A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. John W. Cousin
His other principal works are Annals of the Reign of Elizabeth (printed 1615–1623), Monuments and Inscriptions in Westminster Abbey (1600), and a coll. of Ancient English Historians. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. The Camden Society for historical research, founded in 1838, is named after him.
CAMPBELL, GEORGE (1719–1796).—Theologian and philosopher, was a minister of the Church of Scotland at Aberdeen, and Principal and Prof. of Divinity in Marischal Coll. there. His Dissertation on Miracles (1763), in answer to Hume, was in its day considered a masterly argument, and was admitted to be so by Hume himself. His other principal works were The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1776), which is still a standard work, and A Translation of the Four Gospels with Notes.
CAMPBELL, JOHN, 1ST LORD CAMPBELL (1779–1861).—Lawyer and biographer, s. of the minister of Cupar-Fife, had a highly successful career as a lawyer, and held the offices successively of Solicitor and Attorney-General, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Chief Justice, and Lord Chancellor. His contributions to literature were Lives of the Chancellors and Lives of the Chief Justices. These works, though deficient in research and accuracy, often unfair in judgments of character, and loose and diffuse in style, are interesting and full of information.
CAMPBELL, JOHN FRANCIS (1822–1885).—Celtic scholar, ed. at Eton and Edin., was afterwards Sec. to the Lighthouse Commission. He was an authority on Celtic folk-lore, and pub. Popular Tales of the West Highlands (4 vols., 1860–62), and various Gaelic texts.
CAMPBELL, LEWIS (1830–1908).—Scholar, s. of a naval officer, ed. at Edin., Glasgow, and Oxf., took orders, and was Vicar of Milford, Hants, until 1863, when he was appointed Prof. of Greek at St. Andrews. He brought out ed. of Sophocles and other works on the Greek classics, and in conjunction with E. Abbott The Life and Letters of Prof. Jowett (q.v.), with whom he had collaborated in editing the Republic of Plato. He also ed. the poems of Thomas Campbell, to whom he was related.
CAMPBELL, THOMAS (1777–1844).—Poet, was the youngest s. of Alexander C., a merchant in Glasgow, where he was b. After leaving the Univ. of that city, where he gained some distinction by his translations from the Greek, and acting for some time as a tutor, he went to Edin. to study law, in which, however, he did not make much progress, but gained fame by producing in 1799, at the age of 21, his principal poem, The Pleasures of Hope. In spite of some of the faults of youth, the vigour of thought and description, and power of versification displayed in the poem, as well as its noble feeling for liberty, made it a marvellous performance for so young a man. His other larger poems are Gertrude of Wyoming (1809), O'Connor's Child, and Theodric (1824). It is not, however, for these that he will be chiefly remembered, but for his patriotic and war lyrics, Ye Mariners of England, Hohenlinden, and The Battle of the Baltic, which are imperishable. C. was also distinguished as a critic, and his Specimens of the British Poets (1819) is prefaced by an essay which is an important contribution to criticism. C. resided in London from 1803 until the year of his death, which took place at Boulogne, whither he had repaired in search of health. In addition to the works mentioned he wrote various compilations, including Annals of Great Britain, covering part of the reign of George III. In 1805 he received a Government pension, and he was Lord Rector of Glasgow Univ. 1826–29. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Life and Letters, Beattie (1840); Poems, Aldine ed. (1875, new, 1890).
CAMPION, THOMAS (c. 1575–1620).—Poet and musician, b. at Witham, Essex, and ed. at Camb., and on the Continent, studied law at Gray's Inn, but discarding it, practised medicine in London. He wrote masques, and many fine lyrics remarkable for their metrical beauty, of which "Cherry Ripe" and "Lesbia" are well known. He also wrote Epigrams in Latin, and Observations on the Arte of Poesie (1602). He composed the music for most of his songs.
CANNING, GEORGE (1770–1827).—Statesman, was b. in London, the s. of a lawyer. He lost his f. while still an infant, and was brought up by an uncle, who sent him to Eton and Oxf. In 1793 he entered Parliament as a supporter of Pitt, and soon became one of the most brilliant debaters in the House. After filling various offices, including that of Foreign Sec., with striking ability, he was in 1827 appointed Prime Minister, but d., deeply mourned by the nation, a few months later. He has a place in literature as the leading spirit in the Anti-Jacobin, a paper started during the French Revolution, in support of the English Constitution, and which, with Gifford for ed., had many of the most eminent men of the day as contributors. C. wrote the Needy Knife-grinder, The Loves of the Triangles, parts II. and III., a parody on E. Darwin's Loves of the Plants, The Progress of Man, etc. His coll. Poems were pub. 1823.
CAPGRAVE, JOHN (1393–1464).—Historian and theologian, b. at Lynn, became an Augustinian Friar, and at length Provincial of the Order in England. He studied probably at Camb., visited Rome, and was a client of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, whose life he wrote. He was the author of numerous theological and historical works, some of which are of considerable importance, including in Latin, Nova Legenda Angliæ, De Illustribus Henricis: lives of German Emperors, English Kings, etc., of the name of Henry, and in English, monotonous and dull, lives of St. Gilbert and St. Katharine, and a Chronicle reaching to 1417.
CAREW, RICHARD (1555–1620).—Translator and antiquary, a county gentleman of Cornwall, ed. at Oxf., made a translation of the first five cantos of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1594), more correct than that of Fairfax. Other works were A Survey of Cornwall (1602), and an Epistle concerning the Excellencies of the English Tongue (1605).
CAREW, THOMAS (1594?-1639).—Poet, s. of Sir Matthew C., was ed. at Oxf., entered the Middle Temple, and was one of the first and best of the courtly poets who wrote gracefully on light themes of Court life and gallantry. C.'s poems have often much beauty and even tenderness. His chief work is Coelum Britannicum. He lived the easy and careless life of a courtier of the day, but is said to have d. in a repentant frame. His poems, consisting chiefly of short lyrics, were coll. and pub. after his death. One of the most beautiful and best known of his songs is that beginning "He that loves a rosy cheek."
CAREY, HENRY (d. 1743).—Dramatist and song-writer, was believed to be an illegitimate s. of George Savile, Marquis of Halifax. He wrote innumerable burlesques, farces, songs, etc., often with his own music, including Chrononhotonthologos (1734), a burlesque on the mouthing plays of the day, and The Dragon of Wantley (1744?). His poem, Namby Pamby, in ridicule of Ambrose Phillips (q.v.), added a word to the language, and his Sally in our Alley is one of our best-known songs. God Save the King was also claimed for him, but apparently without reason.
CARLETON, WILLIAM (1794–1869).—Novelist, s. of a poor Irish cottar, b. and brought up among the Irish peasantry, acquired an insight into their ideas and feelings which has never been equalled. His finest work is in his short stories, collected under the title of Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, of which two series were pub. in 1830 and 1832 respectively. He also wrote several longer novels, of which the best is Fardorougha the Miser (1837), a work of great power. Others are The Misfortunes of Barny Branagan (1841), Valentine M'Clutchy (1845), Rody the Rover (1847), The Squanders of Castle Squander (1854), and The Evil Eye. C. received a pension of £200 from Government.
CARLYLE, ALEXANDER (1722–1805).—Autobiographer, s. of the Minister of Cummertrees, Dumfriesshire, was ed. at Edin. and Leyden, and entering the Church became Minister of Inveresk, and was associated with Principal Robertson as an ecclesiastical leader. He was a man of great ability, shrewdness, and culture, and the friend of most of the eminent literary men in Scotland of his day. He left an autobiography in MS., which was ed. by Hill Burton, and pub. in 1860, and which is one of the most interesting contemporary