AN COVINGTON BROOKS, A.M., LL.D.

The following sketch is principally from the Third Volume of
Biographical Sketches of Eminent Americans.

"Nathan Covington Brooks, the youngest son of John and Mary Brooks, was
born in West Nottingham, Cecil county, Maryland, on the 12th of August,
1809. His education was commenced at the West Nottingham Academy, then
under the charge of Rev. James Magraw, D.D., and subsequently he
graduated as Master of Arts, at St. John's College, Annapolis, Md. His
thesis was a poem on the World's Changes. Diligent and persevering in
his studies, his rapid progress and high attainments won the regard of
his teachers, while his amiable manners endeared him to his classmates.
While his principal delight was in the study of the Classics, he devoted
much attention to mathematics and other studies. Like many other
writers, some of his earliest efforts were in verse. Indeed it may be
said of him, as of Pope, that he 'lisped in rhyme.'

Though we have no Shakespeares, or Miltons, or Byrons, there is no
scarcity of literary amateurs who, in their hours of recreation and
dalliance with letters, betake themselves to poetry as an amusement for
their leisure hours or a solace amid the rude trials of life. High in
the rank of these writers of occasional poetry stands Dr. Brooks.
Nature, in all her forms, he has made the subject of close observation
and profound reflection, and in looking at Nature, he has used his own
eyes and not the spectacles of other writers. He has a keen relish for
the beautiful, and a deep sympathy with the truthful and the good. His
taste, formed on the finest models, has been ripened and chastened by a
patient study of the great monuments of antiquity. His thoughts seem to
be the natural development of his mind; and his words the unstudied
expression of his thoughts. The music of his verse reminds us sometimes
of the soft cadences of Hemans, and not unfrequently of the mournful
harp of Byron."

In his eighteenth year he was a contributor of prose and poetry to the
_Minerva and Emerald_, and _Saturday Post_, of Baltimore; subsequently
contributed to _The Wreath_, _Monument_, _Athenaeum_, and _Protestant_,
of the same city. In 1830 he edited _The Amethyst_, an annual and soon
after became a contributor of prose and poetry to _Atkinson's Casket_,
and _The Lady's Book_, of which latter he was the first paid
contributor; wrote for _Burton's Magazine_, and _Graham's_, _The New
York Mirr