Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/187

Rh mons, from his general good-humour and civility, and the credit given him for honour, sincerity, plain-dealing, and good intentions’ (Memoirs, pt. iii. vol. ii. p. 84). Lewis was a solid and shrewd thinker. He possessed a keen critical faculty, and was indefatigable in research. His accumulation of exact knowledge was so great that ‘there was no sort of definite information, whether relating to public business or to books, which he did not know how to acquire and where to find’ (, Works, iii. 231). He was neither a brilliant nor an eloquent speaker, but his conversation, in Bagehot's opinion, was superior both to his speeches and his writings on account of ‘the flavor of exact thought’ which they invariably possessed (ib. 263). His writings are more remarkable for scholarly research than for any elegance of style, and are distinguished by the same practical good sense, as well as the same absence of any desire for popularity, which were so noticeable in his parliamentary career. Lewis had a tendency to overestimate the effects of education, and was firmly convinced that ‘a well-educated man was competent to undertake any office and to write on any subject’ (ib. 231). His characteristic assertion that ‘life would be tolerable but for its amusements,’ though familiar to many, is frequently misquoted (Times, 18 Sept. 1872, p. 4).

He married, on 26 Oct. 1844, Maria Theresa, only daughter of the Hon. George Villiers, and widow of Thomas Henry Lister [q. v.] [see ]. During their married life their town residence was Kent House, Knightsbridge. Lewis numbered among his most intimate friends Sir Edmund Walker Head [q. v.], the Austins, the Duff Gordons, the Grotes, John Stuart Mill, Dean Milman, and Lord Stanhope. He was a great favourite with the queen and the prince consort (, Life of the Prince Consort, 1880, v. 252 n.) A full-length portrait of Lewis, by Henry Weigall, is now the property of a nephew. Lewis's brother, Sir Gilbert Frankland Lewis (1808–1883), canon of Worcester, succeeded him in the baronetcy, and edited the ‘Letters of the Right Hon. Sir G. C. Lewis to various Friends’ (London, 1870, 8vo).

Besides the ‘Essays on the Administrations of Great Britain from 1783 to 1830,’ which were edited by Sir Edmund Walker Head in 1864 (London, 8vo), Lewis contributed the following articles to the ‘Edinburgh Review:’ 1. ‘Eton’ (No. 101, art. 3). 2. ‘Westminster and Eton’ (No. 105, art. 3). 3. ‘Legislation for the Working Classes’ (No. 167, art. 3). 4. ‘Local Taxes of the United Kingdom’ (No. 171, art. 3). 5. ‘The State of the Nation—the Minority and the New Parliament’ (No. 175, art. 4). 6. ‘Grote's History of Greece, vols. iii–vi.’ (No. 183, art. 4). 7. ‘Lord Derby's Ministry and Protection’ (No. 194, art. 10). 8. ‘The Late Elections and Free-Trade’ (No. 196, art. 8). 9. ‘The Fall of the Derby Ministry’ (No. 197, art. 9). 10. ‘Lord Grey's Colonial Administration’ (No. 199, art. 3). 11. ‘Marshall on the Representation of Minorities’ (No. 203, art. 7). 12. ‘Parliamentary Opposition’ (No. 205, art. 1). 13. ‘The Second Derby Ministry’ (No. 218, art. 9). 14. ‘The Celts and Germans’ (No. 219, art. 6). 15. ‘The History and Prospects of Parliamentary Reform’ (No. 219, art. 9). 16. ‘The Diaries and Correspondence of George Rose’ (No. 227, art. 2). 17. ‘The Election of President Lincoln and its Consequences’ (No. 230, art. 10). 18. ‘The Military Defence of the Colonies’ (No. 233, art. 4). He contributed to the ‘Foreign Quarterly Review’ the following articles: 1. ‘Spix and Martius's Travels in Brazil’ (No. 10, art. 3). 2. ‘Tittmann's History of the Amphictyonic Confederacy’ (No. 11, art. 6). 3. ‘Schaefer's edition of Plutarch's Lives’ (No. 11, art. 11). 4. ‘On Codification and its Application to the Laws of England’ (No. 12, art. 2). 5. ‘The French Revolution of 1830’ (No. 12, art. 7). 6. ‘Mythology and Religion of Ancient Greece’ (No. 13, art. 2; see also No. 15, pp. 225–7). 7. ‘The Brunswick Revolution’ (No. 13, art. 9). 8. ‘Dindorf's Poetæ Scenici Græci’ (No. 13, art. 13). 9. ‘Raynouard's Ancient Municipal Institutions of France’ (No. 15, art. 6). 10. ‘Thierry's History of the Gauls’ (No. 19, art. 6). He contributed nine articles to the ‘Philological Museum,’ Cambridge, 1832–3, 8vo (i. 122–5, 126–41, 177–87, 280–304, 420–6, 679–86, ii. 38–71, 243–6, 689–94), and three to the ‘Classical Museum, a Journal of Philology and of Ancient History and Literature,’ London, 1844–50, 8vo (i. 113–24, 389–97, ii. 1–44). His article on ‘The Irish Church Question’ appeared in the third number of the ‘London Review’ (art. 8). Among his contributions to the ‘Law Magazine’ during Hayward's editorship were articles on ‘Secondary Punishments’ (vii. 1–44), and on ‘American Penitentiaries’ (xiv. 31–57). He was also an occasional contributor to ‘Fraser's Magazine’ and ‘Notes and Queries.’ His other publications were: 1. ‘The Public Economy of Athens, in four books; to which is added a Dissertation on the Silver Mines of Laurion. Translated from the German of Augustus Boeckh’ (anon.), London, 1828,