A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 6

BRONTe, CHARLOTTE (1816-1855).--Novelist, _dau._ of the Rev. Patrick B., a clergyman of Irish descent and of eccentric habits who embittered the lives of his children by his peculiar theories of education. Brought up in a small parsonage close to the graveyard of a bleak, windswept village on the Yorks.h.i.+re moors, and left motherless in early childhood, she was "the motherly friend and guardian of her younger sisters," of whom two, Emily and Anne, shared, but in a less degree, her talents. After various efforts as schoolmistresses and governesses, the sisters took to literature and _pub._ a vol. of poems under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, which, however, fell flat. Charlotte then wrote her first novel, _The Professor_, which did not appear until after her death, and began _Jane Eyre_, which, appearing in 1847, took the public by storm. It was followed by _s.h.i.+rley_ in 1849, and _Villette_ in 1852. In 1854 she was married to her father's curate, the Rev. A. Nicholls, but after a short though happy married life she _d._ in 1855. EMILY B.

(1818-1848).--a woman of remarkable force of character, reserved and taciturn, _pub._ in 1848 _Wuthering Heights_, a powerful, but somewhat unpleasing, novel, and some striking poems; and ANNE (1820-1849), was the auth.o.r.ess of _The Tenant of Wildfell Hall_ and _Agnes Grey_ (1848). She had not the intellectual force of her sisters. The novels of Charlotte especially created a strong impression from the first, and the _pub._ of _Jane Eyre_ gave rise to much curiosity and speculation as to its authors.h.i.+p. Their strength and originality have retained for them a high place in English fiction which is likely to prove permanent. There is a biography of Charlotte by Mrs. Gaskell (_q.v._).

Complete ed. of the works of Charlotte B. have been issued by Mrs.

Humphrey Ward (7 vols. 1899-1900), and by Sir W.R. Nicoll, LL.D. (1903).

_Note on Charlotte Bronte_, A.C. Swinburne, 1877. A short _Life_ in Great Writers Series by A. Birrell.

BROOKE, FULKE GREVILLE, LORD (1554-1628).--Poet and statesman, _b._ at Beauchamp Court, Warwicks.h.i.+re, and _ed._ at Shrewsbury and Camb., was a Privy Councillor, and held various important offices of state, including that of Chancellor of the Exchequer (1614-21). In the latter year he was created a peer. He was murdered by a servant. His works, which were chiefly _pub._ after his death, consist of tragedies and sonnets, and poems on political and moral subjects, including _Caelica_ (109 sonnets).

He also wrote a Life of Sir P. Sidney, whose friend he was. His style is grave and sententious. He is buried in the church at Warwick, and the inscription on his tomb, written by himself, is a compendious biography.

It runs: "Fulke Greville, servant to Queen Elizabeth, counsellor to King James, friend to Sir Philip Sidney."

BROOKE, HENRY (1703-1783).--Novelist and dramatist, _b._ in Ireland, _s._ of a clergyman, studied law, but embraced literature as a career. He wrote poems, dramas, and novels; but the only work which has kept its place is _The Fool of Quality_ (5 vols. 1766-70), which was a favourite book with John Wesley. His now forgotten poem, _Universal Beauty_ (1735) was admired by Pope. His _dau._, CHARLOTTE, the only survivor of 22 children, tended him to his last days of decay, and was herself a writer, her princ.i.p.al work being _Reliques of Irish Poetry_ (1789). She _d._ 1793.

BROOKS, CHARLES WILLIAM s.h.i.+RLEY (1816-1874).--Journalist and novelist, _b._ in London, began life in a solicitor's office. He early, however, took to literature, and contributed to various periodicals. In 1851 he joined the staff of _Punch_, to which he contributed "Essence of Parliament," and on the death of Mark Lemon (_q.v._) he succeeded him as editor. He _pub._ a few novels, including _Aspen Court_ and _The Gordian Knot_.

BROOKS, MARIA (GOWAN) (1795?-1845).--American poetess, was early _m._ to a merchant, who lost his money, and left her a young widow, after which she wrote highly romantic and impa.s.sioned poetry. Her chief work, _Zophiel or The Bride of Swen_, was finished under the auspices of Southey, who called her "Maria del Occidente," and regarded her as "the most impa.s.sioned and imaginative of all poetesses," but time has not sustained this verdict.

BROOME, WILLIAM (1689-1745).--Poet and translator, _b._ at Haslington, Ches.h.i.+re, and _ed._ at Eton and Camb., entered the Church, and held various inc.u.mbencies. He translated the _Iliad_ in prose along with others, and was employed by Pope, whom he excelled as a Greek scholar, in translating the _Odyssey_, of which he Englished the 8th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, and 23rd books, catching the style of his master so exactly as almost to defy identification, and thus annoying him so as to earn a niche in _The Dunciad_. He _pub._ verses of his own of very moderate poetical merit.

BROUGHAM AND VAUX, HENRY, 1ST LORD (1778-1868).--_S._ of Henry B. of Brougham Hall, Westmoreland, _b._ in Edin., and _ed._ at the High School and Univ. there, where he distinguished himself chiefly in mathematics.

He chose a legal career, and was called to the Scottish Bar in 1800, and to the English Bar in 1808. His chief forensic display was his defence of Queen Caroline in 1822. In 1810 he entered Parliament, where his versatility and eloquence soon raised him to a foremost place. The questions on which he chiefly exerted himself were the slave trade, commercial, legal, and parliamentary reform, and education, and in all of these he rendered signal service. When, in 1830, the Whigs, with whom he had always acted, attained power, B. was made Lord Chancellor; but his arrogance, selfishness, and indiscretion rendered him a dangerous and unreliable colleague, and he was never again admitted to office. He turned fiercely against his former political a.s.sociates, but continued his efforts on behalf of reform in various directions. He was one of the founders of London Univ. and of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In literature he has a place as one of the original projectors of and most voluminous contributors to _The Edinburgh Review_, and as the author of a prodigious number of treatises on science, philosophy, and history, including _Dialogues on Instinct_, Lives of Statesmen, Philosophers, and Men of Science of the Time of George III., Natural Theology, etc., his last work being an autobiography written in his 84th year, and _pub._ 1871. His writings were far too numerous and far too diverse in subject to be of permanent value. His fame now rests chiefly on his services to political and specially to legal reform, and to the diffusion of useful literature, which are his lasting monuments.

BROUGHTON, JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE, 1ST LORD (1786-1869).--Eldest _s._ of Sir Benjamin H., _b._ at Redland near Bristol, _ed._ at Westminster School and at Camb., where he became intimate with Byron, and accompanied him in his journeys in the Peninsula, Greece, and Turkey, and acted as his "best man." In 1816 he was with him after his separation from his wife, and contributed notes to the fourth canto of _Childe Harold_, which was dedicated to him. On his return he threw himself into politics with great energy as an advanced Radical, and wrote various pamphlets, for one of which he was in 1819 imprisoned in Newgate. In the following year he entered Parliament, sitting for Westminster. After the attainment of power by the Whigs he held various offices, including those of Sec. at War, Chief Sec. for Ireland, and Pres. of the Board of Control. He _pub._ _Journey through Albania_ (1813), _Historical Ill.u.s.trations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold_ (1818), and _Recollections of a Long Life_ (1865), for private circulation, and he left in MS. _Diaries, Correspondence, and Memoranda, etc., not to be opened till 1900_, extracts from which were _pub._ by his _dau._, Lady Dorchester, also under the t.i.tle of _Recollections from a Long Life_ (1909).

BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-1810).--Novelist, _b._ in Philadelphia, belonged to a Quaker family, became a lawyer, but exchanged law for literature, and has the distinction of being the first American to adopt a purely literary career. He wrote several novels, including _Wieland_ (1798), _Ormond_ (1799), _Arthur Mervyn_ (1800-1), and his last, _Jane Talbot_ (1801). With a good deal of crudeness and sentimentality he has occasional power, but dwells too much on the horrible and repulsive, the result, perhaps, of the morbidity produced by the ill-health from which he all his life suffered.

BROWN, GEORGE DOUGLAS (1869-1902).--Novelist, wrote _The House with the Green Shutters_, which gives a strongly outlined picture of the harder and less genial aspects of Scottish life and character. It may be regarded as a useful supplement and corrective to the more roseate presentations of the kail-yard school of J.M. Barrie and "Ian Maclaren."

It made a considerable impression. The author _d._ almost immediately after its publication. There is an ed. with a memoir by Mr. Andrew Lang.

BROWN, DR. JOHN (1810-1882).--Physician and essayist, _s._ of John B., D.D., a distinguished dissenting minister in Edin. _B._ at Biggar, he was _ed._ at the High School and Univ. of Edin., where practically the whole of his uneventful life was spent as a physician, and where he was revered and beloved in no common degree, and he was the cherished friend of many of his most distinguished contemporaries, including Thackeray. He wrote comparatively little; but all he did write is good, some of it perfect, of its kind. His essays, among which are _Rab and his Friends_, _Pet Marjorie_, _Our Dogs_, _Minchmoor_, and _The Enterkine_, were collected along with papers on art, and medical history and biography, in _Horae Subsecivae_ (Leisure Hours), 3 vols. In the mingling of tenderness and delicate humour he has much in common with Lamb; in his insight into dog-nature he is unique. His later years were clouded with occasional fits of depression.

BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820).--Metaphysician, _s._ of the Rev. Samuel B., minister of Kirkinabreck, practised for some time as a physician in Edin., but his tastes and talents lying in the direction of literature and philosophy, he devoted himself to the cultivation of these, and succeeded Dugald Stewart as Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Univ. of Edin., in which position he had remarkable popularity as a lecturer. His main contribution to literature is his _Lectures_, _pub._ after his death. B. was a man of attractive character and considerable talents, but as a philosopher he is now largely superseded. He also wrote poetry, which, though graceful, lacked force, and is now forgotten.

BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897).--Poet, _b._ at Douglas, Isle of Man, _s._ of a clergyman, and _ed._ there and at Oxf., entered the Church and held various scholastic appointments, including a masters.h.i.+p at Clifton.

His later years were spent in his native island. He had a true lyrical gift, and much of his poetry was written in Manx dialect. His poems include _Fo'c'sle Yarns_ (1881), _The Doctor_ (1887), _The Manx Witch_ (1889), and _Old John_ (1893). He was also an admirable letter-writer, and 2 vols. of his letters have been _pub._

BROWN, TOM (1663-1704).--Satirist, was _ed._ at Oxf., and there composed the famous epigram on Dr. Fell. He was for a few years schoolmaster at Kingston-on-Thames, but owing to his irregularities lost the appointment, and went to London, where he wrote satires, epigrams, and miscellaneous pieces, generally coa.r.s.e and scurrilous.

BROWNE, CHARLES FARRAR (1834-1867).--Humorist (Artemus Ward), _b._ in Maine, U.S., worked as a compositor and reporter, and became a highly popular humorous writer, his books being _Artemus Ward his Book_, _A.W.

His Panorama_, _A.W. among the Mormons_, and _A.W. in England_.

BROWNE, ISAAC HAWKINS (1705-1760).--Is remembered as the author of some clever imitations of contemporary poets on the theme of _A Pipe of Tobacco_, somewhat a.n.a.logous to the _Rejected Addresses_ of a later day.

He also wrote a Latin poem on the immortality of the soul. B., who was a country gentleman and barrister, had great conversational powers. He was a friend of Dr. Johnson.

BROWNE, SIR THOMAS (1605-1682).--Physician and miscellaneous and metaphysical writer, _s._ of a London merchant, was _ed._ at Winchester and Oxf., after which he studied medicine at various Continental univs., including Leyden, where he _grad._ He ultimately settled and practised at Norwich. His first and perhaps best known work, _Religio Medici_ (the Religion of a Physician) was _pub._ in 1642. Other books are _Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Enquiries into Vulgar Errors_ (1646), _Hydriotaphia, or Urn-burial_ (1658); and _The Garden of Cyrus_ in the same year. After his death were _pub._ his _Letter to a Friend_ and _Christian Morals_. B. is one of the most original writers in the English language. Though by no means free from credulity, and dealing largely with trivial subjects of inquiry, the freshness and ingenuity of his mind invest everything he touches with interest; while on more important subjects his style, if frequently rugged and pedantic, often rises to the highest pitch of grave and stately eloquence. In the Civil War he sided with the King's party, and was knighted in 1671 on the occasion of a Royal visit to Norwich. In character he was simple, cheerful, and retiring. He has had a profound if indirect influence on succeeding literature, mainly by impressing master-minds such as Lamb, Coleridge, and Carlyle.

There is an ed. of B.'s works by S. Wilkin (4 vols., 1835-6), _Religio Medici_ by Dr. Greenhill, 1881. _Life_ by Gosse in Men of Letters Series, 1903.

BROWNE, WILLIAM (1590?-1645?).--Poet, _b._ at Tavistock, _ed._ at Oxf., after which he entered the Inner Temple. His poems, which are mainly descriptive, are rich and flowing, and true to the phenomena of nature, but deficient in interest. Influenced by Spenser, he in turn had an influence upon such poets as Milton and Keats. His chief works were _Britannia's Pastorals_ (1613), and _The Shepheard's Pipe_ (1614).

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT (1806-1861).--Poetess, was the _dau._ of Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, who a.s.sumed the last name on succeeding to the estates of his grandfather in Jamaica. She was _b._ at c.o.xhoe Hall, Durham, but spent her youth at Hope End, near Great Malvern. While still a child she showed her gift, and her _f._ _pub._ 50 copies of a juvenile epic, on the Battle of Marathon. She was _ed._ at home, but owed her profound knowledge of Greek and much mental stimulus to her early friends.h.i.+p with the blind scholar, Hugh Stuart Boyd, who was a neighbour.

At the age of 15 she met with an injury to her spine which confined her to a rec.u.mbent position for several years, and from the effects of which she never fully recovered. In 1826 she _pub._ anonymously _An Essay on Mind and Other Poems_. Shortly afterwards the abolition of slavery, of which he had been a disinterested supporter, considerably reduced Mr.

B.'s means: he accordingly disposed of his estate and removed with his family first to Sidmouth and afterwards to London. At the former Miss B.

wrote _Prometheus Bound_ (1835). After her removal to London she fell into delicate health, her lungs being threatened. This did not, however, interfere with her literary labours, and she contributed to various periodicals _The Romaunt of Margaret_, _The Romaunt of the Page_, _The Poet's Vow_, and other pieces. In 1838 appeared _The Seraphim and Other Poems_ (including "Cowper's Grave.") Shortly thereafter the death, by drowning, of her favourite brother gave a serious shock to her already fragile health, and for a time she hovered between life and death.

Eventually, however, she regained strength, and meanwhile her fame was growing. The _pub._ about 1841 of _The Cry of the Children_ gave it a great impulse, and about the same time she contributed some critical papers in prose to R.H. Horne's _New Spirit of the Age_. In 1844 she _pub._ two vols. of _Poems_, which comprised "The Drama of Exile,"

"Vision of Poets," and "Lady Geraldine's Courts.h.i.+p." In 1845 she met for the first time her future husband, Robert Browning (_q.v._). Their courts.h.i.+p and marriage, owing to her delicate health and the extraordinary objections entertained by Mr. B. to the marriage of any of his children, were carried out under somewhat peculiar and romantic circ.u.mstances. After a private marriage and a secret departure from her home, she accompanied her husband to Italy, which became her home almost continuously until her death, and with the political aspirations of which she and her husband both thoroughly identified themselves. The union proved one of unalloyed happiness to both, though it was never forgiven by Mr. Barrett. In her new circ.u.mstances her strength greatly increased.

Her husband and she settled in Florence, and there she wrote _Casa Guidi Windows_ (1851)--by many considered her strongest work--under the inspiration of the Tuscan struggle for liberty. _Aurora Leigh_, her largest, and perhaps the most popular of her longer poems, appeared in 1856. In 1850 _The Sonnets from the Portuguese_--the history of her own love-story, thinly disguised by its t.i.tle--had appeared. In 1860 she issued a _coll._ ed. of her poems under the t.i.tle, _Poems before Congress_. Soon thereafter her health underwent a change for the worse; she gradually lost strength, and _d._ on June 29, 1861. She is generally considered the greatest of English poetesses. Her works are full of tender and delicate, but also of strong and deep, thought. Her own sufferings, combined with her moral and intellectual strength, made her the champion of the suffering and oppressed wherever she found them. Her gift was essentially lyrical, though much of her work was not so in form.

Her weak points are the lack of compression, an occasional somewhat obtrusive mannerism, and frequent failure both in metre and rhyme. Though not nearly the equal of her husband in force of intellect and the higher qualities of the poet, her works had, as might be expected on a comparison of their respective subjects and styles, a much earlier and wider acceptance with the general public. Mrs. B. was a woman of singular n.o.bility and charm, and though not beautiful, was remarkably attractive.

Miss Mitford (_q.v._) thus describes her as a young woman: "A slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on each side of a most expressive face; large, tender eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, and a smile like a sunbeam."

_Life_ by J.H. Ingram (1889); _Letters of R. Browning and E.B. Browning_ (1889). _Coll._ ed. of her works, _see_ above.

BROWNING, ROBERT (1812-1889).--Poet, only _s._ of Robert B., a man of fine intellect and equally fine character, who held a position in the Bank of England, was _b._ in Camberwell. His mother, to whom he was ardently attached, was the _dau._ of a German s.h.i.+powner who had settled in Dundee, and was alike intellectually and morally worthy of his affection. The only other member of the family was a younger sister, also highly gifted, who was the sympathetic companion of his later years. In his childhood he was distinguished by his love of poetry and natural history. At 12 he had written a book of poetry which he destroyed when he could not find a publisher. After being at one or two private schools, and showing an insuperable dislike to school life, he was _ed._ by a tutor, and thereafter studied Greek at Univ. Coll., London. Through his mother he inherited some musical talent, and composed settings, for various songs. His first _pub._ was _Pauline_, which appeared anonymously in 1833, but attracted little attention. In 1834 he paid his first visit to Italy, in which so much of his future life was to be pa.s.sed. The publication of _Paracelsus_ in 1835, though the poem had no general popularity, gained the notice of Carlyle, Wordsworth, and other men of letters, and gave him a reputation as a poet of distinguished promise.

Two years later his drama of _Stratford_ was performed by his friend Macready and Helen Faucit, and in 1840 the most difficult and obscure of his works, _Sordello_, appeared; but, except with a select few, did little to increase his reputation. It was followed by _Bells and Pomegranates_ (containing _Pippa Pa.s.ses_) (1841), _A Blot in the 'Scutcheon_ (drama) (1843), _Luria_ and _A Soul's Tragedy_ (1846). In this year he married Miss Elizabeth Barrett (_q.v._), the poetess, a union of ideal happiness. Thereafter his home until his wife's death in 1861 was in Italy, chiefly at Florence. In 1850 he wrote _Christmas Eve and Easter Day_, and in 1855 appeared _Men and Women_. After the death of Mrs. Browning he returned to England, paying, however, frequent visits to Italy. Settling in London he published successively _Dramatis Personae_ (1864), _The Ring and the Book_ (1868-69), his greatest work, _Balaustion's Adventure_, and _Prince Hohenstiel-Schw.a.n.gau_ (1871), _Fifine at the Fair_ (1872), _Red Cotton Night-cap Country_ (1873), _The Inn Alb.u.m_ (1875), _Pacchiarotto_ (1876), translation of _Agamemnon_ (1879), _La Saisiaz_, etc. (1878), _Dramatic Idylls_ (1879 and 1880), _Asolando_ (1889) appeared on the day of his death. To the great majority of readers, probably, B. is best known by some of his short poems, such as, to name a few, "Rabbi Ben Ezra," "How they brought the good News to Aix," "Evelyn Hope," "The Pied Piper of Hammelin," "A Grammarian's Funeral," "A Death in the Desert." It was long before England recognised that in B. she had received one of the greatest of her poets, and the causes of this lie on the surface. His subjects were often recondite and lay beyond the ken and sympathy of the great bulk of readers; and owing, partly to the subtle links connecting the ideas and partly to his often extremely condensed and rugged expression, the treatment of them was not seldom difficult and obscure. Consequently for long he appealed to a somewhat narrow circle. As time went on, however, and work after work was added, the circle widened, and the marvellous depth and variety of thought and intensity of feeling told with increasing force. Societies began to be formed for the study of the poet's work. Critics became more and more appreciative, and he at last reaped the harvest of admiration and honour which was his due. Many distinctions came to him. He was made LL.D. of Edin., a life Governor of London Univ., and had the offer of the Lord Rectors.h.i.+p of Glasgow. He _d._ in the house of his son at Venice, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The keynote of his teaching is a wise and n.o.ble optimism. His poems were collected in 2 vols. in 1896.

Some vols. of his correspondence with Mrs. B. were also _pub._

Uniform ed. of Works (17 vols. 1888-90); Furnivall's _Browning Bibliography_ (1883), _Lives_ by Mrs. Sutherland Orr (1891); Gosse (1890); Dowden (1904), G.K. Chesterton (English Men of Letters), etc.; _Poetry of Robert Browning_ by Stopford Brooke, 1902, etc.

SUMMARY.--_B._ 1812, _pub._ _Paracelsus_ 1835, _Sordello_ 1840, _Bells and Pomegranates_ 1841, _m._ to E.B.B. 1846, lives chiefly in Italy till her _d._, 1861, when he returned to England and continued to write until his _d._, _pub._ _Dramatis Personae_, _Ring and Book_ 1868-9, _Asolando_ 1889, _d._ 1889.

BRUCE, JAMES (1730-1794).--Traveller, was _b._ at the family seat of Kinnaird, Perths.h.i.+re, and _ed._ at Harrow. After various travels in Europe he set out in 1768 on his expedition to Abyssinia, and in 1770 reached the source of the Blue Nile. He returned to England in 1774, and in 1790 _pub._ his _Travels_ in 5 quarto vols. His notorious vanity, the singular adventures he related, and the generally embellished character which he imparted to his narrative excited some degree of scepticism, and he was subjected to a good deal of satire, to which, though much annoyed, he did not reply. It is, however, generally allowed that he had shown great daring, perseverance, and zeal in his explorations, and that he made a real addition to the geographical knowledge of his day.

BRUCE, MICHAEL (1746-1767).--Poet, _s._ of a poor weaver at Kinnesswood, Kinross-s.h.i.+re, as a child herded cattle, but received a good education, including 4 sessions at the Univ. of Edin., and for a short time kept a school. His longest poem, _Loch Leven_, shows the influence of Thomson.

His best is his _Elegy_. His promising career was cut short by consumption in 1767. The authors.h.i.+p of the beautiful _Ode to the Cuckoo_ beginning "Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove" is contested, some authorities claiming it for B. and others for the Rev. John Logan (_q.v._), who ed. B.'s works, adding some of his own, and who claimed the _Ode_ as his.

BRUNTON, MARY (BALFOUR) (1778-1818).--Novelist, _dau._ of Col. Balfour of Elwick, and _m._ to the Rev. Dr. Brunton, Prof. of Oriental Languages in the Univ. of Edin., was the auth.o.r.ess of two novels, _Self-Control_ (1811) and _Discipline_ (1814), which were popular in their day.