At a very early age Professor Harrison began to write doggerel for the New Orleans _Picayune_ and _Times_. While a student at the University of Virginia he wrote an article for the Baltimore _Episcopal Methodist_ called “Notre Dame de Paris,” which attracted much attention. His next piece of literary work was a paper on Björnstjerne Björnson, which won the $50 gold medal given by _The University Magazine_. As he was not a matriculate at the time, the prize could not be awarded. In 1871 his “first literary effort,” as he calls it, appeared in _Lippincott’s Magazine_. It was entitled “Goethe and the Scenery about Baden-Baden.” Then essay after essay followed in quick succession from his pen. Soon after this his connection with _The Southern Magazine_ began, which resulted in a series of essays on French, German, English, Swedish, and Italian poets. These were published by Hurd & Houghton, in 1875, under the title of “A Group of Poets and their Haunts,” and the edition was immediately sold. In literary circles, especially in Boston, this book won for the young author firm standing-ground. His first work is chiefly remarkable for the overflow of a copious vocabulary and the almost riotous display of a rich fancy and abundant learning. We are swept along with the stream in which trees torn up by the roots from Greek and Latin banks come whirling, dashing, plunging by in countless numbers; the waters spread out on all sides, but we are not always quite sure of the channel. Since then the waters have subsided, and we see a broad channel and a current swift and clear. In 1876 Professor Harrison made a visit to Greece, and on his return published through Houghton, Osgood & Co. a volume of “Greek Vignettes.” The London _Academy_ expressed the general opinion of this book in the following sentence: “It is so charmingly written that one can hardly lay it down to criticise it.” In 1878 a visit to Spain resulted in another book, “Spain in Profile,” which was followed in 1881 by the “History of Spain.” In 1885 the Putnams began to publish the Story of the Nations, and Professor Harrison’s “Story of Greece” was given the place of honor as the initial volume of the series. His chief characteristics, as shown in these works, are critical insight and descriptive power. His versatile fancy, too, is ever giving delightful surprises, as in this little note anent Dr. Holmes’s seventy-fifth birthday: “He is the Light of New England, as Longfellow was the Love, and Emerson the Intellect. I saw a wonderful cactus in Mexico, all prickles and blossoms--Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes all over; but the blossoms hid the prickles.” Some of his most elaborate descriptions are found in “Spain in Profile,” such as the “Alhambra,” “A Spanish Bull-fight”; others again in _The Critic_ (“Venice from a Gondola,” “A Summer in Alaska,” etc.) to which he has long been a constant contributor. His critical insight is shown in such reviews as those of Ruskin, Poe, Balzac, and Froude’s