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The best Life is that by Hodgkin, 1896. Journal (reprint, 1885).
FOXE, JOHN (1516-1587).—Martyrologist, was b. at Boston, Lincolnshire, and ed. at Oxf., where he became a Fellow of Magdalen Coll. While there he gave himself to the study of the theological questions then in debate, and ended by becoming a Protestant, in consequence of which he in 1545 left his coll. He then became tutor in the family of Sir T. Lucy of Charlecote, and afterwards to the children of the recently executed Earl of Surrey. During the reign of Mary he retired to the Continent, and pub., at Strasburg, his Commentarii (the first draft of the Acts and Monuments). Removing to Basel he was employed as a reader for the press by the famous printer Oporinus, who pub. some of his writings. On the accession of Elizabeth, F. returned to England, was received with kindness by the Duke of Norfolk, one of his former pupils, and soon afterwards (1563) pub. the work on which his fame rests, the English version of the Acts and Monuments, better known as The Book Martyrs. Received with great favour by the Protestants, it was, and has always been, charged by the Roman Catholics with gross and wilful perversion of facts. The truth of the matter appears to be that while Foxe was not, as in the circumstances he could hardly have been, free from party spirit or from some degree of error as to facts, he did not intentionally try to mislead; and comparison of his citations from authorities with the originals has shown him to have been careful and accurate in that matter. F., who had been ordained a priest in 1560, became Canon of Salisbury in 1563. He wrote sundry other theological works, and d. in 1587. There is a memoir of him attributed to his s., but of doubtful authenticity. Some of his papers, used by Strype (q.v.), are now in the British Museum.
FRANCIS, SIR PHILIP (1740-1818).—Reputed author of The Letters of Junius, s. of the Rev. Philip F., a scholar of some note, was b. in Dublin. On the recommendation of Lord Holland he received an appointment in the office of the Sec. of State, and was thereafter private sec. to Lord Kinnoull in Portugal, and to Pitt in 1761-2. He was then transferred to the War Office, where he remained from 1762-72, during which period he contributed to the press under various pseudonyms. His next appointment was that of a member of Council of Bengal, which he held from 1773-80. While in India he was in continual conflict with the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, by whom he was wounded in a duel in 1779. He returned to England in 1780 with a large fortune, and entered Parliament as a Whig. In 1787 he was associated with Burke in the impeachment of Hastings, against whom he showed extraordinary vindictiveness. Later he was a sympathiser with the French Revolution, and a member of the association of the Friends of the People. He retired from public life in 1807, and d. in 1818. He was the author of about 20 political pamphlets, but the great interest attaching to him is his reputed authorship of the Letters of Junius. These letters which, partly on account of the boldness and implacability of their attacks and the brilliance of their literary style, and partly because of the mystery in which their author wrapped himself, created an extraordinary impression, and have ever since retained their place as masterpieces of condensed sarcasm. They appeared in The Public Advertiser, a paper pub. by Woodfall, the first on January 21, 1769, and the last on the corresponding day of 1772, and were chiefly directed against the Dukes of Grafton and Bedford, and Lord Mansfield; but even the king himself did not escape. Not only were the public actions of those attacked held up to execration, but every circumstance in their private lives which could excite odium was dragged into the light. Their authorship was attributed to many distinguished men, e.g. Burke, Lord Shelburne, J. Wilkes, Horne Tooke, and Barre, and recently to Gibbon; but the evidence appears to point strongly to F., and, in the opinion of Macaulay, would "support a verdict in a civil, nay, in a criminal trial." It rests upon such circumstances as the similarity of the MS. to what is known to be the disguised writing of F., the acquaintance of the writer with the working of the Sec. of State's Office and the War Office, his denunciation of the promotion of a Mr. Chamier in the War Office, which was a well-known grievance of F., his acquaintance with Pitt, and the existence of a strong tie to Lord Holland, the silence of Junius when F. was absent, and resemblances in the style and the moral character of the writer to those of F.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN (1706-1790).—American statesman, philosopher, and writer, was one of a numerous family. His f. was a soap-boiler at Boston, where F. was b. He was apprenticed at the age of 13 to his brother, a printer, who treated him harshly. After various changes, during which he lived in New York, London, and Philadelphia, he at last succeeded in founding a successful business as a printer. He also started a newspaper, The Gazette, which was highly popular, Poor Richard's Almanac, and the Busybody Papers, in imitation of the Spectator. After holding various minor appointments, he was made deputy Postmaster-General for the American Colonies. In 1757 he went to London on some public business in which he was so successful that various colonies appointed him their English agent. In the midst of his varied avocations he found time for scientific investigation, especially with regard to electricity. For these he became known over the civilised world, and was loaded with honours. In 1762 he returned to America, and took a prominent part in the controversies which led to the Revolutionary War and the independence of the Colonies. In 1776 he was U.S. Minister to France, and in 1782 was a signatory of the treaty which confirmed the independence of the States. He returned home in 1785, and, after holding various political offices, retired in 1788, and d. in 1790. His autobiography is his chief contribution to literature, and is of the highest interest.
Works (10 vols., Bigelow, 1887-9), Autobiography (1868), Lives by M'Master (1887), and Morse (1889).
FREEMAN, EDWARD AUGUSTUS (1823-1892).—Historian, s. of John F., was b. at Harborne, Staffordshire. He lost both his parents in childhood, and was brought up by his paternal grandmother. He was ed. at private schools, and as a private pupil of the Rev. R. Gutch, whose dau. he afterwards m. In 1841 he was elected to a scholarship at Oxf. He had inherited an income sufficient to make him independent of a profession, and a prepossession in favour of the celibacy of the clergy disinclined him to enter the Church, of which he had at one time thought. He settled ultimately at Somerleaze, near Wells, where he occupied himself in study, writing for periodicals, and with the duties of a magistrate. He was a strong Liberal, and on one occasion stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Parliament. He was also twice unsuccessful as an applicant for professional chairs, but ultimately, in 1884, succeeded Stubbs as Prof. of Modern History at Oxf. He had always been an enthusiastic traveller, and it was when on a tour in Spain that he took ill and d. on May 16, 1892. F. was a voluminous author, and a keen controversialist. His first book was a History of Architecture (1849), and among the very numerous publications which he issued the most important were History of Federal Government (1863), The History of the Norman Conquest (6 vols., 1867-79), The Historical Geography of Europe (1881-2), The Reign of William Rufus (1882), and an unfinished History of Sicily. Besides these he wrote innumerable articles in periodicals, many of which were separately pub. and contain much of his best work. He was laborious and honest, but the controversial cast of his mind sometimes coloured his work. His short books, such as his William I., and his General Sketch of European History, are marvels of condensation, and show him at his best. His knowledge of history was singularly wide, and he sometimes showed a great power of vivid presentation.
FRENEAU, PHILIP (1752-1832).—Poet, b. in New York, produced two vols. of verse (1786-8), the most considerable contribution to poetry made up to that date in America. He fought in the Revolutionary War, was taken prisoner, and confined in a British prison-ship, the arrangements of which he bitterly satirised in The British Prison Ship (1781). He also wrote vigorous prose, of which Advice to Authors is an example. Amid much commonplace and doggerel, F. produced a small amount of genuine poetry in his short pieces, such as The Indian Burying Ground, and The Wild Honeysuckle.
FRERE, JOHN HOOKHAM (1769-1846).—Diplomatist, translator, and author, eldest s. of John F., a distinguished antiquary, was b. in London, and ed. at Eton and Camb. He became a clerk in the Foreign Office, and subsequently entering Parliament was appointed Under Foreign Sec. In 1800 he was Envoy to Portugal, and was Ambassador to Spain 1802-4, and again 1808-9. In 1818 he retired to Malta, where he d. He was a contributor to the Anti-Jacobin, to Ellis's Specimens of the Early English Poets (1801), and to Southey's Chronicle of the Cid. He also made some masterly translations from Aristophanes; but his chief original contribution to literature was a burlesque poem on Arthur and the Round Table, purporting to be by William and Robert Whistlecraft. All F.'s writings are characterised no less by scholarship than by wit.
FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY (1818-1894).—Historian and essayist, 3rd s. of the Archdeacon of Totnes, Devonshire, near which he was b., and brother of Richard Hurrell. F., one of the leaders of the Tractarian party, was ed. at Westminster School and Oxf., where for a short time he came under the influence of Newman, and contributed to his Lives of the English Saints, and in 1844 he took Deacon's orders. The connection with Newman was, however, short-lived; and the publication in 1848 of The Nemesis of Faith showed that in the severe mental and spiritual conflict through which he had passed, the writer had not only escaped from all Tractarian influences, but was in revolt against many of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. One result of the book was his resignation of his Fellowship at Oxf.: another was his loss of an appointment as Head Master of the Grammar School of Hobart Town, Tasmania. In the same year began his friendship with Carlyle, and about the same time he became a contributor to the Westminster Review and to Fraser's Magazine, of which he was ed. from 1860-74. These papers were afterwards coll. and pub. in the 4 vols. of Short Studies on Great Subjects. In 1856 he pub. the first 2 vols. of the great work of his life, The History of England from the Fall of Cardinal Wolsey to the Spanish Armada, which extended to 12 vols., the last of which appeared in 1870. As literature this work has a place among the greatest productions of the century; but in its treatment it is much more dramatic, ethical, and polemical than historical in the strict sense; and indeed the inaccuracy in matters of fact to which F. was liable, combined with his tendency to idealise and to colour with his own prejudices the characters who figure in his narrative, are serious deductions from the value of his work considered as history. The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century appeared in 1872-4. On the death of Carlyle in 1881, F. found himself in the position of his sole literary executor, and in that capacity pub. successively the Reminiscences (1881), History of the First Forty Years of Carlyle's Life (1882), Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle (1883), History of Carlyle's Life in London (1884). The opinion is held by many that in the discharge of the duties entrusted to him by his old friend and master he showed neither discretion nor loyalty; and his indiscreet revelations and gross inaccuracies evoked a storm of controversy and protest. F. did not confine his labours to purely literary effort. In 1874-5 he travelled as a Government Commissioner in South Africa with the view of fostering a movement in favour of federating the various colonies there; in 1876 he served on the Scottish Univ. Commission; in 1884-5 he visited Australia, and gave the fruit of his observations to the world in Oceana (1886), and in 1886-7 he was in the West Indies, and pub. The English in the West Indies (1888). The year 1892 saw his appointment as Prof. of Modern History at Oxf., and his lectures there were pub. in his last books, Life and Letters of Erasmus (1894), English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century (1895), and The Council of Trent (1896). F. was elected in 1869 Lord Rector of the Univ. of St. Andrews, and received the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh in 1884. By his instructions no Biography was to be written.
FULLER, SARAH MARGARET (1810-1850).—Was b. in Massachusetts, dau. of a lawyer, who encouraged her in over-working herself in the acquisition of knowledge with life-long evil results to her health. On his death she supported a large family of brothers and sisters by teaching. Her early studies had made her familiar with the literature not only of England but of France, Spain, and Italy; she had become imbued with German philosophy and mysticism, and she co-operated with Theodore Parker in his revolt against the Puritan theology till then prevalent in New England, and became the conductor of the Transcendentalist organ, The Dial, from 1840-2. She made various translations from the German, and pub. Summer on the Lakes (1844), and Papers on Literature and Art (1846). In the same year she went to Europe, and at Rome met the Marquis Ossoli, an Italian patriot, whom she m. in 1847. She and her husband were in the thick of the Revolution of 1848-9, and in the latter year she was in charge of a hospital at Rome. After the suppression of the Revolution she escaped with her husband from Italy, and took ship for America. The voyage proved most disastrous: small-pox broke out on the vessel, and their infant child d., the ship was wrecked on Fire Island, near New York, and she and her husband were lost. Destitute of personal attractions, she was possessed of a singular power of conciliating sympathy. She was the intimate friend of Emerson, Hawthorn, Channing, and other eminent men.
FULLER, THOMAS (1608-1661).—Divine and antiquary, s. of a clergyman of the same name, was b. at Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire. Possessed of exceptional intelligence and a wonderful memory, he became a good scholar, and distinguished himself at Camb., where he was sent. Entering the Church, he obtained rapid preferment, including the lectureship at the Savoy, and a chaplaincy to Charles II. He was a voluminous author, his works dealing with theology, morals, history, and antiquities. Among the chief are History of the Holy War, i.e. the Crusades (1643), The Holy State and the Profane State (1642), A Pisgah Sight of Palestine (1650), Church History of Britain, History of Cambridge University (1655), Worthies of England (1662), and Good Thoughts in Bad Times. The outstanding characteristic of F.'s writings is shrewd observation conveyed in a style of quaint humour. Lamb says, "His conceits are oftentimes deeply steeped in human feeling and passion." But in addition there is much wisdom and a remarkable power of casting his observations into a compact, aphoristic form. The Worthies, though far from being a systematic work, is full of interesting biographical and antiquarian matter which, but for the pains of the author, would have been lost. Coleridge says of him, "He was incomparably the most sensible, the least prejudiced great man in an age that boasted a galaxy of great men." F., who was of a singularly amiable character, was a strong Royalist, and suffered the loss of his preferments during the Commonwealth. They were, however, given back to him at the Restoration.
Lives by Russell (1844), J.E. Bailey (1874), and M. Fuller (1886).
FULLERTON, LADY GEORGIANA (LEVESON-GOWER) (1812-1885).—Novelist, dau. of the 1st Earl Granville, and sister of the eminent statesman. She wrote a number of novels, some of which had considerable success. They include Ellen Middleton (1844), Grantley Manor (1847), and Too Strange not to be True (1864). She also pub. two vols. of verse. She joined the Church of Rome in 1846.
GAIMAR, GEOFFREY (fl. 1140?).—Chronicler, translated the chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth into French verse for the wife of his patron, Ralph Fitz-Gilbert, and added a continuation dealing with the Saxon Kings. His work is entitled L'Estoire des Engles.
GALT, JOHN (1779-1839).—Novelist and miscellaneous writer, s. of the captain of a West Indiaman, was b. at Irvine, Ayrshire, but while still a young man he went to London and formed a commercial partnership, which proved unfortunate, and he then entered Lincoln's Inn to study law. A little before this he had produced his first book, a poem on the Battle of Largs, which, however, he soon suppressed. He then went to various parts of the Continent in connection with certain commercial schemes, and met Lord Byron, with whom he travelled for some time. Returning home he pub. Letters from the Levant, which had a favourable reception, and some dramas, which were less successful. He soon, however, found his true vocation in the novel of Scottish country life, and his fame rests upon the Ayrshire Legatees (1820), The Annals of the Parish (1821), Sir Andrew Wylie (1822), The Entail (1824), and The Provost. He was not so successful in the domain of historical romance, which he tried in Ringan Gilbaize, The Spae-wife, The Omen, etc., although these contain many striking passages. In addition to his novels G. produced many historical and biographical works, including a Life of Wolsey (1812), Life and Studies of Benjamin West (1816), Tour of Asia, Life of Byron (1830), Lives of the Players, and an Autobiography (1834). In addition to this copious literary output, G. was constantly forming and carrying out commercial schemes, the most important of which was the Canada Company, which, like most of his other enterprises, though conducted with great energy and ability on his part, ended in disappointment and trouble for himself. In 1834 he returned from Canada to Greenock, broken in health and spirits, and d. there in 1839 of paralysis. G. was a man of immense talent and energy, but would have held a higher place in literature had he concentrated these qualities upon fewer objects. Most of his 60 books are forgotten, but some of his novels, especially perhaps The Annals of the Parish, have deservedly a secure place. The town of Galt in Canada is named after him.
GARDINER, SAMUEL RAWSON (1829-1902).—Historian, b. at Alresford, Hants, was ed. at Winchester and Oxf. In 1855 he m. Isabella, dau. of Edward Irving (q.v.), the founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church, which he joined, and in which he ultimately held high office. About the time of his leaving Oxf. he had planned his great work, The History of England from the Accession of James I. to the Restoration, and the accomplishment of this task he made the great object of his life for more than 40 years. The first two vols. appeared in 1863 as The History of England from the Accession of James I. to the Disgrace of Chief Justice Cooke, and subsequent instalments appeared under the following titles: Prince Charles and The Spanish Marriage (1867), England under Buckingham and Charles I. (1875), Personal Government of Charles I. (1877), The Fall of the Government of Charles I. (1881); these were in 1883-4 re-issued in a consolidated form entitled History of England from the Accession of James I. to the Outbreak of the Civil War. The second section of the work, History of the Great Civil War, followed in three vols. pub. in 1886, 1889, and 1891 respectively, and three more vols., History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate in 1894, 1897, and 1901, brought the story down to 1656, when the health of the indefatigable writer gave way, and he d. in 1902. In addition to this monumental work G. wrote many school and college historical text-books, and contributed to the Epochs of Modern History Series, The Thirty Years' War (1874), and The First Two Stuarts (1876); he also wrote Outlines of English History, three parts (1881-3), and Students' History of England, three parts (1891). From 1871-85 he was Prof. of History at King's Coll., London, and lecturer on history for the London Society for the Extension of Univ. Teaching. He also ed. many of the historical documents which he unearthed in his investigations, and many of those issued by the "Camden," "Clarendon," and other societies. He was ed. of The English Historical Review, and contributed largely to the Dictionary of National Biography. The sober and unadorned style of G.'s works did little to commend them to the general reader, but their eminent learning, accuracy, impartiality, and the laborious pursuit of truth which they exhibited earned for him, from the first, the respect and admiration of scholars and serious students of history; and as his great work advanced it was recognised as a permanent contribution to historical literature. In 1882 he received a civil list pension, and was elected to Research Fellowships, first by All Souls' Coll., and subsequently by Merton. He held honorary degrees from the Univ. of Oxford, Gottingen, and Edinburgh.
GARNETT, RICHARD (1835-1906).—Biographer and writer on literature, s. of Richard G., an assistant keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum. B. at Lichfield, and ed. at a school in, Bloomsbury, he entered the British Museum in 1851 as an assistant librarian. There he remained for nearly 50 years, and rose to be Keeper of Printed Books. He acquired a marvellous knowledge of books, and of everything connected with pure literature. He made numerous translations from the Greek, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and wrote books of graceful verse, The Twilight of the Gods and other Tales (1888), various biographical works on Carlyle, Milton, Blake, and others, The Age of Dryden, a History of Italian Literature, and contributed many articles to encyclopaedias, and to the Dictionary of National Biography.
GARRICK, DAVID (1717-1779).—Actor and dramatist, b. at Hereford, but got most of his education at Lichfield, to which his f. belonged. He was also one of the three pupils who attended Johnson's School at Edial. With his great preceptor, whom he accompanied to London, he always remained on friendly terms. He took to the stage, and became the greatest of English actors. He also wrote various plays, and adaptations, and did not scruple to undertake "improved" versions of some of Shakespeare's greatest plays including Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Winter s Tale, performing the same service for Jonson and Wycherley, in the last case with much more excuse. Of his original plays The Lying Valet and Miss in her Teens are perhaps the best.
GARRISON, WILLIAM LLOYD (1805-1879).—Orator, was b. at Newburyport, Mass. Though chiefly known for his eloquent advocacy of negro emancipation, he is also remembered for his Sonnets and other Poems (1847).
GARTH, SIR SAMUEL (1661-1719).—Physician and poet, b. at Bolam in the county of Durham, and ed. at Camb., he settled as a physician in London, where he soon acquired a large practice. He was a zealous Whig, the friend of Addison and, though of different political views, of Pope, and he ended his career as physician to George I., by whom he was knighted in 1714. He is remembered as the author of The Dispensary, a satire, which had great popularity in its day, and of Claremont, a descriptive poem. He also ed. a translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, to which Addison, Pope, and others contributed. Perhaps, however, the circumstance most honourable to him is his intervention to procure an honourable burial for Dryden, over whose remains he pronounced a eulogy.
GASCOIGNE, GEORGE (1525 or 1535-1577).—Poet and dramatist, s. of Sir John G., and descended from Sir William G., the famous Chief Justice to Henry IV., he was ed. at Camb., and entered Gray's Inn 1555. While there he produced two plays, both translations, The Supposes (1566) from Ariosto, and Jocasta (1566) from Euripides. Disinherited on account of his prodigality, he m. in order to rehabilitate his finances, a widow, the mother of Nicholas Breton (q.v.). He had, nevertheless, to go to Holland to escape from the importunities of his creditors. While there he saw service under the Prince of Orange, and was taken prisoner by the Spaniards. Released after a few months, he returned to England, and found that some of his poems had been surreptitiously pub. He thereupon issued an authoritative ed. under the title of An Hundred Sundrie Floures bound up in one Poesie (1572). Other works are Notes of Instruction, for making English verse, The Glasse of Government (1575), and The Steele Glasse (1576), a satire. He also contributed to the entertainments in honour of Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth and appears to have had a share of Court favour. G. was a man of originality, and did much to popularise the use of blank verse in England.
GASKELL, ELIZABETH CLEGHORN (STEVENSON) (1810-1865).—Novelist, dau. of William Stevenson, a Unitarian minister, and for some time Keeper of the Treasury Records. She m. William G., a Unitarian minister, at Manchester, and in 1848 pub. anonymously her first book, Mary Barton, in which the life and feelings of the manufacturing working classes are depicted with much power and sympathy. Other novels followed, Lizzie Leigh (1855), Mr. Harrison's Confessions (1865), Ruth (1853), Cranford (1851-3), North and South (1855), Sylvia's Lovers (1863), etc. Her last work was Wives and Daughters (1865), which appeared in the Cornhill Magazine, and was left unfinished. Mrs. G. had some of the characteristics of Miss Austen, and if her style and delineation of character are less minutely perfect, they are, on the other hand, imbued with a deeper vein of feeling. She was the friend of Charlotte Bronte (q.v.), to whom her sympathy brought much comfort, and whose Life she wrote. Of Cranford Lord Houghton wrote, "It is the finest piece of humoristic description that has been added to British literature since Charles Lamb."
GATTY, MRS. ALFRED (MARGARET SCOTT) (1809-1873).—Dau. of Rev. A.J. Scott, D.D., a navy chaplain, who served under, and was the trusted friend of, Nelson. She m. the Rev. Alfred Gatty, D.D., Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, and became a highly useful and popular writer of tales for young people. Among her books may be mentioned Parables from Nature, Worlds not Realised, Proverbs Illustrated, and Aunt Judy's Tales. She also conducted Aunt Judy's Magazine, and wrote a book on British sea-weeds. Juliana Ewing (q.v.) was her daughter.
GAUDEN, JOHN (1605-1662).—Theologian, b. at Mayfield in Essex, and ed. at Camb. His claim to remembrance rests on his being the reputed author of Eikon Basilike (the Royal Image), a book purporting to be written by Charles I. during his imprisonment, and containing religious meditations and defences of his political acts. Pub. immediately after the King's execution, it produced an extraordinary effect, so much so that Charles II. is reported to have said that, had it been pub. a week earlier, it would have saved his father's life. There seems now to be little doubt that Gauden was the author. At all events he claimed to be recompensed for his services, and was made Bishop successively of Exeter and Worcester, apparently on the strength of these claims. The work passed through 50 ed. within a year, and was answered by Milton in his Iconoclastes (the Image-breaker).
GAY, JOHN (1685-1732).—Poet and dramatist, b. near Barnstaple of a good but decayed family. His parents dying while he was a child he was apprenticed to a silk-mercer in London, but not liking the trade, was released by his master. In 1708 he pub. a poem, Wine, and in 1713 Rural Sports, which he dedicated to Pope, whose friendship he obtained. A little before this he had received an appointment as sec. in the household of the Duchess of Monmouth. His next attempts were in the drama, in which he was not at first successful; but about 1714 he made his first decided hit in The Shepherd's Week, a set of six pastorals designed to satirise Ambrose Philips, which, however, secured public approval on their own merits. These were followed by Trivia (1716), in which he was aided by Swift, an account in mock heroic verse of the dangers of the London streets, and by The Fan. G. had always been ambitious of public employment, and his aspirations were gratified by his receiving the appointment of sec. to an embassy to Hanover, which, however, he appears to have resigned in a few months. He then returned to the drama in What d'ye call It, and Three Hours after Marriage, neither of which, however, took the public fancy. In 1720 he pub. a collection of his poems, which brought him L1000, but soon after lost all his means in the collapse of the South Sea Company. After producing another drama, The Captive, he pub. his Fables (1727), which added to his reputation, and soon after, in 1728, achieved the great success of his life in The Beggar's Opera, a Newgate pastoral, suggested by Swift, in which the graces and fantasticalities of the Italian Opera were satirised. A sequel, Polly, was suppressed by the Lord Chamberlain as reflecting upon the Court, but was pub. and had an enormous sale. The last few years of his life were passed in the household of the Duke of Queensberry, who had always been his friend and patron. He d. after three days' illness, aged 47. G. was an amiable, easy-going man, who appears to have had the power of attracting the strong attachments of his friends, among whom were Pope and Swift. He seems to have been one of the very few for whom the latter had a sincere affection. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. Of all he has written he is best remembered by one or two songs, of which the finest is Black-eyed Susan.
GEDDES, ALEXANDER (1737-1802).—Theologian and scholar, of Roman Catholic parentage, was b. at Ruthven, Banffshire, and ed. for the priesthood at the local seminary of Scalan, and at Paris, and became a priest in his native county. His translation of the Satires of Horace made him known as a scholar, but his liberality of view led to his suspension. He then went to London, where he became known to Lord Petre, who enabled him to proceed with a new translation of the Bible for English Roman Catholics, which he carried on as far as Ruth, with some of the Psalms, and which was pub. in 3 vols. (1792-6). This was followed by Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures, in which he largely anticipated the German school of criticism. The result of this publication was his suspension from all ecclesiastical functions. G. was also a poet, and wrote Linton: a Tweedside Pastoral, Carmen Seculare pro Gallica Gente (1790), in praise of the French Revolution. He d. without recanting, but received absolution at the hands of a French priest, though public mass for his soul was forbidden by the ecclesiastical powers.
GEOFFREY of MONMOUTH (1100?-1154).—Chronicler, was probably a Benedictine monk, and became Bishop of St. Asaph. He wrote a Latin History of British Kings. Merlin's Prophecies, long attributed to him, is now held to be not genuine. The history is rather a historical romance than a sober history, and gave scandal to some of the more prosaic chroniclers who followed him. It was subsequently translated into Anglo-Norman by Gaimar and Wace, and into English by Layamon.
GERARD, ALEXANDER (1728-1795).—Philosophical writer, s. of Rev. Gilbert G., was ed. at Aberdeen, where he became Prof., first of Natural Philosophy, and afterwards of Divinity, and one of the ministers of the city. As a prof. he introduced various reforms. In 1756 he gained the prize for an Essay on Taste which, together with an Essay on Genius, he subsequently pub. These treatises, though now superseded, gained for him considerable reputation.
GIBBON, EDWARD (1737-1794).—Historian, was b. at Putney of an ancient Kentish family. His f. was Edward G., and his mother Judith Porten. He was the only one of a family of seven who survived infancy, and was himself a delicate child with a precocious love of study. After receiving his early education at home he was sent to Westminster School, and when 15 was entered at Magdalen Coll., Oxf., where, according to his own account, he spent 14 months idly and unprofitably. Oxf. was then at its lowest ebb, and earnest study or effort of any kind had little encouragement. G., however, appears to have maintained his wide reading in some degree, and his study of Bossuet and other controversialists led to his becoming in 1753 a Romanist. To counteract this his f. placed him under the charge of David Mallet (q.v.), the poet, deist, and ed. of Bolingbroke's works, whose influence, not unnaturally, failed of the desired effect, and G. was next sent to Lausanne, and placed under the care of a Protestant pastor, M. Pavilliard. Various circumstances appear to have made G. not unwilling to be re-converted to Protestantism; at all events he soon returned to the reformed doctrines. At Lausanne he remained for over four years, and devoted himself assiduously to study, especially of French literature and the Latin classics. At this time also he became engaged to Mademoiselle Suzanne Curchod; but on the match being peremptorily opposed by his f. it was broken off. With the lady, who eventually became the wife of Necker, and the mother of Madame de Stael, he remained on terms of friendship. In 1758 G. returned to England, and in 1761 pub. Essai sur l'Etude de la Litterature, translated into English in 1764. About this time he made a tour on the Continent, visiting Paris, where he stayed for three months, and thence proceeding to Switzerland and Italy. There it was that, musing amid the ruins of the Capitol at Rome on October 15, 1764, he formed the plan of writing the history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He returned to England in 1765, and in 1770 his f. d., leaving him the embarrassed estate of Buriton, which had been his usual home when in England. With a view to recovering his affairs, he left his estate and lived in London where, in 1772, he seriously set himself to realise the great plan which, since its conception, had never been out of his thoughts. The first chapter was written three times, and the second twice before he could satisfy himself that he had found the style suited to his subject. The progress of the work was delayed by the fact that G. had meanwhile (1774) entered the House of Commons, where, as member for Liskeard, he was a steady, though silent, supporter of Lord North in his American policy. He subsequently sat for Lymington, and held office as a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations 1779-82. The first vol. of the Decline and Fall appeared in 1776, and was received with acclamation, and it was not until some time had elapsed that the author's treatment of the rise of Christianity excited the attention and alarm of the religious and ecclesiastical world. When, however, the far-reaching nature of his views was at length realised, a fierce and prolonged controversy arose, into which G. himself did not enter except in one case where his fidelity as an historian was impugned. The second and third vols. appeared in 1781, and thereafter (1783) G. returned to Lausanne, where he lived tranquilly with an early friend, M. Deyverdun, devoting his mornings to the completion of his history, and his evenings to society. At length, on the night of June 27, 1787, in the summer-house of his garden, the last words were penned, and the great work of his life completed. Of the circumstances, and of his feelings at the moment, he has himself given an impressive account. The last three vols. were issued in 1788, G. having gone to London to see them through the press. This being done he returned to Lausanne where, within a year, his beloved friend Deyverdun d. His last years were clouded by ill-health, and by anxieties with regard to the French Revolution. In 1793, though travelling was a serious matter for him, he came to England to comfort his friend Lord Sheffield on the death of his wife, took ill, and d. suddenly in London on January 16, 1794.
The place of G. among historians is in the first rank, and if the vast scale of his work and the enormous mass of detail involved in it are considered along with the learning and research employed in accumulating the material, and the breadth of view, lucidity of arrangement, and sense of proportion which have fused them into a distinct and splendid picture, his claims to the first place cannot be lightly dismissed. His style, though not pure, being tinged with Gallicisms, is one of the most noble in our literature, rich, harmonious, and stately; and though sources of information not accessible to him have added to our knowledge, and have shown some of his conclusions to be mistaken, his historical accuracy has been comparatively little shaken, and his work is sure of permanence. As a man G. seems to have been somewhat calm and cool in his feelings, though capable of steady and affectionate friendships, such as those with Deyverdun and the Sheffields, which were warmly reciprocated, and he appears to have been liked in society, where his brilliant conversational powers made him shine. He was vain, and affected the manners of the fine gentleman, which his unattractive countenance and awkward figure, and latterly his extreme corpulence, rendered somewhat ridiculous. He left an interesting Autobiography.
SUMMARY.—B. 1737, ed. Westminster and Oxf., became Romanist and sent to Lausanne 1753, where he returned to Protestantism, pub. Essay on Study of Literature 1761, visited Rome 1764 and resolved to write his Decline and Fall of Roman Empire, began to write it 1772, pub. 1776-87, d. 1794.
Decline and Fall (Sir W. Smith, 8 vols., 1854-55), another (J.B. Bury, 7 vols., 1896-1900). Autobiography (Lord Sheffield, 1796), often reprinted.
GIFFORD, RICHARD (1725-1807).—Poet, was ed. at Oxford and took orders. He was the author of a poem, Contemplation. He also wrote theological and controversial works.
GIFFORD, WILLIAM (1756-1826).—Critic and poet, was b. of humble parentage at Ashburton, Devonshire, and after being for a short time at sea, was apprenticed to a cobbler. Having, however, shown signs of superior ability, and a desire for learning, he was befriended and ed., ultimately at Oxf., where he grad. Becoming known to Lord Grosvenor, he was patronised by him, and in course of time produced his first poem, The Baviad (1794), a satire directed against the Delia Cruscans, a clique of very small and sentimental poets, which at once quenched their little tapers. This was followed by another satire, The Maeviad, against some minor dramatists. His last effort in this line was his Epistle to Peter Pindar (Dr. Walcot), inspired by personal enmity, which evoked a reply, A Cut at a Cobbler. These writings had established the reputation of G. as a keen, and even ferocious critic, and he was appointed in 1797 ed. of the Anti-Jacobin, which Canning and his friends had just started, and of the Quarterly Review (1809-24). He also brought out ed. of Massinger, Ben Jonson, and Ford. As a critic he had acuteness; but he was one-sided, prejudiced, and savagely bitter, and much more influenced in his judgments by the political opinions than by the literary merits of his victims. In his whole career, however, he displayed independence and spirit in overcoming the disadvantages of his early life, as well as gratitude to those who had served him. He held various appointments which placed him above financial anxiety.
GILDAS (516?-570?).—British historian, was a monk who is believed to have gone to Brittany about 550, and founded a monastery. He wrote a history, De Excidio Britanniae (concerning the overthrow of Britain). It consists of two parts, the first from the Roman invasion until the end of the 4th century, and the second a continuation to the writer's own time. It is obscure and wordy, and not of much value.
GILDER, RICHARD WATSON (1844-1909).—Poet, b. at Borderstown, New Jersey, was successively a lawyer, a soldier, and a journalist, in which last capacity he ed. Scribner's (afterwards the Century) Magazine. He holds a high place among American poets as the author of The New Day (1875), The Celestial Passion, The Great Remembrance, Five Books of Song (1894), In Palestine (1898), In the Heights (1905), A Book of Music (collection) (1906), etc.
GILDON, CHARLES (1665-1724).—Critic and dramatist, belonged to a Roman Catholic family, and was an unsuccessful playwright, a literary hack, and a critic of little acumen or discrimination. He attacked Pope as "Sawny Dapper," and was in return embalmed in The Dunciad. He also wrote a Life of Defoe.
GILFILLAN, GEORGE (1813-1878).—Poet and critic, s. of a dissenting minister at Comrie, Perthshire, studied at Glasgow Univ., and was ordained minister of a church in Dundee. He was a voluminous author. Among his writings are Gallery of Literary Portraits, and a Series of British Poets with introductions and notes in 48 vols. He also wrote Lives of Burns, Scott, and others, and Night (1867), a poem in nine books. His style was somewhat turgid, and his criticism rather sympathetic than profound.
GILFILLAN, ROBERT (1798-1850).—Poet, b. at Dunfermline, was latterly Collector of Police Rates in Leith. He wrote a number of Scottish songs, and was favourably mentioned in Noctes Ambrosianae (see Wilson, J.). He was the author of the beautiful song, Oh, why left I my Hame?
GILLESPIE, GEORGE (1613-1648).—Scottish Theologian, was b. at Kirkcaldy, and studied at St. Andrews. He became one of the ministers of Edin., and was a member of the Westminster Assembly, in which he took a prominent part. A man of notable intellectual power, he exercised an influence remarkable in view of the fact that he d. in his 36th year. He was one of the most formidable controversialists of a highly controversial age. His best known work is Aaron's Rod Blossoming, a defence of the ecclesiastical claims of the high Presbyterian party.
GILLIES, JOHN (1747-1836).—Historian, b. at Brechin and ed. there and at Glasgow, wrote a History of Greece (1786) from a strongly anti-democratic standpoint, a History of the World from Alexander to Augustus (1807), and a View of the Reign of Frederick II. of Prussia. He also made various translations from the Greek. He succeeded Principal Robertson as Historiographer Royal for Scotland.
GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (literary name of GERALD DE BARRI) (1146?-1220?).—Geographer and historian, was b. of a Norman family settled in Wales, which intermarried with the Royal family of that country. He was an eminent scholar and Churchman, whose object of ambition was the Bishopric of St. David's, to which he was twice elected by the chapter, but from which he was kept out by the opposition of the King. When travelling in Ireland with Prince John (1185) he wrote Topographia Hibernica, a valuable descriptive account of the country, and in 1188 he wrote Itinerarium Cambriae, a similar work on Wales. He left several other works, including an autobiography, De Rebus a se Gestis (concerning his own doings).
GISSING, GEORGE (1857-1903).—Novelist, b. at Wakefield. In his novels he depicted the environment and struggles of the lower and lower middle classes with a somewhat pessimistic and depressing realism, although his last work, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, seemed to usher in the dawn of a somewhat brighter outlook. His other novels include Demos (1886), Thyrza (1887), The Nether World (1889), New Grub Street (1891), Born in Exile (1892), In the Year of Jubilee (1894), and The Town Traveller (1898). He d. at St. Jean de Luz in the Pyrenees.
GLADSTONE, WILLIAM EWART (1809-1898).—Statesman, scholar, and man of letters, fourth s. of Sir John G., a merchant in Liverpool, was of Scottish ancestry. He was ed. at Eton and Christ Church, Oxf. From his youth he was deeply interested in religious and ecclesiastical questions, and at one time thought of entering the Church. In 1832 he entered Parliament as a Tory, and from the first gave evidence of the splendid talents for debate and statesmanship, especially in the department of finance, which raised him to the position of power and influence which he afterwards attained. After holding the offices of Pres. of the Board of Trade, Colonial Sec., and Chancellor of the Exchequer, he attained the position of Prime Minister, which he held four times 1868-74, 1880-85, 1885-86, and 1892-93. His political career was one of intense energy and activity in every department of government, especially after he became Prime Minister, and while it gained him the enthusiastic applause and devotion of a large portion of the nation, it exposed him to a correspondingly intense opposition on the part of another. The questions which involved him in the greatest conflicts of his life and evoked his chief efforts of intellect were the disestablishment of the Irish Church, the foreign policy of his great rival Disraeli, and Home Rule for Ireland, on the last of which the old Liberal party was finally broken up. In the midst of political labours which might have been sufficient to absorb even his tireless energy, he found time to follow out and write upon various subjects which possessed a life-long interest for him. His first book was The State in its Relations with the Church (1839), which formed the subject of one of Macaulay's essays. Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age (1858), Juventus Mundi (1869), and Homeric Synchronism (1876), The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture (1890), The Vatican Decrees and Vaticanism (1874-75), and Gleanings of Past Years (1897), 8 vols., were his other principal contributions to literature. G.'s scholarship, though sound and even brilliant, was of an old-fashioned kind, and his conclusions on Homeric questions have not received much support from contemporary scholars. In his controversies with Huxley and others his want of scientific knowledge and of sympathy with modern scientific tendencies placed him at a disadvantage. His character was a singularly complex one, and his intellect possessed a plasticity which made it possible to say of him that he never was anything, but was always becoming something. His life was a singularly noble and stainless one, and he must probably ever remain one of the great figures in the history of his country.
Life by J. Morley (3 vols.), others by J. M'Carthy, Sir Wemyss Reid, and many others.
GLANVILL, JOSEPH (1636-1680).—Controversialist and moral writer, b. at Plymouth, and ed. at Oxf., took orders, and held various benefices, including the Rectory of Bath Abbey and a prebend at Worcester. He came under the influence of the Camb. Platonists, especially of Henry More (q.v.). His contendings were chiefly with the English Nonconformists, against whom (with the exception of Baxter whom he held in great esteem) he exhibited great bitterness. His chief work is the Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661) which contains the story of "The Scholar Gipsy," in later days turned to such fine account by Matthew Arnold. G. wrote a fine literary style, at its best recalling that of Sir Thomas Browne.
GLAPTHORNE, HENRY (fl. 1640).—Dramatist, had a high reputation among his contemporaries, though now almost forgotten. He wrote two comedies, three tragedies, and a book of poems, which were all reprinted in two vols. in 1874. His best work, is Argalus and Parthenia (1639), based upon Sidney's Arcadia. Others were The Hollander, Wit is a Constable, and The Ladies' Privilege (all 1640).
GLASCOCK, WILLIAM NUGENT (1787-1847).—Novelist. He saw a good deal of service in the navy with credit, and from this drew the inspiration of his vigorous and breezy sea-stories, which include Sailors and Saints (1829), Tales of a Tar (1836), and Land Sharks and Sea Gulls (1838).
GLEIG, GEORGE ROBERT (1796-1888).—S. of George G., Bishop of Brechin, entered the army, and served in the Peninsula and America. In 1820 he took orders, and after serving various cures bec., in 1834, Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital, and in 1844 Chaplain-General of the Forces, which office he held until 1875. He was a frequent contributor to reviews and magazines, especially Blackwood's, in which his best known novel, The Subaltern, appeared, and he was also the author of Lives of Warren Hastings, Clive, and Wellington, Military Commanders, Chelsea Pensioners, and other works.
GLEN, WILLIAM (1789-1826).—Poet, b. in Glasgow, was for some years in the West Indies. He d. in poverty. He wrote several poems, but the only one which has survived is his Jacobite ballad, Wae's me for Prince Charlie.
GLOVER, RICHARD (1712-1785).—Poet and dramatist, was a London merchant, and M.P. for Weymouth. A scholarly man with a taste for literature, he wrote two poems in blank verse, Leonidas (1737), and The Athenaid (1787). Though not without a degree of dignity, they want energy and interest, and are now forgotten. He also produced a few dramas, which had little success. He is best remembered by his beautiful ballad, Hosier's Ghost, beginning "As near Portobello lying." G. had the reputation of a useful and public-spirited citizen.
GODWIN, MRS. MARY (WOLLSTONECRAFT) (1759-1797).—Miscellaneous writer, was of Irish extraction. Her f. was a spend-thrift of bad habits, and at 19 Mary left home to make her way in the world. Her next ten years were spent as companion to a lady, in teaching a school at Newington Green, and as governess in the family of Lord Kingsborough. In 1784 she assisted her sister to escape from a husband who ill-treated her. In 1788 she took to translating, and became literary adviser to Johnson the publisher, through whom she became known to many of the literary people of the day, as well as to certain Radicals, including Godwin, Paine, Priestly, and Fuseli, the painter. She then, 1792, went to Paris, where she met Captain Imlay, with whom she formed a connection, the fruit of which was her daughter Fanny. Captain Imlay having deserted her, she tried to commit suicide at Putney Bridge, but was rescued. Thereafter she resumed her literary labours, and lived with W. Godwin, who married her in 1797. Their dau., Mary, whose birth she did not survive, became the second wife of Shelley. Her chief original writings are a Reply to Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution (1791), Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), and Original Stories for Children, illustrated by W. Blake. Her Vindication received much adverse criticism on account of its extreme positions and over-plainness of speech.
GODWIN, WILLIAM (1756-1836).—Philosopher and novelist, b. at Wisbeach, and ed. at a school in Norwich, to which city his f., a Presbyterian minister, had removed, and subsequently at a Presbyterian coll. at Hoxton, with a view to the ministry. From 1778 to 1783 he acted as minister of various congregations near London; but his theological views having undergone important changes, he resigned his pastorate, and devoted himself to a literary career. His first work, a series of historical sketches in the form of sermons, failed. He then found employment as one of the principal writers in the New Annual Register, and became otherwise prominent as an advocate of political and social reform. Many of his views were peculiar and extreme, and even tended, if fully carried out in practice, to subvert morality; but they were propounded and supported by their author with a whole-hearted belief in their efficacy for the regeneration of society: and the singular circumstances of his connection with and ultimate marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft showed at least that he had the courage of his opinions. His Enquiry concerning Political Justice (1793) made him famous. A year later he pub. his masterpiece, Caleb Williams, a novel exhibiting a sombre strength rarely equalled. The next few years were occupied in political controversy, for which G. was, by his sincerity and his masculine style, well fitted; and it was in the midst of these—in 1797—that his first marriage, already alluded to, and the death of his wife, of whom he pub. a singular but interesting Life, occurred. In 1799 his second great novel, St. Leon, based upon the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life, appeared. His other novels, Fleetwood (1804), Mandeville (1817), and Cloudesley (1830), are much inferior. In addition to these works G. brought out an elaborate Life of Chaucer in 2 vols. (1803), An Essay on Sepulchres (1808), containing much fine thought finely expressed, A History of the Commonwealth, an Essay against the theories of Malthus (q.v.), and his last work, Lives of the Necromancers. For some time he engaged in the publishing business, in which, however, he ultimately proved unsuccessful. In his later years he had the office of Yeoman Usher of the Exchequer conferred upon him. G. entered in 1801 into a second marriage with a widow, Mrs. Clairmont, by whom he had a dau. This lady had already a s. and dau., the latter of whom had an irregular connection with Byron. His dau. by his first marriage—Mary Wollstonecraft G.,—became in 1816 the wife of Shelley. G. was a man of simple manners and imperturbable temper.
GOLDING, ARTHUR (1535?-1605?).—Translator, s. of a gentleman of Essex, was perhaps at Camb., and was diligent in the translation of theological works by Calvin, Beza, and others, but is chiefly remembered for his versions of Caesar's Commentaries (1565), and specially of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1565-67), the latter in ballad metre. He also translated Justin's History, and part of Seneca.
GOLDSMITH, OLIVER (1728-1774).—Poet, dramatist, and essayist, s. of an Irish clergyman, was b. at Pallasmore in Co. Longford. His early education was received at various schools at Elphin, Athlone, and Edgeworthstown. At the age of 8 he had a severe attack of smallpox which disfigured him for life. In 1744 he went to Trinity Coll., Dublin, whence, having come into collision with one of the coll. tutors, he ran away in 1746. He was, however, induced to return, and grad. in 1749. The Church was chosen for him as a profession—against his will be it said in justice to him. He presented himself before the Bishop of Elphin for examination—perhaps as a type of deeper and more inward incongruencies—in scarlet breeches, and was rejected. He next figured as a tutor; but had no sooner accumulated L30 than he quitted his employment and forthwith dissipated his little savings. A long-suffering uncle named Contarine, who had already more than once interposed on his behalf, now provided means to send him to London to study law. He, however, got no farther than Dublin, where he was fleeced to his last guinea, and returned to the house of his mother, now a widow with a large family. After an interval spent in idleness, a medical career was perceived to be the likeliest opening, and in 1752 he steered for Edin., where he remained on the usual happy-go-lucky terms until 1754, when he proceeded to Leyden. After a year there he started on a walking tour, which led him through France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. How he lived it is hard to say, for he left Leyden penniless. It is said that he disputed at Univ., and played the flute, and thus kept himself in existence. All this time, however, he was gaining the experiences and knowledge of foreign countries which he was afterwards to turn to such excellent account. At one of the Univ. visited at this time, he is believed to have secured the medical degree, of which he subsequently made use. Louvain and Padua have both been named as the source of it. He reached London almost literally penniless in 1756, and appears to have been occupied successively as an apothecary's journeyman, a doctor of the poor, and an usher in a school at Peckham. In 1757 he was writing for the Monthly Review. The next year he applied unsuccessfully for a medical appointment in India; and the year following, 1759, saw his first important literary venture, An Enquiry into the State of Polite Learning in Europe. It was pub. anonymously, but attracted some attention, and brought him other work. At the same time he became known to Bishop Percy, the collector of the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, and he had written The Bee, a collection of essays, and was employed upon various periodicals. In 1761 began his friendship with Johnson, which led to that of the other great men of that circle. His Chinese Letters, afterwards republished as The Citizen of the World, appeared in The Public Ledger in 1762. The Traveller, the first of his longer poems, came out in 1764, and was followed in 1766 by The Vicar of Wakefield. In 1768 he essayed the drama, with The Good-natured Man, which had considerable success. The next few years saw him busily occupied with work for the publishers, including The History of Rome (1769), Lives of Parnell the poet, and Lord Bolingbroke (1770), and in the same year The Deserted Village appeared; The History of England was pub. in 1771. In 1773 he produced with great success his other drama, She Stoops to Conquer. His last works were The Retaliation, The History of Greece, and Animated Nature, all pub. in 1774. In that year, worn out with overwork and anxiety, he caught a fever, of which he d. April 4. With all his serious and very obvious faults—his reckless improvidence, his vanity, and, in his earlier years at any rate, his dissipated habits—G. is one of the most lovable characters in English literature, and one whose writings show most of himself—his humanity, his bright and spontaneous humour, and "the kindest heart in the world." His friends included some of the best and greatest men in England, among them Johnson, Burke, and Reynolds. They all, doubtless, laughed at and made a butt of him, but they all admired and loved him. At the news of his death Burke burst into tears, Reynolds laid down his brush and painted no more that day, and Johnson wrote an imperishable epitaph on him. The poor, the old, and the outcast crowded the stair leading to his lodgings, and wept for the benefactor who had never refused to share what he had (often little enough) with them. Much of his work—written at high pressure for the means of existence, or to satisfy the urgency of duns—his histories, his Animated Nature, and such like, have, apart from a certain charm of style which no work of his could be without, little permanent value; but The Traveller and The Deserted Village, She Stoops to Conquer, and, above all, The Vicar of Wakefield, will keep his memory dear to all future readers of English.
SUMMARY.—B. 1728, ed. Trinity Coll., Dublin, went to Edin. 1752, and to Leyden 1754, travelled on foot over large part of Continent, reached London 1756, and wrote for magazines, etc., and after publishing various other works produced The Citizen of the World in 1762, pub. Vicar of Wakefield 1766, Deserted Village 1770, and She Stoops to Conquer 1773, d. 1774.
There are many ed. of G.'s works by Prior, 1837, Cunningham, 1854, Prof. Masson (Globe), 1869, Gibb (Bohn's Standard Library), 1885. Biographies by Prior, 1837, Foster, 1848-71, Washington Irving, and others. See also Boswell's Johnson, and Thackeray's English Humorists.
GOODALL, WALTER (1706?-1766).—Historical writer, b. in Banffshire, and ed. King's Coll., Aberdeen, became assistant librarian to the Advocates' Library in Edin. In 1754 he pub. an Examination of the Letters said to have been written by Mary Queen of Scots, in which he combats the genuineness of the "Casket Letters." He also ed., among other works, Fordun's Scotichronicon (1759).
GOODWIN, THOMAS (1600-1680).—Divine, was b. in Norfolk, and ed. at Camb., where he was Vicar of Trinity Church. Becoming an Independent, he ministered to a church in London, and thereafter at Arnheim in Holland. Returning to England he was made Chaplain to Cromwell's Council of State, and Pres. of Magdalen Coll., Oxf. At the Restoration he was deprived, but continued to preach in London. He was the author of various commentaries and controversial pamphlets, was a member of the Westminster Assembly, and assisted in drawing up the amended Confession, 1658. He attended Oliver Cromwell on his deathbed.
GOOGE, BARNABE (1540-1594).—Poet and translator, b. at Lincoln, studied at both Camb. and Oxf. He was a kinsman of Cecil, who gave him employment in Ireland. He translated from the Latin of Manzolli The Zodiac of Life, a satire against the Papacy, and The Popish Kingdome by T. Kirchmayer, a similar work; also The Foure Bookes of Husbandrie of Conrad Heresbach. In 1563 he pub. a vol. of original poems, Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonnettes.
GORDON, ADAM LINDSAY (1833-1870).—Poet, was b. in the Azores, the s. of an officer in the army. He went to Australia, where he had a varied career in connection with horses and riding, for which he had a passion. He betook himself to the Bush, got into financial trouble, and d. by his own hand. In the main he derives his inspiration (as in the Rhyme of Joyous Garde, and Britomarte) from mediaeval and English sources, not from his Australian surroundings. Among his books are Sea-spray and Smoke-drift (1867), Bush Ballads (containing The Sick Stock-rider) (1870), Ashtaroth (1867). In many of his poems, e.g. An Exile's Farewell, and Whispering in the Wattle Boughs, there is a strong vein of sadness and pathos.
GORE, MRS. CATHERINE GRACE FRANCES (MOODY) (1799-1861).—Novelist, dau. of a wine merchant at Retford, where she was b. She m. a Captain Gore, with whom she resided mainly on the Continent, supporting her family by her voluminous writings. Between 1824 and 1862 she produced about 70 works, the most successful of which were novels of fashionable English life. Among these may be mentioned Manners of the Day (1830), Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb (1841), and The Banker's Wife (1843). She also wrote for the stage, and composed music for songs.
GOSSON, STEPHEN (1554-1624).—Poet, actor, and satirist, b. in Kent, and ed. at Oxf., he went to London, and wrote plays, which are now lost, and pastorals; but, moved by a sermon preached at Paul's Cross in 1577 during a plague, he deserted the theatre, and became one of its severest critics in his prose satire, The School of Abrose (1579), directed against "poets, pipers, players, jesters, and such-like Caterpillars of a Commonwealth." Dedicated to Sir P. Sidney, it was not well received by him, and is believed to have evoked his Apologie for Poetrie (1595). G. entered the Church, and d. Rector of St. Botolph's, London.
GOUGH, RICHARD (1735-1809).—Antiquary, was b. in London, and studied at Camb. For many years he made journeys over England in pursuit of his antiquarian studies. He pub. about 20 works, among which are British Topography (1768), Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain (1786-99), an ed. of Camden's Britannia, a translation of The Arabian Nights (1798), and various other treatises on archaeology, topography, and numismatics.
GOWER, JOHN (1325?-1408).—Poet. Although few details of his life have come down to us, he appears to have been a man of wealth and importance, connected with Kent, well known at Court, and in possession of more than one estate. He was the friend of Chaucer, who gives him the title of "the moral Gower," which has clung to him ever since. His first principal work was Speculum Meditantis (the Mirror of one meditating) written in French on the subject of married life. It was long believed to have been lost. It was followed by Vox Clamantis (the Voice of one crying) written in Latin, giving an account of the peasants' revolt of 1381, and attacking the misgovernment and social evils which had led to it. His third, and only English poem, was Confessio Amantis (Lover's Confession), a work of 30,000 lines, consisting of tales and meditations on love, written at the request of Richard II. It is the earliest large collection of tales in the English tongue. In his old age G. became blind. He had, when about 70, retired to the Priory of St. Mary Overies, the chapel of which is now the Church of St. Saviour, Southwark, where he spent his last years, and to which he was a liberal benefactor. G. represented the serious and cultivated man of his time, in which he was reckoned the equal of Chaucer, but as a poet he is heavy and prolix.
GRAFTON, RICHARD (d. 1572).—Printer and chronicler, printed various ed. of the Bible and Prayer-book; also the Proclamation of the Accession of Lady Jane Grey, for which he was cast into prison, where he compiled an Abridgement of the Chronicles of England (1563). To this he added in 1568 A Chronicle at Large. Neither holds a high place as authorities.
GRAHAME, JAMES (1765-1811).—Poet, s. of a lawyer, was b. and ed. in Glasgow. After spending some time in a law office in Edin., he was called to the Scottish Bar. His health being delicate, and his circumstances easy, he early retired from practice, and taking orders in the Church of England in 1809, was appointed curate successively of Shipton, Gloucestershire, and Sedgefield, Durham. He wrote several pleasing poems, of which the best is The Sabbath (1804). He d. on a visit to Glasgow in his 47th year. His poems are full of quiet observation of country sights expressed in graceful verse.
GRAHAME, SIMON or SIMION (1570-1614).—B. in Edin., led a dissolute life as a traveller, soldier, and courtier on the Continent. He appears to have been a good scholar, and wrote the Passionate Sparke of a Relenting Minde, and Anatomy of Humours, the latter of which is believed to have suggested to Burton his Anatomy of Melancholie. He became an austere Franciscan.
GRAINGER, JAMES (1721-1766).—Poet, of a Cumberland family, studied medicine at Edin., was an army surgeon, and on the peace settled in practice in London, where he became the friend of Dr. Johnson, Shenstone, and other men of letters. His first poem, Solitude, appeared in 1755. He subsequently went to the West Indies (St. Kit's), where he made a rich marriage, and pub. his chief poem, The Sugar-Cane (1764).
GRANGER, JAMES (1723-1776).—Biographer, was at Oxf. and, entering the Church, became Vicar of Shiplake, Oxon. He pub. a Biographical History of England from Egbert the Great to the Revolution (1769). He insisted on the importance of collecting engravings of portraits and himself gathered 14,000, and gave a great impulse to the practice of making such collections.
GRANT, MRS. ANNE (M'VICAR) (1755-1838).—Was b. in Glasgow, and in 1779 m. the Rev. James Grant, minister of Laggan, Inverness-shire. She pub. in 1802 a vol. of poems. She also wrote Letters from the Mountains, and Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlands. After 1810 she lived in Edin., where she was the friend of Sir W. Scott and other eminent men, through whose influence a pension of L100 was bestowed upon her.
GRANT, JAMES (1822-1887).—Novelist, was the s. of an officer in the army, in which he himself served for a short time. He wrote upwards of 50 novels in a brisk, breezy style, of which the best known are perhaps The Romance of War (1845), Adventures of an Aide-de-Camp, Frank Hilton, Bothwell, Harry Ogilvie, and The Yellow Frigate. He also wrote biographies of Kirkcaldy of Grange, Montrose, and others which, however, are not always trustworthy from an historical point of view.
GRANT, JAMES AUGUSTUS (1827-1892).—Traveller, was an officer in the army, and was sent by the Royal Geographical Society along with Captain JOHN HANNING SPEKE (1827-1864), to search for the equatorial lakes of Africa. Grant wrote A Walk across Africa, The Botany of the Speke and Grant Expedition, and Khartoum as I saw it in 1863. Speke wrote Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1863), and What led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1864).
GRATTAN, THOMAS COLLEY (1792-1864).—Miscellaneous writer, b. in Dublin, and ed. for the law, but did not practise. He wrote a few novels, including The Heiress of Bruges (4 vols., 1830); but his best work was Highways and Byways, a description of his Continental wanderings, of which he pub. three series. He also wrote a history of the Netherlands and books on America. He was for some time British Consul at Boston, U.S.
GRAY, DAVID (1838-1861).—Poet, s. of a hand-loom weaver at Kirkintilloch, Dumbartonshire. He gave early promise at school, was destined for the service of the Church, and was for 4 years at Glasgow Univ. while he maintained himself by teaching. His first poems appeared in the Glasgow Citizen. In 1860, however, he went with his friend Robert Buchanan to London, where he soon fell into consumption. He was befriended by Mr. Monckton Milnes, afterwards Lord Houghton, but after a sojourn in the South of England, returned home to die. His chief poem, The Luggie (the river of his birthplace) contains much beautiful description; but his genius reached its highest expression in a series of 30 sonnets written in full view of an early death and blighted hopes, and bearing the title, In the Shadow. They breathe a spirit of the deepest melancholy unrelieved by hope.
GRAY, THOMAS (1716-1771).—Poet, was b. in London, the s. of a scrivener, who, though described as "a respectable citizen," was of so cruel and violent a temper that his wife had to separate from him. To his mother and her sister, who carried on a business, G. was indebted for his liberal education at Eton (where he became a friend of Horace Walpole), and Camb. After completing his Univ. course he accompanied Walpole to France and Italy, where he spent over two years, when a difference arising G. returned to England, and went back to Camb. to take his degree in law without, however, any intention of practising. He remained at Camb. for the rest of his life, passing his time in the study of the classics, natural science, and antiquities, and in visits to his friends, of whom Walpole was again one. It was in 1747 that his first poem, the Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, appeared, and it was followed between 1750 and 1757 by his Pindaric Odes, including The Progress of Poesy, and The Bard, which were, however, somewhat coldly received. Nevertheless he had, on the death of Colley Cibber, the offer of the laureateship, which he declined; but in 1768 he accepted the Professorship of Modern History in his Univ., worth L400 a year. Having been drawn to the study of Icelandic and Celtic poetry he produced The Fatal Sisters, and The Descent of Odin, in which are apparent the first streaks of the dawn of the Romantic Revival. G.'s poems occupy little space, but what he wrote he brought to the highest perfection of which he was capable, and although there is a tendency on the part of some modern critics to depreciate him, it is probable that his place will always remain high among all but the first order of poets. Probably no poem has had a wider acceptance among all classes of readers than his Elegy in a Country Churchyard. In addition to his fame as a poet, he enjoys that of one of the greatest of English letter-writers, and of a really great scholar. He d. at Camb. after a short illness following upon a gradually declining state of health.
Life by Gosse (Men of Letters Series, 1882).
GREELEY, HORACE (1811-1872).—Journalist and miscellaneous writer, was the s. of a small farmer in New Hampshire. His early life was passed first as a printer, and thereafter in editorial work. He started in 1841, and conducted until his death, the New York Tribune. He was long a leader in American politics, and in 1872 was an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency. His writings, which are chiefly political and economical, include Essays on Political Economy (1870), and Recollections of a Busy Life (1868).
GREEN, JOHN RICHARD (1837-1883).—Historian, was the s. of a tradesman in Oxf., where he was ed., first at Magdalen Coll. School, and then at Jesus Coll. He entered the Church, and served various cures in London, under a constant strain caused by delicate health. Always an enthusiastic student of history, his scanty leisure was devoted to research. In 1869 he finally gave up clerical work, and received the appointment of librarian at Lambeth. He had been laying plans for various historical works, including a History of the English Church as exhibited in a series of Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and, what he proposed as his magnum opus, A History of England under the Angevin Kings. The discovery, however, that his lungs were affected, necessitated the abridgment of all his schemes, and he concentrated his energies on the preparation of his Short History of the English People, which appeared in 1874, and at once gave him an assured place in the first rank of historical writers. In 1877 he m. Miss Alice Stopford, by whose talents and devotion he was greatly assisted in carrying out and completing such work as his broken health enabled him to undertake during his few remaining years. Abandoning his proposed history of the Angevins, he confined himself to expanding his Short History into A History of the English People in 4 vols. (1878-80), and writing The Making of England, of which one vol. only, coming down to 828, had appeared when he d. at Mentone in March 1883. After his death appeared The Conquest of England. The Short History may be said to have begun a new epoch in the writing of history, making the social, industrial, and moral progress of the people its main theme. To infinite care in the gathering and sifting of his material G. added a style of wonderful charm, and an historical imagination which has hardly been equalled.
GREEN, MATTHEW (1696-1737).—Poet, is known as the author of The Spleen, a lively and original poem in octosyllabic verse on the subject of low spirits and the best means of prevention and cure. It has life-like descriptions, sprightliness, and lightness of touch, and was admired by Pope and Gray. The poem owes its name to the use of the term in the author's day to denote depression. G., who held an appointment in the Customs, appears to have been a quiet, inoffensive person, an entertaining companion, and a Quaker.
GREEN, THOMAS HILL (1836-1882).—Philosopher, was b. at Birken Rectory, Yorkshire, and ed. at Rugby and Balliol Coll., Oxf., where he became Whyte Prof. of Moral Philosophy and, by his character, ability, and enthusiasm on social questions, exercised a powerful influence. His chief works are an Introduction to Hume's Treatise on Human Nature (Clarendon Press ed.), in which he criticised H.'s philosophy severely from the idealist standpoint, and Prolegomena to Ethics, pub. posthumously.
GREENE, ROBERT (1560?-1592).—Poet, dramatist, and pamphleteer, was b. at Norwich, and studied at Camb., where he grad. A.B. He was also incorporated at Oxf. in 1588. After travelling in Spain and Italy, he returned to Camb. and took A.M. Settling in London he was one of the wild and brilliant crew who passed their lives in fitful alternations of literary production and dissipation, and were the creators of the English drama. He has left an account of his career in which he calls himself "the mirror of mischief." During his short life about town, in the course of which he ran through his wife's fortune, and deserted her soon after the birth of her first child, he poured forth tales, plays, and poems, which had great popularity. In the tales, or pamphlets as they were then called, he turns to account his wide knowledge of city vices. His plays, including The Scottish History of James IV., and Orlando Furioso, which are now little read, contain some fine poetry among a good deal of bombast; but his fame rests, perhaps, chiefly on the poems scattered through his writings, which are full of grace and tenderness. G. d. from the effects of a surfeit of pickled herrings and Rheinish wine. His extant writings are much less gross than those of many of his contemporaries, and he seems to have given signs of repentance on his deathbed, as is evidenced by his last work, A Groat's worth of Wit bought with a Million of Repentance. In this curious work occurs his famous reference to Shakespeare as "an upstart crow beautified with our feathers." Among his other works may be mentioned Euphues' censure to Philautus, Pandosto, the Triumph of Time (1588), from which Shakespeare borrowed the plot of The Winter's Tale, A Notable Discovery of Coosnage, Arbasto, King of Denmark, Penelope's Web, Menaphon (1589), and Coney Catching. His plays, all pub. posthumously, include Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, Alphonsus, King of Aragon, and George-a-Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield. His tales are written under the influence of Lyly, whence he received from Gabriel Harvey the nickname of "Euphues' Ape."
Plays ed. by Dyce (2 vols., 1831, new ed., 1861). His works are included in Grosart's "Huth Library."
GREG, WILLIAM RATHBONE (1809-1881).—Essayist, b. in Manchester, and ed. at Bristol and Edin., was for some years engaged in his father's business as a millowner at Bury. Becoming deeply interested in political and social questions he contributed to reviews and magazines many papers and essays on these subjects, which were repub. in three collections, viz., Essays on Political and Social Science (1854), Literary and Social Judgments (1869), and Miscellaneous Essays (1884). Other works of his are Enigmas of Life (1872), Rocks Ahead (1874), and Mistaken Aims, etc. (1876). In his writings he frequently manifested a distrust of democracy and a pessimistic view of the future of his country. He held successively the appointments of Commissioner of Customs and Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.
GREVILLE, CHARLES CAVENDISH FULKE (1794-1865).—Political annalist, ed. at Eton and Oxf., was a page to George III., sec. to Earl Bathurst, and afterwards held the sinecure office of Sec. of Jamaica. In 1821 he became Clerk to the Privy Council, an office which brought him into close contact with the leaders of both political parties, and gave him unusual opportunities of becoming acquainted with all that was passing behind the scenes. The information as to men and events thus acquired he fully utilised in his Journal of the Reigns of George IV., William IV., and Queen Victoria, which, ed. by Henry Reeve, of the Edinburgh Review, was pub. in three series between 1874 and 1887. The Journal covers the period, from 1820-60, and constitutes an invaluable contribution to the history of the time.
GRIFFIN, BARTHOLOMEW? (fl. 1596).—Poet, of whom almost nothing is known, pub. in 1596 a collection of 62 sonnets under the title of Fidessa, of which some are excellent.
GRIFFIN, GERALD (1803-1840).—Dramatist, novelist, and poet, s. of a tradesman, b. and ed. in Limerick, he went in 1823 to London, where most of his literary work was produced. In 1838 he returned to Ireland and, dividing his property among his brothers, devoted himself to a religious life by joining the Teaching Order of the Christian Brothers. Two years thereafter he d., worn out by self-inflicted austerities. His chief novel, The Collegians, was adapted by Boucicault as The Colleen Bawn, and among his dramas is Gisippus. His novels depict southern Irish life.
GRIMOALD, NICHOLAS (1519-1562).—Poet, was at Camb. and Oxf., and was chaplain to Bishop Ridley. He contributed to Tottel's Songs and Sonnettes (1557), wrote two dramas in Latin, Archi-propheta and Christus Redivivus, and made translations.
GROOME, FRANCIS HINDES (1851-1902).—Miscellaneous writer, s. of a clergyman, wrote for various encyclopaedias, etc. He was a student of the gipsies and their language, and pub. In Gypsy Tents (1880), Gypsy Folk Tales (1899), and an ed. of Borrow's Lavengro (1900). Other works were A Short Border History (1887), Kriegspiel (1896), a novel, and Two Suffolk Friends (his f. and Edward Fitzgerald, q.v.).
GROSART, ALEXANDER BALLOCH (1827-1899).—Was a minister of the English Presbyterian Church. He wrote Lives of various Puritan divines, ed. their works, and also issued ed., with Lives, of the poems of Michael Bruce (q.v.) and Robert Fergusson (q.v.). But his chief service to literature was his reprints, with notes, of rare Elizabethan and Jacobean literature, including Fuller's Worthies Library, 39 vols. (1868-76), Occasional Issues of Unique and Very Rare Books, 38 vols. 1875-81, Huth Library, 33 vols. (1886), Spenser's Works, 10 vols., Daniel's Works, etc.
GROSE, FRANCIS (1731-1791).—Antiquary and lexicographer, of Swiss extraction, was Richmond Herald 1755-63. He pub. Antiquities of England and Wales (1773-87), which was well received, and thereafter, 1789, set out on an antiquarian tour through Scotland, the fruit of which was Antiquity of Scotland (1789-91). He afterwards undertook a similar expedition to Ireland, but d. suddenly at Dublin. In addition to the works above mentioned he wrote A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), A Provincial Glossary (1787), a Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, etc. He was an accomplished draughtsman, and illustrated his works.
GROSSETESTE, ROBERT (d. 1253).—Theologian and scholar, was b. of poor parents at Stradbrook, Suffolk, and studied at Oxf. and possibly Paris. His abilities and learning procured him many preferments; but after an illness he refused to be longer a pluralist, and resigned all but a prebend at Lincoln. Later he was a strenuous and courageous reformer, as is shown by his refusing in 1253 to induct a nephew of the Pope to a canonry at Lincoln, of which he had been Bishop since 1235. He was equally bold in resisting the demand of Henry III. for a tenth of the Church revenues. Amid his absorbing labours as a Churchman, he found time to be a copious writer on a great variety of subjects, including husbandry, physical and moral philosophy, as also sermons, commentaries, and an allegory, the Chateau d'Amour. Roger Bacon was a pupil of his, and testifies to his amazing variety of knowledge.
GROTE, GEORGE (1794-1871).—Historian, s. of a wealthy banker in London, was b. at Beckenham, and ed. at Charterhouse School. In 1810 he entered the bank, of which he became head in 1830. In 1832 he was elected one of the members of Parliament for the City of London. In 1841 he retired from Parliament, and in 1843 from the bank, thenceforth devoting his whole time to literature, which, along with politics, had been his chief interest from his youth. He early came under the influence of Bentham and the two Mills, and was one of the leaders of the group of theorists known as "philosophical Radicals." In 1820 he m. Miss Harriet Lewin who, from her intellectual powers, was fitted to be his helper in his literary and political interests. In 1826 he contributed to the Westminster Review a severe criticism of Mitford's History of Greece, and in 1845 pub. the first 2 vols. of his own, the remaining 6 vols. appearing at intervals up to 1856. G. belongs to the school of philosophical historians, and his History, which begins with the legends, ends with the fall of the country under the successors of Alexander the Great. It is one of the standard works on the subject, which his learning enabled him to treat in a full and thorough manner; the style is clear and strong. It has been repeatedly re-issued, and has been translated into French and German. G. also pub., in 1865, Plato and other Companions of Socrates, and left unfinished a work on Aristotle. In political life G. was, as might be expected, a consistent and somewhat rigid Radical, and he was a strong advocate of the ballot. He was one of the founders of the first London Univ., a Trustee of the British Museum, D.C.L. of Oxf., LL.D. of Camb., and a Foreign Associate of the Academie des Sciences. He was offered, but declined, a peerage in 1869, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
GRUB, GEORGE (1812-1892).—Historian, was b. in Old Aberdeen, and ed. at King's Coll. there. He studied law, and was admitted in 1836 to the Society of Advocates, Aberdeen, of which he was librarian from 1841 until his death. He was appointed Lecturer on Scots Law in Marischal Coll., and was Prof. of Law in the Univ. (1881-91). He has a place in literature as the author of an Ecclesiastical History of Scotland (1861), written from the standpoint of a Scottish Episcopalian, which, though dry, is concise, clear, fair-minded, and trustworthy. G. also ed. (along with Joseph Robertson) Gordon's Scots Affairs for the Spalding Club, of which he was one of the founders.
GUEST, LADY CHARLOTTE (BERTIE) (1812-1895).—Dau. of the 9th Earl of Lindsey, m. in 1833 Sir Josiah J. Guest, a wealthy ironmaster, after whose death in 1852 she managed the works. She was an enthusiastic student of Welsh literature, and aided by native scholars translated with consummate skill the Mabinogion, the manuscript of which in Jesus Coll., Oxf., is known as the Red Book of Hergest, and which is now a recognised classic of mediaeval romance. She also prepared a 'Boys' Mabinogion containing the earliest Welsh tales of Arthur. She was also noted as a collector of china, fans, and playing cards, on which subjects she wrote several volumes. She entered into a second marriage in 1855 with Dr. C. Schreiber, but in literature she is always referred to under her first married name.
GUTHRIE, THOMAS (1803-1873).—Divine and philanthropist, b. at Brechin, studied for the Church, and became a minister in Edin. Possessed of a commanding presence and voice, and a remarkably effective and picturesque style of oratory, he became perhaps the most popular preacher of his day in Scotland, and was associated with many forms of philanthropy, especially temperance and ragged schools, of the latter of which he was the founder. He was one of the leaders of the Free Church, and raised over L100,000 for manses for its ministers. Among his writings are The Gospel in Ezekiel, Plea for Ragged Schools, and The City, its Sins and Sorrows.
HABINGTON, WILLIAM (1605-1654).—Poet, s. of a Worcestershire Roman Catholic gentleman, was ed. at St. Omer's, but refused to become a Jesuit. He m. Lucia, dau. of Lord Powis, whom he celebrated in his poem Castara (1634), in which he sang the praises of chaste love. He also wrote a tragi-comedy, The Queen of Arragon (1640), and a Historie of Edward IV. His verse is graceful and tender.
HAILES, DALRYMPLE DAVID, LORD (1726-1792).—Scottish judge and historical writer, was b. at Edin. Belonging to a family famous as lawyers, he was called to the Bar in 1748, and raised to the Bench in 1766. An excellent judge, he was also untiring in the pursuit of his favourite studies, and produced several works of permanent value on Scottish history and antiquities, including Annals of Scotland (1776), and Canons of the Church of Scotland (1769). He was a friend and correspondent of Dr. Johnson.
HAKE, THOMAS GORDON (1809-1895).—Poet, b. at Leeds, ed. at Christ's Hospital, was a physician, and practised at various places. His books include Madeline (1871), Parables and Tales (1873), The Serpent Play (1883), New Day Sonnets (1890), and Memoirs of Eighty Years (1893).
HAKLUYT, RICHARD (1553?-1616).—Collector of voyages, belonged to a good Herefordshire family of Dutch descent, was b. either at Eyton in that county or in London, and ed. at Westminster School and Oxf. The sight of a map of the world fired his imagination and implanted in his mind the interest in geography and the lives and adventures of our great navigators and discoverers, which became the ruling passion of his life; and in order to increase his knowledge of these matters he studied various foreign languages and the art of navigation. He took orders, and was chaplain of the English Embassy in Paris, Rector of Witheringsett, Suffolk, 1590, Archdeacon of Westminster, 1602, and Rector of Gedney, Lincolnshire, 1612. After a first collection of voyages to America and the West Indies he compiled, while at Paris, his great work, The Principal Navigations, Voyages ... and Discoveries of the English Nation made by Sea or over Land to the Remote and Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth ... within the Compass of these 1500 Years. It appeared in its final form (three folio vols.) in 1599. Besides it he pub. A Discourse of Western Planting, and he left a vast mass of MS. afterwards used (in far inferior style) by S. Purchas (q.v.). In all his work H. was actuated not only by the love of knowledge, but by a noble patriotism: he wished to see England the great sea-power of the world, and he lived to see it so. His work, as has been said, is "our English epic." In addition to his original writings he translated various works, among them being The Discoveries of the World, from the Portuguese of Antonio Galvano.
HALE, SIR MATTHEW (1609-1676).—Jurist and miscellaneous writer, has left a great reputation as a lawyer and judge. Steering a neutral course during the political changes of his time, he served under the Protectorate and after the Restoration, and rose to be Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He is mentioned here as the author of several works on science, divinity, and law. Among them are The Primitive Origination of Mankind, and Contemplations, Moral and Divine. His legal works are still of great authority. Though somewhat dissipated in early youth, he has handed down a high reputation for wisdom and piety.
HALES, JOHN (1584-1656).—Theologian, b. at Bath, and ed. there and at Oxf., became one of the best Greek scholars of his day, and lectured on that language at Oxf. In 1616 he accompanied the English ambassador to the Hague in the capacity of chaplain, and attended the Synod of Dort, where he was converted from Calvinism to Arminianism. A lover of quiet and learned leisure, he declined all high and responsible ecclesiastical preferment, and chose and obtained scholarly retirement in a Fellowship of Eton, of which his friends Sir Henry Savile and Sir Henry Wotton were successively Provost. A treatise on Schism and Schismatics (1636?) gave offence to Laud, but H. defended himself so well that Laud made him a Prebendary of Windsor. Refusing to acknowledge the Commonwealth, he was deprived, fell into poverty, and had to sell his library. After his death his writings were pub. in 1659 as The Golden Remains of the Ever-Memorable Mr. John Hales of Eton College.
HALIBURTON, THOMAS CHANDLER (1796-1865).—B. at Windsor, Nova Scotia, was a lawyer, and rose to be Judge of the Supreme Court of the Colony. He was the author of The Clock-maker, or Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville, and a continuation, The Attache, or Sam Slick in England. In these he made a distinctly original contribution to English fiction, full of shrewdness and humour. He may be regarded as the pioneer of the American school of humorists. He wrote various other works, including The Old Judge, Nature and Human Nature, A Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia, etc. In 1856 he settled in England, and sat in the House of Commons for Launceston.
HALIFAX, CHARLES MONTAGU, 1ST EARL of (1661-1715).—A famous wit, statesman, and patron of literature, was ed. at Westminster School and Trinity Coll., Camb. Entering Parliament he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1694, and First Lord of the Treasury 1697. Vain and arrogant, he soon lost popularity and power. His chief literary effort was his collaboration with Prior in The Town and Country Mouse (1687), a parody of and reply to Dryden's Hind and Panther. H. was the friend and patron of Addison, Steele, Congreve, and many other of the classical writers of his day. He became a peer in 1701.
HALL, MRS. ANNA MARIA (FIELDING) (1800-1881).—Novelist, was b. in Dublin, but left Ireland at the age of 15. Nevertheless, that country gave her the motive of several of her most successful books, such as Sketches of Irish Character (1829), Lights and Shadows of Irish Character (1838), Marian (1839), and The White Boy (1845). Other works are The Buccaneer, and Midsummer Eve, a fairy tale, and many sketches in the Art Journal, of which her husband, SAMUEL CARTER HALL (1800-1889), was ed. With him she also collaborated in a work entitled Ireland, its Scenery, Character, etc. Mrs. H. was a very voluminous writer; her descriptive talents were considerable, as also was her power of depicting character. Her husband was likewise a writer of some note, chiefly on art.
HALL, BASIL (1788-1844).—Traveller, s. of Sir James H., an eminent man of science, was in the navy, and rose to be captain. He was one of the first to visit Corea, and wrote Voyage of Discovery to Corea (1818), also Travels in North America in 1827-28, a lively work which gave some offence in the U.S., Fragments of Voyages and Travels (1831-40), and some tales and romances. He was latterly insane.
HALL, or HALLE, EDWARD (1499?-1547).—Chronicler, b. in London, studied successively at Camb. and Oxf. He was a lawyer, and sat in Parliament for Bridgnorth, and served on various Commissions. He wrote a history of The Union of the two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke, commonly called Hall's Chronicle. It was pub. after the author's death by Richard Grafton, and was prohibited by Queen Mary. |
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