Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/259

 Dictionary of English Literature 247

however, rests on his two didactic romances, Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1579), and Euphues and his England (1580). These works, which were largely inspired by Ascham's Toxophilus, and had the same ob jects in view, viz., the reform of education and manners, exercised a powerful, though temporary, influence on the language, both written and spoken, commemorated in our words " euphuism " and " euphu- istic." The characteristics of the style have been set forth as " pe dantic and far-fetched allusion, elaborate indirectness, a cloying smoothness and drowsy monotony of diction, alliteration, punning, and such-like puerilities, which do not, however, exclude a good deal of wit, fancy, and prettiness." Many contemporary authors, in cluding Shakespeare, made game of it, while others, e.g. Greene, admired and practised it. L. also wrote light dramatic pieces for the children of the Chapel Royal, and contributed a pamphlet, Pappe with an Hatchet (1589) to the Mar-prelate controversy in which he supported the Bishops. He sat in Parliament for some years.

LYNDESAY, SIR D. (See LINDSAY.)

LYTE, HENRY FRANCIS (1793-1847). Hymn-writer, b. at

Ednam, near Kelso, of an ancient Somersetshire family, and ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin, took orders, and was incumbent of Lower Brixham, Devonshire. He pub. Poem? : chiefly religious (1833). He is chiefly remembered for his hymns, one of which. Abide with Me, is universally known and loved.

LYTTELTON, GEORGE, IST LORD LYTTELTON (1709-1773).

Poet, s. of Sir Thomas L., of Hagley, Worcestershire, ed. at Eton and Oxf., was the patron of many literary men, including Thomson and Mallet, and was himself a somewhat voluminous author. Among his works are Letters from a Persian in England to his friend in Ispahan (1735), a treatise On the Conversion of St. Paul (1746), Dialogues of the Dead (1760), which had great popularity, and a History of the Reign of Henry II., well-informed, careful, and impar tial, but tedious. He is chiefly remembered by his Monody on the death of his wife. The stanza in The Castle of Indolence in which Thomson is playfully described (canto i, st. Ixviii.), is by L., who is himself referred to in Ixv. He took some part in public affairs, and was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1756.

LYTTON, EDWARD GEORGE EARLE LYTTON-BULWER, IST

LORD (1803-1873). Novelist and statesman, third son of General Earle Bulwer of Heydon and Dalling, Norfolk, and of Elizabeth Lytton, heiress of Knebworth, Herts, was b. in London, and ed. privately and at Camb. He began to write when still a boy, and pub., in 1820, Ismael and other Poems. His marriage in 1825 to Rosina Wheeler, an Irish beauty, caused a quarrel with his mother, and the loss of his income, and thus incidentally gave the impulse to his marvellous literary activity. The marriage proved an unhappy one, and was terminated by a separation in 1836. During its con tinuance, however, his life was a busy and productive one, its literary results including Falkland (1827), Pelham (1828), Paul Clif ford (1830), Eugene Aram (1832), The Pilgrims of the Rhine, Last Days of Pompeii, Rienzi (1835), besides England and the English,