Oxford, poor in fortune, and indeed, poor in understanding. His minute and obscure diligence, his voracious and undistinguishing appetite, and the coarse vulgarity of his taste and style, have exposed him to the ridicule of idle wits. Yet it cannot be denied that Thomas Hearne has gathered many gleanings of the harvest; and if his own prefaces are filled with crude and extraneous matter, his editions will always be recommended by their accuracy and use. GIBBON, EDWARD, 1794, An Address, Miscellaneous Works, ed. Sheffield. The ridicule and satire which once pursued the person and the publications of the author, are now forgotten; and Hearne stands upon a pedestal which may be said to have truth and honour for its basis. His works, which present us with portions of History, chiefly local, are now coveted by the antiquary, and respected by the scholar. The "old" and the "young," professedly attached to book collecting, can never be thoroughly happy, if their Hearnëan Series be not complete. -DIBDIN, THOMAS FROGNALL, 1824, The Library Companion, p. 215. As he grew older his attention was chiefly confined to English history and antiquities, and after publishing the "Itinerary" and "Collectanea" of John Leland he began his well-known series of editions of the English chroniclers; they were all published by subscription, very few copies of each being printed. Their importance to historical students can scarcely be exaggerated, many of them being the only editions that existed till the recent publication of the Rolls Series of historical works, and some being still the only editions in print. Hearne accomplished all this with little help from others, with only the income he derived from his susbcribers, and with the chief authorities of the university looking askance at him. It is satisfactory to know that he lived to see what he had published for 21. 2s. sold for 12. 12s. and that at his death over 1000l. was found in his possession. He does not show any grasp of history, and for the most part he contented himself with seeing his manuscripts carefully through the press; but his accuracy is generally to be depended on, though his explanations of words are not always satisfactory. His prefaces do not give the information which would be expected of the contents of the volumes or even of the history and condition of the manuscripts from which he printed. His appendices contain all kinds of extraneous matters, having in most cases no connection with the author they follow. He was certainly wanting in power to distinguish the relative value of what fell in his way; it seemed to him enough that a document was old to induce him to publish it.-LUARD, REV. H. R., 1891, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xxv, p. 336. George Sale 1697?-1736 George Sale, 1680-1736, an English lawyer and a learned Orientalist, was a contributor (of the cosmogony, Oriental papers, &c.) to the "Universal History," to the "General Dictionary, Historical and Critical," and to other works, but is best known by his "Translation from the Original Arabick, with Explanatory Notes, taken from the Most Approved Commentators, with a Preliminary Discourse, of the Koran, commonly called the Alcoran, of Mahomed," Lon., 1734, 4to.-ALLIBONE, S. AUSTIN, 1870, Dictionary of English Literature, vol. I, p. 1916. PERSONAL The learned Sale, who first gave the world a genuine version of the Koran, and who had so zealously laboured in forming that "Universal History" which was the pride of our country, pursued his studies through a life of want and this great orientalist (I grieve to degrade the memoirs of a man of learning by such mortifications), when he quitted his studies too often wanted a change of linen, and often wandered in the streets in search of some compassionate friend who would supply him with the meal of the day!DISRAELI, ISAAC, 1812-13, The Rewards of Oriental Students, Calamities of Authors, note. GENERAL Our honest and learned translator, Sale, who is half a Mussulman. Sale had accurately studied the language. and character of his author.-GIBBON, EDWARD, 1776-88, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Sale's chief work, on which his claim to remembrance principally rests, is his version of the Koran. This first appeared in November 1734, in a quarto volume, and was dedicated to Lord Carteret. While apologising for delay in its publication, he stated that the work “was carried on at leisure times only, amidst the necessary avocations of a troublesome profession." As a translator, he had the field almost entirely to himself. The only full translation of the Koran in any modern language previously published was the despicable French version by André Du Ryer, issued in 1649. A very poor English rendering of Du Ryer's from French was issued by Alexander Ross (15901654) in London in the same year. Despite a few errors, Sale's translation is remarkably accurate. Throughout he has made full use of native commentators, as regards both the interpretation of the text and its illustration in the notes. It may perhaps be regretted that he did not. Eustace Budgell 1686-1737 This writer was born August 19, 1686, being the son of Gilbert Budgell, D. D., of St. Thomas, Exeter, by his first wife Mary, only daughter of Bishop Gulston of Bristol. The latter's sister was the wife of Lancelot, and thereby mother of Joseph Addison, thus making the two essayists cousins in the second degree. Eustace Budgell entered Trinity College, Oxford, March 31, 1705. Afterward he entered the Inner Temple, and was called to the bar. His intimacy with Addison rather drew him to literature. Thirty-seven papers in "The Spectator" are, by Drake, ascribed to him. By many he is called an imitator of Addison. He undertook some independent literary ventures. In 1771 the death of his father brought to him a considerable fortune. On the accession of George I., he became under secretary to Addison. In 1717 Addison secured for him the place of accountant general. He lost his fortune in the South Sea speculations. Misfortune followed mishap, along with actions savoring of dishonesty, as in the alleged forging of a will, till he at last, in 1737, May 4, committed suicide by drowning. His life was an active if not a successful one. He did much in the way of pamphlet writing, and had to do with "The Bee" as well as "The Spectator." He was also known as one of the Grub Street writers.-ROE, ALFRED S., 1890, ed. Sir Roger De Coverley Papers, p. 9. PERSONAL Let Budgel charge low Grubstreet on his And write whate'er he please except my -POPE, ALEXANDER, 1735, Epistle to Dr. We talked of a man's drowning himself. Johnson: "I should never think it time to make away with myself." I put the case of Eustace Budgell, who was accused of forging a will, and sunk himself in the Thames, before the trial of its authenticity came on. "Suppose sir," said I, "that a man is absolutely sure, that, if he lives a few days longer, he shall be detected in a fraud, the consequence of which will be utter disgrace and expulsion from society." Johnson: "Then, Sir, let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known: Don't let him go to the devil, where he is known."-JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1773, Life by Boswell. From the fate of this misguided man a useful lesson may be drawn; though possessed of considerable abilities, of a competent fortune, of great and powerful connections, and admired and respected in the early period of his life, the pride of self-opinion, and the fury of ungoverned resentment, blasted all his hopes and views, and gradually led him into the commission of errors and extravagances, which at length terminated in gaming, forgery, infidelity, and suicide. -DRAKE, NATHAN, 1804-14, Essays, Illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, vol. III, p. 17. A man of extreme vanity and vindictive feeling. CHAMBERS, ROBERT, 1876, Cyclopædia of English Literature, ed. Carruthers. GENERAL As an author where he does not speak of himself, and does not give a loose to his vanity, he is a very agreeable and deserving writer; not argumentative or deep; but very ingenious and entertaining; and his stile is peculiarly elegant, so as to deserve being ranked in that respect with Addison's, and is superior to most of the other English writers.-CIBBER, THEOPHILUS, 1753, Lives of the Poets, vol. v, p. 14. He told us that "Addison wrote Budgell's papers in 'The Spectator;' at least mended them so much, that he made them almost his own; and that Draper, Tonson's partner, assured Mrs. Johnson, that the much admired Epilogue to "The Distressed Mother,' which came out in Budgell's name, was in reality written by Addison. -JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1776, Life by Boswell, ed. Hill, vol. III, p. 53. Budgell was a man of lively talents, a good taste, and a well informed mind. In vigour of intellect he was inferior to Steele, but superior to him in elegant learning. BISSET, ROBERT, 1793, A Biographical Sketch of the Authors of the Spectator, p. 215. However erroneous or vicious we may esteem the conduct of Budgell, it is with pleasure that we can mention his contributions to the Spectator and Guardian, as displaying both the cheerfulness and gaiety of an innocent mind, and the best and soundest precepts of morality and religion. At the time of their composition, indeed, he was more directly under the influence and direction of his accomplished relation than at any subsequent period of his life, and he then possessed the laudable ambition of doing all that might render him worthy of his affection and support.-DRAKE, NATHAN, 1804-14. Essays, Illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator and Guardian, vol. III, p. 24. Budgell was a rough, vigorous, dissipated barrister, who preferred making a figure in the coffee-houses and in literature to the practice of his profession. His humour is comparatively obstreperous, of the Defoe and Macaulay type, which the French seem to consider peculiarly English. It is genial rather from the author's hearty enjoyment of the fun he is making than from any sympathy with the objects of his derision.-MINTO, WILLIAM, 1872-80, Manual of English Prose Literature, p. 404. Thirty-seven numbers of the "Spectator" are ascribed to Budgell; and though Dr. Johnson says that these were either written by Addison, or so much improved by him that they were made in a manner his own, there seems to be no sufficient authority for the assertion. It is true that the style and humour resemble those of Addison; but as the two writers were much together, a successful attempt on Budgell's part to imitate the productions of his friend, was probable enough.CHAMBERS, ROBERT, 1876, Cyclopædia of English Literature, ed. Carruthers. He shared Addison's lodgings during the last years of Queen Anne, and took a considerable part in the "Spectator." They are palpable imitations of Addison's Thirty-seven papers are ascribed to him. manner. One of them (No. 116) is an account of Sir Roger de Coverley in the hunting-field. Johnson mentions a report that Addison had "mended them so much that they were almost his own." It was also said that Addison was also the real author of an epilogue to Ambrose Philip's "Distressed Mother," the "most successful ever spoken in an English theatre;" and had Budgell's name substituted for his own at the last moment, to strengthen his young cousin's claims to a place.STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1886, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. VII, p. 224. John Strype 1643-1737 John Strype was the son of a German refugee who fled to England on account of his religion, and there followed the business of a silk merchant. The son was born in London, in 1643, and educated at Catherine Hall, Cambridge. At that university, and also at Oxford, he took his master's degree, in 1671. Entering into orders, he became successively curate of Theydon-Boys, in Essex, preacher in Low Leyton, rector of Terring, in Sussex, and lecturer at Hackney. He resigned his clerical charges in 1724, and from that time till his death, which occurred in 1737, he resided at Hackney, with an apothecary, who had married his grand-daughter. Strype was an industrious and even laborious collector of literary antiquities. His works afford ample illustrations of ecclesiastical history and biography, at periods of deep national interest and importance, and they are now ranked among the most valuable of English standard memorials. His writings consist of a "Life of Archbishop Cranmer;" a "Life of Sir Thomas Smith;" a "Life of Bishop Aylmer;" a "Life of Sir John Cheke;" "Annals of the Reformation," in four volumes; a "Life of Archbishop Grindal;" "Life and Letters of Archbishop Parker;" "Life of Archbishop Whitgift;" and "Ecclesiastical Memorials," in three volumes. He also edited Stow's "Survey of London," and part of Dr. Lightfoot's works.-MILLS, ABRAHAM, 1851, The Literature and the Literary Men of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. II, p. 234. GENERAL Of Strype, it would be impossible to speak too highly. His labours have supplied us with some of the most necessary, as well as instructive, portions of Church history. A writer, who, all fidelity, and honest and honourable in the letter and spirit of every thing which he wrote, seems, nevertheless, too frequently to have been under the influence of a somnolency which it was impossible to shake off. Strype is a fine, solid, instructive fellow, for a large arm chair, in a gothic study, before a winter's fire; but you must not deposit him on the shelves of your Tusculum-to be carried to rustic seats in arbours and bowers; by the side of gurgling streams or rushing cascades. There is neither fancy, nor brilliancy, nor buoyancy, about him; he is a sage to consult, rather than a companion to enliven.-DIBDIN, THOMAS FROGNALL, 1824, The Library Companion, pp. 117, note, 516. Honest John Strype.-HALLAM, HENRY, 1837-39, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, pt. i, ch. v, par. 25, note. I have no wish to cavil at what Strype says, and I think no one feels more strongly than I do the value of his work; but really it is one great inconvenience of the careless way in which he wrote, that one cannot bring one passage to correct another, without a high probability of its containing something in itself which needs. correction. We are certainly much indebted to Strype for publishing many manuscripts which he found in old collections, but we must receive what he says of them, and from them, with a constant recollection that, in his estimation, one old manuscript appears to have been about as good as another.-MAITLAND, SAMUEL ROFFEY, 1849-99, Essays on Subjects Connected with the Reformation in England, ed. Hutton, pp. 31, note, 47. His works have been printed in 27 vols., 8vo. and though valuable as store houses of information, are of the Dryasdust order.-HART, JOHN S., 1872, A Manual of English Literature, p. 255. The most famous antiquary of the period.-MINTO, WILLIAM, 1872-80, Manual af English Prose Literature, p. 403. Strype's lack of literary style, unskilful selection of materials, and unmethodical arrangement render his books tiresome to the last degree. Even in his own day his cumbrous appendixes caused him to be nicknamed the "appendix-monger." His want of critical faculty led him into serious errors, such as the attribution of Edward VI of the foundation of many schools which had existed long before that king's reign. . To students of the ecclesiastical and political history of England in the sixteenth century the vast accumulations of facts and documents of which his books consist render them of the utmost value.-GOODWIN, GORDON, 1898, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. LV, p. 68. Matthew Green 1696-1737 Matthew Green was born in 1696, and died in 1737; held position in the Custom House; and was distinguished as a poet and wit. He wrote "The Grotto," and other poems; but his most noted production is "The Spleen," whose cheerful, thoughtful octosyllabics dealt with remedy for the depression of spirits which was said to have its source in the spleen. -MORLEY, HENRY, 1879, A Manual of English Literature, ed. Tyler, p. 546. PERSONAL We find that he had obtained a place in the Custom house, the duties of which he is said to have discharged with great diligence and fidelity. It is further attested, that he was a man of great probity and sweetness of disposition, and that his conversation abounded with wit, but of the most inoffensive kind. He seems to have been subject to low spirits, as a relief from which he composed his principal poem, "The Spleen."-AIKIN, JOHN, 1820, Select Works of the British Poets. THE SPLEEN 1737 Pope His Something of the quaker may be observable in the stiffness of his versification, and its excessive endeavors to be succinct. His style has also the fault of beng occasionally obscure; and his wit is sometimes more labored than finished. But all that he says is worth attending to. thoughts are the result of his own feeling and experience; his opinions rational and cheerful, if not very lofty; his warnings against meddling with superhuman mysteries admirable; and he is remarkable for the brevity and originality of his similes. He is of the school of Butler; and it may be affirmed of him as a rare honor, that no man since Butler has put so much wit and reflection into the same compass of lines.-HUNT, LEIGH, 1846, Wit and Humor, p. 242. His poem, "The Spleen,' was never published during his lifetime. Glover, his warm friend, presented it to the world after his death; and it is much to be "The Spleen," a reflective effusion in regretted, did not prefix any account of octosyllabic verse, is somewhat striking its interesting author. It was originally It was originally from an air of originality in the vein of a very short copy of verses, and was thought, and from the labored concentragradually and piecemeal increased. tion and epigrammatic point of the lanspeedily noticed its merit, Melmoth praised guage; but, although it was much cried its strong originality in Fitzosborne's Let-up when it first appeared, and the laudaters, and Gray duly commended it in his correspondence with Walpole, when it appeared in Dodsley's collection. In that walk of poetry, where Fancy aspires no further than to go hand in hand with common sense, its merit is certainly unrivalled. CAMPBELL, THOMAS, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets. Such is this singular poem on the "Spleen," which few persons, it is imagined, will once read, without frequent re-perusals, every one of which will be repaid by new discoveries of uncommon and ingenious turns of thought. It possesses that undoubted mark of excellence, the faculty of impressing the memory with many of its strong sentiments and original images: and perhaps not more lines of "Hudibras" itself have been retained by its admirers, than of this poem.-AIKIN, JOHN, 1820, An Essay on the Poems of Green. tion has continued to be duly echoed by succeeding formal criticism, it may be doubted if many readers could now make their way through it without considerable fatigue, or if it be much read in fact at all. With all its ingenious or energetic rhetorical posture-making, it has nearly as little real play of fancy as charm of numbers, and may be most properly characterized as a piece of bastard or perverted Hudibrastic,-an imitation of the manner of Butler to the very dance of his verse, only without the comedy,-the same antics, only solemnized or made to carry a moral and serious meaning.-CRAIK, GEORGE L., 1861, A Compendious History of English Literature and of the English Language, vol. II, p. 275. Green suffered really or poetically from the fashionable eighteenth-century disorder which Pope has so well described in "The Rape of the Lock," and in this |