304 



DANA, RICHARD H. 



DARGAN, EDMUND S. 



D 



DANA, RICHARD HENEY, editor, poet, and 

 essayist, was born in Cambridge, Mass., No- 

 vember 15, 1787, and died in Boston, Febru- 

 ary 2, 1879. He passed nine years of bis early 

 life at Newport, R. I., and in 1804 entered Har- 

 vard College, and left in 1807 without gradu- 

 ation. His regular studies were, however, com- 

 pleted at Newport during the next two years. 

 He was admitted to the practice of law in 1811. 

 He still further pursued his legal studies in 

 Baltimore, and after a time returned to Boston, 

 and was elected a member of the Legislature. 

 Being more inclined to literature than to legal 

 practice, he became a member of the Anthol- 

 ogy Club, by which the publication of the 

 " North American Review " was commenced 

 in 1815. To that work Mr. Dana contributed 

 his earliest writings his essay, on "Old 

 Times," an article on Allston's " Sylph of the 

 Seasons," and papers on the Edgeworths, Haz- 

 litt, and Irving. His writings were distin- 

 guished not only by their ability, but because 

 of the boldness with which they assailed some 

 received opinions, to question the justice of 

 which was held to be heretical action. In 1820 

 he withdrew from the "Review," and soon 

 after started a periodical for tales and essays 

 called " The Idle Man," which went through 

 six numbers, and contained some of the best 

 of his pieces. His first poem, " The Dying 

 Raven," was sent to the " New York Review," 

 then (1821) edited by Bryant ; the "Husband 

 and Wife's Grave " appeared in the same peri- 

 odical. In 1827 "The Buccaneer and Other 

 Poems " appeared in a small volume, and in 

 1833 these poems and his prose articles from 

 " The Idle Man " were published. These po- 

 ems and prose writings were republished in 

 1850, in two 12mo volumes. The " United 

 States Review," in 1826-'27, contained articles 

 from his pen on Mrs. Radcliffe and Charles 

 Brockden Brown. In 1839 and the following 

 year he wrote a series of ten critical essays 

 upon Shakespeare's characters, and these were 

 delivered in 1839-'40 in Boston, New York, 

 Philadelphia, and many other cities. They 

 were received with much favor, and are among 

 his most valuable contributions to literature. 

 He was also a contributor to the " Spirit of the 

 Pilgrims," writing for it papers on Pollok's 

 " Course of Time," pamphlets on " Contro- 

 versy," "Natural History of Enthusiasm," and 

 " Henry Martyn." To the " American Quarter- 

 ly Observer" he furnished an article on "The 

 Past and the Present," and to the " Biblical 

 Repository " one on "Law as suited to Man." 

 His connection with periodical literature ceased 

 in 1835, just as that literature was beginning 

 to show some signs of becoming a paying pur- 

 suit. 



The first fifty years of his life Mr. Dana 



was regarded as an invalid on account of tlie 

 morbid condition of his nervous system; but 

 after that period his health began to mend, 

 and from the age of sixty-five to within a few 

 weeks of his death he was in excellent bodily 

 condition. Most of his life was passed in re- 

 tirement and literary pursuits. He had no 

 taste for active affairs, and never sought popu- 

 larity. His personal appearance at the time of 

 his eighty-fifth year, with his whitened locks 

 and flowing beard, is described as attracting 

 marked attention on the street. In his home, 

 however, he was seen to the best advantage as 

 a gentleman of the old school, with "his mild 

 countenance and soft, beaming eyes of grayish- 

 blue, lighting up his face, otherwise marked by 

 sorrow and deep thought." His forehead was 

 high and broad. His person was slight, and a 

 little below the medium height. 



DARGAN, EDMUND SPAWN, a Congressman 

 and Chief Justice, born in Montgomery County, 

 North Carolina, April 15, 1805, died in Mobile, 

 Alabama, afeout November 22, 1879. He was 

 the son of a Baptist minister of Irish descent, 

 at whose death the son was left without means 

 wherewith to acquire an education ; but by his 

 own exertions he obtained a fair knowledge of 

 English, Latin, and Greek. He was engaged 

 on a farm till he was twenty-three years old, 

 and then read law in the office of Joseph Picket 

 at Wadesboro. In 1829 he went to Alabama, 

 and taught school three months at Washington, 

 Autauga County. Here he was elected a justice 

 of the peace, and filled that office for some 

 years, in the mean time practicing law. In 

 1833 he removed to Montgomery, and there 

 rose rapidly in his profession. In 1840 he was 

 a candidate for the State Legislature, and de- 

 feated. A year later he was elected by the 

 General Assembly to the bench of the Circuit 

 Court of the Mobile District, and at once re- 

 moved to Mobile. He resigned the office of 

 Judge in 1842, and in 1844 was elected to the 

 State Senate from Mobile. He resigned the 

 following year, when he became the nominee 

 of his party for Congress, and was elected. 

 While in Congress the question of the north- 

 western boundary of Oregon became very im- 

 portant. On this he made an able speech and 

 offered some valuable amendments to the reso- 

 lution of notice. He declined a renomination ; 

 and a vacancy occurring on the bench of the 

 Supreme Court, he was elected by the Legisla- 

 ture, at the session of 1847, to till the place. 

 In July, 1849, he became Chief Justice by the 

 resignation of Justice Collier. He occupied 

 this position till December, 1852, when he re- 

 signed and resumed the practice of law in 

 Mobile. He was not again in public life till 

 1861, when he was elected a delegate to the 

 State Convention of that year, and voted for 



