The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-08-13

yesterday morning. He was born In the
same year as Queen VICTORIA. though
three months earlier. Precocious in his
boyhood. he graduated from college at the
age Of nineteen, and his first volume Of
poems, published two or three years later,
contained productions whose beauty has
not been excelled by any Of his subsequent
efforts. He studied law and was ad-
mitted to the bar. but never prac-
tised that profession: and when Mr..
LoNoFE1Low withdrew from the professor
ship Of the romance languages at Harvard.
Mr.. LOWELL was naturally chosen to sue
coed him. His lectures on DANTE especially
are still spoken OF with admiration by those
men Of that day whose good fortune 1t was
to enjoy the benefit OF his instruction. His
connection with Harvard College was MAIN
tanned until the Fraudulent President seek
ing literary distinction for his unhonored
rule, and remembering also that as an cleo
tor Of Massachusetts LOWELL had given him
his vote, started him upon that career Of d.
plomacy, In which he gained the opportu-
nifty Of perhaps his greatest distinction. by
appointing him Minister to spain. From
Madrid he was transferred to England, and
there his elegant cultivation and fine crit.
cal faculty, evinced in after-dinner speeches
and In occasional addresses, found q congen.
ial audience and high and just appreoia-
tlon. These addresses were perhaps the
most finished. well-balanced, and sat-
isfactory OF his literary lsbors. They
deserved. as they received. unqualified
admiration; and he returned to Boston sur
rounded with q popularity and renown
which relieved. II 1t did not obliterate, the
relation he had assumed to the Presidential
Fraud OF 1876. Since his return he has written
comparatively little. and that little has not
added very much to his reputation as lit
erary man or thinker.
No one will deny that Mr.. LOWELL holds
permanent place In the records Of nine
tenth century literature His ability is in
disputable. his learning extensive. though
rather dilettante; bis moral inspiration
genuine; his humor often delicious. At
times he seems to rise almost to the posses-
sion Of genius; but In that respect he
finally disappoints our expectation. That
sacred gift Of supreme Imagination. that
resistless lifting Of the subject and the
artist above the levels OF ordinary feeling,
is always wanting In him after all. and we
are obliged to fall back toward the common
place and the respectable:
"Not his the pride nor ample piniou
which the Thsban eagle bare
Sailing with supreme dominion
Through the azurs depths OF air.
OF course as Bostohian and Harvard
professor. living In the midst Of intellectual
agitations and reform movements, Mr..
LOWELL could not help becoming to GER
tain extent politician. even II he had
wished to. It was In this capacity
that the Republicans of Massachusetts,
made him candidate for elector OF Presi.
dent and Vice-President In 1876. Before
that ho had been an anti-slavery man,
though he had never faced mobs with GAR
RIsoN and PHILLIPS. or refused to hold any
political post whatever with EDMUND QuIN-
CY. During the civil war he was ON earnest
patriot, and no wrote his elaborate and
laborious ode on the murder Of LINCOLN az
terits close. But his political ideas became
tincturoi with an admixture Of Phnrisaic
moral sentiments too strong to leave his
Judgment OF public questions wise and
comprehensive. In q word. he was finally
a Mugwump and an antagonist Of Ameri-
can Democracy.
Personally. Mr.. LOWELL was one OF the
most charming of men, and now that he Is
gone. only Mr.. WHITTIER and DR.. HoLhEs
remain to US from the earllor ora of Amer
lean literature.