At a later period came the following:—
Gentlemen,—I am reluctantly compelled by the state of my health to ask leave of absence 156 from the College for six months from the first of May next. In this time I propose to visit Germany, to try the effect of certain baths, by means of which, as well as by the relaxation and the sea-voyage, I hope to reëstablish my health. My medical attendant advises this course as more efficacious than any treatment I can receive at home.
I shall be able, before leaving, to deliver all the lectures of the Spring Term; and on my return in November, those of the Autumn Term before its close; and it is in reference to the necessary arrangements for this, that I make thus early my application for leave of absence. The general supervision of the Department will be undertaken by Professor Felton, without any charge to the College;—the classes will lose none of their lectures;—and I trust the interests of the College will not suffer.
I would repeat in conclusion that the state of my health is the sole reason of my making this request.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your Obt. Sert.Henry W. Longfellow.[58]
Harvard University, January 24, 1842. To the President and Fellows of Harvard University.
He sailed on April 23, 1842, and although his health gained during the summer, was yet obliged to ask for an extension of time, as follows:—
Marienberg, September 3, 1842.
My dear Sir [Hon. Josiah Quincy],—When I left you in the Spring, I thought by this time I should have recovered my health and be setting my face homeward. In this I have been disappointed. My recovery has been slower than I expected; and though considerably better than when I arrived here, I am yet far from being well. The Doctor urges me very strongly to remain longer. He thinks it of the utmost importance to my future health, for years to come, that I should do so. He says, that if I look forward to a life of intellectual labor, in his opinion “it is absolutely necessary I should give up all thought of returning home before next Summer, devoting the time to reëstablishing my health, and avoiding all severe study.” I quote these words from a written opinion which he gave me this morning; and in consequence of which I have determined to ask leave of absence until that time, unless the state of my department in College should absolutely demand my return.
I assure you, that I do this with the greatest reluctance. I have no desire to remain here; on the contrary a very strong desire to be at home 158 and at work. Still I wish to return in good health and spirits, and not to lead a maimed life. I fear, and the physician positively asserts, that if I go back now I shall thwart the whole object of my journey, and that if I hope to be well I must go on with the baths.
I have therefore concluded to remain here until I receive an answer from you; promising myself that when I once escape from this hospital I will never enter another until that final one appointed for all the poets.
Will you have the goodness to say to your daughter, Miss Quincy, that I left her package for Mr. Graham at its address in Havre; and presume it reached him safely. In coming through France it was not in my power to go into Brittany, and avail myself of your letter of introduction to him; the place of his residence lying too far out of my route. From Paris I came through Belgium to this ancient city of Boppard, where I have remained stationary since the first of June.
With kind remembrances to Mrs. Quincy and your family,
Very truly yours
Henry W. Longfellow.[59]
It is interesting to note the manner in which this appeal was met by the economical college.
Henry W. Longfellow, Esq.
Sir,—I perceive with great regret, by your letter of the 3d Inst. that, although you have followed with due precision the prescriptions of the German Doctor who
corpus recenti
sparget aqua,
convalescence is not yet attained, but that the water spirit has announced that another year is required in order to obtain the full benefit of his draughts and ablutions. The fact is a source of great sorrow to your friends and of no less embarrassment to the Corporation of the College. The granting the leave of six months’ absence was effected, not without difficulty. Doubts were expressed concerning the possibility of your realizing your expectations, within the period you specified; and the objections were surmounted only on your assurance that you would return in October, and that the benefit of your instructions should not be lost, by any [class] of the college, according to the arrangements you made. It was on this fact, and on this assurance alone, that assent of the Corporation was obtained. By the proposition you now make the present Senior class will be deprived of the advantages, on which they have a right to calculate and have been taught to expect.
Under the circumstances of the case, the Corporation do not feel themselves willing absolutely 160 to withhold their assent to your protracting your absence as you propose; at the same time they are compelled by their sense of duty & I am authorized to state, that they, regarding themselves, not as proprietors, but as trustees, of the funds under their control, cannot deem themselves justified in paying the salary of the Professorship to a Professor, not resident & not performing its duties. They value your services very highly, and are therefore willing, if you see fit to remain another year in Europe, to keep the Professorship open for your return; but I am directed to say that, in such case, your salary must cease, at the end of the current quarter—viz. on the 30 of November next.
The obligation thus imposed on the Corporation, it is very painful to them to fulfil, but they cannot otherwise execute the trust they have undertaken, conformably to their sense of duty.
And now, Sir, permit me to express my best wishes for your health; the high sense I entertain of your talents and attainments and the unaltered esteem & respect with which I am, most truly.
Your friend and
hle St.Josiah Quincy.[60]
Cambridge.
30. Sep. 1842.
Longfellow spent his summer at the water-cure in Marienberg, with some diverging trips, as those to Paris, Antwerp, and Bruges. In Paris he took a letter to Jules Janin, now pretty well forgotten, but then the foremost critic in Paris, who disliked the society of literary men, saying that he never saw them and never wished to see them; and who had quarrelled personally with all the French authors, except Lamartine, whom he pronounced “as good as an angel.” In Bruges the young traveller took delight in the belfry, and lived to transmit some of its charms to others. At Antwerp he had the glories of the cathedral, the memory of Quintin Matsys, and the paintings of Rubens. His home at Marienberg was in an ancient cloister for noble nuns, converted into a water-cure, then a novelty and much severer in its discipline than its later copies in America, to one of which, however, Longfellow himself went later as a patient,—that of Dr. Wesselhoeft at Brattleboro, Vermont. He met or read German poets also,—Becker, Herwegh, Lenau, Auersberg, Zedlitz, and Freiligrath, with the latter of whom he became intimate; indeed reading aloud to admiring nuns his charming poem about “The Flowers’ Revenge” (Der Blumen Rache). He just missed seeing Uhland, the only German poet then more popular than Freiligrath; he visited camps of 50,000 troops 162 and another camp of naturalists at Mayence. Meantime, he heard from Prescott, Sumner, and Felton at home; the “Spanish Student” went through the press, and his friend Hawthorne was married. He finally sailed for home on October 22, 1842, and occupied himself on the voyage in writing a small volume of poems on slavery.
[56] Harvard College Papers [MS.], 2d ser. ix. 318.
[57] Harvard College Papers [MS.], 2d ser. ix. 336.
[58] Harvard College Papers [MS.], 2d ser. x. 363.