"HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. A Biography, by W. Sloane Kennedy. Moses King, Cambridge, Mass., Publisher." Of the many books that have been offered as biographies of the late Henry W. Longfellow, in our modest opinion, the best has come from the press of Moses King, of the class of '81. It is no small task to render pleasant and entertaining the history of the life of such a man as Longfellow. His career can hardly be called an eventful one; he passed the most of his days in quiet and peace, "within the shade of his own fig tree." The many blessings that fortune had given him enabled him to live apart from the noise and strife of the more unfortunate part of society. The author of this work, however, Mr. Sloane Kennedy, a graduate of Yale, has succeeded most admirably in his attempt to present all the important things connected with Longfellow's life, in a very attractive form. While the book possesses none of the garrulity or impudent inquisitiveness of minor affairs that makes biographies so popular now-a-days, (a thing which would be impossible in the present instance, however,) one can find in it all that a reasonable reader can desire to know of the poet. The press-work is excellently done, and is a credit to the publisher. The illustrations are well drawn, and one of the most commendable features of the book is the complete index with which it is supplied.
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