s completed in old age the dream of
his youth, it was the fashion for a long time to regard the completion
as a failure, and it took years to secure any real appreciation to the
second part of "Faust." This possibility must always be allowed for, but
the fact remains that the title which Longfellow himself chose for so
many of his poems, "Birds of Passage," was almost painfully suggestive
of a series of minor works of which we can only say that had his fame
rested on those alone, it would have been of quite uncertain tenure. A
very few of them, like "Keramos," "Morituri Salutamus," and "The Herons
of Elmwood," stand out as exceptions, and above all of these was the
exquisite sonnet already printed in this volume, "The Cross of Snow,"
recording at last the poet's high water-mark, as was the case with
Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar." Apart from these, it may be truly said
that the little volume called "Flower de Luce" was the last collection
published by him which recalled his earlier strains. His volume "Ultima
Thule" appeared in 1880, and "In the Harbor," classed as a second part
to it, but issued by others after his death. With these might be placed,
though not with any precision, the brief tragedy of "Judas Maccabaeus,"
which had been published in the "Three Books of Song," in 1872; and the
unfinished fragment, "Michael Angelo," which was found in his desk after
death. None of his dramatic poems showed him to be on firm ground in
respect to this department of poesy, nor can they, except the "Golden
Legend," be regarded as altogether successful literary undertakings. It
is obvious that historic periods differ wholly in this respect; and all
we can say is that while quite mediocre poets were good dramatists in
the Elizabethan period, yet good poets have usually failed as dramatists
in later days. Longfellow's efforts on this very ground were not less
successful, on the whole, than those of Tennyson and Swinburne; nor does
even Browning, tried by the test of the actual stage, furnish a complete
exception.

CHAPTER XIX

LAST TRIP TO EUROPE

On May 27, 1868, Longfellow sailed from New York for Liverpool in the
steamer Russia, with a large family party, including his son and his
son's bride, his three young daughters, his brother and two sisters,
with also a brother-in-law, the brilliant Thomas G. Appleton. On arrival
they went at once to the English lakes, visiting Furness Abbey, Corby
Castle, and Eden Hall, where