Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/69

Rh , Author:John Sheffield, }} (1648-1721).—S. of the 2nd Earl of Mulgrave, served in his youth as a soldier under Prince Rupert and Turenne, and is also said to have made love to the Princess, afterwards Queen, Anne. He was a Privy Councillor under James II., William and Mary, and Anne, with the last of whom he remained a favourite. His magnificent mansion was purchased and pulled down to make way for Buckingham Palace. He wrote An Account of the Revolution, An Essay on Satire, and An Essay on Poetry. He also remodelled Julius Cæsar.

 Author:James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855).—Journalist and traveller, wrote many books of travel, both on the Old and New World. He established, and for a year or two ed., The Athenæum, and produced many pamphlets on political and social subjects.

 Author:Francis Trevelyan Buckland (1826-80).—Naturalist, b. and ed. at Oxf., where his f. was Dean of Christchurch. He studied medicine and was assistant-surgeon in the Life Guards. An enthusiastic lover of natural history, he wrote largely upon it, among his works being Curiosities of Natural History (4 vols. 1857-72), Log Book of a Fisherman and Zoologist (1876), Natural History of British Fishes (1881). He also founded and ed. Land and Water. He was for a time Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, and served on various commissions. Though observant, he was not always strictly scientific in his methods and modes of expression, and he was a strong opponent of Darwin.

 Author:Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862).—Historical writer, s. of a wealthy shipowner in London, was b. at Lee in Kent. Though never at a univ. and little at school, he received a high degree of education privately, and inheriting an ample fortune and a large library, he devoted himself to travel and study, with the view of preparing for a great work which he had projected, The History of Civilisation in England. As an introduction to this he entered upon the consideration of the state of civilisation in various other countries, but this he had scarcely completed when his death took place at Damascus in 1862. The first vol. was pub. in 1857, and the second in 1861. In these the results of a vast amount of reading are shown; but they are not free from one-sided views and generalisations resting on insufficient data. He has, however, the credit of having contributed a new idea of history and the method of writing it. The completed work was to have extended to 14 vols. B. was one of the greatest chess-players in Europe.

 Author:Eustace Budgell (1686-1737).—Miscellaneous writer, ed. at Oxf., was a cousin of Addison, who took him to Ireland and got him appointed to a lucrative office, which, however, he was foolish enough to throw away by lampooning the Viceroy. He assisted A. in the Spectator, of which he wrote 37 numbers signed X. In these he imitates A.'s style with some success. B., who was vain and vindictive, fell on evil days, lost a fortune in the South Sea Bubble, was accused of forging a will, and committed suicide by throwing himself out of a boat at London Bridge.

