RIPLEY, GEORGE (1802-1880)

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 363 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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RIPLEY, GEORGE (1802-1880) , American critic and man of letters, was born, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, on the 3rd of October 1802. He graduated first in his class at Harvard in 1823. From 1826 to 184o he was pastor of a Unitarian church in Boston, subsequently retiring from the active ministry altogether. It was during those years that there grew up in New England that form of thought or philosophy known as Transcendentalism. Ripley was 'prominent, if not the leader, in all practical manifestations of the

movement

MOVEMENT

; and it was largely by his earnestness and practical energy that certain of its more tangible results were brought about. The first meeting of the Transcendental Club was held at his

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

in September 1836. He was a founder and a

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

supporter of the magazine, the Dial, which was the organ of the school from 1841 to 1844. Mostimportant of all, however, he was the originator of " The Brook Farm Institute of Education . and Agriculture." Until the abandonment of this experiment in 1847, Ripley was its leader, cheerfully taking upon himself all kinds of tasks, teaching mathematics and philosophy in the school, milking cows and attending to other bucolic duties, and after June 1845 editing the weekly Harbinger, an organ of " association," which he continued to edit in New

York

YORK
YORK (
HOUSE
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
OF)
YORK, EDMUND OF
LANGLEY
- LANGLEY, SAMUEL PIERPONT (1834-1906)
, DUKE OF (1341-1402)
YORK, EDWARD
YORK, FREDERICK
AUGUSTUS
- AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)
, DUKE OF (1763-1827)
YORK, RICHARD, DUKE

from 1847 until it was discontinued in 1849. The failure of Brook Farm (q.v.) left Ripley poor and feeling keenly the defeat of his project; but the event forced him at last to devote himself to that career of literary labour in which the real success of his life was achieved. In 1849 he joined the staff of the New

York

YORK
YORK (HOUSE OF)
YORK, EDMUND OF
LANGLEY
- LANGLEY, SAMUEL PIERPONT (1834-1906)
, DUKE OF (1341-1402)
YORK, EDWARD
YORK, FREDERICK
AUGUSTUS
- AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)
, DUKE OF (1763-1827)
YORK, RICHARD, DUKE

Tribune, and in a short time became its literary editor. This position, which, through his steadiness, scholarly conservatism and freedom from caprice as a critic, soon became one of great influence, he held until his death in New York City on the 4th of July 1880.
During the greater part of the time of his connexion with the Tribune, Ripley was also an adviser of a prominent publishing house, an occasional contributor to the magazines, and a co-operator in several literary undertakings. The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

of these was the American Cydopaedia, which as the New American Cyclopaediaso named to distinguish it from Francis Lieber's Encyclopaedia Americanawas issued, under the editorship of Ripley and Charles A. Dana, in 1857-63, a revised edition, with the word " new" dropped from the title, being issued under the same editorship in 1873-76. He also issued, in translation, a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature (14 vols., 1838-42). Ripley was twice married, first in 1827 to Miss

Sophia

SOPHIA (1630-1714)

Willard Dana (d. 1861), a daughter of Francis Dana and a conspicuous figure at Brook Farm; and second, in 1865, to a young German widow, Mrs Augusta Schlossberger, who survived him and subsequently married Alphonse Pinede.
A biography of Ripley (Boston, 1882), written by the Rev. O. B.

Frothingham

FROTHINGHAM, OCTAVIUS BROOKS (1822-1895)

, forms one of the volumes of the " American Men of Letters

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

. (E. L. B.)

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