A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

A Short Biographical Dictionary
of English Literature

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short Biographical Dictionary of
English
Literature, by John W. Cousin This eBook is for the use of anyone
anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You
may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.net
Title: A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
Author: John W. Cousin
Release Date: August 21, 2004 [EBook #13240]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY ***

Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. This ebook
has been produced through the direct participation of over 500
Distributed Proofreaders Volunteers to commemorate the occasion of
DP's 5000th completed project.

[Illustration: I WILL MAKE A PRIEF OF IT IN MY NOTE-BOOK
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR]

A SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH
LITERATURE
BY JOHN W. COUSIN
LONDON: PUBLISHED
by J.M. DENT & SONS. LTD
AND IN NEW YORK
BY E.P. DUTTON & CO

INTRODUCTION
The primary aim of this book is to give as much information about
English authors, including under this designation American and
Colonial writers, as the prescribed limits will admit of. At the same
time an attempt has been made, where materials exist for it, to enhance
the interest by introducing such details as tend to illustrate the
characters and circumstances of the respective writers and the manner
in which they passed through the world; and in the case of the more
important, to give some indication of the relative place which they hold
and the leading features of their work.
Including the Appendix of Living Writers, the work contains upwards
of 1600 names; but large as this number is, the number of those who
have contributed something of interest and value to the vast store of
English Literature is larger still, and any attempt to make a book of this
kind absolutely exhaustive would be futile.

The word "literature" is here used in a very wide sense, and this gives
rise to considerable difficulty in drawing the line of exclusion. There
are very many writers whose claim to admission may reasonably be
considered as good as that of some who have been included; but even
had it been possible to discover all these, their inclusion would have
swelled the work beyond its limits. A line had to be drawn somewhere,
and the writer has used his best judgment in making that line as
consistent as possible. It may probably, however, be safely claimed that
every department of the subject of any importance is well represented.
Wherever practicable (and this includes all but a very few articles),
various authorities have been collated, and pains have been taken to
secure accuracy; but where so large a collection of facts and dates is
involved, it would be too sanguine to expect that success has invariably
been attained.
J.W.C.
January, 1910.
The following list gives some of the best known works of Biography:--
Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature and English and
American Authors, 1859-71, Supplement, by J.F. Kirke, 1891; W.
Hazlitt, Collections and Notes of Early English Literature, 1876-93; R.
Chambers, Cyclopædia of English Literature, 1876, 1901; Halkett and
Laign, Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature,
1882-88; Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by Leslie Stephen and
Sidney Lee, 1885, etc., re-issue, 1908, etc.; Appleton's Cyclopædia of
American Biography, ed. by J. Grant Wilson and John Fiske, 1887, etc.;
J. Thomas, Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology,
1887-89; Men and Women of the Time, 15th edit., ed. by Victor G.
Plarr, 1889.
LIST OF CONTRACTIONS USED THROUGHOUT THE WORK
b. born Edin. Edinburgh c. circa fl. flourished Camb. Cambridge Glas.
Glasgow Coll. College m. married coll. collected Oxf. Oxford cr.

created pres. president d. died pub. published dau. daughter Prof.
Professor ed. educated sec. secretary { edition s. son ed. { editor Univ.
University { edited

ABBOTT, JACOB (1803-1879).--Educationalist and miscellaneous
author, b. at Hallowell, Maine, ed. at Bowdoin Coll. and Andover,
entered the ministry of the Congregational Church, but was best known
as an educationist and writer of religious and other books, mainly for
the young. Among them are Beechnut Tales and The Rollo Books, both
of which still have a very wide circulation.
ABBOTT, JOHN STEVENS CABOT (1805-1877).--Historian, etc., b.
Brunswick, Maine, and ed. at Bowdoin Coll. He studied theology and
became a minister of the Congregational Church at various places in
Massachusetts and Connecticut. Owing to the success of a little work,
_The Mother at Home_, he devoted himself, from 1844 onwards, to
literature, and especially to historical writing. Among his principal
works, which were very popular, are: History of Napoleon Bonaparte
(1852-55), _History of the Civil War in America (1863-66), and
History