names of Mr. and Mrs. Lowell, Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard, and the sisters Alice and Phoebe Cary. Robert Trail Spence Lowell is J. R. Lowell's brother. 22. DIRGE-P. 190. Written on the death of Mrs. Mary Booth, the first wife of Edwin Booth the actor. 23. WHITMAN-p. 199. I may here ask pardon of some of my authors if in endeavouring at one uniform system of punctuation I offend their peculiarities. I have cared to keep what seemed the author's own, especially with Whitman whose manner is altogether his; but when the points and accents were apparently only printers' errors or redundancies I have altered them to suit an order which has at least the merit of intelligibility. I have kept, for uniformity's sake also, to English spelling, which does not always agree with more modern American. Whitman's Dresser, beyond its value as poetry, was worth giving as a record of his own noble life. 24. BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC-P. 216. This grand martial lyric, the best during the war, is set to the truly national air of "John Brown,”—the genuine words of which (who the author or how originating not appearing to be known) I give as I had them, some eight years ago, from one of the old hero's party John Brown's knapsack was strapp'd upon his back, Glory! glory, hallelujah! As he went marching on. John Brown's body was hang'd upon a tree; (thrice) Glory! etc. His soul went marching on. John Brown's body is mouldering in the grave; (thrice) His soul is marching on. Glory! etc. His soul is marching on. He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord; (thrice) The stars of heaven are looking kindly down (thrice) Glory! etc. On the grave of old John Brown. 25. HELEN FISKE JACKSON-p. 294. Mrs. Jackson's Poems are published under the initials H. H., she being at the time of publication Mrs. Hunt. 26. KIT CARSON'S RIDE-p. 340. It is proper to note here that Mrs. Fremont, the wife of General Fremont, indignantly denies not only this story told by Miller, but even its verisimilitude. She speaks, on the contrary, of Kit Carson (and from the knowledge of long personal friendship) as a very noble backwoodsman and pioneer, not lawless, but of good repute, and utterly incapable of the despicable cowardice attributed to him by the poet. Mr. Rossetti is my authority for Miller's age. 27. MARYLAND-p. 345. This is the only poem I find worth quoting out of a volume of Southern War Rhymes, mostly by anonymous writers. Of Randall I can obtain no data. The "new key to thy song" is a punning allusion to Key's Star-spangled Banner, written at Baltimore. "Sic Semper" is the motto of the State of Maryland. 28. THE SPARROW AT SEA-p. 350. "A warbling bird whose carol rings "-America has a songsparrow-fringilla melodia-which may have led our author into a mistake as to the powers of the English bird. Here, and in other cases where I have not given date or place of birth it is because even direct inquiry by letter has failed to bring me the desired information. I therefore have placed the authors at or near the end of my list, not meaning that they are of the youngest. The name of Rose Terry (now Mrs. Rollin Cooke) I find in Dana's Household Book of Poetry (the best collection I know of English and American), edition 1862. |