Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/191

Rh Oxf., where he was a pupil of Chillingworth. After leaving the university he travelled on the Continent, visiting, among other places, The Hague and Venice, where he imbibed republican principles. He was for some time a groom of the bedchamber to Charles I. On the outbreak of the Civil War he sided with the Parliament, but disapproved of the execution of the King, for whom he appears, notwithstanding his political theories, to have cherished a personal attachment. Thereafter he withdrew from active life, and devoted himself to composing his political romance (as it may be called) of Oceana, which he pub. in 1656, and in which Oceana represents England, Marpesia Scotland, and Panopæa Ireland. In this work he propounds the theory that the natural element of power in states is property, of which land is the most important. He further endeavoured to propagate his views by establishing a debating society called the Rota, and by his conversations with his friends. After the Restoration he was confined in the Tower, and subsequently at Plymouth. He issued several defences of Oceana, and made translations from Virgil. In his later years he laboured under mental delusions. describes him as of middle stature, strong, well-set, with quick, fiery hazel eyes, and thick curly hair.

 Author:James Harris (1709-1780) (1709-1780).—Grammarian, was a wealthy country gentleman and member of Parliament, who held office in the Admiralty and the Treasury. He was the author of a singular and learned work entitled Hermes, or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar. For the purpose which it had in view it is useless; but it contains much curious matter. His s. was the eminent diplomatist, James H., 1st Earl of Malmesbury.

 Author:Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908).—Writer of tales, etc., b. at Eatonton, Georgia, was successively printer, lawyer, and journalist. He struck out an original line in his stories of animal life as it presents itself to the mind of the Southern negro, in whose dialect they are written. These not only achieved and retain an exceptional popularity among children, to whom they were in the first instance addressed, but attracted the attention of students of folklore and anthology. Among his writings are Uncle Remus (1880), Nights with Uncle Remus (1884), Mr. Rabbit at Home (1895), Aaron in the Wild Woods (1897), Chronicles of Aunt Minervy Ann (1899), etc.

 Author:Francis Bret Harte (1839-1902).—American humorist, b. in Albany, N.Y., but when still a boy went to California. He had a somewhat varied career as a teacher, miner, and journalist, and it is as a realistic chronicler of the gold-field and an original humorist that his chief literary triumphs were achieved. Among his best known writings are Condensed Novels, in which he showed great skill as a parodist, The Luck of Roaring Camp. The Idyll of Red Gulch, and The Heathen Chinee. In 1880 he came to Glasgow as U.S. Consul, and from 1885 he lived in London. His writings often show the tenderness and fine feeling that are allied to the higher forms of humour, and he may be said to have created a special form of short story in his Californian tales and prose idylls.

 Author:David Hartley (1705-1757).—Philosopher, b. at Luddenden, Yorkshire, and ed. at Camb., studied for the Church, but