JAMES GATES PERCIVAL 
 
JAMES GATES PERCIVAL 
 
 An Anecdotal Sketch and 
 a Bibliography 
 
 BY HENRY E. LEGLER 
 
 THE MEQUON CLUB 
 
 MILWAUKEE WIS 
 
 MCMI 
 

 ONE HUNDRED COPIES 
 NUMBER «5^^ 
 
 
But who is he with modest looks 
 
 And clad in homely russet-brown? 
 He murmurs near the running brooks 
 
 A music sweeter than their own. 
 He is retired as noon- tide dew. 
 
 Or fountain in a noon-day grove; 
 And you must love him ere to you 
 
 He will seem worthy of your love. 
 The outward shows of sky and earth. 
 
 Of hill and valley, he has viewed; 
 And impulses of deeper birth 
 
 Have come to him in solitude. 
 In common jhings that round us lie 
 
 Some random truths he can impart. 
 The harvest of a quiet eye. 
 
 That broods and sleeps on his own heart, 
 — Wordsworth, 
 
I 
 
 Except to a few special collectors and students 
 of early American literature, the books of James 
 Gates Percival are to-day unknown; his name, 
 which forty years ago was linked with Bryant's, 
 is known scarcely better than are his books — af- 
 fording another illustration that fame based on 
 contemporary judgment rests on shifting sand. 
 
 With the exception of Edgar Allan Poe, no 
 American poet has a life story so charged with 
 the elements that evoke intense pity. Here the 
 analogy ends; both were unfortunate and bitterly 
 unhappy, but from widely different causes. Poe 
 was sensuous, passionate, degenerate; Percival 
 lived a life of singular purity. With a heart ach- 
 ing for human sympathy, he lived his whole life 
 apart from his fellows, * 'wrapped in the solitude 
 of his own originahty." Naturally he became 
 eccentric and misanthropic. He sought to end 
 his life at the age of 25, and his poem on the 
 9 
 
subject of suicide embodies the train of thought 
 that furnished the motive. He lived to be 60 
 years of age, and the publication of his first book 
 was the one brief period of the three score years 
 which seemed to him worth the living. Female 
 companionship he sought once, and ever after 
 avoided almost frantically; comradeship he re- 
 pelled; companionship, except that of books, 
 he avoided. When he built his house, it had no 
 door and no windows in front; the only entrance 
 was in the rear, and visitors never succeeded by 
 any pretense in crossing the threshold. Sensi- 
 tively shy, his erratic manners and strange ap- 
 parel served to attract attention to him. Miser- 
 ably poor all his days, he must often have suffer- 
 ed for the necessaries of life. He might have 
 been a prosperous country physician, as his father 
 was ^before him, but he abandoned the medical 
 profession after his first case, preferring the slen- 
 der income and drudgery of a writer's life. Often 
 he would, as he has himself described it in a let- 
 ter that is unusually communicative, **go home 
 with weary knees to a supperless cottage and 
 feast on moonshine.** During one trying year 
 of penury his income from literary employment, 
 which was his sole resource, amounted to sixty- 
 
five dollars. His experiences seem to have in- 
 culcated no prudent habits of thrift; when for- 
 tune momentarily smiled upon him, once or 
 twice, his entire cash capital and the limit of his 
 credit were exchanged in a lump for packages of 
 books. He was thus continually struggling with 
 financial difficulties. He left a remarkable library 
 often thousand volumes, which was disposed of 
 at auction. Even after the lapse of nearly fifty 
 years, the bookhunter occasionally finds a volume 
 in some bookstall bearing on the fly-leaf the 
 characteristic autograph of its former owner: 
 
II 
 
 No doubt physical causes contributed largely 
 to the eccentricities of James Gates Percival. He 
 was a precocious child who inherited from his 
 mother a sensitive, nervous temperament. **To 
 overcome his timidity, his father once put him 
 on horseback and rode with him into a sham 
 fight. It threw the sensitive lad into convul- 
 sions.'* 
 
 How great an influence this incident exerted 
 upon Percival' s after life may be judged from 
 the strangeness of it. In his will he bequeathed 
 in case his mother did not survive him, all his 
 personal property to the Medical Society of Con- 
 necticut, **to be employed in paying a prize or 
 prizes for the best dissertation or dissertations on 
 the best means and method of the physical and 
 physico-moral education of children from the 
 earliest infancy, so as to form the soundest con- 
 stitution and the best regulated habits." 
 
Alas! He had nothing to leave except debts 
 and books! 
 
 In his first volume of poems, he wrote: ** Per- 
 haps some apology may be demanded for The 
 Suicide. I can only say that it is intended as a 
 picture of the horror and wretchedness of a youth 
 ruined by early perversion, and of the causes of 
 that perversion. It is not without a moral to 
 those who can see it. I wish to impress upon 
 the minds of all who read it the great danger of 
 indulging the evil propensities, or tampering with 
 the feelings of children, * * 
 
 n 
 
Ill 
 
 Opinions may difFer as to the merits of Perci- 
 val's poetry. Of the value of his scientific and 
 philological services there can be no question. In 
 studying the geology of Connecticut, he traveled 
 afoot, passing along one side of each of the 5000 
 square miles of the state. He completed eleven 
 manuscript volumes, amounting to nearly 1500 
 pages, very finely written in abbreviation. He 
 collected specimens from at least 8000 localides, 
 each specimen intended to illustrate something 
 peculiar and noticed in the notes — all specimens 
 being marked on the papers enclosing them, and 
 checked in the note-books, so that he could again 
 trace them to the exact spot where he found 
 them.^ 
 
 At daybreak the indefatigable geologist was on 
 his way, munching a bit of bread. From dusk 
 to midnight he wrote his notes and marked his 
 
 I. Report to Gov. Baldwin. 
 
 «4 
 
specimens. The state of Connecticut paid him 
 a miserly pittance for this work; in Wisconsin 
 he fared much better as state geologist. 
 
 IS 
 
IV 
 
 Many anecdotes have been told of Percival. 
 They give, better than any formal sketch of his 
 life, the key to his character. Those which are 
 here retold are gathered together from many 
 sources. His brother Ossin and the pastor of 
 Kensington parish are authorities for stories of 
 his childhood. As a young boy he took solitary 
 Vi^alks across the fields, never entering into the 
 sports of other boys. Shy and shrinking, he 
 never resented injuries heaped upon him by his 
 school associates, avoiding them as much as pos- 
 sible. He crept, **like a snail, unwillingly to 
 school,'* but in books he was eagerly interested. 
 He had a remarkable memory, and an imagin- 
 ative cast of mind. His greatest amusement was 
 to visit the margin of a little stream and on the 
 sand construct maps of kingdoms he had become 
 interested in, marking places and boundaries 
 with pebbles. 
 
 i6 
 
Abnormally sensitive, pain felt by any creature 
 distressed him exceedingly. He was sent, in 
 boyhood, on a horseback journey to relatives in 
 Vermont. He had not gone far when the 
 horse's back became sore beneath the saddle; he 
 dismounted at once, took off the saddle, placed it 
 upon his own shoulders, and led his horse home. 
 
 When he was made state geologist of Wiscon- 
 sin, a young man was appointed to assist him. 
 One day he entered the governor's office in a 
 state of excitement. 
 
 **I can not stand it; indeed I can not; lean 
 not work with him any longer," he declared in 
 some agitation, referring to his assistant. 
 
 ''What's the trouble?" 
 
 "He whistles and he throws stones at birds," 
 was the indignant rejoinder. 
 
 Thereafter he pursued his geological labors 
 unassisted. 
 
 **In the last two years of his college," relates 
 Dr. J. H. Barnes, **he roomed in the fourth 
 story and northwest corner of what is now called 
 Old South-Middle College. The rooms were 
 then, as now, largely inhabited by rats and mice 
 that had fashioned doors of entrance in every 
 corner, and one of these they killed; but Perci- 
 17 
 
val was so overcome by the thought of taking 
 the life of a living creature that he mourned its 
 loss as if it had been a human being. He was 
 morbidly sensitive to pain, and he used to say 
 that he felt as if he were made of glass, and 
 should tumble in pieces if anyone touched him.** 
 
V 
 
 If he had not great talent as a musician, Per- 
 cival had certainly a remarkable sense of melody. 
 Concerning his learning to use the accordion, 
 the following story is told:'^ "He remarked to 
 a friend that he should like to get some cheap 
 musical instrument with which to amuse himself 
 occasionally; and after several had been suggested 
 and objected to on various grounds, the accord- 
 ion, then a comparatively new instrument, was 
 mentioned. *What,* said Percival, 'that affair 
 like a bellows; can any music be got out of 
 that?' On being assured that there could, the 
 thing seemed to strike him favorably, and he 
 procured one that same day. On the following 
 day, toward night, his informant was passing the 
 place where he had his rooms, and heard music 
 of an unusual character. On inquiry, he learned 
 that it was Percival and the accordion. He had 
 
 2. Putnam's Monthly, December, 1856. 
 19 
 
spent the whole night in the effort, and had 
 mastered the instrument. 'Never,' said the 
 narrator, 'have I before or since heard such 
 music from an accordion/ " 
 
 It was while he was a student at Yale that 
 Percival became interested in music. Mr. Rich- 
 ard Storrs Willis, a fellow student and a fellow 
 member of the Sing-Song Club, saw much of 
 him at this time. Mr. Willis subsequently be- 
 came connected with the Musical World, and 
 contributed some interesting anecdotes of him to 
 this journal. 
 
 **I recollect on one occasion,** relates Mr. 
 Willis, "our club was to sing at a little gather- 
 ing of friends, and Percival, quite to our aston- 
 ishment, had consented to accompany us, — for 
 he had shunned all general society for years. 
 Still more were we astonished when he ex- 
 pressed his willingness, while there, to sing a 
 song of his own. He had brought his accord- 
 ion. In a retired corner of the room sat his 
 gaunt, thin figure, bent over the instrument . To 
 me he had never looked half so weird-like; that 
 noble Shakespearian head of his, the sharply 
 cut, spiritual features, his eyes so fiill of the wild 
 fire of genius, the thin, curling locks, — all gave 
 
him the appearance of a minstrel come down 
 from another age. 
 
 **We had already quieted the room for the 
 expected song. Standing near him, I soon 
 knew, by the motion of his lips, that he was 
 singing. But no one heard him; for I myself 
 could distinguish only the soft breathing of a 
 song of his that was familiar to me. After a 
 while the company, supposing that he was not 
 quite ready to begin, commenced talking again. 
 The bard sang on, and the song was finished; 
 but few beside myself at all suspected that he 
 had been singing, most supposing at last that, 
 for some reason, he had given up his intention. 
 But his own soul had floated off upon his mel- 
 ody, and he had that sufficient reward which 
 many a bard has, — the silent rapture of song. 
 But I believe and hope he was convinced that 
 we shared the pleasure with him." 
 
 Percival' s habit of abstraction early manifested 
 itself. During his student days at New Haven 
 he gave private instruction by way of eking out 
 his income. It is related by one of the boys 
 that he sometimes went to the poet's room to 
 recite when the latter was so deeply engrossed 
 in a book that he did not notice that any one 
 
had entered; frequently the caller, noting his 
 tutor's preoccupation, went away without Per- 
 cival's knowing that he had been there. 
 
 Another acquaintance tells of the following 
 circumstance: **Having seated himself at a desk 
 one evening to commence a poem for a coming 
 Society celebration, he was suddenly aroused by 
 what seemed to him a large conflagration, illum- 
 inaUng the apartment. He started to the win- 
 dow, and found the morning breaking in the 
 east. He had written all night, and his poem 
 was finished at a single heat.*' 
 
 Referring' to Percival's habit of carrying an 
 accordion under his old blue camlet cloak, Mr. 
 Charles Monson of New Haven some years ago 
 related this incident: 
 
 **I met him one day in Mr. Augur's room 
 thus equipped; and, as soon as it seemed to be 
 convenient, he introduced his then favorite topic 
 and proposed giving a touch of an old air which 
 he had lately found. (He was inquisitive about 
 old books containing musical notes of bygone 
 days, or of distant lands, and he was delighted 
 to pick up and to touch off ancient and rare 
 little musical airs.) Drawing out his accordion, 
 he leaned forward in the attitude and with the 
 
movements as if he were playing, his throat at 
 the same time swelling as in singing — but the 
 motions were all. We were attracted by his 
 intense expression, his sharp face, and delighted 
 look, when he suddenly turned and asked how 
 we liked it. Mr. Augur smiled, and I ex- 
 claimed, *Ha ! ha! why. Doctor, you have not 
 uttered the first sound.* *Why, did n't you 
 hear it?' said he. The Doctor heard it un- 
 doubtedly; but it was only by the ear of his 
 imagination." 
 
 aj 
 
VI 
 
 One early love aiFair Percival is known to 
 have had. His fellow townsman. Dr. Samuel 
 G. Goodrich, has told of it in his * 'Recollec- 
 tions of a Lifetime.** Percival at this time had 
 not attained his majority. ** About this time he 
 was frequently in the society of a beaudful and 
 accomplished young lady of the neighborhood; 
 he botanized with her in the fields, and poetized 
 with her in the library, and at last he thought 
 himself in love. Months thus ran pleasantly on, 
 when one day he made up his mind to give her 
 a delicate hint of his condition. He did so, I 
 believe, in verse. The young lady replied in 
 plain prose that she was engaged, and was 
 speedily to be married! The poet came to the 
 conclusion that this was a deceitful world, and 
 wrote Byronic verses." 
 
 This story may be true, and it may not. If 
 the former, then there were two love episodes 
 
in' the life of the poet. In his early manhood he 
 became a tutor in the family of Dr. Neil of 
 Philadelphia. The doctor's daughter was his 
 pupil, and he promptly fell in love with her. 
 **He was engaged in his customary instruction 
 one day, when he accidentally touched her hand. 
 This so overcame him that he blushed deeply, 
 became confused, could not say a word, and 
 finally left the room suddenly, — never to re- 
 turn.*' 
 
 From Philadelphia the poet went to New 
 Haven and there posted a letter to the object of 
 his passion, warmly declaring his feelings. A 
 reply from a member of her family dashed his 
 hopes: 
 
 <*Your former pupil, though impressed vnth a 
 grateful sense of the services she received from 
 you, (which we always fully appreciated,) and 
 feeling the esteem she believed due to your 
 character and principles, never, I must candidly 
 assure you, had a thought which could for a 
 moment encourage the object you avow. Kind- 
 ness for you and the dictates of duty prompt me 
 to inform you at once that there are existing cir- 
 cumstances which must now and forever render 
 such a desire unavailing.** 
 15 
 
Something of Percivars frame of mind at this 
 time may be gathered from letters to a friend: 
 
 **A young lady whom I once taught, and 
 loved too,** he wrote, **to whom I was so de- 
 voted that I am ashamed of it, and who, I am 
 bold to say, owes the best part of her mind to 
 me, has lately, I understand, been engaged to a 
 young Episcopal clergyman, — so the black coat 
 ran away with beauty. They make the dev- 
 otees; they connect the love of God with the 
 love of themselves, worm themselves into the 
 affections by a sort of religious courtship, and 
 finally steal them away from those frank and 
 open and high-toned spirits who disdain to offer 
 anything but their own naked merit. After all, 
 what a silly thing it is to regret a woman! — 
 dear sensibility, oh, la! those sighs, and tears, 
 and glances, and whispers, that cheek of roses, 
 and bosom of heaped-up lilies, and eye of diam- 
 ond, and _ breath like the perfume of Arabia, 
 what nonsense, and what stark lies, too, it begets 
 at the pure effervescence of a pure heavenly 
 spirit, and ends in — the straw! Why should 
 young ladies be so anxious to [be married?] 
 Every one wants a husband, and sets her cap for 
 him as nicely as decency will allow, and some- 
 26 
 
times more so. We call them, too, — angels, — 
 but they are too heavy to fly. A little dress, 
 and a little lisping and music and drawing, per- 
 haps a blue stocking filled full of title-pages and 
 technics. Is that unfair?** 
 
 Evidently he answered the latter question 
 himself, and in the affirmative, for shortly after 
 he recurred to the subject in another letter: 
 
 **St. Pierre says, in his beautiful tale of La 
 Chaumiere Indienne, that the best thing in the 
 world is a good wife. I have heard different 
 opinions from married men. Some are not dis- 
 posed to undervalue matrimony. They indeed 
 speak of it as a homely sort of happiness com- 
 pared with the bright visions of youth, but after 
 all much better than single blessedness. I have 
 heard others sneer at it and curse it. Either 
 they or their wives were in the wrong, I believe, 
 after all. St. Pierre was right, but the wife 
 must be good and the husband too. Now, to 
 speak seriously, it is time for me to marry, if I 
 ever do. I am approaching the critical period 
 when the world can call me 'old bachelor.* I 
 will make an effort to keep that title from me. 
 I have never yet seriously set about it, and really 
 I should make but green work of it. 
 27 
 
"Men have different motives for marrying. 
 Some marry a fortune, some a housewife, some 
 a nurse, others a family interest, others an im- 
 aginary mistress. For my part, I will marry a 
 woman whom I can love sincerely, if not enthu- 
 siastically, and in whom I can rationally bespeak 
 an intellectual companion. I have been influ- 
 enced by certain feelings on this subject which 
 perhaps are not common. In nothing have I so 
 much regretted my poverty and want of ener- 
 getic occupation as in this, that it prevented me 
 from giving an asylum to some one who had no 
 other claims upon me but her merit and affec- 
 tion. I once saw a beautiful girl who seemed 
 to me amiable and intelligent from her physiog- 
 nomy, but who was in obvious risk of a danger- 
 ous perversion. I tortured myself because I 
 could not gain such an influence over her as to 
 sway and form her mind and conduct, and be- 
 cause I could not give her those external advant- 
 ages which she had a right to demand. Few 
 would suppose me actuated by such motives; 
 most would imagine that, like all the rest, I was 
 actuated by feelings of selfish libertinism: but the 
 days of early youth are gone by, and possibly I 
 shall be compelled to live and die single. 
 28 
 
** Perhaps you will think I am snivelling. If 
 so, I stand reproved, and as Gibbie Girder says, 
 what more can a man do than stand reproved?** 
 
 Z9 
 
VII 
 
 Percival*s appearance invariably attracted at- 
 tention. Dr. Erasmus D. North, who became 
 in after years one of his staunchest friends, first 
 knew him as a sophomore in Yale College. **He 
 was in the College Chapel, standing up and 
 facing me in the seat next forward, while Dr. 
 Dwight was leading the devotions of the as- 
 sembled students. His classical features, his 
 blonde complexion, his large humid eyes with 
 dilated pupils, the tear starting and then setting 
 back into its well in the socket, his whole ex- 
 pression as of one who had no communion with 
 those around him, attracted my notice and led 
 me to inquire his name and character. Was that 
 sensibility, were those starting tears, the external 
 manifestation of the workings of his own mind, 
 or rather of the strong passive impression pro- 
 duced by the speaker's grand and musical voice, 
 with which he intoned his prayer?** 
 
 JO 
 
"An inexhaustible, undemonstrative, noiseless, 
 passionless man, scarcely evident to you by 
 physical qualities, and impressing you for the 
 most part as a creature of pure intellect,*' is the 
 way Prof. Shepard described him. "His ward- 
 robe was remarkably inexpensive, consisting of 
 little more than a single plain suit, brown or 
 gray, which he wore winter and summer, until 
 it became threadbare. He never used boots; 
 and his shoes, though carefully dusted, were 
 never blacked. A most unpretending bow fast- 
 ened his cravat of colored cambric. For many 
 years his only outer garment was a brown camlet 
 cloak, of very scanty proportions, thinly lined, 
 and a meagre protection against winter. His 
 hat was worn for years before being laid aside, 
 and put you in mind of the prevailing mode by 
 the law of contrast only. He was never seen 
 with gloves, and rarely with an umbrella. The 
 value of his entire wardrobe scarcely exceeded 
 fifty dollars; yet he was always neat, and ap- 
 peared unconscious of any peculiarity in his 
 costume. ' ' 
 
 His dress was always a little peculiar. In 
 college, while others wore their hair long, he had 
 his short; while others shaved, he allowed his 
 31 
 
beard to grow; and throughout life he never 
 blacked his shoes. In Wisconsin (he was 57 
 years old when he went to the then new state), 
 he became known as **01d Stonebreaker. " 
 
 •*The most of us that knew Dr. Percival did 
 not know him till he came to the West," said 
 Col. E. A. Calkins at a memorial meeting of 
 the Wisconsin Historical Society. <*He was 
 then far past his prime. He walked with his 
 head bent, his eyes cast downward, and with 
 slow and uncertain step. Those of our citizens 
 who often saw him will not soon forget his 
 aspect of poverty, almost of squalor — his tattered 
 grey coat, his patched pants — the repairs of his 
 own hands — and his weather-beaten glazed cap, 
 with earpieces of sheepskin, the wooly side in." 
 
 The late Horace Rublee, editor of The Mil- 
 waukee Sentinel, frequently saw Percival at the 
 state capital. He has thus described the poet: 
 "In person Percival was somewhat below the 
 medium height, and rather slight and frail. His 
 countenance was indicative of his extreme sensi- 
 tiveness and timidity; pale and almost bloodless; 
 the eye blue, with an iris unusually large, and 
 when kindled with animation, worthy of a poet; 
 the nose rather prominent, slightly Roman in 
 
outline, and finely chiseled; while the forehead, 
 high, broad, and swelling out grandly at the 
 temples, marked him as of the nobility of the 
 intellect. 
 
 **In his dress he was eccentric. He seemed 
 to withdraw himself as much as possible from all 
 intercourse with his fellow men, and to surrender 
 himself wholly to intellectual pursuits. During 
 the winter that he spent in our city, he scarcely 
 formed an acquaintance, and hardly one in fifty 
 of our citizens knew him by sight.'* 
 
VIII 
 
 Percival was poor, but he scorned charity. 
 His biographer, Julius H. Ward,^ relates that 
 Professor Silliman, noticing that the cap Percival 
 wore had become altogether too shabby, left 
 word with a hatter of New Haven to present 
 him with a new hat. In the most delicate man- 
 ner the merchant said to him that any hat upon 
 his shelves was at his service, but the poet 
 turned on his heel in contempt. 
 
 One Thanksgiving day, when it was known 
 that he must be suffering for the want of food, 
 the janitor of the Hospital sent him a generous 
 dinner. It remained at his door untouched. 
 
 A kinsman once paid him two dollars for in- 
 formation received from him. He had repeat- 
 edly refused to receive money; but it was slipped 
 
 J, For much information contained in this sketch I am in- 
 debted to Ward's "Life and Letters of J. G. Percival." Several 
 anecdotes are taken from this source without change except such 
 as was necessary to permit condensation. 
 
 34 
 
into his hand as they parted, with the expecta- 
 tion that Percival would keep it. In a few days, 
 however, the money was returned through one 
 of the booksellers. He thought it was the sacred 
 duty of the scholar to impart freely all the in- 
 formation he could, when applied to. 
 
 Concerning PercivaFs hermitage, his favorite 
 resorts and library, the good people of New 
 Haven manifested a keen interest in due propor- 
 tion to the care that he took to avoid gratifying 
 it. He detested prying curiosity. Percival at 
 one time had rooms in the upper story of the 
 State Hospital. Anybody seeking him there 
 would pass up two flights of stairs. The entry 
 door was tied by a rope, fastened on the inside, 
 but a rap brought the recluse to the door. Here 
 he would stand in the entry, no matter how 
 long, but never asking a visitor to enter. 
 
 It is related that on a summer day a stranger, 
 a showy gentleman with extra airs, had been 
 escorting some ladies through the Hospital 
 grounds, and then called on the janitor to show 
 the party up to Percival* s quarters. The janitor 
 went with the strangers to the foot of the second 
 flight of stairs, pointed to the door, and awaited 
 the reception. The gentleman's signal-knock 
 
was answered by the footsteps of the Doctor, 
 who unloosened the fastening, and on opening 
 the door, beheld the stranger and a lady on each 
 arm. 
 
 *'I am extremely happy,** said the eloquent 
 intruder in a measured and pompous accent, — 
 **I am extremely happy and rejoiced that I have 
 the honor to address the poet Percival.** 
 
 **Boo,** responded the Doctor, instantly shut- 
 ting the door and readjusting the fastening. 
 
 For other anecdotes concerning this curious 
 phase of the poet's eccentricides, a condensation 
 of Mr. Ward's account may properly be given 
 here: 
 
 "It was only by some ingenious artifice that 
 the inside of his rooms was ever seen. A young 
 physician, who was in attendance at the Hos- 
 pital, attempted it and succeeded. The poet 
 had a woodpile in the rear of the building, and 
 would often go out to cut his wood. The phy- 
 sician, observing him there one day, went out 
 and without a word began to split his wood. In 
 a few days the friendly act was repeated, but not 
 a word was exchanged; and so for some time 
 Percival found assistance in preparing his fiiel. 
 One day his new-made friend proposed to carry 
 36 
 
it up to his room. The offer was at first refiised, 
 then accepted; but he would allow the wood to 
 be brought no further than the door. Again it 
 was repeated, and the young doctor, as if in for- 
 getfulness, followed the poet into his hermitage, 
 took a hasty glance and retired in silence. 
 
 **His greatest difficulty while residing here 
 came from the curiosity of women, who were 
 always eying him as he went to and from his 
 rooms. There was one in particular, an un- 
 married woman as singular as he was, who had 
 taken rooms near his own, and who was obliged 
 to make use of the same hall. She gave him 
 great annoyance. He was fond of being out in 
 the night; his hours were never regular; and this 
 ancient dame was also fond of walking in the 
 darkness up and down the long corridor. He 
 would often see her as a dimly visible ghost in 
 the distance, or she would unexpectedly confront 
 him in daytime in the hall, muttering to herself, 
 but never speaking to him. He was afi-aid of 
 her, and came one day in great agitation to Dr. 
 Jewett, whom he always consulted when in any 
 trouble, setting forth her freaks and asking what 
 he could do. The Doctor, with cool audacity, 
 advised him to marry her, and that ended the 
 
 J7 
 
matter. It should be added, however, that his 
 rooms were afterwards partitioned off so that he 
 could have an entrance through the steward's 
 apartments. * ' 
 
 Percival's movements were often inexplicable. 
 He would go away for a week at a time, no one 
 knew where, often returning in the middle of 
 the night. Mr. Sheldon Moore, his life-long 
 friend, attributed his peculiarities of housekeeping 
 to his dire poverty. Too poor to board, he kept 
 bachelor's hall. His living was exceedingly 
 plain and simple. He used to go to the stores 
 in the evening to buy crackers, herrings, dried- 
 beef, fruit, and other food which could be easily 
 prepared; and as his health was often miserable, 
 it was no unusual thing for him to go whole days 
 without food. His personal expenses were in 
 this way reduced to a minimum; and as he had 
 his rooms for a nominal sum, he could live almost 
 upon nothing. This explains why he could 
 subsist so many years with no other means of 
 support than the chance jobs of scientific or liter- 
 ary work which came to him. 
 
 Some particulars of Percival's hermit life be- 
 came known in after years through the physician 
 who had charge of the Hospital where Percival 
 
 }8 
 
had his quarters. He was present when the rooms 
 were opened after Percival had left them, and 
 knew more of his habits at this time than any- 
 other person. Percival had three rooms. His 
 library and minerals were in one, his study in 
 another, his bedroom in another. His bed was 
 simply a cot, with mattress above. There were 
 no sheets, and a block of wood placed under 
 the mattress served for a pillow. Places at the 
 foot showed that he had laid down with his shoes 
 on, and it was evident that he had often slept in 
 his clothes. The rooms were very untidy, and 
 probably never swept. There were perhaps two 
 inches of rolling lint upon the floor. There was 
 a beaten path from his bed to his stove, to his 
 wTiting-table, to his library, and to the door. 
 
 The clerk in Hezekiah Howe's bookstore. 
 New Haven, who carried books by the bundle 
 to Percival' s lodgings in Broadway, where he 
 lived alone and in seclusion for some years, re- 
 lates that **upon no occasion would he permit 
 books to be brought to him except in the night 
 season; and no light was allowed. Indeed, it 
 was said that no one entered the building except 
 myself, who had the privilege of carrying up his 
 books. It was known that after providing scant- 
 
 ?9 
 
ily for his own subsistence the remainder of his 
 means was devoted to the purchase of books, 
 and even a considerable debt was contracted and 
 a mortgage of his books was made, which was 
 not removed until the settlement of his estate 
 after his death.** 
 
 The few years that Percival spent in Wiscon- 
 sin were uneventful, but he was as eccentric as 
 ever. One instance, related by the late Lyman 
 C. Draper, secretary of the State Historical 
 Society of Wisconsin, will serve to illustrate: 
 **He wanted a quiet boarding place. There was 
 then a widow residing here who had been many 
 years a successful teacher of young ladies, and 
 had a high admiration of Dr. Percival and his 
 poetry. She kept a few boarders, and he went 
 there. One day the lady happened to dress her 
 little boy in his presence. It so shocked him 
 that he immediately left and chose a new 
 home/* 
 
IX 
 
 As a philologist Percival was the most remark- 
 able man of his generation. Self-taught, he was 
 conversant with the literature, in the original, of 
 every country of Europe. Many of the dialects 
 he mastered sufficiently to employ in writing 
 poetry. When Ole Bull landed in this country, 
 Percival greeted him with a poem written in 
 Danish. Percival' s last printed poem was writ- 
 ten in German. Prof. Shepard says that he is 
 known to have written verse in thirteen different 
 languages; he imitated all the Greek and German 
 meters, amusing himself in 1823 with rendering 
 select passages from Homer in English hexa- 
 meters, with the encouraging approbation of 
 Prof. Kingsley. In the 40' s he printed a series 
 of excerpts from the three leading groups of 
 European languages — the Slavonic, the German, 
 the Romanic. Each of these groups embraces 
 four languages: the Slavonic — -Polish, Russian, 
 41 
 
Servian, Bohemian; the Germanic — German, 
 Low Dutch, Danish, Swedish; the Romanic — 
 Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French. 
 
 Material assistance was given by Percival to 
 Dr. Webster in the editorial work connected 
 with the publication of the great dictionary that 
 bears the name of the latter. Percival engaged 
 to correct the proofsheets, but speedily his great 
 scholarship in etymologies and the scientific bear- 
 ing of words caused his work to be greatly am- 
 plified. It amounted in fact to correcting and 
 editing of the manuscript. He was so painstak- 
 ing and so tenacious in upholding his opinions 
 that eventually a serious disagreement between 
 the lexicographer and himself led to his renre- 
 ment. He was evidently glad to break the con- 
 nection, for the labor had become onerous and 
 distasteful. 
 
 **My situation is one of disgust and toil," he 
 wrote to a friend in December, 1827. **As I 
 find it, I appear to be obliged to correct the 
 blunders of ignorance. I feel like the living tied 
 to the dead.'* 
 
 In the original edition of Webster's Dic- 
 tionary, published in two volumes in 1828, due 
 credit is given to Percival for his editorial work. 
 4» 
 
This disposes of the oft-repeated story that Noah 
 Webster ignored Percival's assistance through 
 motives of jealousy. 
 
 4i 
 
X 
 
 Had Percival lived a few years longer, doubt- 
 less he would have made New Haven his home 
 once more, for it was there that he caused to be 
 built that strangely -planned house that seemed 
 rather suited to be a monastic cell than a resi- 
 dence. Nathaniel Parker Willis thus described 
 the place: **New Haven is a vast cathedral, 
 with aisles for streets. Percival, the poet, I 
 fancy has felt this in designing the cottage. It 
 looks Hke a sarcophagus in a cathedral aisle. 
 Three blind windows on the front of a square 
 structure are the only signs of anything ever 
 going in or coming out of it, the door being in 
 the rear, I believe, and no sign of life visible in 
 the streets. I felt my heart kneel in passing. He 
 (Percival) is, I am sure, the purest and most 
 mere man of genius possible to our race. When 
 his struggling spirit shakes off this little hindrance 
 to his wings, — the visible shape by which we 
 
know him, — the ashes might properly be pre- 
 served in the sarcophagus he here built and pre- 
 tenanted. ' ' 
 
 Percival never occupied the house v^^hich he 
 had planned for his old age. He died in Hazel 
 Green, Wis., and there his grave remained un- 
 marked for many years. Finally, an admirer in 
 Connecticut interested himself in the matter, 
 secured $500 by subscription, and a monument 
 was erected over the grave. It bears this 
 inscription: 
 
 JAMES GATES PERCIVAL 
 born in 
 
 BERLIN CONNECTICUT 
 
 September 15 1795 
 
 Graduated at Yale College 
 
 B A 1815 M D i8zo 
 
 State Geologist 
 
 of 
 
 CONNECTICUT l8j5 184! 
 
 state Geologist 
 of 
 
 WISCONSIN 1854 1856 
 
 Died in Hazel Green 
 May 2 1856 
 
 EMINENT AS A POET 
 
 RARELY ACCOMPLISHED AS A 
 
 LINGUIST 
 
 LEARNED AND ACUTE IN SCIENCE 
 
 A MAN WITHOUT GUILE 
 
XI 
 
 In 1828, George P. Morris planned to pub- 
 lish in his New York Mirror **the likenesses of 
 nine living American poets.'* Percival's occu- 
 pied the center of the group. His associates 
 were Bryant, Sprague, Pierpont, Irving, Wood- 
 worth, Brooks, Pinckney and Halleck — these 
 being then regarded as the most promising Amer- 
 ican poets. Such is the curious caprice of fame. 
 
 Portraits of Percival are few. The Wiscon- 
 sin State Historical Society possesses an oil paint- 
 ing by Geo. A. Flagg. It was painted in New 
 Haven about 1 8 3 i , when the poet was in the 
 prime of life. Prof. S. F. B. Morse painted 
 his portrait in 1823, and Francis Alexander in 
 1825, but both of these paintings seem to have 
 disappeared. A steel engraving is prefixed to 
 the first volume of the blue-and-gold edition of 
 his poems. A process etching fi-om a photo- 
 graphic copy of the Flagg painting appears in 
 46 
 
'^Leading Events of Wisconsin History'* (Mil- 
 waukee, 1897). In Goodrich's * 'Recollections 
 of a Lifetime' ' is given what purports to be a 
 youthful representation of the poet, standing 
 bareheaded in the leafy woods. The same en- 
 graving appears in the first American edition of 
 Charles Lamb's poems (published in 1858); it 
 was evidently made to do duty a second time, 
 with a different label, by the thrifty publisher of 
 Goodrich's book of reminiscences. This gro- 
 tesque caricature has been several times repro- 
 duced in newspapers. Duyckinck's Cyclopedia 
 has a portrait from a wood engraving. 
 
 The catalogue of the Gluck collection belong- 
 ing to the Buffalo Library mentions a portrait 
 engraved by H. W. Smith from a painting by 
 Francis Alexander. 
 
 Percival's books are now difficult to procure. 
 The first edition and the three numbers of his 
 **Clio" occasionally turn up at auction in New 
 York or Boston, and bring prices that would 
 have meant much to the needy poet had the sale 
 occurred during his time. Others of his books 
 also sell at a considerable premium over the orig- 
 inal price. The rarest Percivahana are the small 
 geological pamphlets issued in Wisconsin; they 
 47 
 
are practically unprocurable. They were issued 
 in small editions. 
 
 The largest collection of Percival books is un- 
 doubtedly that owned by Mr. G. A. Sattig, of 
 New Haven, whose generous aid has enabled 
 the compilation which follows. Mr. John E. 
 Burton, of Lake Geneva, also owns a consider- 
 able number of the books written and edited by 
 Percival. 
 
 Poetical Works 
 
 Poems. New Haven, 1821. 
 
 i8mo. Contains Part I of Prometheus, and Zamor, a trag- 
 edy which he rejected from his later volumes. This, Pervival's 
 first book, is thus described by Mrs. Louise Tuthill, at whose 
 home Percival was a frequent visitor: "Such a volume! Poor 
 Percival! He who so dearly loved Elzevirs, and all other splen- 
 did editions of books! Some of your readers may remember 
 that small duodecimo, badly printed, on whity-brown paper, 
 with its dingy yellow cover; its leaves all rough and ragged at 
 the edges— a humble avant-coureur of the beautiful Volumes of 
 Pcrcival's poems which have since, from time to time, been 
 issued from the English and the American press." 
 
 The North American gave Percival's first book a handsome 
 notice in the number for January, i8i2. Edward Everett wrote 
 the review. "The little volume which he has presented us," 
 Everett wrote, "contains the marks of an inspiration more lofty 
 and genuine than any similar collection of fugitive pieces which 
 has come to our notice from a native bard." 
 
 Clio. By James G. Percival. No. i . Che sia 
 fra i magnanimi pochi! — Petrarca. Charles- 
 48 
 
ton: Published by S. Babcock & Co. C. C. 
 Sebring, Printer, 1822. 
 
 i2mo., 108 pp. Percival went to Charleston in the latter 
 part of the year 1821, Some of the best verses written by him 
 were the fruits of his enforced leisure in that city. ? His Coral 
 Grove and poems alluding to the sea were written there and were 
 published in the Charleston Courier. In those days Charleston 
 was the pride of the Southern cities, and Percival was given a 
 cordial greeting by its warmhearted people. The Babcocks, 
 who published his Clio, were former residents of New Haven. 
 The volume brought Percival reputation, but did not assist him 
 financially. Failing to earn sufficient income for his support, 
 Percival left his Southern friends in March, 1822. 
 
 Clio. By James G. Percival. No. 2. Qui 
 
 ne salt se bornery ne sut jamais ecrire. — Boileau. 
 New-Haven: Printed and published by S. Con- 
 verse, 1822. 
 
 i2mo. IJ2 pp. As with the first Clio, the circulation of 
 the second part was limited. An appreciative review, written by 
 Dr. Samuel Gilman, appeared in the North American for Jan- 
 uary, 182J. 
 
 Prometheus, Part II, and other Poems. New 
 Haven, 1822. 
 
 i8mo. One thousand copies were printed of this brochure 
 of 108 pages. The poet Whittier wrote of the leading poem in 
 1830, in the New England Weekly Review: "His Prometheus is 
 a noble poem. There is no affcctedness about it; all is grand 
 and darkly majestic. It has i&^ soft and delicate passages, no 
 tinge of the common love-poetry of the day. . . . He left such 
 things to the dandies in literature — to our love-sick and moon- 
 struck race of rhymers, and went forth in the dignity and power 
 of a man to grapple with the dark thoughts which thronged be- 
 fore him, moulding them into visible and tangible realities. The 
 49 
 
apostrophe to the sun, in this poem, we have ever looked upon 
 as the most magnificent specimen of American poetry within our 
 knowledge." 
 
 Poems, by James G. Percival. New York: 
 Charles Wiley, 3 Wall Street. Wm. Grattan, 
 Printer, 1823. 
 
 8vo. jq6 pp. This volume has a curious history. Mr. 
 Charles Wiley was at this time one of the chief literary magnates 
 of New York. "In the rear of his store the choice litterateurs of 
 the day had a sort of club-room, where they often met for the 
 interchange of literary and social life. Here Cooper and Bryant 
 and Stone and Goodrich were often seen; and here they suggest- 
 ed to Wiley the publication of Percival's poetry in a form be- 
 fitting such brilliant productions. To this Wiley consented, and 
 they at once drew up a contract. The volume was to be an octavo 
 of about four hundred pages, published 'in a style equal to the 
 Sketch-Book in all respects,' to be bound in boards, and to 
 sell for three dollars per volume. The edition was to be one of 
 seven hundred and fifty copies. Wiley engaged a room for Per- 
 cival, and he was to remain in town while the work was passing 
 through the press." 
 
 Percival gathered his manuscripts together and repaired to 
 New York to supervise the publication. He tarried but briefly. 
 "His room smoked, and the Frenchmen in an adjoining room 
 kept up a continual playing upon the violin." Percival left. His 
 sudden and unexplained disappearance surprised the friends who 
 had interested themselves in his behalf, among them Col. W. L. 
 Stone. In letters sent by Percival to friends, he writes in disgust 
 of New York: "That city is completely Gothamized in my 
 sight." He was at this time in painfully reduced circumstances. 
 **I shall write you a letter on coarse paper, because I have no 
 better, and have nothing wherewith to buy any better," he 
 wrote to James Lawrence Yvonnet. "I am absolutely without a 
 cent. ... I am now compelled to sell myself as a weekly laborer 
 to the assignees of the paper [The New Haven Herald] for a mere 
 living. I am absolutely reduced as low as a man of talents can 
 50 
 
be. ... I am goaded to that state of irritation where a little ex- 
 citement might upset the balance." 
 
 In some of his letters Percival is very bitter relative to his 
 dealings with Wiley. Col. Stone's efforts to bring about harmony 
 between publisher and poet finally succeeded, and the volume 
 came from the press in November, iSzj. 
 
 Poems, by James G. Percival, M. D. Vol. 
 I and 2. London: John Miller, 5, New-Bridge 
 Street, Blackfriars, 1824. 
 
 8vo. pp. 257 and 272. The publication in England of 
 Percival's poems was brought about through the efforts of Dr. 
 Goodrich. The publisher lost one hundred pounds sterling by 
 this venture. 
 
 A Poem, **The Mind", delivered before the 
 Connecticut Phi Beta Kappa Society, September 
 13, 1825. New Haven, 1825. 
 
 8vo. Few copies of this poem were sold. In the March 
 number of the United States Review for 1826, William Cullen 
 Bryant praises it as "a production of singular beauty." Henry 
 Ware, Jr., printed a severe criticism of the poem in the North 
 American Review for April, 1826. 
 
 Poem, delivered before the Connecticut Alpha 
 of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, September 13, 
 1825, by James G. Percival. Published at the 
 request of the Society. Boston: Published by 
 Richardson and Lord, Washington Street. Press 
 of the North American Review. W. L. Lewis, 
 printer, 1826. 
 
 i2mo. pp. 40. 
 
 51 
 
^Clio. By James G. Percival. No. 3. ^lae 
 tantae tenuere morae? G. and C. Carvill, New 
 York. Elliott & Palmer, print. 1827. 
 
 izmo. pp. 204. This volume failed to meet the approbation 
 of magazine critics, the Southern Review for May, 1828, being 
 especially caustic in its comments. The December, 1827, Amer- 
 ican Quarterly reviews the third Clio at great length. 
 
 The Dream of a Day, and Other Poems, by 
 James G. Percival. New Haven: Printed and 
 published by S. Babcock, 121 Chapel Street, 
 1843. 
 
 l2mo. pp. 264. These poems introduce a great variety of 
 measures — more than one hundred and fifty different forms or 
 modifications of stanza. Sixteen years had elapsed since the 
 publication of Percival's last volume, when his Dream of a Day 
 appeared. The book received brief mention in the Knicker- 
 bocker, Graham's Magazine and the North American Review, 
 and more extended notice in the Democratic Review for April, 
 1844, and in the New York Evangelist. 
 
 Poems. New Haven, 1851. 
 
 i8mo. pp. 346. 
 
 The Poetical Works of James Gates Percival. 
 With a biographical sketch; in two volumes. 
 Boston; Ticknor and Fields, 1859. 
 
 l6mo. pp. 402-517; portrait. Blue and gold edition. The 
 biographical sketch was written by S. W. Fitch. 
 
 Percival left in manuscript a volume of Studies 
 in Verse, which according to the preface written 
 
 5* 
 
by himself comprised **a series of attempts at 
 imitating the verse of different languages.'* The 
 poems are in imitation of verse in the following 
 languages: Sanscrit, Persian, Arabic, Greek, 
 Italian, French, German, Gaelic, Welsh, Danish, 
 Swedish, Scottish, Norse, Flemish, Finnish, Bo- 
 hemian, Servian, Russian. **In the specimens 
 here given," he says in his preface, **I have en- 
 deavored to catch something of the form, color 
 and spirit of the poetry of the diiferent lan- 
 guages." 
 
 Percival was a frequent contributor to the 
 United States Literary Gazette. He also con- 
 tributed to numerous gift books and annuals, and 
 specimens of his poetry appear in many compila- 
 tions and in every American anthology printed 
 within the last forty years. 
 
 SHEET MUSIC 
 
 Lines to be sung at the meeting of the Yale 
 College Association of Alumni, August 17, 
 1842. Words by Doctor Percival. Tune — 
 Lenox. 
 
 I leaf. n. p. n .d. 
 
 The Carrier Pigeon, as sung with unbounded 
 applause by Mrs. Holman at the New York 
 Theater. The words by the American Bard, 
 
 S3 
 
Percival, the music by P. K. Moran. Published 
 by E. W. Jackson, No. 44 Market St., Boston. 
 
 J pp. n. d. 
 
 SONG BOOK 
 
 New Haven Whig Song Book. [1840] 
 
 Published by the Whig General Committee for the use of 
 the New Haven County Mass Convention, which was held on 
 Thursday, Oct. 8, 1840. 
 
 Geological Reports 
 
 Report on the Geology of the State of Con- 
 necticut, by James G. Percival. Published under 
 the direction of the Commissioners appointed by 
 the Legislature. New Haven: Osborn and Bald- 
 win, printers. 1842. 
 
 8vo. 495 pp. Map. 
 
 Geological Reports on the Middletown, (N. 
 Y.) Silver Lead Mines. New York, 1853. 
 
 8vo. J. G. Percival was assisted by W. H. Stevens. 
 
 Report on the Kensington Lead Mines, Ber- 
 lin, Conn. New Haven, 1853. 
 
 8vo. 
 
 Report on the Iron of Dodge and Washington 
 Counties, Wisconsin. Milwaukee, 1855. 
 
 8vo. Plate. 
 
 Annual Report on the Geological Survey of 
 
 54 
 
the State of Wisconsin, by James G. Percival. 
 Madison: Beriah Brown, printer, 1855. 
 
 izmo. loi pp. 
 
 Annual Report on the Geological Survey of 
 the State of Wisconsin, by James G. Percival. 
 Madison: Calkins and Proudfit, printers, 1856. 
 
 izmo. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings 
 ^ Physiological and Chemical Researches on the 
 Use of Prussic Acid, by F. Magendie. New 
 Haven, 1820. 
 
 izmo. A translation. 
 
 Oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa 
 Society of Connecticut, Sept. 10, 1822, on 
 some of the moral and poetical Truths derivable 
 from the Study of History. New Haven, 1822. 
 
 8vo. 
 
 Elegant Extracts: in Prose, Poetry, and Epis- 
 tles, originally compiled by V. Knox; new edi- 
 tion, prepared by James G. Percival. Boston. 
 (1826) 
 
 8vo. 6 vols. 
 
 A Geographical View of the World, embrac- 
 ing the Manners, Customs and Pursuits of every 
 
 or 
 
 C. 
 
Nation; founded on the best authorities. By 
 Rev. J. Goldsmith. Revised, corrected and 
 improved by James G. Percival, M. D. New 
 York, 1826. 
 
 Second American edition published by D. F. Robinson & 
 Co., Hartford, 1833. 
 
 A System of Universal Geography, with a 
 Description of all Parts of the World, on a new 
 plan according to the great Natural Divisions of 
 the Globe, accompanied with analytical, synopti- 
 cal and elementary tables by M. Malte-Brun, 
 editor of the **Annales des Voyages,*' etc. 
 With Additions and Corrections by James G. 
 Percival. In three volumes. Boston: Printed 
 and published by Samuel Walker, 1834. 
 
 4to. pp. 640, 680, 714. A second edition was printed in 
 1844-45. 
 
 The Wonders of the World; comprising the 
 most remarkable Curiosities of Nature and Art 
 described according to the latest Authorities, and 
 illustrated by engravings, by the Rev. C. C. 
 Clarke. A new edition, revised and corrected 
 by James G. Percival. New Haven: Printed and 
 published by S. Babcock. [1836] 
 
 8vo. 614 pp. 
 
 In 1827 Percival assisted in compiling Web- 
 56 
 
ster*s Dicrionary; he also assisted in the thorough 
 revision of Dr. Goodrich's edition of Webster's 
 Dictionary, twenty years later. 
 
 Book and Magazine References 
 The following are some of the principal refer- 
 ences to Percival in books: 
 Bibliography. Stone's First Editions of Ameri- 
 can Authors, p. I 55, 
 
 — Leon's First Editions of American Authors, 
 
 p. 28. 
 ^ — Foley's American Authors, p. 225. 
 Critical Estimate. Stedman's Poets of America, 
 p. 38. 
 
 "Percival, the eccentric scholar and recluse, shines by 
 virtue of a gift improved by no mean culture. His lyrics 
 and poems of nature, though inferior to Bryant's, so 
 resemble them that he would be called the latter's pupil, 
 had not the two composed in the same manner from 
 the outset." 
 
 — Richardson's American Literature, p. 29. 
 
 "When one has patiently read the eight hundred pages 
 containing the poetical works of Percival, the chief of 
 the Connecticut bards of the second generation, it is 
 difficult to pay him even the relative praise that belongs 
 to a pioneer. Percival repeatedly crosses, in the wrong 
 direction, the line that separates the sublime from the 
 ridiculous, the soulful from the sentimental." 
 
 — Venable's Beginnings of Literary Culture in 
 
 the Ohio Valley, p. 271. 
 
 "From the 'Atlantic country' came the melody of Perci- 
 val's Clio, the most celebrated poetry that had yet been 
 
 57 
 
produced in America. 'Pcrcival is' deservedly first of 
 American bards', wrote the editor of the Cincinnati 
 Literary Gazette in 1824." 
 
 — Whipple's Essays and Reviews, v. i, p. 53. 
 
 Eulogies. Wis. Historical Colls., v. 3, p. 66. 
 ^ Life and Letters of, by Julius H. Ward. Boston, 
 1866. 
 
 Manuscripts of. Descriptive Catalogue of the 
 Gluck Collection of Manuscripts and Auto- 
 graphs in the Buffalo PubUc Library. Buf- 
 falo, 1899. 
 
 Satire, by **Lavante" on the Poets and Poetry 
 of America, reprinted from the original, 
 published in Philadelphia in 1847; with an 
 introductory argument by Geoffrey Quarles 
 to show that it was written by Edgar Allan 
 Poe. 
 
 Written in the manner of Byron's English Bards and 
 Scotch Reviewers. The Quarles reprint is dated 1887. 
 "Grave as the grave and more comical 
 In solemn suit appears great Percival, 
 A moonshine wit with something of the calf, 
 A mooncalf clown, the hero of a laugh! 
 Who Cobb and Webster tortures into rhyme 
 Without one thought to fill the vacant time; 
 To him all art, all argument, supremely flat 
 Appear, like metaphysics to a cat; 
 So like the mole, so fitted for the dark, 
 The mental eye ne'er saw a mental spark!" 
 
 Selections from the poems of. American Son- 
 nets. Boston, 1890. 
 
 58 
 
— An American Anthology; edited by Stedman. 
 
 Boston, 1900. 
 
 — Bryant's Library of Poetry and Song. 
 
 — Cambridge Book of Poetry. 
 
 — Fireside Encyclopedia of Poetry. 
 
 — Golden Leaves from the American Poets. 
 
 New York, 1865. 
 
 — Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America. 
 
 — Harper's Cyclopedia of British and American 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 — Poems of the Months. Boston. 
 
 — Poems of the Pilgrims. Boston, 1882. 
 
 — 'Round the World with the Poets. Boston. 
 
 — Three Centuries of Song; edited by Whittier. 
 Sketch of L. W. Fitch, introduction to col- 
 lected poems, V. I. Boston, 1859. 
 
 — Allibone's Dictionary of Authors, v. 2. 
 
 — Duyckinck's Cyclopedia of American Litera- 
 
 ture, V. 2. New York, 1866, 
 
 — Goodrich's Recollections of a Lifetime, chap- 
 
 ter 36. 
 
 Excellent sketches of Percival were contributed to the 
 Milwaukee Sentinel by Mr. John E. Burton, June 25, 
 1897; by Mrs. E. S. Martin. Feb. 5, 1899. Mr. Burton 
 described a pilgrimage to the grave. 
 
 The following are the principal references to 
 Percival in magazines: 
 
 59 
 
Percival, James G. (James Russell Lowell) 
 North American Review, v. 104, p. 278. 
 
 — (G. M. Beard) Hours at Home, v. 4, p 243. 
 
 — (D. C. Gilman) Nation, v. 3, p. 346. 
 
 — (C. U. Shepard) Atlantic, v. 4, p. 59. 
 
 — Knickerbocker, v. 48, p. 89. 
 
 — New England Magazine, v. 2, p. 408. 
 
 — Living Age, v. 49, p. 735- 
 
 Classic Melodies. (E. D. North) New Eng- 
 
 lander, v. 2, p. 81. 
 CUo. American Quarterly, v. 2, p. 482. 
 
 — (S. Gilman) North American Review, v. 
 
 16, p. 102. 
 
 — Southern Review, v. i, p. 442. 
 
 Early Poetry of. Southern Literary Messenger, 
 V. 24, p. 170. 
 
 Life and Character of. Christian Examiner, v. 
 67, p. 227. 
 
 Life and Letters of. (J. T. Tucker) Congrega- 
 tional Review, v. 7, p. 20. 
 
 Life and Poems of. (E. W. Robbins) New 
 Englander, v, 17, p. 400. 
 
 Phi Beta Kappa Oration. (H. Ware) North 
 American Review, v. 22, p. 317. 
 
 Poems. (Edward Everett) North American 
 Review, v. 14, p. i. 
 
— (J. H. Ward) North American Review, v. 
 
 91, p. 72. 
 
 — Democratic Review, v. 14, p. 365. 
 
 — Southern Quarterly, v. 5, p. 187. 
 
 — Christian Monthly Spectator, v. 4, p. 643. 
 
 — Monthly Review, v. 105, p. 315. 
 
 — Music, v. 5, p. 542. 
 
 — United States Literary Gazette, v. i, p. 65. 
 Prometheus. Christian Disciple, v. 5, p. 129. 
 Recollections of. Putnam's Magazine, v. 8, p. 
 
 638. 
 Ward's Life of. (T. Dwight) New Englander, 
 v. 26, p. 303. 
 
3i^77-5