letters, leaving his daughters to answer them. During the last three
months of his life he probably did not write three dozen letters, and
though he saw some visitors, he refused many more. He might sometimes be
seen walking on his piazza, or even in the street before the house, but
he accepted no invitations, and confined himself mainly within doors.
His seventy-fifth birthday, February 27, was passed very quietly at
home, in spite of the many celebrations held elsewhere. On Sunday, March
19, he had a sudden attack of illness, not visibly connected with his
previous symptoms. It was evident that the end was near, and he finally
died of peritonitis on Friday afternoon, March 24, 1882.

It will perhaps be found, as time goes on, that the greatest service
rendered by Longfellow--beyond all personal awakening or stimulus
exerted on his readers--was that of being the first conspicuous
representative, in an eminently practical and hard-working community, of
the literary life. One of a circle of superior men, he was the only one
who stood for that life purely and supremely, and thus vindicated its
national importance. Among his predecessors, Irving had lived chiefly in
Europe, and Bryant in a newspaper office. Among his immediate friends,
Holmes stood for exact science, Lowell and Whittier for reform, Sumner
for statesmanship, Emerson for spiritual and mystic values; even the shy
Hawthorne for public functions at home and abroad. Here was a man whose
single word, sent forth from his quiet study, reached more hearts in
distant nations than any of these, and was speedily reproduced in the
far-off languages of the world. Considered merely as an antidote to
materialism, such a life was of incalculable value. Looking at him, the
reign of the purely materialistic, however much aided by organizing
genius, was plainly self-limited; the modest career of Longfellow
outshone it in the world's arena. Should that reign henceforth grow
never so potent, the best offset to its most arrogant claims will be
found, for years to come, in the memory of his name.

{106 _The Home Circle_, London, October, 1850, iii. 249.}

{107 _My Reminiscences_, by Lord Ronald Gower, American edition, ii.
227, 228.}

{108 _Ib._, American edition, ii. 228.}

APPENDIX

I

GENEALOGY

[From _Life_, etc., by Samuel Longfellow, iii. 421.]

The name of Longfellow is found in the records of Yorkshire, England, as
far back as 1486, and appe