Byrd, Colonel William (1674-1744). Founder of Richmond, Va., three times agent for the colony in England, and for thirty-seven years member of the King’s Council. His Westover Manuscripts were published in 1841. They are “A Journey to the Land of Eden,” “A Progress to the Mines,” and “History of the Dividing Line.” He wrote verse, and was considered a great wit.
Carleton, Will, born 1845. Without doubt the most popular humorous verse-writer of the day in America. His versification is far from being irreproachable, but he takes the everyday occurrences of life and treats them in a simple humorous style which appeals to the great public. His works are, Farm Ballads, Farm Legends, Young Folks’ Rhymes, Farm Festivals, City Ballads, City Legends, all published by Harper’s, New York, and most of them by Sampson Low, Marston, & Co., London. For pictures of rural life his work is invaluable.
Cheney, John Vance (1848), public librarian of San Francisco. He has published two dainty books of fascinating, graceful, and wayward verse, Thistledrift and Wood Blooms. See also Poems of Wild Life, “Canterbury Poets.”
Clark, Lewis Gaylord (1810-1873). Appointed editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine in 1834. He brought the magazine into fame, and gathered around him as contributors, Longfellow, Irving, Bryant, Halleck, Morris, and other well-known men. His published works in book form are Knickerbocker Sketch-Book, and Knick-Knacks from an Editor’s Table.
Clark, Will W., the “Frisbee” and “Gilhooley” of the Pittsburg Leader.
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, born 1835. A true citizen of the United States, he began at the bottom of the ladder and has worked his way to the top. After receiving a meagre education at a village school, he was apprenticed to a printer at the age of thirteen, and for three years “stuck type.” In 1851 he took to the Mississippi, earning his living as a pilot, and later on tried mining and editing. Under the pseudonym “Mark Twain” he began to publish the work which has earned for him the right to be considered the greatest humorous writer of the century. The Jumping Frog and other Sketches was his first book, appearing in 1867, and this he has followed with a splendid line of successes down to The American Claimant, which has just appeared. Messrs. Chatto & Windus publish his works in England, and Webster & Co. in America.
Clifton, William (1772-1799), a satirical writer of prose and verse. Author of The Group, The Rhapsody of the Times, and an unfinished poem, “Chimeriad.”
Cotes, Mrs. E. C., “Sarah Jeannette Duncan” (1863). Miss Duncan, a native of Brantford, Ontario, Canada, did her first literary work on the Toronto Globe, and, after occupying positions on the staff of the Globe and Washington Post, spent a session at Ottawa as special correspondent of the Montreal Star. This newspaper training is clearly shown in her two clever books, A Social Departure and An American Girl in London. The first is an original and wholly unconventional account of travel, telling how she, in company with another girl, went round the world. The other book is an equally bright description of her doings in London.
Cox, Samuel Sullivan (“Sunset Cox”), born 1824, and died 1889. A lawyer, journalist, and politician. He served the United States as diplomatist in Peru and Turkey, and wrote and spoke much that was witty. He published The Buck-Eye Abroad, Why We Laugh, A Search for Winter Sunbeams, Arctic Sunbeams, Orient Sunbeams, and The Isles of the Princes—the last three bright and laughable accounts of his travels in many lands. They are published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York and London.
Cox, William, died about 1851. Author of Crayon Sketches. He wrote under the pseudonym “An Amateur.”