At this point we may take note of Lowell’s publications, subsequent to the _Poems_, ‘second series.’ They are: _A Fable for Critics_, 1848; _The Biglow Papers_, 1848; _Fireside Travels_, 1864; _The Biglow Papers_, ‘second series,’ 1866; _Under the Willows and Other Poems_, 1869; _The Cathedral_, 1870; _Among My Books_, 1870; _My Study Windows_, 1871; _Among My Books_, ‘second series,’ 1876; _Three Memorial Poems_, 1877; _Democracy and Other Addresses_, 1887; _Political Addresses_, 1888; _Heartsease and Rue_, 1888. There appeared posthumously _Latest Literary Essays_, 1891; _The Old English Dramatists_, 1892; _Letters of James Russell Lowell, edited by C. E. Norton_, 1893; _Last Poems_, 1895; _The Anti-Slavery Papers of James Russell Lowell_, 1902. Lowell resigned his professorship in 1872 and went abroad for two years. Oxford conferred on him the degree of D. C. L. and Cambridge that of LL. D.; it pleased him to regard the Cambridge degree ‘as in a measure a friendly recognition of the University’s daughter in the American Cambridge.’ In 1874 he returned home, and on the opening of college was persuaded to resume his lectures. During the presidential campaign of 1876 Lowell became politically active in ways new to him. He was a delegate to the Republican National convention and a presidential elector. His fellow-townsmen had wished him to accept a nomination for representative in Congress; but Lowell refused, believing himself unqualified for the post. Not long after his inauguration President Hayes, at the instance of W. D. Howells, offered Lowell the Austrian mission, an honor the poet felt impelled to decline; when, however, it was learned that he would be very willing to go to Spain, the appointment was made. He arrived in Madrid on August 14, 1878. Two years later he was transferred to England. Reappointed by President Garfield, he held this important charge until the close of President Arthur’s administration. Few ministers have been as popular as he. And not the least factor of his popularity in England was his sturdy patriotism. Lowell was the author of the essay ‘On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners,’ an essay which an ingratiating Anglican clergyman[66] says was meant to be ‘overheard’ in England. It were more exact to say that the essay was meant to be heard, and heard distinctly. ‘They honor stoutness in each other,’ said Emerson, noting the traits of the English people. And it is not unreasonable to believe that they also admire the same virtue in others.