Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/362

 350 Dictionary of English Literature

rests upon his admirable translations of the Oberon of Wieland, the Georgics of Virgil, and the Iliad and Odyssey. The last two were' begun when he was upwards of 70, but he lived to complete them. His Georgics is considered one of the best translations from the< classics in the language.

SOUTH, ROBERT (1634-1716). Divine, s. of a London

merchant, was b. at Hackney, and ed. at Westminster School and Oxf., where in 1660 he was appointed Univ. Orator. He became domestic chaplain to the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, and in 1663 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him. After accompanying an embassy to Poland he became Rector of Islip, and a chaplain to Charles II. Thereafter he steadily declined higher preferment, including the bishopric of Rochester. He was opposed to the Romanising measures of James II., but owing to his views as to the duty of passive obedience he declined to associate himself in any way with the Revolution, to which nevertheless he submitted. He was an expert controversialist, but it is chiefly by his sermons, which are among the classics of English divinity, that he is remem bered. He has the reputation of being the wittiest of English preachers, and this characteristic is sometimes present to a degree not quite suitable to the subjects treated.

SOUTHERNE, THOMAS (1660-1746). Dramatist, b. in Dublin, and ed. at Trinity Coll. there, came to London and studied law at the Middle Temple. Afterwards he entered the army and saw service. He wrote ten plays, of which two were long acted and are still remembered, The Fatal Marriage (1694) and Oroonoko (1696),. in the latter of which he appeals passionately against the slave- trade. Unlike most preceding dramatists he was a practical man, succeeded in his theatrical management, and retired on a fortune. Other plays are The Loyal Brother (1682), The Disappointments (1684), The Wives' Excuse (1692), The Spartan Dame (1719), etc.

SOUTHEY, MRS. CAROLINE ANNE (BOWLES) (1786-1854).

Poetess, dau. of a captain in the navy, submitted a poem, Ellen] Fitzarthur to Southey (q.v.), which led to a friendship, and to a pro posed joint poem on Robin Hood, not, however, carried out, and eventually to her becoming the poet's second wife. She wrota various other works, including Chapters on Churchyards and Tales oft the Factories.

SOUTHEY, ROBERT (1774-1843). Poet, biographer, etc.,|

s. of an unsuccessful linen-draper in Bristol, where he was b., was sent to Westminster School, and in 1792 went to Oxf. His friend^ ship with Coleridge began in 1794, and with him he joined in thdl scheme of a " pantisocracy " (see Coleridge). In 1795 he m. his firstj wife, Edith Fricker, and thus became the brother-in-law of Cole-j ridge. Shortly afterwards he visited Spain, and in 1800 PortugalJ and laid the foundations of his thorough knowledge of the history and literature of the Peninsula. Between these two periods ol foreign travel he had attempted the study of law, which proved' entirely uncongenial; and in 1803 he settled at Greta Hall, Keswick/ to which neighbourhood the Coleridges had also come. Here he set himself to a course of indefatigable literary toil which only ended