G. Saintsbury's Essays in English Literature, L. Stephen's Hours in a Library, A. C. Swinburne's Miscellanies, and G. E. Woodberry's Makers of Literature. THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, October 25, 1800; was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; elected a Fellow of Trinity College, 1824; became a lawyer, 1826; made his reputation as an essayist with his article on Milton in the Edinburgh Review, 1825; henceforth its chief contributor; Member of Parliament, 1830-31, and thereafter in various government offices; in India on the Supreme Council, 1834-38; on returning to England devoted himself to both politics and literature; Member of Parliament, 1839-47; proposed and carried the Copyright Bill, 1842; was created Baron Macaulay of Rothley, 1857; died December 28, 1859, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His works include: Lays of Ancient Rome, 1842; Essays from the Edinburgh Review, 1843; History of England from the Accession of James II, 1848-55. Macaulay's works were collected in eight volumes in 1866, and have often been reprinted, but there is still no modern critical edition. His Life and Letters, by his nephew Sir G. O. Trevelyan, is the standard biography; there is also a brief life by J. C. Morison (Men of Letters). For criticism, see essays in the Works of Walter Bagehot, John Morley's Critical Miscellanies, Leslie Stephen's Hours in a Library, H. D. Sedgwick's Essays on Great Writers, and G. Saintsbury's Corrected Impressions. JOHN WILSON ("Christopher North") was born at Paisley, Scotland, May 18, 1785; was educated at Glasgow University and Magdalen College, Oxford (M.A., 1810); became a lawyer, 1815; joined the staff of Blackwood's Magazine, 1817, and afterward became its chief contributor, often involving the publisher in lawsuits and other difficulties on account of his violent personalities; Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, 1820–51; died April 3, 1854. His works consist wholly of his periodical contributions, the best known being the Noctes Ambrosianæ series. Wilson's Works were edited by Ferrier, 1855-58; the Noctes Ambrosiana was reissued in 1892 in four volumes. The standard biography is Christopher North: a Memoir of John Wilson, by his daughter, Mrs. M. W. Gordon; see also Mrs. M. O. W. Oliphant's Annals of a Publishing House (i.e., the house of Blackwood), 1897. For criticism, see an essay by Saintsbury in Essays in English Literature. |