Seldom has the death of a single individual wounded the hearts of so many personal friends. Men have attained1 to greater renown2, and have been, perhaps, as extensively known by their writings and their fame; but rare, indeed, can be found in history the name of one who had so many intimate companions. The number of those who claimed the right to be his friends is beyond computation, at this time,—within a few weeks after his death,—but it includes many of the most noted3 men of the world.
Alfred Tennyson, the poet-laureate of England, was an acquaintance and correspondent of Mr. Taylor’s, their first meeting being at Mr. Tennyson’s house, Farringford, on the Isle4 of Wight.
William Makepeace Thackeray was one of Mr. Taylor’s warmest literary friends, from the time when they met at a dinner of the Century Club, in New York, in[297] 1856, until Mr. Thackeray’s death, in 1863. The friendship was kept alive by Mr. Thackeray’s daughters, who first met Mr. Taylor in London, in 1858, and who at that time most hospitably5 entertained him, together with his brother and sisters.
Robert Browning often invited Mr. Taylor to join his select company in London, their acquaintance having begun in 1851; and Barry Cornwall (Bryan Waller Procter), treated Mr. Taylor with the greatest kindness and hospitality, writing frequently, until he died, in 1874, to inquire after Mr. Taylor’s progress in the translation of “Faust.”
Thomas Carlyle and John Bright were numbered among his correspondents, although it so happened that he met them but seldom.
Among the leaders of English literature whose friendship he enjoyed, there is a very large circle of literary and scientific men who knew Mr. Taylor through their frequent meetings on social and formal occasions, and who were well acquainted with Mr. Taylor’s books. From many of these there came the expressions of great grief, when the fact of Mr. Taylor’s death was announced in London.
In Germany he was quite as well known as their native poets of his time, and he secured the respect and love of nearly every distinguished6 literary man and woman in that Empire. One of the sweetest friendships of his life was with that most fascinating descriptive writer, Berthold Auerbach, whose “Villa[298] on the Rhine” was given to the American public in 1869, by Mr. Taylor. These two authors were like twin brothers in their authorship, and some of Auerbach’s letters, descriptive of European scenes and people, could be inserted in Mr. Taylor’s books, verbatim, and the interpolation be scarcely detected. Their regard for each other equalled their gifts, and one of the sincerest mourners at the funeral of Mr. Taylor, was that gifted scholar, Berthold Auerbach.
Mr. Taylor’s first acquaintance with Alexander von Humboldt, was in 1856, when Mr. Taylor called upon the great naturalist7 at his home in Berlin. The reading of Humboldt’s works had been of great benefit to Mr. Taylor, as a correspondent, and he so informed the Professor, at which he seemed much pleased. Humboldt took great pains to secure all of Mr. Taylor’s letters, as they appeared from time to time in the “Tribune,” and most warmly praised him for the remarkable8 manner in which he pictured the scenes he visited. The acquaintance was frequently renewed, and when Humboldt died, in 1859, Mr. Taylor is said to have been numbered among the mourning friends, by those in charge of the funeral, although he was in the United States at the time. For years the public in America was led to believe that Humboldt ridiculed9 Mr. Taylor’s writings, although what could have been the motive10 of the one who originated the falsehood it is hard to conjecture11.
With the French authors he did not have a very[299] extended personal acquaintance, although he had met many of them, and frequently exchanged books with Victor Hugo and Guillaume Lejean.
His acquaintances in America included nearly every living author of his generation, and he numbered among his intimate friends the most gifted men in the land. Nearest to him, perhaps, stood Richard H. Stoddard, of New York, and his talented wife, Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard. Both were born in Massachusetts, and have frequently spent the summer months at Mrs. Stoddard’s old home in Mattapoisett, in company with Mr. Taylor and his family. A jolly household it was, when the Taylors and the Stoddards united their families, as they frequently did, in the city, or on the seashore. One of Mr. Stoddard’s many books, viz., the Life of Humboldt, contains an introduction by Mr. Taylor, and many of Mr. Taylor’s poems were submitted to Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard for their criticism, before he published them. With them, and with Mr. George Ripley, he appears to have maintained the most confidential12 relations to the day of his death.
Many of his early friends have preceded him to that “silent shore,” and many tears did he shed over their graves. Nathaniel P. Willis, his earliest friend in the great city, who encouraged him and introduced him into a literary life, died at his home of “Idlewild,” in 1867. Washington Irving, who in his old ago was earnest enough to leave his home at “Sunnyside” and go to New York, to urge Mr. Taylor to persevere13 in[300] his poetical15 undertakings17, and whose advice assisted Mr. Taylor so much in his various trips into Spain, died in 1873.
Dr. E. K. Kane, who aided Mr. Taylor in laying out his route through Norway, and whose letters of introduction and commendation to George Peabody, the great banker, and to other influential18 men in England, opened the way for Mr. Taylor into the best society of that capital, did not live to meet Mr. Taylor on his return from Norway, as had been arranged, but died alone, at Havana, in 1857.
William Cullen Bryant, whose master-pieces were Mr. Taylor’s study, and whose personal friendship was so much valued, that Mr. Taylor visited the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, wherein the “Thanatopsis” had its birth, to note “if the scenes would have the same influence on a stranger, that they appeared to have had on a native,”—he whose counsel and companionship had, through many years, been counted among the “richest boons19 of life,” died a few months before Mr. Taylor, and the shadow had not passed from Mr. Taylor’s brow, and his poetical tribute to Bryant was hardly in print, before he was called “to join the caravan20 that moves to that mysterious realm.”
Fitz-Greene Halleck, who used to caution the young poet, and who took pride in every new achievement of the traveller, died in 1867.
Horace Greeley, the editor of the Tribune, whose friendship was of the most steady and substantial kind,[301] and for whom Mr. Taylor felt the respect due to a parent, expired in 1872. It was when writing of Mr. Greeley’s death that Mr. Taylor gave the following sketch21 of their friendship:—
“My own intercourse22 with him, though often interrupted by absence or divergence23 of labor24, was frank at the start, and grew closer and more precious with every year. In all my experience of men, I have never found one whose primitive25 impulses revealed themselves with such marvellous purity and sincerity26. His nature often seemed to me as crystal-clear as that of a child. In my younger and more sensitive days, he often gave me a transient wound; but such wounds healed without a scar, and I always found, afterward27, that they came from the lance of a physician, not from the knife of an enemy.
“I first saw Mr. Greeley in June, 1844, when I was a boy of nineteen. I applied28 to him for an engagement to write letters to the ‘Tribune’ from Germany. His reply was terse29 enough. ‘No descriptive letters!’ he said; ‘I am sick of them. When you have been there long enough to know something, send to me, and, if there is anything in your letters, I will publish them.’ I waited nearly a year, and then sent seventeen letters, which were published. They were shallow enough, I suspect; but what might they not have been without his warning?
“Toward the end of 1847, while I was engaged in the unfortunate enterprise of trying to establish a weekly paper at Ph?nixville, Penn., I wrote him—foreseeing the failure of my hopes—asking his assistance in procuring30 literary work in New York. He advised me (as I suspect he has[302] advised thousands of young men), to stay in the country. But I had stayed in the country, and a year too long; so another month found me in New York, in his office, with my story of disappointment, and my repeated request for his favorable influence. ‘I think you are mistaken,’ he said; ‘but I will bear you in mind, if I hear of any chance.’
“Six weeks afterward, to my great surprise (for I supposed he had quite forgotten me), he sent for me and offered me a place on the ‘Tribune.’ I worked hard and incessantly31 during the summer of 1848, hearing never a word of commendation or encouragement; but one day in October he suddenly came to my desk, laid his hand on my shoulder, and said, ‘You have been faithful; but now you need rest. Take a week’s holiday, and go into New England.’ I obeyed, and found, on my return, that he had ordered my salary to be increased.”
Hiram Powers, the American sculptor32, who so heartily33 welcomed the young pedestrian to Florence, Italy, and who through the years which followed, showed a most kindly34 spirit, making Taylor his guest and confidant, passed away from the contemplation of beautiful earthly forms to figures angelic, in 1873.
Mrs. Kirkland, on whose magazine, in 1848, he began to regain35 the literary prestige which the failure of the “Ph?nixville Pioneer” took from him, and who, with Halleck, so kindly opened the way for him to teach a school in New York, to repair his shattered fortunes, was gone, together with a large number of their mutual36 acquaintances in the literary circles of New York.
[303]
Although the ranks were so sadly depleted37, there are still living a most brilliant company of his early literary friends.
John G. Whittier, who still resides in Amesbury, his patriotism38 unabated, his Quaker simplicity39 unchanged, and his fame as a poet increasing, as civilization and freedom extend. To him Mr. Taylor dedicated40 his poem of “Lars,” and in it thus mentioned his first meeting with Whittier:—
“Though many years my heart goes back,
When first, upon the Merrimack,
Upon the cottage roof I heard the autumn rain.
A hand that welcomed and that cheered,
To one unknown didst thou extend;
Thou gavest hope to song that feared;
But now by Time and Faith endeared,
I claim the right to call the Poet, Friend!”
Thus did a Quaker write of a Quaker in dedicating a Quaker poem.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lives and sings as in those days when Taylor read the story of “Hyperion” and the poetry of “Voices of the Night,” and resolved to visit Boppart and to be a poet. Mr. Longfellow had a name to be envied in the annals of literature, when the man of whom we write was a rollicking, mischievious boy. Yet Taylor has appeared on the stage of life, has enacted43 a very important part, and is gone. His friend and benefactor44 remains45, loved and honored in the old Washington mansion46 at Cambridge.
[304]
That marvellously versatile47 and skilful48 man, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, though born long before Taylor, still walks the halls of learning, and, while enjoying the deserved rewards of “The Autocrat49 of the Breakfast-Table,” “Old Ironsides,” and the numerous other publications in the shape of essays, poems, and medical text-books, was not ashamed to be called the friend of Mr. Taylor, and recalls his association with him in the most affectionate terms.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poet and essayist, who, like Mr. Holmes, enjoys a world-wide reputation as a man of letters and thoughts, moves among men as of yore, while his younger acquaintance has passed on before.
James Russell Lowell, upon whose brilliant literary career Mr. Taylor said he often “gazed with bewilderment,” but who was among his much-loved literary friends, adorns50 the court of Spain, as the Minister of the United States, while the life of his colleague which began much later, has ceased to move his hands to friendly grasps, and his lips to living words.
Richard H. Dana, Sr., the “eldest poet,” has been dead but a few days. Amos Bronson Alcott retains his home in Concord51, appearing much as he did when George Ripley, Margaret Fuller, and Theodore Parker were with him on the “Dial,” which the Taylors read in Pennsylvania; but he who came to their homes so short a time ago, will cross their thresholds no more.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich remains, and writes on for[305] the love of it, while his friend and early companion in New York,—Taylor, who praised his “Babie Bell” and “Daisie’s Necklace,” has laid down his pen forever, and will sit down with him no more at social boards.
George William Curtis, who was born the year before Mr. Taylor, and whose travels, books, and correspondence for the New York “Tribune,” gave him such a similar experience, now stands at the front in American oratory52, and looks forward to wider fields of usefulness, as though life had just begun. As a representative American in literature and in political influence, he has lost in Mr. Taylor an earnest and efficient comrade.
Edwin P. Whipple still lives on Beacon53 Hill in Boston, and, together with his brilliant wife, recalls the face and words of Taylor with the affectionate regard of appreciative54 minds and loving hearts.
James T. Fields, of Boston, comes and goes, an authority on literary excellence55, and an attractive expounder56 and biographer, while the boy who came to him long, long ago, to learn if Ticknor & Fields would publish a little poem, has grown into manhood, into fame, and passed on to the Hereafter. The friendship of many years,—so beautiful a sight between publisher and poet,—which the pressure and uncertainty57 of business could not sever14 or decrease, is broken, ah! so rudely, by the hand of death.
The Hon. George H. Boker, of Philadelphia, still counts his useful years; while the boy whose poems he[306] purchased, and whose ambition he directed, has seen a long and eventful life, using but a part of the time in which his benefactor has lived. Of him Mr. Taylor wrote in 1855:—
More than the summer years have since revealed,
Or doubtful autumn from the stem shall fling.
But here they are, the buds, the blossoms blown,
And though it were the freshest ever grown,
Since with it goes a love to match your own,
A heart, dear friend, that never falsely beat.”
George H. Boker, Jr., and Mrs. Taylor are, by the terms of Mr. Taylor’s will, his literary executors.
The Hon. J. R. Chandler still resides in the same old home at Philadelphia, into which the trembling youth came for the loan of fifty dollars with which to see Europe on foot. After a long and honorable life he sees no act more creditable than the simple-hearted generosity61 which he displayed toward that ambitious stripling.
His brother, J. Howard Taylor, M.D., and his cousin, Franklin Taylor, M.D., are both at their official posts of honor in Philadelphia, while the sisters and parents survive, still in that haze62 of doubt which precedes the hard realization63 that Bayard is dead.
Mr. Whitelaw Reid may search long before he supplies to the “Tribune’s” readers all the characteristics of[307] Mr. Taylor’s writings; the literati of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, will long wait for the congenial companion to take his seat; and the thousands of loving hearts in all the civilized64 countries of the world and in many uncivilized lands, will not cease to be sore, until
“The stern genius, to whose hollow tramp
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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persevere
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| v.坚持，坚忍，不屈不挠 | |
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sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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boons
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| n.恩惠( boon的名词复数 )；福利；非常有用的东西；益处 | |
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caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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divergence
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| n.分歧，岔开 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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terse
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| adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的 | |
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procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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sculptor
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| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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depleted
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| adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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checkered
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| adj.有方格图案的 | |
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landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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adorns
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| 装饰，佩带( adorn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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expounder
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| 陈述者，说明者 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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