Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/171

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Dictionary of English Literature
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applause and devotion of a large portion of the nation, it exposed him to a correspondingly intense opposition on the part of another. The questions which involved him in the greatest conflicts of his life and evoked his chief efforts of intellect were the disestablishment of the Irish Church, the foreign policy of his great rival Disraeli, and Home Rule for Ireland, on the last of which the old Liberal party was finally broken up. In the midst of political labours which might have been sufficient to absorb even his tireless energy, he found time to follow out and write upon various subjects which possessed a life-long interest for him. His first book was The State in its Relations with the Church (1839), which formed the subject of one of Macaulay's essays. Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age 1858), Juventus Mundi (1869), and Homeric Synchronism (1876), The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture (1890), The Vatican Decrees and Vaticanism (1874-75), and Gleanings of Past Years (1897), 8 vols., were his other principal contributions to literature. G.'s scholarship, though sound and even brilliant, was of an old-fashioned kind, and his conclusions on Homeric questions have not received much support from contemporary scholars. In his controversies with Huxley and others his want of scientific knowledge and of sympathy with modern scientific tendencies placed him at a disadvantage. His character was a singularly complex one, and his intellect possessed a plasticity which made it possible to say of him that he never was anything, but was always becoming something. His life was a singularly noble and stainless one, and he must probably ever remain one of the great figures in the history of his country.

Life by J. Morley (3 vols.), others by J. M'Carthy, Reid, Sir Thomas Wemyss, and many others.


Glanvill, Joseph (1636-1680).—Controversialist and moral writer, b. at Plymouth, and ed. at Oxf., took orders, and held various benefices, including the Rectory of Bath Abbey and a prebend at Worcester. He came under the influence of the Camb. Platonists, especially of Henry More (q.v.). His contendings were chiefly with the English Nonconformists, against whom (with the exception of Baxter whom he held in great esteem) he exhibited great bitterness. His chief work is the Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661) which contains the story of "The Scholar Gipsy," in later days turned to such fine account by Matthew Arnold. G. wrote a fine literary style, at its best recalling that of Sir Thomas Browne.


Glapthorne, Henry (fl. 1640).—Dramatist, had a high reputation among his contemporaries, though now almost forgotten. He wrote two comedies, three tragedies, and a book of poems, which were all reprinted in two vols. in 1874. His best work is Argalus and Parthenia (1639), based upon Sidney's Arcadia. Others were The Hollander, Wit is a Constable, and The Ladies' Privilege (all 1640).


Glascock, William Nugent (1787-1847). Novelist. He saw a good deal of service in the navy with credit, and from this drew the inspiration of his vigorous and breezy sea-stories, which include Sailors and Saints (1829), Tales of a Tar (1836), and Land Sharks and Sea Gulls (1838).