American author, born in Boston, on the 18th of August 1819; educated at the Boston Latin School; went to Italy in 1836 and studied Italian literature there. In 1843 appeared his translation of the first ten cantos of Dante’s The Inferno. Returning to Boston, he studied and practiced dental surgery. He resided several years in England, remaining away from America till 1872. Whether at home or abroad he continued the translation of Dante and the production of original verse, the first volume of his poems, Ghetto di Roma, appearing in 1854. In 1867 The Inferno was completed and published. The Old House at Sudbury came out in 1870 and The Shadow of the Obelisk, and Other Poems in 1872. His translation of The Inferno ranks high among the English versions by virtue of its warm sympathy of spirit and its simplicity in style, approaching that of Dante. For many years he lived quietly in Boston, spending his summers in Scituate, MA, where he died on the 3rd of September 1892. See also Literary Criticism.
