Democrat,' and some occasional essays. His early works, the Spy, the Pilot, etc. were first published by Charles Wiley, at New York, in 1818-19. His novels, especially the earlier ones, were always eagerly sought for by his countrymen. The first editions of some of the later ones have consisted of 10,000 copies. Nearly all of them have been translated into French, German, and Italian, and some of them into Russian and other languages, and are very popular on the Continent. Washington Irving is at present minister of the United States at the court of Spain. At home, he has a picturesque retreat on the banks of the Hudson. His writings are too well known in Europe to need comment. Two or three years since he contributed a series of papers to the magazine, which is named from his own veritable and facetious Knickerbocker.' No American writer is more admired by his countrymen, and none more respected and beloved by those who know him in private life. 6 • The lamented Channing died in 1842, at the age of sixty-two. He was a grandson of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; was educated at Harvard, and for many years was minister of a church in Boston. His essays on Milton, Buonaparte, and Fenelon, have been admired by tens of thousands in both hemispheres; and his numerous tracts against slavery, and on behalf of the labouring classes, place him in the foremost rank of true philanthropists. His various writings, including religious discourses, fill six volumes. He had planned larger and more important works for the improvement of society— but his health was always feeble, and death prematurely reached him. |