The American Cyclopædia (1879)/United States, Literature of the

by C. S. Weyman and Robert Carter

UNITED STATES, Literature of the. The literary history of the United States may be treated under three distinctly marked periods, viz.: a colonial or ante-revolutionary period (1620-1775), during which the literature of the country was closely assimilated in form and character to that of England; a first American period (1775-1820), which witnessed the transition from a style for the most part imitative to one in some degree national; and a second American (from 1820 to the present time), in which the literature of the country assumed a decided character of originality. I. 1620-1775. The first literary production of any note in the British American colonies was the version of Ovid's “Metamorphoses” made by George Sandys in Virginia about 1620 (London, 1626). But though men of letters were found everywhere among the early colonists, in New England alone, where in 1639 the first printing press was established in Cambridge, was any considerable progress in literary culture made, and the literature of the first or colonial period was chiefly confined to that locality or was indirectly connected with it. The earliest development was theological. The “Bay Psalm Book” (Cambridge, 1640), the first book printed in the country, though not strictly original, became very popular both in America and Great Britain, and within a little more than a century passed through 70 editions. Ten years later a volume of poems by Mrs. Anne Bradstreet of Massachusetts (1612-'72), entitled “The Tenth Muse lately sprung up in America,” was published in London, and reprinted in Boston with additions in 1678. “The simple Cobler of Agawam,” a quaint satire by Nathaniel Ward, pastor of the church at Ipswich, Mass., was written there in 1645 and published in London in 1647, after the author's return to England. The most remarkable early productions of the colonial press were the Indian Bible of John Eliot (1604-'90), the first edition of the Scriptures published in America (Cambridge, 1661-'8), and an extraordinary monument of patience and industry, though now of interest only to the antiquary; the “Concordance of the Scriptures,” by John Newman, which was the earliest work of its kind, and the immediate precursor of Cruden's Concordance; and the prolific writings of Increase and Cotton Mather, the latter of whom (1663-1728) was the author of 382 works, of most of which not even the titles are remembered; the most celebrated are the “Wonders of the Invisible World” and the Magnalia Christi Americana, an ecclesiastical history of New England from 1620 to 1698, containing biographies of several colonial worthies. To the early colonial times also belong John Cotton (1585-1652), one of the first ministers of Boston; Thomas Hooker (1586-1647); Roger Williams (1606-'83), the founder of Rhode Island; John Davenport (1598-1670), Charles Chauncy (1592-1672), and John Norton (1606-'63), eminent in their day as theological writers, but whose works are now little known. The establishment of Harvard college in 1636, and of William and Mary and Yale colleges in the last decade of the 17th century, and the practice which became common with many of the wealthier colonists of sending their sons to England to be educated, showed their effects in the gradual improvement of style and in the more discursive aims of writers. A Virginia gentleman, Col. William Byrd (1674-1744), wrote an interesting narrative of a journey made in 1728 and other sketches of travel in Virginia, published as “The Westover Manuscripts” in 1841. But theology was still the department of letters most generally cultivated, and among theologians Jonathan Edwards (1703-'58), whose power of subtle argument Sir James Mackintosh declares to be “perhaps unmatched, certainly unsurpassed among men,” was the first not only in America, but, according to Robert Hall, in “any country or age.” His celebrated treatise on the “Freedom of the Will” ranks among the standard authorities in English metaphysics; and his other works exhibit a force of thought and keenness of argument only displayed by the greatest minds. Other theologians of the colonial period were a second Charles Chauncy (1705-'87); James Blair (1656-1743), president of William and Mary college; Jonathan Mayhew (1720-'66), a vigorous opponent of episcopacy and a man of liberal political views; Samuel Johnson (1696-1772), the first president of Columbia college, and the father of the American Episcopal church; John Witherspoon (1722-'94); and Ezra Stiles (1727-'95), president of Yale college. John Woolman (1720-'72), a Quaker writer and preacher, deserves mention as one of the first who wrote against slavery. The influence of the great English essayists and novelists of the 18th century had meanwhile begun to affect the literature of the new world; and in the essays, the collection of maxims published under the title of “Poor Richard,” the scientific papers, and the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1706-'90), we have specimens of practical philosophy or of simple narrative, expressed in a style eminently clear, pleasing, and condensed, and not unfrequently embellished by the wit and elegance characteristic of the best writers of Queen Anne's time. His investigations in electricity and other scientific subjects are not less felicitously narrated, and, together with the works of James Logan (1674-1751), Paul Dudley (1675-1751), Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776), and John Bartram, a naturalist and one of the earliest of American travellers (1701-'77), constitute the chief contributions to scientific literature during the colonial period. The historians and annalists are less prominent than the theologians; but the tracts and pamphlets relating to the discovery and colonization of British America, written by early settlers, are exceedingly numerous, and the journals and annals of Winthrop, Winslow, Morton, and others are worthy of note as being the sources from which modern historical writers have derived much important information. William Hubbard (1621-1704) wrote a history of New England, which was not published until more than a century after his death; and Thomas Prince (1687-1758) began a more extensive work on the same subject, which was never completed. Among the earlier contributions to American local history are the “History of the Present State of Virginia,” by Robert Beverley (London, 1705), that of the discovery and settlement of Virginia by William Stith (died 1750), and that of Massachusetts by Thomas Hutchinson, its last colonial governor, a man of considerable learning and culture. Of works relating to the Indians, the most noteworthy were the history of King Philip's war by the famous Capt. Benjamin Church (1639-1718), the history of the Five Nations by Cadwallader Colden, and the “Diary” of the missionary David Brainerd (1718-'47). The poetry of this period has no pretension to literary merit, but the drama of “The Prince of Parthia,” by Thomas Godfrey, a son of the inventor of the mariners' quadrant, deserves mention as the first work of the class produced in America. II. 1775-1820. The earliest works produced during the first American period, beginning with the revolution, are naturally associated with the causes which led to that event; and the political pamphlets, speeches, letters, and other writings of the men who aided in securing the independence of the North American colonies afford the first indications of a desire to cast aside the conventionalisms of European literature, and to develop one characteristic of the country and its institutions. The severance of the intellectual reliance of the colonies upon the mother country followed as a consequence of their political independence, and as early as the commencement of the revolutionary struggle the high literary ability and practical wisdom evinced in the public documents of the principal American statesmen were recognized by Lord Chatham, who praised them as rivalling the masterpieces of antiquity. Politics now gained a prominence almost equal to that enjoyed by theology in the preceding period; and dry as such subjects usually are to the mass of readers, the discussion of them in speeches and pamphlets during the last quarter of the 18th century accorded thoroughly with the popular taste, and the influence of political writers and orators in giving a decided national type to American literature is unmistakable. Conspicuous among the early pamphleteers were James Otis (1725-'83), Josiah Quincy, jr. (1744-'75), John Dickinson (1732-1808), Joseph Galloway, a tory writer (1730-1803), Richard Henry Lee (1732-'94), Arthur Lee (1740-'92), William Livingston (1723-'90), William Henry Drayton (1742-'99), John Adams (1735-1826), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), and Timothy Pickering (1745-1829), of whom Otis and Quincy were perhaps most distinguished as orators, although little beyond the traditions of their eloquence has come down to us. For fervid declamation Patrick Henry (1736-'99) stands at the head of all the orators of this period; and in the reports of his speeches, meagre as they are, he has been more fortunate than others of his contemporaries, as Samuel Adams (1722-1803), Christopher Gadsden (1724-1805), John Rutledge (1739-1800), Edward Rutledge (1749-1800), Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1825), Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), and George Mason (1726-'92), whose reputation as parliamentary debaters or public speakers was very high. The “Common Sense” of Thomas Paine (1737-1809), though not strictly the work of an American author, may be classed with the early national literature, from the fact that it was thoroughly American in tone, and was inspired by the causes which produced the revolution. The great state paper of this era was the “Declaration of Independence,” by Thomas Jefferson, which may be considered unrivalled among works of its class. (See United States, p. 157.) Jefferson also published a “Summary View of the Rights of British America,” and “Notes on Virginia,” which passed through many editions in Europe and America, and left a mass of correspondence forming a valuable contribution to American political history. The writings of George Washington (1732-'99) must always hold a distinguished place in American literature, not only for their lofty patriotism and solid common sense, but for their clearness of expression and force of language; a characteristic, indeed, of most of the writers who were contemporary with him. Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), by turns soldier, lawyer, and statesman, was a member of the convention which framed the federal constitution; and according to Guizot there is not “one element of order, strength, or durability” in that instrument which he did not powerfully contribute to introduce. An enduring monument of his political sagacity and literary ability is the “Federalist,” a series of papers written chiefly by himself for the purpose of elucidating and supporting the principles of the new constitution. Hamilton was assisted in this work by John Jay (1745-1829), the first chief justice of the United States, and James Madison (1751-1836), the fourth president, of whom the former was the author of an “Address to the People of Great Britain” issued by congress in 1774, and other political papers, and the latter a prolific writer on political, constitutional, and historical subjects. John Adams, who wrote with perspicuity and elegance, published a “Defence of the American Constitution,” and a series of “Discourses on Davila,” directed against the French revolutionary ideas prevalent in the last decade of the 18th century, and left numerous political papers and letters, which, together with his “Diary,” begun in 1755, have been edited by his grandson Charles Francis Adams. The most accomplished rhetorician and speaker of the period was Fisher Ames (1758-1808), whose essays and orations are distinguished by a splendor of diction which often wearies the reader, notwithstanding the felicity of the metaphors and illustrations. His reputation, owing to the temporary interest of many of the subjects on which he wrote and spoke, has very much declined.—The historians and biographers of this period creditably illustrate the growing literature of the country, and several of their productions are still regarded as standard authorities. Among special local histories are those of New Hampshire by Jeremy Belknap (1744-'98), whose series of “American Biographical Sketches” were the precursors of the valuable works of Sparks; of Connecticut by Benjamin Trumbull (1735-1820); of Massachusetts by George R. Minot (1758-1802), being a continuation of that by Hutchinson; of Vermont by Samuel Williams (1761-1818); and of Pennsylvania by Robert Proud (1728-1813). Of more general interest are the histories of New England by Hannah Adams (1755-1832), and of the American revolution by William Gordon (1730-1807), an English clergyman long settled in America, and David Ramsay (1749-1815), who also wrote a history of South Carolina, a life of Washington, and other works, evincing much research and a conscientious spirit of inquiry. The “Annals of America,” by Abiel Holmes (1763-1837), has for more than half a century been considered a leading authority in American history. The most important biography produced during this period is the “Life of Washington” by Chief Justice Marshall (1755-1835). William Wirt (1772-1834), an accomplished forensic orator, produced a “Life of Patrick Henry,” and also a series of papers entitled “Letters of the British Spy,” written with much elegance and force; and the “Military Journal” of Dr. James Thacher (1754-1844), and “Memoirs” of Alexander Graydon (1752-1818), both officers in the American revolutionary army, contain many interesting and trustworthy accounts of the men and times which they illustrate. Of works of travel, the most important are the narrative of Jonathan Carver (1732-'80); the journals of the intrepid John Ledyard (1751-'89); the reports of Major Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813), the earliest American explorer of the head waters of the Mississippi and the Rio Grande; and the account of the expedition of Lewis and Clarke across the Rocky mountains to the mouth of the Columbia river, prepared by Nicholas Biddle and Paul Allen.—The theologians of this period are ably represented by Jonathan Edwards (1745-1801), son of the great metaphysician of the same name, and the author of a profound “Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity,” and of a treatise entitled “The Salvation of all Men Examined and Explained;” Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803), whose “System of Theology” presents a reflex of the progress of religious opinions in New England; Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), president of Yale college, whose principal work, “Theology Explained and Defended,” maintains moderate Calvinistic views with much dignity and eloquence, and has been extensively circulated in England and America; and Bishop William White (1747-1836), the earliest historian, of the Protestant Episcopal church in America. Other eminent clergymen and authors were Joseph Bellamy (1719-'90), John Smalley (1734-1820), Nathanael Emmons (1745-1840), John Mitchell Mason (1770-1829), Noah Worcester (1758-1838), Samuel Worcester (1771-1821), Edward Payson (1783-1827), Bishops John Henry Hobart (1775-1830) and Theodore Dehon (1776-1817), and John Murray (1741-1815), the father of Universalism in America. Prominent among the younger theologians was Joseph Stevens Buckminster (1784-1812), one of the earliest of the New England Unitarians, whose published sermons are remarkable for purity of thought and finish of style.—One of the first and most useful laborers in the field of science was David Rittenhouse (1732-'96), a great and self-educated genius, whose memoirs on astronomy and mathematics were published in the first four volumes of the “Transactions” of the philosophical society of Philadelphia. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) and James McClurg (1747-1825) were conspicuous as writers on medical science, the work of the former on the “Diseases of the Mind” being still a standard authority; and Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815), a naturalist, produced the first American elementary work on botany, and the first contribution to the ethnographical literature of the country. The most important contribution to natural history was the “Description of the Birds of North America,” by Alexander Wilson (1766-1813). Samuel Latham Mitchill (1764-1831) was one of the earliest writers on chemistry, and made valuable contributions also to zoölogy and botany. To these names may be added those of Lindley Murray (1745-1826), author of the well known “English Grammar” bearing his name, and the eminent physicist Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753-1814), both of whom were Americans by birth and education.—The most distinguished poet of this period was Philip Freneau (1752-1832), many of whose productions, inspired by the revolutionary spirit, display vigor of language and considerable imaginative power. Contemporary with him were John Trumbull (1750-1831), author of a once popular poem in the Hudibrastic style entitled “McFingal,” in which the tories and other enemies to American liberty are satirized, and which presents a remarkably vivid picture of contemporary manners and opinions; Joel Barlow (1755-1812), who wrote a heavy epic entitled “The Columbiad,” which was well received, and was reprinted in London and Paris, and a humorous mock-heroic poem in praise of “Hasty Pudding;” Lemuel Hopkins (1750-1801), author of a satirical poem called “The Anarchiad;” and Timothy Dwight, the theologian, whose “Conquest of Canaan” and other poems exercised considerable influence upon contemporary writers. William Clifton (1772-'99) wrote a few songs equal to any poetry which had appeared in America; and Thomas Green Fessenden (1771-1837) produced in London a very successful satire entitled “The Terrible Tractoration.” Among the other poets of the period were David Humphreys (1752-1818), Joseph Hopkinson (1770-1842), author of “Hail Columbia,” and Robert Treat Paine, jr. (1773-1811), whose “Adams and Liberty” was once a rallying song of the federalists. The style adopted by these writers was essentially that prevalent in England during the latter half of the 18th century; nor was any innovation upon established models, whether in form or expression, attempted in American poetry until after the commencement of the third period of the national literature.—Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810), the first American novelist, was also the first author who made a profession of literature; his best productions, “Wieland, or the Transformation,” “Arthur Mervyn,” and “Edgar Huntley,” have much graphic power and are good specimens of the Godwin school of fiction.—Of the miscellaneous writers of the period, whose productions appeared mostly in the newspapers and magazines, the chief were Francis Hopkinson (1737-'91), eminent as a humorous writer in prose and verse; Hugh Henry Brackenridge (1748-1816), author of a vigorous satire entitled “Modern Chivalry;” Joseph Dennie (1768-1812), one of the earliest American magazine writers and editors, who published a well known series of essays under the title of “The Lay Preacher;” David Everett (1769-1813), Isaac Story (1774-1803), Paul Allen (1775-1826), and Royall Tyler (1757-1826). Tyler was a wit, a poet, and chief justice of Vermont. His play “The Contrast,” produced on the stage in New York in 1786, was the first in which the conventional Yankee dialect was used. He wrote also a successful novel called “The Algerine Captive.” III. 1820-1876. The last period in American literature presents a marked contrast to those which preceded, in the national character as well as in the variety and extent of its productions. It was in 1820 that the poverty of American literature was sneeringly commented upon by Sydney Smith in an article in the “Edinburgh Review;” and from that date the intellectual development of the country, the political crisis which attended the establishment of the government being past, has been commensurate with its social and material progress, until at the present day there is no department of human knowledge which has not been explored by American authors. In history, in jurisprudence, and in certain departments of natural science and imaginative literature, many of their productions during the last 50 years deserve to be ranked among the best in the universal literature of the age. Within this period the style and tone of the national literature have begun to partake more decidedly of the national character, although in certain departments only, particularly in that of imaginative writing, has any decided originality been shown.—While in the periods already treated of, the labors of American historians were for the most part confined to the collection of materials or to the unadorned record of facts, their successors have taken a wider range of subjects, and infused a more philosophical spirit into their writings; and although, among the many hundred historical works already produced, few rise above the dignity of local narratives or compilations of materials, as storehouses of data they have been ably employed by those who can analyze the significance of events. Prominent among these is George Bancroft (born 1800), whose “History of the United States” has been pronounced “the most successful attempt yet made to reduce the chaotic but rich materials of American history to order, beauty, and moral significance.” It is characterized by an earnest sympathy with democratic institutions, by a generous enthusiasm for the martyrs of freedom and civilization, by patient research and discrimination in the choice of authorities, and by a style animated and genial, although in occasional passages perhaps somewhat too labored. The work brings the history down to the close of the revolution, and the author, it is understood, proposes to continue it to a much later period. He has revised the ten volumes already issued and republished them in a “centenary” edition in six volumes (1876). The same subject has been ably treated by Richard Hildreth (1807-'65), whose work, bringing the narrative down to 1821, though written with no special attempt at rhetorical grace or picturesque effect, is valuable for its general accuracy, and has become a standard book of reference. Among the most successful of the writers of American history is Francis Parkman (born 1828), who has devoted himself to narrating the rise and fall of the French dominion in America. His “Pioneers of France,” “Jesuits in North America,” “Discovery of the Great West,” “Old Regime in Canada,” and “Conspiracy of Pontiac,” form a series of the highest value, distinguished for accurate research, for brilliant style, and for profound knowledge of Indian character and manners, acquired by personal observation of the red-man among the wildest tribes. Many school histories of the United States have been written, of which those by Salina Hale, S. G. Goodrich (“Peter Parley,” 1793-1860), Samuel Eliot, Emma Willard, Benson J. Lossing, Marcius Willson, G. P. Quackenbos, J. J. Anderson, William Swinton, A. H. Stephens, G. F. Holmes, T. W. Higginson, Edward Abbott, and Abby S. Richardson may be cited. Intermediate between the school histories and the larger works are the compendious volume of J. H. Patton, which brings the narrative down to the beginning of the civil war, and “The Popular History of the United States,” by W. O. Bryant and S. H. Gay, which is written with animation and is profusely illustrated. Among works illustrating particular periods or passages in the general history of the country may be mentioned the “Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution” and “Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812,” by B. J. Lossing; the “History of the United States Navy,” by James Fenimore Cooper; histories of the war of 1812 by O. J. Ingersoll (1782-1862) and Lossing; the “American Archives” and other works by Peter Force; “Our First Hundred Years” (1874 et seq.), by O. Edwards Lester; and numerous minor productions by W. L. Stone (1792-1844), John Armstrong, W. H. Trescot, Brantz Mayer, Winthrop Sargent, Richard Frothingham, jr., J. T. Headley, J. Sprague, Frank Moore, and others. The war of 1861-'5 has given rise to a large class of works, most of them necessarily ephemeral, but some of which deserve special mention as histories or sources of history. Prominent among these are “The Rebellion Record” (1861-'71), edited by Frank Moore, a vast collection of documents in 12 volumes; “Reports of the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War;” “Annals of the United States Christian Commission,” by Lemuel Moss; “The American Conflict,” by Horace Greeley; “History of the American Civil War,” by J. W. Draper; “History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America,” by Vice President Henry Wilson; “The Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac” and “The Twelve Decisive Battles of the War,” by William Swinton; “Report of the Army of the Potomac,” by Gen. George B. McClellan; and “Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman, by Himself.” All of these represent the Union side of the conflict, while on the confederate side the following are the principal works: “The War between the States,” by A. H. Stephens; “History of the War of Secession,” by J. F. H. Claiborne; “Southern History of the War” and “The Lost Cause,” by E. A. Pollard; “Narrative of Military Operations,” by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston; “Personal Reminiscences” of Lee, by J. W. Jones; lives of Lee and of “Stonewall” Jackson, by J. Esten Cooke; and various books by Alfriend, Howiston, H. A. Wise, G. O. Eggleston, and others. The list of histories of single states or groups of states, of special territorial districts, or of institutions, presents many works of merit. At the head of these perhaps stands the “History of New England,” by J. G. Palfrey (born 1796), of which four volumes, embracing the events previous to 1741, have been published. The subject is treated with more fulness than in the work of Bancroft, and in a style of singular purity and finish. To this class belong the valuable “Geography and History of the Mississippi Valley” by Timothy Flint (1780-1840), the “History of the Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi” and other works by J. G. Shea, the “New England History” by C. W. Elliott, those of the New Netherlands by E. B. O'Callaghan, of New York by John Romeyn Brodhead, of Connecticut by Theodore Dwight and by G. H. Hollister, of North Carolina by F. L. Hawks, of Kentucky by Mann Butler, of Louisiana by Charles Gayarré and by F. X. Martin, of Oregon and the N. W. coast of North America by Robert Greenhow, of South Carolina by W. G. Simms, of Texas by H. Yoakum, of Rhode Island by S. G. Arnold, of Virginia by Charles Campbell, of Western Massachusetts by J. G. Holland and by R. R. Howiston, of Delaware by Francis Vincent, of Maryland by James McSherry, of Indiana by J. B. Dillon, of Pennsylvania and New Jersey by J. R. Sypher, of Wisconsin by W. R. Smith, of Kentucky by Lewis Collins, and of Illinois by Alexander Davidson. Of the numerous minor works of this class, the elaborate history of Boston by S. G. Drake, and of Westchester county, N. Y., by Robert Bolton, and that of Harvard university by Josiah Quincy, may be cited as examples. The history of the aboriginal tribes has been ably treated by S. G. Drake, whose “History and Biography of the Indians of North America” was the first attempt at an impartial narrative of the subject, and is a valuable repertory of facts; by T. L. McKenney and James Hall, who published a costly illustrated “History of the Indian Tribes of North America;” by George Catlin; by W. L. Stone; by L. H. Morgan, author of “The League of the Iroquois;” and especially by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864), whose works, although they come perhaps more naturally within the departments of travels and ethnography, evinced a more intimate acquaintance with the history, languages, and customs of the North American aborigines than any others then published. His elaborate “Historical and Statistical Information respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States,” the most considerable work of the class then undertaken, is in 6 vols. 4to. The works relating directly or indirectly to the history of the United States include O. W. Upham's account of the Salem witchcraft in 1692, R. S. Ripley's “War with Mexico,” E. D. Mansfield's “Mexican War,” G. W. Kendall's “Santa Fé Expedition,” and Theodore Irving's “Conquest of Florida.” Among American authors whose labors have been prosecuted beyond the limits of local or domestic history, no name stands higher than that of William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859), the historian of the Spanish conquest and civilization in the new world, and one of the most graceful writers of the English language. His histories of the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella and Philip II. of Spain, and of the “Conquest of Mexico” and the “Conquest of Peru,” and his sequel of Robertson's “History of Charles V.,” exhibit remarkable depth and accuracy of research, combined with impartiality and soundness of judgment. The style is at the same time so lucid and attractive as frequently to invest the narrative with the charm of fiction. As Prescott was the first to treat adequately the brilliant period of Spanish ascendancy, so the revolt of the Spanish provinces of the Netherlands and their history as a free Protestant commonwealth have afforded a congenial subject to John Lothrop Motley (born 1814), whose “Rise of the Dutch Republic,” “History of the United Netherlands” (a continuation of the former), and “Life and Death of John of Barneveld” display extensive research, and are written with animation, and occasionally with great picturesque beauty. His works have taken their place among the great histories of the time, and have been translated into the principal languages of Europe. Among other writers of foreign history are Henry Wheaton, author of a “History of the Northmen;” Archibald Alexander, author of a “History of the Colonization of the West Coast of Africa;” Brantz Mayer, J. R. Poinsett, and R. A. Wilson, who have written on Mexico; Parke Godwin, who has published the first volume of a comprehensive “History of France;” J. F. Kirk, author of an elaborate history of Charles the Bold; C. C. Felton (1807-'62), who edited Smith's “History of Greece” and wrote a valuable work on “Greece, Ancient and Modern;” G. M. Towle, author of a history of Henry V. of England; John Lord, D. O. Allen, A. L. Koeppen, J. J. Jarves, Edmund Flagg, W. H. Stiles, and G. W. Greene. Many excellent works in the department of ecclesiastical or religious history have also been produced, prominent among which are the “Annals of the American Pulpit,” by W. B. Sprague; “History of the Presbyterian Church,” by Charles Hodge, and also by E. H. Gillett; “History of the Apostolic Church,” by Philip Schaff; “Progress of Religious Ideas,” by Mrs. Lydia Maria Child; “The Ten Great Religions,” by James Freeman Clarke; “The Oriental Religions,” by Samuel Johnson; “History of Methodism,” by Abel Stevens; “Modern History of Universalism,” by Thomas Whittemore; “Post-Biblical History of the Jews,” by M. J. Raphall; “Ecclesiastical History of New England,” by J. B. Felt; the contributions to the history of the Protestant Episcopal church in Virginia, by Bishop William Meade and F. L. Hawks; the “History of the Baptist Denomination,” by D. Benedict; “The English Bible, a History of the Translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue,” by Mrs. H. C. Conant; and various works by Archibald Alexander, James Murdock, S. F. Jarvis, Robert Baird, Thomas Gaillard, W. Ingraham Kip, John Dowling, J. A. Spencer, Robert Davidson, S. J. Baird, W. E. Schenck, W. G. T. Shedd, H. B. Smith, C. P. Krauth, and many others. To the department of literary history, the most important contributions are the “History of Spanish Literature,” by George Ticknor, esteemed the best work on the subject extant; the several works of R. W. Griswold on the “Prose Writers,” the “Poets,” and the “Female Poets” of America; Caroline May's “American Female Poets;” J. S. Hart's “Female Poets of America,” and his “Manuals” of English and American literature; T. Buchanan Read's “Female Poets of America;” Mrs. A. C. L. Botta's “Handbook of Universal Literature;” C. D. Cleveland's compendiums of English, American, and classical literature; C. A. Dana's “Household Book of Poetry;” W. T. Coggeshall's “Poets and Poetry of the West;” J. Wood Davidson's “Living Writers of the South;” Whittier's “Three Centuries of Song;” A. C. Kendrick's “Our Poetical Favorites;” and Emerson's “Parnassus.” In this category may properly be placed Wheeler's “Noted Names of Fiction” and the excellent “Familiar Quotations” of John Bartlett. The “Cyclopædia of American Literature,” by E. A. and G. L. Duyckinck, is the only comprehensive work on the subject yet published; and the “Critical Dictionary of English Literature,” by S. Austin Allibone, forms a valuable epitome of the literary history of England and the United States. Among miscellaneous works are the “History of Civilization,” in seven volumes, by Amos Dean; the “History of the Intellectual Development of Europe,” by J. W. Draper; and the “History of Liberty,” by Samuel Eliot, the completed portion of which, covering the history of the ancient Romans and the early Christians, and the struggle for constitutional liberty in Spain in the 16th century, is written with ability and in a philosophic spirit.—The first in point of date and reputation among the writers of biography of this period is Washington Irving (1783-1859), whose narratives of the “Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus” and of the “Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus,” though not the most characteristic of his writings, constitute a permanent contribution to English and American literature. His “Life of George Washington,” completed a few months before the author's death, has been more generally read in America than any other of his works. The narrative, embracing necessarily the main incidents of the revolutionary struggle, is related with charming vivacity and great elegance of language. His lives of Mahomet and Goldsmith are pleasing compilations, having little claim to originality. Among the most industrious laborers in the field of American biography is Jared Sparks (1789-1866), who devoted the greater part of his life to studies illustrative of the history of his country, and whose works, written in a sober and correct style, display remarkable diligence of research. The “Library of American Biography,” in two series and 25 volumes, edited by him, to which he contributed lives of John Ledyard, Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen, Charles Lee, Father Marquette, and others, is enriched by contributions from some of the best writers in the country. Mr. Sparks also edited the writings of Washington and Franklin, with lives of each, the diplomatic correspondence of the revolution, and the correspondence of public men with Washington. Of the many biographies of public men produced during this period, the most prominent are those of Josiah Quincy, jr., by his son Josiah Quincy, of Josiah Quincy by his son Edmund Quincy, of Elbridge Gerry by J. T. Austin, of James Otis by William Tudor, of Joseph Reed by his grandson W. B. Reed, of William Wirt by John P. Kennedy, of Thomas Jefferson by George Tucker and by H. S. Randall, of John Adams and John Quincy Adams by Charles Francis Adams, of James Madison by W. C. Rives, of Joseph Story by his son W. W. Story, of Alexander Hamilton by his son J. C. Hamilton, of Timothy Pickering by his son Octavius Pickering (the last 3 vols. by C. W. Upham), of Henry Clay by Calvin Colton, of Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Horace Greeley, and B. F. Butler by James Parton, of John P. Kennedy by H. T. Tuckerman, and of Count Rumford by G. E. Ellis, some of which have obtained a wide popularity. Among special biographies of American subjects are the “Life of William Ellery Channing,” by his nephew William Henry Channing; the “Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli,” by W. H. Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and James Freeman Clarke; the “Life of Daniel Boone,” by Timothy Flint; lives of Marion, Greene, and Captain John Smith, by W. G. Simms; the lives of the Indian chiefs Joseph Brant and Red Jacket, by W. L. Stone; the life of Bishop A. W. Griswold, by J. S. Stone; “Memoir of Rev. Dr. Buckminster and Joseph Stevens Buckminster,” by Mrs. Eliza Buckminster Lee; the “Life of Theophilus Parsons,” by his son Theophilus Parsons; “Memoirs of Nathanael Emmons,” by E. A. Park; the “Life of Washington Irving,” by his nephew Pierre M. Irving; of Nathanael Greene, by his grandson, G. W. Greene; of Daniel Webster, by G. T. Curtis; of Abraham Lincoln, by Ward H. Lamon; of Theodore Parker, by John Weiss, and a later and more popular one by O. B. Frothingham; of W. H. Prescott, by George Ticknor; of Fitz-Greene Halleck, by J. G. Wilson; of John Todd, by his son John E. Todd; and John Bigelow's edition of Franklin's autobiography; besides many biographical sketches by Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, G. E. Ellis, Edward and Alexander H. Everett, H. A. Garland, C. C. Felton, C. W. Upham, Henry Wheaton, W. H. Prescott, Henry Reed, G. S. Hillard, William Gammell, J. T. Headley, John Sanderson, R. T. Conrad, C. A. Goodrich, M. L. Davis, Alden Bradford, S. L. Knapp, Nicholas Biddle, Epes Sargent, Richard Frothingham, B. J. Lossing, G. L. Duyckinck, Mrs. L. M. Child, Mrs. E. F. Ellet, and others. To this class also belong such works as the “Lives of American Loyalists,” by Lorenzo Sabine; the “Personal Memoirs” of Joseph T. Buckingham; the “Reminiscences” of Bishop Philander Chase; “Recollections of a Busy Life,” by Horace Greeley; “Autobiography of Lyman Beecher;” the “Ten Years of Preacher Life” and other works of William Henry Milburn; the “Threading my Way” of Robert Dale Owen; and “The Life, Letters, and Journals” of George Ticknor, edited by G. S. Hillard. The contributors to miscellaneous and foreign biography comprise J. S. C. Abbott, author of a “Life of Napoleon,” R. W. Griswold, H. W. Herbert, Samuel Osgood, J. Milton Mackie, Hannah F. Lee, X. Donald McLeod, Alfred Lee, Richard Hildreth, F. L. Hawks, Bishop J. R. Bayley, R. H. Wilde, and many others. Female biography has been comprehensively related by Mrs. S. J. Hale in her “Woman's Record,” a sketch of distinguished women in all times. The principal biographical dictionaries are those of William Allen and Francis S. Drake, both devoted to American subjects, and the “Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography and Mythology,” by Joseph Thomas, a valuable and comprehensive work; besides which a “Dictionary of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers” has been published by S. Spooner, a “Cyclopædia of Music” by J. W. Moore, a handbook of painters, sculptors, and other artists by Clara Erskine Clement, and a “Book of the Artists” by Henry T. Tuckerman.—Washington Irving, though not exclusively a writer of prose fiction, was the first American whose fame in this department extended beyond the limits of his native country; and his “Sketch Book,” “Knickerbocker's History of New York," “Bracebridge Hall,” and “Tales of a Traveller,” first introduced to a European public between 1820 and 1830, attracted immediate attention by their imaginative power, by their fine pathos and humor, and by the singularly pure and graceful style in which they were expressed. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) has the credit of giving the first decided impulse to romantic fiction in the new world, and through his works American literature became first generally known abroad. His “Spy,” his nautical tales, including “The Pilot” and “The Red Rover,” and above all his series of Indian stories, abounding in lively pictures of forest life, took a strong hold upon the popular mind in both hemispheres. He was deficient in some of the requisites of a novelist; but his faculty of description, and quick appreciation of what was tangible and characteristic in his native land, enabled him to gain a universal distinction almost unsurpassed in his field. The success of Cooper gave to the novel of adventure and backwoods life, or that founded upon colonial and revolutionary incidents, a popularity which caused it for a long time to be the chief form of fiction cultivated; and among many meritorious works of this class may be mentioned “The Dutchman's Fireside” and “Westward Ho” of James Kirke Paulding (1779-1860); “Swallow Barn,” “Horse Shoe Robinson,” and “Rob of the Bowl” by John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870); “Redwood,” “Hope Leslie,” “The Linwoods,” and other pleasing pictures of early American life, by Miss C. M. Sedgwick (1789-1867); “The Partisan,” “The Yemassee,” “Mellichampe,” “Guy Rivers,” and numerous other tales by W. G. Simms (1806-'70), one of the most prolific of American authors, who drew largely from the legendary history of the southern states for his materials; “Hobomok” and “The Rebels,” by Mrs. L. M. Child (born 1802); “Seventy-Six” and other works by John Neal (born 1793); “A New Home,” by Mrs. C. M. Kirkland (1801-'64); the “Nick of the Woods” and other border tales of Dr. Robert M. Bird (1803-'54); and works by Timothy Flint (1780-1840), James Hall (1793-1868), C. F. Hoffman (born 1806), T. B. Thorpe, C. W. Webber, and others. For finish of style, delicacy of psychological insight, and power in delineating the darker features of life and the emotions of guilt and pain, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-'64) holds a peculiar place among American novelists. Writing on national subjects, and delighting especially in the gloomy passages of New England colonial history, he employed fiction less for the purpose of illustrating practical life, or of adding to the creations of the imaginative world, than of solving psychological problems. His “Scarlet Letter” and “House of the Seven Gables” were preceded by a variety of fancy sketches and historical narratives, published under the titles of “Twice-Told Tales” and “Mosses from an Old Manse,” which in point of style and subtle analysis of character are among the most exquisite productions of American literature. The “Blithedale Romance,” the next in the order of his novels, is marked by similar characteristics; and the “Marble Faun,” the most elaborate of his works, contains pictures of Italian life and scenery of unsurpassed beauty. His posthumous novel “Septimius Felton” exhibits in strong degree the morbid and mystical tendencies of his earlier works. The “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque,” and other fictions, by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-'49), exhibit extraordinary metaphysical acuteness and a wild and gloomy imagination; but his analytical power, unlike that of Hawthorne, is seldom pervaded by any moral sentiment, and his finest creations, though they are elaborated with skill, have little human interest. N. P. Willis (1806-'67) obtained a unique reputation as a delineator of the lights and shadows which flit over the surface of society, and his style, remarkable for its felicity, not to say happy audacity of expression, is in accord with his subjects. His prose writings, though including many tales, belong perhaps more properly to the departments of travels and belles-lettres. As pictures of domestic life among the ancients, the “Zenobia,” “Probus,” and “Julian” of William Ware (1797-1852) are not surpassed by any similar productions in English literature. To this class also belong “Philothea,” a tale of Athens in the days of Pericles, by Mrs. Child, and “The Roman Traitor,” by Henry William Herbert (1807-'58), well known under the pseudonyme of “Frank Forester.” For invention and graphic power Herman Melville's tales of ocean adventure, including “Typee” and “Omoo,” stand perhaps at the head of their class in American literature. The “Kaloolah” and “Berber” of W. S. Mayo are successful attempts in the same field. His later work, “Never Again,” is in a different vein, and depicts society in the city of New York. One of the most popular novels of the present century was the “Uncle Tom's Cabin” of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, an anti-slavery fiction, which has circulated by millions of copies in many languages, and deeply moved the public heart in Europe and America, not more on account of the moral of the story than of its pathos, its humor, and its inimitable pictures of negro life. “Dred,” her second anti-slavery romance, has perhaps more power than its predecessor, although it is less popular; and among her subsequent productions are the “Minister's Wooing,” remarkable for its pictures of social and religious life in New England during the last century, the “Pearl of Orr's Island,” “Agnes of Sorrento,” “Old Town Folks,” “My Wife and I,” “Pink and White Tyranny,” and “We and our Neighbors.” The last three are satires on social and domestic evils. Of other novels founded upon the slavery question, “The White Slave,” by Richard Hildreth, and “Ida May,” by Mary Langdon (Mrs. Pike), may be cited as examples. Of prose fictions by authors who have won distinction principally in other walks of literature, the most deserving of notice are “Monaldi,” by Washington Allston (1779-1843); “Paul Felton” and other tales published by R. H. Dana (born 1787) in the “Idle Man,” a serial edited by himself; “Hyperion,” a series of charming pictures of scenery and manners in Europe, connected by a thread of story, and “Kavanagh,” by H. W. Longfellow (born 1807); “Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal,” by J. G. Whittier (born 1807); and “Elsie Venner” and “The Guardian Angel,” by O. W. Holmes (born 1809). Among the younger writers of fiction, the most conspicuous are Bayard Taylor, whose “Hannah Thurston,” “John Godfrey's Fortunes,” “Story of Kennett,” and “Joseph and his Friend” are careful and accurate pictures of American life and manners; Theodore Winthrop, whose death as a Union soldier in one of the earliest battles of the civil war gave to his “Cecil Dreeme,” “John Brent,” and other works, all posthumous, a sudden popularity, which, notwithstanding their merits, does not seem to be permanent; W. D. Howells (born 1837), whose “Suburban Sketches,” “Their Wedding Journey,” “A Chance Acquaintance,” “A Foregone Conclusion,” and “Private Theatricals” are distinguished by a charming style and a subtle and pleasant humor; and Julian Hawthorne, a son of Nathaniel (born 1846), who has attracted attention by novels of great promise, “Bressant,” “Idolatry,” and “Garth,” which in style and tone exhibit many of his father's characteristic qualities. The humorous writers are represented by Seba Smith (1792-1868), author of the well known letters of “Major Jack Downing,” Cornelius Mathews (born 1817), J. C. Neal (1807-'48), R. C. Sands (1799-1832), W. G. Clark (1810-'41), G. H. Derby (1824-'61), F. S. Cozzens (1818-'69), G. D. Prentice (1802-70), and C. F. Briggs; besides Irving, whose “Knickerbocker's History of New York” is perhaps the most elaborate piece of humor in the national literature; Paulding, who in conjunction with Irving produced the “Salmagundi;” and some others mentioned above. Holmes has a copious vein of original humor, which appears to the best advantage in his poems and miscellaneous prose writings. The list of American humorous writings would be incomplete without an allusion to that class of grotesque tales of which the “Big Bear of Arkansas” and the “Quarter Race in Kentucky,” by T. B. Thorpe, afford characteristic specimens. Among later humorists are Bret Harte, S. L. Clemens (“Mark Twain”), C. F. Browne (“Artemus Ward”), D. R. Locke (“Petroleum V. Nasby”), R. H. Newell (“Orpheus C. Kerr”), Charles G. Leland (“Hans Breitmann”), C. H. Webb (“John Paul”), and R. G. White (author of “The New Gospel of Peace”). Among other writers of prose fiction may be enumerated Sylvester Judd (1813-'53), author of “Margaret,” a tragic tale of New England life, and “Richard Edney;” T. S. Fay, G. P. Thompson, T. S. Arthur, J. V. Huntington, J. T. Trowbridge, L. M. Sargent, F. W. Shelton, George Wood, J. H. Ingraham, P. P. Cooke, J. E. Cooke, J. G. Holland, R. B. Kimball, X. Donald McLeod, G. W. Curtis, A. S. Roe, E. P. Roe, H. P. Myers, J. B. Cobb, Robert T. S. Lowell, Edgar Fawcett, W. D. O'Connor, Henry James, jr., W. H. Peck, Theodore Tilton, Charles Dimitry, E. E. Hale, James De Mille, J. W. De Forest, T. W. Higginson, Frank Lee Benedict, and T. B. Aldrich. The female writers of fiction of this period constitute a numerous and important body, and the works of some of them are not exceeded in popularity by any contemporary writings of their class. It will suffice to mention, in addition to works already referred to, the several series of “Pencil Sketches,” by Miss Eliza Leslie (1787-1858); the “Three Experiments of Living,” by Mrs. H. F. Lee; “The Wide, Wide World" and “Queechy,” by Miss Susan Warner; “Fern Leaves,” “Ruth Hall,” and other popular productions, by Mrs. S. P. W. Parton (“Fanny Fern”); “The Household of Bouverie,” by Mrs. C. A. Warfield; “Naomi,” by Mrs. E. B. Lee; “Charms and Counter-Charms,” by Miss M. J. McIntosh; besides numerous volumes by Mrs. Hale, Mrs. E. C. Embury, Mrs. C. L. Hentz, Mrs. A. S. Stephens, Mrs. E. Oakes Smith, Mrs. Ellet, Mrs. A. C. (Mowatt) Ritchie, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth, Miss A. B. Warner, Mrs. E. S. Phelps (Trusta), Mrs. A. B. (Neal) Haven, Miss Alice Cary, Miss Caroline Chesebro', Mrs. E. Robinson (“Talvi”), Miss Maria S. Cummins, Mrs. Harriet (Prescott) Spofford, Mrs. Virginia Terhune (“Marion Harland”), Mrs. A. J. (Evans) Wilson, Mrs. Martha T. Lamb, Mrs. M. J. Holmes, Mrs. M. H. Eastman, Mrs. Elizabeth Stoddard, Mrs. M. A. Sadlier, Mrs. M. A. Denison, Mrs. M. C. Lawrence, Miss Amanda M. Douglas, Miss Frances C. Fisher, Miss Louisa M. Alcott, Miss Anna E. Dickinson, Mrs. A. M. Seemuller, Mrs. Mary Healy Bigot, Mrs. Jane G. Austin, Miss R. H. Davis, and many others.—In intimate connection with the departments already treated is that of juvenile literature, to which several authors have exclusively devoted themselves, and among the contributors to which are many of those previously mentioned. S. G. Goodrich's numerous little books for children, published under the pseudonyme of “Peter Parley," have had a prodigious circulation in Europe as well as America. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote some delightful tales for children; Jacob Abbott (born 1803) is the author of the popular “Rollo,” “Lucy,” “Franconia,” and other series of stories, and of numerous juvenile histories; and W. M. Simonds, John Bonner, F. C. Woodworth, George Taylor, Charles Nordhoff, William T. Adams (“Oliver Optic”), Elijah Kellogg, Frank R. Stockton, Horatio Alger, jr., Mrs. E. C. Judson (“Fanny Forester,” 1817-'54), Mrs. Lippincott (“Grace Greenwood”), Mrs. Sigourney, Miss C. M. Sedgwick, Miss McIntosh, Mrs. L. C. Tuthill, Mrs. Parton, Mrs. L. M. Child, Mrs. A. B. (Neal) Haven, Miss L. M. Alcott, Mrs. H. C. Knight, Mrs. A. A. Carter, Mrs. E. S. Phelps and her daughter Miss E. S. Phelps, Mrs. Hubbell, Mrs. Helen Kendrick Johnson, Mrs. L. C. Moulton, Mrs. A. M. Diaz, Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, Mrs. Fanny Barrow, Miss Sarah C. Woolsey (“Susan Coolidge”), and many others have devoted a large portion of their time to this species of literature.—The poetry of this period has shown a remarkably healthy and abundant development; and it is probable that the number of writers is more numerous here than in any other country. Notwithstanding also the limited range of native subjects, which makes the imaginative literature of the country in some respects an imitation or rather a continuation of that of other lands, the characteristic features of national scenery, legend, and history have not failed of illustrators, while the familiar imagery of an older civilization has been often reproduced with force and originality. Among those who have made a felicitous use of native materials, one of the most eminent and thoroughly American is William Cullen Bryant (born 1794), whose poems, the fruits of meditation rather than of passion or imagination, are remarkable for their descriptive powers, their serene and elevated philosophy, and noble simplicity of language. Richard H. Dana was one of the first in America to break away from the school of Pope, and his “Buccaneer,” a narrative of crime and retribution, had no slight influence in directing the poetical taste of the country. Charles Sprague (1791-1875) wrote an “Ode to Shakespeare,” a metrical essay on “Curiosity,” and a few other pieces. J. G. Percival (1795-1856) possessed a remarkable command of language and metre, and his “Coral Grove” and “New England” are established favorites. The few poetical remains of Washington Allston (1779-1843), including the “Sylphs of the Seasons,” evince an exuberant fancy and much metrical skill. Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) produced “The Culprit Fay,” an imaginative poem, exquisitely versified. Fitz-Greene Halleck (1790-1867) wrote little, but during his life was one of the most popular of American poets, and his “Marco Bozzaris” is still universally known among his countrymen. The Scripture pieces of N. P. Willis are written with feeling and artistic finish; in his other poems the verbal felicity and sprightly fancy characteristic of his prose writings are discernible. The few brief poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson (born 1803), of which “The Problem” and the lines “To a Humble Bee” afford examples, are remarkable for their quaintness and originality. The early song writers of the period are represented by G. P. Morris (1802-'64), the most popular of his class in America, Edward Coate Pinkney (1802-'28), and C. F. Hoffman, whose amatory or convivial verses are gracefully written and well adapted to music. Among other early writers of the period who are remembered for one or more successful poems are F. S. Key (1779-1843), author of the “Star-Spangled Banner;” Samuel Woodworth (1785-1842), of “The Old Oaken Bucket;” R. H. Wilde (1789-1847), of the song “My Life is like the Summer Rose;” and John Howard Payne (1792-1852), whose “Home, Sweet Home” is known wherever the English language is spoken. Among later song writers is Stephen C. Foster (1826-'64), the most popularly successful and the most peculiarly American of all. The poems of E. A. Poe form a fitting accompaniment to his prose writings, and are characterized by a shadowy and gloomy imagination, and a fascinating melody of rhythm. “The Raven” illustrates his facility in harmonizing sentiment with rhythmical expression; and his “Annabel Lee,” “Haunted Palace,” and “Bells” are constructed with equal skill. The most artistic and cosmopolitan of American poets, and the most widely read abroad, is H. W. Longfellow, whose genius has been powerfully influenced by the literature and historic associations of the old world, while in the choice and treatment of his principal subjects he is eminently American. Much of the poetry of J. G. Whittier was prompted by his opposition to slavery, and in occasional pieces he rises to a strain of genuine lyrical exaltation. Of this character are his “Massachusetts to Virginia” and “Astræa at the Capitol.” In other poems he unites tenderness and grace with much simplicity of language. All of his descriptive poems, but especially “Snow-Bound,” his masterpiece, are strikingly national. James Russell Lowell (born 1819) is one of the most versatile poets of this period, and has won high reputation as a prose writer by several volumes of essays, chiefly on literary topics. His serious poems are earnest and philanthropic in tone, elevated in sentiment, and of high artistic merit. He is perhaps the ablest of American satirists, and has gained a unique reputation as a humorist by his “Biglow Papers,” in which the peculiar phraseology of New England is given with great verbal and idiomatic correctness. The prose introductions to these poems have a subtle humor which can be best appreciated by those familiar with the local peculiarities they illustrate. Not less conspicuous as a humorist is O. W. Holmes, the most effective writer of the school of Pope, and distinguished by a clear, concise, and manly style. For the mingled pungency and geniality of his humor he is unrivalled among American poets. In his knowledge of local dialects and idioms he is not inferior to Lowell. J. G. Saxe (born 1816) is known chiefly as a humorous poet, and his verses enjoy considerable popularity. A. B. Street (born 1811) has devoted himself more than any other native poet to the romantic aspects of American scenery and forest life, and his works contain many striking and picturesque descriptive passages. Among other poets and occasional writers of verses of this period, all of whom have produced some pieces of high merit, are John Pierpont (1785-1866), John Neal, J. G. Brainard, Andrews Norton (1786-1853), Henry Ware, jr. (1794-1848), W. G. Simms, R. C. Sands, G. W. Doane, A. G. Greene, Rufus Dawes, Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, James Aldrich, George Lunt, G. W. Bethune, G. D. Prentice, Grenville Mellen, William Croswell, Thomas Ward, W. D. Gallagher, Park Benjamin, Albert Pike, Jones Very, Ralph Hoyt, W. G. Clark, Seba Smith, W. E. Channing, H. T. Tuckerman, H. B. Hirst, W. H. C. Hosmer, Epes Sargent, T. W. Parsons, A. C. Coxe, G. H. Colton, W. W. Story, W. R. Wallace, T. D. English, C. G. Eastman, P. P. Cooke, C. P. Cranch, W. H. Burleigh, Isaac McLellan, and J. T. Fields; and among the younger writers, J. R. Thompson, G. H. Boker, T. B. Read, Bayard Taylor, R. H. Stoddard, W. Allen Butler, P. H. Hayne, C. G. Leland, R. T. S. Lowell, T. B. Aldrich, A. J. H. Duganne, E. C. Stedman, W. B. Wright, B. F. Taylor, H. H. Brownell, Forceythe Willson, R. W. Wright, J. T. Trowbridge, William Winter, Joaquin Miller, John Hay, Bret Harte, Henry Timrod, George Arnold, R. W. Gilder, G. P. Lathrop, and Walt Whitman, whose unrhymed and rhapsodical poems, severely criticised at home, have found their warmest admirers in England. The female poets of the period comprise Mrs. L. H. Sigourney (1791-1865), author of many beautiful pieces characterized by feminine delicacy and religious sentiment; Mrs. Maria Brooks (“Maria del' Occidente,” 1795-1845), whose principal poem, “Zophiel,” evinces a high degree of imaginative power; Lucretia Maria Davidson (1808-'25), and her sister Margaret Miller Davidson (1823-'38), who are instances of rare though melancholy precocity; Mrs. Frances Sargent Osgood (1811-'50), remarkable for her playfulness of fancy and facility of expression; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe (born 1819), whose “Passion Flowers” and other poems are distinguished by a peculiar earnestness of feeling and expression; Mrs. Frances Anne Kemble (born 1811), who exhibits similar characteristics; Mrs. E. Oakes Smith, author of a melodious and imaginative poem entitled “The Sinless Child;” Mrs. Margaret J. Preston, whose chief poem, “Beechenbrook,” was very popular in the south during the civil war; Mrs. Caroline Gilman, Mrs. S. J. Lippincott, Mrs. A. B. Welby, Miss H. F. Gould, Mrs. E. C. Embury, Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, Mrs. A. C. (Lynch) Botta, Mrs. Estelle Anna Lewis, Mrs. Haven, Miss Alice Cary and her sister Phoebe Cary, Mrs. E. F. Ellet, Mrs. S. J. Hale, Miss Caroline May, Mrs. Maria Lowell, Miss Edna Dean Proctor, Mrs. Rosa Vertner (Jeffrey), Mrs. L. V. French, Mrs. M. S. B. Dana (Shindler), Mrs. S. M. B. Piatt, Mrs. E. C. Kinney, Miss Emma Lazarus, Mrs. Celia Thaxter, Miss Lucy Larcom, Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke, Mrs. Elizabeth (Akers) Allen, Miss Laura C. Redden (“Howard Glyndon”), Mrs. Helen Hunt (Jackson), and many others. Dramatic literature has been cultivated by comparatively few writers, and, with occasional exceptions, nothing of very decided mark, either in style, sentiment, or plot, has yet been accomplished. J. A. Hillhouse (1789-1841) excelled in that species of poetic literature illustrated by the writings of Browning, Henry Taylor, and others in England, which may be called the written drama. His “Hadad,” founded upon Jewish tradition, “Percy's Masque,” and other dramas, though unfitted for representation, are conceived with taste and carefully finished. G. H. Boker has produced “Calaynos,” a tragedy founded on an incident in the history of the Spanish Moors, and other dramatic pieces of more than ordinary merit; and Mrs. J. W. Howe, a high-wrought drama entitled “The World's Own.” Among other works of this class may be mentioned “Brutus,” by J. H. Payne; “Metamora,” by J. A. Stone; “Jack Cade,” by R. J. Conrad; “Tortesa the Usurer” and “Bianca Visconti,” by N. P. Willis; “Velasco,” by Epes Sargent; “The Gladiator,” by R. M. Bird; “Witchcraft,” by Cor- nelius Mathews; “Fashion,” by Mrs. A. C. (Mowatt) Ritchie; “The Prophet,” by Bayard Taylor; and “The Spanish Student,” “Christus,” and "Masque of Pandora,” by H. W. Longfellow. Several of these have proved good acting plays, and still retain possession of the stage. Several writers have executed metrical translations of merit from the German, Italian, and other languages. The most eminent of these are Longfellow, whose translation of Dante is the best in the English language, and whose versions of Bishop Tegnér's “Children of the Lord's Supper” and Der schwarze Ritter and other ballads by Uhland are well known; Bryant, who has made an excellent version of Homer; and Bayard Taylor, who has made a masterly rendering of Goethe's Faust in the original metres. C. P. Cranch has made a good translation of Virgil's Æneid. C. T. Brooks has translated Faust, Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, Richter's Titan and Hesperus, and numerous other pieces from the German; C. G. Leland, the choicest songs of Heine; W. H. Furness, Schiller's “Song of the Bell;” and N. L. Frothingham and J. S. Dwight, many of the minor poems of this and other German authors. T. W. Parsons has made one of the best English translations of Dante's Inferno; George Ticknor has versified choice extracts from the Spanish poets; and R. H. Wilde, Dr. Mitchell, and Mrs. Nichols have translated with taste from Tasso, Sannazaro, and Manzoni.—Under the head of criticism, essays, belles-lettres, lectures or discourses, and that species of miscellaneous works which owe their charm to a felicitous blending of fact and fancy, or of sentiment and thought, may be classed a numerous body of authors who were so inadequately represented in the two preceding periods that the department now under consideration may almost be said to have sprung into existence since 1820. The establishment of the “North American Review” in 1815, followed by that of the “American Quarterly Review,” the “Southern Quarterly Review,” the “Christian Examiner,” the “Knickerbocker Magazine,” the “Dial,” “Harper's Monthly,” “Putnam's Monthly,” the “Atlantic Monthly,” and other periodicals, gave the first considerable impulse to literary criticism and essay writing on a comprehensive and philosophic scale; and the production of the essays of William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) on “National Literature,” “Milton,” “Napoleon Bonaparte,” “Fenelon,” and “Self-Culture,” and of the thoughtful and highly finished articles by R. H. Dana, published in his own “Idle Man” and the “North American Review,” may be said to have formed an era in the literary history of the country. Contemporary with these were John Quincy Adams, William Tudor, Joseph Story, Edward and A. H. Everett, W. H. Prescott, F. C. Gray, George Ticknor, E. T. Channing, Robert Walsh, G. C. Verplanck, J. G. Palfrey, Jared Sparks, Samuel Gilman, William Ware, R. C. Sands, Orville Dewey, Dr. J. W. Francis, W. G. Simms, John Neal, Francis Wayland, Henry Reed, F. L. Hawks, C. S. Henry, J. T. Buckingham, and H. S. Legaré, most, of whom have written with taste upon subjects connected with philosophy, morals, political and social economy, and general literature. Prominent among the later essayists is R. W. Emerson, an original and independent thinker, whose views of religion and in some degree of society may be described as the opposite of all those founded upon tradition and authority. He has written in an abstract manner upon social, moral, and political questions; and his style, though sometimes obscure by reason of his attempts to condense a philosophic theory into a few brief terms, has a finished beauty and significance which have secured him a wide circle of admirers, particularly in New England. His published works comprise several series of “Essays,” “The Method of Nature,” “Representative Men,” “English Traits,” “The Conduct of Life,” “Society and Solitude,” and “Letters and Social Aims,” several of which have been expanded from lectures and addresses, a department of literature to which he has principally devoted himself. Of the school of Emerson was Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1810-'50), author of “Woman in the Nineteenth Century,” an earnest protest against the commonly received views of the social position of women, and “Papers on Literature and Art,” some of which originally appeared in the “Dial,” a quarterly publication which was for several years the organ of Emerson and his friends. In general acquirements and conversational powers she was probably the most noted woman of her time in America. The most conspicuous names of other writers in this department are those of E. P. Whipple, author of many papers, chiefly on literature, written in a lively and perspicuous style; H. T. Tuckerman, whose contributions to critical literature show a refined taste and a liberal cultivation of mind and heart; O. A. Brownson, a bold and powerful writer on religion, metaphysics, and politics; J. R. Lowell, whose essays “Among my Books” show wide reading in several languages, and much subtle thought; John Fiske, whose “Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy” is a lucid exposition of the doctrine of evolution; G. S. Hillard, C. C. Felton, F. H. Hedge, G. E. Ellis, W. H. Furness, W. B. O. and O. W. B. Peabody, G. H. Calvert, Henry Giles, Mrs. Mary Lowell Putnam, R. W. Griswold, J. F. Clarke, A. P. Peabody, C. H. Brigham, O. B. Frothingham, Thomas Hill, E. C. Stedman, and W. C. Wilkinson. Anything like a complete enumeration of the writers who have gained distinction in the wide field of belles-lettres or magazine literature would be impossible within the limits of this article; and only those who are generally known or who may stand as representatives of their class can be mentioned. The most distinguished of all is Washington Irving, whose “Crayon Papers,” published in England in 1822 under the title of “The Sketch Book,” represents perhaps the author's most successful attempts in elegant literature. The “Inklings of Adventure,” “Pencillings by the Way,” “Letters from under a Bridge,” and other piquant sketches of people and manners, by N. P. Willis; the series of discursive essays by O. W. Holmes, entitled “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” “The Professor at the Breakfast Table,” and “The Poet at the Breakfast Table;” the “Reveries of a Bachelor,” by D. G. Mitchell (Ik Marvel); the “Potiphar Papers,” by G. W. Curtis; “Meister Karl's Sketch Book,” by C. G. Leland; and the “Fern Leaves” of Mrs. Parton, are popular examples of what has been accomplished by other authors. To these names may be added those of John Sanderson, G. W. Bethune, M. M. Noah, N. Biddle, Mrs. C. Gilman, T. S. Fay, R. M. Charlton, J. J. Jarves, A. K. Gardner, A. B. Alcott, C. F. Hoffman, E. S. Gould, E. Sanford, G. H. Calvert, L. L. Noble, Park Benjamin, W. G. and L. G. Clark, E. A. Poe, Mrs. Kirkland, Theodore Sedgwick, H. W. Herbert, H. B. Wallace, C. W. Webber, G. W. Peck, W. E. Burton, Robert Turnbull, J. L. Motley, Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, Mrs. Botta, Epes Sargent, H. D. Thoreau (whose writings, showing much acute and original observation of nature as well as great eccentricity of character in the author, have become remarkably popular since his death), Thomas Starr King, W. R. Alger, E. H. Chapin, Samuel Osgood, H. W. Bellows, Parke Godwin, C. A. Bristed (“Carl Benson”), J. G. Holland (“Timothy Titcomb”), R. G. White, J. Milton Mackie, T. W. Higginson, D. H. Strother, C. F. Briggs, E. E. Hale, G. D. Prentice, George Sumner, Miss Mary Abigail Dodge (“Gail Hamilton”), John Burroughs, Fitzhugh Ludlow, Charles T. Congdon, C. E. Norton, and Theodore Winthrop. Among the works illustrating English literature are the lectures on Shakespeare by R. H. Dana and H. N. Hudson, and the editions of the poet by G. C. Verplanck, H. N. Hudson, R. G. White, and, latest of all, the great variorum edition by Horace Howard Furness, the publication of which began in 1871; the edition of Spenser by G. S. Hillard; editions of Wordsworth and Gray by Henry Reed, of Milton by C. D. Cleve- land, and of Coleridge by W. G. T. Shedd; the elaborate series of British poets by F. J. Child, assisted by J. R. Lowell and others; and various writings by R. H. Dana, A. H. Everett, J. R. Lowell, J. S. Hart, E. P. Whipple, and R. W. Emerson. Translations from the German metaphysicians, historians, and theologians have been made by George Bancroft, S. M. Fuller, G. H. Calvert, W. H. Channing, F. H. Hedge, Samuel Osgood, W. T. Harris, and George S. Morris, and by Philip Schaff and others in the American edition of Lange's commentary; and from educational and scientific authors as well as writers of fiction in Germany and France, by a variety of hands. Among the most successful of the translators from the French are Miss Mary L. Booth and Mrs. M. H. Robinson. The department of oratory and political science, though relatively less prominent than in the preceding period, occupies an important place in contemporaneous American literature; and the speeches and writings of Daniel Webster (1782-1852), Henry Clay (1777-1852), and J. C. Calhoun (1782-1850), considered merely as literary productions, are among the intellectual triumphs of the country. For dignity of expression, breadth and force of thought, and a style strong, simple, and sometimes grand, the forensic arguments and public and political speeches of Webster may rank with the masterpieces of oratory in any language. The spontaneous, impassioned eloquence of Clay, on the other hand, depended so much for its effect upon the voice and manner of the speaker, that his reputation will be mostly traditional. His published speeches give little indication of the mastery of the feelings for which he was almost unrivalled. Calhoun's eloquence was plain, strong, concise, and only occasionally impassioned; and his power, as Webster has observed, “consisted in the plainness of his propositions, the closeness of his logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his manner.” To the political orators and statesmen of this period belong also John Quincy Adams (1769-1848), remarkable for the universality of his knowledge and his independence of judgment; John Randolph of Roanoke (1773-1833), an eccentric but powerful and pointed speaker, and a master of invective; Albert Gallatin (1761-1849); R. Y. Hayne (1791-1840), the eloquent antagonist of Webster; De Witt Clinton (1769-1828), Tristam Burges (1770-1853), George McDuffie (1788-1851), Silas Wright (1795-1847), H. S. Legaré (1797-1843), W. C. Preston (1794-1860), S. S. Prentiss (1808-'50), T. H. Benton (1782-1858, whose “Thirty Years' View” and “Abridgment of the Debates in Congress” afford invaluable materials to the historian of national politics), A. H. Everett (1792-1847), J. R. Poinsett (1779-1851), Lewis Cass (1782-1866), Levi Woodbury (1789-1851), Caleb Cushing (born 1800), John Sergeant (1779-1852), J. J. Crittenden (1787-1863), W. H. Seward (1801-'72), J. H. Hammond (1807-'64), R. C. Winthrop (1809), H. A. Wise (1806), S. A. Douglas (1813-'61), and R. M. T. Hunter (1809). The most accomplished orator of the period with respect to rhetorical finish and elocution was Edward Everett (1794-1865), whose productions, including his oration on Washington, which was delivered before public assemblies in many parts of the country, are thoroughly American in tone, and possess a permanent and intrinsic worth. Rufus Choate (1799-1859), in his forensic arguments and occasional public addresses, exhibited not less rhetorical excellence and more fervor than Everett; and Charles Sumner (1811-'74) excelled in strength and clearness of statement, ripe scholarship, and nobility of diction. Among the anti-slavery orators, to which class Mr. Sumner properly belonged, were William Lloyd Garrison (born 1804), whose popular addresses were singularly effective; Wendell Phillips (1811), a vigorous and impulsive speaker, frequently rising to a strain of impassioned eloquence; J. R. Giddings (1795-1864), Theodore D. Weld (1803), Theodore Parker (1810-'60), Henry Ward Beecher (1813), R. W. Emerson, Frederick Douglass (1817), Anson Burlingame (1820-'70), and G. B. Cheever (1807), whose oratory in general exhibits similar characteristics. The list of occasional orators, in addition to the names of most of the foregoing, includes those of Joseph Story (1779-1845), James Kent (1763-1847), G. C. Verplanck (1786-1870), Horace Binney (1780-1875), T. S. Grimke (1786-1834), Orville Dewey (1794), Horace Bushnell (1802-'76), E. H. Chapin (1814), H. B. Bascom (1796-1850), G. S. Hillard (1808), H. W. Bellows (1814), R. H. Dana, jr. (1815), and many others. The political writers comprise William Sullivan (1774-1839), Mathew Carey (1760-1839), J. T. Buckingham, Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), W. L. Marcy (1786-1857), Thomas Ritchie, Joseph Gales, Robert Walsh, William Leggett (1802-'39), Amos Kendall (1789-1869), Calvin Colton, J. H. Hammond, Nathan Hale, David Hale, Richard Hildreth, Joshua Leavitt, Morton McMichael, Hamilton Pleasants, T. R. R. Cobb, G. D. Prentice, W. C. Bryant, J. G. Palfrey, Robert Barnwell Rhett, Joseph Chandler, James Gordon Bennett, J. D. B. De Bow, John Fletcher, George Fitzhugh, J. L. O'Sullivan, Edwin Croswell, Thurlow Weed, Horace Greeley, J. W. Forney, W. L. Garrison, N. P. Rogers, C. C. Hazewell, John Bigelow, Parke Godwin, H. J. Raymond, E. L. Godkin, N. Paschall, B. Gratz Brown, C. H. Ray, James Brooks, Erastus Brooks, Charles Nordhoff, Charles T. Congdon, and many others. Under this head also come the comprehensive “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,” by Justice Story, the lectures on the same subject by W. A. Duer (1780-1858), and the “Constitutional History of the United States,” by G. T. Curtis. The most eminent writers on political economy are H. C. Carey (born 1793), whose “Principles of Political Economy,” “Credit System in France, England, and the United States,” “The Past, the Present, and the Future,” and numerous other works, maintain protection doctrines in a clear, terse style; President Francis Wayland (1796-1865) and Henry Vethake, both advocates of free trade, who have published valuable text books on the subject; Francis Lieber, A. H. Everett, William Leggett, Beverley Tucker, Albert Gallatin, John Bristed, Calvin Colton, Condy Raguet, Stephen Colwell, Francis Bowen, Alonzo Potter, E. C. Seaman, E. Peshine Smith, George Opdyke, W. M. Gouge, William Maclure, Edward Atkinson, and W. G. Sumner. The writers on social science and ethics comprise Francis Lieber, author of treatises on “Liberty and Self-Government” and “Political Ethics;” G. H. Calvert, T. Sedgwick, Adam Gurowski, Bishop J. H. Hopkins, and E. Mulford, who have discussed the subject generally. W. L. Garrison, Richard Hildreth, T. D. Weld, William Goodell, Lydia M. Child, H. R. Helper, M. D. Conway, E. M. Stearns, T. Stringfellow, G. Fitzhugh, A. T. Bledsoe, J. H. Hammond, Nehemiah Adams, J. H. Hopkins, Henry Wilson, and others have written on the institution of slavery; W. P. Foulke, L. Dwight, J. S. Gould, and Miss Dorothea L. Dix, on prison discipline and kindred topics; and Charles Francis Adams, jr., and his brother Henry Brooks Adams, on the management of railroads.—In no department has the intellectual development of the country been more conspicuous than in that of jurisprudence, and the treatises, digests, and reports emanating from American authors and jurists already fill several thousand volumes, and form a valuable addition to legal literature. The “Commentaries on American Law,” by James Kent, published in 1826-'30, are written with great clearness and force of reasoning, and constitute the chief manual of general reference and elementary instruction. Of the numerous works of Justice Story, those on equity jurisprudence, partnership, bailments, and “The Conflict of Laws,” are well known everywhere; the “Elements of International Law” and “History of the Law of Nations,” by Henry Wheaton, have become standard works of reference throughout the world; and the treatises of Edward Livingston on penal law, of Simon Greenleaf on evidence, of Willard Phillips on insurance, of F. Wharton on criminal law and other subjects, besides many by David Hoffman, St. George Tucker, J. K. Angell, John Bouvier, G. T. Curtis, L. S. Gushing, W. A. and John Duer, F. Hilliard, Murray Hoffman, Theophilus Parsons, Theodore Sedgwick, W. W. Story, I. F. Redfield, J. P. Bishop, T. M. Cooley, B. V. and Austin Abbott, A. M. Burrill, Charles Edwards, Isaac Edwards, Alfred Conkling, W. B. Lawrence, J. N. Taylor, John Townshend, K. H. Tyler, Emory Washburn, R. H. Dana, jr., Theodore D. Woolsey, and others, are creditable to the legal learning of the country.—The theological and religious writers of the period comprise a numerous and able body, whose works have in many instances become standard authorities on the subjects of which they treat, and, in view of the multiplicity of sects from which they emanate, express unusually broad and catholic views. In the department of Biblical criticism American theologians are everywhere honorably distinguished. Of Presbyterian writers, the most eminent are Samuel Davies (1724-'61); Samuel Miller (1769-1850), author, among other works, of several treatises on the distinguishing features of Presbyterianism; Edward Robinson (1794-1863), best known by his researches in Biblical geography; Albert Barnes (1798-1870), whose “Notes on the Gospels” and commentaries on other portions of Scripture are widely known in America and England; Nicholas Murray (“Kirwan,” 1803-'61), author of several controversial publications; Aahbel Green (1762-1848), Gardiner Spring (1785-1873), Charles Hodge (born 1797), James Richards (1793-1843), R. J. Breckenridge (1800-'71), Archibald, J. W., and Joseph A. Alexander, T. H. Skinner, I. S. Spencer, William Adams, Thomas Smyth, Robert Baird, J. H. Thornwell (1811-'62), and Henry B. Smith. The Trinitarian Congregationalists are represented by Moses Stuart (1780-1852), author of various Scriptural commentaries, and distinguished as a philologist; Leonard Woods (1798-1854), Horace Bushnell, Edwards A. Park, Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, N. W. Taylor, Bennet Tyler, E. N. Kirk, Nehemiah Adams, Mark Hopkins, Nathan Lord, Joel Hawes, Leonard Bacon, G. B. Cheever, J. P. Thompson, T. C. Upham, J. Torrey, W. G. T. Shedd, H. M. Dexter, and George Punchard, author of a “History of Congregationalism,” &c. About the commencement of this period a memorable controversy took place in New England between Samuel Worcester, representing the conservative or orthodox Congregationalists, and W. E. Channing in behalf of the Unitarians, who thenceforth became an independent and, in proportion to their numbers, an important sect. The writings of Channing had great influence in moulding the opinions now generally held by Unitarians in the United States and Great Britain; and contemporary with him was a body of divines and scholars of considerable literary culture, resident chiefly in Boston and its vicinity, whose education was acquired at Harvard college, where a large proportion of the Unitarian clergy have since graduated. Prominent among these were Andrews Norton (1786-1853), author of a treatise on the “Genuineness of the Gospels;” Henry Ware, jr., and William Ware, J. G. Palfrey, Jared Sparks, N. L. Frothingham, James Walker, Orville Dewey, F. W. P. Greenwood, W. H. Furness, and G. W. Burnap. Of somewhat later date are A. P. Peabody, F. H. Hedge, G. E. Ellis, H. W. Bellows, A. A. Livermore, E. H. Sears, A. B. Muzzey, J. F. Clarke, and Samuel Osgood, afterward an Episcopalian. Distinguished from these is a rationalistic school of Unitarianism, chiefly represented by Theodore Parker (1810-'60), whose writings evince extensive scholarship and furnish frequent examples of rhetorical beauty and force. O. B. Frothingham, O. A. Bartol, John Weiss, and M. D. Conway are the most conspicuous of his successors of the same school. The principal writers of the Protestant Episcopal denomination are Bishop C. P. McIlvaine, author of a treatise on the “Evidences of Christianity;” Bishop T. C. Brownell, author of commentaries on the “Book of Common Prayer;” Bishops Alonzo Potter, George Burgess, J. M. Wainwright, J. H. Hopkins, A. C. Coxe, and W. I. Kip; S. F. Jarvis, S. H. Tyng, F. L. Hawks, J. S. Stone, F. D. Huntingdon, S. H. Turner, G. T. Bedell, R. A. Hallam, T. W. Coit, Calvin Colton, A. H. Vinton, J. A. Spencer, and Samuel Seabury. Among the Baptists, the most noted are President Francis Wayland, William Hague, H. B. Hackett, H. J. Ripley, Pharcellus Church, Baron Stow, Alvah Hovey, W. K. Williams, T. J. Conant, J. Belcher, R. Turnbull, Richard Fuller, and J. B. Jeter; and among the Methodists, Nathan Bangs, P. D. Gorrie, John and Robert Emory, Stephen Olin, H. B. Bascom, D. D. Whedon, J. McClintock, James Strong, George Peck, Abel Stevens, W. P. Strickland, D. Curry, James Floy, D. Wise, Osmyn Baker, T. H. Stockton, E. O. Haven, C. F. Deems, H. N. McTyeire, T. O. Summers, and Alexander Green. The Roman Catholics are represented by Archbishops F. P. and P. R. Kenrick and John Hughes, the last two chiefly distinguished as controversial writers, Bishops J. England and H. Spaulding, I. T. Hecker, and O. A. Brownson, who has written several of his most noticeable review articles on theological subjects. Among the Swedenborgians, the prominent names are George Bush, author of a treatise on the “Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body” and numerous commentaries and miscellaneous writings; Henry James, author of “The Secret of Swedenborg” and other works; Theophilus Parsons, author of “Deus Homo,” “The Finite and the Infinite,” and several volumes of essays; Chauncey Giles, author of several works on the future life; B. F. Barrett, Sampson Reed, and Richard De Charms. Philip Schaff, J. W. Nevin, and H. Harbaugh are the chief writers of the German Reformed, S. S. Schmucker and C. P. Krauth, of the Lutheran church; Hosea Ballou, E. H. Chapin, T. Whittemore, and T. B. Thayer, of the Universalist denomination; and T. Evans and S. M. Janney, of the society of Friends. Many of the above, including Brownson, Parker, Walker, and Wayland, have written on moral philosophy and metaphysics. The school of Locke is represented by Francis Bowen, Frederick Beasley, and others; while Parker, Walker, James Marsh, and Emerson have borrowed more or less from the German idealists and the French eclectics. C. S. Henry and O. W. Wight have made the philosophy of Cousin familiar to American readers; J. Marsh has expounded the doctrines of Coleridge; and Samuel Tyler has produced, in his “Discourse on the Baconian Philosophy,” one of the most profound metaphysical disquisitions of the century. Other contributors to this department are Herman Hooker, Hubbard Winslow, Joseph Haven, H. P. Tappan, Asa Mahan, T. C. Upham, Rowland Hazard, Henry James, W. G. T. Shedd, B. F. Cocker, J. Bascom, W. D. Wilson, L. P. Hickok (whose writings on the higher branches of philosophy are among the ablest specimens of profound discussion), Noah Porter, J. McCosh, and Mark Hopkins.—Under the head of philology may be mentioned the two great English dictionaries by Noah Webster (1758-1843) and Joseph E. Worcester (1784-1865), which have superseded all others in popular use in the United States; the “Lectures on the English Language” and other works by G. P. Marsh; the “Dictionary of Americanisms,” by J. R. Bartlett; and the writings of Goold Brown, W. C. Fowler, and others who have devoted themselves particularly to the structure and etymology of the English language. The aboriginal languages of North America have been treated by John Pickering, Albert Gallatin, H. R. Schoolcraft, P. E. Duponceau, E. G. Squier, W. W. Turner, Mrs. M. H. Eastman, and J. Hammond Trumbull; and grammars and vocabularies of the most important dialects have been prepared by missionaries and others specially interested in the subject. In oriental literature the investigations of American philologists have been of great value; and to American scholars, and particularly missionaries, Europe is largely indebted for its knowledge of a number of the languages of eastern Asia, Africa, and the Pacific islands. Among those who have gained eminence by their contributions to Biblical philology are Edward Robinson and Tayler Lewis, both also distinguished as Greek scholars, Moses Stuart, S. H. Turner, J. W. Gibbs, B. B. Edwards, G. R. Noyes, George Bush, T. J. Conant, and H. B. Hackett. In other branches of oriental philology the chief works are the “Burmese Dictionary,” by Adoniram Judson; the English and Chinese vocabularies of S. Wells Williams; the “Notes on Chinese Literature,” by A. Wiley; the Japanese dictionary of J. C. Hepburn; the Karen grammar and dictionary by F. Mason; the Hebrew grammar by W. H. Green; and the “Lectures on Language” and other works of W. D. Whitney, who is distinguished for varied and profound learning; besides the writings of W. W. Turner, E. E. Salisbury, J. G. Palfrey, E. Riggs, W. W. Greenough, and Charles Kraitsir, several of whom have contributed important papers to the “Journal of the American Oriental Society.” Francis A. March, in his “Anglo-Saxon Grammar” and other works, has given important aid to the philological study of English. Among miscellaneous philological writers are C. A. Goodrich, Prof. Schele de Vere, and Horatio Hale, author of the “Ethnography and Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition” under the command of Capt. Wilkes.—The contributions to ethnology comprise some of the most costly works which have yet appeared from the American press. Among these may be enumerated the “Crania Americana,” “Crania Ægyptiaca,” and other works by S. G. Morton (1799-1851); the “Biblical and Physical History of Man,” by J. C. Nott (1804-'73); the elaborate “Types of Mankind” and “Indigenous Races of the Earth,” both profusely illustrated, by J. C. Nott and G. R. Gliddon; the “Diversity of Origin of Human Races,” by Louis Agassiz (1807-'74); the “Doctrine of the Origin of the Human Race,” by John Bachman; the “Progress of Ethnology,” by J. R. Bartlett; the “Races of Men and their Geographical Distribution,” by Charles Pickering; “Races of the Old World,” by C. L. Brace; and other works by Arnold Guyot, F. W. Redfield, T. Smyth, and A. Meigs. Intimately connected with this department are the works illustrating the origin and antiquities of the aboriginal tribes of America, the most important of which are the elaborate series by H. R. Schoolcraft, and more particularly his “Historical and Statistical Information” previously mentioned; the “American Antiquities and Researches into the Origin of the Red Race,” by A. W. Bradford; the “Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” by E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis; the “Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York,” and the “Serpent Symbol,” by E. G. Squier; “Prehistoric Races of the United States,” by J. W. Foster; “The Native Races of the Pacific States,” by H. H. Bancroft, a work of great research and erudition, and almost of an exhaustive character; “The Myths of the New World,” by D. G. Brinton; “Ancient America,” by J. D. Baldwin, author also of “Prehistoric Nations;” and various writings by Albert Gallatin, J. L. Stephens, W. W. Turner, G. Catlin, and others.—The number of works devoted to travel and exploration is vastly in excess of that of either of the preceding periods. Among those illustrating European travel and scenery are “Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands,” by Mrs. Sigourney; “The Old World and the New,” by Orville Dewey; “Letters from Abroad,” by Miss Sedgwick; “A Year in Spain” and “Spain Revisited,” by A. S. Mackenzie; “Pencillings by the Way,” by N. P. Willis; “The Pilgrim in the Shadow of Mont Blanc,” by G. B. Cheever; “Six Months in Italy,” by G. S. Hillard; “Views Afoot” and other works by Bayard Taylor (born 1825), one of the most active and entertaining of modern travellers; “Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands,” by Mrs. Stowe; “Hungary in 1851,” “Home Life in Germany,” and “The Norse Folk,” by C. L. Brace; and many by Benjamin Silliman, W. C. Bryant, William Ware, Caleb Cushing, H. T. Cheever, J. T. Headley, Calvin Colton, Pliny Miles, S. I. Prime, Horace Greeley, H. T. Tuckerman, J. A. Dix, S. S. Cox, Mrs. Kemble, Mrs. Octavia W. Le Vert, Miss A. C. Johnson, and others. The most noticeable books upon Asia and Africa are the two series of “Biblical Researches in the Holy Land,” by Edward Robinson; “Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petrsea, and the Holy Land,” by J. L. Stephens; “The Land and the Book,” by W. H. Thomson; “The Pathways and Abiding Places of Our Lord,” by J. M. Wainwright; “Nile Notes of a Howadji” and “The Howadji in Syria,” by G. W. Curtis; “Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia” and “Tent Life in the Holy Land,” by W. C. Prime; “Yusef,” by J. Ross Browne; “The Middle Kingdom,” by S. Wells Williams; “Domestic Life of the Chinese,” by Justus Doolittle; “W. H. Seward's Travels round the World;” Pumpelly's “Across America and Asia;” Henry M. Stanley's “How I found Livingstone;” and H. J. Van Lennep's “Pictures of Bible Lands;” besides others by Bayard Taylor, W. Colton, Horatio Southgate, Stephen Olin, S. I. Prime, R. B. Minturn, and Frank Vincent, jr. Among books of maritime adventure or travel are W. S. W. Ruschenberger's “Voyage round the World” and “Three Years in the Pacific;” R. H. Dana, jr.'s “Two Years before the Mast;” Walter Colton's “Deck and Port,” and other works; H. T. Cheever's “Island World of the Pacific;” H. A. Wise's “Los Gringos;” Herman Melville's “Redburn” and “White Jacket;” and Charles Nordhoff's “Man-of-War Life,” and other highly graphic narratives of a similar character. Of works relating to the United States, the most important are Irving's “Astoria” and “Tour on the Prairies,” which in point of style and interest are not inferior to anything he wrote; Timothy Flint's “Residence and Wanderings in the Valley of the Mississippi;” the various narratives of travel on the upper Mississippi by Schoolcraft; Bayard Taylor's “El Dorado;” the accurate and graphic “Journey in the Seaboard Slave States,” “Journey through Texas,” and “Journey in the Back Country,” by F. L. Olmsted; “Picturesque America,” a richly illustrated work, edited by W. C. Bryant; and many by George Catlin, G. W. Kendall, J. T. Headley, T. B. Thorpe, Horace Greeley, C. W. Webber, Sidney Andrews, and others. The geography and antiquities of Central America have been elaborately described by J. L. Stephens in his “Travels in Central America ” and “Incidents of Travel in Yucatan;” by E. G. Squier in his “Nicaragua” and “Notes on Central America;” and by B. M. Norman in his “Ruined Cities of Yucatan.” Among other works relating to the American hemisphere are F. F. Helton's “New Granada;” C. S. Stewart's “Brazil and La Plata;” Thomas Ewbank's “Life in Brazil;” “Brazil and the Brazilians,” by D. P. Kidder and J. C. Fletcher; John Bigelow's “Jamaica in 1850;” R. B. Kimball's “Letters from Cuba” and “Cuba and the Cubans;” W. H. Hurlbert's “Gan Eden, or Pictures of Cuba;” R. H. Dana, jr.'s “To Cuba and Back;” F. S. Cozzens's “Acadia;” Agassiz's “Journey in Brazil;” C. F. Hartt's “Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil;” and James Orton's “The Andes and Amazon.” A peculiar and important class of books of travel has resulted from the explorations undertaken at various times by the United States government, with a view of adding to the general stock of geographical knowledge, or of developing the resources of its own territory. The most elaborate of these is the “Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition around the World,” by Capt. Charles Wilkes, in five volumes; and of not less importance to the cause of geographical science are the narratives of exploration among the Rocky mountains and in Oregon and California by J. C. Fremont; the reports of expeditions to the Red river of Louisiana, by Capt. R. B. Marcy; to Texas and New Mexico, by J. R. Bartlett; to Utah, by Capt. Howard Stansbury; to Arizona and the Gila river, by Lieut. Col. W. H. Emory; to the southern hemisphere, by Lieut. J. M. Gilliss; to Japan, by Commodore M. C. Perry; to the Rio de la Plata, by Lieut. T. S. Page; to the Amazon, by Lieuts. W. L. Herndon and L. Gibbon; to the Dead sea, by Lieut. W. F. Lynch; and the reports of the various expeditions for the survey of railroad routes to the Pacific. The chief arctic explorers are Elisha Kent Kane (1820-'57), whose narratives of the two Grinnell expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin are among the most interesting works of their class yet produced; I. I. Hayes, author of “An Arctic Boat Journey,” “The Open Polar Sea,” and other works; and C. F. Hall, author of “Arctic Researches,” whose melancholy fate is recorded in the “Arctic Experiences of Capt. G. E. Tyson,” edited by E. V. Blake.—The wide field of natural history has been explored during this period with results highly creditable to the sagacity and industry of American men of science. The most important work in this department is the “Birds of America,” by John James Audubon (1780-1851), remarkable for the vivacity of its descriptive passages and its splendid illustrations, American zoölogy has been further treated by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Thomas Nuttall, J. P. Giraud, John Cassin, S. F. Baird, T. M. Brewer, and Elliott Coues, who have written on ornithology; by D. H. Storer, S. L. Mitchill, J. E. De Kay, and Le Sueur, on ichthyology; by Louis Agassiz, whose publications on comparative embryology, ichthyology, the geographical distribution of animals, and analogous subjects, are of the highest order of merit; by J. E. Holbrook, author of the most complete work on North American herpetology yet published; by Thomas Say, T. M. Harris, A. S. Packard, C. V. Riley, and J. L. Le Conte, who have written on entomology; and by Zadoc Thompson, A. A. Gould, B. S. Barton, T. A. Conrad, J. D. Dana, Isaac Lea, Jeffries Wyman, J. Bachman, J. E. De Kay, J. D. Godman, V. G. Audubon, S. Kneeland, A. E. Verrill, E. S. Morse, A. Agassiz, and others, who have illustrated various branches of the subject. The most eminent writers on botany are Asa Gray, author of several valuable elementary works and manuals; John Torrey, who prepared, sometimes in conjunction with Gray, the botanical reports of most of the United States exploring expeditions ; Amos Eaton, Stephen Elliott, C. S. Rafinesque, Thomas Nuttall, W. Darlington, A. B. Strong, Jacob Bigelow, D. J. Browne, Alphonso Wood, W. S. Sullivant, and George Thurber; on geology, President Edward Hitchcock, William Maclure, W. B. and H. D. Rogers, J. G. Percival, Ebenezer Emmons, T. Sterry Hunt, C. T. Jackson, D. D. Owen, J. D. Whitney, A. Winchell, F. V. Hayden, J. P. Lesley, C. F. Hartt, Clarence King, J. W. Foster, W. C. Redfield, C. H. Hitchcock, J. S. Newberry, James Hall, Joseph Leidy, H. C. Lea, W. W. Mather, O. C. Marsh, and C. D. Cope, of whom the last seven are also distinguished as palæontologists; and on mineralogy, Prof. J. D. Dana, author of several works on both geology and mineralogy, J. Ross Browne, P. Cleaveland, L. C. Beck, and C. U. Shepard. The writers on chemistry include Benjamin Silliman and Benjamin Silliman, jr., Robert Hare, C. T. Jackson, J. W. Draper, Joseph Henry, E. N. Horsford, John Torrey, E. L. Youmans, Campbell Morfit, and J. P. Cooke, jr. In other branches of natural science the most noted names are M. F. Maury, author of the “Physical Geography of the Sea” and other works, W. C. Redfield, J. P. Espy, and John Brocklesby, distinguished as meteorologists; J. W. Bailey, an eminent microscopist; A. D. Bache, for many years superintendent of the United States coast survey; Joseph Henry, who has made important discoveries in electro-magnetism; Samuel Forry and Lorin Blodget, climatologists; A. M. Mayer, distinguished for researches in acoustics; and S. C. Walker, B. A. Gould, G. P. Bond, O. M. Mitchel, Denison Olmsted, J. M. Gilliss, Hannah M. Peterson, Maria Mitchell, W. A. Norton, Elias Loomis, Joseph Winlock, D. Kirkwood, Simon Newcomb, C. H. F. Peters, J. C. Watson, T. H. Safford, S. P. Langley, and C. A. Young, distinguished chiefly as astronomers. The most eminent mathematician whom the country has yet produced is Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), author of a translation, with a commentary, of Laplace's Mécanique céleste, and of the well known “Practical Navigator,” now in almost universal use. Other writers on mathematics are Benjamin Peirce, Charles Davies, C. H. Davis, and Thomas Hill. Many of the above named have been contributors to the reports and publications of the Smithsonian institution, or have participated in the scientific labors of the United States exploring expeditions and similar undertakings.—Of the numerous works on medicine and surgery produced during this period, it will suffice to mention the “Treatise on the Practice of Medicine,” by G. B. Wood; “Dispensatory of the United States,” by G. B. Wood and F. Bache; “Elements of Medical Jurisprudence,” by J. B. and T. Romeyn Beck; “Elements of Pathological Anatomy,” by S. D. Gross; “Materia Medica and Therapeutics,” by J. Eberle; “The Principles of Surgery,” by W. Gibson; “The Elements of Medicine,” by S. H. Dickson; “The Institutes of Medicine,” by Martyn Paine; the treatises on “Midwifery ” and “Diseases of Females,” by W. P. Dewees; the treatise on “Obstetrics,” by C. D. Meigs; the “Human Physiology ” and “Dictionary of Medical Science,” by R. Dunglison; “American Medical Botany” and “Nature in Disease,” by Jacob Bigelow; “Letters to a Young Physician,” by James Jackson; “Surgical Observations on Tumors,” by J. C. Warren; the treatises on “Human Physiology” by J. W. Draper and by J. C. Dalton; the “Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Medicine,” by Austin Flint; “The Physiology of Man,” by Austin Flint, jr.; and the various works of W. A. Hammond; besides which there are many of reputation by D. Hosack, J. W. Francis, S. G. Morton, S. Forry, J. Bell, P. Earle, O. W. Holmes, G. S. Bedford, Horace Green, C. A. Harris, W. E. Homer, P. S. Physick, C. Wistar, Valentine Mott, J. Pancoast, L. V. Bell, W. W. Sanger, A. Brigham, L. M. Lawson, S. W. Mitchell, T. D. Mutter, Bennet Dowler, J. A. Swett, Daniel Drake, Charles Caldwell, H. H. Smith, E. Parrish, J. King, A. Stillé, Winslow Lewis, G. Hayward, J. M. Smith, P. Townsend, W. W. Gerhard, J. R. Cox, P. F. Eve, S. F. Condie, and W. H. Van Buren. The principal writers of the homœopathic school are C. Hering, E. E. Marcy, J. H. Pulte, C. J. Hempel, Egbert Guernsey, and W. H. Holcombe.—The theory of education has occupied a large share of the attention of American writers during this period; and among many valuable works on the subject may be mentioned the “Lectures on Education,” by Horace Mann (1796-1859); “National Education in Europe,” by Henry Barnard; “The Theory and Practice of Teaching,” by D. P. Page; “The Student's Manual,” by John Todd; “University Education,” by Chancellor H. P. Tappan; “The School and Schoolmaster,” by Bishop Alonzo Potter and G. B. Emerson; besides others by F. A. P. Barnard, William Russell, Barnas Sears, G. F. Thayer, W. A. Alcott, W. C. Woodbridge, Hubbard Winslow, A. B. Alcott, W. H. McGuffey, J. S. Hart, and S. G. Howe. Under this head may also be included the “Five Years in an English University,” by C. A. Bristed; “German Universities,” by J. M. Hart (also treated in J. F. Hurst's “Five Years' Residence in Germany”); and “American Colleges” and other works by Noah Porter. The general excellence and enormous production of school books are perhaps the most remarkable features of American literature. Among these are the Greek lexicons of J. Pickering and H. Drisler; the Latin lexicons of F. P. Leverett and E. A. Andrews; the Latin and Greek grammars and elementary books of Andrews, C. C. Felton, Charles Anthon, J. McClintock, A. C. Kendrick, J. Hadley, J. R. Boise, A. Crosby, A. Harkness, E. A. Sophocles, P. Bullions, and S. H. Taylor; and the editions of classical authors by President T. D. Woolsey, Anthon, Felton, H. S. Frieze, T. A. Thacher, Tayler Lewis, J. J. Owen, J. L. Lincoln, C. S. Wheeler, and C. K. Dillaway. English grammar and composition have been treated by Samuel Kirkham, Goold Brown, J. Greenleaf, P. Bullions, W. H. Wells, Allan Weld, R. G. Parker, G. P. Quackenbos, William Swinton, and others; and the spelling books of Noah Webster, C. W. Sanders, and S. Town have had a prodigious circulation. The chief writers of mathematical text books are Daniel Adams, Warren Colburn, C. W. Hackley, C. Davies, W. G. Peck, E. Loomis, G. R. Perkins, T. Sherwin, B. Greenleaf, F. Emerson, D. Leach, W. M. Gillespie, W. D. Swan, and J. F. Stoddard; and of school geographies, atlases, etc., W. C. Woodbridge, Mrs. Emma Willard, Jesse Olney, J. E. Worcester, R. C. Smith, S. A. Mitchell, F. McNally, Arnold Gnyot, Miss S. S. Cornell, and William Swinton.—Among works on the science of war may be mentioned those on military tactics by Lieut. Gen. Winfield Scott (1786-1866) and W. J. Hardee; A. Mordecai's “Artillery for the United States Land Service;” D. H. Mahan's works on engineering, fortifications, &c.; H. W. Halleck's “Elements of Military Art and Science;” J. A. Dahlgren's “System of Boat Armament” and “Shells and Shell Guns;” C. B. Stuart's “Naval Dry Docks of the United States;” J. G. Barnard's “Notes on Sea-coast Defence;” J. H. Ward's “Elementary Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Naval Gunnery;” De Hart's “Constitution and Practice of Courts Martial;” Col. H. L. Scott's “Dictionary of Military Science;” Upton's “New System of Infantry Tactics;” besides many by J. G. and B. J. Totten, E. L. Vielé, W. N. Jeffers, jr., H. D. Grafton, J. G. Benton, Hermann Haupt, A. L. Holley, S. V. Benet, H. D. Wallen, A. J. Meyer, E. C. Boynton, and others.—Comparatively few authors have written on the fine arts; the most prominent are W. Dunlap, author of a “History of the Arts of Design in America;” J. J. Jarves, author of “Art Hints” and “Art Thoughts;” Washington Allston, Horatio Greenough, H. T. Tuckerman, B. J. Lossing, W. H. Fry, Mrs. H. F. Lee, Thomas Hastings, W. M. Hunt, and Lowell Mason, who have written upon sculpture, painting, and music. Rural architecture and landscape gardening have been illustrated by A. J. Downing (1815-'62) in a number of gracefully written treatises and essays; and Samuel Sloan, C. Vaux, G. Wheeler, T. W. Walter, R. Upjohn, M. Field, and others have published general works on architecture. Of the numerous works produced on agricultural and horticultural subjects may be cited “European Agriculture and Rural Economy,” by H. Colman; the “Farmer's Companion” and “Farmer's Instructor,” by Jesse Buel; E. Ruffin's “Calcareous Manures;” R. L. Allen's “American Herd Book ” and “New American Farm Book;” R. Buist's “American Flower Garden Directory;” Downing's “Fruit and Fruit Trees of America;” “The Fruit Garden,” by P. Barry; “The Fruit Trees of America,” by C. M. Hovey; “The Muck Manual,” by S. L. Dana; H. S. Randall's “Sheep Husbandry;” L. T. Smith's “American Farmer's Hand-Book;” G. E. Waring's “Elements of Agriculture;” J. J. Thomas's “Farm Implements and Machinery;” besides many valuable publications by J. S. Skinner, C. L. Flint, J. J. Mapes, S. W. Johnson, D. J. Browne, T. Bridgman, W. Gaylord, L. Tucker, G. H. Dodd, J. Harris, H. S. Olcott, and others. The useful manuals of Mrs. Hale, Miss C. E. Beecher, Miss Leslie, and Mrs. Terhune represent the contributions to domestic economy. J. E. Snowden and W. C. Prime are the principal writers on numismatics; E. Jarvis, L. Shattuck, J. Chickering, J. D. B. De Bow, and F. A. Walker represent the statisticians; James Renwick and Thomas Ewbank the writers on mechanics; H. W. Herbert has a unique reputation as a writer on field sports in America; and C. E. Lester has been a prolific miscellaneous author. Among the miscellaneous literature of the period may be classed the numerous volumes of “Collections” and “Memoirs” illustrating the national history, published by the historical societies of the several states, particularly by those of Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. The “Archæologia Americana,” or transactions of the American antiquarian society, form also a valuable contribution to the archæological literature of the country. Lastly, the foundations of American bibliography have been laid by the valuable works of Isaiah Thomas, O. A. Roorbach, G. P. Putnam, Nicholas Trübner, H. E. Ludewig, H. Ternaux, H. Stevens, O. Rich, E. B. O'Callaghan, F. Leypoldt, and Joseph Sabin. (See Newspapers, and Periodicals.)