Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/257

 Dictionary of English Literature 245

him. His latest works were a translation of Dante's Divina Corn- media, Tales of a Wayside Inn, The New England Tragedies, and The Divine Tragedy, the last two of which he combined with The Golden Legend into a trilogy, which he named Christus. In 1868 he paid a last visit to England, where he was received with the highest honour. Later works were Three Books of Song, After math, and Ultima Thule. He d. on March 14, 1882. L. lacked the intensity of feeling and power of imagination to make him a great poet; but few poets have appealed to a wider circle of readers. If he never soars to the heights or sounds the deeps of feeling he touches the heart by appealing to universal and deep-seated affections. He was a man of noble and chivalrous character.

Lives by S. Longfellow in Riverside ed. of works (i i vols. 1886-90), Robertson (Great Writers Series), and Higginson (American Men of Letters).

LOVELACE, RICHARD (1618-1658). Poet, b. at Woolwich,

s. of Sir William L., was ed. at Oxf., where he is described by Anthony Wood as " the most amiable and beautiful person that eye ever beheld." He was an enthusiastic Royalist, and spent his whole for tune in support of that cause. For presenting " the Kentish peti tion " in favour of the King, he was imprisoned in 1642, when he wrote his famous song, When Love with unconfintd wings. After his release he served in the French army, and was wounded at Dunkirk. Returning, he was again imprisoned, 1648, and produced his Lucasta : Epodes, Odes, etc. He lives in literature by a few of his lyrics which, though often careless, are graceful and tender. He d. in poverty.

LOVER, SAMUEL (1797-1868). Song-writer and novelist, was a painter of portraits, chiefly miniatures. He produced a number of Irish songs, of which several including The Angel's Whisper, Molly Bawn, and The Four-leaved Shamrock attained great popularity. He also wrote some novels, of which Rory O'More (in its first form a ballad), and Handy Andy are the best known, and short Irish sketches, which, with his songs, he combined into a popular entertainment called Irish Nights. He joined with Dickens in founding Bentley's Magazine.

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL (1819-1891). Poet and

essayist, b. at Camb., Massachusetts, s. of a Unitarian minister, was ed. at Harvard. He began active life as a lawyer, but soon aban doned business, and devoted himself mainly to literature. In 1841 he pub. a vol. of poems, A Year's Life, and in 1843 a second book of verses appeared. He also wrote at this time political articles in the Atlantic and North American Review. In 1848 he pub. a third vol. of Poems, A Fable for Critics, The Biglow Papers, and The Vision of Sir Launfal ; and he was in 1855 appointed Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard in succession to Longfellow. Among my Books appeared in 2 series, in 1870 and 1876. His later poems in cluded various Odes in celebration of national events, some of which were coll. in Under the Willows, The Cathedral, and Heartsease and Rue. In 1877 he was appointed United States minister to Spain, and he held a similar appointment in England 1880-85. He d. at