New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-21
A TRIBUTE TO MIR. LOWELL.
BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
Ia,.nor,r WaeklY AnpllSt ~

From Harper's Weekly, August %.
The death Of Mr. Lowell Is greVe sco oSs tie
and ctatesman he leaves behind him no more admir-
able master in each department nor any more .r oe
of constant and well balanced progress ana us III
Huence upon the literary taste ana moral smuloIin
and benefoent. With Holmes and Whittier ne w;s the
irving was thirty Years his senior; Bryant twenty
6ve Emerson. sixteen Hawthorne se "'I Iron
1 ressSns an his n sseh SdS two
Lowell singuarly vigorous, with tne eiasuoif , anu
spirit ye Q, 1is er he eTer recovered
in Europe as Minister In spain anu ~. S onIy
@bild' married daughter he returned to his own
house in Cambridge only TO die ana MIN hr 81 liz
charming genius noble character eNuSoL ,IIt md
erary requirements, and a picturesque ofii"""' CIV
delightful pers nality. ,oor,ah,e The
quckness gaSn ana originality 81 his mu ms Ny
Wit his exQusc humor the ier9'S % memory ia We're
always surprising. OF Puritan descent, ne wa a.
Characteristic NewEng,shaer as his mental auay
In his youth his inspired by aht,sveiH lie
~ tipped as With white fame, the fiery darts Of Wen
deli Phillips eoquenee But tne P UTt tc r,dicai
mo the wise interpreter OF the national VI
the crucial American e9hoSse,NHS Stoves Uncle
Toms Cabins are the enduring literary nd
and American patriotism has no nooet Sommemo
Enolish poetry no oftier strain than the COin"'
ramon OGe All This time of literary activity and pro,
nucuon Ills pe.ides the Greek and Latin authors ne
was deeply versed in the Old trehcl @ ost nrond
Of Dsntean scholars This Woe mastery era ocanvating
gave his works extraordinary , anu he learning
sNn.ss ~ Illustration: for he carried MS eaIllne
lightly and with the grace of prince wes aot tSe vie
tiU Of what he knew. His requirements We're he ot
chains of pedsnry; they were the golden SLno' VI
vieorous manhood and OF patriotic ctzenshIP. + ~
Mr. LoweIs interest IN p@9e ala and nter nations
and Ind the strongest faith IN goVerIiI, aont
upon popular neeenGte ,rrst e better American
SDain and England in him not only man w,o w
his literary genius had conferred holof mlT ~ man
try but who showed that the finest qlinGM, :" ,ainnd
~ ,rbolesomc common-Sense, thoroughly ldiuUu
and amply equipped, was distincuNeS e TIn dnnss
natrossm was not the brag of cOncet nor te d 9th
20 igDornnca and the America Of the hope ana la.n
NJ rs noblest children never deplcFu H. dnanv
searching insight than in ms P fS h no was Minister
IN England nor were the manly HdepenuSIoV s1 1
courtesy Of the American character ever tnip Condo
.nension in Foreigners" II was PATRIOTISM VIII. t
did NOT admit that arrogance anc cohocI. an ~; tbot
ernrrtbinC American was for that reason. better ldu
everything which was not AmerCan, ~ m and ~
nnmndful that the root OF Gat peborrnaly American
nor did II deny Ia the traditions d al pluri ,inct
tion and TO the life Of oae er,r To has me- work more
essentially American than the Bigiow raperh. mo-
only in the dialect form O He US Engnnd Of nco@
Inin PneonIe. who have given the distinctive impulse
10 American civilization, and from whose virtues Has
largely sprunC tie American CHARACTER .,,.. =,
e Forth while TO Law stress upon TINS qnailtv OF
~, ou,eH because II is the one to which much OF ms
peculiar influence IS due yet wch Is Ut hDsnity
f ~ genius his generous sympathy with noble as,
0raion and endeavor, his political independence ara
snmetbne OF his personal fascination is felt both IN
his poetry and his prose, and he has so cheeteo anu
.baPP HE death will fall as bereavement upon mulu-
fldes who never saw MS lace