Nathaniel Parker WillisBeers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)
General
Nathaniel Parker Willis
Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)
Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Willis, Nathaniel Parker, 1806-1867
Nun, or Diplomacy in High Life,” a very impossible fiction, and not worth
describing. Such of the “Leaves” and “Scraps” as deserved preserving found
their way into “Ephemera.” His contributions to “Godey’s” began with the
January number for 1842, and continued, though with greatly diminished
frequency, till January, 1850. During the first year he had an article in
nearly every number, most of them stories. For “Graham’s” he began to
write in January, 1843, and contributed occasionally as late as 1851.
“The Marquis in Petticoats” and “Broadway; A Sketch” were published in
1843 in Epes Sargent’s short-lived magazine; “The Power of an Injured
Look” in the “Gift” for 1845, an annual issued in Philadelphia. He edited
another annual, the “Opal” for 1844, and wrote articles of various kinds
for other periodicals. During the two years and a half from January, 1842,
to June, 1844, he published, all in all, some forty stories, collected,
with two or three exceptions, in “Dashes at Life with a Free Pencil.”
Willis was at this time, beyond a doubt, the most popular, best paid, and
in every way most successful magazinist that America had yet seen. He
commanded the sympathy of his readers more than any other periodical
writer of his day, and his reputation almost amounted to fame. Colonel
Higginson tells a story, illustrating his vogue, about a solid commercial
gentleman in Boston, who, finding himself by chance at some literary
dinner or tea, is reported to have entered into the spirit of the occasion
by saying that “he guessed Gō-ēthe was the N. P. Willis of Germany.”
Willis lived at Owego till 1842, and continued to date his letters to
“Brother Jonathan,” “Graham’s,” etc., “from under a bridge.” He had
expected something like £1,000 from General Stace’s estate, but it yielded
him nothing. His publisher failed about this time, and his arrangement
with “Brother Jonathan” coming to an end, he engaged with a Washington
paper, the “National Intelligencer,” to send it fortnightly correspondence
from New York. All these causes combined made it necessary for him to take
up his residence in the city and to offer Glenmary for sale; which he did
with a heavy heart, taking the public into his confidence, as usual, in
his affecting “Letter to the Unknown Purchaser and Next Occupant of
Glenmary,” first printed in “Godey’s” for December, 1842, and included in
all subsequent editions of “Letters from under a Bridge.”
“I thought to have shuffled off my mortal coil tranquilly here;
flitting at last in some company of my autumn leaves, or some bevy
of spring blossoms, or with snow in the thaw.… In the shady depths
of the small glen above you, among the wild flowers and music, the
music of the brook babbling over rocky steps, is a spot sacred to
love and memory. Keep it inviolate, and as much of the happiness of
Glenmary as we can leave behind stay with you for recompense!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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