It is a curious fact, never yet quite explained, that an author's favorite work is rarely that whose popular success best vindicates his confidence. This was perhaps never more manifest than in the case of Longfellow's "Christus" as a whole, and more especially that portion of it on which the author lavished his highest and most consecrated efforts, "The Divine Tragedy." Mr. Scudder has well said that "there is no one of Mr. Longfellow's writings which may be said to have so dominated his literary life" as the "Christus," and it shows his sensitive reticence that the portion of it which was first published, "The Golden Legend" (1851), gave to the reader no suggestion of its being, as we now know that it was, but a portion of a larger design. Various things came in the way, and before "The Divine Tragedy" appeared (1871) he had written of it, "I never had so many doubts and hesitations about any book as about this." On September 11 in that year he wrote in Nahant, "Begin to pack. I wish it were over and I in Cambridge. I am impatient to send 'The Divine Tragedy' to the printers." On the 18th of October he wrote: "The delays of printers are a great worry to authors;" on the 25th, "Get the last proof sheet of 'The Divine Tragedy;'" on the 30th, "Read over proofs of the 'Interludes' and 'Finale,' and am doubtful and perplexed;" on November 15, "All the last week, perplexed and busy with final correction of 'The Tragedy.'" It was published on December 12, and he writes to G. W. Greene, December 17, 1871, "'The Divine Tragedy' is very successful, from the booksellers' point of view--ten thousand copies were published on Tuesday last and the printers are already at work on three thousand more. That is pleasant, but that is not the main thing. The only question about a book ought to be whether it is successful in itself." It is altogether probable that in the strict views then prevailing about the very letter of the Christian Scriptures, a certain antagonism may have prevailed, even toward the skill with which he transferred the sacred narratives into a dramatic form, just as it is found that among certain pious souls who for the first time yield their scruples so far as to enter a theatre, the mere lifting of the curtain seems to convey suggestions of sin. Be this as it may, we find in Longfellow's journal this brief entry (December 30): "Received from Routledge in London, three notices of 'The Tragedy,' all hostile." He, however, was cheered by the following letter from Horace Bushnell, then perhaps the most prominent among the American clergy for originality and spiritual freedom:-- HARTFORD, December 28, 1871.