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[Illustration: MRS. MARIA WHITE LOWELL]
LATER WORK.--After his great bereavement in 1853, Lowell became one of
America's greatest prose writers. In 1855 he was appointed Longfellow's
successor in the Harvard professorship of modern languages and polite
literature, a position which he held, with the exception of two years spent
in European travel, until 1877. The duties of his chair called for wide
reading and frequent lecturing, and he turned much of his attention toward
writing critical essays. The routine work of his professorship often grew
irksome and the "Spence negligence" was sometimes in evidence in his
failure to meet his classes. As a teacher, he was, however, frequently very
stimulating.
He was the editor of the _Atlantic Monthly_, from its beginning in 1857
until 1861. All of the second series of the _Biglow Papers_ appeared in
this magazine. From 1864 to 1872 he was one of the editors of the North
American Review.
In 1877 he became the minister of the United States to Spain. The Spanish
welcomed him to the post that Washington Irving had once filled. In 1880
Lowell was transferred to England, where he represented his country until
1885.
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