St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-29
HONOR TO A GREAT POET.
MEMORY or JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
AMP2ESSIKELY CELEBRATED.
TABLET IN OLD WESTMINSTER.

can Ambassador, Mr.. Bayard-
The Dean OF Westminster, Hon.
Joseph Chamberlain and Other
Distinguished Englishmen De-
liver Touching Tributes.
LONDON, Nov. 2S.-The memorial
tablet erected to the memory of the
late James Russell Lowell. in the old
chapter of Westminster abbey, by the
subscribers of his English admirers.was
unveiled today with impressive cere-
monies. Among those present was the
United States ambassador, the Hon.
Thomas f. Bayard, who, during the
course of his remarks, said:
Il mold myself happy indeed to have
been permitted, in the chapter house of
eStminster ana before an aSsembIage
SO DISTINGUISHED and impressive, to be
present when, for the second time, the
name of an American is inscribed in this
double sanctuary of religion and re-
nOwn, containing already the bust OF
Longfellow, and where now are I'M
yelled the window and tablet to the
memory Of James Russell Lowell. his
brother poet, both from their kindred
from beyond the sea.
1.-The forms of these two gifted sons
of America have been clasped 10 the
bosom OF the land that gave them birth,
and their ashes rest in peace at home,
but the proof OF their fame has been
waited to and fro across the Atlantic,
falling in clear, musical notes upon
loving ears Ill the two countries whose
people speak the same mother tongue
OF Longfellow and Lowell. Here. in
the abbey, their names are blended in
go0dlv fellowship. worthy companions
of that band sung by Wordsworth, who
gave US nobler lives and cares"
After saying that lie would not at
tempt the portraiture of Lowell, Mr..
Bayard continued: lit is a fine, strong
saying that Blood is thicker than water
and every day proves how the ties of
common origin and ancestry are stronger
than written treaties. and how Unborn
sympathIes of race, in the end, CAN
silence international discords and jeal-
ouSieS."
MIR. BAYARD
then referred to the pleasure he felt at
the fact that Lowell and himself spoke
in this very chamber upon the occasions
of the Stanley ana Coleridges dwellings,
and; said that he was glad indeed that
this mark of honor to my dear country
man was erected so soon, "adding, The
reproach of delay SO often just cannot
be made here, for here brotherhood
of letters have FASTENED with graceful.
loving appreciation to give to buried
merit its lust memorial.
1t was his great and honorable pur.
pose to bring the peopleof Great Britain
and the United States into better COM
pIehenSiOn of each other; to replace
suspicion by confidence, and ignorant |
animositY by friendly appreciation. He |
liked to call himself man of letters, |
aud truly was master of the English |
tongue. and made his skill and knowl- |
edge al agency TO interpret the better |
feelings of both branches of the race |
who share its glorieS in common.
"In American homes throughout the |
broad land over which the ensign of the |
country waves. sense of grateful pride |
will be felt when they learn that the /
name and fame of their fellow country |
man, the poet, scholar, statesman and |
patriot. has received at the hands of the I
Britons this high tribute of respect in |
their most venerable temple of national |
religion. honor and renown.
eral, was the last message Of Lowell. |
in a letter TO his friend, Judge Hughes,
and in these memorial windows and |
tablet may we not read the reply of |
England III general to James Russell |
Lowell, and the nation he so faithfully /
represented at the court of st. James?"
III his remarks the dean of West
minister said that Mr.. Lowell, from the
first day he visited England, had en-
l. @1lf to n.
circle of friends. James Russell Lowell |
was worthy to be counted among the |
greatest literary men of this country
Chaucer. Spencer, Milton, Dryden,
Shakespeare and the other poets who I
mad died in
MORE RECENT YEARS.
In the presence of the American am
bassador. Mr.. Bayard. he might point
to the fitness Of the place in which the
memorial to Nh. Lowell had been erect
ed. There was no spot III the United |
Kingdom, or i'll the whole world, which
could compare with it in historic inter-
est. After dwelling at some length upon
the history of the structure, the dean
concluded by saying that he did not I
think there could be found any place
better fitted TO commemorate one who
was not only a representative of the I
American republic, but so great an or
which was the common heritage Of all
who spoke the English tongue.
Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, when |
the United States ambassador had fin
iShed speaking, expressed his thanks to |
Nj. BayaTd for his presence upon this
occasion and for his generous apprecia-
ton Of the ceremony. Mr.. Chamberlain |
added: "Such meetings as these
showed that the union between the two |
frio
plished. We have common pride, and |
almost common ownership in this
illustTious American, and Mr.. Bayard
is well qualified to appreciate his Illus
trious countrymau.a
The inscription upon the tablet is:
This tablet is placed here in memory
of James Russell Lowell, United States
minister TO the court of st. James from
1880 to 1885, by his English friends"
Leslie Stephen, dilating upon the fit
ness of the place which had been chosen
to erect England'S memorial to james
Russell Lowell, said that the long line
of illustrious men whose monum ents
had been raised there. and who had I
passed the porch of English literature
from CHANGER to Tennyson, would |
unanimously recognize in lowell
a CoNGENTAL DISCIPLE.
There was scarcely one among those
great men who had been more OBJ
viously marked cut by mind and char
acter for the calling of man OF letters. [
or who had devoted himself with more /
unhagging zeal than James Russell
Lowell. Upon MIN had fallen no small /
share of the spirit of the great masters |
of English literature. He was a true /
poet who always spoke from the heart, |
and therefore be always spoke nobly. /
He was one of the most charming essay |
lists Of our language, and the great men |
of the old world have admitted him to
no low place IN their ranks.
In him, too, they would recognize a /
sympathetic and penetrative Interpreter |
Of their thoughts. Lowell spoke to them |
as to men with whom he held daily con- /
verse. He was a genial and playful |
humorist. His was Q humor which |
cnnld pnfnr into q com hia n atinr of dif