BRENT, Henry Johnson, author, born in Washington, District of Columbia, in 1811; died in New York City, 3 August, 1880. He was descended from a Roman Catholic family, early settlers of Maryland, and was a grandnephew of Archbishop Carroll. He contributed to Porter's "Spirit of the Times," over the well-known signature of "Stirrup," and was the associate of Lewis Gaylord Clark in founding and editing the "Knickerbocker," a magazine that enjoyed great popularity from 1833 until 1864. Mr. Brent was also a painter. His best literary work was "Life Almost Alone," published as a serial in the "Knickerbocker," and "Was it a Ghost?" a theory and discussion of the celebrated murder of the Joyce children (Boston, 1868).