SPELMAN, SIR HENRY (1564?-1641).--Historian and antiquary, _b._ at
Congham, Norfolk, studied at Camb., and entered Lincoln's Inn. He wrote
valuable works on legal and ecclesiastical antiquities, including
_History of Sacrilege_ (_pub._ 1698), _Glossarium Archæologicum_ (1626
and 1664), a glossary of obsolete law-terms, _A History of the English
Councils_ (1639), and _Tenures by Knight-service_ (1641). His writings
have furnished valuable material for subsequent historians. He sat in
Parliament and on various commissions, and in recompense of his labours
was voted a grant of £300.
SPENCE, JOSEPH (1699-1768).--Anecdotist, _b._ at Kingsclere, Hants, and
_ed._ at Winchester and Oxf., he entered the Church, and held various
preferments, including a prebend at Durham, and was Prof. of Poetry at
Oxf. He wrote an _Essay on Pope's Odyssey_, which gained for him the
friendship of the poet, of whose conversation he made notes, collecting
likewise anecdotes of him and of other celebrities which were _pub._ in
1820, and are of great value, inasmuch as they preserve much matter
illustrative of the literary history of the 18th century which would
otherwise have been lost.
SPENCER, HERBERT (1820-1903).--Philosopher, _b._ at Derby, the _s._ of a
teacher, from whom, and from his uncle, mentioned below, he received most
of his education. His immediate family circle was strongly Dissenting in
its theological atmosphere, his _f._, originally a Methodist, having
become a Quaker, while his mother remained a Wesleyan. At 13 he was sent
to the care of his uncle, Thomas S., a clergyman, near Bath, but a
Radical and anti-corn-law agitator. Declining a Univ. career he became a
school assistant, but shortly after accepted a situation under the
engineer of the London and Birmingham railway, in which he remained until
the great railway crisis of 1846 threw him out of employment. Previous to
this he had begun to write political articles in the _Nonconformist_; he
now resolved to devote himself to journalism, and in 1848 was appointed
sub-ed. of the _Economist_. Thereafter he became more and more absorbed
in the consideration of the problems of sociology and the development of
the doctrine of evolution as applied thereto, gradually leading up to
the completion of a system of philosophy which was the work of his life.
His fundamental proposition is that society, like the individual, is an
organism subject to evolution, and the scope of this idea is gradually
expanded so as to embrace in its sweep the whole range of cognisible
phenomena. Among the books which he _pub._ in exposition of his views may
be mentioned _Social Statics_ (1850), _Principles of Psychology_ (1855),
_First Principles_ (1862), _Principles of Biology_ (1867), _Data of
Ethics_ (1879), _Principles of Sociology_ (1877), _Political
Institutions_ (1882), and _Man versus the State_ (1884). His works have
been translated into most European languages--some of them into Chinese
and Japanese. The most characteristic qualities of S. as a thinker are
his powers of generalisation and analysis. He left an autobiography, in
which he subjects his own personality to analysis with singular
detachment of mind.
_Life_ by David Duncan, LL.D., _Life_ by A.J. Thompson. _See_ also
_Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy_, Fishe (1874), and books on S. and his
philosophy by Hudson (1894), White (1897), and Macpherson (1890).
SPENCER, WILLIAM ROBERT (1769-1834).--Poet, _ed._ at Harrow and Oxf.,
belonged to the Whig set of Fox and Sheridan. He wrote graceful _vers de
societé_, made translations from Bürger, and is best remembered by his
well-known ballad of _Gelert_. After a life of extravagance he _d._ in
poverty in Paris.
SPENSER, EDMUND (1552?-1599).--Poet, was _b._ in East Smithfield, London,
the _s._ of John S., described as gentleman and journeyman in the art of
cloth-making, who had come to London from Lancashire. In 1561 the poet
was sent to Merchant Taylor's School, then newly opened, and in 1569 he
proceeded to Pembroke Hall, Camb., as a sizar, taking his degree in 1576.
Among his friends there were Edward Kirke, who ed. the _Shepheard's
Calendar_, and Gabriel Harvey, the critic. While still at school he had
contributed 14 sonnet-visions to Van de Noot's _Theatre for Worldlings_
(1569). On leaving the Univ. S. went to the north, probably to visit his
relations in Lancashire, and in 1578, through his friend Harvey, he
became known to Leicester and his brother-in-law, Philip Sidney. The next
year, 1579, saw the publication of _The Shepheard's Calendar_ in 12
eclogues. It was dedicated to Sidney, who had become his friend and
patron, and was received with acclamation, all who had ears for poetry
perceiving that a new and great singer had arisen. The following year S.
was appointed sec. to Lord Grey of Wilton, Deputy for Ireland, a strict
Puritan, and accompanied him to Ireland. At the same time he appears to
have begun the _Faerie Queen_. In 1581 he was appointed Registrar of
Chancery, and received a grant of the Abbey and Castle of Enniscorthy,
which was followed in 1586 by a grant of the Castle of Kilcolman in
County Cork, a former possession of the Earls of Desmond with 3000 acres
attached. Simultaneously, however, a heavy blow fell upon him in the
death of Sidney at the Battle of Zutphen. The loss of this dear friend he
commemorated in his lament of _Astrophel_. In 1590 he was visited by Sir
Walter Raleigh, who persuaded him to come to England, and presented him
to the Queen, from whom he received a pension of £50, which does not,
however, appear to have been regularly paid, and on the whole his
experiences of the Court did not yield him much satisfaction. In the same
year his reputation as a poet was vastly augmented by the publication of
the first three books of the _Faerie Queen_, dedicated to Elizabeth. The
enthusiasm with which they were received led the publisher to bring out a
collection of other writings of S. under the general title of
_Complaints_, and including _Mother Hubbard's Tale_ (a satire on the
Court and on the conflict then being waged between the old faith and the
new), _Teares of the Muses_, and _The Ruins of Time_. Having seen these
ventures launched, S. returned to Kilcolman and wrote _Colin Clout's come
Home Again_, one of the brightest and most vigorous of his poems, not,
however, _pub._ until 1595. In the following year appeared his _Four
Hymns_, two on _Love and Beauty_ and two on _Heavenly Love and Beauty_,
and the _Prothalamion_ on the marriage of two daughters of the Earl of
Worcester. He also _pub._ in prose his _View of Ireland_, a work full of
shrewd observation and practical statesmanship. In 1594 he was _m._ to
Elizabeth Boyle, whom he had courted in _Amoretti_, and his union with
whom he now celebrated in the magnificent _Epithalamion_, by many
regarded as his most perfect poem. In 1595 he returned to England, taking
with him the second part of the _Faerie Queen_, _pub._ in 1596. In 1598
he was made Sheriff of Cork, and in the same year his fortunes suffered a
final eclipse. The rebellion of Tyrone broke out, his castle was burned,
and in the conflagration his youngest child, an infant, perished, he
himself with his wife and remaining children escaping with difficulty. He
joined the President, Sir T. Norris, who sent him with despatches to
London, where he suddenly _d._ on January 16, 1599, as was long believed
in extreme destitution. This, however, happily appears to be at least
doubtful. He was buried in Westminster Abbey near Chaucer, and a monument
was erected to his memory in 1620 by the Countess of Dorset.
The position of S. in English poetry is below Chaucer, Shakespeare, and
Milton only. The first far excels him in narrative and constructive power
and in humour, and the last in austere grandeur of conception; but for
richness and beauty of imagination and exquisite sweetness of music he is
unsurpassed except by Shakespeare. He has been called the poets' poet, a
title which he well merits, not only by virtue of the homage which all
the more imaginative poets have yielded him, but because of the almost
unequalled influence he has exercised upon the whole subsequent course
and expression of English poetry, which he enriched with the stanza which
bears his name, and which none since him have used with more perfect
mastery. His faults are prolixity, indirectness, and want of constructive
power, and consequently the sustained sweetness and sumptuousness of his
verse are apt to cloy. His great work, the _Faerie Queen_, is but a
gorgeous fragment, six books out of a projected twelve; but probably few
or none of its readers have regretted its incompleteness. In it
Protestantism and Puritanism receive their most poetic and imaginative
presentation and vindication.
SUMMARY.--_B._ 1552, _ed._ Merchant Taylor's School and Camb., became
known to Leicester and Sir P. Sidney 1578, _pub._ _Shepheard's Calendar_
1579, appointed sec. to Lord Deputy of Ireland 1580, and began _Faerie
Queen_, receives various appointments and grants 1581-6, _pub._
_Astrophel_ in memory of Sidney 1586, visited by Raleigh and by him
presented to Queen Elizabeth, who pensioned him 1590, and in same year
_pub._ first three books of _Faerie Queen_, _Teares of Muses_, etc., writes
_Colin Clout_, _pub._ 1595, and in 1596 _pub._ _Four Hymns_ and
_Prothalamion_, _m._ E. Boyle 1594, whom he had courted in _Amoretti_,
and now celebrated in the _Epithalamion_, returned to England 1595,
Sheriff of Cork 1598, in which year the rebellion broke out and ruined
his fortunes, returned to London and _d._ 1599.
There have been very numerous ed. of the works, among which may be
mentioned the Globe (1899), and Dr. Grosart's (10 vols., 1882-84). There
is an excellent biography by Dean Church (1879).
SPOTTISWOOD, JOHN (1565-1639).--Historian, _s._ of John S., minister of
Midcalder and Superintendent of Lothian. Entering the Church he gained
the favour of James VI., and was his chief instrument in his endeavours
to restore Episcopal church-government in Scotland. He became Archbishop
successively of Glasgow and St. Andrews, and in 1635 Lord Chancellor of
Scotland. On the rising caused by the introduction of the service-book,
he had to flee from Scotland, and was excommunicated by the General
Assembly (1638). He wrote a _History of the Church and State of
Scotland_, _pub._ 1655. It is, of course, written from the Episcopalian
standpoint, as Calderwood's is from the Presbyterian.
SPRAGUE, CHARLES (1791-1875).--Poet, _b._ at Boston, Mass., had some
reputation as a writer of prize poems, odes, and domestic poems. To the
first class belong _Curiosity_ and _Shakespeare Ode_, and to the latter,
_The Family Meeting_ and _I see Thee Still_, an elegy on his sister.
SPRAT, THOMAS (1635-1713).--Divine and writer of memoirs, _b._ at
Beaminster, Dorset, _ed._ at Oxf., was a mathematician, and one of the
group of scientific men among whom the Royal Society, of which he was one
of the first members and the historian, had its origin. He wrote a Life
of his friend Cowley the poet, and an account of Young's plot for the
restoration of James II. His _History of the Royal Society_ is his
principal work, but he also wrote poems, and had a high reputation as a
preacher. His literary style gives him a distinguished place among
English writers. He held various, high preferments, and _d._ Bishop of
Rochester.
SPURGEON, CHARLES HADDON (1834-1892).--_B._ at Kelvedon, Essex, left the
Independents and joined the Baptist communion and became, at the age of
20, pastor of New Park Street Chapel, London, where he attained an
unprecedented popularity. In 1859 the Metropolitan Tabernacle was erected
for him. He was a decided Calvinist in his theological views, and was
strongly opposed to modern critical movements. He possessed in an eminent
degree two of the great requisites of effective oratory, a magnificent
voice and a command of pure idiomatic Saxon English. His sermons,
composed and _pub._ weekly, had an enormous circulation, and were
regularly translated into several languages. In addition to his pastoral
labours he superintended an almshouse, a pastor's coll., and an
orphanage; and he was likewise a voluminous author, publishing, in
addition to his sermons, numerous works, including _The Treasury of
David_ (a commentary on the Psalms).
STANHOPE, PHILIP HENRY, 5TH EARL STANHOPE (1805-1875).--Historian, was
_b._ at Walmer, and _ed._ at Oxf. He sat in the House of Commons for
Wootton Bassett and Hertford, held some minor official appointments under
Peel, and identified himself with many useful measures, specially in
regard to literature and art. His writings, which are all remarkable for
industrious collection of facts, careful and impartial sifting and
weighing of evidence, and a clear, sober, and agreeable style, include
_History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles_
(1836-63), and histories of the _War of the Spanish Succession_ (1832),
and of the _Reign of Queen Anne_ (1870), besides Lives of the younger
Pitt (1861) and of Lord 'Chesterfield. As an author he is best known as
Viscount Mahon.
STANLEY, ARTHUR PENRHYN (1815-1881).--Historian, biographer, and
theologian, _s._ of Edward S., Bishop of Norwich, _b._ at Alderley,
Cheshire, of which his _f._ was then rector, _ed._ at Rugby and Oxf.,
became a Fellow of Univ. Coll. Taking orders in 1839 he became Canon of
Canterbury 1851, and of Christ Church 1858, and Dean of Westminster 1864.
He was also Prof. of Ecclesiastical History at Oxf. 1856. His
ecclesiastical position was Erastian and latitudinarian, and his
practical aim in Church politics comprehension. He gave great offence to
the High Church party by his championing of Colenso, W.G. Ward, Jowett,
and others, by his preaching in the pulpits of the Church of Scotland and
in other ways, and his latitudinarianism made him equally obnoxious to
many others. On the other hand, his singular personal charm and the
fascination of his literary style secured for him a very wide popularity.
He was a prolific author, his works including _Life of Dr. Arnold_ (of
Rugby) (1844), whose favourite pupil he was, and _Memorials of
Canterbury_ (1854), _Sinai and Palestine_ (1855), _Lectures on the
Eastern Church_ (1861), _History of the Jewish Church_ (1863, etc.),
_Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey_ (1867), _Lectures on the
History of the Church of Scotland_ (1872), besides various commentaries.
In his historical writings he aimed rather at conveying a vivid and
picturesque general effect than at minute accuracy of detail or
philosophical views. His masterpiece is his _Life of Dr. Arnold_, which
is one of the great biographies in the language. His wife was Lady
Augusta Bruce, to whom he was _m._ in 1868.
STANLEY, SIR HENRY MORTON (1841-1904).--Traveller in Africa, _b._ in
America, went to find, and found, Livingstone, and wrote an account of
his adventures in the quest, _How I found Livingstone_. Other works were
_In Darkest Africa_ and _Through the Dark Continent_.
STANLEY, THOMAS (1625-1678).--Philosopher and scholar, connected with the
Derby family, _ed._ at Camb., was the author of some poems and of a
biographical _History of Philosophy_ (4 vols., 1655-62). He was learned
in the classics, and translated from the Latin and late Greek as well as
from the Italian and Portuguese, and ed. Æschylus. His poetry is
thoughtful and gracefully expressed.
STANYHURST, RICHARD (1547-1618).--Translator, was at Oxf., and studied
law at Furnivall's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. He collaborated with Holinshed
(_q.v._). His principal literary achievement was a grotesquely stiff,
clumsy, and prosaic translation of the first four books of the _Æneid_
into English hexameters. He also translated some of the Psalms.
STEDMAN, EDMUND CLARENCE, L.H.D., LL.D., (1833-1908).--American poet and
critic. _Poems Lyric and Idyllic_ (1860), _Alice of Monmouth_ (1864),
_The Blameless Prince_ (1869), _Victorian Poets_ (1875-87), _Lyrics and
Idylls_ (1879), _Poets of America_ (1885), _Victorian Anthology_ (1896),
_American Anthology_ (1896), etc.
STEELE, SIR RICHARD (1672-1729).--Essayist and dramatist, _s._ of a
Dublin attorney, who _d._ when his _s._ was 5 years old, was on the
nomination of the Duke of Ormond, sent to the Charterhouse School, where
his friendship with Addison began, and thence went to Oxf., but left
without taking a degree, and enlisted in the Horse Guards, for which he
was disinherited by a rich relation. He, however, gained the favour of
his colonel, Lord Cutts, himself a poet, and rose to the rank of captain.
With the view of setting before himself a high ideal of conduct (to which
unhappily he was never able to attain), he at this time wrote a treatise
on morals entitled _The Christian Hero_ (1701). Abandoning this vein, he
next produced three comedies, _The Funeral, or Grief à la Mode_ (1702),
_The Tender Husband_ (1703), and _The Lying Lover_ (1704). Two years
later he was appointed Gentleman Waiter to Prince George of Denmark, and
in 1707 he was made Gazetteer; and in the same year he _m._ as his second
wife Mary Scurlock, his "dear Prue," who seems, however, to have been
something of a termagant. She had considerable means, but the
incorrigible extravagance of S. soon brought on embarrassment. In 1709 he
laid the foundations of his fame by starting the _Tatler_, the first of
those periodicals which are so characteristic a literary feature of that
age. In this he had the invaluable assistance of Addison, who contributed
42 papers out of a total of 271, and helped with others. The _Tatler_ was
followed by the _Spectator_, in which Addison co-operated to a still
greater extent. It was even a greater success, and ran to 555 numbers,
exclusive of a brief revival by Addison in which S. had no part, and in
its turn was followed by the _Guardian_. It is on his essays in these
that the literary fame of S. rests. With less refinement and delicacy of
wit than Addison, he had perhaps more knowledge of life, and a wider
sympathy, and like him he had a sincere desire for the reformation of
morals and manners. In the keen political strife of the times he fought
stoutly and honestly on the Whig side, one result of which was that he
lost his office of Gazetteer, and was in 1714 expelled from the House of
Commons to which he had just been elected. The next year gave a
favourable turn to his fortunes. The accession of George I. brought back
the Whigs, and S. was appointed to various offices, including a
commissionership on forfeited estates in Scotland, which took him to
Edinburgh, where he was welcomed by all the _literati_ there. Nothing,
however, could keep him out of financial embarrassments, and other
troubles followed: his wife _d._; differences, arose with Addison, who
_d._ before a reconciliation could be effected. The remaining years were
clouded by financial troubles and ill-health. His last work was a play,
_The Conscious Lovers_ (1722). He left London and lived at Hereford and
at Carmarthen, where he _d._ after a partial loss of his faculties from
paralysis.
_Lives_ by Austin Dobson (1886) and G.A. Aitken (1889). Ed., _Plays_ by
Aitken (1893), Essays (selected) Clarendon Press (1885), _Tatler_, Aitken
(1898), _Spectator_, H. Morley (1868), Gregory Smith (1897-8), Aitken
(1898).
STEEVENS, GEORGE (1736-1800).--Shakespearian commentator, _ed._ at Eton
and Camb. He issued various reprints of quarto ed. of Shakespeare, and
assisted Dr. Johnson in his ed., and also in his _Lives of the Poets_. In
1793 he himself brought out a new ed. of Shakespeare, in which he dealt
somewhat freely with the text. He was in constant controversy with Ritson
and other literary antiquaries, and was also an acute detector of
literary forgeries, including those of Chatterton and Ireland.
STEEVENS, GEORGE WARRINGTON (1869-1900).--Journalist and miscellaneous
writer, _b._ at Sydenham, and _ed._ at City of London School and Oxf.,
took to journalism, in which he distinguished himself by his clearness of
vision and vivid style. Connected successively with the _National
Observer_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, and the _Daily Mail_, he utilised the
articles which appeared in these and other publications in various books,
such as _The Land of the Dollar_ (America) (1897), _With Kitchener to
Kartoum_, and _The Tragedy of Dreyfus_. His most striking work, however,
was _Monologues of the Dead_ (1895). He went as war correspondent to
South Africa in 1900, and _d._ of enteric fever at Ladysmith.
STEPHEN, SIR JAMES (1789-1859).--Statesman and historical writer, _s._ of
James S., Master in Chancery, _ed._ at Camb., and called to the Bar at
Lincoln's Inn 1811. After practising with success, accepted appointment
of permanent counsel to Colonial Office and Board of Trade 1825, and was
subsequently, 1826-47, permanent Under-Sec. for the Colonies, in which
capacity he exercised an immense influence on the colonial policy of the
empire, and did much to bring about the abolition of the slave trade.
Impaired health led to his resignation, when he was made K.C.B. and a
Privy Councillor. He was afterwards Prof. of Modern History at Camb.
1849-59, and of the same subject at the East India Coll. at Haileybury
1855-57. He wrote _Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography_ (1849) and
_Lectures on the History of France_ (1852).
STEPHEN, SIR LESLIE (1832-1904).--Biographer and critic, _s._ of the
above, was _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Eton, King's Coll., London, and
Camb., where he obtained a tutorial Fellowship, and took orders. He came
under the influence of Mill, Darwin, and H. Spencer, and devoted himself
largely to the study of economics. His religious views having undergone a
change, he gave up the clerical character and his Fellowship, and became
a pronounced Agnostic. In 1865 he definitely adopted a literary career,
and contributed to the _Saturday Review_, _Fraser's Magazine_, and other
periodicals. In 1873 he _pub._ a collection of his essays as _Free
Thinking and Plain Speaking_, which he followed up with _An Agnostic's
Apology_ (1893). He became ed. in 1871 of the _Cornhill Magazine_, in
which appeared the essays afterwards _coll._ as _Hours in a Library_ (3
series, 1874-79). His chief work was _The History of English Thought in
the Eighteenth Century_ (1876-81). He also wrote _Science of Ethics_
(1882), and biographies of _Dr. Johnson_ (1878), _Pope_ (1880). _Swift_
(1882), and _George Eliot_ (English Men of Letters Series). In 1882 he
became ed. of the _Dictionary of National Biography_, to which he devoted
much labour, besides contributing many of the principal articles. _The
English Utilitarians_ appeared in 1900. As a biographical and critical
writer he holds a very high place. His first wife was a _dau._ of
Thackeray. In recognition of his literary eminence he was made a K.C.B.
_Life and Letters_ by F.W. Maitland (1906).
STEPHENS, THOMAS (1821-1875).--Welsh historian and critic, _b._ at Pont
Nedd Fechan, Glamorganshire, _s._ of a shoemaker. His works include _The
Literature of the Kymry_ (1849), _The History of Trial by Jury in Wales_,
and an essay in which he demolished the claim of the Welsh under Madoc to
the discovery of America. He also wrote on the life and works of the bard
Aneurin. The critical methods which he adopted in his works often made
him unpopular with the less discriminating enthusiasts for the glory of
Wales, but he earned the respect of serious scholars.
STERLING, JOHN (1806-1844).--Essayist and miscellaneous writer, _s._ of
Edward S., a well-known writer in the _Times_, was _b._ in Bute, and
_ed._ at Glasgow and Camb. At the latter he became acquainted with a
group of brilliant men, including F.D. Maurice, Trench, and Monckton
Milnes. He took orders and became curate to Julius Hare (_q.v._); but
intellectual difficulties and indifferent health led to his resignation
within a year, and the rest of his life was passed in alternating between
England and warmer climes. He wrote for _Blackwood's Magazine_, the
_London and Westminster_, and _Quarterly Reviews_, and _pub._ _Essays and
Tales_, _The Election_, a humorous poem, _Strafford_, a tragedy, and
_Richard Coeur de Lion_, a serio-comic poem of which three books out of
eight were _pub._ His memory, perpetuated in a remarkable memoir by
Carlyle, lives rather by what he was than by anything he did. His
character and intellect appear to have exercised a singular influence on
the eminent men he numbered among his friends.
STERNE, LAURENCE (1713-1768).--Novelist, _s._ of an officer in the army,
and the great-grandson of an Archbishop of York, was _b._ at Clonmel,
where his father's regiment happened to be stationed, and passed part of
his boyhood in Ireland. At the age of 10 he was handed over to a
relation, Mr. Sterne of Elvington in Yorkshire, who put him to school at
Halifax, and thereafter sent him to Camb. He entered the Church, a
profession for which he was very indifferently fitted, and through family
influence procured the living of Sutton, Yorkshire. In 1741 he _m._ a
lady--Miss Lumley--whose influence obtained for him in addition an
adjacent benefice, and he also became a prebendary of York. It was not
until 1760 that the first two vols. of his famous novel, _Tristram
Shandy_, appeared. Its peculiar and original style of humour, its
whimsicality, and perhaps also its defiance of conventionality, and even
its frequent lapses into indecorum, achieved for it an immediate and
immense popularity. S. went up to London and became the lion of the day.
The third and fourth vols. appeared in 1761, the fifth and sixth in 1762,
the seventh and eighth in 1765, and the last in 1767. Meanwhile he had
_pub._ the _Sermons of Mr. Yorick_ (1760), and his remaining work, _The
Sentimental Journey_ appeared in 1768. From the time of his finding
himself a celebrity his parishioners saw but little of him, his time
being passed either in the gaieties of London or in travelling on the
Continent. Latterly he was practically separated from his wife and only
_dau._, to the former of whom his behaviour had been anything but
exemplary. His health, which had begun to give way soon after his
literary career had commenced, finally broke down, and he fell into a
consumption, of which he _d._ in London on March 18, 1768, utterly alone
and unattended. His body was followed to the grave by one coach
containing his publisher and another gentleman; and it was exhumed and
appeared in a few days upon the table of the anatomical professor at
Camb. He _d._ in debt, but a subscription was raised for his wife and
_dau._, the latter of whom _m._ a Frenchman, and is said to have perished
under the guillotine. Worthless as a man, S. possessed undoubted genius.
He had wit, originality, and pathos, though the last not seldom runs into
mawkishness, and an exquisitely delicate and glancing style. He has
contributed some immortal characters to English fiction, including Uncle
Toby and Corporal Trim. His great faults as a writer are affectation and
a peculiarly deliberate kind of indecency, which his profession renders
all the more offensive; and he was by no means scrupulous in adopting,
without acknowledgment, the good things of previous writers.
_Works_ ed. by Prof. Saintsbury (6 vols., 1894). _See_ also Macmillan's
Library of English classics. _Lives_ by P. Fitzgerald (1896); and H.D.
Traill in English Men of Letters Series.
STERNHOLD, THOMAS (1500-1549), HOPKINS JOHN (_d._ 1570).--Were associated
in making the metrical version of the Psalms, which was attached to the
Prayer-book, and was for 200 years the chief hymn-book of the Church of
England. It is a commonplace and tame rendering. The collection was not
completed until 1562. It was gradually superseded by the version of Tate
and Brady.
STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS (1850-1894).--Novelist and essayist, was _b._ at
Edin., the _s._ of Thomas S., a distinguished civil engineer. His health
was extremely delicate. He was destined for the engineering profession,
in which his family had for two generations been eminent, but having
neither inclination nor physical strength for it, he in 1871 exchanged it
for law, and was called to the Bar in 1875, but never practised. From
childhood his interests had been literary, and in 1871 he began to
contribute to the _Edinburgh University Magazine_ and the _Portfolio_. A
tour in a canoe in 1876 led to the publication in 1878 of his first book,
_An Inland Voyage_. In the same year, _The New Arabian Nights_,
afterwards separately _pub._ appeared in magazines, and in 1879 he
brought out _Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes_. In that year he went
to California and _m._ Mrs. Osbourne. Returning to Europe in 1880 he
entered upon a period of productiveness which, in view of his wretched
health, was, both as regards quantity and worth, highly remarkable. The
year 1881 was marked by his unsuccessful candidature for the Chair of
Constitutional Law and History at Edin., and by the publication of
_Virginibus Puerisque_. Other works followed in rapid succession.
_Treasure Island_ (1882), _Prince Otto_ and _The Child's Garden of Verse_
(1885), _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ and _Kidnapped_ (1886), _Underwoods_
(poetry), _Memories and Portraits_ (essays), and _The Merry Men_, a
collection of short stories (1887), and in 1888 _The Black Arrow_. In
1887 he went to America, and in the following year visited the South Sea
Islands where, in Samoa, he settled in 1890, and where he _d._ and is
buried. In 1889 _The Master of Ballantrae_ appeared, in 1892 _Across the
Plains_ and _The Wrecker_, in 1893 _Island Nights Entertainments_ and
_Catriona_, and in 1894 _The Ebb Tide_ in collaboration with his
step-son, Mr. Lloyd Osbourne. By this time his health was completely
broken, but to the last he continued the struggle, and left the fragments
_St. Ives_ and _Weir of Hermiston_, the latter containing some of his
best work. They were _pub._ in 1897. Though the originality and power of
S.'s writings was recognised from the first by a select few, it was only
slowly that he caught the ear of the general public. The tide may be said
to have turned with the publication of _Treasure Island_ in 1882, which
at once gave him an assured place among the foremost imaginative writers
of the day. His greatest power is, however, shown in those works which
deal with Scotland in the 18th century, such as _Kidnapped_, _Catriona_,
and _Weir of Hermiston_, and in those, _e.g._, _The Child's Garden of
Verse_, which exhibit his extraordinary insight into the psychology of
child-life; _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ is a marvellously powerful and
subtle psychological story, and some of his short tales also are
masterpieces. Of these _Thrawn Janet_ and _Will of the Mill_ may be
mentioned as examples in widely different kinds. His excursions into the
drama in collaboration with W.E. Henley--_Deacon Brodie_, _Macaire_,
_Admiral Guinea_, _Beau Austin_,--added nothing to his reputation. His
style is singularly fascinating, graceful, various, subtle, and with a
charm all its own.
_Works_, Edinburgh ed. (28 vols., 1894-98). _Life_ by Grahame Balfour
(1901), _Letters_, S. Colvin (1899).
STEWART, DUGALD (1753-1828).--Philosopher, _s._ of Matthew S., Prof. of
Mathematics at Edin., was _b._ in the Coll. buildings, and at the age of
19 began to assist his _f._ in his classes, receiving the appointment of
regular assistant two years later. In 1785 he became Prof. of Moral
Philosophy, and rendered the chair illustrious by his learning and
eloquence, his pupils including Lords Palmerston, Russell, and Lansdowne.
S. was, however, rather a brilliant expositor than an original thinker,
and in the main followed Reid (_q.v._). His works include _Philosophy of
the Human Mind_, in three vols., _pub._ respectively in 1792, 1813, and
1827, _Outlines of Moral Philosophy_ (1793), _Philosophical Essays_
(1810), _Dissertation on the Progress of Metaphysical and Ethical
Philosophy_ (1815, part II. 1821), and _View of the Active and Moral
Powers of Man_. He also wrote memoirs of Robertson the historian, Adam
Smith, and Reid. The Whig party, which he had always supported, on their
accession to power, created for him the office of Gazette-writer for
Scotland, in recognition of his services to philosophy. His later years
were passed in retirement at Kinneil House on the Forth. His works were
ed. by Sir William Hamilton.
STILLINGFLEET, EDWARD (1635-1699).--Theologian, _b._ at Cranbourne,
Dorsetshire, _ed._ at Camb., entered the Church, and held many
preferments, including a Royal Chaplaincy, the Deanery of St. Paul's
(1678), and the Bishopric of Worcester (1689). He was a frequent speaker
in the House of Lords, and had considerable influence as a Churchman. A
keen controversialist, he wrote many treatises, including _The Irenicum_
(advocating compromise with the Presbyterians), _Antiquities of the
British Churches_, and _The Unreasonableness of Separation_. S. was a
good and honest man and had the respect of his strongest opponents.
STIRLING, JAMES HUTCHISON (1820-1909).--Philosopher, _b._ in Glasgow, and
_ed._ there and at Edin., where he studied medicine, which he practised
until the death of his _f._ in 1851, after which he devoted himself to
philosophy. His _Secret of Hegel_ (1865) gave a great impulse to the
study and understanding of the Hegelian philosophy both at home and in
America, and was also accepted as a work of authority in Germany and
Italy. Other works, all characterised: by keen philosophical insight and
masterly power of exposition are _Complete Text-book to Kant_ (1881),
_Philosophy and Theology_ (1890), _What is Thought? or the Problem of
Philosophy_ (1900), and _The Categories_ (1903). Less abstruse are
_Jerrold, Tennyson, and Macaulay_ (1868), _Burns in Drama_ (1878), and
_Philosophy in the Poets_ (1885).
STIRLING, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, EARL of (1567-1640).--Poet, _s._ of A. of
Menstrie, and _cr._ Earl of S. by Charles I., 1633, was a courtier, and
held many offices of state. He studied at Glasgow and Leyden, and wrote
among other poems, partly in Latin, sonnets and four _Monarchicke
Tragedies_, _Darius_, _Croesus_, _The Alexandræan Tragedy_, and _Julius
Cæsar_ (1603-7), the motive of which is the fall of ambition, and which,
though dignified, have little inspiration. He also assisted James I. in
his metrical version of the Psalms. He _d._ insolvent in London. The
grant of Nova Scotia which he had received became valueless owing to the
French conquests in that region.
STIRLING-MAXWELL, SIR WILLIAM (1818-1878).--Historian and writer on art,
_s._ of Archibald Stirling of Keir, succeeded to the estates and title of
his uncle, Sir John Maxwell of Pollok, as well as to Keir, _ed._ at
Camb., afterwards travelled much. He sat in the House of Commons for
Perthshire, which he twice represented, 1852-68 and 1874-80, served on
various commissions and public bodies, and was Lord Rector successively
of the Univ. of St. Andrews and Edin. and Chancellor of that of Glasgow.
His works include _Annals of the Artists of Spain_ (1848), _The Cloister
Life of the Emperor Charles V._ (1852), and _Don John of Austria_, _pub._
posthumously in 1885. They were all distinguished by research and full
information, and the last two are standard authorities He _m._ as his
second wife the Hon. Mrs. Norton (_q.v._).
STOCKTON, FRANCIS RICHARD (1834-1902).--_B._ at Philadelphia, was an
engraver and journalist. He became well known as a writer of stories for
children, and of amusing books of which _Rudder Grange_ (1879) is the
best known. _The Lady and the Tiger_ was also highly popular. Others are
_Adventures of Captain Horne_, _Mrs. Null_, _Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks
and Mrs. Aleshine_, _The Hundredth Man_, _Great Stone of Sardis_,
_Captain's Toll-gate_, etc. His work was very unequal in interest.
STODDARD, RICHARD HENRY (1825-1903).--Poet, _b._ at Hingham, Mass.,
worked in a foundry, and afterwards in New York Custom House, wrote a
Life of Washington, but is chiefly known as a poet, his poetical works
including _Songs in Summer_ (1857), _The King's Bell_, _The Lions Cub_,
etc.
STORER, THOMAS (1571-1604).--Poet, _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Oxf.,
wrote a long poem, _The Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal_.
STORY, WILLIAM WETMORE (1819-1895).--Sculptor, poet, etc., _b._ at Salem,
Mass., was intended for the law, but became a sculptor and an eminent man
of letters. His writings include _Roba di Roma_ (1862), _The Tragedy of
Nero_ (1875), _The Castle of St. Angelo_ (1877), _He and She_ (1883),
_Conversations in a Studio_, _A Poet's Portfolio_ (1894), etc.
STOW, JOHN (1525-1605).--Historian and antiquary, _b._ in London, _s._ of
a tailor, and brought up to the same trade. He had, however, an
irresistible taste for transcribing and collecting ancient documents, and
pursuing antiquarian and historical researches, to which he ultimately
entirely devoted himself. This he was enabled to do partly through the
munificence of Archbishop Parker. He made large collections of old books
and manuscripts, and wrote and ed. several works of importance and
authority, including _The Woorkes of Geoffrey Chaucer_, _Summarie of
Englyshe Chronicles_ (1561), afterwards called _Annales of England_, ed.
of the chronicles of Matthew Paris and others, of Holinshed's
_Chronicle_, and _A Survey of London_ (1598). It is sad to think that the
only reward of his sacrifices and labours in the public interest was a
patent from James I. to collect "among our loving subjects their
voluntary contributions and kind gratuities."
STOWE, MRS. HARRIET BEECHER (1811?-1896).--Novelist and miscellaneous
writer, _dau._ of Dr. Lyman Beecher, a well-known American clergyman, and
sister of Henry Ward B., one of the most popular preachers whom America
has produced, was _b._ at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1811 or 1812. After
spending some years as a teacher, she _m._ the Rev. Calvin E. Stowe. Up
till 1852 all she had written was a little vol. of stories which failed
to attract attention. In that year, at the suggestion of a sister-in-law,
she decided to write something against slavery, and produced _Uncle Tom's
Cabin_, which originally appeared in serial form in a magazine, _The
National Era_. It did not at the time receive much attention, but on its
appearance in a separate form it took the world by storm. Its sale soon
reached 400,000 copies, and the reprints have probably reached a far
greater number. It was translated into numerous foreign languages, and
had a powerful effect in hurrying on the events which ultimately resulted
in emancipation. Her later works include _Dred_, _The Minister's Wooing_,
_Agnes of Sorrento_, _The Pearl of Orr's Island_, and _Old Town Folks_.
Some of these, especially the last, are in a literary sense much superior
to _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, but none of them had more than an ordinary
success. In 1869 an article on Lord Byron involved her in a somewhat
unfortunate controversy.
STRICKLAND, AGNES (1796 or 1806-1874).--Historical writer, _dau._ of
Thomas S., of Royden Hall, Suffolk, was _ed._ by her _f._, and began her
literary career with a poem, _Worcester Field_, followed by _The Seven
Ages of Woman_ and _Demetrius_. Abandoning poetry she next produced among
others _Historical Tales of Illustrious British Children_ (1833), _The
Pilgrims of Walsingham_ (1835), _Tales and Stories from History_ (1836).
Her chief works, however, are _Lives of the Queens of England from the
Norman Conquest_, and _Lives of the Queens of Scotland_, and _English
Princesses, etc._ (8 vols., 1850-59), _Lives of the Bachelor Kings of
England_ (1861), and _Letters of Mary Queen of Scots_, in some of which
she was assisted by her sister Elizabeth. Though laborious and
conscientious she lacked the judicial faculty, and her style does not
rise above mediocrity.
STRODE, WILLIAM (1600-1645).--Poet, only _s._ of Philip S., who belonged
to an old Devonshire family, he was _b._ at Plympton, Devonshire, and
showing studious tendencies, was sent to Westminster School and Oxf.
While at the Univ. he began to manifest his poetic talents, and generally
distinguished himself, being elected in 1629 Public Orator. He took
orders and, on Richard Corbet (_q.v._) becoming Bishop of Oxf., became
his chaplain. Later he was Rector of E. Bredenham, Norfolk, and of
Badley, Northants, and Canon of Christ Church. On the outbreak of the
Civil War he attached himself warmly to the cause of the King. He was a
High Churchman, and had a reputation as "a witty and sententious
preacher, an exquisite orator, and an eminent poet." It is therefore
singular that, until the recovery of his poems by Mr. B. Dobell, he had
fallen into absolute oblivion. As a poet he shines most in lyrics and
elegies. With much of the artificiality of his age he shows gracefulness,
a feeling for the country, and occasional gleams of tenderness. His play,
_The Floating Island_, a political allegory, was produced in 1633 and
played before the Court then on a visit to Oxf., where it was a subject
of complaint that it had more moralising than amusement. Mr. Dobell, who
ed. his poems in 1907, claims for S. the poem on "Melancholy" ("Hence all
you vain delights"), hitherto attributed to Fletcher.
STRYPE, JOHN (1643-1737).--Ecclesiastical historian, _b._ at Hackney, and
_ed._ at St. Paul's School and Camb., took orders and, among other
livings, held the Rectory of Low Leyton, Essex, for upwards of 60 years.
He made a large collection of original documents, chiefly relating to the
Tudor period, and was a voluminous author. Among his works are _Memorials
of Archbishop Cranmer_ (1694), _Life of Sir Thomas Smith_, _Secretary of
State to Edward VI. and Elizabeth_ (1698), _Annals of the Reformation_
(1709-31), and _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1721); besides Lives of Bishop
Aylmer and Archbishops Grindal, Parker, and Whitgift. S., who was a
painstaking and honest, but dull and unmethodical, writer, remains an
authority.
STUART, GILBERT (1742-1786).--Historical writer, _s._ of George S., Prof.
of Humanity (Latin) at Edin. Among his publications were _An Historical
Dissertation on the English Constitution_ (1768), _Discourse on the
Government and Laws of England_ (1772), _A View of Society in Europe_
(1778), and a _History of Scotland_ (1782). He was a man of extremely
jealous and implacable temper, and made venomous attacks on the
historical works of Robertson and Henry. His own writings, though
well-written, are inaccurate.
STUBBS, WILLIAM (1825-1901).--Historian, _s._ of a solicitor, _b._ at
Knaresborough, Yorkshire, and _ed._ there and at the Grammar School of
Ripon, and Oxf. In 1848 he became a Fellow of Trinity Coll., and in the
same year took orders and was appointed to the coll. living of Navestock
in Essex, where he remained for 16 years, during which he began his
historical researches, and _pub._ his earlier works. His first
publication was _Hymnale Secundum Usum Sarum_. In 1858 appeared
_Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum_, a calendar of English bishops from
Augustine; and then followed ed. of several Chronicles in the Rolls
Series. The learning and critical insight displayed in these works
commanded the attention and admiration of historical scholars both at
home and on the Continent. In 1862 he was appointed librarian of Lambeth
Palace, and in 1866 Prof. of Modern History at Oxf. There he _pub._ in
1870 his _Select Charters_, and his chief work, _The Constitutional
History of England_ (3 vols., 1874-78), which at once became the standard
authority on its subject. It deals with the period preceding that with
which the great work of Hallam begins. In 1879 he was appointed a Canon
of St. Paul's, and in 1884 Bishop of Chester, whence he was translated
five years later to Oxf. As an active prelate he was necessarily largely
withdrawn from his historical researches; but at Chester he ed. two vols.
of William of Malmesbury. S. was greater as a historian than as a writer,
but he brought to his work sound judgment, insight, accuracy, and
impartiality. He was a member of the French and Prussian Academies, and
had the Prussian Order "Pour le Mérite" conferred upon him. Since his
death his prefaces to the Rolls Series have been _pub._ separately.
STUKELEY, WILLIAM (1687-1765).--Antiquary, _ed._ at Camb., and after
practising as a physician took orders in 1729 and held benefices at
Stamford and in London. He made antiquarian tours through England, and
was one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries, to which he acted
as sec. He _pub._ _Itinerarium Curiosum_ (1724) and _Stonehenge_ (1740).
He made a special study of Druidism, and was called "the Arch-Druid."
SUCKLING, SIR JOHN (1609-1642).--Poet, _s._ of a knight who had held
office as Sec. of State and Comptroller of the Household to James I., was
_b._ at Whitton, Middlesex, _ed._ at Camb., and thereafter went to Gray's
Inn. On the death of his _f._ in 1627, he inherited large estates. After
travelling in France and Italy, he is said to have served for a short
time under Gustavus Adolphus. On his return he was knighted, and went to
Court, where his wealth, generosity, and wit made him a general
favourite. When Charles I. was moving against the Scots S. fitted out a
gorgeously appointed troop for his service which, however, were said to
have fled at first sight of the Scots army at Duns, an exploit which is
ridiculed in the ballad of _Sir John Suckling's Campaign_. He got into
trouble in connection with a plot to rescue Strafford from the Tower, and
fled to the Continent. He _d._ at Paris, it is now believed by his own
hand. He was a noted gambler, and has the distinction of being the
inventor of the game of cribbage. He wrote four plays, _Aglaura_ (1637),
_Brennoralt_ (1646), _The Goblins_, and _The Sad One_ (unfinished), now
forgotten; his fame rests on his songs and ballads, including _The
Wedding_, distinguished by a gay and sparkling wit, and a singular grace
of expression.
SURREY, HENRY HOWARD, EARL of (1517?-1547).--Poet, _s._ of Thomas H., 3rd
Duke of Norfolk, was _ed._ by John Clerke, a learned and travelled
scholar, and sec. to his _f._ He became attached to the Court, was
cup-bearer to the King (Henry VIII.), ewerer at the Coronation, and Earl
Marshall at the trial of Anne Boleyn. In 1542 he was made a Knight of the
Garter a few weeks after the execution of his cousin, Queen Catherine
Howard. He suffered imprisonment more than once for being implicated in
quarrels and brawls, did a good deal of fighting in Scotland and France,
and was the last victim of Henry's insensate jealousy, being beheaded on
a frivolous charge of conspiring against the succession of Edward VI. The
death of Henry saved Norfolk from the same fate. S. shares with Sir
Thomas Wyatt (_q.v._) the honour of being the true successor of Chaucer
in English poetry, and he has the distinction of being, in his
translation of the _Æneid_, the first to introduce blank verse, and, with
Wyatt, the sonnet. The poems of S., though well known in courtly circles,
were not _pub._ during his life; 40 of them appeared in _Tottel's
Miscellany_ in 1557. He also paraphrased part of Ecclesiastes and a few
of the Psalms. The Geraldine of his sonnets was Elizabeth Fitzgerald,
_dau._ of the Earl of Kildare, then a lonely child at Court, her _f._
being imprisoned in the Tower.
SURTEES, ROBERT SMITH (1802-1864).--Sporting novelist, a country
gentleman of Durham, who was in business as a solicitor, but not
succeeding, started in 1831 the _Sporting Magazine_. Subsequently he took
to writing sporting novels, which were illustrated by John Leech. Among
them are _Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour_, _Ask Mamma_, _Plain or Ringlets_,
and _Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds_.
SWIFT, JONATHAN (1667-1745).--Satirist, was _b._ at Dublin of English
parents. Dryden was his cousin, and he also claimed kin with Herrick. He
was a posthumous child, and was brought up in circumstances of extreme
poverty. He was sent to school at Kilkenny, and afterwards went to
Trinity Coll., Dublin, where he gave no evidence of ability, but
displayed a turbulent and unruly temper, and only obtained a degree by
"special grace." After the Revolution he joined his mother, then resident
at Leicester, by whose influence he was admitted to the household of Sir
William Temple (_q.v._) at Moor Park, Lady T. being her distant
kinswoman. Here he acted as sec., and having access to a well-stocked
library, made good use of his opportunities, and became a close student.
At Moor Park he met many distinguished men, including William III., who
offered him a troop of horse; he also met Esther Johnson (Stella), a
natural _dau._ of Sir William, who was afterwards to enter so largely
into his life. Dissatisfied, apparently, that Temple did not do more for
his advancement, he left his service in 1694 and returned to Ireland,
where he took orders, and obtained the small living of Kilroot, near
Belfast. While there he wrote his _Tale of a Tub_, one of the most
consummate pieces of satire in any language, and _The Battle of the
Books_, with reference to the "Phalaris" controversy (_see_ Bentley),
which were _pub._ together in 1704. In 1698 he threw up his living at the
request of Temple, who felt the want of his society and assistance, and
returned to Moor Park. On the death of his patron in 1699 he undertook by
request the publication of his works, and thereafter returned to Ireland
as chaplain to the Lord Deputy, the Earl of Berkeley, from whom he
obtained some small preferments, including the vicarage of Laracor, and a
prebend in St. Patrick's Cathedral. At this time he made frequent visits
to London and became the friend of Addison, Steele, Congreve, and other
Whig writers, and wrote various pamphlets, chiefly on ecclesiastical
subjects. In 1710, disgusted with the neglect of the Whigs, alike of
himself and of the claims of his Church, he abandoned them and attached
himself to Harley and Bolingbroke. The next few years were filled with
political controversy. He attacked the Whigs in papers in the _Examiner_
in 1710, and in his celebrated pamphlets, _The Conduct of the Allies_
(1712), _The Barrier Treaty_ (1713), and _The Public Spirit of the Whigs_
(1714). In 1713 he was made Dean of St. Patrick's, the last piece of
patronage which he received. The steady dislike of Queen Anne had proved
an insurmountable obstacle to his further advancement, and her death
proved the ruin of the Tories. On the destruction of his hopes S. retired
to Ireland, where he remained for the rest of his life a thoroughly
embittered man. In 1713 he had begun his _Journal to Stella_, which sheds
so strange a light upon his character, and on his return to Ireland his
marriage to her is now generally believed to have taken place, though
they never lived together. Now also took place also his final rupture
with Miss Van Homrigh (Vanessa), who had been in love with him, with whom
he had maintained a lengthened correspondence, and to whom he addressed
his poem, _Cadenus and Vanessa_ (1726). Though he disliked the Irish and
considered residence in Ireland as banishment, he interested himself in
Irish affairs, and attained extraordinary popularity by his _Drapier's
Letters_, directed against the introduction of "Wood's halfpence." In
1726 he visited England and joined with Pope and Arbuthnot in publishing
_Miscellanies_ (1727). In the same year, 1726, he _pub._ _Gulliver's
Travels_, his most widely and permanently popular work. His last visit to
England was paid in 1727 and in the following year "Stella," the only
being, probably, whom he really loved, _d._ Though he had a circle of
friends in Dublin, and was, owing to his championing the people in their
grievances, a popular idol, the shadows were darkening around him. The
fears of insanity by which he had been all his life haunted, and which
may account for and perhaps partly excuse some of the least justifiable
portions of his conduct, pressed more and more upon him. He became
increasingly morose and savage in his misanthropy, and though he had a
rally in which he produced some of his most brilliant, work--the
_Rhapsody on Poetry_, _Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift_, and; the
_Modest Proposal_ (a horrible but masterly piece of irony)--he gradually
sank into almost total loss of his facilities, and _d._ on October 19,
1745.
The character of S. is one of the gloomiest and least attractive among
English writers. Intensely proud, he suffered bitterly in youth and early
manhood from the humiliations of poverty and dependence, which preyed
upon a mind in which the seeds of insanity were latent until it became
dominated by a ferocious misanthropy. As a writer he is our greatest
master of grave irony, and while he presents the most humorous ideas, the
severity of his own countenance never relaxes. The _Tale of a Tub_ and
_Gulliver's Travels_ are the greatest satires in the English language,
although the concluding part of the latter is a savage and almost insane
attack upon the whole human race. His history is a tragedy darkening into
catastrophe, and as Thackeray has said, "So great a man he seems that
thinking of him is like thinking of an Empire falling."
S. was tall and powerfully made. His eyes, blue and flashing under
excitement, were the most remarkable part of his appearance.
SUMMARY.--_B._ 1667, _ed._ at Trinity Coll., Dublin, entered household of
Sir W. Temple at Moor Park 1692, and became his sec., became known to
William III., and met E. Johnson (Stella), left T. in 1694 and returned
to Ireland, took orders and wrote _Tale of a Tub_ and _Battle of Books_
(_pub._ 1704), returned to Sir W.T. 1698, and on his death in 1699 _pub._
his works, returned to Ireland and obtained some small preferments,
visits London and became one of the circle of Addison, etc., deserts the
Whigs and joins the Tories 1710, attacking the former in various papers
and pamphlets, Dean of St. Patrick's 1713, death of Anne and ruin of
Tories destroyed hopes of further preferment, and he returned to Ireland
and began his _Journal to Stella_, _Drapier's Letters_ appeared 1724,
visits England, and joins with Pope and Arbuthnot in _Miscellanies_ 1726,
_pub._ _Gulliver's Travels_ 1727, "Stella" _d._ 1728, gradually lost his
faculties and _d._ 1745.
_Lives_ by Craik (1882), Leslie Stephen (1882), Churton Collins (1893),
etc. _Works_ ed. by Sir Walter Scott (19 vols., 1814, etc.) Bonn's
Standard Library (1897-1908).
SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES (1837-1909).--Poet, _s._ of Admiral S. and of
Lady Jane Ashburnham, _dau._ of the 3rd Earl of A., _b._ in London,
received his early education in France, and was at Eton and at Balliol
Coll., Oxf., where he attracted the attention of Jowett, and gave himself
to the study of Latin, Greek, French, and Italian, with special reference
to poetic form. He left Oxf. without graduating in 1860, and in the next
year _pub._ two plays, _The Queen Mother_ and _Rosamund_, which made no
impression on the public, though a few good judges recognised their
promise. The same year he visited Italy, and there made the acquaintance
of Walter Savage Landor (_q.v._). On his return he lived for some time
in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, with D.G. Rossetti (_q.v._), and G. Meredith
(_q.v._). The appearance in 1865 of _Atalanta in Calydon_ led to his
immediate recognition as a poet of the first order, and in the same year
he _pub._ _Chastelard, a Tragedy_, the first part of a trilogy relating
to Mary Queen of Scots, the other two being _Bothwell_ (1874), and _Mary
Stuart_ (1881). _Poems and Ballads_, _pub._ in 1866, created a profound
sensation alike among the critics and the general body of readers by its
daring departure from recognised standards, alike of politics and
morality, and gave rise to a prolonged and bitter controversy, S.
defending himself against his assailants in _Notes on Poems and Reviews_.
His next works were the _Song of Italy_ (1867) and _Songs before Sunrise_
(1871). Returning to the Greek models which he had followed with such
brilliant success in _Atalanta_ he produced _Erechtheus_ (1876), the
extraordinary metrical power of which won general admiration. _Poems and
Ballads_, second series, came out in 1878. _Tristram of Lyonnesse_ in
heroic couplets followed in 1882, _A Midsummer Holiday_ (1884), _Marino
Faliero_ (1885), _Locrine_ (1887), _Poems and Ballads_, third series
(1889), _The Sisters_ (1892), _Astrophel_ (1894), _The Tale of Balen_
(1896), _Rosamund, Queen of the Lombards_ (1899), _A Channel Passage_
(1904), and _The Duke of Gandia_ (1908). Among his prose works are
_Love's Cross Currents_ (1905) (fiction), _William Blake, a Critical
Essay_ (1867), _Under the Microscope_ (1872), in answer to R. Buchanan's
_Fleshly School of Poetry_, _George Chapman, a Critical Essay_ (1875), _A
Study of Shakespeare_ (1879), _A Study of Victor Hugo_ (1886), and _A
Study of Ben Jonson_ (1889).
S. belongs to the class of "Poets' poets." He never became widely
popular. As a master of metre he is hardly excelled by any of our poets,
but it has not seldom been questioned whether his marvellous sense of the
beauty of words and their arrangement did not exceed the depth and mass
of his thought. _The Hymn to Artemis_ in _Atalanta_ beginning "When the
hounds of Spring are on Winter's traces" is certainly one of the most
splendid examples of metrical power in the language. As a prose writer he
occupies a much lower place, and here the contrast between the thought
and its expression becomes very marked, the latter often becoming turgid
and even violent. In his earlier days in London S. was closely associated
with the pre-Raphaelites, the Rossettis, Meredith, and Burne-Jones: he
was thus subjected successively to the classical and romantic influence,
and showed the traces of both in his work. He was never _m._, and for the
last 30 years of his life lived with his friend, Mr. Theodore
Watts-Dunton, at the Pines, Putney Hill. For some time before his death
he was almost totally deaf.
SYLVESTER, JOSHUA (1563-1618).--Poet and translator, is chiefly
remembered by his translation from the French of Du Bartas' _Divine Weeks
and Works_, which is said to have influenced Milton and Shakespeare. He
seconded the _Counterblast against Tobacco_ of James I. with his _Tobacco
Battered and the Pipes Shattered ... by a Volley of Holy Shot thundered
from Mount Helicon_ (1620), and also wrote _All not Gold that Glitters_,
_Panthea: Divine Wishes and Meditations_ (1630), and many religious,
complimentary, and other occasional pieces. S., who was originally
engaged in commerce, acted later as a sort of factor to the Earl of
Essex.
SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON (1840-1893).--Writer on art and literature, _s._
of a physician in Bristol, was _ed._ at Harrow and Oxf. His delicate
health obliged him to live abroad. He _pub._ (1875-86) _History of the
Italian Renaissance_, and translated the _Autobiography of Benvenuto
Cellini_. He also _pub._ some books of poetry, including _Many Moods_
(1878) and _Animi Figura_ (1882), and among his other publications were
_Introduction to the Study of Dante_ (1872), _Studies of the Greek Poets_
(1873 and 1876), _Shakespeare's Predecessors in the English Drama_
(1884), and Lives of various poets, including Ben Jonson, Shelley, and
Walt Whitman. He also made remarkable translations of the sonnets of
Michelangelo and Campanella, and wrote upon philosophical subjects in
various periodicals.
SYNGE, JOHN MILLINGTON (1871-1909).--Miscellaneous writer, _b._ near
Dublin, _ed._ privately and at Trinity Coll., Dublin. He wrote _Riders to
the Sea_, _In the Shadow of the Glen_ (1905), _The Well of the Saints_
(1905), _The Play Boy of the Western World_ (1907), and _The Aran
Islands_ (1907).
TABLEY DE, JOHN BYRON LEICESTER WARREN, 3RD LORD (1835-1895).--Poet,
eldest _s._ of the 2nd Lord, _ed._ at Eton and Oxf., was for a time
attached to the British Embassy at Constantinople. He wrote poems of a
very high order, some of them _pub._ under the _pseudonyms_ of "George F.
Preston" and "William Lancaster." They include _Ballads and Metrical
Sketches_, _The Threshold of Atrides_, _Glimpses of Antiquity_, etc.
These were followed by two dramas, _Philoctetes_ (1866) and _Orestes_
(1868). Later works in his own name were _Rehearsals_ (1870), _Searching
the Net_ (1873), _The Soldier's Fortune_, a tragedy. _Poems, Dramatic and
Lyrical_ (1893) included selections from former works. After his death
appeared _Orpheus in Thrace_ (1901). He was a man of sensitive
temperament, and was latterly much of a recluse. He was an accomplished
botanist, and _pub._ a work on the _Flora of Cheshire_.
TALFOURD, SIR THOMAS NOON (1795-1854).--Poet and biographer, _s._ of a
brewer at Reading, where he was _b._, and which he represented in
Parliament, 1835-41, was _ed._ at Mill Hill School. He studied law, was
called to the Bar in 1821, and became a Judge in 1849. He _d._ suddenly
of apoplexy while charging the Grand Jury at Stafford. He wrote much for
reviews, and in 1835 produced _Ion_, a tragedy, followed by _The Athenian
Captive_ (1838), and _The Massacre of Glencoe_, all of which were acted
with success. T. was the friend and literary executor of Charles Lamb
(_q.v._), and _pub._ in two sections his _Memoirs and Letters_. In 1837
he introduced the Copyright Bill, which was passed with modifications in
1842.
TANNAHILL, ROBERT (1774-1810).--Poet, _b._ in Paisley where he was a
weaver. In 1807 he _pub._ a small vol. of poems and songs, which met with
success, and carried his hitherto local fame over his native country.
Always delicate and sensitive, a disappointment in regard to the
publication of an enlarged ed. of his poems so wrought upon a lowness of
spirits, to which he was subject, that he drowned himself in a canal. His
longer pieces are now forgotten, but some of his songs have achieved a
popularity only second to that of some of Burns's best. Among these are
_The Braes of Balquhidder_, _Gloomy Winter's now awa'_ and _The Bonnie
Wood o' Craigielea_.
TATE, NAHUM (1652-1715).--Poet, _s._ of a clergyman in Dublin, was _ed._
at Trinity Coll. there. He _pub._ _Poems on Several Occasions_ (1677),
_Panacea, or a Poem on Tea_, and, in collaboration with Dryden, the
second part of _Absalom and Achitophel_. He also adapted Shakespeare's
_Richard II._ and _Lear_, making what he considered improvements. Thus in
_Lear_ Cordelia is made to survive her _f._, and marry Edgar. This
desecration, which was defended by Dr. Johnson, kept the stage till well
on in the 19th century. He also wrote various miscellaneous poems, now
happily forgotten. He is best remembered as the Tate of Tate and Brady's
metrical version of the Psalms, _pub._ in 1696. T., who succeeded
Shadwell as Poet Laureate in 1690, figures in _The Dunciad_. NICHOLAS
BRADY (1659-1726).--Tate's fellow-versifier of the Psalms, _b._ at
Bandon, and _ed._ at Westminster and Oxf., was incumbent of
Stratford-on-Avon. He wrote a tragedy, _The Rape_, a blank verse
translation of the _Æneid_, an _Ode_, and sermons, now all forgotten.
TATHAM, JOHN (_fl._ 1632-1664).--Dramatist. Little is known of him. He
produced pageants for the Lord Mayor's show and some dramas, _Love Crowns
the End_, _The Distracted State_, _The Scots Figgaries, or a Knot of
Knaves_, _The Rump_, etc. He was a Cavalier, who hated the Puritans and
the Scotch, and invented a dialect which he believed to be their
vernacular tongue.
TAUTPHOEUS, BARONESS (MONTGOMERY) (1807-1893).--_Dau._ of an Irish
gentleman, _m._ the Baron T., Chamberlain at the Court of Bavaria. She
wrote several novels dealing with German life of which the first, _The
Initials_ (1850), is perhaps the best. Others were _Cyrilla_ (1883),
_Quits_ (1857), and _At Odds_ (1863).
TAYLOR, BAYARD (1825-1878).--Poet, _b._ in Pennsylvania of Quaker
descent, began to write by the time he was 12. Apprenticed to a printer,
he found the work uncongenial and, purchasing his indentures, went to
Europe on a walking tour, and thereafter he was a constant and
enterprising traveller. After his return from Europe he ed. a paper, got
on the staff of the _New York Tribune_, and _pub._ several books of
travel and poetry, among which are _Views Afoot_ (1846), an account of
his travels in Europe, and _El Dorado_ (1850), which described the
Californian gold-fields. After some experience and some disappointments
in the diplomatic sphere, he settled down to novel-writing, his first
venture in which, _Hannah Thurston_ (1863), was very successful, and was
followed by _John Godfrey's Fortunes_ (1864), partly autobiographical,
and _The Story of Kenneth_ (1866). His poetic works include _Poems of the
Orient_ (1854), _Poet's Journal_ (1862), _Masque of the Gods_ (1872),
_Lars_ (1873), _The Prophet_ (1874), a tragedy, _Prince Deucalion_, and
_Home Pastorals_ (1875). In 1878 he was appointed to the German Embassy,
and _d._ in Berlin in the following year. His translation of Goethe's
_Faust_ is perhaps his best work. He was a man of untiring energy and
great ability and versatility, but tried too many avenues to fame to
advance very far in any of them.
TAYLOR, SIR HENRY (1800-1886).--Dramatist, _s._ of a gentleman farmer in
the county of Durham. After being at sea for some months and in the Naval
Stores Department, he became a clerk in the Colonial Office, and remained
there for 48 years, during which he exercised considerable influence on
the colonial policy of the Empire. In 1872 he was made K.C.M.G. He wrote
four tragedies--_Isaac Comnenus_ (1827), _Philip van Artevelde_ (1834),
_Edwin the Fair_ (1842), and _St. Clement's Eve_ (1862); also a romantic
comedy, _The Virgin Widow_, which he renamed _A Sicilian Summer_, _The Eve
of the Conquest and other Poems_ (1847). In prose he _pub._ _The Statesman_
(1836), _Notes from Life_ (1847), _Notes from Books_ (1849), and an
_Autobiography_. Of all these _Philip van Artevelde_ was perhaps the most
successful. T. was a man of great ability and distinction, but his
dramas, with many of the qualities of good poetry, lack the final touch
of genius.
TAYLOR, ISAAC (1787-1865).--Philosophical and historical writer, artist,
and inventor, was the most eminent member of a family known as the
Taylors of Ongar, which has shown a remarkable persistence of ability in
various departments, but especially in art and literature. His
grandfather and _f._, who bore the same name, were both eminent
engravers, and the latter was the author of various books for children.
T. was brought up to the hereditary art of engraving, in which he
displayed pre-eminent skill, his work gaining the admiration of D.G.
Rossetti. He decided, however, to devote himself to literature, and for
40 years continued to produce works of originality and value, including
_Elements of Thought_ (1823), _Natural History of Enthusiasm_ (1829),
_Spiritual Despotism_ (1831), _Ancient Christianity_ (1839), _Restoration
of Belief_ (1855), _The Physical Theory of Another Life_, _History of
Transmission of Ancient Books_, and _Home Education_, besides numerous
contributions to reviews and other periodicals. Besides his literary and
artistic accomplishments T. was an important inventor, two of his
inventions having done much to develop the manufacture of calico. Two of
his sisters had considerable literary reputation. ANN T., afterwards MRS.
GILBERT (1782-1866), and JANE (1783-1824) were, like their brother,
taught the art of engraving. In 1804-5 they jointly wrote _Original Poems
for Infant Minds_, followed by _Rhymes for the Nursery_ and _Hymns for
Infant Minds_. Among those are the little poems, "My Mother" and
"Twinkle, twinkle, little Star," known to all well-conditioned children.
Jane was also the author of _Display_, a tale (1815), and other works,
including several hymns, of which the best known is "Lord, I would own
Thy tender Care." The hereditary talents of the family were represented
in the next generation by CANON ISAAC T. (1829-1901), the _s._ of Isaac
last mentioned, who, in addition to _The Liturgy and the Dissenters_,
_pub._ works in philology and archæology, including _Words and Places_
and _Etruscan Researches_; and by JOSIAH GILBERT, _s._ of Ann T., an
accomplished artist, and author of _The Dolomite Mountains_, _Cadore, or
Titian's Country_, and ed. of the _Autobiography_ of his mother.
TAYLOR, JEREMY (1613-1667).--Divine, was _b._ at Camb. His _f._, though
of gentle descent, followed the trade of a barber, and Jeremy entered
Caius Coll. as a sizar. After his graduation in 1634 he was asked to
preach in London, where his eloquence attracted the attention of Laud,
who sent him to Oxf., caused him to be elected a Fellow of All Souls
Coll., and made him his chaplain. He also became a chaplain to the King,
and soon attaining a great reputation as a preacher, was presented to the
living of Uppingham. In 1639 he _m._ his first wife, and in 1643 he was
made Rector of Overstone. On the outbreak of the Civil War T. sided with
the King, and was present, probably as a chaplain, at the battle fought
in 1645 near Cardigan Castle, when he was taken prisoner. He was soon
released, but the Royalist cause being practically lost, he decided to
remain in Wales, and with two friends started a school at Newtonhall,
Caermarthenshire, which had some success. T. also found a friend in Lord
Carbery, whose chaplain he became. During the period of 13 years from
1647-60, which were passed in seeming obscurity, he laid the foundations
and raised the structure of his splendid literary fame. The _Liberty of
Prophesying_ (that is, of preaching), one of the greatest pleas for
toleration in the language, was _pub._ in 1647, _The Life of Christ_ in
1649, _Holy Living_ in 1650, and _Holy Dying_ in 1651. These were
followed by various series of sermons, and by _The Golden Grove_ (1655),
a manual of devotion which received its title from the name of the seat
of his friend Lord Carbery. For some remarks against the existing
authorities T. suffered a short imprisonment, and some controversial
tracts on _Original Sin_, _Unum Necessarium_ (the one thing needful), and
_The Doctrine and Practice of Repentance_ involved him in a controversy
of some warmth in which he was attacked by both High Churchmen and
Calvinists. While in Wales T. had entered into a second marriage with a
lady of some property which, however, was seriously encroached upon by
the exactions of the Parliamentarians. In 1657 he ministered privately to
an Episcopalian congregation in London, and in 1658 accompanied Lord
Conway to Ireland, and served a cure at Lisburn. Two years later he
_pub._ _Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience in all her General
Measures_, a learned and subtle piece of casuistry which he dedicated to
Charles II. The Restoration brought recognition of T.'s unswerving
devotion to the Royalist cause; he was made Bishop of Down and Connor,
and to this was added the administration of the see of Dromore. In his
new position, though, as might have been expected, he showed zeal,
diligence, and benevolence, he was not happy. He did not, probably could
not, entirely practise his own views of absolute toleration, and found
himself in conflict with the Presbyterians, some of whose ministers he
had extruded from benefices which they had held, and he longed to escape
to a more private and peaceful position. He _d._ at Lisburn of a fever
caught while ministering to a parishioner. T. is one of the great
classical writers of England. Learned, original, and impassioned, he had
an enthusiasm for religion and charity, and his writings glow with an
almost unequalled wealth of illustration and imagery, subtle argument,
and fullness of thought. With a character of stainless purity and
benevolence, and gracious and gentle manners, he was universally beloved
by all who came under the spell of his presence.
TAYLOR, JOHN (1580-1653).--Known as the "Water Poet," _b._ at Gloucester
of humble parentage, was apprenticed to a London waterman, and pressed
for the navy. Thereafter he returned to London and resumed his occupation
on the Thames, afterwards keeping inns first at Oxf., then in London. He
had a talent for writing rollicking verses, enjoyed the acquaintance of
Ben Jonson, and other famous men, superintended the water pageant at the
marriage of the Princess Elizabeth 1613, and composed the "triumphs" at
the Lord Mayor's shows. He made a journey on foot from London as far as
to Braemar, of which he wrote an account, _The Pennyless Pilgrimage ...
of John Taylor_, _the King's Majesty's Water Poet_ (1618). He visited the
Queen of Bohemia at Prague in 1620, and made other journeys, each of
which was commemorated in a book. His writings are of little literary
value, but have considerable historical and antiquarian interest.
TAYLOR, PHILIP MEADOWS (1808-1876).--Novelist, _b._ at Liverpool, _s._ of
a merchant there. When still a boy went out to a mercantile situation in
Calcutta, but in 1826 got a commission in the army of the Nizam of
Hyderabad. From this he rose to a high civil position in the service of
the Nizam, and entirely reorganised his government. He wrote several
striking novels dealing with Indian life, including _Confessions of a
Thug_ (1639), _Tara_, and _A Noble Queen_. He left an autobiography, _The
Story of my Life_, ed. by his _dau._
TAYLOR, THOMAS (1758-1835).--Translator, _b._ in London and _ed._ at St.
Paul's School, devoted himself to the study of the classics and of
mathematics. After being a bank clerk he was appointed Assistant
Secretary to the Society for the encouragement of Arts, etc., in which
capacity he made many influential friends, who furnished the means for
publishing his various translations, which include works of Plato,
Aristotle, Proclus, Porphyry, Apuleius, etc. His aim indeed was the
translation of all the untranslated writings of the ancient Greek
philosophers.
TAYLOR, TOM (1817-1880).--Dramatist, _b._ at Sunderland, _ed._ at Glasgow
and Camb., and was Prof. of English Literature in London Univ. from
1845-47. In 1846 he was called to the Bar, and from 1854-71 he was Sec.
to the Local Government Board. He was the author of about 100 dramatic
pieces, original and adapted, including _Still Waters run Deep_, _The
Overland Route_, and _Joan of Arc_. He was likewise a large contributor
to _Punch_, of which he was ed. 1874-80, and he ed. the autobiographies
of Haydon and Leslie, the painters, and wrote _Life and Times of Sir
Joshua Reynolds_.
TAYLOR, WILLIAM (1765-1836).--Translator, etc., _s._ of a merchant,
travelled on the Continent, learned German, and became an enthusiastic
student of German literature, which he was one of the first to introduce
to his fellow-countrymen. His articles on the subject were _coll._ and
_pub._ as _Historic Survey of German Poetry_ (1828-30). He translated
Bürger's _Lenore_, Lessing's _Nathan_, and Goethe's _Iphigenia_. He also
wrote _Tales of Yore_ (1810) and _English Synonyms Described_ (1813).
TEMPLE, SIR WILLIAM (1628-1699).--Statesman and essayist, _s._ of Sir
John T., Master of the Rolls in Ireland, was _b._ in London, and _ed._ at
Camb. He travelled on the Continent, was for some time a member of the
Irish Parliament, employed on various diplomatic missions, and negotiated
the marriage of the Prince of Orange and the Princess Mary. On his return
he was much consulted by Charles II., but disapproving of the courses
adopted, retired to his house at Sheen, which he afterwards left and
purchased Moor Park, where Swift was for a time his sec. He took no part
in the Revolution, but acquiesced in the new _régime_, and was offered,
but refused, the Secretaryship of State. His works consist for the most
part of short essays _coll._ under the title of _Miscellanea_, but longer
pieces are _Observations upon the United Provinces_, and _Essay on the
Original and Nature of Government_. Apart from their immediate interest
they mark a transition to the simpler, more concise, and more carefully
arranged sentences of modern composition.
TENNANT, WILLIAM (1784-1848).--Poet and scholar, a cripple from his
birth, was _b._ at Anstruther (commonly called Anster) in Fife. As a
youth he was clerk to his brother, a corn-merchant, but devoted his
leisure to the study of languages, and the literature of various
countries. In 1813 he became parish schoolmaster of Lasswade, near
Edinburgh, thereafter classical master at Dollar Academy, and in 1835
Prof. of Oriental Languages at St. Andrews. In 1812 he _pub._ _Anster
Fair_, a mock-heroic poem, in _ottava rima_, full of fancy and humour,
which at once brought him reputation. In later life he produced two
tragedies, _Cardinal Beaton_ and _John Baliol_, and two poems, _The Thane
of Fife_ and _Papistry Stormed_. He also issued a _Syriac and Chaldee
Grammar_.
TENNYSON, ALFRED, 1ST LORD (1809-1892).--Poet, was the fourth _s._ of
George T., Rector of Somersby, Lincolnshire, where he was _b._ His _f._
was himself a poet of some skill, and his two elder brothers, Frederick
T. (_q.v._) and Charles T. Turner (_q.v._), were poets of a high order.
His early education was received from his _f._, after which he went to
the Grammar School of Louth, whence in 1828 he proceeded to Trinity
Coll., Camb. In the previous year had appeared a small vol., _Poems by
Two Brothers_, chiefly the work of his brother Charles and himself, with
a few contributions from Frederick, but it attracted little attention. At
the Univ. he was one of a group of highly gifted men, including Trench
(_q.v._), Monckton Milnes, afterwards Lord Houghton (_q.v._), Alford
(_q.v._), Lushington, his future brother-in-law, and above all, Arthur
Hallam, whose friendship and early death were to be the inspiration of
his greatest poem. In 1829 he won the Chancellor's medal by a poem on
_Timbuctoo_, and in the following year he brought out his first
independent work, _Poems chiefly Lyrical_. It was not in general very
favourably received by the critics, though Wilson in _Blackwood's
Magazine_ admitted much promise and even performance. In America it had
greater popularity. Part of 1832 was spent in travel with Hallam, and the
same year saw the publication of _Poems_, which had not much greater
success than its predecessor. In the next year Hallam _d._, and T. began
_In Memoriam_ and wrote _The Two Voices_. He also became engaged to
Emily Sellwood, his future wife, but owing to various circumstances their
marriage did not take place until 1850. The next few years were passed
with his family at various places, and, so far as the public were
concerned, he remained silent until 1842, when he _pub._ _Poems_ in two
volumes, and at last achieved full recognition as a great poet. From this
time the life of T. is a record of tranquil triumph in his art and of the
conquest of fame; and the publication of his successive works became
almost the only events which mark his history. _The Princess_ appearing
in 1847 added materially to his reputation: in the lyrics with which it
is interspersed, such as "The Splendour Falls" and "Tears, idle Tears" he
rises to the full mastery of this branch of his art. The year 1850 was
perhaps the most eventful in his life, for in it took place his marriage
which, as he said, "brought the peace of God into his life," his
succession to the Laureateship on the death of Wordsworth, and the
publication of his greatest poem, _In Memoriam_. In 1852 appeared his
noble _Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington_; and two years later
_The Charge of the Light Brigade_. The publication of _Maud_ in 1855 gave
his rapidly growing popularity a perceptible set-back, though it has
since risen in favour. But this was far more than made up for by the
enthusiasm with which the first set of _The Idylls of the King_ was
received on its appearance four years later. _Enoch Arden_, with the
_Northern Farmer_, came out in 1864; _The Holy Grail_ and _Gareth and
Lynette_, both belonging to the _Idyll_ series, in 1869 and 1872
respectively. Three years later in 1875 T. broke new ground by beginning
a series of dramas with _Queen Mary_, followed by _Harold_ (1876), _The
Falcon_ (1879), _The Cup_ (1881), _The Promise of May_ (1882), _Becket_
(1884), and _Robin Hood_ (1891). His later poems were _The Lovers' Tale_
(1879) (an early work retouched), _Tiresias_ (1885), _Locksley Hall--60
Years after_ (1886), _Demeter and other Poems_ (1889), including
"Crossing the Bar," and _The Death of Oenone_ (1892). T., who cared
little for general society, though he had many intimate and devoted
friends, lived at Farringford, Isle of Wight, from 1853-69, when he built
a house at Aldworth, near Haslemere, which was his home until his death.
In 1884 he was raised to the peerage. Until he had passed the threescore
years and ten he had, with occasional illnesses, enjoyed good health on
the whole. But in 1886 the younger of his two sons _d._, a blow which
told heavily upon him; thereafter frequent attacks of illness followed,
and he _d._ on October 6, 1892, in his 84th year, and received a public
funeral in Westminster Abbey.
The poetry of T. is characterised by a wide outlook, by intense sympathy
with the deepest feelings and aspirations of humanity, a profound
realisation of the problems of life and thought, a noble patriotism
finding utterance in such poems as _The Revenge_, the _Charge of the
Light Brigade_, and the _Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington_, an
exquisite sense of beauty, marvellous power of vivid and minute
description often achieved by a single felicitous phrase, and often
heightened by the perfect matching of sense and sound, and a general
loftiness and purity of tone. No poet has excelled him in precision and
delicacy of language and completeness of expression. As a lyrist he has,
perhaps, no superiors, and only two or three equals in English poetry,
and even of humour he possessed no small share, as is shown in the
_Northern Farmer_ and in other pieces. When the volume, variety, finish,
and duration of his work are considered, as well as the influence which
he exercised on his time, a unique place must be assigned him among the
poets of his country.
SUMMARY.--_B._ 1809, _ed._ Camb., _Poems by Two Brothers_ 1827, _Poems
chiefly Lyrical_ 1830, his chief works _Poems in two Volumes_ 1842,
_Princess_ 1847, _In Memoriam_ 1850, _Maud_ 1855, _Idylls of the King_
1869-72, Poet Laureate 1850, _d._ 1892.
_Life_ by his _s._ (2 vols., 1897). There are also numerous books,
biographical and critical, by, among others, W.E. Wace (1881), A.C.
Benson, A. Lang, F. Harrison, Sir A. Lyell, C.F.G. Masterman (T. as a
Religious Teacher), Stopford Brooke, Waugh, etc.
TENNYSON, FREDERICK (1807-1898).--Poet, was the eldest _s._ of the Rector
of Somersby, Lincolnshire, and brother of Alfred T. (_q.v._). _Ed._ at
Eton and Camb., he passed most of his life in Italy and Jersey. He
contributed to the _Poems by Two Brothers_, and produced _Days and Hours_
(lyrics) (1854), _The Isles of Greece_ (1890), _Daphne_ (1891), and
_Poems of the Day and Night_ (1895). All his works show passages of
genuine poetic power.
TENNYSON TURNER, CHARLES (1808-1879).--Poet, elder brother of Alfred T.
(_q.v._), _ed._ at Camb., entered the Church, and became Vicar of Grasby,
Lincolnshire. The name of Turner he assumed in conformity with the will
of a relation. He contributed to _Poems by Two Brothers_, and was the
author of 340 sonnets, which were greatly admired by such critics as
Coleridge, Palgrave, and his brother Alfred.
THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE (1811-1863).--Novelist, _s._ of Richmond T.,
who held various important appointments in the service of the East India
Company, and who belonged to an old and respectable Yorkshire family, was
_b._ at Calcutta, and soon after the death of his _f._, which took place
in 1816, sent home to England. After being at a school at Chiswick, he
was sent to the Charterhouse School, where he remained from 1822-26, and
where he does not appear to have been very happy. Meanwhile in 1818 his
mother had _m._ Major H.W.C. Smythe, who is believed to be, in part at
any rate, the original of Colonel Newcome. In 1829 he went to Trinity
Coll., Camb., where he remained for a year only, and where he did not
distinguish himself particularly as a student, but made many life-long
friends, including Spedding (_q.v._), Tennyson, Fitzgerald (_q.v._), and
Monckton Milnes (_see_ Houghton), and contributed verses and caricatures
to two Univ. papers, "The Snob" and "The Gownsman." The following year,
1831, was spent chiefly in travelling on the Continent, especially
Germany, when, at Weimar, he visited Goethe. Returning he entered the
Middle Temple, but having no liking for legal studies, he soon abandoned
them, and turning his attention to journalism, became proprietor, wholly
or in part, of two papers successively, both of which failed. These
enterprises, together with some unfortunate investments and also, it
would seem, play, stripped him of the comfortable fortune, which he had
inherited; and he now found himself dependent on his own exertions for a
living. He thought at first of art as a profession, and studied for a
time at Paris and Rome. In 1836, while acting as Paris correspondent for
the second of his journals, he _m._ Isabella, _dau._ of Colonel Shawe, an
Irish officer, and the next year he returned to England and became a
contributor to _Fraser's Magazine_, in which appeared _The Yellowplush
Papers_, _The Great Hoggarty Diamond_, _Catherine_, and _Barry Lyndon_,
the history of an Irish sharper, which contains some of his best work.
Other works of this period were _The Paris Sketch-book_ (1840) and _The
Irish Sketch-book_ (1843). His work in _Fraser_, while it was appreciated
at its true worth by a select circle, had not brought him any very wide
recognition: it was his contributions to _Punch_--the _Book of Snobs_ and
_Jeames's Diary_--which first caught the ear of the wider public. The
turning point in his career, however, was the publication in monthly
numbers of _Vanity Fair_ (1847-48). This extraordinary work gave him at
once a place beside Fielding at the head of English novelists, and left
him no living competitor except Dickens. _Pendennis_, largely
autobiographical, followed in 1848-50, and fully maintained his
reputation. In 1851 he broke new ground, and appeared, with great
success, as a lecturer, taking for his subject _The English Humourists of
the Eighteenth Century_, following this up in 1855 with the _Four
Georges_, first delivered in America. Meanwhile _Esmond_, perhaps his
masterpiece, and probably the greatest novel of its kind in existence,
had appeared in 1852, and _The Newcomes_ (1853), _The Virginians_, a
sequel to _Esmond_, which, though containing much fine work, is generally
considered to show a falling off as compared with its two immediate
predecessors, came out in 1857-59. In 1860 the _Cornhill Magazine_ was
started with T. for its ed., and to it he contributed _Lovell the
Widower_ (1860), _The Adventures of Philip_ (1861-62), _The Roundabout
Papers_, a series of charming essays, and _Denis Duval_, left a mere
fragment by his sudden death, but which gave promise of a return to his
highest level of performance. In addition to the works mentioned, T. for
some years produced Christmas books and burlesques, of which the best
were _The Rose and the Ring_ and _The Kickleburys on the Rhine_. He also
wrote graceful verses, some of which, like _Bouillabaisse_, are in a
strain of humour shot through with pathos, while others are the purest
rollicking fun. For some years T. suffered from spasms of the heart, and
he _d._ suddenly during the night of December 23, 1863, in his 53rd year.
He was a man of the tenderest heart, and had an intense enjoyment of
domestic happiness; and the interruption of this, caused by the permanent
breakdown of his wife's health, was a heavy calamity. This, along with
his own latterly broken health, and a sensitiveness which made him keenly
alive to criticism, doubtless fostered the tendency to what was often
superficially called his cynical view of life. He possessed an inimitable
irony and a power of sarcasm which could scorch like lightning, but the
latter is almost invariably directed against what is base and hateful. To
human weakness he is lenient and often tender, and even when weakness
passes into wickedness, he is just and compassionate. He saw human nature
"steadily and saw it whole," and paints it with a light but sure hand. He
was master of a style of great distinction and individuality, and ranks
as one of the very greatest of English novelists.
SUMMARY.--_B._ 1811, _ed._ at Charterhouse and Camb., after trying law
turned to journalism, in which he lost his fortune, studied art at Paris
and Rome, wrote for _Fraser's Magazine_ and _Punch_, _Barry Lyndon_,
_Book of Snobs_, and _Jeames's Diary_, _pub._ _Vanity Fair_ 1847-8,
_Pendennis_ (1848-50), lectured on _Humourists_ 1851, and on _Four
Georges_ in America 1855, _pub._ _Esmond_ 1852, _Newcomes_ 1853,
_Virginians_ 1857-59, ed. _Cornhill Magazine_ 1860, his last great work,
_Denis Duval_, left unfinished, _d._ 1863.
_Lives_ by Merivale and Marzials (Great Writers), A. Trollope (English
Men of Letters), Whibley (Modern English Writers). Article in _Dictionary
of National Biography_ by Leslie Stephen.
THEOBALD, LEWIS (1688-1744).--Editor of Shakespeare, and translator,
originally an attorney, betook himself to literature, translated from
Plato, the Greek dramatists, and Homer, and wrote also essays,
biographies, and poems. In 1715 he _pub._ _Shakespeare Restored, etc._,
in which he severely criticised Pope's ed., and was in consequence
rewarded with the first place in _The Dunciad_, and the adoption of most
of his corrections in Pope's next ed. Though a poor poet, he was an acute
and discriminating critic, made brilliant emendations on some of the
classics, and produced in 1734 an ed. of Shakespeare which gave him a
high place among his ed.
THIRWALL, CONNOP (1797-1875).--Historian, was _b._ at Stepney, the _s._
of a clergyman, and _ed._ at the Charterhouse and Camb. He studied law,
was called to the Bar in 1825, and in the same year _pub._ a translation
of Schleiermacher's _Critical Essay on the Gospel of St. Luke_. After
this, having changed his mind, he took orders in 1827, and the next year
translated, with Julius Hare (_q.v._), the first vol. of Niebuhr's
_History of Rome_, and _pub._, also with him, _The Philological Museum_
(1831-33). He was an advocate for the admission of Dissenters to degrees,
and in consequence of his action in the matter had to resign his Univ.
tutorship. Thereupon Lord Brougham, then Lord Chancellor, presented him
to the living of Kirkby Underdale. Between 1835 and 1847 he wrote his
great _History of Greece_, which has a place among historical classics.
In 1840 he was made Bishop of St. David's, in which capacity he showed
unusual energy in administering his see. The eleven charges which he
delivered during his tenure of the see were pronouncements of exceptional
weight upon the leading questions of the time affecting the Church. As a
Broad Churchman T. was regarded with suspicion by both High and Low
Churchmen, and in the House of Lords generally supported liberal
movements such as the admission of Jews to Parliament. He was the only
Bishop who was in favour of the disestablishment of the Irish Church.
THOMS, WILLIAM JOHN (1803-1885).--Antiquary and miscellaneous writer, for
many years a clerk in the secretary's office of Chelsea Hospital, was in
1845 appointed Clerk, and subsequently Deputy Librarian to the House of
Lords. He was the founder in 1849 of _Notes and Queries_, which for some
years he also ed. Among his publications are _Early Prose Romances_
(1827-28), _Lays and Legends_ (1834), _The Book of the Court_ (1838),
_Gammer Gurton's Famous Histories_ (1846), _Gammer Gurton's Pleasant
Stories_ (1848). He also _ed._ Stow's _London_, and was sec. of the
Camden Society. He introduced the word "folk-lore" into the language.
THOMSON, JAMES (1700-1748).--Poet, _s._ of the minister of Ednam,
Roxburghshire, spent most of his youth, however, at Southdean, a
neighbouring parish, to which his _f._ was translated. He was _ed._ at
the parish school there, at Jedburgh, and at Edin., whither he went with
the view of studying for the ministry. The style of one of his earliest
sermons having been objected to by the Prof. of Divinity as being too
flowery and imaginative, he gave up his clerical views and went to London
in 1725, taking with him a part of what ultimately became his poem of
_Winter_. By the influence of his friend Mallet he became tutor to Lord
Binning, _s._ of the Earl of Haddington, and was introduced to Pope,
Arbuthnot, Gay, and others. _Winter_ was _pub._ in 1726, and was followed
by _Summer_ (1727), _Spring_ (1728), and _Autumn_ (1730), when the whole
were brought together as _The Seasons_. Previous to 1730 he had produced
one or two minor poems and the tragedy of _Sophonisba_, which, after
promising some success, was killed by the unfortunate line, "Oh!
Sophonisba, Sophonisba, oh!" being parodied as "Oh! Jemmy Thomson, Jemmy
Thomson, oh!" In 1731 T. accompanied Charles Talbot, _s._ of the Lord
Chancellor, to the Continent, as tutor, and on his return received the
sinecure Secretaryship of Briefs which, however, he lost in 1737, through
omitting to apply for its continuance to Talbot's successor. He then
returned to the drama and produced _Agamemnon_ in 1738, and _Edward and
Eleanora_ in 1739. The same year he received from the Prince of Wales a
pension of £100, and was made Surveyor-General of the Leeward Islands
which, after providing for a deputy to discharge the duties, left him
£300 a year. He was now in comfortable circumstances and settled in a
villa near Richmond, where he amused himself with gardening and seeing
his friends. In conjunction with Mallet he wrote, in 1740, the masque of
_Alfred_, in which appeared _Rule Britannia_, which M. afterwards
claimed, or allowed to be claimed, for him, but which there is every
reason to believe was contributed by T. In 1745 appeared _Tancred and
Sigismunda_, the most successful of his dramas, and in 1748 _Coriolanus_.
In May of the latter year he _pub._ _The Castle of Indolence_, an
allegorical poem in the Spenserian stanza, generally considered to be his
masterpiece. In August following he caught a chill which developed into a
fever, and carried him off in his 48th year. Though T. was undoubtedly a
poet by nature, his art was developed by constant and fastidious
polishing. To _The Seasons_, originally containing about 4000 lines, he
added about 1400 in his various revisions. He was the first to give the
description of nature the leading place, and in his treatment of his
theme he showed much judgment in the selection of the details to be dwelt
upon. His blank verse, though not equal to that of a few other English
poets, is musical and wielded in a manner suitable to his subject. In all
his poems he displays the genial temper and kindly sympathies by which he
was characterised as a man. He was never _m._, and lived an easy,
indolent life, beloved by his many friends. (_See also_ Lyttelton, Lord)
THOMSON, JAMES (1834-1882).--Poet, _b._ at Port Glasgow and brought up in
the Royal Caledonian Asylum, was for some years an army teacher, but was
dismissed for a breach of discipline. He became associated with Charles
Bradlaugh, the free-thought protagonist, who introduced him to the
conductors of various secularist publications. His best known poem is
_The City of Dreadful Night_, deeply pessimistic. Others are _Vane's
Story_ and _Weddah and Omel-Bonain_. His views resulted in depression,
which led to dipsomania, and he _d._ in poverty and misery. His work has
a certain gloomy power which renders it distinctly noteworthy.
THOREAU, HENRY DAVID (1817-1862).--Essayist, poet, and naturalist, was
_b._ at Concord, Massachusetts. His _f._, of French extraction, from
Jersey, was a manufacturer of lead-pencils. He was _ed._ at Harvard,
where he became a good classical scholar. Subsequently he was a competent
Orientalist, and was deeply versed in the history and manners of the Red
Indians. No form of regular remunerative employment commending itself to
him, he spent the 10 years after leaving coll. in the study of books and
nature, for the latter of which he had exceptional qualifications in the
acuteness of his senses and his powers of observation. Though not a
misanthropist, he appears in general to have preferred solitary communion
with nature to human society. "The man I meet," he said, "is seldom so
instructive as the silence which he breaks;" and he described himself as
"a mystic, a transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher." He made such
money as his extremely simple mode of life called for, by building boats
or fences, agricultural or garden work, and surveying, anything almost of
an outdoor character which did not involve lengthened engagement. In 1837
he began his diaries, records of observation with which in ten years he
filled 30 vols. In 1839 he made the excursion the record of which he in
1845 _pub._ as _A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers_. Two years
later, in 1841, he began a residence in the household of Emerson, which
lasted for two years, when he assisted in conducting the _Dial_, and in
1845, after some teaching in New York, he retired to a hut near the
solitary Walden Pond to write his _Week on the Concord_, etc. Later works
were _Walden_ (1854), and _The Maine Woods_ (1864), and _Cape Cod_
(1865), accounts of excursions and observations, both _pub._ after his
death. T. was an enthusiast in the anti-slavery cause, the triumph of
which, however, he did not live to see, as he _d._ on May 6, 1862, when
the war was still in its earlier stages. The deliberate aim of T. was to
live a life as nearly approaching naturalness as possible; and to this
end he passed his time largely in solitude and in the open air. As he
says, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to
front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what
it had to teach." To his great powers of observation he added great
powers of reflection, and two of the most characteristic features of his
writings are immediateness and individuality in his descriptions of
nature, and a remarkable power of giving permanent and clear form to the
most subtle and evanescent mental impressions.
TICKELL, THOMAS (1686-1740).--Poet, _b._ at Bridekirk Vicarage,
Cumberland, and _ed._ at Oxf. became the friend of Joseph Addison
(_q.v._), contributed to the _Spectator_ and _Guardian_, and accompanied
him when he went to Ireland as sec. to the Lord Lieutenant. His
translation of the first book of the _Iliad_ came out at the same time as
Pope's, and led to a quarrel between the latter and Addison, Pope
imagining that the publication was a plot to interfere with the success
of his work. On Addison becoming Sec. of State in 1717 he appointed T.
Under-Sec. Among the writings of T. are the well-known ballad, _Colin and
Lucy_, _Kensington Gardens_, a poem, and an _Elegy_ on the death of
Addison, of which Macaulay says that it "would do honour to the greatest
name in our literature." In 1725 he became sec. to the Lords Justices of
Ireland, and retained the post until his death.
TICKNOR, GEORGE (1791-1871).--Historian and biographer, _s._ of a rich
man, was _b._ at Boston, Mass., and _ed._ for the law. He, however, gave
himself to study and writing, and also travelled much. After being a
Prof. at Harvard, 1819-35, he went in the latter year to Europe, where he
spent some years collecting materials for his _magnum opus_, _The History
of Spanish Literature_ (1849). He also wrote Lives of Lafayette and
Prescott, the historian. His _Letters and Journals_ were _pub._ in 1876,
and are the most interesting of his writings.
TIGHE, MARY (BLACKFORD) (1772-1810).--Poet, _dau._ of a clergyman, made
an unhappy marriage, though she had beauty and amiable manners, and was
highly popular in society. She wrote a good deal of verse; but her chief
poem was a translation in Spenserian stanza of the tale of _Cupid and
Psyche_, which won the admiration of such men as Sir J. Mackintosh,
Moore, and Keats.
TILLOTSON, JOHN (1630-1694).--Divine, _s._ of a Presbyterian clothier,
was _b._ near Halifax, and _ed._ at Camb., where his originally Puritan
views became somewhat modified. At the Savoy Conference in 1661 he was
still a Presbyterian, but submitted to the Act of Uniformity, and became
next year Rector of Keddington, and in 1664 preacher at Lincoln's Inn,
where he became very popular. In 1672 he was made Dean of Canterbury. He
vainly endeavoured to secure the comprehension of the Nonconformists in
the Church. After the Revolution he gained the favour of William III.,
who made him Clerk of the Closet, and Dean of St. Paul's, and in 1691 he
succeeded Sancroft as Archbishop of Canterbury. His sermons, which had
extraordinary popularity, give him a place in literature, and he was one
of those writers who, by greater simplicity and greater attention to
clearness of construction, helped to introduce the modern style of
composition.
TIMROD, HENRY (1829-1867).--Poet, _b._ at Charleston, S. Carolina, of
German descent, was ruined by the Civil War, and _d._ in poverty. He
wrote one vol. of poems, _pub._ 1860, which attained wide popularity in
the South. He had notable descriptive power.
TOBIN, JOHN (1770-1804).--Dramatist, was for long unsuccessful, but in
the year of his death made a hit with _The Honey Moon_, which had great
success, and maintained its place for many years. Other plays were _The
Curfew_ and _The School for Authors_.
TOLAND, JOHN (1670?-1722).--Deistical writer, _b._ in Ireland of Roman
Catholic parentage, completed his education at Glasgow, Edin., and
Leyden. Very early in life he had become a Protestant, and at Leyden he
studied theology with the view of becoming a Nonconformist minister, but
imbibed Rationalistic views. He then resided for some time at Oxf., and
in 1696 _pub._ his first work, _Christianity not Mysterious_, which was
censured by Convocation and gave rise to much controversy. Next year he
returned to Ireland, where, however, he was not more popular than in
England, and where his book was burned by the common hangman. Returning
to England he took to writing political pamphlets, including one, _Anglia
Libera_, in support of the Brunswick succession, which gained him some
favour at Hanover, and he was sent on some political business to the
German Courts. He then served Harley in Holland and Germany practically
as a political spy. His later years were passed in literary drudgery and
poverty. Among his numerous writings may be mentioned _Account of Prussia
and Hanover_, _Origines Judaicæ_, _History of the Druids_, and a Life of
Milton prefixed to an ed. of his prose works.
TOOKE, JOHN HORNE (1736-1812).--Philologist, _s._ of a poulterer called
Horne, added the name of Tooke in 1782 in anticipation of inheriting from
his friend W. Tooke, of Purley. He was at Camb. and took orders, but
disliking the clerical profession, travelled abroad. Returning he became
prominent as a radical politician, and espoused the cause of Wilkes, with
whom, however, he afterwards quarrelled. He also supported the revolted
American colonists, and was fined and imprisoned for endeavouring to
raise a subscription for them. An effort to be admitted to the Bar was
unsuccessful; and in 1786 he published his _Diversions of Purley_, a work
on philology which brought him great reputation, and which, containing
muck that has been proved to be erroneous, showed great learning and
acuteness. T. twice endeavoured unsuccessfully to enter Parliament for
Westminster, but ultimately sat for the rotten burgh of Old Sarum,
making, however, no mark in the House. He was the author of numerous
effective political pamphlets.
TOPLADY, AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE (1740-1778).--Hymn-writer, _s._ of an officer
in the army, was _b._ at Farnham, _ed._ at Westminster and Trinity Coll.,
Dublin, after which he took orders and became incumbent of Broad Hembury.
He was a strong Calvinist and entered into a bitter controversy with
Wesley. His controversial works are forgotten; but he will always be
remembered as the author of "Rock of Ages," perhaps the most widely known
of English hymns.
TOURNEUR, or TURNER, CYRIL (1575?-1626).--Dramatist, perhaps _s._ of
Richard T., Lieutenant of the Brill, served in the Low Countries, and was
sec. to Sir Edward Cecil in his unsuccessful expedition to Cadiz,
returning from which he was disembarked with the sick at Kinsale, where
he _d._ He wrote two dramas, _The Revenger's Tragedy_ (_pr._ 1607), and
_The Atheist's Tragedy_ (_pr._ 1611), in both of which, especially the
former, every kind of guilt and horror is piled up, the author
displaying, however, great intensity of tragic power. Of _The Revenger_
Lamb said that it made his ears tingle. Another play of his, _Transformed
Metamorphosis_, was discovered in 1872.
TRAHERNE, THOMAS (1636?-1674).--Poet and theological writer, _s._ of a
shoemaker at Hereford where, or at Ledbury, he was probably _b._ Very few
facts concerning him have been preserved, and indeed his very existence
had been forgotten until some of his MS. were discovered on a bookstall
in 1896, without, however, anything to identify the author. Their
discoverer, Mr. W.T. Brooke, was inclined to attribute them to Henry
Vaughan (_q.v._), in which he was supported by Dr. Grosart (_q.v._), and
the latter was about to bring out a new ed. of Vaughan's poems in which
they were to be included. This was, however, prevented by his death. The
credit of identification is due to Mr. Bertram Dobell, who had become the
possessor of another vol. of MS., and who rejecting, after due
consideration, the claims of Vaughan, followed up the very slender clues
available until he had established the authorship of Traherne. All the
facts that his diligent investigations were successful in collecting were
that T. was "entered as a commoner at Brasenose Coll., Oxf., in 1652,
took one degree in arts, left the house for a time, entered into the
sacred function, and in 1661 was actually created M.A. About that time he
became Rector of Crednell, near Hereford ... and in 1669 Bachelor of
Divinity;" and that after remaining there for over 9 years he was
appointed private chaplain to the Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, who
on his retirement from office retained him as a member of his household
at Teddington until his death in 1674, T. himself dying three months
later. T. also appears to have been incumbent of Teddington, or perhaps
more probably, curate to a pluralist incumbent. The complete oblivion
into which T. had fallen is the more remarkable when the quality of his
poetry, which places him on a level with Herbert, Vaughan, and Crashaw,
is considered; and that he appears in his own day to have had some
reputation as a scholar and controversialist. His _Roman Forgeries_
(1673) achieved some note. His next work, _Christian Ethics_, which was
not _pub._ until after his death, appears to have fallen dead, and is
extremely rare: it is described by Mr. Dobell as "full of eloquence,
persuasiveness, sagacity, and piety." _Centuries of Meditations_ consists
of short reflections on religious and moral subjects, etc. The _Poems_
constitute his main claim to remembrance and, as already stated, are of a
high order. With occasional roughness of metre they display powerful
imagination, a deep and rich vein of original thought, and true poetic
force and fire. It has been pointed out that in some of them the author
anticipates the essential doctrines of the Berkeleian philosophy, and in
them is also revealed a personality of rare purity and fascination.
TRELAWNY, EDWARD JOHN (1792-1881).--Biographer, entered the navy, from
which, however, he deserted, after which he wandered about in the East
and on the Continent. In Switzerland he met Byron and Shelley, and was
living in close friendship with the latter when he was drowned, and was
one of the witnesses at the cremation of his remains. He took part in the
Greek war of independence, and _m._ the sister of one of the insurgent
chiefs. After various adventures in America he settled in London, where
he was a distinguished figure in society, and enjoyed the reputation of a
picturesque, but somewhat imaginative, conversationalist. He wrote _The
Adventures of a Younger Son_ (1831), a work of striking distinction, and
the intensely interesting _Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author_
(1858). The last survivor of that brilliant group, he was buried by the
side of Shelley.
TRENCH, RICHARD CHENEVIX (1807-1886).--Poet and theologian, _b._ in
Dublin, and _ed._ at Harrow and Camb., took orders, and after serving
various country parishes, became in 1847 Prof. of Theology in King's
Coll., London, in 1856 Dean of Westminster, and in 1864 Archbishop of
Dublin. As Primate of the Irish Church at its disestablishment, he
rendered valuable service at that time of trial. In theology his best
known works are his _Hulsean Lectures_, _Notes on the Parables_, and
_Notes on the Miracles_. His philological writings, _English Past and
Present_ and _Select Glossary of English Words_ are extremely interesting
and suggestive, though now to some extent superseded. His _Sacred Latin
Poetry_ is a valuable collection of mediæval Church hymns. He also wrote
sonnets, elegies, and lyrics, in the first of which he was specially
successful, besides longer poems, _Justin Martyr_ and _Sabbation_.
TREVISA, JOHN of (1326-1412).--Translator, a Cornishman, _ed._ at Oxf.,
was Vicar of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, and chaplain to the 4th Lord
Berkeley, and Canon of Westbury. He translated for his patron the
_Polychronicon_ of Ranulf Higden, adding remarks of his own, and
prefacing it with a _Dialogue on Translation between a Lord and a Clerk_.
He likewise made various other translations.
TROLLOPE, ANTHONY (1815-1882).--Novelist, _s._ of Thomas Anthony T., a
barrister who ruined himself by speculation, and of Frances T. (_q.v._),
a well-known writer, was _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Harrow and
Winchester. His childhood was an unhappy one, owing to his father's
misfortunes. After a short time in Belgium he obtained an appointment in
the Post Office, in which he rose to a responsible position. His first
three novels had little success; but in 1855 he found his line, and in
_The Warden_ produced the first of his Barsetshire series. It was
followed by _Barchester Towers_ (1857), _Doctor Thorne_ (1858), _Framley
Parsonage_ (1861), _The Small House at Allington_ (1864), and _The Last
Chronicle of Barset_ (1867), which deal with the society of a small
cathedral city. Other novels are _Orley Farm_, _Can you forgive Her?_,
_Ralph the Heir_, _The Claverings_, _Phineas Finn_, _He knew he was
Right_, and _The Golden Lion of Grandpré_. In all he wrote about 50
novels, besides books about the West Indies, North America, Australia,
and South Africa, a translation of _Cæsar_, and monographs on Cicero and
Thackeray. His novels are light of touch, pleasant, amusing, and
thoroughly healthy. They make no attempt to sound the depths of character
or either to propound or solve problems. Outside of fiction his work was
generally superficial and unsatisfactory. But he had the merit of
providing a whole generation with wholesome amusement, and enjoyed a
great deal of popularity. He is said to have received £70,000 for his
writings.