Chapter Gleig to Goldsmith of G by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Gleig to Goldsmith

Gleig, George Robert (1796-1888).—S. of George Gleig, Bishop of Brechin, entered the army, and served in the Peninsula and America. In 1820 he took orders, and after serving various cures became, in 1834, Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital, and in 1844 Chaplain-General of the Forces, which office he held until 1875. He was a frequent contributor to reviews and magazines, especially Blackwood’s, in which his best known novel, The Subaltern, appeared, and he was also the author of Lives of Warren Hastings, Clive, and Wellington, Military Commanders, Chelsea pensioners, and other works.

Glen, William (1789-1826).—Poet, born in Glasgow, was for some years in the West Indies. He died in poverty. He wrote several poems, but the only one which has survived is his Jacobite ballad, Wae’s me for Prince Charlie.

Glover, Richard (1712-1785).—Poet and dramatist, was a London merchant, and M.P. for Weymouth. A scholarly man with a taste for literature, he wrote tow poems in blank verse, Leonidas (1737), and The Athenaid (1787). Though not without a degree of dignity, they want energy and interest, and are now forgotten. He also produced a few dramas, which had little success. He is best remembered by his beautiful ballad, Hosier’s Ghost, beginning. “As near Portobello lying.” Glover had the reputation of a useful and public-spirited citizen.

Godwin, Mrs. Mary (Wollstonecraft) (1759-1797).—Miscellaneous writer, was of Irish extraction. Her father was a spendthrift of bad habits, and at 19 Mary left home to make her way in the world. Her next ten years were spent as companion to a lady, in teaching a school at Newington Green, and as governess in the family of Lord Kingsborough. In 1784 she assisted her sister to escape from a husband who ill-treated her. In 1788 she took to translating, and became literary adviser to Johnson the publisher. through whom she became known to many of the literary people of the day, as well as to certain Radicals, including Godwin, Paine, Priestly, and Fuseli, the painter. She then, 1792, went to Paris, where she met Captain Imlay, with whom she formed a connection, the fruit of which was her daughter Fanny. Captain Imlay having deserted her, she tried to commit suicide at Putney Bridge, but was rescued. Thereafter she resumed her literary labours, and lived with Wollstonecraft Godwin, who married her in 1797. Their daughter, Mary, whose birth she did not survive, became the second wife of Shelley. Her chief original writings are a Reply to Burke’s Reflections on the French Revolution (1791), Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), and Original Stories for Children, illustrated by W. Blake. Her Vindication received much adverse criticism on account of its extreme positions and over-plainness of speech.

Godwin, William (1756-1836).—Philosopher and novelist, born at Wisbeach, and educated at a school in Norwich, to which city his father, a Presbyterian minister, had removed, and subsequently at a Presbyterian college at Hoxton, with a view to the ministry. From 1778 to 1783 he acted as minister of various congregations near London; but his theological views having undergone important changes, he resigned his pastorate, and devoted himself to a literary career. His first work, a series of historical sketches in the form of sermons, failed. He then found employment as one of the principal writers in the New Annual Register, and became otherwise prominent as an advocate of political and social reform. Many of his views were peculiar and extreme, and even tended, if fully carried out in practice, to subvert morality; but they were propounded and supported by their author with a whole-hearted belief in their efficacy for the regeneration of society: and the singular circumstances of his connection with and ultimate marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft showed at least that he had the courage of his opinions. His Enquiry concerning Political Justice (1793) made him famous. A year later he published his masterpiece, Caleb Williams, a novel exhibiting a sombre strength rarely equalled. The next few years were occupied in political controversy, for which Godwin was, by his sincerity and his masculine style, well fitted; and it was in the midst of these—in 1797—that his first marriage, already alluded to, and the death of his wife, of whom he published a singular but interesting Life, occurred. In 1799 his second great novel, St. Leon, based upon the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life, appeared. His other novels, Fleetwood (1804), Mandeville (1817), and Cloudesley (1830), are much inferior. In addition to these works Godwin brought out an elaborate Life of Chaucer in 2 vols. (1803), An Essay on Sepulchres (1808), containing much fine thought finely expressed, A History of the Commonwealth, an Essay against the theories of Malthus (q.v.), and his last work, Lives of the Necromancers. For some time he engaged in the publishing business, in which, however, he