Throughout his career Alexander Everett combined the roles of diplomat and man of letters with considerable success. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Reverend Oliver and Lucy Hill Everett, a brother of Edward Everett, Alexander entered Harvard College at the age of twelve and a half. After graduating first in his class in 1806, he became a teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy, while he apprenticed in the law office of John Quincy Adams. In 1809 he traveled to Russia as personal secretary to Adams, who had been appointed United States minister. He next served at The Hague in the Netherlands from 1815 to 1823, first as secretary to the American Legation and then as chargé d'affaires. When Adams became president in 1825, he appointed Everett minister to Spain, a post which Everett held for four years. The election of Andrew Jackson put an end to this job, but upon his return to America...