Chapter Ritchie to Robinson of R by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Ritchie to Robinson

Ritchie, Leitch (1800?-1865).—Novelist, born at Greenock and in business as a clerk in Glasgow, but about 1820 adopted literature as his profession. He wrote several novels of which the best known is Wearyfoot Common; others were The Robber of the Rhine and The Magician. In his later years he edited Chamber’s Journal.

Ritson, Joseph (1752-1803).—Antiquary and critic, born at Stockton-on-Tees, settled in London as a conveyancer, at the same time devoting himself to the study of ancient English poetry. By his diligence as a collector and acuteness as a critic he rendered essential service to the preservation and appreciation of our ancient poetry. His chief works are A Collection of English Songs (1783), Ancient Songs from Henry III. to the Revolution (1790), A Collection of Scottish Songs (1794), and A Collection of all the Ancient Poems, etc., relating to Robin Hood (1795). Of a jealous and quarrelsome temper, Ritson was continually in controversy with his fellow-collectors and critics, including Johnson, Warton, and Percy. His acuteness enabled him to detect the Ireland forgeries. He died insane.

Robertson, Frederick William (1816-1853).—Divine, son of Captain Frederick Robertson, of the Royal Artillery, was born in London, and educated at Edinburgh and Oxford After holding various curacies he became in 1847 incumbent of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, where his preaching, though it brought him under the suspicion both of the High and Evangelical parties in the Church, had an extraordinary influence. Always of delicate and highly-strung constitution, his health gave way after his ministry in Brighton had extended to six years, and he died in 1853. The beauty of his life and character had almost conquered the suspicion and dislike with which his views had inspired many. His sermons, of which five series were published posthumously, have had a very wide popularity.

Robertson, Thomas William (1829-1871).—Dramatist, belonged to a family famous for producing actors. Never a successful actor himself, he produced a number of plays, which had unusual popularity. Among these are David Garrick, Society, Caste, and School.

Robertson, William (1721-1793).—Historian, son of the parish minister of Borthwick, Midlothian, where he was born, received his earlier educated at Dalkeith, which then had a school of some repute; but his flourished being translated to Edinburgh, he attended school, and afterwards the University there, studying for the Church. In 1743 he became minister of Gladsmuir, near Prestonpans. In the ’45 he showed his loyalty by offering himself to Sir J. Cope as a volunteer, a service which was, however, declined. He soon began to take a prominent part in the debates of the General Assembly, of which he rose to be the undisputed leader. In 1758 he became one of the city ministers of Edinburgh, and in the following year published his History of Scotland, which had an extraordinary success, and at once raised him to a foremost place among British historians. Preferment immediately followed: he was made Chaplain of Stirling Castle 1759, King’s Chaplain for Scotland 1760, Principal of the University of Edinburgh 1761, and Historiographer for Scotland 1763. In 1769 appeared the History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V., in 1777 The History of America, and in 1791 Historical Disquisition on Ancient India. In 1780 Robertson retired from the management of Church affairs, in which he had shown conspicuous ability, and gave himself to study, and the society of his friends, among whom were most of his distinguished contemporaries. As a writer he possessed a finished style, clear, measured, and stately, which carried his well-arranged narrative as on a full and steady stream; he was also cool and sagacious but, like Hume, he was apt to take his facts at second hand, and the vast additional material which has been in course of accumulation since his day has rendered the value of his work more and more literary, and less and less historical.

Lives by Dugald Stewart (1801), Bishop Gleig (1812), and Lord Brougham in Men of Letters.

Robinson, Henry Crabb (1775-1867).—Diarist, born at Bury St. Edmunds, was articled to an attorney in Colchester. Between 1800 and 1805 he studied at various places in Germany, and became acquainted with nearly all the great men of letters there, including Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Wieland, etc. Thereafter he became war correspondent to the Times in the Peninsula. On his return to London he studied for the Bar, to which he was called in 1813, and became leader of the Eastern Circuit. Fifteen years later he retired, and by virtue of his great conversational powers and other qualities, became a leader in society,