Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/234

 was reviewed in the 'Athenæum' as 'a clever and lively novel by an author who deserves to be better known in England.' Soon after 1890 Harland resolved to abandon sensational fiction, and coming to England set himself deliberately to develop a literary style. Thenceforth he spent most of his time in London.

The first two books which appeared under his own name, 'Two Women or One?' (1890), an ingenious story of double personality, and 'Mea Culpa: a Woman's Last Word' (1891), show no marked breach of affinity with his earlier work. But in 1893, in 'Mademoiselle Miss and other Stories,' he gave the first, if imperfect, evidence of an independent style. This little book was followed by 'Grey Roses' in 1895 and 'Comedies and Errors' in 1898, delicate studies which proved the writer's mastery of the art of the short story. The influence of Mr. Henry James was visible in Harland's work. Discerning critics at once acknowledged his promise, and from its birth in 1894 until its demise in 1897 he was literary editor of the 'Yellow Book,' a quarterly literary and artistic magazine, which reckoned among its contributors authors and artists of an advanced aesthetic school. In 1900, through •The Cardinal's Snuff Box,' a full-length novel of artistic charm, Harland first became known to the general public. Similar work followed until Harland's death at San Remo on 20 Dec. 1905. He married Aline Merriam, of French extraction. He had no children.

Besides the books already mentioned, Harland wrote, under the pseudonym 'Sidney Luska': 1. 'Mrs. Pexeida,' New York, 1886. 2. 'The Yoke of the Thorah,' New York, 1888. 3. 'My Uncle Florimond,' Boston, 1888. 4. 'A Latin Quarter Courtship, and other Stories,' 1890. Under his own name he also wrote: 6. 'The Lady Paramount,' 1902. 6. 'My Friend Prospero,' 1904. 7. 'The Royal End,' issued posthmnously in 1909. He translated Matilde Serao's 'Fantasia' (1891), and wrote an introduction to a translation of Octave Feuillet's 'Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre' (1902). Mrs. Harland translated Matilde Serao's * Addio, Amore I' (1894). A sketch portrait of Harland is reproduced in the 'Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley,' who also caricatured Harland in the frontispiece to John Davidson's 'Scaramouch in Naxos' (1889).

 HARLEY, ROBERT (1828–1910), congregational minister and mathematician, born in Liverpool on 23 Jan. 1828, was third son of Robert Harley by his wife Mary, daughter of William Stevenson, and niece of General Stevenson of Ayr, N.B. The father, after some success as a merchant, became a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Association, and his frequent migrations on circuit gave his son Robert little opportunity of education. But his mathematical aptitude developed rapidly, and before he was seventeen he was appointed to a mathematical mastership at Seacombe, near Liverpool. He later served in the same capacity at Blackburn. In 1854 he entered the congregational ministry, and was stationed at Brighouse, Yorkshire, until 1868, filling in addition the chair of mathematics and logic at Airedale College during the latter portion of the time.

From 1868 to 1872 he was pastor of the oldest congregational church at Leicester, and from 1872 to 1881 was vice-principal of Mill Hill School, where he officiated in the chapel. At Mill Hill he was instrumental in erecting a public lecture hall where total abstinence was advocated, popular entertainments were held, and varied instruction given. From 1882 to 1885 he was principal of Huddersfield College, and from 1886 to 1890 minister of the congregational church at Oxford, where he was made hon. M.A. in 1886. Having fulfilled a ministerial appointment in Australia, he was pastor of Heath Church, Halifax, from 1892 until 1895, when he relinquished ministerial labours and settled at Forest Hill, near London. His energy and industry were unimpaired to the last; he fulfilled preaching engagements in London and the provinces, and was unceasing in the public advocacy of temperance.

Throughout his career mathematics remained Harley's chief study. He devoted much time to higher algebra, especially to the theory of the general equation of the fifth degree. His conclusions, which were published in 'Memoirs of the Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc' 1860, xv. 172-219, were independently reached at the same time by Sir James Cockle [q. v.]. Harley's two further papers on the 'Theory of Quintics' (in 'Quarterly Journal of Mathematics' 1860-2, iii. 343-59; v. 248-60), and an exposition of Cockle's method of symmetric products in 'Phil. Trans.' (1860) attracted the attention of Arthur Cayley [q. v. Suppl. I], who carried the research further. In 1863 Harley was admitted F.R.S. He acted as secretary of the A section of the British 