Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/208

196 allusive, and pleasantly egotistical. He also wrote Elsie Venner (1861), which has been called "the snake story of literature," and The Guardian Angel. By many readers he is valued most for the poems which lie imbedded in his books, such as "The Chambered Nautilus," "The Last Leaf," "Homesick in Heaven," "The Voiceless," and "The Boys."  Author:John Home (1722-1808).—Dramatist, s. of the Town Clerk of Leith, where he was b., ed. there and at Edin., and entered the Church. Before doing so, however, he had fought on the Royalist side in the '45, and had, after the Battle of Falkirk, been a prisoner in Doune Castle, whence he escaped. His ministerial life, which was passed at Athelstaneford, East Lothian, was brought to an end by the action of the Church Courts on his producing the play of Douglas. This drama, which had been rejected by but brought out in Edin. in 1756, created an immense sensation, and made its appearance in London the following year. H. then became private sec. to the Earl of Bute, who gave him the sinecure of Conservator of Scots Privileges at Campvere in Holland. Thereafter he was tutor to the Prince of Wales (George III.), who on his accession conferred upon him a pension of £300. Other plays were The Siege of Aquileia, The Fatal Discovery (1769), Alonzo, and Alfrec (1778), which was a total failure. He also wrote a History of the Rebellion. In 1778 he settled in Edin., where he was one of the brilliant circle of literary men of which Robertson was the centre. He supported the claims of to be the translator of Ossian.  Author:William Hone (1780-1842).—Miscellaneous writer, b. at Bath, in his youth became a convinced and active democrat. His zeal in the propagation of his views, political and philanthropic, was so absorbing as to lead to a uniform want of success in his business undertakings. He pub. many satirical writings, which had immense popularity, among which were The Political House that Jack Built (1819), The Man in the Moon (1820), The Political Showman (1821), and The Apocryphal New Testament. For one of his earliest satires, The Political Litany, pub. in 1817, he was prosecuted, but acquitted. Later he brought out Ancient Mysteries (1823), Every Day Book (1826-27), Table Book (1827-28), and Year Book (1828) These works, in which he had the assistance of other writers, are full of curious learning on miscellaneous subjects, such as ceremonies, dress, sports, customs, etc. His last literary enterprise was an ed. of Strutt's Sports and Pastimes (1830). Always a self-sacrificing and honest man, he was originally an unbeliever, but in his latter years he became a sincere Christian.   (1799-1845).—Poet and comic writer, s. of a bookseller in London, where he was b., was put into a mercantile office, but the confinement proving adverse to his health, he was sent to Dundee, where the family had connections, and where he obtained some literary employment. His health being restored, he returned to London, and entered the employment of an uncle as an engraver. Here he acquired an acquaintance with drawing, which he afterwards turned to account in illustrating his comic writings