FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN & ORATORS PAST AND PRESENT WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES -AND THEIR FAMOUS ORATIONS IN SIX VOLUMES VOLUME V ALEXANDER K. MCCLURE, LL.D. EDITOR Author of "Lincoln and Men of War Times," "Our Presidents and How We Make Them," etc. BYRON ANDREWS, M. A. of the "National Tribune," Washington, D. C. Author of "The Eastern Question," "The Life of Logan," "One of the People" (McKinley), “Monroe and His Doctrine," etc. NEW YORK F. F. LOVELL PUBLISHING COMPANY KD 49845 HAP ARD UNIVERSITY COPYRIGHT, 1902, - BECKTOLD- ST. LOUIS, MO. Lowell, James Russell, a distinguished American diplomat, orator and man of letters, born in Cambridge, Mass., February 22, 1819; died there August 12, 1891. He began the study of law, but soon abandoned it for literature, and presently attracted favorable notice as a poet. He succeeded Longfellow as professor of modern languages at Harvard College in 1855, and from 1857 to 1862 was editor of the "Atlantic Monthly." Both as poet and essayist he had now won distinction, and in 1877 he was appointed Minister to Spain, remaining at Madrid in that capacity till 1880. From 1880 to 1885 he was Minister to England, where he was exceedingly popular, both as a writer and for personal reasons. He delivered many public addresses and ranked among the most polished, scholarly orators of his time. Beside many volumes of poems and essays he published a collection of his public discourses, entitled "Democracy and Other Addresses," in 1887. ORATION AT THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF HARVARD COLLEGE. DELIVERED AT CAMBRIDGE, NOVEMBER 8, 1886. It seems an odd anomaly that while respect for age and deference to its opinions have diminished, and are still sensibly diminishing among us, the relish of antiquity should be more pungent and the value set upon things merely because they are old should be greater in America than anywhere else. It is merely a sentimental relish, for ours is a new country in more senses than one, and like children when they are fancying themselves this or that, we have to play very hard in order to believe that we are old. |