clipping is pasted above the date: "Au sénat, Seward a fait un discours conciliant, mais n'a trouvé le moyen de satisfaire ni le Sud ni le Nord [In the Senate, Seward has made a conciliatory speech, but has not found the means of satisfying either the South or the North]." 2. Seward had delivered his "State of the Union" speech on January 12, 1861, recommending the protection of slavery in states where it already existed and the postponement of amendments to the Constitution concerning the problem until the public mind was calmer. See the Congressional Globe, Pt. I, 2nd Sess., 1860-1861 (Washington, D.C., 1 8 6 1 ) , pp. 3 4 1 - 3 4 4 . 3. Cf. King Henry the Fifth, V, i.

1846.

To the Misses Gibson1

Cambridge Jan. 31 1861 Dear Young Ladies It gives me great pleasure to comply with your request; and I here enclosed send you some stanzas from "The Light of Stars" and "The

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Footsteps of Angels," tóng very glad to know, that these pieces have given you pleasure. I beg you to make my best acknowledgments to your father for his kindness in sending me his Romance of "Dearforgil,"2 which I have read with great interest. It is a very striking and vivid picture of the Past. With best wishes and regards, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Daughters of Charles Bernard Gibson ( 1 8 0 8 - 1 8 8 5 ) , Irish novelist, local historian, and clergyman. 2. Dearforgil, the Princess of Brefney: A Historical Romance of 1152-1172 (London, 1857).

1847.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Feb. 5 1861 My Dear Sumner, I have only a moment before the mail closes, to say Mazaska, which in the Dakota tongue signifies Gold or money, in general. This, I think, would be a good name for Pike's Peak.1 I shall try to write to you tomorrow, till when good bye Ever thine H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Sumner had written on January 3 1 : "You kindly sent me an Indian name for the territory of Pike's Peak; but I have not your notes now within reach. Pray send me the name again — instanter." See Letter No. 1 7 9 2 .

1848.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Feb 6 1861 Dear Sumner, I see by last night's paper, that the name of Colorado is to be given to Pike's Peak, which is a better name for the new territory than the one I suggested, though not so significant. "The thing I am most afraid of is Fear"; "C'est de quoi j'ai la plus de peur que la peur!" says Montaigne;1 and so say I of our present political af[f]airs. Seward and Adams have done wrong in suggesting such a thing as 2 ι 3

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compromise, under present circumstances; and it di [s] courages the friends of freedom. I have not seen Adams's Speech; I hear it much lauded; but when the "Union Savers" applaud it, I tremble lest there be something in it to weaken the front and force of the Republican cause. I will not, however, prejudge it.2 There is something very ludicrous, seen from this distance — in the stage strut of Southern Senators going out of the Union. Our future Molière will have a fine field for comedy; and the Southern Planter will figure as funnily as Jourdain or Porceaugnac. 3 Ever thine H.W.L. p.s. Remember me, I beg of you, to Fessenden. H e of course stands firm. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. "Of Fear," Essays, Bk. I, Ch. 18. 2. Charles Francis Adams had delivered a speech on the state of the Union in the House of Representatives on January 31, 1861. See Appendix to the Congressional Globe, Pt. II, 2nd Sess., 1860-1861 (Washington, D.C., 1861), pp. 124-127. 3. In Le bourgeois gentilhomme and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac.

1849.

To Thomas Gold Ap-pleton Cambridge

Feb 8 1861.

M y Dear Tom, Please buy me these two books of Sainte Beuve and Véron. You will find them at Reinwald's 15 Rue des Saints Pères. 1 T h e thermometer last night in Camb. was 20 below zero! O n e even 24! In the midst of this terrible cold, Dana was in town at 3 o'clock this morning to receive the body of Mrs. Geo. Ripley; who was buried to-day from her husband's old church in Purchase St. now catholic. 2 W e have your letter to your father to cheer us. You hit it about right in political matters. Hillard's last speech will amuse you. You will get it in your Courier. Poor Hillard! 3 T h e Union continues slowly to dissolve. State after State detaches itself and drifts down the Gulfstream of perdition. It will not escape you that certain persons in Boston are down on their knees in the dirt. I need not name them. You will know them by instinct. Meanwhile Pio Nono Buchanan 4 sits and twirls his thumbs. I am happy to say, the main body of the Republican Party stands firm, and will make no compromise with traitors; compromise being only a euphemism for surrender. If for once in their lives the whole North would only go together, it would put an end

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forever to this nonsence, and Ancient Pistol would have to eat his leek. I think he will, as it is. W e had a letter to-day from Emmeline [Wadsworth] at Nice, with glowing descriptions of the climate. Why dont you run down there for a day or two? I am glad you are satisfied with the Nahant purchase. I shall not do anything to the house, except paint and shingle it, and perhaps have a brick foundation put under your room. I send however a plan 5 for adding two bed-rooms to your wing, so that you can have your present room for a parlor, and an extra bed for an artist friend, which would be very nice. Tell me what you think of it; and if you desire it. Last week Fanny sent you her photograph. To-day I send you mine. When you have done with it, you may give it to Mme. de Bury, if you like. What do you think of a change of sixty degrees in the thermometer in twelve hours? W e have just gone through it downwards! It takes one's breath away. Please say to Mme. de Bury that immediately on receiving her letter, I wrote a note to Dr. [Andrew Preston] Peabody. I have no answer from him, but I hope she has. If not, let me know it, and I will return to the charge. I am sorry to say your father seems more feeble than when I last wrote. He no longer sits through our Saturday dinner, but retreats to his arm-chair by the fire, earlier than of old. His cough is very troublesome, and exhausts him. Ever thine H.W.L. I send you to-day a " Ν . Y. Tribune." Note what Sedgwick says. That is the ground for the North to take.® MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Catalogue clippings pasted to the top of the first sheet identify the books as follows : "Sainte-Beuve, C . A. — Chateaubriand et son groupe littéraire sous l'empire; cours professé à Liège en 1 8 4 8 - 1 8 4 9 . 2 vol. in-8. Gamier frères. 15 fr.; Véron, L. — Paris en i860. Les théâtres de Paris depuis 1806 jusqu'en i860. Illustré de 15 dessins par Bourdelin. In-12. Librairie Nouvelle. 2 fr." 2. Sophia Willard Dana Ripley (b. 1 8 0 3 ) , cousin of Richard Henry Dana, Jr., had become an ardent Roman Catholic before her death. The church from which she was buried stood at the corner of Purchase and Pearl streets in Boston and was organized in 1826 expressly for George Ripley's pastorate. 3. Hillard, who had opposed the Republicans, took part in a "Great Conciliatory Meeting" in Faneuil Hall on February 5. His speech urging a united front of all parties against the southern threat of secession was reported in the Boston Courier, L X X I V , No. 3 2 (February 6, 1 8 6 1 ) .

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4. Like Buchanan, Pius IX ( 1 7 9 2 - 1 8 7 8 ) experienced serious political difficulties. In 1859 he suffered the loss of two-thirds of the papal dominions as a result of the war between France-Piedmont and Austria (see 1729.3). 5. Unrecovered. 6. Charles Baldwin Sedgwick ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 8 3 ) , a Republican member of Congress from New York, recommended that seceding states be readmitted to the Union only if they emancipated all children of African birth and agreed to a Constitutional amendment authorizing Congress to abolish slavery everywhere in the nation. New York Tribune, XX, No. 6175 (February 8, 1861).

1850.

T o Charles Sumner Camb. Feb 10 1861

Dear Sumner I saw Howe on Saturday. He is troubled and alarmed at the wavering of Republicans. H e sees many signs of yielding, which I do not. O n e of the worst things that could happen to the country — nay, the very worst — would be this. W h a t hope is there for freedom, if we throw away her victories? I believe better things of the North; — but the good cause may be betrayed. Perhaps the oddest and most grotesque feature of the melo-drama, is the re-appearance on the scene of Ex-President Tyler! It is really too droll! 1 " A u café Quand il joue son rôle, Les aveugles Le trouvent drôle!" 2 I am one of the aveugles. Excuse my want of reverence. Dana speaks tonight on the State of the Nation. I am curious to know his views. 3 George has not yet returned from the West. I long to see him. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Ex-President John Tyler acted as chairman of a peace convention of border states that met in Washington on February 4 to consider compromises to save the Union. On February 6 Longfellow castigated the convention in his journal: "And now old Ex President Tyler, who in his best estate was rather a laughing-stock of the nation, and only President by accident, has gone to Washington to save the country! This makes the whole matter a solemn farce. It is really too wicked. These men do not care about the Union any farther than they can turn it in favor of Slavery." Tyler subsequently declared for secession and was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives from Virginia. He died, however, before he could serve.

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2. " A t the coffee-house/When he plays his role,/The blind ones/Find him droll!" 3. Richard Henry Dana, Jr., spoke on " T h e Present Aspect of the Country" in Cambridge City Hall on Monday evening, February 1 1 . Longfellow, a sponsor of the address, was in the audience ( M S Journal).

1851.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Feb. 13 1861 My Dear Sumner, Mr. Post, a German by birth, an American by adoption, called upon me this morning with the enclosed letter from Freiligrath. He wants to get the place of Consul at Antwerp.1 I did not sign his paper; but I told him I would forward this letter to you, so that when the matter came up, you would know about him. Be kind enough to read it, and put it on file for future use. I have just been reading some strong, bracing articles in the N. York Tribune, much of my way of thinking. Let us be of good cheer, notwithstanding the seeming wavering and weakness in some of the leaders of the Party. Have you read Dana's speech here at the Port? The parts most applauded were those where he spoke of no granting any farther claims of the Slave Power. In haste Ever thine H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Carl Post 0>. 1 8 1 9 ) , German refugee and acquaintance of Karl Marx, came to America in 1 8 5 0 and became a citizen. H e lived at this time at 348 Grand Street, Williamsburg, N . Y .

1852.

To Marvin Henry Bovee1

Camb. Feb 14 1861 Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your letter, and should have taken an opportunity to call upon you, if I had known your address. I shall be happy to see you any afternoon, when it may be convenient for you [to] come to Cambridge, except Saturday. I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Hon. M. H. Bovee

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MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Bovee ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 8 8 ) , Wisconsin politician and reformer, had begun a nationwide campaign in 1859 to abolish capital punishment. In a letter of February 6, 1861, he had expressed the hope of enlisting Longfellow in his cause.

1853.

To Charles

Sumner

Cambridge Feb 18 1861. M y Dear Sumner, I think of you often, and very often; standing sentinel at our out-posts in the fo[r]lorn night! Be of good cheer! In a few days, now, matters will mend. Our Pennsylvanian Pio Nono will ere long retire to Wheatland; 1 "Di sè lasciando orribili dispregi," as Dante says,2 or in Chaucer's crisp phrase, "the sclandre of his disfame." 3 Then comes in the new order of things! Who is "John W Cowel, 41 Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park," who writes in the last London "Examiner" an article in favor of the South? He was in this country in 1837-38-39; is a Free-trade man; and considers the Tarif[f] as the cause of secession.4 Do you see the English Papers? George [Sumner] dined with me two days ago. He never looked so well in his life. Lecturing agrees with him; and he is immensely popular in that field. As Mr. Post will call on you, at all events, I have thought it more kind to give him two lines of introduction, involving only a political visit, and no social claim. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. President Buchanan had purchased Wheatland, an estate of twenty-two acres near Lancaster, Pa., in 1848. He lived there in retirement for the last seven years of his life. 2. Inferno, VIII, 51 : "Leaving behind them horrible dispraises." 3. Cf. "The Clerk's Tale," 1. 730. 4. John Welsford Cowell (d. 1867, aged seventy), an Oxford graduate of 1818, spent three years in Philadelphia as an agent of the Bank of England. His letter in the Examiner, No. 2765 (January 26, 1861), p. 52, was entitled "Southern Secession from Another Point of View." The catalogue of the British Museum reveals that he wrote several works on currency and Confederate matters.

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1854.

To Horace Wemyss

1 8 6 1

Smith1

Cambridge Feb 20 1861 Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your letter, but have waited in vain for the volume of your father's Poems,2 which you sent by mail, but which has miscarried, and which I must thank you for unseen. I am sorry that I cannot furnish you with an original poem, nor with a photograph for your "American Poets."3 I have neither the one nor the other of sufficient merit to see the light; and am therefore forced to decline your request. With many thanks for your kind offer of your "Patriotic Songs" and "Nuts for Future Historians to crack,"4 and with best wishes for the success of your new work, I remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Horace W . Smith Esq MANUSCRIPT: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Goldsborough/Falls of Schuylkill/Phil. Co. Pa.

ADDRESS: Horace W . Smith Esq/ POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MS

[date

illegible] ι. Smith C 1 8 2 5 - 1 8 9 1 ) , a minor author of Philadelphia, was the son of Richard Penn Smith ( 1 7 9 9 - 1 8 5 4 ) , poet, novelist, and the author of some twenty plays, fifteen of which were successfully produced on the stage. 2. The Miscellaneous Works of the Late Richard Penn Smith, comp. Horace W . Smith (Philadelphia, 1856). 3. On December 24, i860, Smith had written that he was about to publish a work entitled American Poets and Their Poems, in which "Excelsior" and "The Fire of DriftWood" were to appear. There is no record, however, of the book's having been printed. 4. Although Allibone's Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors (Philadelphia, 1880), II, 2140, notes that Smith's Patriotic Songs of America was in preparation, it seems never to have been published. The other work was Nuts for Future Historians to Crack, comp. Horace W . Smith, containing the Cadwallader Pamphlet, Valley Forge Letters, etc. (Philadelphia, 1856).

1855.

To William Pitt F essenden

Cambridge Feb. 26 1861 My Dear Fessenden, Is anything thought or said among the Republicans at Washington about appointing Senator Sumner Minister to England? I think of it very often, with the strong hope that it may also be in the minds of others. He is eminently fitted for that place; of all men would be most welcome there; and moreover we Republicans ought to vindicate ourselves by showing him some marked and signal honor at this time.

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I hope you agree with me; and if so will you not see what can be done to carry out this design? At all events let me know how it strikes you. Sumner himself has never breathed a whisper to me on this subject. I do not know whether he would like the office; but the offer should be made to him. If he is passed over by the new Government, it will show either great timidity or great ingratitude.1 I remain, Dear Senator Ever Yours Henry W. Longfellow Hon. W . P. Fessenden MANUSCRIPT : University of California Library, Berkeley. ι. Sumner's unremitting resistance to compromise of any kind on the border states caused him to break with his friend Charles Francis Adams (see The Education of Henry Adams, Ch. V I I ) and to lose any chance for a seat in Lincoln's cabinet. When Adams, therefore, was being suggested for the post of minister to England, Sumner's friends began a campaign to obtain the assignment for him (Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, pp. 3 8 1 - 3 8 2 ) .

1856.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Marchó 1861 My Dear Sumner, You see I follow you up sharply about Monti's affair. Did the documents reach you safely; his Recom[m]endation, signed by sundry good men, myself among others; and a brief account of his life, backed by a letter from me? I beg you find time amid the stir of life around you to say you have these.1 Schleiden's dinner must have been very pleasant. Did you enjoy it?2 I say nothing to-day of politics. Only tell me if I can do anything more for Monti. Yours Ever HW.L p.s. Fanny thanks you for the Great Invitation to the Great Ball. 3 What a portentous card! I hope we are not letting slip one of those grand chances to do something for freedom, which come only once in a century! MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Sumner responded to Longfellow's entreaties on behalf of Luigi Monti on March 16: "I am tired, sick and unhappy. My rooms are full from early morning till midnight with debaters about 'office,' and the larger part go away discontented, and sometimes, I

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doubt not, hostile. Could you see what I do of Govt, you would be happier than ever in yr books and elegant seclusion . . . Believe me — I have done all I could for Monti. Only yesterday I pressed his case again. His papers, of course, I filed at once with a letter asking his appointment." Monti had first applied for the consulship at Palermo in 1856 (see Letters No. 1522 and 1523). He eventually was nominated in August 1861 and served until 1873. 2. Rudolf Schleiden's preinauguration dinner on March 2 in honor of president-elect Lincoln is described by Carl Sandburg, The War Years ( N e w York, 1939), I, 98. Longfellow presumably read a report of the affair by a correspondent of the New York Evening Post, quoted in the Boston Transcript, XXXII, No. 9465 (March 5, 1861): "The dinner was worthy of the guests and the reputation of the entertainer. Mr. Schleiden has quite a name for the age and excellence of his wines. One of the wines on his list, and served out in diminutive glasses, it was remarked, dates but four years after the landing of the Pilgrims; and the value of a single bottle at compound interest would more than defray our national debt." 3. The Union Ball on March 4 after the inauguration.

1857.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. March 7. 1861 M y Dear Sumner, You will think I play the game of Monti with great obstinacy. I want very much to know if all his papers reached you; and if this little matter cannot be settled now, before the Senate adjourns; so that he may go on his way rejoicing, as soon as Spring opens. (Spring! word of magic! Three days ago our thermometer was at 76 Summer heat; yesterday and to-day, down to Zero!) T h e papers say "Mr. Sumner declines a Foreign Mission." W h y does Mr. Sumner do this? N o man would be half so welcome in England as he; nor do us half so much good there. 1 Mr. Sumner must be one of those men, who like work better than play. W e l l — "As you like it," is also a play, and a very good one. W e are looking for T o m in a few days from France. Mr. Appleton is very feeble; and a week ago was very ill. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . No offer of a "Foreign Mission" was made to Sumner.

1858.

T o Horace Wemyss

Smith

Cambridge March 11 1861 Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving this morning the volume of your father's Prose and Poetry, which you have been kind enough to send 22 ι

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me; and I hasten to return my best acknowledgments for this mark of your regard. Of course I have not yet had time to read the volume; but wait for the necessary leisure, which every book has a right to demand. I can neither read nor write in a hurry; for as Dante says, haste "mars all decency of action."1 Allow me therefore to express my thanks in advance, and believe me, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Horace W. Smith Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, ι. Purgatorio, III, l o - i i .

1859.

To Adam Gurowski

Cambridge March 13. 1861. Dear Sir, I had already written to Mr. Wilson yesterday, when your letter reached me.1 I have written also to sundry other persons, feeling a deep interest in the matter. It seems to me of very great importance that some signal and unmistakable mark of honor should be offered to Sumner by this Administration. To fail to do it would be a great blunder. It pains me to think that it has not already been done spontaneously. To make him only chairman of a Committee is like giving him a pair of old shoes! Then there is Motley; — he ought to go as Minister to the Hague. That would be a handsome recognition of his way of serving the country. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. As chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, Henry Wilson (.1733.11') was in a position to influence the administration in favor of Sumner as minister to England. According to his letter calendar, Longfellow wrote to him on March 13, but the letter is unrecovered. On March 18 George Sumner wrote to Longfellow: "Wilson has proved false! He has put all the letters in his pocket and done nothing! The governor [John Albion Andrew of Massachusetts] writes to-night a pungent letter to him, and wishes you to write to the President directly." There is no record, however, of Longfellow's writing to President Lincoln on this matter.

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1861

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge March 13 1861 My Dear Sumner, I begin to fear that my letters do not reach you, and that Monti's papers have miscarried. Pray write a single line to let me know. Behold another applicant for your favor! Young Mr. Carrol of Boston, a graduate of Harvard, came to see me yesterday.1 He wants to be your Secretary of Legation, if you go to London or Paris, or anywhere else. He is a man of marked talent — speaks with elegance and ease German, French and Italian, is a gentleman in manners and appearance, and also a good classical scholar. He has travelled in Europe — is married — and is now usher in one of the Boston schools. I told him there was little hope of success for him; but that I would write you, and state his case. If you can remember it, possibly you may have a chance to say a good word for him. If the Mission to England is not offered you, I shall be deeply disappointed and mortified. This should have been one of the very first acts of the Administration. It is committing a grave error in not hastening to show you honor. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Charles Carroll ( 1 8 3 2 - 1 8 8 9 ) , valedictorian of the Harvard class of 1 8 5 3 , served as professor of French and German at N e w York University, 1 8 7 1 - 1 8 8 9 .

1861.

To Ferdinand Freiligrath

Cambridge March 14 1861 My Dear Freiligrath, After so long a silence those friendly lines from you are doubly welcome. Not less so the portrait; a sweet strong face; which I like better than the early one, in the frogged frock-coat, so long my silent companion in my study. You wonder that I did not thank you for it sooner! I never even heard of it till your letter came. Fields forgot it, or neglected it: and when called to account confessed; "O yes; it is at the bottom of my trunk. I put it there to keep it smooth." So you have been kept smooth for six months — "like General Monk, lying in a trunk."1 Thanks! Thanks also for the quaint Editio Princeps of [Gottfried August] Bürgers "Prinzessin Europa,"2 which will enrich my small collection of curious books; — and for the "Coleridge."3 I have read your

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Memoir of the poet carefully and with much satisfaction. In short space you give a very clear outline of the Poet and the Man. I see nothing to add, or to omit, nor to criticize, except the last line on ρ IX. where instead of "would have been" I should say "was." Your old political friend called. 4 He wants to be made Consul at Antwerp; and I wrote to my friend Senator Sumner on the subject, which was all I could do for him. W h a t his chances are I do not know. D o not be alarmed at our Political troubles. You do not know our Southern brethren so well as I do. It is nothing but "boys playing soldiers." They like it; and nobody at the North is very much frightened. How much I should like to see you again; — and your wife, and your children! As I cannot come to you I send my Photograph, with kindest and pleasantest and most affectionate memories. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, respondence," pp. 1287-1288.

PUBLISHED: "Longfellow-Freiligrath Cor-

ι . In Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, ou dix ans plus tard, Alexander Dumas has D'Artagnan spirit General Monk (a character based on George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, 1608-1670) across the English Channel, concealed in a trunk, to meet Charles II in France. According to his journal, Longfellow read the novel in 1848 ( L i f e , II, 138). 2. Neue weltliche hochteutsche Reime, enthaltend die ebentheyerliche, doch wahrhaftige Historiam von der wunderschönen durchlauchtigen kaiserlichen Prinzessin Europa und einem uralten heydnischen Gözen Jupiter item Zeus genannt (Göttingen, 1 777)> written under the pseudonym of M. Jocosum Hilarium. 3. The Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Derwent and Sara Coleridge, with a biographical memoir by Ferdinand Freiligrath (Leipzig, i860). 4. Carl Post.

1862.

T o John Lothrof

Motley CAMBRIDGE,

March 14, 1861.

MY DEAR MOTLEY, —

A t the last dinner of our "Saturday Club" Agassiz proposed that a friendly greeting be sent you, with our hearty congratulations on the success of your N e w History. 1 T h e proposition passed by acclamation, and I was requested to write to you to that effect, which I do with great pleasure, adding in my own behalf that no one rejoices in your new literary triumph more than I do, unless it be your father. 2 It was always a delight to me to see his face and now more so than ever. I think you have added ten happy years to his life. 224

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I send you also by Wednesday's mail a No. of the New York Tribune with a long notice,3 which perhaps you might not otherwise see. There is another notice of you from a newspaper.4 It is short, and would be better if it were shorter by striking out the word "probably." How glad I am that your laurels are in leaf so early that you can wear them as an ornament, not as a Cassarean wig! We are expecting Tom [Appleton] from Paris early in April. His father is very feeble and looks eagerly for his coming. With kindest remembrances to your wife, in which mine joins, — Yrs truly, HENRY W . LONGFELLOW. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from John Lotkrop Motley and His Family, ed. Susan and Herbert St. John Mildmay (London and N e w York, 1 9 1 0 ) , pp. 9 5 - 9 6 . ι. 2. 3. 4.

History of the United Netherlands (London, i860), Vols. I and II. Thomas Motley ( 3 5 7 . 1 ) . X X , No. 6200 (March 9, 1 8 6 1 ) , 6 - 7 . Unidentified.

1863.

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge March 20 1861. My Dear Sumner, I am so deeply interested for Monti, that I must say one word more, which you can use when occasion serves. Pray speak into the President's ear or Mr. Seward's. Mr. Barstow cannot be much of a Republican, for he was appointed by Pres. Pierce and continued by Pres. Buchanan.1 He cannot be recommended by American merchants in Palermo for there are none there, I understand, the American business being done by English houses. Then there is that affair of Lanza, whom he suffered to be taken from an American ship — has that ever been cleared up?2 At all events might he not be transferred to Messina, where the salary is the same? As to Signor Minelli, he is Monti's bosom friend! He has a very good place in New York, being Foresti's successor in Columbia College.3 Whereas Monti really needs the post. It is of vital importance to him, and I really do not see what he can do if he does not get it. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Rochester Library. ι. In a letter of March 16, 1 8 6 1 , Sumner wrote that Henry H. Barstow ( 1 8 2 3 1 8 7 5 ) , a former teacher of English in N e w Hampshire, had become consul in Palermo 2 2 5

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in 1856 at the request of American citizens residing there. He had since earned the intense dislike of both Americans and Sicilians because of his irresolution, suspected financial chicanery, and sympathy for the despotic King Francis II ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 8 9 4 ) , ruler of the Kingdom of T w o Sicilies, 1 8 5 9 - 1 8 6 1 . See Howard R . Marraro, American Opinion on the Unification of Italy, 1846-1861 ( N e w York, 1 9 3 2 ) , pp. 278-279. 2. Ottavio Lanza, an Italian priest and patriot who had taken refuge aboard the American bark Taconey in Palermo, was delivered to the king's authorities by Consul Barstow on April 1 1 , i860. He was "liberated" on July 1 1 , i860 ( U . S . State Department records, Historical Office). 3. Eleuterio Felice Foresti ( 1 7 8 9 - 1 8 5 8 ) , Italian patriot and exile, served as professor of Italian in Columbia College, 1 8 3 9 - 1 8 5 6 . He returned to Italy as U . S . consul at Genoa in the year of his death. Dominick Minnelli was a language teacher of N e w York, but Columbia has no record of him as Foresti's successor in the college.

1864.

To Charles

Sumner

Camb. March 22 1861 My Dear Sumner, I feel deeply disappointed that you are not sent Minister to England. T h e Administration has made a great mistake — and I fear a fatal one — for it means a great deal. It neglects its friends, to conciliate its enemies. I know no worse beginning than this. Never were the advantages of victory so wantonly thrown away! 1 I have much to say to you, but will not write it. You will soon be here, and we can discuss the matter fully. I shall be glad if you can put a better construction upon actions and events than I do. I am sorry also that I see no chance now for Motley. 2 A third mission will hardly be given to Massachusetts. George [Sumner] is a good deal troubled at the course things have taken. You must be troubled in a very different way; overwhelmed with officeseekers! You will have no peace till the last place is given away — not even an old pair of boots left. Courage, my Dear Sumner! and when may we look for you in Camb? Ever thine H. W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Charles Francis Adams was commissioned envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to England on March 20, thus ending whatever hopes Sumner may have had for the position. In the meantime, with the Republicans in control of Congress, Sumner became chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 2. Nevertheless, Motley received an appointment, in August 1 8 6 1 , as minister to Austria, where he served until 1867.

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1865.

T o Nathaniel Ingersoll

1 8 6 1

Bowditch1

Cambridge March 26 1 8 6 1 . My Dear Sir, I should not so long have delayed thanking you for your new edition of "Suffolk Surnames" 2 had I not been ill with influenza and rather disinclined to use a pen. The volume is very elegant, and the portrait adds greatly to its value. I only regret that you did not also give us Rowse's drawing, notwithstanding your reasoning on the subject in the Preface. 3 There is something very simple, frank and touching in this Preface. But when you say, that your present position "must last as long as you live," I most sincerely hope your words are not prophetic.4 T h e accident was so strange a one, it would hardly be more marvellous if followed by a cure equally strange. T h e mysteries of the body seem as great as those of the mind. With renewed thanks for your kind remembrance, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow N . I. Bowditch Esqre. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . Bowditch ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 6 1 ) , a son of Nathaniel Bowditch ( 4 1 7 . 4 ) , was a conveyancer in Boston and a benefactor of Harvard College. 2. Suffolk Surnames (London and Boston, 1 8 6 1 ) , 3rd edition. T h e book, which first appeared in 1857, concerns curious surnames met with by Bowditch in the course of his business. 3. Bowditch had been confined to bed since suffering a fracture of the thigh on August 2, 1859, while receiving a surgeon who was treating him for lameness. His reasoning about his portrait appears in Suffolk Surnames, pp. xxiv-xxv: "Until my confinement, I had never permitted my mustache and beard to grow: they are now of a truly patriarchal length and whiteness. Had my book been a grave, philosophical treatise, my head, with these hairy appendages of wisdom, would have made for it a most appropriate frontispiece. But, considering its light and lively character, I have preferred a retrospective view of my face. The engraving is from a miniature painted by a British artist, while on a professional visit to this country, about twenty years ago. Truth compels me to admit, that no one recognizes me through this disguise of youth." T h e drawing by Samuel Rowse ( 1 7 3 5 . 3 ) is unlocated. 4. Bowditch died on April 16, three weeks after receiving this letter.

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To Charles Deane

Camb. March 26 1861 My Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for your tickets to Dr. Hamlin's Lecture, though to-night I shall not be able to attend on account of a bad cold. The rest of the course I hope I shall not miss.1 Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Charles Deane Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Cyrus Hamlin ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 9 0 0 ) , missionary, educator, and a Bowdoin graduate of 1834, began a course of lectures on "The Present Condition of Turkey" at "Lyceum Hall, Old Cambridge, before the Dowse Institute" on March 26 (Boston Transcript, XXXII, No. 9483 [March 26, 1 8 6 1 ] ) . In 1863 Hamlin founded Robert College at Bebek, Turkey, and served as its president until 1877.

1867.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. March 28 1861 My Dear Senator, I think you may safely assure the Sardinian Minister,1 that the sole cause of Mr. Monti's leaving Italy was his having taken part in the Sicilian Revolution against Naples in 1848. I shall see M. to-day and request him to write to his Minister, and restate the facts briefly, as he did in the document sent in with the letters to Mr. Seward. Would it be worth the trouble and expense for him to go to Washington, and see the Minister personally, or would this be useless, and of the nature of a seccatura [bother]? George dined with me yesterday; and after dinner we sat down and groaned and lamented over some of the Foreign Appointments, like two old Jews in that lonely street2 in Jerusalem. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Giuseppe Bertinatti ( 1 5 3 2 . 7 ) . Sumner had written on March 25: "The Sardinian Minister has called upon me to say, that it is the desire of his Govt that no Italians shall be appointed to consulships in Italy without giving to his Govt, an opportunity of expressing an opinion in regard to them; that possibly there might be personal objections . . . I assured him that I knew Mr Monti well and would vouch for him . . .

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and that I would write at once to you, that you might communicate with Mr Monti freely and unreservedly, and ascertain from him his precise position at home and let me know the result." 2. Presumably the Wailing Wall.

1868.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. March. 30. 1861. My Dear Sumner, I return sundry documents enclosed. Of Signor Tinello 1 I know nothing good or bad. As Signor Menneiii has a situation in New York worth Two Thousand a year, and as he owes his life and liberty to Monti and his family, it is just and proper that he should withdraw his claim to Palermo in favor of his friend. He, Monti, will not go to Washington to see the Sardinian Minister, but has written to him, which is wiser and better. I am very glad the Boston Post Office has been given to Palfrey. That is just as it should be.2 The "Atlas" this morning complains of so many offices being given to Cambridge — five in all. I wonder it did not state, by way of emphasis, that two of the office-holders live in the same street, and the same house!3 What is this story about your eyes? Not very bad I hope. You have been rather blind to your own interests for some time past; — particularly when you refused to let the Mass. Commissioners go to the President, and urge your appointment to England! Still, it was more magnanimous to decline.4 Ever thine H.W.L. p.s. Here is a photograph of Signor Luigi. Put it into your pocketbook, and when you happen to meet the Sard. Minister, show it to him. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Louis W . Tinelli, a translator and lawyer of N e w York City, may have been another aspirant for the consulship at Palermo. 2. Palfrey ( 3 3 6 . 6 ) had been active in the antislavery cause for many years. He served as postmaster of Boston until May 1867. 3. See the Boston Atlas and Bee, X X X V I I I , No. 6 2 3 3 (March 30, 1 8 6 1 ) . The five rewarded Cantabrigians were Anson Burlingame ( 1 2 2 7 . 2 ) , appointed minister to China, 1 8 6 1 - 1 8 6 7 ; George W . McLellan, second assistant postmaster; Isaac Livermore ( 1 7 9 7 - 1 8 7 9 ) , surveyor of the Port of Boston; Richard Henry Dana, Jr., U.S. district attorney, 1 8 6 1 - 1 8 6 6 ; and Palfrey. McLellan was a Cambridge notary.

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4. Although Sumner apparently wanted to be minister to England, he remained aloof from the efforts of his friends to promote his candidacy. See Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, pp. 3 8 1 - 3 8 2 .

1869.

To Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz

[Cambridge] Ce mardi 2. Avril — [ 1861 ] Mon cher Agassiz un jeune homme de Strasbourg (homme de foie, s'il en fut jamais) désire beaucoup faire votre connaissance; et si vous voulez bien venir souper ce soir à 9 heures, il sera servir.1 Tout à vous Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. TRANSLATION:

M y dear Agassiz a young man from Strasbourg (a liver, if ever there was one) wants very much to make your acquaintance; and if you will kindly come to supper this evening at 9 o'clock, he will he served.1 Sincerely yours Longfellow. I. Longfellow wrote in his journal on April 2, 1 8 6 1 : " T h e snow-storm still rages. T h e trees are beautiful with their feathered branches. Drive to Felton's, and Agassiz, and Henry Greenough, and bid them to supper in honor of Tom's return. Invite also Dana; and Tom appears in the storm. A pleasant supper; the chief feature of the feast being a Strasbourg 'Paté de foie gras,' which Tom sent out from Paris."

1870.

T o John Gorham Palfrey

Camb. April 3. 1861. My Dear Palfrey, I was so unlucky as not to find you, when I called to congratulate you on your appointment. Meanwhile you had been here; and I missed you, by not getting back in season. Since then John Owen has been to see me, in pursuit of office under you. He is very anxious to obtain employment; and feels poor, and dejected for want of work. There is no doubt that he needs the help and countenance of his friends. Whether there is anything in your gift, which would be proper for

230

CAMBRIDGE, Ï 86 ι him, I do not know; but knowing his need, I have consented to intercede in his behalf, so far as I can without indiscretion. I remain, with hearty congratulations, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Hon. J. G. Palfrey. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library.

1871.

To Edmund Baldwin1 Cambridge

April 5 1861.

Dear Sir, I have no immediate intention of publishing a volume of poems; but am obliged to Messrs Routledge & Co. for their offer, and when I have a volume ready, shall be happy to receive a proposition from them. I have no permanent arrangement with any other house in England. I have been trying in vain to procure here a copy of Mr. Routledge ['s] Illustrated Edition of my Poems. Could you supply me with a copy? I remain, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Mr. Edm. Baldwin MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library, ENDORSEMENT: Ansd same terms as Kent gave for Miles Standish G[eorge] Rfoutledge]

and offd

ι . Baldwin Cd. 1869, aged fifty-eight), an Englishman, served as the agent of Routledge, Warne, & Routledge at 56 Walker Street, N e w York.

1872.

To Frederick Goddard Tuckerman1

Cambridge April 5 1861 Dear Sir, I hope you will pardon me for not acknowledging sooner the safe arrival of your volume of Poems, and thanking you for this mark of your regard, and for the pleasure the Poems have given me. If you care to know my opinion of them, I will say that it is very favorable. They are thoughtful and full of feeling; and breathe an air of the country, an odor of farms, which is healthy and suggestive of strength. You have my best thanks for your remembrance of me and my best wishes for the success of your volume. I mean its external success with

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the world which is something quite apart from its internal success, as an expression of your own thoughts and feelings. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow F. G. Tuckerman Esq. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι. Tuckerman ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 8 7 3 ) , cousin of Henry Theodore Tuckerman ( 4 3 7 . 1 4 ) and a Boston lawyer and minor author, had recently published Poems (Boston, i860). In his letter calendar Longfellow lists this letter as of April 8.

1873.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. April 8 1861 Dear Annie, We are glad to hear that you reached home safely. 1 By to-day's Express I send a box of tea; — eight pounds of "Argonaut," of the [same] lot as the last; and eight pounds of "Oolong" in separate papers. This is a present to Aunt Lucia. It goes directed to you Congress St. "next door to the Preble House." "Paid!" which I mention from a vague notion, that parcels are sometimes paid at both ends. Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. The little girls who are singing round me as I write, send their love, and Alice many thanks for the seals. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. In a letter of April 4, 1861, Anne Pierce indicates recent visits to the Longfellows in Cambridge and Anne Wadsworth Wells (see 1 8 3 0 . 1 ) in Quincy.

1874.

To John Gorharn Palfrey [Cambridge]

April 9. 1861 1

The undersigned would be glad to see the bearer, Mr. John Owen, of Cambridge, appointed to some office in your gift. He is a gentleman of intelligence, education and character; has had

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much experience in business; and has been from the beginning an ardent and thorough Republican. Henry W. Longfellow. J. E. Worcester Jared Sparks C. C. Felton James Walker Willard Phillips2 Charles Beck Convers Francis — Charles Folsom. Charles Carroll George Livermore. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. This petition is in Longfellow's hand through his signature. 2. Phillips appended the following note to his signature: "with the understanding that this is addressed to the governor collector or Postmaster of Boston."

1875.

To Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Camb. April 10 1861 My Dear Sir, As each guest at a feast selects the wine that pleases him most, so each reader of a volume finds out his favorite lyric. Mine is the "Piscataqua" of i860. 1 With all their beauties the other poems play mostly in the realm of Fancy; but this lives, moves and has its being in the realm of Imagination, "Clothing the palpable and familiar With golden exhalations of the dawn."2 The river will always be more beautiful for that Song! With many thanks for your kind remembrance, and for the pleasure your new volume has given me, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Mr. Aldrich. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. "Piscataqua River" is included in Aldrich's Pampinea York, 1 8 6 1 ) .

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2. Friedrich Schiller, The Death of Wallenstein, i, 65-66.

1876.

To Daniel Willard

WOUND trans. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, V,

Fiske1

Cambridge Apr 15 1861 Dear Sir, I have been negligent in replying to your letter; but I have not in the meantime forgotten your request. I have written to Mr. Sumner urging your appointment, and stating the literary reasons; — leaving other reasons to other friends of yours. With best wishes for your success, I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow D. W . Fiske Esqre MANUSCRIPT : Cornell University Library. I. Fiske ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 9 0 4 ) , a scholar of the Scandinavian languages who was compiling an Icelandic lexicon, had written to Longfellow on April 8 asking support for his application for the post of U.S. consul at Elsinore. He received instead a position in the legation at Vienna under John Lothrop Motley. He subsequently became librarian at Cornell University, where he assembled a noteworthy Scandinavian collection.

1877.

To Charles

Sumner

Camb. April 15 1861 My Dear Sumner, T w o more applicants for office, to both of whom I wish success. Both think that "a word from Mr. Sumner" &c &c The first is Mr. Fiske whose letter I enclose. Surely a man who is willing to exile himself to Elsinore for four years, to write an Icelandic Dictionary ought to be permitted so to do. If it were in my power I would send him to Copenhagen, as being a better place. Look with a favorable eye on his petition! T h e next is our old friend Owen, who through thick and thin, has been a most ardent and consistent Republican, and is a man of high and noble views, though in worldly matters not always over wise. N o man has understood and honored and loved you more, than he has. If you could send him a God-speed, which might be shown to Palfrey, I think he would get the place he asks for. 1 Ever thine H.W.L. 2 p.s. W e hear incredible news from Charleston. To-day we hope to come nearer the truth.

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MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. It is not known if John Owen ( 4 9 8 . 4 ) received employment under Palfrey. 2. Fort Sumter had surrendered on April 1 3 .

1878.

To Frances Farrer [Cambridge]

April 16, 1861.

Your last letter1 gave me great pleasure and great pain. I was glad to hear from you, but the tidings you sent were very sad. From the bottom of my heart I sympathize with you and with your mother in this dreadful event. All the more as my eldest boy has the same name, and has a passion for boats and the sea; so that all summer we live with our hearts in our mouths, lest some accident should befall him. What a shock this must have been to you all. Words cannot reach such a sorrow; I can only press your hand in silence. . . . If you ever read the newspapers you will see that we are in great political troubles here. The Slave States are trying to break away from the Free States, and we are on the eve of a civil war. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, II, 4 1 4 - 4 1 5 . I. Unrecovered, but the letter undoubtedly concerned the death of Mrs. Farrer's son Charles Çb. 1 8 3 1 ) , the third of her nine living children. Since the death of her husband (see 1 4 2 1 . 1 ) , she had lived with her mother, Frances Mercy Fawcett, in Scaleby Hall.

1879.

To Henry Theodore

Tuckerman Cambridge

April 17 1861

My Dear Tuckerman I am much obliged to you for your note and its enclosure. I am very glad to have this excellent likeness of so excellent a man. I beg you to thank Mrs. Francis for remembering me and counting me among the friends, who deplore his loss. I was on the point of writing to her, but my heart failed me. What can one say in such a sorrow? I must beg you to express to her my deepest sympathy.1 And yourself, too, what a bereavement you have had!2 Truly as one gets on in life, the road is lined with tombs, like the Appian Way near the gates of the Great City. Well, let us cheer each other on with a word of kindness now and then, if nothing more. Bryant has been here; very gentle and pleasant, with his benign

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aspect, and soft blue eyes. He looks like a Prophet of Peace, amid this din of Civil War. With much regard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Henry T . Tuckerman Esqre. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. 1. Dr. John Wakefield Francis ( 4 3 5 - 5 ) had died on February 8, 1861. Tuckerman, who had been a pallbearer at the funeral, sent Longfellow a photograph of the doctor in a letter of April 15. His wife, Maria Eliza Cutler Francis, died in 1868 at age seventy-four. 2. Tuckerman was a close friend of Dr. Francis, whose memoir he wrote for a reprint of the doctor's Old New York, or Reminiscences of the Past Sixty Years (New York, 1865).

1880.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce Camb. April 25. 1861.

Dearest Annie, "Remembered Words" are not yet ended.1 Crosby and Nichols send me in a Bill of $9.00 for the twelve copies in sheets. I thought Mrs. Nichols gave them to you. Of course, she would not allow you to pay for them, if she knew it; and I shall so represent it to Crosby and Nichols. I return Sam's letter. I am glad he is away,2 in these ghastly days, when the Black Nemesis begins to lift his head in the South; a deadly mist from the Dismal Swamp. I hear that James and Mary will leave New Orleans about the middle of May. So they write to Willie. I think they will leave sooner, when they hear the news from the North. What a sudden uprising of a whole people! Did you read in the paper the narrow escape of my friend Sumner from the mob in Baltimore?3 He has reached Boston in safety. Where is Baylor? Is he "riding the whirlwind"?4 Keep as quiet as you can. I find it difficult. Ever affect. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. See 1761.2. 2. See 1799.ι. 3. Sumner had left Washington on April 18 and stopped in Baltimore, where he took a room at Barnum's Hotel. When it became known that he was in the city, a secession mob gathered outside the hotel and demanded that he be surrendered. The proprietor argued that he was not on the premises, and the mob finally dispersed. On

236

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April 19, after Sumner had left, the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts volunteers arrived in Baltimore, where it had to fight its way through a mob that killed four soldiers and wounded thirty-six. See Sumner Memoir and Letters, IV, 33; New York Tribune, XXI, No. 6238 (April 23, 1 8 6 1 ) . 4. Cf. Addison, The Campaign, 1. 291. After serving as U.S. consul in Manchester for two years, Charles Baylor ( 1 4 3 1 . 1 ) had returned to the United States and was somewhere in the south. Anne Pierce, who disliked him, wrote on April 28: "I cannot answer yr. question about Mr. Baylor — nor do I know where Louly [Louisa Wadsworth Baylor] is in all this. I dont care where or how he is, but I have felt very anxious for Louly, with her three little girls, for when I left Quincy [1873.1] she was alone at the Relay House [eight miles south of Baltimore], which you know is the junction where the fighting began."

1881.

To Catherine Jane Norton

Cambridge April 26 1861 My Dear Jane, I received last evening your silver and gold for Mr. Monti.1 It is rather hard to make Louisa pay her part, as she did not attend the Readings; unless she goes upon the principle that nobody can be expected to pay and listen both. Or does she consider this one Comedy of Goldoni, which she heard, cheap at the price? As you say, this April weather is beautiful. Standing at the window yesterday morning, I almost made a poem, and should have made it, but some mundane person interrupted me. The world plays against us with loaded dice. And in these tumultuous days nobody can sing, but birds and children. Charley (our Charley not yours) wants to join the Coast Guard. Shall he go? Ever affectionately Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Harvard College Library, A D D R E S S : Miss C. Jane Norton/Cambridge [date illegible]

POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MS

ι . Jane Norton had written on February 9, 1861, that she had "succeeded in getting six, and perhaps seven, subscribers . . . for a series of twelve readings from Monti at eight dollars the course." On April 25 she sent the money for her own and her sisters' subscriptions. Monti gave at least three of the readings in the Craigie House on March 18, April 22, and May 6 ( M S Journal).

1882.

To John Gardner Dillman Engleheart1

Cambridge May 5 1861. My Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for your friendly note and the gift of your very pleasant book, which I have read with much pleasure and satisfac-

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2

tion. It contains the whole matter in very small compass, and is very amiable and considerate in its judgment of men and things. Your sketches of scenery, too, are charming : particularly Niagara. If you read the News-papers you will see that we are in a season of trial and trouble. It is a great evil now, but I trust that a great good will come out of it. Indeed a great good has already come in the awakening of the North and the dragging of the dragon, Slavery, out of his cave into the light of day. But where is our Siegfri[e]d? W e are waiting for him. I beg you to present my regards to General Bruce, 3 and Dr. Acland, and any of the party, who may remember me. I remain Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow G. D. Engleheart Esqre MANUSCRIPT : Randolph-Macon Woman's College Library. ι. Engleheart ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 9 2 3 ) , English barrister and private secretary of Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham Clinton, fifth Duke of Newcastle ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 6 4 ) , the colonial secretary, had accompanied the Prince of Wales on his visit to the United States in i860. 2. Journal of the Progress of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales through British North America; and His Visit to the United States, 10th July to i$th November, i860 (London [1861]). 3. Major General Robert Bruce ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 6 2 ) , governor of the Prince of Wales, 1858-1862.

1883.

To George William Curtis

Camb. June 8 1861 My Dear Curtis, It is always pleasant to me to see your handwriting, or to shake the hand of anyone coming from you. So I hailed your letter and equally Dr. Thompson, 1 who came in yesterday with Charles Norton. They found Tom and Mr. Mackintosh 2 here, and we had a pleasant chat. The telegram was correct. It was Fanny's cousin, not her father, 3 though that gloom is impending over us. Mr. Appleton is very feeble; fading away. What shall you do with the Summer? W e should be so happy to see you at Nahant, whither we shall go, if we go anywhere. Still happier, if we stay here, to have you in your old room. Is there any chance of such good fortune? W e are very sorry to hear that Mrs. [Sarah Blake Sturgis] Shaw is

238

C A M B R I D G E , Ï 86 ι again suffering. Give our kindest remembrances to her and our best wishes. The same to your wife, and a blessing on "both your houses." Ever affectionately Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. Edmund Symes-Thompson ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 0 6 ) was traveling as the companion and physician of William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 8 7 7 ) . H e subsequently practiced in London. 2. Robert Mackintosh had arrived from England on May 3 1 ( M S Journal, June 1, 1861). 3. Samuel Appleton Appleton ( 9 8 7 . 9 ) , Fanny Longfellow's first cousin, had died on June 5.

1884.

To Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz

Cambridge June 19 1861 My Dear Agassiz, The fish stories at dinner yesterday produced strange effects. T h e first thing I did this morning was to send to town for some halibut. Going down to the village after breakfast, I heard a fishmonger crying "Fresh mackerel," and could not resist the fascination. I sent three home for dinner. I then went to town; and on returning at dinner-time found on the table neither halibut nor mackerel, but a beautiful turbot! a splendid turbot, which the cook said came from Professor Agassiz with orders to have it cooked immediately, which orders she did not dare to disobey. How shall I thank you for this rare and bountiful gift? If we could only have had you to eat it with us, the feast would have been perfect. But it was too late to send for you or anyone else. A thousand thanks. Such fishing as this is better than "tickling trout" or waiting for salmon on the banks of rivers. You are a great magician, and I am Your faithful disciple H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Walter Hampden Memorial Library, N e w York.

1885.

T o George William- Curtis

Cambridge June 20 1861. M y Dear Curtis, W e all liked Dr. Thompson very much, and did what we could for him during his short stay. Norton made a breakfast for him; which was extremely pleasant;

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Lowell had him to dine with three other Doctors; — and I had a supper, to which he did not come, the invitation, by that kind of sleight-of-hand known at first-class hotels, not reaching him till the supper was over, though left by my own hand the day before. However, he promises to let me know when he returns, and the failure will be remedied. What a sad affair is the death of Winthrop.1 My heart bleeds for his family. This is one of the great tragedies of life. Bethel, "House of God," is all one can say. I forgot to answer your appeal for a national Song or Hymn. I shall not compete for the prize. Such arenas I never enter. Do you?2 With kindest regards and remembrances to all, Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. Major Theodore Winthrop (b. 1828), a Yale graduate of 1848 and a promising author of novels and sketches, was killed in action at Big Bethel near Fort Monroe, Va., on June 10, 1861. Curtis wrote a memoir of Winthrop as an introduction to his posthumous novel Cecil Theene (Boston, 1861). 2. The Boston Transcript, XXXII, No. 9599 (August 10, 1861), reported that 1,200 manuscripts had been received by the "Committee on the National Hymn," but that none was considered suitable.

1886.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. July 5 1861 My Dear Sumner, I have just reed, a letter from Dr. Kohl, in which you will be interested. He is doing us valliant service in the "Allgemeine Zeitung" and other German papers; and wants every document he can get on our present state. Particularly, he says, "Biographical Notes of Lincoln, Seward, Sumner, and other leading men." "Also of Literary Men; — and everything which might contribute to improve his Knowledge of New England," on which theme he is writing an elaborate article.1 Please send me any pamphlet or paper, which may be lying on your table, and if you have time, note down for me what I ought to send, which you have not at hand. The War seems to [be] assuming vaster and nobler proportions. The great question of Freedom or Slavery is coming out clearer and clearer, every hour. Ever thine H.W.L. 240

NAHANT,

ι 86 ι

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Kohl's series of articles, "Skizzen aus Nordamerika," appeared intermittently in the Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung, Nos. 1 6 2 - 2 1 5 (June ii-August 8, 1 8 6 1 ) .

1887.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. July 6 1861 Dear Sumner, Could I send a small package of pamphlets to Dr. Kohl in Mr. Schleiden's Express, I mean Despatch Bag? or would it be an indiscretion to suggest such a thing? We have not yet gone to Nahant; but propose to go next week. Mr. Appleton continues much the same as when you left us. He thinks of Lynn; and I think will go down for the sea air. I have given Mr. Stanfield a letter to you. You remember his son Harry, and that is his business in Washington.1 Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Mark Merrill Stanfield (d. 1890, aged seventy-six), a Boston area merchant, was the father of Henry Robinson Stanfield ( 1 8 0 9 . 1 ) , who had recently left Harvard and was eager to enter the army. He enlisted in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers on September 12, 1861, and was mustered out on June 18, 1863.

1888.

To Charles Sumner

[Cambridge] Aug 7 . 1 8 6 1 Dear S. Can you send this to Mr. Schleiden to go in his Despatch Bag? Ever yours HW.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1889.

To Mary Afpleton Mackintosh

Nahant. Aug 18. 1861. Dearest Mary, I will try to write you a line to-day, if only to thank you for your affectionate letter,1 which touched and consoled me much. How I am alive after what my eyes have seen, I know not. I am at least patient, if not resigned; and thank God hourly — as I have from the

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beginning — for the beautiful life we led together, and that I loved her more and more to the end. I feel that only you and I knew her thoroughly. You can understand what an inexpressible delight she was to me, always and in all things. I never looked at her without a thrill of pleasure; — she never came into a room where I was without my heart beating quicker, nor went out without my feeling that something of the light went with her. I loved her so entirely, and I know she was very happy. Truly do you say there was no one like her. And now that she is gone, I can only utter a cry "from the depth of a divine despair."2 If I could be with you for a while, I should be greatly comforted; only to you can I speak out all that is in my heart about her. It is a sad thing for Robert to have been here through all this. But his fortitude and his quiet sympathy have given us all strength and support. How much you must have needed him! He goes back to you with our blessing, leaving regrets behind. W e all love him very much. I am afraid I am very selfish in my sorrow; but not an hour passes without my thinking of you, and of how you will bear the double woe, of a father's and a sister's death at once.3 Dear, affectionate old man! T h e last day of his life, all day long, he sat holding a lily in his hand, a flower from Fanny's funeral. I trust that the admirable fortitude and patience which thus far have supported you, will not fail. Nor must you think, that having preached resignation to others I am myself a cast-away. Infinite, tender memories of our darling fill me and surround me. Nothing but sweetness comes from her. That noble, loyal, spiritual nature always uplifted and illuminated mine, and always will, to the end. For the future I have no plans. I can not yet lift my eyes in that direction. I only look backward, not forward. The only question is, what will be best for the children? I shall think of that when I get back to Cambridge. Meanwhile think of me here, by this haunted sea-shore. So strong is the sense of her presence upon me, that I should hardly be surprized to meet her in our favorite walk, or, if I looked up now to see her in the room. My heart aches and bleeds sorely for the poor children. T o lose such a mother, and all the divine influences of her character and care. They do not know how great their loss is, but I do. God will provide. His will be done! Full of affection, ever most truly, H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, PUBLISHED: Edward Wagenknecht, Longfellow: A Full-Length Portrait ( N e w York, London, Toronto, 1 9 5 5 ) , pp. 257—258.

242

NAHANT,

1861

ι. Written on July 27, 1861, from 2 Hyde Park Terrace, London. Longfellow's reply is in pencil. 2. Cf. Tennyson, The Princess, Pt. IV, 1. 22. 3. Nathan Appleton had died on July 14, the day after Fanny Longfellow's funeral.

1890.

To Georg Michael Daniel Arnold1

Cambridge near Boston. Sept 3 1861. Dear Sir, I have had the honor of receiving through Mr. Dodge of New York,2 the Diploma of the Literary Union of Nuremberg, accompanied by your friendly note, for both of which I beg you to accept my best thanks. Have the goodness, Dear Sir, to express to the gentlemen of your society how much gratified I am by this mark of their regard and consideration. It is almost like being admitted to the Guild of the Meistersäng[e]r, distance having somewhat the effect of time; and if ever again my wandering footsteps should lead me to your fine old city, whose memory is always pleasant and present to me, I hope I shall be so fortunate as to attend one of your meetings. I remain, Dear Sir, with great regard YourObt. Sert. Henry W. Longfellow George Arnold Esqre. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia,

ENDORSE-

MENT: beantw. 29 Jan. 1 8 6 2 .

1. Arnold ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 9 3 ) , managing director of the business firm of G. G. Fendler & Company of Nuremberg, was a charter member of the "Literarische Verein in Nürnberg," founded in 1840. 2. Robert Dodge ( 1 8 2 0 - 1 8 9 9 ) , lawyer and writer.

1891.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant Sept 3 1861 My Dear Fields Thanks for your note. When you write to Mr. Bennoch say how much I am obliged for his kind offer. But I have no design of going abroad now. 1 Also, if you happen to be writing to Mr. Procter, thank him for his letter. I shall answer it as soon as I can.2 I return to Camb. on the 10th. There is already an Autumnal sound and feeling in the air, and I rather long for my own home.

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Thanks for the papers, and kindest regards to your wife. My hands are not well yet, but better. Ever truly H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Boston Public Library. ι . Fields had written on Friday [August 30, 1 8 6 1 ] : "[Francis] Bennoch sends me a letter begging me to give his kindest love, and say his house in the country is at your service. H e hopes you will visit England this year and come at once to his place where you will have a warm welcome and a quiet home as long as you will stay." 2. Presumably a reference to Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall). If Longfellow wrote to him, the letter is unrecovered.

1892.

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. Sept 12 1861 My Dear Ticknor Many thanks for your letter just received, and for all the trouble you have taken. I enclose a cheque for $521.00 and the rest in change.1 Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library. ι. In a letter of September 12, Ticknor had written: " I enclose a Memo, of balance due on your note as you request." W h a t the note was for is not clear.

1893.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Sept 19 1861. My Dear Fields, Many thanks for your kind offer; but I am better here than I should be anywhere else, and one has to be so much in public in travelling, that I had rather not make the attempt.1 I see that Harper has published "Edwin of Deira" in his last No. Will it not injure your sale?2 Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. Will you send to Sheldon & Co's agent, a German in Bromfield St. or West St. - for Vol VIII of Milman's "Hist, of Latin Christianity,"3 which I have not received? Can you get me any note paper of the "Elizabethan Wave" size of this sheet, which, by the way, is not Elizabethan, as you will see.4 MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library.

244

CAMBRIDGE,

! 86 ι

1. Fields had written on Saturday P.M. [September 14]: "To vary your sea side experience you should let me have you for a day at least in Manchester. I do so wish to show you Norman's Woe [that] you must tell me what day will he most convenient for yr. visit and I will meet you at the Station and drive you over. My wife hopes you will come and says you ought to do so. Will you?" (MS, Henry E. Huntington Library), 2. Ticknor & Fields published an edition of Alexander Smith's Edwin of Deira in 1861. The poem appeared in Harper's Magazine, XXIII, No. 137 (October 1861), 665-689. 3. Henry Hart Milman, History of Latin Christianity, Including That of the Popes to the Pontificate of Nicholas V (New York, 1860-1861), 8 vols. C. A. Asp of 89 Milk Street was the Boston agent for Sheldon & Company, the American publishers of the work. 4. Longfellow's stationery, made by De La Rue & Company, London, was characterized by wavelike watermarks.

1894.

T o James Thomas

Fields Camb. Sept 2 5 . 1 8 6 1 .

Dear Fields, T h a n k s for your poem; the theme is striking, and you have treated it with Wordsworthian simplicity, which is the right way, if not the only way, for such a theme. 1 I have read with great interest, also, your sketch of " M y

Friend's

Library." 2 G i v e more in future Nos., by all means. W h o wrote " T h e N a m e in the B a r k " ? 3 1 like it much. E v e r Yours H.W.L. Henry E. Huntington Library, P U B L I S H E D : James C. Austin, "J· T . Fields and the Revision of Longfellow's Poems: Unpublished Correspondence," New England Quarterly, XXIV (June 1951), 244.

MANUSCRIPT:

1. Presumably "The Stormy Petrel." Fields published his poem in the Atlantic Monthly, VIII (November 1861), 581. 2. Atlantic Monthly, VIII (October 1861), 440-447. 3. Ibid., p. 448. The writer of the poem was John Townsend Trowbridge ( 1 8 2 7 1916), Boston author of some forty novels for boys.

1895.

T o George William

Curtis [Cambridge]

September 28, 1 8 6 1 .

H a v e patience with me if I have not answered your affectionate and touching letter. 1 E v e n now I cannot answer it; I can only thank you for it. I am too utterly wretched and overwhelmed, — to the eyes of others, outwardly, calm; but inwardly bleeding to death. I can say no more. God bless you, and protect your household!

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MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, II, 4 2 3 . 1. Dated September 7, 1 8 6 1 .

1896.

To James Thomas Fields Camb. S. 30 1861.

M y Dear Fields, I sent you the "Gold Headed Cane" 1 on Saturday; but had not time to thank you for the photographs. Your wife's is charming; a beautiful and successful likeness. Your own, not so good. It is not the best position of your face; and then you are not looking at your wife, but away from her, which is inadmissible. I have just received a letter from Mrs. Vingut, "G. F. de Vingut," daughter of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield. She has written a Novel, which she offers to the "Atlantic" without remuneration.2 If you would like to look at it, you will find it at Crosby & Nichols's 1 1 7 Washington St. I shall write to her, that I have called your attention to it, as she desired me to do. Hoping to see you soon Ever truly H.W.L MANUSCRIPT : Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . William Macmichael, The Gold Headed Cane (London, 1 8 2 7 ) . 2. Gertrude Fairfield Vingut, a native of Philadelphia, was the wife of Francisco Javier Vingut (b. 1 8 2 3 in Cuba), professor of Spanish at N e w York University, 1 8 4 8 1 8 5 7 . Her letter to Longfellow was datelined N e w York, September 27, 1 8 6 1 . Her novel Naomi Torrente: The History of a Woman ( N e w York, 1 8 6 4 ) did not appear in the Atlantic Monthly.

1897.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Oct ι 1861 My Dear Fields, Have patience with me, if I am troublesome. In ordering the "Elizabethan Wave," I forgot the envelopes to match. Can they also be had; of the size of this? I have found and enclose the name of Sheldon's agent. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library.

246

CAMBRIDGE, 1898.

To Anne Longfellow

1861

Pierce

Camb. Oct. 7 1861 Dearest Annie, T h e Tremont Bank dividend this time is only three and a half per cent instead of the usual four. Yours consequently is $24.50 for which I enclose cheque. I dare say James [Greenleaf] will give you the money for it. M y usual quarterly contribution, I must delay for a couple of weeks. I quite forgot to send you "The Country Parson" 1 by Mary [Longfellow Greenleaf]. If you are in a great hurry, I will forward it by Express. If not, will wait some opportunity. W i t h much love Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Andrew Kennedy Hutchinson Boyd, The (Boston, 1861), 2 vols.

1899.

Recreations

of a Country

Parson

To George Livermore

Cambridge Oct 19 1861 M y Dear Sir, Accept my best thanks for your kind remembrance, and for your curious and valuable present; and more particularly for counting me among those worthy of a copy on parchment, one of the Ten! A very quaint book is this "Souldier's Pocket Bible"; 1 and there could not be a more fit season for reproducing it, nor a more appropriate place than N e w England. It seems quite at home here; and might stand on the same shelf, and shoulder to shoulder with Norton's "Heart of N e w England Rent." 2 Repeating my thanks I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow George Livermore Esqre. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. The Souldier's Pocket Bible, an exact reprint of the original edition of 1643, with a prefatory note by George Livermore (Cambridge, Mass., 1861). In his preface Livermore states that the work is a "fac-simile reprint of a rare tract issued for the use of the army soon after the commencement of the civil war in England."

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2. John Norton, The Heart of Ν-England Rent at the Blasphemies of the Present Generation; Or, a Brief Tractate Concerning the Doctrine of the Quakers, Demonstrating the Destructive Nature Thereof to Religion, the Churches, and the State, with Consideration of the Remedy Against it, Occasional Satisfaction to Objections, and Confirmation of the Contrary Truth (Cambridge, Mass., 1 6 5 9 ) . Norton ( 1 6 0 6 - 1 6 6 3 ) has a role in Longfellow's ]ohn Endicott (Part III of Christus: A Mystery).

1900.

To Catherine Eliot Norton

Cambridge Oct 19 1861 Dear Mrs. Norton I am sure you will pardon me for not sooner answering your most kind and sympathyzing letter, which reached me like the voice of [a] friend in a dark hour. Even now I cannot answer it; I can only thank you for it, and for the consolation it brought me. I can say no more. I am still speechless and bewildered; but do my best to bear this sorrow patiently and silently. I hope you are coming soon. It will be a great comfort to me to see you, and to talk with you. Very affectionately Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library,

1901.

ADDRESS: Mrs C. E . Norton/Newport.

To Charles Eliot Norton

Cambridge Oct 19 1861 My Dear Charles, I have had the pleasure of receiving your "Soldier of the Good Cause" and have read it with great satisfaction, as I did your excellent article in the "Atlantic," some months ago. 1 I am very glad that your pen is busy with such themes at this moment. Your words cannot fail to do much good, in giving form and direction to the bewildered thoughts of men. Hoping soon to welcome you back to Cambridge, and with much love to all your household Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library, R.I.

ADDRESS: Charles E. Norton Esq/Newport/

ι . Norton's The Soldier of the Good Cause (Boston, 1 8 6 1 ) was published as a tract of the American Unitarian Association. T h e article in the Atlantic Monthly was presumably " T h e Advantages of Defeat" ( V I I I [September 1 8 6 1 ] , 3 6 0 - 3 6 5 ) .

248

CAMBRIDGE, 1902.

Ï 86 ι

To Charles Sumner

[Cambridge] Oct 20. 1861. Dear Sumner Here is a letter1 from Monti to [Thomas William] Parsons, who wishes you should see it. After reading, please return, as he wishes it back. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia, ι . Unrecovered.

1903.

To Eliza Bayard Clinch Anderson1

Cambridge Oct 28 1861 Dear Madam, I was much pleased to learn, last Summer, from Mrs. Sparks that some of my verses had given you consolation in a dark hour. She also said, that you had been looking in vain for a copy of the London Illustrated Edition. Allow me the privilege of sending you one, with my best regards and wishes. I remain, Dear Madam, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: York

Longfellow Trust Collection,

ADDRESS:

Mrs. Robert

Anderson./New

ι . Eliza Anderson (d. 1905, aged eighty-two) was the wife of Major Robert Anderson ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 7 1 ) , hero of Fort Sumter.

1904.

To Catherine Jane Νorton

Camb. Oct 31 1861 My Dear Jane, I send you a very brief reply and a very small subscription for so good an object.1 More some other time. Yours ever affect[ionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library,

ADDRESS: Miss C . Jane Norton/Shady Hill.

I. Jane Norton's note of Thursday [October 3 1 ] does not specify the object of the subscription.

249

THE 1905.

T o James Thomas

DEEPEST

W O U N D

Fields Camb. Nov. 8

18611

M y Dear Fields, I am sorry to say N o , instead of Yes; but so it must be. I can neither write nor think; and have nothing fit to send you, but my love — which you cannot put into the Magazine. In great haste Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood Hills.

ι. The date is presumably incorrect, since the letter replies to Fields' note of Saturday [November 9], in which he asked for a poem for the January number of the Atlantic Monthly.

1906.

T o William

Davis

Ticknor Cambridge

Nov. 27

1861

Dear Ticlcnor W h a t do you think of the enclosed? T o me the Plates are of no value. I would not give anything for them; nor do I care much what becomes of them. W i l l you answer M r . Baird for me? or shall w e wait till he comes. 1 Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT:

Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

ι. Henry Carey Baird's letter, unrecovered, presumably concerned the plates of the old 1845 edition of the collected poems. See 1084.2 and 1588.2. In a response on the same day, Ticknor wrote: "In regard to Mr Baird, I should let the matter rest till he comes here. I do not see that anything can be done with the plates. They are of very little value to any one; — if they could be purchased for a small sum, it might be worth while to get them out of the market."

1907.

T o Catherine Jane

Norton Craigie House

Dec. 2

1861.

M y Dear Jane, I have some very nice things to read; and if you have no engagement tomorrow ( T u e s d a y ) I will come at ten. Ever affectionately H.W.L. Harvard College Library, Cambridge P O S T M A R K : [illegible]

MANUSCRIPT:

ADDRESS:

250

Miss C. J. Norton./Shady Hill./

CAMBRIDGE, 1908.

1861

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Dec 16 1861 My Dear Sumner, As you pass Willard's Hotel, to-day or tomorrow, will you step in and ask Appleton (Thos. G ) to sign the enclosed paper,1 which will explain itself. I send it to you for fear Tom may have left Washington. If so, please return it to me, as soon as possible. Have you with you your copy of Michel Angelo's Sonnets, with the English Translation?2 and could you send it to me for a few days? Or may I take it from your shelves in Hancock St. if I can find it there? I have just read your remarks in the Senate on Col. Baker. Excellent.3 In the "Augsburg Allg. Zeitung" Dr. Kohl is writing "Skizzen aus Nordamerika."4 Has he sent you the No. containing his ardent and sympathizing notice of "des edlen Senators Sumner"? In haste, Ever thine, H.W.L. p.s. Tell Tom that Mrs. A. wants her document returned without delay. I mean the document herewith enclosed. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Unidentified, but presumably dealing with the estate of Nathan Appleton. 2. This edition is unidentified. 3. Sumner's speech, "The Late Senator Baker, with Call for Emancipation," was delivered in the Senate on December n . See Sumner Works, VI, 1 3 0 - 1 3 9 . Edward Dickinson Baker (b. 1 8 1 1 ) , soldier and Republican senator from Oregon, 1 8 6 0 - 1 8 6 1 , was killed in action at Ball's Bluff, Va., on October 21, 1861. 4. See 1886.ι.

1909.

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. Deer. 19 1861 My Dear Ticknor Please order for me one barrel of crushed sugar one d[itt]o of brown sugar, at the place you know of — Dana's I think you said;1 and send the same by Sawin, thereby greatly obliging Yours truly H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

251

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DEEPEST

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ι . Dane, Dana & Company of 1 2 South Market Street were agents for the Boston Sugar Refinery.

191 o.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Deer. 25 1861 Dearest Annie, A Happy Christmas and New Year to you and Aunt Lucia! Tomorrow a box goes to Portland containing Alex's shawl, left behind. T w o porcelain inkstands one for you, and one for Lizzy. Take your choise. A box of note-paper for each of you, with initials. What to send to Aunt Lucia, I did not know; So I slipped in with the inkstands, a match-box, with a Fireman on top of it, for the mantlepiece. The children had a beautiful Christmas Tree last evening, and no end of presents : and this evening Edie and Annie have a tree for their dolls, made out of the top of the old one, and the candle ends. It is very pretty; and at the present moment is hidden behind the window curtains in the nursery, so that the aforesaid dolls may not see it before the time. Good bye. I must now take these things down to James [Greenleaf] to be packed. With much love from all, Ever affectionately HWL. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1911.

To Charles Eliot Norton

Cambridge Deer 27 1861 M y Dear Charles, Your most interesting letter with its sketch of the Howadji's Study reached me safely, 1 and the Christmas presents came just in season and very much delighted Edie and Annie who send you their love, and as many thanks as there were sugar-plums in the boxes. There was a Christmas Tree — quiet but successful; and on the following evening Edie repeated it in the Nursery, for the dolls, with the top of the old one, and the candle ends; on the whole, rather prettier than the original. Give much love to the Shaws and Curtises, with best wishes for a

252

CAMBRIDGE,

! 86 ι

Happy Christmas and N e w Year. W h a t a snug harbor for you to cast anchor in! Quite as good as going to Washington, bating the disappointment to yourself and others. Tom's letters came back safely. Thanks. 2 It is raining to-day, but nevertheless I think I shall go up to Shady Hill, to hear the news of you and Grace. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library, ADDRESS: Charles E. Norton Esqre/Care of Geo: W . Curtis Esqr/North Shore. Staten Isld/New York POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE M S D E C 2 7

1861

ι . Norton's letter of December 21 reported: "I am sitting at his [George William Curtis'] study table, — which is in a state of disorder that gives evidence of his busy life and various interests. The room is full of sunlight and cheerfulness. On the walls, in the spaces not occupied by books, are the portraits of friends, and of great men, — friends through their works if not by personal intercourse. I turn a little to the left and see you, with Emerson by your side, — in front is Allston's portrait of Coleridge, and next to that a fine head of Velasquez, (whose face hardly corresponds in expression with the genius of his works;) just beyond is a bust of Homer, and not far off is Goethe's strong, self confident head opposite to the grim perplexed gloom of Beethoven. Over the door hangs the portrait of Shakespeare, — and I have not room enough to tell over all the others." 2. Norton had written: "I was sorry to have to return the parcel of letters for Mr Appleton. Grace took them with her, but heard, on her way to Washington, that he had gone back."

1912.

T o Horace Wemyss

Smith

Cambridge Deer. 28 1861. Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for your letter and your friendly offer of old and curious books. But I am not a collector of book-rarities, and have little, if any, of that mania, which gives such extrinsic value to what is merely old and rare. I fear your treasures would be wasted on me; but I thank you none the less for your generous proposition to share them with me. In the way of autographs, I care only for those of authors, who have achieved some renown. Anything you may have to spare, in this way, I should not refuse. Those Inscriptions, also, in the "Laurel Hill Cemetery," I should like well to see. But you must not give your son too much trouble about them, nor let him freeze his fingers in copying them in Winter. 1 I will wait his leisure.

253

THE DEEPEST

WOUND

Begging you to thank him for the cuttings from the Newspapers, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library, ADDRESS: Horace W . Smith Esq./Falls of the Schuylkill POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MS MAR I I [sic] ι. Smith informed Longfellow in an undated letter that he had found quotations from the poem "Resignation" on the tombstones of many children in the Laurel Hill Cemetery adjacent to his home and offered to have his son copy them out.

2

54

Longfellow, c. i860

Cornelia Fitch, 1864

PART

A SLOW

FIFTEEN

RECOVERY

1862-1864

A SLOW

RECOVERY

1862-1864 A s LONGFELLOW'S PHYSICAL and psychic wounds healed, he moved gradually away from his self-imposed seclusion. Time performed its usual therapy, and his children, with their natural insulation against protracted grief, constantly directed his thoughts away from the traumatic event of July 9, 1861. Furthermore, as his wife retreated deeper into memory, new concerns, problems, and experiences absorbed his attention: a steadily growing correspondence; the turmoil of the Civil War and the adventures of his son Charles as a cavalry officer in the Army of the Potomac; his translation of the Divine Comedy; the publication in 1863 of Part One of the Tales of a Wayside Inn; and in 1864 a brief, cautious, and suddenly interrupted relationship with an attractive young woman named Cornelia Fitch. One can only guess at the number of hours Longfellow spent at his desk after he seriously returned to his accumulated correspondence. In 1862 he wrote about 264 letters; in 1863, at least 296; and in 1864 about 405. Of these, 290 have been recovered for publication here. Although writing letters remained a chore that Longfellow frequently performed merely from a sense of duty, it now served a secondary purpose. Depending on the correspondent, it kept his mind on diversionary subjects, whether senatorial politics, the batdefields of Virginia and Pennsylvania, fund-raising fairs for the Sanitary Commission, the manuscripts of authors anxious for advice and sympathy, or the problems of nephews and nieces. In March 1863 his eighteen-year-old son Charles produced a new crisis in the Craigie House by running away to join the army. "You know for how long I have been wanting to go to the war," he wrote to his father in a letter cunningly arranged to be postmarked in Portland. "I have tried hard to resist the temptation of going without your leave but cannot any longer. I feel it to be my first duty to do what I can for my country and I would willingly lay down my life for it if it would be of any good. God bless you all." Charley's career in the First Massachusetts Cavalry lasted for less than a year. During that time his father made two trips to Washington to bring his son home: once after he had become a casualty of camp fever, and again after he had been seriously wounded in a skirmish near New Hope Church, Virginia. In the beginning, Longfellow was exasperated with Charley's "madcap adventure." Exasperation gave way to pride, however, as he permitted his

257

A SLOW

RECOVERY

imagination to enlarge on the manly virtues of camp life and the routine nature of the cavalry patrols. Anxiety must nevertheless have colored his thoughts during the period of Charley's service in the field, and when he finally had his boy back in Cambridge as a convalescent and family hero, Longfellow enjoyed an ease of mind not often felt since Fanny Longfellow's death. For him, the Civil War was over before Lee met Grant at Appomattox Court House, for by then Charley was safely away on a recuperative tour of Europe. Of all the antidotes to sorrow during 1862-1864, Longfellow's preoccupation with Dante seems to have been one of the most important. In February 1862, when he most needed something to divert his mind, he took up again his translation of the Divine Comedy, which had lain dormant for about nine years. On March 17, 1864, he wrote in his journal that he had the entire poem in "uniform style and workmanship." The translation, unpolished though it was at this stage, was the product of hours of imaginative effort, literary research, and consultation with congenial friends. Although he did not formally establish the Dante Club with James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton until October 25, 1865, Longfellow discussed his translation with them from this time, as well as with James T . Fields and George Washington Greene, with whom he had reestablished his friendship after a coolness of several years. Dante became in a sense the closest companion of his meditation during these first years of loneliness. About the same time that he took up the Dante project in earnest, Longfellow resumed his practice as a creative poet. In 1862 he wrote the prelude for Tales of a Wayside Inn, three poems that were to appear in the volume ("The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi," "King Robert of Sicily," and "Torquemada"), and "The Cumberland," one of his rare attempts to treat a Civil War theme. In 1863 he saw Part One of Tales of a Wayside Inn through the press, having first written for it five interludes and a finale as well as "The Falcon of Ser Federigo" and "The Birds of Killingworth." In 1864 he wrote a number of poems — "Palingenesis," "The Bridge of Cloud," "Christmas Bells," "The Wind over the Chimney," and a commemoration of Hawthorne — which eventually found their way into Flower-de-Luce (1867); and he composed the first two of his five Divina Commedia sonnets, "Noël" — an exercise in French for Louis Agassiz — and "Kambala." This period of diminishing anguish was one of increasing productivity as a poet and translator. By 1864, fifty-seven years old and a widower of three years, Longfellow had worked his way back to a reasonably comfortable state of mind and health. In June at Nahant he made the acquaintance of a young woman from Aubum, New York, thirty-one years his junior, named Cornelia Fitch. Miss Fitch, whose regal carriage and soft femininity seem to have stirred his emotions in other than purely platonic ways, was obviously pleased by the attentions of a distinguished poet. It is unwise to draw overly romantic conclusions

258

CAMBRIDGE,

! 862

about their relationship, because the evidence is scanty. Longfellow rarely permitted his emotions to show in correspondence, and his eight recovered letters to Cornelia Fitch are in no sense love letters. Her letters to him are unrecovered. However, Miss Fitch's descendants have preserved a legend of their infatuation with one another. The legend attests, furthermore, in a seriocomic vein that Longfellow's son Charles, recuperating from his war wound in the cottage at Nahant, was also smitten by the beauty of Miss Fitch, and that her sudden marriage in February 1865 was arranged by parents who, whatever their admiration for Longfellow as a man of letters, found him less than attractive as an aging son-in-law. Longfellow's last letter to Cornelia Fitch is a model of tactful congratulation on her approaching happiness. Only by reading between the lines can one speculate about his feelings of regret that with her marriage to another man, he had himself lost a possibility for complete recovery from his sense of loss.

1913.

To Charles Eliot Norton

Camb. Jan 1 2 1862. M y Dear Charles, It will give me great pleasure to be one of your bondsmen to any amount, 1 but whether I can go to town with you tomorrow is rather uncertain, as Erny is down with the measles, and has them heavily; and Alice has just gone to bed with premonitory symptoms. I am afraid I shall have my hands too full to be absent from home for any length of time. 2 W h y can I not sign your paper without going to town? Is [George William] Curtis with you to-day? I shall hope to see him again before he goes away. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Harvard College

Library,

ADDRESS:

Charles

E.

Norton

Esqre/Shady

Hill. ι . Norton had written on January 1 2 : " A r e you willing to drive into town with me tomorrow, morng, and to become one of my sureties for a bond of $ 6 0 0 0 . , which

I

have to give to the Quartermaster General, in concluding a contract with him for work to be given out by the ladies to the poor women of Cambridge?" 2. Although

Longfellow's parental duties were now increased, he had help

from

household servants and from the children's governess, H a n n a h E . Davie. Miss Davie worked for him continuously from A u g u s t 6, 1 8 6 1 , to October 1 8 6 3 , and intermittently during 1 8 6 4 - 1 8 6 7 ( M S A c c o u n t B o o k ) .

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To Catherine Eliot Norton

Camb. Jan 15 1862 My Dear Mrs. Norton, I am happy to say that the children are doing very well; though till now they have kept me very closely shut up, as garde-malade [sicknurse], and general Superintendant of the Hospital. Tomorrow I trust Erny will be well enough to spare me for a couple of hours so that I may have the pleasure of seeing you all once more at Shady Hill. I hoped to look in for a moment yesterday or to-day; but could not get away. With much love to you all, Ever affectionately Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

1915.

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge Jan 15 1862. M y Dear Sumner, It is hard for me not to write to you, and still harder to write. I have no heart for anything. There is only one thought in my mind. You know what that is; and how joyless, hopeless, aimless my life has become. So we will not speak of it; but rather of your admirable speech on the "Trent Affair." 1 It is very clear and thorough and statesmanlike. Everybody reads it, and "none reads it but to praise."2 Howadji Curtis was here yesterday; thinks it admirable; so does Norton; so does Tom; so does Mrs. Kemble who says she likes it best of all your speeches; — and these, with one or two newspaper writers, are my "everybody." When you add to these everybody-else's everybody, you will have a grand aggregate. Meanwhile I hear nothing from George; nor have I been to town to inquire after him, as I should have done. He forgot to leave me his address in Northampton, and has not written. I trust all goes well. 3 How busy and overburdened you must be! Felton says we owe it to you, that we have no war with England; and I have no doubt you have done much to keep the peace. Curtis (still G. W . not G. T . ) thinks the combined fleets of Spain, France and England is the o'ertaking Nemesis of Ostend. Our three ministers to Spain, France and England met there to plot the taking of Cuba. One of these huîtres d'Ostende we swallowed, and in some measure digested; and so became partakers of that poisoned banquet, which has disagreed with us, and worked so much woe. And now in the

260

CAMBRIDGE, midst of our trouble the bill is brought in, in the shape of this Expedition to Mexico. Alas! for the oysters of Ostend! 4 I wish very much I could know confidentially how you feel about the state of affairs. How badly England has behaved through this whole matter! Is not this the first gun in the great battle, so long impending, between Aristocracy and Democracy? W h a t think you? Remember me to Gurowski. W h a t does he say of the whole matter? Craigie House is for the present turned into a hospital. T h e children are going through the measles! Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Sumner delivered his speech " T h e Trent Case, and Maritime Rights" in the Senate on January 9, 1862. In it he defended the action of the United States in intercepting the British ship Trent and removing from it the Confederate envoys to England and France. See Sumner Works, VI, 153-242. 2. Cf. Fitz-Greene Halleck, "On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake," 11. 3 - 4 : " N o n e knew thee but to love thee,/Nor named thee but to praise." 3. George Sumner had been stricken with paralysis and was in Northampton for treatment. 4. In October 1854 the American ministers to Spain, France, and Great Britain (Pierre Soulé, John Young Mason, and James Buchanan) had met at Ostend and signed the notorious "manifesto" threatening Spain with the seizure of Cuba in the event that Spanish possession of the island proved inimical to American interests. Longfellow draws a parallel between this discredited diplomatic maneuver and the French, Spanish, and English invasion of Mexico following the signing of the Treaty of London on October 31, 1861. T h e "swallowed" oyster of Ostend was James Buchanan, fifteenth president of the United States, 1857-1861.

1916.

To Louisa Ward Terry1

Cambridge Jan 30 1862 Dear Mrs. Terry I ought to have thanked you sooner for your friendly and welcome letter from Leghorn; and I should have done so, had I not daily expected the arrival of the "Sappho," whose delay in coming has caused my delay in writing. A t last it has reached me; and a very charming statuette it is, full of beauty and sentiment. T h e aspect, the attitude, the drapery all express the morbidezza [softness] of her passion. I shall now proceed to execute your sentence of death upon "the unfortunate young man with the banner," which hitherto I have not had the heart to do. Sappho shall slay him where he lies.2 26 ι

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I thank you very much for this kind remembrance of me in my sorrow. But of that sorrow, I will not speak, but rather of your new happiness which I am sure is very great, judging by the praise I hear of M r . Terry, from everyone, who knows him. I am truly glad, that after that dark passage in your life you have again come "a riveder le stelle." 3 Ever with best regards and best wishes, Your old friend Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Porter Ralph Chandler, N e w York, ADDRESS: Mrs. Louisa W . Terry/ Care of Messrs Pakenham, Hooker & Co/Rome/Italy POSTMARKS: CAMBRIDGE MS FEB

illegible]

I

1862/BOSTON FEB

5 PAID 2 4 / P . D . / E T U N I S SERV.BR. A.C. Β

ig

[month

62

1 . Louisa Ward ( 1 0 5 4 . i ) , the widow of Thomas Crawford, married Luther Terry ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 9 0 0 ) , Connecticut-born painter residing in Rome, on September 2 1 , 1 8 6 1 . 2. Louisa Crawford had written to Longfellow from Leghorn on September 20, 1861 (the day before her marriage): "Last spring when my dear Sarah Cleveland was making up a box to send from Rome to Boston, I took the opportunity of sending you a sketch of a 'Sappho' — which I hope you will allow to replace the 'Excelsior' — as every way worthier of yourself and your artist friend [Thomas Crawford]. T h e sketch which you have had in your possession for so many years, was in my estimation a failure. I always desired — and intended, could my influence avail — that something better should be made for you in its stead. In breaking up the dear old studio this spring, I was anxious that some of the beautiful sketches should remain in the hands of friends — and not be absorbed in the general collection. As often as I looked at the Sappho — broken-hearted, I thought of you — of the pleasure it would be to you to have it ever before your eyes — of the satisfaction that I should feel in knowing that it was yours. Will you value it dear Mr Longfellow and give it a place in your quiet studio? destroying however the figure which it is intended to replace. This — I think — I must beg you to do." For Crawford's "Excelsior," see 1602.7. 3. Inferno, XXXIV,

1917.

139: "to rebehold the stars."

To John Gorham Palfrey

Cambridge Feb. 6 1862. M y Dear Palfrey, I return Col. Lee's very interesting letter, with many thanks to you for your kindness in sending it for my perusal. 1 I am truly glad that anything I have written should give a moment's pleasure to this brave man in the solitude of his prison. But this feeling is instantly swallowed up by the bitter regret that he should be there; and by all the memories of that luckless day, fatal as Roncesvalles. 2 With kindest remembrances to all under your roof, Always truly Yours Henry W . Longfellow

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p.s. I hope you have good tidings from Frank and John. 3 I take the deepest interest in whatever concerns them. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . William Raymond Lee ( 1 8 0 7 - 1 8 9 1 ) commanded the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Va., during which he was captured on October 2 1 , 1 8 6 1 . H e became a hostage, to be shot in reprisal if the captain and crew of the captured Confederate schooner Enchantress were executed as pirates. In February 1862, after the federal government had decided to treat the privateersmen as ordinary prisoners of war, Lee was exchanged and subsequently distinguished himself at Antietam. 2. T h e batde, in 778, in which Roland was killed. 3. Col. Francis Winthrop Palfrey ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 8 8 9 ) succeeded to the command of the Twentieth Massachusetts after the capture of Col. Lee. Lieut. John Carver Palfrey ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 9 0 6 ) was with the army engineers at Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Both were sons of Longfellow's correspondent.

1918.

To Paul-Romain Blier1 Cambridge. Mass. (Near Boston) Feb 10 1862

My Dear Sir, I am ashamed, when I look at the date of your letter, and think it is still unanswered. But since receiving it, I have been so ill in body and mind, that the pen has been too heavy to lift with any alacrity. I beg you to accept my apologies and my regrets. I see by your letter, that you have made your translation of the "Golden Legend" from the first edition.2 In the later editions were some notes, a copy of which I sent you a week or two ago. These notes will answer some of your questions. A slight change was also made in "The Refectory," but very slight. I will now take up your queries in order.3 ι. Page 257. "With a bone in her mouth." A sea-phrase. Sailors say a vessel has a bone in her mouth when she goes fast enough to raise the foam about her bows. It does not refer to the bowsprit. The bone is the white foam. 2. Page 247. "If our Faith had given us etc." You have given the right rendering. 3. Page 132 "So that he who reads may run." See Habak-kuk. II. 2 "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." That is, run and tell it to others. 4. Page 81. "The Black Paternoster" Dieu fut mon père nourricier [God was my foster-father] etc. This is slightly altered from the "White Pater-noster," in a work called "Demonologia; or Natural Knowledge revealed." By J.S.F[orsyth], London 1831. p. 270. You have rendered the passage correctly; though perhaps père nourricier would be better than nourrice. 263

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5. Page 176. "King René." An oversight. Changed in the second and subsequent editions to "St. Ulric," who in his life-time was a monk and scribe in the convent of Hirschau. Walter von der Vogelweide joined the Vth Crusade under the Emperor Frederic II. in 1228. This fixes the date of the poem. If you read carefully the scene in the "Refectory," you will percieve that Lucifer speaks of Abelard in the past tense, though he pretends to have been at the Convent in his time. You must not hold him to very exact statements! 6. "Le dévouement d'Elsie [Elsie praying]." Question answered in the printed notes. 7 If you are curious about the Convent of Hirschau, see the "Codex Hirsaugiensis" in the II vol. of the Publications of "Literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart."4 8. May-drink. Mai-trank; you are right. 9. "Bible, bound in lead," metaphorical. The bible has been often hurled at the head of Lucifer. 10. "In the same net was the mother caught." No allusion to Eve; only to Ursula, Elsie's mother, who on ρ ηη says she will go to the priest. He is supposed — that is Lucifer is supposed to have deceived her as he is now going to deceive the Prince. 1 1 . Page ι ο ι. "Like roses from the lips of Angels" In Mailáth's "Auserlesene altdeutsche Gedichte" (Stuttgart und Tübingen 1819)® p. 77. is the Legend of "Der Schüler und die Rosen." The Virgin Mary meets him in a grove, and every Ave he utters becomes a rose. "Und wie der Mönch ein Ave spricht, Hebt sie die Hand zu seinem Angesicht, Nimmt ein Rose roth ihm aus dem Mund." 6 But the name of Angelo — where did I get that? Je n'en sais rien [I don't know]. It must have been from some similar legend, floating through my brain. 12 The arrow "of the Lord's deliverance." p. i n . This alludes to King Joash and the prophet Elish[a]. See Second Book of Kings, ch. XIII. 15. 7 13 Friar Cuthbert's Sermon. See Weber's "Möncherey." vol IV. p. 197. See also printed Notes of the "Legend."8 14. "Ave, color vini clari." From the "Carminum Resonantium Specimen" at the end of [Thomas] Wright's "Early Mysteries and Other Latin Poems of the XII and XIII Cents." London 1844 [1838]. p. 120 264

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The next scrap of song "In the days of gold The days of old, Crosier of wood &c" (misprinted cross in first edition) is from an old French song; "Au temps passé du siècle d'or, Crosse de bois, évesque d'or, Maintenant changent les lois Crosse d'or, évesque de bois."9 Where the "Rumpas bellorum lorum" came from, I no longer remember. It is nothing more than a noisy chorus. In the second edition there is another little bit of Latin, "Funde vinum, funde &c." From Sir. Alex. Croke's "Essay on Rhyming Latin Verse." London. 1828. p. 21 1 0 15 A boulder. Bloc de pierre erratique. 16 "Me receptet Sion illa." I forget in what collection of Latin Hymns, I found this version of Hildebert's hymn. 11 17 "The Dumb Ox of Cologne"; Thomas Aquinas. He got this nickname from his fellow students on account of his size and his silence. 18 "Mathew Platearius"; a Doctor of Salerno. See Tiraboschi. Hist. Lit. Ital. III. 404. Some writers call him John. "Perhaps there were two" says Tiraboschi.12 19 As to "Michel le Bègue," he is the Byzantine Emperor, who sent from the East the writings of Dionysius, which Erigena Scott translated into Latin, as stated in the text.13 You will find his name in the Classical and Biographical Dictionaries. 20 "Fastrada's Ring." You will find the legend in Reumont's "Rheinlands Sagen." p. 81 1 4 "Rumpas bellorum lorum!" I find it at last in the Preface of Croke's "Regimen Sanitatis Salern." where it is given as a specimen of rhyming Latin Verse. 15 Thus have I endeavored to answer your several queries as briefly and explicitly as possible. Let me now thank you for your version of "Excelsior," and the "Protestation," which follows it, both of which are spirited and elegant. And now a doubt rises in my mind which perhaps I may as well state. Would it not have been better — or rather would it not still be better, to begin with "Evangeline"? as a work more likely to interest and engage the sympathies of the French reading public, the subject being French, and the scene a former French colony? As to giving you an exclusive right to translate my works into French, it is not mine to give. There being no copy-right treaty between the two countries, I have no control in this matter, and some of my books have already been translated by other hands.

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And in regard to your other requests, a preface and a letter to Publishers, — if equally agreeable to you, I should rather prefer not to do either. I am inclined to think it will be better to leave the whole matter in your hands; and that if I interfered, I should be more likely to mar than to make. T o which conclusion I am pretty sure you will yourself come, on farther reflection. Some years ago the Chevalier de Châtelain, published Evangeline in a French dress;16 but it is rather a paraphrase, than a translation; and lately I have received translations of Kavenagh and Hyperion, anonymous (Dentu, Editeur, Paris, i860.) 1 7 done with good intention, but unluckily not free from grave errors. I have also heard of a version of the Minor Poems, but have not seen it. Permit me, once more, to thank you for the great fidelity of your rendering in those passages of the Legend which I have seen, and to express my best wishes for the success of your labors, which have been careful and conscientious. I should like to see the No. of the "Revue d' l'Instruction publique," containing the Article you allude to in your letter. I shall endeavor to procure it here; if I do not succeed perhaps M. Hachette would be kind enough to send it to me. 18 With kind remembrances to your friend Mr. McDonel, 19 and many thanks for the great interest he has expressed in my writings, I remain Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: á Monsieur/Monsieur Paul Blier/Professeur á Argentan ["Argentan" de¡eted]/(Orne)/France/Coutances [in another

hand]

POSTMARKS:

C A L A I S 3 F E V R 6 2 [remainder

5 MARS 6 2 / [ 2 postmarks

CAMBRIDGE MS Feb illegible]/ARGENTAN

N

1862/BOSTON F E B

15

21/

4 MARS 6 2 / P A R I S A CHERBOURG

illegible]

1. Blier (b. 1 8 2 2 ) , minor French poet and professor successively at the colleges in Valognes and Argentan, was at this time connected with the lycée in Coutances. 2. This translation was subsequently published as La légende dorée et -poèmes sur l'esclavage, de H.W. Longfellow, traduits par Paul Blier et Edward MacDonnell, Suivis de quelques poésies par P.B. (Paris, 1 8 6 4 ) . 3. Longfellow's pagination corresponds to the first edition of The Golden Legend (Boston, 1 8 5 1 ) . 4. The reference is inaccurate. See Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart (Stuttgart, 1 8 4 3 ) , I, 1 - 1 0 3 . 5. Gedichte altdeutsche, selected and recast into modern German by the Graf von Mailáth (Stuttgart, 1 8 1 9 ) . 6. "And as the monk an Ave says,/She lifts her hand to his face,/[And] takes a red rose from his mouth." 7. "And Elisha said unto him [Joash], Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows" ( I I Kings 1 3 : 1 5 ) .

266

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^ 6 2

8. Karl Julius Weber, Die Mönchery, oder Geschichtl. Darstellung der Klosterwelt (Stuttgart, 1 8 3 4 ) ; Works, V, 443-444. 9. Longfellow renders these lines in the Golden Legend: "In the days of gold,/The days of old,/Crosier of wood/And bishop of gold!/. . . Now we have changed/That law so good/To crosier of gold/And bishop of wood!" (Works, V , 2 3 7 - 2 3 8 ) . 10. Sir Alexander Croke, An Essay on the Origin, Progress, and Decline of Rhyming Latin Verse; with many Specimens (Oxford, 1 8 2 8 ) . 1 1 . Presumably in Henry Mills, The Hymns of Hildebert and the Ode of Xavier, with English Versions (Auburn, N . Y . , 1840). See Samuel Willoughby Duffield, The Latin Hymn Writers and Their Hymns, ed. and completed by R . E. Thompson ( N e w York and London, 1889), p. 182. 12. Longfellow's edition of Girolamo Tiraboschi, Storia della Letteratura Italiana, was published in Florence, 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 1 3 , in 9 vols. 1 3 . In The Golden Legend (Works, V, 2 7 2 ) , Longfellow states that the works of Dionysius the Areopagite were "sent from the East [by Michael the Stammerer, East Roman emperor, 820-829],/And done into Latin by that Scottish beast,/Johannes Duns Scotus." In the poem he substitutes John Duns Scotus ( 1 2 6 5 Î - 1 3 0 8 ? ) , Scottish scholastic theologian, for Johannes Scotus Erigena ( 8 1 5 ? - 8 7 7 ? ) , the medieval theologian and philosopher who translated Dionysius. 14. Alfred Reumont, Rheinlands Sagen, Geschichten und Legenden (Köln and Aachen, 1 8 3 7 ) . 1 5 . Sir Alexander Croke, ed., Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum; a Poem on the Preservation of Health in Rhyming Latin Verse, Addressed by the School of Salerno to Robert of Normandy, Son of William the Conqueror, with an Ancient Translation (Oxford, 1 8 3 0 ) . 16. See 1436.3. 17. Hyperion et Kavanagh, trans, from English and preceded by a Note on the Author (Paris and Brussels, i 8 6 0 ) , 2 vols. T h e house that published the translation was founded by Jean Gabriel Dentu ( 1 7 7 0 - 1 8 4 0 ) . 18. Louis Christophe François Hachette ( 1 8 0 0 - 1 8 6 4 ) founded the publishing house of Hachette et Cie in 1826. T h e article in the Revue de l'instruction publique, which Hachette published, is unidentified. 19. Edward C. O'Conor MacDonnell of Donforth House, County Kildare, Ireland, professor at the college in Argentan, was Blier's collaborator on the Longfellow translation project. In a letter of June 1 3 , 1 8 6 1 , he had written: " M y own share in the merits of this literary labor is like that of the bellows-blower who assists the Organist to draw from the machine the ravishing flood of harmony. I was absolutely necessary, that is all." In 1866 he wrote to Longfellow from Calcutta to ask for a position at Harvard, which he did not receive.

1919.

To John Henley

Smith1

Cambridge Feb 10 1862. Dear M r Smith, It gives me great pleasure to comply with your request. Enclosed you will find both a stanza2 and a signature. I beg you to present to your mother my kindest regards and remembrances, and believe me Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow

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MANUSCRIPT: Library of Congress. ι . Smith ( 1 8 4 3 - 1 9 0 7 ) was the son of Henrietta Henley ( 4 4 1 . 3 ) , who had married a Washington lawyer named Jonathan Bayard Harrison Smith. 2. T h e last stanza of " T h e Day Is Done."

1920.

To Charles Sumner [Cambridge, February 16, 1862] 1

I am sorry to hear of Mr. Appleton's death. He was such a genial, pleasant, cultivated gentleman! All my recollections of him are kindly and agreeable. I liked him very much. "Come d'autunno si levan le foglie L'una appresso dell' altra!"2 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Sumner is identified as the correspondent by a penciled note on this fragment. T h e date is provided by the fact that William Appleton ( 5 1 3 . 2 ) had died on February 15, 1862. 2. Inferno, III, 1 1 2 - 1 1 3 : " A s in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,/First one and then another."

1921.

To Rosa Fanny Hill1

Cambridge near Boston Feb 16. 1862 Dear Mrs. Hill, I have been pained to hear, lately and indirectly, that you never received a letter I wrote you many months ago in answer to yours, in which you did me the honor of offering me the Dedication of a volume of Poems. You must have thought me very negligent or very ungrateful. I wrote you on the 20th of May last; which date I ascertain by a list I am in the habit of keeping. I accepted the favor you proposed, requesting only that the Dedication might be simplified, so as to bring it nearer to the level of my poor deserts, though farther from your good opinion.2 Then there was a vague rumor of some newspaper, or cutting from a newspaper, being sent you, containing some advice to authors, or something of that kind; and that it had been suggested to you, that I had sent it, which I assure you was not the case.3 My letter would, I am sure, have put this all right, which failing, I must beg you to receive this tardy explanation, and my regrets that any 268

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misunderstanding should have arisen out of this act of kindness on your part. I remain, Dear Mrs. Hill Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia, Mrs. Rosa F. Hill/25 Hyde Park Square/[London]

ADDRESS:

1 . Rosa Hill (d. 1892, aged seventy), an aspiring poetess, was the wife of Charles Hill, stockbroker, of the firm of Hill, Fawcett & Hill, 29 Threadneedle Street, London. 2. In a letter of January 3 1 , 1 8 6 1 , Mrs. Hill had requested Longfellow's permission to dedicate her book to him as follows: " T o Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the most perfect exponent of the intellectual wants, feelings and aspirations of the present generation, this little volume is humbly inscribed, by a far-off follower and admirer of the shining star of His great Genius." T h e dedication as revised reads: " T o Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in grateful acknowledgment of the delight and benefit derived from the perusal of his ennobling poems, this little volume is, with his kind permission, humbly inscribed, by a far-off follower and admirer of his great genius." See The Lady Ina, and Other Poems (London, 1 8 6 5 ) , p. iv. Longfellow's letter of May 20, 1 8 6 1 , is unrecovered. 3. In her reply of March 19, 1862, Mrs. Hill remarked that "the offending newspaper paragraph — of which you speak in so generous and re-assuring a manner —, had made me doubtful both of myself and my productions," and that consequently she had delayed the publication of her poems.

1922.

To Charles Sumner Cambridge

March 3 1862

My Dear Sumner, This will be handed to you by Mr. Colburn,1 who visits Washington for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, an extension of copy-right in his father's "Mental Arithmetic."2 Any advice you can give him, and any facilities you may be able to offer in furtherance of his wishes, will be as grateful to me as to him. Yours ever Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Warren Colburn, Jr. ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 7 9 ) , S on of Warren Colburn ( 1 7 4 5 . 8 ) . 2. T h e extension was obtained. See Warren Colhurn's First Lessons: Intellectual Arithmetic, upon the Inductive Method of Instruction, new ed., with an Introduction to Written Arithmetic by His Son, Warren Colburn, and an Introduction by George B. Emerson (Boston and Cincinnati, 1 8 6 3 ) .

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To William Leonard Gage1

Cambridge March 6 1862 Dear Sir, In reply to your favor received this morning, I am sorry to say that I have not time to look over your M.S. But I will do something better. I will see Messrs Ticknor and Fields upon the subject, and say a word or two — not cold, but warm and urgent — for its immediate publication. Your table of Contents, and what I already know of the book itself, make it a pleasure to do so. I think there can be no doubt, that the work will prove to be very interesting and successful. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow W . L. Gage Esqu[ire]. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . Gage (1832-1889), a member of the Harvard class of 1853, was a Congregational minister and Harvard University lecturer, 1863-1864. In a letter from Lowell, Mass., of March 5 he had asked Longfellow to look at the manuscript of his translated abridgment of Was ich erlebte by the German philosopher Heinrich Steffens ( 1 7 7 3 1845), subsequently published by the Boston firm of Gould & Lincoln as The Story of My Career, as Student at Freiberg and ]ena, and as Professor at Halle, Breslau and Berlin, With Personal Reminiscences of Goethe, Schiller, Schelling . . . and Others (Boston, 1863).

1924.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. March 7 1862 M y Dear Fields I enclose the Table of Contents of a book translated from the German by Mr. Gage of Lowell, which I commend to your favorable consideration. Autobiography is what biography ought to he. This can hardly fail to be very interesting and popular as you will see by running your eye over the list of subjects touched upon. I hope you will like it well enough to publish it. Mr. Gage writes me that Geo Sumner has read his ms and gives a favorable verdict. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

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C A M B R I D G E ,

1925.

To Charles Appleton

^ 6 2

Longfellow

Camb. March 17. 1862 M y Dear Charley, W e all wrote you a week ago — all except Erny, who was too busy with his own affairs — and if all goes right, you will get those letters at the same time you do this. 1 Nothing new has happened but some victories in the West — the naval battle at Newport News — the evacuation of Manassas — and the advance of the Army of the Potomac!2 I send you a newspaper with a picture of Ericson's Floating Battery, that drove back the Merrimac, and a description of the battle. T h e Cumberland went down without striking her colors.3 W e are all well here. Edie takes Trap out for his constitutional nearly every pleasant day; and Mr. Bird4 comes, and the choir sings divinely, as usual. The old house in Portland caught fire the other day from the smoke pipe of the furnace; but no great damage was done it being in the day time.® Your English hat arrived the very day you left. It is a success, and will please you. Take care not to shoot eachother with your fowling pieces. I think you are in more danger from them, than from the enemy's guns. Every one sends you much love. Give mine to Willie, and my best regards to Lieut. [John Carver] Palfrey. Ever affectionately H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: Mr. Charles A. Longfellow/ Care of Lieut. J. C. Palfrey./Ship Island/Miss, POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MS MAR 17 1862 ι. On March 6 Charles Longfellow had left with his friend William Pickman Fay ( 1806.1) on a voyage to Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Their ship was the Parliament, owned by Fay's father, Richard Sullivan Fay (1602.12). On the day of his son's departure Longfellow wrote in his journal: "It is a great tug at the heartstrings this parting with a son for the first time. He hopes to be back in May." The Parliament returned to Boston on May 23. 2. General Samuel Ryan Curtis ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 6 6 ) defeated the Confederates at Pea Ridge, Ark., on March 6-8; the naval battle off Newport News took place on March 8-9; the Confederate army evacuated Manassas on March 11; General John Pope ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 9 2 ) won a victory at New Madrid, Mo., on March 14; and the Army of the Potomac under General McClellan left Alexandria on March 17 for the Peninsular campaign. 3. The Merrimac (now the Confederate ironclad Virginia) sank the Cumberland and burned the Congress on March 8 in the opening phase of the battle off Newport

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News. On March 9 the Monitor, designed by John Ericsson ( 1 8 0 3 - 1 8 8 9 ] ) , Swedishborn engineer and inventor, engaged the Merrimac in the first battle between ironclad vessels. T h e result was a draw, although the Merrimac had to retreat to Norfolk for repairs. 4. Presumably Horace Bird ( 8 8 1 . 1 ) . His choir was apparently composed of the three Longfellow girls and their friends. 5. T h e following undated newspaper clipping is pasted at the top of the first sheet of the letter: " T h e house in Portland in which the poet Longfellow was born, was in great danger of being burned down on Tuesday last." T h e date of the fire was March 1 1 .

1926.

To Charles Sumner Cambridge

March 29 1862.

Dear Sumner I send you enclosed the Greek Elegiacs for Felton's grave-stone, by Sophocles, and my translation of the same, made at his request.1 Of the death and the funeral I have no heart to speak; and about the latter you say Thies has already written you.2 What a dreary, cheerless March day it was; snow and water ankle deep, and overhead a gray sky and a sharp East Wind; — all in bitter contrast with his genial nature. So there is another white mile-stone set up, and onward go the weary feet. Did I tell you that Charley has gone to Ship Island? Not as a soldier, but for the sake of the voyage in a sailing vessel, the "Parliament," with his friend Fay. Rather a mad proceeding, I confess. He will be sorely tempted to go to the siege of New Orleans, I fear. But I hope not. Our latest Cambridge news is the engagement of Chs. Norton to Miss Susan Sedgwick, daughter of Theodore, and very lovely.3 I am very sorry for George. He does not get over his trouble easily. Remember me to Mr. Schleiden and to Gurowski. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Felton had died in Chester, Pa., on February 26. Longfellow attended his funeral on March 4 at the Harvard College chapel and afterward wrote in his journal: "So passes away the learned scholar, the genial companion, the affectionate, faithful friend!" T h e Greek epitaph was written by Evangelinus Apostolides Sophocles ( 6 7 5 . 2 ) , and Longfellow wrote out his translation of it in his journal entry for March 27: "Felton, dearest of friends, to the Land Unseen thou departest,/Snatched away, thou has left sorrow and sighing behind;/On thy companions, the dear ones, alas! the affliction has fallen,/Hellas, of thee belov'd, misses thy beautiful life." 2. This letter from Louis Thies ( 1 6 4 7 . 3 ) is datelined Cambridge, March 7, 1862 ( M S , Harvard College Library).

272

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3. Susan Ridley Sedgwick ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 8 7 2 ) , daughter of Theodore Sedgwick ( 1 0 9 1 . 1 ) , married Norton on May 2 1 , 1 8 6 2 .

1927.

To James Thomas

Fields

Camb. March 3 1 1 8 6 2 Dear Fields, Do not forget to send me a proof of the Dante as soon as you can, if you mean to have it in the next No. 1 Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Although Longfellow was translating Dante, he decided against publishing excerpts at this time. "Three Cantos of Dante's 'Paradiso' " appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, X I I I (January 1 8 6 4 ) , 4 7 - 5 5 .

1928.

To Edith

Longfellow

[Cambridge] April 14. 1862 My Dear Edie, I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter. You are a good little darling to write to me, and I love you very much for that, and for a great many other things besides. I love you because you are my daughter; — and Mama's daughter; and because she loved you, and still loves you. I love you because you are good, and try to be good, and are such a nice, tidy little body, and such a famous housekeeper. And so "Good Night"; or rather "Good Morning," for it will be morning when you find this under your pillow. Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

1929.

To Samuel

Longfellow

Camb. April 14 1862. My Dear Sam, I ought to have written you long and long ago; but I have not had the heart to do it. And even now, of what we are both thinking I can say nothing. God's will be done! Meanwhile in this melancholy house the old routine goes on. T h e

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children are all well; and we try to bear up with what fortitude and patience we have. Charley has gone to Ship Island, with his friend Fay, for the sake of a sea-voyage. Ship Island is in the Gulf of Mexico near Mobile; and is the rendez-vous of the fleet and army that are to besiege N e w Orleans. So he will see a little of camp life as he will remain there while the ship he went in is unloading. T h e "Parliament" is her name. He has been gone five weeks already. W e look for him back about the first of June. Why did you not send me your address in Berlin? I could have supplied you with newspapers all through the Winter. But perhaps you did not want them; that your mind might not be too much occupied with politics. W e have had a great many victories of late — "Island N o ι o" in the Mississippi [April 7]; "Fort Donalson" [February 16] ; —"Pittsburg [Landing]" in Tennessee [April 6-7]; — "Newbern" in North Carolina [March 14]. Best of all, Congress has abolished Slavery in the District of Columbia; but the Bill still awaits the President's signature. 1 As to your money account, on Dec. 3 1 . 1861. you had a balance in the hands of Baring, of £ 1 1 0 . 1 1 say . . . Tomorrow I deposit for you

$550.00 210.00 $760.00

The N e w York Central has not risen above 82 and a fraction. Shall I sell, or will you wait till you return? You can draw, you know, on the Barings for any amount, and refund afterwards any balance against you. Many thanks for your Vienna letter Oct 20. and the description of your day at St. Gilgen. It is very beautiful and touching.2 But ah! what can ever restore my distracted brain and breaking heart? By your last letters it seems you think of coming home at the end of the Summer. W e shall be so glad to see you: and I shall expect you to take up your abode with me, as of old, if I can make you comfortable. T h e children all send you much love Ever affectionately H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Lincoln signed the bill two days later, on April 16. 2. Longfellow had himself been impressed by the beauty and charm of St. Gilgen when visiting there on July 3 - 5 , 1 8 3 6 , a few weeks before he met Fanny Appleton in Thun, Switzerland. See M S Journal and Life, I, 2 3 5 - 2 3 6 .

274

CAMBRIDGE, 1930.

^ 6 2

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April. 14 1862. My Dear Sumner, Here is what Burke or someone else said of Dr. Johnson's death. "He has made a chasm which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best. There is nobody. No man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson."1 For Johnson, substitute Felton, and how equally true it is for us! My brother Sam writes me from Vienna; "With the rest I wait for decisive news from America. All this bloodshed without results is terrible to me. I can be reconciled to the War only if it shall bring to an end the Nation's wrong-doing, and give Freedom or clear assurance of Freedom to the slave. I cannot feel much more interest for a slave-restoring Union, than for a slave-holding Confederacy. I see that Sumner has advocated emancipation by the Government. I am very glad that he has done it; though I don't doubt there will be plenty to call him 'injudicious,' if nothing worse. I should prefer certainly that the slave-holders should of their own will emancipate. If they will not, whoever holds the rightful power should use it, in wise methods of course. I wish you would send me Sumner's Speech."2 Thanks for your last. I will not praise it; as your last always seems to me your best, owing to the freshness of the impression I suppose.3 Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. See Boswell's Life of Johnson, Oxford Standard Edition (New York, 1 9 3 3 ) , p. 648. The author of the statement was William Gerard Hamilton ( 1 7 2 9 - 1 7 9 6 ) . 2. Letter of October 20, 1861. The speech desired by Samuel Longfellow was presumably "Emancipation Our Best Weapon," delivered before the Republican State Convention at Worcester, October 1, 1861 (Sumner Works, VI, 1 - 6 4 ) . 3. Sumner delivered the speech "Ransom of Slaves at the National Capital" on March 3 1 , 1862, urging the abolition of slavery in Washington, D.C. See Sumner Works, VI, 389-438.

1931.

To Bernard Rölker

Camb. April 20 1862 My Dear Rölker, This is Easter Sunday, and I am thinking of you, because I remember this season was always a delight to you. To-day, the sun is not "dancing in the sky"; 1 or if he is, it is modestly done behind a curtain of cloud.

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With you perhaps it is otherwise. I hope it is both literally and figuratively. What a year of terror the last has been! One does not dare to look back. Felton, too, our good and noble friend has gone. His funeral from the chapel was most melancholy: one of these cheerless, gray March days; snow and water ankle deep; and the bells wailing in the East-wind! So was carried to his grave in Mt. Auburn one of the sunniest and most genial of men. But I have no heart to write you about this. Since our eyes are set in our foreheads, let us look forward and not backward. But whitherward? Meanwhile the great war goes thundering on. I hope you are cheery about it, and have faith in something and somebody. The slave-power must be utterly annihilated. There can be no peace without that is done; and for that I devoutly pray. A pseudo-aristocracy, based on the theory that "a black man has no rights, which a white man is bound to respect," cannot any longer be tolerated. W e are pretty well in the Craigie House, except colds and the like. For the last week the weather has been intensely hot — quite like Summer; and the Scarlatina'has hoisted its red flag in the neighborhood. Thus far the children in this house have escaped; but I am never without apprehension. Charley has gone to Ship Island, near Mobile; not in the Army — not in the Navy — but as a passenger on board the Ship Parliament, with his friend Fay, son of Richard, for the sake of the voyage. I look for him back early in May. Enclosed is the long-promised photograph of Alice. I think it the best that has been taken, and I hope you will like it. Your friend [Charles] Beck is in the State Legislature, as I suppose you are aware. Of course I helped put him there; and I think he will be a very efficient member. I suppose, too, you have heard of Charles Norton's engagement to Miss Susan Sedgwick, Theodore's daughter; a lovely young woman. That is our latest and greatest Cambridge news, and we make much of it. Erny and the little girls all send their love, and hope that you are well and happy, in which hope I fervently join. If you have a carte-de-visite photograph of yourself to spare, pray send it to me. I have only the old ambrotype. Ever Yours H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Katrina Roelker Stokes, Bronx, N.Y. ι. An allusion to the old belief that the sun danced on Easter Sunday. Cf. Sir John Suckling, "Ballad upon a Wedding," st. 8, 11. 46-48. 2 7 6

CAMBRIDGE, 1932.

1862

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April 20 1862. My Dear Sumner, Here is a photograph of Felton, which is pretty good excepting the glare on the glass of the spectacles, which is bad. There is another larger and better — the Five Presidents together.1 But that I have not. Dexter has made an excellent bust of him; a most agreeable likeness and an admirable head; — like one of the Roman Emperors. It is not yet in marble; so that one cannot pronounce a final judgment.2 You are hard at work; and God bless you in it. In every country the "dangerous classes" are those that do no work; as for instance the nobility in Europe, and the slave-holders here. It is evident the world needs a new nobility — not of the "gold medal" and old "Sangre azul" order. Not the blood that is blue because it stagnates; but the red, arterial blood, that circulates and has heart in it, and life and labor. I am writing you on Easter Sunday. What an Easter this is for the negroes in the District of Columbia! I rejoice with you and with all other true men on this Easter of Africa. Ever thine H . W . L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. For this photograph of the Harvard presidents Quincy, Everett, Sparks, Walker, and Felton, see Charles A. Wagner, Harvard: Four Centuries and Freedoms (New York, 1950), facing p. 7 1 . a. Henry Dexter's bust of Felton is now in Memorial Hall, Harvard.

1933.

To John Hugh

McNaughton1 [Cambridge] April 23, 1862.

Your letter and your poems have touched me very much. Tears fell down my cheeks as I read them, and I think them very true and tender expressions of your sense of loss.2 So the little ones fade and fall, like blossoms wafted away by the wind! But the wind is the breath of God, and the falling blossoms perfume the air, and the remembrance of them is sweet and sacred. In our greatest sorrows we must not forget that there is always some one who has a greater sorrow, or at all events a more recent one; and that may give us courage, though it cannot give us comfort. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, III, 6 - 7 .

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ι. McNaughton ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 9 1 ) , a resident of Caledonia, N.Y., wrote Babble Brook Songs (Boston, 1864). 2. In a melancholy letter of April 2, 1862, McNaughton had sent Longfellow a newspaper announcement of the death of his daughter Mary Florence McNaughton, aged five, of diphtheria; a poem from the Rochester Union and Advertiser entitled "The Little Gray Bird," which laments the death of his son Hugh; and a second poem from the newspaper entitled "Without the Children," published in Babble Brook Songs, pp. 96-97.

1934.

To Alfred Billings

Street1

Cambridge April 25 1862. My Dear Mr. Street, As I am very contrite and penitent, I hope you will pardon me for not having thanked you sooner for "Woods and Waters." Not doubting that you have yourself been guilty of some such negligence, some time in your life, or at all events of some kind of negligence, I take heart and proceed. I like your book extremely. It enlivened many a weary hour in the long, lonely Winter. I know of no book, which so completely takes one into the woods. It is saturated with the feeling of the forest, and with forest sounds and odors; — playful, humorous, pathetic; — and what I value most of all, shot through with poetic touches of color, imaginative impressions and suggestions, and at times a happy word only, that lights up a whole page. If we were living in France and I were Emperor, I should straightway make you "Maître des Eaux et Forêts [Master of Waters and Woods]." As it is, I can only congratulate you on your success. Spring begins here tardily and reluctantly; a little green grass, and a fringe of buds on the lilac hedges, and a bird or two, like poets singing of May — that is all as yet. With kind remembrances to Mrs. Street,2 I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Street ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 8 1 ) , lawyer, poet, and librarian of the New York State Library in Albany, 1848-1862, had sent Longfellow a copy of his Woods and Waters; or, The Saranacs and Racket (New York, i860). 2. Elizabeth Weed ( 1 8 2 0 - 1 9 0 5 ) , daughter of an Albany hardware merchant and coffee house owner, had married Street in 1841.

278

C A M B R I D G E ,

1935.

1862

To Thomas William Parsons Camb. April 26 1862

Dear Mr. Parsons, I enclose a letter 1 for Monti, which you so kindly offered to take charge of, and remain, with thanks, Yours ever truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . This letter, unrecovered, was dated April 26 ( M S Letter Calendar).

1936.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. April 26 1862. M y Dear Sumner, If Mrs. Kemble is still in Washington, be kind enough to send her the enclosed. 1 If she has left you, return it to me for sake keeping. I hear nothing from George [Sumner], though every now and then I send him a letter. I believe the Dr. thinks all writing bad for him. I was at your house yesterday. Your mother was as well as usual; but had no letters from Northampton. And the big war, that does not make ambition virtue, what do you say of that? I often think of your first Peace Oration, 2 and feel more and more, how true it is, illuminated by the red foot-lights of this Rebellion, or Catalinian Conspiracy rather. O u r politics are too much of the guerrilla stamp; every man for himself, behind the nearest bush. N o moving in solid masses against the enemy. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Unrecovered, but accompanying the manuscript is an enclosure on which are pasted two clippings from the Boston Journal, XXX, No. 9012 (May 8, 1862), whose date suggests that they were sent with a later, unrecovered letter to Sumner. T h e clippings, with headings by Longfellow, are as follows: "From the Book of Lamentations. A MILITARY DESPOTISM INVOKED. T h e Courier

of T u e s d a y denounces emancipation

and invokes the interference of the army if Congress passes such a measure. It says: 'As Mr. Davis argues, such laws as are proposed will be a dead letter — they cannot

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be executed — they will array every man, woman and child in the slave States against them — and if Congress proves so recreant to its duty as to pass them, then we agree with Mr. Davis further, that the appeal must he taken from Congress "to the majesty of

the

American

people,

E V E N TO T H E A H M I E S OF T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S T H A T A R E

NOW

SET IN BATTLE, for the vindication of the authority of the United States and the Constitution and the laws." " I am willing," he says, "to submit all thees [sic] issues to the armies to-day." ' In other words, rather than that slavery should be interfered with by Congress the Courier would overturn our Republican institutions and establish a military dynasty. T h e opinions of the Courier are of little consequence, but it may be well to put the above on record." "From the Prophet Joel. UNCONSTITUTIONAL

LEGISLATION.

T o the Editor of the Boston Journal: Dear Sir — Will you permit me to say that the sooner the Republican party cuts itself loose from all unconstitutional projects (whether they relate to emancipation by proclamation, conquering States and holding them as territories, confiscation without trial, or any other measure not warranted by the constitution) the sooner it will begin to provide for its own salvation. Very truly yours, Cambridge,

May

5, 1 8 6 2

JOEL

PARKER."

One of Sumner's principal opponents on the question of emancipation was Senator Garrett Davis ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 7 2 ) of Kentucky. Joel Parker ( 1 7 9 5 - 1 8 7 5 ) was Royall Professor of Law at Harvard, 1 8 4 8 - 1 8 6 8 , and a vigorous opponent of constitutional alteration. 2. Presumably " T h e True Grandeur of Nations: A n Oration before the Authorities of the City of Boston, July 4, 1 8 4 5 " (Sumner Works, I, 1 - 1 3 2 ) .

1937.

To Frances Farrer [Cambridge]

April 28, 1862.

Your letter from Seaforth last summer 1 comforted me in a very dark hour, and I should not have left it so long unanswered if I had had the heart to write to any one. Even now I can do little more than thank you for it. I cannot speak of the desolation of this house, and the sorrow which overwhelms and crushes me. I must be patient and silent. My children are all well, and good; and that is a great comfort to me . . . I can hardly tell you how changed Cambridge has become to me. Felton, too, is gone; one of my oldest and dearest friends. It seems indeed as if the world were reeling and sinking under my feet. He died of heart disease, and is buried here at Mt. Auburn, the crests of whose trees I can see from this window where I write. A truly noble, sweet nature!

280

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 6 2

MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, III, 7. ι . T h i s letter is dated "July 31 [ 186i]/Sea£orth nr. Liverpool."

1938.

To Ferdinand Freiligrath

Cambridge April 28 1862. M y Dear Freiligrath, Pardon me for not having answered your letter of last Summer, which comforted and strengthened me with its words of sympathy. I have not had the heart to write, nor have I now, save my thanks and my affectionate remembrances to you and your dear wife. It makes my fatal wound ache and bleed too much. So forgive me if I say no more, than that I am still overwhelmed and crushed. I have no definite plans for the future, but drift along, from day to day, through these bitter waters. It is very difficult to build up again such a shattered life. It crumbles away like sand. But I try, and am patient. Though having seen, what I have seen, I wonder I am still alive. M y children are all well, and that comforts me, and gives me courage. Thanks for the "Skizzen aus Nord America." 1 Do you know the author, Dr. Kohl? H e is a very amiable, excellent man. I hope that you and yours are all well and happy. God bless you and guard you, prays ever Your affectionate H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, respondence," pp. 1288-1289.

PUBLISHED: "Longfellow-Freiligrath Cor-

ι . See 1886.1.

1939.

To John Gorham Palfrey Camb. April 30 1862

M y Dear Palfrey, I am much obliged to you for your kind and thoughtful note. I had, however, a letter from my boy by the same steamer that brought yours. 1 Thanks. Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . Palfrey had written on April 29: "If, by reason of unacquaintance with the ways of the place, your young gentleman at Ship Island has failed to report himself to you by

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the vessel just arrived, you will be glad to learn from me that, on the 9th instant, he was at the tent of m y lieutenant, and was in sufficiently good condition to leave it on a plover-shooting expedition."

1940.

To Richard Sullivan Fay

Camb. May 1. 1862. My Dear Sir, I am greatly obliged to you for your note, which comes like a Maymorning bouquet, with its good news from Ship Island. I am glad to know that the two young men are well and happy. Youth turns lead into gold; particularly if the lead comes in the shape of duck-shot; and at eighteen, with a strip of sea-coast and unlimited gunpowder, the problem of happiness is easily solved. Congratulating you on your safe return, and in the hope of soon seeing the two youngsters again, I remain, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT : Clifton W a l l e r Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

1941.

To George Washington Greene Camb. May ι 1862

My Dear Greene, Your welcome letter has just reached me; and I know that I ought to have written you long, and long ago. But I could not. Hardly can I now; for when I try to write to an old friend, this deadly wound within me aches and bleeds so, that I am obliged to take refuge in silence. No heart can know another's desolation; and no words of mine can paint to you the ceaseless agony of my life. How I am still alive, I know not; and sometimes, indeed, I feel as if I were dying. The earth seems to sink under me; and if it were not that the children hold me fast, I should lose my grasp on life altogether, it all seems now so shadowy and unsubstantial. What you say of your book, troubles me.1 You must not give that up, on any account; for the country needs it more and more, as this Civil War shows. Therefore stand fast, and fear not; though this "hope deferred"2 is enough to unman any one. I have just translated the last twelve Cantos of the Paradiso; not feeling equal to any original work. I think I shall go on with it, — or rather go back with it. Ever, My Dear Greene, H.W.L.

282

CAMBRIDGE,

1862

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. In a letter of April 28 Greene had expressed sympathy for Longfellow ("not a day has passed in which I have not thought of your lonely hearth") and then brought up the subject of his projected biography of General Nathanael Greene: " T h e war . . . has cut off all chances of getting Congress to do anything for my book: and heaven only knows whether it will ever see the light. Twelve years of labor and sacrifice thrown away — and now I am compelled to ask myself what shall I do next? or can a new hope spring up where one so dear and so long cherished has withered thus sadly?" 2. Prov. 1 3 : 1 2 .

1942.

To Frances Farrer [Cambridge]

May 8, 1862.

As I was passing down the village street yesterday, I saw at a shop window, directly opposite Felton's study, a beautiful orange-tree, having upon it six oranges and a hundred buds and blossoms. I could not resist the temptation of buying it; and it is now flourishing in my own window and filling the room with fragrance . . . It stands under the shelter of a lemon-tree ten feet high, which for the last ten years has kept up a makebelieve summer all winter long in my study. Felton is universally regretted. He had thousands of friends and not one enemy. What Burke (or some other friend) said at Johnson's death may be said of Felton's: "It has made a chasm which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead : let us go to the next best. There is nobody. No man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson." 1 This is equally true of Felton. He had a wider range of scholarship than any of us; and his nature to the last was pure, genial, and sympathetic. Strangely enough, I was not much shocked at the tidings of his death. I suppose I was too benumbed with suffering to feel anything very keenly at that time. But I feel his loss all the more perhaps. His epitaph has been written in Greek, by Sophocles, himself a Greek, and Professor of Greek in the University. I send you a literal translation; like the original, it is in the elegiac, or hexameter and pentameter, metre. Felton, dearest of friends, to the land unseen thou departest; Snatched away, thou hast left sorrow and sighing behind! On thy companions, the dear ones, alas! the affliction has fallen; Hellas, of thee beloved, misses thy beautiful life! Of the civil war I say only this. It is not a revolution, but a Catalinian conspiracy. It is Slavery against Freedom; the north wind against the

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southern pestilence. I saw lately, at a jeweller's, a slave's collar of iron, with an iron tongue as large as a spoon, to go into the mouth. Every drop of blood in me quivered! T h e world forgets what Slavery really is! ioth. I send you a photograph of my little Saxon E[dith], eight years old. I am very fond of photographs. Did you ever examine what the photographers call the negative, in which all that is to be light is dark, and the reverse? If so, you will feel how beautiful was the remark made by a brother-in-law of mine that "this world is only the negative of the world to come, and what is dark here will be light hereafter." I wonder what you are doing on this beautiful day. My little girls are flitting about my study, as blithe as two birds. They are preparing to celebrate the birthday of one of their dolls; and on the table I find this programme, in E.'s handwriting, which I purloin and send to you, thinking it may amuse you. What a beautiful world this child's world is! So instinct with life, so illuminated with imagination! I take infinite delight in seeing it go on around me, and feel all the tenderness of the words that fell from the blessed lips, — "Suffer the little children to come unto me." After that benediction how can any one dare to deal harshly with a child! E. occupies her leisure in a correspondence with me. Her post-office is under her pillow, where she expects to find a letter in the morning. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, III, 8 - 1 0 . ι . See 1 9 3 0 . 1 .

1943.

To Luigi Monti

Camb. May 20. 1862. My Dear Mr. Monti, I hasten to thank you for a box of Oranges, which arriving in excellent condition has gladdened the hearts of the inhabitants of the Craigie House, and excited the wonder of the little girls, who never before saw so many together! Accept my best thanks for your kind remembrance, in this as in all other things. I am sorry I have not something better than thanks to send you; some good news; something to your advantage or delight; even a bunch of lilacs from these purple hedges, to remind you of Cambridge, and make you think of "the days that are no more." 1 M y boy has not yet got back from Ship Island; but I have long letters from him, and he has enjoyed his trip very much.

284

CAMBRIDGE,

1862

Since I wrote you, a week or two ago, we have taken Yorktown and N e w Orleans, and some places of lesser note. Slavery begins to reel and stagger, like "quel toro, che si slaccia in quella, Ch'a ricevuto già Ί colpo mortale, Che gir non sa, ma qua e là saltella."2 It is not ended yet, but there are good omens in earth and air. I hope everything is pleasant with you, and that your wife is happy in Palermo, and all things successful according to your desires and deserts. Ever faithfully Yours Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Elena di Majo, Rome, Inn," p. 163.

PUBLISHED: Characters in "Tales

of a

Wayside

ι. Tennyson, The Princess, IV, 25. 2. Inferno, XII, 2 2 - 2 4 : "that bull who breaks loose at the moment/In which he has received the mortal blow,/Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there."

1944.

To Edith

Longfellow

Camb. May 24 1862 Dearest Edith, I expect Mr. Fay to dine with us to-day, and perhaps Mr. Hardy, 1 whose acquaintance Charley made at Ship Island. I do not know anything you can do for me, unless you go to see if Kitty has got out the preserved peaches to go with the pudding. There, little house-keeper, that is what you can do for me. Ever affectionately Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι. Identified only as Charles Hardy, in a letter from Charles Longfellow to his father of April 6, 1862.

1945.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. May 29 1862 Dearest Annie, On Wednesday of next week, June 4, we propose to start for Niagara. 1 Can you come and comfort the little ones for the eight or ten days we shall be away? I am afraid they will be very disconsolate, unless they can have you with them. So if possible, pray come.2

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RECOVERY

Charley has got back safe and sound and in excellent condition; but very restless, and not much inclined to sit down to his books. T h e girls are all well and send much love to you and Aunt Lucia. In great haste Ever most affect. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . In addition to Longfellow and his sons Charles and Ernest, the Niagara party included Mrs. Nathan Appleton and her daughter Harriot; Eleanor A n n Shattuck ( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 1 8 ) , daughter of a prominent Boston physician; and Frances Lathrop Beebe (d. 1890) of 30 Beacon Street, Boston. T h e y left Boston on June 4 and returned on June 16, having completed a journey that took them to Niagara over Albany and Trenton Falls and back by way of Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, and Burlington. See Longfellow's M S Journal, Life, III, 1 1 - 1 5 and Plate I V . 2. A n n e Pierce went to Cambridge in response to Longfellow's plea and returned to Portland on June 5 with A n n e Allegra and Edith ( A n n e Pierce to Longfellow, June 5, 1 8 6 a ) .

1946.

T o Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. May 30 1862. Dear Annie, I hope nothing will prevent your coming next week. I do not see how I can get away without it. Little Annie already takes my going very much to heart, and cries about it, and clings round my neck and begs me not to go so pathetically, that if I could I would give up the journey and stay quietly at home. But I suppose it may do me some little good to go; I am so wretchedly ill and nervous. And besides, I cannot very well draw back now, as Mrs. Appleton and Hattie are expecting to go; and the plan has been so much discussed, and so long waited for, that I suppose it must now take effect or never. I wish it were over; which wish shows how little pleasure I expect from it. However, I dare-say, when once on the way, things may look a little brighter. At all events it will be a change. W i t h much love to Aunt Lucia Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1947.

T o Alice Mary

Longfellow

Trenton Falls. June 6. 1862. Dearest Alice, Here we are safely at a quiet, charming Inn, close by the river Kan-yahora, or Trenton Falls. Birds singing, cocks crowing, and the rush of the 286

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rapids unbroken. Charley and Erny have gone out to sketch with the young ladies, and I take a moment to write to you and my other darlings, so far away in Portland. It is all very pleasant, but not so pleasant as being at home with you all. I do not think I shall ever run away again without you. But you are enjoying yourself, I know; and as Mr. Spellman1 has no doubt been here, he will tell you all about these celebrated Falls. I hope you will not have any falls from the apple-trees! and that Miss Davie is not feeling very lonely, all by herself in the empty house. Remember us very kindly to her, and to Hattie and Cora. Tomorrow we go to Niagara, and on Sunday I shall write you again from that place, and hope to find a letter from you there. Be a very good girl, my darling; as I am sure you will be; and think of us, for we think of you, and send you much love. Ever your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Israel Munson Spelman ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 9 0 7 ) , father of Harriet Maria Spelman ( 1 8 0 7 . 1 ) and Cora ( 1 8 5 1 - 1 9 4 0 ) , was a Cambridge neighbor of the Longfellows and president of the Boston & Maine Railroad. Alice stayed with the Spelmans during the Niagara holiday.

1948.

To Anne Allegra Longfellow

Trenton Falls June 6. 1862 My Darling Pansy, What are you doing this bright morning, I wonder! Something very pleasant and happy, I am sure. Did it rain all the way to Portland? And how do you like being in a new place, where you never were before? I am sure Aunt Anne and your dear little cousins1 make you very happy; and I shall be coming for you soon enough I dare say. Did your doll take cold on the rail-road? and were you very tired? We all send you a thousand kisses; and I shall have something pretty for you from Niagara. So good night, my darling, says your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House), Miss Annie A . Longfellow/Portland ι . T h e children of Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow.

287

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To Edith Longfellow Trenton Falls. June 6. 1862

My Darling Edie, I write you a little letter this morning; so that you may know where we are. Close by this house, there is a river, running and roaring between very high banks, in the woods. You go down to it by four flights of wooden steps, and it is very beautiful. Erny is making some sketches, which you shall see when we get home. I feel rather lonely without my little darlings; but I know they are very happy with Aunt Ann and Aunt Lucia; and I shall come for them very soon. Tomorrow we go to Niagara; and I hope to find there a letter from you. With a thousand kisses, your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

1950.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Trenton Falls. June 6 1862. Dearest Annie I have not much time to write, but must send a word to you and the little girls. I hope they did not give you much trouble on the way down; and will not while they stay. We came on very comfortably through the rain on Wednesday; passed the night in Albany, and came here yesterday. It is very quiet and deep in the country here. A nice hotel; very few people, and a pleasant landlord,1 who knows Sam very well; is musical and has two parlor-organs and a piano-forte in his house; a good supply for a rainy day. But we have had no rainy day since Wednesday. The river and falls are very lovely; — some three miles of Rapids and Cataracts, roaring down a deep, wooded ravine, with rocky walls two hundred feet high. We rambled and scrambled along the ledges close by the water's edge, for hours yesterday. Tomorrow, Niagara. With much love to Aunt Lucia, Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. Do not forget to take the little girls to see Eliza [Potter]. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

288

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ι . In his journal for June 5 Longfellow identifies his host as Michael Moore ( 1 8 0 3 1 8 8 8 ) , a leading citizen of Trenton Falls (Barneveld), N . Y .

1951.

To Edith and Anne Allegra Longfellow Niagara Falls. June 8. 1862

To Edie and Annie; My Darlings, I received Aunt Anne's letter this morning; and am very glad that you reached Portland so well, in spite of the rain, and that you are so well and happy; and I write you a little letter with a pencil, for I cannot find my writing-case and fear I must have left it behind after all Annie's care. I wrote to you both from Trenton Falls; these falls are much larger, and the great river goes roaring away right under my window. I saw this morning a little girl, just as big as Annie holding her Papa's hand, and walking on a light wooden bridge, over the Rapids. She wore a little red jacket, and looked so much like my own darling, that the tears came into my eyes, I wanted to see you so much. Dont you think she was too small to come to Niagara? I have not bought anything for you yet; for to-day is Sunday, and the shops are all shut. At the shop windows I see some pretty fans, and other Indian things, and tomorrow I shall try to find something very nice for you both. Aunt Hattie is very well, and the boys also, and all send much love to you. I do not know yet how many days we shall stay here; but you need not write any more letters to me, for fear they should be lost. If you do, direct them to me at the Delavan House Albany. With ever so much love and ever so many kisses, your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

1952.

To Hannah

E.Davie

Cambridge June 17 1862 Dear Miss Davie We returned last evening, all safe but not all sound, as Erny is very feverish and ill this morning. If he feels better towards noon, or Dr. Wyman thinks lightly of the matter, I shall take Alice with me to Portland this afternoon and bring the little ones back tomorrow afternoon. It would be a pity to break up your visit at the sea-side before its 289

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natural close; but if you are ready to come back we shall all be very glad to see you. 1 Charley has gone to town, Erny is in bed, Alice is practicing on the piano-forte, and I stand writing at this desk! How natural it all seems, but how dreary to me is this bright, cool June day! Ever very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library. ι . Hannah Davie was at Cohasset ( M S Journal, June 1 7 ) , presumably with her former employers the Bryants ( 1 8 1 1 . 1 ) .

1953.

To Charles

Sumner Camb. June 23 1862

My Dear Sumner, I have been requested to write you in behalf of young Sam[ue]l Appleton, son of Samuel and grandson of Webster. He is now on the staff of some General — (name forgotten — in the vast multitude) has distinguished himself, and of course can present testimonials. He wishes to enter the regular Army, and I believe the only way is through the Senate, by aid of yourself or Mr. Wilson. 1 I do not like to add even a straw's weight (particularly the fatal last straw) to your burden; but when the papers are sent in, I bespeak your favorable attention. I have just returned from Niagara and Canada; and am going in a day or two to Nahant. W h y don't I say Europe? I suppose it is because I have got out of the habit of going to Europe, which used to be so easy. I saw George to-day. He is very cheerful, and I think decidedly better. Also Julia, who has just arrived looking as young as ever, having found the fontaine de jouvance in California. Pray, as soon as you get back, come down to the windy verandah of Nahant; and let me see you and hear you, since I know you have too much on your hands and mind to write, and I have no heart to write to any one. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Samuel Appleton Appleton ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 9 2 5 ) , son of Samuel Appleton Appleton and Julia Webster Appleton ( 9 8 7 . 9 ) , was a first lieutenant in the Twelfth Massachusetts Infantry. Sumner wrote on July 1 2 that the "rule is positive that no officers in the volunteer service shall be transferred to the regular army. If this were not so, there would be no peace at the W a r Depart." Appleton resigned his commission on October 10, 1 8 6 3 .

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CAMBRIDGE, 1954.

1862

To Samuel Eliot

Cambridge June 25 1862 My Dear Eliot, This is "to remind"; as grand people say in their duplicate invitations to dinner. As your Commencement must be near at hand, I wish to bring up to friendly view the name of Mr. Lester, and his desires for the L.L.D. lest in the press of business they may be forgotten. I beg you to put the matter in as fair a light as you can, and we will hope for his success.1 I am very glad we shall have the pleasure of seeing you at Nahant this Summer. My informant is Miss Eleanor Shattuck, who says you propose to renew the joint ménage of last year. With kindest remembrances to your mother, wife and sister, Ever truly yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Boston Athenaeum. ι . John William Lester ( 1 8 2 6 - 1 8 7 6 ) was vicar of St. Luke's, Norwood, Surrey, 1 8 5 8 - 1 8 7 6 . In a letter of March 7, 1 8 6 2 , he had asked Longfellow to "do all in your power with the Heads of any of your Universities to get me the L L D degree . . . Pray do what you can for a hard working minister of Christ; and kindly and generously place the matter in such hands so that the result of your endeavors may be successful." This attempt to get him the degree at Trinity College, of which Eliot was president, 1 8 6 0 - 1 8 6 4 , was unsuccessful.

1955.

To William Webb Follett Synge

Cambridge June 27 1862 My Dear Synge, I have just come in, and find your card. How very sorry I am to miss you twice! And now there is no help for it, as I start in the morning for Nahant, and you in that evening else whither. So we must say farewell, without a grasp of the hand. Enclosed I send the Photographs to go with you as a friendly memento. Pray send me yours in return — the whole family if you can. God bless you and prosper you in the far-away islands!1 With kindest remembrances to Mrs. Synge, and kisses to the little ones, Ever very truly Henry W. Longfellow p.s. Appleton has just looked in, and begs me to invite you to dine with him tomorrow (Saturday) at his Club at Parker's, School St. at 2 1/4, where you will meet Emerson, Lowell and others.

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MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library, Winthrop House/Boston,

ADDRESS: W . Follet Synge Esq/

POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MS J U N 2 7 1 8 6 2

ι. On December 27, 1861, Synge had been appointed British commissioner and consul general for the Sandwich Islands, where he served until 1865.

1956.

To George William Childs

Nahant July 3 1862 Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure of receiving the copy of Dr. Brownlow's book,1 which you were so kind as to send me, and not having his address, I must take the liberty of thanking him through you. Please say to him that I shall read the work with deep interest, and am much obliged to him for thinking of me as among those who rejoice in its success. I remain, Dear Sir, with many thanks, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. ι. William Gannaway Brownlow, Sketches of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Secession; with a Narrative of Personal Adventures among the Rebels (Philadelphia, 1862). Brownlow ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 7 7 ) , Methodist clergyman, journalist, and ardent Unionist, served as governor of Tennessee, 1865—1869.

1957.

To Charles Sumner

Nahant July 3 1862 Dear Sumner, I met John Codman a day or two ago in Court Street, near the old stairs, with which your feet and mine used to be so familiar; and he said he much desired to be made one of the Assessors under the new Tax Bill. You know Codman as well as I do. Do you think there is any chance for him? and can you say a word in his favor in the right quarter?1 Here also is a letter from Mrs. Edgar,2 sister of young Appleton, who, as I wrote you, wants to get into the regular army. We are anxiously waiting Richmond news this morning.3 Ever and ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Codman ( 1 8 0 8 - 1 8 7 9 ) , a member of the Bowdoin class of 1827 and a Boston lawyer, was unsuccessful in his attempt to receive a position as assessor in Massachusetts under the Excise Law approved by Congress on July 1, 1862.

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2. Caroline LeRoy Appleton ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 9 1 1 ) , granddaughter of Daniel Webster, was the wife of Nebold Edgar (d. 1 8 6 9 ) , a wealthy N e w Yorker. In 1 8 7 1 she married Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 9 3 ) , nephew of the emperor. 3. A reference to the Seven Days' Batdes, June 2 6 - J u l y 2, which marked the end of the Peninsular campaign.

1958.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Nahant July 7 1862. Dear Annie, We came to Nahant earlier than usual this year; and have had rather a wet time on the whole, with a few hot days. I did not want the little girls to lose the good of their Portland visit, but to go on breathing the sea air which does them so much good. They are all thriving, as well as the boys. I enclose you a cheque on the Tremont Bank for $100.00. We were very glad to see Alex, on his way home, though he was not quite well. A lucky escape from the banks of the Potomac! Thank him for his newspaper, which came this morning. As we came down from Cambridge by land Annie recognized the Maiden Station, and said there was where her Journal began. Then she added; "Oh I wish we were all going to Portland now?" I have never thanked you enough for making them so happy there. Yesterday I had a full account of the celebration of the Doll's birthday! We hope to see you here soon — during the July moon. With much love from, all Ever aff. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1959.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant July 16 1862 My Dear Fields Your second note "to remind," shows me how the days pass and make no sign.1 A terrible week the last has been.2 So pardon the neglect. Thanks for the offer of books. Trollope I have; and Winthrop's last novel, I should like very much.3 I began copying the "Cumberland" for you the other day; but gave it up in disgust at the end of the second stanza.4

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I hope you are coming down to dine with me before long. T h e sooner the better. I have found the seven volumes of Mme. D'Arblay 5 very pleasant seaside reading. It has helped me over some dreary hours. I find Nahant very sad this Summer, "Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow."® But I fancy place makes no great difference. Change of place does. That is the best thing no doubt; if one were only free to take it, or make it. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Cf. King Henry VI, Part II, III, iii, 29: "He dies, and makes no sign." 2. Longfellow's journal entries reveal his state of mind during this week as he remembered his anniversaries: "The fatal day!" (July 9); "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps some day God will give me peace" (July 10); "The Wedding and the Funeral!" (July 1 3 } . 3. Fields offered the books in a letter of July 7. The Theodore Winthrop novel was Edwin Brothertoft (Boston, 1862). 4. "The Cumberland" appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, X (December 1862), 669. 5. Diary and Letters of Madame d'Arblay, ed. by her niece, Charlotte Barrett (London, 1 8 4 2 - 1 8 4 6 ) . 6. Goldsmith, The Traveller, line 1.

1960.

To William Adolphus

Wheeler Nahant

Aug 14 1862

M y Dear Sir, Our friend Mr. Folsom read me a portion of your m.s. but he did not leave any of it with me. 1 I was much pleased both with the design and execution of your work, and think it cannot fail to be not only very interesting but very instructive. If you think my good opinion of any avail with Publishers, I pray you to make use of it. Still, I could [not] write a letter for publication, as I have constantly declined to do so in other cases, for sufficiently obvious reasons. With sincere interest in your work and best wishes for its success, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly, Henry W . Longfellow W . A. Wheeler Esqre. MANUSCRIPT : Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

294

NAHANT,

1862

ι. In a letter of August 6 Wheeler ( 1 5 0 8 . 1 ) had mentioned sending Longfellow through Charles Folsom some specimens of his " 'Pronouncing Dictionary of the Names of Noted Fictitious Persons and Places,' for the purpose of getting you to favor me with a written opinion of the plan of the work and of its execution." His dictionary first appeared as an appendix to Merriam's Webster's Dictionary ( 1 8 6 4 ) and was published separately in New York and London in 1865.

1961.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce Nahant

Aug 17 1862

Dear Annie, This would be a good week for Nahant, as Uncle Tom has just gone to Newport, and leaves his Cabin vacant. Pray come, if you can. We heard vaguely yesterday of Alex. Wadsworth ['s] death at Washington.1 Do you know anything about it? It is not very lively here. I suppose you will not mind that. We have not even a steamer to go to town in. Annie sends her love. She is sitting at the window here eating a gibraltar, and repeating "Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving?" Edie has gone to the neighbor's to sing, being under the pleasing illusion that she can do it. If I knew when you would be at the Lynn station, I would go over to meet you. With love to Aunt Lucia Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. Here is Sam's last letter. Bring it back with you, or send it soon. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Alexander Scammell Wadsworth (487.4) had died on August 9, 1862.

1962.

To Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow

Nahant Aug 30 1862 Dear Alexr. I enclose you a cheque for $15.60. No, I enclose you rather $15.00 and Charles the bearer will pay you the odd change, or 60 cents on demand.1 I have no money of Sam's in my possession but I think he will be back in season to save his discount. Charley is eager for the war, as you will find. I wish you would make

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him assistant on the Coast Survey, to keep him quiet. I will pay his salary.2 W e have had rather a dreary Summer here; no hotel and no steamer, and nothing hut dismal war talk. With much love to all Yours ever H.W.L. p.s. I find I can make the change in postage stamps, which I do accordingly. Charley has just come in to ask me if I thought you would object to his bringing his friend Willie Fay with him. I told him I thought you would not mind it; so if he finds him, he may possibly bring him. If he does, I hope it will not cause you any inconvenience. Fay was his ShipIsland companion. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, Highfield/n. Portland.

ADDRESS: Alexr. W . Longfellow Esqre./

1. T h e money was Longfellow's share of the taxes on a piece of property called "the Munjoy lot," owned jointly by the heirs of Stephen Longfellow, Sr. See 1 8 1 7 . 2 . 2. Alexander Longfellow responded to this suggestion on September 7 : "Charlie leaves on Tuesday [September 9] . . . I did not talk with him about the war: if you cannot consent to his going I will be very glad to do anything in my power to appease his war fever. If he will come, I will take him into my party on the Coast Survey as Acting aid, which I presume I can do without consulting Mr. Bache, and keep him tramping and boating with me, or I will second any application for a regular appointment on the Survey if it is thought desirable." Charles Meigs Bache ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 9 0 ) was Alexander Longfellow's superior in the U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey.

1963.

To Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Cambridge

Sept 22 1862

My Dear Sir Your very friendly letter arrived during my absence from home, which must be my apology for not replying sooner. I am greatly obliged to you for the interest you express in my writings, and your kind offer of more Indian Legends. I should like much to see them; if it will not give you too much trouble; but in regard to making use of them, I should not like to make any promise. It is impossible to say beforehand how far they would interest me; nor how long they might be in ripening in my mind. Let me seize this occasion, my Dear Sir, to thank you, once more, for what I owe to your researches and writings, particularly to the "Algic

296

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1862

Researches" and the "History of the Indian Tribes," 1 without which I never could nor should have written "Hiawatha." With best wishes and regards Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library, ι . See 1 3 7 2 . 1 and 1508.2.

1964.

Τo William Davis Ticknor

Cambridge Sept 23 1862 Dear Ticknor, I have received yours of yesterday, with Account, and check for $134.86. You mention a payment on Jan 1. but I do not find any record thereof in my Account Book. Your little oblong Psalm-Book of Receipts, where my name figures occasionally will show if this is correct, as I presume it is. If you would send me a minute of Editions published this year I could correct this error in my record.1 Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Yale University Library. ι . Ticknor responded on the same day: "There was no payment on the first day oí January, and what I intended to say was, that all was paid to Jany 1. — and then to Mar i. I presume the above will correspond with your record."

1965.

To Christian Nestell Bovee1

Cambridge Sept 25 1862 My Dear Sir, Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of receiving your beautiful volumes, and I hasten to thank you for your kindness in remembering me as among the friends, who would rejoice in your success. As yet I have read the book only by glimpses between the leaves; not enough for a critical judgment, but enough for a genial sympathy with the writer. "Language was given to us that we might say pleasant things to each other," you say in one place,2 and prove it in many, by the pleasant things you say of your fellow-workers in the Guild of Letters. It makes one sad to think of the hostilities of literary life. English criticism, and

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our own, seem to consist chiefly in knocking an author down and fighting over his body! I shall have great pleasure, I am sure, in thoroughly reading your volumes. Meanwhile, I beg leave to reciprocate your good wishes and remembrances. I remain, Dear Sir, with great regard Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι. Bovee ( 1 8 2 0 - 1 9 0 4 ) , New York lawyer and minor author, had sent Longfellow a copy of his Intuitions and Summaries of Thought (Boston, 1862), 2 vols.

2. II, 7.

1966.

To George William Curtis

Cambridge Oct 3 1862. My Dear Curtis, I always like to follow any suggestion of yours, and I should like to do anything in my power for Bayard Taylor. But to tell the truth, I have great reluctance to doing it in the way you mention. Any letter beginning, either expressly or understood, with the words "Though a perfect stranger to you personally, you have long been known to me by reputation," &c. &c. will hardly procure an autograph, much less the post of Minister to Russia. I am quite sure it would be useless for me to write.1 I was truly sorry not to see you in the Summer. I knew, I ought to have been in Cambridge on that hot day; but my indolent sea-side habits were too much for me, and to my shame be it said, I was deaf to the voice of friendship. Compatite e perdonate [Have patience and forgive me]! Tom has returned to Camb. and [F. O. C.] Darley is also here; but Field has gone back to defend Philadelphia. At Shady Hill, all as well as usual. Lowell invisible; Sumner, more cheery since the [Emancipation] Proclamation; Agassiz rather desponding. For my own part, I am very weary, and consequently wearisome to all men; but still ever Affectionately Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Taylor served as secretary of legation at St. Petersburg, 1 8 6 2 - 1 8 6 3 . Aspiring to the post of minister, he had asked Curtis to solicit letters on his behalf from "the authors of America" to President Lincoln. See Curtis to Longfellow, September 25, 1862. When Cassius M. Clay received the appointment, Taylor resigned his post.

298

CAMBRIDGE, 1967.

To Anne Longfellow

1862

Pierce Camb. Oct 7. 1862

Dear Annie You are "Stockholder No. 490." in the Tremont Bank. I enclose your dividend, with the usual addition. Tremont Bank 24.50 Chs. Riv d[itt]o

100.00

Sam is busy seeing his friends. He goes to Concord to-day; and is thinking of N e w York next week. 1 Mary [Longfellow Greenleaf] gets on very slowly; — so slowly she hardly seems to get on at all. There is no speed in lame knees. Love to all. In great haste Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Samuel Longfellow had returned from his European sojourn in September. See 1799.1.

1968.

T o John Amory Lowell Cambridge

Oct 23 1862

M y Dear Sir, W i l l you allow me to introduce to you the bearer Mr. Zerdahelyi, who wishes to have an interview with you in reference to the Lowell Lectures? He has already seen Dr. Cotting who thinks there may possibly be a vacancy this Winter. 1 I have known Mr. Zerdahelyi for many years, and can bear testimony to his character as a gentleman. As to his Lectures, my opinion would not be of so much value as that of others, from whom he brings credentials. Hoping sincerely that he may be successful in his application, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow J. Lowell Esqre. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι . According to records in the Institute of Cultural Relations in Budapest, Ede Zerdahelyi (c. 1820- ?), pianist, friend of Franz Liszt, and political commissioner in the government of Lajos Kossuth, came to the United States in 1850 after the collapse of the Hungarian revolution. Ernest Longfellow wrote of him: " A certain Hungarian, Szerdehaly — if that is the right spelling, which probably it is not — at one time came much to the house. He had been an officer in the army and had fought under Kossuth.

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He was wonderfully well-read on all military matters, and could describe all Napoleon's campaigns and battles in great detail. What his special attraction was, to my father, I do not know, certainly not his recital of battles. Probably his being an exile was enough for my father to be kind to him" (Random Memories [Boston and New York, 1922], p. 34). Zerdahelyi delivered the first of six Lowell Institute lectures on "Military ArtField Service" on March 1 1 , 1863. See the Boston Transcript, X X X V , No. 10,089 (March 12, 1863).

1969.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Oct 28 1862 My Dear Fields, I could not wait for you, and so have written my Prelude without seeing the place.1 In this damp weather, it is hardly worth while to go. The fact might disturb the fiction, to the disadvantage of the latter. Let us wait till June. I have written also a new Tale; and am busy with another.2 I want Ticknor to have the new edition of Hyperion done in your "new style".3 In fact I think it would be well to throw away the old plates and have a new edition complete, in the "new style", to come out volume by volume. I should like to talk with you about this. Yours &c &c H.W.L. unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House).

MANUSCRIPT:

ι . The Red Horse (Howe's) Tavern in Sudbury, described in the Prelude to Tales of a Wayside Inn (Works, IV, 1 5 - 1 6 ) . Longfellow and Fields visited the tavern on October 31 ( L i f e , III, 1 7 ) . 2. Presumably "The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi" and "King Robert of Sicily," but the order in which he composed them is uncertain. 3. The revised edition of Hyperion was not published until 1866 as Vol. II of Longfellow's Complete Works ( B A L 1 2 1 4 1 ) .

1970.

To Abigail Eaton1 Cambridge

Nov 4 1862

Dear Madam, I delivered safely into Professor Treadwell's hands the cane you gave me, and he seemed much gratified at your kind remembrance.2 Speaking of the old Inn, he said that on one of the parlor window panes were written some verses with a date.

300

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Would you be so kind as to copy them for me? or any names and dates written on the windows? 3 At Mr. Hen Brown's4 we saw the Coat of Arms and the old clock. I remain, Dear Madam, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow p.s. Both Mr. Fields and myself feel much obliged to you for your kindness in showing us the old house. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: Miss Eaton/at Howe's Tavern/Sudbury/Mass. POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MS NOV 4 1862

1. Owner of the old tavern in Sudbury that became the scene of Tales of a Wayside Inn. Longfellow described his visit there in his journal entry for October 3 1 : "October ends with a delicious Indian-summer day. Drive with Fields to the old Red Horse Tavern in Sudbury, — alas, no longer an inn! A lovely valley; the winding road shaded by grand old oaks before the house. A rambling, tumble-down old building, two hundred years old; and till now in the family of the Howes, who have kept an inn for one hundred and seventy-five years. In the old time, it was a house of call for all travellers from Boston westward" (Works, III, 17). See also Characters in "Tales of a Wayside Inn." 2. Professor Daniel Treadwell (805.9) was the model for the theologian in Tales of a Wayside Inn. 3. See Tales of a Wayside Inn, "Prelude," 11. 61-66 (Works, IV, 17, 261). Miss Eaton sent the verses to Longfellow in a letter of November 18: "What do you think!/ Here is good drink./Perhaps you may not know it,/If not in haste, do stop and taste,/ You merry folks will shew it." 4. The reading is conjectured from a letter of November 4, 1862, from Lucinda Β. Browne of Sudbury, apologizing for trying to instruct Longfellow in reading the inscription on the coat of arms referred to here.

1971.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Nov 1 1 1862 M y Dear Fields T o the best of my recollection, Miss Procter's Poems were returned long and long ago; a belief in which I am confirmed by an old habit of having a place apart for borrowed books, and of returning them as soon as read, and sometimes sooner. Still I will make diligent search, and if I find the books, [I] promise to — well, say, blush unseen. 1 Yes, the breakfast was very charming. You and your wife understand the divine art of entertaining, as few people do. Pardon my leaving you so abruptly. [Thomas William] Parsons was hurrying away, and I wanted to hear as much from him as possible.2

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"The Sudbury Tales" 3 go on famously. I have now five complete, together with a great part of the Prelude. Yours ever H.W.L MANUSCRIPT :

Henry E. Huntington Library.

ι . In a letter of November 10 Fields had written: "Did you send back the 2d. Series of Miss Procter's Poems which I lent to you some time ago?" Adelaide Anne Procter ( 1 8 2 5 - 1 8 6 4 ) was the daughter of Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall). A second volume of her Legends and Lyrics was published in London in 1861. Ticknor & Fields published her Poems in their Blue and Gold Series (Boston, 1862). 2. Fields had written: "Thank you for coming in to our breakfast. Everybody was so glad to see you. I believe everybody loves you and rejoices to look upon your face." Thomas William Parsons ( 1 3 0 3 . 2 ) was "The Poet" of Tales of a Wayside Inn, which explains Longfellow's interest in talking with him. 3. Longfellow's tentative title for Tales of a Wayside Inn.

1972.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Nov 12 1862 My Dear Fields, Allow me to present Mr. Wilder of Cambridge, who has an Article on "Contrabands," which he wishes to get published in the Atlantic.1 I have read it with interest, but how far it will suit you, is for you to judge. Be kind enough to look it over as soon as you can and oblige Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

ι . John Wilder ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 8 7 0 ) , a member of the Cambridge Common Council, had passed the summer at Fortress Monroe, Va., as an assistant to the superintendent of contrabands (Wilder to Longfellow, November 8, 1862). Fields did not accept his article, presumably because "Contrabands at Fortress Monroe" had already appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, VIII (November 1 8 6 1 ) , 626-640. Wilder rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel during the Civil War and was murdered in Kansas City, Mo., during an argument involving his fiancée.

1973.

To Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Camb. Nov. 17. 1862. My Dear Dana I am very reluctant to decline any invitation coming from you, but this time I am forced to do it. I do not feel up to seeing many people together, and particularly strangers. If, therefore, nothing has been said, so as to make it awkward to you, I should rather avoid even the proposed visit.

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You must not think me morose; I am only morbidly sensitive and depressed; It takes a long time to recover from such things. Does one ever recover wholly? Ever Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

1974.

To Georgia A. Alden1

Cambridge Nov 21 1862 My Dear Sir, I hope you will pardon me for not sending you a speedier reply to your note. I have been unusually occupied of late, and my correspondence has suffered thereby. I am glad you found some pleasure in "Miles Standish," and that he, or rather his rival, served you a good purpose in England. I also am a descendant by the mother's side, from this same John Alden. I enclose the autograph you desire, and remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι. In a note of October 25 Georgia Alden of 25 Mr. Vernon Street, Boston, had signed her name " G . A . Alden," which explains Longfellow's mistake about her sex in the salutation.

1975.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Deer. 11 1862 Dearest Annie, I am afraid your apples are lost, or frozen at the wharf in Portland. The Express-man says he saw them put upon the dray to go on board the steamer in Boston; and paid to have them delivered in Portland. We are getting on pretty well here in Cambridge. The children are well; and the weather is fine; and we wish you were here. Tell Aunt Lucia I will try to find her some good tea before New Year's Day; as I hear her stock is exhausted. Mary gets along rather slowly. Still she talks of going to New Orleans before the Winter is over. I hardly think she will be able to do it, but hold my peace, not wishing to discourage her. Love to all Ever affectionately H.W.L.

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p.s. The little ones all send love to Aunt Anne and Aunt Lucia. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

1976.

To Sarah Fisher Clampit Ames1

Camb. Dec 18 1862 Dear Mrs. Ames, A nephew of mine, Stephen Longfellow, is reported wounded at Fredericksburg, how badly we do not know. He is a private in Comp. H. 20th Reg. Mass. Vols. Will you be so kind as to enquire for him? I hope he may have the good fortune to be in your Hospital. Your little ones are well. They are up stairs, quiet and happy, climbing the hill of knowledge, with the assistance of Miss Davie, as usual. What scenes you have witnessed lately! I am very curious to hear the particulars. I have no time to wrote more. Very truly yours Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Sarah Ames ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 9 0 1 ) , wife of the portrait painter Joseph Ames ( 1 6 9 4 . 4 ) , was prominent in the antislavery movement. She served as a nurse during the Civil W a r and executed a bust of Lincoln that stands in the national Capitol.

1977.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Deer. 18 1862

My Dear Sumner, I see that a nephew of mine Stephen Longfellow is among the wounded at Fredericksburg. Can you in any way help me in finding out where he is, and how he is?1 We have telegraphed to the Sanitary Commission, but get no answer. I saw George [Sumner] yesterday, looking pretty well, but feeling very weak. Brown Séquard says he can save him; which is very good tidings to send you in these dark days. In haste Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. My nephew is a private in Comp H. 20th Reg. Mass. Vols. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Sumner responded in an undated letter. " I lost no time in making the proper inquiries with regard to your nephew. I understand that you already know the result by telegraph. His wound appears to have been slight, and he is doing well."

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To Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow

Camb Dec 30 1862. Dear Alex. I send by Express to-day a box for you containing a few New Year's Presents. For Lizzy a bronze match-holder. For you a box of cigars and some papers of No 4. 1 For Mamie a box of books. For Bessie2 a doll's dressing-table. For Waddy 3 a horn &c For Lucia a doll. For Aunt Ann a book; all which I specify, as in the hasty packing something may have gone wrong with the labels. Your presents came just in time for the Christmas Tree, and gave great delight. All the little ones send their love and thanks, and many wishes for a Happy New Year. Yours affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, Portland/Me.

ADDRESS: Alexander W . Longfellow Esq./

POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MASS DEC 3 0

ι . Possibly a reference to a cigar size. A t this time, three or four unwrapped cigars were commonly placed in paper sleeves to fit into the breast or inside pocket of a man's jacket. 2. Elizabeth Porter Longfellow ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 8 9 4 ) . 3. Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow ( 1 8 5 4 - 1 9 3 4 ) .

1979.

To Edward Everett

Cambridge Jan 1 1863 Dear Mr. Everett I have had the pleasure of receiving your note; and the Old Letters, rising like ghosts out of the Past, brought back vividly the "dì che furono."1 With many thanks and many good wishes for a Happier, if not a Happy New Year, Very truly Yours Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society,

ENDORSEMENT: Ree. 2 Jan.

1863.

ι. Manzoni, "Il Cinque Maggio," 1. 3 7 : "days of the past." In a letter of December 26, 1 8 6 2 , Everett had returned some letters written by Longfellow to Alexander Hill Everett (presumably Letters No. 2 4 3 and 2 8 1 ) .

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To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Jan 1. 1863 My Dear Fields, I called this morning with Darley, to wish you a Happy New Year, and we were so unlucky as not to find you. So I do it in writing. I wanted also to speak about retouching the Portrait.1 Also to say, that I have not reed, the January No. of Harper's Monthly. Please have it sent. Ever Yours truly H.W.L. p.s. What news do you bring from New York? MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . A letter from Fields dated Saturday morning [December 1862?] suggests that this portrait may have been a photograph of Longfellow by Alvan S. Southworth of 19 Tremont Row, Boston.

1981.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Jan 1 1863, My Dear Greene Many thanks for your letter, and for the former one from Newburg [New York], which I answered immediately.1 But I fear my answer never reached you, and even now lies stretched out in Morgue in the Dead Letter Office at Washington. I am very glad you are coming to deliver a Course of Lectures at the Lowell; and shall hope to see much of you.2 You will find me greatly changed; crushed by a grief too great to bear. But of this — the nessun maggior dolore3 of happiness that has heen, and the desolation that is, we will not speak. Your coming will greatly cheer George Sumner, whose condition is very sad. He sits paralyzed in his arm-chair; even his right hand crooked and cramped, but his brain active as ever. Can he recover? BrownSéquard who tortured but cured Charles, says "Yes! We can get you well again; but you must work hard for it." With best wishes for a Happier, if not quite a Happy New Year. Ever truly Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι . Letter No. 1 9 4 1 . 2. Greene delivered twelve lectures before the Lowell Institute in January and February 1 8 6 3 on the general subject " T h e History of the American Revolution," sub-

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sequently published by Ticknor & Fields as Historical View of the American Revolution (Boston, 1865). 3. Inferno, V , l a i : "no greater sorrow."

1982.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Jan 2 18631

M y Dear Sumner, Emerson's Preface was not a Preface but a Prologue. I was not present; but have seen it in ms. Here are one or two stanzas which will please you. Pay ransom to the owner, And fill the bag to the brim; W h o is the owner? the slave is owner And ever was. Pay him. O North! Give him beauty for ashes, And honor, O South! for his shame; Nevada! coin thy golden crags With Freedom's image and name. M y will fulfilled shall be, For in daylight and in dark M y thunderbolt has eyes to see Its way home to the mark.2 I hope the serene N e w Year's Day and the lovely moonlight night which followed may be symbolical of the working of the Proclamation. W i t h best wishes Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Longfellow wrote "1862," but the reference in the final paragraph to the Emancipation Proclamation, announced on January 1, 1863, establishes the year. 2. Stanzas 18, 19, and 22, with slight variations, of "Boston Hymn," read by Emerson as a prologue to a concert entitled "The Emancipation Jubilee" at the Boston Music Hall on January 1, 1863.

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To James Robinson Newhall1

Cambridge Jan 10 1863 Dear Sir, In reply to your letter received this morning I would inform you, that a part of "Hiawatha" was written at Nahant in the Summer of 1854. I was then living in the house of Mr. Jonathan Johnson. There also I wrote the poem called "The Ladder of Saint Augustine." At Mrs. Hood's under the willows, opposite Whitney's,2 Motley wrote part of his "History of the Dutch Republic." I think you will have to limit your statement about Prescott to "a part" also. Nothing else occurs to me at the present moment, excepting to say that you must not forget Agassiz and Felton at Nahant. Be so kind as to put my name down among your Subscribers and believe me Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: N e w York Public Library (Miscellaneous Papers). ι . Newhall ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 9 3 ) , Lynn journalist and historian, was preparing a revision and continuation of Alonzo Lewis' The History of Lynn (Boston, 1 8 2 9 ) when he wrote to Longfellow on January 9 for the information provided here. See his History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts; Including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant (Boston, 1 8 6 5 ) . 2. See 1 6 1 0 . 1 .

1984.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Jan 18. 1863. My Dear Sumner, I want you to do me a great favor, not for myself, but through me for a third person, Mr. David Lane of Weston, aged sixteen.1 He applied some time ago for admission into the Naval School at Newport; — was examined with others by Mr. Train, Representative from that District,2 and placed high on the list. But having no one to look after his interest in Washington, he has not yet been admitted to the School. Can it be done? and will you do it, by speaking a strong word to the Secretary?3 Mrs. Lane his mother (née Lamson, Chestnut St Boston) thinks you all powerful. She is a thoroughly patriotic, loyal woman, and speaks out in a way that makes the Boston air more easy to breathe. She deserves this consideration. I pray you to do it if it can be done. At the same time, I am sorry to take up your crowded time. 308

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^ 6 3

I think George is really better; — only a very little, but still, better. Greene is here, at the Lowell, lecturing on the Revolution. A success, I hear, and am rejoiced. Ever Yours H.W.L. Thanks for the [Congressional] "Globe" — 4 vols. p.s. It was so much a matter of course, that I forgot to congratulate you on your re-election as Senator. But the overwhelming majority! It has quite killed the People's Party. We shall hear no more of that "healthy organization."4 I have just been reading a pamphlet by Mr. Stille of Philad[elphi]a.5 It is an indirect, but not on that ground a less powerful argument in favor of the Administration; and if the grumblers would read it, many might be quieted. It is called "How a Free People conduct a long War." I dare say you have it. I hope it will be widely distributed. It cannot fail to do much good, by its calmness and common sense, and its tone of good cheer, amid the Cassandra-like cries and lamentations that fill the air. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

ι . David Weston Lane ( 1 8 4 6 - 1 9 4 1 ) was the son of David Lane ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 8 5 ) , an importer of French goods, and Caroline Lamson Lane ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 8 2 ) , a friend of Harriot Sumner Appleton, who in a letter of January 17 had asked Longfellow to intercede with Sumner on his behalf. 2. Charles Russell Train ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 8 5 ) served as Republican congressman, 18591863. 3. Secretary of War Stanton. It is not known if Sumner spoke to him on this matter. In any event, young Lane was not admitted to the LI.S. Naval Academy, which was at this time temporarily relocated in Newport. 4. On January 15, by a vote of 227 to 47 for other candidates ( Sumner Memoir and Letters, IV, 105) the Massachusetts legislature elected Sumner to his third term in the Senate following the Republican victory in the general election of November 4, 1862. The People's party had been formed by a collection of dissident Democrats in a convention at Faneuil Hall on October 7, 1862. The party, whose hero was General George McClellan, opposed emancipation and supported Lincoln only insofar as he strove to restore the Union. 5. Charles Janeway Stille ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 9 9 ) , a Yale graduate of 1839, was a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, of which he became the historian. He subsequently served as provost of the University of Pennsylvania, 1 βόδι 880. His pamphlet was published in Philadelphia in 1862.

1985.

To Caleb Davis Bradlee1

Cambridge Jan 19 1863 Dear Sir, It will give me great pleasure to join you in your contribution for Mr. Pike's family.2

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If you will send me the Subscription Paper I will add my name to his list of friends and well-wishers. I remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: American Antiquarian Society. ι . Bradlee ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 8 9 7 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1852, was pastor of the Church of Our Father (Unitarian) in East Boston, 1861-1864. 2. Richard Pike (b. 1 8 1 3 ) graduated from Bowdoin College in 1836 and served as pastor of the Unitarian church in Dorchester, Mass., 1843-1863. Bradlee had written on January 16: "The Rev. Richard Pike of Dorchester who has been sick 3 years of consumption, is now very near his end, if alive. At his decease his family will be left in reduced circumstances. I propose to raise a purse of money for Mrs Pike to be presented to her as soon after her husband's departure as may be expedient." Rev. Pike died on February 18, 1863.

1986.

To Frederick Locker1

Cambridge, Mass. Jan. 27. 1863 Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure of receiving your volume of "London Lyrics," and beg you to accept my best acknowledgments for it, and for the friendly regard which prompted the gift. I have read the poems with much interest and pleasure. They are very elastic and full of life and of animal spirits, which are the leaven of life. Wishing you all success, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Frederick Locker Esqre. MANUSCRIPT:

Harvard College Library.

ι . Locker ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 8 9 5 ) , English poet, assumed the name of Frederick Locker-Lampson in 1885. He apparently sent Longfellow an enlarged and revised edition of his London Lyrics (London, 1862).

1987.

To William Henry

Whitmore1

Cambridge Jan 27 1863. Dear Sir, I hope you will pardon me for not sooner acknowledging your note and Mr. Locker's volume, you were kind enough to forward.

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!

863

I thank you also for your offer to send for me any note or message in reply. But I will not trouble you. I have already written to him. I remain, Dear Sir Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow Mr. Whitmore. MANUSCRIPT: Brown University Library. 1. Whitmore ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 0 0 ) , merchant, antiquarian, and genealogist of Boston, was a coeditor of the diary of Samuel Sewall, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1878-1882.

1988.

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. Jan 30 1863 My Dear Ticknor The cider has arrived safely; and is excellent, and pure as amber. So much for its quality. As to quantity, no man can complain, as the Indian did at the Missionary's, that in this house "there is more talk than cider."1 When you see Mr. Weld, 2 I beg you to tell him how glad I am to have it, and how much I appreciate it. Need I add how greatly I am obliged to the senior partner of "the enterprising house of Ticknor & Fields" for his zeal and kindness? If instead of this iron-bound cask you had sent me a copy of "Cider, a Poem in two Books" by J. Philips, bound in Blue and Gold,3 I should not have been half so grateful. I will drink your health at dinner, and remain, as ever, Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Yale University Library. ι. Cf. Artemus Ward, " A War Meeting": "What we want is more cider and less talk." 2. Aaron Davis Weld ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 9 0 7 ) , proprietor of the "Weld Farm" in West Roxbury, a model farm of 150 acres known for its russet apple cider and currant wine. 3. John Philips ( 1 6 7 6 - 1 7 0 9 ) , published his Cyder, a Poem in London in 1708. Longfellow's jocular remark refers to the Blue and Gold Series published by Ticknor & Fields.

3 ι ι

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To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. Feb. 2x 1863 My Dear Ticknor, I made a great blunder about the wine. They appraised it at more than double its cost! So much for forgetting the Invoice, which I send herewith for your amusement. Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

1990.

To John Henry Whitaker1

Cambridge Mass. Feb. 24 1863 Dear Sir, It gives me pleasure to comply with your request and I send you, with my own, the autographs of Mr. Sumner and Mr. Agassiz. YourObt. Sert. Henry W. Longfellow2 p.s. Please accept my thanks for those contained in your letter. MANUSCRIPT: University of California Library, Los Angeles, ANNOTATION (in another hand): (This letter and the stanza on the opposite page [unrecovered] was addressed to John Hy Whitaker, of Manchester, by the poet Longfellow. In Feby. 1863-) ι. A carver and gilder of 94 Pollard Street, Ancoats, Manchester (Slater's Directory of Manchester and Salford for 1863). 2. The instruction "Over" follows the signature.

1991.

To Abigail Wheaton Little

Cambridge Feb. 26 1863. Dear Mrs. Little, It would give me great pleasure to accept your invitation for tomorrow evening, if I accepted any; but I go no where, and must therefore beg you to excuse me if I am so uncivil as to decline. I have had a line from Mr. Greene. He expressed great regret at being obliged to leave town so suddenly as to prevent his coming to say farewell to his Cambridge friends. Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library,

ADDRESS: Mrs. A. W . Litde/Brattle St.

3 ι 2,

CAMBRIDGE, 1992.

1863

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. March 3. 1863. My Dear Fields, I hope your not returning [Sam] Ward's letter means, that you are diligently transcribing his poem for the "Atlantic." 1 I was ashamed this morning to send the Express-man to your house in quest of an old umbrella, not unlike that which accompanied and consoled the exiled King of France in his flight to England. 2 Nevertheless I did send, for it is a lineal descendant of King Cotton, and of that peculiarly audacious kind, that never says "Lost." In the hands of a modern "sensuous" poet the handle would become pearl, (daughter, not mother o f ) and the rest would be of a "tissue from the looms of Samarcand." 3 Finally it is the one I keep to lend to Lecturers at the Lowell Institute, and the like; and though very dissipated is worth reclaiming. Accept my apology and believe me, or not, Yours truly G.W.G. 4 MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Fields replied on March 5: "Touching Ward's poems I do not think one of them can be printed in Adantic's ink. Many a goodly verse that gentleman indites, but the bulk of his pieces is sadly in need of a tinker. As I do not know the man who undertakes mending lame feet, or re-lining poetic garments, I must send back to you the Ward not without merit." 2. Louis Philippe Ç 1 7 7 3 - 1 8 5 0 ) , the "Citizen King," fled to England in 1848. Legends about his umbrella are numerous. 3. Cf. "Kambala" in Tales of a Wayside Inn, II. 2 3 - 2 5 : "The weavers are busy in Samarcand,/The miners are sifting the golden sand,/The divers plunging for pearls in the seas." The allusion to "pearl, (daughter, not mother of)" may have been suggested by The Scarlet Letter. Longfellow and Hawthorne had conversed on February 28, 1863, in the Ticknor & Fields bookstore ( M S Journal). 4. Longfellow facetiously signs his letter with the initials of George Washington Greene, who may have been the borrower of the umbrella.

1993.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow Camb. March 14 1863.

My Dear Charley, Your letter this morning did not surprise me very much, as I thought it probable you had gone on some such mad-cap expedition. Still you have done very wrong; and I hope you will so see it and come home again at once. 1 Your motive is a noble one; but you are too precipitate. I have always 3 ι 3

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thought you, and still think you, too young to go into the army. It can be no reproach to you, and no disgrace, to wait a little longer; though I can very well understand your impatience. As soon as you receive this, let me know where you are, and what you have done, and are doing. All join in much love to you. I have not yet told anyone of your doings, but have said only that you are in Portland, that being the Postmark on your letter. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, to W a r , " p. 60.

PUBLISHED:

"Charley Longfellow Goes

ι . Charles's undated letter announced his determination to run off to the Civil War. For details of his short career as a private of artillery and of his ten-month tour of duty as a cavalry officer, see "Charley Longfellow Goes to W a r . "

χ994.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce' Private.

Camb. March 14. 1863.

Dearest Annie The troubles in the family are not all over yet! Last Tuesday Charley disappeared, and nothing has been heard of him till this morning; when a letter comes from him without date, but with the Portland post-mark. This letter I enclose. Please return it to me, when you write. In the mean time ask Alex, or Mr. Pierce1 to hunt my boy up, and see if he has already enlisted, and that he wants for nothing. George Rand2 will be likely to know where he is. He is under a strange delusion; and I hope he will think better of it and come back. He is altogether too young to go into the army. I am by no means sure he has gone to Portland. This letter may have been sent there to Rand to be posted. As this is Saturday, and you may not see Alex, till Monday, I think you had better take counsel with Mr. Pierce. Ever affectionately with love from all, H.W.L Please give the enclosed note of mine to Charley to Rand. He is evidently in the secret, and will know where to find him.3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Lewis Pierce ( 1 7 3 8 . 4 ) . 2. George Doane Rand ( 1 8 4 3 - 1 9 0 3 ) was the son of Caroline Doane Rand ( 5 3 2 . 1 ) and thus Charles's third cousin.

SM

CAMBRIDGE,

1863

3. In a response dated March 15 Lewis Pierce wrote that George Rand admitted mailing Charles's letter but denied knowing where he was.

1995.

To Charles Sumner

Private. Camb. March 17. 1863. M y Dear Sumner, You will be surprized, and not surprized, to hear that Charley has joined the Army; and is now in Washington! As I would not give my consent, he went without it, as [Samuel Gridley] Howe did in the days of the Greek Revolution. H e is at "Camp. Battery A. Mass. Artillery. Brooks Div. 6 Army Corps;" and as he has so very decided a taste for this kind of life, I think it would be unwise to recall him by any coercive means. He has applied to Capt. W . H. McCartney 1 for enlistment; who will take good care of him till he hears from me. N o w what is the best thing to be done? If you could see Capt. McCartney, either by going to Camp or by asking him to call on you, when in town, that would seem to be the first step. If he stays, I want him to stay as an officer, if possible. Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, to War," p. 63.

PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes

ι. William Henry McCartney (b. 1833) was a Boston lawyer whose war service, 1860-1865, was spent with the First Battery, Massachusetts Volunteer Light Artillery.

1996.

To James Thomas Fields

Private. Camb. March 21 1863. M y Dear Fields, I started this morning to come in to town to see you on some particular business; but on the way I met a military funeral and it has quite upset me. So I write instead. W h a t I want you to do for me is to see Gov. Andrew, to-day if you can, and ascertain if it is possible to get a commission of any kind for Charley. He has enlisted as a private in Battery A. Mass. Artillery, under Capt. McCartney, and is now with the army on the Rappahannock. If he could get a Lieutenancy in that Corps, I should be gratified. Hoping to see you soon, Ever Yours H.W.L.

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p.s. If the Governor is inaccessible, his Secretary Mr. Brown1 could probably tell you what the chances of success are. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library, to W a r , " pp. 6 5 - 6 6 .

PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes

ι . Albert Gallatin Browne ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 8 9 1 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1 8 5 3 , was Governor John Albion Andrew's military secretary.

1997.

To James Thomas Fields

Private. Camb. March 23 1863 My Dear Fields, I have a telegram from the Potomac to-night saying that Col. Sargent has nominated Charley for promotion already, so we need do nothing about it. He seems to be making his way rapidly, which is better than to have it made for him. I only hope he will stick to the Artillery.1 I have a weakness for the Artillery, of the longest range; so as to keep as far from the enemy as possible. But I am afraid that Charley has not so much prudence as I have. I am sorry I troubled you about the matter at all. Let the Governor rest in peace. He must be worried out of his life. That is one reason why I did not want to call upon him. I thought you might possibly see him informally, in the street, or of an evening. Dante goes on at the rate of a Canto a day; and will soon be finished. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library, to W a r , " pp. 6 6 - 6 7 .

PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes

I. Longfellow apparently did not know at this time that Col. Horace Binney Sargent ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 9 0 8 ) commanded the First Massachusetts Cavalry.

1998.

To William Davis Ticknor

Camb. March 23 1863 My Dear Ticknor, Will you be kind enough to order for me another barrel of brown sugar, like the last, and have the bill sent with it by Sawin. As I am never coming to town any more, I may not see you for some time. I have a fit of work come upon me, and do not wish to break the charm. Yours nevertheless H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Charles E . Feinberg, Detroit.

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To Charles Sumner

Camb. March 24 1863. M y Dear Sumner This morning I have only time to thank you for your kindness and the truly Sumnerian energy with which you have managed Charley's affair. Stanton, Godwin and yourself have reconciled me to the misadventure. 1 A telegram from the army of the Potomac last night informs me, that he has already been nominated for a commission by Col. Sargent; and I expect to hear next week that he is a Brigadier General! How strange it would be if I should turn out to be the father of an old Blücher or Grand Condé; 2 and if your peaceful skin should have been the Zisca's drum of a great revolution, 3 in which Slavery went down forever! I return Lieber's note, endorsing it fully, and twice over. How truly noble your position is! Think of that when you are sad, and it may comfort you. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, to War," p. 68.

PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes

ι . On March 20, 1863, Sumner had written a long letter to Longfellow, persuading him to accept Charles's action: "I feel better about Charley now than I did at first; — partly from thinking of his case, and partly from what has been said to me by others. I stated his case last evg to Mr [Edwin McMasters] Stanton, and asked him — 'What ought I to do — what can I do?' He replied frankly, that he understood the case completely; that his own son, whom he had placed in a college in Ohio, thinking that he would be removed from temptation, had gone as a private with a regiment in Tennessee, and that at least 300 like cases had been brought to his attention, for his advice or action. He had no doubt what was best for son and father also. First, said he, tell your friend to read [William] Godwin's Essays, where he will find the idea that the son will not follow the father, but that he is an independent being; and the sooner the father recognizes it the better. He had left his own son in the ranks, — fully and fairly to try the life he had selected; keeping an eye on him, although the son was not allowed to know this. His desire was that the son should see and know precisely what was before him, and that he should win his way. He thought that I should not write to Gov. Andrew about Charley or try to have him made an officer at present until he had really earned it. He was strongly against putting him upon a staff, which he said would hand him over to idleness and vulgar dissipations; that, all things considered, he was better off now; that the artillery was the best arm of the service, and that in selecting it the young man had shown sense and ambition which spoke in his favor . . . My own reflections are in the same way. I see clearly that this act is the natural cropping out of Charley's character. It was in him to do so, and, I believe also, it will be in him to persevere. I doubt if you could change him. You could not win him back. He could not return without mortification, that would be worse than any experience before him. Like Macbeth, he has stepped too far in for return . . . I know it is hard to imagine him a private, but there have been many such in the ranks and his condition for the time

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seems to have been fixed by natural tendencies which nobody could control. Therefore, for the present I resign myself to the lot which he has chosen for himself. I know not how all this will strike you; but I send it as the best which I can offer. You know that what I can do for him I shall do always gladly and strongly." 2. Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher ( 1 7 4 2 - 1 8 1 9 ) , Prussian field marshal known as "Marschall Vorwärts"; and Louis II de Bourbon ( 1 6 2 1 - 1 6 8 6 ) , the "Great Condé." 3. See 1426.2.

2000.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. April 2 1863. My Dear Greene, If I have not written to you since your departure, you are to blame, utterly, entirely and tutto quanto [everything]. You wound me up on Dante, and I have been running on ever since, striking the Cantos regularly every day. To-day "Of a new pain behoves me to make verses, And give material to the twentieth Canto Of the first Song, which is of the submerged."1 And so you see, I am pretty near the end of the gran lavoro [great work]. When you were here in the Winter you half promised to come again in Spring. I want you to come and pass a week or two with me; all the mornings to be devoted to the gran padre of Italian song; and the rest of the day to other men and other things. Try to make your arrangements for this in season. My boy Charley has gone to the war as a private in the Artillery; but is soon to be a Second Lieut of Cavalry. He is with Hooker, in the thick of it at Falmouth.2 In [George] Sumner I see no change. Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. Inferno, X X , 1 - 3 . 2. Charles received news of his commission on April 1 and moved immediately to the encampment of the First Massachusetts Cavalry at Potomac Falls, Va. General Hooker, who had recently taken command of the Army of the Potomac, had his headquarters at Falmouth, on the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg.

Β ! «

CAMBRIDGE, 2001.

To George Washington

^ 6 3

Greene

Camb. April 5. 1863. My Dear Greene The chimes of Christ Church are ringing through the rain and frost of this Easter Sunday; and the wild wind tossing them hither and thither, now loud, now low. T h e lesson of the day is as follows. "Silent, alone, and without company W e went, the one in front, the other after, As Minor Friars go along the street."1 A grand Canto, as you will remember. I hope I shall translate it well. I wrote you a day or two ago; and hope my proposition will find favor in your eyes. I do not grow at all weary of my work. On the contrary, the great undulations of Dante's verse lift me and bear me onward in spite of myself. What a tripping, gurgling line this is; Non corse mai sì tosto acqua per doccia,2 Ne'er ran so swiftly water along a sluice; — and how it splashes on the mill-wheel in le pale approccia! — the paddles it approaches. Tell me of yourself and your doings. Addio H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Inferno, XXIII, 1 - 3 . 2. Ibid., XXIII, 46.

2002.

To Charles

Sumner

Camb. April 5. 1863. My Dear Sumner If it is not against the Rules and regulations of the War Department, I wish you would order your wine merchant to send a basket of Champagne to Capt. McCartney, with my compliments; as it can be done more safely and expeditiously from Washington than from here. I will repay, when you return. Charley has already gone to the Cavalry camp. Whether he has done wisely or not, I can not pretend to say. T h e nomination was offered him without my solicitation; and he seems to have accepted it without hesita-

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tion. I fear he would have had to wait long for promotion in the Artillery, as the commissions are few and the aspirants many. George is getting along pretty comfortably. I see him as often as I can; and always find him bright and cheery. When may we look for you in these neighborhoods? Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, to W a r , " pp. 7 0 - 7 1 .

2003.

PUBLISHED:

"Charley Longfellow Goes

To ]ames Thomas Fields Camb. April 20 1863

M y Dear Fields, If the travellers you stand in hourly fear of, should ever arrive, and should ask after me, I beg you to say, that I have shut myself up and see no one. This is true; and will free you from any embarrassment, to which you might otherwise be subject. 1 Yours ever H.W.L. p.s. I am in such a troubled state of mind, that it is painful to me to meet strangers, though they be "angels unawares." 2 It distresses me even to go to town. So much for my nervous system! MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . In a letter of April 16 Fields had written that "Lt. Col. Hamilton of the Grenadier Guards, stationed at Montreal," and his wife, "one of the Queen's Ex-Maids of Honor" were arriving in Boston with the hope of meeting Longfellow. Lieut. Col. Robert William Hamilton ( 1 8 3 3 — 1 8 8 3 ) of the First Battalion Grenadiers married Charlotte Maria Palmer (d. 1 9 1 6 , aged eighty-four) in 1856. Mrs. Hamilton was not a member of Queen Victoria's Household, however, either before or after her marriage. Fields undoubtedly confused her with Hamilton's stepmother, Margaret Frances Florence Hamilton (d. 1 8 8 5 ) , who was maid of honor to the Queen, July 1 8 3 7 - M a r c h 1 8 3 8 (Royal Archives, Windsor Castle). 2. Heb. 1 3 : 2.

2004.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Apr. 20 1863. Dearest Annie, Your note came safe; and I have again enquired for the tea-pot, but without good result. W e have had but one letter from the travellers. They did not reach the camp.

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No late news from Charley; as the Cavalry have broken camp and are on the march. C has not received either of the boxes sent him. I am very sorry for it, as in all this rain he will need his rubber over-coat sorely. With much love to Aunt Lucia Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. The little ones send much love. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2005.

To Charles Sumner Cambridge

Ap 22 1863

My Dear Sumner The bearer, Wm. Locklin,1 is going on with horses to Charles. If he meets with any hindrance in Washington, I beg you to smooth the way for him. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Locklin, a Cambridge laborer, had been hired to take two mares to Charles and to serve him for $ 2 0 a month. He delivered the horses after several misadventures, became disenchanted with the rough life in camp, and was sent home. See "Charley Longfellow Goes to W a r , " pp. 7 2 - 7 3 .

2006.

To Abigail Wheaton Little

Cambridge Apr 24 1863 Dear Mrs. Little, I will with pleasure take a couple of Tickets for Miss Sedgwick's Reading.1 I enclose the sum due therefor and remain Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Pierpont Morgan Library. I. In an undated letter Mrs. Little had written: " I have promised Miss M . Sedgwick to endeavour to interest my friends in the reading she is to give in Cambridge on the eve[nin]g of May 5th . . . Would you like one or two tickets? They are 50 cts each." Miss Sedgwick is not otherwise identified.

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To Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Camb. Apr. 27. 1863. My Dear Dana, Professor Hows, Elocutionist of N e w York, 1 who teaches the clergy how to do it, is coming to pass this evening with me; and I wish you would do me the favor to join us. He is a very merry pleasant gentleman, and as Reading exudes from all his pores, I have a vague notion he will expect to show us laymen how to do it also, so that we can criticize the clergy. Please come in at eight o'clock, without ringing or knocking; for if he should happen to be in the midst of a passage, any noise in the other passage might put him out, which I do not wish to do in any sense of the words. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow R. H. Dana Jr. Esqre. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. John William Stanhope Hows ( 1 7 9 7 - 1 8 7 1 ) , English-born journalist and editor, had been professor of elocution at Columbia, 1 8 4 3 - 1 8 5 7 . He wrote The Practical Elocutionist, and Academical Reader and Speaker ( N e w York, 1 8 4 9 ) , which went through many editions.

2008.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Apr 27 1863 My Dear Fields Professor Hows passes this (Monday) evening with me. If you can find it in your heart to do the same you would much delight me. T h e Printer promises me proofs of "Torquemada" this afternoon. 1 Perhaps they may tempt you, if Italian wine does not, and other things that go with it. Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library, Esqre/37 Charles St I. "Torquemada" first appeared in Tales of a Wayside

322

ADDRESS: James T . Fields

Inn, which was now in press.

CAMBRIDGE, 2009.

T o George Washington

1863

Greene Cambridge

Apr. 27

1863.

M y Dear Greene, I have been walking in the sun this lovely morning, and have come back to write to you. But I am afraid I shall send you shadow and not sunshine. I feel very sad about George Sumner. By the advice of H o w e and other mistaken men, he has left Hancock Street, and gone to the Hospital! T h e change seems to me very unfortunate. I was with him yesterday afternoon. I found him in a large room, well-furnished with invalid chairs, suggesting decrepitude. H e was sitting alone and listless near the window, seeing the coasting vessels go through the draw of Charles River bridge. N o books, no pile of papers, no square table drawn up in front of him, with the air of a busy man, which he had in the old room. H e said he had not interest enough in the newspapers to send for them; but slept a good deal in his chair; and I observed that he yawned a great many times; "sbadigliava Pur come sonno o febbre l'assalisse." 1 I fear he is sinking into the quicksands of death, little by little, but surely and steadily. I thought there was a great change in him. Perhaps it was owing in part to his sitting in the broad light of the window. But I was very much shocked and discouraged, I confess; and came away with the fear, that the rising tide of disease had reached the brain at last, and spread over it the first thin wave. I hope I am wrong; and mean to go in again this afternoon, to reassure myself if possible, and cheer him in his prison, if that may be. I am confident, that the moral effect of leaving his own familiar surroundings is disastrous; though I confess he gets more light and air, and has the advantage of being taken out into the garden in his chair. I hope all this will not too m u c h depress you, but will hasten your coming. I have been long waiting for you. D a n t e was finished in the allotted time, and abides your judgment. Besides, I think that you and I together can do a good deal to reanimate our suffering friend. W i t h kind regards to your w i f e and mother, Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Inferno, XXV, 89-90: "he yawned/Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him."

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To Charles Sumner

Camb. Apr. 27 1863 My Dear Sumner Thanks for the Catalogues, and for all other favors. One or two things I send back, enclosed. The boy's letter is funny. You are sure of one vote for the Presidency, however the War may go. I send you also a letter just reed, from Darley. Can anything be done for his brother?1 Charley writes always in high spirits. I have sent him two boxes, with clothes and outfit. Neither has reached him. There is a pretty large screw loose somewhere. I have also sent him a servant and two horses, and hope for better luck this time. I saw George yesterday at the Hospital. I am sorry he has gone there, and cannot bring myself to think the change a good one, Howe to the contrary notwithstanding. He was sitting by a Western window watching a sloop go through the draw of the Cambridge bridge. I am afraid he is too much alone. I have finished my translation of Dante; Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso; all lie behind me. What next?2 Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Darley had written to Longfellow on April 24 to ask assistance in obtaining the post of assistant collector of internal revenue in Philadelphia for his brother, William Henry Westray Darley ( 1 6 6 1 . 4 ) . Sumner replied on April 29 that such patronage appointments "are not made at Washington, but by the Collector of the District, who is usually influenced by the recommendation of the local Rep[resenta]tive." 2. In a second letter of April 29 Sumner wrote: "You and I have been younger than we are now. Life to me is often very wearisome and dark. All my sunshine is little more than moon-shine. Therefore, print!"

2011.

To Arthur Lincoln1

Cambridge Apr 28 1863 Dear Sir, As soon as I received your note I went to Mr. Warren's and had the photograph taken, as you requested. Having been much occupied since, I have forgotten, till now, to notify you. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow

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^ 6 3

MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. Lincoln ( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 0 2 ) , a member of the Harvard class of 1863, had written to Longfellow on March 26: "You will confer a favor on the members of the present Senior Class, by sitting for your photograph, at the rooms of Mr. Warren, at your earliest convenience." George K. Warren ( 1 8 3 4 - 1 8 8 4 ) , Cambridge photographer, had rooms at 449 Main (Cambridge Directory for 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 6 4 ) .

2012.

To Maria Poe Clemm Cambridge

May 4 1863

Dear Madam, I am sorry to hear that your misfortunes and disappointments still continue, and sincerely hope you may be able to secure the object you now have in view, which seems to me a very good one.1 I do not know that I shall be able to contribute towards it myself, nor do I think it will be necessary, beyond the inclosed amount. I remain, with [remainder of complimentary closing and signature cut outJ. $10.00. Please acknowledge receipt. MANUSCRIPT: Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore. ι. In a letter of May 1 Mrs. Clemm had described her straitened circumstances and asked assistance in raising $150, the fee required for admission to the "Widows' Home" of Baltimore.

2013.

To Samuel Longfellow

Camb. May 7. 1863. My Dear Sam, We have to-day very bad news; nothing less than the rout of our army! If this proves true, — (and you will know it, before this reaches you), — I should like to have some one nearer the scene of action, to look after Charley, in case he should be among the wounded. Should you object to going again to Washington, so as to be on hand in an emergency? From this distance, I am afraid of being behind hand.1 If possible, I think you had better go; and enclose a check for $50.00 which your friend Mr. Frothingham,2 who has relations with Cambridge, will doubtless cash for you. Meanwhile if I hear anything from Charley I will write, directing to Willard's Hotel. All well here. Affectionately H.W.L. 3 * 5

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p.s. In case you go, inquire also after Lieut. Col. Curtis. 3 Consult with Sumner. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, to W a r , " p. 75.

PUBLISHED:

"Charley Longfellow

Goes

ι . General Lee had defeated the Union army at Chancellorsville, M a y 2 - 4 , 1863. Charles's unit was not engaged, however, and Samuel Longfellow did not make the trip from N e w York to Washington. 2. Octavius Brooks Frothingham ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 9 5 ) , pastor of the T h i r d Congregational Unitarian Society, N e w York, 1 8 5 9 - 1 8 7 9 , had been Samuel Longfellow's classmate in the Harvard Divinity School ( 1 8 4 6 ) . 3. Greely Stevenson Curtis ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 9 7 ) served with the First Massachusetts Cavalry from October 31, 1861, until he was mustered out on March 4, 1864. H e was engaged at this time to Hattie Appleton ( 1 5 4 4 . 5 ) , whom he married on November 17, 1863.

2014.

To Lyman Richards

Williston1 [Cambridge]

May 11. 1863.

Please excuse Alice's tardiness on Saturday, May 9. Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Williston ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 9 7 ) , an Amherst graduate of 1850, was principal of a school for young ladies in Cambridge, 1862-1870.

2015.

T o Charles Sumner Camb. May 15 1863.

Dear Sumner, W i l l you be so kind as to frank this parcel for Charley, and send it on its way rejoicing. Charley writes in very good spirits. He has received one of his boxes — the most important one; — and both horses, which meet with approbation! As this was my first appearance as a horse-jockey, I am gratified. I hear that Phillips has been scolding at you in a speech at N e w York. W h a t a rantankerous set they are! D o as I bid you, or I will abuse you in public! How glad I am you never made any concessions to them! 1 While writing, comes a letter from Charley. H e says; "I wish, when you see Mr. Sumner, you would thank him for all the trouble he took in getting my horses to me." I see George [Sumner] frequently. H e seems pretty lively and well pleased with his new abode, where every care is taken of him. 326

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^ 6 3

Greene is here. We are reading over my version of Dante; and hunting up Revolutionary localities. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Sumner had supported the promotion to brigadier general of Thomas Greeley Stevenson ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 8 6 4 ) , commander of the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry, despite Stevenson's expressed disapproval of arming blacks and of serving with them. Wendell Phillips attacked Sumner's position in a speech at the Cooper Institute, New York, on May 11, 1863, and angrily broke off relations with him. Stevenson, who obtained his promotion, was killed in action at the battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 10, 1864. See Sumner Memoir and Letters, IV, 1 2 5 - 1 2 6 .

2016.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. May 21 1863. My Dear Sumner, Ernest is very eager to go to West Point; and takes no interest in anything but Mathematics and Engineering. This is his very decided bent. I have written to Mr. Hooper1 on the subject; and hear from him, that he has no vacancy to fill. The only chance is in the President's appointments at large. If convenient, will you inquire, if there is any hope there.2 Greene is still here; and goes frequently to see George, in whose case he takes the deepest interest; and I think George has much pleasure in the visits of so sympathizing a friend. You will be grieved to hear of the death of Howe's youngest boy, of croup.3 It is a very heavy blow; as you know Howe's tenderest point is his love for his children. Ah me! That was a rather florid paragraph you sent me this morning in the New Orleans paper. I forwarded it to Agassiz, to encourage him. I hope we shall see you soon. The weather is warm, and the buttercups in all their splendor. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Samuel Hooper ( 1 8 0 8 - 1 8 7 5 ) , Republican congressman from Massachusetts, 1861-1875. 2. Sumner replied on May 24 that there was no chance for an appointment until the following year: "Tell Emy that he must give up the idea. It is not possible — now; and it will be very difficult hereafter . . . Besides it is enough to have one in the army. Tell Erny to renounce it bravely."

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3. Young Samuel Gridley Howe died on May 1 7 . He was born on December 25, 1859·

2017.

To James Thomas Fields Camb. May 26. 1863.

My Dear Fields, Will you be so good, as to step into the Office of the "Commonwealth" over Dr. Howe's in Bromfield St. — as you go home to dinner — and say that I am not the translator of either of the Poems of Uhland they have reprinted with my name. They evidently hold me accountable for all the pieces in the "Poetry and Poets of Europe," a thing by no means desirable, or even tolerable.1 T h e enclosed, from Welch and Bigelow will amaze you, as it does me. What a pleasing delusion we were under!2 Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . " T h e Dream" and " T h e N u n " (Poets and Poetry of Europe, pp. 3 3 8 - 3 3 9 ) appeared over Longfellow's name in the Commonwealth, I, No. 34 (April 24, 1 8 6 3 ) ; No. 38 ( M a y 22, 1 8 6 3 ) . 2. T h e enclosure was presumably a letter from Welch, Bigelow & Company of May 22, 1 8 6 3 , in which the printers gave reasons for casting the pages of Tales of a Wayside Inn with stanzas divided.

2018.

To Charles Eliot Norton

Camb. May 26. 1863. My Dear Charles, I wish it were something more I could do for Mr. Bright, than merely endorsing myself. 1 When you write to him please give him my kind regards and remembrances. Yours ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from xerox reproduction, University of Washington Library. I. John Bright ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 8 9 ) , British orator and statesman, defended the northern cause during the Civil War. T h e nature of Longfellow's endorsement is not known.

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CAMBRIDGE, 2019.

1863

To Charles Sumner

Camb. June 2 1863. My Dear Sumner, I shall send to your care, to-day or tomorrow, a small parcel for Charley; — birth-day presents from his sisters, to keep alive the home feeling. I shall probably direct it to Col. Curtis, Hattie's lover; and you will not object to forward it, I know. But what if you have left Washington? These Summer days are hard and heavy for me to bear! "Nulla speranza mi conforta mai, Non che di posa, ma di minor pena."1 I go often to see George. Yesterday I sat an hour with him. I found him reading Kin[g]lake's book on the Crimean War. 2 He bears up with admirable fortitude and patience. Edmund Dana3 is also at the Hospital; so that he has a friend close at hand. I do not see any change, one way or the other. How weary the waiting is for news from Vick[s]burg. Have you not a word of cheer from that quarter? I saw the Negro Regiment pass through Beacon Street; standing at the window of No. 39, with Mrs. Chs. P. Curtis, who clapped her hands and waved her handkerchief! She has a son in the Army of the Potomac.4 We shall go early to Nahant this year. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Inferno, V , 4 4 - 4 5 : " N o hope doth comfort me forevermore,/Not of repose, but even of lesser pain." Longfellow has altered the Italian text slightly by substituting mi [me] for gli [them]. 2. Alexander William Kinglake, The Invasion of the Crimea: Its Origin, and an Account of Its Progress Down to the Death of Lord Raglan (Edinburgh and London, 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 8 7 ) , 8 vols. Vol. I was published by Harper Brothers, N e w York, in 1 8 6 3 . 3. Edmund Trowbridge Dana ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 6 9 ) , brother of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. He suffered from chronic ill health. 4. Mrs. Charles Pelham Curtis ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 8 8 ) , the former Margaret Stevenson McKean, was the stepmother of Herbert Pelham Curtis ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 9 2 ) , an officer of the First Massachusetts Cavalry. On May 28 the celebrated Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, the black unit commanded by Col. Robert Gould Shaw ( 5 4 9 . 2 ) , paraded in Boston. Longfellow wrote in his journal: "In town. Saw the first black Regiment, or Regiment of Blacks, march through Beacon St! A n imposing sight; with something wild and strange about it, like a dream. A t last the North consents to let the Negro fight for his freedom."

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To Henrietta Malati Fletcher

Cambridge June 4 1863. Dear Mrs. Fletcher, It comes into my mind this beautiful summer morning that I have never answered nor in any way thanked you for your very kind letter of sympathy, written so long ago, that I am ashamed to look at its date. I hope you will pardon me; but it is a subject on which I could not write, though I was deeply touched by your beautiful letter. Even now I can only thank you, and then be silent again. I hope that you and your family are well; and that Mr. Fletcher was pleased with his visit to old friends and old scenes in Brazil. 1 Since his return, I have not had the good fortune to meet him, as I used to do occasionally in other days. I go so seldom to town, that familiar faces are becoming almost souvenirs only. With kind regards and best wishes I remain, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Museu Imperial, Säo Paulo, Brazil. ι . In 1 8 6 2 Rev. James Fletcher ( 1 6 1 4 . 8 ) made a 2000-mile journey up the Amazon, collecting specimens for Louis Agassiz.

2021.

To James Thomas Fields Camb. June 9 1863.

My Dear Fields "If I were a little bird, And had two little wings," what you so kindly propose would be possible; but as I am not and have not, "I cannot fly to thee." 1 Nothing would please me half so well as to be a day or two with you among the mountains.2 But this week I go to Portland, and next week you are coming back for a while, so says the senior partner, or so I understood him to say. Perhaps I can go with you on your return to the mountains. Nay, I might even go from Portland to Gorham and so descend upon you from above; as I think I should do, if I were only sure that all would remain

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CAMBRIDGE,

1863

"quiet on the Rappahannock." But naturally enough I do not want just now to be beyond the reach of the telegraph. Routledge's offer is very handsome.3 But the book has come to a deadlock at p. 186. With kindest regards to Mrs. Fields, Ever Yours "With deep affection and recollection," H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . C f . Coleridge, "Something Childish, But Very N a t u r a l , " 11. 1 - 3 . Coleridge's lines were in imitation of a German folksong, " W e n n ich ein Vöglein w a r . " See The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Ernest Hartley Coleridge ( O x ford, 1 9 1 2 ) , I, 3 1 3 . 2. Fields had written from Campton Village, N . H . , on J u n e 5: " H e r e I am, living on applesauce and silence. U p to to-day we have destroyed forty five trout, of modest size and excellent flavor. T h e mountains 'hunch u p a good deal' all about us, and as to air and waggons I know none better in any climate on this planet. It is just perfect weather, and our farm-house matches the weather. N o w , do come u p and stay if only for a week." 3. In his letter Fields reported that "Routledge offers £ 200 for the Sudbury T a l e s . "

2022.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. June 9. 1863. Dear Annie, The little girls are begging very hard to go to Portland; and I think I shall bring them down on Thursday or Friday, if we shall not be in the way. Let me know. Rachel will not accompany them this year. I think they can take care of themselves very well, with a hint from you now and then. Will this be satisfactory? In great haste Yours affect[ionatel]y H.W.L p.s. This is Charley's Birth Day. He is nineteen. Mary and James dine here to celebrate the occasion; and I wish you were to be here also. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow T r u s t Collection.

2023.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. June 10 1863 My Dear Greene, Many thanks for your letter, which found me much as you left me, only more sad and disconsolate. I find the Summer, if anything gloomier than the Winter; fuller of memories and harder to bear, so that 33

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"or mi diletta Troppo di pianger più che di parlare." 1 Nevertheless I will say a few words; for I think I see an opening for you in reference to your "Life and Letters of General Greene"; unless you are too far pledged to Mr. [Charles Coffin] Little to draw back.2 Last evening Folsom came in with Mr. Lippincott, one of the largest of the Philada. Publishers.3 I took a tender moment at the tea-table to speak of your book; nothing less than six octavoes; — the original plan. He lent a willing ear, owning already the plates of Jefferson's in ten. Folsom seconded me, and Lippincott listened, and seemed to think it was just the book for him — if you were quite free from any engagement. Now Little ought to publish, or relinquish; and I would not have any Abridgment. Tomorrow I go to Portland for a day or two with my little girls, whose grand Ball went off very famously. They send their love to you, and hope you found yours all well, when you got home. [George] Sumner I see often, and see no change. He says he is almost worn out; and wants to drive out in an open carriage. I do not think he could sit in one, safely, do you? The close[d] carriage he disdains. Alas! alas! Charles has not yet come from Washington. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Purgatorio, XIV, 1 2 4 - 1 2 5 : "it now delights me/Το weep fat better than it doth to speak." 2. Greene had entered into a preliminary agreement with Little, Brown & Company to publish his projected biography of General Nathanael Greene. 3. Joshua Ballinger Lippincott ( 1816—1886) founded J. B. Lippincott & Company in 1836. A prominent Philadelphian, he also had railroad and banking interests.

2024.

To Ernest Wadsworth, Edith, and Anne Allegra

Longfellow

Washington. Saturday June 13. 1863 M y Dear Erny, I arrived here at ten o'clock this morning; without trouble or fatigue; and am very glad I came without stopping.1 Charley is not at any hospital, but with a friend of Uncle Sam's, Mr. Richardson, one of the leading men of the Sanitary Commission,2 in a nice, large, airy room, with window looking into a garden. I am sorry to say that Charley has the Camp-fever; but the doctor says

332

WASHINGTON,

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there are no alarming symptoms. He has been too careless, and has been strolling about when he should have been in bed. But that was before he came to Mr. Richardson. N o w we shall keep him quiet for a few days, and then I hope to bring him home with me. All he needs is care and good nursing. If I had only come sooner! I shall probably write you a little pencil note every day. Send them all to Aunt Anne in Portland, after showing them to Aunt Mary. In that way I can keep you all informed without trouble, of the exact state of things. It is very hot here, and I hope I shall be able to get away next week. W e have just had a thunder shower; and I am sitting with Charley, giving him his cooling drink every hour. A military band is playing in the neighborhood, loud and clear, and inspiriting. But war is horrible, when you get near it, and see the effects of it, as you know. Goodbye till tomorrow. Love to all from Charley and Yours affect[ionatel]y. H.W.L. p.s. Our neighbor Mr. Dyer 3 went to Philadelphia with me. If you see him he will tell you of our night journey. T o Edie and Annie. M y Little Darlings, W h e n I left you, 1 thought I should send you news by telegraph. But a letter is better, because I can say more in it, than in ten words, which the telegraph allows. Only think; I did not stop all the way to Washington, except at the station in Boston, to see Erny, for at Saco I telegraphed for him to come and meet me. So there he was when I reached the station. After that I went on and on, all day, and all night, without dinner, without supper, and without breakfast till eleven o'clock this morning in Washington. But I am not at all tired. Goodbye, darlings. You are very happy in Portland, I know, and that makes me happy here. Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Goes to War," pp. 77-78.

Society,

PUBLISHED:

"Charley

Longfellow

ι . Shortly after arriving in Portland on June 11, Longfellow received word that Charley was ill. He left immediately by train for Washington. 2. James Richardson ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 6 3 ) , Unitarian minister of Dedham, Mass., devoted the last years of his life to caring for the wounded in Washington. 3. Ezra C . Dyer (1802-1876), a commission merchant, lived on Brattle Street across from the Craigie House.

333

A SLOW 2025.

RECOVERY

To Alice Mary Longfellow [Washington]

June 14. [1863] 1

Dearest Alice, I wrote yesterday to Erny; it is your turn to-day. So I will scribble you a few lines as well as I can with a pencil, while I sit here by Charley's window, and he lies asleep in bed. He has been sitting up this morning, but when the Doctor came, he did not approve of it, so he has gone to bed again, and that makes him more feverish. Still he is better; and we need only care and patience. As soon as possible we shall start for home; and the Nahant breezes will set him up again. The excellent Mr. Richardson, at whose house we are (I say we, because I stay here day and night) is very busy with taking care of the sick and wounded. Last night, at midnight, he went down to the wharf to oversee the landing and providing for twenty five hundred, who were brought up by water from Aquia Creek [Virginia]! See what a horrible thing war is! This is a lovely day; but rather too warm. It is now one o'clock; and I am sorry to see the sun coming out of the clouds. It is pleasant to look down into the garden, and see the children under the trees, three little girls, and a boy about Toto's2 size, with curly locks. Their voices have a home-like sound; and make me impatient to get back to Cambridge again. Mr. Spelman, of course, told you of our journey together. I was very glad to meet him; and he was very kind about the telegraph, and in other ways. I am afraid I shall not fill my sheet to-day; as I am going down stairs in a moment to see Mr. Sumner, and shall ask him to send this to the post for me, as I do not want to leave Charley. With love to all, Hatty and Cora included, always most affectionately, Papa. p.s. The basket carriage, how does it answer? Does it still delight you? And Trap? I have been amusing Charley this morning with detailed accounts of his doings. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . T h e dateline here, and in the nine following letters, is supplied in the printed letterhead: "Sanitary Commission, Central Office, 244 F Street. Washington, 1 8 6 3 . " 2. Possibly a neighbor's child.

334

WASHINGTON, 2026.

1863

To Edith and Anne Allegra Longfellow

[Washington] June 15 [1863] Dearest Edie and Annie, Do you not think it very strange, that the three little girls playing in the garden, whom I wrote about in my first letter, should be Mary, Edith and Annie? Yes; they are out there now; and in playing I heard them call each other, and so found out their names. One of them has just shouted; "I never will be married — never!" with great energy. The little boy has just climbed up to the top of a very high brick wall, and is throwing grass down for a white cow, standing outside. What his name is I do not yet know; but I dare say I shall hear it before long. So here in Washington, Mary and Edie and Annie play together just as they do at Highfield.1 How glad you must be to know, that I came here just in time to take care of Charlie, and that to-day he is much better. I hope he will soon be well enough to start on his journey homeward; and we shall all be at Nahant together, which will be very pleasant. When you write to me you may send your letter to the care of the Hon. Charles Sumner. Aunt Anne will show you how. Then if I have left Washington he will send the letter back. With much love to you all, Ever your most affectionate Papa. p.s. I found Aunt Anne's Post-office key in my pocket yesterday! MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society, ι . A t the home of Alexander Longfellow.

2027.

To Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow

[Washington] June 15 [1863] My Dear Erny, The Doctor was quite radiant this morning, and said Charley was decidedly better, which is the best news I can send you. As for other news, you, who are a reader of papers, are as well informed as I am. All such matters are studiously kept out of this room, in order not to excite the Lieutenant. It is very hot, and I feel too weary to write any more. Only understand that Charley is not dangerously ill, but needs care and quiet. The Doctor does not say when we can go. Ever affect[ionatel]y. H.W.L. 335

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RECOVERY

p.s. Do not forward any letters that may come for me. If you write again, direct to the Care of Mr. Richardson, Sanitary Commission, at whose house we are staying. The trunk has not yet arrived, nor your letter with the key. I dare say they will come to-day. I wish you would call and see Mr. George Sumner at the Mass. Gen. Hospital, or write to him, to explain why I have not been there. The entrance of the Hospital is on Blossom St. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2028.

To Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow

[Washington] June 16. [1863] My Dear Erny, T h e trunk does not make its appearance. Please ask Sawin by what Express he sent it, and tell him to enquire at the office. Of course he took a receipt. The thin clothes would be very welcome just now. Charley goes on improving, and the fever has nearly if not quite left him. But he is very weak and worn down, of course. Every one is, after a fever: and this may cause more delay in our return than I at first thought. You must not make your going to Nahant depend upon our movements. Go as soon as you like. Ellen Girard and her husband 1 would like to take charge of the house. That would be better than leaving the cook, for I think it best to have a man in the house; and on the whole I do not think Locklin would do, if he is not strong and well, though I thought of him. Consult with Aunt Mary. Arrange matters to suit yourselves and I shall be satisfied. I succeeded yesterday in finding a nurse for Charley, Mrs. McVicars, wife of one of Berdan's sharp-shooters,2 who has been in one of the camphospitals, at Potomac creek, where Charley left his Regiment. She is not at all of the doleful kind, but cheery and alert. W e shall now do very well; but up to this time I have been alone with Charley day and night, leaving the hotel and taking up abode here in his room, which is very pleasant and comfortable. With much love to all, Ever aff[ectionatel]y H.W.L. p.s. Keep Aunt Hattie and Uncle Tom informed of our doings. Charley says from his bed; "This is Class Day; they are just going into their gayeties and ice-cream!"3

336

WASHINGTON,

^ 6 3

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Ellen Girard ( 1 8 2 6 - 1 8 7 4 ) and her husband Louis, a gardener, worked for the Longfellows at various times during 1 8 5 1 - 1 8 5 3 and 1865 ( M S Account Book). 2. Col. Hiram Berdan (c. 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 9 3 ) , mechanical engineer and crack rifleman before the war, conceived the notion of forming special regiments of outstanding marksmen in 1 8 6 1 . As commander of the First U . S . Sharpshooters, he achieved legendary fame for the exploits of his unit on the Peninsula, at Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg. 3. In a letter of June 2 1 Ernest Longfellow remarked that Class Day was on June 19.

2029.

T o Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow

[Washington] June 16 [1863] M y Dear Erny, I had no sooner sent my letter to the post this morning, than the black trunk was brought to the door, all safe and nicely packed, with just the things I wanted. I write to save you farther trouble. H.W.L. p.s. It is now four o'clock and no return of fever. Charley says he feels better, than any day before. Ask Miss Davie if she remembers her countryman Mr. Austen, 1 who took tea with us one evening in the Spring. He is here, at the next door, rosier than ever. I saw him this morning at breakfast. Also Mr. [Horatio] Woodman of Boston, is close by. Mr. Richardson is from New England; so that familiar faces are not wanting. Charley is lying under a kind of tent of blue gauze, which I have extemporized to keep off the flies; material furnished by Miss Dix. 2 It is reported here to-day that the Confederates have taken Harrisburg, the capital of Penn. It would be a good joke, if I should get caught here! But you need not be afraid of that. There is no danger. 3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι . Unidentified. 2. Dorothea Lynde Dix ( 1 8 0 2 - 1 8 8 7 ) , Maine-born tarian, served as "Superintendent of Women Nurses" 3. Early in June, Gen. Lee began a movement up army got no closer than ten miles from Harrisburg stopped at the batde of Gettysburg, July 1 - 3 .

2030.

T o Ernest Wadsworth

educator, reformer, and humanithroughout the Civil War. the Shenandoah Valley, but his on June 29. T h e invasion was

Longfellow

[Washington] June 17 [1863] My Dear Erny, It is intensely hot here to-day; a south west wind blowing and filling the air with red dust.

337

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RECOVERY

Consequently it is very uncomfortable writing letters; and therefore I shall only say that Charley is always improving under the influence of beef-tea, arrow-root, and such a quantity of mixtures, powders and cooling draughts as would astonish your homoeopathic mind. It staggers belief. I shut my eyes, and proceed according to directions of Dr. Clymer, 1 in whose hands I found Charley, and who has great reputation in such cases. He says nothing yet of letting us go; but will in due time. Direct everything to care of Revd. James Richardson, San. Com. as above. You are all eager to get to Nahant, and had better go as soon as you can conveniently. If it is before our arrival, only notify us, and we will go down from Boston, without going to Cambridge at all. O for a breath of the sea! All kinds of heated rumors are flying about in the heated air. But nobody seems to be troubled about them. With &c. &c. Yours affectionately H.W.L. p.s. I hope Miss Davie will take a little Vacation now. It is a capital chance. Yesterday I wrote you two letters; one to say the trunk had not arrived, and one to say it had. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Meredith Clymer ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 9 0 2 ) of Philadelphia was surgeon of U . S . volunteers during the Civil W a r and in charge of all sick and wounded officers in Washington, D.C., 1 8 6 2 - 1 8 6 3 .

2031.

To Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow [Washington]

June 18 [1863]

My Dear Erny, T h e weather is fiery hot, and dry. Charley bears it patiently, but it is [not] pleasant to him, nor conducive to strength. Still, every day he is better, and has had no drawback of any kind. It is now twelve o'clock, and he is sound asleep. Yesterday Miss Dix sent him a charming bouquet, and to-day two nice little parcels of "food for invalids," consisting of "Homoeopathic Cocoa" and "Pure Bermuda Arrow Root." So he is under the protection of one of the Saints of the Sanitary Com — and in the house of one of the Fathers thereof.

338

WASHINGTON,

Ï 863

T h e "Berdan Sharpshooter," Mrs. McVicars, is trying her hand this morning at some blanc-manger. Success as yet unknown. Last evening she went out foraging for ice-cream, but came back empty handed. By going in another direction I succeeded better, and Charley was cooled and comforted. To-day he seems bent upon a banquet and I hope he will not be disappointed. I write you these trifles because I have nothing better to write. I hear distant cannonading — or somebody beating a carpet; I am not sure which. But I find everybody expects a battle soon on the Virginia side. Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. How is Master Trap? Is he disconsolate at my absence? Longfellow Trust Collection, A D D R E S S : Mr. Ernest W. Longfellow/ Cambridge./Mass. P O S T M A R K : W A S H I N G T O N D . C . J U N 19

MANUSCRIPT:

2032.

T o Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow

[Washington] June 19 [1863] My Dear Erny, T h e Doctor holds us fast, and will not let us go. He says we must not think of moving for a week at least! That will bring us far on towards July; and you must all be off for Nahant, without any regard to us. Our plan now is to come home by water to avoid fatigue; and I am going up to Georgetown to-day, if I can find time, to look at the steamers, that run between that place and New York, touching at Fortress Monroe. Sea air is better than cinders; and Charley has a fancy for this mode of returning. Poor boy; he is sadly pulled down, and worried with doses, that seem to have no end. And the fever will still show itself a little now and then, when we hope it is gone. Miss Dix called to-day. Her theory is to get away as soon as possible from this oppressive heat. Unluckily the Doctor takes another view of the matter; though he says there are no bad symptoms. All that is needed is patience, patience, patience. Thank Alice for her letter and for the photographs, which are charming to behold. She can stay at the Spelmans, till you go to Nahant. H.W.L. p.s. Aunt Hattie's letter to Charley just came. He is reading it in bed. Remember us to Uncle Tom. He must act as père de famille, at Nahant. MANUSCRIPT:

unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection.

339

A SLOW 2033.

T o Alice Mary

RECOVERY

Longfellow

[Washington] June 20 [1863] M y Dear Alice, Many thanks for your nice letter, and for the photographs, which pleased Charley greatly. T h e y did him as much good, as if you had sent him a bouquet or a jelly. You are enjoying yourself so much at the Spelmans, that I see no good reason why you should not stay there till you go to Nahant. But look out for gate-posts in future. 1 I hope you will hurry off to Nahant as soon as possible. But before you go, put away into my note-paper drawer in the study a parcel of proofsheets, which I left on the table; and any other things, which a stranger's eye should not see. Charley is doing very well; but is still very weak, and I do not know when we shall get away. T h e Doctor does not like to have that question put to him; but promises to let us go as soon as it is safe. Good bye, my darling. I have not seen anybody since I left home, whom I love so well as I do you; — no young lady, I mean! Chs. joins in much love; and Ever affectionately I send mine particularly to Hattie and Cora. Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Longfellow's sketch of a pointing hand marked "U.S." follows here. In a letter of June 17 Alice had written that in turning the corner too short in her basket carriage, she "ran against that little wooden projection from the post, broke the trace, frightened the horse, frightened Cora [Spelman] and myself almost out of our wits and did no further damage."

2034.

T o Edith and Anne Allegra

Longfellow

[Washington] June 20 [1863] Dearest Edie and Panzy W h a t have my little darlings been doing to-day in Portland? Here it is cold and rainy; and the little girls have not been out in the garden. But the catalpa tree is in full blossom and so are the hedges of roses over the brick wall. Charley has no fever to-day and the military doctor, with his black mustache, looks very smiling, and says he is better. But he does not say when we can go, nor do I think Charley is strong enough yet to make a journey. 340

WASHINGTON,

1863

I have written to Alice to say they had all better go to Nahant, and be ready for us there, when we come back. You can stay in Portland as long as Aunt Anne thinks best. The young ladies in the next house sent Charley a very pretty bouquet the other day, and often send in to ask how he is. I wish all the sick soldiers could have as good care taken of them, and as many people to look after them. I hope you will both write to me soon. Do not send the letter to Mr. Sumner, as he is going home. Send to the care of Mr. James Richardson, Sanitary Comm. 244 F. Street. They name the streets here by letters. You can learn the alphabet while you are taking a walk. I send Aunt Anne's key, so that she can get this letter out of the Post Office! Papa. Charley sends his love — "lots of it" — he says. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

2035.

To George Washington Greene

Washington June 21 1863. My Dear Greene I dare say you have written to me in Cambridge, and are wondering why you get no answer. The reason is that I am here, taking care of my Lieutenant, who is down with camp fever — an ugly thing from the banks of the Rappahannock. I have been here more than a week; and I am happy to say, that Charley is doing well. We hope to start for home before another week is over; but there is no saying, these fevers are so obstinate and capricious. And then this ancient Mediaeval practice! Think of me, poor homceopathist, pouring drugs down the throat of a human being! I shall want to draw a veil over this part of my life. But I had no option, Charley being in the Doctor's hands when I arrived. Sumner I see very little of, as he is busy, and I am always shut up within my four walls. Do not answer this letter; as I shall soon be on the wing. Write to George Sumner instead. Ever Yours H.W.L MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection, to W a r , " p. 79.

341

PUBLISHED:

"Charley Longfellow Goes

A SLOW 2036.

To Ernest Wadsworth

RECOVERY

Longfellow

Washington June 21 1863 M y Dear Erny, All Doctors are more or less like the doctor in Molière's comedy, and look upon a disease as a "piece of personal property — something which is theirs, and given them to cure." 1 So our excellent Dr. Clymer will not let us go till we are thoroughly cured. Well, Charley has a good bed to lie in, and I have the great window to look out of and the little garden to look into; and so we get on very well, and it all seems like a dream to me. This morning I met Mrs. Ames in the street, and she afterward came to see Charley. She has come from Philadel. to see a friend of hers, and confesses that camps and battlefields have a fearful attraction for her. She wants to know how her children are getting on without her. I told her they were clamoring for a vacation. Charley is very cool and comfortable to-day. His rations are increased; tea, beef-essence, tapioka pudding, water-ice, and chicken broth. Giving all these, and the medicines into the bargain, keeps me pretty busy. With much love Ever affect. H.W.L MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection,

Cambridge/Mass,

POSTMARK:

ADDRESS:

WASHINGTON

Mr. Ernest W .

D.C. J U N

22

Longfellow/

ANNOTATION

(on

ad-

dress cover): Braces/Maps/Stockings/Books} Rosecran's Campaign with the 14th Army corps/Napier's Peninsular War. ι . C f . Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, II, ii.

2037.

To Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow

Washn. June 22 1863. Dear Erny To-day I have been at one of the Hospitals — the Emory Hospital — presided over by Miss Felton and Miss Lowell of Cambridge; 1 and there I saw Capt. Sargent of Charley's Regt, who was wounded at the battle of Aldie. His wife was with him, and he was very lively; though wounded in the breast. T h e ball went in under his left arm, and came out in front. I never saw a gun shot wound before. A black spot, with a little yellow round it. That was all. He is in no danger, the lungs not being hurt. 2 Yesterday, Sunday, I heard the distant cannonading, mingling in with

34^

WASHINGTON,

1863

the sound of the church bells and the chanting of the choir in the church close by. Tell Aunt Hattie that I have made diligent enquiries after Col. Curtis; and hear that he came out of the action safe and sound. Charley kicked in his bed, when he heard his regiment had been in action, and he not there. Unlucky fellow! Ever aifect[ionatel]y H.W.L p.s. A good night and a good day with Charley. Longfellow Trust Collection, to War," pp. 79-80.

MANUSCRIPT:

PUBLISHED:

"Charley Longfellow Goes

1. Mary Sullivan Felton ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 8 9 6 ) and Anna Lowell ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 9 0 6 ) , daughter of Charles Russell Lowell ( 5 2 5 . 1 ) , served in the Armory Square Hospital in Washington during the Civil War, where they helped to organize and manage the special diet kitchen. 2. Lucius Manlius Sargent ( 1 8 2 6 - 1 8 6 4 ) , brother of Horace Binney Sargent ( 1997.1), had been wounded at Aldie, Va., on June 17, 1863. He recovered from his wound rapidly, as Longfellow anticipated, but was subsequently killed in action near Bellfield, Va., on December 9, 1864. His wife was Letitia Sullivan Amory Sargent ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 9 1 2 ) of Jamaica Plain.

2038.

To John Milton

Hay1

303 I Street. [Washington] June 23 1863 Dear Mr. Hay, I am much obliged to you for remembering my young Lieutenant, and for the beautiful flowers you have sent him. He joins his thanks to mine, and I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT:

Brown University Library.

ι. Hay ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 9 0 5 ) served as assistant private secretary to Abraham Lincoln, 18601865. After a successful career as poet, journalist, historian, and ambassador to Great Britain, he became secretary of state, 1898-1905.

2039.

To Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow Washn. June 23 1863.

My Dear E m y , Charley goes on well. He has not yet been allowed to leave his bed, but has that pleasure in reserve for tomorrow. To-day I have been reading to him all day long, "Lady Audley'[s] 343

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RECOVERY

1

Secret," a sensation novel, which makes the time pass swiftly and pleasantly. Yesterday Mrs. Ames came to see him; — and this morning Count Gurowsky who told him about "Sollingen sabres";2 two ladies have called with flowers and raspberries; and the President's private Secretary has sent him a note and a bouquet. He is almost too much pettied for a soldier: and I cannot help thinking of the poor fellows I saw yesterday in the Hospital. Still I thankfully accept all the good things that come. Where is Uncle Sam? Give our love to him, and say I do not write to him supposing him to be away, flitting to and fro. I have written to Stephen to-day. He is in the "Second Army Corps; Gibbon's Divn." 3 in case Aunt Mary wants to know. Nothing farther to-day. Ever affect [ionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . A murder story by the English writer Mary Elizabeth Braddon ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 1 5 ) , first published in 1 8 6 2 , which became immensely popular. 2. T h e Prussian town of Solingen has been famous for sword blades since the early Middle Ages. 3. T h e Second Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac, organized on March 3, 1862, was composed of three divisions, the second being commanded by Brig. Gen. John Gibbon ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 9 6 ) . Longfellow's nephew was presumably a soldier in the Nineteenth Maine Regiment, First Brigade, of that division.

2040.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Washn. June 25 1863. Dear Aunt Anne, I have written every day, either to Alice or to Erny, and have told them to forward the letters to you, so that you might know how we were getting on. That is the reason why I have not written directly to yourself. We propose to leave here on Saturday the 27th and hope to reach home by Tuesday or Wednesday. Kiss my little Darlings for me, and give our love to all. Ever affect. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

344

NAHANT, 2041.

1863

To Avber Forestier1

Nahant, Mass. July 1. 1863 Dear Miss2 I think the ballad you allude to is by Walter Scott, and begins "O Brignel Banks are wild and fair, And Greeta's Woods are green."3 or something to that effect. If I were at home, among my books, I could tell you at once; being here at the sea-side without them, I can only speak from memory. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. ι. Pseudonym of Annie Aubertine Woodward ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 9 2 9 ) , a successful concert pianist who later became a prolific translator of German, French, and Scandinavian literature. 2. Although the surname has been expunged from the manuscript, Longfellow's correspondent is conjectured from the fact that the manuscript is in the Annie Aubertine Woodward Moore Papers of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 3. Cf. Rokeby, Canto III, 11. 1-2. In quoting from memory, Longfellow misspelled Brignall and Greta.

2042.

To George Washington Greene Nahant, Mass

July 1. 1863

My Dear Greene, I got back to this sea-side place yesterday, bringing the Lieutenant with me. I am sorry to say he had last night a return of fever, which I do not like at all. To-day he is in bed again; but I hope it will pass off without serious result. A typhoid-malaria fever is very insidious, and long in the recovery. Your letter I find waiting. I think you had better write to Mr. Lippincot[t] at once, recall to his mind my conversation with him, and tell him exactly how the matter stands with Messrs. Little & Co and describe exactly what you propose the work shall be.1 I so sincerely hope this chance encounter may result in the fulfilment of your wishes! You must have that stone rolled off from you, or it will crush your life out. So write at once, and unless the Rebels take Philadelphia, there is a good chance of General Greene's taking it instead, which would be much better. Ever truly H.W.L. 345

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p.s. I have not yet seen George Sumner, nor heard of him. I wrote to him from Wn. 2 p.s. I sent you a line or two from Washn. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Greene had written on June 2 1 : "Little & Brown write — ' W e shall be quite ready to cancel the agreement now existing between us for the publication of the correspondence of Gen. Greene if you desire it to be published at once as we prefer not to go on with it ourselves at the present time.' N o w how had I best proceed with Lippincott?" 2. This letter is unrecovered.

2043.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Nahant July 4 1863 My Dear Annie, You are right and I abide by your decision.1 Sam will give you all the news of us. The little girls had a delightful visit in Portland. Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. Ask Mary if she remembers, where the key of the Wine cellar was put. Cheque $100.00 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Harry Longfellow, whose chronic profligacy was the despair of his aunt, had asked Longfellow for $50 in a letter of June 2 1 , 1863, adding: " I shall have to starve unless you can help me. I should not have asked this favor of you if I was not almost in a starving condition." Anne Pierce's reaction is contained in her letter of July 3: " I shd. not advise yr. sending H . the money — it is the same old game over again. Uncle James [Greenleaf] was the sufferer last year, and the money obtained under just such a representation of destitution was not one cent appropriated for what it was asked for, but in coming down to Pfortland] and having a good time at the Hotel here . . . I do not want the boy to suffer any more than you — but I do want experience to teach him that he can't sit down idle and have his expenses paid for him, or spend his earnings in dissipation and be provided for by others. I will so arrange things here in regard to his board bills, that he won't be turned into the street without our being warned. I am sure the only sure way of helping him is to do it without his knowing when or from whom — you had better reserve yr. $50 for me to expend in such a way, if the time comes. Am I not right?"

346

NAHANT, 2044.

To George Washington

! 863

Greene

Nahant July 22 1863 My Dear Greene, I am not a very good hand at a bargain with booksellers, and begin to think it impossible to make one which shall permanently be satisfactory to both parties. But the simpler and least clogged with conditions the better. On that account your arrangement with Little & Brown does not strike me as particularly good. There would have been some misunderstanding about paying for the plates. You would have waited some time before there would have been anything on those plates for you to eat! Here is something much simpler. Fifty cents per volume on all copies printed, payable on the day of publication. That was my arrangement with Carey and Hart, for the "Poets and Poetry of Europe." They paid me cash; but if Mr. Lippincott prefers giving his Note at Six, or even twelve months I should not refuse, as you could easily get it discounted. You might say to Mr. L. that you would like to make the same arrangement, that I did with C. & H. and see how he likes it. I wish you could see him. He made a very favorable impression on me; and I feel sure that he is disposed to do all he can; — ambitious of good works. He means what he says in his letter. Í would not try to dissever in any way the Life from the Letters in the agreement. But if extra copies of that are issued, of course, you get the corresponding copy-right. This paper does not take the ink kindly. What ails it? I am working a little on the Purgatorio; and Charley is getting well. Yours ever H.W.L. p.s. An hour later. T h e more you meditate upon my proposal the more you will like it, as it sets aside all weary delays, and all business entanglements and accounts. I think, also, Mr. Lippincott will like it, or the way of it, at least. Should he think the sum per vol. too much, I should rather diminish it, than give up the plan. Prescott used to have fifty cents per vol. paid in this way, by Note, on day of publication. But he paid for, and owned his own Plates. So that in reality he received considerably less. You could therefore take less, and still be on an equality with "the most favored nations"; for I suppose his terms were as high as anyone's.

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You must also take into consideration, that the price of the "Poets and Poetry of Europe" is double what you propose to make yours. But as an off-set to that, the page is very large, and the cost of plates in proportion. Ponder on all this; and think whether it is worth while to own the Plates. I know from experience, that it is an expensive luxury. It is dining off silver.1 H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Greene's letters of July 26 and August 24 reveal that he proposed Longfellow's plan to Lippincott. On September 10 he wrote: "I enclose you Lippincott's answer — just received [unrecovered]. I have no relations of Gen. Greene to pay for the plates. They do not believe in the work or [in] literature. And thus ends the chapter." The three-volume Life of General Nathanael Greene was published, with Longfellow's financial assistance, by G. P. Putnam & Son, New York, 1867-1871.

2045.

To Alice Mary

Longfellow

Nahant July 29 1863. M y Darling Alice Your nice letter came yesterday, and we were all very glad to hear from you, though we had already heard of your safe arrival from Uncle Tom and his crew, who came thundering at the door on Monday night, or rather on Tuesday morning, for it was long after midnight, and we were all fast asleep. N o doubt you are having a delightful visit at Pigeon Cove. 1 It has been rather windy and rainy here; and on Sunday afternoon we had a kind of tornado. A boat, with two men in it, was upset between us and Bailey's Hill; and the men were saved by Luscomb, 2 who is always sailing about Sunday afternoon. T h e y may be said to have saved their lives by clinging to the painter, which is a poor joke, considering the great peril they were in. W e have little Josie Ames 3 here to take your place; and Harry Stanfield and Crowny; 4 and Willy Fay is coming to dinner to-day. So we are not very lonely; and try to make believe we do not miss you, but [it] is only make believe after all. T h e little girls have all gone, or are going, to Maolis Garden this morning with Miss Dora; 5 an invitation to that effect having come by telegraph. Col. Curtis has arrived in Lynn, and I suppose Aunt Hattie is supremely happy. I have not yet been over to see him; but shall go to-day perhaps. Uncle T o m is talking about going to the White Mountains; and if he 34S

NAHANT,

1863

goes there will be a room large enough for two or three young ladies. Where can we find them, I wonder? The music question requires deliberation. I do not like the plan of going into town. We must think about it.® All send much love to you and Hattie and Cora. Ever most affectionately Papa. MANUSCRIPT:

Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House).

ι. Alice was visiting at Pigeon Cove with her friends the Spelmans. The party had sailed there aboard Tom Appleton's yacht. 2. William Henry Luscomb ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 6 6 ) , marine artist. 3. Possibly the daughter of Joseph Alexander Ames (1694.4). 4. Frederic Crowninshield ( 1 8 4 5 - 1 9 1 8 ) , a good friend of Ernest Longfellow, graduated from Harvard in 1866, became a well-known painter and writer, and served as director of the American Academy in Rome, 1 9 0 0 - 1 9 1 1 . 5. Eudora Clark ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 9 0 ) , daughter of a Boston merchant and a friend of the Longfellow family. The Maolis Garden, near the Nahant cottage of Frederic Tudor (1308.8), took its name from a small pool called Maolis, an anagram of the Biblical pool Siloam. 6. In her letter of July 26 Alice had asked if she might study music with Miss D. A. Ripley, who gave lessons at 34 School Street, Boston.

2046.

To Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Nahant. Aug 8. 1863.

My Dear Sir I had the pleasure last night of receiving the box of tea you were so kind as to send me. When we were speaking of teas the other day, I did not intend to levy blackmail upon you in this "Family English-Breakfast" style. The name of "Argonaut" on the box is highly suggestive of the piratical expedition I have made into your China closet. But the fitting out of a privateer to prey on the commerce of a friendly power is no longer a crime! Vide Lord Palmerston's last speech.1 With my best acknowledgments for your kindness, and begging you also to thank Mrs. Dana for Gibson's "Prison of Weltevreden,"2 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT:

Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library.

ι . During a debate in the House of Commons on July 23, 1863, Lord Palmerston defended the British government's policy of building ships for the Confederacy. See the Boston Journal, X X X , No. 9397 (August 4, 1863), and the Boston Transcript, X X X V , No. 10,210 (August 4, 1863).

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2. Walter Murray Gibson, The Prison of Weltevreden; and a Glance at the East India Archipelago ( N e w York, 1855). Gibson (1823-1888) pursued an adventurous career in Central America, Sumatra, Utah, and finally Hawaii, where he served as premier of the kingdom from 1882 until the revolution of 1887.

2047.

To Charles Sumner

Nahant A u g 10 1863 M y Dear Sumner, W i l l you give the Lieutenant two lines of introduction to the Secretary of War, — to be used only in case of need, — to facilitate his progress with servant and horses through Washington, should he meet with any hindrance? T h e mere sight of such a letter would probably do away with the necessity of presenting it. 1 How scorching it must be in town to-day! Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. Please enclose to me here. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Since Charles's recovery from camp fever was now complete, he was making preparations for a return to duty. He left Nahant for the battlefield on August 14. See "Charley Longfellow Goes to War," p. 283.

2048.

To William Davis Ticknor

Nahant A u g i i 1863 M y Dear Ticknor This is excellent news of thrift in hot weather, which your letter brings me. Please send me Five Hundred Dollars, if convenient. This having a Lieutenant in one's family is an expensive luxury, I find; particularly when the paymaster of the Regiment does not make his appearance at the right time. Yours in haste H.W.L. p.s. Nahant is pretty full just now; but perhaps you might find a corner for your son.1 I will inquire. Meanwhile question the bearer, who will be likely to know of any vacant rooms. MANUSCRIPT: Princeton University Library. I. It is not clear from Ticknor's letter to Longfellow of August 10 which one of his three sons needed a rest in Nahant, but it was most likely Benjamin Holt Ticknor

350

NAHANT,

J 863

( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 1 4 ) , an officer in the Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. On August 1 1 Ticknor wrote that his son had decided to try the mountain air of Vermont.

2049.

T o James Thomas Fields

Nahant Aug 1 2 1863 My Dear Fields, I hardly know what answer to make. 1 "The Sudbury Tales" will make only 200 pages. How much more the new lyrics will add, I do not know exactly. Not more than 25 I should say. Neither luminous nor voluminous. I really should like to see you before we finally commit ourselves. I think you will rather like "The Birds of Killingworth," short though it be. That is the "Poet's Tale" and Finale. Then remains "The Falcon of Sir Frederic" which is to take the place of "Galgano"; 2 and of which not a line is written! Mrs. Fremont3 is next door to us, which is very pleasant. You remember the Phil[l]ip's cottage. That is the house. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . Fields had written on August 1 1 : " I wish very much to decide as to the size and time of publication of 'The Sudbury Tales.' If you can find nothing more to add to the Vol. I wd. not wait for another season, but let the Vol. come out in Octr. provided it reaches near to 250 pages. Will you let me hear from you at once, deciding the matter." 2. Longfellow had apparently considered including his uncollected poem "Galgano: A Tale of Giovanni Fiorentino" ( 1 2 9 3 . 2 ) in Tales of a Wayside Inn. 3. Jessie Benton Fremont ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 9 0 2 ) , wife of John Charles Frémont ( 1 1 1 8 . 1 ) and daughter of Thomas Hart Benton ( 4 5 9 . 7 ) .

2050.

To Salmon Portland Chase Nahant. Aug 13 1863

Hon S. P. Chase

1

Dear Sir, I take the liberty of giving this introduction to my son, who is on his way to join his Regiment. Should he meet with any impediments in passing through Washington with his horses, may I rely upon a good word from you to facilitate matters? I remain, Dear Sir, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow

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MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Chase ( 1 1 1 0 . 3 ) served as Lincoln's secretary of the treasury, 1 8 6 1 - 1 8 6 4 .

2051.

To Lyman Kidder Bass1

Nahant Aug 18 1863. Dear Sir, It would give me pleasure to accept your invitation, if I ever appeared in the character of Lecturer. As I do not, I must decline. Thanking you for the compliment of the invitation, I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Bass ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 8 8 9 ) , an attorney, was chairman of the lecture committee of the Young Men's Association of Buffalo. He subsequently served two terms as Republican congressman, 1 8 7 3 - 1 8 7 7 , and was a law partner of Grover Cleveland, 1 8 7 4 - 1 8 7 6 .

2052.

To James Thomas Fields Nahant

Saturday [August 22, 1863] 1

My Dear Fields, I send you back Boccaccio, with many thanks, and would send with it the little lyric you took a fancy to, if I could make up my mind to publish it.2 Having had guests every day since you were here, I have not had quiet to look it over and spoil it for you. I will try to do so to-day, or tomorrow. But first I shall try to fly my Falcon, 3 to see if there is any life in him. The "Birds of Killingworth" I have fitted into its place between Interlude and Finale; and that part of the book is finished. T h e Lyrics too I shall arrange, and have in readiness for the printer, when I come back, and then the task is ended. I shall probably run up to town in a few days. Meanwhile let me know how George Sumner is. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. The date is conjectured from Fields's letter of "Wednesday morning," reporting that the Boccaccio had to be returned to the Boston Athenaeum. 2. Possibly "Weariness," published as the last poem in the first edition of Tales of a Wayside Inn. 3. "The Falcon of Ser Federigo."

352

NAHANT, 2053.

1863

Τ° Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Nahant Aug 23 1863 My Dear Mr. Dana, We have all been greatly troubled by the report of an accident happening to Mrs. Dana and hope the account we have read in the papers is exaggerated.1 I beg you to write us a line to let us know how Mrs. Dana is. If you have not time, perhaps one of the young ladies2 will do it. Both Mr. [Thomas Gold] Appleton and Miss. Davie join me in kind remembrances and warmest sympathies to Mrs. Dana and yourself. We are afraid that at best this might be a very painful accident. Yours faithfully Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Mrs. Dana suffered a severely fractured arm in Dublin, N . H . , when her horse and carriage went out of control and over an eight-foot bank. See the Boston Journal, XXX, No. 9 4 1 0 (August 19, 1 8 6 3 ) . 2. One of Dana's daughters.

2054.

James Thomas Fields

Nahant Aug 25 1863. My Dear Fields, I am afraid we have made a great mistake in calling the new volume "The Sudbury Tales." Now that I see it announced I do not like the title. Sumner cries out against it and has persuaded me, as I think he will you, to come back to "The Wayside Inn." In your list put it down as "a new volume of Poems." That will be sufficient for the present. Sumner's reasons are cogent; and he will lay them before you.1 Pray think as we do and oblige Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, PUBLISHED: James C . Austin, " J · T . Fields and the Revision of Longfellow's Poems: Unpublished Correspondence," N e w England Quarterly, X X I V (June 1 9 5 1 ) , 2 4 7 . ι . Fields responded on August 2 7 : " ' T h e Wayside Inn' let it be. I do not dislike this tide and if you say so it shall stand for the new volume."

353

A SLOW 2055.

To George Washington

RECOVERY Greene

Nahant A u g 26. 1863. M y Dear Greene, Through the hot weeks Nahant has been cool and lovely; which is my answer to your first question. I wish I could answer the second as happily. George Sumner is failing, failing, slowly, but surely. I have not seen him for a week or two: but Charles was here yesterday, and tells me he has suffered much from the heat. I shall go up to see him as soon as the weather permits — tomorrow or next day certainly. Charley has been gone these ten days; being quite strong again. But who can resist the fever of a Virginia sun at this season? I am sorry that Lippincott has not written. You will no doubt hear from him soon. He is probably on a Summer tour. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2056.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow

No. 2. Nahant A u g 27 1863 M y Dear Charley I have just got your letter from Camp near Warrington Aug. 22. I am sorry you did not get your luggage before leaving Washington; but I suppose you left orders to have it forwarded. It is at Willard's [Hotel], Locklin has not reported to me; but has gone back again with Natie's horses.1 I send by to-day's mail the articles you wanted, viz. 1 towel 1 silk handkerchief 1 pair stockings : note paper and envelopes. I have no time to get new ones; but send such as I happen to have on hand. W e are glad you have reached your Regt, in safety. You must have had a fearfully hot time of it: for such a hot summer has seldom been known. W e are rejoicing over the fall of Fort Sumter, and hope next to hear of the surrender of Charleston. 2 Keep yourself well; and guard as much as possible against exposure by night, after the hot days. I wrote last week. 3 So did Alice. Let us know if you get our letters. All well here except Col. Curtis, who does not gain much; and all send you much love. Mr. Grant's stable, near Steam Boat Landing, was burnt last night;

354

NAHANT,

1863

and a woman looking on, broke through the planks of Mountford's well, and fell in — some twenty feet down. Saved.4 Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Nathan Appleton ( 1 5 4 4 . 5 ) was a lieutenant in the Fifth Massachusetts Battery, Light Artillery. 2. Longfellow's rejoicing was premature. Although Fort Sumter was heavily- bombarded in August 1 8 6 3 , it did not fall until after the capture of Charleston by Sherman's troops in February 1 8 6 5 . 3. This letter is unrecovered. 4. For details on these calamities, see Alice Longfellow to Charles, August 30, 1 8 6 3 CMS, Longfellow House), printed in part in "Charley Longfellow Goes to W a r , " p. 288.

2057.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant. Aug 29 1863. My Dear Fields Read this over again; and if you think as well of it as before, use it.1 "The Falcon" has begun his flight, and is ready to tear "Galgano's" eyes out.2 Think also of the title. Every body who speaks to me of the book, says; "A kind of Canterbury Tales, I suppose." Probably every criticism in the papers would begin in the same way, if any name of place is connected with the title. So I prefer "Tales of a Wayside Inn"; or simply "The Wayside Inn." You see, I am determined to have my innings; bowl me out if you can! H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library, PUBLISHED: James C . Austin, " J . T . Fields and the Revision of Longfellow's Poems: Unpublished Correspondence," New England Quarterly, X X I V (June 1 9 5 1 ) , 247. ι . See 2052.2. 2. See 2049.2.

2058.

To Charles Sumner

Nahant Sept 3 1863. My Dear Sumner Had a bomb-shell from a Rebel Privateer fallen upon my Piazza it could not have produced greater astonishment than did the missive from the War Department!1 Rien n'est certain que l'imprévu!2 355

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I thought that matter entirely ended. I had dismissed it from my mind; and Ernest had ceased to think of it any longer. He is now in Cambridge, in the Scientific School. Would it be wise to disturb and distract him with new thoughts and a new career? I confess I am perplexed and troubled about it. My old brain does not mind its helm, and come round upon a new course so easily as it used to do. I am afraid some hasty words of mine when you were last here may have moved you to this act of kindness. You know very well, that it is one of my infirmities sometimes to speak with more heat, than the occasion requires or justifies. If you think I did so on that occasion pardon and forget. I did not mean to say anything unkind to you, and trust you did not think I was alluding in any way to yourself. W e return next week. I wish it were this week. This sad weather by the sea-side is too sad. You have conquered. "The Wayside Inn" it is to be. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . T h e missive announced Ernest Longfellow's appointment to West Point. In a letter from Boston, undated, Sumner had written: "It was determined only within a few days to fill the vacancies in the Rebel States. Indeed, when I was last with you, I knew nothing of this determination. But as soon as I learned it I asked for Erny's appointment — because from something that fell from you, it seemed as if you desired it. That was enough for me. For Erny it is an important question, and I must say, that no ardor for this war can make me think of dedicating a youth to a soldier's life without misgiving. And yet — but you know the argt as well as I know it." 2. "Nothing is certain except the unforeseen" (French proverb).

2059.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow

N o 3. Camb. Sept 20 1863. My Dear Charley, I have been so busy since our return from Nahant, that I have not found leisure to write you till to-day. But as I see you are constantly on the move, I dare say you have not minded it. W e are all well. I have seen Locklin, and he says he handed to you, what was left of the one hundred dollars. I have also seen Capt. Tewksbury, 1 and paid him your mess-bill, forty dollars. I hope the intense heat of the last week has not reached you. If it has you will not have wanted your over-coat and blankets. Still, I hope you have at last found them and the carpet-bag, or rather leather bag. If not, what are you going to do, when the cold nights come? and they cannot be far off.

356

CAMBRIDGE,

Ï 863

W e are anxious to know where you are, and what you are doing. T h e papers do not mention the exact plan on foot; though they say the whole army of the Potomac is in motion. Probably this is not true. Erny is busy in the Scientific School. He might have gone to West Point; but I thought upon the whole he had better not. It seems hardly worth while to give up eight years to military life or Engineering, unless you mean to make it your profession in good earnest. I am sorry I have no news to send you. Alice wrote you a few days ago, in answer to yours of the 1 st of Sept. and I suppose told you all that was worth knowing. Capt. Tewksbury seems very tired of recruiting. He says it is killing him; and he longs to get back to his Regt. With much love from all, ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Captain John L . Tewksbury was stationed in Boston as officer in charge of general recruiting for the First Massachusetts Cavalry.

2060.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow

N o 4. Camb. Sept 23 1863. My Dear Charley, Your letter of the 16th relieved our minds; 1 and we are very thankful that you are all safe, and have escaped thus far, without harm, from so many dangers, and so much exposure. I cannot help wishing, that you were still acting as Adjutant; but perhaps you know best. You do not tell me how your health and strength hold out; nor whether you have coats and blankets enough. You must guard against chills in the cold nights. I send you to-day a paper with an account of Rosecrans and his last battle.2 Yesterday I heard of Major Higginson's engagement — not military, but matrimonial! And to whom do you think? T o Miss Ida Agassiz, a very nice damsel, as you know. Whether he means to return to the Regt, or not, I do not know. I suppose it will depend entirely upon his wound. 3 Aunt Hattie has not yet come up from Lynn — so I can send you no news of Colonel Curtis. At last accounts he was not getting on very fast; but was weak and generally dilapidated. I fear you miss him a great deal. I heard from Fay a few days ago. He had just reed, a letter from you, which pleased him greatly. Of Harry Stanfield I have no news to send.

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T h e papers say that Robert Clark has come home but we have not seen him; and moreover Charleston is not yet taken.4 To-night the news from Rosekrans looks a little better. He is driven back, but not defeated, and is supposed to be reinforced. God bless you, my dear boy, and keep you safe. All send much love, but none so much as H.W.L. Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . In his letter, Charles described his first action under fire during a week's skirmishing near Culpeper, Va., September 9 - 1 5 . See "Charley Longfellow Goes to War," pp. 285-286. 2. The Army of the Cumberland under General William Starke Rosecrans ( 1 8 1 9 1898) suffered a defeat at the battle of Chickamauga on September 19-20, 1863. Only the determined stand of the Fourteenth Corps under General George Henry Thomas ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 7 0 ) , the "Rock of Chickamauga," saved the Union army from a complete rout. 3. Henry Lee Higginson ( 1 8 3 4 - 1 9 1 9 ) , a major in the First Massachusetts Cavalry, had been wounded at Aldie, Va., on June 17, 1863. He married Ida Olympe Frederika Agassiz ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 3 5 ) on December 5, 1863, and became a prominent Boston banker and founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1881. 4. Robert Farley Clark ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 9 1 2 ) , brother of Eudora Clark (2045.5) and a captain in the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, had been present at the siege of Charleston. MANUSCRIPT:

2061.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow Boston

Sept 26 1863

M y Dear Charley, I have just reed, yours with Photograph, 1 on my way to town, stop in at Ticknor's to thank you, so as not to lose the afternoon mail. I will write more fully tomorrow. I have been to Adams' Express, enclose a duplicate Receipt for your luggage. Send this to Willard's they will give it over to you, without farther delay. I am only sorry should have to wait so long. All well here.

and and and you

Ever affectionately H.W.L. Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . See "Charley Longfellow Goes to War," Plate Ilia, facing p. 288.

MANUSCRIPT:

2062.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow

No. 5. Cambridge Sept 28 1863 My Dear Charley, I have received both your letters, of the 20th near Culpepper, and the 23rd. at Stevensburg, with the Photograph, which looks very belligerent.

358

C A M B R I D G E ,

^ 6 3

I forwarded immediately, by mail, the things you wanted; two thick under-shirts; 1 pair of drawers; 1 silk handkerchief; 1 pair of beaver gloves. Let me know if the flannels are thick enough. On Saturday last, Sept 26, I sent you an order or receipt from Adams's Express; by means of which you can get your luggage at Willard's. Many thanks for the Photograph. You turn your eyes a little aside, which gives you rather a sinister aspect. Otherwise it is very good, and your friend 1 looks very aimiable and easy. We have all kinds of rumors about the Army of the Potomac. The last is that a part of it is to join Rosekrans, and the rest, under Gen. Meade, to "fall back upon Washington." To which part do you belong?2 I am very glad you have seen Naty. The meeting must have been very pleasant. Uncle Tom was here last night, and read us a letter from him. He seems very well contented. If you meet again, you must give him our love and best wishes. Mr. Sumner has been making a speech on our Foreign Relations, in which he takes England to task pretty severely.3 I will send it to you. We are all well at the Craigie House; and things go on in the old quiet way. Mr. Greene is here, mainly to be near Geo: Sumner, who is at the point of death, from paralysis.4 All send you much love, including Locklin, whom I met to day, with his beard blacker than ever. Most aff[ectionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Lieut. Daniel Henry Lawrence Gleason ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 9 1 7 ) . Charles's inscription on the back of the photograph (Longfellow Trust Collection, Longfellow House) reads: " L t C . A . Longfellow & Lt D . H . L . Gleason 'Hunky boys' of the ist Mass Cav. Culpepper V a Sept 2,1st 1 8 6 3 . " 2. Charles was in the Army of the Potomac under General Meade. A clipping entitled "Rumors Given for W h a t they are Worth" from the Boston Transcript, X X X V , No. 1 0 , 2 5 6 (September 28, 1 8 6 3 ) , is pasted to the third sheet of the letter. 3. Sumner delivered his speech "Our Foreign Relations" before the Cooper Institute in N e w York on September 10. See Sumner Works, V I I , 3 2 7 - 4 9 2 . 4. George Sumner died on October 6.

2063.

To Charles Appleton Longfellow

No 6 Cambridge Oct 2 1863 My Dear Charlie, I received this morning yours from Catlett's Station, and went to town immediately, and ordered a box at the Grocer's to be sent you this afternoon by Express, and the receipt by mail. The box contains 359

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3 canisters à-la-mode beef ι d[itt]o Roast beef. 2 jars Spanish Olives. 2 d[itt]o pickles, ι Bologna Sausage ι Dutch cheese ι parcel lamb's tongues ι bottle of Contraband to be used in small quantities, and seldom; only in case of chills or sickness. I thought this enough for one venture; where the chances are against your getting it. It is to go direct to you if possible; otherwise to be left with Gustave Evers1 in Washington. I hope it will arrive safe, and give you some satisfaction. If I had had more time, I might have done better. This morning I forwarded you a letter from Harry Stanfield, who writes that he has forgotten your address. I am glad Col. Mcintosh made you give up the black horse. You should have been more humane.2 With much love from all, ever aff[ectionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Evers (d. 1876, aged fifty-one) had been a sergeant, Company A , of the First Massachusetts Cavalry when he was discharged for disability on December 28, 1 8 6 2 . H e served thereafter as regimental sutler. 2. On September 25 Charles had "liberated" a black horse while on picket patrol, but was forced to return it to its owner by Col. John Baillie Mcintosh ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 8 8 ) , commander of the First Brigade, Second Division Cavalry Corps, of which the First Massachusetts Cavalry was a unit. See "Charley Longfellow Goes to W a r , " p. 286.

2064.

To John Albion Andrew

Private. Cambridge Oct 6 1863. Dear Sir, May I beg you to run your eye over the accompanying paper?1 It was drawn up at my request; and may possibly contain some hint or suggestion not without value at this time. I remain, Dear Sir, with great regard, Henry W. Longfellow To His Excellency John A. Andrew. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society, ι . Unrecovered.

360

CAMBRIDGE, 2065.

To Charles Apρ letón

! 863

Longfellow No 7

Cambridge

Oct 21 1863.

M y Dear Charley I was particularly glad to get your letter this morning from Hartwood Church, Oct 10. Postscript in saddle Oct 16. W e had seen by the papers what kind of work the Cavalry was doing, and I am happy to know you have got well through it. I am very glad also that you have at last got your over-coat and blankets; and box No. 3, which I hope will not disappoint you. I would have made it larger; but I thought the chances were you would never see it, and did not wish to risk too much in one venture. You speak in your letter of an enclosure for Mr. Crowninshield, 1 but forgot to put it in, or found another envelope for it. I sent you a newspaper yesterday with the disagreeable winding up of the Jeffries' affair. He has been arrested, and put in prison. Poor Miss Eleanor sails for Europe in a few days with her mother and George. 2 W e are all well here at the Craigie House. Edie has her birth-day party tomorrow. She is ten years old; and this is all the news I have to send you to-day. I have not seen Col. Sargent except in the street, at a distance. I believe he has already departed for the Gulf. W e expect Col. Curtis and Aunt Hattie to dinner tomorrow, when I shall learn something more of the Regiment. Do you remember this "Substitute"? He once came to see us, a year or two ago.3 All send much love, Trap included. Ever most aff [ectionately] H.W.L. I believe I mentioned in my last, that I paid $24.00 to Mrs. Chamberlain, as you desired.4 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . In a postscript of October 16 Charles Longfellow identifies this man as the " H o n Francis Crowninshield." Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1809—1877), a Boston businessman, was the father of Capt. Benjamin W i l l i a m Crowninshield ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 8 9 2 ) of the First Massachusetts Cavalry. 2. Edward Payson Jeffries ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 9 0 6 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1856, had been arrested on October 16 on a charge of fraud in connection with the failure of his merchandise brokerage firm. See the Boston Transcript, X X X V , N o . 10,274 (October 19, 1863). Unable to raise bail, he remained in jail until his sentence on February 2, 1864, to two years' imprisonment with one day's solitary confinement. Jeffries' social standing made a sensation of his case. U p o n his arrest, his engagement was broken with Eleanor Shattuck ( 1 9 4 5 . 1 ) , w h o sought consolation in Europe with her mother A n n e

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Henrietta Brune Shattuck ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 9 4 ) and her brother George Brune Shattuck ( 1 8 4 4 1923)· 3. A clipping from the Boston Transcript, XXXV, No. 10,275 (October 20, 1 8 6 3 ) , is pasted to the sheet here: " T h e tallest 'substitute' yet received in N e w Hampshire hails from Newbury, Mass. He stands six feet four and a half inches in his socks, and his name is Joseph E. Adams." Joseph Edwin Adams ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 8 6 5 ) , a private in Company F, Fourth N e w Hampshire Infantry, was a distant relative of Longfellow through his mother Mary Anna Longfellow (b. 1 8 0 2 ) . 4. This sentence, on a separate piece of ruled paper, accompanies the manuscript. Mrs. Chamberlin of Lynn, Mass., was the wife of George Coles Chamberlin, who had been employed by Charles as a striker since his return to duty in August. T h e money represented Chamberlin's wages from September 19 to October 19. See Charles Longfellow to Alice Longfellow, October 2, 1863 ( M S , Longfellow House).

2066.

To Charles

Sumner Camb. Oct. 2 1 . 1863.

I have just heard from Charley, who is safe and well. I return Greene's letter and the other.1 Thanks. H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Greene had sent Sumner a clipping from the N e w York Evening Express, October 10, 1863, containing a letter to the editor signed "Anti-Abolitionist," which expressed the view that "the teachings of the ultra-Abolitionist are not Bible doctrines, but are in presumptuous defiance of His 'Statute and Judgments,' who has decreed servitude and death for fallen man, as the appropriate punishment for his sins." Greene's covering letter of October 16 read: " I fear you will never sleep again after reading the enclosed. Still I send it to you that you may see from what a height you have thrown the poor negro. Show it to Longfellow. He too, has sinned grievously: and if there is any opening for repentance in either of your perverse breasts, you will surely both be overwhelmed by this new revelation of the dignity of slavery."

2067.

To Elizabeth McGroth

Hayden1

Cambridge Oct. 23. 1863 Dear Madam, M y son has requested me to forward you the enclosed $350.00. I suppose it to be money sent home by some one in his Regiment. Be kind enough to sign the accompanying receipt and oblige Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library, ADDRESS: Mrs. Elizabeth Hayden/ Care of Mr. John F. Wiley 2 /Albion Street/South Reading ANNOTATION (on address cover): Spaulding's Express. $350.00.

362

CAMBRIDGE,

1863

1. Elizabeth Hayden ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 6 5 ) was the mother of Frank Willard Hayden ( 1 8 3 4 - 1 9 0 8 ) , a lieutenant in Charles's regiment. 2. John Francis Wiley was born in South Reading (now Wakefield), Mass., in 1818.

2068.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow

No. 8. Cambridge Oct 24 1863. My Dear Charley, I have paid the money, $350.00, to Mrs. Hayden, as you requested; though I did not much like paying out so large a sum in the dark. You should have sent me some explanation of the matter, so that I might have known what I was about.1 Col. Curtis dined here a day or two ago. He said he knew nothing about the Regt. — having had no letters for a long time. So yours gave him the news, which he had not heard, about the proposed furlough and recruiting camp. T h e Col. is looking a little better, and really begins to pick up a little. He would like to get back to the army, and did not like the prospect of passing the Winter in camp in N e w England. Perhaps you will have a camp farther south. Why not in Pennsylvania, and let recruits go on from there? I should think that would be practicable — and much more comfortable. For my own part, I had rather have you in this neighborhood. All send you much love. Ever affectionately H.W.L. 2 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Charles responded on October 29: "I dont wonder you thought it a queer move, but I assure you it is perfectly right on my part. I would try to explain it to you by letter but it is rather a delicate matter and I had rather wait and tell it to you myself one of these days." Nothing further is known. 2. Two notices concerning the Jeffries affair (2065.2), cut from the Boston Transcript, X X X V , No. 10,278 (October 23, 1863), are pasted to the sheet at the end of the letter.

2069.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. [October] 28. 1863 My Dear Fields, If it is not too late to say so, I had rather not be voted for at the Club 1 just yet. I do not feel like joining now. If I were a member, I should not go there once a year. Then what is the use of being a member? I do not feel at all up to it. Perhaps you can withdraw my name without embarrassment. If you can please do so.

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Strange as you may think it, I find no longer any pleasure in such things, nor take any interest in going about among men. Whenever I try it, I fail utterly. I had rather be here at my work as long as the day continues; for the night cometh in which no man shall work. I forgot to ask you how the engraving gets on.2 W e ought to begin printing as soon as possible; for behind the printing is the binding. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. 1. T h e Union Club had been organized in Boston on February 4, 1 8 6 3 . T h e conditions of membership were an "unqualified loyalty to the Constitution and Union of the United States, and unwavering support of the Federal Government in its efforts for the suppression of the Rebellion." See Edward Waldo Emerson, The Early Years of the Saturday Club, 1 8 5 5 - 1 8 7 0 (Boston and N e w York, 1 9 1 8 ) , p. 3 1 1 . 2. T h e vignette title-page of Tales of a Wayside Inn.

2070.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow N o 9.

Camb. Oct 29. 1863 1

M y Dear Charley, I have had the pleasure of receiving two letters, good long letters — from you this week; one from Bull Run. 17th. and one from Sulphur Springs 23rd. and I am very thankful you have got through such heavy work unharmed. I hope you will now have a little rest. T h e money has been paid to Mrs. Hayden, as you requested. Have you ever received any of your own pay yet? Let me know, and if necessary I will take measures to get arrears, which Mr. [James] Richardson worked so hard for in vain. Your Colonel [Greely Stevenson Curtis] and your Major [Henry Lee Higginson] are both in poor plight, and do not get well, nor even much better. The Colonel is obliged to keep very quiet; and is taking a course of electricity with your little Doctor Garret in Hamilton Place. 2 The Major has been in a very critical situation, an ab[s]cess having formed in his back. I think I told you of his engagement to Miss Ida Agassiz. Your commissions shall be attended to at once; the clothes ordered and a Thanksgiving Box made up. Miss Fanny Beebe was here a day or two ago, and left friendly messages of regard and remembrance for you. Also Aunt Hatty, who takes the warmest interest in your welfare and in your letters. Uncle Tom has gone with Mr. Darley to shoot wild ducks at Bristol. R. I. near Newport. Your friend Mrs. [Mc]Vicars is at the Tremont House. I have not seen her yet.

364

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 6 3

Mrs. [Mary Appleton] Mackintosh inquires particularly after you in all her letters. Love from all. God bless you. Ever aff[ectionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . A notice entitled " T h e Case of Edward P. Jeffries," cut from the Boston Transcript, X X X V , N o . 10,281 (October 27, 1863), is pasted to the top of the sheet. It concerns Jeffries' mental condition, which "is such that it is not safe for him to be without a physician in attendance." 2. Alfred Charles Garratt (d. 1891, aged seventy-eight) practiced medicine at 9 Hamilton Place, Boston. H e wrote Electro-Physiology and Electro-Therapeutics; Showing the Best Methods for the Medical Uses of Electricity (Boston, i 8 6 0 ) .

2071.

To Charles Appleton

Longfellow

N o 10. Camb. Nov. 4 1863. M y Dear Charley, I send you to-day by Adams's Express a box containing your Buffalo skin, and some other small matters to fill up. 1 T h e Thanksgiving box is also nearly ready, only waiting for your clothes which are to be done this week. But what can you do with so many things? I fear they will prove a great incumbrance. T h e money I shall send little by little, so that you will be sure to get some of it. Where is the Paymaster of your Regiment? You have more than Six Months pay due you. M y new book is not yet out. As soon as it appears I will send you a copy. "Punch" I never see. I stopped it two years ago, on account of its vulgar abuse of this country. 2 Ditto the London Illustrated News. Every true American ought to do the same. Yesterday I received yours of Oct. 29: from camp near Warrenton. It is a great pity your men did not accept the furlough. 3 Lieut. Parsons4 has been ordered to remain here and recruit. T h e scarf I send is Harry Stanfield's, evidently. You will value it all the more. You did not say whether the buckskin gloves were wanted for parade or for work and warmth. I supposed the latter; and have sent heavy ones. All well at home, and all send much love. Ever affectionately H.W.L.

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MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. On a separate sheet accompanying the manuscript is a list in Longfellow's hand of the contents of the box: " i Buffalo Skin/i package tobacco/1 d[itt]o cigars/1 d[itt]o coffee/1 d[itt]o mustard/1 pair bucksk. gloves./1 d[itt]o woolen./1 pot blacking./6 yards of flannel/1 scarf/1 package toothpicks/1 pocket mirror." 2. In his letter of October 29 Charles had requested his father to "send me 'Punch' sometimes." 3. Charles had reported: "Since we took the vote of the men the other day in regard to reenlisting they have nearly all changed their minds and the majority are in favor of it now I think." 4. Charles Chauncey Parsons ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 9 0 1 ) of the First Massachusetts Cavalry was a Harvard graduate of i860.

2072.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Nov 12 1863. My Dear Greene, Thanks for your letter, which I have not answered sooner from an unusual pressure of those numberless nothings, which like the remora, impede us as we sail the sea of life. I shall be looking for you soon. Come as soon as you can, and allow yourself a long vacation. Your room is all ready for you, warmed and aired; and the Leoville, impatient of its long imprisonment, calls loudly for the Habeas Corpus, and thinks the suspension thereof a violation of the Constitution.1 Last night I was roused from my first sleep at midnight by a thundering knock at the front door. It was a telegram from Washington announcing the death of — not my boy, but our excellent friend and Good Samaritan, Mr. Richardson who took him to his home last Summer and to whom I can never be sufficiently grateful. Alas! that so noble a soul should have passed away.2 Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Longfellow associates his Léo ville claret with the controversy then raging over Lincoln's suspension of the right of habeas corpus on September 1 5 , 1 8 6 3 . 2. Richardson ( 2 0 2 4 . 2 ) died in Washington on November 10.

2073.

To Charles Appleton Longfellow Non.

Camb. Nov 15. 1863. Enclosed $5.00

My Dear Charley, Your letter of the 10th from Fayetteville came safely, and as usual gave us all great pleasure. You must not expect to be always in the front.

366

CAMBRIDGE,

Í 863

You can do your duty as well in one place as in another; and "They also serve, who only stand and wait." 1 I sent on the 4th. the box with buffalo skin &c. The Thanksgiving box is now all ready. Mrs. Dixwell 2 has put into [it] a parcel for you, and sends with it the enclosed3 which I thought would be safer in my letter than in the box. I hardly know whether to forward at once, or to keep back a few days till you get stationary. At all events I will not delay many days; as I suppose Evers will take good care of everything. Aunt Hatty is to be married on Tuesday next, the 17th. As a wedding present I have sent her, from you, an ebony glove-box ornamented with pear[l]s; and she has sent you an invitation to be present. What a pity it is you can not be there! You will be more missed than any one would be. You will be remembered and regretted. I hear that Col. Sargent has resigned.4 You will be very sorry to hear of Mr. Clark's death.5 It was very sudden. We had not even heard of his illness. Mr. Greene is here and sends his best regards. With much love Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Milton, Sonnet X I X , 1. 14. 2. Mary Ingersoll Bowditch Dixwell ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 9 3 ) was the wife of Epes Sargent Dixwell ( 1 2 1 4 . 2 ) . 3. Unrecovered. 4. Longfellow's statement was premature. Colonel Sargent ( 1 9 9 7 . 1 ) resigned from the army on September 29, 1864. 5. Benjamin Cutter Clark (b. 1 8 0 0 ) , Boston merchant and father of Eudora Clark ( 2 0 4 5 . 5 ) and Robert Farley Clark ( 2 0 6 0 . 4 ) , died of typhoid fever on November 14.

2074.

To George William Curtis [Cambridge]

November 19, 1863.

I have just been reading your very generous, and more than generous, article in the Atlantic.1 If it were not written about myself I should say it is beautifully done. As it is I must say nothing of the kind, but only think it. Let us make believe that you were writing about somebody else. Then I can tell you what a charming piece of criticism this is, and how delicately and skilfully wrought out. All this in a merely literary point of view. But the good-will, the sympathy, the tenderness of the article, I cannot make believe about those; nor can I adequately tell you how

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much I feel and value them. You will find out some day, when you are among the afternoon shadows, and hear the same call from some one who has the shadows still under his feet. Till then you must try to imagine it. W e are all well here in this old house; mainly waiting and watching the tides of the great war. This morning's paper brings the report of Lincoln's brief speech at Gettysburg, 2 which seems to me admirable. I am also rejoicing in the new editors of the North American; 3 as you are, I am sure. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, III, 23-24. ι. Atlantic Monthly, XII (December 1863), 769-775. Curtis took the opportunity, in reviewing Tales of a Wayside Inn, to praise Longfellow's literary career. 2. Delivered on the date of this letter. 3. Charles Eliot Norton and James Russell Lowell.

2075.

To Anne Allegra

Longfellow Washn.Dec.4

1863. 1

M y Darling Annie, How very happy you will all be on getting the good news about Charlie, and knowing that he is doing well, and will be here this evening! I miss you very much, and have to go to bed without peeping into a nursery to see the little heads on their pillows, and hearing the prayer "God bless Charley." You see he has blessed him, and turned the bullet aside. This time in Washington I see no little girls playing in the garden, because it is Winter, and I am in a house that has no garden. 2 W e have a room about as large as the library, with three windows looking into the street; and another room as large as the study, looking into the yard. Charley will be very glad, when he comes, to find your letter lying on the table. W i t h much love to all Your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Alice Allegra Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House), LISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes to War," p. 296.

PUB-

ι. On December 1 Longfellow had received the following telegram from Washington: "Our dispatches state that Lieut Longfellow of First Mass Cavalry was sever[e]ly wounded in the Face at Mount [New] Hope Church on Friday Nov 27th. No chance of any wounded being sent in at present." Longfellow and his son Ernest left Cambridge immediately and arrived in Washington on the evening of December 2. See "Charley Longfellow Goes to War," p. 294®.

368

WASHINGTON,

1863

2. After one night in Willard's Hotel, Longfellow and Ernest had moved to the Ebbitt House to await the arrival of Charles.

2076.

To Edith Longfellow Washn. Dec 4 1863

My Darling Edie, As Erny wrote to Alice last evening, I shall write to you and Annie this morning. It is a beautiful day, warm and bright, and we are expecting Charley in the afternoon, and have a large room ready for him. You will all be very glad to know that he is not wounded in the face. A bullet struck him in front; but instead of going through him, glanced round upon his ribs and came out of his back. A pretty narrow escape! This is what I hear from others. We shall know more about it tonight. This morning I sent word to Alice by telegraph, so that you need not be troubled. Do you miss me a little, my darling? I hope you have Josie [Ames] with you, and that the good news about Charlie — so much better than I feared it might be, — will make you very happy. Important for the little house-keeper! If the nights are very cold, tell Welch to shut off the water, as he did last winter. He will know what it means. And if anything goes wrong with the pipes send for Mr. Banmeister, the plumber. Ever affectionately Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society, to W a r , " pp. 2 9 5 - 2 9 6 .

2077.

PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes

To Charles Sumner

[Washington] Ce Vendredi 4 Décr. 1863. Monsieur, Dès que vous serez arrivé, lavé, parfumé, rasé et repu, venez me voir à l'Ehbit[t] House, deux pas de chez vous. H.W.L Ou si vous le préferez faites-moi savoir votre arrivée, et je viendrai vous trouver. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

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TRANSLATION:

[Washington] Friday 4 Deer. 1863. Sir, As soon as you have arrived, washed, scented, shaved and fed, come and see me at the Ebbitt House, two steps from your place. H.W.L Or if you prefer let me know the time of your arrival, and I will come and fetch you.

2078.

To Alice Mary

Longfellow

Ebbit[t] House. Washn. Deer. 5. 1863. My Darling Alice, We waited last evening at the Railway Station from six o'clock till ten, the last train, but no Charley came. So we went home and went to bed. A little after midnight a rap at the chamber door; I jumped up and received — not Charley, but a Telegram which I enclose.1 You see he is not seriously wounded after all, which is a great blessing. I wish you would see Mrs. Dixwell, and tell her that I am also looking out for her nephew Lieut Bowditch,2 and have secured a room for him at this hotel, if he comes with Charley. I hear he is but slightly injured. It remains however to be seen what military men mean by the word slightly. Probably anything short of losing an arm or a leg! The weather is delightful; mild as May. We need no fire in our room, and are very comfortable. So do not waste any sympathy on us. It is such a relief to find things so much better than we anticipated! Think of the mischief done by leaving out the little word "not" in that first telegram! "Not severely" it should have been. Love to all, Ever affectionately H.W.L. Longfellow Trust Collection, to War," p. 297.

MANUSCRIPT:

PUBLISHED:

"Charley Longfellow Goes

ι . This telegram — from Colonel John Henry Devereux ( 1 8 3 2 - 1 8 8 6 ) , superintendent of military railroads in Virginia — was sent to Longfellow at 1 1 : 5 0 P.M. on December 4: "Have just seen your son. He is bright and feeling well. Has a slight wound in shoulder, ball glancing upward and no bones broken. He remains here tonight and will leave on train for Washington at 12.50 PM tomorrow. I have informed him of your Hotel in case anything should cause you to pass each other accidentally in trying to meet" CMS, Longfellow Trust Collection, Longfellow House). 2. Captain Henry Pickering Bowditch ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 9 1 1 ) , grandson of the mathematician, was wounded in the right forearm while leading a charge at New Hope Church. After receiving a medical degree at Harvard in 1868, he became a physiologist.

37°

NEW 2079.

T o Alice Mary

YORK,

1863

Longfellow Ebbit[t] House. 2 1 / 2 o'clock. Washn. Dec 5 1863.

Dearest Alice, At last I have got nearer the truth. Both the wounded officers are here, one in one bed, and one in another, in a large airy room with three windows, and everything comfortable. Captain Bowditch is wounded in the right arm, just below the elbow; he calls it a slight wound, and is otherwise well and in good spirits. Charley's wound is worse; right through the back, the ball going in under one shoulder-blade and coming out under the other. No bones shattered; a miraculous escape. The Post-surgeon has not yet come in, so that I can not say a word about our return. First we must have two or three days perfect rest. How lucky it was I came on, and secured these rooms! If I had waited till the next day, everything might have gone wrong. Report this to Mrs. Dixwell, and say that Captain Bowditch is so sound asleep that even the heavy tramp of the Army surgeon, who has just looked in, did not wake him. He looked at Charley and said "Keep him quiet." He looked at Bowditch, said nothing, but turned and departed. So we are doing very well; if I can only keep Charley quiet. Ever affectionately Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, to W a r , " pp. 2 9 8 - 2 9 9 .

2080.

T o Alice Mary

PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes

Longfellow N e w York

Dec 9th [1863] 1

Shall be at home at ten. Have Dr Wyman there. H. W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, to W a r , " p. 300.

PUBLISHED:

"Charley Longfellow Goes

ι. This telegram, received in Cambridge on December 9, is on a form of the American Telegraph Company.

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RECOVERY

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Deer. 18 1863. My Dear Greene, I have lying on my desk a pile of more than fifty unanswered letters. What shall I do? I begin by diminishing the number, and withdraw yours from the miscellaneous multitude. On the first day of the month I received at dinner a telegram, saying that Charley was severely wounded in the face; and started at once for Washington, where I had to wait three days before he was sent up from the front; and then came home with him as soon as possible. He is badly wounded but not in the face. An Enfield bullet passed through both shoulders, just under the shoulder-blades, grazing the back bone, and making a wound a foot long. A very narrow and fortunate escape; but so serious is the wound that the surgeons say he will not be able to rejoin his Regiment for six months. He is doing well. I thought of you, as we bowled along through Kingston and Greenwich after dark, and saw the lights gleam in windows here and there, and remembered the comfortable room you gave me in the old house so many winters ago! Fields tells me he has advertised the missing M.S. and I hope this will bring it back.1 If you go to Washington this Winter stop at the Ebbitt House. It is three doors from Sumner. With kindest remembrances to your household Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . In a letter of December 7 Greene had disclosed that he had lost the "manuscript of the lectures," presumably the twelve lectures on the American Revolution he had delivered before the Lowell Institute in January and February. See 1 9 8 1 . 2 .

2082.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Deer. 18. 1863.

My Dear Senator, I have had so bad a cold since our return home, and have been generally in such bad plight, that I have not been able to answer your flying notes, nor to thank you for the Photograph. I am glad our friend Lyon is satisfied with the result of that day's work, and that you are reasonably so.1 37

2

CAMBRIDGE,

1863

We had a very comfortable journey homeward, and Charley is doing well; and getting stronger day by day. He whistles, and sings, and is in very good spirits. He has already begun to order things for his next campaign! You would think he was going back tomorrow. That tomorrow is a good way off! I had, on the whole, a very pleasant visit in Washington, about as pleasant as anything is now-a-days. I send you a book to-day for Lyon, your most trusty friend. His enthusiasm for you would win me; and that is only one of his virtues. I am glad to see you have proposed the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law. 2 1 should like to have done it myself. I envy you! I see by the papers that letters to Members of Congress must be prepaid. Is it so? If it is, I congratulate you. It would kill off a good many buzzing flies, that only annoy you. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, W a r , " pp. 3 0 0 - 3 0 1 .

PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes to

ι . Caleb Lyon ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 8 7 5 ) , N e w York politician, congressman, 1 8 5 3 - 1 8 5 5 , and territorial governor of Idaho, 1 8 6 4 - 1 8 6 6 , had met Longfellow in Washington the previous June. Meeting him again on December 7, he persuaded him to have his photograph taken with Sumner the next day ( M S Journal). See Plate V I I . 2. On December 10 Sumner had announced his intention to work toward the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law; he introduced a bill to that effect on February 8, 1864; and it eventually passed the Senate on June 2 3 , 1864. See Sumner Works, V I I I , 4 0 3 418.

2083.

To Benjamin Franklin DeCosta1

Cambridge Dec 21 1863. Dear Sir, Absence from town and many occupations and anxieties since my return have prevented me from sending you an earlier reply to your letter. The only English translations of Icelandic Sagas which I can call to mind are; The Sagas of the Heimskringla, by Mr. Laing; The Saga of Burnt Njal by Mr. Dasent; And Frithiof's Saga, by Mr. Stevens, in the Preface to his version of Tegner's poem.2 I have an impression also that Mr. Elihu Burrit[t] published some fragments in a periodical he once conducted.3

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It seems to me that a better work may be done for Icelandic Literature, than translating the sagas; and that is a faithful version of the old Poetic Edda, in the metre of the original. This would be something of permanent value in literature; and you will find in the College Library here all the means of accomplishing it. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow p.s. Just as I was closing this letter I received one from an English friend who has lately been in Copenhagen. He says; "Though I stayed in Copenhagen, I nevertheless did not even attempt to translate the Edda. Partly because learned Danish scholars professed not to understand it thoroughly themselves; partly because two people, of whom Thorpe the Scandinavian scholar is one, are already engaged upon it."4 Thus things get done in duplicate! I do not see but you must fall back upon the Sagas after all.5 H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: New-York Historical Society. ι . DeCosta ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 9 0 4 ) , Episcopal clergyman and writer, served as chaplain of Massachusetts troops in the Civil War, 1 8 6 1 - 1 8 6 3 . His historical writings eventually mounted to some fifty titles. 2. Longfellow owned copies of The Heimshringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway, trans. Samuel Laing (London, 1 8 4 4 ) , 3 vols., and Frithiof's Saga, a Legend of the North, trans. George Stephens (Stockholm, 1 8 3 9 ) . The Story of Burnt Ν jal or Life in Iceland at the End of the Tenth Century, trans. George Webbe Dasent, was first published in Edinburgh in 1 8 6 1 in two volumes. 3. Burritt's translations from the Icelandic appeared in a journal published by Absalom Peters ( 1 7 9 3 - 1 8 6 9 ) , Presbyterian clergyman, author, and editor. See American Eclectic, I (January 1 8 4 1 ) , 9 9 - 1 1 1 ; ( M a y 1 8 4 1 ) , 4 8 8 - 4 9 8 . 4. T h e "English friend" is unidentified. Benjamin Thorpe ( 7 0 9 . 3 ) published The Edda of Saemund the Learned in London in 1866. 5. DeCosta published his translations of the Icelandic sagas in Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the Northmen (Albany, 1 8 6 8 ) . It was the largest collection of the sagas in English to date.

2084.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Deer 22 1863 My Dear Sumner, Thanks for the letters which I return herewith. I am glad the new volume finds favor in the eyes of your friends. 374

CAMBRIDGE,

! 863

Is the "Atlantic" sent to you? I want you to run your eye over the three Cantos of Dante in the last N o . Read also [the] Agassiz paper on Glaciers. It will interest you. Also Lowell's poem on Col. S h a w . 1 I am so ill with a cold, that I can hardly hold up my head, much less write a letter to a Senator, who owns an autograph of Milton. " T h i s autograph is unique and is owned by Charles Sumner. Fit hand to hold such words from John Milton." N . Y . E v e Post. 2 T h e Lieut, has his ups and downs; but upon the whole is getting on very well. Addio! H.W.L. 3

p.s. T h e Photographer was to send a parcel to me through you. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Longfellow's "Three Cantos of Dante's 'Paradiso,' " Agassiz's "External Appearance of Glaciers," and Lowell's "Memorias Positum/R.G. Shaw/1863" appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, XIII (January 1864), 47-55, 56-65, 88-90. 2. See 1777.ι. The quotation is from the New York Evening Post, LXII (December 21, 1863), 3. Sumner had lent his Milton autograph ("Comus," 11. 1,021-1,022, dated "Junij 10, 1639") to an exhibition in Boston in aid of the Sanitary Commission. 3. Presumably Alexander Gardner of Washington who had photographed Longfellow and Sumner in his studio at the corner of 7th and D streets on December 8 (2082.1).

2085.

T o Israel

Washburn1 Cambridge

Dec 2 2

1863

Dear Sir, I am very sorry that my engagements are such as to render it impossible for me to comply with your request. T h e occasion is certainly an exciting one; but I must let it pass, as I have not time to do it justice. I remain, Dear Sir Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Library of Congress. ι. Washburn (1813-1883), congressman from Maine, 1851-1861, and governor of the state, 1861-1862, had recently been appointed collector of customs in Pordand, a post that he retained until 1877. In a letter of December 19 he had asked Longfellow to provide a "Hymn or Ode to be sung or read" at a celebration in Portland on January 1 commemorating the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

375

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T o George

RECOVERY

Routledge

Cambridge Dec 23 1863 Dear Sir, I have requested Mr. Fields to forward to you a copy of his edition of "Tales of a Wayside Inn," in which I made one or two verbal changes after the sheets were sent to you. I repeat them here P. 53 of your edition, last line, read "And never wearies nor grows old." P. 239 for A Day in June read A Day of Sunshine Same in Contents. V . 1 In the list of copies I asked to be sent to friends, I hope I put down the name of Mrs. S. C . Hall 8 Essex Villas Campden Hill. Please send copies also to Le Chevalier de Chatelain Castelnan Lodge, Warwick Crescent, Westbourne Terrace Road. W . and to Mrs. Frances A. Kemble, whose address I do not know, and Anthony Trollope Esqre. 2 Hoping that the success of the book has not disappointed your expectations, I remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Wayside Inn ρ 137. 3rd line read Whistling said, "It would bewilder P. 191. 3rd line from bottom, read His sole diversion was to hunt the boar MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, referred to are the fine ed

ANNOTATION (in

another

hand):

pages

ι . Longfellow had received an advance copy of the Routledge, W a r n e , and Routledge edition of Tales of a Wayside Inn (London, 1864). T h e corrections listed here and in the postscript were made in the reprintings of the British edition. 2. Marginal annotations in another hand appear as follows: "Pr. post" (after Mrs. H a l l ) ; "del[ivere]d" (after de Chatelain). T h e annotations after Kemble and Trollope are indecipherable.

2087.

T o Frances Farrer [Cambridge]

December 28, 1863.

It is so long since I wrote you last that I am heartily ashamed to think of it. So I will not think of it. Let us make believe that I have been a good and punctual correspondent, and then I shall have courage to proceed . . . Since I wrote you, I have been through a great deal of trouble and anxiety. M y oldest boy, not yet twenty, is a lieutenant of cavalry in the 3 76

CAMBRIDGE,

1863

Army of the Potomac. Early in the summer he was taken down with camp fever, and did not rejoin his regiment till September. In the last battle on the Rapidan he was shot through both shoulders with a rifleball, and had a very narrow escape of it. He is now at home, and doing very well. T h e two anxious journeys to the army to bring him back, together with the waiting and the watching, have not done me much good, nor left me much time for other things. However, I have contrived to get a volume of poems through the press, and have requested the London publishers to send you a copy. T h e Wayside Inn has more foundation in fact than you may suppose. T h e town of Sudbury is about twenty miles from Cambridge. Some two hundred years ago, an English family, by the name of Howe, built there a country house, which has remained in the family down to the present time, the last of the race dying but two years ago. Losing their fortune, they became inn-keepers; and for a century the Red-Horse Inn has flourished, going down from father to son. T h e place is just as I have described it, though no longer an inn. All this will account for the landlord's coat-of-arms, and his being a justice of the peace, and his being known as "the Squire," — things that must sound strange in English ears. All the characters are real. T h e musician is Ole Bull; the Spanish Jew, Israel Edrehi, 1 whom I have seen as I have painted him, etc., etc. Your lotus-leaf pillow is now giving comfort to a younger head than mine, — the wounded officer's. H e comes down into my study every day, and is propped up with it in a great chair. How brave these boys are! Not a single murmur or complaint, though he has a wound through him a foot long. He pretends it does not hurt him. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, III, 2 6 - 2 7 . ι . See 866.3. Longfellow mistakenly wrote Israel for Isaac.

2088.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Cambridge Dec 28 1863. Dearest Annie, Since my return from Washington, I have been so ill with influenza that I have not been able to write to you. But a week ago I commissioned Sam to let you know all about Charley so that you might not be kept any longer in the dark. Since then, everything has been going on well with him, and his wounds are healthy, and healing as fast as desirable. It will however be a long time before he is entirely well again. I want to know particularly how Aunt Lucia is this Winter. Does she like the cold weather? I do not; but should like to run away every year to some land of open windows and roses and oranges and the like.

377

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RECOVERY

From Mary [Longfellow Greenleaf] we hear nothing directly; only once, of her arrival at New Orleans, and this through Mrs. Croswell. You no doubt have had letters. Let us know how she bore the journey, and how she finds her beloved city of the South. Has Alex gone to Florida? He wrote he should move suddenly, if he went, and might pass through without seeing us. It will be hard for him; and I hope he may be left for Northern work. All join in much love. My little darlings have gone to the Sedgwick's this evening. 1 1 am looking for their bright faces. Ever affect. H.W.L. p.s. Did the box of wine ever reach you? It was duly sent. I enclose you a cheque for $100. but have no stamp. Put one on when you endorse it. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. T h e surviving children of Theodore Sedgwick ( 1 0 9 1 . 1 ) all lived in Cambridge: Mrs. Charles Eliot Norton ( 1 9 2 6 . 3 ) ; Arthur George Sedgwick ( 1 8 4 4 - 1 9 1 5 ) , student at Harvard; and the two daughters alluded to here — Sarah Price Ashburner Sedgwick (b. 1 8 3 9 ) and Marian Theodora Sedgwick ( 1 8 5 1 - 1 9 1 6 ) .

2089.

To William Cullen Bryant

Cambridge Jan 4 1864 My Dear Mr. Bryant, I was much gratified to receive on New Year's Day your kind remembrance in your new volume of Poems,1 which I have read with great sympathy and delight, and find very consoling both in its music and in its meaning. I most heartily congratulate you on this new success. Have you looked at the January No. of the North American Review — the first under the new management? Some of the Articles, I think, will please you, particularly "Immorality in Politics," by Mr. Norton, and "The President's Policy" by Mr. Lowell.2 With kind remembrances to Mrs. Bryant, and to Julia, whom I much regretted not seeing on her late visit, I remain, Very sincerely, Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: N e w York Public Library (Goddard-Roslyn Collection), PUBLISHED: Parke Godwin, A Biography of William Cullen Bryant, with Extracts from His Private Correspondence ( N e w York, 1 8 8 3 ) , II, 206. ι . Thirty Poems ( N e w York, 1 8 6 4 ) . 2. North American Review, X C V I I I (January 1 8 6 4 ) , 1 0 5 - 1 2 7 , 2 3 4 - 2 6 0 .

378

CAMBRIDGE, 2090.

T o Pauline

1864

Danse1

Cambridge Jan 5 1864 Dear Madam, I have had the honor of receiving your letter with the statement of your plan for establishing a School in Germany. T h e plan strikes me very favorably; but how far it is likely to be a successful undertaking I have no means of judging, and your own opinion is, of course, much better than mine. Your References should all be to persons, who know you personally, or who have had children under your charge. This I should think essential; otherwise they might do more harm than good. If you can fairly make a beginning, the chief difficulty will be overcome. For I should think there are American families abroad, or going abroad, who would be too happy to avail themselves of such a school, as the one you propose. If I should have it in my power to be of service to you, I shall be much gratified to forward your desires; and with best wishes, I remain, Dear Madam, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Pauline Danse (d. 1883, aged fifty-six) identified herself in a letter of December 14, 1863, asking Longfellow to use his influence in her behalf: "I have first to introduce myself as a teacher of german literature at the Pittsburg Female College. M y husband is Professor of French at said School, [and] the Western University of Pennsylvania; an intense home sickness as well as the wish to be with an old father of 79 years to brighten his last days, induce me to leave this country for Germany, having teached for 14 years in France, Paris, London, Germany and the last four years in this country. I intend to establish a School for young American Ladies in Carlsruhe my native town." Her plan did not materialize. The annual catalogues of the Pittsburgh Female College reveal that with the exception of 1 8 6 4 - 1 8 6 5 , Mrs. Danse taught German there from 1862 to 1 8 8 1 .

2091.

T o James Thomas Fields Camb. Jan 5 1864

My Dear Fields After long search I cannot find any English version of Jean Paul's "Death of an Angel," though I am sure I have seen it in some book or other of the gorgeous German, overset into English. 1 Therefore content yourself with the original, which I will bring or send tomorrow — and this letter with it.

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RECOVERY

I have a sad letter from Hawthorne. 2 He seems much dejected. Suppose we give him a quiet little dinner in town; nobody to be present but two jovial Publishers, and two melancholy authors. Yours ever truly H.W.L. p.s. I wish you would write to Macmillan 3 for me. Remind me of this, when we meet. I am not sure that I have a copy of the last edition of Hyperion. W e cannot begin without it.4 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . A n English version of Jean Paul Richter's "Der T o d eines Engels" had appeared in The Death of an Angel and Other Pieces, trans. A . Kenney (London, 1 8 3 9 ) . Fields wanted the translation for the forthcoming Ticknor & Fields edition of Richter's The Campaner Thai, and Other Writings (Boston, 1 8 6 4 ) , where it appears on pp. 3 6 7 - 3 7 2 . 2. For this letter of January 2, 1864, see Life, III, 2 8 - 2 9 . Hawthorne had written that he was unwell and doubtful if he would have anything "more to do with pen and ink." 3. Presumably Alexander Macmillan ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 9 6 ) , a founder and at this time head of the English publishing firm. 4. Ticknor & Fields were at work on a revised edition of Longfellow's Complete Works in which Hyperion appeared as Vol. II. See 1969.3.

2092.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Jan 9. 1864. My Dear Fields, M y edition of Jean Paul has no Index; and I have hunted late and early, through volume after volume, to find what you want, without success thus f a r . 1 1 will try again. You have the little volume published some years ago by [James] Munroe [& Company], "Best Hours of Life for the Hour of Death." 2 There is also among Jean Paul's Miscellanies a "Dream of the Battlefield," which might be timely. Has that been translated?3 I have hoped to see you before this, but have been prevented by indisposition — to go to town. Is it true that Thackeray is dead?4 Yours truly H.W.L. p.s. I hope you will be able to have one of Greene's papers in the next Atlantic. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library.

380

CAMBRIDGE,

1864

ι. Longfellow owned Jean Paul's Sämmtliche Werke (Berlin, 1 8 2 6 - 1 8 3 3 ) , 65 vols. 2.. Jean Paul Richter, Reminiscences of the Best Hours of Life for the Hour of Death (Boston, 1848). See also the Ticknor & Fields edition of The Campaner Thai, and Other Writings, pp. 348-363. 3. " A Dream of a Battle-Field" appears in The Campaner Thai, and Other Writings, pp· 3 7 7 - 3 8 3 · 4. Thackeray had died in London on December 24, 1863. Fields responded on Monday [January r i ] : "Poor Thackeray has indeed flitted. The English press (Times &c) notice his passing away very peacefully in his own bed, no one near him, — a night exit — alone" (MS, Henry E. Huntington Library).

2093.

To William Adolphus

Wheeler

Cambridge Jan 9 1864. Dear Sir, I will give you the names of famous swords and of their owners, as far as I remember them.1 They are; Balmung, sword of Mimung Angurvadel " Quernbiter Foot-breadth [Fetbreith] Excalibar Aroundight Morglay Joyeuse Durindale Corrouge Tizona \ Colada J

Siegfried Wittich Frithiof Halcón the Good Thoralf the Strong King Arthur Launcelot Bevis of Hampton Charlemagne Orlando SirOtuel The Cid

In "[George] Ellis's Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances [London, 1805]" you will find mention made, (with quotations in some cases) of Morglay. Aroundight Durindale Corrouge Joyeuse

Vol. II. p. ib. ib p. ib ρ ib ρ

165 304 317 346

381

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RECOVERY

I wish I could give you a more complete list; but these are all I can call to mind. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT : Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. I. Wheeler wanted this information in connection with his work on Webster's tionary. See 1960.1.

2094.

Dic-

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Jan 13 1864 My Dear Greene Here comes the wine at last, with this letter as an outrider. That the demijon may not be tampered with, I have enclosed it in a box, and filled up the corners with bottles. Everything is Italian; box, nails, straw, and wine, except two bottles of Alicante, which I bought on board a Sicilian Brig. It purports to be Alicante. I suspect it to be Catalan; strong, black, demanding water. No mark on the corks. The rest of the invoice is as follows. One Demijon Marsala Two bottles Pergola. P. d[itt]o White Falernian W.F. d[itt]o Red d[itt]o R.F. Two bottles Capri C. The Marsala is excellent, bought of the importer. May need a little rest after its journey; in other words, will grow better as you use it. Charley is getting on very comfortably. Ticknor has ordered paper for a new Edition of "Wayside Inn." Fields says the orders are increasing. A good sign. I hope you have escaped the terrible influenza, which has stolen a month from me and are busily firing away at the old General.1 Dante has ascended to his station over your head in my study. I regret I must turn my back upon you both as I write. Ever truly H.W.L. p.s. The box of wine went this morning by Express. See that they charge you nothing at your end of the line. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . General Nathanael Greene.

382

CAMBRIDGE, 2095.

1864

To Edward Everett

Cambridge Jan 14 1864 My Dear Mr. Everett, I had the pleasure yesterday of receiving your note and the souvenir from the Falls of the Minnehaha, none the worse, nor less welcome for the accidental delay. If you should ever see Governor Ramsay1 again, or should write to him, I beg you to thank him for his kind remembrance. With many thanks, I remain, Dear Mr. Everett, Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society,

ENDORSEMENT: Ree. 1 4 Jan. 1864

ι . Alexander Ramsey ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 9 0 3 ) , governor of Minnesota, 1 8 5 9 - 1 8 6 3 , and U . S . senator, 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 7 5 . Everett had written on January 1 2 : " W h e n I was at St Pauls' on the Upper Mississippi in the spring of 1 8 6 2 , Governor Ramsay conducted me among other places to the Falls of Minnehaha . . . the Governor picked a bunch of Wild flowers from the rocks which overhung the falls and desired me, in his name to bring them to you . . . T h e y came to light last Evening and I pray you pardon their involuntary detention."

2096.

To Charles Sumner [Cambridge, January 15, 1864] 1

Martial. Such a court had not then been ordered; or at all events I had not heard of it. I hardly need say, that if I had supposed the paper to contain anything which could be personally offensive to the Secretary of War, or in any way calculated to embarrass the Government, I would not have signed it. You know how staunch an upholder I have always been of the present Administration, and you did me no more than justice when you vouched for my doing nothing adverse to it. I have not yet seen Prof. Pierce [Benjamin Peirce], but will try to do so to-day. Agassiz has not yet returned. Ever Yours Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . This fragment, the exact date of which is provided by Longfellow's letter calendar, was written in response to Sumner's letter of January 12, 1864: "Your name appears at the bottom of a paper, — a list headed by Mr Hill, which the Secy of W a r regards as personally offensive. Agassiz and Pierce were in the same list; but they declare that they never signed any such paper, and they utterly disavow it. This they have done in writ-

383

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RECOVERY

ing. A court-martial has been ordered on Surgeon-Genl. Hammond; and this paper, it is said, undertakes to step in between the court and the Surgeon-Genl. T h e Secy, regards it as something 'got up' by the Surgeon Geni or 'Parson Bellows.' He proposes to bring on from Boston all who have signed the paper, and compelí them to declare the grounds of the statements to which they put their names. Agassiz and Pierce think the paper essentially a forgery. I hope you will see them on their return. I told the Secy that I would vouch for you as not doing anything adverse to the administration in impeaching any of its members, and that I was sure that yr relation to the paper would be explained as easily as that of Agassiz and Pierce." Dr. William Alexander Hammond ( 1 8 2 8 - 1 9 0 0 ) , subsequently a leader in the practice of neurology, was appointed surgeon general in 1862, but he clashed repeatedly with Secretary of War Stanton, who arranged for his court martial on charges of irregularities in the award of contracts for hospital supplies. T h e court found him guilty and dismissed him from the army in August 1864, but he won a review of his case in 1878 and a reversal of his conviction. T h e Mr. Hill who signed the testimonial with Longfellow was presumably Thomas Hill ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 9 1 ) , president of Harvard, 1 8 6 2 - 1 8 6 8 . "Parson Bellows" was Rev. Henry Whitney Bellows ( 1 5 0 6 . 1 ) , president of the U . S . Sanitary Commission, i86i-r878.

2097.

To Annie Adams Fields [Cambridge]

January 18, 1864.

I am much obliged to you for your charming note. 1 It certainly is a great pleasure to give pleasure to others, and particularly to those whom we wish to please. Though one may sing for the mere delight of singing, I think it increases the delight to know that the song has been heard and liked. Especially if one sings from the corner of School and Washington streets!2 I send you, with this, Jean Paul's Geist, in the fourth volume of which apparition you will find [some pieces] which Mr. Fields wanted you to see. It has no index, and no references to the volumes from which the extracts are made, — a great drawback, in my opinion. Glancing over it, you will find many things already familiar, perhaps something new; certainly much that is beautiful. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Life, III, 30. 1. On January 14 Mrs. Fields had sent Longfellow a letter of thanks for Tales of a Wayside Inn: "So many years of my life have been made beautiful by the music you have translated into it, that I praise God for such singing as I do for the air and trees and the great blue heaven; and I believe the reflected light of the sympathy you have felt for others must occasionally shine through the deep enveloping shadows of life. This last volume has the old bewitching qualities" ( M S , Henry E. Huntington Library). 2. T h e location of Ticknor & Fields.

384

CAMBRIDGE, 2098.

! 86

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge Jan 19 1864 My Dear Sumner, I sent you yesterday an abstract of Emerson's last Lecture.1 Among his compliments to the English I wonder he did not introduce Heine's; "I verily believe that a blaspheming Frenchman is a more pleasant object in the sight of his Maker, than a praying Englishman!"2 Fields says he is ready to print in handsome style one thousand copies of George's Miscellanies, but can pay no copyright, as the profits will not more than cover expenses.3 You expressed a wish to remunerate Greene in some way. You might do it either directly, or through Fields. The former is preferable, as being the most direct and truthful. That was a strange letter4 you sent me; a little jealousy in it. Old Göthe was detected in sending the same love poems to two ladies. You send in the same way your portrait to two ladies. Comparison of notes — detection — explosion. No insanity in the case. Don't forget a good word to Henry about Greene's Lectures, when you meet him.6 Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. "The Fortune of the Republic," in which Emerson expressed his faith in America and his distrust of the English. He read the lecture throughout New England and in Brooklyn during this winter. See The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Boston, 1 9 0 3 - 1 9 0 4 ) , XI, 5 1 1 - 5 4 4 . 2. See Heine's "Lutezia, Berichte über Politik, Kunst und Volksleben," Part Two, No. 51 in Vermischte Schriften, Vol. III. 3. George Washington Greene's plan to edit George Sumner's miscellaneous writings did not materialize. 4. Unrecovered. 5. In his constant effort to help Greene, Longfellow hoped to arrange a series of lectures for him before the Smithsonian Institution, but his attempt was unsuccessful. Joseph Henry ( 1 7 9 7 - 1 8 7 8 ) served as the institution's first secretary and director, 1 8 4 6 1878.

2099.

To Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Camb. Jan 20 1864 My Dear Dana, Miss Anna A. Currier 93 Pinkney St. Boston is very desirous of obtaining employment as a copyist. I enclose her note1 that you may see her handwriting, which I think

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RECOVERY

very good. Be kind enough to show it to Mr. Parker;2 and if you have anything of that kind to offer the young lady, please consider her case. Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι. Dated January 18, 1864. In a second note to Longfellow of February 13, 1864, Miss Currier makes clear that his intercession in her behalf was unsuccessful. 2. Francis Edward Parker ( 6 7 5 . 2 ) was Dana's law partner.

2100.

To Welch, Bigelow & Company Camb. Jan 20. 1864

Please print for Messrs Ticknor & Fields Five Thousand "Wayside Inn," from my plates Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Alexander William Armour, Notables and graphs (New York, 1939), p. 178.

21 ο ι.

Auto-

To James Thomas Fields

Cambridge Jan 22 1864 My Dear Fields, I had a presentiment that the framed picture was for me, and have now the cruel satisfaction of depriving you of what you thought so "fondly thine own." Enclosed is the Sheriff's warrant for seizing the two gentlemen, who have hidden themselves in your room. They are to be brought before me, and will inevitably be hanged or hung. 1 I gave Mr. La Farge a note to you this morning. I hope you will think as well of him and of his drawings as I did. There are parts of Dante which I feel confident he would do well; for he evidently has a nature, which discerns things spiritual. But it will be a long, long labor. His idea of a vignette at the beginning and end of each Canto struck me very favorably.2 Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Presumably a reference to the photograph taken of Sumner and him in Washington on December 8, 1863. See 2082.1 and 2084.3. 2. Nothing came of the suggestion here that John La Farge ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 9 1 0 ) might illustrate Longfellow's translation of the Divine Comedy. The artist went on to a successful career as muralist, writer, and worker in stained glass.

386

CAMBRIDGE, 2102.

^64

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Jan 24 1864. My Dear Greene, I am sorry to see by your last letter, that you are so cast down, and hope ere this the wine has strengthened you and gladdened your heart.1 Fields intended to have one of your papers in this February No. of the Atlantic. It was half set up, when there was a strike at Riverside, and he had to make up the No. with matters already in type, waiting their turn. He furthermore says that he will publish the Miscellanies of George Sumner, and will begin to print as soon as the ms. is ready; but wants all at once, so as to run it off glibly. I sympathize with your disappointment in regard to the editorship of the North American; but cannot feel the same regret as you do, for I cannot conscientiously think, that with your eyes, it would have been a good thing for you to take up such a burden. It might have made you blind; it certainly would have occupied your time and thought to the great disadvantage of what you have in hand. It was a phantom to lure you away. Be of good cheer. More anon. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. In a letter of January 22 Greene had complained that Fields was not publishing his essays in the Atlantic Monthly and that "the want of being kept before the public prevents me from getting the employment as a lecturer which my situation requires: unless—as I sometimes suspect—my lectures and papers are too feeble to attract attention.

2103.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Jan 25 1864 Dearest Annie, At last the long-wished for tea-pot has been found, and goes by Express tomorrow. I have been on the alert for months, and finally my zeal has been rewarded. I now have only to hope it will not get broken on the way. The smoked haddock or "Finnan Haddi[e]s" are delicious, and mightily relished by the wounded Lieutenant, who gets on slowly, but still gets on. He has just gone up to bed, and I must follow to undress him, being his valet de chambre. The little girls, to whom I announced my intention of writing to you,

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RECOVERY

send their love. I asked Edie what I should say to Aunt Anne. "Tell her I am very unhappy!" — and Annie; "Give my love to Aunt Anne, Aunt Lucia, and all the people at Highfield." I went to see Mrs. Nichols a few days ago. She is bright and lively. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: land/Me

2104.

Longfellow Trust Collection,

ADDRESS: Mrs. Anne L .

POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MASS J A N

Pierce/Port-

26

To Henry Theodore Tuckerman

Cambridge Jan 28. 1864. My Dear Tuckerman, It would give me great pleasure to accede to your brother's request, if it were possible; but really I have nothing worth sending, and besides, having been forced to decline the same kind of request from the Boston Fair, I could not with any show of decency grant this. I should never be forgiven.1 I see by the papers that the Professorship of History in Brown University has become vacant by the resignation of Mr. Gammel.2 Could not something be done for our friend Geo: W. Greene in this directionr1 It would be just the place for him, and he just the man for the place. If you have any influence in that quarter pray use it.3 I remain Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow p.s. I was extremely sorry not to see you when you were last here. The next time, I hope I shall be more fortunate. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . In a letter of January 26 Tuckerman reported that his brother had "undertaken to get up something recherche in the shape of a journal for the Great Sanitary Fair [of N e w York] — an object so important as to obviate the usual samples in such cases," and asked Longfellow to contribute. T h e brother, Charles Keating Tuckerman ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 8 9 6 ) , a minor author, served as U . S . minister to Greece, 1 8 6 8 - 1 8 7 2 . 2. William Gammell ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 8 8 9 ) served as professor of history and political economy at Brown, 1 8 5 0 - 1 8 6 4 . 3. Tuckerman replied on February 10: " I agree with you about friend Green [e] and tried, at the beginning of the winter, to secure him a chair to lecture, but without success. I imagine his previous connection with Brown University and sudden, though unmerited, dismissal therefrom, present a serious obstacle to his reinstatement." Greene had served as instructor in modern languages at Brown, 1 8 4 8 - 1 8 5 2 . He was dismissed when he requested an advance in rank.

388

C A M B R I D G E ,

2105.

^ 6 4

To Hiram Corson

Cambridge Feb 1 1864 Dear Sir, I have this morning had the pleasure of receiving the copy of your new and very neat edition of Chaucer's "Legende of Good Women," which you were so kind as to send me and for which I beg you to accept my best acknowledgments.1 With good wishes for the success of this good undertaking, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: British Museum, PUBLISHED: Amandus Johnson, "Some Unpublished Longfellow Letters," German American Annals, V, n.s., No. 3 (May and June 1907), 184. ι. Among other scholarly works, Corson ( 1 4 0 0 . 1 ) edited Chaucer's Goode Women (Philadelphia and New York, 1864).

2106.

Legende

of

To Mary Longfellow Greenleaf

Cambridge Feb 2 1864 My Dear Mary, This will be handed you by Mr. Bent of the Camb. Law School,1 who makes use of his Winter vacation to take a flying trip to New Orleans. I beg you to receive him with all possible kindness; which I am sure you will do both on his own account and on account of family relationship, his mother (whom I dare say you have seen and remember) being a cousin of the Appletons. I hope he will find you happy and comfortable among the ruins of that once famous city, laid in ashes and otherwise devastated by General Attila Barbarossa Butler and his hordes of Northern Barbarians!2 You will be glad to know that Charley is doing well; keeping very quiet, and taking good care of himself. He was very glad to receive your letter, and I hope he has had the grace to answer it. With kind regards to James, Ever affectionately Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection,

ADDRESS: Mary L. Greenleaf/New Orleans.

1. Samuel Arthur Bent ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 9 1 2 ) , a Yale graduate of 1861, took a law degree at Harvard in 1865. 2. Benjamin Franklin Butler ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 9 3 ) , controversial Union soldier and later a member of Congress from Massachusetts, 1 8 6 6 - 1 8 7 5 a n d 1 8 7 8 - 1 8 7 9 , was detested in 3 S 9

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the South and disliked in the North for the severity of his military administration of N e w Orleans during 1862.

2107.

To Sophia L. Whitwell Cambridge

Feb 2 1864.

Dear Madam, It is certainly a very graceful compliment which Mr. Bryant has paid me, 1 and which you are kind enough to send me. I should like to send you a stanza from one of his poems in return, but it would look like a parody upon his idea, and parodies always take away the grace of the original. I therefore send you a stanza which will rhyme better with your other pieces, than the one first sent.2 I remain Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from facsimile, Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. In a letter of January 19, 1864, Bryant had quoted twelve lines from Longfellow's " T h e Building of the Ship" as an autograph contribution to the Long Island Fair. See The Collector, L V (June 1 9 4 1 ), 106. Sophia Whitwell was a member of the fair's committee for sick and wounded soldiers. 2. Longfellow sent with this letter the last stanza of " T h e Cumberland."

2108.

To James H. Armsby1 Cambridge

Feb. 4 1864

Dr J. H. Armsby. Dear Sir, Will you be kind enough to put down my name for a ticket in each of Mr. Palmer's works2 offered at the Army Relief Bazaar. I enclose the necessary subscription; and also the Photographs which you desire. With best wishes Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow. p.s. I was obliged to sign the photographs on the back for want of room in front. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia, ι. Armsby ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 7 5 ) was a physician of Albany, N . Y . 2. Although these works are not identified, they were possibly by Ray Palmer ( 1 8 0 8 1 8 8 7 ) , hymnologist and religious writer, who was at this time serving as Congregational minister in Albany.

39°

CAMBRIDGE, 2109.

1864

To Bernard Rölker

Cambridge Feb. 4 1864 My Dear Rölker I shall send you by Express tomorrow a copy of "Tales of a Wayside Inn"; which should and would have been sent long ago, but I lost your address and did not find it till yesterday. In December I passed through New York, but without stopping long enough to see anyone, either going or coming. But I thought of you; — and as we drove up the Fifth Avenue to the Station, I imagined you striding down Broadway, in the bright, frosty morning. "to drudge for the dregs of men, And scrawl strange words with the barbarous pen," which is Bryant's definition of practising law! 1 For my part, I was bringing Charley home from Washington, badly wounded, by a rifle bullet, that passed directly through both shoulders, taking off a bit of the back-bone in its way. You will be glad to know that he is doing well, and that the wound though serious is not dangerous. Wishing you, my Dear Rölker a Happy New Year, and many more, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT:

unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House).

ι. "Green River," 11. 55-56.

2 1 1 o.

To Apphia Horner Howard1

Cambridge Feb 6 1864 Dear Mrs. Howard, It gives me sincere pleasure to comply with your request, and in sending the autograph, I wish I could send with it a photograph of Mr. Greene, but have only one, which he gave me, and which I can not part with. Knowing his great regard for you, I am sure he would like to send one himself, and when I write to him, I will give him the opportunity. If he has none, I will procure one at Warren's,2 and forward it to you. He had it taken when he was last here, and it is excellent. You will be glad to know that Mr. Greene is preparing some of Mr. George Sumner's Lectures for the press. He has in contemplation also a

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volume of "Life and Letters." But that will come later, as it requires much time, and is not fully determined upon.3 How gloomy and dead Blossom street looks, as I pass it now; and the Hospital seen from the bridge!4 With great regard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Bowdoin College Library. 1. Apphia Howard ( 1 8 3 2 - 1 9 0 3 ) , wife of a physician of Georgetown, Mass., was a voluminous contributor of ephemera to newspapers in N e w England, Philadelphia, and Washington. 2. See 2 0 1 1 . 1 . 3. Neither project materialized. 4. T h e Massachusetts General Hospital as seen from the Cambridge (now the Longfellow) Bridge.

2111.

To Ralph Waldo Emerson

Cambridge Feb 10 1864 My Dear Emerson, I send you two little laurel leaves, one from France and one from Sweden; 1 and remain With kindest regard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT : Harvard College Library. I. Presumably notices of new translations of Emerson's works appearing in Sweden and France. See Emerson's reply of February 24 (Life, III, 3 1 - 3 2 ) .

2112.

To Alexander Bliss1 Cambridge

Feb 1 2 1864

My Dear Sir It gives me sincere pleasure to comply with your request, and accordingly do so without delay. I am sorry that I have not some other autographs to add to my own; but I have already given away everything I could spare. In reading your Circular it occurred to me whether it would not be better to photograph your book instead of having it lithographed. I do not know, but make the suggestion only. I remain, Dear Sir, with best wishes Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow

392

C A M B R I D G E ,

^ 6 4

MANUSCRIPT: Library of Congress. ι . Bliss ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 9 6 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1 8 4 7 , was the stepson of George Bancroft. In a letter from Baltimore dated February 6 he asked Longfellow to contribute a short poem to a book being put together for a patriotic "Fair." W h a t Longfellow actually sent is not known.

2113.

To Alpheus Augustus Keen1

Cambridge Feb. 12 1864. Dear Sir, It will give me great pleasure to present to the Library of Tufts College a set of my books, and I herewith send you an order for the same.2 With best wishes for the success of your Institution I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT : Tufts University Library, ADDRESS: Mr. A . A . Keen/Librarian of Tufts College/College Hill, POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE FEB 1 3 ι . Keen Çd. 1864, aged forty), a Harvard graduate of 1849, was professor of Latin at Tufts, 1 8 5 7 - 1 8 6 4 , and librarian there, 1 8 6 2 - 1 8 6 4 . 2. This order to "Messrs Ticknor & Fields" read: "Please deliver [to] A . A . Keen, Librarian of Tufts College, on his order, a complete set of my books, Library Edition, cloth, and charge to my account" CMS, Charles E . Feinberg, Detroit). Keen annotated the order on the back on February 1 7 : "Please deliver the within order to Prof. B. F. Tweed and oblige/Yours &c." Benjamin Franklin Tweed ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 9 6 ) was professor of rhetoric, logic, and English literature at Tufts, 1 8 5 5 - 1 8 6 4 .

2114.

To Sarah Morris Fish Webster1 Cambridge

Feb 12 1864

Dear Mrs. Webster, I had great pleasure in receiving this morning your note, and hasten to comply with your request, as if by the hurry of a moment I could make up for the forgetfulness of years. What an accumulated debt to be paid off in paper money like this which I send you! I wish I had others to send you with it, to give my letter some real value; but I have given away everything worth giving, unless you will be kind enough to consider the three which I enclose as valuable, and an equivalent for Fennimore Cooper, which I do not.2 Begging you to pardon my short-comings, and to present my compliments to Mr. Webster, and to your father's family, I remain, Dear Mrs. Webster, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow 393

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MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Sarah Webster ( 1 5 3 2 . 6 ) was the wife of Sidney Webster ( 1 8 2 8 - 1 9 1 0 ) , a lawyer and politician of N e w York whom she had married in i860. 2. In a letter of February 10 Mrs. Webster had asked for an autograph "for a collection I am making for the Metropolitan Fair" and mentioned that Longfellow had promised some years before at Newport to send her an autograph "in exchange for one of Fennimore Cooper."

2115.

To Richard Henry Dana, ]r. Camb. Feb. 13 1864

My Dear Dana, A week or two ago I wrote you a note in behalf of a young lady who wanted to do copying, and enclosed her letter to me, that you might judge of her handwriting.1 I directed my note to Boston, and have now some misgivings about its having reached you. If it has, please send me back the young lady's letter, as I have forgotten both her name and address. I thought perhaps you or Mr. Parker, or some one in your neighborhood might be glad of her services, though I dare say you have frequent applications of this kind. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society, ι. See Letter No. 2099.

2116.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Feb. 14 1864. My Dear Sumner, You may consider this as a Valentine, if you choose, for to-day is that good Saint's day. Yesterday I signed a petition for Dr. Morton the etherial benefactor and friend of the human race.1 And I never signed one with so much pleasure. There was nothing in it which could be converted or perverted into an insult to anybody; and when the matter comes before Congress I hope you will give the Doctor your voice and vote. If he calls upon you, ask him to give you his experience on the battle fields. It is extremely interesting. He has just received from the King of Sweden the Order of Knighthood of Wasa, and from France a huge gold Montyon medal, big enough for the face of a clock. Our own Government is, I fear, making a mean record of itself in this matter. 394

C A M B R I D G E ,

1 8 6 4

Your dinner at Mr. Schleiden's must have been sumptuous enough for Dives himself. Certainly so many wines were never served upon Olympus. I am rejoicing greatly in your movements on the Slavery question.2 This is your opportunity, and I am glad you seize it, ere it passes. O thrice and four times happy! Charley is creeping on slowly; and I still more so, having been six weeks ill with influenza! Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . On September 30, 1846, Dr. William Thomas Green Morton ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 6 8 ) of Boston became the first dentist to use sulphuric ether in tooth extraction. Thereafter he engaged in years of fruitless litigation to protect his patent from exploitation by others. T h e petition signed by Longfellow, who had himself enjoyed Dr. Morton's anesthetic (see 9 4 6 . 1 ) , was one of several urging Congress to pass an appropriations bill as a testimonial for his discovery. None succeeded, and Dr. Morton had to content himself with honors instead of money. Longfellow had earlier signed a "Boston Appeal" to raise a trust fund for Dr. Morton by national subscription. See Proceedings in Behalf of the Morton Testimonial (Boston, 1 8 6 1 ) . pp. 3 3 - 3 4 . 2. See 2082.2.

2117.

T o Henry Ware1

Cambridge Feb. 15 1864 M y Dear Sir, I see by the newspapers that my son has been promoted to a First Lieutenancy, but have received no official confirmation of the fact. Can you inform me whether his commission has been issued, as he is desirous of being mustered in as soon as possible.2 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Henry Ware Esq. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ADDRESS: TO His Excellency/Governor Andrew/Boston PUBLISHED: "Charley Longfellow Goes to War," p. 302. ι . Ware ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 8 5 ) , a member of the Harvard class of 1843 who took his L L . B . in 1847, was secretary to Governor John Albion Andrew. 2. As Longfellow wrote this letter, Charles was being officially discharged from the army. Although he had been promoted to first lieutenant on January 24, he had not been mustered in at the new rank and so left the service as a second lieutenant.

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To George Washington Greene

Cambridge Feb 20 1864 My Dear Greene, I am sorry to hear of your cough, and can truly sympathise with you, having had one myself for two months — an intimate bosom friend, who seems determined not to leave me. Dante is at a deadlock; and has been for a long while, ever since my Washington journey. Not a line printed; in fact I have given up that project as too expensive at present rates, and shall go on in the regular way when I get started again, which will be when this influenza leaves me. I do not wish to put any of that into the poem. So three solid months have been taken out of the work in one piece. Mrs. Howard wants one of your photographs, and I know from her great regard and liking for you, would prefer it from your own hand. Have you one left? If not we must replenish the store from Cambridgeport. Charley is getting on slowly, but surely. His wounds have not yet healed, and as his sixty days are out he has been "honorably discharged," without a word of warning. As I looked at his coat, with the bullet holes in it, I could not help saying "Aux grands garçons, la patrie reconnaissante [to its noble sons, a grateful fatherland]!" But it is all right, as the Regiment is really in want of officers. Charley insists upon it, that as soon as he gets well he will go back into the ranks, unless he can get a new commission, which I think he will have no difficulty in doing. All this is a sore disappointment to him, as he had just been promoted to a First Lieutenancy. So we all have our troubles; and must bear them as best we may. It is fine in you, amid all yours, to have worked on so bravely. As soon as the weather permits, I want you to bring on Book the First, and here at Head Quarters read it to me, as an appropriate historic prelude to the new year. I wish you could make three great divisions of the work, instead of two; but I suppose there is hardly enough of the private life after the peace. I hope there is; for that would be more symetrical — beginning, middle and end — an Epic between two Idyls. I do not believe that you really know how good your beginning is! The George Sumner papers you might arrange and correct here, and place them all together in the hands of Fields; so that stone would be fairly rolled over the hill. Norton told me he liked your Article upon Steuben much. I have duly impressed upon him the idea of having it in the April No. 1 I confess it — I smiled at Ticknor's having a grand banquet of fifty

396

CAMBRIDGE, solid pages in the last No. while I had only a little bone in the back yard. 2 But one's intimate friends are such funny fellows! Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Greene's review of Friederich Kapp, The Life of Frederick William von Steuben, Major-General in the Revolutionary Army ( N e w York, 1 8 5 9 ) , appeared in the North American Review, X C I X (October 1 8 6 4 ) , 3 2 1 - 3 6 4 . 2. George Ticknor's The Life of William Hickling Prescott (Boston, 1 8 6 4 ) was reviewed in the North American Review, X C V I I I (January 1 8 6 4 ) , 1 - 4 7 , and the Tales of a Wayside Inn on pp. 2 8 9 - 2 9 0 .

2119.

To William Leonard Gage

Cambridge Feb 23 1864. My Dear Sir, It is many years since I have looked into the Biography of Perthes. 1 Though I own a copy, properly speaking I have never read it. It seemed to me a dull book. Perhaps it was only myself who was dull. I am willing to think so, since you have an opinion of the work so decided and so different from mine. And mine is not an opinion, only an impression. Nor can I forget that there is a mood for reading books as well as for writing them. Perhaps now I might do this work more justice, and even take sides with you against myself. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library, town/Mass.

ADDRESS: Mr. W m . L. Gage/Water-

P O S T M A R K : C A M B R I D G E ||MASS|| F E B 2 4

ι. T h e biography of Friedrich Christoph Perthes ( 1 7 7 2 - 1 8 4 3 ) , German publisher, was translated as Memoirs of Frederick Perthes: or Literary, Religious, and Political Life in Germany, from 1789 to 1843 (Edinburgh, 1 8 5 6 ) , 2 vols.

2120.

To Isabella Batchelder

James1

Cambridge Feb 23 1864 Dear Mrs James, I have supplied your brother Samuel 2 with a log of wood from Head Quarters, so large as to make you doubt whether I did not mistake your letter for an application to a Benevolent Society for fuel. I am not quite sure about the kind of wood it may be. Perhaps it may be elm, perhaps apple. I do not know; but you who are acquainted with

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all the flowers of the field and the trees of the forest, will be able to answer the question, if it is ever asked. W i t h regard to the signatures, I confess I am reluctant to send them. I think it would look rather ostentatious, and should be glad to be excused. 3 W i t h best wishes for the success of your Fair, and regards to Mr. James, I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library, J a m e s / N o 4 0 0 S o u t h 9th S t / P h i l a d e l p h i a

ADDRESS: Mrs. Isabella

POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MASS FEB 2 3

ι . Isabella James ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 9 0 1 ) , daughter of Samuel Batchelder ( 6 7 1 . 3 ) , had been a neighbor of Longfellow before her marriage in 1 8 5 1 to Thomas Potts James ( 1 8 0 3 1 8 8 2 ) , botanist and wholesale druggist of Philadelphia. She and her husband lived in Cambridge after 1866. 2. Samuel Batchelder, Jr. ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 8 8 8 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1 8 5 1 and a Boston lawyer. He lived at this time with his father across from the Longfellows at the corner of Ash and Brattle streets. 3. In a letter of February 18 Mrs. James had asked for a piece of wood from the Craigie House that could be worked into "various articles of adornment and use," together with a dozen statements signed by Longfellow certifying to the authenticity of the wood. T h e articles were to be sold for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission at a fair to be held in Philadelphia in June.

2121.

T o Francis Suydam

Hoffman1 Cambridge

March 5. 1864.

Francis S. Hoffman Esq Dear Sir I have had the pleasure of receiving the medal of Washington Irving which you have been kind enough to send me. I beg you to accept my best thanks and acknowledgments for this pleasant souvenir of one, whom I so much love and honor, and remain, Dear Sir, YourObt. Sert. Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: N e w York Public Library (Harkness Collection). ι . Hoffman ( 1 8 2 8 - 1 8 8 6 ) , N e w York lawyer and numismatist, had recently commissioned a memorial medal of Washington Irving.

2122.

T o Luigi

Monti

Cambridge March 10 1864 Signor Console, As I can not come personally to see you in Palermo, I do the next best thing; namely, ask the bearer to do it for me. H e is Mr. [Greely Steven-

398

CAMBRIDGE,

1864

son] Curtis of Boston, who with his wife, my sister-in-law, is like the wind "going (not blowing) where he listeth." 1 I beg you to show them the house of the illustrious musician Bellini; 2 also that of the illustrious scoundrel Giuseppe Balsamo, Count Cagliostro;3 also the Palace of King Robert of Sicily, whose story you did me the pleasure to tell in the "Wayside Inn"; 4 — also the Marina 5 by moonlight; and the Pilgrimage of Santa Rosalia, if they happen to be there on the 15th of July! 6 For all which accept my best thanks in advance, and believe me, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Harriot Curtis, Boston (on deposit, Longfellow House). ι. "The wind bloweth where it listeth." John 3:8. 2. Vincenzo Bellini was a native of Catania, Sicily. 3. The impostor and adventurer Count Alessandro di Cagliostro ( 1 7 4 3 - 1 7 9 5 ) , whose real name was Giuseppe Balsamo, was born in Palermo. 4. See Works, IV, 4 6 - 5 3 . 5. A quay extending from the Porta Felice south along the sea to the Villa Giulia in Palermo. 6. Saint Rosalia Cd. 1 1 6 0 ) , an Italian religious, is the patron saint of Palermo. Her festival is annually celebrated during July 1 1 - 1 5 .

2123.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. March 13. 1864. M y Dear Fields, I send you herewith the proof of Kambalu. I think "Mahomed," will do. 1 He evidently did not know how to write his own name any better than Shakespear did his, and indulged in variations. Let it pass, as suggested in red pencil, as poetic licence. I send also the Bridge of Cloud, or Bridge in the Air, which shall it be? 2 enlarged, and more fully expressing the thought in my mind. I should like to consult you about the title, and also about the passages marked in pencil. Read by candle light if you can, and not by the broad daylight of office hours. In the last stanza of "Palingenesis" I come back to the old reading, "nor will I vainly question." That is better on the whole; and I do not mean to tamper any more with it.3 I shall probably not be in town tomorrow (Monday) — by town meaning Boston. If you are in Camb. come and see me. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library.

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ι. The spelling "Mahomed" appears in line 44 of the first printing of the poem in the Atlantic Monthly, XIII (June 1864), 664-666, but is "Mohammed" in all subsequent printings. 2. "The Bridge of Cloud," first printed in the Atlantic Monthly, X I V (September 1864), 283. 3. The poem appeared first in the Atlantic Monthly, X I V (July 1864), 1 9 - 2 1 .

2124.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. March 25 1864. My Dear Greene, This is a lovely day, as you are well aware. Moreover it is Good Friday, as you are equally well aware; and leaving aside the deeper meaning of the day, I will tell you something of which I suspect you are not aware. Have you remembered, or noticed, that the days and dates of 1864 correspond with those of the Dantesque 1300, and that in both years Good Friday falls on the 25th of March? Five hundred and sixty four years ago to-day Dante descended to the città dolente;1 and to-day with the first two Cantos of the Inferno in my hand I descended among the Printer's Devils, the Malebranche of the University Press.2 Is it a good omen or an evil? I know not. But something urges me on and on and on with this work, and will not let me rest, though I often hear the warning voice from within; "Me degno a ciò nè io nè altri['l] crede."3 Did you ever notice the beautiful and endless aspiration so artistically and silently suggested by Dante, in closing each part of his Poem with the word "Stelle [Stars]?" Did any Italian Commentator ever find it out? Among English translators I believe Cayley was first to remark it.4 When are you coming? Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. Inferno, III, 1; IX, 32: The "city dolent." 2. Longfellow's play on words involves the French metaphysician Nicolas de Malebranche ( 1 6 3 8 - 1 7 1 5 ) , who propounded the doctrine that the mind can understand nothing external to itself except through its relation to God. The University Press, Cambridge, printed Longfellow's translation of the Divine Comedy for Ticknor & Fields. 3. Inferno, II, 3 3 : "Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it." 4. See 1691.2 and Longfellow's note in Works, IX, 350. 4OO

CAMBRIDGE, 2125.

T o Anna Callender

1864

1

Brackett

Cambridge March 28 1864 Dear Madam It would give me great pleasure to comply with your request, if it were possible, but I am afraid it is out of my power. I have received so many applications of the same nature, that I have been obliged, thou[gh] I assure you, with extreme reluctance, to decline all. You must not, therefore, attribute it to any want of interest in your Fair, if I do not make your case an exception. If I did, I should put myself into a very false and disagreeable position with all the rest. I remain, Dear Madam, with best wishes for the success of your undertaking, Your Obt. Sert. Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from typewritten transcript, Longfellow Trust Collection (Longfellow House). ι . Anna Brackett ( i 8 3 6 - 1 9 1 1 ) , born in Boston, was head of the St. Louis Normal School. She later conducted a girls' school in N e w York, 1 8 7 0 - 1 8 9 5 . In a letter of March 2 1 she had asked Longfellow for a few lines in aid of a project for the Western Sanitary Commission.

2126.

T o James Thomas Fields

Camb March 29 1864 My Dear Fields, I have received your note and thank you for supplying the lost word, which you have done "with skill and judgment." 1 Thanks also for your cheque for toll over the "Bridge of Cloud." If I could only establish that rate for every one who goes over it!2 I send with this six copies of "Wayside Inn," with author's signature on the title-page. They are for the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair. Will you be kind enough to have them properly done up, and forwarded by Express according to the direction on the outside of the parcel. As they are to go so far, I think that each volume should be wrapped in a separate paper. You know best. Will it be possible to get for me the second volume of Didron's Christian Iconography? I have the first, but do not know whether the second has ever made its appearance. It is one of Bohn's Illustrated Library. 3 Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

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ι . William Whitehead, "The Youth and the Philosopher," 1. 42. In a note of March 29 CMS, Henry E. Huntington Library), Fields asked if he might supply the word "shore" in line 14 of "Palingenesis," which Longfellow had omitted in copying out the poem for the Atlantic Monthly. 2. The check was in payment for printing the poem in the Atlantic Monthly. 3. The second volume did not appear until 1886. See Adolphe Napoléon Didron, Christian Iconography; or, The History of Christian Art in the Middle Ages, trans. E. J. Millington (London, 1851-1886), 2 vols.

2127.

To Isabella Batchelder James

Cambridge March 30 1864 Dear Mrs. James, I enclose you a copy of a poem written long ago, but not on that account any the worse for your purpose, I hope. 1 Wishing you all success, and begging you to excuse the curtness of this note, I remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. ι. Accompanying the manuscript is a holograph copy of the fifth stanza of the "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem at the Consecration of Pulaski's Banner." In a letter of March 22 Mrs. James had requested a poem for a poets' album she was assembling for the Great Central Fair in Philadelphia in June.

2128.

To William Pitt Preble

Longfellow

Cambridge March. M y Dear William, I send you enclosed a Certificate of Fifteen shares Camb. Ellen [Theodora Longfellow]. Also an order for her to sign, so can get her Dividend. T h e Treasurer's office is in State Street, next door above Bank, No. 39 I think, room N o 12 up two pair of stairs. In haste

30 1864 R.R. for that you Tremont

Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow p.s. T h e Dividends of this Company are paid on the ist of April and October. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

402

CAMBRIDGE, 2129.

1864

1

To Frederic Hymen Cowen

Cambridge

April 3 1864

My Dear Musician, I have had the pleasure of receiving the Song of your own composing, which you were kind enough to send me, and have listened to it with great pleasure, and no little astonishment, that it should come from so young a heart and hand! It would certainly give me much satisfaction to have any poem of mine set to such music, but I have nothing in manuscript which I wish to print, and which would be suitable for your purpose. Perhaps among my poems already published you may find something which will answer. I remain, with best wishes for your success, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι . Cowen ( 1 8 5 2 - 1 9 3 5 ) , born in Jamaica, was taken at age four to England, where at eight he composed an operetta, Garibaldi; or The Rival Patriots. He subsequently enjoyed a successful career as composer and conductor.

2130.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Cambridge Apr. 5 1864 My Dear Annie I have the honor to enclose you &c. &c. &c. And how long it is since we heard a word from the Old Hive! Pray let us hear soon. Some weeks ago I sent you Dr. Nichols' Second Volume, by Mr. Rand; having, I think, sent you the First, when published long ago.1 Am I right? I have been so busy that I have not had time to congratulate Highfield on its new baby;2 a great piece of neglect, which you must make good for me. I hope they are all well. Thank Alex, also for Harmon's ballads,3 which are prodigious strains of harmony. Aunt Lucia, I trust, is well. Is tea wanted? Is anything wanted? The little girls send much love. They never tire of Portland; and nothing comes up to the general arrangements in that quarter. I am frequently informed in detail of some event; such as going to the Baker's before breakfast, which seems to have perfumed the whole day with the odor of gingerbread.

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Charley gets on slowly. H e hopes to go to you before long, for a day or two. With much love Ever affect. H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Ichabod Nichols, Hours with the Evangelists (Boston, 1864), Vol. II. The first volume was published in i860. See 1646.1. Mr. Rand was presumably John Rand ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 9 0 4 ) of Portland. See 532.1. 2. Richard King Longfellow (d. 1 9 1 4 ) was bom on March 1, 1864. 3. Possibly a reference to A. W . Harmon, an obscure Maine writer of ballads and broadside poems. The ballads sent to Longfellow are unrecovered.

2131.

To Thomas Gold Apfleton

Cambridge April 1 1 1864. M y Dear Tom, Incredible as it may seem, nobody from this house went to the PostOffice yesterday! and behold the result. Your letter did not reach me till this morning; and perhaps you will have left N e w York before you get an answer. I am much obliged to you for the offer of the ponies; but am forced to decline. Nothing would induce me to undertake the guardianship thereof. A steed from the stables, (Euphuism for one of Hill's horses) 1 must suffice; particularly now, when I have so much expense with warhorses.2 N o doubt the N e w York [Sanitary Commission] Fair is very fine. T h e little girls thank you for thinking of them, and regard you as the best of uncles, as I do also. You will read in the papers the death of Mr. Ticknor the Publisher, suddenly at the Continental in Philadelphia, whither he had gone with Hawthorne, who has been ill all winter. 3 Not to lose the mail I close in haste Ever aff [ectionatel]y H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Nathan R. Hill is listed in the Cambridge Directory for 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 6 4 as a stablekeeper on Church Street. 2. A reference to the expenses involved in Charles Longfellow's convalescence. 3. William Davis Ticknor had died on April 10. See Longfellow's journal entry of April I i (Life, III, 3 4 ) .

404

CAMBRIDGE, 2132.

T o Rachel Abigail Buchanan

1864

Gildersleeve1

Cambridge April 12 1864. Dear Madam, I am extremely sorry that I cannot comply with your request; but it is utterly out of my power to do so. You would be surprised if you knew the number of similar applications, which I have received and am receiving; nor should I allude to them unless by way of apology for not listening more favorably to yours. Begging you therefore not to take any offence at my refusal, and thanking you for the friendly expressions of your letter, I remain, Dear Madam, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Yale University Library, ANNOTATION (preceding heading): In reply to an invitation/to read before a society, ANNOTATION (following signature): Presented to/Mrs. James B. Montgomery 2 /by her friend, the receiver/of H. W . Longfellow's letter/A. B. Longstreet. 1. Rachel Gildersleeve had written from Hartford on April n to solicit a dedicatory poem for a volume "of biography and narrative of those noble women who have devoted themselves to their country in its hour of need." T h e book, if published, is unidentified. After another marriage, Mrs. Gildersleeve published a number of works on social etiquette under her new name, Mrs. Abby Buchanan Longstreet. 2. Mary A n n Phelps (Mrs. James B . ) Montgomery of Portland, Ore., was the daughter of John Smith Phelps ( 1 8 1 4 - 1 8 8 6 ) , governor of Missouri, 1876-1882. T h e annotation preceding the heading is obviously incorrect.

2133.

T o George Washington

Greene Cambridge

Apr 20 1864.

M y Dear Greene, Walking the other day along the accustomed townward walk, made pleasanter by remembrances of you, I met the East-Wind, blowing, blowing, and I said, "This will never do for Greene." And the day after, in the same place, I met the West-Wind, and said, " O Mudjekeewis, you are worse than your brother Wabun!" But I hope next week this will all be over, and Spring begin as if it [were] giving some attention to its business, and not going into hopeless bankruptcy. I was very glad to get your letter yesterday, and to know that you are coming so soon; and that you have so much work done. Bring it all with you. T o my great surprise I find the making of Notes to Dante very pleasant work. I wish somebody would pour a barrel of brandy into the 405

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grave of the Commentators, as the bridegroom in the old Icelandic tale did into the grave of his friend the toper, to moisten the dry bones. 1 I shall not be able to do that; but something like it perhaps. I have already begun to light up these footlights of the great Comedy and am not wholly dissatisfied with the effect. W i l l the oil hold out? I hope so. I have three introductory Sonnets for fly leaves, of the three parts; Boccaccio's, Michel Angelo's, and a new one of my own. 2 Ever truly H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Longfellow presumably read this tale in his copy of Jón Arnason, ed., Icelandic Legends, trans. George E. J. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon (London, 1864), p. 160. 2. Samuel Longfellow's note on this point: "He afterwards wrote five more of his own, and prefixed them to the volumes, omitting the others" (Life, III, 35).

2134.

To Charles Sumner Cambridge

Apr. 20 1864.

Querido Lumbrera, (corps lumineux, lucarne, oeil-de-boeuf, soupirail,) del Senado Americano! 1 It is perfectly true. All the light in that place seems to come from you or through you; and the rest is caliginous, discouraging, ominous of ill, more or less. I read your Report on the Fugitive Slave Bill with extreme interest and delight. It is admirable. 2 Until the black man is put upon the same footing as the white, in the recognition of his rights, we shall not succeed, and what is worse, we shall not deserve success. Thanks, also, for the Catalogues. I have a copy of "La Légende Dorée." T h e translation is excellent; in prose; and faithful to the smallest word; nothing added, nothing taken away. It has been done by an Englishman and a Frenchman working together.3 T h u s far I have not discovered an error in it. May you be as lucky in your translators! I expect Greene here next week; and suppose he will bring on George's mss. Have you said anything to Greene about remuneration? Let me know, so that I may not act in the dark.4 Charley's wounds have at length closed; but his legs are stiff and his feet swol[l]en, like a gouty old aristocrat's. Ever Yours H . W . L. MANUSCHIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

406

C A M B R I D G E ,

^ 6 4

1. Dear Luminary,/(luminous body, skylight,/oval window, air vent,)/of the American Senate! 2. See Sumner Works, VIII, 406-415. 3. See 1918.2. 4. The problem of remunerating Greene for his work on George Sumner's miscellaneous writings seems to have been a vexed one. In a letter of March 9, 1864, Sumner had asked Longfellow to forward money to Greene on his behalf: "If you happen to be in funds — O of course you are — I wish you would put into his [Greene's] hands a check for such sums as you think proper, under all circumstances, on my account — inclining if you doubt as to the sum, to the larger one. I make this request pardy, because I am not sure what sum would be proper, and, then, because, at this moment, my own account here is already over-drawn. Whatever you do let me know, that I may at once ratify it."

2135.

T o Welch,

Bigelow &

Company Cambridge

April 2 3 . 1 8 6 4

T o Messrs W e l c h , Bigelow & C o . Please print for Messrs Ticknor & Fields 6000 Poems,

Blue & Gold

500 Prose Works

d[itt]o d[itt]o Henry W . Longfellow.

MANUSCRIPT:

2136.

Boston Public Library.

T o Edith

Longfellow C a m b . April 2 4

1864

Dearest Edith, W h e n I came down stairs, I found your little letter on my study table; and a very nice letter it is. It is one of the best you ever wrote, and gives me great pleasure; and you are a good, dear little girl for writing it. But when did you write it? I am sure I do not know; it must have been after tea, and after you went up to bed. W a s it not? Persevere in your good resolutions, and you will not only be a good girl, but a good house-keeper too. Your affectionate Father H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Massachusetts Historical Society.

407

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To Charles Godfrey

RECOVERY

Leland

Cambridge April 25 1864 Dear Mr. Leland, I am very sorry that I cannot comply with your request, but as I declined similar requests from Boston, New York and many other places, I cannot now do otherwise without placing myself in a very false position.1 Allow me, then, instead to show my interest in your Fair by sending a few books with autograph on title page, which I will forward to-day or tomorrow by Express; — six "Wayside Inn" and four "Hiawatha," large paper copies. Let me also make my peace with you for not sooner acknowledging your kind remembrance in sending me your translation of Heine's "Book of Songs," a most difficult task, and most successfully accomplished.2 You have caught and reflected with great skill his varying moods of sentiment and sarcasm, and have done your work so that it need not be done again. With my best wishes for your success, and many regrets, that owing to a great tragedy in my life I saw so little of you when you were here,3 I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. ι. In a letter of April 13 Leland had solicited Longfellow for a contribution to a newspaper in aid of the "Central Fair" to be held in Philadelphia in June for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission. 2. Heine's Book of Songs, trans. Charles G. Leland (Philadelphia and New York, 1864). 3. Leland spent most of 1862 in Boston as editor of the Continental Magazine.

2138.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Apr 30 1864 My Dear Fields, Thanks for the cheque which the "Wind over the Chimney" 1 has wafted this way. On the reverse of the half-titles of Dante I propose to have three introductory Sonnets; one by Boccaccio, one by Michael Angelo and one by the undersigned, who likes good company. Be kind enough to see what fault you can find with it. Has that man, who was killing the birds yesterday, been after his copy 408

C A M B R I D G E ,

^ 6 4

of the "Birds of Killingworth," or does not he think such birds worth killing?2 Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Henry E. Huntington Library. 1. Printed in the Atlantic Monthly, X V (January 1 8 6 5 ) , 7 - 8 . 2. Fields responded on May 1 : " I have a copy of 'The Birds' all ready for that shooting-youth should he come my way with his gun. But he is too far gone in powder-andshot iniquity to visit a book store!" CMS, Henry E . Huntington Library). T h e youth is not identified.

2139.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Apr. 30. 1864. My Dear Sumner, Is this you send me the Gorgon's head on the shield of Minerva or is it Minerva herself behind the shield, chiding Telemachus?1 Your Report on the rejection of "colored Testimony"2 I read with a kind of agony, to think what we have been inflicting on those "whose despair is dumb." This dreadful stone of Slavery! whenever you lift it, what disgusting reptiles crawl out from under it! Your Speech on the Abolition of Slavery3 came this morning. I shall read it at once. It is enough for me that you have made it. I will speak to Greene, as soon as he arrives, about George's m.s. and he will send you a list of the articles and the proposed arrangement, for your consideration and approval. Perhaps if you should send him a cheque for a hundred and fifty, or, two hundred dollars, with a friendly word, it would be the best way of winding up the matter, as there is no hope of anything from copy-right. Ever truly, upholding your hands, H.W.L. 4 p.s. Many thanks for the Duchess's letter. There is no Gorgon in that. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Possibly an allusion to an unrecovered enclosure in Sumner's letter of April 24. 2. "Exclusion of Witnesses on Account of Color." Sumner Works, V I I I , 1 7 6 - 2 1 6 . 3. T h e speech, " N o Property in M a n , " was printed as a pamphlet in both Washington and N e w York. See Sumner Works, VIII, 3 4 7 - 4 0 1 . 4. Unrecovered.

409

A SLOW 2140.

To George Washington

RECOVERY Greene Camb. May. 8 1864

"Oh, quanto tarda a me, ch'altri qui giunga!" 1 My Dear Greene, Do you not think, that the great furnace, which heats all out-doors, has now sufficiently warmed the atmosphere, and tempered the Eastwind, to allow you to set your face hitherward? This seems to me just the favorable moment, and I have been looking for you all the week. You will perhaps be surprised to find that in the electrotyping I have got no farther than the Tenth Canto. But I am doing the work with the greatest care and patience. Why hurry? Finally, I hope this letter will pass you on the way, and find on its arrival at the Island of Roses, that you have migrated northward with other birds of passage. What a tempest Dawson's edition of the "Federalist" has raised! This perversion of History in order to palliate treason, (for the accusations against him seem to go as far as that) is a terrible crime. Does it amount to that? I am not sufficiently read in that kind of lore to form an opinion.2 Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. Is the George Sumner ms. all ready? MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Inferno, IX, 9: Ό how I long that some one here arrive!" 2. Henry Barton Dawson ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 8 8 9 ) , English-born historian of N e w York, had recently published The Faederalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the N e w Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Fcederal Convention, September 17, 1787, reprinted from the original text, with an historical introduction and notes ( N e w York, 1 8 6 3 ) . His revisionist editorial policies and trenchant style provoked much criticism, and the volume became a particular target of John Jay ( 7 4 9 . 2 ) , who attacked it in the pamphlet New Plottings to Aid the Rebellion ( N e w York, 1 8 6 4 ) . Greene's own reaction to the work was extreme: "Dawson is a secessionist; and what is even worse, he has wilfully perverted history for party purposes in the midst of a civil war which has put humanity itself in peril" (Letter of May 7, 1 8 6 4 ) .

2141.

To John James Piatt1 Cambridge, May 12, 1864.

M Y DEAR SIR,

I have had the pleasure of receiving your book of poems, and have read it through, from cover to cover, with very uncommon satisfaction and delight. I congratulate you on your success.

410

CAMBRIDGE,

Ï 864

I beg that you will make my congratulations acceptable to your "other me," who, like the feminine rhyme in French poetry, or the doubleending in our own, so beautifully and gracefully closes the volume. I was in Washington last December, but was so driven from pillar to post in your City of the Lost Footsteps, and between Alexandria and the capítol, that I did not find time to hunt you up, which I very much regretted. I remain, dear sir, with cordial good wishes, Yours very truly, HENRY w . LONGFELLOW MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from J. J. Piatt, A Return to Paradise (London, 1 8 9 1 ) , pp. 1 5 6 - 1 5 7 . ι . Piatt ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 9 1 7 ) , poet and journalist, was a clerk in the treasury department at Washington, 1861-1867. H e and his wife, Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 1 9 ) , had sent Longfellow their book The Nests at Washington, and Other Poems ( N e w York, 1864).

2142.

To John William

Weidemeyer1

Cambridge May 14 1864 Dear Sir I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter and the volume of poems you were kind enough to send me. I thank you for this mark of your regard and for the honor you do me in the Dedication. This prevents me from offering you either praise or criticism. Instead thereof accept my best wishes. There is such a smell of gun-powder in the air, one hardly dares to predict how far the more delicate perfumes of such flowers may penetrate. Wishing you, however, all success, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow JIIW. Weidemeyer Esq.|| MANUSCRIPT: Newberry Library, Chicago. ι . Weidemeyer ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 9 6 ) , author, music dealer, publisher, and entomologist of N e w York, had sent Longfellow on May 5 the proof pages of John W . Montclair's Real and Ideal: A Collection of Metrical Compositions, with the request that he might receive "the assurance that the collection meets with your favorable consideration." T h e book, dedicated to Longfellow, was published in Philadelphia in 1865.

4II

A SLOW

2143.

RECOVERY

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge May 23 1864 My Dear Sumner, It is only too true. Mackintosh is gone, after being ill all Winter. 1 His disease was dropsy and heart-complaint. Tom went out in the last steamer, to look after the family, and to bring them here, if they like to come. And Hawthorne too!2 I am waiting for the carriage which is to take Greene, Agassiz and myself to Concord this bright spring morning to his funeral! But do not be disheartened. You have much work of the noble kind to do yet. Let us die standing.3 I have paid Greene one hundred dollars on your account, and another hundred on my own, wishing to be associated in the good work. T h e Report on the old French Claims is complete and unanswerable.4 I breathe more freely when I read such papers. "Pure a noi converrà vincer la pungna!" 5 I am full of faith, hope and good heart! Greene sends you his friendly greeting. He congratulates you on this Report, and considers it one of the most useful things you have done — and one of the most difficult to do. Farewell. Ever thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Robert James Mackintosh had died in London on April 25. 2. Hawthorne had died in Plymouth, N.H., on May 18 while on a journey with Franklin Pierce to recover his health. Longfellow received the news on the 19th in a note from Annie Fields (Life, III, 36). 3. Longfellow is responding to a lugubrious passage in Sumner's letter of May 21, after he had mentioned the deaths of Mackintosh and Hawthorne: "One by one;— almost in twos, they seem to go. W e shall be alone soon. I forget. I shall be alone. You have your children. Life is weary and dark — full of pain and enmity. I am ready to go at once. And still I am left." 4. The report, "Claims on France for Spoliations of American Commerce Prior to July 31, 1801," was delivered by Sumner in the Senate on April 4. See Sumner Works, VIII, 244-345. 5. Inferno, IX, 7: "Still it behoveth us to win the fight!"

412

CAMBRIDGE, 2144.

^ 6 4

To Charles Sumner

Camb. May 25 1864 M y Dear Sumner Thanks for the Newspapers and Catalogues. T h e French Report on Literary property seems important. 1 I suppose there is no chance of our doing anything in the way of International Copyright just now. This is a sad case of Hildrith our Consul at Trieste. 2 If the place is not given to his son, I want to put in a claim for Alexander Thayer, who is now in Vienna. He is and has long been abroad, writing a Life of Beethoven, and persevering through all kinds of difficulties — poor and resolute. Such a position would be a fortune for him. C a n you do anything for him? John Dwight has probably written to you in his behalf. You have doubtless read some description of Hawthorne's funeral. It was a lovely day — the village all sunshine and blossoms, and song of birds. You can not imagine anything at once more sad and beautiful. He is buried on a hill-top under the pines. I saw your portrait at Emerson's; and so in a certain sense you were present. Greene sendfs] kind regards. Ever truly thine H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . These materials, apparently sent by Sumner under separate cover, are 2. Richard Hildreth (1807-1865), Massachusetts lawyer, editor, and been appointed U.S. consul in Trieste in 1861. Ill health compelled him 1864, and he died in Florence on July 11, 1865. According to his account fellow sent $50 to a "Hildreth Subscription" in May 1864.

2145.

unidentified. author, had to resign in book, Long-

To Charles Patrick Daly1

Cambridge May 30 1864 Dear Sir, Mr. Lowell handed me this morning your favor of the 23rd. in which you propose to add my name to the Committee of the Shakespear Monument. I am sorry that I cannot accede to your friendly wishes; but I am unwilling to be upon any Committee whose meetings I cannot possibly attend; and I must therefore decline the honor you propose. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Hon. Charles P. Daly. 413

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RECOVERY

MANUSCRIPT: University of California Library, Los Angeles. ι. Daly ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 9 9 ) , a N e w York jurist, wrote to Longfellow on May 23 to ask if he would serve on a committee to promote a statue of Shakespeare in Central Park.

2146.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. May 30 1864 My Dear Fields, Greene and myself accept with great pleasure your invitation for Wednesday, and will be with you at three by the Charles Street clock, rain or shine. Charley also thankfully accepts the Musical Tea. Hawthorne's copy of Goldsmith1 has just reached me saddening me with the thought, that I shall see his beautiful face no more. I shall place it among my treasures, as one of the most dear to me. Do if possible get one of Greene's articles in type, so that he can read the proof-sheets here. It would comfort him greatly. He has just had another disappointment in the postponement of his article in the North American,2 and feels hurt at it. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . Given to Longfellow by Mrs. Hawthorne, this book is now in the Harvard College Library. 2. See 2 1 1 8 . ι .

2147.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. June 13. 1864 My Dear Greene, Your carpet bag departed this morning by Express. Upon the whole, it is rather lucky you left it, as it has served as a drag-net, and brings with it, as you will find, two other things which were also left behind. Namely a "History of Charlestown"1 and the Brown Teapot! or, to avoid ambiguity, the Brown Teapot, and a History of Charlestown. I hope all will reach you safely; and that you reached home safely, and found all well. I had a vision of your arrival in the sunset, and your wife and three little girls waiting for you at the foot of the greene lane. In great haste Ever Yours H.W.L. 414

CAMBRIDGE,

1864

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. i. Possibly Richard Frothingham, The History (Charlestown and Boston, 1 8 4 5 - 1 8 4 9 ) , 7 parts.

2148.

of

Charlestown,

Massachusetts

To Thomas Gold Appleton Cambridge

June 20 1864

My Dear Tom, I was very glad to get your letter and to know from yourself of your safe arrival [in London], and of Mary and Eva [Mackintosh]. You have done the wisest thing possible in going, and your presence in the house will be of the greatest use and comfort. I attended without loss of time to your commission and had the things taken from the Tremont house to your Studio, where I found two small boxes of cigars, and brought them away for safe keeping. I hope you will smoke them yourself at Nahant, before the Summer is over. I was there two days ago, and Amos [Lawrence]'s stable fairly took my breath away. It well nigh ruins our place, and we must try all arts of persuasion to induce him to move it. The yacht lay calmly at her moorings, giving life to the little bay. We shall be too happy to sail her; and the two wounded Lieutenants 1 will have many a happy hour in her. The family were all out at dinner yesterday. Nathan is still very languid; but was well enough to go to Miss Cushing's — or rather Mrs. Boite's — wedding party on Thursday. 2 You will rejoice greatly at Grant's triumphant marches. He has swept round Lee completely, avoiding the Chickahominy swamps, and is now south of Richmond! cutting the rail-roads one by one. This time we shall succeed in scattering Lee's army and in taking Richmond. So be of good cheer. The last news is that we have taken Petersburg.3 I enclose a letter reed, since you left. With much love to Mary and Eva, Ever thine H.W.L. The girls and boys all send their love. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Charles Longfellow and his half-uncle Nathan Appleton, who resigned his lieutenancy on August 25, 1864, because of disability, but returned to the army as a brevet captain on March 1 3 , 1 8 6 5 . 2. Mary Louisa Cushing ( 1 8 4 6 - 1 8 9 4 ) , daughter of a wealthy merchant of Watertown, married Edward Darley Boit, Jr. ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 9 1 5 ) , of Boston on June 22.

415

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3. Shortly before Longfellow wrote this letter, Grant had moved his army south of the James River in an attempt to capture Petersburg and approach Richmond from the rear. W h e n Petersburg withstood his attack, Grant settled in for a nine-months' siege.

2149.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. June 21. 1864 M y Dear Sumner, I have just received your Miserere, not so long nor so doleful as Allegri's, but sufficiently sad to chime in with the gloom of this overcast and sombre morning. 1 Yes; Mrs. Felton is dead. 2 She died very suddenly of dyptheria. Greene was here at the funeral, and we saw her laid beside her husband on the western slope of Mt. Auburn. Greene has returned home and I am as lonely as you are. T h e footsteps of friends to my door grow fewer; and when I remember the crowds in your antechamber, I fancy I am rather the lonelier man of the two. Let us not lose heart on that account. So ends my Miserere. And now to enliven me, I will walk down to Cambridgeport and pay my "Internal Revenue Tax," and my "Water Rates." W e have not yet gone to Nahant. Amos Laurence has bought Clark's Cottage, and has built a stable which completely cuts off our sea-view from the Eastern piazza, and seriously injures the place. T h e n what merry times I shall have with my neighbors the Fremonts, during the campaign for the Presidency, not meaning to vote for him. 3 Oh, you have not a patent-right to all "les petites misères de la vie humaine [the petty miseries of human life]!" Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . In a letter of June 18 Sumner had written : "I am here fatigued and disappointed. After constant work, it seems as if I can accomplish nothing. Such are the slow conclusions, and hard temper of men . . . You have sons and daughters to cheer and bless you. Í have nobody; — while all about me seem to be enmities and jealousies springing up to devour me. But — goodbye! I did not intend to write such a miserere." The Miserere of the Italian composer Gregorio Allegri ( ι 582-1652) is sung annually in the Sistine Chapel on Good Friday. 2. Mary Louisa Cary Felton (904.3) had died on May 31, 1864. 3. On May 31, 1864, a convention of dissident Republicans had offered their nomination for President to General Fremont. In September, however, he responded to pressure from administration Republicans and withdrew from the campaign.

416

CAMBRIDGE, 2150.

^64

To James Thomas Fields

Cambridge June 23 1864 My Dear Fields, I have received your pleasant letter. It reads like one of Virgil's Eclogues; or the Second Stanza of Gray's Elegy; or an Article in the Gentleman's Magazine signed Sylvanus Urban; or Don Quixotte's Discourse to the Goat-herds; or Tasso's Aminta, or Guarini's Pastor Fido! And yet I cannot come!1 I send you a poem in return; premising that I have not seen Holmes's Article in the Atlantic.2 I hope we have not been singing and saying the same things. I have only tried to describe the state of mind I was in on that day. Did you not feel so likewise? I am very glad you and your wife are enjoying the mountain air today. Here it is sweltering. The paper blots as I write. On the first day of July — so my daughter Alice informs me — we take our departure for Nahant. That is Thursday — one week from to-day. It makes me think of Gen. Grant's movement across the James. Let me see you when you come to town. My dinner hour is half past two! With kindest regards to Mrs. Fields, Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. In a letter o£ June 19 ( M S , Henry E. Huntington Library) Fields had invited Longfellow to visit him in Campton Village, N.H., where he and his wife were vacationing. 2. Holmes's tribute to Hawthorne prefaced " A Scene from the Dolliver Romance" in the Atlantic Monthly, X I V (July 1864), 98-109. Longfellow's poem on Hawthorne, enclosed with this letter, was printed in the Atlantic Monthly, X I V (August 1864), 169-170.

2151.

To Sophia Peahody Hawthorne Cambridge

June 23 1864

Dear Mrs. Hawthorne, I have long been wishing to write you, to thank you for your kind remembrance in sending me the volume of Goldsmith; but I have not had the heart to do it. There are some things that one cannot say; and I hardly need tell you how much I value your gift, and how often I shall look at the familiar name on the blank leaf — a name which more than any other links me to my youth. I have written a few lines trying to express the impressions of May

417

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SLOW

RECOVERY

23rd. and I venture to send you a copy of them. I had rather no one should see them but yourself; as I have also sent them to Mr. Fields for the Atlantic. I feel how imperfect and inadequate they are; but I trust you will pardon their deficiencies for the love I bear his memory. 1 More than ever I now regret that I postponed from day to day coming to see you in Concord, and that at last I should have seen your house only on the outside! W i t h deepest sympathy Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library, thorne/Concord

POSTMARK:

CAMBRIDGE

thorne Lathrop, Memories of Hawthorne 464.

MS J U N E

25

ADDRESS: Mrs. N . HawPUBLISHED:

Rose

Haw-

(Boston and N e w York, 1898), pp. 4 6 3 -

ι . Mrs. Hawthorne replied on July 24: " T h e poem that you send me has such an Eolian delicacy, sweetness and pathos that it seems a strain of music rather than written words. It has in an eminent degree the unbroken melody of your verse, and the picture of the scene you have now made immortal."

2152.

To Isabella Batch-elder James

Cambridge June 28 1864 Dear Mrs. James, Though I do not wish to become the purchaser of the Lafayette Portrait and autograph, I am nevertheless much obliged to you for taking the trouble to write me on the subject. 1 I rejoice with you in the triumphant success of the Fair, and hope the result will surpass all your most sanguine expectations. I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library, ADDRESS: Mrs. Isabella James/400 South Ninth St./Philadelphia POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MASS JUN 28 i . Mrs. James had written on June 25: "Among the articles sent to our fair is a fine engraving of Lafayette handsomely framed; beneath the portrait is inserted an autograph letter of the distinguished Frenchman introducing you to some lady. I thought you might like to possess this relic of your Outre-mer pilgrimage and hasten to inform you of it before our fair closes. T h e price we have put upon it is 1 5 dollars although the donor valued it much higher."

418

NAHANT, 2153.

1864

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge June 28 1864 My Dear Sumner, Your hour of triumph has come at last! I rejoice with you, and for you, and with exceeding great joy! This will compensate you for all your toil and patience and long-suffering with evil-doers!1 I have only time to write these few lines, being in the midst of preparation for Nahant, whither we go tomorrow. With the hope of a speedy meeting on the "breezy verandah" Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . T h e Senate had voted on June 2 3 to repeal all fugitive slave acts. T h e President signed the bill on June 28.

2154.

To Louis Thies

Nahant July 8 1864 My Dear Mr. Thies, I shall be in Cambridge on Monday next [July 11], and if it is possible for you on that day to let me bring a couple of friends to your ArtAlcove1 you will greatly oblige me. We will be at the Library at half past ten o'clock. In a note I wrote you a day or two ago I said half past twelve.2 But the earlier hour would be better if agreeable to you. If we find you are out of town we shall be much disappointed, and have to try again. Charley has just gone off in his yacht with a friend, for a week's cruise down the coast. I keep safe on shore, and enjoy sailing with the eye. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι . T h e Gray Collection of Engravings in the Harvard Library ( 1 6 4 7 . 3 ) . 2. This note is unrecovered.

2155.

To Cornelia Fitch1

Nahant July 11 1864 Dear Miss Fitch, We have such a storm of wind this morning, that I have given up all thoughts of Cambridge, particularly as it comes blowing up from Cohasset, and seems to bear me a message saying that you can not go.

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What is to be done with a restless, rainy day at the sea-side? I shall begin it by writing you a word of regret, that I am not to have the pleasure of seeing you till Friday. But what if it is fair in Cohasset, and only raining here, and you have gone to Cambridge after all? That will only increase my regret, and so I hope it is raining everywhere, and that you have not thought of going. Mr. Thies will be disappointed, and I have no doubt he is this moment pacing up and down the Library, looking for us. Well — he too must wait; but Friday shall make good all our losses. With great regard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Iowa Library. ι. Cornelia Fitch ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 8 9 3 ) of Auburn, N.Y., was spending the summer with her sister in Cohasset. Longfellow had apparently met her for the first time on June 24, when he referred to her in his journal as "the beautiful Miss Fitch." That she became an object of fascination for him is made clear by his subsequent letters to her. See Sargent Bush, Jr., "Longfellow's Letters to Cornelia Fitch," Books at Iowa, No. 6 (April 1967), 1 3 - 2 3 .

2156.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Nahant July 14 1864. My Dear Annie, In hurrying away from Cambridge, I quite forgot that Quarter day had come round and that something else was to be sent to Portland besides tea. Excuse the delay. I add the $20.00 which Charley borrowed of you. I write in great heat and consequently in great haste. If it grows cooler in the afternoon, I will add a postscript. Ever most affect. H.W.L. p.s. Charley has not yet returned, but writes that he is enjoying himself greatly; as I should think he might. The little girls all send their love. Alice has gone to pass the afternoon with the Sparks's, and the others have gone to Maolis garden with Marie. 1 They are all well and happy. Sam [Longfellow] preached here a week ago, and was very much liked. I did not hear him; but heard of him from all quarters, with great approval. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

420

NAHANT,

ι 864

1. Jared Sparks (80.1) had three daughters who were contemporaries of the Longfellow children. Marie was presumably a servant.

2157.

To Thomas Gold A-ppleton

Nahant July 15 1864 M y Dear Tom, Many thanks for your letter of June 28. just reed, which puts me so completely au courant of your doings and surroundings. I have already seen Mr. Story. 1 T h e ground he takes is, that Mary's property is secured to her by the Laws of Massachusetts; and neither Creditors nor Heirs of Mackintosh can touch it. Strong ground. States Rights vs. the United Kingdom! Moreover, he says, for immediate wants, borrow money in England, rather than sell stock here, at present. Yesterday gold went down thirty per cent at one leap; notwithstanding the Rebel Raids near Washington. 2 Put those two things together, and you will know how to read aright the exaggerated accounts which you will see in Galignani, or other mendacious journals French and English. Would not the best thing for Angus be a month or two at a Maison de Santé in environs of Paris? This would take away that indescribable something that one shrinks from in the word Asylum. 3 Everything goes on quietly here. T h e hot days come and go. W e wait for the morning mail; and wonder what news it will bring. T h e sail-boats flit to and fro moth like; and so forth and so forth. You can whistle the rest of the tune as well as if I wrote it. T h e Eugene Batchelder 4 of France, Napoleon III. seems disposed to pick a quarrel with Uncle Sam. W h a t a disgrace it is to the French to have such an Emperor! All the children are well and send much love to you and all the household. Ever affect[ionatel]y H.W.L. p.s. Of course Mr. Story's view applies only to the property standing in Mary's name; not to what stands in Robert's. T h a t is what should be drawn upon, if any. I wrote both to you and to Mary by the last Steamer. 5 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Isaac Story ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 9 0 1 ) , a Boston lawyer, was the nephew of Story ( 1 1 . 4 ) . 2. On July H a Confederate force under Brig. Gen. Jubal Anderson 1894) had arrived before the Washington fortifications and threatened capture. After a day of batde on July 12, Early retreated across the

42I

Judge Joseph Early ( 1 8 1 6 the city with Potomac into

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Virginia. The price of gold rose and fell with the flow and ebb of the rebel threat to the capital. 3. Angus Mackintosh had been ill for at least a year. In a letter of December 6 [1863], Mary Appleton Mackintosh had written from London: "We have been feeling very uneasy, and indeed still are — although I hope things are turning for the better — but he is still very weak. The Dr. calls it brain fever. Some of his symptoms seem cataleptic." 4. Eugene Batchelder ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 7 8 ) , a minor Cambridge poet, was a son of Samuel Batchelder (671.3), with whom he lived. Longfellow's association of him with Napoleon III is inexplicable. 5. See Letter No. 2148. The letter to Mary Appleton Mackintosh is unrecovered.

2158.

To George Washington Greene

Nahant July 18 1864 My Dear Greene, I am almost as much troubled as you are at the omission of your name in those unlucky lists.1 I feel confident, however, that it is no fault of Sumner's, at all events no intentional omission of his. The high estimation he holds you in and the emphatic manner in which he always speaks of you, absolutely preclude this supposition. I fancy this is all preliminary work, and when you observe that the name of Mr. Carey2 of Phila. is also omitted perhaps you will be consoled. For my own part, I do not think it will come to anything — this Academy; It is not in our habits or way of doing things. The central point is wanting, — the Paris and Quai Voltaire.3 Few people would go two or three hundred miles to attend the meeting of an Academy, now here, now there, and nowhere in particular. If it does come to anything you may be pretty sure that you will be one of the Fifty, of which it is to consist. So be of good cheer, and "steer right on!"4 Your book is of more account, a thousand fold, than any Academy you and I shall ever see this side the Rocky Mountains, or this side the Atlantic. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection.

1. On July 2 the Senate considered and took no action on a bill by Sumner to establish national academies of "Literature and Art" and of "Moral and Political Sciences." See Sumner Works, IX, 51-54. In drawing up the bill, Sumner neglected to include Greene's name among those who were to be the original members of each academy. In a letter of July 14 Greene had complained to Longfellow of the oversight: "I have just read Sumner's list of Academicians — one Rhode Islander between them both — a place for [Henry Theodore] Tuckerman — no room for me either in history or literature. And thus I go on, getting suggestive silence or hard knocks all around — except from you." 2. Henry Charles Carey ( 1 7 9 3 - 1 8 7 9 ) , economist and writer.

422

NAHANT,

ι 864

3. The Académie Française is located in the Palais de l'Institut de France on the Quai de Conti. 4. Cf. Milton, "To Mr. Cyriack Skinner upon His Blindness," 11. 8-9.

2159.

T o Cornelia Fitch

Nahant July 26 1864 Dear Miss Fitch, I had this morning the pleasure of receiving your note, and am afraid I shall not be able to come to Cohasset before Monday [August 1], on account of company here, which may possibly stay through the week. But if not on Friday then on Monday, in the train which leaves Boston at 2.30. The weather this week has been so surly and uncertain, and I find upon inquiry, that the harbors of Hingham and Cohasset are so full of rocks and sand-banks, that I have given up the pleasant plan of going for you by water. I might be all day in getting to you. Sailing, however, you shall have as much as you want, when here, without danger of overdoing. I am glad to hear that you have your Lieutenant 1 with you, and think that a day or two at Nahant will not be tedious to him. I am happy to have your good opinion of the poem, and with thanks in advance for the profile, I remain Truly Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Iowa Library. ι. Cornelia Fitch's brother, Horace B. Fitch ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 8 8 7 ) , was a first lieutenant in the Seventy-fifth New York Infantry at this time.

2160.

T o Alice Mary

Longfellow

Nahant July 26 1864 My Darling Alice, I have just had the pleasure of receiving your letter, and am very happy to know that you are happy, and are enjoying the country, the river, the mountains, for I have no doubt they are really mountains, though some people call them Hills, and say "The White Hills" for "The White Mountains." Edie and Annie were amazingly amuzed with the dog in the pew, and laughed outright at the jews-harp. 1 W e have nothing new at Nahant except the steamer "Regulator," which arrived this morning, with a band, and is to come and go, during the month of August.

423

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Mr. Sumner is staying with us this week; and Annie has just knocked at the door to say "Mrs. Ames has come; and Josie too!" So I will go down for a moment. July 27. A lovely, tranquil day; warm, windless, leaden sky — leaden sea; — and all||. . .H [s]wing with ||. . .||2 boat. You will hardly expect any news from Nahant. Grandmama [Harriot Sumner Appleton] was here yesterday, and says Aunt Hattie is in Switzerland, Willie in Baltimore, Nathan at Sharon Springs. There is a great firing of cannon across the bay this morning. Is it a Victory? 3 Much love to you all from all, [signature cut away] MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House). ι. Alice and Ernest Longfellow, their uncle Samuel, and the Spelman family were vacationing at Campton Village, N . H . In a letter of July 25 Alice had written: "Yesterday morning we went to church in the village which was very funny. In the first place there was a dog in the pew, which I didn't like as I was afraid of treading on his tail and having a row . . . Please excuse mistakes as uncle Sam is reading aloud from a newspaper, occasionally varied by playing on a jewsharp." 2. Several words have been lost at this point with the cutting away of the signature. 3. T h e firing of the cannon may have related to the continuing batde before Atlanta. T h e city did not fall, however, until September 2.

2161.

To Alice Mary

Longfellow [Nahant]

Tuesday eve. Aug 2 1864

Yes, my darling, stay by all means. I would not have you miss seeing the Franconia Notch, on any account. I have only time to write this to-night, having had company all day. Ever affectionately Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House).

2162.

To Alice Mary

Longfellow

Nahant Aug 4. 1864. My Darling, I wrote you a few lines in pencil, two days ago, approving of the Franconia expedition, and hoping you would not come home before seeing the "Old Man of the Mountain," and all the beautiful things in

424

NAHANT,

ι 864

that beautiful valley. I suppose you received the letter; and perhaps by this time are on the way, enjoying it very much. At Nahant there is nothing new except a North-East storm; and that seems nearly over, only one day of it. Mr. Laurence's [Amos Lawrence] horses stamp a good deal at night, and when one is half awake it seems like a legion of nightmares going round the piazza at a gallop! Mr. Sumner has been passing a week with me; and to console me for your absence we have had a short visit from a beautiful young lady from Auburn in New York. I hope she will come again when you are here. Give my love to Hattie and Cora, and kind regards to Mr. and Mrs. Spelman. What has become of Uncle Sam and Ernie? Have they gone to Portland? Ever affectionately Your only Nahant correspondent. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House).

2163.

To Cornelia Fitch Nahant

Aug 5 1864.

Dear Miss Cornelia, I have not yet forgiven myself for letting you leave this inhospitable house in the rain, nor shall I do so till you come back once more for a longer visit. Soon after your departure little Annie said to me; "Papa, are you not sorry Miss Fitch is gone?" "Yes, very sorry. Are you?" "Yes." "Then I will write and ask her to come again." "O do ask her to come as soon as she can." All join in this appeal. So you must be kind enough to say yes, and I will come for you in the yacht, as soon as there is a good wind. I am afraid you have a very wet and uncomfortable journey homeward. In the night I saw the lightning flashing in broad sheets about Minot's Ledge, and thought the storm must be thundering fearfully over your head in Cohasset. With kind regards from all, Truly Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Iowa Library.

425

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RECOVERY

1

To Silas Weir Mitchell

Nahant Aug 5. 1864. Dear Sir, Your letter has been forwarded to me at this place, but the volume you so kindly send me through Dr. Holmes has not yet reached me.2 No doubt I shall find it waiting for me on my return to Cambridge. I will not, however, postpone thanking you so long as that, but beg you to accept in advance my acknowledgments for your kindness. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT : Harvard College Library. ι . Mitchell ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 1 4 ) , a physician of Philadelphia, served in the Union army as a surgeon. H e became a neurologist and wrote several novels. 2. Presumably Gunshot Wounds and Other Injuries of the Nerves (Philadelphia, 1 8 6 4 ) . Mitchell's coauthors were George Reed Moorehouse ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 0 5 ) and William Williams Keen ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 3 2 ) , both Philadelphia physicians.

2165.

To George Washington Greene

Nahant Aug 6 1864 My Dear Greene, I have this week a vacant room. Pray come and occupy it. The sea says Come; the yacht says Come; the children say Come, and so does the undersigned. Take the early train for Boston; and from Boston the 10.30 train of the Eastern R.R. for Lynn, where you will be in thirty minutes, and where you will find an omnibus which will bring you nearly to my door. If you take a later train, you will find no omnibus. I enclose a Lynn ticket. An omnibus meets also the 2.30 and the 5 o'clock trains; but those hours are more crowded and uncomfortable. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2166.

To Alice Mary Longfellow

Nahant Aug 10 1864 My Darling Runaway Your nice long letter gave us all much pleasure, and we are all very glad to hear that you are enjoying yourself so much. But is it not almost

426

NAHANT,

1864

time to come home? I know one good friend of yours who is decidedly of that opinion, and sends you something to put into your empty purse. If you will give it to Mr. Spelman, he will pay your bill; and perhaps if you again fall short he will furnish you with what is wanting. Unless you return very soon you will not see my beauty from Auburn, with her auburn hair. I am afraid she will be gone before you get here, which is a great pity. Nor will you hear her play, nor hear Arthur Gorham sing "Allan-a-Dale."1 You will have to console yourself by eating olives with Mr. Greene, who will be here by that time, I hope. You see how hard we try to keep up our spirits when you are away, and make believe it is as pleasant here as at Campton. But all in vain. So after all you will have to leave the charming Hattie and Cora, and the long line of little beaux, and come back to your affectionate Papa. Remember us all to Uncle Sam, Erny and the Spelmans, and bring Cora with you. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House). I. Arthur Gorham ( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 0 4 ) , a member of the Harvard class of 1864, became a Boston businessman and, at retirement, drank poison to end his life.

2167.

To George Washington Greene

Nahant Aug 12. 1864 My Dear Greene I wrote you a few days ago begging you to come to Nahant, and now to my great sorrow I must postpone the visit; as I have just received a letter from Mr. Appleton, stating that he shall be back in a few days, and it was his room I had destined for you. I am very, very sorry for this contre-temps; but it cannot be helped. So we must wait patiently. Your Article on Rome is excellent. It has given me an immense amount of information; — a peep behind the curtain I never had before. Right under it in the Magazine came my lines on Hawthorne; so we go hand in hand in this No. and I hope we shall in the next.1 I have been very indolent this Summer, and have done nothing but correct Dante, and even that with no great zeal. Decidedly Summer and the Seaside are not conducive to hard work, or work of any kind. With kind remembrances from the little girls Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

427

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ι . Greene's article, "How Rome Is Governed," appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, XIV (August 1864), 150-169. Greene replied on August 15 with characteristic melancholy: "It was pleasant to find myself on the same page with you — but it is not likely to happen again. Fields evidently does not intend to publish my other articles as long as he can get anything else to publish."

2168.

T o Alice Mary

Longfellow Nahant

A u g 16 1864

Dearest Alice, I have to-day received a telegram from Uncle T o m at Halifax, saying that he shall be at home on Thursday [August 18]! W h a t will you and Cora do, now that you cannot have his room? I am sure I do not know. Is your bed large enough for two? If not, I am afraid Cora must postpone her visit till we have a vacant room. T h e beauty from Auburn is gone, and Mr. Gorham is going tomorrow. I am very sorry to hear that Erny has sprained his ankle. I hope it is not serious; but he must take great care. I must write to him to tell him to keep quiet. W i t h much love from all, most affectionately Papa. p.s. It is growing so dark I am afraid I shall not be able to write to Erny by this mail. He must keep quiet; and unless the sprain is very slight had better stay a week longer at Campton; at all events long enough to be fit for travelling. A day or two now may save him months hereafter. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House).

2169.

T o Cornelia Fitch Nahant

A u g 17 1864

Dear Miss Cornelia, I am very glad to learn from your letter, that you and Mrs. Case 1 reached Cohasset without accident or delay, and that your mother 2 was finally reconciled to my keeping you till Saturday. W e all miss you very much at Nahant; and we have had our long week here since you left us. Mr. Gorham has ceased to sing, and the "Stout Gentleman" no longer honors the little promontory with his presence. W e have moreover had a law-suit about rights of bathing; a quarrel between the cook and the chambermaid; two young men upset in a boat, and a young girl floated off on a life-preserver; none of which things 428

NAHANT,

ι 864

could have happened if you had remained to harmonize the discord of the elements. To-day we are expecting Mr. Appleton by the Steamer from England, and Charley has gone up to town in the yacht with Mr. Gorham to meet him on landing and bring him down. I hope, Dear Miss Cornelia, that your friends have also arrived; and with kind regards to the family, (in which all join) I remain Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Iowa Library. ι . Frances Fitch Case ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 9 0 0 ) , one of Cornelia's eleven sisters and brothers and the mistress of the Cohasset summer cottage. 2. Llanah Nelson Fitch Ç 1 8 0 2 - 1 8 6 6 ) was the wife of Abijah Fitch ( 1 7 9 9 - 1 8 8 3 ) , a businessman of Auburn, N . Y .

2170.

To George Washington Greene Nahant

Aug 28 1864.

My Dear Greene, Of course I will be one of your five men, and would be all five in one, but for the impending heavy taxes I have to pay in October.1 Would it not however be better to print the first edition without the long delays of stereotyping, which probably would thwart the very object you have in view, namely speedy publication? I think it would. For five hundred dollars you could have a reasonable number of copies — somewhere between five hundred and a thousand — printed and bound. Perhaps the best way would be to ask Mr. Lippincott, for what sum he would make a thousand copies, as he offers to make the book for you.2 In order to answer this question he would need a page of your ms. and the whole number of pages of the work in ms. and you would have no further trouble about it. You must remember, that this is the hardest time for Publishers, particularly since the new tax upon every volume sold — five per cent! It naturally makes them unwilling to take risks of any kind. The little girls are still lamenting your not coming to Nahant; but console themselves with your promise to come when we get back to Cambridge. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Despite his discouraging negotiations with J. B. Lippincott a year earlier (see 2 0 4 4 . 1 ) , Greene had continued to press him to publish the biography of General N a -

429

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thanael Greene. In a letter to Longfellow of August 25 he announced his latest rejection by the Philadelphia publisher and proposed an alternative: "I enclose you Lippincott's No — not unexpected, indeed, but not very exhilarating. But I will not be driven out of the field without one more effort at least. I had a hard night of it last night after getting this letter — but this morning a loop hole has shewn itself thro' which I am trying to catch a ray. It is briefly this. If I can get the plates made I of course can find a publisher. Can I ask five of my friends to invest a hundred dollars each in the plates — to be reimbursed from the first sales? The copy right could be taken out in the name of one of them or of the publisher and the payments to me begin only when the original outlay has been paid." 2. Lippincott had offered to manufacture the book if Greene would provide a subsidy.

2171.

To Nielas Müller1 Nahant, Sept. 5. 1864.

My Dear Sir, Your friendly letter and package of poems have been forwarded to me at the seaside place where I am passing the summer, and I hasten to thank you for your kindness in sending them. The translations are very faithful and felicitous; being truly translations, and yet having the ease of original poems. Only those who have tried know how very difficult it is to attain this. I have read also with much pleasure the "Gepanzerte Sonnete";2 which are spirited and to the purpose. The poems in ms. I have not yet read with much ease; as it strains my eyes to make out your German handwriting. With renewed thanks for your kindness I remain, Dear Sir Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow. Hessische Landesbibliothek, Darmstadt, P U B L I S H E D : Walter Fischer, "An Unpublished Letter by Longfellow to a German Correspondent," Studies for William A. Read, ed. Nathaniel M. Caffee and Thomas A. Kirby (University, La.,

MANUSCRIPT:

1940). pp·

313-314·

ι . Müller ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 7 5 ) , a German emigré, came to New York in 1853, where he continued his career as printer, minor poet, and supporter of liberal movements. With a letter of August 30 he had sent Longfellow some of his translations of American poetry into German and a number of original German poems in manuscript. See Philip Allison Shelley, "An Exchange of Letters with Longfellow," Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, LX (June 1945), 6 1 1 - 6 1 6 . 2. Zehn gepanzerte Sonnete. Mit einer Widmung an Ferdinand Freiligrath, und einem Nachklang: "Die Union, wie sie sein soll" . . . Im November 1862 (New York, 1862).

43°

CAMBRIDGE, 2172.

1864

To George Washington Greene

Nahant Sept 12 1864 My Dear Greene, Thanks for two letters, one of which came this morning. Lippinco[t]t's estimate seems pretty high. I hope Welch's will be lower.1 The more I think of it the more I am persuaded that it will be best not to stereotype the first edition. How much better it will be for you to find yourself at Christmas with the book ready made and published, than with an armful of plates looking for a Publisher. What I should say to Welch would be; "On what terms will you deliver to me five hundred or a thousand copies of this book, bound in cloth, on the first day, or the fifteenth day, of December?" We go back to Cambridge on Thursday 15th. Come any day after that, which may suit your convenience. Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. We have this year stayed too long at Nahant. I heartily wish myself back in Cambridge. I linger so long, solely on account of Charley and the children. To-day we have a Northern storm of wind and rain; and it is comfortless and dreary enough. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Greene's two letters were dated August 3 1 and September 9. In the second, he enclosed Lippincott's estimate of the cost of manufacturing the biography: one dollar per copy in sheets plus 2 3 cents per copy for the muslin binding. Albion K. P. Welch ( 1 8 4 5 - 1 8 9 0 ) , to whom Greene had written for another estimate, was a partner in Welch, Bigelow & Company, printers, Brattle Square, Cambridge.

2173.

To Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow

Cambridge Sept 16 1864 My Dear Alex. On reaching home yesterday I found your letter and package of Spanish tobacco, for which I am much obliged. The "Madrileña" on the outside presents the weed with such a grace, that no one could refuse. In reference to the land I am decidedly of the same opinion still. Take it, and much good may it do you.1 The case of your friend and Chief Mr. Bache is pretty serious, but his friends do not despair of his recovery. He has over-worked his brain. He is still in camp in Connecticut, I believe. He was here for a few days only.

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I gave Charley your message. He wants to come to you; and will so arrange his visit as not to interfere with the Medical programme. 2 I do not know about the little girls. They are eager to go; but I am not quite sure I shall be able to go with them. W e find Cambridge looking green and beautiful; and the weather is of the pleasantest kind. W i t h much love to all at Highfield and in Portland, Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, Portland./Me.

ADDRESS: Alexander W . Longfellow Esq./

POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MASS SEP 1 6

1. See 1817.2. In a letter of September 14 Alexander had written: "About the undivided Munjoy land of which you very generously proposed to make me a present of your share. I would say that if you are still of the same mind I will accept your gift very gratefully, and as soon as I can get time in town, will send a Deed for your execution." 2. Charles wished to spend some time with his uncle aboard the coast survey ship Meredith. Alexander Longfellow had written that his cruise would have to be timed so as not to conflict with the visit of "the Medical faculty" aboard the ship.

2174.

To George Washington

Greene

Camb. Sept 19 1864 M y Dear Greene, Here is a little musical composition which has been sung in this house every hour or two since Thursday last. Your namesake the noisy Italian Maestro, never composed anything more melodious, or more effective. Listen. Soprano. Has Mr. Greene come? Alto. W h e n is Mr. Greene coming? Contralto. Oh, why does not Mr. Greene come? Basso Profondo. I'm sure I don't know W h a t makes him so slow, H e ought to have been here Long ago! I hope this quartett[e] will move you. W e came up from Nahant on Thursday afternoon. O n Friday [September 16] I saw Mr. Bigelow 1 about your book, and told him to write to you immediately. He promised to do so by that night's post. Saturday and Sunday we looked for you — and you did not come; and so on Monday I write again, and probably the letter will pass you on the way!

432

C A M B R I D G E ,

Ï 8 6

I send you also this morning Folsom['s] Souvenir of Faragut as a Midshipman.2 Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Marshall Train Bigelow ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 9 0 2 ) , partner in Welch, Bigelow & Company. 2. T h e "Souvenir" is unidentified. Charles Folsom ( 1 9 8 . 1 ) had served as chaplain in the U . S . N a v y and as midshipman's teacher of mathematics, 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 1 7 . During that time, as well as during 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 1 8 while he was chargé d'affaires in Tunis, he had Midshipman David Glasgow Farragut ( 1 8 0 1 - 1 8 7 0 ) as his pupil. On August 5, 1864, Rear Admiral Farragut had won the Battle of Mobile Bay.

2175.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Sept 20 1864 My Dear Fields, I was in town on Saturday [September 17], but did not find you, as you were at home nursing your cold, and I had not time to go to Charles St. I am glad to hear you are well again, and hope to see you soon. Meanwhile please send me the volumes of Weisbach and Todhunter, (pleasing names) noted on the strip of paper within.1 What charming weather for a drive to Sudbury! Yours truly H.W.L. p.s. I dine in town on Thursday [September 22], and will stop on my way at your door, soon after five o'clock, if you are likely to be at home at that hour. MANUSCRIPT:

Harvard College Library,

ADDRESS:

James T .

Fields Esqe./

Boston

P O S T M A R K : CAMBRIDGE MASS SEP 2 0

ι . T h e volumes were presumably written by Julius Weisbach ( 1 8 0 6 - 1 8 7 1 ) , German mining engineer, and Isaac Todhunter ( 1 8 2 0 - 1 8 8 4 ) , English mathematician. Longfellow may have intended them for his son Ernest, who was in the Lawrence Scientific School.

2176.

To William Adolphus Wheeler

Cambridge Sept 23. 1864. My Dear Sir, Last evening I had the pleasure of receiving the copy of "Webster's Dictionary" you were so kind as to send me, and beg you to accept my best thanks for it, and more particularly for your "Vocabulary of Fictitious Persons &c" contained in it.1 It is highly interesting and valuable.

433

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Before going to bed I read as much of it as the small type permitted. When you put it into a separate volume, I hope you will remedy this defect. I take much interest in this work of yours, and in its success. Allow me in the most friendly spirit to make one or two suggestions that occurred to me in turning over the leaves. Owen Meredith is not the pseudonym of the Novellist Bulwer but of his son the poet.2 Would it not be better to call Goldoni a distinguished "Dramatist" rather than "Poet"? I observe you have not inserted "Quaker gun [dummy gun]" — "Pipelaying [political scheming]" — "Undine [water sprite]" (Lamotte Fouqué's word) "Dough-boys [Union soldiers]" — "Jonnie Rebs [Confederate soldiers]," "Klabotermann" (the Flying Dutchman of the Baltic) — "Ferracute" (a giant in Turpin's "Chron. of Charlemagne,"3 ch. XVII.) (Ferracute — fer aigu, Fara gut!) I note these for your consideration, and remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia, ι. See 1 9 6 0 . 1 . 2. Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Earl of Lytton ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 8 9 1 ) . 3. Turpin (died c. 800), probably identical with Tilpin, archbishop of Rheims, was long regarded as author of the legendary Historia Caroli Magni, a work now thought to be of the twelfth century. See Longfellow's translation "Death of Archbishop Turpin" from the Chanson de Roland in Poets and Poetry of Europe, p. 4 1 4 .

2177.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Sept 28 1864 My Dear Sumner, Mr. Ferguson,1 of the North of England and a friend of the North in general, is staying with me. If you can dine with us tomorrow, (Thursday at 2 1 / 2 ) having like Cassar disgorged certain perilous stuff, as you will to night,2 you will greatly oblige your friend and admirer H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Robert Ferguson (d. 1898, aged eighty-one), a partner in the firm of Ferguson Brothers, silesia manufacturers of Carlisle, England, had called on Longfellow on September 2 7 with a letter of introduction from Fanny Farrer. H e remained as Longfellow's guest until October 1 ( M S Journal). Ferguson, who wrote variously on historical and philological subjects, was the author of America During and After the War (London, 1 8 6 6 ) . See Life, III, 4 2 - 4 7 .

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2. Sumner attended the "Grand Union Ratification Meeting" at Faneuil Hall on Wednesday evening, September 28, for the purpose of ratifying the Republican nominations of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. For his speech, see Sumner Works, IX, 6 8 - 8 2 .

2178.

To Thomas Amory Deblois

Cambridge Oct 1 1864 Dear Mr. Deblois, Allow me the pleasure of presenting the bearer, Mr. Robert Ferguson of Carlisle, England, who will pass a day in Portland on his way to the White Mountains. Mr. Ferguson is a warm friend of the North, and has been drawn to the country at this time by the interest he takes in the success of our cause, and the desire to see with his own eyes how things are managed here. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Maine Historical Society.

2179.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Oct. 4. 1864. Dearest Annie, I have only time to say Good Morning, and enclose you two cheques, being very busy with Tax Bills and other bills, which are very numerous just now. Charley, too, has a project of making a voyage to the Mediterranean, and we have to find a good vessel, and make other arrangements. I am not quite sure that he will go; but I rather think he will, if a good ship can be found. 1 I am afraid this and a visit from Mr. Greene, who comes to-day,2 will prevent my coming to Portland with the little girls. With much love to Aunt Lucia from all Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. Tell Aunt Mary that her friend Mrs. Dalton3 has been injured by being thrown from a wagon in the White Mountains. Not very serious, I believe, but very disagreeable. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Charles sailed for Palermo aboard the bark Trajan around November 1. H e returned on June 22, 1865 ( M S Journal).

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2. Greene actually arrived on October 7 ( M S Journal). He remained until November 22. 3. Unidentified.

2180.

To James Thomas Fields Camb. Oct. 6 1864.

M y Dear Fields I have been over this very carefully, and have made all necessary changes to de-lecturize it. It is now all plain sailing. 1 Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . Longfellow had read and revised Greene's manuscript of his Lowell lectures, delivered in 1863. See 1981.2.

2181.

To Cornelia Fitch

Cambridge Oct 8 1864. Dear Miss Cornelia, It is a long, long while since I heard from you, and I do not know whether this will find you at Cohasset or at Hingham. I only hope it may find you somewhere. T h e Opera begins in Boston next week, and I want you and Mrs. Parker 1 to come and pass the week with us. There is a room ready for you, and we shall all be delighted to see you again. I have been so busy since our return from Nahant, with the thousand things that accumulate during absence from home, that I have not found time to go in pursuit of Mr. Parker; and if he has been in Cambridge he has on his side been too busy to look for me. I hope you will be able to come next week, and think you would enjoy a few days in Cambridge. Be a good girl, and say Yes. 2 W i t h best regards to Mr. and Mrs. Parker, Very truly Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Iowa Library. ι . Helen Eliza Fitch Parker (1827-1874), Cornelia's sister, was the wife of Henry Webster Parker (1250.1), who was attending the Lawrence Scientific School at this time. He subsequently pursued an academic career in Massachusetts and Iowa. Mrs. Parker was the author of historical romances and other works.

436

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2. Cornelia Fitch was Longfellow's guest for the week of October 18-24, during which time he had to spend three days in Portland because of the death of Lucia Wadsworth on October 18.

2182.

To George Bancroft CAMBRIDGE, Oct.

23d, 1 8 6 4 .

MY DEAR MR. BANCROFT:

I assure you nothing would give me greater pleasure than to do honor to Bryant, at all times and in all ways; both as a poet and as a man. He has written noble verse, and led a noble life; and we are all proud of him. I am glad you are to pay him the homage of this Festival; and should rejoice to take part in it, if it were possible. But I am really too unwell to be present, and must, though with extreme reluctance, decline your very cordial invitation. 1 I remain, dear Mr. Bancroft, Yours truly, HENRY w . LONGFELLOW MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from The Bryant Festival at "The Century," 5, M.DCCC.LX1V (New York, 1865), pp. 57-58.

November

ι. Bancroft was president of the Century Association of New York, 1864-1868, and thus was official host of the club's celebration of Bryant's seventieth birthday on November 5, 1864.

2183.

To Cornelia Fitch

Camb Oct 31 1864 Dear Miss Cornelia, W e are all glad to hear that you reached Hingham safely, and that your trunk did not, either by force of habit or by its own impetus go on to the quiet old parsonage at Cohasset! But we lament your departure as I told you we should. Miss Davie has betaken herself to reading serious books; the children to playing dirges on the Pianoforte; and Mr. Greene sits for hours together, holding his head in his hands and pretending it is the light, which hurts his eyes. For my own part, I have had so bad a cold since you took away so much sunshine, that I have not been able to write till to-day. Behold the results of your too precipitate flight! However we console ourselves with the thought that we shall see you again, before a great while, and rely upon the great telescope 1 (which we are now glad you did not see) to bring you back again. I have, also, a charming book for you, Lowell's "Fireside Travels." 2 I

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will send it by M r . Parker, if I have time to hunt him up this week. If not, you shall have it when you come. W i t h kind regards from all Yours very truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

University of Iowa Library.

1. In the Harvard Observatory. 2. Published by Ticknor & Fields, Boston, 1864. 2184.

To James Thomas

Fields Camb. N o v 3

1864

M y Dear Fields, W e had a very pleasant dinner with you, and both Greene and myself enjoyed it very much. Greene has already spoken of it two or three times, as just what he most liked in the way of dinners. But on reaching home I was surprized and troubled to find that my name was announced in the papers as a "frequent contributor" to your new Journal. I am very sorry that this has been done; as I have never ever promised to write for it. 1 Let me know how you like the enclosed title-page. 2 E v e r Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Henry E. Huntington Library.

1. An announcement of the new journal, to be called Our Young Folks: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine for Boys and Girls, with a statement that "Mr. Longfellow, Mr. Whitder, and Professor Holmes will frequently furnish appropriate poems," appeared in the Boston Transcript, XXXVI, No. 10,595 (November 3, 1864). In a letter of October 27, 1864 (MS, Henry E. Huntington Library), Fields had asked for Longfellow's cooperation: "It will be a great thing for us in the new Illustrated Magazine if we can print a few verses from your pen. If you cannot find a new one in Craigie House with those jolly little sunny heads about your knee, who can? Do try. May I consider you loyal to the enterprize, and one of the speakers to our growing youth?" 2. Presumably the title page of Vol. I of the privately printed version of Longfellow's translation of The Divine Comedy (Boston, 1865). 2185.

To an Unidentified

Correspondent Cambridge

M y Dear Sir, T h e names of my children are Charles Appleton Ernest Wadsworth

438

Nov 5

1864

C A M B R I D G E ,

^ 6 4

Alice Mary Edith Anna Allegra I will call at your office as soon as I go to town. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia.

2186.

To Afphia Horner Howard

Cambridge Nov 22 1864 Dear Mrs Howard, I hope you will pardon me for having so long delayed my answer to your letter. I have had such an endless series of occupations and interruptions that all my good intentions have been thwarted; and in the writing of letters, more perhaps than in anything else Shakespear's words are true; and "The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it." 1 For the same reason the touching incident you mention has not yet shaped itself poetically in my mind, as I hope it some day will.2 Meanwhile I thank you very sincerely for bringing it to my notice and I agree with you in thinking it very beautiful. I remain, Dear Mrs. Howard Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow p.s. Mr. Greene, who leaves me to-day, sends his kindest remembrances. MANUSCRIPT: Haverhill Public Library, ADDRESS: Mrs. A. W . H. Howard/2 Rowe Place/Boston, POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE FEB [month deleted and replaced with "Novr 22 1864," in script] ANNOTATION (on address cover): The soldier at Newport News 1. Macbeth, IV, i, 1 4 5 - 1 4 6 . 2. In a letter of September 9 Mrs. Howard had written: " I take the liberty to send you the enclosed extract from the annals of the war, hoping the 'muse' that strengthened despairing souls in the 'Psalm of Life' and comforted all mourners in 'Resignation' will receive it with favor. The nation needs, in this ordeal, your strongest and tenderest utterances. In 'Memory of the nameless/Only named in Heaven today,' and in behalf of my own sex, the greatest suffere[r]s by the war, I ask for a Poem. I shall hope for an answer to my appeal through the pages of the 'Atlantic.' " The "enclosed extract" is unrecovered.

439

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To Charles Sumner

Camb. Nov 22 1864 My Dear Sumner, I shall make a point of meeting you and Mr. Laugel 1 at dinner on Friday. Greene departed in the pleasant sunshine this afternoon. Ever Yours H.W.L. 2 p.s. I hope you will see your way clear to nominate our friend as Librarian. It seems such a pity that he should miss such a place!3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Auguste Laugel ([1830-1914), French writer on literature and politics, was married to the daughter of Maria Weston Chapman (877.1). They were residing temporarily in Boston. 2. The instruction "Over" follows the signature. 3. Longfellow had suggested that Sumner nominate Greene to be Librarian of Congress. After Greene himself heard of the vacancy several weeks later, he wrote to Longfellow on January i, 1865: "Did you observe that the Librarian of Congress had resigned? His assistant for whom Sumner got the place has been recommended as his successor. I once spoke to Sumner about this office. I wonder if when he heard of the resignation he thought of me? It would have been the place I should have preferred to any other. But the Angel, I fear has again troubled the waters, before this poor cripple could get room."

2188.

To Dom Pedro U1

Cambridge Nov. 25. 1864. Sir, I have had the honor of receiving your Majesty's beautiful version of "King Robert of Sicily," and beg leave to offer my best acknowledgments and thanks for this mark of your consideration. The translation is very faithful and very successful. The double rhymes give a new grace to the narrative, and the old Legend sounds very musical in the soft accents of the Portuguese. Permit me to express my sense of the honor done me, and to subscribe myself Your Majesty's Obt. Sert. Henry W. Longfellow. Museu Imperial, Petrópolis. PUBLISHED: David James, "O Imperador do Brasil e os seus Amigos da Nova Inglaterra," Attuàrio do Museu Imperial, XIII ( 1 9 5 2 ) , 60-61.

MANUSCRIPT:

440

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^ 6 4

1. Dom Pedro de Alcántara ( 1 8 2 5 - 1 8 9 1 ) served as emperor of Brazil from 1831 until his forced abdication in 1889. His autographed translation of Longfellow's "King Robert of Sicily" ( " O Conde Siciliano"), dated "Rio de Janeiro, Julho de 1864," is in the Longfellow House.

2189.

To William Pitt Fessenden

Cambridge Nov 25 1864 My Dear Fessenden, I am not going to molest you with a long letter; only a few words in behalf of my nephew Stephen. He has been two years in the army, as private; has been three times badly wounded — at Gettysburg, at Fredericksburg, and in the Battle of the Wilderness — has been a prisoner at Richmond, and is now in the Hospital here; and with all this he has got no farther up than Sergeant! What we want to get for him is a Lieutenantcy in the Revenue Service, for which his long sea-faring life well fits him; and as he will probably be somewhat lame for life, from this last wound, which shattered his thigh, he doubts whether he can ever again march with his Regiment. If you can do anything for him, I hope [you] will be inclined to give him your influence in procuring the place he desires in the Revenue Service. In fact, I believe, that as Secretary of the Treasury, you have the appointing power in this case.1 Trusting that you will lend a friendly ear to my petition, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Cornell Club of New York, ury/ Washington2

ADDRESS: To/The Secretary of the Treas-

ι. Fessenden replied on January 28, 1865: "With some misgivings I forward a preliminary for Stephen. If successful, I can only hope that he will do credit to the service." In January 1865 Stephen was appointed collector of customs for the district of Machíes, Me. 2. After serving as secretary of the treasury for one year, Fessenden resigned early in 1865 to return to the Senate.

2190.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Nov 27 1864 My Dear Greene, I have paid to Welch and Bigelow the $100 you left for them1 and enclose you their receipt.

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Fields has explained to me why he chose "Enoch Arden" for illustration. It is because another house has advertised an illustrated edition of it, thus interfering with their rights. They want to drive the intruder out of the market.2 · After which I said; "It is a great pity you are not going to publish Greene's Lectures." T o which he replied; (blowing into his beard with suspirations) "How do you know we are not going to publish them?" And I to him; "I am glad to hear you ask the question. I mean, it would be a great pity not to have you do it." &c. &c Observe the effect of the study of Dante on my style! and take courage about the Lectures. I do not believe you will have much difficulty in finding a publisher. I send you to-day the "Camb. Chronicle," with some bits of local news, more or less amusing. You will see in your papers the attempt to burn New York. "Ah, Pistoja, Pistoja!"3 Addio! Yours ever H.W.L. p.s. I hope Mrs. Greene and the children reached home safely. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . For the printing of Greene's Lowell lectures. See 1 9 8 1 . 2 . 2. T h e Ticknor & Fields edition of Tennyson's Enoch Arden (Boston, 1 8 6 5 ) was illustrated by John La Farge ( 2 1 0 1 . 2 ) ; Elihu Vedder ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 2 3 ) and William John Hennessy ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 9 1 7 ) , painters and illustrators; and F. O. C . Darley ( 1 5 8 6 . 2 ) . T h e "intruder" was J . E . Tilton & Company, Boston, whose edition of the poem (Boston, 1 8 6 5 ) featured illustrations by Hammatt Billings ( 8 4 7 . 2 ) . 3. Inferno, X X V , 1 0 - 1 2 : "Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! w h y resolve not/To burn thyself to ashes and so perish,/ Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest?" Longfellow draws an inexact parallel between Pistoia, where the Romans defeated the conspirator Catiline in 62 B.C., and N e w York, where on the night of November 25—26 an attempt was made by Confederate agents to fire several hotels and public buildings. See the N e w York Evening Post, L X I I I (November 26, 1 8 6 4 ) , and Longfellow's note on Pistoia (Works, IX, 3 0 1 ) .

2191.

To Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz Camb. Nov 28 1864

My Dear Agassiz, I will come with the greatest pleasure.1 Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow

442

CAMBRIDGE,

1864

MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . Agassiz had invited Longfellow to lunch with him on December ι to meet the Laugels (2187.1). See M S Journal.

2192.

T o Charles Sumner

Camb. N o v 28 1864 M y Dear Sumner, If you go tomorrow Tuesday, I shall hardly see you again, as you must be very busy. So I write to say good bye, and to ask you to take charge of the enclosed 1 to his Majesty Dom Pedro II. and to forward it through the Brazilian Minister, as that seems the proper way. I hope you will have a pleasant Winter in Washington. A busy and triumphant one certainly you will have. God bless you and your work. Yrs ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι . Letter No. a 188.

2193.

T o Auber Forestier

Cambridge Dec 5 1864 Dear Madam, I have several times had the question asked me, which you ask, and have not been able to give a satisfactory answer. 1 All the good German stories seem to be translated almost as soon as written; and I really do not know what to recommend, particularly as for the last four or five years, I have not kept myself well informed upon subjects of the kind. T h e stories of Hoffmann and Fouqué 2 are to my taste the best; but all have been translated into English already. I am sorry for your ill luck with "Ritter Gluck." 3 That is a charming sketch. Regretting very much, that I cannot help you out of your difficulty, but fully trusting that you will find a way out, I remain, with best wishes, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, ADDRESS: Miss Auber Forestier/ Care of J. J. Woodward Esq/Spruce St. West of 39th/Philadelphia, POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE MASS DEC 5

ι . In a letter of November 28 Miss Forestier had asked Longfellow to recommend "some truly excellent story or collection of stories adapted for children" that she could translate from the German.

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2. Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (637.5) and Baron Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte-Fouqué ( 1 7 7 7 - 1 8 4 3 ) , German romanticist and author of Undine (see 480.2). 3. After translating Hoffmann's "Ritter Gluck," Miss Forestier discovered that it had already been translated.

2194.

To an Unidentified

Correspondent [Cambridge]

Dec 5. 1864.

I have not time to write this morning. A m shut up at home with a swollen face. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2195.

To Benjamin William

Crowninshield1

Cambridge Deer 13 1864 M y Dear Sir, I have this morning received your note, and am much obliged to you for paying Lieut. Balwin. 2 Enclosed you will find the amount $24.00. Charley has taken a trip to Palermo, for the benefit of sea air. He could not pick up his strength fast enough at home. I have not yet heard from him. W h e n you come to Cambridge I shall hope to have the pleasure of seeing you. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Thomas H. de Valcourt, Cambridge, ENDORSEMENT: Henry W . Longfellow/Cambridge Dec 13. 1864./About Charleys bill for Govt clothes. ι . Identified as Longfellow's correspondent from the letter calendar. See 2065.1. Crowninshield became a Boston merchant after the war and wrote A History of the First Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry Volunteers (Boston, 1891). 2. Presumably Lieut. James A . Baldwin (b. 1843) of the First Massachusetts Cavalry.

2196.

To George Washington

Greene

Camb. Deer. 17 1864 M y Dear Greene, I should have sent the books sooner, but for the last ten days have been having a bout with neuralgia, which, together with the stormy weather, has prevented me. They go on Monday, care of Dr. Greene. 7 Pelham St. 1

444

CAMBRIDGE,

1864

I have a new book on Dante. Barlow: "Contributions to the Study of the Divina Commedia." 2 Patient researches among Codici, for disputed readings. For instance. Inf. IX. 70 "porta fuori [bears away] porta ( i ) fiorì Sixty one Codici gave for the first reading 53, for the second 7. &c &c" Then in the Paradiso long Theological discussions. I think it will prove a very useful and valuable as well as curious book. I as well as you have to wait for proofs. Be calm. There is always an immense pressure at this season. Everything struggling to be ready for Xmas. Thanks for Mr. Porter's interesting letter, which I return with this.3 Think of it! I have only reached Canto XXVIII. of the Inferno. Slow work. I feel it drag — drag — drag, like wheels in deep sand. Erny asks after the Map, you were to send. Perhaps you may wait till you can bring it, for fear of accident. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Greene was living with his brother, Dr. Nathanael Greene (495.6), on a farm known as Greenedale in the township of Middletown, R.I. Longfellow sent the books to Dr. Greene's office address in Newport. 2. Henry Clark Barlow, Critical, Historical, and Philosophical Contributions to the Study of the Divina Commedia (London, 1864). 3. The letter, unrecovered, was presumably written by Greene's brother-in-law John Addison Porter ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 6 6 ) , professor of chemistry at Yale and first dean of the Sheffield Scientific School. He had recently retired because of ill health.

2197.

T o James Thomas Fields

Camb. Dec 25 1864 My Dear Fields, I write to thank you once more for your beautiful Christmas present. Nothing could be more welcome. I shall give it a conspicuous place on the wall, as soon as I can find one; and in thé mean time keep it close at hand on a table. I wish to commend to you a new book, which seems to me to possess great merits. It is "The Autobiography of a New England Farm House" by

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Ν. H. Chamberlain. Have you seen it? I ask the question because I want you to have a friendly Review or Notice of it in the next Atlantic; as it is the first book of the author. Read the Dedication. That will incline you favorably. 1 I send you a copy of the "Noël," and hope it will amuse your wife. 2 A happy, merry Christmas to you both. I have not heard from Charley; though the "Trajan" — the ship he sailed in, has arrived at Gibraltar. How careless boys are! Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. Please cast your eye over the enclosed form of Contract. I will see you about it soon. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Nathan Henry Chamberlain (c. 1 8 2 8 - 1 9 0 1 ) , an Episcopal clergyman of Birmingham, Conn., dedicated his book (New York, 1 8 6 5 ) to Longfellow. It received a short, mixed review in the Atlantic Monthly, X V (February 1865), 2 5 5 - 2 5 6 . 2. Longfellow had composed "Noël" in French, printed it privately for his friend Louis Agassiz, and delivered it to him on Christmas Eve, 1864, together with a basket of wine. See Works, III, 1 4 4 - 1 4 6 .

2198.

To George Washington

Greene

Camb. Dec 27 1864 My Dear Greene, I have just received your letter, and am thinking with pain, what a sad Christmas you must have had, with your darlings so ill. 1 I hope and trust that the danger is now passed with both of them; and that you are relieved from all apprehension. I sympathise with all your anxieties. I will write immediately to Sumner; and ask him to see Wilson, and urge the Professorship of History at West Point a separate Professorship, and to put you into this chair, unless he can see something better for you near at hand. Will they make the new Professorship? That is the first question.2 To-day I have been making Notes on Inf. Canto VI. In spite of Ginguené's abuse, I have always taken an interest in that poor old dinerout Ciacco; and I shall quote the whole of Boccaccio's tale of him and Felippo Argenti.3 It is like looking out of a window on the Piazza in Florence; — a curious glimpse into the days of old. What fools some critics make themselves by insisting that Dante ought to keep himself up to his highest level. As if he did not know best what he was about. Some446

C A M B R I D G E ,

^ 6 4

times the sock, sometimes the buskin; and final result a real Divina Commedia. Ginguené wants it all buskin. That would be Tragedia. Now I think Canto VI. peculiarly felicitous. The outer darkness, the rain "Eternal maledict and cold and heavy,"4 the mire and the stench, and being bitten now and then by the dog in the yard, contrast so admirably with the warmth and light and perfume of a banquet, that perhaps we could have better spared a better Canto, if all were not equally necessary to the completeness of the work. I send you to-day the Evening Post, that you may not lose the remarks of the literary critic therein contained, and other things marked. 6 I send you also a Noël, which I wrote the other day to go with some bottles of wine to Agassiz. As they tell their own story, I will not tell it for them here. I hope it will amuse you as much in reading as it did me in writing. I have forwarded "the Delta" 6 to my brother Alex. One or two memoranda about Dante you have sent me. Thanks therefor. Is there any English translation of the Letter to Can Grande? I mean to have a good part of it in one of the volumes, among other "Illustrations." 7 After all, the Bouterweck 8 is yours, not mine; yours by so many associations of time and place, that I cannot think of keeping it. It is still in a chair here in the Study; — on a visit, as it were. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. In a letter of December 24 Greene had reported that his two daughters were suffering from croup. 2. Greene had written: "I see that Senator [Henry] Wilson has introduced a bill for the enlargement of West Point and raising the standard of admission. This will make necessary a corresponding increase of instructors. Is it not the time to urge the appointment of a professor of history? . . . Now can you write Sumner a letter that he could show Stanton and the President — and urge him to forget that I am his friend and push me forward as urgently as he would a political enemy." If Longfellow wrote to Sumner on this subject, the letter is unrecovered. Nothing came of the idea. 3. Pierre Louis Ginguené (1748-1816), French literary historian, was the author of Histoire Littéraire de l'Italie (Paris, 1811-1819), 9 vols. In II, 53, he criticized Dante for sympathizing with the glutton Ciacco. See Longfellow's note in Works, IX, 209—213. 4. Inferno, VI, 8. 5. The particular number of the New York Evening Post alluded to is not known. 6. This unidentified book or journal presumably dealt with geodetic matters. 7. Can Francesco della Scala (1291-1329), known as Can Grande, was the imperial vicar of Verona and Dante's patron during his exile there. No letter from Dante to Can Grande appears in Longfellow's "Illustrations" for the Divine Comedy, but see Works, XI, 292-294.

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8. Presumably Friedrich Bouterwek's Geschichte der poesie und heredsamkeit seit dem ende des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts. See 296.1 and Letter No. 303.

2199.

T o Elizabeth Cary Agassiz

Cambridge Dec 28 1864. Dear Mrs. Agassiz I am very much gratified to know, from your letter and that of Agassiz, that my Christmas Carol was so well received, and that it gave you and your noble husband a little pleasure on Christmas Eve. It was only the crackling of a fagot on the hearth; but I am delighted to think that it helped light up the room. These anniversaries are so hard to bear! Have you among your books any of Ampère's writings? I wish very much to find [a] copy of his "Voyage Dantesque." 1 Felton had it; but Julia 2 tells me she cannot find it in his library. If by chance you own it, will you be so kind as to lend it to me? W i t h all the best wishes of Christmas and N e w Year together, Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College. ι . A chapter in Jean Jacques Antoine Ampère, La Grèce, Rome et Dante; études littéraires d'après nature (Paris, 1848). 2. Julia Ward Felton (1842-1884), daughter of Cornelius Conway Felton.

2200.

T o Nathan Henry

Chamberlain

Cambridge Deer. 28 1864 M y Dear Sir, I should have written you many days ago to thank you for your beautiful book; but I have been so crowded and interrupted this last week of holidays that it has been quite impossible. I have not even had time to read the book through; but I have read enough to see that it is replete with insight and poetical feeling. In fact it is a poem; and I shall read it with great interest. W h a t I have read is excellent; particularly the chapter "About Houses." 1 Remembering my own "first book," I assure you I shall read yours with a full sense of what those words mean. Do not fear therefore any lack of sympathy. I have already written to the Editor of the Atlantic to secure his early attention to the work, and so far as I have any influence, a notice by some one who likes it. As to any adverse criticism, if any such there should be, my advise to

448

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you is, not to read it. Then it will be as if it had not been, and you will spare yourself much useless annoyance. With best wishes for the complete success of your "Farm House," Very truly Yours Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Bowdoin College Library. ι. The Autobiography

2201.

of a New England Farm-House, Ch. IV, pp. 2 7 - 3 5 .

T o John Gorham Palfrey Camb. Dec 28 1864

My Dear Palfrey, I thank you most cordially for the Third Volume of your noble history. It goes over most interesting ground; and I shall read it, as I did the other volumes, with a feeling of gratitude to you, for having ground and sifted the husky and dusty old records into wholesome food. Before you wrote your book New England history used to drive me mad. It was a labyrinth in which I groped in vain, and always came out at the spot I started from. But what shall we say to you for taking away our ideal Indian from us? I am just reading your account of Philip's War; 1 and you write with such strength of conviction, that you carry conviction with you. I suppose we must give him up, and the "noble savage" must become a myth of the imagination! With renewed thanks and my best Christmas and N e w Year's wishes to yourself and family, I remain, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. History of New England (Boston, 1864), Vol. Ill, chs. iii, iv, v.

2202.

To Alexander Wadsworth

Longfellow Camb. Dec 30 1864

My Dear Alex, T h e girls are delighted with the presents from Highfield, and I am directed to return thanks for each and all. T h e mittens came just in season, and the little hands are warmer for them. Waddy's bracelets are much admired. What an ingenious boy he is! — and Alice is much gratified by the handkerchief, and all are happier for the gifts and the remembrance.

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In return they send for Mamie a box and a book called "Budget of Fun"; 1 for Waddy, a pencil and a tape measure to survey the front yard with; — to Bessie, a doll's hat and a book called "Doll Life"; — and to Lulie, two tiny dolls, one in a chair, and the other in a state of nature. W e had this morning a merry letter from Charlie. He was in Gibraltar; was well and happy, and had been over to Tangiers in Africa, which interested and amused him highly. He next goes to Malaga; then to Palermo; and what he will do after that I do not know. Sam has not yet returned from Brooklyn. With much love from all the household, and our best wishes for the New Year, Affectionately Yours H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, '333-/Portland./Me.

POSTMAHKS:

ADDRESS: Mr A. W . Longfellow/Box

CAMBRIDGE

STA MAS

JAN

1 2 8 AM

I . A Budget of Fun for Little Folks, by Aunt Maggie (Boston, 1863).

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SIXTEEN

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E R A ' S

E N D

1865 IMPORTANT EVENTS of 1865 affected Longfellow as they affected all Americans, though he did not reveal his emotions effusively in either journal or letters. He prematurely recorded the news of Lee's surrender in his journal on April 7, two days before the actual event: "Wind and rain. In the afternoon comes news that Lee has surrendered! So ends the Rebellion of the Slave-owners!" His only mention of the tragic happening of April 14 is an equally compressed entry in his journal on the next day: "The hideous news comes this morning of the assassination of President Lincoln, and an attempt to assassinate Secretary Seward! Such is Chivalry!" His letters of this year give the impression that the convulsions of the Confederate army, the drama at Appomattox Courthouse, the murder of the President, the trial and execution of the conspirators, and the quarrels of the victors as they struggled to "reconstruct" the Union affected him only as a detached observer, remote in his elegant mansion, faintly aware of his anachronistic retreat into the world of Dante. "Meanwhile I plod on with my Dante, and you with your politics," he wrote to Sumner on December 29. "Imbéciles que nous sommes!"

T H E

The Divine Comedy project continued to occupy a great deal of time, and he managed to write only one original poem — the third Divina Commedia sonnet — during the year. Ticknor & Fields produced a private edition of the Inferno in February, which Longfellow dispatched to Italy for the Dante Festival in commemoration of the six hundredth anniversary of the poet's birth. He then proceeded with the revision of Purgatorio and Paradiso and with accumulating and arranging the notes. On October 25 he organized the Dante Club, with James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton as the other charter members. Although the main purpose of the club was scholarly — with the friends meeting once a week in Longfellow's study, frequently joined by James T . Fields, George Washington Greene, Oliver Wendell Holmes, or others, to review and revise the translation for the regular trade edition — the "little supper" that concluded each meeting added conversational gaiety and gustatory pleasure to the intellectual labors of the evening. William Dean Howells, an occasional guest of the club, described one of the "very plain" suppers in his Literary Friends and Acquaintance: "a cold turkey, which the host carved, or a haunch of venison, or some braces of grouse, or a platter of quails, with a deep bowl of salad, and the sympathetic companion-

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ship of those elect vintages which Longfellow loved, and which he chose with the inspiration of affection. We usually began with oysters, and when some one who was expected did not come promptly, Longfellow invited us to raid his plate, as a just punishment of his delay." The extent of Longfellow's actual management of these suppers and, indeed, of the Craigie House with its five children is not precisely known. Presumably the household ran itself, with the aid of professional servants, and Longfellow remained free to play the role of scholar, poet, and father. His children now ranged in age from ten to twenty-one. Charles returned from his European recuperative trip in June, and in October Ernest left on a study tour abroad with Samuel Longfellow as guide and mentor. Although Longfellow may still have worried occasionally about the unpredictable Charles, he cannot be said to have had any problems with his children. Ernest at twenty was a quiet youth, modestly endowed with artistic talent. Alice, Edith, and Anne Allegra were polite products of a conventional upbringing, each one enlivened by a dash of piquancy. As legatees of Fanny Longfellow's will, the children need never face financial difficulties. In short, the Longfellow family presented itself to the world as a model of nineteenth century values and decorum. Whatever demands the children made on the father were of a kind that could be granted in an atmosphere of trust and affection. His correspondents, who continued to multiply in 1865, harried Longfellow with demands of another kind. In his first letter of the year he explained to his sister Anne that he had never in his life been so busy. The fact is that he brought much of the problem on himself, having always found it difficult to let a letter go unanswered. During 1865 he wrote at least 215 letters, of which 104 are recovered. They give a picture of a man shouldering "accustomed cares and anxieties" but with the keen ambitions and major vicissitudes of his life behind him. At fifty-eight he was secure in his fame and at ease in the restricted world of books, friends, and family.

2203.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Jan 5 1865 Dearest Annie, I have only time to wish you a Happy New Year, and to enclose my little present. I was never in my life so busy as now; having in addition to other matters the children's property to look after, so that I can render a good account as their Guardian. It is not difficult to manage, but takes time.

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And then the letters I have to write! Why, last week I received six books, presentation copies and two of them solid octavoes; — and the authors expect me to read them and give my opinion of their merits! If I had Briareus with his hundred hands for secretary, I might do it perhaps. Having only one hand to write with, it becomes impossible. This is my excuse for all epistolary delinquencies. We have had a letter from Charley, and a very merry one. He was in Gibraltar, and had been across to Tangiers in Africa, which he enjoyed extremely. I am afraid you are having a very solitary Winter, and will miss your accustomed cares and anxieties, which become from habit a part of one's life. The children send much love. Let us hear from you soon. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection.

2204.

To Francis James Child

Camb. Jan 6. 1865 My Dear Professor, I have delayed answering your note in the hope that I should be able to answer it favorably. But I find I have got so far ahead of my income that I must stop till it comes up with me. I am very sorry; for I should like to contribute to this object.1 I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι . Child ( 1 0 7 6 . 3 ) was a member of the executive committee of the N e w England Freedmen's Aid Society. In a letter of December 26, 1864, he had asked Longfellow to contribute "fifty or a hundred dollars" to help the society build schoolhouses in Washington, D.C., and eastern Virginia.

2205.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Jan 9 1865

My Dear Sumner, What a diiference there is between the two letters1 I here return to you! 455

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North and South! Farther comment is unnecessary. This tells the whole story. How that Medusa's hand-writing crawls through the page! And the other! ah me, what a tragedy — and so heroic. If you happen to meet Dr. Henry, dont forget to say a good word about Lectures for Greene. 2 "Yours received," as the business men say; which means I have Yours of Jan 5. and am Yours always H.W.L Our Post Master Osgood is a good Post Master. Dont have him removed. I do not know that there is any attempt on foot to do it, but say it because it comes into my mind, and you have some times asked me a question about him. 3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Unrecovered. 2. See 2098.5. 3. T h e postscript, on a different sheet, is dated "Jan. 9, 1 8 6 5 " in another hand. George M . Osgood, a former bank messenger, became postmaster in Cambridge in 1860.

2206.

To John Hazlehurst Boneval

Latrobe1

Cambridge Jan 10 1865 My Dear Sir, I am very much obliged to you for sending me a copy of your poems, which I have read with great pleasure. It was a happy inspiration of your daughter2 to think of me as one who would sympathize with you, and I beg you to thank her for it. It is delightful to see that amid all the cares and vexations of what Claudian calls "the hoarse-clamoring bar," 3 you still find time to cultivate such flowers, so that you can always appear when you will with a rose in your button-hole. Perhaps that is better than to become a regular market-gardener, like some people. Very pleasant is it to get this glimpse of your inner self, which no casual meeting or chance conversation would have given me, and I beg you to accept my best thanks for the revelation. I wonder if you still remember, as I do, that agreeable dinner at Newport, where somebody asserted something about somebody else, and

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another somebody denied it; whereupon out of a drawer and out of a pocketbook flew simultaneously two printed proofs of the assertion?4 With great regard and Kind remembrances to your daughter, Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow Maryland Historical Society, PUBLISHED: John E. Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe and His Times, 1803-1891 (Baltimore, 1 9 1 7 ) , pp. 440-441.

MANUSCRIPT:

ι . Latrobe ( 1 8 0 3 - 1 8 9 1 ) , lawyer, artist, inventor, and philanthropist of Baltimore, had sent Longfellow a copy of his privately printed Odds and Ends (Baltimore, 1864). 2. Latrobe had two daughters, Virginia (b. 1845) and Lydia. 3. Carmina Minora, X X , 8. 4. This incident undoubtedly took place in 1852, when Longfellow dined with Latrobe in Newport on August 1 1 and 26. After the latter occasion he wrote in his journal: "Dined with Sumner. Hillard, Bancroft, Latrobe and George Sumner there. We had a good deal of talk about Slavery and Colonization. A very pleasant dinner." Perhaps the subject of slavery and colonization kindled the dispute.

2207.

To G. W. Jexvett1

Cambridge Jan 16 1865 My Dear Sir, We have a very thorny language to deal with, and "its," is one of its sharpest thorns. In the first line you quote, I was obliged to use it; in the second I avoided it, without changing the meaning of the passage; for "the hopes of future years" are the hopes of Humanity. Read the lines over again, and you will see how much more musical "the hopes" is than "its hopes." I remain, Dear Sir Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Boston Public Library. ι . In a letter of January 10, 1865, from Kents Hill, Me., Jewett had written that in reciting an extract from "The Building of the Ship" he took the "liberty to change 'the' before 'hopes' to its" in the final stanza, 1. 4, and asked Longfellow for "an authoritative statement of the true reading and the real meaning" of the passage.

2208.

To Cornelia Fitch

Cambridge Jan 18 1865 Dear Miss Cornelia, All this household send you kind greetings and best wishes for a New Year. We are rather late about it, but that is Miss Alice's fault, who being 457

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a school-girl has of course all the affairs of the nation on her shoulders, and cannot find time for anything. So I, who am supposed to be a man of leisure, take the pen. In the main, we like the new photograph very much. But not entirely. The upper part is good, but the lower has too deep a shadow, which breaks the outline and makes you look too old, and that is not right.1 We were all very sorry not to see you again before you went home; and sorry that you did not stay over Christmas. I see that General Wetzel2 is in active service. Is your brother with him? At all events, I hope he is safe. We have heard from Charley. He had reached Gibraltar, and had been across to Tangiers in Africa, which interested and amused him greatly. His letter excites the dormant love of travel in me, and I have offered to go out and complete his tour for him if he will come back and take care of the family. He does not accept the proposition. With much regard from all, and kind remembrances to your mother and Mrs. Case. Yours truly H.W.L. p.s. I send you Alice and Annie. Edie I can ||not|| send llyou as the|| photogr||aph||er has lost the ||negative.||3 MANUSCRIPT: University of Iowa Library. ι . See Plate VIII. 2. Godfrey Weitzel ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 8 8 4 ) , major general of volunteers, was at this time in command of the Twenty-fifth Corps of the Army of the James. Horace B. Fitch ( 2 1 5 9 . 1 ) , now a captain of volunteers, was his aide-de-camp. 3. T h e manuscript is indistinct at this point.

2209.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Jan 18 1865 My Dear Greene, I am having one copy of Dante printed to send out to Italy.1 I cannot resist the temptation. I want a simple inscription for the purpose. How will this do? In Commemorazione del Sesto Centinaio della Nascita di Dante Alighieri.

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Should one say "della Nascita" or "dalla Nascita"? I prefer "della," if it may be used without offence to Ser Brunetto and the other Grammarians. What says Ser Georgio?2 This is simple. Can you think of anything better? Please write forthwith, as we want to begin the printing without delay. I have finally got through the Solferino,3 as the printer calls it. I shall not stop for the notes; but go at once upon the Purgatorio. I wonder what he will call that? How the time flies! I wake and sleep, and that is a day. I wake and dont sleep, and that is a night. I take my usual walk with Trap, who from going so often to the Printing-Office, thinks he has translated Dante. I meet our mutual friend,4 who looks at me inquiringly as if to say; "se per questo cieco Carcere vai per prendere esercizio Quel altro ov' è?" 5 I hope you are getting on as well with your Gran Padre, as I am with mine. Yours ever H.W.L. p.s. Erny asks; "Where is the map?" MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . For the Dante Festival, celebrating the six hundredth anniversary of the poet's birth, to be held in Florence, May 1 4 - 1 6 , 1 8 6 5 . 2. Greene replied on January 2 1 : " M y ear says dalla. T h e use of de for da tho' frequent is always idiomatic. Centinaio for secolo is itself eliptical — requiring d'anni to complete the expression and therefore, I think, would not bear the genitive." 3. Scene of a sanguinary victory of the allied French and Sardinian armies over the Austrians on June 24, 1 8 5 9 . 4. Possibly Marshall Train Bigelow ( 2 1 7 4 . 1 ) of the University Press (Welch, Bigelow & Company). 5. C f . Inferno, X , 5 8 - 6 0 : "If through this dark/Prison you go to take exercise/ Where is the other one?"

221 o.

To George Coles Chamberlain

Cambridge Jan 22 1865 Dear Sir, I have written to Washington in your behalf, and hope I shall be able to get you a furlough; but do not know.1 The Lieutenant does not answer your letter, because he is not here.

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Not recovering his strength, he thought he would try a voyage, and sailed in October for the Mediterranean. We have heard from him at Gibraltar. He was doing well, but does not say when he will return. Hoping you will have your request granted, and that there will be no impediment in the way, such as often interferes to disappoint us, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Texas Library. ι . After serving Charles Longfellow as a striker, Chamberlain enlisted in the Fourth Massachusetts Heavy Artillery in August 1864. H e was mustered out as a sergeant on June 1 7 , 1 8 6 5 .

2211.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Jan 22 1865 My Dear Sumner, I hate to bore you with petitions, but cannot always avoid it; and not knowing your colleague well enough to address him directly in the present instance, must do it through you. Chamberlain, "Sergt. in Comp. Β. 4th Mass. Regt. H.A." wants to get leave of absence for a couple of weeks. He was formerly Charley's "Striker" in the Army; and is a very good fellow. I send you his letter; and wish you would get him his furlough, unless there be some special reason, why you should not. I suppose you or Wilson can do it with a stroke of the pen. Everett's Funeral was very striking. Summer and Chauncey Streets so densely crowded, that I could not get into the church. But dont you think the Eulogists a little over do it?1 Read in the Feb. Atlantic, an Article on Chf. Justice Taney. I do not know the author.2 I am glad you like the "Noël." It is the merriment of a sad heart, striving to forget itself.3 We have here the Hon. Auberon Herbert, brother of Lord Caernarvon;4 a good fellow, but against us, and impenetrable to argument, though he confesses he has got his eyes opened a little since he came here. Yours ever H.W.L. G. C. Chamberlain Sergt. Co. Β 4th Mass. H.A. Fort Scott η. Washn. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

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1. Edward Everett had died on January 15, 1865. His funeral took place on January 19 from the First Church in Boston. 2. The article on Roger Brooke Taney ( 1 7 7 7 - 1 8 6 4 ) , chief justice of the United States, 1836-1864, appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, X V (February 1865), 1 5 1 - 1 6 1 . The author was Charles Mayo Ellis (1366.4). 3. Sumner had written on January 5 : "The idea [of the "Noël"] is gay and you have expressed it like a French poet. Allons donc! You must appear in yr true character. Why not a volume of French verse? Verily, I have enjoyed these vers de société much — so far as I can enjoy anything." 4. Auberon Edward William Molyneux Herbert ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 9 0 6 ) was the brother of Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 8 9 0 ) , fourth Earl of Carnarvon.

2212.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Jan 26 [1865] My Dear Greene, Thanks for your letter. I have not time to answer it this morning; only time to ask you how this will do. "In Commemorazione del sestocentesimo Anniversario della Nascita di Dante Alighieri." Do you consider that good Italian or is it only good "Inglese italianato"? I like it better than the other. Please write one word in answer immediately as the printer is urgent. Ever Yours H.W.L. 1 p.s. The printer sends you some proofs of your book — I think he said the last — to-day. It is a great pity to leave so much blank paper; but I am afraid I shall lose the mail. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Greene's Historical View of the American Revolution

2213.

(1981.2).

To Charles Monroe Dickinson1

Cambridge Jan 30 1865. My Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter and your poems, which I have read with much interest and sympathy. You must excuse me if I do not give you any opinion of their merits, in detail, nor offer any criticism. I never sit in judgment upon the writ461

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ings of others; and therefore beg you to be satisfied with my saying, that the pieces found in me a friendly Reader, not a Rhadamanthus. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours with best wishes Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Dickinson ( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 2 4 ) , a law student in Binghamton, N . Y . , was the author of the widely reprinted poem " T h e Children" ( 1 8 6 3 ) . H e subsequently distinguished himself as a lawyer, newspaperman, and diplomat.

2214.

To Stephen Longfellow

Camb. Jan 31 1865 My Dear Stephen, I received this yesterday from Washington, and forward to you. The way is open for you. All the rest depends upon yourself.1 Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. See Letter No. 2 1 8 9 .

2215.

To Cornelia Fitch

Cambridge Feb 6 1865. Dear Miss Cornelia, I confess that the tidings in your last letter took us all by surprise.1 Still I do not much wonder at them, not even at the regal style of the betrothal; for I always thought you were a Princess in disguise. The manner of it is nothing, if your heart is in it; and so we all congratulate you, and wish you much happiness, even more than you dream of. Pleasant memories of you will always linger here, and at Nahant, and along that gleaming, rocky shore southward, where you passed the Summer. I little knew what sorrow was weighing upon you,2 and am very happy now to know that I did anything to alleviate it, and that you retain pleasant memories of those days, likewise. As Emerson says in one of his poems, "Nor knowest thou what argument Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent."3 "Uncle Tom" [Appleton] was pleased with your mention of him in your letter; and joins us in best and kindest wishes for you, and benedic-

462

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tions on your wedding-day. It will make a great stir in Auburn; and I cannot help thinking of those unhappy Theological Students,4 who will have to seek comfort in the doctrine of Predestination, which I am far from disbelieving. With my regards to your mother and to Mrs. Case, and for yourself, "whatsoever things are lovely,"5 and best and happiest, I remain always Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: University of Iowa Library, PUBLISHED: Sargent Bush, Jr., "Longfellow's Letters to Cornelia Fitch," Books at Iowa, N o . 6 (April 1967), 18-23. ι . In an unrecovered letter Cornelia Fitch had announced her engagement to David Ogden Bradley ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 9 5 ) , a lawyer of Brooklyn, N.Y., whom she married on February 22, 1865. After 1866 the Bradleys lived in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 2. A reference to the death in the Civil W a r of an earlier fiancé. 3. "Each and All," 11. 9-10. 4. Of the Auburn Theological Seminary (Presbyterian). 5. Phil. 4 : 8 .

2216.

To George Washington Greene Camb. Feb 6. 1865.

Thanks, my dear Greene, for your last letter, so friendly and so true! Ah, it is pleasant to go back to those old days. The pain vanishes, and only the charm remains. The record of sorrow fades away, and the great, red initial letters of happiness stand indelible, with only a little blur of the black ink left. 1 I have been to-day with Mr. Bigelow, talking about your "Analytical Table of Contents." We both think it too minute and voluminous for a book of the size of yours. Besides, it cannot possibly be printed in the style of Prescott's, Macaulay's and the rest. The lines are too long. They, the Historians above mentioned, give only catch words as it were; which is enough for such a purpose. You give a copious analysis of the book. I advise against it; at all events in the first edition. Should you have a school edition later, it would be in place. I would not have more than a dozen lines to a Lecture; four or five pages in all. It will look better, and be better. Pray reconsider the matter. Otherwise you will have to print it in solid masses; painful to the author, and to the reader — suggestive of despair. The Commemoration copy of Dante is in the binder's hands. The printers have begun upon the Purgatorio.

463

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This whole morning I have given to the writing of letters and autographs for Fairs! Therefore I close abruptly. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. In a letter of January 29, 1865, Greene had described his sentiments after looking over old letters from Longfellow: "I am surprized to see how unchanged you are. I am not surprized — but deeply moved to see how closely our lives were interwoven: and henceforth as in the past I shall recall, in my hours of depression, (and they are many and deep) the expressions of affection and proofs of true interest with which those letters abound, and try to feel there once was something in me to awaken trust and hope in superior minds and that there may be something there still."

2217.

To Charles Sumner Camb. Feb II ioli 1 1865

M y Dear Sumner, Tomorrow I shall send you by post a copy of the first volume of my Translation of the Divine Comedy, to be handed to the Italian Minister,2 and by him forwarded to Italy "in commemorazione del secentesimo anniversario della nascita di Dante Alighieri." HYoull may make, if you like, a small speech on the occasion, expressing my regret that it was impossible to get the other two volumes printed in season. T h e y will follow later. I want you and the Minister to look at the volume. It is beautiful, and worthy of the Italian press; — all written, printed, bound in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts! After much pondering, it seems to me best to send it in this way. Would it be more proper to have it presented by Mr. Marsh, or Bigelow Lawrence? 3 I do not know; but this is the easiest way, through you and the Italian Minister, to whom I should write, if I knew his proper address. T h e grand event of the century — the anti-slavery enactment — has been as silent as day-break, or the coming of a new year. And yet this year will always be the Year of Jubilee in our history. Thanks to you. 4 Find time to write me a line to say you are well. Ever truly H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . The day is provided in Life, III, 52. 2. Giuseppe Bertinatti (1532.7). 3. George Perkins Marsh (984.3) was U.S. minister to Italy, and Timothy Bigelow Lawrence ( 1826-1869) was the consul general in Florence. For Sumner's letter to

464

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Marsh, accompanying Vol. I of Longfellow's translation, see Samuel N . Bogorad, "Longfellow's Translation of Dante: T w o Unpublished Letters," Vermont Quarterly, X X (April 1 9 5 2 ) , 105. 4. On January 3 1 Congress had finally adopted the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery throughout the United States.

2218.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce Camb. Feb 13 1865

Dearest Annie, Please send me your certificate of Stock in Tremont Bank, and I will return it to you shortly, considerably improved and enlarged. The Bank has just made what is known among business men as "a stock dividend," by which you receive two additional shares, and a fraction over. This fraction, by a process known to me I shall convert into another share, so that you will own ten shares instead of seven. But in order to do this, I must have the old certificate. Your last letter has remained long unanswered. It was sad news you sent us of young Pierce's death; and I deeply sympathize with the mother.1 Is she still with you? And when shall we hope to see you here? The little girls are well and send you much love. We have had another letter from Charley. He was in Palermo; and had been at Malaga and Granada. He says it is a very wet Winter in Italy, and he is very stiff. He does not say what he shall do next; but I think it probable he will go to Naples, Rome and Florence, and come home in the Spring by way of Paris. Is anything wanting in the old house which I can supply? Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. I. Arthur Pierce (b. 1 8 4 6 ) , nephew of George Washington Pierce and son of Frances E . B. Lewis Pierce ( 1 8 0 9 - 1 8 7 4 ) , had died in the army at Murfreesboro, Tenn., on January 7, 1 8 6 5 .

2219.

To Henry Arthur Bright

Cambridge Feb. 14 1865. My Dear Mr. Bright, I should have written you by the last steamer, but missed it, somehow or other, and so this will come to you as a Valentine. The pheasants and the grouse, I am most happy to say, arrived without accident, and in excellent condition. They were delicious, particularly the pheasants; and 465

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furnished two or three dinners, at one of which I had to meet them, Agassiz, Lowell and Appleton. They praised, and the dinner was not cold; and I think the birds, could they have foreseen their meeting with such illustrious shades in this other world, would have been willing to die. Our united thanks to you for this banquet; and mine for the gift and the kind remembrance. I regretted only that Charles Norton was not with us. He was not to be had on that day. He is not the "Student" of the Wayside Inn. That was a Mr. Wales, now dead. 1 I am happy to think, and have every reason to think, that the Hawthornes are comfortable in their circumstances. He accumulated some property, and his books are in demand; a new edition complete in fifteen volumes having just appeared. Who is to prepare the Life and Letters I do not know. I sometimes meet his daughter Una. 2 She has golden hair, and if not exactly beautiful, has a beautiful smile, that flashes all over her face, just as her father's did. The Lancashire Songs3 I have not seen, but shall be very glad to see them. Some notice of them I have read in the papers. With renewed thanks, and kind regards Very truly Yours Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Norman Holmes Pearson, New Haven. ι. Henry Ware Wales ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 5 6 ) , traveler, bibliophile, and scholar, was a member of the Harvard class of 1838. See Characters in "Tales of a Wayside Inn," pp. 29—36. 2. Una Hawthorne ( 1 8 4 4 - 1 8 7 7 ) was Hawthorne's eldest child. 3. Edwin Waugh ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 9 0 ) , the "Lancashire Burns," had published his Poems and Lancashire Songs in 1859, and it went through many editions.

2220.

To Elizabeth Bates Chapman

Langel1

Cambridge Feb 16 1865 Dear Mrs. Laugel, A week or two ago I was at your door in Chauncy Place, but you had not returned from Washington. Nor do I know now where to find you; but these books, which I have kept so long, will sooner or later find you, if left at the old address; so I send them, with many thanks. Charming stories they are; and bring up before the mind pictures of Alsatian villages as vivid as photographs. I wish I could express to the author what a charm I have found in them. Let me thank you and Mr. Laugel for the great pleasure you have given me. I send also "The Wayside Inn," and you will find between the leaves a "Noël," which I sent to Agassiz with some bottles of wine therein de-

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scribed. I hope it may amuse you as much in reading, as it did me in writing. Present my kindest regards to Mr. Laugel. I shall call to see you, as soon as I hear you are in town. Meanwhile I remain Your truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Parkman D. Howe, Boston, ι. Wife of Auguste Laugel ( 2 1 8 7 . 1 ) .

2221.

To Anne Longfellow Pierce

Camb. Feb. 16 1865. Dear Annie Yours has just come, bringing the Tremont Bank Certificates, and reminding me, that I had not answered your last; for I forgot to say that the "Atlantic Mag." is for you, and is sent by my order. So no young damsel of your name is deprived by you of her expected mental food.1 Fessenden has appointed Steve to a Lieutenancy in the Revenue Service, provided, he can pass the necessary examination; and I believe he has gone to New York to try. Of Harry we hear nothing.2 Sam still lingers in Brooklyn; but I believe he is coming home, this week or next. One of the little girls wrote you two days ago. You must have the letter by this time. They are exceedingly busy with Valentines this week; and have always in hand something of great importance, which occupies the time and makes them very happy. Good bye. Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. In a letter of February 14 Anne Pierce had mentioned receiving the last two numbers of the Atlantic Monthly "perhaps by mistake, as the printed name pasted on them reads Miss A. L. Pierce instead of Mrs." 2. Harry Longfellow had married Frances Elizabeth Gammon of Portland on February 3, 1863, but marriage did not entirely correct his unsteady habits. In a letter of February 26, 1865, Anne Pierce wrote: "[Harry's wife] is living with her father and mother here, well to do people in their way, and there is probably no destitution or suffering on her part, for maintenance or clothing — family there is none, I am happy to say — she may be clamorous for money of H. as she is fond of dress, but the papers say the paymaster has gone down to the army, and H. has probably sent to her by this time. I am told she hears from him regularly, and the word is that, 'he has left off drinking and is very steady since he went into the army' — his letter and hand writing wd. appear to confirm that word."

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To Charles Sumner

Camb. Feb. 23 1865 M y Dear Sumner, I write this to present to you my neighbor Mr. Dyer, who wishes to communicate with you in regard to his son, a surgeon and occulist in Philadelphia, of high repute in his profession. As he will explain the matter fully I need say no more. But we are all interested in the case, and if young Mr. Dyer can retain his place or be reappointed shall feel much gratified. 1 He has studied three years in Europe, and is regarded on all hands as one of the best occulists in the country. Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι. Ezra Dyer (1836-1887), son of Ezra C . Dyer (2024.3) and a member of the Harvard class of 1857, had been appointed assistant surgeon, U.S. Army, in 1862 and was put in charge of the eye wards in the Satterlee General Hospital in West Philadelphia. He left the service in 1865 but continued as an oculist in Philadelphia.

2223.

To George Washington

Greene

Camb. Feb. 26 1865 M y Dear Greene, I have to-day been pondering on your last letter, and have come to the conclusion, that if in many things Procrastination has not been your friend, at least in one it has; and that is the work you are engaged upon. 1 At no other period of your life could you have done it so well as now; for it is a work, which requires maturity of style and judgment, and if you had written it earlier you might have regretted you had not written it later. T h e Lectures are just the stepping stone you needed to mount to the right level. N o w is a good time to come to Cambridge. Do not procrastinate in the coming, but in the going, as much as you like. T h e weather to be sure is not much better than Catawba wine; with a certain exaggerated flavor of something very fine. But we can turn the world outside in, and so be perfectly comfortable. Fields will publish the Lectures if you can agree upon terms. H e offers to bring out a thousand copies in a handsome style and half profits. That would not give any immediate return; but would secure a handsome presentation to the world. T h i n k of it.2

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Tomorrow I shall be fifty eight years old. I wish you were here to celebrate the day. I will postpone the celebration till you come. The Inferno is a very handsome book. I have a copy for you. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. In a letter of February 1 9 Greene had complained at length about his unhappiness, the burden of his family, James T . Fields's treatment of him, poverty, and his failure to obtain a course of lectures at the Smithsonian Institution. He concluded that "procrastination has been one of the principal causes of my errors — can I correct it?" 2. Greene replied on March 1 : " I must agree to Fields' terms — much as I dislike this contingent form of return. But my whole life is, has ever been and, I fear, ever will be a contingency: and what matters one more in such a medley!"

2224.

To Bernard Rölker

Cambridge Feb. 26 1865. My Dear Rölker, I ought to have answered long ago your friendly New Year's letter. But anniversaries are growing too sad to talk about. The mile-stones begin to look like tombstones, and one seems to be whirling along through a churchyard. One of these stones I shall pass tomorrow, with the figures 58 marked upon it. Let us speak of pleasanter things. Yesterday I saw our friend [Horatio] Woodman at the [Saturday] Club dinner. We talked of you, and he told me of the pleasure he always has of dining with you, as he flits through New York, and how much he counts upon it. He also produced a bottle of excellent Rhenish, which imparted an additional aroma to our memories of you. And, you see, you are not forgotten by your old friends here, though they may be great delinquents in letter-writing. I have no news to tell you of ourselves or others. Charley you know, perhaps, went to Europe in November, for his health. He sailed for the Mediterranean; saw the South of Spain, and Sicily, and at last accounts was in Florence with the Fays and Dales, old friends of his.1 He is still stiff from his wounds. And what a month of victories we have had! That is a splendid record for Sherman, and subject of Thanksgiving for all!2 With affectionate remembrances Always Yours H.W.L. The little girls all send their love. Many thanks for the Photographs.3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

469

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ι . For Charles's friend William Pickman Fay, see 1806.1. T h e Dales may have been members of the family of William Johnson Dale ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 9 0 3 ) , a Harvard graduate of 1 8 3 7 and since 1 8 6 1 the surgeon general of Massachusetts volunteers. Stationed in Boston during the war, he supervised the care and treatment of all wounded soldiers sent home and thus would have known Charles. 2. On his drive through the Carolinas, Sherman had captured Columbia on February 1 7 and Charleston on February 18. On February 2 2 Wilmington fell to the forces of General John McAllister Schofield. 3. With a letter of December 3 1 , 1864, Rölker had sent Longfellow his photograph, taken in 1848.

2225.

To Charles Folsom

Camb. March 4 1865. My Dear Folsom, In a letter from Greene he says; "Please ask Folsom if par nobile fratrum1 is always used in a derogatory sense?" What answer shall I send back? Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Boston Public Library. ι. Horace, Satires, II, iii, 2 4 3 : "a noble pair of brothers." Greene had sent his query in a letter of March 1, 1865.

2226.

To Charles Sumner

Camb. March 4 1865 My Dear Sumner, What a dismal day this is for the Re-inauguration! It is so dark indoors, that one can hardly see to write; and out of doors the rain is pelting down not merrily, but "maledici and heavy." 1 I hope it is not so in Washington, where all should look bright on such a day. I have received a letter from a gentleman in Manchester, 2 who is eager for the "autograph (or if possible a letter) of President Lincoln, a man, whose policy and course of action will be handed down to posterity for centuries to come, as having been one of the greatest men, who lived and moved in this memorable and eventful age." Can you help me to gratify the wish of this unknown friend of the President? I have this moment received your "Speech on Rail Road Usurpation," and stop writing this note, to read it.3 I was glad to see you opposed the "Reciprocity of Barbarism," and also the Naval Battle Piece!4

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5

I return Mrs. S's letter. It looks like the Dismal Swamp, with trailing mosses and "fire-fly lamps." To-day I dine with Agassiz. He says you want another "Noel." Do you? Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. An excellent Speech! Having often passed through this "Valley of Humiliation" and paid Apollyon, I thank you!6 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Inferno, VI, 8. 2. John Henry Whitaker ( i 990.1), whose letter, dated October 27, 1863, was apparently set aside by Longfellow. 3. Sumner had delivered his Senate speech "Railroad Usurpation in New Jersey" on February 14, 1865. In it he attacked the right of New Jersey to levy tolls on passengers and freight passing through the state and to maintain a state-protected railroad monopoly. See Sumner Works, IX, 237-265. 4. The "Reciprocity of Barbarism" may have been an allusion to Sumner's opposition to the Reciprocity Treaty of June 5, 1854, between the United States and Great Britain, which was terminated by Congress on January 12, 1865. See Sumner Works, IX, 1 7 8 191. The "Naval Battle Piece" refers to a joint resolution by the Senate and the House of Representatives authorizing a contract with William Henry Powell ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 7 9 ) , historical and portrait painter, for a picture of a naval engagement for the Capitol. Sumner had opposed the resolution on the grounds that there should be "no picture of a victory in battle over our own fellow-citizens" (Sumner Works, IX, 335). Powell earned a $25,000 fee for a replica of his famous painting of Commodore Perry changing flagships at the Battle of Lake Erie. 5. Unrecovered. 6. See Pilgrim's Progress, Part I. Sumner had made use of the reference in his Senate speech on the railroad toll: "New Jersey is the Valley of Humiliation through which all travellers north and south from the city of New York to the city of Washington must pass; and the monopoly, like Apollyon, claims them all as 'subjects,' saying, 'For all that country is mine, and I am the prince and god of it' " (Sumner Works, IX, 2 6 1 ) .

2227.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. March 5. 1865. My Dear Greene, Before making a final arrangement, I want to have one more interview with Fields. He is willing to do all he can; but there are now in the firm two young men of a new generation, who have not the old traditions, and I can not manage matters so easily now, as in other days.1 Half-profits are all moonshine. One thing only you are sure of, viz. a handsome book, published by a popular house. The profits on a thousand copies, at present rates of printing and binding and advertising must necessarily be little or nothing, and half of little or nothing is a very

471

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small sum. But I will see that you have some copies free; and will try to prevent any delay in publication, and in a word do all I can to make things pleasant. As to contract, it strikes me that a simple order to print will be enough on your side, and on the publisher's a promise to pay. You might say; "I hereby authorize Messrs Ticknor & Fields to print one thousand copies of "The American Revolution &c" from my stereotype plates." I am very sorry — the whole household is sorry — that you cannot come now. Well, then a little later. When the snow is gone and the book appears we will make a festival. Only remember that whenever you can come you are always the welcome guest of the house. More anon. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Howard Malcolm Ticknor ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 0 5 ) , eldest son of William Davis Ticknor, and James Ripley Osgood ( 1 6 8 3 . 1 ) became junior partners in Ticknor & Fields when it was reorganized shortly after the death of the founder in April 1864. See W . S. Tryon, Parnassus Corner: A Life of James T. Fields, Publisher to the Victorians (Boston, 1 9 6 3 ) , PP· 2 7 7 - 2 7 8 .

2228.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce Camb. Marchó 1865

Dearest Annie, Pray do not sell a pamphlet or a newspaper. Send all to me. Sometimes very valuable things are lost in this way. I want all for the College Library. Do not sell, nor let any of your friends sell theirs. It is a deadly sin, and must be avoided. Edie thanks you for your letter; and was so happy to get it. When is Aunt Anne coming? is now the cry. Charley when last heard from was in Florence. In great haste Ever affect. H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2229.

To Lewis Jacob Cist1

Cambridge Marchó 1865 Dear Sir, It will not take long to complete the list of my books since the "Golden Legend." They are;

472

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Hiawatha . . . 1855 Courtship of Miles Standish 1858 Tales of a Wayside Inn 1863 The last two containing also "Birds of Passage." One of the Photographs I sign with pleasure. The other perhaps I will sign ten years hence. Certainly not now. Instead I send you a copy of the "Children's Hour," with many thanks for the kind interest you are so good as to feel and to express in this and other pieces. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow. p.s. T h e Birth Day Poem was written by Mrs. J. T . Fields of Boston.2 L. J. Cist Esq.

MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Cist ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 8 5 ) , banker of St. Louis and minor poet, assembled a famous collection of autographs and portraits. He was a native of Cincinnati, where he lived again after 1870. 2. " T o a Poet on his Birthday," Atlantic Monthly, X V (March 1865), 3 1 5 . Cist had thought that the poem, to Longfellow, was by James Russell Lowell (letter of February 27, 1 8 6 5 ) .

2230.

T o James Thomas Fields

Camb. March 7 1865 M y Dear Fields T h e more I think of it, the less I feel inclined to attempt any engravings for Dante. It will be much easier not to have them; and the chances of getting good ones are much against us. W h y then worry ourselves? Is not the book handsome enough without? I hope to see you soon and speak farther on this point. Meanwhile I write this to excuse myself for not sending you the portraits. I feel like Belacqua in Purgatorio, who says; "What's the use of climbing?" 1 I am sorry I made such a mistake about the Colli wine. We should have gone to Williams & Son — the old house, not to Richards. 2 Hence the disappointment. Yours truly H.W.L. p.s. Mrs. F.'s beautiful poem on somebody's birth-day is attributed by some to Holmes, by others to Lowell. I had a letter from Cincinnati, giving it to the latter. Will you get the enclosed into the Transcript and oblige me.3

473

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MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library, ι. 2. Sons 3.

Purgatorio, IV, 127. To J. D. & M. Williams of 187 State Street, Boston, not to Isaiah D. Richards & of 87 State Street. Possibly an advertisement for domestic help.

2231.

To Ticknor & Fields Cambridge

March 10 1865

Messrs Ticknor & Fields Gentlemen, I hereby acknowledge the receipt of One hundred Dollars, as copyright on 500 copies of Hiawatha, and remain, Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Wesleyan University Library.

2232.

To John Henry Whitaker

Cambridge near Boston, March 12, 1865 My Dear Sir, I have done the best I could for you, and send enclosed the autograph of our President, and of our greatest statesman.1 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from Harold M. Burstein, Catalogue No. 40 (Fall 1967), Item 626 —American Literature of the Nineteenth Century. ι. Charles Sumner.

2233.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. March 13 1865 My Dear Greene, I have just had another interview with Fields & Osgood,1 and the result is as follows. For the right to print one thousand copies of your American Revolution, they will pay you in advance one hundred dollars. For the right to print two hundred additional copies for distribution to Editors, &c twenty five copies to you for like purpose to friends (or foes.) They will have the book out in good style between the middle and end of April.

474

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1865

And in the M a y No. of the Atlantic will have your Article on the Diplomacy, to act as usher and pursuivant of the book.2 Mr. Osgood has written to-day to N e w York, to have the name on the Trade Sale list; and will order the paper tomorrow. I told them you would accept one or other of the propositions; and I think one hundred in hand better than half-profits in the Moon! 3 One thing they are very urgent about, and that is to remove the word Lectures from the title-page. T h y say that word will kill any book, particularly if the word Lowell precedes it! Put the words on a paragraph on a fly-leaf; then they will not go into the Advertisements, and the difficulty will be got over. They both agree upon this point, and are undoubtedly right. Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Ticknor & Fields did not become Fields, Osgood & Company until 1868. 2. "Diplomacy of the Revolution," Atlantic Monthly, X V ( M a y 1 8 6 5 ) , 5 7 6 - 5 8 8 . 3. In a letter of March 1 5 Greene accepted Longfellow's advice.

2234.

T o Charles

Sumner

Camb. March 13 1865 M y Dear Sumner, I hope you have already handed over the Dante to the Italian Minister. That will be the safest and best way; particularly as I hear that Mr. Marsh is on his way home. Pray do not lose time. If you do, the whole thing will miscarry, and be a fiasco. I read in a newspaper this important piece of news; "Mr. Longfellow has nearly ready for publication a new and elaborate poetical work, which is said to be a liberal rendering of the essential parts of Dante's Inferno." I was glad to see that you put your foot so emphatically on Taney's bust. Such a bust in such a place would be a disgrace to the nation. 1 Is Agassiz to be made minister to Brazil? Or is Lowell going to Switzerland? Or both, or neither? Such rumors are afloat. 2 There is nothing new here. T h e last we heard from Charley, he was in Florence. Only think of it! T o be twenty years old, and in Italy! That can never happen to you nor to me, any more. Have you read Mr. Stanley's admirable Lecture? 3 Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

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ι . In a Senate speech on February 23, 1865, Sumner had opposed a bill providing for a bust in the Capitol of the late Chief Justice Taney ( 2 2 1 1 . 2 ) , author of the Dred Scott decision. T h e bill ultimately expired with the session. See Sumner Works, IX, 270-310. 2. T h e rumors proved untrue. 3. Edward Lyulph Stanley ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 9 2 5 ) , a young Oxford graduate and subsequently fourth Baron Stanley of Alderley, had called on Longfellow on September 10, 1864, with a letter of introduction from Minister Charles Francis Adams ( M S Journal). His address in Manchester supporting the Freedmen's Aid Society was reported in the Boston Transcript, X X X V I I , No. 10,690 (February 24, 1 8 6 5 ) .

2235.

To Mary Gray Ward Dorr

Cambridge March 15 1865 Dear Mrs. Dorr, It gives me great pleasure to accept your kind invitation to dinner on Thursday to meet so many pleasant people, some of whom I have not seen for a great while, but whom I am always glad to see.1 I remain, Dear Mrs. Dorr, Yours very truly, Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library, ANNOTATION (on fourth sheet"): First time Longfellow saw these friends after his wife's death, was at this little dinner./It was the first time [he] dined out — or entered any house — out of his immediate family./ MGD2 ι . Mary Dorr ( 7 5 7 . 4 ) had sent an undated note to Longfellow: "It will give us great pleasure to see you at dinner on Thursday [March 16] at 6 o'clock — to meet Miss Mary Hamilton. T h e Governor [John Albion Andrew] is coming and Mr Henry James and Mary [Eliot Dwight] Parkman." T h e guest of honor was presumably Mary Morris Hamilton (d. 1 8 7 6 ) , vice-regent of the state of N e w York for the Mount Vernon Association. 2. Mrs. Dorr was misinformed, unless she interpreted "immediate family" to include Longfellow's small circle of Cambridge friends, for as recently as March 4 he had dined with Louis Agassiz and others to meet Mary Hamilton ( M S Journal).

2236.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. March 17 1865 My Dear Greene, Ten days ago I wrote Folsom a note about the Par nobile. As yet no answer. I suppose he is hunting up some authority for usage this way or that. It seems to me hardly safe to use the phrase seriously, it has become so associated in all minds with disparagement. The new title-page is in the printer's hands, and will be sent to you forthwith. As this part of the book will be printed last, you will have 476

CAMBRIDGE,

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time for meditation. Mr. Bigelow says there is not room on the title-page for the Greek and English both. 1 Is not the first sentence of your Preface sufficient acknowledgment to Mr. [John] Lowell? Or might you not dedicate the volume to him? W h a t a pity it is you cannot be here to decide all these points. In great haste H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Greene responded on March 20: "I send the printer the proof [of the title page of the Historical View of the American Revolution] and also one of the proper page, changing the par nobile." He also settled for an English translation from Thucydides, Bk. I, Sect. 22, on the usefulness of history in interpreting the future.

2237.

T o George Washington

Greene

Camb. March 17 1865 M y Dear Greene, After writing you this morning, I went to the Printer's and found your new Title-page. I told him to send you a copy by the noon mail, which he promised to do. Another copy I brought home with me, and had it with me at lunch, you sitting visibly there on the right, shielding your eye with your hand. Being alone with you I said as follows: "I like this Title-page much better than the other. T h e motto could not have been better, if Thucydides had made it expressly for your book. I am glad you put it in English. Had you given it in the original Greek, it would have had a flavor of scholarship, which is always pleasant, but to the great mass of your readers it would have been like the language of Nimrod in the Inferno, ch'a nullo è noto.1 T h e Dedication is excellent, and must not be touched. Consider my suggestion of this morning as withdrawn. 2 W i t h my own hand I wrote upon the Catalogue of Ticknor and Fields, already in the Printer's hands, the words "Historical View &c" and in italics Nearly Ready, which if the book precedes the Catalogue, can be changed accordingly." This is what I said at lunch. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Inferno, XXXI, 81 : "which to none is known." 2. Greene dedicated his book to Charles Butler (1802-1897), lawyer and philanthropist of New York.

477

ERA'S 2238.

To Charles Appleton

END

Longfellow

Camb. March 27 1865 My Dear Charley I am afraid that most of our letters have not reached you, which is discouraging. But doubtless you will find them somewhere; together with the Army & Navy Journal, that I have sent regularly for some time past. W e are very glad you are with Aunt Hattie. That will be both pleasant and profitable to you. I have written to the Governor about Gleason, and also spoken with him; and he has spoken to the Representative from Gleason's district, to make inquiries, and see what can be done. 1 Ever affectionately H.W.L. 2 p.s. My kind remembrances to Mr. Curtis, and love to Aunt Hattie. I trust you are enjoying yourself, and getting well. Did you get Erny's letter on the "Military Situation?" MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. In a letter from Palermo of January 4, 1 8 6 5 , Charles had reported meeting with Harriot and Greely Stevenson Curtis (see Letter No. 2 1 2 2 ) , complained that he was "completely in the dark with regard [to] war news" because he had not received his copies of the Army and Navy Journal, and asked his father to help find a job for his friend Gleason ( 2 0 6 2 . 1 ) . Longfellow's letter to Governor Andrew on behalf of Gleason is unrecovered. 2. A note by Alice Longfellow follows between signature and postscript.

2239.

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. March 28 1865 My Dear Fields, If you think best to purchase the Baird plates, I certainly will join you. Buy them at auction. That will be best.1 Do you know anything of Mrs. McLeod of Baltimore? She would like to write for the Atlantic, or the Young Folks, or both.2 Let me have from you a word such as I can send to her, as she has written to me on the subject. Yours ever H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι . T h e vexed question of the Baird plates went back to 1 8 5 5 . See Letters N o . 1 4 5 8 , 1 4 5 9 , and 1 4 6 1 .

478

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2. Georgianna Hulse McLeod (d. 1890, aged sixty-two), temperance worker and author of Sea-Drifts ( N e w York, 1864), wrote fourteen letters to Longfellow, 1 8 6 4 1 8 8 1 . She did not become a writer for the Atlantic or Our Young Folks.

2240.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce Camb. March 29 1865

Dearest Annie, Miss Davie has made up her mind to go to England this summer to see her mother. She sails on the tenth of May, and takes with her the two Bryants, whom she had charge of before coming to us. 1 Now we all turn instinctively to you; and hope you will see the door wide open for passing the Summer with us. Think how forlorn the little ones will be without you, and you will not hesitate. Mrs. Baylor was here a few days ago, looking as young and handsome as ever. She says her husband wants her to buy a house in Cambridge, and furnish it for a long residence! She proposes to pass the Summer in Portland; and I have advised her to postpone her purchase till she returns in the Autumn. Sam still lingers in Brooklyn, and I am afraid will stay for the Unitarian Convention, which probably will end in controversy. I think he had better be out of it, than in it.2 Charley is with his Aunt Hattie in Rome. They will come back together in May or June. He ought to be here on his twenty first birthday. With much love from all, and a universal cry for help to Aunt Anne, Ever affectionately H.W.L. p.s. Do not forget the pamphlets for College Library. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. See 1 8 1 1 . 1 . 2. The National Conference of Unitarian Churches met in New York, April 5 - 6 . It was marked by parliamentary maneuvering between radical and conservative adherents. See Earl M . Wilbur, History of Unitarianism (Cambridge, Mass., 1 9 4 5 - 1 9 5 2 ) , II, 470.

2241.

T o Charles

Sumner

Camb. March 29 1865 M y Dear Sumner, Many thanks for the Note on the gran rifiuto.1 It is striking and curious, and, as no one ever thought of it before, likely enough to be the true solution of the puzzle.

479

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I agree with you about Story. He ought to have the Everett Statue. So thinks T o m also; with whom I was talking of this two days ago.2 T h e weather is delightful here; but not equal to yours in Washington. I do not wonder you linger there. Is Lowell to have Switzerland? Let me know what his chances are. I think he would like it amazingly, in itself, and as an escape from the Professorial mill. It would be an excellent appointment, and do honor to the country. Agassiz has gone, and leaves a gap like that made in a street when a house is pulled down. 3 You see how Dantesque my figures of speech are becoming. I congratulate you on the general aspect of affairs, and am as ever Yours H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Inferno, III, 60: "great refusal." In a letter of March 26 Sumner had enclosed a passage from an article entitled "Bibliomania" in the North British Review, X L (February-May 1864), 87, propounding the theory that the person alluded to by Dante in the line, " W h o made through cowardice the great refusal," was not Pope Celestine V but the young man mentioned in Matt. 19:22. See Works, IX, 1 9 1 - 1 9 4 . 2. William Wetmore Story's statue of Edward Everett is in the Boston Public Garden. 3. Agassiz had recently left for Brazil as head of a scientific expedition subsidized by Nathaniel Thayer of Boston ( 1 0 7 2 . 2 ) . He returned to Cambridge in August 1866.

2242.

T o Charles Sumner

Camb. April 2 1865 M y Dear Sumner, If "the young man in Mathew" is he "who made the great refusal," how did Dante know him by sight? That difficulty does not seem to have occurred to the minds of the Anti-Celestinians; and it will be hard to answer. Celestin was made Pope in 1294; consequently Dante may have seen him when "he entered Aquila, riding on an ass, with a King on each side of him to hold the bridle." 1 There is a perfect deluge of English Translations of Dante. Last year, three appeared; — and this year already one, and another announced. T h e one already out, is by Rossetti — the Inferno only. It is on the same principle as mine; and the comparison of the two is curious. 2 Afternoon. Yours of the 29th has just reached me. Of course you cannot recall any one, to make a place for Lowell; and I am very sure he would not 480

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desire, nor permit it to be done, if he were consulted. Perhaps some vacancy may occur later.3 W e hear to-day of the death of Charles Mills; killed in one of the last battles!4 Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . C f . Henry Hart Milman, History of Latin Christianity; Including That of the Popes to the Pontificate of Nicolas V ( N e w York, 1 8 6 1 ) , V I , 188. 2. T h e only translation certainly identified is William Michael Rossetti's version in blank verse, The Comedy of Dante Allighieri (London and Cambridge, 1 8 6 5 ) , Part I (Hell). Rossetti ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 1 9 ) was the brother of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. N o new translations seem to have been published in 1864, but there were several in 1865. For a complete list, see Charles Eliot Norton, "Dante, and his Latest English Translators," North American Review, C I I (April 1 8 6 6 ) , 5 1 9 . 3. In a letter of March 29 Sumner had written: " I have spoken to the Presdt. about sending Lowell to Europe. He does [not] know that any of our ministers are coming home. Since then I have spoken to Seward, who said at once that Mass. already had 3 ministers abroad; that it would be impossible to appoint another without recalling those now in office; that [Charles Francis] Adams ought to stay till he 'had finished his work,' meaning, I presume, till the war is over; but that, if I said the word, he would recall [John Lothrop] Motley or [Anson] Burlingame, and Lowell should be appointed instead. I mention this plainly as it occurred. You will appreciate the embarrassment it gives me. Of course, I long to do everything I can for Lowell. Of course I shrink from a step which would give pain to another, — a good friend too. What say you?" 4. Charles James Mills (b. 1 8 4 1 ) , a Harvard graduate of i860 and the son of Charles Henry Mills ( 6 9 0 . 1 0 ) , was killed on March 3 1 at Hatcher's Run near Petersburg, Va.

2243.

To George Washington

Greene

Camb. Apr. 4 1865 My Dear Greene, Make all haste you can conveniently to come on. The weather is fine; the walking good; but I begin to find that it takes two to take a walk; yes, two and a dog. Trap has tried me several times lately, but single handed he cannot succeed. And then the great events that are taking place, almost every hour! Really you ought to be here. T h e printing of Dante is such slow work that Fields has almost persuaded me to publish the volumes separately. I am afraid I must. What do you think? 1 Perhaps you think that it will be a practical answer to the question you asked me sometime ago about your first volume. Sumner sends me a note on the gran rifiuto, from the North British Review. T h e writer thinks the person in question was not Pope Celes-

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tin V. but "the young man in Mathew" who refused the "Eternal Life" offered him on certain conditions. But how did Dante recognize him, having never seen him before? Were it not for this difficulty the new interpretation would be fresh and striking, and perhaps true. T h e town is all illuminated to-night, and the bells ringing for the great Victory! 2 Good night, and come soon. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Greene replied on April 7 : "Fields is right about Dante —volume by volume let it take its hold upon the world — its place is sure." 2. Richmond had fallen on April 3. After exulting with Longfellow in the victory, Greene wrote: "But shall I confess a weakness in the midst of this exultation? I feel humbled to think that in all this great work I have had no hand — borne no part — even the words of encouragement I had written come out with a feeble echo and are lost amid the songs of triumph."

2244.

To Anne Longfellow

Pierce

Camb. Apr. 4 1865. Dearest Annie, I have just received your letter, and do not wonder you pause before saying Yes. But come as you propose, and we will talk the matter over, and see what is best to be done. 1 I agree with you in thinking Stephen very much improved; and am very sorry he must go back to further torments in the Hospital. The Baylors are determined to have a house in Cambridge, and are in negotiation with the Fales girls2 for theirs. After getting settled here, Louisa proposes to go to Portland with the children for the Summer. N o later news from Charley. When he hears of the fall of Richmond, he will be sorry not to be there. The Black Regiments marching in is a grand historical picture! I enclose a cheque on Charles River Bank, and am, with all the love of all the children, Yours ever aff. H.W.L. p.s. I beg you to give my kind remembrances to Mrs. Pierce. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Anne Pierce had written on April 2: " I will come up to see you early in May, stay two or three weeks, and bring the children home with me for their Portland visit." She had hesitated because of her anxiety about her nephew Stephen: "Steve rtd. to

482

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Boston [on the] Thursday night's boat — to go into the Hospital again, expecting another operation on his leg necessary — having been laid up here some two days with another abscess. How much he is improved. It has been a pleasure to me to nurse and care for him." Stephen's difficulty presumably stemmed from his war wound (see Letters No. 1976 and 1977). 2. Possibly the sisters of Longfellow's Bowdoin classmate, Edward Fales: Mary T u n e l l Fales (196.1), Jane Minot Fales, and Caroline Danforth Fales (282.2).

2245.

To George Perkins Marsh

Cambridge April 8 1865 M y Dear Sir, Our friend Sumner has forwarded to you a copy of my translation of the Inferno, to be presented at the Dante Festival, among the American offerings. Though the Purgatorio and Paradiso are both translated, it was impossible to get them printed in season; and even the volume sent has not received the final corrections, but partakes somewhat of the nature of proof-sheets. If therefore in running your eyes over it anything strikes you as wrong, be kind enough to imagine, that it is precisely that which I am going to correct before publishing. Be kind enough to forward the volume to the Literary Committee, or any other, and you will greatly oblige me. I ought perhaps to apologize for troubling you in this matter; but I know that you will take so much interest in the Festival as to make this trouble a pleasant one. W i t h my compliments and regards to Mrs. Marsh, 1 I remain, Dear Sir, Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Hon. G . P. Marsh MANUSCRIPT: University of Vermont Library, PUBLISHED: Samuel N . Bogorad, "Longfellow's Translation of Dante: T w o Unpublished Letters," Vermont Quarterly, XX (April 1952), 106. I. Caroline Crane Marsh ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 9 0 1 ) , a minor author, published Wolfe Knoll, and Other Poems ( N e w York, i860).

2246.

of the

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Apr. 8 1865 M y Dear Sumner, W i l l you be kind enough to put the enclosed 1 into the Diplomatic Bag. I do not suppose it will ever reach its address; for I believe Mr. Marsh is on his way home, on leave of absence. Still it is worth the

483

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attempt. I am sorry upon the whole, that we did not send through the Italian Legation. T h e Secretary of that Legation is ready and willing to take charge of everything for the Dante Festival, and forwards Parson's and Norton's contributions. By the Secretary I mean Sig. Romeo Cantagalli. 2 If Mr. Marsh happens to be away from Turin, I fear the book will not reach Florence for a long while, perhaps not before Dante himself, or his dust. I think of you as in great jubilee just now. A triumphant prophet, crowned and garlanded; a rare spectacle! Bear your honors meekly. T h e stupendous news, long looked for, and believed in, almost takes one's breath away. 3 Washington must be to you a glorified city, compared with what it used to be, with greetings in the market-place, and faces turned towards you, not from you. T h e papers say you are in Richmond. By this time you are back again. 4 Yours &c H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. Letter No. 2245. 2. Italian secretary of legation, Washington, D.C. 3. On April 7 Grant had called on Lee to surrender. The surrender took place on April 9 at Appomattox Courthouse. 4. Sumner had visited Richmond with President Lincoln on April 6 and returned to Washington on April 9. See Sumner Memoir and Letters, IV, 234-235.

2247.

T o George Washington

Greene

Camb. Ap. 10 1865 M y Dear Greene I have only time to say that I have your letter, and that we shall be on the look out for you at the end of the week. T h e Account was sent you by mistake. It should have been sent to me. You will find it all right when you arrive. 1 Bring the new chapters with you; but come prepared also for long Dantesque digressions. Think of the news of to-day: the Surrender of the Southern Army! and the Rebel leaders "volti negli amari Passi di fuga." 2 Good night. H.W.L 484

CAMBRIDGE,

1865

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Longfellow had apparently helped Greene with the printing expenses of his Historical View of the American Revolution. 2. Purgatorio, XIII, 1 1 8 - 1 1 9 : "turned into the bitter/Passes of flight."

2248.

To Mrs. Hathaway1 Cambridge

April 19 1865.

Mr. Longfellow presents his compliments to Mrs. Hathaway, and regrets that he can not inform her precisely when and where "The Phantom Ship" was first published. To the best of his recollection it was in Graham's Magazine, and in the year 1850. 2 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. Unidentified. 2. Graham's Magazine, X X X V I I I (February 1 8 5 1 ) , 77.

2249.

To Charles Graham Halpine1

Cambridge April 24 1865 My Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure of receiving your very kind letter, and am extremely sorry that I cannot at once accede to your request. I have absolutely nothing in my portfolio which I should be willing to publish; and as to the "Noël," that is of so private a nature, that I shrink from seeing it in the papers. The translation you speak of has never reached me. It has been lost by the way. I should like very much to see it, knowing the great skill you have in ways akin to that.2 In the establishment of your new paper I wish you all success. Such a weekly is much wanted, for so far as I know, there is none in the field. I trust you will be able to make yours all that you desire and anticipate. I remain with best wishes Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Halpine ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 6 8 ) , Irish-born journalist and poet of New York, had recently assumed the editorship of the Citizen and in a letter of April 14 had asked Longfellow for a contribution. 2. Halpine had written: "you have possibly received . . . a rough and very hasty translation of your happy French verses to Agassiz from my pen; a translation only roughly hewn out to meet a social emergency of half an hour's amusement."

485

ERA'S 2250.

To Benjamin Afthorf

END

Gould, Jr.

Camb. May 2. 1865. M y Dear Mr. Gould, T h e wine has just arrived safely, but as I am not to taste it for a day or two — so says your note — I must thank you for it in advance, as for a volume of poems before reading it. 1 I gratefully accept the gift, and feel sure of the good quality of the Catawba. I like its flavor and savor; and though I have been called to account more than once for daring to praise it in verse, I do not repent, nor take back one word of my Song. 2 I like its wild aroma — though the French say it is exagéré. That is because it has more perfume than their own wines. But your messenger is waiting; and I will not write a dissertation. Many thanks for your kind remembrance. Believe me Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι . In a letter of M a y 2, accompanying a gift of Catawba wine, Gould had written: "It is I think the most creditable American wine it has been my own good fortune to taste, — and yet I confess to my shame that it comes to you in bad condition. Yesterday afternoon I brought it up from the cellar, but the messenger could not be found, and so I lazily left it in the dining room. During the evening the house, owing to an excess of zeal in the furnace, became hotter than it has been all winter, and about eleven o'clock as I was quietly ciphering, a loud noise brought me suddenly to my feet. It was a kantzer bottle. O f course I accepted the omen, and as the bottle had luckily given way near the neck, — was led by economic impulses to avail myself of more than was perhaps discreet. Hence I can assure you that there is no headache in it. T h e arithmetic however has made no progress. Under the circumstances it might be well to keep it in a cool place for some days before using it." 2. "Catawba W i n e " (Works,

2251.

To Charles

III, 4 9 - 5 1 ) ·

Sumner

Camb. May 4 1865 M y Dear Sumner, I hope we are to see you soon. But before you leave Washington, I want you to say a word in the right quarter to protect our Postmaster from any attempt to displace him. T h e people in Cambridge Port, who have no more to do with our postoffice than the Man in the Moon, are plotting to get the place for somebody else. 1 Greene is here; and we trust you will arrive before he goes. Yours truly H.W.L. 486

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 6 5

MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. See 2 2 0 5 . 3 .

2252.

To George

Routledge

Cambridge May 17 1865. My Dear Sir, I should not expect so much for the "Inferno" as for "The Wayside Inn"; but as the volume will be about double the size, or number of pages — say from four to five hundred 1 2 mo. I think I ought to have one hundred and fifty pounds for the advance sheets. Every possible advantage of time shall of course be given. I only wish to protect my copyright here from any return copy of the English edition before the American appears. Mr. Routledge and Mr. Fields will arrange the matter.1 The Reviews have not yet come to hand; but shall be kept safe, and duly sent back. I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow Mr. George Routledge. MANUSCRIPT: James M . Tolle, Fullerton, Cal. ι . For the Routledge edition of The Divine Comedy, see BAL

2253.

12146.

To Charles Eliot Norton

Camb. May 23 1865 My Dear Charles, I was very sorry I could not come to you last evening; but I had been in town, and came out wet, and generally miserable; and as the rain continued to pour down with vigor, my courage failed me. I shall come tomorrow or next day with a Canto of the Purgatorio — the last for some time, as you are going away, and I shall give myself up to Notes. Yours very truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library, ADDRESS: Charles E . Norton Esq/Shady Hill./ Camb. POSTMARK: CAMBRIDGE [remainder mutilated].

487

ERA'S 2254.

END

To Edith and Anne Allegra Longfellow Camb. May 27. 1865 Half past nine.

My Darlings, On my way home I stopped at the Post Office and found this letter for you, from Mr. Ferguson. I want you both to answer it as soon as you can, and send the answer to me to be forwarded. I hope you all got safely to Portland. A thousand kisses from Papa MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society.

2255.

To Caroline G. Hill1

Cambridge May 29 1865 Dear Miss Hill, I am extremely sorry to say, in reply to your letter, that I have nothing in the way of copying to offer you, nor do I know to whom I could direct you with any chance of success. Lawyers often need help of this kind; but it is uncertain, and though in similar cases, when applied to, I have tried to procure from them some employment, I have not been successful. Still there is always a hope and a chance; and if any of your friends in town would inquire at the offices in Court Street, it is possible that something might be found. Hoping it may be so, and that you may thus accomplish your wish, I remain Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. I. Caroline Hill had written to Longfellow from Boston on May 2 5 : "If you cannot in any way help me in obtaining something of this kind [copying] — I do not know what to do next. I am with friends but cannot remain dependent much longer. I have the will, and the ability, but not the employment. I am willing to go anywhere to procure writing and only hope you may be able to assist me." There is no evidence that Longfellow was acquainted with the young woman.

488

CAMBRIDGE, 2256.

1865

To Edith and Anne Allegra Longfellow

Camb. May. 30 1865 My Darlings, I was very glad to get your letters last night. The house seems quite empty since you went away; no little figures flitting in and out, — no shouts of "Papa" from the nursery! all very quiet and silent. Rachel1 has been out to see you to-day, and was disappointed to find you were gone. Even Trap looks bewildered, and "Tutsen" does not know what to make of it. I sent you on Saturday a letter from Mr. Ferguson which I hope reached you safely. I am glad to hear you are well and happy. You must enjoy yourselves just as much as you can. Your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι. Rachel Kearnan had been a servant in the Longfellow household.

2257.

To Charles Sumner

[Cambridge] May 30. 1865 My Dear Sumner, Admirers of yours — eager to hear you on Thursday, are imploring me for tickets. Have you any more to spare? If so please slip them into this envelope and give to bearer who will wait at the door.1 I hope you are happier than you were this morng! F ear Not. Ever Yours H.WL MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. On June ι Sumner delivered before the municipal authorities of Boston a eulogy on Abraham Lincoln, who had died on April 15. See Sumner Works, IX, 367-428.

2258.

To Edith and Anne Allegra Longfellow

Camb. June 2 1865. My Darlings, What a snow-storm of letters! I have sent you already a long one from Mr. Ferguson, and two from Josie [Ames]; and now here is another from Miss Davie. How will you find time to answer them all? 489

ERA'S

END

Tomorrow will be a week since you went away. It has been pretty quiet here, I can tell you. But you are having such a pleasant time in Portland, that I will not say a word about it. Grandmama came out to dinner to-day, with Aunt Hattie and the Colonel, and Uncle Naty, who has just returned from the army, and is a soldier no more. He is glad the war is over. All send their love. So does Trap. He has grown intemperate, and gives himself up wholly to the pleasures of the table. The dolls are melancholy, but resigned. They have refused all food since you went away, and have not been out of their room.1 Your hats have not yet come home from the milliner's. Alice is going for them tomorrow, and we will send them as soon as possible. Ah, you will want them on Sunday, and cannot have them. What a pity! Good night, my Darlings. You are fast asleep now, for it is half-past nine. So I can only say Good Night, and God bless you. Your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι . Edith responded in a letter from Portland of June 6: " I am sorry to hear the dolls are so mournful but perhaps it is occaisoned by their vaxination."

2259.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. June 7. 1865 My Dear Greene, Sitting at dinner to-day with an open window at my back, Mudjekeewis, the North-West wind, shot me in the back with an arrow so keen, that I lost my evening walk, and am bent just in the proper attitude for writing a letter. You know those treacherous dining-room windows, and how often you have shut them. Thank them this time, else instead of writing to you, I might be wasting my time on Notes to Dante. I was glad to get your two letters, but am sorry enough that your cough has returned upon you. Once fairly at Greenwich, I shall hope much from the change of air.1 Curtis's letter is very pleasant and friendly. I return it, as you will want to preserve it.2 My little girls have gone to Portland, and I am silent and solitary here. 490

CAMBRIDGE,

^65

June 8. Here I was interrupted; and dico continuando [I say in continuation], that it is an intensely hot day, but I have been nevertheless at Lowell's and at Norton's on Dantesque matters. I am afraid you will find it very hot work moving your household. Courage! Sumner is in very good spirits. His Eulogy was a success, though he read it, which diminished the effect. I have not had a chance to speak with him yet about the Navy School, it is so difficult to find him alone.3 Ever Yours H.W.L p.s. I have already settled with Dr. Chase.4 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Greene was moving from Greenesdale (see 2 1 9 6 . 1 ) to East Greenwich, R.I., a principal reason being his political incompatibility with his brother, described in a letter to Longfellow of January 21 [1865]. 2. George William Curtis had written to Greene in praise of his Historical View of the American Revolution. 3. In his ceaseless search for a professorship, Greene had asked Longfellow in a letter of June 5 to press Sumner to obtain a position for him at the Naval Academy, which was being reorganized and moved back to Annapolis from its wartime location in Newport. He added: "If S. feels that he must reserve his [influence] for his constituents I have nothing further to say — I merely wish to know it — and cease from vain expectations." Nothing came of the plan. 4. Hiram Luce Chase (d. 1914, aged eighty-nine) was a homoeopathic physician of Cambridgeport, who had treated Greene for his cough.

2260.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. June 11 1865 My Dear Greene Lord Derby in his Preface ridicules hexameters, and thinks that there is no salvation outside of blank verse.1 He translates the last line of the Iliad thus; "Such were the rites to glorious Hector paid" For the one characteristic Homeric epithet, there was not room enough in the line. In an hexameter line there is; "Thus they performed the rites of Hector the Tamer of Horses" Or "Such were the funeral rites of Hector the Tamer of Horses."

491

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END

It is odd enough, that a man, who has had the "Derby" named after him or his, should have omitted the stable so completely in his version.2 Afternoon. The "Senator" has dined with me to-day; satisfactorily I hope, as he is now asleep in the great arm-chair, with a white handkerchief thrown over his head. I have spoken to him about the Navy School, and he will make inquiries about any vacancy. He is now meditating two speeches; one on the importance of Negro suffrage, and another on our Foreign Relations, particularly our English Cousins.8 For my own part I have been meditating upon the great importance it is to a literary man to remain unknown till he gets his work fairly done. It can hardly be overstated. If Sumner were not sound asleep he would send his love. Ever truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. See Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, fourteenth Earl of Derby, The Iliad of Homer Rendered into English Blank Verse (London, 1864), 2 vols. Lord Derby ( 1 7 9 9 - 1 8 6 9 ) had issued his translation privately in 1862. 2. The annual horse race at Epsom Downs for three-year-olds had been inaugurated in 1780 by Edward Smith Stanley, twelfth Earl of Derby ( 1 7 5 2 - 1 8 3 4 ) . 3. Sumner was very active at this time in support of Negro suffrage, a subject that became the keynote of his address on September 14 before the Republican State Convention in Worcester (see Sumner Works, IX, 4 3 7 - 4 8 8 ) . The speech on foreign relations with England was never delivered.

2261.

T o Edith and Anne Allegra

Longfellow

Camb. J u n e n 1865 My Darlings, I paid a visit to the Dolls yesterday. They were all very comfortable and happy. I gave them some camphor, to prevent their taking cold, and I think they will do very well. You will be surprised to see Alice, all of a sudden. If you want to come back with her you can; but if you are happy in Portland and enjoying yourselves, and had rather stay till I come for you, why then you can do that instead. I do not want to interrupt your enjoyment. For the "Secret." 1 As Trap Longfellow was going down [the] street the other day he met a little girl coming up with her father. T h e little girl said; "Oh Papa!

492

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 6 5

what an ugly dog!" T h e Papa answered "Why ugly, my dear? he seems to be a very good little dog." "Yes," said the little girl, "but he has got a body just like a pig!" Poor Trap! With a thousand kisses to each of you, your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι. A privately circulated, handwritten journal of riddles, rebuses, and stories prepared by Longfellow's daughters and "published" sporadically.

2262.

To James Thomas Fields Camb. June 16 1865

My Dear Fields, Among the fifty two impossible weeks of the year, you have chosen the most impossible for my imaginary visit to the mountains. For next week I expect Charley, and I must be at home to receive him. Besides, the Dantesque Notes crawl along so slowly, that I cannot bear to put any impediment in their way. W e have just reached the Twentieth Canto, and — Fourteen more remain! I must be satisfied with looking at the Blue Hills from my window, instead of the White Mountains from yours. Yet what would I not give for the sight of a brook brawling through a wood, and the sound thereof. Give my best regards and worst regrets to your wife; and tell her how sorry I am that so cordial an invitation must be declined. 1 Ever Yours Truly H.W.L. p.s. I am also looking over the poems for the new edition.2 They remind me almost too keenly of the days that are no more. "There is no greater grief Than to be mindful of the happy days, In misery." So says Boëthius in his Consolations of Philosophy, and one Dante, an obscure writer of the Fourteenth century, in a curious book, so tragic that he calls it a Comedy. 3 MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Fields's invitation was presumably sent from Campton Village, N.H. Cf. Letter No. 2021. 2. Complete Works, rev. ed. (Boston, 1866), 7 vols. 3. De Consolatione Philosophiae, Liber II, Prosa 4; Inferno, V, 1 2 1 .

493

ERA'S 2263.

END

To Edith Longfellow

Camb. June 21 1865 My Darling Edie, Your nice little square letter, with the blue border, came safely. And what a dear, good girl you are to write to me so often! Part of the letter was Panzie's also, — that is to say, the paper. That was her message, with A.A.L. at the top. So I must thank you both. What a grand visit you are having in Portland! And that Surprise Party on Saturday, that was very fine. It is worth while to wake up Aunts, who have such ideas in their heads, the first thing in the morning.1 Charley has not come yet, but I hope he will be here tomorrow or next day. Perhaps we shall have to wait for him till next week. So you see I cannot leave home to come for you, just now. I think I must put it off till we go to Nahant. You must try to persuade Aunt Anne to come with us. Tell Panzie that Tutzen comes into the Study in the evening to catch dor-flies. She likes them as well as Trap does, who is fat and happy, and sends his compliments. He does not know what to make of so many people going away. I wonder whether he knows, that Charley is coming. He keeps watch at the front door as if he did; and I suspect he has overheard something about it; but he is very sly, and keeps his own secrets. I saw him in the yard this morning with three little shiny black dogs, and one white one. Perhaps he told them. With a great deal of love and a great many kisses Your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι. Edith had written on June 1 9 : " W e l l Saturday morning [June 1 7 ] when I went to wake Aunt Anne, she asked me how I should like to have a party that afternoon, and of course I said I should like it very much."

2264.

To Anne Allegra Longfellow

Camb. June 22 1865 My Darling Panzie, You will be very glad to know that Charley has got home safe and sound. He walked in, whistling, this morning, and Trap gave a growl of delight, and smiled and wagged his short tail, and we were all very happy to see the traveller looking so well, and feeling so well. Do you know that your wild little "Tutzen" — the youngest one, — has taken possession of the Library, and jumps over the sofas and tables — and we cannot get her out. When we try to catch her, she hides

494

CAMBRIDGE,

^65

under the book cases, and Trap sits and watches her as if [it] were great fun. She likes the soft carpet better than the hard floor of the cellar. Tomorrow is Class-Day, and Charley expects to have a merry time with all the young ladies, whom he has not seen for so long. Aunt Hattie has gone to Newport; and Uncle Tom and Grandmama and Eva [Mackintosh] have gone to the White-Mountains. We shall not have them to meet Charley at dinner tomorrow (Friday) which is a pity. I wrote to Edie day before yesterday so it is your turn to-day, though you do not write a great many letters. But then you have other correspondents, I dare say. All send their love, and most of all Your loving Papa p.s. Charley has brought you each a pretty French jacket, striped red and black! MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House).

2265.

To George Washington Greene Camb. June 25 1865

My Dear Greene I imagine the only reason why your book did not come first on the Adantic list was, that the Notice was handed in after the one which has the first place had been sent to the printer. I cannot think there was any design about it. Probably if Fields had been here, he would have seen to it; but for the last three weeks he has been among the White Mountains.1 Thanks for your letter and for Bancroft's, which I return. Two days ago I sent you some Reviews of the new translations of Dante. Mr. Ford's I have not seen. Please keep them, as one of these days I should like to look at them again.2 To-day I send you a curious paragraph about the bones of Dante. Can it be true? The same thing happened to Shakespeare, and pretty much in the same way. Irving mentions it in the Sketch Book; though the old sexton who looked in at the hole "could see neither coffin nor bones; nothing but dust."3 We shall soon be going to Nahant; and when once there I become as fixed as the rocks themselves. I should like to visit you at Greenwich; but am afraid to promise. If possible, I will. Yours ever H.W.L. 495

ERA'S

END

p.s. Charley got home two days ago. He is well, but not strong. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Greene's Historical View of the American Revolution was reviewed favorably in the Atlantic Monthly, X V I (July 1865), 127-128, but was placed eighth in a series of nine reviews. 2. George Bancroft's letter to Greene and the reviews of the Dante translations are unrecovered. James Ford (c. 1797—1877), a prebendary of Exeter, published a translation of the Inferno "in the metre of the original" in London in 1865. 3. See Irving's "Stratford-on-Avon." T h e "curious paragraph" is presumably the one that appeared in the Athenseum, No. 1963 (June 10, 1865), 785, describing the discovery of Dante's bones "twelve days after the celebration of his tercentenary birthday" in the wall of the Sepolcreto di Braccioforte near the Dante mausoleum in Ravenna.

2266.

T o Edith

Longfellow

Camb. June 27 1865 M y Darling Edie, T h e Second No. of the "Secret" arrived safely, and I have read it with great pleasure, and have guessed most of the Riddles and Rebuses. But I cannot make out the "Lake in North America as big as three States" &c. You will have to tell me that; also A.W.L.'s Rebus, beginning with a picture and ending with a pie! 1 None of the little girls have been after it yet. T o whom shall I give it first? Charley sends his love. Perhaps he will come down for you instead of me, as he wants to see all his Portland Friends. I have not time this morning to write any more. It is very warm here. Ever affectionately (what a nice long word that is!) Your Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι. Edith answered in a letter of July 3 : "The lake in North America is lake Superior, and Wad's rebus is : 'Painting is the greatest art.' "

2267.

T o Edith and Anne Allegra

Longfellow

Camb. July 2 1865. M y Darlings, It is really too hot to write a letter to-day, but I must write a line to tell you that Aunt Mary arrived this morning. She came just as the church bells were ringing, and if she had been very vain she might have thought they were ringing for her arrival. I have just been to see her; and I asked her to dinner; but she said that she and Uncle James were just going to breakfast, and so they could not come to dinner. 496

CAMBRIDGE,

1865

You must have been very glad to see Uncle Sam, and he very glad to see you. I wish I could see you! Uncle Tom, Charley and Trap went to Nahant yesterday. T h e rest of us are going on Saturday next. Some time during the week — perhaps Thursday — perhaps Friday — perhaps Saturday, Charley will go to Portland for you, and you will come back with him to Nahant. I wish you could persuade Aunt Anne to come with you. How many Uncles and Aunts there are in this letter! Let me put in one more; Aunt Hattie has gone to Newport; so you will not see her when you come back. I shall bring you "The Secret N o 2" to Nahant. Only Trudy (not the Kitten) but Trudy Horseford 1 has been for it. I suppose the other little girls have gone away. Good bye, Darlings. Ever your affectionate Papa who wants very much to see you. MANUSCRIPT: Massachusetts Historical Society. ι . Gertrude Hubbard Horsford ( 1 8 5 3 - 1 9 2 0 ) , daughter of Eben Norton Horsford ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 9 3 ) , chemist and Rumford Professor and Lecturer on the Application of Science to the Useful Arts at Harvard, 1 8 4 7 - 1 8 6 3 .

2268.

T o Thomas Gold

Appleton

Camb. July 3 1865 My Dear Tom, I am very sorry not to be able to send Bridget down to-day. But my chamber-maid has left, and Kitty is taken sick, and cannot work; so I have only Bridget to rely upon. What is to be done? Can you get on for a day or two longer, with the help of Mrs. Taylor? 1 If not you will have to send for your chamber or parlor-girl. Was not Nahant pretty dreary in the rain yesterday? Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf have returned. Also Harriot [Appleton Curtis], from passing the hot Friday in Weston. From the WhiteMountain and Canada Grand Trunk party,2 no further news; nor from England. 3 With love to Charley Yours ever H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. A day-help woman from Nahant. 2. Harriot Sumner Appleton, Eva Mackintosh, and presumably others. See Letter No. 2264. 3. From Mary Appleton Mackintosh.

497

ERA'S 2269.

END

To Charles Deane

Cambridge July 7 1865 Dear Mr. Deane, I am very sorry that none of us can have the pleasure of accepting your kind invitation for this evening.1 My brother has gone to Portland; Charles is at Nahant, and I am too ill with influenza to go out of an evening, or to be presentable if I went. With many thanks and regrets, Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow Charles Deane Esqre. MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. In a letter of July 7 Deane had invited Longfellow to hear some readings by an Englishman named Henry Nicholls before the Dowse Institute of Boston.

2270.

To Francis James Child

Camb. July 7. 1865 My Dear Professor, I am very sorry to say it, but I have tried in vain to write the lines you desire. What I have written is not worth sending, or singing if sent. So I must disappoint you and myself, for I really wished to do it, and do not like to confess that I cannot.1 Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library. ι . In a letter dated "Saturday night [July 1, 1 8 6 5 ] " Child had asked Longfellow to write the words for a piece of music entitled "Integer Vitae" in honor of "our fallen soldiers."

2271.

To Ellen Girard

Nahant July 21 1865. Dear Mrs. Girard Please let the bearer go into my study to make a drawing. Also please send me by Express the little wooden clock (and key) on the mantle-piece in my bed room. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Berg Collection, N e w York Public Library.

498

NAHANT, 2272.

1865

To Thomas Hill

Nahant July 22 1865. My Dear Sir, I am so little a collector of relicks, that I am afraid I have not so much reverence for them as I ought to have. Even the one you mention fails to move me to any great enthusiasm.1 But doubtless someone, somewhere, [is] looking and longing for this particular thing. I return Mr. Elwell's letter and enclose also an autograph for him; remaining Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard Corporation Papers, 1865. of Harvard, p. 109.

PUBLISHED: Professor

Longfellow

ι. A private seal of George Washington, for sale by a descendant of the president's half-brother through a go-between named William Smith Elwell ( 1 8 1 0 - 1 8 8 1 ) , a portrait artist of Springfield, Mass. See Professor Longfellow of Harvard, pp. 107-109.

2273.

To Charles Sumner Nahant. July 23 1865

My Dear Sumner, I certainly thought that this hot Sunday would bring you to Nahant. But it does not. So I send back your letters,1 which I should have sent sooner, had I not hoped to see you. Mr. Pierce's letter is not for an autograph, but for information. He is a good fellow, though not a good Republican, in our sense of the word. The young lady's note suggests that she would not only like your handwriting, but your right hand! Let us have the pleasure of seeing you soon. The two foreign letters are very interesting. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, ι. Unrecovered.

2274.

To Hannah E. Davie

Nahant July 24. 1865. Dear Miss Davie, This is one of the hot days; but not to miss the Steamer, and make you wait for the enclosed, from New Zealand, I send you a little of the seaside drowsiness in the shape of a letter.

499

ERA'S

END

Edith and Annie have returned from Portland, and Erny and Alice have gone to the White Mountains. Charley is here and Harry Stanfield; also Uncle Tom, and Mr. Bache,1 whom you will hardly remember. Now you are "mistress of the situation," and can imagine exactly what we are doing. Bathing goes on with vigor. Sally has even been in on horseback; quite out into deep water, till the horse swam and threw her off, and she came safe ashore, by her own skill in the art of swimming, not a bit frightened; but eager to mount and try it again! Lessons are reduced to the minimum; only the accomplishments, — piano-forte practice and French. But in these we — (meaning the little ones) are very conscientious and faithful. We are also just as good as we can be. "Armadale" is becoming intense. The young lady in the red shawl appears on the border of the lake as in the dream; and oh dear! how interesting it is!2 Charley made so short a stay in England, that he could not run down to see you. He is very well and enjoyed his European tour highly. Everybody send[s] kindest remembrances. Yours truly, H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT : Pierpont Morgan Library. ι. Francis Markoe Bache (d. 1867, aged thirty-four) of Philadelphia had studied law briefly at Harvard, 1860-1861. He was at this time a brevet lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp to General George Gordon Meade. 2. Longfellow was reading Wilkie Collins' novel serially in the Cornhill Magazine, Vols. X (November I 8 6 4 ) - X I I I (June 1866).

2275.

To Alice Mary Longfellow

Nahant July 26 1865 My Darling Alice, Edie wrote you yesterday, and I, instead of a letter, sent you a green veil. This was in answer to your nice letters, which were very interesting. Eva arrived in the rain last night; and to-day the wind is blowing almost a gale, and she has gone out to sail with Uncle Tom, while Charley and Harry have started on a cruise down the coast in the Wyvern, which is quite like old times. Nothing wonderful has happened since you left, except Sally's going in bathing on horse-back. She was thrown in deep water; and swam ashore like the little duck she is. An English gentleman to whom I related the adventure said; "It is quite like the Lady Godiva." Whether

500

NAHANT,

1865

he meant to make a pun, or only a comparison, I do not know. Probably both. W e miss you and Erny, a little bit; but you are having such a pleasant, warm time of it in the "Woodbine Cottage," 1 that I am afraid you will find your visit short enough. I rather think that Charley will come for you. He is making some such plan. General Meade has been here. I dined with him at Dr. Mifflin's; a very pleasant man, and very mild is the General. 2 Also Mr. Bache, one of his Aides, who stayed with us, and was sorry not to see you and Erny. With much love to you and all your party Ever Your affectionate Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House). ι . In North Conway, N . H . 2. General George Gordon Meade ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 7 2 ) , victor at Gettysburg, commanded the Military Division of the Atlantic at this time. Charles Henry Mifflin ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 7 5 ) , a Boston physician, lived at 80 Beacon Street.

2276.

To Alice Mary

Longfellow Nahant. Tuesday, July. 3 1 ? Aug 1.? 1865.

My Darling, I do not know whether this is the last day of July or the first of August; but it is one or the other, or neither. 1 I am only sure of the 1865; and that we will hold on to for a date. I had the pleasure this morning of receiving yours of the 30th. and am very glad you feel no bad effects from your bath in the brook,2 and that you all seem so well and so happy. I have just had mine in the sea, with the children. W e miss you, to show us how to swim, and how to do it in general. Uncle Tom has gone to town with Eva, who has said "good bye," and sails tomorrow [for England]; and Charley has gone to Gloucester in the Wyvern to see his friends there; so at dinner to-day we shall have only four of us — Josie [Ames] being the fourth. I wish I could send you and Cora [Spelman] some of the chowder; and the water-melon, and the apricots and the rest of it. You must not forget to give our love to her and Hattie [Spelman], and the rest of the Party, who are taking such good care of you. And now, how are you to get back to Nahant? That is the question. My own opinion is that Charley will come for you, in the course of a few days. So wait quietly, till he appears, or till I write again.

501

ERA'S

END

And how is Erny? Does his head still trouble him, or has he got quite well? Edie, who is sitting by me, says "Now put Papa"; by which she means Now end your letter. Ever affectionately Papa. MANUSCRIPT: Anne Thorp, Cambridge (on deposit, Longfellow House), ι . It was August ι . 2. In a letter of July 2 7 Alice had described how she had fallen into Artists Brook and bruised herself.

2277.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant Aug. [4] 1865 My Dear Fields, I do not know what day of the month it is, but I know it is Friday, and just twelve o'clock, for the village bell is ringing. I shall not write you a long letter. T h e weather is too hot; but I must thank you for your kind invitation to Manchester and the Isles of Shoals. It will give me great pleasure to promise to come, with the understanding that you do not expect me to keep my promise. It is so pleasant to make plans, and then not carry them out! You have only to sit still and imagine the thing done, and it is done; without expense or fatigue. Dante is going on, as fast as the Printers please; and every day I do something in the way of correcting copy, so as to have no delay when I get back to Cambridge. Please send me Botta's book on Dante. 1 1 see it advertised. I dined yesterday at Taft's on Shirley's Point; an excellent game dinner. W e went and came by water.2 Do you think the pages of the new edition of Poems too long? They look so to me. How does the number of lines on a page correspond with the Prose? Please see to this, for the sake of uniformity. As you have not promised to come to Nahant, I hope you will come soon, and dine at half past two. With kind regards to Mrs Fields, H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E . Huntington Library. ι . Vincenzo Botta, Dante as Philosopher, Patriot and Poet, With an Analysis of the Divina Commedia, Its Plots and Episodes ( N e w York, 1 8 6 5 ) . Botta ( 1 8 1 8 - 1 8 9 4 ) w a s professor of Italian at N e w York University. 2. Point Shirley, which lies south of Nahant at the southern tip of Winthrop township in Boston Harbor, was the location of Taft's hotel — the Point Shirley House — famous for fish and game dinners.

502

N A H A N T ,

2278.

T o Oliver Wendell

1865

Holmes

Nahant A u g 5 1865 M y Dear Holmes, I have received an application like that made to you, and have declined. 1 I was sorry not to be at the C l u b on Saturday, but had engagements which I made forgetting it was the last Saturday of the month. I should like to talk over this whole matter of contributing poems to everybody's new book. I have just had a curious experience with a very forth-putting N e w Yorker. In hot haste Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Library of Congress. ι . Holmes had written to Longfellow on August 1: "Have you received a request from the Mercantile Library Association of Boston to furnish a poem for a book they mean to publish for their benefit? If you have, do you mean to comply with their request? I do not think they have any right to call on the gentlemen they mention, — Mr. Whittier, [Thomas Buchanan] Read, Boker, Saxe, besides ourselves. If however others do not decline I shall not know how to reply." George Henry Boker ( 1 8 2 3 1890), poet and playwright of Philadelphia, and John Godfrey Saxe ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 8 7 ) , lawyer and humorist of Vermont and New York State, were both acquainted with Longfellow through correspondence.

2279.

T o Charles Sumner

Nahant A u g 8 1865 M y Dear Sumner, I am glad I shall see you at last. Wednesday is a good day; in fact any day is good, except Thursday and Friday of this week. T h e new Belgian Minister has just been here. He has of course a letter to you; but thought you were out of town. I reassured him; so you will probably see him this eve[nin]g. A very pleasant man; I liked him much. 1 A ver)' pleasant Englishman, too, is Mr. Simpson, 2 who was here on Sunday. Hark! the dinner bell rings! and I must go. I write only to say how glad I shall be to see you. So good bye till tomorrow. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Maurice Delfosse, who had been nominated as Belgian minister to the United States on January 1, 1865, presented his credentials to President Johnson on August 24.

503

ERA'S H e served until December 27, Affairs). 2. Unidentified.

2280.

END

1880 (Records of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign

To George Washington Greene

Nahant A u g i i 1865 My Dear Greene, I see that Trübner advertises your book in London; and says that "Professor Greene has a high reputation as a philosophical student of history."1 The North American for July has a favorable notice, with good words in it, and good feeling.2 But the best I have yet seen is in "The Nation" of this week, which I trust has been sent to you. I know not who has done it, but it is very well done. It is at once sympathetic, direct, true, and to the point; in fine, a hearty recognition of you and your writings.3 My old friend Rölker was here the other day; and said he should stop in Greenwich on his way to New York. I told him to see you; and he promised he would. I do nothing here but read Homer and Dante, and bathe, and breathe the sea air, and sit out of doors and smoke tobacco. It is an idle life, but as I have long ago smothered my conscience, I dont mind it much. It is [as] impossible to work here as if I were in Cambridge. I long to see you once more; and hope in September to run down for a day to East Greenwich. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Nicholas Trübner ( 1 8 0 1 . 7 ) issued Greene's Historical View of the American Revolution in London under an arrangement with Ticknor & Fields. 2. North American Review, C I (July 1 8 6 5 ) , 2 5 6 - 2 5 8 . 3. T h e review in the Nation, I (August 10, 1 8 6 5 ) , 1 8 2 , was written by Henry Theodore Tuckerman (Greene to Longfellow, August 2 3 , 1 8 6 5 ) .

2281.

To James Thomas Fields

Nahant Aug 15 1865 My Dear Fields, I sent you yesterday a newspaper containing Major Halpine's translation of my "Noel." This forces me to publish the original somewhere. How would it do for the Atlantic? It would be a novel feature to have an original French poem in an American Magazine; and I do not seem likely to have anything else for you very soon.1 504

NAHANT,

Ï 865

How splendid these Summer days are at Nahant. The air is divine, and the sea wonderful. Can you get Botta's book, or is it only advertized? I hear that in the current No. of the Cornhill there is an article on Dante. 2 Will you lend it to me? There is an excellent notice of Greene in the last No. of the Nation. Read it. If you have anything new and amusing, pray let us have it. I had a pleasant call from Taylor and his wife 3 on Sunday. Ever Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Fields printed the poem in the Atlantic Monthly, X V I (October 1865), 446-448. Major Halpine's translation is unrecovered. 2. Cornhill Magazine, XII (August 1865), 2 4 3 - 2 5 6 . 3. Bayard Taylor's wife was Marie Hansen Taylor ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 2 5 ) , daughter of the Danish astronomer Peter Andreas Hansen ( 1 7 9 5 - 1 8 7 4 ) .

2282.

To Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow

Nahant Aug 1 5 1865 My Dear Erny, I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter, — only an hour ago — and we are all sorry to hear that you have been ill. I am afraid you exposed yourself too much in climbing Mt. Washington; in fact, I am sure you did. In most things it is safest to keep the main road — when there is one. It seems to me that you are making a long stay in Conway; and I think you would do well to come back to Nahant. T h e sea air will be better for you than the mountain air, if you are at all under the weather. At all events a change will do you good. So come as soon as you can. 1 Charley has gone down the coast with [Charles] Lovering in the Wyvern, to be gone a week or so. The field is clear for croquet and the young ladies. In fact there are no young men here; and an arrival would be a sensation. You and [Frederic] Crowninshield had better come with all convenient speed. Alice wrote you a day or two ago. Since then we have no news. What has become of Uncle Sam? W e have not heard of him for a month. With kind regards to Mrs. Spelman and Hattie and Cora Yours ever affectionately H.W.L. 2

505

ERA'S MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, Mr. J. J. Randall's3/North C o n w a y / N . H .

END ADDRESS: Mr Ernest W . Longfellow/at POSTMARK: NAHANT MASS AUG 1 6

i . In a letter of August 1 1 Martha Hubbard Choate Spelman, the parent in charge of the North Conway party, had forewarned Longfellow of Ernest's condition: " I wish to say a few words to you about Ernest. You probably heard he ascended Mt. Washington with Fred Crowningshield last Tuesday. It was too fatiguing a tramp for him altogether and he has not been at all well since he returned . . . I feel he ought not to remain with us any longer. He acknowledges he has not felt well since he first came. I think neither Conway air or diet agrees with him, and he was so much better while at Nahant, that it seems to me injudicious for him to remain here . . . I shall not tell Ernest that I have written to you . . . A word of advice from you would have more weight than anything I could say." 2. Accompanying the manuscript on a separate sheet is a note in Longfellow's hand except for the signatures: "Mr. Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow is hereby requested to return forthwith to Nahant, where he is much needed to play Croquet; &c. &c./Edith Longfellow/Annie A Longfellow." 3. Proprietor of the boarding house in which the Spelman-Longfellow party was staying.

2283.

To Alexander Wadsworth

Longfellow

Nahant Aug 21 1865 My Dear Alex, I should like very much to come down to you in Casco Bay, — there is nothing I should like better; but it is impossible this year; — for Miss Davie being away, I must look after the children. I took the little girls to Cambridge yesterday, and we have brought Waddy back with us, who is disappointed not to find Charley here. James Greenleaf had a very severe ill tum yesterday, and Mary was a good deal alarmed. He was relieved, however, before we left; and as Patrick and his son Charles the Doctor 1 were there, and Dr. Wyman also, I did not stay over night. To-day I hear nothing; and therefore imagine all immediate danger is over.2 If Charley is still with you tell him I have his letter, and shall direct my answer to Portland. But I forget. You will not get this till you return to Portland yourself. I think he is very rash in making such long trips in so small a boat; and shall feel a good deal better, when I see the "Wyvern" at her moorings under the window here. Waddy is in fine spirits and fine condition, and an immense favorite all round. W e are all sorry he cannot stay longer. One day, and that one rainy — is short allowance. Ever affect. Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

506

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 6 5

1. Charles Ravenscroft Greenleaf ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 9 1 1 ) was at this time an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army. 2. James Greenleaf died, however, on August 22.

2284.

T o Charles Apfleton

Longfellow

Nahant A u g 22 1865 M y Dear Charley, O n returning from Cambridge yesterday I found your letter, 1 and answer it by earliest mail, though I am afraid, not early enough to reach you in Portland. You are much too rash, I think, in venturing so far in so small a boat. Luckily thus far you have had good weather and no gales, and I hope you will get safe back without one. Your Uncle James was very ill yesterday, but got better before we left. W e brought Waddy back with us; and he is very sorry not to find you here. Still more sorry will you be when you hear the fate of poor "Bummer." T w o or three days ago he contrived to hang himself in his chain, by jumping or falling over the partition of the stall. W e were out driving at the time, and found him dead when we got back. W e are all very sorry he should have come to such an end; and particularly while you are away. N o other event has happened at Nahant since you left. Erny has not yet returned. W i l l y Fay has been here in his gig, wondering when you will be back; and your Amoskeag Dividend is $480. pretty well for six months, and "Captain Ben" 2 expresses considerable grief at being deprived of your company. Affectionately H.W.L. p.s. T e l l Lovering that all are well at his house; and not very much alarmed at his long cruise. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection, C a r e of M r s . A . L . P i e r c e / P o r t l a n d / M e .

ADDRESS: Mr. Charles A. Longfellow./ POSTMARK: NAHANT MASS AUG 2 3

ι. From Cards Cove, Sebascodiggin Island, Casco Bay, dated August 17, 1865. 2. Unidentified.

2285.

T o James Thomas Fields

Camb. Sept 21 1865 M y Dear Fields Listen to the Bells of Lynn, Lynn, Lynn! 1 I forgot to ask you yesterday, whether there is not to be a Second 507

ERA'S

END

Edition of Greene's "Historic View." I hope so. His last letter, which I enclose, gives a dismal picture of his present surroundings. Please return it, when read. What· a pleasant glimpse I had of you yesterday. That corner room is as charming as anything can be. Every thing will prosper with you till the Park Street Steeple falls!2 Yours truly H.W.L p.s. There are still extant four or five Letters of Dante, which have never been translated entire. They would make a capital Article for the Atlantic and Greene is the man to do it.3 Would you be kind enough to pay for me in New York the enclosed Bill, through B. Ticknor and pass to my Account. If you are weak enough to do me this favor, you will much oblige me. It is not the amount of the Bill which staggers me; but the amount of Arithmetic involved in doing the Sum; for if I get it right here, it would be wrong the next day in New York.4 MANUSCRIPT: Henry E. Huntington Library. ι. Longfellow had composed "The Bells of Lynn" at Nahant on July 29, 1865. See Works, III, 1 3 6 - 1 3 7 . 2. The firm of Ticknor & Fields had recently moved into a new location at 125 Tremont Street, opposite the Park Street Church. For a description of the "author's room," see W . S. Tryon, Parnassus Corner: A Life of James T . Fields, Publisher to the Victorians (Boston, 1963), pp. 2 8 1 - 2 8 2 . 3. Fields replied on September 24: "Of Greene and his 2d. Edition we will speak when we meet; also of those untranslated Dante letters" ( M S , Henry E. Huntington Library). A second edition of the Historical View of the American Revolution appeared in 1869. Although Greene worked on a translation of the Dante letters, his article was not printed in the Atlantic Monthly. 4. Benjamin Holt Ticknor ( 2 0 4 8 . 1 ) represented Ticknor & Fields in New York at this time. Samuel Longfellow ascribed his brother's mathematical difficulties to "the fluctuations in the value of the paper currency of the time" (Life, III, 6 i n ) .

2286.

To George Washington Greene

Cambridge Sept 22 1865. My Dear Greene, I was just leaving Nahant, when I received your last sorrowful letter, and since getting home have been so crowded with various little matters, that I have not found a moment to answer it. I am now going down to the Library to consult "Livy who errs not" about that famous Battle of the Rings,1 and scribble this to post on the way. I am most truly grieved to hear of your illness and that of your house508

CAMBRIDGE,

1865

hold. It must be very distressing to you. But a married man must have courage, and always courage. I know too well what it is to carry my heart in my mouth, not to sympathize deeply with you.2 Thinking of you in my dressing-room last night, where we have so often discussed passages of Dante, while sharing the hot and cold water between us, it came into my mind that a translation of Dante's Letters would make a good paper for the "Atlantic," and that yours was the pen to do it. It would not take you more than a week; — if I correctly estimate the amount of matter from memory, — and would be an agreeable change. I have this morning written to Fields about it; also about a second edition of the "Historical View." I have made up my mind to let Ernest go to Europe. He sails the second week in October.3 Be of good cheer! Ever truly H.W.L MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. 1. See Dante's Inferno, XXVIII, 1 1 - 1 2 , and Longfellow's notes on the lines

(Works,

IX, 315-316). 2. Greene's letter describing his illness is unrecovered, but he wrote on September 27 that "a sick bed is a dull place at best, and mine has been anxious and painful too . . . [I] am very weak and as thin as a shadow." 3. Ernest Longfellow and his uncle Samuel sailed from Boston on October 1 1 , 1865, and returned on October 26, 1866.

2287.

To George Washington Greene

Camb. Sept 29 1865. My Dear Greene, I wish you joy, with all my heart; and that it is a boy. You had not time to say how the mother is. But I hope all is going well, and that her fears were only shadows. I felt as much relief in getting your letter, as you did in writing it.1 Sam Ward, our old friend has been here this afternoon. Speaking of the event, he took from his pocket a gold piece of twenty dollars — a double American Eagle — and asked me to change it into bank-notes, for the baby. Accordingly I add a trifle to it, and enclose it in the shape of a check for greater safety. I wish it were a thousand times more. I am glad you have begun on the Dante Letters; and if you could add something of your own, by way of Prelude and Interludes, explanatory, and stating when and to whom they were written, so much the better. 509

ERA'S

END

For instance you might say who Can Grande della Scala was — a pregnant sentence or two — containing some trait of Life and Manners. God bless you, and yours Good night. H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Urged by his chronic lugubriousness, Greene had written on September 27 of the impending birth of his fourth child: "Yesterday we sent the children to Greenesdale to be out of the way during the trying hour which is now close at hand. It was a kind of wringing of the heart for my poor wife, whose apprehensions, this time, are justly great. T h e house feels very lonely today. God grant it may not become more so. I am trying my hand at Dante's letters . . . Struggle — struggle — struggle — w h e n and how will it end?"

2288.

T o Rosa Fanny Hill

Cambridge near Boston Oct 2. 1865. Dear Mrs Hill, If I had not been absent from home all Summer, I should have written you sooner to announce the safe arrival of your letters and the beautiful volume of Poems, 1 and to thank you for the very great pleasure they have given me. I have read the volume with great interest and sympathy; but you have praised me so much in the Dedication, that you take away from me the power of praising you, without laying us both under the suspicion of belonging to the "Mutual Admiration Society." I therefore will not praise you, but congratulate you on your success, well knowing what a satisfaction there [is] in finding a poetic expression for one's thought, and how apart it is from any opinion of others. I trust however that this other and outward success has also attended the publication of your book, and that it has given all your readers as much pleasure as it has given me. A great many unkind and ungracious things are said and done in the literary world, which give unnecessary pain. That you may be shielded from them, and not exaggerate their importance, as all sensitive natures are prone to do, is the heart-felt wish of Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library. ι . See Letter N o . 1921.

5 ι o

CAMBRIDGE, 2289.

1865

To George Washington Greene

Cambridge Oct 10. 1865 My Dear Greene, Erny is off tomorrow, and I am pretty busy; so I have only time to say how glad I am, that you are coming hitherward. Come as soon as you can, and stay as long as you can. We shall all be very glad to see you. H.W.L. 1 p.s. Let me congratulate you again on the birth of your first boy.2 How fortunate! Now you not only write the life of the General, but perpetuate it. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . T h e instruction "Over" follows the signature. 2. Nathanael Greene ( 1 8 6 5 - 1 8 9 3 ) .

2290.

To Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Camb. Oct 11 1865 My Dear Dana, If not otherwise engaged, will you come and take tea with us at seven o'clock? Mr. Ferguson, a gentleman from the North of England is here, and I should like to have him know you. He is much interested in our affairs, and has always been a friend of the North. Yours truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library.

2291.

To Benjamin Apthorp Gould, Jr.

Camb. Oct 12 1865 My Dear Mr. Gould, I promised Mrs. Gould 1 to meet Mr. Sarmiento2 at your house, and it would give me great pleasure to do so. But an English gentleman, Mr. Ferguson, who arrived in the China is coming out to-day to pass the night with me; a quiet man, and good friend of the North. Would it be an indiscretion to bring him with me, or is your company all made up?3 Yours very truly Henry W. Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

51 ι

ERA'S

E N D

ι. Maiy Apthorp Quincy Gould ( 1 8 3 4 - 1 8 8 3 ) , daughter of Josiah Quincy. 2. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento ( 1 8 1 1 - 1 8 8 8 ) , Argentine minister to the United States, served as president of his country, 1868-1874. 3. Longfellow wrote in his journal on October 12: "Mr Ferguson of Carlis[l]e, comes to stay with me. We go in the evening to a supper at Dr. Gould's, where we meet Señor Sarmiento, Minister of the Argentine Republic, and I have a chance to try my Spanish; — the first time for six years or more." Sarmiento reported that Longfellow spoke "perfect Spanish." See Harvey L. Johnson, "Longfellow Translates Some Verses at Sarmiento's Request," Symposium, XX (Fall 1966), 238.

2292.

To Frederic Walker

Lincoln,

Jr.1 Cambridge

Oct 1 2

1865

T o H o n F . W . Lincoln. M y Dear Sir, W i l l you be kind enough to give a f e w minutes to the case of the bearer, a poor but respectable widow of this neighborhood. H e r son is on board the Kiersage, duly enlisted, but for some reason or other — either informality or mal-practice of the enlisting Broker — he is entered as from Vermont and not from Massachusetts, so that the mother cannot draw any of his pay. If it is in your power to do anything for her, I am sure you will be glad to do it, and so right the wrong if there be any. I remain, Dear Sir, with much respect, Y o u r O b t . Sert. H e n r y W . Longfellow p.s. T h e name of the bearer is M r s . C a s e y . 2 MANUSCRIPT:

University of Washington Library.

ι. Lincoln ( 1 8 1 7 - 1 8 9 8 ) was mayor of Boston, 1858-1860 and 1863-1866. 2. Possibly Mrs. Patrick Casey, widow, who lived on Donnell Street, Cambridge (.Cambridge Directory for 1863-1864). Michael Casey, a seaman on the U.S.S. Kearsage, enlisted aboard the receiving ship Ohio at Boston on February 27, 1865 (Naval Records, National Archives).

2293.

To Charles

Sumner Camb. Oct 14

1865.

M y Dear Sumner, I hope you will come out to dine tomorrow. M r . Ferguson of Carlisle, England, is here, and desires to see you again. Perhaps you remember, he was in this country a year ago. E v e r Yours H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT:

Longfellow Trust Collection. 5 ι 2

CAMBRIDGE, 2294.

1865

To Charles Sumner

Camb. Oct 24 1865 M y Dear Sumner, I found it impossible to engage our friend "Smith and his men" for tomorrow (Wednesday) consequendy must postpone the great Mandarin Fan dinner till Friday. W i l l that suit you as well? I hope so; as the zig-zag of one who can, and one who cannot, makes life difficult. 1 Yours ever truly H.W.L. p.s. T h e hour fortunately remains unchanged. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Longfellow's journal reveals that he gave his dinner on Monday, October 30: "Give a dinner to Mr. and Mrs [Anson] Burlingame in honor of the Chinese Fan, sent me by a Mandarin with the 'Psalm of Life' written upon it in Chinese. Guests Mr. and Mrs. Burlingame, [John Gorham] Palfrey, Sumner and Dana, the original Free Soilers!" Joshua B. Smith was a caterer of 16 Brattle Street, Cambridge (Cambridge Directory for i 8 6 0 ·

2295.

To Francis

Henocque1

Cambridge Oct 25 1865 Dear Sir, All I know of Mr. Dommett is his name, and the beautiful poem to which you allude. T h e name is Alfred and not Andrew, as you write it. I do not know whether he is living or dead. A few years ago his brother resided in this country, but I do not know where he is now to be found. 2 I remain Your Obt. Sert Henry W . Longfellow. p.s. T h e poem I found in a newspaper, or a scrap-book. MANUSCRIPT: University of Washington Library, 416 Broadway/N.Y.

ADDRESS: Mr. Francis Henocque/

POSTMARK: CAMB||RIDGE MS|| OCT 2 5

1. Henocque, a New York lawyer, wrote in a letter of October 19 that he had been occupied for three years collecting materials for a work on "Minor English Poets." It was apparendy unpublished. 2. See 1199.ι. Shortly after publication of The Waif, Longfellow received a letter from Henry Williams Domett of Boston dated June 6, 1845, inquiring about Alfred Domett's poem. He may have thought this Domett, a distant relative of the poet, was a brother.

513

ERA'S 2296.

T o Léon Pamphile

END

Lemay1

Cambridge near Boston Oct. 27. 1865 Dear Sir, Some time ago I had the honor of receiving your friendly letter, and the beautiful volume of Poems which accompanied it. I should have written sooner to thank you, but have been prevented by an unusual amount both of occupations and of interruptions. Allow me to congratulate you on the appearance of your volume and on the many felicities of thought and expression it contains, and the unmistakable evidence it bears of poetic talent, and deep sympathy with nature. More especially let me thank you for that portion of your work which is devoted to "Evangeline." I feel under great obligations to you for this mark of your regard; not only that you have chosen this poem for translation, but that you have performed the always difficult task with so much ability and success. There is only one thing that I demur at; namely your making my Evangeline die; "Elle avait terminé sa malheureuse vie [She had ended her unhappy life]." However, I shall not quarrel with you about that. M y object is not to criticize, but to thank you, and to tell you how much gratified I am by the honor you have done me. Hoping that the success of your book will more than meet your warmest anticipations, I remain, Dear Sir, Y o u r O b t . Sert. Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection, PUBLISHED: Paul Morin, Les sources de l'oeuvre de Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Paris, 1913), pp. 575-576. ι. Lemay ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 1 8 ) , French-Canadian author, had published a translation of Evangeline in his Essais poétiques (Quebec, 1865).

2297.

T o Henry

Wilson

Cambridge Oct 27 1865 M y Dear Sir, I am sorry that it will not be in my power to be with you to-day, and to offer in person my congratulations to you and Mrs. Wilson on the celebration of your Silver Wedding. 1 I have begged Mr. Burlingame to express them for me, and also my regrets at not being present. Thinking of your happiness, I am reminded of the words of an 5 M

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 6 5

anonymous English poet, who singing his own "Conjugal Concert," says to his wife "And when with envy Time transported Shall think to rob us of our joys, You'll in your girls again be courted, And I'll go wooing in my boys." 2 May such good fortune be yours, and may you live to see your Golden Wedding, which gleams so far off in the future! With my compliments to Mrs. Wilson, and my best wishes for you both, I remain Yours truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Clifton Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia. ι. Senator Wilson had married Harriet Malvina Howe on October 28, 1840. 1. See 148.10.

2298.

T o James Thomas Fields

Camb. Nov 14 1865 M y Dear Fields, W e will come with great pleasure and help you keep your Weddingday, be it golden, silver or tin. 1 T h e General [Charles Longfellow] regrets that he has not his uniform with him, but will dress as nearly alike as possible, which will answer the same purpose. Can you lend me Walt Whitman's last "Yawp"? 2 If so I will take it after dinner. Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library, Street./Boston.

ADDRESS: Mr. James T . Fields./148 Charles

1. Fields had been married for eleven years. See 1431.3. 2. Drum Taps (New York, 1865).

2299.

To Ernest Wadsworth

Longfellow

N o 2. Camb. Nov 17 1865 My Dear Erny, W e were all delighted last night by the arrival of your interesting letter from London, Rouen and Paris. It is pleasant to know that you are

515

ERA'S

END

seeing and enjoying so much; and as you say nothing of headaches, we hope you have dropped them by the way. Your account of the Horseguardsman is very comic, and that of Carlyle very amusing. I wrote you last to the care of Baring;1 enclosing a letter or two from other people. Alice has written three times, to the care of Monroe & Co. 2 and while you remain in Paris, that I think will be the best direction unless you decide otherwise. Mr. Greene is here, and takes a great interest in your travels, and your doings in general. H e is particularly glad, that you climbed the Côte d'Angouville at Hâvre; and so am I. The view repays one for the toil, as I remember well. I shall be curious to see where you will plant yourself in Paris. Uncle Sam will not forget to look out for the sunshine, and the eastern windows. W e can trust him for that; and you must not forget the Lectures at the Collège de France. W e are now in the midst of the hottest of Indian Summers. How your head would ache if you were here, and how you would call life a "sell"! 1 only hope you are having as pleasant weather amid the gardens and groves in the environs of Paris. Is it not a splendid city? There is nothing new here in the Old House except a Cuckoo-clock, which when it strikes in the night alarms the household. Greene started up thinking one of the children had the croup. It is very droll. The Cambridge Assemblies have begun, and you are wanted. Charley is in New York; and Uncle Tom has a cold at last, and what is more wonderful, acknowledges it! He is as hoarse as the Cuckoo-clock. Tell Uncle Sam that Aunt Anne has shut up her house in Portland, and come to Camb. for the Winter, 3 and that Judge Potter is dead.·4 Also that his friend Johnson 5 has asked for his address and has probably written to him, care of Munroe & Co. I hope you took the address of Charley's French teacher, Monsieur Jean.® I cannot send it for I have forgotten it, and cannot find it. W h e n Charley comes back, you shall have it. T o enliven the Winter I have formed a Dante Club, consisting of Lowell, Norton and myself; meeting here every Wednesday eve[nin]g, with a good deal of talk, and a little supper. 7 So we try to get along without you and Uncle Sam; but we miss you nevertheless. Trap sends his regards. His last misdemeanor was stealing a partridge from the supper table of the Dante club. That was his view of the Divine Comedy. Miss Davy and the girls are all well and send you much love. Of your other friends in Camb. I see nothing. Nobody comes to play billiards. 516

CAMBRIDGE,

! 865

Your room is now occupied in the day-time by Edie, as Office of the Secret. On the door is " N o Addmittance." Ever affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. Unrecovered. 2. Munroe & Company, bankers, of Rue Scribe 7, Paris. 3. To be with Mary Longfellow Greenleaf. 4. Judge Potter had died on November 16, 1865. 5. Samuel Johnson ( 1 8 2 2 - 1 8 8 2 ) , Unitarian clergyman and transcendental philosopher, was at this time pastor of a free church in Lynn, Mass. He and Samuel Longfellow were coeditors of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (Boston, 1846). 6. During Charles Longfellow's brief sojourn in Paris earlier in the year, he had taken French lessons from M. Grégoire Jeanne, Rue de Buci 4. See Jeanne to Longfellow, October 29, 1868. 7. The Dante Club, which had first met on October 25, listened to Longfellow read from the proof sheets of his translation of the Divine Comedy and then discussed revisions and corrections. For details, see J. Chesley Mathews, "Mr. Longfellow's Dante Club," Seventy-Sixth Annual Report of the Dante Society (Cambridge, Mass., 1 9 5 8 ) , PP· 2 3 - 3 5 ·

2300.

T o Thomas Bailey

Aldrich

Cambridge Nov 28 1865. Dear Mr. Aldrich, I am much obliged to you for remembering me, and for sending me your new volume of poems,1 which I have read with much pleasure and in the success of which I take a sincere interest. So much depends upon one's mood of mind in reading poetry as well as in writing it, that I shall not attempt to point out what I like best in the volume, or, at all events, not to say that this is better than that, and accord first and second prizes to different poems. That sort of judgment one often has occasion to reverse. I only want to thank you and to let you know that I like the volume very much, and particularly the pieces which read like personal experiences. With my best wishes, and the hope that when you next come to Boston, I have the pleasure of seeing you and saying this to you again, I remain Yours very truly Henry W . Longfellow MANUSCRIPT: Harvard College Library. ι. The Poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich (Boston, 1865).

5 ι 7

ERA'S 2301.

END

To James Thomas Fields

Camb. Nov 28. 1865 My Dear Fields, The enclosed letter, and accompanying ms. will tell their own story. I have told the author to address himself to you. Yours truly H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2302.

To Ernest Wads-worth

Longfellow

No 3 Cambridge Dec 1 1 1865 M y Dear Erny Edie has just brought in your letter of Nov 22nd. and we are all delighted to hear from you. Mr. Greene is here; and is gratified by your remembrance. How he would like to be with you in Paris! Only one thing in your letter troubled me. It is what you say of your head-aches. Perhaps French coffee is not good for you; or the late dinner hour. You should keep something in your room for lunch; as it is not good for anyone to go all day without food. As for dinners you must make the round of all the famous Restaurants, so as to learn experimentally what French cookery is. I have not written you any political news because I thought you would see the papers at Munroe's. T h e President's Message is generally liked, and certainly is very well written; and General Grant's Report is highly spoken of. 1 I send you both by this steamer; and in future will send now and then an Evening Transcript, to make you feel at home. You must not undertake any hard study till you get quite well. Cannot you and Uncle Sam find a good homoeopathic doctor, who will help you? Remember, the one important thing is to get rid of the head-aches! Nothing has happened here since I last wrote. Charley passes the morning in his room, reading American History. In the afternoon he skates, or goes to town, where he finds a charming little French Theatre in the Studio Building, to amuse him. I urge him to join the Law School; and I think he will finally.2 Of late the garroters have been busy in Boston; and one case has occurred here under the willows in Mt Auburn St, at the end of Ash street. Some fifteen have been arrested. Also two freshmen, names unknown, have been caught and are in trouble for destroying Mr. Hastings' beautiful cast-iron fountain in front of his house! Miss Davie and the little girls are well; and working away in their 518

CAMBRIDGE,

^ 6 5

school as usual. Alice, in addition to her other occupations, takes riding lessons every week; and I work away at Dante in the old style. T h e printing is very slow work; and I begin to wish I were at the end of it, which I shall not be before next Summer. Any curious books you find in the Stalls buy for me, if they seem to be in my line, and are not dear. Trap sends his best regards. He is very fat and happy, and sleeps in a champagne basket full of hay at his master's door. Mr. Ferguson, who arrived the day you left, has been through the South as far as New Orleans, and we are looking for him on his way back. Mr. Greene promises to write to you, but his bad eyes make it difficult for him; and he is very busy. He sends his love to you, and is glad to know you are so pleasantly situated in Paris. With much love to Uncle Sam from all of us Ever most affectionately H.W.L. MANUSCRIPT: unrecovered; text from photostat, Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. President Johnson's message to the Thirty-ninth Congress had been delivered on December 4, and Longfellow presumably read the text in the Boston Transcript, X X X V I I , No. 10,928 (December 5, 1865). In his report on conditions in the South, sent to Congress by the President on December 19, Grant was generally conciliatory toward his late enemies. 2. Nothing came of Longfellow's urging.

2303.

T o an Unidentified

Correspondent [Cambridge] Dec. 14. 1865

He either fears his friends too much Or his dessert is small, Who thinks they won't remember such A hospitable call. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection.

2304.

T o Samuel

Longfellow

Camb. Dec 25. 1865 My Dear Sam, I was very glad to get your letter and to know you are so comfortable in your lodgings and in other ways. Still I do not suppose you will make a very long winter of it in Paris, but will rather anticipate the Spring by

519

ERA'S

END

going southward. It would be pleasant to linger along the Riviera of Genoa, and I hear Mentone spoken of as delightful, with great attractions in the way of sketching. So whenever you get tired of Paris, or if Erny's head troubles him, I should advise you to be on the wing early. As to the economical part, I have no doubt you will manage that judiciously. You must do and see all that you wish and get what you want for yourself in the way of books and clothing, and so forth. This is a beautiful Christmas Day. Mr. Ferguson is with us, but sails for England on Wednesday. To-day Edie and Annie have a dinner party of little girls; and then go to an evening-party at Mrs. Foster's in town. 1 Mr. F., Charley, Alice and I dine with Mrs. Appleton. Such is the programme du Spectacle for to-day; and we wonder what you are doing or have been doing. 26th. T h e children had a merry, happy Christmas, and we older people a pleasant dinner in town. To-day Mr. Ferguson left us for New York, to take Steamer tomorrow, and things settle down again into their old way, till the next guest arrives, whoever he may be. W e have snow at last, and the winter has fairly begun. Uncle Alex dined with us to-day. He has brought Mamy 2 here to put her under Miss Davie's wing. 3 MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . Henrietta Perkins Baldwin ( 1 8 3 0 - 1 9 1 0 ) was the w i f e of D w i g h t Foster

(1828-

1 8 8 4 ) , attorney general of Massachusetts, 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 6 6 , and subsequently a judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. 2. M a r y K i n g Longfellow. 3 . A letter from Alice M a r y Longfellow follows.

2305.

To George Washington

Greene

Cambridge Dec 29 1865 My Dear Greene, If you wish to contemplate the virtuous man, think of me, on an allowance of one cigar a day! But if you wish to see the just man made perfect, wait till I give up that one! Your letter has just come with the extract from Vico, for which a thousand thanks. When you next write say from [what] work of his it comes, with chapter and verse. 1 What a lucky escape you have had! A little harder blow and all your fine fancies in this world would have ended. What a shame it is that these accidents are always happening. T h e loco-motive is the American Juggernaut. I am glad you were not made one of its victims.2

520

CAMBRIDGE,

1865

We miss you at the Dante club, and I am sorry you are not here to-day to dine with the Saturday Club. A copy of "Frothingham's Life of Warren" has come for you.3 No letter with it, or hint from whom. Perhaps you know. Here comes your second letter, and second extract from Vico; and again I thank you; though not quite sure that I can make room for either.4 With best wishes for a Happy New Year, to you and yours Ever truly H.W.L. p.s. I forwarded to you yesterday a letter from New York. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι. In a letter of December 28 Greene had written: "I sent you yesterday Vico's Giudizio sopra Dante which forms, apparently, part of a short article upon a new commentary." See Opere di Giambattista Vico ordinate ed illustrate da Giuseppe Ferrari (Milan, 1852), VI, 4 1 - 4 4 [Classici Italiani, 2nd series, Vol. XII]. 2. Greene had written on December 27: "I passed thro' or assisted at my first smash up last evening: getting off with a severe knock on my head with which the muscles of my neck still ache and a sprained thumb which makes it not perfectly comfortable to write." 3. Richard Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph Warren (Boston, 1865). 4. In his letter of December 28 Greene identified the second extract as a "passage from a letter to a young poet, whom he [Dante] seems to have thought more of than the world has done, for but for this letter he would be wholly forgotten." Longfellow eventually decided against using the Vico extracts as "Illustrations" for his Dante translation.

2306.

To Charles Sumner

Cambridge Deer 29. 1865. My Dear Sumner, I have been so hurried and flurried and worried since you left, that "I have left undone the things which I ought to have done, and there is no help in me,"1 particularly in the way of writing letters. How they haunt me — the unanswered ones! legions of sheeted ghosts, that will not be laid till they are answered! Thanks for your newspapers, and your Resolutions, which are Revolutions, and cover not only all the ground, but all the water.2 And only to think of it! I have not yet seen your Speech on the President's second Message.3 I see only Boston papers, and it is incredible how they ignore Congress and all its doings. Greene has gone — Mr. Ferguson has gone; — and Mr. Norris4 has come, and at last Mr. Gray with your letter.5 I had Mr. Norris to dine

521

ERA'S

END

with us on Thanksgiving Day, and have invited for to-day, Mr. Gray, in a quiet way, as one may say. Thanks also for the Alexandreis,6 of which I will take good care, and either send it to you, or keep it for you, as you may direct. Erny and Sam are pleasantly situated by the river — on the sunny side — Quai de la Mégisserie, Hôtel du Châtelet, and seem to be flourishing and enjoying themselves, as well they may. Meanwhile I plod on with my Dante, and you with your politics. Imbéciles que nous sommes [Fools that we are] ! Adieu, vieille moustache [Goodbye, old campaigner], Ever Yours H.W.L. p.s. Good wishes from all, and Edie's special thanks for illusi, papers. MANUSCRIPT: Longfellow Trust Collection. ι . C f . the General Confession in the Book of Common Prayer. 2. When the Senate reconvened on December 4 Sumner had introduced a series of bills and resolutions on the general theme " A Republican Form of Government our First Duty and the Essential Condition of Peace." See Sumner Works, V, 1 - 3 7 . 3. On December 19 Sumner had called a report of President Johnson on conditions in the South a "whitewashing." See 2 3 0 2 . 1 . T h e next day he expanded his remarks in a speech entitled "Enfranchisement and Protection of Freedmen: Actual Condition of the Rebel States." See Sumner Works, X, 4 7 - 9 7 . 4. Identified in the journal as "Capt. Norris, of Sherman's army . . . N o w in Law School" (December 5, 1 8 6 5 ) . George Harris Norris (d. 1 9 1 8 , aged eighty-two) graduated from Allegheny College in 1861 and from the Harvard Law School in 1867. 5. John Clinton Gray ( 1 8 4 3 - 1 9 1 5 ) , subsequently a judge of the N e w York Court of Appeals, 1 8 8 8 - 1 9 1 5 , came to Longfellow with a letter of introduction from Sumner dated November 29, 1865. 6. Sumner had written on December 9: "Did my little treasure reach you safe? I sent it by the post. I hope I was not indiscreet in trusting it to that conveyance." He presumably refers to a copy of the Latin poem Alexandreis, Sive Gesta Alexandri Magni by the twelfth-century French poet Gaultier de Lille. Sumner had taken a line from the poem — "Incidís in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim [You rush against Scylla when seeking to avoid Charybdis] " — for the theme of his essay "Clemency and Common Sense: A Curiosity of Literature; with a Moral," Atlantic Monthly, X V I (December 1 8 6 5 ) , 745-760.

5 2 2

S H O R T T I T L E S OF W O R K S I N D E X OF

CITED

RECIPIENTS

SHORT T I T L E S OF WORKS C I T E D BAL

Boston Directory Cambridge Directory

Characters in "Tales of a Wayside Inn" "Charley Longfellow Goes to War"

Diary of Clara

Crowninshield

Letters of Emerson

Life

Longfellow and Scandinavia

"Longfellow-Freiligrath Correspondence"

Bibliography of American Literature, compiled by Jacob Blanck for the Bibliographical Society of America ( N e w Haven, Yale University Press, 1955-1969), 6 vols. Adams's Boston Directory (Boston, G. Adams, 1857-1865), 9 vols. The Cambridge Directory, Containing a General Directory of Citizens and a Business Directory (Cambridge, John Ford, 1856, i860, 1861, 1863—1864), 4 vols. John van Schaick, Jr., Characters in "Tales of a Wayside Inn" (Boston, Universalist Publishing House, 1939). Andrew Hilen, "Charley Longfellow Goes to War," Harvard Library Bulletin, XIV, Nos. ι and 2 (Winter and Spring i960), 59-81, 283-303. Andrew Hilen, ed., The Diary of Clara Crowninshield: A European Tour with Longfellow, 1835-1836 (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1956). Ralph L. Rusk, ed., The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson ( N e w York, Columbia University Press, 1939), 6 vols. Samuel Longfellow, ed., Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with Extracts from His Journals and Correspondence (Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1 8 9 1 ) , Standard Library Edition, 3 vols. Andrew Hilen, Longfellow and Scandinavia: A Study of the Poet's Relationship with the Northern Languages and Literature ( N e w Haven, Yale University Press, 1947). James Taft Hatfield, "The Longfellow-Freiligrath Correspondence," Publications of the 5*5

SHORT

TITLES

Poets and Poetry of Europe

Professor Longfellow of Harvard Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War Sumner Memoir and Letters

Sumner Works Works

OF W O R K S

CITED

Modern Language Association of America, XLVIII (December 1933), 1223-1292. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed., The Poets and Poetry of Europe, With Introductions and Biographical Notices (Philadelphia, Porter and Coates, 1871). Carl L. Johnson, Professor Longfellow of Harvard (Eugene, University of Oregon Press, 1944)· David Donald, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War (New York, Alfred Knopf, i960). Edward L. Pierce, ed., Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner (Boston, Roberts Brothers, 1877-1894), 4 vols. The Works of Charles Sumner (Boston, Lee and Shepard, 1870-1883), 15 vols. Samuel Longfellow, ed., The Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with Biographical and Critical Notes (Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1886), Standard Library Edition, 11 vols.

526

INDEX OF R E C I P I E N T S (References are to letter numbers)

Agassiz, Elizabeth Cary, 1 8 3 1 , 2 1 9 9 Agassiz, Jean Louis Rodolphe, 1 8 3 2 , 1869, 1884, 2 1 9 1 Alden, Georgia Α., 1974 Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 1666, 1875, 2300 Allibone, Emily, 1746 Allibone, Samuel Austin, 1568, 1587, 1609, 1 6 3 1 , 1708, 1 7 3 2 Ames, Sarah Fisher Clampit, 1976 Anderson, Eliza Bayard Clinch, 1903 Andrew, John Albion, 2064 Appleton, Thomas Gold, 1 5 7 5 , 1 5 8 1 , 1602, 1 6 5 3 , 1797, 1829, 1843, 1849, 2 1 3 1 , 2148, 2 1 5 7 , 2268 Appleton, William Sumner, 1 7 1 5 Armsby, James H., 2108 Arnold, Georg Michael Daniel, 1890 Baldwin, Edmund, 1 8 7 1 Bancroft, George, 2 1 8 2 Barbey d'Aurevilly, Jules Amedée, 1786 Bass, Lyman Kidder, 2051 Behm, Adam Orth, 1 7 2 4 Blier, Paul-Romain, 1 9 1 8 Bliss, Alexander, 2 1 1 2 Böttger, Adolf, 1607 Bovee, Christian Nestell, 1965 Bovee, Marvin Henry, 1 8 5 2 Bowditch, Nathaniel Ingersoll, 1865 Bowen, Arabella Stuart, 1 7 0 2 Brackett, Anna Callender, 2 1 2 ; Bradford, Thomas Gamaliel, 1674 Bradish, Luther, and Others, 1787 Bradlee, Caleb Davis, 1985 Bright, Henry Arthur, 1729, 2 2 1 9 Bryant, William Cullen, 2089 Buell, G. R., 1823 Butler, E. H., & Company, 1688 Carter, Robert, 1 7 5 7 Chamberlain, George Coles, 2 2 1 0 Chamberlain, Nathan Henry, 2200 Chase, Salmon Portland, 2050 Chatelain, Jean-Baptiste François Ernest de, 1582, 1645 Child, Francis James, 2204, 2270

Childs, George William, 1956 Cist, Lewis Jacob, 2229 Clarke, James Freeman, 1 7 7 4 Clemm, Maria Poe, 1805, 2 0 1 2 Corson, Hiram, 2 1 0 5 Cotting, Benjamin Eddy, 1650 Cowen, Frederic Hymen, 2 1 2 9 Cozzens, Frederick Swartwout, 1 7 3 7 Crowninshield, Benjamin William, 2 1 9 5 Curtis, George William, 1636, 1668, 1736, 1758, 1883, 1885, 1895, 1966, 2074 Daly, Charles Patrick, 2 1 4 5 Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., 1840, 1973, 2007, 2046, 2053, 2099, 2 1 1 5 , 2290 Danse, Pauline, 2090 Darley, Felix Octavius Carr, 1661 Davie, Hannah E., 1 8 1 1 , 1822, 1827, 1952, 2274 Davis, Charles Henry, 1785 Deane, Charles, 1667, 1 7 8 1 , 1866, 2269 Deblois, Thomas Amory, 2 1 7 8 DeCosta, Benjamin Franklin, 2083 Dickinson, Charles Monroe, 2 2 1 3 Dix, William Giles, 1 7 8 2 Dom Pedro II, 2188 Dorr, Mary Gray Ward, 2235 Doster, William Emile, 1570 Dresel, Otto, 1604 Duyckinck, Evert Augustus, 1 5 7 7 , 1586 Dwight, John Sullivan, 1596, 1606 Eaton, Abigail, 1970 Ehninger, John Whetten, 1697 Eliot, Samuel, 1954 Elliot, Lucius Α., 1665 Ellis, George Edward, 1654 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 2 1 1 1 Engleheart, John Gardner Dillman, 1882 Everett, Edward, 1608, 1 7 5 1 , 1979, 2095 Farrer, Frances, 1728, 1878, 1937, 1942, 2087 Fay, Richard Sullivan, 1940 Ferris, William H., 1783 Fessenden, William Pitt, 1 7 2 1 , 1855, 2 1 8 9

5 ^ 7

I N D E X OF Fields, Annie Adams, 2097 Fields, James Thomas, 1588, 1617, 1681, 1684, 1685, 1695, 1700, 1719, 1745, 1 8 1 3 , 1 8 2 1 , 1836, 1893, 1894, 1896, 1897, 1905, 1927, 1959. 1969, I97I, 1972, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2008, 2021, 2049, 2052, 2054, 2057, 2091, 2092, 2 1 0 1 , 2123, 2126, 2146, 2150, 2.175, 2180, 2184, 2230, 2.239, 2262, 2177, 2281, 2298, 2301 Fiske, Daniel Willard, 1876 Fitch, Cornelia, 2155, 2159, 2163, 2 1 8 1 , 2183, 2208, 2215 Fletcher, Henrietta Malan, 2020 Fletcher, James Cooley, 1658 Fogg, John Samuel Hill, 1691 Folsom, Charles, 2225 Forestier, Auber, 2041, 2193 Freiligrath, Ferdinand, 1573, 1632, 1705, 1799, 1861, 1938

RECIPIENTS

1660, 1716, 1891, 1924, 1980, 2017, 2069, 2138, 2.197, 2285, 2169,

1698,

Gage, William Leonard, 1923, 2 1 1 9 Galpin, Robert Ervin, 1597, 1678, 1828 Gibson, The Misses, 1846 Gildersleeve, Rachel Abigail Buchanan, 2132 Girard, Ellen, 2271 Gould, Benjamin Apthorp, Jr., 2250, 2291 Graham, James Lorimer, Jr., 1752 Greene, George Washington, 1672, 1722, 1766, 1768, 1941, 1981, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2023, 2035, 2042, 2044, 2055, 2072, 2081, 2094, 2102, 2 1 1 8 , 2124, 2 1 3 3 , 2140, 2147, 2158, 2165, 2167, 2170, 2172, 2174, 2190, 2196, 2t98, 2209, 2212, 2216, 2223, 2227, 2233, 2236, 2237, 2243, 2247, 2259, 2260, 2265, 2280, 2286, 2287, 2289, 2305 Greenleaf, Mary Longfellow, 2106 Griffin, Richard, & Company, 1788 Gurowski, Adam, 1686, 1859 Hall, Samuel Carter, 1583 Halpine, Charles Graham, 2249 Harper Brothers, 1759 Hathaway, Mrs., 2248 Hatton, John Liptrot, 1803 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1616 Hawthorne, Sophia Peabody, 2 1 5 1 Hay, John Milton, 2038 Hayden, Elizabeth McGroth, 2067 Henocque, Francis, 2295 Hickling, Swan & Brewer, 1779 Hill, Caroline G., 2255 Hill, Rosa Fanny, 1921, 2288 Hill, Thomas, 2272

Hoadley, George Edward, 1825 Hoffman, Francis Suydam, 2 1 2 1 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 2278 Houghton, Henry Oscar, 1762 Howard, Apphia Horner, 2 1 1 0 , 2186 Howe, Julia Ward, 1693 Irving, Pierre Munro, 1765 James, Isabella Batchelder, 2120, 2152 Jewett, G. W., 2207 Jones, Henry Whitworth, 1 8 1 2

2127,

Keck, Karl, 1800 Keen, Alpheus Augustus, 2 1 1 3 Kemble, Frances Anne, 1590 Kohl, Johann Georg, 1621, 1801 Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval, 2206 Laugel, Elizabeth Bates Chapman, 2220 Leland, Charles Godfrey, 2137 Lemay, Léon Pamphile, 2296 Le Vert, Octavia Walton, 1626, 1814 Lieber, Francis, 1673 Lincoln, Arthur, 2011 Lincoln, Frederic Walker, Jr., 2292 Little, Abigail Wheaton, 1991, 2006 Livermore, George, 1899 Locker, Frederick, 1986 Longfellow, Alexander Wadsworth, i6r9, 1620, 1625, 1627, 1634, 1764, 1 8 1 7 , '839, 1962, 1978, 2173, 2202, 2283 Longfellow, Alice Mary, 1807, 1947, 2025, 2033, 2045, 2078, 2079, 2080, 2160, 2 1 6 1 , 2162, 2166, 2168, 2275, 2276 Longfellow, Anne Allegra, 1948, 1951, 2024, 2026, 2034, 2075, 2254, 2256, 2258, 2261, 2264, 2267 Longfellow, Charles Appleton, 1925, 1993, 2056, 2059, 2060, 2061, 2062, 2063, 2065, 2068, 2070, 2071, 2073, 2238, 2284 Longfellow, Edith, 1808, 1928, 1944, 1949, 1951, 2024, 2026, 2034, 2076, 2136, 2254, 2256, 2258, 2261, 2263, 2266, 2267 Longfellow, Ernest Wadsworth, 1809, 2024, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2036, 2037, 2039, 2282, 2299, 2302 Longfellow, Frances Appleton, 1810 Longfellow, Samuel, 1610, 1641, 1725, 1929, 2013, 2304 Longfellow, Stephen, 2214 Longfellow, William Pitt Preble, 2128 Lothrop, Mary Ann, 1638

528

I N D E X OF

RECIPIENTS

Lowell, James Russell, 1677, 1741, 1795 Lowell, John Amory, 1968 McClelland, James, 1750 Mackintosh, Mary Appleton, 1598, 1889 Mackintosh, Robert James, 1584, 1599 McNaughton, John Hugh, 1933 Maeder, James Gaspard, 1816 Marsh, George Perkins, 2245 Marshall, Emma Martin, 1778 Masseti, Stephen C., 1701 Miel, Charles, 1578 Mitchell, Silas Weir, 2164 Monti, Luigi, 1820, 1943, 2122 Motley, John Lothrop, 1862 Müller, Nielas, 2 1 7 1 Munde, Charles, 1747 Napier, Anne Jane Charlotte, Lady, Neal, John, 1763 Neill, Edward Duffield, 1838 Newhall, James Robinson, 1983 Norton, Catherine Eliot, 1600, 1900, Norton, Catherine Jane, 1881, 1904, Norton, Charles Eliot, 1727, 1826, 1 9 1 1 , 1 9 1 3 , 2018, 2253

1692

1914 1907 1901,

Osgood, James Ripley, 1683 Packard, Alpheus Spring, 1662 Palfrey, John Gotham, 1630, 1707, 1874, 1917, 1939, 2201 Palmer, John Williamson, 1576, 1793, 1833 Parsons, Thomas William, 1935 Peters, John Charles, 1771 Piatt, John James, 2 1 4 1 Pierce, Anne Longfellow, 1566, 1580, 1589, 1592, 1594, 1612, 1624, 1628, 1629, 1644, 1646, 1669, 1676, 1689, 1699, 1703, 1710, 1 7 1 2 , 1714, 1 7 1 8 , 1726, 1738, 1749, 1753» 1760, 1761, 1789, 1830, 1841, 1873, 1880, 1910, 1945, 1946, 1950, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1994, 2004, 2022, 2043, 2088, 2103, 2130, 2156, 2203, 2218, 2221, 2228, 2240, Pulszky, Terézia Walder, 1739

1870, 1670,

1572, 1613, 1656, 1709, 1730, 1772, 1898, 1961, 2040, 2179, 2244

Read, Thomas Buchanan, 1784 Ripley, George, 1593 Rölker, Bernard, 1569, 1605, 1642, 1748, 193z, 2109, 2224 Routledge, George, 2086, 2252 Routledge, George & Sons, 1 7 1 1 Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 1723, 1963 Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet, 1776

Sloan, A. E., 1790 Smith, Horace Wemyss, 1854, 1858, 1 9 1 2 Smith, Jacob Sheafe, 1818 Smith, John Henley, 1919 Smith, John Jay, 1731 Street, Alfred Billings, 1934 Sturgis, Henry Parkman, 1819 Sumner, Charles, 1 5 7 1 , 1591, 1595, 1601, 1603, 1614, 1633, 1635, 1637, 1639, 1647, 1648, 1649, 1 6 5 1 , 1652, 1657, 1659, 1663, 1664, 1671, 1675, 1682, 1690, 1694, 1706, 1 7 1 3 , 1 7 1 7 , 1720, 1733. 1734, 1735» 1742, 1769, 1777» 1791, 1792, 1794, 1796, 1798, 1802, 1 8 1 5 , 1834, 1835, 1837, 1844, 1845, 1847, 1848, 1850, 1 8 5 1 , 1853, 1856, 1857, i860, 1863, 1864, 1867, 1868, 1877, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1902, 1908, 1915, 1920, 1922, 1926, 1930, 1932, 1936, 1953, 1957, 1977. 1982, 1984, J 995> I999> 2002, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2047, 2058, 2066, 2077, 2082, 2084, 2096, 2098, 2 1 1 6 , 2134, 2139, 2143, 2144, 2149, 2153, 2177, 2187, 2192, 2205, 2 2 1 1 , 2217, 2222, 2226, 2234, 2241, 2242, 2246, 2251, 2257, 2273, 2279, 2293, 2294, 2306 Synge, William Webb Follett, 1955 Terry, Louisa Ward, 1916 Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1767 Thalberg, Sigismond, 1567 Thayer, William Sidney, 1680 Thies, Louis, 2154 Ticknor, William Davis, 1574, 1618, 1696, 1704, 1740. 1743. 1770, 1804, 1806, 1842, 1892, 1906, 1909, 1964, 1988, 1989, 1998, 2048 Ticknor & Fields, 1579, 1754, 2231 Tiffany, Osmond, Jr., 1687 Tilton, John E., 1585 Tuckerman, Frederick Goddard, 1872 Tuckerman, Henry Theodore, 1773, 1879, 2104 Unidentified Correspondent, 1 6 1 1 , 1824, 2185, 2194, 2303

1640,

Walker, James, 1655, 1755, 1756 Ward, Samuel, 1622, 1623 Ward, Samuel Gray, 1744 Ware, Henry, 2 1 1 7 Washburn, Emory, 1780 Washburn, Israel, 2085 Webster, Sarah Morris Fish, 2 1 1 4 Weidemeyer, John William, 2142 Welch, Bigelow & Company, 2100, 2 1 3 5 Wheeler, William Adolphus, i960, 2093, 2176

529

I N D E X OF Whitaker, John Henry, 1990, 2232 Whitmore, William Henry, 1987 Whitwell, Sophia L., 2107 Williston, Lyman Richards, 2014 Wilson, Henry, 2297

RECIPIENTS Winter, William, 1643, 1679 Woodman, Horatio, 1 6 1 5 Woodward, Annie Aubertine. See Forestier, Auber. Worcester, Joseph, 1775

53°