articles for that periodical. In February, 1842, he received, unsolicited, the appointment of minister to Spain. He left for Madrid on the 10th of April of that year. His official duties terminating in the summer of 1846, he returned to this country, and, in 1848, commenced the publication of a revised edition of his works which had long been out of print. In 1849 he published 'Oliver Goldsmith, a Biography,' and 'Mahomet and his Successors,' 1849-50. He has recently published a life of Washington. Mr. Irving is essentially the man of his works, genial, warm-hearted, and benevolent; so much so, that all who see him would be apt to forget the author in the man. He has a countryseat, 'Sunnyside,' on the banks of the Hudson, twenty-five miles from the city of New York, which is now his home.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
William Cullen Bryant, an American journalist and poet, was born
at Cummington, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, November 3d, 1794.
His forefathers, for three generations, were medical men; but this family
penchant for physic did not exist, apparently, in the case of our poet, who
changed the professional current by becoming a lawyer. For ten years he
followed the tortuous course of legal practice, but at last gave it up for the
more genial profession of literature. In 1808, Mr. Bryant published a
little collection of poems, written before he had completed his fourteenth
year, entitled, 'The Embargo, and other Poems.' In 1821, he published
at Cambridge, Massachusetts, the volume entitled, 'The Ages, and other
Poems.' In 1825, he came to New York, when he became one of the
editors of the 'New York Review' (which, however, had but a short existence),
and published several poems and tales, which quickly became popular.
From this point he went on successfully, writing in the chief periodical
publications, in conjunction with some of the leading American authors of
his day, and becoming, moreover, the editor of a New York paper, the
'Evening Post.' In 1834-35, and also in 1845, he traveled in Europe,
writing descriptions of what he saw for his journal in America. Mr. Bryant
again visited Europe in 1849, and on his return published his 'Letters
of a Traveler,' being a resume of his tours in Europe and this country.
He has gained a high reputation by his poems; and his political writings in
favor of free trade and free discussion, against monopolies of all kinds, are
marked with clearness and vigor. He has labored earnestly to diffuse a
taste for the fine arts in this country, and was president of the Apollo
Association, prior to its incorporation as the American Art Union.
GEORGE BANCROFT.
George Bancroft, the distinguished American author and historian, was
born at Worcester, Massachusetts, in the year of 1800. His father, who
was himself an author and a doctor of divinity, gave to his son's mind the
bent and disposition which in after-years conducted him to celebrity, position,
and power. Not yet seventeen, Mr. Bancroft graduated at Harvard
college, with honors, and soon entered upon a course of literary pursuits,
having as their ultimate end the profession of a historian. In 1818, he
went to Europe, and there studied at Göttingen and Berlin, enjoying the
high advantages of the most thorough system of instruction and the society
