A Brief Handbook of English Authors. Oscar Fay Adams
Wm. 1590–1645. Poet. Wrote Britannia's Pastorals, Shepherd's Pipe, etc. His style is easy and harmonious, and some of his lyrics are yet read.
Browning, Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett. 1809–1861. Poet. By many critics given the highest place among poets of her sex, but her verse, in the main, appeals to a limited class of readers. It has a masculine strength, a passionate vehemence of expression, and it is often pathetic and tender, but its frequent obscurity is a grave defect. Aurora Leigh, Casa Guidi Windows, and Sonnets from the Portuguese, are among her chief works. See Letters of, edited by R. H. Hone, 1877, Contemporary Rev. 1873, and Stedman's Victorian Poets. Pub. Mil.
Browning, Robert. 1812——. Poet. Husband to E. B. B. Author of a long series of poems, some of them obscure and enigmatical to the last degree, but all bearing the marks of great genius. Paracelsus, Sordello, Pippa Passes, The King and The Book, Fifine at the Fair, and Jocoseria are some of them. His circle of sincere admirers is small, but shorter poems of his, like Hervé Riel, and the Pied Piper of Hamelin, are widely known and read. See Lit. World, March 11, 1882, Century Mag. December, 1881, and Stedman's Victorian Poets. Pub. Hou.
Brunton, Mrs. Mary Balfour. 1778–1818. Scotch novelist. Author Self Control and Discipline. Pub. Har.
Bryant, Jacob. 1715–1804. Classical and mythological writer.
Bryce, James. 1810——. Historian. Author Native Education in India, and The Holy Roman Empire. Pub. Har. Mac.
Brydges, Sir Sam'l Egerton. 1762–1837. A prolific writer in verse and prose. Style often fantastic and eccentric.
Buchanan, George. 1506–1582. Scotch poet and historian. Wrote a Latin version of the Psalms, and a Latin Hist. of Scotland. See Hallam's Lit. of Europe.
Buchanan, Robert. 1841——. Scotch poet. Author Idyls and Legends, London Poems, Balder the Beautiful, etc. A writer of some power, but one whose verse is marred by frequent affectations. See Stedman's Victorian Poets, and Contemporary Rev. November, 1873. Pub. Har. Hou. Rou.
Buckhurst, Lord. See Sackville, Thos.
Buckingham, Duke of. See Villiers, George.
Buckinghamshire, Duke of. See Sheffield, John.
Buckland, Francis Trevelyan. 1826–1880. Naturalist. Son to W. B. Author Curiosities of Nat. Hist., Familiar Hist. British Fishes, etc.
Buckland, Wm. 1784–1856. Geological writer of note.
Buckle, Henry Thos. 1822–1862. Historian. His great work, The Hist. of Civilization, was left unfinished. His style is easy and flowing, but his inferences and conclusions are frequently controverted. See Atlantic Monthly, Jan. and April, 1863. Pub. Apl.
Budgell, Eustace. 1685–1736. Essayist. Author of all the papers in the Spectator signed X.
Bull, George. 1634–1710. Bp. St. David's. Theologian. An opponent of Calvinism, against which his Latin treatise, Harmonia Apostolica, is aimed.
Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Edward Geo. 1805–1873. Novelist and Poet. Several of his 25 novels, like The Caxtons, My Novel, Harold, and Kenelm Chillingly, are masterpieces of their kind. Others as well known are Pelham, Zanoni, Last Days of Pompeii, Rienzi, etc. Richelieu, Money, and Lady of Lyons are his most popular dramas. King Arthur and The New Timon are two of his longer poems. See Memoir, by Lord Lytton, Quarterly Rev., Jan. 1865, Blackwood's Mag. Mar., 1873, and Tennyson's poem The New Timon. Pub. Har.
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert. "Owen Meredith." 1831——. Poet. Son to preceding. Author of Lucile, Fables in Verse, The Ring of Amasis, etc. His verse has melody and strength, but Lucile, his chief poem, a novel in verse, is asserted to be a plagiarism. See Stedman's Victorian Poets.
Bunyan, John. 1628–1688. Allegorist. Author Pilgrim's Progress, Holy War, etc. The first named is the most famous allegory in the world. The product of a strong, vivid imagination, it holds the attention of cultured and uncultured minds alike. See Biographies of, by Southey, and Macaulay, and Bunyan, by J. A. Froude in Eng. Men of Letters.
Burke, Edmund. 1730–1797. Orator and statesman. As a political writer he has few equals. Among his best efforts are Letters on a Regicide Peace, Letters to a Noble Lord, and Orations on the Impeachment of Warren Hastings. Style polished and cultured. See Morley's Life of, 1867. See select works edited by E. J. Payne, 1874.
Burnand, Francis Cowley. 1837——. Author Happy Thoughts, The New History of Sanford and Merton, etc. Pub. Rob.
Burnet, Gilbert. 1643–1715. Bp. Salisbury. Historian. Author Hist. Reformation, Hist. My Own Times, etc. A vivacious, diffuse narrator. See Macaulay's Hist. of England. Pub. Dut. Mac.
Burnet, James. Lord Monboddo. 1714–1799. An eccentric writer, noted for his theory that mankind once had tails, which the habit of sitting on had worn away.
Burnet, Thos. 1635–1715. Author Telluris Sacra Theoria, a fantastic system of Geology, written in an eloquent and majestic style.
Burney, Charles. 1726–1814. Author Gen. Hist. of Music, Life of Metastasio, etc. See Life, by his daughter, Madame D'Arblay.
Burney, Frances. See D'Arblay, Madame.
Burns, Robert. 1759–1796. Scotch poet. A singer of love songs. His verse shows a gentle, tender spirit, and a sympathy for all created things, new to the poetry of his day. Tam O'Shanter, Twa Dogs, and The Jolly Beggars, show the humorous side of his nature. The Cotter's Saturday Night, Auld Lang Syne, A Man's a Man for a' That, are universally known, and some of his lyrics will last as long as the language. See Carlyle's Misc. Essays; Craik's Eng. Lit. vol. 2; also Burns, by Shairp, in Eng. Men of Letters. Pub. Apl. Har. Hou. Por.
Burton, John Hill. 1809–1881. Scotch historian. Author Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Hist. Reign of Q. Anne, Hist. Scotland, etc.
Burton, Robert. 1576–1640. Author of Anatomy of Melancholy. Style fantastic, original, and diffuse. Pub. Apl. Clx. Dut.
Butler, Alban. 1710–1773. Author Lives of the Fathers, Saints, etc., Letters on the Hist. of the Popes, etc. See edition of the Lives, 1812, with Life of A. Butler by Chas. Butler.
Butler, Charles. 1750–1832. Neph. to A. B. Author Horæ Biblicæ, continuation of the Lives of the Saints, etc. See Alibone's Dict.
Butler, Joseph. 1692–1752. Bp. Bristol. Theologian. His great work, Analogy between Natural and Revealed Religion, is much studied and admired. See edition of his works, 1867. Pub. Har.
Butler, Samuel. 1612–1680. Satirical poet. His Hudibras, written in ridicule of the Puritans, is witty and spirited, but too long for the taste of modern readers. See edition of his works by Gilfillan, 1854. Pub. Apl.
Butler, Wm. Archer. 1814–1848. Author Lect. on Hist. of Ancient Philosophy, etc. See Woodward's Life of. Pub. Ca. Mac.
Byrd, Wm. 1540–1623. Poet. Author of the famous lines beginning, "My mind to me a kingdom is."
Byrom, John. 1691–1763. Pastoral poet.
Byron, Henry James. 1835——. Dramatist. Author Babes in the Wood, Our Boys, Not such a Fool as he Looks, Good News, etc.
Byron, Lord. See Gordon, George.
Cædmon [kād´mo̯n]. ——c. 680. Anglo-Saxon