Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/269

Rh and by many readers was esteemed the most brill- iant of all that notable galaxy. His first contribu- tions were in the form of a series of conversational papers entitled " The Autocrat of the Breakfast- Table," in which were included some of tin finest of his poems. The " Autocrat " was followed by a similar series, " The Professor at the Breakfast- Table," and, after an interval, by " The Poet at the Breakfast-Table," each of which on its completion in the magazine was issued in book-form (1859, 1860, 1872). These papers, he tells us in his pref- ace, were the fulfilment of a plan that was con- ceived twenty-five years before, when he published in the " New England Magazine " two articles with the title of " The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table." Dr. Holmes also wrote two novels, which were first Eublished seriallv, " Elsie Venner, a Romance of lestiny" (2 vols., 1861), and "The Guardian Angel " (2 vols., 1868), which are remarkable rather as character-studies than for dramatic power. His other prose works are " Soundings from the Atlan- tic," a collection of essays (1864) ; " Mechanism in Thought and Morals " (1871) ; memoirs of John Lothrop Motley (1879) and Ralph Waldo Emerson (1884); "A Mortal Antipathy" (1885); and "Our Hundred Days in Europe " (1887). Dr. Holmes has been successful in every kind of literature that he has undertaken, but his most brilliant and popular work is in " The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," while his longest lived is probably in his poems. In these the expression is so admirably clear that the reader does not always immediately appreciate the depth of the thought. His own favorite among his serious poems is said to be " The Chambered Nautilus " ; but " The Voiceless," " Sun and Shad- ow," and several of his patriotic lyrics, easily take rank with it. Some of his satirical pieces, like I The Moral Bully," are as sharp as the most mer- ciless critic could desire, while many of his purely humorous ones, like "The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay," are already classic. As a poet of occasions it is doubtful if he has ever had an equal. The Eublishers of the "Atlantic Monthly" gave a reakfast in his honor on his seventieth birthday, 29 Aug., 1879, at which many literary celebrities were present, and he read his poem of " The Iron Gate, ' written for the occasion. His life has been written by Walter S. Kennedy (Boston, 1883), and also by Emma E. Brown (1884), in a volume to which is appended a complete bibliography of his Subluxations. — Oliver Wendell's son, Oliver Wen- ell, jurist, b. in Boston, Mass., 8 March, 1841, was educated at Harvard. He entered the Na- tional service as lieutenant in the 20th regiment of Massachusetts infantry in 1861, was wounded severely at Ball's Bluff, at Antietam, and at the second battle of Fredericksburg, and was mustered out with the rank of captain in June, 1864. He had been offered a commission as lieutenant-colo- nel in 1863, but declined promotion. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1866, and practised in Boston. In 1882 he was professor in the law- school of Harvard, and in the same year was ap- S»inted a justice of the supreme court of the state, e has edited Kent's "Commentaries" (Boston, 1873), and is the author of " The Common Law " (18S1) and of numerous articles and addresses.

HOLMES, Andrew Fernando, physician, b. in Cadiz, Spain, in 1797 ; d. in Montreal, Canada, in September, 1860. His father was on his way to Canada when the vessel in which he sailed was cap- tured by the French, and taken as a prize to Cadiz, where Andrew was born. The family reached Can- ada in 1801. The son studied medicine with a physician in Montreal and at the universities of Edinburgh and Paris, returned to Canada in 1819, and practised in Montreal. In 1824 he aided in founding the Montreal school of medicine, which, after the establishment of McGill university in 1828, became the medical department of ttiat in- stitution. He filled the chairs of materia medica and chemistry till 1836, then that of chemistry alone till 1842, was subsequently professor of the theory and practice of medicine, and from 1854 until he died was dean of the faculty. He was one of the founders of the Natural history society in Montreal, and gained a reputation as a naturalist. His herbarium of Canadian plants he presented to the museum of the university.

HOLMES, David, governor of Mississippi, b. in Frederick county, Va. ; d. inWashington, Miss., 20 Aug., 1832. He represented a Virginian dis- trict in congress from 1797 till 1809, when he was appointed governor of the territory of Mississippi. On the organization of the state government he was elected governor, and served from 1817 till 1819. In the following year he was elected to the U. S. senate from Mississippi, in place of Walter Leake, resigned, and served from 13 Nov., 1820, till he resigned in 1825.

HOLMES, David, clergyman, b. in Newburg, N. Y., in 1810 ; d. in Battle "Ground, Mich., in 1873. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1834, and was connected with the Oneida and afterward with the southern Illinois conference. In 1860 he be- came principal of the Battle Ground, Mich., colle- fiate institute, and in 1867 of the Northwestern ndiana college. From 1868 till his death he was again in the ministry in the northwestern Indiana conference. He edited " The Mirror of the Soul " and " The Christian Preacher," and was the author of " Pure Gold in its Native Loveliness " (Auburn, 1851), and of a " Discussion upon the Atonement, Universal Salvation, and Endless Punishment."

HOLMES, Gabriel, governor of North Carolina, b. in Sampson county, N. C, in 1769 ; d. near Clinton, N. C, 26 Sept., 1829. He was educated under a clergyman in Iredell county, N. C, and at Harvard, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practised in Clinton, N. C. He sat in the legislature from 1793 till 1813. In 1821 that body elected him governor of the state, and at the close of his term he was chosen a member of congress, and re-elected for the following term, serving from 3 Dec, 1825, till 3 March, 1829. He was re-elected a second time, but died before taking his seat. — His son, Theophilns Hunter, soldier, b. in Sampson county, N. C, in 1804 ; d. near Fayetteville, N. C., 21 June, 1880, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1829, served on the western frontier, and as lieutenant and captain of infantry in the Florida war, the occupation of Texas, and the war with Mexico, receiving the brevet of major for gallantry in the engagements before Monterey. He was commissioned major on 3 March, 1855, took part in the Navajo expedition of 1858-'9, and was engaged as superintendent of the general recruiting service when the civil war began. He went on leave of absence to North Carolina, resigned his commission in the U. S. army on 22 April, 1861, and was at once made a brigadier-general in the service of the state. He organized many of the North Carolina regiments, and selected their commanding officers. When North Carolina joined the Confederacy he was commissioned a brigadier-general by the Confederate government. He commanded at Aquia Creek, and was engaged in the various campaigns of northern Virginia, rising to be major-general in the Confederate army. In September, 1862, he was transferred to the com-