Ticknor G

Ticknor in Europe, 1815-19:

Boarded Liverpool packet with friend Edward Everett on 16 April 1815, then

travelled from Liverpool to London - here fell in love with literary

meetings and suppers. First celebrity he met was Sir Humphry Davy, who gave

him letter of intro to Mme de Stael, and then Lord and Lady Byron. As

elsewhere, Ticknor determined to make the most of his time in London, as did

not know whether he would ever return - had come to Europe not only to read

books and study in universities, but also to understand "that sort of

undefined and indefinite feeling, respecting books and authors, which exists

in Euroepe as a kind of unwritten tradition" - wanted to take what was very

best about Europe (ie its culture), and leave the rest, returning morally

unscathed to innocence of New World. And felt best way to understand this

tradition was to meet th foremost authors and scholars themselves, and his

huge self-assurance meant that he was totally confident in his mission and

in applying directly to these great names - reason he sought out so many of

the most prominent writers and scholars of the period - including

Wordsworth, Scott, Robert Southey, Mme de Stael, Chateaubriand, Alexander

von Humboldt, Friedrich and Augustus von Schlegel, Ludwig Tieck, Byron (in

London, who Ticknor found entirely affable and who gave him a "splendid

pistol" to give to the Ali Pasha when Ticknor went to Greece), Goethe (in

Weimar), and many others - becoming good friends with some of them. When in

Rome, he even obtained an audience with the Pope: literary critic Edwin

Whipple said of him, "If Ticknor had taken it into his head to go to

Olympus, the first person he would have sought, with a letter of

introduction in his pocket, would have been Jupiter."

This all the more remarkable as Ticknor nothing special from outside - only

23 when he came to Europe in 1815, and 27 when he left, and with no

particular claim to attention, no official diplomatic or recognized

scholarly or literary position - was merely the son of a Boston grocer with

zeal for literature. However, he did carry letter of intro from eminent

Americans like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and was an attractive person

• had dark expressive eyes and an alert face, impeccable manners, upright

character, facility in learning languages, and marvellous memory which

served him well in conversation, plus brilliant linguist (by end of trip had

become fluent in German, French, Italian and Spanish) - but still, as one

English observer said, had "no wit, humour, or vivacity". Key to his success

lay in his earnestness of attitude - was described as the "personification

of earnestness", in age when respectable people convinced of importance of

this, plus was an American: combination of these two things - young

attractive American taking the worthies of the Old World so seriously - made

his attentions very flattering to many: plus his timing was perfect,

arriving straight after end of Napoleonic Wars when frayed relations with

New World were just trying to be repaired. To some it even came as a

surprise to find such a civilized young man emerging from the wilds of

America: Ticknor annoyed by cockney who surprised that he "spoke so good

English", while in Gottingen (Aug 1815 - where he studied for almost 2 yrs -

where he translated Johann Winckelmann's "Thoughts Upon the Imitation of the

Works of the Greeks in Paintings and Statuary") he and Everett were admitted

to literary club "as a kind of raree-show". However, more often than not,

Europeans responded favourably to Ticknor as an American, esp. as coming

from a classless republic meant he could be judged not by birth but by his

dignity, decorous manners, and scholarship. Mme de Stael announced to him

"you are the advance guard of the human race, you are the future of the

world", and even the Pope told Ticknor and fellow traveller Joseph Cogswell

that "the time would soon come" when Americans "should be able to dictate to

the Old World".

In April 1817, Ticknor travelled from Gottingen to Paris - here, armed with

letters of introduction from Jefferson and others, he entered a dazzling

literary society composed of Mme de Stael, Francois de Chateaubriand, August

von Schlegel, Alexander von Humboldt (Ticknor most impressed by him), Mme

Récamier, Bejamin Constant, and Robert Southey, all of whom he charmed. (Mme

de Stael, who was then slowly dying, insisted on seeing him against doctor's

orders). But upright Ticknor refused to be seduced by Paris, and left after

5 months with no regret - saw city as the home of glittering but empty high

society and blood-thirsty proletariat. Altogether, he believed the French

doomed: opinion constantly confirmed by experiences - from listening to

Chateaubriand's incredible pessimism in salons, to day when he visited the

dank vaults beneath St. Genevieve - made "mistake" of asking old guide where

Marat's tomb lay, only to get story of how guide "was one of those, Sir, who

on the 28 July 1793 tore his [Marat's] body from its monument in that cell

and cast it on the Ditch of Montmarte". Despite American Rev., Ticknor found

all French "inferior beings", in which the "enthusiasm of principle" had

been converted into "guilt and cruelty". Saw Paris as place where higher

beings - from Germany, England and esp America - were corrupted and lost

"the principles and virtues of their youth": saw the Palais Royal - with its

bookstores, theatre and corporation of prostitution - as "a kind of epitome

and concentration of Paris, of the French character and of the French nation

• a place where all without is dazzling, gay and gracious - and all within

crime and corruption". This pessimism not helped by fact that in June 1817 4

policemen spent 5 hrs searching his lodgings for "all papers, libels or

libellous writings, and books dangerous to the government" - Ticknor

extremely annoyed, but saw it as "ridiculous", which obviously was: first

and last time he'd ever be suspected of being a radical.

Ticknor left Paris in September 1817 and went first to Geneva - where met

General Lafayette at castle at La Grange (wd later write adulatory short

biog of him), and found Calvinist city much more to his taste - esp as here

almost all the men of letters were also important govt. officials: saw this

as model for Boston. Then travelled through St. Bernard Pass into Italy, and

then passed through Milan, Verona, Venice and Bologna on way to Rome. Loved

the culture and architecture of latter city, although believed that Romans

were "worn out and degraded" and so spent his time in society of Germans and

Englishmen. From there he travelled to Spain, where he planned to prepare

himself to lecture on Spanish literature: arrived in Barcelona in May 1818

and then made hugely arduous 400-mile journey to Madrid. Found Spain hugely

primitive in many ways compared to rest of Europe, but absolutely loved it,

thinking it very romantic - met all the intellectuals of consequence,

studied Spanish literature with Joseph Antonio Conde (one of best scholars

in Spain), and made point of seeing all sides of Spanish life - including

bullfight, from which he had to be carried unconscious out of the stadium by

a guard. Ticknor found court life base and corrupt, however, termed the

middle class "oppressed and ignorant", the nobility "deplorable" and their

way of life "monotonous, gross, and disgraceful", but thought the common

people "the finest material I have met in Europe to make a great and

generous people" - for Ticknor, this because most were peasants leading a

pastoral life close to nature and folk tradition, and were untouched by

corruption of upper classes.

After 4 months in Madrid, Ticknor left on horseback for long and hard tour

of southern Spain, to Cordova, Granada, Malaga, Gibraltar and Seville. Then

crossed the mountains into Portugal on a mule with group of contrabandists

who smuggled dollars across the border - had been told was best way to

protect himself against robbers, and he thoroughly enjoyed risky 8 days with

smugglers, because was safer to be with outlaws than under the protection of

the government. From there travelled to Lisbon, and took mail ship back to

England. He stayed in London for few weeks, but then had to return to Paris

• from 10 Dec 1818- 12 Jan 1819 in order to buy books for the Harvard

Library, plus served as a book agent for Jefferson. Through his European

book collecting, he became an accomplished bibliophile and on his return

helped numerous Americans to buy books. He then returned to England, where

he socialized with Lord Holland, Lord Brougham, Sydney Smith and William

Hazlitt, and then in late spring 1819 he travelled to Edinburgh. In

Scotland, Ticknor met Robert Owen of Lanark, who he considered tedious "with

his localities and universalities", but high point was meeting Sir Walter

Scott, with whom he tramped the hills of the Border country and talked about

folklore of the region. Scott also greatly liked Ticknor, describing him as

"a wonderful fellow for romantic lore and antiquarian research, considering

his country, and free from the ignorance and forward presumption" of most

Americans. (He also visited Anne Grant - see below). On return trip to

London, he visited Southey again and made a detour in the Lake District to

see Wordsworth. After brief trip to London, Ticknor then went to Liverpool,

where he boarded the fast New York packet and crossed Atlantic in 37 days.

Was entirely joyful to be home, and raced back to Boston, where he received

letter from Jefferson, asking him about European travels; Ticknor answered,

"What I saw of Europe only raised my own country in my estimation and

attached me to it yet more".

ANNE GRANT & TICKNOR

Almost no mention of Ticknor in Anne Grant's published 'Memoir and Letters'

• just that he had visited her in summer 1819 before returning to America.

She had recently been visited by several people from America, and found them

charming, esp. Ticknor, but held one thing against them all - they all

apparently preferred Europe, and esp. France, to England. In particular,

Ticknor amused her by his stories about friendships he had made in France,

with Mme de Stael, and with Stael's daughter and son-in-law the Duke and

Duchess de Broglie, latter becoming his frequent correspondent. (Mme de

Stael used to say of Duchess de Broglie, "My daughter is me passive.") Grant

reports: "T.[icknor] says he never knew a person possessed of such perfect

benevolence as Madame de Stael, or so ready in everything to consult the

gratification of others in preference to her own, and that not merely of

those she loved and admired: it was like dew that descends on weeds as well

as flowers. What a strange union of extremes in her character! and how

highly have her talents, and the latter application of them, exalted her in

the public opinion!" letter to Mrs Hook, 16 July 1819. This the only mention

of Ticknor. [N.B. Have one more place left to try - Ticknor's own letters

and diaries, but this on microfilm and all machines were taken up Thursday

and Friday: will try again on Monday and send anything if AG is mentioned].