Thomas Carlyle (1795 1881) was one of the most influential authors of the nineteenth century. Eagerly studied at the highest level of intellectual society, his satirical essays and perceptive historical biographies caused him to be regarded for much of the Victorian period as a literary genius and eminent social philosopher. After graduating from Edinburgh University in 1814, he published his first scholarly work on German literature in 1824, before finding literary success with his history of the French Revolution in 1837. After falling from favour during the first part of the twentieth...

The publication in 1798 of Lyrical Ballads, written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 1834), is considered to be the starting point of the Romantic movement. Published in the first series of English Men of Letters in 1884, this biography by H. D. Traill (1842 1900), who also wrote on Sterne for the series, sets Coleridge's work within the context of his troubled childhood, his travels, and the depression and financial crises that plagued his life. The first writer to attempt a detailed account of Coleridge's life and work which ranged from poetry, journalism and literary...

Henry Duff Traill (1842 1900) was a prolific journalist, satirist and author. The son of a magistrate, he was called to the Bar in 1869 but began working as a journalist at the Yorkshire Post soon afterwards. He contributed to several newspapers, acting as chief political leader writer at The Daily Telegraph from 1882 to 1897 and editing The Observer for two years. He later became the editor of Literature, holding this post until his death. Among his diverse published works were six biographies, of which the most in-depth was that of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. Published in 1896 and...