Aldrich, THOMAS BAILEY

Aldrich, THOMAS BAILEY, an American poet and novelist, was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S., November 11, 1836. While engaged in a New York counting-house, he began to contribute verse to the newspapers, and soon after the publication of The Bells (1855), adopted journalism as a profession. He contributed in prose and verse to some of the principal magazines, and from 1881 to 1890 was editor of the Atlantic Monthly. Among his novels are Daisy's Necklace (1857); Story of a Bad Boy; Marjory Daw; Prudence Palfrey; Queen of Sheba; Stillwater Tragedy. In 1874 he published a selection of his poems under the title Cloth of Gold, and other Poems, and in 1881 his popular XXXVI Lyrics and XII Sonnets. Through his prose, Aldrich has taken a high place for descriptive power and gift of humour; his verse includes some of the daintiest work yet produced in America.