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372 BRYANT to New York in 1825, and was engaged as an editor of the " New York Review," soon after merged in the "United States Review," to which he contributed several criticisms and poems. In 1826 he connected himself with the " Evening Post " newspaper, under the editorial control of William Coleman. At that time it was inclined to federalism, and Mr. Bryant sought to give it more and more a republican character. When he acquired an exclusive control of its columns, a few years later, he rendered it decidedly " democratic," taking ground in favor of freedom of trade and against all partial or class legislation. From 1827 to 1830 Mr. Bryant was associated with Robert 0. Sands and Gulian C. Verplanck in the editorship of the " Talisman," a highly suc- cessful annual ; and he contributed about the same time the tales of "Medfield" and "The Skeleton's Cave " to a book entitled " Tales of the Glauber Spa." In 1832 a complete edition of his poems was published in New York, and a copy of it reaching Washington Irving in England, he caused an edition to be print- ed there, with a laudatory preface. It was most generously reviewed by John Wilson in "Blackwood's Magazine," and from that time Mr. Bryant's reputation in Europe has stood as high as it does in his own country. Having associated William Leggett with himself in the management of the "Evening Post," he sailed with his family to Europe in the spring of 1834, and travelled through France, Italy, and Germany, enlarging his knowledge of the lan- guages and literatures of the leading nations. His poems hear witness to his familiarity with the Spanish, Italian, German, and French lan- guages, which he has continued to cultivate. After returning to his native country, and re- suming his professional labors for some years, he went again to Europe in 1845. In 1849 he made a third visit, and extended his journey into Egypt and Syria. The letters written to his journal during these wanderings were pub- lished in a book called Letters of a Traveller," soon after his last return. But in the intervals of these foreign journeys he had by no means neglected his own country, and the same vol- ume contains evidences of his sojourn in nearly all parts of the United States, from Maine to Florida, and of a trip also to the island of Cuba. About 1845 he purchased " an old-time mansion," embowered in vines and flowers, near the village of Roslyn, on Long Island, where he has since resided. In 1857 and 1858' he made another journey to Europe, writing letters to the "Evening Post," which were collected under the title of "Letters from Spain and other Countries." A new and com- plete edition of his poems was published in 1855, and in 1863 a small volume of new poems appeared under the title of " Thirty Poems." In 1864, on the completion of his 70th year, his birthday was celebrated by a festival at the Century club, nearly all the prominent literary men of the country being present, or sending BRYDGES complimentary letters, which, with the proceed- ings, were subsequently published in a volume. He was for several years engaged on a transla- tion of Homer into English blank verse. The "Iliad" appeared in 1870, and the " Odyssey" in 1871, and both were almost universally com- mended as the best English versions of the great epics. Mr. Bryant has been frequently called upon to pay public tributes to the mem- ory of eminent' Americans. On the death of the artist Thomas Cole, in 1848, he pronounced a funeral oration; in 1852 he delivered a dis- course on the life and writings of James Fen- imore Cooper ; and in 1860 he paid a similar tribute to his friend Washington Irving; he made an address on the life and achievements of S. F. B. Morse, on the occasion of the dedi- cation of his statue in Central park, New York, in 1871, and addresses on Shakespeare and Scott on similar occasions in 1872. He is still engaged in the management of his newspaper. Of Bryant's various writings in prose, it has been said that they contain " no superfluous word, no empty or showy phrase," but are marked throughout by "pure, manly, straightforward, and vigorous English." His poems are charac- terized by extreme purity and elegance in the choice of words, a compact and vigorous diction, great delicacy of fancy and elevation of thought, and a genial yet solemn and religious philoso- phy. As a minute observer of nature, he is almost without a rival among poets. i:it DUX Sir Samnel Egerton, an English au- thor, born at Wooton Court, Kent, Nov. 30, 1762, died in Geneva, Sept. 8, 1837. He was educated at Cambridge, and studied law, but never practised. After the death of the last duke of Chandos, in 1790, he induced his elder brother, the Rev. E. T. Brydges, to prefer a claim to the ancient barony of Chandos as a de- scendant from Anthony Brydges, third son of the first Lord Chandos. In 1803 the house of lords decided against the validity of this claim ; but after the death of his brother Mr. Egerton Brydges insisted that he could assert his rights at common law, and usually added to his signa- ture the words "Per legem terras Chandos of Sudeley." After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain a seat in parliament, he was elected for the borough of Maidstone, for which he sat from 1812 to 1818. In parliament he exerted himself mainly to effect changes in the poor law and the copyright act. He was created a baronet in 1814. Having lost his seat in par- liament, he resided chiefly on the continent, at last taking up his residence at Geneva, where he lived in great seclusion. The failure of his attempt to obtain a seat in the house of peers, and pecuniary embarrassments growing out of extravagance on his Kentish estates, threw a gloom over his life, and affected the tone of his writings. His literary labors included ro- mance, poetry, criticism, politics, biography, genealogy, topography, and classical literature. Shortly before his death he stated that be had written more than 14,000 sonnets. He edited