Chapter Lewis to Liddon of L by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Lewis to Liddon

Lewis, Sir George Cornewall (1806-1863).—Scholar and statesman, son of Sir Thomas F. Lewis, a Radnorshire baronet, was educated at Eton and Oxford He studied law, was called to the Bar in 1831, and entered Parliament in 1847, where his intellect and character soon gained him great influence. After serving on various important commissions and holding minor offices, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer 1855-58, Home secretray 1859-61, and War secretray 1861-63. His official labours did not prevent his entering into profound and laborious studies, chiefly in regard to Roman history, and the state of knowledge among the ancients. In his Inquiry into the Credibility of Ancient Roman History (1855), he combated the methods and results of Niebuhr. Other works are On the Use and Abuse of Political Terms, Authority in Matters of Opinion, The Astronomy of the Ancients, and a Dialogue on the best Form of Government. The somewhat sceptical turn of his mind led him to sift evidence minutely, and the labour involved in his wide range of severe study and his public duties no doubt shortened his valuable life.

Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818).—Novelist, son of Matthew Lewis, Deputy secretray in the War Office, was educated at Westminster and Oxford Thereafter he went to Germany. From his childhood tales of witchcraft and the supernatural had a powerful fascination for him, and in Germany he had ample opportunities for pursuing his favourite study, with the result that at the age of 20 he became the author of The Monk, a tale in which the supernatural and the horrible predominate to an unprecedented extent, and from which he is known as “Monk Lewis” The same characteristic appears in all his works, among which may be mentioned Tales of Terror (1779), Tales of Wonder (to which Sir W. Scott contributed), and Romantic Tales (1808). Though affected and extravagant in his manners, Lewis was not wanting in kindly and generous feelings, and in fact an illness contracted on a voyage to the West Indies to inquire into and remedy some grievances of the slaves on his estates there was the cause of his death.

Leyden, John (1775-1811).—Poet and Orientalist, born at Denholm, Roxburghshire, gave early evidence of superior ability, and his father, who was a shepherd, destined him for the Church. He accordingly entered the University of Edinburgh, where he had a brilliant career, showing a special aptitude for languages and natural history. In 1800 he became a licentiate of the Church, but continued his scientific and linguistic studies, and also began to write. In 1799 he had published a sketch of the Discoveries and Settlements of the Europeans in Northern and Western Africa, and he contributed to Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and to “Monk” Lewis’s Tales of Wonder. His enthusiasm for Oriental learning led to application being made on his behalf to Government for some situation which would make his acquirements available for the public service, but the only opening which could be obtained was that of a ship’s surgeon. By extraordinary exertions Leyden qualified himself for this in a few months, and set sail for the East, after finishing his poem, Scenes of Infancy. Soon after his arrival at Madras his health gave way, and after some time passed in Prince of Wales Island he visited the Malay Peninsula, and some of the East Indian Islands, collecting vast stores of linguistic and ethnographical information, on which was founded his great Dissertation on the Indo-Persian, Indo-Chinese, and Dekkan Languages (1807). Soon after this Leyden was appointed a professor in the Bengal Coll., and a little later a judge in Calcutta. In 1811 he accompanied the Governor-General, Lord Minto, to Java. His health, however, had been undermined by his almost superhuman exertions, and immediately after landing he contracted a fever, of which he died in three days at the early age of 36. Two Oriental works translated by him, Sejârah Malâyu (Malay Annals) and Commentaries of Baber were published respectively in 1821 and 1826.

Liddell, Henry George (1811-1898).—Historian, etc. educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, of which in 1855 he became Dean. He wrote a History of Ancient Rome (1855), and, along with R. Scott, published a Greek-English Lexicon (1843).

Liddon, Henry Parry (1829-1890).—Divine, son of a captain in the navy, was born at North Stoneham, Hants, and educated at King’s College School, London, and Oxford He took orders 1853, was Vice- Principal of Cuddesdon Theological College 1854-59, Prebendary of Salisbury 1864, and Canon of St. Paul’s 1870. He was also Ireland Professor of Exegesis at Oxford 1870-82. In 1866 he delivered his Bampton Lectures on The Divinity of Our Lord, and came to be recognised as one of the ablest and most eloquent representatives of the High Church party. His sermons in St. Paul’s were among the