A Brief Handbook of English Authors

Sidney, Algernon. 1622–1683. Political writer. Author Discourses on Government, etc. See Life, by Meadley, 1813.

Sidney or Sydney, Sir Philip. 1554–1586. Poet and prose writer. Author of Sonnets, the prose romance Arcadia, and The Apologie for Poetrie, with which latter work literary criticism may be said to begin. See Grosart's complete edition, 1877. See Ward's Eng. Poets, vol. 1, Masson's Eng. Novelists, and Life, by Fox-Bourne, 1862.

Simcox, Geo. Augustus. 1841 – . Poet and littérateur. Author Prometheus Unbound, a tragedy, Poems and Romances, and a Hist. of Latin Lit. Pub. Har. Rou.

Simpson, Sir James Young. 1811–1870. Scotch medical writer of note. Pub. Apl. Lip.

Simpson, Thomas. 1710–1761. Mathematician. Author of a long series of mathematical works.

Simson, Robert. 1687–1768. Scotch mathematician. Author of a noted translation of Euclid.

Sinclair, Mrs. Catherine. 1800–1864. Scotch novelist. Author of Beatrice, Modern Society, Jane Bouverie, etc. Pub. Har.

Singer, Samuel Weller. 1783–1868. Shakespearean scholar. His edition of Shakespeare appeared in 1826.

Skeat [skeet], Walter Wm. 1835 – . Philologist. Editor of numerous Early Eng. and Anglo-Saxon works, and author of an Etymological Dict. of the Eng. Language. Pub. Mac.

Skelton, John. c. 1460–1529. Poet. Author Why Come Ye Not to Court? a fierce satire upon Wolsey, Colin Clout, and the Boke of Phyllype Sparowe. His verse is rugged and harsh, but very powerful. See Dyce's edition, 1843, and Ward's Eng. Poets, vol. 1. Pub. Hou.

Skene, Wm. Forbes. 1809 – . Antiquarian. Author The Highlanders of Scotland, Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, etc.

Sketchley, Arthur. See Rose, Geo.

Skinner, John. 1721–1807. Scotch poet. Tullochgorum is his most noted poem. See Poems of, with Memoir, 1859.

Smart, Benj. Humphrey. c. 1785–1872. Lexicographer. The chief of his numerous works is a Pronouncing Dict., which first appeared in 1836.

Smart, Christopher. 1722–1770. Poet. Author of a noted satire called The Hilliad and the famous Song to David. See edition 1791.

Smart, Hawley. 18 – . Novelist. Author Breezie Langton, Bound to Win, etc. Pub. Apl.

Smedley, Edward. 1789–1836. Historian. Author Religio Clerici, Hist. Reformed Religion in France, Hist. France, etc. Pub. Har.

Smedley, Francis Edward. 1819–1865. Novelist. Author Frank Fairleigh, Harry Coverdale's Courtship, etc. Pub. Pet. Rou.

Smedley, Menella Bute. c. 1825-c. 1875. Poet. Sister to F. E. S. Author of Nina, Twice Lost, and other prose tales. One of the finest of her poems is The Little Fair Soul. Pub. Rou.

Smee, Alfred. 1819 – . Scientific writer of note. Pub. Put.

Smiles, Samuel. 1819 – . Scotch writer. Author Self Help, Thrift, Life of a Scotch Naturalist, Life of Geo. Stephenson, etc. Pub. Har. Lip. Rou.

Smith, Adam. 1723–1790. Political economist. Author of The Wealth of Nations, the theory of which is that labor is the source of wealth. See Lives by Brougham, Playfair, and Smellie. Pub. Mac. Put.

Smith, Albert Richard. 1816–1860. Novelist. Author Christopher Tadpole, etc.

Smith, Alexander. 1830–1867. Scotch poet and essayist. Author Edwin of Deira, Life Drama, City Poems, etc. His verse achieved a sudden but brief popularity. It is brilliant, but uneven. His prose, of which A Summer in Skye is the best example, is excellent. See Life, by Alexander, 1868, and Stedman's Victorian Poets.

Smith, Mrs. Charlotte. 1749–1806. Poet and novelist. Elegiac Sonnets are her principal poems, and The Old Manor House is her best novel.

Smith, George. c. 1825–1876. Orientalist. Author of The Chaldean Account of Genesis, Assyrian Discoveries, Records of the Past, etc. Pub. Scr.

Smith, Goldwin. 1823 – . Miscellaneous writer. Author Lect. and Essays, The Study of Hist., Three Eng. Statesmen, etc. Pub. Har. Mac.

Smith, Horace. 1779–1849. Poet and novelist. Author of the noted poem Address to a Mummy, of five of the Rejected Addresses published by Horace and James Smith, and of several novels, – The Moneyed Man, Brambletye House, etc. Pub. Har. Ho. Put.

Smith, Isaac Gregory. 1826 – . Religious writer. Author Characteristics of Christian Morality, etc. Pub. Dut.

Smith, James. 1775–1839. Poet and critic. Bro. to H. S. Author of five of the travesties in Rejected Addresses, viz., those on Wordsworth, Cobbett, Southey, Coleridge, and Crabbe. See Memoirs of, by Horace Smith, 1840. Pub. Ho. Put.

Smith, James. 1824 – . Scotch poet and novelist.

Smith, John Pye. 1775–1851. Theologian. Author Letters to Belsham, etc.

Smith, Robert Payne. 1818 – . Religious writer. Author Bampton Lect., 1869, etc. Pub. Mac.

Smith, Sarah, "Hesba Stretton." 18 – . Novelist. Author Bede's Charity, Through A Needle's Eye, and other excellent novels. Pub. Do. Rou.

Smith, Sydney. 1771–1845. Essayist and humorist. Author of the Plymley Letters, etc. A perfect master of an intensely amusing and sarcastic style of reasoning. See Duyckinck's Wit and Wisdom of Sydney Smith. Pub. Apl. Har. Rou.

Smith, Thos. Southwood. 1788–1861. Medical writer of note. Author Philosophy of Health, The use of the Dead to the Living, etc. Pub. Clx. Lip.

Smith, Wm. 1769–1839. Geological writer of eminence. See Life, by Phillips, 1844.

Smith, Wm. 1813 – . Classical lexicographer. Author Dict. Greek and Roman Antiquities, Dict. of the Bible, etc. Pub. Apl. Est. Har. Hou. Lit. Por.

Smith, Wm. Robertson. 1847 – . Scotch theologian of note. Author of The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, etc. Pub. Apl.

Smollett, Tobias George. 1721–1771. Author of Roderick Random; Peregrine Pickle, Count Fathom, Humphrey Clinker, etc., novels whose coarseness is scarcely atoned for by their wit and vivacity. See Complete Works, 1872. See Thackeray's Eng. Humorists and Masson's Novelists and Their Styles. Pub. Har. Rou.

Smyth, Chas. Piazzi. c. 1820 – . Egyptologist. Son to W. H. S. Author Our Inheritance in the Gt. Pyramid, Life and Work at the Gt. Pyramid, etc. An ingenious but somewhat fanciful thinker. Pub. Est. Rou. Scr.

Smyth, Wm. Henry. 1788–1865. Hydrographer. Author of a noted work on the physical geography of the Mediterranean. Pub. Mac.

Smythe, Geo. Sydney, Viscount Strangford. 1818–1857. Novelist. Author of Historic Fancies and Angela Pisani.

Somers, Lord John. 1651–1716. Jurist. Author of the noted "Somers Tracts." See Walter Scott's edition, 13 vols. 4to, 1815. See Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors.

Somerville, Mrs. Mary. 1780–1872. Scotch astronomer. Author Mechanism of the Heavens, Connection of the Physical Sciences, Physical Geography, etc. See Personal Recollections, by Mrs. Somerville, 1873. Pub. Har. Rob. Sh.

Somerville, Wm. 1682–1742. Poet. Author of The Chase, etc. See Ward's Eng. Poets, vol. 3.

Sotheby [sŭth´ȏ-bĭ], Wm. 1757–1833. A fine translation of Wieland's Oberon is his best known work.

South, Robert. 1633–1716. A witty theologian, whose Sermons possess vitality and are still read. Pub. Dut. Hou.

Southern [sŭth´ern], Thos. 1660–1746. Irish dramatist. Author Oroonoko, The Fatal Dowry, etc. His plays were once very popular and show great power.

Southey [sowth´ĭ], Mrs. Caroline Anne [Bowles]. 1787–1854. Poet. Wife to R. S. Author of The Young Gray Head, The Pauper's Death Bed, etc. Style harmonious and pathetic. Pub. Rou.

Southey, Robert. 1774–1843. Poet and essayist. Author of Thalaba, Curse of Kehama, Roderick, Madoc, etc. As a whole his verse is a good deal like prose, but prose of an excellent quality. The Doctor is one of his most noted prose works. See Life, by C. T. Browne, and Dowden's Southey, in Eng. Men of Letters. Pub. Apl. Har. Hou. Rou.

Southwell, Robert. 1560–1595. Poet. Content and Rich and Times go by Turns are among his best poems. His verse has much quiet beauty. See MacDonald's England's Antiphon and Ward's Eng. Poets, vol. 1.

Spedding, James. 1808–1881. Baconian scholar. Editor Lord Bacon's works, author Life and Letters of Bacon, Reviews and Discussions, Evenings with a Reviewer, etc. Pub. Hou.

Speed, John. 1552–1629. Antiquary. Hist. Great Britain, etc.

Spelman, Sir Henry. 1562–1641. Antiquary. Author Hist. Eng. Councils, Glossarium Archæologicum, etc.

Spencer, Herbert. 1820 – . Philosopher. Author Social Statics, Principles of Psychology, Study of Sociology, Education, Descriptive Sociology, etc. Pub. Apl.

Spencer, Wm. Robert. 1770–1834. Poet. Beth-Gélert is his best known poem.

Spenser, Edmund. 1552–1599. Poet. Shepherd's Calendar, Mother Hubbard's Tale, Amoretti, Epithalamion, and Prothalamion are the best of his minor poems. The Faerie Queene, an allegory in 6 books, is his greatest work, the interest of which lies not in the poem as a narration, but in its symbolic representation of the soul at war with evil. See Todd's Variorum edition, and editions by Payne Collier, 1862, and Morris, 1869. See Craik's Spenser and his Poetry, Morley's Library Eng. Lit., and Church's Spenser, in Eng. Men of Letters. Pub. Mac. Hou.

Spottswood or Spottiswoode, John. 1565–1639. Abp. St. Andrew's. Ecclesiastical historian. Author Hist. Church of Scotland, etc. See Russell's edition, 1851.

Sprat, Thos. 1636–1713. Bp. Rochester. Theologian. Author Hist. Royal Society, Life of Cowley, Poems, Sermons, etc.

Spurgeon, Chas. Haddon. 1834 – . Author several vols. of Sermons, John Ploughman's Talks, etc. Pub. Ca. Scr. Sh.

Stanhope, Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield. 1694–1773. Author of the celebrated Letters to his Son, Philip Stanhope, the morality of which has been much debated. Style polished and able.

Stanhope, Philip Henry, Lord Mahon. 1805–1875. Author Hist. of England, Hist. War of the Spanish Succession, etc. Pub. Lit.

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn. 1815–1881. Theologian. Author Lect. on the Jewish Church, Lect. on the Eastern Church, Christian Institutions, Life of Dr. Arnold, etc. A writer of much vigor and strength, whose wide sympathies are clearly shown in his works. See Century Mag. Jan. 1883, and Myers's Essays Modern. Pub. Arm. Dut. Har. Mac. Scr.

Stanley, Thomas. 1625–1678. Poet. Beside a vol. of quaint verse S. wrote a Hist. of Philosophy.

Staunton [stän´tȏn], Howard. 1810–1874. Shakespearean scholar. His library edition of Shakespeare appeared in 1863. Pub. Rou.

Steele, Sir Richard. 1671–1729. Essayist. S. began the periodical Essay by The Tatler in 1709, and wrote afterwards with Addison in The Spectator and The Guardian. Author also of The Christian Hero. See Thackeray's Eng. Humorists.

Steevens, George. 1736–1800. Shakespearean scholar. S. edited with Dr. Johnson the edition of 1773, and with Isaac Reed those of 1785 and 1793.

Stephen, Sir James. 1789–1859. Historian and essayist. Author Essays in Eccl. Biography, Lect. on Hist. of France, etc. See Life, by his son, 1860. Pub. Har.

Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames. 1829 – . Jurist. Son to preceding. Author General View of the Criminal Law of England, Essays by a Barrister, etc. Pub. Mac. Th.

Stephen, Leslie. 1832 – . Littérateur. Neph. to Sir J. S. Author of a brilliant Hist. Eng., Thought in the Eighteenth Cent., Science of Ethics, Hours in a Library, and Pope, Johnson, and Swift, in Eng. Men of Letters. Pub. Har. Scr.

Stephenson, Mrs. Eliza [Tabor]. 1835 – . Novelist. Author St. Olave's, Jeanie's Quiet Life, The Blue Ribbon, Meta's Faith, The Senior Songman, etc. St. Olave's, her best work, has been very popular. Pub. Har.

Sterling, John. 1806–1844. Poet and critic. See Lives, by Hare, 1848, T. Carlyle, 1851; also, Caroline Fox's Memories of Old Friends.

Sterne, Lawrence. 1713–1768. Humorist. Author of Tristram Shandy and The Sentimental Journey, two rambling, fantastic books, with a slender thread of story in each. The quaintness is affected, and the humor sometimes obscure, but the character drawing is inimitable. See Life, by Fitzgerald, Taine's Eng. Lit., Masson's Eng. Novelists and Their Styles, and H. D. Traill's Sterne, in Eng. Men of Letters. Pub. Clx. Lip. Rou.

Sternhold, Thos. c. 1500–1549. Associate with Hopkins in a metrical version of the Psalms.

Stevenson, John Hall. 1718–1785. Poet. Author Crazy Hall Tales, etc.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. 18 – . Author of Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, An Inland Voyage, The New Arabian Nights, etc. Pub. Rob.

Stewart, Dugald. 1753–1828. Scotch metaphysician. Author Philosophical Essays, Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers, etc.

Still, John. 1543–1607. Bp. Bath and Wells. To him has been doubtfully attributed the comedy Gammer Gurton's Needle, one of the very earliest English plays. See Dodsley's Old Plays.

Stillingfleet, Edward. 1635–1699. Bp. Worcester. Controversial writer of note. Pub. Mac.

Stirling, Earl of. See Alexander, Wm.

Stirling, Sir Wm. Maxwell. See Maxwell Stirling.

Stormonth, James. 1825–1882. Scotch lexicographer. Author Dict. of Scientific Terms, Etymological Dict., etc.

Stoughton, John. 18 – . Religious historian. Author Hist. of Religion in England from the Opening of the Long Parliament to the End of the Eighteenth Cent., and Introduction to Historical Theology. Pub. Arm. Phi.

Stow, John. 1525–1605. Chronicler.

Strangford, Viscount. See Smythe, G. S.

Street, Geo. Edmund. 1824–1881. Gothic architect. Author The Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages, Gothic Architecture in Spain, etc. See The Biograph, Aug. 1880.

Stretton, Hesba. See Smith, Sarah.

Strickland, Agnes. 1796–1874. Historical writer. Author Lives of the Queens of England, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, Lives of the Seven Bishops, etc. Pub. Har. La. Lip. Por.

Strutt, Joseph. 1742–1802. Antiquarian. Author Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Biographical Hist. of Engravers, etc. Pub. Rou.

Strype, John. 1643–1737. Historian. Author Annals of the Reformation, Life of Cranmer, etc.

Stuart, Gilbert. 1742–1786. Historian. Author View of Society in Europe, Hist. of Scotland, etc. An accurate but prejudiced writer.

Stubbs, Wm. 1825 – . Historian. Author of The Constitutional Hist. of England, The Early Plantagenets, etc. Pub. Est. Mac.

Stukely, Wm. 1687–1765. Antiquarian writer.

Suckling, Sir John. 1609–1641. Of his gay, airy verse, the Ballad upon a Wedding is most widely known. See Ward's Eng. Poets, vol. 2.

Sugden, Edward B., Baron St. Leonards. 1781–1875. Jurist of high rank. Author Handy Book on Property Law, etc. Pub. Jo.

Sumner, John Bird. 1780–1862. Abp. Canterbury. Religious writer. Author Practical Reflections, etc.

Surrey, Earl of. See Howard, Henry.

Swain, Charles. 1803–1874. Poet. His verse is pleasing, but has little strength. Pub. Rob.

Swift, Jonathan. 1667–1745. Irish satirist. Author Battle of the Books, Tale of a Tub, Drapier's Letters, Gulliver's Travels, etc. Style coarse, bitterly savage and personal, but of great vigor, keenness, and force. See Lives, by T. Sheridan and Forster; also, Taine's Eng. Lit., Thackeray's Eng. Humorists, Leslie Stephen's Swift, in Eng. Men of Letters, and Masson's Novelists. Pub. Hou.

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. 1837 – . Poet and critic. Author of Atalanta in Calydon, Song of Italy, Chastelard, Mary Stuart, Bothwell, Tristram, etc. Tristram is the finest of his long poems, and A Child's Song in Winter one of the best of the minor ones. His verse shows wonderful melody and perfect mastery of metre even when most obscure, and abounds in vivid and exquisite descriptions. See Stedman's Victorian Poets and Lowell's My Study Windows. Pub. Ho.

Sylvester, Joshua. 1563–1618. Poet. Translator of the French poet Du Bartas, and known in his day as Silver-Tongued Sylvester.

Symonds, John Addington. 1840 – . Poet and critic. Author Hist. of the Renaissance in Italy, Studies of the Greek Poets, Sketches and Studies in Southern Europe, Italian Byways, etc., and two vols. of poems, entitled New and Old and Many Moods. Pub. Har. Ho. Os.

Tabor, Eliza. See Stephenson, Mrs.

Tait, Archibald Campbell. 1811–1882. Abp. Canterbury. Theologian. Author Dangers and Safeguards of Modern Theology, etc. Pub. Mac.

Talfourd [tawl´furd], Sir Thomas Noon. 1795–1854. Dramatic poet. Author of The Athenian Captive, Glencoe, The Castilian, etc., but chiefly known by his fine tragedy Ion, and Final Memorials of Chas. Lamb.

Tannahill, Robert. 1774–1810. Scotch poet. His lyrics possess a sweetness like those of Burns. Braes of Balquither and The Flower of Dumblane are familiar examples. See Centenary edition, 1874.

Tate, Nahum. 1652–1715. Associate with Brady in a noted metrical version of the Psalms, and author of several plays.

Tautphoeus, Baroness. 18 – . Novelist. Author of The Initials, Quits, Cyrilla, At Odds, etc. Pub. Ho. Lip.

Taylor, Brook. 1685–1731. Mathematician. Author Methods of Increment and inventor of Taylor's Theorem.

Taylor, Sir Henry. 1800 – . Dramatic poet. Author Edwin the Fair, Philip Van Artavelde, Isaac Comnenus, etc. Philip Van Artavelde, his finest work, ranks high in modern dramatic poetry. See edition 1863. See Fortnightly Review, vol. 1, and The Biograph, vol. 2. Pub. Lip.

Taylor, Isaac. 1787–1865. Miscellaneous writer. Author Elements of Thought, The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, The World of Mind, etc. Pub. Ca. Dut. Har. Mac.

Taylor, Jane. 1783–1824. Moral and religious writer. Sister to I. T. Author with her sister Ann of Hymns for Infant Minds, etc. Pub. Ca. Har. Por. Rou.

Taylor, Jeremy. 1613–1667. Bp. Down and Connor. Theologian. His best works are Sermons, The Great Exemplar, and Holy Living and Holy Dying. His warmth of imagination and poetic fervor render his prose both musical and eloquent, while his long, involved sentences are managed with the rarest skill. See Heber's edition, 15 vols., 1820. See Life, by Wilmott, 1847. Pub. Ca. Clx. Dut. Lip.

Taylor, John. 1580–1654. Poet. Called the Water Poet. A voluminous writer but one of little interest to modern readers.

Taylor, Robert. fl. c. 1600. Dramatist. Author of The Hog hath Lost his Pearl, etc.

Taylor, Thomas. 1758–1835. Philosophical writer. Known as the Platonist.

Taylor, Tom. 1817–1880. Dramatist. Of his many excellent plays, The Ticket-of-Leave Man is the most popular. See Eclectic Mag. Oct. 1880.

Taylor, Wm. 1765–1836. His translations of Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing promoted greatly the study of German literature in England.

Temple, Frederick. 1821 – . Bp. Exeter. Theologian of the Broad Church school. Author Sermons in Rugby School, etc. Pub. Mac.

Temple, Sir Wm. 1628–1699. Philosophical essayist. The best edition of his works is 4 vols. 8vo, London, 1814.

Tennant, Wm. 1774–1848. Scotch poet. Author of the humorous, mock-heroic poem, Auster Fair, etc. See Ward's Eng. Poets, vol. 4.

Tennent, Sir James. See Emerson-Tennent.

Tennyson, Alfred. 1809 – . Poet Laureate. In Memoriam, Idyls of the King, The Princess, Maud, and Enoch Arden, with the dramas Harold and Queen Mary, comprise his longest poems. Among the finest of the shorter ones are Œnone, Ulysses, The Talking Oak, Lotus Eaters, Lady of Shalott, The Gardener's Daughter, The Revenge, and Locksley Hall, and of the brief songs, Tears, Idle Tears, and Late, so Late. The poetry of T., taken as a whole, represents the highest water mark of the non-dramatic poetry of the English-speaking world. In it is united a perfect mastery of words and metre with a widely cultured, thoughtful imagination. See Hutton's Essays, Stedman's Victorian Poets, Buchanan's Master Spirits, Tavish's Studies in Tennyson, Gatty's Study of In Memoriam, Genung's Study of In Memoriam, Atlantic Monthly, Sept. 1879. Pub. Har. Hou. Os.

Tennyson-Turner, Chas. 1808? -1881. Poet. Bro. to A. Tennyson. Style delicate and meditative. His Sonnets have been greatly praised. See Living Age, Dec. 31, 1881.

Tennyson, Frederick. 1806 – . Poet. Bro. to two preceding. Author Days and Hours, etc. Style artistic and elegant. The Blackbird is one of his best poems. See Stedman's Victorian Poets.

Thackeray-Ritchie, Mrs. Anne Isabella. 1842 – . Dau. to W. M. T. Novelist. Author of Miss Angel, Old Kensington, Village on the Cliff, etc. Style quiet, picturesque, and refined. Pub. Har.

Thackeray, Wm. Makepeace. 1811–1863. Novelist. Author of Vanity Fair, Newcomes, Pendennis, Virginians, Henry Esmond, Philip, Denis Duval, Hoggarty Diamond, Barry Lyndon, etc. Of these Esmond must rank highest as a piece of literary art. His style presents a union of the satirical and the humorous, the cynical and the kindly, which perplexes some readers, but is almost always an example of excellent English. The End of the Play and Bouillebaisse are his two best poems. See Hannay's Studies on Thackeray in Every Saturday, vol. 6, Old Series, Shepard's Pen Pictures of Modern Authors, Rideing's Stray Moments with Thackeray, and Taylor's Thackeray the Humorist. Pub. Har. Ho. Lip.

Theobald [thee-o-bawld, or tĭb´bald], Lewis. 1688–1744. Dramatist and Shakespearean editor. His edition of Shakespeare appeared in 1733, and is of great merit. T. was savagely and unjustly satirized by Pope in the Dunciad.

Thirlwall, Connop. 1797–1875. Bp. St. David's. Historian. Author of a valuable Hist. of Greece Pub. Har. Rob.

Thomas, Annie. See Cudlip, Mrs. Pender.