"
On another occasion the record says:--
"Passed the evening at Longfellow's. As we lifted the latch and
entered the hall door, we saw him reading an old book by his study
lamp. It was the 'Chansons d'Espagne,' which he had just purchased at
what he called the massacre of the poets; in other words, at the sale
that day of the library of William H. Prescott. He was rather
melancholy, he said: first, on account of the sacrifice and separation
of that fine library; also because he is doubtful about his new poem,
the one on the life of our Saviour. He says he has never before felt
so cast down.
"What an orderly man he is! Well-ordered, I should have written.
Diary, accounts, scraps, books,--everything where he can put his hand
upon it in a moment."
"_December_, 1871.--Saturday Mr. Longfellow came in town and went
with us to hear twelve hundred school children sing a welcome to the
Russian Grand Duke in the Music Hall. It was a fine sight, and Dr.
Holmes's hymn, written for the occasion, was noble and inspiring. Just
before the Grand Duke came in I saw a smile creep over Longfellow's
face. 'I can never get over the ludicrousness of it,' he said. 'All
this array and fuss over one man!' He came home with us afterwards,
and lingered awhile by the fire. He talked of Russian literature,--
its modernness, and said he had sent us a delightful novel by
Tourgueneff, 'Liza,' in which we should find charming and vivid
glimpses of landscape and life like those seen from a carriage window.
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