The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, by John W. Cousin This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Author: John W. Cousin Release Date: August 21, 2004 [EBook #13240] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY *** Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. This ebook has been produced through the direct participation of over 500 Distributed Proofreaders Volunteers to commemorate the occasion of DP's 5000th completed project. [Illustration: I WILL MAKE A PRIEF OF IT IN MY NOTE-BOOK MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR] A SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE BY JOHN W. COUSIN LONDON: PUBLISHED by J.M. DENT & SONS. LTD AND IN NEW YORK BY E.P. DUTTON & CO INTRODUCTION The primary aim of this book is to give as much information about English authors, including under this designation American and Colonial writers, as the prescribed limits will admit of. At the same time an attempt has been made, where materials exist for it, to enhance the interest by introducing such details as tend to illustrate the characters and circumstances of the respective writers and the manner in which they passed through the world; and in the case of the more important, to give some indication of the relative place which they hold and the leading features of their work. Including the Appendix of Living Writers, the work contains upwards of 1600 names; but large as this number is, the number of those who have contributed something of interest and value to the vast store of English Literature is larger still, and any attempt to make a book of this kind absolutely exhaustive would be futile. The word "literature" is here used in a very wide sense, and this gives rise to considerable difficulty in drawing the line of exclusion. There are very many writers whose claim to admission may reasonably be considered as good as that of some who have been included; but even had it been possible to discover all these, their inclusion would have swelled the work beyond its limits. A line had to be drawn somewhere, and the writer has used his best judgment in making that line as consistent as possible. It may probably, however, be safely claimed that every department of the subject of any importance is well represented. Wherever practicable (and this includes all but a very few articles), various authorities have been collated, and pains have been taken to secure accuracy; but where so large a collection of facts and dates is involved, it would be too sanguine to expect that success has invariably been attained. J.W.C. _January_, 1910. The following list gives some of the best known works of Biography:-- Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature and English and American Authors, 1859-71, Supplement, by J.F. Kirke, 1891; W. Hazlitt, Collections and Notes of Early English Literature, 1876-93; R. Chambers, Cyclop�dia of English Literature, 1876, 1901; Halkett and Laign, Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature, 1882-88; Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, 1885, etc., re-issue, 1908, etc.; Appleton's Cyclop�dia of American Biography, ed. by J. Grant Wilson and John Fiske, 1887, etc.; J. Thomas, Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, 1887-89; Men and Women of the Time, 15th edit., ed. by Victor G. Plarr, 1889. LIST OF CONTRACTIONS USED THROUGHOUT THE WORK _b._ born Edin. Edinburgh _c._ _circa_ _fl._ flourished Camb. Cambridge Glas. Glasgow Coll. College _m._ married _coll._ collected Oxf. Oxford _cr._ created pres. president _d._ died _pub._ published _dau._ daughter Prof. Professor _ed._ educated sec. secretary { edition _s._ son ed. { editor Univ. University { edited ABBOTT, JACOB (1803-1879).--Educationalist and miscellaneous author, _b._ at Hallowell, Maine, _ed._ at Bowdoin Coll. and Andover, entered the ministry of the Congregational Church, but was best known as an educationist and writer of religious and other books, mainly for the young. Among them are _Beechnut Tales_ and _The Rollo Books_, both of which still have a very wide circulation. ABBOTT, JOHN STEVENS CABOT (1805-1877).--Historian, etc., _b._ Brunswick, Maine, and _ed._ at Bowdoin Coll. He studied theology and became a minister of the Congregational Church at various places in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Owing to the success of a little work, _The Mother at Home_, he devoted himself, from 1844 onwards, to literature, and especially to historical writing. Among his principal works, which were very popular, are: _History of Napoleon Bonaparte_ (1852-55), _History of the Civil War in America_ (1863-66), and _History of Frederick the Great_ (1871). � BECKETT, GILBERT ABBOTT (1811-1856).--Comic writer, _b._ in London, the _s._ of a lawyer, and belonged to a family claiming descent from Thomas � Becket. Destined for the legal profession, he was called to the Bar. In addition to contributions to various periodicals and newspapers, including _Punch_, _The Illustrated London News_, _The Times_, and _Morning Herald_, he produced over fifty plays, many of which attained great popularity, and he also helped to dramatise some of Dickens' works. He is perhaps best known as the author of _Comic History of England_, _Comic History of Rome_, _Comic Blackstone_, etc. He was also distinguished in his profession, acted as a commissioner on various important matters, and was appointed a metropolitan police magistrate. ABERCROMBIE, JOHN (1780-1844).--Physician and writer on mental science, _s._ of a minister, was _b._ at Aberdeen, and _ed._ at the Grammar School and Marischal College there. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, in which city he practised as a physician. He made valuable contributions to the literature of his profession, and _pub._ two works, _Enquiry Concerning the Intellectual Powers_ (1830) and _The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings_ (1833), which, though popular at the time of their publication, have long been superseded. For his services as a physician and philanthropist he received many marks of distinction, including the Rectorship of Marischal College. ABERCROMBIE, PATRICK (1656-1716).--Antiquary and historian, was physician to James II. in 1685; he was a Jacobite and opposed the Union in various pamphlets. His chief work was _Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation_ (1711-16). ACTON, JOHN EMERICH EDWARD DALBERG-ACTON, 1ST LORD (1834-1902).--Historian, _s._ of Sir Richard A., and grandson of Sir John A., who was Prime Minister of Naples, was _b._ at Naples. He belonged to an ancient Roman Catholic family, and was _ed._ first at Oscott near Birmingham under Dr. (afterwards Card.) Wiseman. Thence he went to Edinburgh, where he studied privately, and afterwards to Munich, where he resided in the house of Dr. Dollinger, the great scholar and subsequent leader of the Old Catholic party, by whom he was profoundly influenced. While at Edinburgh he endeavoured to procure admission to Cambridge, but without success, his religion being at that time a bar. He early devoted himself to the study of history, and is said to have been on terms of intimacy with every contemporary historian of distinction, with the exception of Guizot. He sat in the House of Commons 1859-65, but made no great mark, and in 1869 was raised to the peerage as Lord Acton of Aldenham. For a time he edited _The Rambler_, a Roman Catholic periodical, which afterwards became the _Home and Foreign Review_, and which, under his care, became one of the most learned publications of the day. The liberal character of A.'s views, however, led to its stoppage in deference to the authorities of the Church. He, however, maintained a lifelong opposition to the Ultramontane party in the Church, and in 1874 controverted their position in four letters to _The Times_ which were described as the most crushing argument against them which ever appeared in so condensed a form. A.'s contributions to literature were few, and, in comparison with his extraordinary learning, comparatively unimportant. He wrote upon _Cardinal Wolsey_ (1877) and _German Schools of History_ (1886). He was extremely modest, and the loftiness of his ideals of accuracy and completeness of treatment led him to shrink from tasks which men of far slighter equipment might have carried out with success. His learning and his position as a universally acknowledged master in his subject were recognised by his appointment in 1895 as Professor of Modern History at Cambridge. Perhaps his most valuable services to historical literature were his laying down the lines of the great _Cambridge Modern History_, and his collection of a library of 60,000 vols., which after his death was purchased by an American millionaire and presented to Lord Morley of Blackburn, who placed it in the University of Cambridge. ADAMNAN, ST. (625?-704).--Historian, _b._ in Donegal, became Abbot of Iona in 679. Like other Irish churchmen he was a statesman as well as an ecclesiastic, and appears t...
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