Читать книгу A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature - John W. Cousin - Страница 7

B. was one of the greatest political thinkers whom England has produced, and all his writings, like his speeches, are characterised by the welding together of knowledge, thought, and feeling. Unlike most orators he is more successful as a writer than as a speaker. He rose too far above the heads of his audience, which the continued splendour of his declamation, his inordinate copiousness, and his excessive vehemence, often passing into fury, at length wearied, and even disgusted: but in his writings are found some of the grandest examples of a fervid and richly elaborated eloquence. Though he was never admitted to the Cabinet, he guided and influenced largely the policy of his party, while by his efforts in the direction of economy and order in administration at home, and on behalf of kindly and just government in India, as well as by his contributions to political philosophy, he laid his country and indeed the world under lasting obligations.

There are Lives by Prior (1824 and 1854); J. Morley (1867), and various ed. of his works have appeared. Select Works by Payne (3 vols. 1874–78).

SUMMARY.—B. 1729, ed. Trinity Coll., Dublin, enters Middle Temple 1750, pub. treatise On the Sublime and Beautiful 1756, became friend of Rockingham 1765, enters Parliament and engages in American controversy, pub. speech on Conciliation with America 1775, Paymaster of Forces and P.C. 1782, joined coalition of Fox and North 1782, leads in prosecution of W. Hastings 1787–94, pub. Reflections on French Revolution 1790 and breaks with Fox party, pub. Letter on a Regicide Peace 1796, d. 1797.

BURNET, GILBERT (1643–1715).—Theologian and historian, s. of a Royalist and Episcopalian lawyer, who became a judge, and of the sister of Johnston of Warristoun, a leader of the Covenanters, was b. in Edin., and ed. at Aberdeen and at Amsterdam, where he studied Hebrew under a Rabbi. Returning to Scotland, he was successively Episcopal minister at Saltoun and Prof. of Divinity in Glasgow (1669), and was then offered, but declined, a Scotch bishopric. His energetic and bustling character led him to take an active part in the controversies of the time, and he endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation between Episcopacy and Presbytery. Going to London he was in some favour with Charles II., from whom he received various preferments. His literary reputation was greatly enhanced by the publication in 1679 of the first vol. of his History of the Reformation of the Church of England, for which he received the thanks of Parliament, and which was completed by other two vols., in 1682 and 1714. On account of a letter of reproof which he ventured to write to the King, he lost favour at Court, and the policy pursued by James II. being very repugnant to him, he betook himself in 1687 to Holland, where he became one of the advisers of the Prince of Orange. Returning to England at the Revolution, he was made Bishop of Salisbury, which office he adorned by liberal views and a zealous discharge of duty. The work by which his fame is chiefly sustained, his History of my Own Times, was, by his direction, not to be pub. until 6 years after his death. It appeared in 1723. It gives a sketch of the history of the Civil Wars and Commonwealth, and a detailed account of the immediately succeeding period down to 1713. While not free from egotism and some party feeling, it is written with a sincere desire for accuracy and fairness, and it has largely the authority of an eye-witness. The style, if somewhat lacking in dignity, is lively and picturesque. Among his other writings are a History of the Dukes of Hamilton, and an Exposition of the 39 Articles.

His principal works have been repeatedly printed. Clarendon Press ed. of My Own Times by Routh (1823 and 1833).

BURNET, THOMAS (1635?-1715).—Theologian and writer on cosmogony, was b. at Croft near Darlington, and ed. at Camb., and became Master of Charterhouse and Clerk of the Closet to William III. His literary fame rests on his Telluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, pub. about 1692, first in Latin and afterwards in English, a work which, in absence of all scientific knowledge of the earth's structure, was necessarily a mere speculative cosmogony. It is written, however, with much eloquence. Some of the views expressed in another work, Archæolgiæ Philosophicæ, were, however, so unacceptable to contemporary theologians that he had to resign his post at Court.

BURNS, ROBERT (1759–1796).—Poet, was b. near Ayr, the s. of William Burness or Burns, a small farmer, and a man of considerable force of character and self-culture. His youth was passed in poverty, hardship, and a degree of severe manual labour which left its traces in a premature stoop and weakened constitution. He had little regular schooling, and got much of what education he had from his father, who taught his children reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history, and also wrote for them "A Manual of Christian Belief." With all his ability and character, however, the elder B. was consistently unfortunate, and migrated with his large family from farm to farm without ever being able to improve his circumstances. In 1781 Robert went to Irvine to become a flax-dresser, but, as the result of a New Year carousal of the workmen, including himself, the shop took fire and was burned to the ground. This venture accordingly came to an end. In 1784 the f. died, and B. with his brother Gilbert made an ineffectual struggle to keep on the farm; failing in which they removed to Mossgiel, where they maintained an uphill fight for 4 years. Meanwhile, his love affair with Jean Armour had passed through its first stage, and the troubles in connection therewith, combined with the want of success in farming, led him to think of going to Jamaica as bookkeeper on a plantation. From this he was dissuaded by a letter from Dr. Thomas Blacklock (q.v.), and at the suggestion of his brother pub. his poems. This first ed. was brought out at Kilmarnock in June 1786, and contained much of his best work, including "The Twa Dogs," "The Address to the Deil," "Hallowe'en," "The Cottar's Saturday Night," "The Mouse," "The Daisy," etc., many of which had been written at Mossgiel. Copies of this ed. are now extremely scarce, and as much as £550 has been paid for one. The success of the work was immediate, the poet's name rang over all Scotland, and he was induced to go to Edin. to superintend the issue of a new ed. There he was received as an equal by the brilliant circle of men of letters which the city then boasted—Dugald Stewart, Robertson, Blair, etc., and was a guest at aristocratic tables, where he bore himself with unaffected dignity. Here also Scott, then a boy of 15, saw him and describes him as of "manners rustic, not clownish. His countenance … more massive than it looks in any of the portraits … a strong expression of shrewdness in his lineaments; the eye alone indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, and literally glowed when he spoke with feeling or interest." The results of this visit outside of its immediate and practical object, included some life-long friendships, among which were those with Lord Glencairn and Mrs. Dunlop. The new ed. brought him £400. About this time the episode of Highland Mary occurred. On his return to Ayrshire he renewed his relations with Jean Armour, whom he ultimately married, took the farm of Ellisland near Dumfries, having meanwhile taken lessons in the duties of an exciseman, as a line to fall back upon should farming again prove unsuccessful. At Ellisland his society was cultivated by the local gentry. And this, together with literature and his duties in the excise, to which he had been appointed in 1789, proved too much of a distraction to admit of success on the farm, which in 1791 he gave up. Meanwhile he was writing at his best, and in 1790 had produced Tam o' Shanter. About this time he was offered and declined an appointment in London on the staff of the Star newspaper, and refused to become a candidate for a newly-created Chair of Agriculture in the Univ. of Edin., although influential friends offered to support his claims. After giving up his farm he removed to Dumfries. It was at this time that, being requested to furnish words for The Melodies of Scotland, he responded by contributing over 100 songs, on which perhaps his claim to immortality chiefly rests, and which placed him in the front rank of lyric poets. His worldly prospects were now perhaps better than they had ever been; but he was entering upon the last and darkest period of his career. He had become soured, and moreover had alienated many of his best friends by too freely expressing sympathy with the French Revolution, and the then unpopular advocates of reform at home. His health began to give way; he became prematurely old, and fell into fits of despondency; and the habits of intemperance, to which he had always been more or less addicted, grew upon him. He d. on July 21, 1797.

The genius of B. is marked by spontaneity, directness, and sincerity, and his variety is marvellous, ranging from the tender intensity of some of his lyrics through the rollicking humour and blazing wit of Tam o' Shanter to the blistering satire of Holy Willie's Prayer and The Holy Fair. His life is a tragedy, and his character full of flaws. But he fought at tremendous odds, and as Carlyle in his great Essay says, "Granted the ship comes into harbour with shrouds and tackle damaged, the pilot is blameworthy … but to know how blameworthy, tell us first whether his voyage has been round the Globe or only to Ramsgate and the Isle of Dogs."

The books about Burns, his life and writings, are innumerable. Among the Lives are those by Currie (1800); Allan Cunningham (1834); J.G. Lockhart (1828), on which is based Carlyle's memorable Essay (which see). Among the famous ed. of the Poems may be mentioned the first (Kilmarnock 1786), Edin. (1787), and the Centenary (1896), by W.E. Henley and T.F. Henderson.

SUMMARY.—B. 1759, flax-dresser at Irvine 1781, farms at Mossgiel, has love affair with Jean Armour, pub. first ed. of poems 1786, visits Edin. 1786, goes to Ellisland, became exciseman 1789, pub. songs, c. 1791, d. 1797.

BURTON, JOHN HILL (1809–1881).—Historian, was b. and ed. at Aberdeen, was in 1831 called to the Bar, but had little practice, and in 1854 was appointed Sec. to the Prison Board of Scotland, and in 1877 a Commissioner of Prisons. He became at an early period of his life a contributor to Blackwood's Magazine and other periodicals, and in 1846 pub. a life of Hume, which attracted considerable attention, and was followed by Lives of Lord Lovat and Lord President Forbes. He began his career as an historian by the publication in 1853 of History of Scotland from the Revolution to the Extinction of the last Jacobite Insurrection, to which he added (1867–70) History of Scotland from Agricola's Invasion to the Revolution, in 7 vols., thus completing a continuous narrative. Subsequently he pub. a History of the Reign of Queen Anne (1880). Other works of a lighter kind were The Book-Hunter (1862), and The Scot Abroad (1864). B.'s historical works display much research and a spirit of candour and honesty, and have picturesque and spirited passages, but the style is unequal, and frequently lacks dignity. On the whole, however, his is regarded as the most generally trustworthy and valuable history of Scotland at present existing.

BURTON, SIR RICHARD FRANCIS (1821–1890).—Explorer and scholar, s. of an officer in the army, was b. at Barham House, Herts, and after a somewhat desultory education abroad as well as at home, entered upon a life of travel, adventure, and military and civil service in almost every quarter of the world, including India, Africa, the nearer East, and North and South America, in the course of which he mastered 35 languages. As an official his masterful ways and spirit of adventure frequently brought him into collision with superior powers, by whom he not seldom considered himself ill-used. He was the author of upwards of 50 books on a great variety of subjects, including travels, novels, and translations, among which are Personal Narrative of a Journey to Mecca (1855), First Footprints in East Africa (1856), Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa (1860), The Nile Basin, a translation and life of Camoens, an absolutely literal translation of the Arabian Nights, with notes and commentaries, of which his accomplished wife pub. an expurgated edition. Lady B., who was the companion of his travels after 1861, also wrote books on Syria, Arabia, and other eastern countries, as well as a life of her husband, a number of whose manuscripts she destroyed.

BURTON, ROBERT (1577–1640).—Miscellaneous writer, b. at Lindley, Leicestershire, and ed. at Oxf., took orders, and became Vicar of St. Thomas, Oxf., 1616, and Rector of Segrave, Leicestershire, 1630. Subject to depression of spirits, he wrote as an antidote the singular book which has given him fame. The Anatomy of Melancholy, in which he appears under the name of Democritus Junior, was pub. in 1621, and had great popularity. In the words of Warton, "The author's variety of learning, his quotations from rare and curious books, his pedantry sparkling with rude wit and shapeless elegance … have rendered it a repertory of amusement and information." It has also proved a store-house from which later authors have not scrupled to draw without acknowledgment. It was a favourite book of Dr. Johnson. B. was a mathematician and dabbled in astrology. When not under depression he was an amusing companion, "very merry, facete, and juvenile," and a person of "great honesty, plain dealing, and charity."

The best ed. is that of Rev. A.R. Shilleto, with introduction by A.H. Bullen (3 vols. 1893).

BURY, LADY CHARLOTTE (1775–1861).—Novelist, dau. of the 5th Duke of Argyll, and m. first to Col. J. Campbell, and second to Rev. E.J. Bury, wrote a number of novels—Flirtation, Separation, The Divorced, etc., but is chiefly remembered in connection with a Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV. (1838), a somewhat scandalous work generally, and probably correctly, ascribed to her. She also wrote some poems and two devotional works. She held for some time an appointment in the household of the Princess of Wales.

BURY, RICHARD DE (1281–1345).—S. of Sir Richard Aungerville, b. at Bury St. Edmunds, studied at Oxf., and was a Benedictine monk, became tutor to Edward III. when Prince of Wales, and Bishop of Durham, and held many offices of State. He was a patron of learning, and one of the first English collectors of books, and he wrote his work, Philobiblon, in praise of books, and founded a library at Durham.

BUTLER, JOSEPH (1692–1752).—Theologian, b. at Wantage, s. of a Presbyterian linen-draper, was destined for the ministry of that Church, but in 1714 he decided to enter the Church of England, and went to Oxf. After holding various other preferments he became rector of the rich living of Stanhope, Bishop of Bristol (1738), and Bishop of Durham (1750), and was said to have refused the Primacy. In 1726 he pub. Fifteen Sermons, and in 1736 The Analogy of Religion. These two books are among the most powerful and original contributions to ethics and theology which have ever been made. They depend for their effect entirely upon the force of their reasoning, for they have no graces of style. B. was an excellent man, and a diligent and conscientious churchman. Though indifferent to general literature, he had some taste in the fine arts, especially architecture. B.'s works were ed. by W.E. Gladstone (2 vols. 1896), and there are Lives by Bishop W. Fitzgerald, Spooner (1902), and others, see also History of English Thought in 18th Century, by Leslie Stephen.

BUTLER, SAMUEL (1612–1680).—Satirist, was the s. of a Worcestershire farmer. In early youth he was page to the Countess of Kent, and thereafter clerk to various Puritan justices, some of whom are believed to have suggested characters in Hudibras. After the Restoration he became Sec. to the Lord Pres. of Wales, and about the same time m. a Mrs. Herbert, a widow with a jointure, which, however, was lost. In 1663 the first part of Hudibras was pub., and the other two in 1664 and 1668 respectively. This work, which is to a certain extent modelled on Don Quixote, stands at the head of the satirical literature of England, and for wit and compressed thought has few rivals in any language. It is directed against the Puritans, and while it holds up to ridicule the extravagancies into which many of the party ran, it entirely fails to do justice to their virtues and their services to liberty, civil and religious. Many of its brilliant couplets have passed into the proverbial commonplaces of the language, and few who use them have any idea of their source. Butler, notwithstanding the popularity of his work, was neglected by the Court, and d. in poverty.

Ed. of B.'s works have been issued by Bell (3 vols., 1813), and Johnson (2 vols., 1893).

BUTLER, SAMUEL (1825–1902).—Miscellaneous writer, ed. at Shrewsbury and Camb., wrote two satirical books, Erewhon (nowhere) (1872), and Erewhon Revisited (1901). He translated the Iliad and Odyssey in prose, and mooted the theory that the latter was written by a woman. Other works were The Fair Haven, Life and Habit, The Way of all Flesh (a novel) (1903), etc., and some sonnets. He also wrote on the Sonnets of Shakespeare.

BYRON, GEORGE GORDON, 6TH LORD BYRON (1788–1824).—Poet, was b. in London, the s. of Captain John B. and of Catherine Gordon, heiress of Gight, Aberdeenshire, his second wife, whom he m. for her money and, after squandering it, deserted. He was also the grand-nephew of the 5th, known as the "wicked" Lord B. From his birth he suffered from a malformation of the feet, causing a slight lameness, which was a cause of lifelong misery to him, aggravated by the knowledge that with proper care it might have been cured. After the departure of his f. his mother went to Aberdeen, where she lived on a small salvage from her fortune. She was a capricious woman of violent temper, with no fitness for guiding her volcanic son, and altogether the circumstances of his early life explain, if they do not excuse, the spirit of revolt which was his lifelong characteristic. In 1794, on the death of a cousin, he became heir-presumptive to the title and embarrassed estates of the family, to which, on the death of his great-uncle in 1798, he succeeded. In 1801 he was sent to Harrow, where he remained until 1805, when he proceeded to Trinity Coll., Camb., where he read much history and fiction, lived extravagantly, and got into debt. Some early verses which he had pub. in 1806 were suppressed. They were followed in 1807 by Hours of Idleness, which was savagely attacked in the Edinburgh Review. In reply he sent forth English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1800), which created considerable stir and shortly went through 5 ed. Meanwhile, he had settled at Newstead Abbey, the family seat, where with some of his cronies he was believed to have indulged in wild and extravagant orgies, the accounts of which, however, were probably greatly exaggerated. In 1809 he left England, and passing through Spain, went to Greece. During his absence, which extended over two years, he wrote the first two cantos of Childe Harold, which were pub. after his return in 1812, and were received with acclamation. In his own words, "he awoke one morning and found himself famous." He followed up his success with some short poems, The Corsair, Lara, etc. About the same time began his intimacy with his future biographer, Thomas Moore (q.v.), and about 1815 he married Anne Isabella Milbanke, who had refused him in the previous year, a union which, owing to the total incompatibility of the parties, and serious provocations on the part of B., proved unhappy, and was in 1816 dissolved by a formal deed of separation. The only fruit of it was a dau., Augusta Ada. After this break-up of his domestic life, followed as it was by the severe censure of society, and by pressure on the part of his creditors, which led to the sale of his library, B. again left England, as it turned out, for ever, and, passing through Belgium and up the Rhine, went to Geneva, afterwards travelling with Shelley through Switzerland, when he wrote the third canto of Childe Harold. He wintered in Venice, where he formed a connection with Jane Clairmont, the dau. of W. Godwin's second wife (q.v.). In 1817 he was in Rome, whence returning to Venice he wrote the fourth canto of Childe Harold. In the same year he sold his ancestral seat of Newstead, and about the same time pub. Manfred, Cain, and The Deformed Transformed. The first five cantos of Don Juan were written between 1818 and 1820, during which period he made the acquaintance of the Countess Guiccioli, whom he persuaded to leave her husband. It was about this time that he received a visit from Moore, to whom he confided his MS. autobiography, which Moore, in the exercise of the discretion left to him, burned in 1824. His next move was to Ravenna, where he wrote much, chiefly dramas, including Marino Faliero. In 1821–22 he finished Don Juan at Pisa, and in the same year he joined with Leigh Hunt in starting a short-lived newspaper, The Liberal, in the first number of which appeared The Vision of Judgment. His last Italian home was Genoa, where he was still accompanied by the Countess, and where he lived until 1823, when he offered himself as an ally to the Greek insurgents. In July of that year he started for Greece, spent some months in Cephalonia waiting for the Greeks to form some definite plans. In January, 1824, he landed at Missolonghi, but caught a malarial fever, of which he d. on April 19, 1824.

The final position of B. in English literature is probably not yet settled. It is at present undoubtedly lower than it was in his own generation. Yet his energy, passion, and power of vivid and richly-coloured description, together with the interest attaching to his wayward and unhappy career, must always make him loom large in the assembly of English writers. He exercised a marked influence on Continental literature, and his reputation as poet is higher in some foreign countries than in his own.

Among ed. of the works of B. may be mentioned Murray's (13 vols. 1898–1904). Moore's Life (1830), Lady Blessington's Conversations with Lord Byron (1834, new, 1894).

SUMMARY.—B. 1788, spent childhood in Aberdeen, ed. Harrow and Camb., pub. English Bards etc., 1809, Childe Harold first two cantos 1812, married 1815, separated 1816, owing to this and financial difficulties leaves England, meets Shelley, pub. third canto of Childe Harold 1816, fourth canto 1817, writes Don Juan cantos 1–4 1818–20, lives at various places in Italy 1816–24 with Countess Guiccioli, finished Don Juan 1822, goes to Greece 1823 to assist insurgents, d. 1824.

BYRON, HENRY JAMES (1834–1884).—Dramatist, b. at Manchester, entered the Middle Temple, but soon took to writing for the stage, and produced many popular burlesques and extravaganzas. He also wrote for periodicals, and was the first editor of Fun. Among his best dramatic pieces are Cyril's Success (1868), Our Boys (1875), and The Upper Crust.

CÆDMON (d. 1680).—The first English poet of whom we have any knowledge. Originally employed as cowherd at the Abbey of Whitby, he became a singer when somewhat advanced in life. The story of how the gift of song came to him is given by Bede, how having fallen asleep in the stable he dreamed that one came to him desiring a song, and on his asking "What shall I sing?" replied "Sing to me of the beginning of created things." Therefore he began to sing and, on awaking, remembered his song and added to it. Thereafter he told what had befallen him to the bailiff who was over him, who repeated the tale to the Abbess Hilda. She having called together certain learned and pious persons, C. was brought before them, told his story, and recited his verses. A part of Scripture was read to him, which he was asked to turn into verse; and this being done he was received into the Abbey where, for the rest of his life, he lived as a monk, and continued to make his holy songs. Much that was formerly attributed to C. is now held to be of later date. All that is known to be his is a Northumbrian version of Bede's Latin paraphrases of C.'s first song: although by some the authorship of "The Dream of the Holy Rood," and of a fragment on "The Temptation and Fall of Man" is claimed for him.

English Literature from Beginning to Norman Conquest, Stopford Brooke (1898), and History of Early English Literature, by the same (1892).

CAIRD, EDWARD (1835–1908).—Philosopher, younger brother of John C. (q.v.), was b. at Greenock, and ed. at Glasgow and Oxf., where he became Fellow and Tutor of Merton Coll. In 1866 he was appointed to the Chair of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow, which he held until 1893, when he became Master of Balliol Coll., from which he retired in 1907. He has written Critical Philosophy of Kant (1877), Hegel (1883), Evolution of Religion, Social Philosophy and Religion of Comte (1885), Evolution of Theology in the Greek Philosophers (1904).

CAIRD, JOHN (1820–1898).—Theologian, b., at Greenock, and ed. at Glasgow, entered the Church of Scotland, of which he became one of the most eloquent preachers. After being a minister in the country and in Edinburgh, he was translated to Glasgow, becoming in 1862 Prof. of Divinity in the Univ. of that city, and in 1873 Principal. A sermon on Religion in Common Life, preached before Queen Victoria, made him known throughout the Protestant world. He wrote an Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (1880), and a vol. on Spinoza (1888).

CALAMY, EDMUND (1600–1666).—Puritan Divine, b. in London, and ed. at Camb., was one of the principal authors of a famous controversial work bearing the title Smectymnuus, made up of the initials of the various writers, and pub. in 1641 in reply to Bishop Hall's Divine Right of Episcopacy. His other chief work is The Godly Man's Ark. A Presbyterian, he was a supporter of monarchy, and favoured the Restoration, after which he was offered, but declined, the see of Coventry and Lichfield. He was a member of the Savoy Conference. The passing of the Act of Uniformity led to his retiring from ministerial work. He is said to have d. of melancholy caused by the great fire of London.

CALDERWOOD, DAVID (1575–1650).—Scottish Church historian, belonged to a good family, and about 1604 became minister of Crailing, Roxburghshire. Opposing the designs of James VI. for setting up Episcopacy, he was imprisoned 1617, and afterwards had to betake himself to Holland, where his controversial work, Altare Damascenum, against Episcopacy, was pub. In 1625 he returned to Scotland, and began his great work, The Historie of the Kirk of Scotland, which was pub. in an abridged form (1646). The complete work was printed (1841–49) for the Woodrow Society. C. became minister of Pencaitland, East Lothian, about 1640, and was one of those appointed to draw up The Directory for Public Worship in Scotland.

CALVERLEY, CHARLES STUART (1831–1884).—Poet and translator, s. of the Rev. H. Blayds (who assumed the name of Calverley), was ed. at Harrow, Oxf., and Camb. He was called to the Bar in 1865, and appeared to have a brilliant career before him, when a fall on the ice in 1866 changed him from a distinguished athlete to a life-long invalid. Brilliant as a scholar, a musician, and a talker, he is perhaps best known as one of the greatest of parodists. He pub. Verses and Translations (1862), and Fly-leaves (1872). He also translated Theocritus (1869).

CAMDEN, WILLIAM (1551–1623).—Antiquary and historian, b. in London, and ed. at Christ's Hospital, St. Paul's School, and Oxf., was in 1575 appointed Second Master in Westminster School, and Head Master in 1593, and spent his vacations in travelling over England collecting antiquarian information. His great work, Britannia, was pub. in 1586, and at once brought him fame both at home and abroad. It is a work of vast labour and erudition, written in elegant Latin. In 1597 C. was made Clarencieux King-at-Arms which, setting him free from his academic duties, enabled him to devote more time to his antiquarian and historical labours. His other principal works are Annals of the Reign of Elizabeth (printed 1615–1623), Monuments and Inscriptions in Westminster Abbey (1600), and a coll. of Ancient English Historians. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. The Camden Society for historical research, founded in 1838, is named after him.

CAMPBELL, GEORGE (1719–1796).—Theologian and philosopher, was a minister of the Church of Scotland at Aberdeen, and Principal and Prof. of Divinity in Marischal Coll. there. His Dissertation on Miracles (1763), in answer to Hume, was in its day considered a masterly argument, and was admitted to be so by Hume himself. His other principal works were The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1776), which is still a standard work, and A Translation of the Four Gospels with Notes.

CAMPBELL, JOHN, 1ST LORD CAMPBELL (1779–1861).—Lawyer and biographer, s. of the minister of Cupar-Fife, had a highly successful career as a lawyer, and held the offices successively of Solicitor and Attorney-General, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Chief Justice, and Lord Chancellor. His contributions to literature were Lives of the Chancellors and Lives of the Chief Justices. These works, though deficient in research and accuracy, often unfair in judgments of character, and loose and diffuse in style, are interesting and full of information.

CAMPBELL, JOHN FRANCIS (1822–1885).—Celtic scholar, ed. at Eton and Edin., was afterwards Sec. to the Lighthouse Commission. He was an authority on Celtic folk-lore, and pub. Popular Tales of the West Highlands (4 vols., 1860–62), and various Gaelic texts.

CAMPBELL, LEWIS (1830–1908).—Scholar, s. of a naval officer, ed. at Edin., Glasgow, and Oxf., took orders, and was Vicar of Milford, Hants, until 1863, when he was appointed Prof. of Greek at St. Andrews. He brought out ed. of Sophocles and other works on the Greek classics, and in conjunction with E. Abbott The Life and Letters of Prof. Jowett (q.v.), with whom he had collaborated in editing the Republic of Plato. He also ed. the poems of Thomas Campbell, to whom he was related.

CAMPBELL, THOMAS (1777–1844).—Poet, was the youngest s. of Alexander C., a merchant in Glasgow, where he was b. After leaving the Univ. of that city, where he gained some distinction by his translations from the Greek, and acting for some time as a tutor, he went to Edin. to study law, in which, however, he did not make much progress, but gained fame by producing in 1799, at the age of 21, his principal poem, The Pleasures of Hope. In spite of some of the faults of youth, the vigour of thought and description, and power of versification displayed in the poem, as well as its noble feeling for liberty, made it a marvellous performance for so young a man. His other larger poems are Gertrude of Wyoming (1809), O'Connor's Child, and Theodric (1824). It is not, however, for these that he will be chiefly remembered, but for his patriotic and war lyrics, Ye Mariners of England, Hohenlinden, and The Battle of the Baltic, which are imperishable. C. was also distinguished as a critic, and his Specimens of the British Poets (1819) is prefaced by an essay which is an important contribution to criticism. C. resided in London from 1803 until the year of his death, which took place at Boulogne, whither he had repaired in search of health. In addition to the works mentioned he wrote various compilations, including Annals of Great Britain, covering part of the reign of George III. In 1805 he received a Government pension, and he was Lord Rector of Glasgow Univ. 1826–29. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Life and Letters, Beattie (1840); Poems, Aldine ed. (1875, new, 1890).

CAMPION, THOMAS (c. 1575–1620).—Poet and musician, b. at Witham, Essex, and ed. at Camb., and on the Continent, studied law at Gray's Inn, but discarding it, practised medicine in London. He wrote masques, and many fine lyrics remarkable for their metrical beauty, of which "Cherry Ripe" and "Lesbia" are well known. He also wrote Epigrams in Latin, and Observations on the Arte of Poesie (1602). He composed the music for most of his songs.

CANNING, GEORGE (1770–1827).—Statesman, was b. in London, the s. of a lawyer. He lost his f. while still an infant, and was brought up by an uncle, who sent him to Eton and Oxf. In 1793 he entered Parliament as a supporter of Pitt, and soon became one of the most brilliant debaters in the House. After filling various offices, including that of Foreign Sec., with striking ability, he was in 1827 appointed Prime Minister, but d., deeply mourned by the nation, a few months later. He has a place in literature as the leading spirit in the Anti-Jacobin, a paper started during the French Revolution, in support of the English Constitution, and which, with Gifford for ed., had many of the most eminent men of the day as contributors. C. wrote the Needy Knife-grinder, The Loves of the Triangles, parts II. and III., a parody on E. Darwin's Loves of the Plants, The Progress of Man, etc. His coll. Poems were pub. 1823.

CAPGRAVE, JOHN (1393–1464).—Historian and theologian, b. at Lynn, became an Augustinian Friar, and at length Provincial of the Order in England. He studied probably at Camb., visited Rome, and was a client of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, whose life he wrote. He was the author of numerous theological and historical works, some of which are of considerable importance, including in Latin, Nova Legenda Angliæ, De Illustribus Henricis: lives of German Emperors, English Kings, etc., of the name of Henry, and in English, monotonous and dull, lives of St. Gilbert and St. Katharine, and a Chronicle reaching to 1417.

CAREW, RICHARD (1555–1620).—Translator and antiquary, a county gentleman of Cornwall, ed. at Oxf., made a translation of the first five cantos of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1594), more correct than that of Fairfax. Other works were A Survey of Cornwall (1602), and an Epistle concerning the Excellencies of the English Tongue (1605).

CAREW, THOMAS (1594?-1639).—Poet, s. of Sir Matthew C., was ed. at Oxf., entered the Middle Temple, and was one of the first and best of the courtly poets who wrote gracefully on light themes of Court life and gallantry. C.'s poems have often much beauty and even tenderness. His chief work is Coelum Britannicum. He lived the easy and careless life of a courtier of the day, but is said to have d. in a repentant frame. His poems, consisting chiefly of short lyrics, were coll. and pub. after his death. One of the most beautiful and best known of his songs is that beginning "He that loves a rosy cheek."

CAREY, HENRY (d. 1743).—Dramatist and song-writer, was believed to be an illegitimate s. of George Savile, Marquis of Halifax. He wrote innumerable burlesques, farces, songs, etc., often with his own music, including Chrononhotonthologos (1734), a burlesque on the mouthing plays of the day, and The Dragon of Wantley (1744?). His poem, Namby Pamby, in ridicule of Ambrose Phillips (q.v.), added a word to the language, and his Sally in our Alley is one of our best-known songs. God Save the King was also claimed for him, but apparently without reason.

CARLETON, WILLIAM (1794–1869).—Novelist, s. of a poor Irish cottar, b. and brought up among the Irish peasantry, acquired an insight into their ideas and feelings which has never been equalled. His finest work is in his short stories, collected under the title of Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, of which two series were pub. in 1830 and 1832 respectively. He also wrote several longer novels, of which the best is Fardorougha the Miser (1837), a work of great power. Others are The Misfortunes of Barny Branagan (1841), Valentine M'Clutchy (1845), Rody the Rover (1847), The Squanders of Castle Squander (1854), and The Evil Eye. C. received a pension of £200 from Government.

CARLYLE, ALEXANDER (1722–1805).—Autobiographer, s. of the Minister of Cummertrees, Dumfriesshire, was ed. at Edin. and Leyden, and entering the Church became Minister of Inveresk, and was associated with Principal Robertson as an ecclesiastical leader. He was a man of great ability, shrewdness, and culture, and the friend of most of the eminent literary men in Scotland of his day. He left an autobiography in MS., which was ed. by Hill Burton, and pub. in 1860, and which is one of the most interesting contemporary accounts of his time. His stately appearance gained for him the name of "Jupiter" C.

CARLYLE, THOMAS (1795–1881).—Historian and essayist, was b. at Ecclefechan in Dumfriesshire. His f., James C., was a stonemason, a man of intellect and strong character, and his mother was, as he said, "of the fairest descent, that of the pious, the just, and the wise." His earliest education was received at the parish school of Ecclefechan (the Entepfuhl of Sartor Resartus). Thence he went to the Grammar School of Annan, and in 1809 to the Univ. of Edin., the 90 miles to which he travelled on foot. There he read voraciously, his chief study being mathematics. After completing his "Arts" course, he went on to divinity with the view of entering the Church, but about the middle of his course found that he could not proceed. He became a schoolmaster first at Annan and then at Kirkcaldy, where he formed a profound friendship with Edward Irving (q.v.), and met Margaret Gordon, afterwards Lady Bannerman, believed by some to be the prototype of Blumine in Sartor. Returning in 1819 to Edin. he for a time studied law and took pupils; but his health was bad, he suffered from insomnia and dyspepsia, and he tired of law. He was also sorely bestead by mental and spiritual conflicts, which came to a crisis in Leith Walk in June 1821 in a sudden uprising of defiance to the devil and all his works, upon which the clouds lifted. For the next two years, 1822–24, he acted as tutor to Charles Buller (whose promising political career was cut short by his premature death) and his brother. On the termination of this engagement he decided upon a literary career, which he began by contributing articles to the Edinburgh Encyclopædia. In 1824 he translated Legendre's Geometry (to which he prefixed an essay on Proportion), and Goethe's Wilhelm Meister; he also wrote for the London Magazine a Life of Schiller. About this time he visited Paris and London, where he met Hazlitt, Campbell, Coleridge, and others. Thereafter he returned to Dumfriesshire. In the following year (1826) he m. Jane Baillie Welsh, and settled in Edin. Here his first work was Specimens of German Romance (4 vols.) A much more important matter was his friendship with Jeffrey and his connection with the Edinburgh Review, in which appeared, among others, his essays on Richter, Burns, Characteristics, and German Poetry. In 1828 C. applied unsuccessfully for the Chair of Moral Philosophy in St. Andrews, and the same year he went to Craigenputtock, a small property in Dumfriesshire belonging to Mrs. C., where they remained for several years, and where many of his best essays and Sartor Resartus were written, and where his correspondence with Goethe began. In 1831 he went to London to find a publisher for Sartor, but was unsuccessful, and it did not appear in book form until 1838, after having come out in Fraser's Magazine in 1833–34. The year last mentioned found him finally in London, settled in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, his abode for the rest of his life. He immediately set to work on his French Revolution. While it was in progress he in 1835 lent the MS. to J.S. Mill, by whose servant nearly the whole of the first vol. was burned, in spite of which misfortune the work was ready for publication in 1837. Its originality, brilliance, and vividness took the world by storm, and his reputation as one of the foremost men of letters in the country was at once and finally established. In the same year he appeared as a public lecturer, and delivered four courses on German Literature, Periods of European Culture, Revolutions of Modern Europe, and Heroes and Hero-Worship, the last of which was pub. as a book in 1841. Although his writings did not yet produce a large income, his circumstances had become comfortable, owing to Mrs. C. having succeeded to her patrimony in 1840. Books now followed each other rapidly, Chartism had appeared in 1839, Past and Present came out in 1843, and Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell in 1845, the last named being perhaps the most successful of his writings, inasmuch as it fully attained the object aimed at in clearing Cromwell from the ignorant or malevolent aspersions under which he had long lain, and giving him his just place among the greatest of the nation. In 1850 he pub. his fiercest blast, Latter Day Pamphlets, which was followed next year by his biography of his friend John Sterling (q.v.). It was about this time, as is shown by the Letters and Memoirs of Mrs. C., that a temporary estrangement arose between his wife and himself, based apparently on Mrs. C.'s part upon his friendship with Lady Ashburton, a cause of which C. seems to have been unconscious. In 1851 he began his largest, if not his greatest work, Frederick the Great, which occupied him from that year until 1865, and in connection with which he made two visits to Germany in 1852 and 1858. It is a work of astonishing research and abounds in brilliant passages, but lacks the concentrated intensity of The French Revolution. It is, however, the one of his works which enjoys the highest reputation in Germany. In 1865 he was elected Lord Rector of the Univ. of Edin., and delivered a remarkable address to the students by whom he was received with enthusiasm. Almost immediately afterwards a heavy blow fell upon him in the death of Mrs. C., and in the discovery, from her diary, of how greatly she had suffered, unknown to him, from the neglect and want of consideration which, owing to absorption in his work and other causes, he had perhaps unconsciously shown. Whatever his faults, of which the most was made in some quarters, there can be no doubt that C. and his wife were sincerely attached to each other, and that he deeply mourned her. In 1866 his Reminiscences (pub. 1881) were written. The Franco-German War of 1870–71 profoundly interested him, and evoked a plea for Germany. From this time his health began to give way more and more. In 1872 his right hand became paralysed. In 1874 he received the distinction of the Prussian Order of Merit, as the biographer of its founder, and in the same year, Mr. Disraeli offered him the choice of the Grand Cross of the Bath or a baronetcy and a pension, all of which he declined. The completion of his 80th year in 1875 was made the occasion of many tributes of respect and veneration, including a gold medal from some of his Scottish admirers. He d. on February 5, 1881. Burial in Westminster Abbey was offered, but he had left instructions that he should lie with his kindred. He bequeathed the property of Craigenputtock to the Univ. of Edin.

C. exercised a very powerful influence upon the thought of his age, not only by his own writings and personality, but through the many men of distinction both in literature and active life whom he imbued with his doctrines; and perhaps no better proof of this exists than the fact that much that was new and original when first propounded by him has passed into the texture of the national ideas. His style is perhaps the most remarkable and individual in our literature, intensely strong, vivid, and picturesque, but utterly unconventional, and often whimsical or explosive. He had in a high degree the poetic and imaginative faculty, and also irresistible humour, pungent sarcasm, insight, tenderness, and fierce indignation.

All the works of C. shed light on his personality, but Sartor Resartus especially may be regarded as autobiographical. Froude's Thomas Carlyle … First 40 Years of his Life (1882), Thomas Carlyle … His Life in London, by the same (1884), Letters and Memories of Jane Welsh Carlyle (1883), various Lives and Reminiscences by Prof. Masson and Nichol, etc.

SUMMARY.—B. 1795, ed. Edin., studies for Church but gives it up, tries law, then tutor, takes to literature and writes for encyclopædias and magazines, and translates, m. 1826 Jane Welsh, settles in Edin., writes essays in Edinburgh Review, goes to Craigenputtock 1828, writes Sartor and corresponds with Goethe, Sartor appears in Fraser's Magazine 1833–4, settles in London 1834, pub. French Revolution 1837, lectures, pub. Heroes, and Chartism and Sartor as a book 1839, Past and Present 1843, Oliver Cromwell 1845, Latter Day Pamphlets 1850, writes Frederick the Great 1851–65, Lord Rector of Edin. Univ. 1865, Mrs. C. d. 1865, writes Reminiscences 1866 (pub. 1881), d. 1881.

CARRUTHERS, ROBERT (1799–1878).—Journalist and miscellaneous writer, b. in Dumfriesshire, was for a time a teacher in Huntingdon, and wrote a History of Huntingdon (1824). In 1828 he became ed. of the Inverness Courier, which he conducted with great ability. He ed. Pope's works with a memoir (1853), and along with Robert Chambers (q.v.) ed. the first ed. of Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature (1842–44). He received the degree of LL.D. from Edin.

CARTE, THOMAS (1686–1754).—Historian, b. near Rugby, and ed. at Oxf., took orders, but resigned his benefice at Bath when required to take the oath of allegiance to George I. He was sec. to Francis Atterbury (q.v.), and was involved in the consequences of his conspiracy, but escaped to France, where he remained until 1728. After his return he pub. a life of the Duke of Ormonde (1736), and a History of England to 1654 in 4 vols. (1747–54), the latter a work of great research, though dry and unattractive in style.

CARTER, ELIZABETH (1717–1806).—Miscellaneous writer, b. at Deal, dau. of a clergyman. Originally backward, she applied herself to study with such perseverance that she became perhaps the most learned Englishwoman of her time, being mistress of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, besides several modern European languages. She was also well read in science. She translated Epictetus 1758, and wrote a small vol. of poems. She was the friend of Dr. Johnson and many other eminent men. She was of agreeable and unassuming manners.

CARTWRIGHT, WILLIAM (1611–1643).—Dramatist, s. of a gentleman of Gloucestershire, who had run through his fortune and kept an inn at Cirencester, ed. at Westminster School and Oxf., entered the Church, was a zealous Royalist, and an eloquent preacher, and lecturer in metaphysics. He also wrote spirited lyrics and four plays. He was the friend of Ben Jonson, H. Vaughan, and Izaak Walton. He d. at Oxf. of camp fever. Among his plays are The Royal Slave, The Siege, and The Lady Errant. His virtues, learning, and charming manners made him highly popular in his day.

CARY, ALICE (1820–1871), and PHOEBE (1824–1871).—Were the dau. of a farmer near Cincinnati. The former wrote Clovernook Papers and Clovernook Children, and other tales, and some poems. The latter wrote poems and hymns. Both sisters attained considerable popularity.

CARY, HENRY FRANCIS (1772–1844).—Translator, was b. at Gibraltar, and ed. at Oxf., where he was distinguished for his classical attainments. His great work is his translation of the Divina Commedia of Dante (1805–1814), which is not only faithful to the original, but full of poetic fire, and rendered into such fine English as to be itself literature apart from its merits as a translation. He also translated from the Greek. C., who was a clergyman, received a pension in 1841.

CATLIN, GEORGE (1796–1872).—Painter and writer, b. at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, practised for some time as a lawyer, but yielding to his artistic instincts he took to painting. He spent the 7 years, 1832–39, among the Indians of North America, of whom he painted about 500 portraits. He became thoroughly acquainted with their life, and pub. an interesting work, Illustrations of the Manners, etc., of the North American Indians (1857). His later years were spent chiefly in Europe.

CAVE, EDWARD (1691–1754).—Publisher, b. near Rugby, started in 1731 The Gentleman's Magazine, for which Dr. Johnson was parliamentary reporter from 1740. He pub. many of Johnson's works.

CAVENDISH, GEORGE (1500–1561).—Biographer, was Gentleman Usher to Cardinal Wolsey, to whom he was so much attached that he followed him in his disgrace, and continued to serve him until his death. He left in MS. a life of his patron, which is the first separate biography in English, and is the main original authority of the period. Admitting Wolsey's faults, it nevertheless presents him in an attractive light. The simple yet eloquent style gives it a high place as a biography.

CAXTON, WILLIAM (1422–1491).—Printer and translator, b. in the Weald of Kent, was apprenticed to a London mercer. On his master's death in 1441 he went to Bruges, and lived there and in various other places in the Low Countries for over 30 years, engaged apparently as head of an association of English merchants trading in foreign parts, and in negotiating commercial treaties between England and the Dukes of Burgundy. His first literary labour was a translation of a French romance, which he entitled The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, and which he finished in 1471. About this time he learned the art of printing, and, after being in the service of Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, an English princess, returned to his native country and set up at Westminster in 1476 his printing press, the first in England. His Recuyell and The Game and Playe of Chesse had already been printed—the first books in English—on the Continent. Here was produced the first book printed in England, The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers (1477). C. obtained Royal favour, printed from 80 to 100 separate works—many of them translations of his own—and d. almost with pen in hand in 1491. His style is clear and idiomatic.

CENTLIVRE, MRS. SUSANNA (1667–1723).—Dramatist and actress, was the dau. of a gentleman of the name of either Rawkins or Freeman, who appears to have belonged either to Lincolnshire or Ireland, or was perhaps connected with both, and who suffered at the hands of the Stuarts. She m. at 16, lost her husband in a year, then m. an officer, who fell in a duel in 18 months, and finally, in 1706, m. Joseph C., cook to Queen Anne, with whom she lived happily for the rest of her days. She wrote 18 or 19 plays, well constructed and amusing, among which may be mentioned The Perjured Husband (1700), The Busybody (1709), The Warder (1714), and A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717). She was a strong Whig, and sometimes made her plays the medium of expressing her political opinions.

CHALKHILL, JOHN (fl. 1600).—Poet, mentioned by Izaak Walton as having written a pastoral poem, Thealma and Clearchus. As nothing else is known of him it has been held by some that the name was a nom-de-plume of W. himself. It has been shown, however, that a gentleman of the name existed during the reign of Elizabeth. W. says he was a friend of Spenser, and that his life was "useful, quiet, and virtuous."

CHALMERS, GEORGE (1742–1825).—Antiquary, b. at Fochabers, Elginshire, emigrated to America and practised law in Baltimore; but on the outbreak of the Revolutionary War returned to Britain, and settled in London as a clerk in the Board of Trade. He pub. in 1780 a History of the United Colonies, and wrote lives of Sir David Lyndsay, De Foe, and Mary Queen of Scots. His great work, however, is his Caledonia, of which 3 vols. had been pub. at his death. It was to have been a complete coll. of the topography and antiquities of Scotland; and, as it stands, is a monument of industry and research, though not always trustworthy in disputed points. Besides those mentioned, C. was the author of many other works on political, historical, and literary subjects, and had projected several which he was unable to carry out.

CHALMERS, THOMAS (1780–1847).—Divine, economist, and philanthropist, b. at Anstruther, Fife, s. of a shipowner and merchant, studied at St. Andrews and, entering the ministry of the Church of Scotland, was first settled in the small parish of Kilmeny, Fife, but, his talents and eloquence becoming known, he was, in 1815, translated to Glasgow, where he was soon recognised as the most eloquent preacher in Scotland, and where also he initiated his schemes for the management of the poor. In 1823, he became Prof. of Moral Philosophy at St. Andrews, and in 1828 of Divinity in Edin. In 1834 he began his great scheme of Church extension, the result of which was that in seven years £300,000 had been raised, and 220 churches built. In the same year, 1834, began the troubles and controversies in regard to patronage and the relations of Church and State, which in 1843 ended in the disruption of the Church, when 470 ministers with C. at their head, resigned their benefices, and founded the Free Church of Scotland. C. was chosen its first Moderator and Principal of its Theological Coll. in Edin. The remaining four years of his life were spent in organising the new Church, and in works of philanthropy. He was found dead in bed on the morning of May 30, 1847. His chief works, which were coll. and pub. in 34 vols., relate to natural theology, evidences of Christianity, political economy, and general theology and science. Those which perhaps attracted most attention were his Astronomical Discourses and his Lectures on Church Establishments, the latter delivered in London to audiences containing all that was most distinguished in rank and intellect in the country. The style of C. is cumbrous, and often turgid, but the moral earnestness, imagination, and force of intellect of the writer shine through it and irradiate his subjects. And yet the written is described by contemporaries to have been immeasurably surpassed by the spoken word, which carried away the hearer as in a whirlwind. And the man was even greater than his achievements. His character was one of singular simplicity, nobility, and lovableness, and produced a profound impression on all who came under his influence. The character of his intellect was notably practical, as is evidenced by the success of his parochial administration and the "Sustentation Fund," devised by him for the support of the ministry of the Free Church. He was D.D., LL.D., D.C.L. (Oxon.), and a Corresponding Member of the Institute of France.

Memoirs (Hanna, 4 vols.). Smaller works by Prof. Blaikie (1897), Mrs. Oliphant (1893), and many others.

CHAMBERLAYNE, WILLIAM (1619–1689).—Poet, practised medicine at Shaftesbury. On the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the Royalists and fought at the second battle of Newbury. He wrote a play, Loves Victory (1658), and an epic Pharonnida (1659). With occasional beauties he is, in the main, heavy and stiff, and is almost forgotten. He influenced Keats.

CHAMBERS, ROBERT (1802–1871).—Historical and scientific writer, was b. at Peebles. Early dependent on his own exertions, he started business as a bookseller in Edin. at the age of 16, devoting all his spare time to study, to such purpose that in 1824 he pub. Traditions of Edinburgh, a work in which he had the assistance of Sir W. Scott. Thereafter he poured forth a continuous stream of books and essays on historical, social, antiquarian, and scientific subjects. He joined his brother William (q.v.) in establishing the publishing firm of W. and R. Chambers, and in starting Chambers's Journal, to which he was a constant contributor. Later ventures were The Cyclopedia of English Literature (1842–44), of which several ed. have appeared (last 1903–6). and Chambers's Cyclopædia (10 vols. 1859–68; new 1888–92). Among his own works may be mentioned Vestiges of Creation, pub. anonymously (1844), a precursor of Darwinism, A Life of Burns (1851), Popular Rhymes of Scotland (1847), History of the Rebellions in Scotland, Domestic Annals of Scotland (1859–61), Ancient Sea Margins (1848), Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen and The Book of Days (1863). He was LL.D. of St. Andrews.

CHAMBERS, WILLIAM (1800–1883).—Publisher and miscellaneous author, b. at Peebles, started in 1832 with his brother Robert (q.v.) Chambers's Journal, and soon after joined him in the firm of W. and R. Chambers. Besides contributions to the Journal he wrote several books, including a History of Peeblesshire (1864), and an autobiography of himself and his brother. C. was a man of great business capacity, and, though of less literary distinction than his brother, did much for the dissemination of cheap and useful literature. He was Lord Provost of Edin. 1865–69, and was an LL.D. of the Univ. of that city. He restored the ancient church of St. Giles there.

CHAMIER, FREDERICK (1796–1870).—Novelist, was in the navy, in which he rose to the rank of Captain. Retiring in 1827, he wrote several sea novels somewhat in the style of Marryat, including Life of a Sailor (1832), Ben Brace, Jack Adams, and Tom Bowling (1841). He also continued James's Naval History, and wrote books of travel.

CHANNING, WILLIAM ELLERY (1780–1842).—American Divine, b. at Newport, Rhode Island, was for a time a minister in the Congregationalist Church, but became the leader of the Unitarians in New England. He had a powerful influence on the thought and literature of his time in America, and was the author of books on Milton and Fénelon, and on social subjects. The elevation and amiability of his character caused him to be held in high esteem. He did not class himself with Unitarians of the school of Priestley, but claimed to "stand aloof from all but those who strive and pray for clearer light."

CHAPMAN, GEORGE (1559–1634).—Dramatist and translator, was b. near Hitchin, and probably ed. at Oxf. and Camb. He wrote many plays, including The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (1596), All Fools (1599), A Humerous Daye's Myrthe (1599), Eastward Hoe (with Jonson), The Gentleman Usher, Monsieur d'Olive, etc. As a dramatist he has humour, and vigour, and occasional poetic fire, but is very unequal. His great work by which he lives in literature is his translation of Homer. The Iliad was pub. in 1611, the Odyssey in 1616, and the Hymns, etc., in 1624. The work is full of energy and spirit, and well maintains its place among the many later translations by men of such high poetic powers as Pope and Cowper, and others: and it had the merit of suggesting Keats's immortal Sonnet, in which its name and memory are embalmed for many who know it in no other way. C. also translated from Petrarch, and completed Marlowe's unfinished Hero and Leander.

CHAPONE, HESTER (MULSO) (1727–1801).—Miscellaneous writer, dau. of a gentleman of Northamptonshire, was m. to a solicitor, who d. a few months afterwards. She was one of the learned ladies who gathered round Mrs. Montague (q.v.), and was the author of Letters on the Improvement of the Mind and Miscellanies.

CHARLETON, WALTER (1619–1707).—Miscellaneous writer, ed. at Oxf., was titular physician to Charles I. He was a copious writer on theology, natural history, and antiquities, and pub. Chorea Gigantum (1663) to prove that Stonehenge was built by the Danes. He was also one of the "character" writers, and in this kind of literature wrote A Brief Discourse concerning the Different Wits of Men (1675).

CHATTERTON, THOMAS (1752–1770).—Poet, b. at Bristol, posthumous s. of a schoolmaster, who had been a man of some reading and antiquarian tastes, after whose death his mother maintained herself and her boy and girl by teaching and needlework. A black-letter Bible and an illuminated music-book belonging to her were the first things to give his mind the impulse which led to such mingled glory and disaster. Living under the shadow of the great church of St. Mary Redcliffe, his mind was impressed from infancy with the beauty of antiquity, he obtained access to the charters deposited there, and he read every scrap of ancient literature that came in his way. At 14 he was apprenticed to a solicitor named Lambert, with whom he lived in sordid circumstances, eating in the kitchen and sleeping with the foot-boy, but continuing his favourite studies in every spare moment. In 1768 a new bridge was opened, and C. contributed to a local newspaper what purported to be a contemporary account of the old one which it superseded. This attracted a good deal of attention. Previously to this he had been writing verses and imitating ancient poems under the name of Thomas Rowley, whom he feigned to be a monk of the 15th century. Hearing of H. Walpole's collections for his Anecdotes of Painting in England, he sent him an "ancient manuscript" containing biographies of certain painters, not hitherto known, who had flourished in England centuries before. W. fell into the trap, and wrote asking for all the MS. he could furnish, and C. in response forwarded accounts of more painters, adding some particulars as to himself on which W., becoming suspicious, submitted the whole to T. Gray and Mason (q.v.), who pronounced the MS. to be forgeries. Some correspondence, angry on C.'s part, ensued, and the whole budget of papers was returned. C. thereafter, having been dismissed by Lambert, went to London, and for a short time his prospects seemed to be bright. He worked with feverish energy, threw off poems, satires, and political papers, and meditated a history of England; but funds and spirits failed, he was starving, and the failure to obtain an appointment as ship's surgeon, for which he had applied, drove him to desperation, and on the morning of August 25, 1770, he was found dead from a dose of arsenic, surrounded by his writings torn into small pieces. From childhood C. had shown a morbid familiarity with the idea of suicide, and had written a last will and testament, "executed in the presence of Omniscience," and full of wild and profane wit. The magnitude of his tragedy is only realised when it is considered not only that the poetry he left was of a high order of originality and imaginative power, but that it was produced at an age at which our greatest poets, had they died, would have remained unknown. Precocious not only in genius but in dissipation, proud and morose as he was, an unsympathetic age confined itself mainly to awarding blame to his literary and moral delinquencies. Posterity has weighed him in a juster balance, and laments the early quenching of so brilliant a light. His coll. works appeared in 1803, and another ed. by Prof. Street in 1875. Among these are Elinoure and Juga, Balade of Charitie, Bristowe Tragedie, Ælla, and Tragedy of Godwin.

The best account of his life is the Essay by Prof. Masson.

CHAUCER, GEOFFREY (1340?-1400).—Poet, was b. in London, the s. of John C., a vintner of Thames Street, who had also a small estate at Ipswich, and was occasionally employed on service for the King (Edward III.), which doubtless was the means of his son's introduction to the Court. The acquaintance which C. displays with all branches of the learning of his time shows that he must have received an ample education; but there is no evidence that he was at either of the Univ. In 1357 he appears as a page to the Lady Elizabeth, wife of Lionel Duke of Clarence, and in 1359 he first saw military service in France, when he was made a prisoner. He was, however, ransomed in 1360. About 1366 he was married to Philippa, dau. of Sir Payne Roet, one of the ladies of the Duchess of Lancaster, whose sister Katharine, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford, became the third wife of John of Gaunt. Previous to this he had apparently been deeply in love with another lady, whose rank probably placed her beyond his reach; his disappointment finding expression in his Compleynt to Pité. In 1367 he was one of the valets of the King's Chamber, a post always held by gentlemen, and received a pension of 20 marks, and he was soon afterwards one of the King's esquires. In 1369 Blanche, the wife of John of Gaunt, died, which gave occasion for a poem by C. in honour of her memory, The Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse. In the same year he again bore arms in France, and during the next ten years he was frequently employed on diplomatic missions. In 1370 he was sent to Genoa to arrange a commercial treaty, on which occasion he may have met Petrarch, and was rewarded by a grant in 1374 of a pitcher of wine daily. In the same year he got from the corporation of London a lease for life of a house at Aldgate, on condition of keeping it in repair; and soon after he was appointed Comptroller of the Customs and Subsidy of Wool, Skins, and Leather in the port of London; he also received from the Duke of Lancaster a pension of £10. In 1375 he obtained the guardianship of a rich ward, which he held for three years, and the next year he was employed on a secret service. In 1377 he was sent on a mission to Flanders to treat of peace with the French King. After the accession of Richard II. in that year, he was sent to France to treat for the marriage of the King with the French Princess Mary, and thereafter to Lombardy, on which occasion he appointed John Gower (q.v.) to act for him in his absence in any legal proceedings which might arise. In 1382 he became Comptroller of the Petty Customs of the port of London, and in 1385 was allowed to appoint a deputy, which, enabled him to devote more time to writing. He had in 1373 begun his Canterbury Tales, on which he was occupied at intervals for the rest of his life. In 1386 C. was elected Knight of the Shire for Kent, a county with which he appears to have had some connection, and where he may have had property. His fortunes now suffered some eclipse. His patron, John of Gaunt, was abroad, and the government was presided over by his brother Gloucester, who was at feud with him. Owing probably to this cause, C. was in December, 1386, dismissed from his employments, leaving him with no income beyond his pensions, on which he was obliged to raise money. His wife also died at the same time. In 1389, however, Richard took the government into his own hands, and prosperity returned to C., whose friends were now in power, and he was appointed Clerk of the King's works. This office, however, he held for two years only, and again fell into poverty, from which he was rescued in 1394 by a pension from the King of £20. On the accession of Henry IV. (1399) an additional pension of 40 marks was given him. In the same year he took a lease of a house at Westminster, where he probably d., October 25, 1400. He is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, where a monument to him was erected by Nicholas Brigham, a minor poet of the 16th century. According to some authorities he left two sons, Thomas, who became a man of wealth and importance, and Lewis, who died young, the little ten-year-old boy to whom he addressed the treatise on the Astrolabe. Others see no evidence that Thomas was any relation of the poet. An Elizabeth C., placed in the Abbey of Barking by John of Gaunt, was probably his dau. In person C. was inclined to corpulence, "no poppet to embrace," of fair complexion with "a beard the colour of ripe wheat," an "elvish" expression, and an eye downcast and meditative.