Chapter Buchanan to Budgell of B by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Buchanan to Budgell

Buchanan, Robert (1841-1901).—Poet and novelist, born at Caverswall, Staffordshire, the son of a Scottish schoolmaster and socialist, and educated at Glasgow, was the friend of David Gray (q.v.), and with him went to London in search of fame, but had a long period of discouragement. His first work, a collection of poems, Undertones (1863), had, however, some success, and was followed by Idylls of Inverburn (1865), London Poems (1866), and others, which gave him a growing reputation, and raised high hopes of his future. Thereafter he took up prose fiction and the drama, not always with success, and got into trouble owing to some drastic criticism of his contemporaries, culminating in his famous article on the Fleshly School of Poetry, which appeared in the Contemporary Review (Oct. 1871), and evoked replies from Rossetti (The Stealthy School of Criticism), and Swinburne (Under the Microscope). Among his novels are A Child of Nature (1879), God and the Man (1881), and among his dramas A Nine Days’ Queen, A Madcap Prince, and Alone in London. His latest poems, The Outcast and The Wandering Jew, were directed against certain aspects of Christianity. Buchanan was unfortunate in his latter years; a speculation turned out ruinously; he had to sell his copyrights, and he sustained a paralytic seizure, from the effects of which he died in a few months. He ultimately admitted that his criticism of Rossetti was unjustifiable.

Buckingham, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of (1628-1687).—Dramatist, son of the 1st Duke, who was in 1628 assassinated by Felton. His life was full of adventure and change of fortune. The Restoration gave him back his already twice lost estates, which he again squandered by a life of wild extravagance and profligacy at Court. He was a member of the “Cabal” and intrigued against Clarendon. He wrote pamphlets, lampoons, and plays, but his chief contribution to literature was The Rehearsal, a comedy, in which he satirised the heroic drama of Dryden and others. It is believed that S. Butler had a hand in it. Dryden had his revenge in his picture of Buckingham as Zimri in Absalom and Achitophel.

Buckingham and Normanby, John Sheffield, 1st Duke of (1648-1721).—Son. of the 2nd Earl of Mulgrave, served in his youth as a soldier under Prince Rupert and Turenne, and is also said to have made love to the Princess, afterwards Queen, Anne. He was a Privy Councillor under James II., William and Mary, and Anne, with the last of whom he remained a favourite. His magnificent mansion was purchased and pulled down to make way for Buckingham Palace. He wrote An Account of the Revolution, An Essay on Satire, and An Essay on Poetry. He also remodelled Shakespeare’s Julius Cœsar.

Buckingham, James Silk (1786-1855).—Journalist and traveller, wrote many books of travel, both on the Old and New World. He established, and for a year or two ed., The Athenœum, and produced many pamphlets on political and social subjects.

Buckland, Francis Trevelyan (1826-80).—Naturalist, born and educated at Oxford, where his flourished was Dean of Christchurch. He studied medicine and was assistant-surgeon in the Life Guards. An enthusiastic lover of natural history, he wrote largely upon it, among his works being Curiosities of Natural History (4 vols. 1857-72), Log Book of a Fisherman and Zoologist (1876), Natural History of British Fishes (1881). He also founded and edited Land and Water. He was for a time Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, and served on various commissions. Though observant, he was not always strictly scientific in his methods and modes of expression, and he was a strong opponent of Darwin.

Buckle, Henry Thomas (1821-1862).—Historical writer, son of a wealthy shipowner in London, was born at Lee in Kent. Though never at a University and little at school, he received a high degree of education privately, and inheriting an ample fortune and a large library, he devoted himself to travel and study, with the view of preparing for a great work which he had projected, The History of Civilisation in England. As an introduction to this he entered upon the consideration of the state of civilisation in various other countries, but this he had scarcely completed when his death took place at Damascus in 1862. The first vol. was published in 1857, and the second in 1861. In these the results of a vast amount of reading are shown; but they are not free from one-sided views and generalisations resting on insufficient data. He has, however, the credit of having contributed a new idea of history and the method of writing it. The completed work was to have extended to 14 vols. Buckle was one of the greatest chess-players in Europe.