native village.” He lingered for a few weeks, and passed away, with his attached sister by his side, during the following month. Three days later he was laid by the side of his father's grave in the Guilford cemetery. On the eightieth anniversary of Halleck's birth, the ceremonies took place in his native town which dedicated the imposing granite obelisk erected in his honor by Bryant, Longfellow, Sumner, Whittier, and many others of the most eminent men of the country — the first public monument raised to an American poet. (See illustration on page 47.) A portion of the programme was an appreciative address by Bayard Taylor and a lyric written for the occasion by Oliver Wendell Holmes:
| | “ | He sleeps; he cannot die! |
| As evening's long-drawn sigh, | ||
| Lifting the rose-leaves on his peaceful mound, | ||
| Spreads all their sweets around, | ||
| So, laden with his song, the breezes blow | ||
| From where the rustling sedge | ||
| Frets our rude ocean's edge, | ||
| To the smooth sea beyond the peaks of snow, | ||
| His soul the air enshrines, and leaves but dust below!” | ||
Another honor was paid to Halleck's memory by the erection in the Central park, New York, of a full-length bronze statue, the first set up in the New World to a poet. (See illustration.) It was unveiled in May, 1877, by the president of the United States, who with his cabinet, the general of the army, and many eminent citizens, including the poets Bryant, Boker, and Bayard Taylor, were escorted from the residence of Halleck's biographer to the Central park by the 7th regiment. Appropriate addresses were delivered by the venerable Bryant and William Allen Butler, and a spirited poem read, written by John G. Whittier. The following year a sumptuously printed “Memorial of Fitz-Greene Halleck” was issued, containing the addresses and poems delivered at the monument and statue celebrations, together with numerous portraits of the poet and other illustrations.
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Of Halleck's poetical writings it has been well said that brilliancy of thought, quaintness of fancy, and polished energy of diction have given them a rank in American literature from which they will not soon be displaced even by the many admirable productions of a later date. In spicy pungency of satire, and a certain eloquence and grace of manner, without an approach to stiffness or formality, they have few parallels in modern poetry. Their tone is that of a man of the world, handling a pen caustic and tender by turns, with inimitable ease, leaving no trace of the midnight oil, though often elaborated with exquisite skill, and entirely free from both the rust and the pretension of recluse scholarship. Mr. Halleck was a man of a singularly social turn of mind, delighting in gay and cordial fellowship, brimming over with anecdote and whimsical conceits, with remarkable power of narration, unfeignedly fond of discussion and argument, and frequently carrying his ingenuity to the extreme verge of paradox. His personal bearing was in a high degree impressive and winning. His pres- ence had a wonderful charm for almost all classes of persons. His wit, while keen and biting at times, was never ill-natured, and only severe when directed against ignorant and pompous pretension. The statements that have been frequently made since the poet's death in reference to his having become a convert to the Roman Catholic faith are erroneous. He was born, lived, and died in the Protestant Episcopal church, of which he was a member, having been confirmed in his youth, and he was buried from Grace (Episcopal) church, Guilford. “What men,” says Humboldt, “believe or disbelieve is usually made a subject of discussion only after their death after one has been officially buried, and a funeral sermon has been read over one.” So it was with Fitz-Greene Halleck. Halleck's portrait was painted by Jarvis, Morse, Inman, Waldo, Elliott, and Hicks. He published “Fanny” (New York, 1819; 3d ed., enlarged, 1821); “Alnwick Castle, with other Poems” (1827; 2d ed., enlarged, 1836; 3d ed., enlarged, 1845); “Fanny and other Poems” (1839); “The Poetical Works of Fitz-Greene Halleck, now first Collected,” illustrated with steel engravings (8vo, 1847); “The Poetical Works of Fitz-Greene Halleck” (12mo, 1852; new ed., 12mo and 24mo, 1858); “The Croakers,” by Halleck and Drake, No. 16, Bradford club series (1860); “Young America, a Poem” (1865). After his death appeared “The Poetical Writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck, with Extracts from those of Joseph Rodman Drake,” edited by James Grant Wilson (three editions, 18mo, 12mo, and 8vo, 1869). Halleck edited “The Works of Lord Byron in Verse and Prose, including his Letters, Journals, etc., with a Sketch of his Life” (1834); and “Selections from the British Poets” (1840). See articles and addresses by Frederick S. Cozzens, Evert A. Duyckinck, Henry T. Tuckerman, and William Cullen Bryant (1868-'9); “The Life and Letters of Fitz-Greene Halleck,” by James Grant Wilson (two editions, 12mo and 8vo, 1869); “Fitz-Greene Halleck,” by Bayard Taylor (“North American Review,” July-August, 1877); and Wilson's “Bryant and his Friends” (1886). — His sister, Maria Halleck, b. in Guilford, 19 July, 1788; d. there, 21 April, 1870. She was the poet's only sister, and the last of her family. There is nothing more beautiful in literary biography than the devoted attachment that existed between Halleck and his sister — an attachment and devotion not surpassed by that existing between Charles and Mary Lamb. They were constant correspondents during the poet's career in New York, and when he left the great city in 1849 it was to return to his native place, and to reside with his accomplished sister until they were separated by death. She now sleeps by his side in Alderbrook cemetery, with ivy brought from Abbotsford growing on her grave. One of the inscriptions on the monument, seen in the illustration on a previous page, records her name and the year of her birth and death. Miss Halleck possessed those rare conversational powers that characterized the poet, and very strongly resembled him in disposition as well as in personal appearance.
HALLECK, Henry Wager, soldier, b. in Westernville, Oneida co., N. Y., 16 Jan., 1815 ; d. in Louisville, Ky., 9 Jan., 1872. He received a common-school education at Hudson academy, N. Y., passed through a part of the course at Union, and was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1839, standing third in a class of thirty-one. Among his classmates were Gen. James B. Ricketts, Gen. Edward O. C. Ord, and Gen. Edward R. S. Canby. He was made a 2d lieutenant of engineers in
