The humorously self-styled 'late' Thomas Pennant (1726 98) published this short autobiographical survey in 1793. A prominent Welsh naturalist and antiquary, he was known more for his energy and meticulous methodology than for original scientific genius. Yet he helped popularise natural history with beautifully illustrated works such as his History of Quadrupeds, the third edition of which is also reissued in this series. Moreover, he is credited with preserving thorough records of antiquities that were later damaged or destroyed. Samuel Johnson, who toured Scotland after Pennant, praised him...
The humorously self-styled 'late' Thomas Pennant (1726 98) published this short autobiographical survey in 1793. A prominent Welsh naturalist and anti...
Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in Dublin, he remained an ardent Irish patriot until his death. This eight-volume collection of Moore's memoirs, diaries and letters, edited by his friend Lord John Russell (1792 1878) and first published between 1853 and 1856, provides rare insights into a man whose genius was applauded by the Morning Chronicle as 'embracing almost all sides of imaginative literature, of criticism and philosophy'. Volume 1 contains Moore's incomplete memoir,...
Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in...
Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in Dublin, he remained an ardent Irish patriot until his death. This eight-volume collection of Moore's memoirs, diaries and letters, edited by his friend Lord John Russell (1792 1878) and first published between 1853 and 1856, provides rare insights into a man whose genius was applauded by the Morning Chronicle as 'embracing almost all sides of imaginative literature, of criticism and philosophy'. Volume 6 contains Moore's diary for the period...
Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in...
Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in Dublin, he remained an ardent Irish patriot until his death. This eight-volume collection of Moore's memoirs, diaries and letters, edited by his friend Lord John Russell (1792 1878) and first published between 1853 and 1856, provides rare insights into a man whose genius was applauded by the Morning Chronicle as 'embracing almost all sides of imaginative literature, of criticism and philosophy'. Volume 8 opens with a portrait of Moore in later...
Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accused her of having 'no imagination'. And despite her evident talents, she was unable to find a patron willing to support a woman. Yet her letters reveal the breadth of her interests and the strength of her literary criticism. In addition to writing to newspapers and magazines, she counted many eminent figures among her correspondents, including James Boswell (who begged for a lock of her hair) and the young Walter Scott. This six-volume selection...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accuse...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accused her of having 'no imagination'. And despite her evident talents, she was unable to find a patron willing to support a woman. Yet her letters reveal the breadth of her interests and the strength of her literary criticism. In addition to writing to newspapers and magazines, she counted many eminent figures among her correspondents, including James Boswell (who begged for a lock of her hair) and the young Walter Scott. This six-volume selection...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accuse...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accused her of having 'no imagination'. And despite her evident talents, she was unable to find a patron willing to support a woman. Yet her letters reveal the breadth of her interests and the strength of her literary criticism. In addition to writing to newspapers and magazines, she counted many eminent figures among her correspondents, including James Boswell (who begged for a lock of her hair) and the young Walter Scott. This six-volume selection...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accuse...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accused her of having 'no imagination'. And despite her evident talents, she was unable to find a patron willing to support a woman. Yet her letters reveal the breadth of her interests and the strength of her literary criticism. In addition to writing to newspapers and magazines, she counted many eminent figures among her correspondents, including James Boswell (who begged for a lock of her hair) and the young Walter Scott. This six-volume selection...
The literary career of Anna Seward (1742 1809) had many frustrations. Erasmus Darwin once printed her poetry under his own name. Horace Walpole accuse...
On the death of Edward Gibbon (1737 94), his unpublished papers were left to his friend John Baker Holroyd, first earl of Sheffield, who published them in two volumes in 1796. Gibbon had written six manuscript accounts of his own life, and, according to Sheffield, had always intended to publish his autobiography in his lifetime. The memoir as edited by Sheffield begins with Gibbon's family history, and taking in his education, travels, and career as a historian, finishes with his anxiety over the future of Europe in 1788. Sheffield then continues the story until Gibbon's death through his...
On the death of Edward Gibbon (1737 94), his unpublished papers were left to his friend John Baker Holroyd, first earl of Sheffield, who published the...
Successors such as Wordsworth and Coleridge admired yet overshadowed William Cowper (1731 1800). Troubled by mental instability, he retreated from both the legal profession and the woman he had hoped to marry, seeking out a quiet existence in the country. In spite of his struggles, he made a translation of Homer's Iliad, produced a considerable body of poetry, and maintained many epistolary contacts. This four-volume biography, compiled by his friend and fellow poet William Hayley (1745 1820), appeared between 1803 and 1806, bringing together selected letters and unpublished poems to...
Successors such as Wordsworth and Coleridge admired yet overshadowed William Cowper (1731 1800). Troubled by mental instability, he retreated from bot...