Parke Godwin, an American journalist, born in Paterson, N. J., Feb. 25, 1816. He graduated at Princeton college in 1834, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky, but did not practise. From 1837 to 1843 he was an editorial contributor to the New York "Evening Post," edited by his father-in-law, William Cullen Bryant; and in February, 1843, he began a literary and political weekly journal, "The Pathfinder," which he continued three months, when he resumed his connection with the "Evening Post." In February, 1843, he advocated free trade in a public debate in New York with Horace Greeley and others. In 1844 he published "A Popular View of the Doctrines of Charles Fourier," and a treatise on Fourier's ideas of industrial association, entitled "Democracy, Pacific and Constructive." In 1845 he was appointed a deputy collector in the New York custom house. For some years he was a frequent contributor to the "Democratic Review," several of his papers advocating important reforms which were subsequently carried out in the revision of the constitution and code of the state of New York. In 1852 he made an extended tour in Europe. In 1853 he became one of the editors of " Putnam's Monthly Magazine," to both the first and second series of which (1853-'7 and 18G7-'70) he was a frequent contributor; and two collections of his articles have been reprinted in volumes, "Political Essays" (12mo, 1850), and "Out of the Past," critical and literary papers (1870). In 1860 he published the first volume of a "History of France," embracing ancient Gaul, and terminating with the era of Charlemagne. Since 1860 Mr. Godwin has made two protracted visits to Europe, during which he prosecuted his researches in French history.

In addition to the publications above enumerated, he has written "Vala, a Mythological Tale," founded upon incidents in the life of Jenny Lind (1851); translated a part of Goethe's autobiography and a volume of Zschokke's tales, and compiled a "Handbook of Universal Biography " (1851; new ed., "Cyclopaedia of Biography," 1865). He is now (1874) preparing " The History and Organization of Labor," a volume on "The Nineteenth Century, with its Leading Men and Movements," and "A Winter Harvest," a book of European travels. Until recently he was managing editor of the "Evening Post."