Chapter I: Preface

The existence of the two volumes of _Letters of James Russell Lowell, edited by Charles Eliot Norton_, has determined the character of this biography. If they had not been published, I might have made a _Life and Letters_ which would have been in the main Lowell’s own account of himself, in his voluminous correspondence, annotated only by such further account of him as his letters failed to supply. As it is, though I have had access to a great many letters not contained in Mr. Norton’s work, I have thought it desirable not so much to supplement the _Letters_ with other letters, as to complement those volumes with a more formal biography, using such letters or portions of letters as I print for illustration of my subject, rather than as the basis of the narrative.

I have kept the _Letters_ always by my side as my main book of reference; by the courtesy of their editor and by arrangement with their publishers, Messrs. Harper & Brothers, I have now and then drawn upon them where it seemed especially desirable that Lowell should speak for himself, but their greatest use to me has been in their disclosure of Lowell’s personality, for they undoubtedly contain the cream of his correspondence. I have, however, had other important material for my use. First of all, Lowell’s collected writings in verse and prose, and some uncollected writings, both in print and manuscript. After all that a biographer can do, after all that Lowell himself can do through his letters, the substantial and enduring revelation of the man is in that free converse which he had with the world in the many forms which his literary activity took.

After this I must again thank Mr. Norton for his generosity in placing in my hands a large body of letters and papers, which he holds as Lowell’s literary executor; perhaps even more for the wise counsel with which he has freely aided me in the course of the work. Without his coöperation the biography could not have been written in its fulness.

My thanks are due, also, to the friends and the children of the friends of Lowell who have sent me letters and other material; to Miss Charlotte P. Briggs, daughter of the late Charles F. Briggs, the warm friend of Lowell in his early literary life; to Mrs. Sydney Howard Gay, who sent me not only letters, but the original manuscript of Lowell’s contributions to the _National Anti-Slavery Standard_; to Mrs. Richard Grant White; to Dr. Edward Everett Hale, whose _James Russell Lowell and his Friends_ has been a pleasant accompaniment to my labors; to General James Lowell Carter for the use of his father’s letters; to Col. T. W. Higginson; to Mrs. S. B. Herrick; to Mrs. Mark H. Liddell for Lowell’s letters to Mr. John W. Field; to Mr. R. R. Bowker; to Mr. R. W. Gilder; to Mr. Edwin L. Godkin; to Mr. Howells, Mr. Aldrich, Mr. De Witt Miller, Mr. J. Spenser Trask, and others.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 27 September, 1901.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. ELMWOOD AND THE LOWELLS 1

II. SCHOOL AND COLLEGE 19

III. FIRST VENTURES 62

IV. IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY RANKS 151

V. A FABLE FOR CRITICS, THE BIGLOW
PAPERS, AND THE VISION OF SIR
LAUNFAL 238

VI. SIX YEARS 270

VII. FIFTEEN MONTHS IN EUROPE 309

VIII. AN END AND A BEGINNING 346

IX. THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY 408

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Frontispiece_

From a photograph by Gutekunst taken in 1889.

REV. CHARLES LOWELL 10

From a painting by Rand, in the possession of Charles Lowell.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IN 1843 116

From the painting by William Page, in the possession of James B. Lowell.

MRS. CHARLES LOWELL 306

From a painting by Rand, in the possession of James Duane Lowell.

MRS. MARIA WHITE LOWELL 360

From a drawing by Cheney, after a painting by William Page.

HOUSE OF DR. ESTES HOWE, CAMBRIDGE 384

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL