Page 78 - Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor

all by being known as a poet. Who would employ a poet to defend his
business in a court room? No one! A hard-headed business man is wanted.

Walter Scott was a lawyer of much such a temperament as Lowell's, and
when he put forth a similar volume he suffered as it was certain that Lowell

would suffer. But it is probable that Lowell was now fully determined to
give up law altogether.

"I know," he declares passionately, "that God has given me powers such as
are not given to all, and I will not 'hide my talent in mean clay.' I do not

care what others may think of me or of my book, because if I am worth
anything I shall one day show it. I do not fear criticism as much as I love
truth. Nay, I do not fear it at all. In short, I am happy. Maria fills my ideal

and I satisfy her. And I mean to live as one beloved by such a woman
should live. She is every way noble. People have called 'Irene' a beautiful

piece of poetry. And so it is. It owes all its beauty to her."

It is very plain that she was on the side of the poet, not of the

worldly-minded persons who advocated the law, business, money-making.
She did not dread the prospect of being a poor man's wife. To be the wife of

a poet, a man of courage and ambition and nobleness of heart, was far more
to her. The turning point in Lowell's life was past; and he had been led to
that turning point by the little woman who was soon to become his wife.

CHAPTER VI

THE UNCERTAIN SEAS OF LITERATURE

As far as is known, Lowell never earned a dollar by the law. He soon began
to pick up a five or a ten dollar bill here and there by writing for current

periodicals. His book brought him some reputation, but not much. A few
hundred copies were sold, and most of the reviews and criticisms were

favorable. He received a slating from the Morning Post in Boston,
however, just as an inkling of what a literary man might expect.