Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/183

Rh 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 Académie des Sciences. He was offered, but declined, a peerage in 1869, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

 Author:George Grub (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.

 Author:Charlotte Elizabeth Schreiber (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 mediæval 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.

 Author:Thomas Guthrie (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 £100,000 for manses for its ministers. Among his writings are The Gospel in Ezekiel, Plea for Ragged Schools, and The City, its Sins and Sorrows.