LETTERS, AND JOURNALS OF GEORGE TICKNOR. VOL. I. London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1876. 210. PREFACE. TH THE preparation of this Memoir was originally undertaken by me, in compliance with the wishes of Mr. Ticknor's family. This selection was determined mainly by my long intimacy with him. Mr. Ticknor survived most of his contemporaries, and at his death there was no one, of those who had known him in early youth, who was both willing and able to write a biography of their friend. My task was to be principally that of selection from a very rich mass of journals and correspondence. When, however, the first ten chapters only had been completed, I was suddenly seized by illness, which withdrew me from all literary labour. After an interval of some months the work was necessarily assumed by others. Since it approached its conclusion, my health having much improved, the manuscript has been submitted to me, and I have been able to give it a faithful perusal and cordial acceptance. The ten chapters prepared by me were stereotyped before my illness, and the early direction thus given to the first portion of the book determined some points of its entire character. Its form and appearance were necessarily then settled, and the proportions to be assumed by the other parts were in great measure fixed. The next six or eight chapters were only partially sketched. The transition may be felt, and needs to be thus explained. When the work was resumed, it was undertaken by Mrs. Ticknor and her eldest daughter, who, thenceforward, devoted themselves conscientiously to the task. Some readers may think that a memoir largely prepared by the immediate relatives of its subject, though it has the advantage of their complete familiarity with the mental and moral traits of the person portrayed, is apt to be coloured by their affection and sympathy, even at the partial sacrifice of truth. It is indeed difficult for those who saw him from so near a point to write with judicial coldness and fairness of one who was loved and honoured in life. As in life we accept the fact that in each of us there are weaknesses to be pardoned, and not to be dragged into light, so in reading of one gifted and useful to his generation, we do not need to be told that he was human. But forewarned is forearmed. The compilers of this work have striven to make it a truthful sketch, and to paint Mr. Ticknor as he was. As the Memoir consists mainly of his writings, their responsibility has been chiefly that of selection. I think it will be admitted by Mr. Ticknor's surviving friends, that the picture herein given of him is faithful in outline, and not too warmly coloured. Kind friends have furnished letters and information, and thanks are due to many for help of different kinds. Some of these are already gone beyond the reach or need of human gratitude, and those who remain are conscious of a heavy loss in the deprivation of their sympathy, and of the interest they would have felt in this memorial of their friend. One controlling purpose prevailed in Mr. Ticknor's life, that of acquiring knowledge and the power of using it for the benefit of others, and it is hoped that this will be found distinctly developed in these pages, amid all the varying experiences described in their contents. At the University of Göttingen, in the brilliant society which was opened to him in Europe, and in his library or his lecture-room at home, he was constantly seeking knowledge as a means of usefulness ; his was the spirit of Chaucer's Oxford scholar,― "Gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche." GEORGE S. HILLARD. BOSTON, December, 1875. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Manners and Society in Boston at the Time of Mr. Ticknor's Birth. -His College Life.-Admitted to the Bar.-The Law not Congenial. -Determines to abandon it and devote himself to a Life of Letters.- Decides to go to Europe and study there.-Visits Washington and Virginia in the Winter of 1814-15.-Visit to Jefferson at Monticello. Departure for Europe.-Arrival in England.-State of Feeling there. Mr. Roscoe.--Chirk Castle.-Dr. Parr.-Arrival in London.-Mr. Vaughan.- Mr. Sharp. - Sir Humphry Davy. Gifford. Lord Byron.-Anecdotes of Bonaparte.- Mr. Murray.-Mr. West.- Residence in Göttingen till the End of 1815.-University Life.-His own Studies.-Benecke, Eichhorn, Blumenbach, Schultze, Michaelis, Residence in Göttingen till the close of 1816.-German Literature. -German Metaphysics.-Anecdotes of Blumenbach and Wolf - Leipsic.-Dresden.-Berlin.-Weimar.-Visit to Goethe.-Receives the Offer of the Professorship of French and Spanish Literature at 87 |