Produced by Sigal Alon, Brett Fishburne and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE The Contents are placed after the Preface. Although page numbers have been removed in this text version (but they are retained in the HTML version), there are still page references in the Contents and Index. The footnotes are marked with {braces} and have been placed at the end of the corresponding chapter or section. In the present edition some typographic errors or inconsistencies have been corrected. The changes applied are marked at the end. Other possible mistakes that have not been corrected are also listed at the end. American Men of Letters HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1902 COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published October, 1902_ _Of this edition Three Hundred Copies have been printed and bound entirely uncut with paper label_ PREFACE A life of Longfellow has been from the beginning included in the plan of the "American Men of Letters" series, but it has been delayed through a variety of causes. Like all memoirs of this poet, it must rest partly on the material amply furnished by the "Life" so admirably prepared by his brother sixteen years ago, yet it may be well to explain that the present volume will be found marked by three especial characteristics of its own. First, much additional material is here drawn from the manuscript correspondence of the first Mrs. Longfellow, received from her family and bearing upon the poet's early married years and first visit to Europe, during what was undoubtedly the formative period of his life. Secondly, there is a good deal of material obtained from the manuscript volumes known as the "Harvard College Papers" and preserved at the University Library, elucidating the academical side of Longfellow's life. Thirdly, there is a series of extracts from his earlier writings, dating from college days and not hitherto brought together, but showing the origin and growth of his lifelong desire to employ American material and to help the creation of a native literature; the desire which had its final fulfilment in "Evangeline" and "Hiawatha." These three sources will be found, if the author is not mistaken, to have afforded distinct contributions to our previous knowledge as to Longfellow's character and work. T. W. H. CONTENTS Chap. Page