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WILLIS, NATHANIEL PARKER (1806-1867)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 687 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIS, NATHANIEL See also:PARKER (1806-1867) , See also:American author, was descended from See also:George Willis, described as a " Puritan of considerable distinction," who arrived in New See also:England about 163o and settled in See also:Cambridge, See also:Massachusetts. Nathaniel Parker was the eldest son and second See also:child of Nathaniel Willis, a newspaper proprietor in See also:Boston, and was See also:born in See also:Portland, See also:Maine, on the loth of See also:January 18o6. After attending Boston See also:grammar school and the See also:academy at See also:Andover, he entered Yale See also:College in See also:October 1823. Although he did not specially distinguish himself as a student, university See also:life had considerable See also:influence in the development of his See also:character, and furnished him with much of his See also:literary material. Immediately after leaving Yale he published in 1827 a See also:volume of poetical Sketches, which attracted some See also:attention, although the critics found in his verses more to blame than to praise. It was followed by Fugitive See also:Poetry (1829) and another volume of See also:verse (1831). He also 1 He had been consecrated See also:bishop, also by See also:Sergius, on a previous visit in 692. contributed frequently to magazines and See also:periodicals. In 1829 he started the American. Montkly See also:Magazine, which was continued from See also:April of that See also:year to See also:August 1831, but failed to achieve success. On its discontinuance he went to See also:Europe as See also:foreign editor and correspondent of the New See also:York See also:Mirror. To this See also:journal he contributed a See also:series of letters, which, under the See also:title Pencillings by the Way, were published at See also:London in 1835 (3 vols.; See also:Philadelphia, 1836, 2 vols.; and first See also:complete edition, New York, 1841).

Their vivid and rapid sketches of scenes and modes of life in the old See also:

world at once gained them a wide popularity; but he was censured by some critics for indiscretion in See also:reporting conversations in private gatherings. Notwithstanding, however, the small affectations and fopperies which were his besetting weaknesses as a See also:man as well as an author, the See also:grace, ease and See also:artistic finish of his See also:style won See also:general recognition. His " Slingsby Papers," a series of magazine articles descriptive of American life and See also:adventure, republished in 1836 under the title Inklings of Adventure, were as successful in England as were his Pencillings by the Way in See also:America. He also published while in !England Melanie and other Poems (London, 1835; New York, 1837), which was introduced by a See also:preface by See also:Barry See also:Cornwall (See also:Procter). After his See also:marriage to See also:Mary Stace, daughter of General See also:William Stace of See also:Woolwich, he returned to America, and settled at a small See also:estate on See also:Oswego See also:Creek, just above its junction with the Susquehanna. Here he lived off and on from 1837 to 1842, and wrote Letters from under a See also:Bridge (London, 184o; first complete edition, New York, 1844), the most charming of all his See also:works. During a See also:short visit to England in 1839-184o he published Two Ways of Dying for a See also:Husband. Returning to New York, he established, along with George P. See also:Morris, a newspaper entitled the Evening Mirror. On the See also:death of his wife in 1845 he again visited England. Returning to America in the See also:spring of 1846, he married See also:Cornelia See also:Grinnell, and established the See also:National See also:Press, afterwards named the See also:Home Journal. In 1845 he published Dashes at Life with a See also:Free See also:Pencil, in 1846 a collected edition of his See also:Prose and Poetical Works, in 1849 Rural Letters, and in 185o Life Here and There.

In that year he settled at Idlewild on the See also:

Hudson See also:river, and on See also:account of failing See also:health spent the See also:remainder of his life chiefly in retirement. Among his later works were See also:Hurry-Graphs (1851), Outdoors at Idlewild (18J4), Ragbag (1855), See also:Paul Fame (1856), and the Convalescent (1859), but he had survived his See also:great reputation. He died on the 2oth of January 1867, and was buried In See also:Mount See also:Auburn, Boston. The best edition of his verse writings is The Poems, Sacred, Passionate and Humorous, of N. P. Willis (New York, 1868); 13 volumes of his prose, Complete Prose Works, were published at New York (1849-1859), and a Selection from his Prose Writings was edited by See also:Henry A. Beers (New York, 1885). His Life, by Henry A. Beers, appeared in the series of " American Men of Letters " the same year. See also E. P. Whipple, Essays and Reviews (vol. i., 1848) ; M.

A. de See also:

Wolfe See also:Howe, American Bookmen (New York, 1898).

End of Article: WILLIS, NATHANIEL PARKER (1806-1867)

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