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writers like Ruskin, Matthew Arnold, Carlyle, and Froude.
He went, however, to call on Carlyle in England, and was greatly impressed by his conversation.
The scope of Longfellow's reading does not compare with that of Emerson or Marian Evans; but the doctors say that “every man of forty knows the food that is good for him,” and this is true mentally as well as physically.
He refers more frequently to Tennyson than to any other writer, and always in a generous, cordial manner.
Of the “Idyls of the King” he says that the first and third Idyls could only have come from a great poet, but that the second and fourth are not quite equal to the others.
Once, at his sister's house, he held out a book in his hand and said: “Here is some of the finest dramatic poetry that I have ever read.”
It was Tennyson's “Queen Mary;” but there were many who would not have agreed with his estimate of it. Rev. Samuel Longfellow considered the statement very doubtful.
In the summer of 1868 Longfellow went to Europe with his family to see what Henry James calls “the best of it.”
Rev. Samuel Longfellow and T. G. Appleton accompanied the party, which, with the addition of Ernest Longfellow's beautiful bride, made a strong impression wherever they were seen.
In fact their tour was like a triumphal procession.
1905. E. P. DUtton and Co. Boston,.
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