The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-09-25

Hyperion" a purpose which interprets much
there was in his own life. Hyperion is
the name of the book, not of the hero. 1t
merely indicates that here is the life of one
who in his feelings and purposes is son of
heaven and earth, and who though obscured
by clouds yet moves on high. | wish to en-
body certain feelings which are mine, not to
magnify myself" To another friend he
wrote:T called it Hyperion because it moves
ON high, among clouds and stars, and ex-
presses the various aspirations of the soul of
man. 1t is all modelled on this idea, style
and ALL" This spirit of aspiration and
poetry runs all through the earlier years of
Longfellow's life, and it is brought out very
fully in the biography. 1t gives a charm to
his prose works, as we'll as to his poetic ro-
mances and to many of his shorter poems.
Another source of the power Longfellow
possessed lay in his interest in men and wo-
men, and in his desire to know them and to
be in sympathy with them. He was much of
student of books, but he was never schol-
ar in the usual sense; and he did constantly
long for the fellowship of human beings. In
growing amazingly dull. Books, books,
books! No lively intercourse; all the world
asleep. But summer will be back in few
days; and we shall be Enthusiastically set
fire to-" The same desire for contact with
men appears in this statement: "The most
interesting books to me are the histories of
individual minds; all autobiographies and
kba Ito .o en- rs
sympathetic feeling for human beings drew
others to him, and made him one of the poets
that people desire to know for their own
sake. Hence he was frequently visited by
people from all parts of the world, and let
ters came pouring in upon him in floods.
The strong feeling and sympathy which were
in his nature he well expressed in describing
sermon he had heard: Ito me, sermon is
no sermon in which 1 can not hear the heart
beat" In all things he wished to hear the
heart beat and that is the quality which is
most of all to be found in his writings.
He thoroughly enjoyed his work as an au-
thor; and that fact is fully brought out in the
biography. His duties as a college professor
were always irksome to him, and he escaped
from them with sense of great relief. He
was essentially man of letters, took infinite
enjoyment in the comradeship of his fellow
authors, and was not contented unless he
could feel that some goodly creation was
growing under his hand. The biography has
many passages of great interest concerning
his relations to Emerson, Sumner, Lowell,
Frielegrath, Thackeray and other authors with
whom he was intimately acquainted. His
friendship for Sumner seems to have been
of cordial greeting and sympathy which the
great Senator received.
To large extent this work is an autobiog-
raphy, for Longfellow is permitted to tell his
own story by the means of his letters and
journals In doing this his brother has been
very successful, and we do feel that we meet
the poet face to face. In the case of such a
person this seems to be very desirable, for
only in that way can we feel his personality
and know him as he would wish to be known.
He grows in interest for US as we thus come
to know him more intimately, and he stands
up more manfully before us than he had ever
done before. That in him which had seemed
to partake of the dilletante spirit, and the
spirit of mere refinement and polish, is much
lessened, and he grows more robust and
noble.
Samuel Longfellow has done his work
thoroughly and well, with delicate purpose
and fine suppression of himself. We owe
him large debt of gratitude for bring
ing before us the life of his brother in a man
ner so entirely satisfactory. There is moth
ing in his two volumes we could wish to have
left out, and he has given us ample material
for Just judgment in regard to the poets
life. The interest in Longfellow as a man
by no means passed away with his DEATH;
and that interest this work is in a large meas
ure destined to crafty by the rich materials
it contains. Not only is the story of Longfel-
lows life fully told from the beginning to the
end, but the work gives us many an insight
into the literary life of his time. He had the
gift of hospitality and he correspondent with
wide circle of literary friends at the same
time that he was brought into close contact
with the literary life of Cambridge and Bos-
ton by virtue of his connection with Har-
yard. These pages are amply enriched with
materials growing out of this sympathetic
interest in literary men.
Longfellow was man of earnest religious
convictions. His journal records the regu-
larity with which he attended church, and it
was his almost constant custom to jot down
something about the sermon he had heard
who preached, and anything striking that was
said. His father was an intimate friend of
Channing's, and the son remained true to
the faith in which he was educated. There
was nothing of the spirit of sect in his relig-
ion, but broad liberation and firm hold
on the main things. His religion was that
of the spirit, pure, manly and inspiring. We
find many indications of how it strengthened
him at the great crises of life, and that it
was to him what his own expression of it in
his poems has been to many others.
This biography will help to enshrine Long
fellow in the hearts of those who have read
and loved his books. 1t will make him seem
very near to them, and it will help to give
new meaning and charm to his poems. We
know him now as he was in his life, and
new light is cast on his books by this knowl-
edge, which makes them more like heart
confessions. Gro. WILLIS Cooke.
DR.. WRIGHT ON INEBRIISM.
INEBRIsM. By I. l.. Wright, NJ. ID. I2mo.
222 pages. Cloth. William G. Hubbard,