A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. John W. Cousin
gentleman at Stone in Staffordshire, in the church of which he was buried in 1627. He was for long neglected; but his poetry is clear, sweet, and musical. His gift indeed is sufficiently attested by work of his having passed for that of Shakespeare.
BARROW, ISAAC (1630–1677).—Divine, scholar, and mathematician, s. of a linen-draper in London, was ed. at Charterhouse, Felsted, Peterhouse, and Trinity Coll., Cambridge, where his uncle and namesake, afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, was a Fellow. As a boy he was turbulent and pugnacious, but soon took to hard study, distinguishing himself in classics and mathematics. Intending originally to enter the Church, he was led to think of the medical profession, and engaged in scientific studies, but soon reverted to his first views. In 1655 he became candidate for the Greek Professorship at Cambridge, but was unsuccessful, and travelled for four years on the Continent as far as Turkey. On his return he took orders, and, in 1660, obtained the Greek Chair at Cambridge, and in 1662 the Gresham Professorship of Geometry, which he resigned on being appointed first Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the same university. During his tenure of this chair he pub. two mathematical works of great learning and elegance, the first on Geometry and the second on Optics. In 1669 he resigned in favour of his pupil, Isaac Newton, who was long considered his only superior among English mathematicians. About this time also he composed his Expositions of the Creed, The Lord's Prayer, Decalogue, and Sacraments. He was made a D.D. by royal mandate in 1670, and two years later Master of Trinity Coll., where he founded the library. Besides the works above mentioned, he wrote other important treatises on mathematics, but in literature his place is chiefly supported by his sermons, which are masterpieces of argumentative eloquence, while his treatise on the Pope's Supremacy is regarded as one of the most perfect specimens of controversy in existence. B.'s character as a man was in all respects worthy of his great talents, though he had a strong vein of eccentricity. He d. unmarried in London at the early age of 47. B.'s theological works were edited by Napier, with memoir by Whewell (9 vols., 1839).
BARTON, BERNARD (1784–1849).—Poet, b. of Quaker parentage, passed nearly all his life at Woodbridge, for the most part as a clerk in a bank. He became the friend of Southey, Lamb, and other men of letters. His chief works are The Convict's Appeal (1818), a protest against the severity of the criminal code of the time, and Household Verses (1845), which came under the notice of Sir R. Peel, through whom he obtained a pension of £100. With the exception of some hymns his works are now nearly forgotten, but he was a most amiable and estimable man—simple and sympathetic. His dau. Lucy, who married Edward Fitzgerald, the translator of Omar Khayyam, pub. a selection of his poems and letters, to which her husband prefixed a biographical introduction.
BAYNES, THOMAS SPENCER (1823–1887).—Philosopher, s. of a Baptist minister, b. at Wellington, Somerset, intended to study for Baptist ministry, and was at a theological seminary at Bath with that view, but being strongly attracted to philosophical studies, left it and went to Edin., when he became the favourite pupil of Sir W. Hamilton (q.v.), of whose philosophical system he continued an adherent. After working as ed. of a newspaper in Edinburgh, and after an interval of rest rendered necessary by a breakdown in health, he resumed journalistic work in 1858 as assistant ed. of the Daily News. In 1864 he was appointed Prof. of Logic and English Literature at St. Andrews, in which capacity his mind was drawn to the study of Shakespeare, and he contributed to the Edinburgh Review and Fraser's Magazine valuable papers (chiefly relating to his vocabulary and the extent of his learning) afterwards collected as Shakespeare Studies. In 1873 he was appointed to superintend the ninth ed. of the Encyclopædia Britannica, in which, after 1880, he was assisted by W. Robertson Smith (q.v.).
BAXTER, RICHARD (1615–1691).—Divine scholar and controversialist, was b. of poor, but genteel, parents at Rowton in Shropshire, and although he became so eminent for learning, was not ed. at any university. Circumstances led to his turning his attention to a career at court under the patronage of the Master of the Revels, but a short experience of this sufficed; and giving himself to the Christian ministry, he was ordained in 1638, and, after being master of a school at Dudley, exercised his ministry successively at Bridgnorth and Kidderminster. His learning and capacity for business made him the leader of the Presbyterian party. He was one of the greatest preachers of his own day, and consistently endeavoured to exert a moderating influence, with the result that he became the object of attack by extremists of opposing views. Though siding with the Parliament in the Civil War, he opposed the execution of the King and the assumption of supreme power by Cromwell. During the war he served with the army as a chaplain. On the return of Charles II., B. was made one of his chaplains, and was offered the see of Hereford, which he declined, and his subsequent request to be allowed to return to Kidderminster was refused. He subsequently suffered persecution at the hands of Judge Jeffreys. After the Revolution he had a few years of peace and quiet. His literary activity was marvellous in spite of ill-health and outward disturbance. He is said to have written 168 works, the best known of which are The Saints' Everlasting Rest (1650), and Call to the Unconverted (1657), manuals of practical religion; and, among his controversial writings, Methodus Theologiæ (1681), and Catholic Theology (1675), in which his theological standpoint—a compromise between Arminianism and Calvinism—is set forth. Dr. Isaac Barrow says that "his practical writings were never mended, and his controversial seldom confuted," and Dean Stanley calls him "the chief English Protestant schoolman." B. left an autobiography, Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, which was a favourite book with both Johnson and Coleridge. Other works by him are The Life of Faith (1670), Reasons of the Christian Religion (1672), and Christian Directory (1675). Practical Works in 23 vols. (1830) edited with memoirs by W. Orme, also Lives by A.B. Grosart (1879), Dean Boyle (1883), and J.H. Davies (1886).
BAYLY, ADA ELLEN (d. 1903).—Novelist, wrote several stories under the name of "Edna Lyall," which were very popular. They include Autobiography of a Slander, Donovan, Hope the Hermit, In the Golden Days, To Right the Wrong, We Two, and Won by Waiting.
BAYLY, THOMAS HAYNES (1797–1839).—Miscellaneous writer, s. of a wealthy lawyer in Bath. Originally intended for the law, he changed his mind and thought of entering the Church, but abandoned this idea also, and gave himself to writing for the stage and the periodical press. He is chiefly known for his songs, of which he wrote hundreds, which, set to the music of Bishop and other eminent composers, found universal acceptance. Some were set to his own music. He also wrote several novels and a number of farces, etc. Although making a large income from his writings, in addition to that of his wife, he fell into embarrassed circumstances. Among the best known of his songs are I'd be a Butterfly, Oh, no, we never mention Her, and She wore a Wreath of Roses. He may be regarded as, excepting Moore, the most popular song writer of his time.
BEACONSFIELD, BENJAMIN DISRAELI, 1ST EARL of (1804–1881).—Statesman and novelist, was the s. of Isaac D. (q.v.). Belonging to a Jewish family settled first in Spain, whence in the 15th century they migrated to Italy, he was b. in London in 1804 and privately ed. His f. destined him for the law, and he was articled to a solicitor. The law was, however, uncongenial, and he had already begun to write. After some journalistic work, he brought himself into general notice by the publication, in 1827, of his first novel, Vivian Grey, which created a sensation by its brilliance, audacity, and slightly veiled portraits of living celebrities. After producing a Vindication of the British Constitution, and some political pamphlets, he followed up his first success by a series of novels, The Young Duke (1831), Contarini Fleming (1832), Alroy (1833), Venetia and Henrietta Temple (1837). During the same period he had also written The Revolutionary Epic and three burlesques, Ixion, The Infernal Marriage, and Popanilla. These works had gained for him a brilliant, if not universally admitted, place in literature. But his ambition was by no means confined to literary achievement; he aimed also at fame as a man of action. After various unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament, in which he stood, first as a Radical, and then as a Tory, he was in 1837 returned for Maidstone, having for his colleague Mr.