A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. John W. Cousin
and devoted his whole energies to poetry. His first poem, Festus (1839), is, for the daring of its theme and the imaginative power and moral altitude which it displays, one of the most notable of the century; as the work of one little past boyhood it is a prodigy of intellectual precocity. Along with its great qualities it has many faults in execution, and its final place in literature remains to be determined. It was pub. anonymously, and had great success, but has fallen into unmerited, but perhaps temporary, neglect. Among its greatest admirers was Tennyson. The subsequent poems of B., The Angel World (1850), The Mystic (1855), The Age (1858), and The Universal Hymn (1867), were failures, and the author adopted the unfortunate expedient of endeavouring to buoy them up by incorporating large extracts in the later editions of Festus, with the effect only of sinking the latter, which ultimately extended to over 40,000 lines. B. was a man of strikingly handsome appearance, and gentle and amiable character.
BAILLIE, JOANNA (1762–1851).—Dramatist and poetess, dau. of the minister of Bothwell, afterwards Professor of Divinity at Glasgow. Her mother was a sister of the great anatomists, William and John Hunter, and her brother was the celebrated physician, Matthew B., of London. She received a thorough education at Glasgow, and at an early age went to London, where the remainder of her long, happy, and honoured, though uneventful, life was passed. In 1798, when she was 36, the first vol. of her Plays on the Passions appeared, and was received with much favour, other two vols. followed in 1802 and 1812, and she also produced Miscellaneous Plays in 1804, and 3 vols. of Dramatic Poetry in 1836. In all her works there are many passages of true and impressive poetry, but the idea underlying her Plays on the Passions, that, namely, of exhibiting the principal character as acting under the exclusive influence of one passion, is artificial and untrue to nature.
BAILLIE, LADY GRIZEL (1665–1746).—Poetess, dau. of Sir Patrick Home or Hume, afterwards Earl of Marchmont, was married to George Baillie of Jerviswoode. In her childhood she showed remarkable courage and address in the services she rendered to her father and his friend, Robert Baillie of Jerviswoode, the eminent Scottish patriot, when under persecution. She left many pieces both prose and verse in MS., some of which were pub. The best known is the beautiful song, Were na my heart licht I wad die.
BAILLIE, ROBERT (1599–1662).—Historical writer, s. of B. of Jerviston, ed. at Glasgow, he entered the Church of Scotland and became minister of Kilwinning in Ayrshire. His abilities soon made him a leading man. He was a member of the historic Assembly of 1638, when Presbyterianism was re-established in Scotland, and also of the Westminster Assembly, 1643. In 1651 he was made Professor of Divinity in Glasgow, and 10 years later Principal. His Letters and Journals, edited for the Bannatyne Club by D. Laing (q.v.), are of the greatest value for the interesting light they throw on a period of great importance in Scottish history. He was one of the wisest and most temperate churchmen of his time.
BAIN, ALEXANDER (1818–1903).—Philosopher, b. at Aberdeen, and graduated at Marischal Coll. there, became in 1860 Professor of Logic in his university, and wrote a number of works on philosophy and psychology, including The Senses and the Intellect (1855), The Emotions and the Will, Mental and Moral Science (1868), Logic (1870), and Education as a Science (1879). In 1881 he was elected Lord Rector of Aberdeen University.
BAKER, SIR RICHARD (1568–1645).—Historian and religious writer, studied law, was knighted in 1603, and was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire 1620. B. was the author of The Chronicle of the Kings of England (1643), which was for long held as a great authority among the country gentlemen. It has, however, many errors. B. fell on evil days, was thrown into the Fleet for debt incurred by others, for which he had made himself responsible, and d. there. It was during his durance that the Chronicle and some religious treatises were composed. The Chronicle was continued by Edward Phillips, Milton's nephew, who became a strong Royalist.
BAKER, SIR SAMUEL WHITE (1821–1893).—Traveller, b. in London, and after being a planter in Ceylon, and superintending the construction of a railway between the Danube and the Black Sea, went with his wife, a Hungarian lady, in search of the sources of the Nile, and discovered the great lake, Albert Nyanza. B. was knighted in 1866, and was for 4 years Governor-General of the Equatorial Nile Basin. His books, which are all on travel and sport, are well written and include Albert Nyanza (1866), Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia (1867).
BALE, JOHN (1495–1563).—Historian and controversialist, b. at Cove, Suffolk, and ed. as a Carmelite friar, but becoming a Protestant, engaged in violent controversy with the Roman Catholics. After undergoing persecution and flying to Flanders, he was brought back by Edward VI. and made Bishop of Ossory. On the death of Edward he was again persecuted, and had to escape from Ireland to Holland, but returned on the accession of Elizabeth, who made him a Prebendary of Canterbury. His chief work is a Latin Account of the Lives of Eminent Writers of Great Britain. Besides this he wrote some dramas on scriptural subjects, and an account of the trial and death of Sir John Oldcastle. He wrote in all 22 plays, of which only 5 have come down, the names of certain of which give some idea of their nature, e.g., The Three Leaves of Nature, Moses and Christ, and The Temptacyon of Our Lord.
BALLANTINE, JAMES (1808–1877).—Artist and author, b. in Edinburgh, began life as a house painter. He studied art, and became one of the first to revive the art of glass-painting, on which subject he wrote a treatise. He was the author of The Gaberlunzie's Wallet (1843), Miller of Deanhaugh (1845), Poems (1856), 100 Songs with Music (1865), and a Life of David Roberts, R.A. (1866).
BALLANTYNE, ROBERT MICHAEL (1825–1894).—Writer of tales for boys, b. in Edinburgh, was a connection of the well-known printers. As a youth he spent some years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Co., and was then a member of Constable's printing firm. In 1856 he took to literature as a profession, and pub. about 80 tales, which, abounding in interesting adventure and information, and characterised by a thoroughly healthy tone, had great popularity. Among them are The Young Fur Traders (1856), The Coral Island, Fighting the Flames, Martin Rattler, The World of Ice, The Dog Crusoe, Erling the Bold, and Black Ivory. B. was also an accomplished water-colour artist, and in all respects lived up to the ideals he sought to instil into his readers. He d. at Rome.
BANCROFT, GEORGE (1800–1891).—American historian, b. at Worcester, Massachusetts, and after grad. at Harvard, studied in Germany, where he became acquainted and corresponded with Goethe, Hegel, and other leaders of German thought. Returning to America he began his History of the United States (1834–74). The work covers the period from the discovery of the Continent to the conclusion of the Revolutionary War in 1782. His other great work is The History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States (1882). B. filled various political offices, and was in 1846 Minister Plenipotentiary to England, and in 1867 Minister to Prussia. His writing is clear and vigorous, and his facts generally accurate, but he is a good deal of a partisan.
BANIM, JOHN (1798–1842).—Novelist, began life as a miniature painter, but was led by the success of his first book, Tales of the O'Hara Family, to devote himself to literature. The object which he set before himself was to become to Ireland what Scott has been to Scotland, and the influence of his model is distinctly traceable in his writings. His strength lies in the delineation of the characters of the Irish lower classes, and the impulses, often misguided and criminal, by which they are influenced, and in this he has shown remarkable power. The first series of the O'Hara Tales appeared in 1825, the second in 1826. Other works are The Croppy (1828), The Denounced (1830), The Smuggler (1831), The Mayor of Windgap, and his last, Father Connell. Most of these deal with the darker and more painful phases of life, but the feeling shown in the last-named is brighter and tenderer. B. latterly suffered from illness and consequent poverty, which were alleviated by a pension from Government. He also wrote some poems, including The Celt's Paradise, and one or two plays. In the O'Hara Tales,