'Gilmore Simms William, an American author, born in Charleston, S. C., April 17, 1800, died there, June 11, 1870. For some years he was a clerk in a drug store, but at 18 he began the study of law, and in 1827 was admitted to the bar. From 1828 to 1832 he was editor and part proprietor of the " Charleston City Gazette," in which he opposed nullification, thereby reducing himself to poverty. He then devoted himself entirely to literature, living for a time at Hingham, Mass., and afterward principally on a plantation at Midway, S. C, and occasionally holding public offices. His poetical works are: a "Monody on the Death of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney " (1825); "Lyrical and other Poems " and "Early Lays " (1827); "The Vision of Cortes, Cain, and other Poems " (1829); " The Tricolor, or Three Days of Blood in Paris " (1830); " Atalantis, a Story of the Sea" (1833); "Southern Passages and Pictures" (1839); "Donna Anna" (1843); " Grouped Thoughts and Scattered Fancies " (1845); " Lays of the Palmetto " (1848); " Poems, Descriptive, Dramatic, Legendary, and Contemplative" (2 vols., 1854); and "Arey-tos, or Songs and Ballads of the South " (1800). A collective edition appeared in 1804; He also edited a volume of "War Poetry of the South" (1867). He produced two dramas, "Norman Maurice, or the Man of the People," and "Michael Bonham, or the Fall of Alamo," and adapted Shakespeare's " Timon of Athens " for the stage, with numerous additions of his own.

His works of imaginative fiction comprise "The Book of my Lady" (1833); "Carl Werner" (1838); "Confession, or the Blind Heart" (1842); " Castle Dismal" (1845); " The Wigwam and the Cabin " (1845-'6); " Marie de Bernier" (1853); and "Ghost of my Husband" (18mo, 1807). His historical romances are : " The Yemassee " (1835); " Pelayo " (1838); "Count Julian" (1845); "The Damsel of Darien" (1845); "The Lily and the Totem, or the Huguenots in Florida;" "The Maroon and other Tales" (1855); "Vascon-celos" (1857); "The Cazique of Kiawah" (1860); and "Swamp Robbers" (1870). The following are founded on revolutionary events: " The Partisan " (1835); "Mellichampe" (1830); " The Scout," originally published as " The Kinsmen, or the Black Riders of the Congaree " (1841); "Katharine Walton" (1851); "Woodcraft," originally entitled "The Sword and the Distaff;" "The Forayers, a Raid of the Dog Days" (1855), and its sequel "Eutaw" (1856). Romances of backwoods life: "Guy Rivers" (1834); "Richard Hurdis" (1838); '"Border Beagles" (1840); " Beauchampe, or the Kentucky Tragedy " (1842); "Helen Halsey " (1845); "The Golden Christmas, a Chronicle of St. John's, Berkeley" (1852); and " Charle-mont, or the Pride of the Village " (1856). A selected edition of his novels appeared in 1865 (17 vols., New York). To history and biography he contributed a " History of South Carolina," "South Carolina in the Revolution " (1854), and lives of Gen. Marion, Capt. John Smith, the chevalier Bayard, and Gen. Greene. Under this head may also be inclu-' ded a " Geography of South Carolina." His remaining works include " Views and Reviews in American Literature;" "Egeria, or Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside," a collection of aphorisms in prose and verse; " Father Abbot, or the Home Tourist, a Medley;" "Southward Ho! " (1854); "The Morals of Slavery," etc.

He also edited with notes the seven dramas ascribed to Shakespeare, but not published among his works, under the title of "A Supplement to Shakespeare's Plays".