Page 75 - Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor

at Andover. He already has an engagement to lecture at Concord, where he
has hopes to "astonish them a little."

A fortnight later we find him in a "miserable state. The more I think of

business the more really unhappy do I feel, and think more and more of
studying law." What he really wants to do all the time is to write poetry. "I
don't know how it is," he says, "but sometimes I actually need to write

somewhat in verse." Sunday is his work day in the "pottery business."

As for the law, it is settled at last. He writes to his friend, "Rejoice with me,
for to-morrow I shall be free. Without saying a word to any one, I shall
quietly proceed to Dane Law College to recitation. Now shall I be happy

again as far as that is concerned."

A fortnight later he declares, "I begin to like the law, and therefore it is
quite interesting. I am determined that I will like it and therefore I do."

In the summer of 1840 he completed his studies and was admitted to the
bar. A little later he opened an office in Boston. Misfortune had overtaken

his father, and his personal property had been nearly swept away. It was
now necessary for the young man to earn his own living. His friends were
therefore glad that he had his profession to depend on.

CHAPTER V

LOVE AND LETTERS

Lowell always had a presentiment that he should never practice law. He
was always dreaming of becoming independent in some other way. "Above

all things," he declares, "should I love to sit down and do something literary
for the rest of my natural life."

He did not then think of marrying, and it does not require much to support a
single man. Though he opened a law office in Boston, it does not appear

that he did any business. He wrote a story entitled "My First Client," but