A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 16

EDWARDS, JONATHAN (1702?-1758).--Theologian, _s._ of a minister, was _b._ at East Windsor, Connecticut, _ed._ at Yale Coll., and licensed as a preacher in 1722. The following year he was appointed as tutor at Yale, a position in which he showed exceptional capacity. In 1726 he went to Northampton, Conn., as minister of a church there, and remained for 24 years, exercising his ministry with unusual earnestness and diligence. At the end of that time, however, he was in 1750 dismissed by his congregation, a disagreement having arisen on certain questions of discipline. Thereafter he acted as a missionary to the Indians of Ma.s.sachusetts. While thus engaged he composed his famous treatises, _On the Freedom of the Will_ (1754), and _On Original Sin_ (1758).

Previously, in 1746, he had produced his treatise, _On the Religious Affections_. In 1757 he was appointed Pres. of Princeton Coll., New Jersey, but was almost immediately thereafter stricken with small-pox, of which he _d._ on March 22, 1757. E. possessed an intellect of extraordinary strength and clearness, and was capable of sustaining very lengthened chains of profound argument. He is one of the ablest defenders of the Calvinistic system of theology, which he developed to its most extreme positions. He was a man of fervent piety, and of the loftiest and most disinterested character.

EDWARDS, RICHARD (1523?-1566).--Poet, was at Oxf., and went to Court, where he was made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and master of the singing boys. He had a high reputation for his comedies and interludes.

His _Palaman and Arcite_ was acted before Elizabeth at Oxf. in 1566, when the stage fell and three persons were killed and five hurt, the play nevertheless proceeding. _Damon and Pythias_ (1577), a comedy, is his only extant play.

EGAN, PIERCE (1772-1849).--Humorist, _b._ in London, he satirised the Prince Regent in _The Lives of Florizel and Perdita_ (1814), but is best remembered by _Life in London: or the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn and his elegant friend, Corinthian Tom_, a collection of sketches which had great success at the time, and which gives a picture of the sports and amus.e.m.e.nts of London in the days of the Regency. It was ill.u.s.trated by George Cruikshank.

EGGLESTON, EDWARD (1837-1902).--Novelist, _b._ at Vevay, Indiana, was a Methodist minister. He wrote a number of tales, some of which, specially the "Hoosier" series, attracted much attention, among which are _The Hoosier Schoolmaster_, _The Hoosier Schoolboy_, _The End of the World_, _The Faith Doctor_, _Queer Stories for Boys and Girls_, etc.

"ELIOT, GEORGE," _see_ EVANS.

ELIZABETH, QUEEN (1533-1603).--Was one of the scholar-women of her time, being versed in Latin, Greek, French, and Italian. Her translation of Boethius shows her exceptional art and skill. In the cla.s.sics Roger Ascham was her tutor. She wrote various short poems, some of which were called by her contemporaries "sonnets," though not in the true sonnet form. Her original letters and despatches show an idiomatic force of expression beyond that of any other English monarch.

ELLIOT, MISS JEAN (1727-1805).--Poetess, _dau._ of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, has a small niche in literature as the auth.o.r.ess of the beautiful ballad, _The Flowers of the Forest_, beginning, "I've heard the lilting at our yowe-milking." Another ballad with the same t.i.tle beginning, "I've seen the smiling of fortune beguiling" was written by Alicia Rutherford, afterwards Mrs. c.o.c.kburn.

ELLIOT, EBENEZER (1781-1849).--Poet, _b._ at Masborough, Yorkshire, in his youth worked in an iron-foundry, and in 1821 took up the same business on his own account with success. He is best known by his poems on behalf of the poor and oppressed, and especially for his denunciations of the Corn Laws, which gained for him the t.i.tle of the Corn Law Rhymer.

Though now little read, he had considerable poetic gift. His princ.i.p.al poems are _Corn Law Rhymes_ (1831), _The Ranter_, and _The Village Patriarch_ (1829).

ELLIS, GEORGE (1753-1815).--Miscellaneous writer, _s._ of a West Indian planter, gained some fame by _Poetical Tales by Sir Gregory Gander_ (1778). He also had a hand in the _Rolliad_, a series of Whig satires which appeared about 1785. Changing sides he afterwards contributed to the _Anti-Jacobin_. He accompanied Sir J. Harris on his mission to the Netherlands, and there _coll._ materials for his _History of the Dutch Revolution_ (1789). He ed. _Specimens of the Early English Poets_ (1790), and _Specimens of the Early English Romances_, both works of scholarship.

He was a friend of Scott, who dedicated the fifth canto of _Marmion_ to him.

ELLWOOD, THOMAS (1639-1713).--A young Quaker who was introduced to Milton in 1662, and devoted much of his time to reading to him. It is to a question asked by him that we owe the writing of _Paradise Regained_. He was a simple, good man, ready to suffer for his religious opinions, and has left an autobiography of singular interest alike for the details of Milton's later life, which it gives, and for the light it casts on the times of the writer. He also wrote _Davideis_ (1712), a sacred poem, and some controversial works.

ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859).--Fourth _s._ of the 11th Lord E., was _ed._ at Edin., and entered the Bengal Civil Service in 1795. He had a very distinguished career as an Indian statesman, and did much to establish the present system of government and to extend education. He was Governor of Bombay (1819-1827), and prepared a code of laws for that Presidency. In 1829 he was offered, but declined, the position of Governor-General of India. He wrote a _History of India_ (1841), and _The Rise of the British Power in the East_, _pub._ in 1887.

ELWIN, WHITWELL (1816-1900).--Critic and editor, _s._ of a country gentleman of Norfolk, studied at Camb., and took orders. He was an important contributor to the _Quarterly Review_, of which he became editor in 1853. He undertook to complete Croker's ed. of Pope, and brought out 5 vols., when he dropped it, leaving it to be finished by Mr.

Courthope. As an ed. he was extremely autocratic, and on all subjects had p.r.o.nounced opinions, and often singular likes and dislikes.

ELYOT, SIR THOMAS (1490-1546).--Diplomatist, physician, and writer, held many diplomatic appointments. He wrote _The Governor_ (1531), a treatise on education, in which he advocated gentler treatment of schoolboys, _The Castle of Health_ (1534), a medical work, and _A Defence of Good Women_ (1545). He also in 1538 _pub._ the first _Latin and English Dictionary_, and made various translations.

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO (1803-1882).--Philosopher, was _b._ at Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts. His _f._ was a minister there, who had become a Unitarian, and who _d._ in 1811, leaving a widow with six children, of whom Ralph, then aged 8, was the second. Mrs. E. was, however, a woman of energy, and by means of taking boarders managed to give all her sons a good education. E. entered Harvard in 1817 and, after pa.s.sing through the usual course there, studied for the ministry, to which he was ordained in 1827, and settled over a congregation in his native city. There he remained until 1832, when he resigned, ostensibly on a difference of opinion with his brethren on the permanent nature of the Lord's Supper as a rite, but really on a radical change of view in regard to religion in general, expressed in the maxim that "the day of formal religion is past." About the same time he lost his young wife, and his health, which had never been robust, showed signs of failing. In search of recovery he visited Europe, where he met many eminent men and formed a life-long friendship with Carlyle. On his return in 1834 he settled at Concord, and took up lecturing. In 1836 he _pub._ _Nature_, a somewhat transcendental little book which, though containing much fine thought, did not appeal to a wide circle. _The American Scholar_ followed in 1837. Two years previously he had entered into a second marriage. His influence as a thinker rapidly extended, he was regarded as the leader of the transcendentalists, and was one of the chief contributors to their organ, _The Dial_. The remainder of his life, though happy, busy, and influential, was singularly uneventful. In 1847 he paid a second visit to England, when he spent a week with Carlyle, and delivered a course of lectures in England and Scotland on "Representative Men," which he subsequently _pub._ _English Traits_ appeared in 1856. In 1857 _The Atlantic Monthly_ was started, and to it he became a frequent contributor. In 1874 he was nominated for the Lord Rectorship of the Univ. of Glasgow, but was defeated by Disraeli. He, however, regarded his nomination as the greatest honour of his life. After 1867 he wrote little. He _d._ on April 27, 1882. His works were _coll._ in 11 vols., and in addition to those above mentioned include _Essays_ (two series), _Conduct of Life_, _Society and Solitude_, _Natural History of Intellect_, and _Poems_. The intellect of E. was subtle rather than robust, and suggestive rather than systematic. He wrote down the intuitions and suggestions of the moment, and was entirely careless as to whether these harmonised with previous statements. He was an original and stimulating thinker and writer, and wielded a style of much beauty and fascination. His religious views approached more nearly to Pantheism than to any other known system of belief. He was a man of singular elevation and purity of character.

ERCILDOUN, THOMAS of, or "THOMAS THE RHYMER" (_fl._ 1220-1297).--A minstrel to whom is ascribed _Sir Tristrem_, a rhyme or story for recitation. He had a reputation for prophecy, and is reported to have foretold the death of Alexander III., and various other events.

ERIGENA, or SCOTUS, JOHN (_fl._ 850).--Philosopher, _b._ in Scotland or Ireland, was employed at the Court of Charles the Bald, King of France.

He was a pantheistic mystic, and made translations from the Alexandrian philosophers. He was bold in the exposition of his principles, and had both strength and subtlety of intellect. His chief work is _De Divisione Naturae_, a dialogue in which he places reason above authority.

ERSKINE, RALPH (1685-1752).--Scottish Divine and poet, was _b._ near Cornhill, Northumberland, where his _f._, a man of ancient Scottish family, was, for the time, a nonconforming minister. He became minister of Dunfermline, and, with his brother Ebenezer, was involved in the controversies in the Church of Scotland, which led to the founding of the Secession Church in 1736. He has a place in literature as the writer of devotional works, especially for his _Gospel Sonnets_ (of which 25 ed.

had appeared by 1797), and _Scripture Songs_ (1754).

ERSKINE, THOMAS (1788-1870).--Theologian, _s._ of David E., of Linlathen, to which property he succeeded, his elder brother having _d._ He was called to the Bar in 1810, but never practised. Having come under unusually deep religious impressions he devoted himself largely to the study of theology, and _pub._ various works, including _The Internal Evidence for the Truth of Revealed Religion_ (1820), _Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel_, and _The Spiritual Order_. He was a man of singular charm of character, and wielded a great influence on the religious thought of his day. He enjoyed the friendship of men of such different types as Carlyle, Chalmers, Dean Stanley, and Prevost Paradol.

His _Letters_ were ed. by Dr. W. Hanna (1877-78).

ETHEREGE, SIR GEORGE (1635?-1691).--Dramatist, was at Camb., travelled, read a little law, became a man-about-town, the companion of Sedley, Rochester, and their set. He achieved some note as the writer of three lively comedies, _Love in a Tub_ (1664), _She would if she Could_ (1668), and _The Man of Mode_ (1676), all characterised by the grossness of the period. He was sent on a mission to Ratisbon, where he broke his neck when lighting his guests downstairs after a drinking bout.

EVANS, MARY ANN or MARIAN ("GEORGE ELIOT") (1819-1880).--Novelist, was _b._ near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, _dau._ of Robert E., land agent, a man of strong individuality. Her education was completed at a school in Coventry, and after the death of her mother in 1836, and the marriage of her elder sister, she kept house for her _f._ until his death in 1849. In 1841 they gave up their house in the country, and went to live in Coventry. Here she made the acquaintance of Charles Bray, a writer on phrenology, and his brother-in-law Charles Hennell, a rationalistic writer on the origin of Christianity, whose influence led her to renounce the evangelical views in which she had been brought up. In 1846 she engaged in her first literary work, the completion of a translation begun by Mrs. Hennell of Strauss's _Life of Jesus_. On her _f.'s_ death she went abroad with the Brays, and, on her return in 1850, began to write for the _Westminster Review_, of which from 1851-53 she was a.s.sistant-editor. In this capacity she was much thrown into the society of Herbert Spencer and George Henry Lewes (_q.v._), with the latter of whom she in 1854 entered into an irregular connection which lasted until his death. In the same year she translated Feuerbach's _Essence of Christianity_, the only one of her writings to which she attached her real name. It was not until she was nearly 40 that she appears to have discovered the true nature of her genius; for it was not until 1857 that _The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton_ appeared in _Blackwood's Magazine_, and announced that a new writer of singular power had arisen.

It was followed by _Mr. Gilfil's Love Story_ and _Janet's Repentance_, all three being reprinted as _Scenes from Clerical Life_ (1857); _Adam Bede_ was _pub._ in 1859, _The Mill on the Floss_, in its earlier chapters largely autobiographical, in 1860, _Silas Marner_, perhaps the most artistically constructed of her books, in 1861. In 1860 and 1861 she visited Florence with the view of preparing herself for her next work, _Romola_, a tale of the times of Savonarola, which appeared in 1863 in the _Cornhill Magazine_. _Felix Holt the Radical_ followed in 1866. Miss E. now for a time abandoned novel-writing and took to poetry, and between 1868 and 1871 produced _The Spanish Gipsy_, _Agatha_, _The Legend of Jubal_, and _Armgart_. These poems, though containing much fine work, did not add to her reputation, and in fact in writing them she had departed from her true vocation. Accordingly, she returned to fiction, and in _Middlemarch_, which appeared in parts in 1871-72, she was by many considered to have produced her greatest work. _Daniel Deronda_, which came out in 1874-76, was greatly inferior, and it was her last novel. In 1878 she _pub._ _The Impressions of Theophrastus Such_, a collection of miscellaneous essays. In the same year Mr. Lewes _d._, an event which plunged her into melancholy, which was, however, alleviated by the kindness of Mr. John Cross, who had been the intimate friend of both L.

and herself, and whom she _m._ in March, 1880. The union was a short one, being terminated by her death on December 22 in the same year.

George Eliot will probably always retain a high place among writers of fiction. Her great power lies in the minute painting of character, chiefly among the lower middle cla.s.ses, shopkeepers, tradesmen, and country folk of the Midlands, into whose thoughts and feelings she had an insight almost like divination, and of whose modes of expression she was complete mistress. Her general view of life is pessimistic, relieved by a power of seizing the humorous elements in human stupidity and ill-doing.

There is also, however, much seriousness in her treatment of the phases of life upon which she touches, and few writers have brought out with greater power the hardening and degrading effects of continuance in evil courses, or the inevitable and irretrievable consequences of a wrong act.

Her descriptions of rural scenes have a singular charm.

_Life_, ed. by J.W. Cross (1885-6). Books on her by Oscar Browning, 1890, and Sir Leslie Stephen (Men of Letters), 1902.

EVELYN, JOHN (1620-1706).--Diarist, and miscellaneous writer, was of an old Surrey family, and was _ed._ at a school at Lewes and at Oxf. He travelled much on the Continent, seeing all that was best worth seeing in the way of galleries and collections, both public and private, of which he has given an interesting account in his _Diary_. He was all his life a staunch Royalist, and joined the King as a volunteer in 1642, but soon after repaired again to the Continent. After 1652 he was at home, settled at Sayes Court, near Deptford, where his gardens were famous. After the Restoration he was employed in various matters by the Government, but his lofty and pure character was constantly offended by the manners of the Court. In addition to his _Diary_, kept up from 1624-1706, and which is full of interesting details of public and private events, he wrote upon such subjects as plantations, _Sylva_ (1664), gardening, _Elysium Britannic.u.m_ (_unpub._), architecture, prevention of smoke in London, engraving, _Sculptura_ (1662), and he was one of the founders of the Royal Society, of which he was for a time sec. The dignity and purity of E'.s character stand forth in strong relief against the laxity of his times.

EWING, MRS. JULIANA HORATIA (GATTY) (1842-1885).--Writer of children's stories, _dau._ of Mrs. Alfred Gatty (_q.v._), also a writer for children. Among her tales, which have hardly been excelled in sympathetic insight into child-life, and still enjoy undiminished popularity, are: _A Flat Iron for a Farthing_, _Jackanapes_, _Jan of the Windmill_, _Mrs.

Overtheway's Remembrances_, and _The Story of a Short Life_.

FABER, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1814-1863).--Theologian and hymn-writer, was _b._ at Calverley, Yorkshire, and _ed._ at Harrow and Oxf., where he came under the influence of Newman, whom he followed into the Church of Rome.

He wrote various theological treatises, but has a place in literature for his hymns, which include _The Pilgrims of the Night_, _My G.o.d how wonderful thou art_, and _Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we go_.

FABYAN, ROBERT (_d._ 1513).--Chronicler, was _b._ in London, of which he became an Alderman and Sheriff. He kept a diary of notable events, which he expanded into a chronicle, which he ent.i.tled, _The Concordance of Histories_. It covers the period from the arrival of Brutus in England to the death of Henry VII., and deals mainly with the affairs of London. It was not printed until 1515, when it appeared under the t.i.tle of _The New Chronicles of England and France_.

FAIRFAX, EDWARD (1580?-1635).--Translator, natural _s._ of Sir Thomas F., lived at Fuystone, near Knaresborough, in peace and prosperity. His translation of Ta.s.so's _Jerusalem Delivered_, on which his fame is founded, is a masterpiece, one of the comparatively few translations which in themselves are literature. It was highly praised by Dryden and Waller. The first ed. appeared in 1600, and was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. F. also wrote a treatise on _Demonology_, in which he was a devout believer.

FALCONER, WILLIAM (1732-1769).--Poet, _s._ of a barber in Edin., where he was _b._, became a sailor, and was thus thoroughly competent to describe the management of the storm-tossed vessel, the career and fate of which are described in his poem, _The Shipwreck_ (1762), a work of genuine, though unequal, talent. The efforts which F. made to improve the poem in the successive ed. which followed the first were not entirely successful. The work gained for him the patronage of the Duke of York, through whose influence he obtained the position of purser on various warships. Strangely enough, his own death occurred by shipwreck. F. wrote other poems, now forgotten, besides a useful _Nautical Dictionary_.

FANSHAWE, CATHERINE MARIA (1765-1834).--Poetess, _dau._ of a Surrey squire, wrote clever occasional verse. Her best known production is the famous _Riddle on the Letter H_, beginning "'Twas whispered in heaven, 'twas muttered in h.e.l.l" often attributed to Lord Byron.

FANSHAWE, SIR RICHARD (1608-1666).--Diplomatist, translator, and poet, _b._ at Ware Park, Herts, and _ed._ at Camb., travelled on the Continent, and when the Civil War broke out sided with the King and was sent to Spain to obtain money for the cause. He acted as Latin Sec. to Charles II. when in Holland. After the Restoration he held various appointments, and was Amba.s.sador to Portugal and Spain successively. He translated Guarini's _Pastor Fido_, _Selected Parts of Horace_, and _The Lusiad_ of Camoens. His wife, _nee_ Anne Harrison, wrote memoirs of her own life.