A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

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Title: A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
Author: John W. Cousin
Release Date: August 21, 2004 [EBook #13240]
Language: English
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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, Cyclop?dia 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 Cyclop?dia 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 of Frederick the Great_ (1871).
�� BECKETT, GILBERT ABBOTT (1811-1856).--Comic writer, b. in London, the s. of a lawyer, and belonged to a family claiming descent from Thomas �� Becket. Destined for