A poem called The Robber was suppressed, but afterward published by N. P. Willis in the Mirror. (See p. 299 of Godwin's Life for this poem in full. See pp. 300-301 for variations in this poem and The Prairies.)

1834.

On June 24th Mr. Bryant sailed for Europe with his family, thus escaping the abolition riots which took place at this time. He visited France and Italy, spending a month in Rome and Florence, and came back through the Tyrol to Munich. It was - during this trip that he met Henry W. Longfellow at Heidelberg, and enjoyed some strolls with him in the pine forests.

1836.

Mr. Bryant was summoned home by the illness of Mr. Leggett, assistant editor of the Post. He arrived in New York March 26th. A testimonial public dinner was offered to him in a letter from Washington Irving, F. G. Halleck, A. B. Durand, and G. C. Verplanck. This dinner Mr. Bryant declined. (See correspondence, pp. 312-313, Godwin's Life.)

On May 23d Mr. Bryant writes: "I have made a bargain with the Harpers for publishing my poems. They are to do it in a neat manner, with a vignette on the title-page. I have written to Weir to furnish the design-'a copy of a little landscape at West Point.' They will pay me twenty-five cents a copy. The work is to be stereotyped, and an impression of twenty-five hundred is to be struck off at first. For these I shall be paid $625."

In September he wrote to his brother John in Illinois: "I think of making some disposition of my interest in The Evening Post, and coming out to the western country with a few thousand dollars to try my fortune. . . My book is out [the edition of 1836]. It contains some thirty pages more than the last edition, and is better printed. . . . The practise of physic is here undergoing a considerable revolution. The let-alone system is becoming fashionable. I am so far a convert to it that I distrust a physician who is inclined to go to work with large quantities of medicine." This is an allusion to his own

conversion to homœopathy, to which he adhered for the rest of his life.

His duties in The Evening Post occupied his full time, writing the leading articles and reviews of books, his office hours being from 7 A. M. to 4 P. M. (See pp. 345–357, Godwin's Life, for data on this period of great agitations on the part of the Abolitionists and Bryant's part in it.)

1838.

In June he writes: "I have no leisure for poetry. To keep myself in health I take long walks in the country. I accustom myself to the greatest simplicity of diet, renouncing tea, coffee, animal food, etc.

1839.

Mr. Leggett died this year, and Mr. Bryant wrote a memoir for The Democratic Review. The elder Dana sent to Mr. Bryant his son's novel, Two Years before the Mast. (See letter, June 24, 1839, Godwin's Life, p. 373.) It was refused by all the publishers, but finally, through Mr. Bryant's instrumentality, Harper and Bros. published it in 1840.

1840.

In a letter to Mr. Field, Mr. Bryant writes: "We have left the house in Carmine Street, after inhabiting it for two years and a half, and have taken a house in Ninth Street, near the Sixth Avenue, not far from Brevoort's House. . . . The greatest change that I perceive in New York is the introduction of cabs, and mustachios, and in some instances beards as long as those worn by the Dunkers."

1841.

This year he made a trip with Cole, the artist, through the Catskill Mountains. In September he went to Lebanon Springs, and later, with his young friend Samuel J. Tilden, visited ex-President Van Buren at Kinderhook. He also visited R. H. Dana at Rockport, Cape Ann. The Hymn of the Sea was suggested at this time. (See note, p. 391, Godwin's Life.)

1842.

In a letter to the Rev. Orville Dewey he gives a most interesting account of life in New York at this time, and speaks of making an address before the New Homœopathic Society. (See pp. 392-394, Godwin's Life.)

Charles Dickens visited America at this time. It was reported that his first question on landing was, "Where is Bryant?" Mr. Bryant called upon him twice in New York, missing him both times, upon which he received the note printed in Godwin's Life, page 395. They breakfasted together at the appointed time, there being also present Fitz-Green Halleck and Prof. Charles Felton, of Cambridge. Bryant entertained Dickens at his own home, and attended the public banquet and ball given to him. At this time Bryant published, through the Harpers, a new edition of his poems, containing all he had written since the 1836 edition. The title of the new book was The Fountain and other Poems. There were some twenty new poems in all. Dr. Channing's death occurred this year (p. 404, Godwin's Life). Mr. Bryant contributed the hymn sung at the funeral.

1843.

The Evening Post was at this time greatly enlarged in size and usefulness. In March he went south to visit William Gilmore Simms, and traveled as far as Florida. On his return he purchased the property at the place afterward called Roslyn. In July he visited a relative living in the Lake Champlain region.

1844.

The agitation concerning the annexation of Texas brought forth a letter in The Evening Post, August 20, 1844. (See pp. 412-423, Godwin's Life.)

1845.

On the 22d of April Mr. Bryant sailed for Europe with a young friend of his, Charles M. Leupp. During this visit he met Samuel Rogers, Thomas Moore, Leigh Hunt, Miss Joanna Baillie, Mary Howett, Cobden, Bright, Fox, and many other men of mark in literature and art. He returned home in November.

1846.

Though Mr. Bryant had had leisure to write very few new poems since the edition of 1844, he still found time to revise those already written, and a newly illustrated edition of his poems was issued by Messrs. Carey & Hart, of Philadelphia. His old friend Mr. Dana passed criticism upon all those poems. (For a very interesting correspondence between the two, see pp. 13-18, vol. ii, Godwin's Life. For an interesting correspondence at this time between Bryant and Longfellow, see pp. 24-26, vol. ii, Godwin's Life.) He paid his last visit to his mother in the summer. She died May, 1847, aged eighty.

1847.

Mr. Bryant went in the summer to the White Mountains. (See pp. 32-34, Godwin's Life.)

1848.

This year was saddened by the death of Thomas Cole, the artist, and on May 4th Mr. Bryant delivered a eulogy at the Academy of Music before the National Academy of Design.

1849.

Early in this year Mr. John Bigelow became one of the proprietors and editors of The Evening Post. Mr. Bryant was now able to travel extensively. He made a trip to Cuba, being received in the best society. Returning to New York, he sailed June 13th for Europe. He met with a most cordial reception from Samuel Rogers and many others. He visited Scotland, including Abbotsford, going to the Continent in August. He found armed forces everywhere, and France on the brink of revolution. He visited Germany and Switzerland, returning to New York in December, and at the suggestion of Mr. Dana prepared a volume of travels, issued by G. P. Putnam in 1850. He had little time, however, for literary affairs outside of his editorial duties.

1852.

His friend Cooper died in 1851, and on February 25th Mr. Bryant delivered a eulogy before the Historical Society, Daniel

Webster presiding.

On the 13th of November Mr. Bryant sailed for the Orient, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Baalbec, Syria, etc. He returned home in June, 1853.

on.

1854.

In 1854 Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. had become his publishers, and have continued to issue his works from this time An illustrated edition of his poems, printed in England, with illustrations by Birket Foster, Dalziel, Pickersgill, and others, was issued at this time, and also an edition without illustrations in two volumes. In regard to this edition Mr. Bryant says, writing to R. H. Dana, under date of May 26, 1854: "As to my poems with illustrations, that is an idea of my bookseller. . . . But the first thing which my booksellerit is Appleton-has promised to do is to get out a neat edition in two volumes without illustrations. Though I have as great a horror of illustrations as you have, they will, I hope, hurt nobody." The two editions were accordingly issued, one without illustrations in two volumes, printed by D. Appleton & Co., the other in one volume, with illustrations, printed by B. Clay, Broad Street Hill, London.

1855.

Mr. Bryant's life at this period was entirely taken up with politics, especially with the formation of the Republican party, in which he was interested from the first.

1855.

The death of the poet Rogers brought forth a most interesting letter, which will be found on page 84 of Godwin's Life, vol. ii. Mr. Rogers, in an interview with George Bancroft, the historian, said that he "enjoyed reading Bryant's poems more than any other living poet."

The articles of organization of the new political party, drawn up in Wisconsin, were adopted in Ohio, and ratified at Syracuse in September.

1856.

Mr. Bryant attended no political meeting, but at a great gathering held in the New York Tabernacle, April 29th, he