After this I must again thank Mr. Norton for his generosity in placing in my hands a large body of letters and papers, which he holds as Lowell’s literary executor; perhaps even more for the wise counsel with which he has freely aided me in the course of the work. Without his coöperation the biography could not have been written in its fulness. My thanks are due, also, to the friends and the children of the friends of Lowell who have sent me letters and other material; to Miss Charlotte P. Briggs, daughter of the late Charles F. Briggs, the warm friend of Lowell in his early literary life; to Mrs. Sydney Howard Gay, who sent me not only letters, but the original manuscript of Lowell’s contributions to the _National Anti-Slavery Standard_; to Mrs. Richard Grant White; to Dr. Edward Everett Hale, whose _James Russell Lowell and his Friends_ has been a pleasant accompaniment to my labors; to General James Lowell Carter for the use of his father’s letters; to Col. T. W. Higginson; to Mrs. S. B. Herrick; to Mrs. Mark H. Liddell for Lowell’s letters to Mr. John W. Field; to Mr. R. R. Bowker; to Mr. R. W. Gilder; to Mr. Edwin L. Godkin; to Mr. Howells, Mr. Aldrich, Mr. De Witt Miller, Mr. J. Spenser Trask, and others. CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 27 September, 1901. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. ELMWOOD AND THE LOWELLS 1 II. SCHOOL AND COLLEGE 19 III. FIRST VENTURES 62 IV. IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY RANKS 151 V. A FABLE FOR CRITICS, THE BIGLOW PAPERS, AND THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 238 VI. SIX YEARS 270 VII. FIFTEEN MONTHS IN EUROPE 309 VIII. AN END AND A BEGINNING 346 IX. THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY 408 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Frontispiece_ From a photograph by Gutekunst taken in 1889. REV. CHARLES LOWELL 10 From a painting by Rand, in the possession of Charles Lowell. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IN 1843 116 From the painting by William Page, in the possession of James B. Lowell. MRS. CHARLES LOWELL 306 From a painting by Rand, in the possession of James Duane Lowell. MRS. MARIA WHITE LOWELL 360 From a drawing by Cheney, after a painting by William Page. HOUSE OF DR. ESTES HOWE, CAMBRIDGE 384 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL