Chapter Southwell to Spencer of S by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Southwell to Spencer

Southwell, Robert (1561?-1595).—Poet, born at Horsham St. Faith’s, Norfolk, of good Roman Catholic family, and educated at Douay, Paris, and Rome, he became a Jesuit, and showed such learning and ability as to be appointed Prefect of the English College In 1586 he came to England with Garnett, the superior of the English province, and became chaplain to the Countess of Arundel. His being in England for more than 40 days then rendered him liable to the punishment of death and disembowelment, and in 1592 he was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower for three years, during which he was tortured 13 times. He was then put on trial and executed, February 22, 1595. He was the author of St. Peter’s Complaint and The Burning Babe, a short poem of great imaginative power, and of several prose religious works, including St. Mary Magdalene’s Teares, A Short Rule of Good Life, The Triumphs over Death, etc.

Spedding, James (1808-1881).—Editor of Bacon’s works, son of a Cumberland squire, and educated at Bury St. Edmunds and Cambridge, was for some years in the Colonial Office. He devoted himself to the edition of Bacon’s works, and the endeavour to clear his character against the aspersions of Macaulay and others. The former was done in conjunction with Ellis and Heath, his own being much the largest share in their great edition (1861-74); and the latter, so far as possible, in The Life and Letters, entirely his own. In 1878 he brought out an abridged Life and Times of Francis Bacon. He strongly combated the theory that B. was the author of Shakespeare’s plays. His death was caused by his being run over by a cab. He enjoyed the friendship of many of his greatest contemporaries, including Carlyle, Tennyson, and Fitzgerald.

Speed, John (1552?-1629).—Historian, born at Farington, Cheshire, and brought up to the trade of a tailor, had a strong taste for history and antiquities, and wrote a History of Great Britain (1611), which was long the best in existence, in collecting material for which he had assistance from Cotton, Spelman, and other investigators. He also published useful maps of Great Britain and Ireland, and of various counties, etc. In 1616 appeared his Cloud of Witnesses confirming … the truth of God’s most holie Word. His maps were collected and with descriptions published in 1611 as Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain.

Speke, J. H. (See under Grant, J. A.)

Spelman, Sir Henry (1564?-1641).—Historian and antiquary, born at Congham, Norfolk, studied at Cambridge, and entered Lincoln’s Inn. He wrote valuable works on legal and ecclesiastical antiquities, including History of Sacrilege (published 1698), Glossarium Archæologicum (1626 and 1664), a glossary of obsolete law-terms, A History of the English Councils (1639), and Tenures by Knight-service (1641). His writings have furnished valuable material for subsequent historians. He sat in Parliament and on various commissions, and in recompense of his labours was voted a grant of £300.

Spence, Joseph (1699-1768).—Anecdotist, born at Kingsclere, Hants, and educated at Winchester and Oxford, he entered the Church, and held various preferments, including a prebend at Durham, and was Professor of Poetry at Oxford He wrote an Essay on Pope’s Odyssey, which gained for him the friendship of the poet, of whose conversation he made notes, collecting likewise anecdotes of him and of other celebrities which were published in 1820, and are of great value, inasmuch as they preserve much matter illustrative of the literary history of the 18th century which would otherwise have been lost.

Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903).—Philosopher, born at Derby, the son of a teacher, from whom, and from his uncle, mentioned below, he received most of his education. His immediate family circle was strongly Dissenting in its theological atmosphere, his flourished, originally a Methodist, having become a Quaker, while his mother remained a Wesleyan. At 13 he was sent to the care of his uncle, Thomas Spencer, a clergyman, near Bath, but a Radical and anti-corn-law agitator. Declining a University career he became a school assistant, but shortly after accepted a situation under the engineer of the London and Birmingham railway, in which he remained until the great railway crisis of 1846 threw him out of employment. Previous to this he had begun to write political articles in the Nonconformist; he now resolved to devote himself to journalism, and in 1848 was appointed sub-ed. of the Economist. Thereafter he became more and more absorbed in the consideration of the problems of sociology and the development