New-York tribune., 1908-10-21

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON,
Who died this morning.
terward professor emeritus for ten years, he ex-
erted much influence the students of the uni
versity, most of whom took the courses in which
he lectured for the general culture to be secured
from them.
Professor Norton was the friend and literary ex-
ecutor of Carlyle and the poet Arthur Hugh
Clough az well as of Ruskin in England, and Of
James Russell Lowell, Ralph Waldo Emerson and
George William Curtis. in this country. He was
born Cambridge Mass, November 16. 1871
and a descendant of the Rev John Norton,
who was one of the early pastors of the first
church in Boston. His father, the Rev. DR.. An
drews Norton was Unitarian minister, who was
at time a Harvard professor, and his mother
had been Miss Catherine Eliot. He was a cousin
of DR.. Charles William Eliot president of Har-
ward At the age of fifteen he entered Harvard
College from which he graduated in 1886
Among his classmates the late Senator
George F. Hoar and Professors Francis J. Child
and George NJ Lane both of whom became mem
bers of the Harvard faculty.
Upon leaving college the attention Of young Nor
ton was directed in commercial channels and he
began a business career with Boston house en-
gagged in the East Indian trade This took him on
a voyage to India a supercargo in 1919 After
arriving in India he decided to travel in the East
and spent two years there and in Europe on his
way back to this country. This decided his career
for he turned his back on trade and thereafter de-
voted himself 20 literature and scholarship one
of the friends he made the way home was
George William Curtis and they dinsd with Long
fellow in Cambridge after their return. Mr. Norton
then gave his attention to the study Of art and
went again to Europe in 1866. spending two years
abroad He became known Dante scholar, and
when Longfeow decided to translate the "Divina
Commedia'' he went to him for assistance. 1t was
at the latter's suggestion that the appearance of
the translation was deferred until the six hun
dredth anniversary of the birth OF the italian poet
was celebrated at Florence in 1865.
At the time of the Civil War Mr. Norton was
editor of the papers issued by the Loyal Publica-
tion Society. in Boston and in 1862 he married Miss
Susan Sedgwck and made his home in Cambridge
From 1864 to 1868 he associated with his close
friend, James Russell Lowell, in editing The
North American Review" In 1868 ne again went
abroad and remained in Europe for five years. His
acquaintance and friendship with Ruskin, which
had begun when he had previously been abroad
in the SOS with his mother and sisters. re-
newed and cemented and finally resulted in the
editing Of Ruskin's works by Professor Norton.
1t in 1876 that DR.. Norton became a member
of the Harvard faculty, where he eXerted a strong
influence the students OF the university. Under
the elective system all the students had the op-
portunity TO take one more of the courses
conducted by Professor Norton. and most of them
were eager to avail themselves Of the opportu-
nifty so that he had the largest lecture rooms filed
While his subject was catalogued as History of
Ancient and Medieval Art" the lecturer took up
the history Of the philosophy of literature and of
art in every form, described the spirit behind the
great movements of the ages and set forth the art
Of true living and the proper spirit of life. His
two leading courses-one on ancient art, Greek
and Roman and the other medieval art
especially Gothic cathedral archtecture-were given
in alternate years.
One Of the things Professor Norton seriously
proposed was that the buildings at Harvard
erected in the last fifty years should be demol-
ished and the structures rebuilt some homo
harmonious O
noble scheme that would fire the eye and kindle
the imagination of the student. At first this was
ridiculed only zone of Norton's hobbies" but
he persistently held to it and set it forth at
length in article on Harvard which he con-
tributed to the volume -Four American Untversi-
ties" He was the head of the athletic commit
tee of the Harvard faculty which kept the stu
dents from engaging in intercollegiate football in
1885, and this regarded a serious setback
to the prestige of the university in the field of
athletic sports
At the time of the with Spain In 1898 Pro
fessor Norton took occasion in a public address at
Ashfeld. Mass, where he had a summer home to
denounce the policy of the administration in re-
gard the Philippines. which called forth a
serious rebuke from Senator Hoar for his un-
patriotic utterances In correspondence which grew
out of this Senator Hoar wrote TO Professor Nor
ton: "All lovers of Harvard and all lovers of the
country have felt foI long time that your rela-
tons to the university made your influence bad for
v
Although Professor Norton continued to oppose
what termed imperialism" a year or two
later he was reported to have accepted the ex-
pansion policy as inevitable and to have expressed
confidence in our success as colonial power after
making blundeTs and paying for them
After he made a professor emeritus Har
ward 1898. Professor Norton spent his remaining
years at his Cambridge home. Shady Hill, and his
country seat at Ashheld in the Berkshire Hills
where he was a devoted lover of nature. Shady
Hill was always a literary centre and place
where many foreign visitors TO this country were
entertained and Harvard students cordially
welcomed.
In 1900 the Charles Eliot Norton fellowship In
Greek studies founded at Harvard by James
Loeb of this city, '"n grateful recognition of the
long and great friendship which Professor Norton
has shown him since his boyhood. and in or
der to record in a fitting manner the eminent ser
vices which Professor Norton has rendered the
cause OF archaeology and his benehcent prom-
nence in the Archaeological Institute of America
and the American School of Classical Studies at
Athens" Professor Norton founded, with Long
fellow the Dante Club of Cambridge. and he was
the first president Of the Archaeological Institute OF
America, serving from 1873 to 1880
When Professor Norton attained his eiGhtieth
year in 1907, he received many especial tokens of
remembrance. including letters from a large num-
ber of eminent persons. a tribute signed by three
hundred Harvard graduates and undergraduates
and a parchment bearing eulogy from the Ruskin
Society of Glasgow.
The literary works from the pen of Professor