bless myself with silence.

Oh, their Rafael of the dear Madonnas,
Oh, their Dante of the dread Inferno,
Wrote one song--and in my brain I sing it,
Drew one angel--borne, see, on my bosom!

R.B.

ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON

(1803-1876)

Orestes Brownson, in his time, was a figure of striking originality and
influence in American literature and American political, philosophical,
and religious discussion. His career was an exceptional one; for he was
connected with some of the most important contemporaneous movements of
thought, and passed through several distinct phases: Presbyterianism,
Universalism, Socialism--of a mild and benevolent kind, not to be
confused with the later fiery and destructive socialism of "the Reds";
afterward sympathizing somewhat with the aims and tendencies of the New
England Transcendentalists; a close intellectual associate of Ralph
Waldo Emerson; then the apostle of a "new Christianity"--finally
becoming a Roman Catholic.

[Illustration: ORESTES BROWNSON]

Coming of old Connecticut stock on his father's side, he was born in
Vermont, September 16th, 1803; and, notwithstanding that he was brought
up in poverty on a farm with small opportunity for education, contrived
in later years to make himself a thorough scholar in various directions,
mastering several languages, acquiring a wide knowledge of history,
reading deeply in philosophy, and developing marked originality in
setting forth new philosophical views. His bent in childhood was
strongly religious; and he even believed, at that period of his life,
that he held long conversations with the sacred personages of Holy
Scripture. Yet while in manhood he devoted many years and much of his
energy to preaching, his character was aggressive and his tone
controversial, he however revealed many traits of real gentleness and
humility, and the mixture of rugged strength and tenderness in his
character and his work won him a large following in whatever position
he took.

He performed the remarkable feat, when the support of American letters
was slight, of founding and conducting almost single-handed, from 1838
to 1843, his famous Quarterly Review, which was a power in the land. He
started it again in 1844 as 'Brownson's Quarterly Review,' and resumed
it thirty years later in still a third series. He died in 1876 at
Detroit, much of his active career having been passed in Boston, and
some of his later years at Seto