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Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (v. 3)
Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - v. 3 Author:Samuel Longfellow Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. JOURNAL AND LETTERS. 1865. January 1. I was up at two o'clock this morning. I placed a candle at one window, and looked out of another on the ... more »lovely trees, all feathered and plumed with snow. The air was motionless, and in their illumination they looked like one great aerial Christmas-tree. To . January 30, 1865. I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter and your poems, which I have read with much interest and sympathy. You must excuse me if I do not give you any opinion of their merits in detail, nor offer any criticism. I never sit in judgment upon the writings of others; and therefore beg you to be satisfied with my saying that the pieces found in me a friendly reader, and not a Rhadamanthus. February 10. Received from the binder, volume one of my translation of the Divina Commedia; a copy, to be sent to Italy," In Commemandrazione del Secentesimo Anni- versario della Naseita di Dante Alighieri."1 1 This was the inscription printed upon a blank leaf of the copy. To Charles Sumner. February 10, 1865. To-morrow, I shall send you by post, a copy of the first volume of my translation of the Divine Comedy, to be handed to the Italian minister, and by him forwarded to Italy. You may make, if you like, a small speech on the occasion, expressing my regret that it was impossible to get the other two volumes printed in season. They will follow later. I want you and the Minister to look at the volume. It is beautiful, and worthy of the Italian press; all written, printed, bound, in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts! The grand event of the century — the Anti-Slavery Enactment — has been as silent as the daybreak, or the coming of a new year. And yet this year will always be the Year of Jubilee in our history. Find time to ...« less