WILLIS, NATHANIEL PAKKL'K. 



767 



for members of tin- I.egM.-itiiro and. local offi- 



iv.iilt .showed tho following as the 



political standing of the I. gtal&tore: 



Senate. ne. 



'licnns 20 



2 1 J 



...rnrmeMt location has yet been made 

 lor the capital of the State. Tin- (Joveruor has 



lly recommended action on (hi- 

 tion, believing that it- settlement, \voiiM tend 



harmony and prosperity of the S: 

 WILLIS, \ATII\NII:I. I'\I:KI-:I:, an American 



ist, and journalist, born at Portland, 

 Maine, -laimary 20, 1807, died at Idlcwild, on the 

 Hudson River, January 20, 1867. His father 

 and grandfather, lioth named Nathaniel, were 

 pulilisliers, the latter having founded the Boston 



ino of tho earliest religious ])a|iers 

 in tliis country. The early education of Mr. 

 Willis was conducted in the Bo-ton Latin 

 School and in Phillips Academy, Andover. 

 He trraduated from Yale College in 1827. 

 While in college ho had published a number of 

 Scripture SL-tches in verse and a' few other 



- under tho signature of " Roy," and had 

 .tined a tifty-dollar prize for a poem for 



an illustrated annual, and immediately after 

 graduating the late 8. G. Goodrich (Peter Par- 

 ley) employed him to edit two "Annuals,'' 

 The Legendary, and The Token, which he 

 was then publishing. Thus introduced into 

 the ranks of tho writers of the periodical liter- 

 ature of that day, he commenced in 1828 the , 

 publication and editorship of the American 

 M, >n //ti</ Magazine the greater part of the 

 contents of which was from his own pen. 

 Two years and a half later he merged his 

 magazine in the New York Mirror, which 

 had heen established seven years before by 

 1'. Morris. Soon after forming his con- 

 nection with Mr. Morris, he commenced an ex- 

 tensive tour in Europe, where he remained for 

 the space of about seven years. The fruits of 

 his European experience were given to the 

 public in his lively volumes entitled "Pencil- 

 ting! by tho Way," which originally appeared 

 in the columns of the Mirror. EDfl travels 

 extended through France, Italy, and Greece, 

 and into portions of European Turkey and 

 Asia Minor. As an attache of the American 

 legation at Paris, to which office ho had been 

 appointed by Mr. Rives, then United States 

 minister at that court, he gained free access to 

 the highest social circles, and with the habits 

 of keen and rapid observation which ho had 

 already formed, and which remained one of 

 his prominent characteristics throughout his 

 life, lie obtained a rich "store of materials for 

 sparkling description, and piquant, and, not 

 iinfroquently, a little mischievous, comment. 

 During that period he also published 'Inklings 

 of Adventure," a scries of tales and sketches 

 written tor the London New Monthly Maga- 

 zine, under the .signature of Philip Slingsby, 

 which obtained a brilliant popularity both in 

 England and this country. Ilis first work was 



I by the Uiiti-h periodical* On 

 account of tln % freedom with which he exposed 



the interior of hou-eholds wh. : been 



received a- a L r ue-t. and some of his remark* 

 on the writin_rs of Captain Murryat, th 

 the hei_-ht of his reputation a* a popular -, 



I to a duel with (hat author at Chatham, 

 which, however, happily terminated without 

 bloodshed on either side. 



After e\hau-ting Kun.pcan life in its mani- 

 fold enticing pha- -, Mr. Willi* relurned to 

 America in ls:J7, having two years previously 

 b'-en married to an Fnglish lady, the daughter 



-eral Stace, Superintendent of the Mili- 

 tary and Naval Arsenal at Woolwich. Upon 

 arriving in this country, he retired to the beau- 

 tiful rural residence on the susmichanna near 

 Owcgo, in this State, which, undo.- the romantic 

 of (ilo,nmary, has obtained a celebrity as 

 wide as the writings which date from that 

 place. 



Mr. Willis had not fully counted the cost of 

 maintaining so elegant a country seat, and at 

 the end of two years, finding himself unable to 

 retain it, it reverted to its previous owner, and 

 Mr. Willis returned to New York, and to the 

 drudgery of editorial life. It was at this time 

 (1839) that he became one of the editors of a 

 New York literary journal called the Cor- 

 sair, and in the same year he made another 

 visit to England, where he published " Letters 

 from under a Bridge," written originally at 

 Glenmary, and one of his mo.-t agreeable pro- 

 ductions. This was speedily followed by his 

 two dramas, " Tortesa the Usurer," and " IJian- 

 ca Visconti," and a collection of stories, poems, 

 and European letters, entitled u Loiterings of 

 Travel." At this period, he published a splen- 

 did illustrated edition of his poems, and 

 contributed the letter-press descriptions to 

 IJartlett's "Views of the Scenery of the United 

 States and Canada.'' He returned to the United 

 States in 1844, and in connection with his for- 

 mer associate, Mr. Morris, established the 

 Evening Mirror, a daily newspaper of this 

 city. The death of his wife, and the failure of 

 his own health, induced him to make a third 

 vi-it to Europe, where he brought out an edi- 

 tion of his mairaxine articles under the title of 

 "Dashes at Life with a Free Pencil." 



Alter a residence of about two years abroad 

 he returned to New York in 184(5, and in the 

 same year was married to tho estimable lady 

 who still survives him. a daughter of the Hon. 

 Joseph Griunell, of New Bedford, lie now 

 published an octavo edition of his complete 

 works, and in connection with his devoted fel- 

 low-laborer Mr. Morris, established the Home. 

 Journal, which rapidly won a large share of 

 the public favor, and has continued from that 

 time to the present a popular and almost 

 unique i>riran of literature, society. fashionaMe 

 life, and the news of the day. The reputation 

 of this favorite journal was due. in a -reat de- 

 gree, to the assiduity, tact, and versatile lit- 

 erary powers of Mr. Willis. He was never 



