Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/56

44 Author:William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850).—Poet and antiquary, b. at King's Sutton, Northamptonshire, of which his f. was vicar, and ed. at Winchester and Oxf., was for the most of his life Vicar of Bremhill, Wilts, and became Prebendary and Canon Residentiary of Salisbury. His first work, pub. in 1789, was a little vol. containing 14 sonnets, which was received with extraordinary favour, not only by the general public, but by such men as Coleridge and Wordsworth. It may be regarded as the harbinger of the reaction against the school of Pope, in which these poets were soon to bear so great a part. B. pub. several other poems of much greater length, of which the best are The Spirit of Discovery (1805), and The Missionary of the Andes (1815), and he also enjoyed considerable reputation as an antiquary, his principal work in that department being Hermes Britannicus (1828). In 1807 he pub. a Life of Pope, in the preface to which he expressed some views on poetry which resulted in a rather fierce controversy with Byron, Campbell, and others. He also wrote a Life of Bishop Ken. B. was an amiable, absent-minded, and rather eccentric man. His poems are characterised by refinement of feeling, tenderness, and pensive thought, but are deficient in power and passion.

Other works are Coombe Ellen and St. Michael's Mount (1798), The Battle of the Nile (1799), The Sorrows of Switzerland (1801), St. John in Patmos (1833), etc.  Author:John Bowring (1792-1872).—Linguist, writer, and traveller, was b. at Exeter. His talent for acquiring languages enabled him at last to say that he knew 200, and could speak 100. He was appointed editor of the Westminster Review in 1824; travelled in various countries with the view of reporting on their commercial position; was an M.P. 1835-37 and 1841-49, and held various appointments in China. His chief literary work was the translation of the folk-songs of most European nations, and he also wrote original poems and hymns, and works on political and economic subjects. B. was knighted in 1854. He was the literary executor of (q.v.).  Author:Andrew Kennedy Hutchison Boyd (1825-1899).—Miscellaneous writer, s. of Rev. Dr. B. of Glasgow, was originally intended for the English Bar, but entered the Church of Scotland, and was minister latterly at St. Andrews, wrote in Fraser's Magazine a series of light, chirping articles subsequently collected as the Recreations of a Country Parson, also several books of reminiscences, etc., written in a pleasant chatty style, and some sermons. He was D.D. and LL.D.  Author:Zachary Boyd (1585-1653).—Divine, belonged to the family of B. of Pinkhill, Ayrshire, was ed. at Glasgow and at Saumur. He translated many parts of Scripture into uncouth verse. Among his works are The Garden of Zion and Zion's Flowers.  Author:Robert Boyle (1627-1691) (1627-1691).—Natural Philosopher and chemist, 7th s. of the 1st Earl of Cork, was b. at Lismore, Co. Waterford, and ed. at Eton and by private tutors, after which he pursued his studies on the Continent. On his return to England he