on a General Biography, in 10 vols., 4to, in which, however, he had the assistance of several fellow-laborers, Southey among others. His latest publication was an edition of the Select Works of the British Poets, with copious notes, biographical and critical. The work is familiarly known as Aikin's British Poets, and has enjoyed an extensive popularity.

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LUCY AIKIN, daughter of John Aikin, M. D., has written several historical works, namely Memoirs of the Court of James I., of Queen Elizabeth, and of Charles I, each in 2 vols., 8vo, and a Life of Addison, also in 2 vols., 8vo. The Edinburgh Review speaks of the publication first named as “An admirable historical work, nearly as entertaining as a novel, and far more instructive than most histories." She wrote also a memoir of her father, Dr. John Aikin.

HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS, 1762–1827, was a voluminous writer on French affairs.

Miss Williams was born in London, but lived most of her time in Paris. She was a warm advocate of the French Revolution; and in consequence of her espousing the cause of the Girondists, she was imprisoned by the opposite party, but was released on the downfall of Robespierre. She died in Paris.

Miss Williams wrote Letters from France. several volumes, published at different times; A Sketch of the Politics of France, and of Scenes in the Prisons of France; Sketches of the State of Manners and Opinions in the French Republic towards the Close of the 18th Century; Narrative of Events in France from the Landing of Napoleon in 1815 till the Restoration of Louis the Eighteenth; Events in France since the year 1815. Miss Williams wrote also two novels, Edwin and Elfrida, and Julia; and several volumes of Poems; and translated several important works from the French, Humboldt's Travels in Central and South America, 7 vols., 8vo; Humboldt's American Researches; 2 vols., Svo, etc. She is the author of some beautiful Hymus, among them that beginning, “Whilst Thee I seek, protecting Power."

ROBERT ANDERSON, M. D., 1751-1830, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, though not the author of many original works of note, was occupied with literary pursuits for forty years in the city of Edinburgh, where he occupied a position similar to that of Dr. Aikin in London.

Dr. Anderson's chief merit is that of a judicious biographer, editor, and annotator of the British poets His principal publications are: The Works of the British Poets, with Prefaces Biographical and Critical, 13 vols.; Life of Dr. Smollett; Life of Samuel Johnson, with critical observations on his works.

ALEXANDER CHALMERS, 1759-1834, was a native of Scotland, but a resident of London. He had a good classical and medical education. His first literary employment was as a contributor to the leading newspapers of London. Later he gave his attention mainly to editing standard works, with critical collations and notices. He edited The British Essayists, 45 vols.; The English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper, 21 vols.; Shakespeare, 8 vols.; also Fielding. Bolingbroke, Gibbon, Pope, Johnson, etc., etc. He wrote A Continuation of the History of England; A Sketch of the Isle of Wight; A History of the College, Halls, and Public Buildings of the University of

Oxford, with Lives of the Founders. His greatest and best work was A General Biographical Dictionary, 32 vols., 8vo. "Mr. Chalmers was most indefatigable and laborious in his studies and devotion to literature. No man ever edited so many works for the booksellers of London; and his attention to accuracy of collation, his depth of research as to facts, and his discrimination as to the character of the authors, under his review, cannot be too highly praised." — Gentleman's Magazine,

Sir Egerton Brydges.

SIR SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES, 1762-1837, a gentleman of wealth and of good family, was a most prolific writer.

He induced his brother to lay claim to the Barony of Chandos, but the House of Peers decided adversely to the claim. The disappointment of Sir Egerton was great, and his soreness on this account appears in many of his writings. He spent much of his time on the continent, and many of his works were printed abroad, at Geneva, Florence, etc. Many also were printed at his own private press, near Canterbury. Of these privately printed works, the editions were usually only 100 copies, sometimes only 30 copies.

His works are exceedingly numerous. The following are only a few: Censura Literaria, containing Titles and Opinions of Old English Books, 10 vols.; Res Literariæ, 3 vols.; Sonnets and Poems; Arthur Fitz-Albini, a Novel; Le Forester, a Novel; Coningsby; The Hall of Hallingsey; Recollections of Foreign Travel; Lake of Geneva; Letters from the Continent; Letters on Lord Byron; The Autobiography, Times, Opinions, and Contemporaries of Sir Egerton Brydges.

"The author before us is as intimately persuaded of the reality of his powers, of the solidity of his reputation, as if the loud huzzas of the literary world were borne to his retreat. The amabilis insania (the delusion is too proud, too strong for ordinary vanity), cheats, soothes, flatters, to the verge of the abyss. All that criticism could prove, all that neglect - servant of all critics-could teach, fall vain and unheeded on the soul of a nature of this mould.” — Edinburgh Review.

NATHAN DRAKE, M. D., 1766-1836, made large and valuable contributions to literary history.

Dr. Drake was a native of England, and a graduate of the University of Dublin. While practising his profession for forty-five years, he was at the same time a diligent student of literature.

Dr. Drake's works are numerous. The following are the chief: Shakespeare and his Times, 2 vols., 4to; Literary Hours, 3 vols., 8vo; Winter Nights, 2 vols., 8vo; Evenings in Autumn, 2 vols., 8vo; Mornings in Spring, 2 vols., 8vo; Noontide Leisure, 2 vols., Svo; The Speculator; Essays illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator, Guardian, Rambler, Adventurer, Idler, etc., 5 vols., Svo.

"No work has hitherto appeared, and we may venture almost to pronounce that none can in future be produced, in which so much of agreeable and well digested information on this subject [Shakespeare and his Times] will be found as in this masterly production of Dr. Drake.”— Archdeacon Nares, in the Gent. Mag.

"In 1803, I got a bright new book, fresh from the press in those days, on which I still reflect with pleasure; namely, Drake's Literary Hours. It became my favorite

companion for years afterwards, and it was this work, more than all others, which at that early age fixed my affections on literary pursuits."— Gillies's Literary Veteran. "We have been surprised and mortified to notice the shameful ignorance prevailing in America respecting the publications of this eminent writer.”—Allibone.

Charles Lamb.

CHARLES LAMB, 1775-1834, excelled all the men of his day in the style of writing which he chiefly cultivated. The Essays of Elia, by which he is best known, are marked by a certain delicate and quiet humor, which will always ensure him a chosen band of devoted admirers.

Lamb was born in London, and educated at Christ's Hospital. He was clerk in the East India Company's House for a great number of years, and retired on a pension in 1825. In 1796, his sister, Mary Lamb, in a fit of insanity, killed her mother. Mary was intrusted after this for safe keeping to her younger brother Charles, who thenceforth devoted to her his supreme care and attention, even abandoning for this purpose his prospects of marriage. This harrowing event and its consequent burdens have given to Charles Lamb's writings that peculiar tinge of subdued melancholy which underlies all their wit and joviality.

Works. The brother and sister published several joint works, such as Tales from Shakespeare, The Adventures of Ulysses, and Poetry for Children. Charles Lamb first appeared as an acknowledged author in 1797, in a small volume of poems, the joint work of himself, Coleridge, and Charles Lloyd. This was followed by Rosamund Gray, a touching story; John Woodvil, a tragedy in imitation of the style of the Elizabethan dramatists; Mr. H, a Farce; Specimens of English Dramatic Poets. In 1823 appeared the work by which Lamb is best known, the Essays of Elia, and, in 1833, The Last Essays of Elia. In 1830 he published Album Verses and Other Poems.

Estimate of Him.- As a poet, Lamb cannot be placed very high in the scale. In the words of Moir, "he was a true poet, but not a great one." His verses abound in quaint feeling and suggestive passages, but they are deficient in poetic fire. Charles Lamb will ever be known as a prosaist—a writer of easy sketches. Not that he is a popular writer, in the strict sense of that word. His play of thought is too subtle, his suggestions call for too much culture and information on the reader's part. Lamb will always be the delight of a select few in each generation, who have themselves the leisure and the freedom from worry which pervade his writings.

Conversational Powers.- It must be added, in conclusion, that the best part of Lamb is not embodied in his writings. His genius as a conversationist, his sly puns, far-reaching and deep-reaching sallies, his easy, quaint humor, his unexpected up-wellings of emotion, far outshone, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, all that he ever committed to paper. Many of his famous sayings have passed into the life of the people, but many more, unrecorded, are now lost beyond recovery.

AMOS S. COTTLE, 1800, a graduate of Cambridge, was a student of the Northern literature. He published Icelandic Poetry, or The Edda of Shemend, translated into English Verse.-JOSEPH COTTLE, 1770-1853, brother of Amos, and a bookseller of Bristol, was a studious man, and was the author of several volumes: Malvern Hills;

Alfred; The Fall of Cambria; Reminiscences of Coleridge and Southey. Cottle is chiefly known by his generosity to the young poets, Coleridge and Southey, to both of whom he lent a helping hand at the outset of their career; and by the ungenerous fling which ou that account he and his brother received from Byron in the English Bards and Scotch Reviewers:

WILLIAM ROSCOE, 1753-1831, is well known as a writer on Italian history and literature.

Roscoe was a native of Liverpool and son of a gardener. When sixteen years old, he was articled to an attorney. Although not neglecting his profession, he devoted much of his time to reading, and learned the principal modern languages. In 1774 he was admitted to practise as an attorney, and remained in the profession for twenty-two years, when he retired, having accumulated means enough to live in elegant leisure. But he was soon drawn back into active life, became partner in a large banking-house in Liverpool, and was returned to Parliament. He exerted himself actively in behalf of Catholic Emancipation and the abolition of the slave-trade, and in many philan thropic measures. In 1816 the house of which he was a partner failed, and he was obliged to sell his valuable library and collections.

Mr. Roscoe was the author of a considerable number of pamphlets, addresses, etc., and also of some poems and songs which have gained popularity, such as Unfold, Father Time, Thy Long Records Unfold, O'er the Vine-Covered Hills and Gay Regions of France, etc. But the works upon which his reputation rests are his Life of Lorenzo de Medici, and his Life of Leo X. They were for a long time the standard works on the subject of which they treat. The style is in the main pleasing, and the author's knowledge is extensive. Unfortunately, however, Roscoe is not critical and accurate enough in his use of authorities, and has even consciously veiled some of the worst features of that age in Italy. For much of the ground which Roscoe covers he has been superseded by later writers, especially by Trollope in his History of the Florentine Republic.

THOMAS ROSCOE, 1791

son of William Roscoe the historian,

is favorably known as a translator, author, and editor.

As a translator, Mr. Roscoe has given to the English public renderings of Sismondi's Literature of Southern Europe, Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography, and a library of eleven volumes of Italian, German, and French novelists. He has edited the Novelists' Library, containing sixteen volumes from Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, etc., with biographical notes. His original works are also numerous, and cover a great variety of subjects, from the Life and Writings of Cervantes, or a Picturesque Tour in Belgium, to the History of the London and North-Western Railway.

GEORGE CHALMERS, 1742-1825, was a voluminous, but somewhat heavy writer of this period.

Chalmers was a native of Scotland. He emigrated to Maryland, but on the breaking out of the war of Independence, he took the side of the mother country and returned thither. His principal works are the following: Political Annals of the present United Colonies; A Collection of Treaties between Great Britain and other Powers; Opinions on Interesting Subjects arising from American Independence; Comparative Strength of Great Britain; Apology for the Believers of the Shakespeare Papers; Life of Thomas Ruddiman; Life of Sir David Lindsay; Life of Mary Queen of Scots.

Chalmers's greatest work was one which he barely lived to finish. It is called Caledonia, and is a topographical and historical account of Great Britain from the carliest times. Three vols. 4to were printed. The remainder of the work, intended for a fourth volume, is still in manuscript. Mr. Chalmers's Caledonia is considered the best work on British antiquities ever produced. "It is impossible to speak too highly or the excellencies of this elaborate work more elaborate, indeed, and copious, more abounding with original information, than any work in British History or Antiquities which ever came from one author. It will rank with the immortal Britannia of Camden, which it far surpasses in industry of research and accumulation of matter."-Lond. Quar. Rev.

Mitford.

WILLIAM MITFORD, 1744-1827, is honorably connected with literature by his elaborate work on the History of Greece.

Mitford was a native of London. He studied at Oxford, and entered the legal profession, but abandoned it for classical studies, and especially for the study of Grecian History. Mitford is the author of an Inquiry into the Principles of Harmony in Language, which has some merit. His great work, however, is his History of Greece. This extends from the beginning of Greek history down to the death of Philip. It was the standard history, until superseded by the works of Thirlwall and Grote, and even now possesses great value. Its chief defect is that it is conceived in a partisan, not a judicial spirit. Mitford writes, throughout, with the animus of a Tory, and carries back to the days of Greece his antipathies to democracy and republics. He sees the events of Athenian political life through Tory spectacles, as it were, and hence can see but little good in Demosthenes, and no evil in Philip. His style is theoretical and involved.

JOHN GILLIES, LL. D., 1747-1836, is likewise extensively known as an historian of Greece.

Gillies was a native of Scotland, and a graduate of the University of Glasgow. He was appointed, after the death of Robertson, historiographer to the King. His writings are almost entirely historical.

Works. History of Ancient Greece, 2 vols., 4to; History of the World from the Reign of Alexander to Augustus, 2 vols., 4to; A View of the Reign of Frederick II. of Prussia, 8vo; Translation of the Orations of Isocrates and Lycias, 8vo; of Aristotle's Ethics and Politics, 2 vols., Svo; of Aristotle's Rhetoric, 8vo.

Gillies's Greece and Mitford's were at one time the rival candidates for public favor, though both have now been superseded.