BARRETT WENDELL. 519 



years later he became a full Professor of English, holding that office 

 until 1917, when he resigned and was chosen Professor Emeritus. 



During the thirty-seven years of his incumbency at Harvard 

 Wendell was a positive constructive force in the fields of English 

 composition and of comparative literature. He substituted for more 

 formal methofls a frank incisiveness of speech and an independence of 

 outlook that challengefl the interest and won the affection of nearly 

 three generations of students. The class room audiences who found 

 his controversial attitude engaging never failed to perceive the wisdom, 

 genial humor and passionate sympathy with what is best in literature 

 that underlay his marked and sometimes whimsical peculiarities. To 

 the individual seeking aid he gave of himself in generous measure 

 never to be forgotten b^^ the recipient. 



From the outset of his career as a teacher of English Wendell was 

 also an industrious writer. Before the appearance in 1891 of his 

 "English Composition," a text book widely adopted, he had pub- 

 lished two novels, "The Duchess Emilia" in 1885 and "Rankell's 

 Remains" in 1887. In the following order appeared " Cotton ^Mather," 

 1891; "Stelligeri and Other Essays Concerning America," 1893; 

 "William Shakespeare, a Study in Elizabethan Literature," 1894; 

 "A Literary History of America," 1900; "Raleigh in Guiana," 

 "Rosamond" and " A Christmas IVIasque," 1902; "The Temper of the 

 Seventeenth Century in English Literature" (his lectures at Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, England, in 1902-1903-1904), 1904; "History 

 of Literature in America" (written in collaboration with Chester N. 

 Greenough), 1904; "Liberty, L'nion and Democracy — the National 

 Ideals of America," 1906; "The France of Today," 1907; "The 

 Privileged Clas.ses," 1908; "The Mystery of Education," 1909; and 

 finally, in 1920, "The Traditions of European Literature," the second 

 and concluding volume of which was interupted by his final illness. 



Of these writings it may be said that his "Cotton Mather" and his 

 "English Composition" stand out in the product of his early period; 

 his "A Literary History of America," which contradicted the judg- 

 ments of the sages and aspersed some idols, has become with time a 

 standard treatise; his "The France of Today" (delivered originally 

 as Lowell lectures) opened the eyes of Americans to their ignorance of 

 French racial characteristics. The sympathetic insight displayed in 

 this book was so deeply appreciated by the French people that since 



