the matchless force of the delineation of the events leading up to the end at Nancy. Count Adolph de Circourt, whom Lamartine called “a living chart of human knowledge,” reviewed the work, and in a long and intimate private correspondence urged Mr. Kirk to follow up his subject. Edward A. Freeman while in Philadelphia, calling upon Mr. Kirk, said: “Why did you stop? I looked for more books on European history from you and have been much disappointed.”
If Mr. Kirk wrote no more three-volume histories, still, his pen did not rust unused. It might have been mentioned that during the Boston period of his life he was well acquainted with Francis Parkman, and assisted him in deciphering Latin and old French MSS. required for his history. A critical and appreciative article on Sainte Beuve in the Atlantic in April, 1866, brought a grateful tribute from the great critic himself. Much interesting correspondence with foreign men of letters belongs to these years. Mr. Kirk was made a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and later of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, when he came to Philadelphia to assume the editorship of Lippincott’s Magazine and to edit the new edition of Prescott’s works. He enjoyed his life in Philadelphia, liked the people, the country, and the climate, which he considered unsurpassed. Friendships added worth and charm to his life. With Dr. Horace Howard Furness and L. Clarke Davis, Esq., he was one of the original “Triplets” of the “Triplet” Club. In 1886 he was appointed Lecturer on European History at the University of Pennsylvania, and on retiring from this position received the degree of LL.D. from the University. From 1886 until 1891 he was engaged upon the “Supplement” to “Allibone’s Dictionary,” bringing that valuable compendium of knowledge down to the year 1888. In 1891 he revisited Europe, renewing the delights of Switzerland, always unsurpassed in charm for him, and also enjoying Rome, Florence, Venice, and the Italian lakes. Returning home, he took up work on the New Dictionary in preparation by J. Bertram Lippincott, son of the founder of the house; upon this he was in greater or less degree occupied for the remainder of his life. But despite these labors and occasional contributions to the Atlantic, Lippincott’s Magazine, and other periodicals, such was the undiminished vigor of his intellect that he tasted all through his last ten years much of the charm of unspoiled leisure. Supremely devoted to Beethoven, and an ardent lover of all that is good in the musical art, he missed few opportunities of hearing classical music. A born lover of ideas, he loved and believed in literature for its own sake. Anything in the wide domain of discovery, fact, or imagination, whether on European politics, biography, history, science, ethics, or fiction,—anything which showed insight or faithful work,—was welcome to him. In his later years Tourgueneff ranked supreme with him as a novelist; to his works he
