courteous manners, his tact and judgment, all fitted him for such a post. His knowledge of Spanish literature and his acquaintance with the language (he both spoke and wrote Spanish with ease) rendered him peculiarly acceptable to the Spanish people. His official duties, however, were not onerous; and his incumbency of the post is chiefly remarkable for the unwonted wit and humour with which, during his stay, he enlivened his correspondence with the authorities at Washington. In 1880 he was transferred to London. It is scarcely too much to say that, as American minister in Britain, Lowell was successful and popular to a degree till then unequalled. His character, ability, attainments, accomplishments, and bearing, were in every way what the English people most respect and admire. One of the foremost men of letters then living, a poet, a critic, a wit, a humourist, a shrewd man of affairs, a dignified and courteous gentleman, a brilliant talker, an unequalled after-dinner speaker, on occasion a graceful and impressive orator, and withal of unblemished reputation and sincere Christian faith, Lowell possessed almost every title to consideration that Englishmen delight to honour. His friendships multiplied until he seemed to be more at home in London than in Boston. His acquaintanceship grew until no man in England was more widely seen in the exclusive country houses of the English people than he. At every function where literature was to be honoured-at banquets, commemoration festivals, unveilings of statues and monuments, etc. he would be invited to take a leading part. And all without any loss of Americanism. His address

on Democracy," delivered at Birmingham, in October, 1884, when at the very height of his English popularity, was the strongest defence before a foreign audience that Americanism has ever received. The faith that Holmes had in Lowell was justified: "You may get as much European epidermis as you like, but at heart you will always be an unchanged and unchangeable New Englander." But appointments to diplomatic positions are political ones. In 1885 a change of government took place at Washington, and Lowell returned home.

Lowell owed much to the woman who first won his heart. During his college course his life had been marked by somewhat more than its due share of youth's unsteadiness. On his graduation day he was not allowed to read the poem his class had elected him to prepare, the reason being that at that time he was under college discipline. It is said that even his degree was conferred upon him out of consideration for the feelings of his honoured father. The poem, too, that he wrote was a sort of" skit," directed chiefly against the very reformers whose ranks he afterward joined. But Miss White's influence changed the current of his life and set it toward the accomplishment of noble ends. She was of almost idyllic beauty, refined and spirituelle, sweet, gentle, and true-hearted, but of strong convictions and noble purposes. Upon his marriage to her Lowell became a new being. Their life together, however, though described as "ideally beautiful," was destined to be a short one. Mrs. Lowell was of delicate health from the very first. After a while two years were spent in Europe, but with no effect

in staying her gradual decline. Children had been born. to them, but these, all but one, had passed away in infancy. Finally, after nine short years, the wife and mother passed away also (1853). On the day of Mrs. Lowell's death a child was born to Longfellow. The elder poet gave utterance to his sympathy in his beautiful poem, Two Angels":

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"'Twas at thy door, O friend! and not at mine,
The angel with the amaranthine wreath,
Pausing, descended, and, with voice divine,
Whispered a word that had a sound like death.

"Then fell upon the house a sudden gloom,
A shadow on those features, fair and thin;
And softly from that hushed and darkened room,
Two angels issued where but one went in."

"The

Thirteen years later Lowell expressed his love and faith in words of equal beauty and tenderness:

"If earth another grave must bear,

Yet heaven hath won a sweeter strain;
And something whispers my despair
That, from an orient chamber there,
Floats down: 'We meet again.'"

In 1857 Lowell made another happy marriage. His second wife, a lady of character and accomplishments, was the companion of his life while he was a professor at Harvard and while he was minister at Madrid and London. But she, too, was of delicate health, and predeceased him.1 After his return from Europe Lowell's

1 Mrs. Lowell died in London while her husband was minister. No children were born of the marriage.