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THE 
 
 Cyclopedia of Aierican Literature, 
 
 EVART A. DUTCKINCK AND GEORGE. L. DUYCKINGK. 
 
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 [From the New York Herald, pt Feb. 18, 18B6.] 
 
 -.#, 
 
 BAKER & GODWIN, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, 
 
 COKNBR NASSAU AKD SPBXTCE STREETS. 
 
 1856. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021958883 
 
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 [Trom the New Tork Herald, of Feb. 1-3, 1656.] 
 
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 1856. 
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 Many applications having been made for copies of the following review since the editions of 
 the New Tork Herald in which it originally appeared were exhanated, a small impression of it is 
 now printed in a form suitable for binding with the work reviewed. k. w. g. 
 
THE CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LITERATURES 
 
 [From the New York Herald, of February 18, 1856.] 
 
 The title of this work justifies an expectation of its embracing 
 a careful, and exhaustive exhibition of the literature and literary 
 history of the United States, full and exact in bibliographical informa- 
 tion, rich in personal reminiscences connected with literary life, com- 
 plete in that entire circle of facts which illustrate our intellectual ad- 
 vancement, and indicative of a candid and judicial temper on the part 
 of its authors. The " Cyclopedia of American Literature," if judged 
 only by its name, and the extraordinary preliminary commendations 
 it has received, would probably find its way to the principal public 
 and private libraries of this country and Europe. 
 
 It has been said, perhaps with perfect sincerity, that the work of 
 exhibiting the past history of American letters is now done, " for the 
 first time, and for all time," since the capacities of the human mind are 
 not likely to admit of any improvement upon what the Messrs. Duyck- 
 inck have here accomplished. Perhaps it is so ; but the most con- 
 summate displays of genius and executive ability have never been held 
 to be privileged among critics; their only just advantage has been a 
 repelling power against injustice ; and we may venture to examine 
 what seems to be the common judgment in this case, therefore, with- 
 out presumption, and with a perfect assurance that if we err in our esti- 
 mation of the merits of the production before us, those merits, more 
 truly appreciated by others, will be a sufiicient foil against our errors. 
 
 The time has passed when a reviewer's epithets, commending or 
 condemning a book, were conclusive as to its qualities. Certain recent 
 and familiar instances of praise as universal as it was absurd, of books 
 
 * Cycloj)edia of Amerieau Literature ; embracing Personal and Critical Ifo- 
 tieea of Autnors, and Selections from their Writings, from the Earliest Period 
 to the Present Day, with Portraits, Autographs, and other Illustrations. By 
 Evart A. Duyokinck and George L. Duyckinck. 2 vols. 8vo. New York, 1856. 
 
4 Daychinchs' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 which it is now understood no man can keep upon his shelves without 
 hazard to his good reputation, have made readers suspicious of " the 
 opinions of the press." Criticism at present, therefore, is authoritative 
 only as it is demonstrative. Estimates, neatly delivered, are read, and, 
 if from approved sources, have a certain influence ; but in all cases the 
 intelligent reader wishes to have before him the more significant facts 
 upon which they are based. In the desultory observations we propose, 
 upon this " Cyclopedia of American Literature," we shall endeavor to 
 be so explicit and particular, and to deal only in facts so readily appre- 
 ciable by every person of ordinary intelligence and understanding, that 
 any suspicion of prejudice or want of candor will be impossible. In 
 the few hours which we can devote to it, and the narrow limits- that 
 necessarily hem in the writer for a daily paper, the work must of course 
 be treated superficially, and we can touch but here and there a point, 
 merely indicating, as it were, what might be done if the book's im- 
 portance would justify a more elaborate criticism. 
 
 Its general plan is the same as that of Chambers's well-known 
 Cyclopsedia of English Literature, and it would have been better if the 
 model had been more rigidly followed, though it might have been de- 
 parted from by a judicious author, in many instances, with signal 
 advantage. The simple rule of considering our makers of books in 
 chronological order, is one so easily observed, that the most rigid ad- 
 herence to it could scarcely be deemed a positive merit ; yet the Messrs. 
 Duyckinck disregard it so frequently as to suggest a conviction of un- 
 pardonable carelessness. The composition known as the " Fore-father's 
 Song," which, they admit, was written as early as 1630, is placed after 
 a notice of the works of Benjamin Thomson, who was horn in 1640, 
 and wrote his principal poems about the year 1*700. John Cotton's lines 
 on Thomas Hooker are mentioned in such a way as to induce an im- 
 pression that they were first printed in Morton's " Memorial," in 1669 ; 
 but they are " preserved " more appropriately in Hooker's " Survey of 
 the Summe of Church Discipline," published twenty-one years before — 
 that is, in 1648. This sort of disorder pervades the volumes. In a 
 " Cyclopedia of American Literature," it was of course proper to notice 
 the means and results of education among us. The history of our com- 
 mon schools — the special boast and glory of American civilization — is a 
 theme to excite enthusiasm, and its illustration was easy from the 
 annals of our watchful and progi-essive legislation on the subject. A 
 majority of our authors, as well as men of afiairs, have been graduates, 
 not of the universities, but of the common schools. Yet of these insti- 
 tutions we have not a word, from the beginning to the end of the 
 Messrs. Duyckinck's labors. Instead, we have accounts of a few of the 
 principal colleges — perhaps one-fifteenth or one-twentieth of those now 
 existing in the United States. So incomplete an exhibition is of no- 
 value. We refer to the matter here, however, because it is made one 
 of the causes of that chaos of arrangement which must vex every one 
 who attempts to read or consult these volumes. Succinct sketches of 
 such establishments might have constituted a portion of a chapter on 
 the education of the American people ; but those which are noticed at 
 
Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 5 
 
 all, are introduced — each under the date of its foundation — in the midst 
 of personal memoirs, and all the men of eminence ever connected 
 with them have their stories told under the same head. Thus, in 
 •the earlier part of the first volume we have noted the beginning of Yale 
 <Dollege in 164'7, and in the pages immediately following, sketches of 
 Silliman, Olmsted, and other professors who are now living. 
 
 The selection of subjects for biographical or critical treatment ap- 
 pears to have been governed by no rule or principle whatever, unless 
 one may be found in the facility with which paragraphs about certain 
 ■characters could be compiled from monthly magazines, quarterly reviews, 
 biographical dictionaries, or other easily accessible works. William 
 Morell came to New England in 1623, and remained one year; Wil- 
 liam Wood, about the same time, made a short visit to Boston. It does 
 not appear that either of them ever wrote a line here, or intended to 
 settle here ; but both are formally introduced as American authors. 
 William Vaughan, who visited Newfoundland, but never touched the 
 soil of what is now the United States, is also treated as an American 
 author, in two columns of biography and criticism. Captain John 
 Smith was in Virginia and along the coast previous to 1616, and six 
 columns are devoted to his achievements in American literature. Soon 
 after, we have a life of Eev. Samuel Ward, of Ipswich, England, with 
 a part of one of his sermons, preached and printed in England, although 
 this Rev. Samuel Ward was never in America, never wrote a syllable 
 about America, or, so far as we are informed, knew of the discovery or 
 existence of this continent. Another Ward, of whom there is a long 
 account — Nathaniel — did, when between sixty and seventy yeais of 
 age, come to Massachusetts Bay, and after his return home, where he 
 lived still many years, wrote several volumes, in some of which there 
 are allusions to his visit this side the Atlantic. 
 
 On pages 262 and 263 of the first volume we have biographical and 
 critical notices of George Huddesford, an English versifier of very lit- 
 tle merit, and John Lapraik, a Scotchman, of the same rank, though 
 neither of them ever came to America or had any thing whatever to do 
 with America or American literature. Huddesford is deemed worthy 
 of from sixty to seventy lines, and Lapraik of about fifty. It would be 
 diflicult to assign any adequate reason for bringing these names thus 
 conspicuously into a " Cyclopedia of American Literature ; " but the 
 very unsatisfactory excuse which is ofiered is, that Lindley Murray too 
 closely imitated their songs 1 It is a poor rule that will not work both 
 ways, and Murray himself, though born in Pennsylvania, can hardly be 
 called an American author (since he went abroad while a youth, before 
 commencing his career as a writer, and never returned,) by the Messrs. 
 Duyckinck, who do not hesitate to regard as an American every foreigner 
 whose literary life, or any part of whose literary life, has been passed 
 in this country. 
 
 The most conspicuous, and, upon the whole, perhaps the most 
 ridiculous example of dragging in persons whose claim to a place in 
 the work conasts in the ease with which articles about them could be 
 manufactured, i« that of Bishop Berkeley. Most readers are aware 
 
6 Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 that this ecclesiastic was an Irishman, and those at all familiar with his 
 history know that he was on this continent but two or three years. 
 His professional and autorial activity were displayed in the Irish see of 
 Cloyne. There would have been almost as much propriety in intro- 
 ducing Shakespeare, because he wrote of " the still vexed Bermoothes," 
 or Burns, because he once cherished a design of emigrating to New 
 York. Certainly Thomas Moore, who wrote some of his most exquisite 
 songs on the banks of the Schuylkill, by the Dismal Swamp, and the 
 Mohawk, and in whose works are numerous illustrations of American 
 scenery and manners, was far more deserving of consideration in such 
 a work. Still, the interest which Berkeley manifested in our colonial 
 institutions of learning entitled him to some passing allusions in a his- 
 tory of our intellectual progress, and we were not unprepared, therefore, 
 for even the fifty-one lines bestowed upon him in the account of Yale 
 College, and the sixteen he receives as an adviser of the course of study 
 in King's College, at New York. These notices of the Irish clergyman 
 who happened to pass a few months in Rhode Island, seemed, indeed, 
 absurdly long, when we discovered that the voluminous and illustrious 
 native author, Dr. Jonathan Edwards, whose treatise of " Liberty and 
 Necessity" is among the miracles of logic, whose work on the Indian 
 languages is one of the standards in ethnological science, and whose 
 name is deservedly held in the highest respect by philosophers and 
 theologians throughout the world, was dismissed with a single para- 
 graph, of but one-fourth their length, in the sketch of Union College. 
 Yet while the great Edwards, whose fame it becomes us so proudly to 
 cherish, is not once again alluded to in the entire work, this Irish tra- 
 veler, the Bishop of Cloyne, is brought forward the third time, in an 
 elaborate biography and criticism reaching through ten columns ! 
 
 As we have seen, the Messrs. Duyckinck quote one of the sermons 
 of Samuel Ward as a specimen of American literature (else why is it 
 quoted at all ?), though Ward was never out of England; but of one of 
 the characters really best entitled to an eminent position in our colonial 
 literary annals, all they have to offer is, incidentally : " John Higgin- 
 son, of Salem, himself a man of some literature, died in 1708, at the ex- 
 treme age of ninety-two years, seventy-two of which he had passed in 
 the ministry." Now, this John Higginson was one of the great men of 
 New England, and incomparably the best writer, native or foreign, who 
 lived in America during the first hundred years of her colonization. 
 That portion of his " attestation " to the Magnalia, which treats of the 
 exodus of the Puritans, has not been surpassed in strength and grandeur 
 in all the orations ever delivered at Plymouth Rock, those of Webster 
 and Everett not excepted. 
 
 Generally, the information embraced in these, volumes, respecting 
 the great lights of learning and literature who were in New England 
 before the Revolution, is far more meager and less satisfactory than that 
 which may be found in Elliot's and Allen's biographical dictionaries. 
 Of Thomas Hooker's works, not one-fourth in number, extent, or impor- 
 tance, are in any way mentioned. " The Soul's Implantation," which 
 has been considered his best performance, our authors seem never to 
 
Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 7 
 
 have heard of. Of the " renowned Mr. Thomas Shepard," they are 
 almost as ignorant. In their peculiar style of English, they tell us, 
 indeed, that his " reputation has been among the most permanent of 
 Ms brethren of the early New England clergy" meaning, of course, 
 that the said Shepard's " reputation" was one of the said " clergy," and. 
 to prove its or his permanence they mention that two of his produc- 
 tions " have been reprinted in England during the last quarter of a cen- 
 tury." Persons tolerably familiar with such subjects might have told- 
 them that the complete works of Shepard, edited by the learned Dr. 
 Alger, of Cambridge, have been reprinted in four stout octavos, at Bos- 
 ton, within the last half dozen years. In the life of Roger Williams, 
 instead of an estimate of his genius and influence, we have three point- 
 less letters of a Mrs. Sadlier, an Englishwoman, never in America, 
 written to Williams while he was in England, to persuade him to enter 
 the Episcopal Church. 
 
 Approaching the period of the Revolution, we find a profound 
 ignorance of all that political literature which shaped the public feeling 
 and action, except in a few instances with which every school-boy is 
 familiar. " The great Dr. Mayhew, of the Revolution," meaning Dr. 
 J. Mayhew, who died in 1776, is briefly noticed, but not in the manner 
 demanded by his character or activity. A Frenchman, St. Jean d& 
 Crevecoeur, who printed a feeble work about the common life of the 
 American people, which Hazlitt read because the subject had then the 
 merit of novelty, has eight columns devoted to him. The celebrated 
 diplomat and philosopher, Phillip Mazzei, who lived many years ia 
 Virginia about the same time, and whose four octavo volumes of " Re- 
 cherehes Historiques et Politiques sur les Etats Unis" embrace some of 
 the most brilliant sketches of American colonial life ever written, is not 
 mentioned ; nor is Talleyrand, whose descriptions of the American 
 woodcutter and the American fisherman ai'e declared by Lord 
 Brougham to be his masterpieces in literary art. Henry Cruger, a ren- 
 egade American, who during the Revolution obtained a seat in the Brit- 
 ish Parliament, where he made a few commonplace speeches, occupies 
 nearly five columns. If Cruger, who wrote nothing, is entitled to so 
 large a space, how is it that we have no notice of George Chalmers, of 
 Maryland, author of the " Political Annals of the United Colonies," the 
 " History of the Revolt of the American Colonies," and several other 
 standard works in American history ? or that the accomplished Dulany, 
 of Maryland, and Oliver Delancy, and fifty others, who were politically 
 in the same category, but distinguished from Cruger by being indus- 
 trious and able writers for the Crown, are not named ? Seventeen col- 
 umns are given to Thomas Paine, whose abilities and services are 
 absurdly exaggerated. Paine, of course, is treated as an American 
 author, though but a small portion of his life was passed here, and less than 
 one-third of his works were written here. Two of the four extracts from 
 them quoted as specimens of American literature, were written in Eu- 
 rope — one in England, before Paine's first visit to this country, and the 
 other while he was a resident and citizen of France. 
 
 A considerable portion of the selections of verse in this part of the 
 
8 Buyckmchi Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 work have as little claim to the title of literature as the jargon of idiots. 
 A silly fellow named Parke, in 1786 published translations from Hor- 
 ace, with " original poems." He was a laughing stock in his day, being 
 justly regarded as destitute of any abilities that should save him from 
 contempt. He was indeed inferior to the creature since known as 
 " Pop Emmons," whose national epic, "The Fredoniad," in four large 
 volumes, embraces cantos on " Hell," " Sackett's Harbor," and " The 
 ]/ Wall of Heaven." Yet some half-dozen columns of the " Cyclopedia 
 of American Literature" are devoted to his pitiable riffraff. It illus- 
 trates the judgment of the Messrs. Duyckinck, that the amiable, pains- 
 taking and erudite historian and statesman, Dr. Eamsay, of South 
 Carolina, whose " Life of Washington," " History of the United States," 
 and other works, are so highly esteemed by the judicious, occupies but 
 the single page next preceding. Forty pages are filled with a chapter 
 entitled " Ballad Literature of the Indian, French and Revolutionary 
 Wars." It contains little worth preserving, except those specimens 
 copied, for the most part without any acknowledgment, from an article 
 entitled " Minstrelsy of the Indian Wars and the Revolution," in Gra- 
 ham's Magazine for 1842. Some of the extracts of blank verse, and 
 verse without a name, obtained by the Messrs.. Duyckinck from other 
 sources, surpass in pointless stupidity any thing we have elsewhere seen, 
 and are a gross libel on the revolutionary age, in which they were 
 probably as little known as in ours. Referring to the patriotic song, 
 " Come join hand in hand, brave Americans all !" our authors say it 
 " has been attributed both to Mercy Warren and to John Dickinson." 
 Now, in Tudor's Life of Otis, which in another part of the work they 
 criticise as if they had read it, John Dickinson says himself, in a letter 
 to Otis, that he wrote the song, with some assistance from Arthur Lee, 
 of Virginia. This, with us, is quite satisfactory authority. In the same 
 connectioa they quote " The Vermonters' Song of 1776," as an undoubted 
 antique, though it was originally written hardly twenty years ago. 
 
 We do not remember that in any of the histories of English literature 
 much attention is devoted to the lives of Lintot or Curl ; but as they 
 were, if not authors, the acquaintances and employers of many eminent 
 literary men, and often exercised an important influence upon their for- 
 tunes, such attention would have been pardonable. By what logic, how- 
 ever, the appropriation of ten or eleven columns in a " Cyclopedia of 
 American Literature," to James Rivington, the " King's printer " in New 
 York during the Revolution, can be justified, we shall have to wait a 
 long time to discover. Rivington was about as much a literary man as 
 Mr. Jared W. Bell has been. The chief influence he had upon literature 
 was as a retail bookseller, and the Messrs. Duyckinck give us one of his 
 advertisements to show the extent of his stock. It would have been 
 perfectly proper if they had given us an account of Stephen Daye, the 
 first printer in New England, or of William Bradford, the first printer 
 west of the Hudson, or of John Peter Zenger, whose famous trial in 
 New York was the immediate cause of the earliest public recognition 
 and thorough establishment of the freedom of the press ; but these 
 persons are not alluded to ; and our authors did not even know of the 
 
Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 9 
 
 only fact in Eivington's career which could have served as an apology 
 for introducing his name : his having advertised an intention of em- 
 ploying some person to compile a volume of our colonial poetry. 
 
 We look in vain through every part of the work for such fruits of a 
 loving familiarity with the intellect of the country, and its development, 
 as should have been an assurance to the authors of their vocation. 
 Many of the subjects demanded patient and sagacious research, and 
 were susceptible of such handling as would have made them highly 
 interesting. But every thing appears to have been done carelessly and 
 feebly, which the compilers did not find already done by other hands. 
 Take, for example, the case of Joseph Dennie, the celebrated editor of 
 The Port Folio. Although the writings of Dennie do not vindicate his 
 traditional fame, he was unquestionably a man of fine and peculiar 
 genius, who exercised in various ways an extraordinary influence upon 
 the mental habits and tastes of our countrymen. A brief obituary in 
 The Port Folio, with a few reminiscences in the pleasant volumes of 
 autobiography by J. T. Buckingham, furnish all that is here given us 
 of this remarkable individual. Not one word is said of his political 
 troubles in Philadelphia ; his intimacy with Thomas Moore ; his memoir 
 of Moore's early life, prefixed to the first collection of that poet's works 
 ever printed in the United States ; his wonderful talents as a raconteur ; 
 the brilliancy and kindliness of his spoken wit, " which sometimes," 
 according to his friend Ingraham, '' kept his friends in laughter and 
 tears till they were startled from the night's enjoyment by breakfast 
 bells ;" of the ruin induced by his amiable infirmities; the epitaph for his 
 monument, in which his young friend, John Quincy Adams, described 
 his character; the youthful writers whom he had brought forward; or 
 the curious fact that one of them — the subsequently renowned Nicholas 
 Biddle — was his immediate successor in the editorship of his magazine. 
 Indeed, we have almost nothing of what should have constituted Dennie's 
 biography. 
 
 This reference to Mr. Nicholas Biddle, of whose literary life the 
 Messrs. Duyckinck seem to be more ignorant than even of Dennie's, re- 
 minds us of his brother, the profound lawyer, the earnest and impressive 
 Congressional debater, the astute scholar, familiar with the best literature 
 and weightier learning of every age, who was as respectable for his 
 virtues as he was distinguished for his abilities-;— Kichard Biddle, 
 whose memoir of Sebastian Cabot constitutes, beyond question, one of 
 the finest monuments of American historical research. Until this subject 
 attracted the attention of Mr. Biddle, scarcely more was known of the 
 life of that famous discoverer than of the life of William Shakspeare ; 
 but its diflBculties, not less than its importance, arrested and detained 
 his interest ; and, with a mind trained to the subtle inquisitions of the 
 courts, a ready command of the resources of related knowledge, and an 
 indomitable ardor which the labor of years could not depress, he began 
 and pursued those inquiries which were crowned with the complete 
 success that is revealed in his Memoir, published in London in 1832. 
 The name of Richard Biddle, preposterous as such an assertion may 
 seem, does not once occur in this "Cyclopedia of American Literature." 
 
10 Duychincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 But we anticipate : we shall have occasion presently to mention a great 
 number of other omissions, some of which are quite as conclusive as to 
 the ignorance and incapacity of the authors of this pretentious perform- 
 ance. It maybe as well first to make some examination of the general 
 literary qualifications exhibited by our critics, to see whether they 
 should be exempted from the fate of a certain Gipsy herald, whose 
 adventures are related in the diverting history of Quentin Durward. 
 
 A history of literature, it will of course be admitted, should itself 
 be literature ; yet it may be doubted whether the annals of bookmaking 
 furnish more melancholy examples than are to be found in this work, of 
 an utter incapacity to write intelligibly, perspicuously, or even gram- 
 matically. As the monthly magazines and weekly and daily newspa- 
 pers have, as with one accord, asserted the indefectible grace, elegance, 
 perspicacity, energy, freshness, &c., (fee, &c., of the Messrs. Duyck- 
 inck's style, we must demonstrate the justness of our censure; and we 
 are sorry to say that no more easy task could be set before us. Should 
 we transcribe one-tenth of the bungling and incomprehensible sentences 
 noted while hurriedly reading these volumes, a single number of the 
 Herald would not contain even this portion of our review. We shall 
 be content, and our readers will be more than content, with a few 
 specimens, taken almost at random : — 
 
 A large number [of daguerreotypes] have been taken by Mr. M. B. Brady, of New York — a 
 sufficient guarantee of this sia^e of the work. — i,, x. 
 
 Michael Wigglesworth was, in Im day, one of the most successful of our early writers.— i. 57. 
 
 Is Mr. Duyckinck sure of this ? Was not Wigglesworth " one of 
 the most successful of our early writers," some time since the Mexican 
 War« 
 
 Increase Mather developed the learnvng of the name. — i. 59. 
 A mountain of learning and theology was heaped upon his childhood. — i. 60. 
 Led Cotton Mather to enter so vigorously upon \hQ proseGution of witchcraft. — i. 60. 
 The glooms of his disposition grew darker in age as death approached, a friend whom he was 
 glad to meet, when he expired, at the completion of his sixty-flfth year.— i. 62. 
 In the ripe period of his book productiveness not a date is missing.— i. 62. 
 
 Did he publish a book every day for forty years ? 
 
 CoL Byrd Is a little free in his language at times, bat that ielongs to the race of hearty livers of 
 his century.- i 75. 
 
 Eev. Elisha Williams became rector, which he continued till 1789.— i. 37. 
 
 Franklin's voluminous correspondence would alone have given him a high literary reputation 
 as a letter writer. • 
 
 The aggregate of his distinct literary compositions out-distances the labors of many who have 
 worked directly for reputation and the booksellers.- L l(i9. 
 
 We have alluded to Franklin's philosophy as indicative of the religious powers. Here it may 
 be said that he rather lived by them than in them. He appreciated the devout and transcendant 
 labors of such men as Jonathan Edwards, in laying the foundations [of what ?], and could empty 
 his pockets at the heart stirring appeals of Whitefield.— /Sid. 
 
 His (Byles's) first wife was a niece of Q-ov. Belcher, and her successor— «A« dignity armareirMu 
 dvmimshmg with the relationship— a daughter of Lieut. Gov. Taller.- i. 119. <■ '■^ " 
 
 Is the daughter of a Lieutenant Governor a less dignified person 
 than the niece of a Governor ? or is a second wife less nearly related to 
 her husband than a first wife ? 
 
 • h^^'o ™°*' ^'" educated writers of verse he has tried his hand on a few of the odes of Horace. 
 — i. loo. 
 
 Of course the reader will suppose the man who has done this is still 
 living — but he died one hundred and sixteen years ago. 
 
Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 11 
 
 Berkeley was to the comiiry not only a personal friend, but a benefector— i. 165. 
 
 The anther of these letters was a French gentleman, born in 1731, of a noble fimit/y, at Caen, 
 in Normandy, who at tlie age of sixteen, &o. — i. 173. 
 
 Looked at as history, we may say it [the History of Connecticat, by Peters,] is unreliable ; but 
 regarded as a squib, which the author almost had the opportunity of writing with i^S\\& plucked 
 from, Ids writ?mig body auA pkmUd there by Me over-^<Uou8 brethren of Rebron^ it is vastly 
 enjoyable, and may be forgiven. The^B rrunMied humorous gravity of the style Is irresistible.— 
 1. 191. 
 
 The author of "M'Pingal" had more of the power, Hcpklnsou a larger proportion of that 
 gentle qualU/y which plays around the heart — i. 209. 
 
 A moro finished and aoaompUBhed work [than the " Miscellaneous Assays and Occasional 
 Writings of Hopklnson "] has never issued ftom the American press. 
 
 Of tils political writer we find an account in the " Autobiography of John Adams," from which 
 it appears that he was a native of Massachusetts Bay, in the town ofBuMeld. — L 228. 
 
 He had been apprenticed to a trader from which he ran away. In debt to his master. — Ibid. 
 
 There is much sly humor in this bool^ hU off in a neai quaint style. — i, 256. 
 
 He sailed from New Bedford to ascertain the isUmd discovered by Oosnold in 1602, which he 
 had stated incorrectly in the first volume of his biographies. Finding the exact locality on (he 
 isUmd of Cvil/yhwnJc, he re-wrote the Ufe for the second volume, and Introduced a description of 
 the spot.— 76i3. 
 
 Dr. Eobert Smith, of Scoto-Irish descent, who came to this country in his childhood, a man 
 of education an^ cha/racter.—t 274. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon, in 1788, was induced to visit England for the purpose of collecting funds for 
 the institution; a raiher early application after the war, which was unswxes^l. — 1. 27T, 
 
 His sagacity was shown in the old Continental Congress, where he earnestly opposed the 
 appointment of Thomas Paine as Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs, whom he 
 already distrusted.— 1. 277. 
 
 Our own knowledge of Dr. Witherspoon enables us to say that it 
 Was Paine, and not the committee, whom he distrusted. 
 
 He wrote the Congressional Addresses to the People, recommending fasts and Thou^Ms on 
 American Liberty, and several war topics in the newspapers. — i. 277. 
 
 We suspect, but are by no means confident, that the Messrs. 
 Duyckinck intended in these lines to convey the meaning that Wither- 
 spoon wrote the Addresses of Congress in which fasts were recommend- 
 ed, and an essay entitled " Thoughts on American Liberty," besides 
 discussing in the newspapers several subjects connected with the war. 
 
 A portion of these lines has been happily introduced in the excellent novel by John Eaten 
 Cooke, of the Virginia Comedians, which introduces us in a spirit of delicate sentiment and 
 elevated romance to the chlvalrlc olden time of the State.— i. 285. 
 
 Now, Mr. Cooke is an estimable member of the bar of Virginia, and 
 was never in any way connected with the play actors of that Common- 
 wealth. But is it " a portion of those lines," or Mr. Cooke's novel, 
 that " introduces" us to all this romance and chivalry ? 
 
 After passing through college, devoted himself to merchandise, a pursuit which he soon 
 abandoned.— f. 287. 
 
 The couplet we have quoted is found in an epilogue to the tragedy" of Cato, written in 1778. It 
 is occnpled by a parallel between the scenes and characters which have just passed before the 
 spectators' eyes, and those in which the author and audience were alike participants, — 1. 286. 
 
 Which is so occupied, the couplet or the epilogue ? 
 
 They wrote, together, papers in the style of the Spectator, ^^n the standard model for this 
 class of compositions. — i. 809. 
 
 When did the Spectator cease to be the "standard model" for 
 " compositions " " in the style of the Spectator " ? 
 
 Trumbull returned to New Haven, and wrote what now stands as the first, second, and third 
 cantos of M'Flngal. — Ibid. 
 
 Becoming President, Madison filled the secretaryship during his administration, succeeding to 
 the Presidency itself in 1809. On the completion of his second term he withdrew to his hom^ in 
 Virginia, where, with the exception of a couple of months, while he was engaged in the revision 
 of the State Constitution at Bichmond, and his visits to Gharlottsville, where he succeeded 
 Jefferson as rector, he netier afterwards went beyond the Umiis qfMs covmty. — i. 823. 
 
 The first of the ancestors of Gouverneur Morris, who emigrated to America, was Bichard Morris 
 
12 Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 Vho is said to have been an officer in Comwallis's arn^. His son Lewis succeeded to his estatt?. 
 and filled, during the last years of his life, the office of Governor of New Jersey. His eldestson, 
 Lewis, became a member of the New Tork Legislature, in which he adopted the liberal side. He 
 had eight children, four of whom were sons, and out of these sons Gouverueur was the youngest — 
 i.848. 
 
 From all this it appears that several of the ancestors of Gouverneur 
 Morris emigrated from some foreign country, and that the first of them, 
 Eichard, the great-great-grandfather of Gouverneur, was an officer in 
 the army of Comwallis, a general of about the same age as Gouver- 
 neur himself ! This master Richard Morris must have been rather an 
 old soldier ! The question of the sex of Gouverneur we cannot deter- 
 mine. Lewis Morris had eight children, four of whom were sons, and 
 out of these sons, Gouverneur was the youngest. Is it possible that he 
 was the youngest daughter ? 
 
 Hospital duties after ^& field at Saratoga.— L 878, 
 
 The President, soon contemplating reUrementJroTti age. — i. 379. 
 
 By what means ? Suicide, or a league with Robert Balsamo, or a 
 search for the Fountain of Youth ? 
 
 _ Opposition to the Church of England interest, for a long time thwarted the ^pZanSQ/'^Ae college. 
 
 John Marshall, the author of the "Life of Vashtngton," and ^.bajudiddl iasla of avihoHty of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States.— i. 404. 
 
 We never before saw it stated that Marshall was the American 
 Constitution. 
 
 The iradUional reputation of Ames for eloquence, ha/nded down by his friends and fellow 
 politicians, has not expired in his published writings. One of these anecdotes, which we have 
 hoard related, exhibits the man. — L 469. 
 
 The quick and forgeUnie fancy of Ames. — n)id. 
 
 The conclusion of his speech on the British treaty, when he alludes to his feeble health.— i. 470. 
 
 The letters of Ames are sha/rph/ written, with point, and occasional felicities of expression, 
 but they are not elaborate or higbly finished compositions rarely partaking of the essay character 
 of some of Webster's epistles.— /S»(i. 
 
 From 1812 to 1823 Webster resided at Amherst, Mass., when he returned to New Haven. 
 — ^1. 47G. 
 
 When the war was ended he had an opportunity to give proof of his ability with the pen, In his 
 authorship of the celebrated " Newburg Letters," dated from the camp at that place.— i. 480. 
 
 Lippincott mentions no such place as Newburg Letters. 
 
 We may detect the influence of Darwin, who was tlien the fashionable poet of the day in his 
 lines. In the opening of one of the cantos he pays the usual compliments of the day to his 
 brother bards.— i. 496. y j a 
 
 Unimportant as a collection of poetry, it is a curious picture of the closing years of the last 
 century, when Washington declined a re-election to the Presidency (the subject for several pages 
 of heroic verse), when Shea rebeUed in Massachusetts (celebrated in an ironical song), when Eu- 
 rope was seething with the coming revolution (a lively newsmonger's ballad), &c., &o.— i. 514. 
 
 What is the '' subject of several pages of heroic verse " ? Who or 
 what is " celebrated in an ironical song " ? and when did Europe, or the 
 " coming revolution," become a lively "ballad " ? 
 
 The imputed writer of the political poetical tract of the Jacobiniad— i 585 
 • P«t>Hshed an elegy, " The Triumphs of Superstition," which denoUs his thoughts and feel- 
 
 Born in 1769, in the town ot Dover in Delaware, the son of a Scotch clergyman who passed 
 rorty-threeyearsofministerialduty, &c.— i. 668. 
 
 A sea captain, who had retired with a moderate fortune Sy the name of Albee.—i. 585. 
 
 Wirt 8 practice in the Supreme Court gained him great reputation, where he frequently met 
 his legal antagonist Pinkney. — 1. 617, i j 
 
 drama.— L ais"^ ^''^'"~™ «;Aa« ^m«Wea»i author has no« ?— meditated a production in the 
 
 •nr.'5r°?'' P'°\«rt?g. tlie e^Jy whig leader of Salem, his native place, the fellow soldier of 
 WashiEgton, and Aw Secretary of State from 1795 until his removal in the administration oS Adams 
 m IBOO ; subsequently a member of Congress, a member of the Board of War in 1812, as he had 
 
DuycMncJcs' Cyclopedia of American Literature, 13 
 
 discharged namorons similar duties la the revolution ; again member of Congress from 1814 to 
 1817, when he retired, at thai period, to private life, employing himself in agrlcaltore. — 1. 625. 
 
 Hifl form seemed bafiUupaa amply to the eye, as his cireer and words to the mind, the full 
 ideal of a Bishop.— L 650. 
 
 Mr. Bristed was enthusiastic In the pursuit of his oonviations. — 1. 658. 
 
 Did he ever catch them ? 
 
 He subsequently, In 1825, returned to the country, as minister plenipotentiary, under the admin- 
 istration of Adams, wTiere lie maintained his personal Independence. — i. 661. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Irving, who had married his sister, a man of wit and genius. — iL 1. 
 
 He [dtory] was a great favorite, with his handsome florid face and long auburn ringlets. — 11. 10. 
 
 Dane ofifered $10,000 as the foundation of a law professorsliip, on the condition that Story 
 should become Us first professor. — Ibid. 
 
 The legal writings of Story /rom his ownp&n. — \\. 12. 
 
 In 1819 he returned to America for a period of two years, which he passed in Boston, and at 
 this time married the sister of Dr. Ohanning.— li. 18. 
 
 About midaight, near the dmomng of Sunday.— /5M 
 
 Nothing left his easel or his desk, which was not the ripe product of his mind, which had cost 
 not only labor but perplexity.— Ji&Z. 
 
 The work would have been completed, and have created. — Ibid. 
 
 Webster's father, a farmer, and according to the habit of the country and times, an innkeeper. — 
 iL29. 
 
 So, all New Hampshire farmers then kept taverns ! 
 
 Its author, who is understood to Jiave been C. 0. Telton. 
 
 When did Prof. Feltoa die ? or if living, who is he now ? 
 
 Calhonn read the histories of EoUin, Bobertaon and Toltaire with such assiduity, that in four- 
 teen weeks he had despatched several of each. — ^it 85. 
 
 In his personal character, Calhoun was of great purity and simplicity of cTutraoter. — ii. 86. 
 
 Col Benton's moderate course on the slavery question not being approved by a majority 
 of the Senate of his State, and his independent course on other questions cm u;^?^ having added to 
 the number of his enemies, as well as his friends, he lost his election to the Senate in 1851. — ii. 44. 
 
 Dr. Brown preserved reports of Nisbit's lectures, which he characterizes as " full, thorough, 
 philosophical, appositely illustratel by wit" In a letter to Dr. Miller he gives a specimen from 
 one of his discourses on logic, which fully Bwrtains the last quality. — ii. 69. 
 
 His '■ Female Biography," having miny points of resemblaace to his collection of male cele- 
 brities. — ii. 62. 
 
 The meaning here is, perhaps, that Knapp's " Female Biography " 
 resembles in miny respects the same author's " Biographical Sketches of 
 Eminent Lawyers," <fec. It is a striking discovery. 
 
 Lamentmg the lack of interest manifested by bis fellowcoimtrymen.—ii. 68. 
 
 This, of course, refers to Mr. Verplanck's country neighbors : " fel- 
 low-countrymen " having no other signification. But what Mr. Ver- 
 planck lamented was the indifference of his countrymen — a word 
 which our authors should be informed indicates fellow-citizens, or fel- 
 low-inhabitants of the same nation. 
 
 Junenile Verses, written by yornig Woodworth.— ii. 71. 
 
 Tlie Forest Eose keeps possession of the stage on accoimt of the amusing Yankee character who 
 forms one of the dramiaMs personm. — Ibid. 
 
 His progress in his History, and the other useful labors of his life, was interrupted. — ^IL 85. 
 
 Jack 'Tier was published in 1318, from the pages of QvahamCs Magazine, a story of the sea, dc. 
 — ii. 112. 
 
 Satanstoe was a first of the series designedly (I) written to dmovmae the anti-rent doctrines. — 
 nid. 
 
 Translation : In Satanstoe, Mr. Cooper denounced anti-rentism. 
 
 With his customary spirit he adapted himself to the publishing fashion introdaced by the 
 system at cheap reprints.— 11. 112. 
 
 The government of the United States was one oftTie moat eaypensime and entailed as heavy abnr- 
 den of taxation on those under its sway, as any In the world. — 11. 110. 
 
 Some of the newspaper editors (/<A« day, who forgot good manners, and feraonaUy assailed 
 the a.v.thoT'i peaiMarities. 
 
 The Messrs. Duyckinck are doubtless deserving of praise for letting 
 
14 DuycMncks^ Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 us know that the newspaper editors who quarreled with Cooper were 
 not those scurvy members of the press-gang who lived in the days of 
 Cheops ; but what do they mean by saying, they " personally " assailed 
 Mr. Cooper's "peculiarities"? Does the word ''personally" attach 
 to editors ? their action was editorial — in writing — hj leading articles, 
 as it were ; or does " personally" refer to these " peculiarities" ? Were 
 they persons, and did the editors black their eyes and crop their ears ? 
 
 The author has contrasted great mental vigor, combined with lax moral principle, to enfeebled 
 intellect, strengthened by unswerving reotltnde.— ii. 111. j. ^ . , x 
 
 The Ways of the Hour was designed to exhibit the evils m me cmt/uirs opinion of trial oy 
 ^v/ry. — ii. 118. . 
 
 The old English divines as contradistinguished to the school of Locke. — ^ii. 181. 
 
 An editorial connection was planned with the OhrlMam Spectator, a theological review at New 
 Haven, ^position for which he was well qualified, but it was not carried out. — Ibid. 
 
 A controversy vrith the Eev. Dr. Potts, which grew out of a remark letfiiM by Eufns Choate. 
 
 One of the topics which of lateyeata specially engaged his attention was the itOroduatory 
 memoir prefixed to the edition of the works of Webster.— ii. ITl. 
 
 What was the result of his attention to this " topic " ? Did he 
 write a review of the " introductory memoir," or merely think about 
 it? 
 
 He continued in tlie discharge of his professorship.— ii. 175. 
 
 When it was finally discharged what became of it ? 
 
 The particular mjiuence of Dr. Nott in the administration of the eolZege has been the practical 
 tu^ii wMch he has given to its disciplime^ in calling forth the earnest moral qualities of his pvpils, 
 and repressing the opposite proclivities of youth. This is a personal iofluence, for which he will 
 be gratefully remembered. — 11. 195. 
 
 Now, Dr. Nott administered the government of the college, and not 
 the college itself. His influence was not the practical turn given to 
 college discipline, but that practical turn may have been a result of his 
 influence. In the next line, it was perhaps intended to intimate that 
 he developed the manly qualities of his pupils, and repressed their 
 youthful proclivities. The act or conduct alluded to cannot, by any 
 rule with which we are acquainted, be described as a '' personal influ- 
 ence," though it may have been a means of creating such an influence. 
 
 Dr. Holbrook, in 1824, was elected Professor of Anatomy in the Medical College of South Caro- 
 lina, a place which he now holds. 
 
 Is the Professor of Anatomy a place, or does Dr. Holbrook hold 
 the college ? 
 
 Of the thirty or more poems of which the whole series was composed, Draie wrote nearly one 
 half, including The American Flag, which appeared among ihem.~ii. 208. 
 
 "Horace Mann is a native of Massachusetts, wjftere he was born at Franklin." "He pursued 
 the study of the law in, Litchfield, Conn, and Dedham, Mass., which he represented in the Legisla- 
 ture." " He has become eminent as a social reformer and philanthropist, tdking under his cliarge 
 the temperance question," &c. "In 1858 he was elected President of Antioch College, ■wAerfihe 
 also supports the duties of Professor of Political Economy," &c. — ii. 224. 
 
 Dr. Budh became connected with the Swedenborgian cTmrch, and devoted himself to the dis- 
 semination of the writings of tliat pJiilosopher. — ii, 226. 
 
 Brainard's genius is a flower plucked from the banks of the river which he loved and preserved 
 for posterity.— M. 227. 
 
 Legare's extensive erudition seems, as is sometimes the case, to have acted unfavorably to his 
 succes3.^i. 247. 
 
 The two tvym brothers, whose names, iScc.— ii. 282. 
 
 The rapid and impetuous orator of New England, whose eloquence descends like the flood of a 
 mountain river, bearing along grand and minute objects in its course, is a native of Massachusetts, 
 wh&re he was born, at Ipswich.— ii. 286. 
 
 In New York, on the anniversary of the landing of the PDgrims in 1843, at the Tabernacle.— 
 ii. 287. 
 
 Greenhow, after his arrival in California, was appointed, in 1853, associate law agent to the 
 United States Land OommiEsioner.— il. 811. 
 
Duj/ckincks* Cyclopedia of American Literature, 15 
 
 The anthor of " GeoTzia Soenes,^^ and a natlre of that State. 
 
 Gen. Fiuokner and Judge Johnson were members of the committee who made the first pur- 
 chase of books when the college went Into operation. They were procured i/th London^ from the 
 weU-known bookseller, Lacklngton— ii. 880. 
 
 Driven from England by the part he took in reference to French polities.— ii. 831. 
 
 Attacking Adams In a newmaper oommunlcatlon, which ho paolished In the Pennsylvania 
 Beading Weekly Ad/oertiser.^Ibia. 
 
 While Dr. Cooper was ai hia beat.it was rare to meet such charming conversation as was ex- 
 hibited at that tmie, at the dinner taolea and other aoeiety of Columbia, in wMoh Cooper, Henry 
 Frestnn, and others, were conspicuous, and would not have appeared to disadvantage in the best 
 London Sooietyl—il 884. 
 
 This eminent speculative inqalrer, ingenious thinker, and exponent of various religious opin- 
 ions in his writinffs, was born in Vermont — 11. 885. 
 
 Tho form of fiction Is but a thin covering, and a slight Impediment to. If it does not assist, a 
 purely philosophical essay. — Tbid. 
 
 The author of the popular ballad of Old Grimes, a poet of cultivation, and an ardent prosecu- 
 tor qf the historical Uterature qf Rhode Iskmdt is a native of that State.— ii. 836. 
 
 Some persons may wish to know whether Mr. Greene has acted in 
 a strictly legal manner in thus prosecuting this historical literature, 
 who appointed him to the duty, and whether he is likely to gain his 
 case. 
 
 He passed his evenings In reading aloud to his family, a ^ait which his son continued.— ii. 861. 
 
 He has taken little part In the pxihWc &S&\rs ^ the day, except In the matter of the slavery 
 quesHon, oa which he nas delivered several orations in opposition to that institution. — 11. 866. 
 
 As a writer, the prose of Mr. Gayarre is marked by the French and Southern characteristics. ~ 
 11. 402. 
 
 As an esaayiat, Mr.' Sanford holds a very bappy pen. His articles of this class, In the news- 
 papers of^e day, &c. — 11. 406. 
 
 The transition &om the quiet of an Italian stfudio, to the activity of an American resid&nt, — ii . 
 417. 
 
 Hyperion wia dated in 1889, a dainty 'oohime, perfecting the happy jpromlses of Outre Mer. 
 Old European tradition, the quaint and picturesque of the past, are revived in Us pages by a 
 modern sentiment and winning ^trick of the fancy, which will long secure the attractiveness of this 
 pleasant volume. — ii. 444. 
 
 Whether owing to the writer's sympathy with Bunyan from his own somewhat similar 
 labors, dangers, and sufferings in the temperance cause, this volume Is one of the ablest of his pro- 
 ductions. — ii. 454. 
 
 The plot turns on distinctions of fashionable life, and the assumption, by one of the characters, 
 of the favorable posi^MTO in an Intrigue of a foreign count. — ii. 469. 
 
 His writings were published in d^ached numbers of the New York Mirror. — Ibid. 
 
 The scenes and incidents of his stories are for the moat part dranvnj^'om the Southern States, 
 — ii. 486. 
 
 He was one of the body of excellent writers attached to Buckingham's New England Maga- 
 zine, where he wrote a series of Uterary portraits. — ii. 494. 
 
 When Franklin Pierce was nominated for the Presidency, Mr. Hawthorne came forward as his 
 biographer, a work which he executed in moderate space and with literary decorum. — ii. 506. 
 
 He delivered "Poetry, a Metrical Kssay," before the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa, which he pub- 
 lished the same year.—li. 511. 
 
 She took up her residence in Boston, or its vicinity, employing herself, in 1889, in a species of 
 lectureship, or class of ladies. They were called conversations, in which German philosophy, &c., 
 were made the topics of instruction,— Ii. 525. 
 
 He was first President of the Cincinnati Historical Society, and was afterwards Vice President 
 of the Ohio Historical Society, his fondness for the latter 2yur8Uit8 being liberally loitnessed hy his 
 publication, "The Annals of the West. "— ii. 528. 
 
 His pen offered the next Jteld, and be laid on the shifting foundation of the magazines and 
 newspapers some of the corner stones of the literature of the West. — Ibid. 
 
 Poughkeepsie, the county town of his native place.— ii. 529. 
 
 Witb intellectual powers sometimes reminding us in a partial degree, of those of Coleridge's 
 poetic exercises, take Kubla Khan, for Instance, being sf ler Poe''8 ideal,— ii. 583. 
 
 Burritt published a monthly periodical to teach Frenc\ entitled The Literary Gernmi, In 
 1840 he commenced as a leotu/rer, one of the new profitable a/senues of literary occupation open 
 in the country, which he has eXnce pv^sued with success. — ii. 553. 
 
 He became engaged in circulating a mutual system o/" addresses. — Ibid. 
 
 Street has frequently beea described by critics by comparison with the minute style of the 
 Dutch school of painters.— il. 555. 
 
 Descriptions of natural scenery In the author's best veim, of careftil elaboration.— /&id. 
 
 A topic of more general agreement — 11. 567. 
 
 Beautiful situation for a poetic culture, which soon devdoped itself in her youthful mind.— 
 il. 659. 
 
 The woman's rights question, of which Mrs. Smith has been a prominent advocate. — 11. 562. 
 
 Mr. Osgood is fertile in a7ia^sis,—i\. 572. 
 
 He entered the army, where he served as a private soldier. — ii. 575. 
 
 The organs of sound were irrevocably destroyed.— Ii. 576. 
 
16 Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 A memorial volvme of his sermons and poetical remains, in an octavo volume, was prepared 
 by Bishop Doane.—ii. 612. , ,^ „ .„ 
 
 Downing's exertions have undoubtedly emerewed a great and salutary influence. — il. 618. 
 
 The modest tilie of her vohime of poems should not be suffered to overshadow the merits of 
 the choice contents of the look.— ii. 627. 
 
 Mr Sargent has never thought Ms play, "The Genoese," worthy of a permanent aaopHon.— 
 ii. 684. . 
 
 Magazines and periodicals. — ibid. 
 
 Manager Hallam we know existed, though we trust with very different attributes thim those to 
 which the necessity of the plot here subjects him.— ii. 687. 
 
 Mr. Mathews was among the early graduates of the New York University, an association 
 which he revived some years afterwards by an address on Americanism.— ii. 645. 
 
 It has commonly been supposed that this University was " revived " 
 by heavy subscriptions from George Grisvrold and other gentlemen. 
 The Messrs. Duyckinck, however, may be correct. 
 
 In 1840, The Politicians, a Comedy, appeared, the smijecl matter of which was followed up in 
 the Career of Puffer Hopkins. — ^ii. 645. 
 
 Mr. Mathews has been a constant writer in the journalism of the day. — Ii. 646. 
 
 He was assisted in the raising by Emerson, G-eorge W. Curtis, and other celebrities of Concord, 
 whose presence gave the rafters an o/rtisiic .flavor. — ii. 654. 
 
 This is the first intimation that we have seen that Thoreau was 
 compelled to eat the rafters of his Walden shanty. Our authors appear 
 to have known of other not less astonishing results of hunger. On ii. 
 613, we read of an eccentric personage who had a "wild flavor," 
 and, on i. 291, of a book that had " the rough flavor of the frontier 
 settlements," — so that not only must a book have been literally devoured, 
 but somebody — perhaps one of the Messrs. Duyckinck — has actually 
 made provender of a frontier settlement ! 
 
 He has since been engaged iu teaching Theology, both in the German and English languages, 
 with the exertion of the year 1854.— ii. 659. 
 
 The sviject [of the Bigelow Papers] is an eccposme of the political pretences and shifts which 
 accompanied the Mexican war. — ^ii. 660. 
 
 He was next employed in the office of a large broker's firm from Boston.— Ii 664. 
 
 Who was this large broker ? Who constituted the firm whom he 
 owned ? and as they were from Boston, where did they open their 
 office ? Or did the authors mean simply that Mr. Whipple was em- 
 ployed in the compting-house of the eminent brokers, or private bank- 
 ers, Dana Fenno & Co., of Boston ? 
 
 Whipple was a leader in the display of his quick, intellectual fence and repartee, extensive 
 stores of reading, and subtle and copi<m8 critical faculty. — ii. 664. 
 
 Undoubtedly. Who else should have been a leader in the display 
 of Mr. Whipple's own abilities, even to the " copious critical faculty" ? 
 
 A look remarkable for its various reading.— ii. 665. 
 
 The education which her son has received as the companion of her artistic excursions, for 
 she possessed a natural genius for art, into the natural world, determined, &c. — Ibid. 
 
 The wife of Dr. F. A. Worthington, a physician of Ohio, whose rnaiden nam^ was Jane T. 
 Lomax. — ii. 678. 
 
 She is married to Mr. W. B. Kinney, editor of the Newark Daily Advertiser, wTiere many of 
 her poetic compositions have appeared. — ii. 685. 
 
 He is at present resident Minister at Vienna, to which he was appointed in 185S. — ^ii. 693. 
 
 James Burrell, remembered as an eminent Bbode Islander, and for Ms Senator's speech in 
 Congress.— ii. 706. 
 
 Our author has given an imaginative reminiscence of his early impressions of Providence, then 
 in the decay of its large India trade. — Ibid. 
 
 Beiy. F. Butler, a member of the (7a6ineiof Jackson and Van Buren, to wAom, in 1824, in con- 
 nection with John Duer and the late John C. Spencer, was entrusted the important work of revi- 
 sing the Statutes of the State of New Tork, and author of several addresses and a few poetical 
 eontnbvMons to the Demoaraiic Seciew.—n. 718. 
 
DuycJdncks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 17 
 
 Would it be possible with unjust severity to censure persons so 
 ignorant of the commonest and simplest uses of language, for their 
 presumption in attempting to write a critical history of Literature ? 
 Let not the absurdity be repeated, that their work is historical, and not 
 critical. The very selection of authors for historical treatment — the 
 decision, for example, that Henry James, a man scarcely surpassed in 
 our day for purely literary excellences, is not entitled to any notice 
 whatever, in a cyclopedic review which embraces formal biographies 
 of T. S. Arthur and Louisa McCord — is an act of criticism. Besides, 
 these volumes are full of what is meant for criticism, according to the 
 common application of that word ; and this criticism, when not second 
 hand, is often as feeble and preposterous in substance, as puerile and 
 vicious in expression. Cotton Mather writes the life of his father, 
 " with great spirit and unction ;" he tells the story of witchcraft, " with 
 a hearty unction that gloats over the victims ;" JeflFerson's autobiog- 
 raphy has " nothing of the relish of Franklin's ;" William B. Tappan's 
 verses, perhaps less deserving of this peculiar praise than any others 
 in the whole range of our literature, are described as ''^uniformly 
 smooth, musical, and in excellent taste ; " Miss Warner's book, " The 
 Law and the Testimony," which is simply a classified collection of 
 texts of Scripture, is called " a theological work of research and merit ;" 
 Margaret Fuller's " criticism " (of Longfellow ?) " is but another name 
 for sympathy ; " and William P. Hawse's " signature of Cypress, Jr." 
 is regarded as " a sure indication to the reader of a pleasant, ingenious 
 vein of speculation on the favorite topics of the sportsman, mingled 
 with personal humors of the writer's own." A careful study of this last 
 extract has not enabled us to discover its significance, except as to the 
 suggestive import of the name " Cypress," which to most people would 
 be " a sure indication " of reveries in graveyards. It was long ago the 
 reproach of foreign wits that our country was overrun with " American 
 Addisons," " American Goldsmiths," " American Scotts," " American 
 Ooleridges," &c. American criticism appeared at length to be purged 
 of this sort of stufi^; but it is here revived. "Modern Chivalry" is 
 " modeled upon Hudibras and Don Quixote, and productions of that 
 ilk" and " the humor is after Sterne and Fielding ;" Drake's " Culprit 
 Fay" is "a Midsummer Night's Dream, after Shakspeare's Queen 
 Mab ; " in Longfellow, " the poetical vision and earnest teachings of 
 Goethe, and the every-day humors of Jean Paul, as it were, come to 
 live with us." 
 
 But let us see what is the " historical " value of this work. We 
 have already shown that no judgment is exhibited in the selection of 
 subjects, and that there is no proportion in the particularity and length 
 of biographies. We will now inquire what degree of reliance can be 
 placed upon the statements which the authors oflFer as facts. It would 
 require a volume to point out all their blunders; and, as of their style, 
 we shall merely give a few specimens. 
 
 So much has been said and written of the Beecher family, especi- 
 ally since the appearance of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," that the reader will 
 2 
 
18 BuycUncTcs' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 refidily understand how abundant and easily accessible must be ma- 
 terials for their biographies; and if the account of the Beechers and 
 their books is inaccurate, that all the rest of the work may therefore 
 be justly suspected. After a few sentences on the life of Lyman Beecher, 
 the father, we have of his career in literature these meager sentences : 
 
 His chief publications consist of sermons and addresses, and a work on Political Atheism. A 
 collection of his works, (n four compact dnodeoimo volomes, was made in Boston in 1862. 
 
 Here, is not a word of those extraordinary "Six Sermons on Intem- 
 perance," which produced a more profound and pervading sensation 
 than any other six sermons ever printed in America, or of his " Plea 
 for the West," " Views in Theology," or other distinct publications. Of 
 his children we are told : 
 
 Of his four nonn, all eminent in the ministry; one, Charles Beecher, has published a popular 
 volume, " The Incarnation, or Pictures of the virgin and her Son," and an ingenious work, en- 
 titled " The OonJUot of the Ages,'' in which he maintains a theory referring the origin of evii to a 
 supposed eosistencs of the progenitore of the human race prior to Adam. Another brother [of 
 whom ?], Edward, has written a duodecimo volume on " Baptism, its Import and Modes ;" and a 
 third [brotber or son ?], Henry Ward Beecher, is one of the most popular speakers of the day. 
 His sermons attract an audience, Sunday after Sunday, sufficient to crowd the inTge place of war- 
 ship in Brooklyn, of which ?i6 is pastor, and he is equally favored in his frequent appearances as a 
 lecturer on topics oftJie day. — 1. 644, 
 
 We will not dwell upon the diction of this paragraph. It will 
 readily enough be discovered that it makes two of Dr. Lyman Beech- 
 er's sons his brothers, and one of them the pastor, not of a body of 
 Christian men and women, but of a meeting house ; and we are twice 
 reminded, in a phrase repeated in these volumes several hundred times, 
 that the subjects and persons treated are " of the day, " and we pre- 
 sume the " day " referred to was not that in which Nebuchadnezzar ate 
 grass — though we have no authority for doing so. Upon the whole, 
 the extract is a fair example of the Messrs. Duyckinok's manner of 
 writing. 
 
 But as to the '' historical " facts : Instead of four sons. Dr. Beecher 
 has had seven, oi whom six, — William H., born in 1802, Edwai-d in 
 1803, George in 1809, Henry Ward in 1813, Charles in 1817, and 
 Thomas K., who is still younger, became clergymen. The Rev. 
 George Beecher, a man of eminent qualities of mind and heart, whose 
 memoirs have been published, died a few years since, in Ohio. The 
 other five remain in the ministiy. Charles, it will be perceived, is not 
 the oldest ; he did not write " The Conflict of the Ages ;" and that perform- 
 ance has nothing to do with "the origin of evil," or with " the pro- 
 genitors of the human race prior to Adam," though it does treat of 
 the pre-existence of the soul. Edward Beecher, D. D., who did write 
 '' The Conflict of the Ages," and is authoi' of " The Papal Conspi- 
 racy, "and other works, remarkable as displays of learning, genius, 
 and energy, may be regarded as the ablest and weightiest character of 
 the family. Henry Ward Beecher is a brilliant orator, an original 
 thinker, and a writer of great animation, freshness, clearness, and power. 
 His volume entitled " Star Papers," his " Lectures to Young Men," and 
 other books, will probably receive some attention in future histories of 
 American literature. Charles Beecher has written some half dozen 
 
Duycklncks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 19 
 
 volumes, all noticeable for grace, fervor, and imagination. Our cyclope- 
 dists proceed : 
 
 The daughterB of Dr. Beecher contribute their full share to the general activity of the family. 
 Miss Catharine Beecher is the author of " Domestic Service," "The Duty of American Women 
 to their Oountrv. " "Housekeeper's Eecipe Boot," " Moral Instructor, " "The True Kemedy for 
 the Wrongs of Women, with the History of an Enterprise having that for its Objedt," " Treatise 
 on Domestic Economy," and "Troth Stranger than Fiction," a vigorous denunciation of the 
 alleged flirtations of young divinity students. These volumes are of small compass, and designed 
 for wide popular influence,—!. 644. 
 
 Now, this distinguished person, who was born in the year 1800, 
 has devoted herself during more than twenty years, with untiring as- 
 siduity, to the intellectual and moral improvement of her sex. For 
 the education of women, especially in the valley of the Mississippi, no 
 man or other woman has done as much. Her literary productions, all 
 written with singular earnestness and directness, have generally been of 
 a vei-y practical kind. It is untrue that they " are of small compass." 
 They are of the average extent of duodecimo volumes. The longest, 
 ablest, and by far the most important of them, in a literary point of 
 view, are " Difficulties in Religion," and " Mental Philosophy," which 
 the Messrs. Duyckinck never heard of, " Truth Stranger than Fiction," 
 is not on the " flirtations of young divinity students," but the exhibition 
 of a particular history, in which a friend of Miss Beecher was believed 
 to have been wronged. After stating that Hairiet Beecher was born 
 in 1812 (the true date being 1811), and that she was married in her 
 twenty-first year (another mistake) to Professor Stowe, a brief notice is 
 given of " The Mayflower " and " Uncle Tom's Cabin," after which we 
 have what here follows : 
 
 Soon after the publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Mrs. Stowe, in company with ber bus 
 band and the Rev. Charles Beecher, her brother, visited Qreai Britain. Her observations were 
 communicated to the public, some time after her return, by the Issue, in <i(ynjwn.<Mon vnih h&r 
 hufibtjmd., of two volumes of travels, "Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands." The Eev. Charles 
 Beecher contributes his journal of a tour on the continent to his sister's volumes. — 11. 606. 
 
 From all this, it appears that Mr, and Mrs, Stowe pi'oceeded no 
 further than Great Britain, that Charles Beecher helped to fill up the 
 volumes with an account of what he saw on the Continent, and that 
 the work, thus completed, was issued" as the joint production of Pro- 
 fessor Stowe and his wife ! But the Professor had nothing whatever to 
 do with it, except to write a brief note to some prefatory extracts fi-om 
 English newspapers. The Stowes were with Mi'. Beecher wherever he 
 went through Europe ; and the invention, that the latter contributed his 
 journal of a tour on the Continent, has for its foundation merely the 
 fact that Mrs. Stowe illustrates particular points in her letters by pas- 
 sages — amounting altogether to a dozen or twenty pages — fi'om her 
 brother's diary. 
 
 Of the Ballou family : 
 
 Moses, the son of Hosea Ballon, is the author of "The Divine Character Vindicated," — a reply 
 to Beeclier's "Conflict of the Ages." Another brotheris the editor of " Ballou's Pictorial," and the 
 author of several popular tales. Another member of the same family, the Kev. Adin Ballou, is the 
 author of several pamphlets on the peace movement — i, 599, 
 
 Moses Ballou is not a son.^ but a nephew, of the late eminent Uni- 
 versalist preacher. The editor of " Ballou's Pictorial " is not a brother, 
 
20 BuyckincTcs' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 but a son of the same person ; and his title to a place in literary his- 
 tory is not derived from his "Pictorial," or his "popular tales," but 
 from a careful volume on Cuba, and a memoir of his father. Adin 
 Ballou does not belong to the family. 
 
 Of the late William Leggett : " The Rifle," they say, 
 
 —was speedily followed by other tales, of sea as well ^ land. The wkoU were aubseqaently col- 
 lected under the title of " Tales by a Country Schoolmaster." In, 1828, Mr. Leggett married Miss 
 ElmiraLeggett, of New Bochelle; and in November of the same year commenced /Vi« <>««'. » 
 weelily literary periodical. . . . Several of the last numbers were not only «in«e»i, but also 
 aet in type and aUiribiUed to eubaaribers by himself— ii. 344. 
 
 The whole of Mr. Leggett's " tales of sea as well as land," were not 
 published in the volume named ; the naval stories were collected in a 
 book entitled " Tales of the Sea ; " and he printed in the periodicals 
 enough pieces of the same description for a third volume, and was 
 also one of the writers of the " Tales of Glauber Spa." The maiden 
 name of his wife was not Leggett, but Waring. The preposterous ac- 
 count of his writing the copy, setting the type, and distributing to sub- 
 scribers the worked-oflf sheets, of The Critic, surpasses any thing since 
 the days of Munchausen. The printer has not yet been born who could 
 set in type half a number of The Critic (a complete number being six- 
 teen quarto pages of small type) in a single week. Mr. Leggett, though he 
 had astonishing facility with the pen, did not write the entire contents, 
 or nearly the entire contents, of any number of that paper ; and how 
 ridiculous the assertion that a young man of talents and social eminence, 
 who had lately resigned an office in the navy, and within a year had 
 become connected, by marriage, with one of the leading families in the 
 neighborhood of the city, performed the menial service of carrying 
 about his weekly gazette to between seven hundred and eight hundred 
 subscribers ! To learn the simple trick of setting type, is very easy 
 to a person of dexterity and quick intelligence. Mr. Cooper could set 
 type very well ; so could Mr. Duponceau ; and there is a story, which 
 may have had some foundation, that Mr. Leggett " set up " a portion of 
 his small volume of verses, " Leisure Hours at Sea ; " but that en- 
 tire volume did not contain half as many words as a number of The 
 Critic. In the same article it is mentioned that Mr. Leggett's " home," 
 from the time of his marriage, in 1828, was at New Rochelle. This 
 also is untrue. He did not reside in thai place before 1837. The 
 Messrs. Duyckinck do not appear to have been informed that Mr. Leg- 
 gett had ever any connection with the stage, or that he left an unfinished 
 novel, one volume of which had passed through the press. 
 
 The "Probationary Odes of Jonathan Pindar" (i. 330) were not 
 written by Freneau, but by St. George Tucker. George Tucker (ii. 
 731) was never a member of Congress from Virginia. To say nothing 
 of other biographical errors respecting this gentleman, it may be re- 
 marked as somewhat odd, that his only works of an eminently literary 
 character, " Essays on Subjects of Taste, Morals, and National Policy," 
 which appeared in a stout octavo in 1822, the novel entitled "The 
 Valley of the Shenandoah," published in New York in 1832, and "A 
 Voyage to the Moon," in one volume, in 1827, are not named in the 
 
Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 21 
 
 Bketch here given us of his literary life. It is not true that Beverly- 
 Tucker wrote " Lectures on Government." Judge Henry St. George 
 Tucker (ii. 732) was not " the author of two volumes of Commentaries 
 on Blackstone." His only works on the law are " Lectures on Con- 
 stitutional Law and Government," in one volume ; " On Natural Law 
 and Government," in one volume; and " Commentaries on the Laws 
 of Virginia," in two large octavos. Thus, not one of the books he really 
 did write is mentioned, while a work which he did not write, and, per- 
 haps, never saw, is attributed to him. 
 
 Ledyard (i. 324) could not have been "born within a few hundred 
 yards of Fort Griswold, at Groton, Conn., in 1761," as no such fort 
 existed then, or afterwards for more than a quarter of a century. 
 
 There never was a Professor St. George (i. 85) in the Virginia 
 College of William and Mary. 
 
 Col. Benton's house, (ii. 64,) in which they say his manuscripts 
 " perished," was not in St. Louis, but in Washington. 
 
 In the life of John Sanderson, they say, — 
 
 The Uvea of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence were written by himself and bis 
 brother ; oar author^s snare of this work -was the composition of the first and second Tolnmes. — il, 4S. 
 
 The " Lives of the Signers " is a work in ten volumes, of which it 
 is here alleged that James M. Sanderson, the brother of John, wrote 
 eight. Why, then, have we not a more particular notice of that author ? 
 But the story is utterly groundless. No " brother " of Mr. Sanderson 
 wrote a line of the work. The later volumes were by Robert Wain, Jr. 
 
 Walter Colton was not a brother of Calvin Colton (ii. 246), but a 
 son of his cousin. Rev. Henry T. Cheever was not a " friend" (ii. 247) 
 of Walter Colton. He never had even the slightest personal acquaint- 
 ance with him. 
 
 Duche's "Letters of Tamoc Caspipina" (i. 220) had not at all 
 " reference to the English politics of the times," but only, as the author 
 himself says, to "subjects literary, moral and religious." If the 
 Messrs. Duyckincfc had taken the trouble to examine Mr. Duche's works, 
 particularly the two volumes of his sermons, illustrated by his friend 
 Benjamin West, and dedicated to another intimate friend. Lady Penn, 
 they would have discovered some facts of his biography which they 
 evidently know nothing about. 
 
 George W. Curtis did not write the articles on Prescott and Wash- 
 ington Irving in " Homes of American Authors." The first of these 
 articles is by George S. Hillard, and the last by H. T. Tuckerman. 
 
 Massachusetts was not a "state " (ii. 154) in 1716. 
 
 Paul Allen (i. 643) did not prepare the journals of Lewis and Clarke 
 for the press. That labor was performed by Nicholas Biddle. 
 
 Theodore Sedgwick, " first President of New York Crystal Palace 
 Company" (ii. 292), is not a brother but is a nephew of Miss Catha- 
 rine Sedgwick. 
 
 Mr. Cooper (ii. 112) did not after his return from Europe remove 
 to his " residence at Otsego." He never had any such residence. 
 
 Thomas H, Shreve (ii. 528) was never " prominently associated 
 
22 DuycTcincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature, 
 
 with the Louisville Gazette." He was for many years one of the edi- 
 tors of the Louisville Journal. 
 
 R. H. Dana, Jr. (ii. 619) not did " pass into the family and under the 
 tutorship of the Rev. Leonard Woods, at Andover, now the President 
 of Bowdoin." It is unquestionably intended here to state that Dr. 
 Woods, and not Andover, became President of Bowdoin College ; but 
 this Dr. Woods is a bachelor, and never had any " family." 
 
 Emily Judson (ii. 626) was not born at Morrisville, but at Eaton, 
 in New York. Dr. Judson, in 1850, was not " ordered home by his 
 physicians," and did not " embark for America." He was directed to 
 undertake a short sea voyage, and sailed for the Isle of France. ( 
 
 George H. Colton (ii. 658) did not, after the election of General 
 Harrison to the Presidency, "determine to write a poem on the Indian 
 wars" in which Harrison had been engaged. "Tecumseh" was nearly 
 all written, and a portion of it was printed, before the eleotion of Har- 
 rison. 
 
 James Russell Lowell's " time'' (ii. 660) has not since 1848 "been 
 occupied in a residence abroad." He has not resided abroad at all, nor 
 in all these eight years referred to has he been absent from Massachu- 
 setts two years. 
 
 The Rev. George Ripley (ii. 586) is not the author of the work 
 " On the Latest Form of Infidelity." That performance is from the 
 pen of the late Rev. Andrews Norton, a very different person. 
 
 S. L. Fairfield (ii. 377) did not sell his "magazine to Mr. James 
 0. Brooks, of Baltimore," but to the Rev. Nathan 0. Brooks. 
 
 Francis Catherwood (ii. 420) was not in 1846, or in any other year, 
 elected " a delegate to the State Convention of New York to revise the 
 constitution." He never held any ofBce whatever in this country. 
 
 R. W. Emerson (ii. 356) was not " one of the original editors of The 
 Dial." 
 
 " Thoughts on the Poets," published in 1846, (ii. 583,) was not "the 
 first of Mr. Tuekerman's collections from the magazines." The first 
 and largest of all his " collections from the magazines " was " Rambles 
 and Reveries," published half a dozen years earlier. 
 
 Poe (ii. 538) never wrote a story entitled " The Gold Ring ;" nor 
 were " The Gold Bug," and " The Murders of the Rue Morgue," writ- 
 ten while he was editor of " Graham's Magazine ;" nor did he publish in 
 that periodical his " development of the plot of Barnaby Rudge." 
 Without an exception, the productions referred to as illustrating Poe's 
 editorial connection with "Graham's Magazine," were written after that 
 connection was ended. The review of " Barnaby Rudge " appeared 
 originally in the " Saturday Evening Post," and " The Gold Bug '' was 
 one of the prize stories of the " Dollar Newspaper." Among the other 
 blunders in reference to Poe is a statement that "in 1844 he took, up 
 his residence in New York, projecting a magazine, to be called "The 
 Stylus." Poe first proposed, in Philadelphia, a monthly, to be called 
 "The Penn Magazine," but before removing from that city changed 
 his plan and title, and printed the prospectus of" The Stylus." He did 
 
Duyckineks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 23 
 
 not " commence the ' Broadway Journal ' with Charles F. Briggs." The 
 original editors and proprietors of that journal were Mr. Briggs and 
 Mr. Watson. Mr. Poe came in some time afterwards. 
 
 Grenville Mellen (ii. 278), they say, " wrote for the United States 
 Literary Gazette, supported by Longfellow and others, of Cambridge." 
 The periodical here alluded to had ceased to exist before Longfellow ever 
 went to Cambridge. 
 
 Theodore Parker did not (ii. SSY) "in 1848" deliver a "discourse, 
 remarkable for its severity, on Daniel Webster.^' This person's lam- 
 poon upon Mr. Webster was delivered after that statesman's death, in 
 1852. 
 
 We cannot, however, proceed further with an exposure of the direct 
 mis-statements contained in this work. As we have said, their proper 
 correction demands a new volume. With a few illustrations of the ex- 
 treme ignorance of the Messrs. Duyckinck of every thing not found in 
 previous publications in the same department, connected with the lit 
 erary lives of those persons whom they recognize as authoi's, we shall 
 bring to a close what we have to say of the " historical " value of the 
 " Cyclopedia of American Literature." 
 
 In regard to Gen. Cass (ii. 42) the authority followed was possibly 
 some newspaper sketch, prepared rather for the illustration of the politi- 
 cal than the literary career of that venerable savant. If among all the 
 writings of Gen. Cass there is one thing of which he is especially and 
 justly proud, it is his ingenious and masterly exposure, in the North 
 American Keview, of the pretended Indian traveler who succeeded in 
 imposing upon European scholars — John Dunn Hunter. The most 
 learned and carefully prepared of his productions are treatises on Egyp- 
 tian Agriculture and Jurisprudence. Neither these nor his voluminous, 
 able and philosophical writings on Indian affairs are mentioned. 
 
 In an article on M. M, Noah (ii. 73) not a word is said of the great 
 event of his life, his attempt. to assemble the Jews in his New Jerusa- 
 lem on Grand Island ; nor is there the slightest allusion to the most 
 characteristic and interesting of his literary enterprises, the publication 
 of "The Book of Jasher." 
 
 Of Nicholas Biddle's literary history our authors are so ignorant, 
 that they do not mention his connection with Girard College, though 
 his "Discourse " on laying the corner stone of that institution has been 
 generally regarded as the finest of his performances. His " Letters to 
 John Quincy Adams " are also unknown to them. 
 
 Of William Maclure we have a biography (ii. 575) which does 
 not in any way refer to his two octavo volumes of " Opinions," or to 
 the fact that he purchased in Paris the plates of the " Musee Francais " 
 and brought them to New Harmony, Indiana, with a hope of cultivat- 
 ing among the common people a taste for the fine arts, by circulating, 
 at a low price, through th^ valley of the Mississippi, impressions of the 
 remarkable works contained in that costly publication. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Cooper is introduced (ii. 331), but not a word is said 
 of his controversy with Professor Silliman on " The Connection be- 
 
24 Suychincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature, 
 
 tween Greology and the Pentateuch," or his famous " Letters to any 
 Member of Congress" (of which a third edition appeared in 1832), or 
 his work on " The Liberty of the Press," or even of his elaborate 
 " Memoirs of Dr. Priestley," in two octavo volumes. 
 
 It was, undoubtedly, for the authors to decide upon the scale and 
 scope of their performance. From the highest names in our literature 
 they could descend as far as in their judgment was necessary. But 
 the public had a right to demand that within the range from the high- 
 est names to the lowest they mention, all should be included. The 
 justness of this rule, of course, no one will dispute. Let us see how it 
 is observed. Among the writers of whom biographies are given, are — 
 
 Joseph B. Ladd, D. G. McCord, William A. Jones, Jaa. H. Hammond, 
 
 Henry T. Farmer, Louisa MoOord, Mrs. Tnthlll, Eobert M. Charlton, 
 
 ■William Crafts, Selllck Oshorn, 0. 8. Eaflnesque, W. H. Simmons, 
 
 Eichard Dabney, Eobert 8. Coffin, Samuel Low, J.W.Simmons, 
 
 Isaac Harby, McDonald Clarice, Frederick Knight, C.A.I>agu6. 
 
 William H. Tlmrod, James Lawson, W. Matorln, 
 
 These are all subjects of distinct biographies and criticisms. They 
 may have been or may be very worthy persons, honored in society or 
 eminent in affairs ; but not one of them was ever entitled to literary 
 distinction ; not one ever published a book that has lived or will live ten 
 years ; not one ever wrote even a respectable magazine article ; indeed, 
 not one original or brilliant or profound or artistically finished coup- 
 let or paragraph can be produced from all the masses of printed paper 
 they have given to the world. Their introduction into this work, how- 
 ever, would provoke no observation if so many authors of unquestion- 
 able excellence were not entirely unnoticed, or but casually referred to ; 
 as, for example, Edwards A. Park, the all-accomplished theologian, 
 philosopher, dialectician, and rhetorician, who is mentioned in a foot- 
 note as the writer of a memoir of B. B. Edwards ; Richard Hush, one 
 of the most elegant and voluminous authors ever connected with the 
 public life of this country, whose name appears as an officer of the 
 Smithsonian Institution ; the profound metaphysician and speculator on 
 passion, manners, and the divine suasion, Thomas C. Upham, who is 
 pointed out as one of the professors in Bowdoin College ; and the illustri- 
 ous " Edwards the Younger," who is dismissed with a few words of the 
 account of Union College — deemed entitled to as little attention as an 
 ancient Hollander, named Kype, who never learned the English alpha- 
 bet, or breathed the atmosphere of this Western continent. With a 
 few exceptions of this kind, the persons mentioned in the following list 
 are not even named in the "Cyclopedia of American Literature." 
 
 In this list we confine ourselves mainly to the post-revolutionary 
 period. Should we go into the colonial era, a hundred of the best 
 intellects of the country would at once demand a reason for their omis- 
 sion. And what would these "erudite, brilliant and judicious " authors 
 of our literary annals, who have here " produced a work for all time," 
 have to say to the ghost of the famous scholar and wit, Jeremy Dum- 
 mer, for instance, should it question them of his exclusion ! — Jeremy 
 Dummer, who during the entire first half of the eighteenth century 
 
DuyckincM Cyclopedia of American Literature. 25 
 
 was confessed the most astute and richly cultivated man in all British 
 America. 
 
 We shall he more easily followed as we recall the names of some 
 of those authors whom the Messrs. Duyokinck never heard of, or whom 
 they regard as less deserving of consideration in a " Cyclopedia of 
 American Literature " than McDonald Clarke and James Lawson, if we 
 do so after the manner of the Clerk of the House — in the order of 
 their geographical distribution. They exclude, of 
 
 MAINE. 
 
 Edward Psyson, D. D., whose works are more read, at home and abroad, than those of saj 
 Hew England divine except Dr. Dwight 
 
 Enoch fond, D. D , the venerable and volmninons writer In theology, philosophy, and classical 
 and religious biography. 
 
 J. H. Ingraham, author of "The Sonthwesti" " Burton," "Lafltte," "The American Lounger," 
 and a great number of other works. 
 
 Lorenzo Sabine, author of " The American Loyalists," " History of Duelling," " The American 
 Fisheries" Ac. 
 
 J. B. Springer, author of " Forest Life and Forest Trees," one of the most graphic and origi- 
 nal works erer produced in this country. 
 
 Mrs. Gonant, the learned and elegant translator of Neander^s Commentaries, &o. 
 
 Mrs. Pike, author of " Ida May,'*^ " Caste," Ac. 
 
 George Folaom, George W. Cutter, Willhim Crosby, Ao. 
 
 NEW HAMP8HIEE. 
 
 Charles B. Haddock, D. D., late Minister to Portugal, author of "Oratlonaand Addresses," 
 and numerous learned treatises and reviews. 
 
 Isaac Appleton Jewett, author of " Passages of Foreign Travel," &o. 
 
 B. I* Magoon, D. D., author of " Eepubllcan Christianity," " Proverbs for the People," " Ora- 
 tors of the Bevolutlen, las. 
 
 Mrs. Oloott, author of " Isora's Child," &o. 
 
 VEEMONT. 
 
 John Lorlmer Graham, author of " Letters f^om Vermont," " Junius Identified," &c. 
 N. Chtpmao, LL. D., author of " The Principles of Government," &o. 
 Wilbur Pisk, D. D., author of "Travels in Europe," " Sermons," &c. 
 
 Martyn Payne, M. D., LL. D., author of " The Soul, and Instinct," ■' Medical and Physiological 
 Commentaries," &c. 
 
 Fruf Marsh, author of the learned and brilliant work, " The Apocatastasls," &o. 
 Prof Shedd, editor of Coleridge, author of "Essays and Beviews," &c. 
 Prof Gonant, and others. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Mrs. Hannah Foster, author of the first successful American novel, " The Coquette, or History 
 of Eliza Wharton, &c" 
 
 Sampson Eeed, author of " Observations on the Growth of the Mind," i&o. 
 
 Theodore Lyman, author of " The Diplomacy of the United States," " Three weeks in Paris," 
 " Political State of Italy," &c. 
 
 General Henry Whiting, U. S. A., author of " Ontwa, the Son of the Forest," " The Age of 
 Steam," &c. 
 
 Leonard WIthington, author of " The Puritan, by Jonathan Oldbug," &c. 
 
 George Ticknor Curtis, author of " The History of the Formation of the Constitution," Ac. 
 
 Charles Pickering, author of " Tbe Baces of Men " (1 vol. 4to. Exploring Expedition series), &o. 
 
 S. G. Howe, author of a " History of the Greek Bevolutlon," Eeports on the Blind, Idiots, A/a, 
 
 James Jackson Jarves, author of a" History of the Sandwich Islands," "Art Hints," "Parisian 
 Sights and French Principles," &c. 
 
 Harriet V. Cheney, author of " A Peep at the Pilgrims," " Elvals of Acadia," &C. 
 
 William B. Greene, author of " The Doctrine of Life," "A B^pothetioal Biography," *o. 
 
 Isaac McLellan, Jr., author of " The Fall of thelndifim," " The Tear and other Poems," &c. 
 
 James Freeman Clarke, author of " Eleven Weeks in Europe," " Forgiveness," " Prayer," &o. 
 
 H. B. Hackett, author of a "Commentary on the Acts," " Plutarch on tbe Delay of the Divine 
 Justice," &c. 
 
 E E. Marcy, M. D., one of our most Ingenious, learned, and elegant writers In medical and 
 ebemfcal science. 
 
 D. O. Allen, author of " India, Ancient and Modem," &c. 
 
 Elizur Wright, translator of La Fontaine, im. 
 
26 Buychinchs' Cyclopedia of American Literature, 
 
 Miss Oummings, author of " The Lamplighter," &c. 
 Charles B. Norton, author of " Recent Social Theories," &c, 
 
 Eobert ^ Messenger, author of '' G-ive Me the Old," Ac. , « «- tt t. rn. ^ n^ 
 
 Rev. John Todd, D. D., Rev. Epbraim Peabody, George "W. Dewey, C. W. Upham, Charles 1 . 
 Oongdon, &c., &c., &c. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Timothy Pitkin, anthor of " The Political and Civil History of the United States," Ac. 
 
 Jonathan Carver, author of "Travels in North America," &c. 
 
 Leonard Bacon, D. D., author of " Historical Discourses delivered in New Haven," &c. 
 
 Joel Hawes, D. D., author of " A Tribute to the Memory of the Pilgrims," " Religion in the 
 East," &c. 
 
 Justin Perkins, author of " A Residence of Eight Tears Among the Nestorian Chnstiana of 
 Persia," &c. 
 
 Charies L. Brace, author of *' Hungary in 1851." " Home Life in Germany," &c. 
 
 A. 8. Roe, author of " James Mountjoy," " ^Tlme and Tide,"" A Long Look Ahead," &c. 
 
 H. G. O. Dwight, author of " Christianity Revived in the East," »fcc, 
 
 Charies "Wyllis Elliot, author of " Mysteries, or Glimpses of the Supernatural," &c. 
 
 George Taylor, author of " Indications of the Creator," «fco. 
 
 Rev. E. Hall, D D., author of " The Puritans and their Principles," &c. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 Rowland T. Hazard, whose beautiful work, "Language," was pronounced by Charming " one 
 of the finest productions of the age." 
 
 Tristram Burgess, author of " Speeches," and other volumes, and one of the most learned ora- 
 tors of the last generation. 
 
 Frances H. Green, author of " Nanunlenoo," " SonM of the Winds," " The Mechanic," &c, 
 
 Sophia L. Little, author of " Thanksgiving," "The Betrothed," *' The Branded Hand," &c. 
 
 W. J. Pabodie, author of " Callidore, a Legendary Poem," &c. 
 
 NEW TORE. 
 
 Theodore Eomeyn Beck, LL. D., and Lewis O. Beck, M. D., voluminous and able writers on 
 medical jurisprudence, botany, mlneralo^, &c., and in general literature. 
 
 Erkine Mason, D. D., author of " A Pastor's Legacy," ("He was," wrote Daniel Webster, 
 " one the greatest masters of reason.") 
 
 Wm. W. Campbell, author of " Robin Hood and Captain Klidd," " Border Warfare of New 
 York," " Life of Mrs. Grant," " Life of Dewitt Clinton," &c. 
 
 Henry James, author of " Moralism and Christianity," " The Origin of Evil," " Miscella- 
 nies," &c. 
 
 John A. Dix, author of " A Winter in Madeira," " The Resources of New Tork," Speeches in 
 the Senate," &c. 
 
 Nathan Bangs, D. D., author of " The Life of Arminius," "History of Methodism," &c. 
 
 A. C. Kendrick, author of " Echoes of Leisure Honrs with the German Poets," &c. 
 Alexander W. Bradford, author of " The Antiquities of America," &c. 
 
 J. P. Thompson, author of " Egypt, Past and Present," " Stray Meditations," &c. 
 George Gibbs, author of " A History of the Administrations of George Washington and John 
 Adams," &c. 
 
 B. R. Hall, author of " Teaching a Science," "The New Purchase," " Frank Freeman's Bar- 
 ber Shop," &c. 
 
 A. Okey Hall, author of " The Manhattaner in New Orleans," " Old Whitey's Christmas," &g. 
 
 William Pitt Palmer, author of " Light," and numerous other poems of remarkable excellence. 
 
 Gardiner Spring, Jr., author of " Gieuar al Barmeki," " The Monk," &c. 
 
 Richard Grant White, author of '• Shakspeare's Scholar," &c. 
 
 S. H. Hammond, author of " Country Margins," " Hills, Lakes, and Forest Streams," &c. 
 
 Mrs. Robert Sedgwick, author of " Allen Prescott," &o. 
 
 Mrs. Farnham, author of "Life in Prairie Land," &c. 
 
 D. P. Kidder, author of " A Residence in Brazil" &c. 
 
 E. B. O'CallBghan, author of a " History of New York Under the Dutch," &c 
 J. Anthony King, author of " Twenty-four years in the Argentine Republic," &c. 
 
 T. L. McKenney, author of a " History of the Indian Tribes of North America." " Memoirs, 
 OflBcial and Personal." &c, 
 
 N. S. S. Beman, D. D. ; John B. Romeyn, D. D. ; John Bigelow ; E. P. Hurlbut ; Maunsell B. 
 Field ; S. DeWitt Bloodgood; Dr. Tomes ; George G. Foster, Ac, &c. 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 J. Addison Alexander, D. D., author of "Primitive Church Government," "The Psalms, 
 Translated and Explained," " A Critical Commentary on the Prophesies of Isaiah," »kc. Dr. Alex- 
 ander is, unquestionably, one of the greatest living lights of learning. 
 
 Charies Hodge, D. D., author of "The Way of Life," " Constitutional History of the Presbv- 
 terian Church," &c,, and for thirty years editor of the Princeton Review. 
 
JDuyckincks* Cyclopedia of American Literature. 27 
 
 E. Spencer Miller, author of " Caprices," &c. 
 H. H. Weld, author of " Corrected Proofs," &o. 
 
 0. Stewart, XJ. 8. N., author of " A Visit to the South Seas," " Sketches of Society in Great 
 Britain," " lieaidence Iq the Sandwich Islands," &c. 
 
 PENNSTLTANIA. 
 
 Mr. Bradford, second Attorney General of the United States, an elegant poet and miscellaneous 
 writer, whose famous treatise on '"Tlie Punishment of Death" has had a powerful Irifluenca 
 throughout Ohrlatondom In producing meliorations of criminal codes. 
 
 John Hieekewelder, author of a " Narrative of the Missions of the United Brethren," " History 
 of the Indian Nations of Pennsylvania," &c. 
 
 D*vid Zei3berger, author of a " Dictionary of the German and Onondaga Languages," 7 vols. ; 
 numeroa'J volumes of sermnns. hvmns, »Sco., in the Leaal Lenape language, and other works of 
 the highest interest to the philologist 
 
 Nathaniel Chapman, the great literary excellences of whose works are known to every student 
 of medicine, and whose prodactionsin general literature are elegant and valuable. 
 
 Oondy Eaguet, author of " Currency and Banking," " PrlnoipTea of Free Trade," '* The Massacre 
 in 9t Domloffo," " Memoirs of Hayti," &c. 
 
 Clement Blddle, translator and editor of the first American edition of Say's " Political 
 Economy," and an able writer on politics and, morals. 
 
 Bichard Blddle, author of "A Memoir of Sehastian Cabot," Speeches In Congress, &c. 
 
 Blchard Rush, whoae elaborately and elegaatly-wrltten Toluuies describing his official » 
 
 *' Residence at the Court of London," and other numerous volumes and pamphlets, reviews, 
 reports, speeches, &c, will be read with admiration in coming ages. 
 
 James Rush (brother of Richard), author of the profound treatise on "The Philosophy of the 
 Human Toice," so well known in almost every country and language, besides various productions 
 in light literature. 
 
 Henry U. Onderdonk, D.D., whose recently collected " "Works," in two octavo volumes, show 
 him to be not only a polished writer, but a scholar and reasoner of the highest rank. 
 
 Horace Binney, upon the whole, the greatest American writer whose name has ever been 
 connected with public affairs. 
 
 Bev, Dr. McClintock, editor of the "Methodist Quarterly Review," and the acknowledged 
 head (so far as genius and scbDlarship are concerned) of the Methodist Church in America. 
 
 Morton E. McMlchael, editor of " The North American," — an orator of the moat distinguished 
 rank, and one of the most able of our magazine writers. 
 
 Stephen Oolwell. author of "New Themes for the Protestant Clergy," "The Position of 
 Christianity in the United States," &c. 
 
 George CatUn, author of " Letters and Notes on the American Indians," " North American 
 Indian Portfolio," " Travels in Europe," &c. 
 
 Joseph E. Chandler, one of the most ingenious and graceful of contemporary essayists. 
 
 James P. Espy, author of a new "Theory of Storms," and numerous other characteristic and 
 able works in natural philosophy. 
 
 Charles G. Leland, the erudite humorist, author of *' Meister Karl's Sketch Book," translator of 
 the Works of Heine, &c. 
 
 Edith May, by consent of all the critics, the finest artist among the American female poets. 
 
 Robert Baird, D D., author of " History of the Waldenses," " Protestantism in Italy," " Visit to 
 Northern Europe," &c 
 
 John A. Clark, D. D., author of " Glimpses of the Old "World," " A Walk About Zion," " Gath- 
 ered Fragments," &c. 
 
 O. J. Peterson, author of " Kate Aylesford," " Cruising in the Last War," ''Grace Dudley," &c. ^ 
 
 Henry Wycoff, author of '' My^ Courtship and its Gonsf quences," which will live when half the l^ 
 books praised by the authors of this " Cyclopedia" are forgotten. 
 
 Henry A. Boardman, D. D., author of " The Bible in the Counting House^" and many other 
 able works. 
 
 Tench Coxe, author of " Art and Manufactures in the United States," &c. 
 
 Rembrandt Peale, author of " Notes on Italy," &c. 
 
 William Rawie, author of " A View of the Constitution of the United States," &c. 
 
 S. S. Schmucker, author of " Psychology," " Popular Infidelity," &c. 
 
 Charles Miner, author of a " History of the Valley of Wyoming," &c 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 Gen. Tam"s Wilkinson, author of " Memoirs of Mv Own Times," (3 vols. 8vo.), &o. 
 Harvev Stanley, aathor of " Pilot and Herod, a Tale of the Province of Maryland," &c. 
 S. T. Wallis, author of " Glimpses of Spain," " Spain, her Institutions," &c. 
 N. C. Brooks, author of " Scripture Anthology," " History of the Church," " History of the 
 Mexican War," &c, 
 
 J. W. Alexander, authoV of "Catena Dominica," &c, 
 W. H. Carpenter, author of " Cllalborne. the Rebel," «&o. 
 Stephen Collins, author of "Miscellanies," &c, 
 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Peter Force, editor of the " American Archives," and one of our ablest and most exact his- 
 torians 
 
 Amos Kendall, author of the *' Life of Andrew Jackson," &c. 
 
28 DuycMncks^ Cyclopedia of American LiUrature. 
 
 ■William Darby, author of numerous Important books of travels, published in the early part of 
 this century. 
 
 Josepli Gales, one of the weightiest political essayists of the country. 
 
 TIEGINIA. 
 
 John Taylor, of Caroline, author of "Arator," " New Tiews of the Constitution," " Inquhy 
 into the Principles of Government," &o. Mr. Jefferson considered his numerous works "Indis- 
 pensable in the library of the statesman or the philosopher." 
 
 Rev. Dr. Hoge, author of " Sermons," " Strictures on Walker's Fourfold Foundation," .fee. 
 
 'William C. Ki\ es, whose speeches, orations, and addresses are admirable examples of literary 
 execution, and whose "John Hampden and Algernon Sydney" Is a masterpiece of philosophical 
 biography. 
 
 Mrs. William 0. Elves, author of the delightful volume, " Souvenirs of a Eesidenoe In France," 
 referring to the period when her husband was Minister to the French Court. 
 
 Henry Ruffner, D. D., whose romances, "Judith Bensaddi" and "Seclansaval," evince consum- 
 mate art and a rich Imagination, and whose'' Fathers of the Desert" Is a work of great and well- 
 directed scholarship. 
 
 Henry A. Wise, one of the most original, brilliant and sparkling rhetoricians who have written 
 or spoken to the present generation. 
 
 William H. Foote, D. D., author of " Sketches of Virginia," &a. 
 
 Miss Hawes, who, under the name of "Marian Harland," has published the admirable novels, 
 " Alone," and " The Hidden Path." 
 
 Pendleton Kennedy, author of " The Blackwater Chronicle," ifec. 
 
 Eev. Dr. Moore, author of " The Prophets of the Eestoration," &c. 
 
 Susan Archer Talley, a poet and prose writer of taste and geidus ; Dr. John H. Eice, &c. &c. 
 
 NOETH CAEOLINA. 
 
 J. S. Jones, of Sbocco, author of " A Defence of North Carolina," &c. 
 
 C. H. Wiley, author of " Alamance, a Novel," " Life in the South," &c. 
 
 Francis Xavier Martin, author of several valuable works in history and jurisprudence. 
 
 Samuel Sawyer, author of " A Biography of John Eandolph," " Plays," &o. 
 
 SOUTH CAEOLINA. 
 
 William Johnson, author of " The Life of General Greene," Ac 
 Bishop Dehon, author of " Sermons," a treatise " On Confirmation," Ac 
 Henry Middleton, author of several able works on Political Economy, &C. 
 William H. Trescott, author of " The Dtolomacy of the Kevolution," 
 Mrs. King, author of " Busy Moments of an Idle Woman," " Lily," Ac. 
 Eev. Dr. Bachman, author of a " Defence of Luther and the Eeformatlon," " Quadrupeds of 
 North America," &c. 
 
 ALABAMA. 
 
 Johnson J. Hooper, author of " The Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs," &o. 
 J. G. Baldwin, author of " Party Leaders," "Flush Times in Alabama," Ac. 
 Albert J. Pickett, author of " The History of Alabama, Ac." 
 
 MIS8ISSIPPL 
 
 Eobert J. Walker, one of our strongest and most accomplished writers in Political Economy. 
 Sylvanus Cobb, a prolific writer of popular humorous tales, illustrating southern life. 
 
 OHIO AND OTHEE WESTERN STATES. 
 
 John Cleves Symmes, author of " A New Theory of the Earth," Ac 
 
 Jacob Burnett, author of " A History of the Northwest Territory," Ac. 
 
 Maj. Eipley, U. S. A., author of " A History of the War lu Mexico," Ac. 
 
 John M? Harney, author of " Crystalina," Ac. 
 
 James Wier, author of " Lonz Powers," " Simon Kenton," " The Winter Lodge," Ac. 
 
 James D. Nourse, author of the noble work, "The Pastand its Legacies," " Leavenworth," Ac. 
 
 Micah P. Flint, author of " The Hunter and other Poems, Ac." 
 
 James B. Walker, author of " The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation," Ac. 
 
 Albert Taylor Bledsoe, author of " A Refutation of Edwards on the Will," " Theodicy," Ac. 
 
 Asa Mahan, author of •' Intellectual Philosophy," " On the Will," " Spirit Eappings," Ac. 
 
 J. A. McCluDg, author of " Southwestern Adventure," Ac. 
 
 Alex. Kinmont, author of " Natural History of Man," " Rise and Progress of Philosophy," Ac. 
 
 Eev. Dr. TefFt, author of " The Shoulder Knot," " Hungary and Kossuth," Ac. 
 
 W. T. Coggeshall, author of '■ Easy Warren and his Contemporaries," Ac. 
 
 Emerson Bennett, author of " Clara Moreland," "The Forged Will," Ac. 
 
 Thomas H. Shreve, author of " Drayton," " Poems," Ac. 
 
 Anne Peyrie Dinnies, author of "The Floral Tear," " Poems," Ac 
 
 George W. Cutter, author of" The Song of Steam and other Poems," Ac. 
 
 J. N . Eeynoldj, author of '• The Voyage of the Potomac Bound the World," Ac 
 
Duychinchs'* Cyclopedia of American Literature. 29 
 
 W. p. Strickland, author of the " History and Genius of Methodism," " History of the American 
 Bible Society," &o. 
 
 Rebecca S. NicholB, author of " Poems," &o. 
 
 Metta V. Fuller, author of " Poems of Imagination," " The Senator's Son," &c, 
 
 Otwav Carry ; Fortunatus Cosby ; 0. J. Victor; i)r. Breokenridge, of Kj.; Dt, Eice, of St. Louis ; 
 Mrs. Bolton; Mrs. Pyatt, &o.,&o.,&o. 
 
 To this long but hasty and very imperfect list of our native authors 
 who are not included in the "Cyclopedia of American Literature," we 
 must add the names of some of those literary characters of foreign birth 
 who have resided in the United States, and written here works which 
 connect their names with the history of our literary advancement, but 
 whom the Messrs, Duyckinck, from ignorance or caprice, have neglected 
 to mention. We shall not allude to any one whose claims to consider- 
 ation in such a work are not far more unquestionable than those of 
 many of the foreign writers who are prominently introduced : 
 
 John and Charles Wesley, both of whom wrote largely in this country and of this country. 
 
 Wm. Oobbett, whose colleoted works written in Philadelphia fill twelve octavo volumes, 
 and whose influence upon contemporary American writers was certainly very great. 
 
 John Williams the " Anthony PasqiUn " immortalized by G-ifford and Lord Erskine, who was 
 a busy writer here for many years, and died here. 
 
 Eobert Merry, founder of the famous school of " Delia Cmscans," who exercised during twenty 
 years a greater influence than any other individual has ever exercised upon American taste in 
 poetry and other kinds of writing. He died in Baltimorb. 
 
 Andre Michaux and F. A. Michanx, authors of the splendid works, "Hlstoire des ChSnes de 
 I'Amerique," " Flora Boreali-Americana," " The North American Sylva," &c. 
 
 Charles Lucien Bonaparte, whose three folio volumes on "American birds not described by 
 Wilson," entitle him to respect as an American scholar. 
 
 Philip Mazzei, M. de Beaujour, M. de Talleyrand, Chateaubriand, the Duke de Liancourt, and 
 other French and It^an writers in America during the Revolution or before the close of the last 
 century. 
 
 Erick Bollman, an indnstripus contributor to the " Port Folio," and author of several works on 
 political economy and natural science. 
 
 Gen. H. L. V. Ducoudray HoLsteln, who wrote here " Becollections of an Officer of the Em- 
 pire," " The Life of Simon Bolivar," &c., and edited at Albany " The Zodiac," an admirable lit- 
 eraiy Journal. 
 
 James Buchanan, long British Consnl in New York, and an able writer on American ethnology 
 and history. He has been best known by his " Sketches of the History, Manners, and Customs 
 of the North American Indians," 2 vols. 1824. 
 
 Alexis Eustaphieve, for a quarter of a century Busslan Consul in New York, author of " Deme- 
 trius, the Hero of the Don, an Epic Poem," and numerous other productions. 
 
 Frances Wright, who wrote most of her works here, and made this country her home for more 
 than twenty years. 
 
 William C. Brownlee, D. D., author of "The Whigs of Scotland," "Quakerism," "Ser- 
 mons," &c. 
 
 Charles Seatsfleld, long a citizen of the United States, and, in numerous works, a brilli^t and 
 successful delineator of American life and natura 
 
 Thomas Oolley Grattan, who while British Consul at Boston wrote and published two of his 
 most popular works. 
 
 William Peter, author of " The Poets and Poetry of Greece and Bome," translator of Schiller's 
 dramas, &c. 
 
 J. H. Mancur, author of " Henri Quatre," who, while living in Brooklyn, where he died, wrote 
 and published Ave novels and historical works on American subjects. 
 
 Major Richardson (a native of Caffada), author of "Ecarte," " Wacousta," &c., lived in New 
 York many years, wrote here six of his popular romances, and died here. 
 
 Francis J. Grund, "author of " Democracy in America," " Aristocracy in America," Ac 
 
 Henry Giles, one of our most eminent literary men, author of " Discourses on Life," " Lec- 
 tures, Essays, and Miscellaoies," &c. 
 
 Thomas Ewbank (late Commissioner of Patents), author of "Life in Brazil," "The World 
 a Workshop," &c. 
 
 Louis Fitzgerald Tasistro, author of " Eandom Shots in Southern Breezes," &c. 
 
 Eichard Adams Locke, author ot " Extraordinary Discoveries in the Moon, by Sir John Her- 
 Bcbel," "The Lost M8S. of Mungo Park," Ac. 
 
 Harro Harring, who has written here several of his most remarkable works. 
 
 Pietro Maroncelli, author of an "Essay on the Clf^sic and Bomantic Schools," "Additions to 
 the Memoirs of Silvio Pellico," &c. 
 
 J. C. Hem|)e!, M. D., author of " The True Organization of the Church," and many able works 
 in medical science. 
 
 William Tell Poussin, author of " The Power and Progress of the United States," &c. 
 
 William Adam, author of " Slavery in India," &c. 
 
30 Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 J. A. Jones, author of "Haverhill," one of the writers of the "United States Literary 
 Gazette," &a. 
 
 G. P. K. James, who has prodnced during his resid^ce in Amerion, at least a dozen novels. 
 
 Fanny Kemble Butler, who wrote here half of all she' has ever published. 
 
 William lyiountfDrd, author, of '■ Thorpe," " EuthanaMa," " Marfyria," &c 
 
 ■William E. Burton, Scheie de Tere, Achille Murat, George F. Kuxton, <Stc.. &o., &c. 
 
 To turn from foreign authors who have written in the United 
 States, we may express surprise, that not one of the Indians who ever 
 evinced a capacity for learning or literature, is here mentioned. George 
 Guess, the famous inventor of the Cherokee alphabet; George Copway 
 (Kahgewagebow), who has written some curious " Poems," " A History 
 of the Ojibway Nation," and his own " Travels " and " Life ;" and half 
 a dozen other descendants of the ancient inhabitants of this country, 
 certainly deserve some notice in a " Cyclopedia of American Litera- 
 ture." Kahgewagebow writes better English than many of the authors 
 whose biographies are given, or the Messrs. Duyckincks themselves. 
 
 Respecting a certain Mr. Dove, who wrote a life of Andrew Marvel, 
 Mr. Rogers, ope of the Edinburgh Reviewers, expresses regret that he 
 has been misled in a trifling degree by adhering too literally to the 
 etymology of the word "compilation." It is true, says Rogers, that 
 " compilation" comes from " compilatio," and equally true that " com- 
 pilatio " means " pillage," but it does not follow necessarily that com- 
 pilation is to be literally pillage. Our authors are in Mr. Dove's posi- 
 tion, or perhaps a little beyond it. In their first volume, they "com- 
 piled" mainly froin Mather, Elliot, Allen, and Kettell. For much of 
 the rest, so far as it has any value, " The Poets and. Poetry of America," 
 " The Prose Writers of America," and other books and periqdicals by 
 the same author, have been liberally pillaged. We shall not dwell on 
 this matter; but, having undertaken to demonstrate the justice of what- 
 ever criticisms of their work we have advanced, we shall not withhold 
 our " instances " altogether. If the notice of E. Justine Bayard, em- 
 bracing some facts stated in the " Female Poets of America," had been 
 derived from an independent source, the authors would have been in- 
 formed that, soon after the publication of that book, Miss Bayard be- 
 came Mrs. Cutting, and that five or six years ago she died. They 
 describe her as a living poet. Mrs. Warfield, .one of the " two sisters 
 of the West," whom, appropriating her biography as given in the same 
 work, they speak of as one of our living authors, any original informant 
 writing within the last three years would have told them was deceased. 
 When the " Poets and Poetry " appeared, George Lunt, resided in New- 
 buryport, and our cyclopedists say, with its author, that "since 1824 
 Mr. Lunt has practiced his profession at Newburyport." They miffJit 
 have ascertained that this gentleman, several years ago, was made 
 United States District Attorney, and removed to Boston. Mr. Pier- 
 pont's life is given, as far as could be learned from the " Poets and 
 Poetry ;" but the striking and important events in it which succeeded 
 the period in which that performance came out, the Messrs. Duyckinck 
 have never heard of. To them the sage of Medford is still the minis- 
 ter of Hollis-street. At the end of a sketch of Cooper, we are advised 
 
Duyckincks' Cyclopedia of American Literature. 31 
 
 that they " have been largely indebted in its preparation to Mr. Bryant's 
 Discourse.'' Now, every fact worth reciting in the whole article is from 
 " The Prose Writers of America." Mr. Bryant, in pronouncing an 
 eulogium upon Cooper, could not very well refer to the sources of his 
 information ; his object was to paint the character, not to recite the 
 biography, of the great novelist. Besides, this unworthy appropriation 
 can have no justification in the pretense that Mr. Bryant was followed, 
 since credit is always to be given to the first publisher of any fact or 
 consideration made use of. In the same " vein " of plagiarism is the 
 information they offer of Wm. B. Tappan. They bring him forward as 
 a Zjntrey author. He died in 1849. But enough of this. Readers 
 acquainted with the works referred to will have no difBculty in estimat- 
 ing at its just value the "original research" displayed in this " Cyclo- 
 pedia." 
 
 It was our intention to say something of the " illustrations " of these 
 volumes, but we must forbear. Yet we will mention a single example : 
 Although a committee of the Legislature of Vermont reported that a 
 project for employing Hiram Powers, a native of that state, upon a 
 statue of Ethan Allen, for the capitol, must be abandoned because 
 upon the most diligent inquiry they were convinced that there was no 
 portrait or any kind of likeness of him in existence, the Messrs. Duyc- 
 kinck appear to have had no difficulty in finding a very good-looking 
 head without another claimant, which they present as the veritable 
 hero of Ticonderoga. 
 
 If any new aspirant for literary honors shall attempt a " Cyclo- 
 pedia of American Literature," we commend to him especially a few 
 subjects which are entirely neglected in the work before us, and which 
 seem to us not only of great interest and importance, but quite indis- 
 pensable in any survey of our mental progress ; they might perhaps be 
 most conveniently treated in an appendix : The education of the Ame- 
 can people, its universality and value, and the institutions and public 
 measures for its advancement ; progressive statistics of book publication 
 in the United States ; the newspaper press, its character and influence ; 
 the periodical literature of the colonies and the states, embracing 
 notices of all the literary journals, in chronological order, ever published 
 here, with the names, so far as they can be ascertained, of their writers ; 
 the scientific and other public expeditions under the authority of the 
 government, of which histories have been written, or which have in- 
 duced the publication of literary works ; the contributions, numerous, 
 interesting, and valuable, of the officers of the army to our literature ; 
 the works, scarcely less important, from officers of the navy ; and the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the labors 
 of its agents, as exhibited in books and periodicals, which constitute 
 some of the most important additions to ethnological and geographical 
 science made in this country. Other matters, not less essential to the 
 completeness of such a production, will be recalled by most intelligent 
 readers. 
 
 We do not often have occasion to enter as largely as in this instance 
 
32 DuyekincJei Cyclopedia of American Literature. 
 
 upon a consideration of the merits or demerits of a book ; but as " The 
 Cyclopedia of American Literature" ostentatiously claims recogni- 
 tion as a national work of the highest importance, we have deemed it 
 neither inexpedient nor uninteresting to exhibit, in a necessarily ex- 
 tremely hurried reyiewal, a few specimens of its quality. These speak 
 for themselves.