New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-03-28
a. Excellent Biography of James
Russell LO1ceU.

sIor-aphy. a book marked by a due sense of
,-oportlon. lie was not a great man. and the T.
~ Of his career is easily set forth in a mod
=, convenient volume Such a volume has
hssn produced 10y MI Ferris Greenslet in James
Pusseu Lowell His Life and Work" CHoughton,
,uHin & Coz. an octave Of scarcely more than
.hree hundred pages IN which all the essential
fcts are stated and the traits OF the man and the
author are interpreted with Judgment and skill.
The Life by 1Ir. Scudder and the Letters edited |
nv Professor Norton have been freely used, and |
from these and other sources the author has 1
derived material sufficient for the execution Of /
q full and animated portrait Furthermore, /
while be is IN sympathy with his subject he has /
written without excess Of enthusiasm. The re- !
suit is an interesting and a useful book
L Dorrrays sinEularly fortunate man Of let |
ters. Lowell began life in a friendly and slim |
ularirg New England environment. and from |
Tie start fate seems 10 have encouraged the |
development of his bookish tastes and the exer-
else Of his literary faculty. IN Mr.. Greenslet.s
rapid sketch we see the poet and essayist meet
,rg with uninterrupted success. suffering prava
private griefs, but steadily strengthening him.
SELF in his profession and as steadily piling IN
work Wei done The details Of his life need not
be summarized here Mr.. Greenslet rightly sd
heres more particularly TO the intellectual rela-
ions OF HIS subject. There are no dramatic
events 20 be recorded After all Lowell the man
vas very much Lowell the writer. His v,b,r,si-
ollty, for example, TO which the present bto9-
Tapher often returns, never comes out as effac
lively IN stories about him as It comes out In
his verse OF IN his prose. When he is irving -
ind reasonable banker in Catania If is nor III.
adventure that counts but the clever fooIinp
about Il that goes into his journal Il is o55
that with his gift for playful div:gation Lowell
never reached, as an essayist quite the highest
rank Perhaps II Is because he wrote from
crowded rather than from saturated mind
lie mas memory for fine things. and his deal
ines with them create in his pages A good at
nospHeTe' fun Of brains fun Of KNOWLEDGE
pul somehow IL Is not the atmosphere that
your perfect essayist supplies. enveIoping everv-
tEing IN his genius as in an element NJ
e-se-s-eI speaks Of that infinite reading
l-a- gave 50 buxOm a charm Ia GER
tain OF LowelTs ESSAYS. Charm ,,-to+t..
0-19Hl' or otherwise, is scarcely the quality, n
'ooA Tor in Lowell. For one thing there was .
hei-consciousness about him destructive oF tho
precious attribute.
N me part Of this book treating Of IovveIrs
mysticism there is a line quoted from one of his
early notebooks-"My heart beats Ike the
Tampling Of host" There is less Of mysticism
II taL as 1t seems TO Us, than there is Of the
-leorrigibe literary man always keen on nut
himself confirms this point. Lowell had" he
says "a way OF uttering a good thing in talk.
1en 5otting it down in his note book. then writ
ing II 10 a correspondent, and then using It. q
little nled and polished, in whatever he hap
pened TO be composing at the time" If this
system has its advantages it also has its dangers
Something of the SAVIOR Of the original thought
eTaporates under the pressure Of the subtle pro-
1essionalism which the biographer thus indi-
Gates. Yet he was too serious, too sincere, as a
man Of letters, for this professionalism Of his
70 express itself in mere phrase making OF the
robust life that Lowell led among his books Mr..
Greenslet gives good idea in this passage:
Lowell. Il IS needless TO say at this hour. was
never quite a scholar in the German sense Of the
sense but was scholar in what we Hay per
a-s Jh-nE a more admirable seuse-that IN which
- oookInen Of The Renaissance We're so. Like
u-e bu- save for certain types Of o5e III 6pJa5
t-ers was little that he could not and did not read
VIA delight. he had the old-time scholars deep
q nils various old world. Nothing human was
zen . him. nothing outworn; he sought the in
ttl..eao-s yssiiges OF humanity as keenIy, almost
T--ou gh his FDecracles Of books Lowell saw life
s--..s- ana ga" II whole, and II is here that his
modern specialized scholarship he had his dis
-a , 10 man more T, but few men en- have
o1s more wisely, genially and comprehensiveIy. In
ana Continental writers, his swift intuition
grounded, az It was, upon wide reading and ripe
las1L-at-on--ed him 10 many novel capitalization
upon The tute-actiou Of literary periods one Il
e10t1sr. that have since become the commonplace
n comparative scholarship. or the jeaIoUsies and
cozteUFts Of the modern specialists-the Media
saace man Tor the student Of more modern liter
e{s--eE1e had nothing and when in his last years
Lze- lesa1 10 emerge IN American scholarship, 10
mar handled them more caustically than Lowell
Il only the enthusiasm. the insight the intel
sot-al grasp. so Justly summed up in these lines
hsd been fed from richer and deeper sprtng
o. inspiration what memorable achievement
Lowell might have put TO his credit in prose! I
was only the spark Of genius that he lacked
That visited him briefly, from time TO time. II
the course Of his life as poet, and Mr. GreensIe
Il hardly happy in his saying that the quaut,
q Lowelrs poetic style al It's very best IS Of
pithy ard noble grandiloqUence." That last wor
Is Is III suited 10 the ode IN which Lowell mad
his highest flight as It is to the poems in whicl
he uttered his tenderest and sweetest strains
However. M Greenslet RECEIVERS in his broa
survey 0f the poems the balance which he loses
-nornertsrily, IN the sentence just quoted, an
here, as IN his account Of LoweIFs other activi
ties. he proves a sound eXpositor. We appre
ciate especially the moderation Of his estimat
q Lowe4Fs poetry. This IS a wOrkmanlike biOg
raphy, and Il IS rounded out with a good index
There Is to be a collected edition OF the work
Of Oscar VsIde-a collection which win includ
much that IS readable and much that is merely
dull sGectation.
II the new edition de luxe OF Mr.. Mauric
HeTletts complete writings. the sixth an
seventh volumes. just published by the Macmil
4sn Company are given 70 The Road in Tus
cany." The book IS well met in this handsom
loTfn- The larger page means a broader margil
-or text and picture, and the latter, especially
frrr in NT