Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/121

  :: Data on which they are instituted relative to the Widows' Scheme,’ 1748.
 * 1) ‘Zeal for the Civil and Religious Interests of Mankind commended,’ 1754.



WEBSTER, AUGUSTA (1837–1894), poet, was born at Poole, Dorset, on 30 Jan. 1837 (her full christian names were Julia Augusta). Her father, Vice-admiral George Davies (1800–1876), attained great distinction for services in saving lives from shipwreck (, Naval Biography, pp. 266–7). Her mother, Julia (1803–1897), was the fourth daughter of Joseph Hume (1767–1843) of Somerset House, the intimate friend and associate of Lamb, Hazlitt, and Godwin. Hume was of mixed English, Scottish, and French extraction, and claimed descent from the Humes of Polwarth. He was the author of a translation in blank verse of Dante's ‘Inferno’ (1812) and of ‘A Search into the Old Testament’ (1841).

Augusta's earliest years were spent on board the Griper in Chichester Harbour and at various seaside places where her father, as lieutenant in the coastguard, held command. In 1842 he attained the rank of commander, and was appointed the next year to the Banff district. The family resided for six years in Banff Castle, and Augusta attended a school at Banff. After a short period spent at Penzance, Davies was appointed in 1851 chief constable of Cambridgeshire, and settled with his family in Cambridge. In 1857 he was nominated also to the chief constableship of Huntingdonshire. At Cambridge Augusta read widely, and attended classes at the Cambridge school of art. During a brief residence at Paris and Geneva she acquired a full knowledge of French. She studied Greek in order to help a young brother, and subsequently learned Italian and Spanish.

In 1860 she published, under the name of Cecil Home, a volume entitled ‘Blanche Lisle, and other Poems.’ Under the same pseudonym appeared in 1864 ‘Lilian Gray,’ a poem, and ‘Lesley's Guardians,’ a novel in three volumes.

In December 1863 Augusta Davies married Mr. Thomas Webster, then fellow, and afterwards law lecturer, of Trinity College, Cambridge. There was one child of the marriage, a daughter. In 1870 they left Cambridge for London, where Mr. Webster practised his profession. Meanwhile Mrs. Webster published in 1866 a literal translation into English verse of ‘The Prometheus Bound’ of Æschylus. This, and all her subsequent publications, appeared under her own name. She was not a Greek scholar, but her translations—in 1868 appeared the ‘Medea’ of Euripides—obtained praise from scholars, and proved her a sympathetic student of Greek literature. Her views on translation may be found in two excellent essays contributed to the ‘Examiner,’ entitled ‘The Translation of Poetry’ and ‘A Transcript and a Transcription’ (cf. A Housewife's Opinions, pp. 61–79). The latter is a review of Browning's ‘Agamemnon.’ Mrs. Webster's first important volume of original verse, ‘Dramatic Studies,’ was published in 1866. It contains ‘The Snow-waste,’ one of her best poems. In 1870 appeared ‘Portraits,’ Mrs. Webster's most striking work in verse apart from her dramas. It reached a second edition in the year of publication, and a third in 1893. A remarkable poem, ‘The Castaway,’ won the admiration of Browning, and deserves a place by the side of Rossetti's ‘Jenny.’ Her first effort in the poetic drama was ‘The Auspicious Day,’ published in 1872. It is a romance of mediæval English life of small interest. ‘Disguises,’ written in 1879, is a play of great charm, containing beautiful lyrics.

Mrs. Webster took as keen an interest in the practical affairs of life as in literature. In 1878 appeared ‘A Housewife's Opinions,’ a volume of essays on various social subjects, reprinted from the ‘Examiner.’ She served twice on the London school board. In November 1879 she was returned for the Chelsea division at the head of the poll, with 3,912 votes above the second successful candidate; she owed her success to her gift of speech. She threw herself heart and soul into the work. Mrs. Webster was a working rather than a talking member of the board. She was anxious to popularise education by bringing old endowments into closer contact with elementary schools, and she anticipated the demand that, as education is a national necessity, it should also be a national charge. She advocated the introduction of technical (i.e. manual) instruction into elementary schools. Her leanings were frankly democratic, but in the heat of controversy her personality rendered her attractive even to her most vigorous opponents. In consequence of ill-health, which obliged her to seek rest in the south of Europe, she did not offer herself for re-election in 1882.

During earlier visits to Italy Mrs. Webster had been attracted by the Italian peasant songs known as ‘rispetti,’ and in 1881 pub-