Bøker i Cambridge Library Collection - English Men of Letters-serien

First published in 1882, this is a biography of the English clergyman, scholar and classicist, Richard Bentley (1662-1742). Born in West Yorkshire, educated at Wakefield Grammar School and later at St John's College in Cambridge, Bentley became one of the most respected textual critics of his day. Among students of the Greek New Testament, he is remembered as the first person to define a plan for constructing the whole of the text directly from the original documents. Bentley became a prominent and controversial figure during his time as Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. His temper and his contemptuous treatment of his colleagues led to various attempts to secure his removal and embroiled him in controversy and feuding for the next 30 years. Despite all this, Bentley continued his classical research and published books that are studied to this day.

Thomas Gray (1716-71) was one of the most influential poets of the eighteenth century, and is probably best remembered today for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. In this biography of Gray, first published in the first 'English Men of Letters' series in 1882, poet and critic Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) delivers a sympathetic account of his subject, offering both a traditional chronological narrative of Gray's life, from his schooldays at Eton, through his travels abroad and his academic career at Cambridge (though he was appointed professor of modern history in 1768, failing health meant that he never delivered any lectures), and an analysis of his poetry. In the book's last chapter, Gosse laments the lack of recognition that Gray had received in England since his death: Dr Johnson is criticised especially for his writings on Gray - 'barren and meagre of fact to the last degree'.

Lawrence Sterne (1713-69) was an Anglican clergyman best remembered as the author of the satirical and highly influential novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. After his ordination in 1738, Sterne led the life of a country vicar in Yorkshire, publishing a few satirical works before his masterpiece, which emerged in nine volumes between 1759 and 1767. The first two volumes were an immediate success, bringing him wealth, fame, and a place at the heart of contemporary English literary society. This work, published in the first series of English Men of Letters in 1882 by the journalist (and editor of Carlyle) Henry Duff Traill (1842-1900), provides a clear and informative biography. Drawing on Sterne's detailed letters to his daughter, Traill provides a fascinating account of Sterne's early life and his clerical career together with an analysis of his writing and influence upon English literature.

Historian, essayist and poet, Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-59) is described by his biographer as possessing a mind that was born wise and nurtured to a state of brilliance. With an ability to imbue his most scholarly works with a narrative power 'on a level with that of the greatest masters of prose fiction', Macaulay's multi-volume History of England assured his fame in middle-class Victorian households. Nevertheless, few today are familiar with the author's personal history. Published in the first series of English Men of Letters in 1882, this biography by James Cotter Morison (1832-88) introduces readers to the main influences on Macaulay's life and work from his childhood, through his days at Trinity College, Cambridge, to the writing of his History. The result is a sympathetic and detailed portrait of a man whose life was shaped by literature.

At the outset of this book, published in the first 'English Men of Letters' series in 1883, the poet and author Austin Dobson (1840-1921) declares his intention to restrict himself to giving a 'purely biographical' account of the life of the lawyer, novelist and dramatist Henry Fielding (1707-54). Fielding is probably best remembered today for his novels Joseph Andrews and The History of Tom Jones (1749), but in his own day he was famous not only for his writings in many different genres but also for his work as an innovatory Justice of the Peace in London. Dobson recounts Fielding's life from his schooldays at Eton to the production of his first play, and his subsequent careers as a writer, magistrate and controversialist, until his death in Portugal (where he had travelled in the hope that the climate would improve his health) in October 1754.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) is regarded as one of Britain's greatest poets. As famous for his personality as he was for his poetry, he was rebellious, extravagant and controversial, his life peppered with scandal. First published in the English Men of Letters series in 1880, this biography by John Nichol (1833-94), who also wrote on Carlyle for the series, argues that while Byron did not shape the Romantic era, his work was still highly influential on his contemporaries. Setting Byron's work in an historical context, Nichol shows how the society of his time both idolised him and condemned him as a moral outcast; he was also greatly admired for his efforts for the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman Empire, during which he died. Nichol also discusses the creation of the 'Byronic hero', as much a reflection of Byron's flamboyant persona as an invented literary character.

This biography of the philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) was published in the first series of English Men of Letters in 1880. Its author, Thomas Fowler (1832-1904) held the posts of Wykeham Professor of Logic, President of Corpus Christi College, and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University; the editor of the series, John Morley, had been his pupil. The influence of Locke is pervasive in many fields - theology, education, psychology, economics and political theory as well as philosophy - and Fowler analyses the effect of his writings in five chapters (one dedicated to the Essay Concerning Human Understanding) as well as giving a chronological account of Locke's life from his obscure beginnings through his time at Oxford, his role in the household of the earl of Shaftesbury, and his two periods of travel in Europe, to a position at the heart of political and intellectual life in Restoration England.

Blending history with literary criticism and general reflections with hard facts, this biography from 1880, which places the man in the context of his greatest works, remains a useful starting-point for the study of Pope, not least because it gives an overview of earlier biographies. Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904) came from a distinguished family of politicians, jurists and writers, and was the father of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. His literary career began with writing about his great passion, the Alps, and he became a noted author and critic, and the first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography. He was a friend of John Morley (1838-1923), the general editor of English Men of Letters, who commissioned him to write three biographies for the first series, on Swift, Pope and Johnson. Stephen's Sketches from Cambridge, published anonymously in 1865, is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Written by clergyman Alfred Ainger (1837-1904), this 1882 biography of writer Charles Lamb (1775-1834) is the twenty-first book in the first series of 'English Men of Letters'. Charles Lamb began publishing his poetry in the late 1790s. Both he and his sister Mary (1764-1847), who had been released into Charles' care after killing their mother in a fit of insanity in 1796, began writing for children with the encouragement of William Godwin, their works including the Tales from Shakespeare (1807) for which they are best known. Lamb was also widely regarded for his skill as an essayist, and particularly for his Essays of Elia. Ainger devoted much of his career to Lamb's life and writings, including a six-volume edited collection of Lamb's work. His biography focuses on Lamb's literary output and his place as a critic as well as the events of the writer's life.