FIELDS, JAMES T. 



son and Thomas De Quincey. The latter wel- 

 comed him to his house, and accompanied him 

 on several excursions in Scotland. One day 

 they walked fourteen miles together on a visit 

 to Roslin Castle, De Quincey beguiling the 

 time, and cheating the miles of their weariness, 

 with anecdotes of earlier days, when Coleridge, 

 Southey, and Charles Lamb were his compan- 

 ions among the Westmoreland hills. In 1858 

 Mr. Fields collected, edited, and published the 

 first complete edition of De Quincey's works, 

 in twenty volumes. "While contributing the 

 productions of his busy brain to the literature of 

 his time, and enjoying the pleasures of travel, 

 Mr. Fields was energetically assisting in the 

 business to which he had devoted himself in 

 boyhood, and the firm of which he was a mem- 

 ber held a leading position in the book-trade 

 of America. From the time Mr. Fields entered 

 it until his retirement from business on Janu- 

 ary 1, 1871, the firm, under its several changes 

 of name, advanced steadily with the times, and 

 for years the books bearing its imprint have 

 been noted for their sterling character and for 

 the beauty of their mechanical execution. To- 

 day two of the most prominent publishing firms 

 in the world represent the firm of Fields, Os- 

 good & Co., which was dissolved on the retire- 

 ment of Mr. Fields Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

 being the direct successors, while the firm of 

 James R. Osgood & Co. is 'an offshoot. Dur- 

 ing the later portion of his career, Mr. Fields 

 edited the "Atlantic Monthly," which was es- 

 tablished in November, 1857, by Messrs. Phil- 

 lips & Sampson, with Professor James Russell 

 Lowell as editor. In January, 1860, this mag- 

 azine passed into the hands of Ticknor & Fields, 

 and largely owes its success in the world of pe- 

 riodical literature to the labors of the distin- 

 guished poet and publisher. 



After withdrawing from active business, 

 Mr. Fields occupied his leisure with such liter- 

 ary pursuits as were most congenial to him. 

 In 1858 he received the honorary degree of 

 A. M. from Harvard University, and in 1867 

 that of LL. D. from Dartmouth College, and 

 to the last his private life comported well with 

 his public honors. Those saw him best who 

 met him in his own home, environed by the 

 hooks, the pictures, and the personal memen- 

 tos dear to his heart. His large, strengthful 

 frame, genial face, and massive head, covered 

 with dark hair tinged with gray, appeared to 

 their highest advantage in the spacious library 

 where most of his time was spent, and from 

 whose windows a fine view of the Charles River 

 was presented. Here the grave discourse of 

 the scholar was brightened by the sparkling 

 wit and varied narrative of the traveled man 

 of the world ; nor did the silent presence of 

 the ten thousand or more volumes that com- 

 posed his library check the generous outflow 

 of sympathy which is inseparable from opulent 

 natures. In a small study adjoining his library 

 Mr. Fields did most of his writing. Two tiers 

 of book-shejves, forming an alcove by his desk, 



held the books which he most frequently con- 

 sulted ; the walls were adorned with portraits 

 and the choicest of his literary memorials and 

 autographs autograph copies of Tennyson's 

 "Bugle-Song," and Mrs.Hemans's " The Break- 

 ing Waves dashed high," among them. Ad- 

 mittance to this room, and the sight of its 

 treasures, were things to be remembered. In 

 the fourth story of this house is a room known 

 as " the Author's Chamber," which has been oc- 

 cupied by Hawthorne and Whittier, by Dickens, 

 MacDonald, Thackeray, Kingsley, and many 

 other distinguished men of letters. Adjoining it 

 is a study well filled with books, and with furni- 

 ture that is old and quaint. Mr. Fields's summer- 

 house was on Thunderbolt Hill, at Manchester- 

 by-the-sea, with charming outlooks, land and 

 seaward. Mrs. Fields, the author of "Under 

 the Olives," had christened it Gambrel Cottage, 

 and Mr. William Black, in his novel, " Green 

 Pastures and Piccadilly," describes the view 

 from its verandas. Mr. Fields contributed to 

 the leading periodicals of the day, and his 

 writings are distinguished for a clear and fin- 

 ished style and for their accuracy. His "Yester- 

 days with Authors " is a volume made up of a 

 series of sketches first published in the " At- 

 lantic Monthly," under the title of " The Whis- 

 pering Gallery," and afterward considerably 

 enlarged. It contains papers of anecdote, remi- 

 niscences, and criticisms relating to Thackeray, 

 Hawthorne, Dickens, Wordsworth, Miss Mil- 

 ford, and " Barry Cornwall and some of his 

 Friends." Several of these were afterward pub- 

 lished as separate volumes in the " Vest-Pocket 

 Series." " Underbrush " is a small volume in 

 the " Little Classic " form, containing a number 

 of essays on literary and social topics, among 

 them one entitled " My Friend's Library," in 

 which is given a pleasant account of some of 

 his own literary treasures. 



" The Family Library of British Poetry " is 

 a stout volume of a thousand pages, containing 

 selections from the best British poets from 

 Chaucer to Tennyson, and edited by Mr. Fields 

 and Mr. Whipple conjointly. Under snch edi- 

 torship the book could not fail to be a most 

 valuable one. A companion volume, devoted 

 to British prose, was projected by Mr. Fields. 

 " Ballads and other Verses " is made up in part 

 of poems that had been previously privately 

 published, and in part of fresh material ; these 

 poems vary from grave to gay, and were ac- 

 corded a very warm welcome. ISome of Mr. 

 Fields's most valuable literary labor was ex- 

 pended on lectures delivered before large and 

 appreciative audiences in various parts of the 

 country. Of these, the lectures upon "Charles 

 Lamb and his Friends " ; " Sydney Smith and 

 his Work in Life " ; " Christopher North, with 

 Personal Recollections" ; "Alfred Tennyson, 

 the Man and the Poet"; "Fiction and its 

 Eminent Authors " ; " Literary and Artistic 

 Society in London " ; " Wordsworth, De Quin- 

 cey, Keats, and Shelley " ; " Longfellow, Camp- 

 bell, and Hood"; "Cowper"; "Hawthorne"; 



