Francis Bret Harte, or as he later called himself Bret Harte, was born in Albany, New York, August 25, 1836. He came of mixed English, Dutch, and Hebrew stock. The family led a wandering life, full of privations, till the death of the father, a schoolmaster, in 1845. In 1853 the widow moved to California, where she married Colonel Andrew Williams. Thither the son followed her in 1854. As tutor, express messenger, printer, drug clerk, miner, and editor he spent the three years till 1857, when he settled in San Francisco, where he became a printer in the office of _The Golden Era_. Soon he began to contribute articles to the paper, and was promoted to the editorial room. In 1862 he married Miss Anna Griswold, and in 1864 he was appointed secretary of the California mint. He continued writing, and in the same year was engaged on a weekly, _The Californian_. In 1867 the first collection of his poems was published under the title of "The Lost Galleon and Other Tales." When _The Overland Monthly_ was founded in the next year Bret Harte became its first editor. To its second number he contributed "Luck of Roaring Camp." Though received with much question in California, it met a most enthusiastic reception in the East, the columns of _The Atlantic Monthly_ being thrown open to him. This success he followed six months later by another, "The Outcasts of Poker Flat." His next great success was the poem "Plain Language from Truthful James," which was in the September, 1870, number of the magazine. It made him famous though he attached little importance to it. In this year he was made Professor of Recent Literature in the University of California. Debt, friction with the new owner of _The Overland_, and a growing lack of sympathy with the late settlers, caused Bret Harte to leave California in 1871. He came East and devoted himself entirely to writing, his work being published for one year altogether in _The Atlantic Monthly_. But his ever recurring financial difficulties becoming acute, he did some lecturing in addition. In 1876 appeared his only novel, "Gabriel Conroy," which was not a success. His money difficulties continuing, his friends came to the rescue and secured his appointment as United States Consul at Crefeld, Germany. Leaving his wife, whom he never saw again, he sailed in 1878. At this post he continued for two years, his life being varied by a lecture tour in England. In 1880 he was transferred to the more lucrative consulship at Glasgow. In Glasgow he remained for five years, writing, meeting some eminent writers, and visiting different parts of the country. In 1885, a new President having taken office, he was superseded in his consulship. He then settled in London, devoting himself to writing with only an occasional trip away, once as far as Switzerland. In 1901 he died. REFERENCES BIOGRAPHY: MERWIN: The Life of Bret Harte. PEMBERTON: Life of Bret Harte. CRITICISM: WOODBERRY: America in Literature.