A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature | Page 2

of Frederick the Great_ (1871).
À BECKETT, GILBERT ABBOTT (1811-1856).--Comic writer, b. in
London, the s. of a lawyer, and belonged to a family claiming descent
from Thomas à Becket. Destined for the legal profession, he was called
to the Bar. In addition to contributions to various periodicals and
newspapers, including Punch, The Illustrated London News, The Times,
and Morning Herald, he produced over fifty plays, many of which
attained great popularity, and he also helped to dramatise some of
Dickens' works. He is perhaps best known as the author of Comic
History of England, Comic History of Rome, Comic Blackstone, etc. He
was also distinguished in his profession, acted as a commissioner on
various important matters, and was appointed a metropolitan police
magistrate.
ABERCROMBIE, JOHN (1780-1844).--Physician and writer on
mental science, s. of a minister, was b. at Aberdeen, and ed. at the

Grammar School and Marischal College there. He studied medicine at
Edinburgh, in which city he practised as a physician. He made valuable
contributions to the literature of his profession, and pub. two works,
_Enquiry Concerning the Intellectual Powers (1830) and The
Philosophy of the Moral Feelings_ (1833), which, though popular at the
time of their publication, have long been superseded. For his services
as a physician and philanthropist he received many marks of distinction,
including the Rectorship of Marischal College.
ABERCROMBIE, PATRICK (1656-1716).--Antiquary and historian,
was physician to James II. in 1685; he was a Jacobite and opposed the
Union in various pamphlets. His chief work was Martial Achievements
of the Scots Nation (1711-16).
ACTON, JOHN EMERICH EDWARD DALBERG-ACTON, 1ST
LORD (1834-1902).--Historian, s. of Sir Richard A., and grandson of
Sir John A., who was Prime Minister of Naples, was b. at Naples. He
belonged to an ancient Roman Catholic family, and was ed. first at
Oscott near Birmingham under Dr. (afterwards Card.) Wiseman.
Thence he went to Edinburgh, where he studied privately, and
afterwards to Munich, where he resided in the house of Dr. Dollinger,
the great scholar and subsequent leader of the Old Catholic party, by
whom he was profoundly influenced. While at Edinburgh he
endeavoured to procure admission to Cambridge, but without success,
his religion being at that time a bar. He early devoted himself to the
study of history, and is said to have been on terms of intimacy with
every contemporary historian of distinction, with the exception of
Guizot. He sat in the House of Commons 1859-65, but made no great
mark, and in 1869 was raised to the peerage as Lord Acton of
Aldenham. For a time he edited The Rambler, a Roman Catholic
periodical, which afterwards became the Home and Foreign Review,
and which, under his care, became one of the most learned publications
of the day. The liberal character of A.'s views, however, led to its
stoppage in deference to the authorities of the Church. He, however,
maintained a lifelong opposition to the Ultramontane party in the
Church, and in 1874 controverted their position in four letters to The
Times which were described as the most crushing argument against

them which ever appeared in so condensed a form. A.'s contributions to
literature were few, and, in comparison with his extraordinary learning,
comparatively unimportant. He wrote upon Cardinal Wolsey (1877)
and German Schools of History (1886). He was extremely modest, and
the loftiness of his ideals of accuracy and completeness of treatment led
him to shrink from tasks which men of far slighter equipment might
have carried out with success. His learning and his position as a
universally acknowledged master in his subject were recognised by his
appointment in 1895 as Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.
Perhaps his most valuable services to historical literature were his
laying down the lines of the great _Cambridge Modern History_, and
his collection of a library of 60,000 vols., which after his death was
purchased by an American millionaire and presented to Lord Morley of
Blackburn, who placed it in the University of Cambridge.
ADAMNAN, ST. (625?-704).--Historian, b. in Donegal, became Abbot
of Iona in 679. Like other Irish churchmen he was a statesman as well
as an ecclesiastic, and appears to have been sent on various political
missions. In the great controversy on the subject of the holding of
Easter, he sided with Rome against the Irish Church. He left the earliest
account we have of the state of Palestine in the early ages of the Church;
but of even more value is his Vita Sancti Columbæ, giving a minute
account of the condition and discipline of the church of Iona. He d.
704.
ADAMS, FRANCIS, W.L. (1862-1893).--Novelist, was b. at Malta,
and ed. at schools at Shrewsbury and in Paris. In 1882 he went to
Australia, and was on the staff of The Sydney Bulletin. In 1884 he publ.
his autobiographical novel,