The New York herald., 1879-02-04
OBITUA AIRY.

The venerable poet and essayist Richard Henry
Dana died at his home in Boston at ten O'Clock on
sunday morning Although unwell for several
weeks, his condition not deemed critical until
last Thursday. On Friday his faculties became i'm
paired after which he failed rapidly Born ut Cam
bridge, Mass, the 18th of November, l7s7-the
son OF Chief Justice Dana, the grandson Of William
Eilery-Rchard Henry Dana came of a New England
patrician and intellectual lineage that has given not
few other names of note to the world. He was
known as a of letters when Longfellow. Whit
tier Holmes and Lowell in their cradles. and
had almost ceased to write before any of our liv-
ing writer's published their earliest productions
He was two months the senior of Byron, and seven
years older than the lamented Bryant The students
of the modern science of heredity may find in his
ancestry his descendants and his relatives strong
continuation Of the doctrine that genius Is trans
mited in the blood. He the fifth in descent
from Richard Dana, who settled at Cambridge in 1640.
His grandfather. also named Richard Q699-l772).
figures in the biographical dictionaries jurist Of
eminence. who prominent in the organization of
resistance to the Stamp act. His father. Francis
1743-S11), associate Of John Adams and Josiah
Quincy in the prolonged agitation was delegate
to the first Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, and
to the Continental Congress during the Revolution.
negotiated Minister to Russia in 17s1 the first
treaty with that Empire and fifteen years Chief
Justice of Massachusetts Francis Dana married
daughter of William Ellery, of Rhode Island.
Through her the poet was descended from Governor
Dudley and the celebrated poetess Mrs. Anne Brad
street. and also first cousin of DR.. William
Ellery Charming. the leading representative of the
Unitarian movement of the present century. Dana
passed his early years at Newport. where his
mind imbued with many OF the impress
sions and traditions which he has embalnied
1904, but did not complete his course. He
OF the participators in noted rebellion against the
faculty i'll 1907, and like many of his associates.
preferred leaving college to an acceptance of the
terms accommodation held out. Many years
later, however, the degree OF Bachelor of Arts
conferred upon him, dating from 1903. On leaving
college Mr. Dana returned to Newport completed in
private the collegiate Of studies and read law
in the Office of his cousin. Francis Dana Charming,
the eldest brother of Dr. w. L. Claiming. In 1910
he was admitted to the Boston Bar, and in the
Iolowins year 70 'nas oi anti nal.tnore; M, H.
where he spent some months III the
Office Of Robert Goodloe Harper. He settled
in Boston as lawyer in 1911, and became in 1914
member of the noted "Anthology Club" comprising
the leading literary characters OF the period. The
North ADser,can Reriew originated under the auspices
of this club in 1Si5 and after the brief successive
editorships OF william Tudor, Willard Phillips and
Jared Sparks it passed in 1918 under the manage
ment OF Danas cousin the accomplished critic,
Boylston Professor of rhetoric at Harvard. Chan
ming associated Dana with himself in the editor
ship of the RecieW, and it was during this period
that Bryant's poem, .Thanatopsis." was ac-
cepted and published Dana withdrew from the
periodical called The Ite Man, to which Washington
Irving and Washington Allston contributed. His
writings in the Rdre% str We're chiefly it 81 s,fn sri
ton and interest from their sound learning. their
manliness of sentiment and generally candid treat
ment of authors under review their clear and lucid
statements, and probably also from their somewhat
Addisonian staeliness and mannerism of stye since
in those days Addison still looked upon one of
the desirable models of style, whose writings
young author would do well to spend days and
nights OF study.
The best known Of these earlier essays of Mr..
Dana is that upon "Hazlitts Lectures ON the Eng
sh Poets" He was of the earliest, if not indeed
the very first of the critics of those days on either
side of the water to enter strong forcible and avail
ing protest against the arrogant bitter and despotc
world Of jeffrey hs gsSs e
earnest and cordial greeting to the writ
ngs of Wordsworth. OF Coleridge. OF Crabbe.
That his sympa.hies were not catholic enough to
appreciate all that good in Byron's verse. the
love for romantic valor aud chivalrous dar-
ing which was the inspiration Of much
| Of Mrs Hemans' work, is perhaps more
| to be regretted than wondered at The Idie Nan
lived through one volume. and single number of
second was issued in 1922 But it was then sus-
pended from want of support. 1t gained during its
existence the approval and admiration OF literary and
scholarly men, but entirely failed to win the public
appreciation. In it he continued the pub
lcation of his critical essays. and also wrote
resembed the famous Sketch Book Of Irvng but.
while it unquestionabiy possessed greater force of
style and vgor OF thought, it lacked the piquancy
and picturesqueness the delicate humor the tender
ness of sentiment which made the Sketch Book be-
loved of thousands. In 1921, also, Mr.. Dana made
his first public appearance poet in .'The Dying
Raven" contributed to the Nec York Rcciew. then
band and wife's Grave" Thoughts on the SOUL
"Changes of Home and other poems, which won
for themselves the appreciation and generous cri-
pf
pher North and his compecrs abroad. They are uni
formly pervaded by thoughtfulness often by lnelan
less strongly influenced By Wordsworth and
favorte authors he made the mistake of drawing out
his descriptions and meditations into minuteness
and tedousness which has deferred later genera
tion from keeping them in memory. But in 1877 he
issued THE Buccaneer." which took hold upon
the public mind that all his earlier works had failed
to win. Its story is gloomy, powerful and repusivc.
1t is devoted to the portrayal of the darker passions
of fierce and savage guilt of rcnorse, fear, despair
but it is told with power. pahos succession OF
graphic and vigorous touches, force of imagination,
a severity OF dction which admirably suits the
subject, which none of his earlier poems had even
suggested. Whether you like the poem or not 1t is
one that asserts power the reader and holds
his memory afterward. the glittering eye of the
listen to his tale In 1855 Mr.. Dana issued second
volume of his prose and roctical works, which in
cuded all OF his papers in The Idie Man, and
number of poems. After that time he wrote
but little His later articles contributed
chiefly the Literary and Tho ogcdi Rec,e,c and to
the Spirit qf TIE iyrims In 1s,94O he delivered, in
Boston, New York and Philadelphia. series of ten
lectures on shakespeare. which were probably the
most valuable and delightful of his literary and
critical gifts to his age. Yet. strangely enough.
they the only ones omitted in the two volumes
issued i'll 1850. which comprise all OF his other
works. They excited the keenest interest in intel
lectual circles, and did much to stimulate and direct
the apprcciativo study of the great dramatist
Mr.. Dana began life a Congrcgationaist, and at
one time took active part i'll the controversy
which at the close Of the first quarter Of the century
was wagcd between the Trinltarian and Unitarian
clements in that communion. But after this he
joined himself to the Episcopal Church. aud for the
long remainder of his life OF its most
and consistent members. His life whole
beyond question one of the most tranquil and
happy that has fallen to the lot of any Of
literary professional habit of living much
in the open air, contracted in early manhood while
battling with delicate health, stayed with him through
lite. and was probably one OF the causes OF pro-
longing his years into serene, peaceful anu Wig
orous old age. Whether in Boston in the WIN
ter season, or at his summer home tie
New Hampshire coast. he spent considerable por