In 1838 Doctor Holmes wrote the Boylston Prize Dissertation, and in 1842, Homœopothy and its kindred Delusions. The Boylston prizes were established in 1803, by Ward Nicholas Boylston. Doctor Holmes gained three of these prizes, and the Dissertations, one of which was upon Intermittent Fever, were published together in book form in 1838.
When, in February of the same year (1842), the young men of Boston gave a dinner to Charles Dickens, Doctor Holmes welcomed the distinguished visitor in the following beautiful song:
The stars their early vigils keep,
The silent hours are near,
When drooping eyes forget to weep—
Yet still we linger here;
And what—the passing churl may ask—
Can claim such wondrous power,
That Toil forgets his wonted task,
And Love his promised hour?
The Irish harp no longer thrills,
Or breathes a fainter tone;
The clarion blast from Scotland's hills
Alas! no more is blown.
And Passion's burning lip bewails
Her Harold's wasted fire,
Still lingering o'er the dust that veils
The Lord of England's lyre.
But grieve not o'er its broken strings,
Nor think its soul hath died,
While yet the lark at heaven's gate sings,
As once o'er Avon's side;—
While gentle summer sheds her bloom,
And dewy blossoms wave,
Alike o'er Juliet's storied tomb
And Nelly's nameless grave.
Thou glorious island of the sea!
Though wide the wasting flood
That parts our distant land from thee,
We claim thy generous blood.
Nor o'er thy far horizon springs
One hallowed star of fame.
But kindles, like an angel's wings,
Our western skies in flame!
CHAPTER IX.
NAMING THE NEW MAGAZINE.
IN the year 1857, Mr. Phillips, of the firm of Phillips & Sampson, undertook the publication in Boston, of a new literary magazine. They were fortunate in securing James Russell Lowell as editor, and one condition he made upon accepting the office was, that his friend, Doctor Holmes, should be one of the chief contributors.