A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 8

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 ma.n.u.scripts 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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 ill.u.s.trative 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 a.n.a.logy 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 pa.s.sed 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 circ.u.mstances 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 t.i.tle and embarra.s.sed 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 pa.s.sing 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, pa.s.sing through Belgium and up the Rhine, went to Geneva, afterwards travelling with Sh.e.l.ley 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. G.o.dwin'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, pa.s.sion, 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 a.s.sembly 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 Sh.e.l.ley, _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 a.s.sist 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_.

CaeDMON (_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 Princ.i.p.al. 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 princ.i.p.al authors of a famous controversial work bearing the t.i.tle _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 G.o.dly 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 pa.s.sing 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 a.s.sumed 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 princ.i.p.al 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 Princ.i.p.al 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 princ.i.p.al 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 cla.s.sics, 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 princ.i.p.al 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 n.o.ble 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, Ess.e.x, 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 Const.i.tution, 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 Angliae_, _De Ill.u.s.tribus 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.