Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/294

 (1799-1874). —Poet, ed. at Eton and Camb., took orders and was Rector of Rugby. He wrote several books of poetry, his best known pieces are My Brother's Grave, and Godiva.

(1826-1887). —Novelist, dau. of a Nonconformist minister of Irish descent. Beginning with stories for children, she developed into a prolific and popular novelist. Her best and most widely known book is John Halifax, Gentleman (1857), which had a wide popularity, and was translated into several languages. Others are The Head of the Family, Agatha's Husband, A Life for a Life, and Mistress and Maid. She also wrote one or two vols. of essays.

(1553-1633). —Dramatist, poet, and pamphleteer, s. of a draper in London, appears to have had a somewhat chequered career. He went to Rome in 1578, and pub. The Englyshe Romayne Life, in which he gives descriptions of rites and other matters fitted to excite Protestant feeling; and he appears to have acted practically as a spy upon Roman Catholics. He had a hand in 18 plays, of which four only are extant, including two on Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (Robin Hood) (1598), and one on the Life of Sir John Oldcastle. He was ridiculed by Ben Jonson in The Case is Altered. He was also a ballad-writer, but nothing of his in this kind survives, unless Beauty sat bathing in a Spring be correctly attributed to him. He also wrote city pageants, and translated popular romances, including Palladino of England, and Amadis of Gaule. He was made by Stow the antiquary (q.v.) his literary executor, and pub. his Survey of London (1618).

(1799-1860). —Scholar, laird of Caldwell, Ayrshire, ed. at Westminster, Edin., and Bonn, sat in Parliament for Renfrewshire 1846-55. He was a sound classical scholar, and pub. A Critical History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece (5 vols., 1850-57). He held the view that the Iliad and Odyssey are now substantially as they were originally composed. M. was Lord Rector of Glasgow Univ. 1847-48.

(1727-1805). —Actor and dramatist, b. in Ireland, and ed. at St. Omer, went on the stage, then studied for the Bar, to which he was ultimately admitted after some demur on account of his connection with the stage. His plays were nearly all adaptations. They include The Apprentice (1756), The Spouter, and The Upholsterer. He also wrote an essay on Dr. Johnson, and a Life of Garrick.

(1745-1826). —Grammarian, was b. in Pennsylvania, and practised as a lawyer. From 1785 he lived in England, near York, and was for his last 16 years confined to the house. His English Grammar (1795) was long a standard work, and his main claim to a place in literature. His other writings were chiefly religious.

(1843-1901). —Poet and essayist, s. of a clergyman, was b. at Keswick, and ed. at Cheltenham and Camb. He became an inspector of schools, and was the author of several vols. of poetry, including St. Paul(1867). He