One of D.'s most marked characteristics is the extraordinary wealth of his invention as exhibited in the number and variety of the characters introduced into his novels. Another, especially, of course, in his entire works, is his boundless flow of animal spirits. Others are his marvellous keenness of observation and his descriptive power. And the English race may well, with Thackeray, be "grateful for the innocent laughter, and the sweet and unsullied pages which the author of David Copperfield gives to [its] children." On the other hand, his faults are obvious, a tendency to caricature, a mannerism that often tires, and almost disgusts, fun often forced, and pathos not seldom degenerating into mawkishness. But at his best how rich and genial is the humour, how tender often the pathos. And when all deductions are made, he had the laughter and tears of the English-speaking world at command for a full generation while he lived, and that his spell still works is proved by a continuous succession of new editions.

SUMMARY.—B. 1812, parliamentary reporter c. 1835, pub. Sketches by Boz 1836, Pickwick 1837-39, and his other novels almost continuously until his death, visited America 1841, started Household Words 1849, and All the Year Round 1858, when also he began his public readings, visiting America again in 1867, d. 1870.

Life by John Foster (1872), Letters ed. by Miss Hogarth (1880-82). Numerous Lives and Monographs by Sala, F.T. Marzials (Great Writers Series), A.W. Ward (Men of Letters Series), F.G. Kitton, G.K. Chesterton, etc.

DIGBY, SIR KENELM (1603-1665).—Miscellaneous writer, b. near Newport Pagnell, s. of Sir Everard D., one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, was ed. at Oxf., travelled much, and was engaged in sea-fighting. Brought up first as a Romanist, then as a Protestant, he in 1636 joined the Church of Rome. During the Civil War he was active on the side of the King, and on the fall of his cause was for a time banished. He was the author of several books on religious and quasi-scientific subjects, including one on the Choice of a Religion, on the Immortality of the Soul, Observations on Spenser's Faery Queen, and a criticism on Sir T. Browne's Religio Medici. He also wrote a Discourse on Vegetation, and one On the Cure of Wounds by means of a sympathetic powder which he imagined he had discovered.

DILKE, CHARLES WENTWORTH (1789-1864).—Critic and writer on literature, served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He had in 1814-16 made a continuation of Dodsley's Collection of English Plays, and in 1829 he became part proprietor and ed. of The Athenaeum, the influence of which he greatly extended. In 1846 he resigned the editorship, and assumed that of The Daily News, but contributed to The Athenaeum his famous papers on Pope, Burke, Junius, etc., and shed much new light on his subjects. His grandson, the present Sir C.W. Dilke, pub. these writings in 1875 under the title, Papers of a Critic.

DISRAELI, B., (see BEACONSFIELD).

D'ISRAELI, ISAAC (1766-1848).—Miscellaneous writer, was descended from a Jewish family which had been settled first in Spain, and afterwards at Venice. Ed. at Amsterdam and Leyden, he devoted himself to literature, producing a number of interesting works of considerable value, including Curiosities of Literature, in 3 series (1791-1823), Dissertation on Anecdotes (1793), Calamities of Authors (1812), Amenities of Literature (1841); also works dealing with the lives of James I. and Charles I.D. was latterly blind. He was the f. of Benjamin D., Earl of Beaconsfield (q.v.).

DIXON, RICHARD WATSON (1833-1900).—Historian and poet, s. of Dr. James D., a well-known Wesleyan minister and historian of Methodism, ed. at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Oxf., took Anglican orders, was Second Master at Carlisle School, Vicar of Hayton and Warkworth, and Canon of Carlisle. He pub. 7 vols. of poetry, but is best known for his History of the Church of England from the Abolition of Roman Jurisdiction (1877-1900).

DIXON, WILLIAM HEPWORTH (1821-1879).—Historian and traveller, b. near Manchester, went to London in 1846, and became connected with The Daily News, for which he wrote articles on social and prison reform. In 1850 he pub. John Howard and the Prison World of Europe, which had a wide circulation, and about the same time he wrote a Life of Peace (1851), in answer to Macaulay's onslaught. Lives of Admiral Blake and Lord Bacon followed, which received somewhat severe criticisms at the hands of competent authorities. D. was ed. of The Athenaeum, 1853-69, and wrote many books of travel, including The Holy Land (1865), New America (1867), and Free Russia (1870). His later historical works include Her Majesty's Tower, and The History of Two Queens (Catherine of Arragon and Anne Boleyn). Though a diligent student of original authorities, and sometimes successful in throwing fresh light on his subjects, D. was not always accurate, and thus laid himself open to criticism; and his book, Spiritual Wives, treating of Mormonism, was so adversely criticised as to lead to an action. He wrote, however, in a fresh and interesting style. He was one of the founders of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and was a member of the first School Board for London (1870). He was called to the Bar in 1854, but never practised.

DOBELL, SYDNEY THOMPSON (1824-1874).—Poet, b. at Cranbrook, Kent, s. of a wine-merchant, who removed to Cheltenham, where most of the poet's life was passed. His youth was precocious (he was engaged at 15 and m. at 20). In 1850 his first work, The Roman, appeared, and had great popularity. Balder, Part I. (1854), Sonnets on the War, jointly with Alexander Smith (q.v.) (1855), and England in Time of War (1856) followed. His later years were passed in Scotland and abroad in search of health, which, however, was damaged by a fall while exploring some ruins at Pozzuoli. D.'s poems exhibit fancy and brilliancy of diction, but want simplicity, and sometimes run into grandiloquence and other faults of the so-called spasmodic school to which he belonged.

DODD, WILLIAM (1729-1777).—Divine and forger, ed. at Camb., became a popular preacher in London, and a Royal Chaplain, but, acquiring expensive habits, got involved in hopeless difficulties, from which he endeavoured to escape first by an attempted simoniacal transaction, for which he was disgraced, and then by forging a bond for L4200, for which, according to the then existing law, he was hanged. Great efforts were made to obtain a commutation of the sentence, and Dr. Johnson wrote one of the petitions, but on D.'s book, Thoughts in Prison, appearing posthumously, he remarked that "a man who has been canting all his days may cant to the last." D. was the author of a collection of Beauties of Shakespeare, Reflections on Death, and a translation of the Hymns of Callimachus.

DODDRIDGE, PHILIP (1702-1751).—Nonconformist divine and writer of religious books and hymns, b. in London, and ed. for the ministry at a theological institution at Kibworth, became minister first at Market Harborough, and afterwards at Northampton, where he also acted as head of a theological academy. D., who was a man of amiable and joyous character, as well as an accomplished scholar, composed many standard books of religion, of which the best known is The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul (1745). In 1736 he received the degree of D.D. from Aberdeen. He d. at Lisbon, whither he had gone in search of health. Several of his hymns, e.g., Ye Servants of the Lord, O Happy Day, and O God of Bethel, are universally used by English-speaking Christians, and have been translated into various languages.

DODGSON, CHARLES LUTWIDGE ("LEWIS CARROLL") (1832-1898).—Mathematician and writer of books for children, s. of a clergyman at Daresbury, Cheshire, was ed. at Rugby and Oxf. After taking orders he was appointed lecturer on mathematics, on which subject he pub. several valuable treatises. His fame rests, however, on his books for children, full of ingenuity and delightful humour, of which Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and its sequel, Through the Looking-glass, are the best.

DODSLEY, ROBERT (1703-1764).—Poet, dramatist, and bookseller, b. near Mansfield, and apprenticed to a stocking-weaver, but not liking this employment, he ran away and became a footman. While thus engaged he produced The Muse in Livery (1732). This was followed by The Toy Shop, a drama, which brought him under the notice of Pope, who befriended him, and assisted him in starting business as a bookseller. In this he became eminently successful, and acted as publisher for Pope, Johnson, and Akenside. He projected and pub. The Annual Register, and made a collection of Old English Plays, also of Poems by Several Hands in 6 vols. In addition to the original works above mentioned he wrote various plays and poems, including The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (1741), and Cleone (1758).

DONNE, JOHN (1573-1631).—Poet and divine, s. of a wealthy ironmonger in London, where he was b. Brought up as a Roman Catholic, he was sent to Oxf. and Camb., and afterwards entered Lincoln's Inn with a view to the law. Here he studied the points of controversy between Romanists and Protestants, with the result that he joined the Church of England. The next two years were somewhat changeful, including travels on the Continent, service as a private sec., and a clandestine marriage with the niece of his patron, which led to dismissal and imprisonment, followed by reconciliation. On the suggestion of James I., who approved of Pseudo-Martyr (1610), a book against Rome which he had written, he took orders, and after executing a mission to Bohemia, he was, in 1621, made Dean of St. Paul's. D. had great popularity as a preacher. His works consist of elegies, satires, epigrams, and religious pieces, in which, amid many conceits and much that is artificial, frigid, and worse, there is likewise much poetry and imagination of a high order. Perhaps the best of his works is An Anatomy of the World (1611), an elegy. Others are Epithalamium (1613), Progress of the Soul (1601), and Divine Poems. Collections of his poems appeared in 1633 and 1649. He exercised a strong influence on literature for over half a century after his death; to him we owe the unnatural style of conceits and overstrained efforts after originality of the succeeding age.

DORAN, JOHN (1807-1878).—Miscellaneous writer, of Irish parentage, wrote a number of works dealing with the lighter phases of manners, antiquities, and social history, often bearing punning titles, e.g., Table Traits with Something on Them (1854), and Knights and their Days. He also wrote Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover (1855), and A History of Court Fools (1858), and ed. Horace Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III. His books contain much curious and out-of-the-way information. D. was for a short time ed. of The Athenaeum.

DORSET, CHARLES SACKVILLE, 6TH EARL of (1638-1706).—Poet, was one of the dissolute and witty courtiers of Charles II., and a friend of Sir C. Sedley (q.v.), in whose orgies he participated. He was, however, a patron of literature, and a benefactor of Dryden in his later and less prosperous years. He wrote a few satires and songs, among the latter being the well-known, To all you Ladies now on Land. As might be expected, his writings are characterised by the prevailing indelicacy of the time.

DORSET, THOMAS SACKVILLE, 1ST EARL of, AND LORD BUCKHURST (1536-1608).—Poet and statesman, was b. at Buckhurst, Sussex, the only s. of Sir Richard S., and ed. at Oxf. and Camb. He studied law at the Inner Temple, and while there wrote, in conjunction with Thomas Norton, Ferren and Porrex or Gerboduc (1561-2), the first regular English tragedy. A little later he planned The Mirror for Magistrates, which was to have been a series of narratives of distinguished Englishmen, somewhat on the model of Boccaccio's Falls of Princes. Finding the plan too large, he handed it over to others—seven poets in all being engaged upon it—and himself contributed two poems only, one on Buckingham, the confederate, and afterwards the victim, of Richard III., and an Induction or introduction, which constitute nearly the whole value of the work. In these poems S. becomes the connecting link between Chaucer and Spenser. They are distinguished by strong invention and imaginative power, and a stately and sombre grandeur of style. S. played a prominent part in the history of his time, and held many high offices, including those of Lord Steward and Lord Treasurer, the latter of which he held from 1599 till his death. It fell to him to announce to Mary Queen of Scots the sentence of death.

DOUCE, FRANCIS (1757-1834).—Antiquary, b. in London, was for some time in the British Museum. He pub. Illustrations of Shakespeare (1807), and a dissertation on The Dance of Death (1833).

DOUGLAS, GAVIN (1474?-1522).—Poet, 3rd s. of the 5th Earl of Angus, was b. about 1474, and ed. at St. Andrews for the Church. Promotion came early, and he was in 1501 made Provost of St. Giles, Edin., and in 1514 Abbot of Aberbrothock, and Archbishop of St. Andrews. But the times were troublous, and he had hardly received these latter preferments when he was deprived of them. He was, however, named Bishop of Dunkeld in 1514 and, after some difficulty, and undergoing imprisonment, was confirmed in the see. In 1520 he was again driven forth, and two years later d. of the plague in London. His principal poems are The Palace of Honour (1501), and King Hart, both allegorical; but his great achievement was his translation of the AEneid in ten-syllabled metre, the first translation into English of a classical work. D.'s language is more archaic than that of some of his predecessors, his rhythm is rough and unequal, but he had fire, and a power of vivid description, and his allegories are ingenious and felicitous.

Coll. ed. of works by John Small, LL.D., 4 vols., 1874.

DOYLE, SIR FRANCIS HASTINGS (1810-1888).—Poet, belonged to a military family which produced several distinguished officers, including his f., who bore the same name. He was b. near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, and ed. at Eton and Oxf. Studying law he was called to the Bar in 1837, and afterwards held various high fiscal appointments, becoming in 1869 Commissioner of Customs. In 1834 he pub. Miscellaneous Verses, followed by Two Destinies (1844), Oedipus, King of Thebes (1849), and Return of the Guards (1866). He was elected in 1867 Prof. of Poetry at Oxf. D.'s best work is his ballads, which include The Red Thread of Honour, The Private of the Buffs, and The Loss of the Birkenhead. In his longer poems his genuine poetical feeling was not equalled by his power of expression, and much of his poetry is commonplace.

DRAKE, JOSEPH RODMAN (1795-1820).—Poet, b. at New York, studied medicine, d. of consumption. He collaborated with F. Halleck in the Croaker Papers, and wrote "The Culprit Fay" and "The American Flag."

DRAPER, JOHN WILLIAM (1811-1882).—Historian, b. at St. Helen's, Lancashire, emigrated to Virginia, and was a prof. in the Univ. of New York. He wrote History of the American Civil War (1867-70), History of the Intellectual Development of Europe (1863), and History of the Conflict between Science and Religion (1874), besides treatises on various branches of science.

DRAYTON, MICHAEL (1563-1631).—Poet, b. in Warwickshire, was in early life page to a gentleman, and was possibly at Camb. or Oxf. His earliest poem, The Harmonie of the Church, was destroyed. His next was The Shepherd's Garland (1593), afterwards reprinted as Eclogues. Three historical poems, Gaveston (1593), Matilda (1594), and Robert, Duke of Normandie (1596) followed, and he then appears to have collaborated with Dekker, Webster, and others in dramatic work. His magnum opus, however, was Polyolbion (1613?), a topographical description of England in twelve-syllabled verse, full of antiquarian and historical details, so accurate as to make the work an authority on such matters. The rushing verse is full of vigour and gusto. Other poems of D. are The Wars of the Barons (1603), England's Heroical Epistles (1598) (being imaginary letters between Royal lovers such as Henry II. and Rosamund), Poems, Lyric and Heroic (1606) (including the fine ballad of "Agincourt"), Nymphidia, his most graceful work, Muses Elizium, and Idea's Mirrour, a collection of sonnets, Idea being the name of the lady to whom they were addressed. Though often heavy, D. had the true poetic gift, had passages of grandeur, and sang the praises of England with the heart of a patriot.

DRUMMOND, HENRY (1851-1897).—Theological and scientific writer, b. at Stirling, and ed. at Edin., he studied for the ministry of the Free Church. Having a decided scientific bent he gave himself specially to the study of geology, and made a scientific tour in the Rocky Mountains with Sir A. Geikie. Some years later he undertook a geological exploration of Lake Nyassa and the neighbouring country for the African Lakes Corporation, and brought home a valuable Report. He also pub. Tropical Africa, a vivid account of his travels. He became much associated with the American evangelist, D.L. Moody, and became an extremely effective speaker on religious subjects, devoting himself specially to young men. His chief contribution to literature was his Natural Law in the Spiritual World, which had extraordinary popularity. The Ascent of Man was less successful. D. was a man of great personal fascination, and wrote in an interesting and suggestive manner, but his reasoning in his scientific works was by no means unassailable.

DRUMMOND, WILLIAM (1585-1649).—Poet, was descended from a very ancient family, and through Annabella D., Queen of Robert III., related to the Royal House. Ed. at Edin. Univ., he studied law on the Continent, but succeeding in 1610 to his paternal estate of Hawthornden, he devoted himself to poetry. Tears on the Death of Meliades (Prince Henry) appeared in 1613, and in 1616 Poems, Amorous, Funerall, Divine, etc. His finest poem, Forth Feasting (1617), is addressed to James VI. on his revisiting Scotland. D. was also a prose-writer, and composed a History of the Five Jameses, Kings of Scotland from 1423-1524, and The Cypress Grove, a meditation on death. He was also a mechanical genius, and patented 16 inventions. D., though a Scotsman, wrote in the classical English of the day, and was the friend of his principal literary contemporaries, notably of Ben Jonson, who visited him at Hawthornden, on which occasion D. preserved notes of his conversations, not always flattering. For this he has received much blame, but it must be remembered that he did not pub. them. As a poet he belonged to the school of Spenser. His verse is sweet, flowing, and harmonious. He excelled as a writer of sonnets, one of which, on John the Baptist, has a suggestion of Milton.

Life by Prof. Masson (1873), Three Centuries of Scottish Literature, Walker, 1893. Maitland Club ed. of Poems (1832).

DRYDEN, JOHN (1631-1700).—Poet, dramatist, and satirist, was b. at Aldwincle Rectory, Northamptonshire. His f., from whom he inherited a small estate, was Erasmus, 3rd s. of Sir Erasmus Driden; his mother was Mary Pickering, also of good family; both families belonged to the Puritan side in politics and religion. He was ed. at Westminster School and Trinity Coll., Camb., and thereafter, in 1657, came to London. While at coll. he had written some not very successful verse. His Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell (1658) was his first considerable poem. It was followed, in 1660, by Astraea Redux, in honour of the Restoration. The interval of 18 months had been crowded with events, and though much has been written against his apparent change of opinion, it is fair to remember that the whole cast of his mind led him to be a supporter of de facto authority. In 1663 he m. Lady Elizabeth Howard, dau. of the Earl of Berkshire. The Restoration introduced a revival of the drama in its most debased form, and for many years D. was a prolific playwright, but though his vigorous powers enabled him to work effectively in this department, as in every other in which he engaged, it was not his natural line, and happily his fame does not rest upon his plays, which are deeply stained with the immorality of the age. His first effort, The Wild Gallant (1663), was a failure; his next, The Rival Ladies, a tragi-comedy, established his reputation, and among his other dramas may be mentioned The Indian Queene, Amboyna (1673), Tyrannic Love (1669), Almanzar and Almahide (ridiculed in Buckingham's Rehearsal) (1670), Arungzebe (1675), All for Love (an adaptation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra) (1678). During the great plague, 1665, D. left London, and lived with his father-in-law at Charleton. On his return he pub. his first poem of real power, Annus Mirabilis, of which the subjects were the great fire, and the Dutch War. In 1668 appeared his Essay on Dramatic Poetry in the form of a dialogue, fine alike as criticism and as prose. Two years later (1670) he became Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal with a pension of L300 a year. D. was now in prosperous circumstances, having received a portion with his wife, and besides the salaries of his appointments, and his profits from literature, holding a valuable share in the King's play-house. In 1671 G. Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, produced his Rehearsal, in ridicule of the overdone heroics of the prevailing drama, and satirising D. as Mr. Bayes. To this D. made no immediate reply, but bided his time. The next years were devoted to the drama. But by this time public affairs were assuming a critical aspect. A large section of the nation was becoming alarmed at the prospect of the succession of the Duke of York, and a restoration of popery, and Shaftesbury was supposed to be promoting the claims of the Duke of Monmouth. And now D. showed; his full powers. The first part of Absalom and Achitophel appeared in 1681, in which Charles figures as "David," Shaftesbury as "Achitophel," Monmouth as "Absalom," Buckingham as "Zimri," in the short but crushing delineation of whom the attack of the Rehearsal was requited in the most ample measure. The effect; of the poem was tremendous. Nevertheless the indictment against Shaftesbury for high treason was ignored by the Grand Jury at the Old Bailey, and in honour of the event a medal was struck, which gave a title to D.'s next stroke. His Medal was issued in 1682. The success of these wonderful poems raised a storm round D. Replies were forthcoming in Elkanah Settle's Absalom and Achitophel Transposed, and Pordage's Azaria and Hushai. These compositions, especially Pordage's, were comparatively moderate. Far otherwise was Shadwell's Medal of John Bayes, one of the most brutal and indecent pieces in the language. D.'s revenge—and an ample one—was the publication of MacFlecknoe, a satire in which all his opponents, but especially Shadwell, were held up to the loathing and ridicule of succeeding ages, and others had conferred, upon them an immortality which, however unenviable, no efforts of their own could have secured for them. Its immediate effect was to crush and silence all his assailants. The following year, 1683, saw the publication of Religio Laici (the religion of a layman). In 1686 D. joined the Church of Rome, for which he has by some been blamed for time-serving of the basest kind. On the other hand his consistency and conscientiousness have by others been as strongly maintained. The change, which was announced by the publication, in 1687 of The Hind and the Panther, a Defence of the Roman Church, at all events did not bring with it any worldly advantages. It was parodied by C. Montague and Prior in the Town and Country Mouse. At the Revolution D. was deprived of all his pensions and appointments, including the Laureateship, in which he was succeeded by his old enemy Shadwell. His latter years were passed in comparative poverty, although the Earl of Dorset and other old friends contributed by their liberality to lighten his cares. In these circumstances he turned again to the drama, which, however, was no longer what it had been as a source of income. To this period belong Don Sebastian, and his last play, Love Triumphant. A new mine, however, was beginning to be opened up in the demand for translations which had arisen. This gave D. a new opportunity, and he produced, in addition to translations from Juvenal and Perseus, his famous "Virgil" (1697). About the same time appeared The Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, and Alexander's Feast, and in 1700, the year of his death, the Fables, largely adaptations from Chaucer and Boccaccio. In his own line, that of argument, satire, and declamation, D. is without a rival in our literature: he had little creative imagination and no pathos. His dramas, which in bulk are the greatest part of his work, add almost nothing to his fame; in them he was meeting a public demand, not following the native bent of his genius. In his satires, and in such poems as Alexander's Feast, he rises to the highest point of his powers in a verse swift and heart-stirring. In prose his style is clear, strong, and nervous. He seems to have been almost insensible to the beauty of Nature.

SUMMARY.—B. 1631, ed. Westminster and Camb., became prolific playwright, pub. Annus Mirabilis c. 1666, Poet Laureate 1667, pub. Absalom and Achitophel (part 1) 1681, Medal 1682, MacFlecknoe 1682, Religio Laici 1683, joined Church of Rome 1686, pub. Hind and Panther 1687, deprived of offices and pensions at Revolution 1688, pub. translations including "Virgil" 1697, St. Cecilia's Day and Alexander's Feast c. 1697, and Fables 1700, when he d.

Sir W. Scott's ed. with Life 1808, re-edited in 18 vols. by Prof. Saintsbury (1883-93); Aldine ed. (5 vols., 1892), Johnson's Lives of the Poets, etc.

DUFF, SIR MOUNTSTUART E. GRANT (1829-1906).—Miscellaneous writer, was M.P. for the Elgin Burghs, and Lieut.-Governor of Madras. He pub. Studies of European Politics, books on Sir H. Maine, Lord de Tabley, and Renan, and a series of Notes from a Diary, perhaps his most interesting work.

DUFFERIN, HELEN SELENA (SHERIDAN), COUNTESS OF (1807-1867).—Eldest dau. of Tom S., grand-daughter of Richard Brinsley S. (q.v.), and sister of Mrs. Norton (q.v.). She and her two sisters were known as "the three Graces," the third being the Duchess of Somerset. She shared in the family talent, and wrote a good deal of verse, her best known piece being perhaps The Lament of the Irish Emigrant, beginning "I'm sittin' on the stile, Mary." She also wrote Lispings from Low Latitudes, or Extracts from the Journal of the Hon. Impulsia Gushington, Finesse, or a Busy Day at Messina, etc.

DUFFY, SIR CHARLES GAVAN (1816-1903).—Poet, b. in Monaghan, early took to journalism, and became one of the founders of the Nature newspaper, and one of the leaders of the Young Ireland movement. Thereafter he went to Australia, where he became a leading politician, and rose to be Premier of Victoria. His later years were spent chiefly on the Continent. He did much to stimulate in Ireland a taste for the national history and literature, started The Library of Ireland, and made a collection, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland, which was a great success. He also pub. an autobiography, My Life in Two Hemispheres.

DUGDALE, SIR WILLIAM (1605-1686).—Herald and antiquary, was b. at Coleshill, Warwickshire, and ed. at Coventry School. From early youth he showed a strong bent towards heraldic and antiquarian studies, which led to his appointment, in 1638, as a Pursuivant-extraordinary, from which he rose to be Garter-King-at-Arms. In 1655, jointly with Roger Dodsworth, he brought out the first vol. of Monasticon Anglicanum (the second following in 1661, and the third in 1673), containing the charters of the ancient monasteries. In 1656 he pub. the Antiquities of Warwickshire, which maintains a high place among county histories, and in 1666 Origines Judiciales. His great work, The Baronage of England, appeared in 1675-6. Other works were a History of Imbanking and Drayning, and a History of St. Paul's Cathedral. All D.'s writings are monuments of learning and patient investigation.

DU MAURIER, GEORGE LOUIS PALMELLA BUSSON (1834-1896).—Artist and novelist, b. and ed. in Paris, in 1864 succeeded John Leech on the staff of Punch. His three novels, Peter Ibbetson (1891), Trilby (1894), and The Martian (1896), originally appeared in Harper's Magazine.

DUNBAR, WILLIAM (1465?-1530?).—Poet, is believed to have been b. in Lothian, and ed. at St. Andrews, and in his earlier days he was a Franciscan friar. Thereafter he appears to have been employed by James IV. in some Court and political matters. His chief poems are The Thrissil and the Rois (The Thistle and the Rose) (1503), The Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins, a powerful satire, The Golden Targe, an allegory, and The Lament for the Makaris (poets) (c. 1507). In all these there is a vein of true poetry. In his allegorical poems he follows Chaucer in his setting, and is thus more or less imitative and conventional: in his satirical pieces, and in the Lament, he takes a bolder flight and shows his native power. His comic poems are somewhat gross. The date and circumstances of his death are uncertain, some holding that he fell at Flodden, others that he was alive so late as 1530. Other works are The Merle and The Nightingale, and the Flyting (scolding) of Dunbar and Kennedy. Mr. Gosse calls D. "the largest figure in English literature between Chaucer and Spenser." He has bright strength, swiftness, humour, and pathos, and his descriptive touch is vivid and full of colour.

DUNLOP, JOHN COLIN (c. 1785-1842).—Historian, s. of a Lord Provost of Glasgow, where and at Edin. he was ed., was called to the Bar in 1807, and became Sheriff of Renfrewshire. He wrote a History of Fiction (1814), a History of Roman Literature to the Augustan Age (1823-28), and Memoirs of Spain during the Reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II. (1834). He also made translations from the Latin Anthology.

DUNS, SCOTUS JOHANNES (1265?-1308?).—Schoolman. The dates of his birth and death and the place of his birth are alike doubtful. He may have been at Oxf., is said to have been a regent or prof. at Paris, and was a Franciscan. He was a man of extraordinary learning, and received the sobriquet of Doctor Subtilis. Among his many works on logic and theology are a philosophic grammar, and a work on metaphysics, De Rerum Principio (of the beginning of things). His great opponent was Thomas Aquinas, and schoolmen of the day were divided into Scotists and Thomists, or realists and nominalists.

D'URFEY, THOMAS (1653-1723).—Dramatist and song-writer, was a well-known man-about-town, a companion of Charles II., and lived on to the reign of George I. His plays are now forgotten, and he is best known in connection with a collection of songs entitled, Pills to Purge Melancholy. Addison describes him as a "diverting companion," and "a cheerful, honest, good-natured man." His writings are nevertheless extremely gross. His plays include Siege of Memphis (1676), Madame Fickle (1677), Virtuous Wife (1680), and The Campaigners (1698).

DWIGHT, TIMOTHY (1752-1817).—Theologian and poet, b. at Northampton, Mass., was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, became a Congregationalist minister, Prof. of Divinity, and latterly Pres. of Yale. His works include, besides theological treatises and sermons, the following poems, America (1772), The Conquest of Canaan (1785), and The Triumph of Infidelity, a satire, admired in their day, but now unreadable.

DYCE, ALEXANDER (1798-1869).—Scholar and critic, s. of Lieut.-General Alexander D., was b. in Edin., and ed. there and at Oxf. He took orders, and for a short time served in two country curacies. Then, leaving the Church and settling in London, he betook himself to his life-work of ed. the English dramatists. His first work, Specimens of British Poetesses, appeared in 1825; and thereafter at various intervals ed. of Collins's Poems, and the dramatic works of Peele, Middleton, Beaumont and Fletcher, Marlowe, Greene, Webster, and others. His great ed. of Shakespeare in 9 vols. appeared in 1857. He also ed. various works for the Camden Society, and pub. Table Talk of Samuel Rogers. All D.'s work is marked by varied and accurate learning, minute research, and solid judgment.

DYER, SIR EDWARD (1545?-1607).—Poet, b. at Sharpham Park, Somerset, and ed. at Oxf., was introduced to the Court by the Earl of Leicester, and sent on a mission to Denmark, 1589. He was in 1596 made Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, and knighted. In his own day he had a reputation for his elegies among such judges as Sidney and Puttenham. For a long time there was doubt as to what poems were to be attributed to him, but about a dozen pieces have now been apparently identified as his. The best known is that on contentment beginning, "My mind to me a kingdom is."

DYER, JOHN (1700-1758).—Poet, was b. in Caermarthenshire. In his early years he studied painting, but finding that he was not likely to attain a satisfactory measure of success, entered the Church. He has a definite, if a modest, place in literature as the author of three poems, Grongar Hill (1727), The Ruins of Rome (1740), and The Fleece (1757). The first of these is the best, and the best known, and contains much true natural description; but all have passages of considerable poetical merit, delicacy and precision of phrase being their most noticeable characteristic. Wordsworth had a high opinion of D. as a poet, and addressed a sonnet to him.

EARLE, JOHN (1601-1665).—Divine and miscellaneous writer, b. at York, and ed. at Oxf., where he was a Fellow of Merton. He took orders, was tutor to Charles II., a member of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, 1643, Chaplain and Clerk of the Closet to Charles when in exile. On the Restoration he was made Dean of Westminster, in 1662 Bishop of Worcester, and the next year Bishop of Salisbury. He was learned and eloquent, witty and agreeable in society, and was opposed to the "Conventicle" and "Five Mile" Acts, and to all forms of persecution. He wrote Hortus Mertonensis (the Garden of Merton) in Latin, but his chief work was Microcosmographie, or a Piece of the World discovered in Essays and Characters (1628), the best and most interesting of all the "character" books.

EASTLAKE, ELIZABETH, LADY (RIGBY) (1809-1893).—dau. of Dr. Edward Rigby of Norwich, a writer on medical and agricultural subjects, spent her earlier life on the Continent and in Edin. In 1849 she m. Sir Charles L. Eastlake, the famous painter, and Pres. of the Royal Academy. Her first work was Letters from the Shores of the Baltic (1841). From 1842 she was a frequent contributor to the Quarterly Review, in which she wrote a very bitter criticism of Jane Eyre. She also wrote various books on art, and Lives of her husband, of Mrs. Grote, and of Gibson the sculptor, and was a leader in society.

ECHARD, LAURENCE (c. 1670-1730).—Historian, b. at Barsham, Suffolk, and ed. at Camb., took orders and became Archdeacon of Stow. He translated Terence, part of Plautus, D'Orleans' History of the Revolutions in England, and made numerous compilations on history, geography, and the classics. His chief work, however, is his History of England (1707-1720). It covers the period from the Roman occupation to his own times, and continued to be the standard work on the subject until it was superseded by translations of Rapin's French History of England.

EDGEWORTH, MARIA (1767-1849).—Novelist, only child of Richard E., of Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, was b. near Reading. Her f., who was himself a writer on education and mechanics, bestowed much attention on her education. She showed early promise of distinction, and assisted her f. in his literary labours, especially in Practical Education and Essay on Irish Bulls (1802). She soon discovered that her strength lay in fiction, and from 1800, when her first novel, Castle Rackrent, appeared, until 1834, when her last, Helen, was pub., she continued to produce a series of novels and tales characterised by ingenuity of invention, humour, and acute delineation of character. Notwithstanding a tendency to be didactic, and the presence of a "purpose" in most of her writings, their genuine talent and interest secured for them a wide popularity. It was the success of Miss E. in delineating Irish character that suggested to Sir W. Scott the idea of rendering a similar service to Scotland. Miss E., who had great practical ability, was able to render much aid during the Irish famine. In addition to the works above mentioned, she wrote Moral Tales and Belinda (1801), Leonora (1806), Tales of Fashionable Life (1809 and 1812), and a Memoir of her f.

EDWARDS, JONATHAN (1702?-1758).—Theologian, s. of a minister, was b. at East Windsor, Connecticut, ed. at Yale Coll., and licensed as a preacher in 1722. The following year he was appointed as tutor at Yale, a position in which he showed exceptional capacity. In 1726 he went to Northampton, Conn., as minister of a church there, and remained for 24 years, exercising his ministry with unusual earnestness and diligence. At the end of that time, however, he was in 1750 dismissed by his congregation, a disagreement having arisen on certain questions of discipline. Thereafter he acted as a missionary to the Indians of Massachusetts. While thus engaged he composed his famous treatises, On the Freedom of the Will (1754), and On Original Sin (1758). Previously, in 1746, he had produced his treatise, On the Religious Affections. In 1757 he was appointed Pres. of Princeton Coll., New Jersey, but was almost immediately thereafter stricken with small-pox, of which he d. on March 22, 1757. E. possessed an intellect of extraordinary strength and clearness, and was capable of sustaining very lengthened chains of profound argument. He is one of the ablest defenders of the Calvinistic system of theology, which he developed to its most extreme positions. He was a man of fervent piety, and of the loftiest and most disinterested character.

EDWARDS, RICHARD (1523?-1566).—Poet, was at Oxf., and went to Court, where he was made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and master of the singing boys. He had a high reputation for his comedies and interludes. His Palaman and Arcite was acted before Elizabeth at Oxf. in 1566, when the stage fell and three persons were killed and five hurt, the play nevertheless proceeding. Damon and Pythias (1577), a comedy, is his only extant play.

EGAN, PIERCE (1772-1849).—Humorist, b. in London, he satirised the Prince Regent in The Lives of Florizel and Perdita (1814), but is best remembered by Life in London: or the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn and his elegant friend, Corinthian Tom, a collection of sketches which had great success at the time, and which gives a picture of the sports and amusements of London in the days of the Regency. It was illustrated by George Cruikshank.

EGGLESTON, EDWARD (1837-1902).—Novelist, b. at Vevay, Indiana, was a Methodist minister. He wrote a number of tales, some of which, specially the "Hoosier" series, attracted much attention, among which are The Hoosier Schoolmaster, The Hoosier Schoolboy, The End of the World, The Faith Doctor, Queer Stories for Boys and Girls, etc.

"ELIOT, GEORGE," see EVANS.

ELIZABETH, QUEEN (1533-1603).—Was one of the scholar-women of her time, being versed in Latin, Greek, French, and Italian. Her translation of Boethius shows her exceptional art and skill. In the classics Roger Ascham was her tutor. She wrote various short poems, some of which were called by her contemporaries "sonnets," though not in the true sonnet form. Her original letters and despatches show an idiomatic force of expression beyond that of any other English monarch.

ELLIOT, MISS JEAN (1727-1805).—Poetess, dau. of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, has a small niche in literature as the authoress of the beautiful ballad, The Flowers of the Forest, beginning, "I've heard the lilting at our yowe-milking." Another ballad with the same title beginning, "I've seen the smiling of fortune beguiling" was written by Alicia Rutherford, afterwards Mrs. Cockburn.

ELLIOT, EBENEZER (1781-1849).—Poet, b. at Masborough, Yorkshire, in his youth worked in an iron-foundry, and in 1821 took up the same business on his own account with success. He is best known by his poems on behalf of the poor and oppressed, and especially for his denunciations of the Corn Laws, which gained for him the title of the Corn Law Rhymer. Though now little read, he had considerable poetic gift. His principal poems are Corn Law Rhymes (1831), The Ranter, and The Village Patriarch (1829).

ELLIS, GEORGE (1753-1815).—Miscellaneous writer, s. of a West Indian planter, gained some fame by Poetical Tales by Sir Gregory Gander (1778). He also had a hand in the Rolliad, a series of Whig satires which appeared about 1785. Changing sides he afterwards contributed to the Anti-Jacobin. He accompanied Sir J. Harris on his mission to the Netherlands, and there coll. materials for his History of the Dutch Revolution (1789). He ed. Specimens of the Early English Poets (1790), and Specimens of the Early English Romances, both works of scholarship. He was a friend of Scott, who dedicated the fifth canto of Marmion to him.

ELLWOOD, THOMAS (1639-1713).—A young Quaker who was introduced to Milton in 1662, and devoted much of his time to reading to him. It is to a question asked by him that we owe the writing of Paradise Regained. He was a simple, good man, ready to suffer for his religious opinions, and has left an autobiography of singular interest alike for the details of Milton's later life, which it gives, and for the light it casts on the times of the writer. He also wrote Davideis (1712), a sacred poem, and some controversial works.

ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859).—Fourth s. of the 11th Lord E., was ed. at Edin., and entered the Bengal Civil Service in 1795. He had a very distinguished career as an Indian statesman, and did much to establish the present system of government and to extend education. He was Governor of Bombay (1819-1827), and prepared a code of laws for that Presidency. In 1829 he was offered, but declined, the position of Governor-General of India. He wrote a History of India (1841), and The Rise of the British Power in the East, pub. in 1887.

ELWIN, WHITWELL (1816-1900).—Critic and editor, s. of a country gentleman of Norfolk, studied at Camb., and took orders. He was an important contributor to the Quarterly Review, of which he became editor in 1853. He undertook to complete Croker's ed. of Pope, and brought out 5 vols., when he dropped it, leaving it to be finished by Mr. Courthope. As an ed. he was extremely autocratic, and on all subjects had pronounced opinions, and often singular likes and dislikes.

ELYOT, SIR THOMAS (1490-1546).—Diplomatist, physician, and writer, held many diplomatic appointments. He wrote The Governor (1531), a treatise on education, in which he advocated gentler treatment of schoolboys, The Castle of Health (1534), a medical work, and A Defence of Good Women (1545). He also in 1538 pub. the first Latin and English Dictionary, and made various translations.

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO (1803-1882).—Philosopher, was b. at Boston, Massachusetts. His f. was a minister there, who had become a Unitarian, and who d. in 1811, leaving a widow with six children, of whom Ralph, then aged 8, was the second. Mrs. E. was, however, a woman of energy, and by means of taking boarders managed to give all her sons a good education. E. entered Harvard in 1817 and, after passing through the usual course there, studied for the ministry, to which he was ordained in 1827, and settled over a congregation in his native city. There he remained until 1832, when he resigned, ostensibly on a difference of opinion with his brethren on the permanent nature of the Lord's Supper as a rite, but really on a radical change of view in regard to religion in general, expressed in the maxim that "the day of formal religion is past." About the same time he lost his young wife, and his health, which had never been robust, showed signs of failing. In search of recovery he visited Europe, where he met many eminent men and formed a life-long friendship with Carlyle. On his return in 1834 he settled at Concord, and took up lecturing. In 1836 he pub. Nature, a somewhat transcendental little book which, though containing much fine thought, did not appeal to a wide circle. The American Scholar followed in 1837. Two years previously he had entered into a second marriage. His influence as a thinker rapidly extended, he was regarded as the leader of the transcendentalists, and was one of the chief contributors to their organ, The Dial. The remainder of his life, though happy, busy, and influential, was singularly uneventful. In 1847 he paid a second visit to England, when he spent a week with Carlyle, and delivered a course of lectures in England and Scotland on "Representative Men," which he subsequently pub. English Traits appeared in 1856. In 1857 The Atlantic Monthly was started, and to it he became a frequent contributor. In 1874 he was nominated for the Lord Rectorship of the Univ. of Glasgow, but was defeated by Disraeli. He, however, regarded his nomination as the greatest honour of his life. After 1867 he wrote little. He d. on April 27, 1882. His works were coll. in 11 vols., and in addition to those above mentioned include Essays (two series), Conduct of Life, Society and Solitude, Natural History of Intellect, and Poems. The intellect of E. was subtle rather than robust, and suggestive rather than systematic. He wrote down the intuitions and suggestions of the moment, and was entirely careless as to whether these harmonised with previous statements. He was an original and stimulating thinker and writer, and wielded a style of much beauty and fascination. His religious views approached more nearly to Pantheism than to any other known system of belief. He was a man of singular elevation and purity of character.

ERCILDOUN, THOMAS of, or "THOMAS THE RHYMER" (fl. 1220-1297).—A minstrel to whom is ascribed Sir Tristrem, a rhyme or story for recitation. He had a reputation for prophecy, and is reported to have foretold the death of Alexander III., and various other events.

ERIGENA, or SCOTUS, JOHN (fl. 850).—Philosopher, b. in Scotland or Ireland, was employed at the Court of Charles the Bald, King of France. He was a pantheistic mystic, and made translations from the Alexandrian philosophers. He was bold in the exposition of his principles, and had both strength and subtlety of intellect. His chief work is De Divisione Naturae, a dialogue in which he places reason above authority.

ERSKINE, RALPH (1685-1752).—Scottish Divine and poet, was b. near Cornhill, Northumberland, where his f., a man of ancient Scottish family, was, for the time, a nonconforming minister. He became minister of Dunfermline, and, with his brother Ebenezer, was involved in the controversies in the Church of Scotland, which led to the founding of the Secession Church in 1736. He has a place in literature as the writer of devotional works, especially for his Gospel Sonnets (of which 25 ed. had appeared by 1797), and Scripture Songs (1754).

ERSKINE, THOMAS (1788-1870).—Theologian, s. of David E., of Linlathen, to which property he succeeded, his elder brother having d. He was called to the Bar in 1810, but never practised. Having come under unusually deep religious impressions he devoted himself largely to the study of theology, and pub. various works, including The Internal Evidence for the Truth of Revealed Religion (1820), Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel, and The Spiritual Order. He was a man of singular charm of character, and wielded a great influence on the religious thought of his day. He enjoyed the friendship of men of such different types as Carlyle, Chalmers, Dean Stanley, and Prevost Paradol. His Letters were ed. by Dr. W. Hanna (1877-78).

ETHEREGE, SIR GEORGE (1635?-1691).—Dramatist, was at Camb., travelled, read a little law, became a man-about-town, the companion of Sedley, Rochester, and their set. He achieved some note as the writer of three lively comedies, Love in a Tub (1664), She would if she Could (1668), and The Man of Mode (1676), all characterised by the grossness of the period. He was sent on a mission to Ratisbon, where he broke his neck when lighting his guests downstairs after a drinking bout.

EVANS, MARY ANN or MARIAN ("GEORGE ELIOT") (1819-1880).—Novelist, was b. near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, dau. of Robert E., land agent, a man of strong individuality. Her education was completed at a school in Coventry, and after the death of her mother in 1836, and the marriage of her elder sister, she kept house for her f. until his death in 1849. In 1841 they gave up their house in the country, and went to live in Coventry. Here she made the acquaintance of Charles Bray, a writer on phrenology, and his brother-in-law Charles Hennell, a rationalistic writer on the origin of Christianity, whose influence led her to renounce the evangelical views in which she had been brought up. In 1846 she engaged in her first literary work, the completion of a translation begun by Mrs. Hennell of Strauss's Life of Jesus. On her f.'s death she went abroad with the Brays, and, on her return in 1850, began to write for the Westminster Review, of which from 1851-53 she was assistant-editor. In this capacity she was much thrown into the society of Herbert Spencer and George Henry Lewes (q.v.), with the latter of whom she in 1854 entered into an irregular connection which lasted until his death. In the same year she translated Feuerbach's Essence of Christianity, the only one of her writings to which she attached her real name. It was not until she was nearly 40 that she appears to have discovered the true nature of her genius; for it was not until 1857 that The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton appeared in Blackwood's Magazine, and announced that a new writer of singular power had arisen. It was followed by Mr. Gilfil's Love Story and Janet's Repentance, all three being reprinted as Scenes from Clerical Life (1857); Adam Bede was pub. in 1859, The Mill on the Floss, in its earlier chapters largely autobiographical, in 1860, Silas Marner, perhaps the most artistically constructed of her books, in 1861. In 1860 and 1861 she visited Florence with the view of preparing herself for her next work, Romola, a tale of the times of Savonarola, which appeared in 1863 in the Cornhill Magazine. Felix Holt the Radical followed in 1866. Miss E. now for a time abandoned novel-writing and took to poetry, and between 1868 and 1871 produced The Spanish Gipsy, Agatha, The Legend of Jubal, and Armgart. These poems, though containing much fine work, did not add to her reputation, and in fact in writing them she had departed from her true vocation. Accordingly, she returned to fiction, and in Middlemarch, which appeared in parts in 1871-72, she was by many considered to have produced her greatest work. Daniel Deronda, which came out in 1874-76, was greatly inferior, and it was her last novel. In 1878 she pub. The Impressions of Theophrastus Such, a collection of miscellaneous essays. In the same year Mr. Lewes d., an event which plunged her into melancholy, which was, however, alleviated by the kindness of Mr. John Cross, who had been the intimate friend of both L. and herself, and whom she m. in March, 1880. The union was a short one, being terminated by her death on December 22 in the same year.

George Eliot will probably always retain a high place among writers of fiction. Her great power lies in the minute painting of character, chiefly among the lower middle classes, shopkeepers, tradesmen, and country folk of the Midlands, into whose thoughts and feelings she had an insight almost like divination, and of whose modes of expression she was complete mistress. Her general view of life is pessimistic, relieved by a power of seizing the humorous elements in human stupidity and ill-doing. There is also, however, much seriousness in her treatment of the phases of life upon which she touches, and few writers have brought out with greater power the hardening and degrading effects of continuance in evil courses, or the inevitable and irretrievable consequences of a wrong act. Her descriptions of rural scenes have a singular charm.

Life, ed. by J.W. Cross (1885-6). Books on her by Oscar Browning, 1890, and Sir Leslie Stephen (Men of Letters), 1902.

EVELYN, JOHN (1620-1706).—Diarist, and miscellaneous writer, was of an old Surrey family, and was ed. at a school at Lewes and at Oxf. He travelled much on the Continent, seeing all that was best worth seeing in the way of galleries and collections, both public and private, of which he has given an interesting account in his Diary. He was all his life a staunch Royalist, and joined the King as a volunteer in 1642, but soon after repaired again to the Continent. After 1652 he was at home, settled at Sayes Court, near Deptford, where his gardens were famous. After the Restoration he was employed in various matters by the Government, but his lofty and pure character was constantly offended by the manners of the Court. In addition to his Diary, kept up from 1624-1706, and which is full of interesting details of public and private events, he wrote upon such subjects as plantations, Sylva (1664), gardening, Elysium Britannicum (unpub.), architecture, prevention of smoke in London, engraving, Sculptura (1662), and he was one of the founders of the Royal Society, of which he was for a time sec. The dignity and purity of E'.s character stand forth in strong relief against the laxity of his times.

EWING, MRS. JULIANA HORATIA (GATTY) (1842-1885).—Writer of children's stories, dau. of Mrs. Alfred Gatty (q.v.), also a writer for children. Among her tales, which have hardly been excelled in sympathetic insight into child-life, and still enjoy undiminished popularity, are: A Flat Iron for a Farthing, Jackanapes, Jan of the Windmill, Mrs. Overtheway's Remembrances, and The Story of a Short Life.

FABER, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1814-1863).—Theologian and hymn-writer, was b. at Calverley, Yorkshire, and ed. at Harrow and Oxf., where he came under the influence of Newman, whom he followed into the Church of Rome. He wrote various theological treatises, but has a place in literature for his hymns, which include The Pilgrims of the Night, My God how wonderful thou art, and Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we go.

FABYAN, ROBERT (d. 1513).—Chronicler, was b. in London, of which he became an Alderman and Sheriff. He kept a diary of notable events, which he expanded into a chronicle, which he entitled, The Concordance of Histories. It covers the period from the arrival of Brutus in England to the death of Henry VII., and deals mainly with the affairs of London. It was not printed until 1515, when it appeared under the title of The New Chronicles of England and France.

FAIRFAX, EDWARD (1580?-1635).—Translator, natural s. of Sir Thomas F., lived at Fuystone, near Knaresborough, in peace and prosperity. His translation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, on which his fame is founded, is a masterpiece, one of the comparatively few translations which in themselves are literature. It was highly praised by Dryden and Waller. The first ed. appeared in 1600, and was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. F. also wrote a treatise on Demonology, in which he was a devout believer.

FALCONER, WILLIAM (1732-1769).—Poet, s. of a barber in Edin., where he was b., became a sailor, and was thus thoroughly competent to describe the management of the storm-tossed vessel, the career and fate of which are described in his poem, The Shipwreck (1762), a work of genuine, though unequal, talent. The efforts which F. made to improve the poem in the successive ed. which followed the first were not entirely successful. The work gained for him the patronage of the Duke of York, through whose influence he obtained the position of purser on various warships. Strangely enough, his own death occurred by shipwreck. F. wrote other poems, now forgotten, besides a useful Nautical Dictionary.

FANSHAWE, CATHERINE MARIA (1765-1834).—Poetess, dau. of a Surrey squire, wrote clever occasional verse. Her best known production is the famous Riddle on the Letter H, beginning "'Twas whispered in heaven, 'twas muttered in hell" often attributed to Lord Byron.

FANSHAWE, SIR RICHARD (1608-1666).—Diplomatist, translator, and poet, b. at Ware Park, Herts, and ed. at Camb., travelled on the Continent, and when the Civil War broke out sided with the King and was sent to Spain to obtain money for the cause. He acted as Latin Sec. to Charles II. when in Holland. After the Restoration he held various appointments, and was Ambassador to Portugal and Spain successively. He translated Guarini's Pastor Fido, Selected Parts of Horace, and The Lusiad of Camoens. His wife, nee Anne Harrison, wrote memoirs of her own life.

FARADAY, MICHAEL (1791-1867).—Natural philosopher, s. of a blacksmith, was b. in London, and apprenticed to a book-binder. He early showed a taste for chemistry, and attended the lectures of Sir H. Davy (q.v.), by whom he was, in 1813, appointed his chemical assistant in the Royal Institution. He became one of the greatest of British discoverers and popularisers of science, his discoveries being chiefly in the department of electro-magnetism. He had an unusual power of making difficult subjects clearly understood. Among his writings are History of the Progress of Electro-Magnetism (1821), The Non-metallic Elements, The Chemical History of a Candle, and The Various Forces in Nature. F. was a man of remarkable simplicity and benevolence of character, and deeply religious.

FARMER, RICHARD (1735-1797).—Shakespearian scholar, b. at Leicester, and ed. at Camb., where he ultimately became Master of Emanuel Coll. He wrote an Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare (1767), in which he maintained that Shakespeare's knowledge of the classics was through translations, the errors of which he reproduced. It is a production of great ability. F. was a clergyman, and held a prebend in St. Paul's.

FARQUHAR, GEORGE (1678-1707).—Dramatist, b. at Londonderry, s. of a clergyman, and ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin, on leaving which he took to the stage, but had no great success as an actor. This, together with an accident in which he wounded a fellow-actor with a sword, led to his relinquishing it, and giving himself to writing plays instead of acting them. Thereafter he joined the army. Love and a Bottle (1698) was his first venture, and others were The Constant Couple (1700), Sir Harry Wildair (1701), The Inconstant (1703), The Recruiting Officer (1706), and The Beau's Stratagem (1707). F.'s plays are full of wit and sparkle and, though often coarse, have not the malignant pruriency of some of his predecessors. He made an unfortunate marriage, and d. in poverty.

FARRAR, FREDERIC WILLIAM (1831-1903).—Theological writer, b. in Bombay, and ed. at London Univ. and Camb., was for some years a master at Harrow, and from 1871-76 Head Master of Marlborough School. He became successively Canon of Westminster and Rector of St. Margaret's, Archdeacon of Westminster and Dean of Canterbury. He was an eloquent preacher and a voluminous author, his writings including stories of school life, such as Eric and St. Winifred's, a Life of Christ, which had great popularity, a Life of St. Paul, and two historical romances.

FAWCETT, HENRY (1833-1884).—Statesman and economist, b. at Salisbury, and ed. at Camb., where he became Fellow of Trinity Hall. In 1858 he was blinded by a shooting accident, in spite of which he continued to prosecute his studies, especially in economics, and in 1863 pub. his Manual of Political Economy, becoming in the same year Prof. of Political Economy in Camb. Having strong political views he desired to enter upon a political career, and after repeated defeats was elected M.P. for Brighton. He soon attained a recognised position, devoting himself specially to parliamentary reform and Indian questions, and was in 1880 appointed Postmaster-General, in which office he approved himself a capable administrator. His career was, however, cut short by his premature death, but not before he had made himself a recognised authority on economics, his works on which include The Economic Position of the British Labourer (1871), Labour and Wages, etc. In 1867 he m. Miss Millicent Garrett, a lady highly qualified to share in all his intellectual interests, and who collaborated with him in some of his publications. There is a life of him by Sir L. Stephen.

FAWKES, FRANCIS (1721-1777).—Poet and translator, b. near Doncaster, and ed. at Camb., after which he took orders. He translated Anacreon, Sappho, and other classics, modernised parts of the poems of Gavin Douglas, and was the author of the well-known song, The Brown Jug, and of two poems, Bramham Park and Partridge Shooting.

FELTHAM, OWEN (1602?-1668).—Religious writer, author of a book entitled Resolves, Divine, Moral, and Political (c. 1620), containing 146 short essays. It had great popularity in its day. Though sometimes stiff and affected in style, it contains many sound, if not original or brilliant, reflections, and occasional felicities of expression. F. was for a time in the household of the Earl of Thomond as chaplain or sec., and pub. (1652), Brief Character of the Low Countries.

FENTON, ELIJAH (1683-1730).—Poet and translator, ed. at Camb., for a time acted as sec. to the Earl of Orrery in Flanders, and was then Master of Sevenoaks Grammar School. In 1707 he pub. a book of poems. He is best known, however, as the assistant of Pope in his translation of the Odyssey, of which he Englished the first, fourth, nineteenth, and twentieth books, catching the manner of his master so completely that it is hardly possible to distinguish between their work; while thus engaged he pub. (1723) a successful tragedy, Marianne. His latest contributions to literature were a Life of Milton, and an ed. of Waller's Poems (1729).

FERGUSON, ADAM (1723-1816).—Philosopher and historian, s. of the parish minister of Logierait, Perthshire, studied at St. Andrews and Edin. Univ., in the latter of which he was successively Professor of Mathematics, and Moral Philosophy (1764-1785). As a young man he was chaplain to the 42nd Regiment, and was present at the Battle of Fontenoy. In 1757 he was made Keeper of the Advocates' Library. As a Prof. of Philosophy he was highly successful, his class being attended by many distinguished men no longer students at the Univ. In 1778-9 he acted as sec. to a commission sent out by Lord North to endeavour to reach an accommodation with the American colonists. F.'s principal works are Essay on the History of Civil Society (1765), Institutes of Moral Philosophy (1769), History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic (1782), and Principles of Moral and Political Science (1792), all of which have been translated into French and German. F. spent his later years at St. Andrews, where he d. in 1816 at the age of 92. He was an intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott. The French philosopher Cousin gave F. a place above all his predecessors in the Scottish school of philosophy.

FERGUSON, SIR SAMUEL (1810-1886).—Poet and antiquary, b. at Belfast, the s. of parents of Scottish extraction, he was ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin, from which he received in 1865 the honorary degree of LL.D. He practised with success as a barrister, became Q.C. in 1859, and Deputy Keeper of the Irish Records 1867, an appointment in which he rendered valuable service, and was knighted in 1878. He was a contributor to Blackwood's Magazine, in which appeared his best known poem, The Forging of the Anchor, and was one of the chief promoters of the Gaelic revival in Irish literature. His coll. poems appeared under the title of Lays of the Western Gael (1865), Congal, an epic poem (1872), and his prose tales posthumously (1887), as Hibernian Nights' Entertainments. His principal antiquarian work was Ogham Inscriptions in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland.

FERGUSSON, JAMES (1808-1886).—Writer on architecture, b. at Ayr, was engaged in commercial pursuits in India, where he became interested in the architecture of the country, and pub. his first work, Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindustan (1840), which was followed by An Historical Inquiry into the True Principles of Beauty in Art (1849), and A History of Architecture in all Countries from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (1865-67). He also wrote Fire and Serpent Worship, etc., and a book on the use of earthworks in fortification.

FERGUSSON, ROBERT (1750-1774).—Scottish poet, s. of a bank clerk, was ed. at the Univ. of St. Andrews. His f. dying, he became a copying clerk in an Edin. lawyer's office. Early displaying a talent for humorous descriptive verse, he contributed to Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, then the principal Scottish receptacle for fugitive poetry. His verses, however, attracted attention by their merit, and he pub. some of them in a coll. form. Unfortunately he fell into dissipated habits, under which his delicate constitution gave way, and he d. insane in his 24th year. His poems influenced Burns, who greatly admired them.

FERRIER, JAMES FREDERICK (1808-1864).—Metaphysician, b. in Edin., and ed. there and at Oxf., he was called to the Scottish Bar in 1832, but devoted himself to literature and philosophy. In 1842 he was appointed Prof. of History in Edin., and in 1845 translated to the Chair of Moral Philosophy and Political Economy at St. Andrews. He pub. in 1854 Institutes of Metaphysics, and ed. the coll. works of his father-in-law, Prof. Wilson ("Christopher North.")

FERRIER, SUSAN EDMONSTOUNE (1782-1854).—Novelist, dau. of James F., one of the principal clerks of the Court of Session, in which office he was the colleague of Sir Walter Scott. Miss F. wrote three excellent novels, Marriage (1818), The Inheritance (1824), and Destiny (1831), all characterised by racy humour and acute character-painting. Her cheerful and tactful friendship helped to soothe the last days of Sir W. Scott.

FIELD, NATHANIEL (1587-1633).—Dramatist and actor, was one of "the children of the Queen's Revels," who performed in Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels in 1600. He wrote A Woman's a Weathercock (1612), Amends for Ladies (1618), and (with Massinger) The Fatal Dowry (1632).

FIELDING, HENRY (1707-1754).—Novelist, was b. at Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury. His father was General Edmund F., descended from the Earls of Denbigh and Desmond, and his mother was the dau. of Sir Henry Gould of Sharpham Park. His childhood was spent at East Stour, Dorset, and his education was received at first from a tutor, after which he was sent to Eton. Following a love affair with a young heiress at Lyme Regis he was sent to Leyden to study law, where he remained until his f., who had entered into a second marriage, and who was an extravagant man, ceased to send his allowance. Thrown upon his own resources, he came to London and began to write light comedies and farces, of which during the next few years he threw off nearly a score. The drama, however, was not his true vein, and none of his pieces in this kind have survived, unless Tom Thumb, a burlesque upon his contemporary playwrights, be excepted. About 1735 he m. Miss Charlotte Cradock, a beautiful and amiable girl to whom, though he gave her sufficient cause for forbearance, he was devotedly attached. She is the prototype of his "Amelia" and "Sophia." She brought him L1500, and the young couple retired to East Stour, where he had a small house inherited from his mother. The little fortune was, however, soon dissipated; and in a year he was back in London, where he formed a company of comedians, and managed a small theatre in the Haymarket. Here he produced successfully Pasquin, a Dramatic Satire on the Times, and The Historical Register for 1736, in which Walpole was satirised. This enterprise was brought to an end by the passing of the Licensing Act, 1737, making the imprimatur of the Lord Chamberlain necessary to the production of any play. F. thereupon read law at the Middle Temple, was called to the Bar in 1740, and went the Western Circuit. The same year saw the publication of Richardson's Pamela, which inspired F. with the idea of a parody, thus giving rise to his first novel, Joseph Andrews. As, however, the characters, especially Parson Adams, developed in his hands, the original idea was laid aside, and the work assumed the form of a regular novel. It was pub. in 1742, and though sharing largely in the same qualities as its great successor, Tom Jones, its reception, though encouraging, was not phenomenally cordial. Immediately after this a heavy blow fell on F. in the death of his wife. The next few years were occupied with writing his Miscellanies, which contained, along with some essays and poems, two important works, A Journey from this World to the Next, and The History of Jonathan Wild the Great, a grave satire; and he also conducted two papers in support of the Government, The True Patriot and The Jacobite Journal, in consideration of which he was appointed Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and Westminster, and had a pension conferred upon him. In 1746 he set convention at defiance by marrying Mary MacDaniel, who had been his first wife's maid, and the nurse of his children, and who proved a faithful and affectionate companion. F. showed himself an upright, diligent, and efficient magistrate, and his Inquiry into the Increase of Robbers (1751), with suggested remedies, led to beneficial results. By this time, however, the publication of his great masterpiece, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), had given him a place among the immortals. All critics are agreed that this book contains passages offensive to delicacy, and some say to morality. This is often excused on the plea of the coarser manners of the age; but a much stronger defence is advanced on the ground that, while other novelists of the time made immorality an incentive to merriment, F.'s treatment of such subjects, as Lowell has said, "shocks rather than corrupts," and that in his pages evil is evil. On the other hand, there is universal agreement as to the permanent interest of the types of character presented, the profound knowledge of life and insight into human nature, the genial humour, the wide humanity, the wisdom, and the noble and masculine English of the book. His only other novel, Amelia, which some, but these a small minority, have regarded as his best, was pub. in 1751. His health was now thoroughly broken, and in 1753, as a forlorn hope, he went in search of restoration to Lisbon, where he d. on October 8, and was buried in the English cemetery. His last work was a Journal of his voyage. Though with many weaknesses and serious faults, F. was fundamentally a man of honest and masculine character, and though improvident and reckless in his habits, especially in earlier life, he was affectionate in his domestic relations, and faithful and efficient in the performance of such public duties as he was called to discharge. Thackeray thus describes his appearance, "His figure was tall and stalwart, his face handsome, manly, and noble-looking; to the last days of his life he retained a grandeur of air and, though worn down by disease, his aspect and presence imposed respect upon people round about him."

SUMMARY.—B. 1707, ed. Eton, studied law at Leyden, came to London and wrote dramas, called to Bar 1740, pub. Joseph Andrews 1742, became journalist, appointed a magistrate for Middlesex, etc., and pub. Inquiry into Increase of Robbers 1751, pub. Tom Jones 1749, Amelia 1751, d. at Lisbon 1754.

His works are included in Ballantyne's Novelists' Library with a biography by Scott (1821). An ed. in 10 vols. with a study by L. Stephen was pub. by Smith, Elder and Co. (1882); another in 12 vols. by Prof. Saintsbury, Dent and Co. (1893), and various others. There are various Lives by Watson (1807). Lawrence (1855), and A. Dobson (Men of Letters, 1883).

FIELDING, SARAH (1710-1768).—Novelist, was the sister of the above, who had a high opinion of her talents. She wrote several novels, including David Simple (1744), The Governess, and The Countess of Dellwyn. She also translated Xenophon's Memorabilia and Apologia (1762).

FILMER, SIR ROBERT (d. 1653?).—Political writer, s. of Sir Edward F., of East Sutton, Kent, was ed. at Camb. He was an enthusiastic Royalist, was knighted by Charles I. and, in 1671, was imprisoned in Leeds Castle, Kent. He is notable as the defender, in its most extreme form, of the doctrine of the divine right of kings, which he expounded in a succession of works, of which the latest and best known, Patriarcha, appeared in 1679. His theory is founded on the idea that the government of a family by the father is the original and method of all government. His doctrines were afterwards attacked by Locke in his Treatise on Government. He was opposed to the persecution of old women for supposed witchcraft.

FINLAY, GEORGE (1799-1875).—Historian, of Scottish descent, was b. at Faversham, Kent, where his f., an officer in the army, was inspector of government powder mills. Intended for the law, he was ed. at Glasgow, Goettingen, and Edin., but becoming an enthusiast in the cause of Greece, he joined Byron in the war of independence, and thereafter bought a property near Athens, where he settled and busied himself with schemes for the improvement of the country, which had little success. His History of Greece, produced in sections between 1843 and 1861, did not at first receive the recognition which its merits deserved, but it has since been given by students in all countries, and specially in Germany, a place among works of permanent value, alike for its literary style and the depth and insight of its historical views. It was re-issued in 1877 as A History of Greece from the Roman Conquest to the Present Time (146 B.C. to 1864).

FISHER, JOHN (c. 1469-1535).—Controversialist and scholar, b. at Beverley, and ed. at Camb., entered the Church, and became in 1504 Bishop of Rochester. He wrote in Latin against the doctrines of the Reformation, but was a supporter of the New Learning, and endeavoured to get Erasmus to teach Greek at Camb. Through his influence the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity were founded at both the Univ. by Margaret Countess of Richmond, and in 1502 he became first prof. at Camb., where he was also (1505-8) Head of Queen's Coll. He was also instrumental in founding Christ's and St. John's Coll. For opposing the divorce proceedings of Henry VIII. he was burned. Made a cardinal in 1535, he was beatified in 1886.

FISKE, JOHN (1842-1901).—Miscellaneous writer, was b. at Hartford, Connecticut. The family name was Green; but this he dropped, and adopted that of his mother's family. After being at Harvard he studied for, and was admitted to, the Bar, but did not practise. He wrote on a variety of subjects, including mythology, history, and evolution. Among his books on these subjects are, Myths and Mythmakers (1872), Cosmic Philosophy, Darwinism, The Idea of God, Origin of Evil. He was also the author of many works on America. These include Old Virginia, New France and New England, The American Revolution, and Discovery of America (1892).

FITZGERALD, EDWARD (1809-1883).—Translator and letter-writer, was b. near Woodbridge, Suffolk, s. of John Purcell, who took his wife's surname on the death of her f.. in 1818. He was ed. at Bury St. Edmunds and Camb. Thereafter he lived in retirement and study with his parents until 1838, when he took a neighbouring cottage. In 1856 he m. a dau. of Bernard Barton, the poet, from whom, however, he soon separated. Afterwards he lived at various places in the East of England, continuing his studies, with yachting for his chief recreation. By this time, however, he had become an author, having written a life of his father-in-law prefixed to his coll. poems (1849), Euphranor, a dialogue on youth (1851), and Polonius, a Collection of Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1852). Becoming interested in Spanish literature, he pub. translations of Six Dramas of Calderon. Thereafter turning his attention to Persian, he produced (1859), anonymously, his famous translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. He also pub. translations of the Agamemnon of AEschylus, and the Oedipus Tyrannus and Oedipus Coloneus of Sophocles. In his translations F. aimed not so much at a mere literal reproduction of the sense of the original, as at reproducing its effect on the reader, and in this he was extraordinarily successful. In the department of letter-writing also he attained an excellence perhaps unequalled in his day.

FITZSTEPHEN, WILLIAM (d. 1190).—Was a servant of Thomas a Becket, witnessed his murder, and wrote his biography, which contains an interesting account of London in the 12th century.

FLAVEL, JOHN (1627-1691).—Divine, b. at Bromsgrove, studied at Oxf., was a Presbyterian, and was settled at Dartmouth, but ejected from his living in 1662, continuing, however, to preach there secretly. He was a voluminous and popular author. Among his works are Husbandry Spiritualised and Navigation Spiritualised, titles which suggest some of his characteristics as an expositor.

FLECKNOE, RICHARD (d. 1678).—Poet, said to have been an Irish priest. He wrote several plays, now forgotten, also miscellaneous poems, some of them sacred, and a book of travels. His name has been preserved in Dryden's satire, MacFlecknoe, as "throughout the realms of nonsense absolute;" but according to some authorities his slighter pieces were not wanting in grace and fancy.

FLETCHER, ANDREW (1655-1716).—Scottish statesman and political writer, s. of Sir Robert F. of Saltoun, East Lothian, to which estate he succeeded at an early age. He was ed. under the care of Bishop Burnet, who was then minister of Saltoun. Being firmly opposed to the arbitrary measures of the Duke of York, afterwards James II., he went to Holland, where he joined Monmouth, whom he accompanied on his ill-starred expedition. Happening to kill, in a quarrel, one Dare, another of the Duke's followers, he fled to the Continent, travelled in Spain and Hungary, and fought against the Turks. After the Revolution he returned to Scotland, and took an active part in political affairs. He opposed the Union, fearing the loss of Scottish independence, and advocated federation rather than incorporation. He introduced various improvements in agriculture. His principal writings are Discourse of Government (1698), Two Discourses concerning the Affairs of Scotland (1698), Conversation concerning a right Regulation of Government for the Common Good of Mankind (1703), in which occurs his well-known saying, "Give me the making of the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws."

FLETCHER, GILES, AND PHINEAS (1588?-1623) (1582-1650).—Poets, were the sons of Giles F., himself a minor poet, and Envoy to Russia. Phineas, the elder, was ed. at Eton and Camb., and entered the Church, becoming Rector of Hilgay, Norfolk. He wrote The Purple Island (1633), a poem in 10 books, giving an elaborate allegorical description of the body and mind of man, which, though tedious and fanciful, contains some fine passages, recalling the harmonious sweetness of Spenser, whose disciple the poet was. He was also the author of Piscatory Dialogues. GILES, the younger, was also ed. at Camb., and, like his brother, became a country parson, being Rector of Alderton. His poem, Christ's Victory and Triumph (1610), which, though it contains passages rising to sublimity, is now almost unknown except to students of English literature, is said to have influenced Milton.

Both brothers, but especially Giles, had a genuine poetic gift, but alike in the allegorical treatment of their subjects and the metre they adopted, they followed a style which was passing away, and thus missed popularity. They were cousins of John F., the dramatist.

FLORENCE of WORCESTER (d. 1118).—Chronicler, was a monk of Worcester. His work is founded upon that of Marianus, an Irish chronicler, supplemented by additions taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede's Lives of the Saints, and Asser's Life of Alfred. After his death it was brought down to 1295.

FLORIO, JOHN (1553?-1625).—Translator, s. of an Italian preacher, exiled for his Protestantism, but who appears to have lost credit owing to misconduct, b. in London, was, about 1576, a private tutor of languages at Oxf. In 1581 he was admitted a member of Magdalen Coll., and teacher of French and Italian. Patronised by various noblemen, he became in 1603 reader in Italian to Anne of Denmark, Queen of James I. He pub. First Fruites (1578). Second Fruites (1591), consisting of Italian and English Dialogues, and his great Italian dictionary entitled A World of Wonder, in 1598. His chief contribution to pure literature is his famous translation of The Essays of Montaigne, in stately if somewhat stiff Elizabethan English.

FONBLANQUE, ALBANY WILLIAM (1793-1872).—Journalist and political writer, was of Huguenot descent, the s. of a Commissioner in Bankruptcy. He was bred to the law, but deserted it for journalism, in which he took a high place. He wrote much for The Times, and Westminster Review, and subsequently became ed. and proprietor of the Examiner. His best articles were republished as England under Seven Administrations (1837). He also wrote How we are Governed. In 1847 he was appointed Statistical Sec. to the Board of Trade.

FOOTE, SAMUEL (1720-1777).—Actor and dramatist, b. at Truro of a good family, and ed. at Oxf., succeeded by his extravagance and folly in running through two fortunes. To repair his finances he turned to the stage, and began with tragedy, in which he failed. He then took to comedy, and the mimetic representation of living characters, for which his extraordinary comic powers highly qualified him. He also became a prolific author of dramatic pieces. He wrote 20 plays, and claimed to have added 16 original characters to the stage. Several of his pieces, owing to the offence they gave to persons of importance, were suppressed, but were usually revived in a slightly modified form. His conversation was agreeable and entertaining in the highest degree. Among his best works are An Auction of Pictures, The Liar, and The Mayor of Garratt (1763), The Lame Lover (1770), The Knights (1749), Author (suppressed) 1757, Devil upon Two Sticks (1768), The Nabob (1779), The Capuchin (1776).

FORBES, JAMES DAVID (1809-1868).—Natural Philosopher, s. of Sir William F., of Pitsligo, was b. and ed. at Edin. He studied law, and was called to the Bar, but devoted himself to science, in which he gained a great reputation both as a discoverer and teacher. He was Prof. of Natural Philosophy at Edin., 1833-1859, when he succeeded Sir D. Brewster, as Principal of the United Coll. at St. Andrews. He was one of the founders of the British Association in 1831. His scientific investigations and discoveries embraced the subjects of heat, light, polarisation, and specially glaciers. In connection with the last of these he wrote Travels through the Alps (1843), Norway and its Glaciers (1853), Tour of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa (1855), and Papers on the Theory of Glaciers.

FORD, JOHN (c. 1586?).—Dramatist, b. probably at Ilsington, Devonshire, was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1602, and appears to have practised as a lawyer. His chief plays are The Lover's Melancholy (1629), 'Tis Pity, The Broken Heart, and Love's Sacrifice (1633), Perkin Warbeck (1634), The Lady's Trial (1639), and Fancies Chaste and Noble (1638). He also collaborated with Dekker and Rowley in The Witch of Edmonton (1624). F. has a high position as a dramatist, though rather for general intellectual power and austere beauty of thought than for strictly dramatic qualities. C. Lamb says, "F. was of the first order of poets." He had little humour; his plays, though the subjects are painful, and sometimes horrible, are full of pensive tenderness expressed in gently flowing verse. The date of his death is uncertain.

FORD, PAUL LEICESTER (1865-1902).—Novelist and biographer, was b. in Brooklyn. He wrote Lives of Washington, Franklin, and others, ed. the works of Jefferson, and wrote a number of novels, which had considerable success, including Peter Sterling (1894), Story of an Untold Love, Janice Meredith, Wanted a Matchmaker, and Wanted a Chaperone. He d. by his own hand.

FORD, RICHARD (1796-1858).—Writer on art and travel, ed. at Winchester and Camb., and travelled for several years in Spain, becoming intimately acquainted with the country and people. He wrote a Handbook for Travellers in Spain (1845), which is much more than a mere guide-book, and Gatherings from Spain (1846). An accomplished artist and art critic, he was the first to make the great Spanish painter, Velasquez, generally known in England.

FORDUN, JOHN (d. 1384?).—Chronicler, said to have been a chantry priest and Canon of Aberdeen. He began the Scotichronicon, for which he prepared himself, it is said, by travelling on foot through Britain and Ireland in search of materials. He also compiled Gesta Annalia, a continuation. He brought the history down to 1153, leaving, however, material to the time of his own death, which was subsequently worked up by Walter Bower (q.v.).

FORSTER, JOHN (1812-1876).—Historian and biographer, b. at Newcastle, ed. at the Grammar School there, and at Univ. Coll., London, became a barrister of the Inner Temple, but soon relinquished law for literature. In 1834 he accepted the post of assistant ed. of the Examiner, and was ed. 1847-55. In this position F. exercised a marked influence on public opinion. He also ed. the Foreign Quarterly Review 1842-3, the Daily News in 1846, and was Sec. to the Lunacy Commission and a Commissioner 1861-72. His historical writings were chiefly biographies, among which are Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England (1836-9), Life of Goldsmith (1854), Biographical and Historical Essays (1859), Sir John Eliot (1864), Lives of Walter S. Landor (1868), and Charles Dickens (1871-4). He also left the first vol. of a Life of Swift. F., who was a man of great decision and force of character, concealed an unusually tender heart under a somewhat overbearing manner.

FORTESCUE, SIR JOHN (1394?-1476?).—Political writer, was descended from a Devonshire family. He was an eminent lawyer, and held the office of Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1442). During the Wars of the Roses he was a staunch Lancastrian. On the triumph of Edward IV. at Towton he was attainted, and followed the fortunes of the fallen Lancastrians, accompanying Queen Margaret to Scotland and Flanders. He fought at Tewkesbury, was captured, but pardoned on condition of writing in support of the Yorkish claims, which he did, considering that his own party appeared to be hopelessly ruined. He is said to have been at one time Lord Chancellor; but it is probable that this was only a titular appointment given him by the exiled family. His works are various defences of the Lancastrian title to the crown, and two treatises, De Laudibus Legum Angliae (1537) (in praise of the laws of England), and On the Governance of the Kingdom of England, not printed till 1714, the former for the instruction of Edward, Prince of Wales.

FORSTER, JOHN (1770-1843).—Essayist, was b. at Halifax, and ed. at Bristol for the Baptist ministry. Though a man of powerful and original mind he did not prove popular as a preacher, and devoted himself mainly to literature, his chief contribution to which is his four Essays (1) On a Man's Writing Memoirs of Himself, (2) On Decision of Character, (3) On the Epithet "Romantic," (4) On Evangelical Religion, etc., all of which attracted much attention among the more thoughtful part of the community, and still hold their place. These Essays were pub. in 1805, and in 1819. F. added another on the Evils of Popular Ignorance, in which he advocated a national system of education.

FOSTER, STEPHEN COLLINS (1826-1864).—Song-writer, was b. in Pittsburgh. He wrote over 100 songs, many of which had extraordinary popularity, among which may be mentioned The Old Folks at Home, Nelly Bly, Old Dog Tray, Camp Town Races, Massa's in de cold, cold Ground, and Come where my Love lies Dreaming. He composed the music to his songs.

FOX, CHARLES JAMES (1749-1806).—Statesman and historian, s. of Henry F., 1st Lord Holland, was one of the greatest orators who have ever sat in the House of Commons. His only serious literary work was a fragment of a proposed History of the Reign of James the Second. An introductory chapter sketching the development of the constitution from the time of Henry VII., and a few chapters conducting the history up to the execution of Monmouth are all which he completed.

FOX, GEORGE (1624-1691).—Religious enthusiast, and founder of the Society of Friends, b. at Drayton, Leicestershire, was in youth the subject of peculiar religious impressions and trances, and adopted a wandering life. The protests which he conceived himself bound to make against the prevailing beliefs and manners, and which sometimes took the form of interrupting Divine service, and the use of uncomplimentary forms of address to the clergy, involved him in frequent trouble. The clergy, the magistrates, and the mob alike treated him with harshness amounting to persecution. None of these things, however, moved him, and friends, many of them influential, among them Oliver Cromwell, extended favour towards him. From 1659 onwards he made various missionary journeys in Scotland, Ireland, America, and Holland. Later he was repeatedly imprisoned, again visited the Continent, and d. in 1691. F.'s literary works are his Journal, Epistles, and Doctrinal Pieces. He was not a man of strong intellect, and the defence of his doctrines was undertaken by the far more competent hand of his follower, Barclay (q.v.). The Journal, however, is full of interest as a sincere transcript of the singular experiences, religious and others, of a spiritual enthusiast and mystic.