JOHN LOWELL. 637 



la May, 1884, a little more than nineteen years after his first appoint- 

 ment to the bench, Judge Lowell resigned his position as Circuit Judge, 

 and resumed the practice of the law in Boston. His long period of ju- 

 dicial service had given the public ample opportunity to recognize his 

 legal ability and wisdom, and from the time he returned to the bar until 

 his last short illness, he was fully occupied with professional work. He 

 served as arbitrator, or sat as a commissioner or special master in many 

 causes and matters of importance ; he was retained as counsel in litiga- 

 tions involving large interests and difficult questions, and his advice was 

 constantly sought in solving the perplexities that arise in the administra- 

 tion of the law of bankruptcy. Fortunately for him this professional 

 work was interesting and stimulating and sufficiently engrossing to dis- 

 tract his mind from domestic griefs and anxieties, which weighed upon 

 him heavily at intervals. 



During these years he two or three times visited Europe in the summer 

 with his family, before a severe accident to his wife rendered it difficult 

 for her to travel. 



He married, in 1853, Lucy Buckminster, the only daughter of Mr. 

 George B. Emerson and of Olivia Buckminster, his wife, daughter of 

 the Rev. Joseph Buckminster of Portsmouth, N. H., and sister of the 

 Rev. Joseph Stevens Buckminster of Brattle Square Church, Boston. 

 For some time after his marriage Judge Lowell lived at No. 11 Chest- 

 nut Street, in the house in which his wife was born, but in 1858 he 

 purchased a farm lying between Chestnut Hill and Hammond's Pond, 

 where he lived until his death on the 14th of May, 1897. He had 

 inherited a taste for country life and an interest in trees and plants, 

 shrubs and flowers, from which he derived during these years great enjoy- 

 ment ; and the time which he passed in going about his place, in looking 

 at the improvements he had made, and considering those which he pro- 

 posed to make, undoubtedly contributed to the preservation of his health 

 and the prolongation of his life. He was not a man of remarkable 

 physique, yet until his last illness it is doubtful whether he was ever 

 detained from his office for two days at a time by any physical ailment. 



In addition to the labors of his profession, he filled during these latter 

 years many positions of importance and responsibility. In 1896 he was 

 appointed by Goveimor Wolcott chairman of the commission to revise 

 the laws of Massachusetts on the subject of taxation, and held this office 

 at the time of his death. He was also Vice-President of the Massachu- 

 setts General Hospital, of which he had been for many years one of the 

 Trustees ; was President of the Trustees of the Peabody Fund, an Overseer 



