Dictionary.net

A distinguished American essayist, critic, and editor; born at Cold Spring, N. Y., Dec. 13, 1846. He graduated from Williams College, practiced law for a time in New York city, and then entered journalism, becoming in 1879 associate editor of the Christian Union, now the Outlook. His thoughtful, happily turned, and sound essays, many of which have appeared originally in his paper, have won him the position of a critic of recognized authority and influence. He has insisted on the value of the past and the necessity of a broad culture for the true appreciation of literature, while sympathetic towards the new. The wide sale of his books has done much to stimulate and direct the American taste for letters. He has supplemented the written word by much work on the lecture platform. He is one of the most acceptable lecturers on literary subjects in the country. His books are: "Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas"; "My Study Fire"; "Under the Trees and Elsewhere"; "Short Studies in Literature"; "Essays in Literary Interpretation"; "Essays on Nature and Culture"; "Essays on Books and Culture".