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 bibliographical and biographical problems, he had no little critical insight, nor did he lack the faculty of appreciating literature for its own sake.

After his death there appeared 'Coleridge's Poems. A Facsimile Reproduction of the Proofs and MSS. of some of the Poems. Edited by the late James Dykes Campbell. With preface and notes by W. Hale White' (Westminster, 1899; fifty copies on large paper and 250 copies on small). A second edition of his 'Coleridge' was issued in 1896 with a memoir of him by Mr. Leslie Stephen.



CAPERN, EDWARD (1819–1894), 'the rural postman of Bideford,' was born at Tiverton on 21 Jan. 1819. His parents were poor, and at eight he commenced to earn his living as a worker in a lace factory. The work tried his eyesight, he was compelled to abandon it during the 'famine' of 1847, and he suffered from privation until he secured the post of rural letter carrier at Bideford, upon wages of 10s. 6d. a week. He now began to write verse for the 'Poet's Corner' of the 'North Devon Journal,' and his poems were soon in great request at county gatherings. In 1856 William Frederick Rock of Barnstaple procured him a body of subscribers, including the names of Landor, Tennyson, Dickens, and Charles Kingsley, and in the same year was issued 'Poems by Edward Capern, Rural Postman of Bideford, Devon' (3rd edit. 1859). The little volume was received with lavish praise in unwonted quarters. Landor praised it in his 'Letters,' Froude eulogised Capern in 'Fraser's,' and the 'Athenæum' spoke no less highly of his work; the book is said to have brought the author over 150l., in addition to an augmentation of salary to 13s. per week. On 23 Nov. 1857 Palmerston bestowed upon him a civil list pension of 40l. (raised to 60l. on 24 Nov. 1865). In 1858 Capern issued his 'Ballads and Songs,' dedicated to (Lady) Burdett Coutts, and in 1862 was published his 'Devonshire Melodist,' a selection from his songs with his own musical airs. In 1865 appeared 'Wayside Warbles,' with portrait and introductory lines addressed to the Countess of Portsmouth (2nd edit. 1870), containing some of his best songs. Three years later he left Marine Gardens, Bideford, and settled at Harborne, near Birmingham, meeting with considerable success as a lecturer in the Midlands.

He returned to Devonshire and settled at Braunton, near Bideford, about 1884. His wife's death in February 1894 proved a great shock to him, and he died on 4 June 1894, and was buried in the churchyard at Heanton, overlooking the beautiful vale of the Torridge. Kingsley warmly praised his poem 'The Seagull,' an imitation of Hogg's 'Bird of the Wilderness.' Landor dedicated to him 'Antony and Octavius,' and always held him in high regard, as did also Elihu Burritt, who saw a great deal of Capern during his stay in England. He had two children, often celebrated in his verse—Milly, who predeceased him, and Charles, who went to America and edited the 'Official Catalogue of the World's Fair' at Chicago in 1894.



CARLINGFORD,. [See ], 1823–1898. 

CARPENTER, ALFRED JOHN (1825–1892), physician, son of John Carpenter, surgeon, was born at Rothwell in Northamptonshire on 28 May 1825. He was educated at the Moulton grammar school in Lincolnshire until he was apprenticed to his father in 1839. He became a pupil of William Percival at the Northampton Infirmary in 1841, and afterwards acted as assistant to John Syer Bristowe, the father of Dr. John Syer Bristowe [q. v. Suppl.] at Camberwell. He entered St. Thomas's Hospital in 1847, taking the first scholarship, and afterwards gaining the treasurer's gold medal. He was admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries in 1851, and after serving the offices of house surgeon and resident accoucheur at St. Thomas's Hospital, he commenced general practice at Croydon in 1852. In 1865 he graduated M.B. and in 1859 M.D. at the London University, and in 1883, when he gave up general for consulting practice, he was admitted a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London. He was lecturer on public health at St. Thomas's Hospital 1875-84, ond in 1881 he was elected a vice-president of the Social Science Association. He stood twice for parliament in the liberal interest—in 1885 for Reigate, and 