Dr. Palfrey writes, unmistakably, as a man proud of his Massachusetts lineage. He honors the men whose enterprise, constancy, persistency, and wise skill in laying foundations have, in his view, approved their methods and justified them, even where they are most exposed to a severe judgment. He wishes to tell their story as they would wish to have it told. They stand by his side as he reads their records, and supply him with a running comment as to meaning and intention. Thus he is helped to put their own construction on their own deeds,-to set their acts in the light of their motives, to give them credit for all the good that was in their purposes, and to ascribe their mistakes and errors to a limitation of their views, or to well-founded apprehensions of evil which they had reason to dread. Under such pilotage, the passengers, at least, would be safe, when their ship fell upon place where two seas met.ELLIS, GEORGE EDWARD, 1859, Palfrey's and Arnold's Histories, Atlantic Monthly, vol. 3, p. 447.

For a number of years Dr. Palfrey has been laboriously engaged upon "A History of New England," of which the first volume appeared early in December, 1858, and of which it is praise enough to say that it comes up fully to the high expectations that were entertained of it. Evincing a noble and hearty appreciation of the early settlers of New England, guided by cool, impartial reason, and exhibiting throughout extensive research and a careful collation of facts, he has given us a work which will doubtless supersede all others upon the same subject, and be the established or classical history of that portion of our country.-CLEVELAND, CHARLES D., 1859, A Compendium of American Literature, p. 447.

It is to the praise of his work that its merit lies more in its tone of thought and its weight of opinion, than in pictorial effects. Brilliancy is cheap; but trustworthiness of thought, and evenness of judgment, are not to be had at every booth. Dr. Palfrey combines in the temper of his mind and the variety of his experience some quite peculiar qualifications for the task he has undertaken. . . . In the maturity of his powers, he devoted himself to the composition of the History which he has now brought to the end of its third volume, and to the beginning of a new period. It is little to say. that his work is the only one of its kind. He

has done it so well, that it is likely to remain so. With none of that glitter of style and epigrammatic point of expression which please more than they enlighten, and tickle when they should instruct, there is a gravity and precision of thought, a sober dignity of expression, an equanimity of judgment, and a clear apprehension of characters and events, which give us the very truth of things as they are, and not as either he or his reader might wish them to be.-LowELL, JAMES RUSSELL, 1865, Palfrey's History of New England, North American Review, vol. 100, p. 173.

The "History of New England," by John G. Palfrey, is distinguished by thoroughness of investigation, fairness of judgment, and clearness and temperance of style. It is one of the ablest contributions as yet made to our colonial history.-WHIPPLE, EDWIN PERCY, 1876-86, American Literature and Other Papers, ed. Whittier, p. 93.

Not only the most satisfactory history of New England we have, but one of the most admirable historical works ever produced in America. It shows great learning, industrious research, comprehensive views, critical acumen, and sound judgment. In addition to these great qualities, it possesses the charm of having been written in a graceful and agreeable style.-ADAMS, CHARLES KENDALL, 1882, A Manual of Historical Literature, p. 547.

Palfrey, plain, matter-of-fact, straightforward, interests us from the start.

66

The

History of New England," as he prepared it, could be made the basis of a compendious work for popular reading, and also could win the applause of Mr. Lowell and other critics of high standing. Palfrey, indeed, though read by a general public, seems to me an authors' author in some such sense, mutatis mutandis, as Landor was a poets' poet. He wrote of a subject familiar to at least twenty scholars of high standing, living in his own community, and within reach of the authorities upon which he relied; yet the trustworthiness of his work was not impeached in important particulars. Scholarly, accurate, and terse, he made his history, in itself, almost an original authority. His field was narrower than Bancroft's, but broader and more diversified than those covered by single works of Prescott or Motley; this fact, perhaps, accounts for the comparative obscurity of his name,

as set beside those of other American historians of the first rank. One thinks of Palfrey, after all, as he would think of a nineteenth-century Thomas Prince or William Stith. But that he is an historian of an honorable rank in his country's literature, can hardly be doubted. In ability of several kinds he surpasses Hildreth, and it does not seem rash to suppose that the passage of years will emphasize the fact. Like Hildreth, he left behind plenty of obscure books, of no lasting value; but the greater achievement, though it cannot redeem the lesser from their fate, will at least be prominent in itself. RICHARDSON, CHARLES F., 1887, American Literature, 1607-1885, vol. I, p. 477.

Probably the best single large piece of work that has been done in America on any part of our colonial period. . . . If Dr. Palfrey was not a man of great insight into popular movements, and was too constant an apologist of the rulers of New England, his book was nevertheless admirable on account of his extensive knowledge of sources, his industry, elearness, accuracy, and skill in narration. Among its many excellences, one which deserves particular notice is the degree of attention which it bestows upon the history of England itself during the Puritan era, and upon the mutual influence of Old England and New England during that period of exceptionally close sympathy and connection. JAMESON, JOHN FRANKLIN, 1891, The History of Historical Writing in America, pp. 123, 124.

GENERAL

For ourselves, we have perused them ["Sermons"] with satisfaction and thankfulness to the author. The careless, and we know not but we should add, the critical reader, will scarcely help complaining of the occasional length of the sentences, and some times, it must be confessed, of an involved expression, leaving him in doubt of a meaning, which upon search, he may find too good and full to be lost or obscured. But with this exception, he will not fail to profit from the discriminating, weighty, and in

structive manner of the preacher; from the tone of deep seriousness, moreover, and not seldom the eloquence, with which his various topics are enforced.-PARKMAN, F., 1834, Professor Palfrey's Sermons, Christian Examiner, vol. 16, p. 394.

He has a reputation for scholarship; and many of the articles which are attributed to his pen evince that this reputation is well based, so far as the common notion of scholarship extends. For the rest, he seems to dwell altogether within the narrow world of his own conceptions; imprisoning them by the very barrier which he has erected against the conceptions of others.-POE, EDGAR ALLAN, 1841, A Chapter of Autography, Works, ed. Stedman and Woodberry, vol. IX, p. 213.

Without being dazzled by excessive admiration of the wisdom or the learning of the modern continental school of critics, and as little disposed as most persons to rate very highly that show of erudition, which consists in incumbering one's pages with quotations and references, we still think that more should have been done to make us acquainted with the history and present state of discussion on many of the moot points here brought under review.

It is a valuable and opportune contribution to the theological literature of the country, and when completed will take precedence, we doubt not, of every other general treatise on the subject, in English, which has as yet appeared.- WALKER, J., 1838, Dr. Palfrey on the Jewish Scriptures, Christian Examiner, vol. 25, p. 128.

Dr. Palfrey's style is clear and exact; if it is considered as lacking in vivacity, it shows conscientious care, and is free from the verbiage that sometimes passes for rhetorical ornament. UNDERWOOD, FRANCIS H., 1872, A Hand-Book of English Literature, American Authors, p. 168.

His "Academical Lectures" remain as a palpable landmark in the progress of American rationalism.-WHIPPLE, EDWIN PERCY, 1876-86, American Literature and Other Papers, ed. Whittier, p. 59.

PERSONAL

What is there to gloss or shun?
Save with kindly voices none
Speak thy name beneath the sun.
Safe thou art on every side,
Friendship nothing finds to hide,
Love's demand is satisfied.
Over manly strength and worth,
At thy desk of toil, or hearth,
Played the lambent light of mirth,-
Mirth that lit, but never burned;
All thy blame to pity turned;
Hatred thou hadst never learned.
Every harsh and vexing thing
At thy home-fire lost its sting;

Where thou wast was always spring. -WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF, 1881, In Memory, J. T. F.

I have just heard of the sudden death of my friend Mr. Fields, . . . and now we all ask, What has he left of all his life's accumulations? Houses, lands, pictures, literary reputation, all that gone-dreams, things of the past. Had he any treasure laid up in Heaven? I think from my remembrance of him that he had just what Jesus meant by treasure laid up in Heaven. He had a habit of quiet benevolence; he did habitually and quietly more good to everybody he had to do with than common. He favored with all his powers charitable work, and such habits as these are, I think, what Christ meant by laying up treasure in Heaven.

. . I find many traces of childlike faith in his last pieces. . . . When a friend is gone to the great hereafter how glad we are that he did believe.-STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER, 1881, Letter to Charles Stowe, Life and Letters, ed. Fields, p. 380.

The conversation of Fields had, even in his boyhood, the two charms of friendliness and inventiveness. The audacities of his humor spared neither solemn respectabilities nor accredited reputations; yet in his intercourse with his friends his wildest freaks of satire never inflicted a wound. His sensitive regard for the feelings of those with whom he mingled was a marvel of that tact which is the offspring of good nature as well as of good sense. When he raised a laugh at the expense of one of his compan

ions, the laugh was always heartily enjoyed and participated in by the object of his mirth; for, indulging to the top of his bent in every variety of witty mischief, he had not in his disposition the least alloy of witty malice. WHIPPLE, EDWIN PERCY, 1881, Recollections of James T. Fields, Atlantic Monthly, vol. 48, p. 254.

Into the darkest hour of my life he came giving light and hope. I can never forget it. Turning to him first because I found help in him-how much else I found! Only those who knew him nearly knew his goodness and his greatness.-ALDEN, HENRY MILLS, 1881, In Memory of James T. Fields, Biographical Notes and Personal Sketches, ed. Mrs. Fields, p. 265.

How much better he left this world than he found it! How many a heart was made lighter, happier, each year of his manhood all men know. This vast West world is a great deal better and wiser because he has been. Think how few can have this said of us when all is over, work with all endeavor as we may! To me Mr. Fields's life seemed the most rounded and perfect of all men's I ever met. Very beautiful he seemed to me in soul and body, and people loved him truly.-MILLER, JOAQUIN, 1881, In Memory of James T. Fields, Biographical Notes and Personal Sketches, ed. Mrs. Fields, p. 267.

I shall feel that I was under great obligations to him at a most important time in my life. He was the best and most sympathetic literary counselor I ever had; and I had much opportunity to observe his constant kindnesses to others.-HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH, 1881, In Memory of James T. Fields, Biographical Notes and Personal Sketches, ed. Mrs. Fields, p. 266.

How many writers know, as I have known, his value as a literary counselor and friend! His mind was as hospitable as his roof, which has accepted famous visitors and quiet friends alike as if it had been their own. From a very early period in my own life of authorship, I have looked to Mr. Fields as one who would be sure to take an interest in whatever I wrote, to let me

know all that he could learn about my writings which would please and encourage me, and keep me in heart for new efforts. And what I can say for myself many and many another can say with equal truth. Very rarely, if ever, has a publisher enjoyed the confidence and friendship of so wide and various a circle of authors. And so when he came to give the time to authorship, which had always for many years been devoted to literature, he found a listening and reading public waiting for him and welcoming him.-HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL, 1881, In Memory of James T. Fields, Biographical Notes and Personal Sketches, ed. Mrs. Fields, p. 262.

His No was as the refusal of Mount Washington to slide down into Casco Bay. I never met a man whose pivot, in a life that seemed to turn so easily, lay deeper in the cup. His good-will to men, his laughterloving heart, his quaint and curious fancies, and his faculty for glassing all the lights and shadows of a company or a day, made it easy for those who did not know him wholly to imagine he was only what he seemed. He was a man with solemn and sacred deeps of conviction and character such as one seldom finds;—a man with “A correspondence fixed wi' heaven." The kindly and sunny heart was strong and I have sure as the pillars of the world.

known no man in all my life I could tie to with a more absolute conviction that the rock and ring would hold, no matter about the strain.-COLLYER, ROBERT, 1882, James T. Fields, The Dial, vol. 2, p. 204.

My individual debt to Mr. Fields, in respect to my own work, is one which I cannot and would not omit to acknowledge. He often helped me about my titles, and one of the best ever given to any book of mine-"Men, Women, and Ghosts"-was of his creation. In his fine literary judgment I had great confidence, and would have accepted almost any criticism from him trustfully. . . . His was a rich life, and his a rare home. There has been no other in America quite like it. Those of us who received its hospitality recall its inspiration among the treasures of our lives. We think of the peaceful library into which the sunset over the Charles looked delicately, while the "best things" of thought were given and taken by the finest and strongest minds of the day in a kind of electric interplay, which makes by con

trast a pale affair of the word conversation as we are apt to use it. We recall the quiet guest-chamber, apart from the noise of the street, and lifted far above the river; that room opulent and subtle with the astral shapes of past occupants,-Longfellow, Whittier, Dickens, Thackeray, Mrs. Stowe, Kingsley, and the rest of their high order,and always resounding softly to the fine ear with the departed tread of Hawthorne, who used to pace the floor on sleepless nights. We remember the separation from paltriness, and from superficial adjustments, which that scholarly and gentle atmosphere commanded. We remember the master of their abode of thought and graciousness, as "Dead, he lay among his books;" and wish that we had it in our power to portray him as he was.-PHELPS, ELIZABETH STUART, 1896, Chapters from Life, pp. 149, 151.

GENERAL

His writings are distinguished for a natural simplicity and elegance, and generally relate to rural or domestic subjects.GRISWOLD, RUFUS WILMOT, 1842, The Poets and Poetry of America, p. 444.

The glimpses of private life ["Yesterday's with Authors"], the hints of conversation, and the numerous letters thus preserved, are exceedingly interesting, and Mr. Fields's introductions and narratives are written with excellent haste and judgment. The accounts of Hawthorne and Dickens, in particular, are more delightful than any elaborate biography would be. The letters of Miss Mitford, which conclude the volume, are of less real value, as the kind-hearted lady seems to have looked at everything American through a Claude Lorraine glass, and her constant gush of admiration and affection lessens the value of her opinions.-UNDERWOOD, FRANCIS H., 1872, A Hand-Book of English Literature, American Authors, p. 418.

In his few poems he shows a delicate fancy and a fine lyrical vein.-SARGENT, EPES, 1880-81, Harper's Cyclopædia of British and American Poetry, p. 748.

It is not as a literary man, but as a publisher, that Mr. Fields is likely to be remembered. As a lecturer, he was successful mainly because he had already created an audience which was ready and waiting to welcome him. In the same way, subjects were ready to his hand, and he had a gift of