alleged 'revelations' by Miss Chevalier. The spell which bound the Oliphants to him was broken in 1881; legal measures compelled the restitution of Oliphant's property at Brocton; Oliphant's final estimate of Harris is given in 'Masollam' (1886). Though he published nothing between 1876 and 1801, he privately circulated many effusions in morbid verse. There was always the cunning of the charlatan about Harris's mysticism; latterly he abounded in ideas on sexual matters, sugar-coated for the modern taste. In 1891 he proclaimed that he had attained the secret of immortality; a partial rejuvenation of his powers was pleaded in confirmation. He came to England, making a long stay in Wales. To America he returned owing to his wine premises having been set on fire by a mob. He did not go to Santa Rosa, but remained in New York. In 1903 he was in Scotland. He died at New York on 23 March 1906; the fact (concealed by his followers, who professed to believe that he was asleep) was not made public till the following July. His remains were cremated. His widow — his third wife — still (1912) survives, in her eighty-fourth year.
A striking and not unkindly picture of Harris, drawn by Oliphant under the designation of David Masollam, portrays his 'leonine aspect,' his Semitic cast of features, his waving hair, overhanging and bushy brow, his eyes 'like revolving lights in two dark caverns,' his 'alternation of vivacity and deliberation,' with changes of voice and expression making him by turns 'much blacker and brighter than most people,' and 'looking very much older one hour than he did the next.' Oliphant holds that Harris was honest at the start, but gave way to greed, unrestraint, and love of power. His personal fascination was much akin to that exercised by John Wroe [q. v.]. His gift of language and power of dramatic utterance were remarkable; but he had nothing new to say, nor had his theology any distinctive mark, unless his doctrine of the fatherhood and motherhood of the divine being be so counted. To an unbeliever most of his verse appears to consist of echoes and high-pitched twaddle; he reminds the poet-laureate of Shelley (Austin, The Poetry of the Period, 1870, p. 227, 'supernatural poetry'). He attracted a few like Oliphant, of more wit than wits, but most of his worshippers were of the class that mistakes conceit for culture, and is agape for novelty. Apart from numerous sermons, Harris's publications in verse and prose include: 1. 'Juvenile Depravity and Crime in our City. A sermon,' &c. [Mark x. 14], New York, 1850. 2. 'An Epic of the Starry Heaven,' New York, 1853; 4th edit. 1864. 3. 'A Lyric of the Morning Land,' New York, 1855; Glasgow, 1869. 4. 'A Lyric of the Golden Age,' New York, 1856 (dictated December-January 1854-5); Glasgow, 1870. 5. 'The Wisdom of Angels,' part i., New York, 1857. 6. 'Hymns of Spiritual Devotion,' New York, 1858, 12mo. 7. 'Arcana of Christianity,' part i.; New York, 1858; Appendix, 1858; part iii., 1867. 8. 'Regina: a Song of Many Days,' New York, 1860. 9. 'The Breath of God with Man: an Essay. . . of Universal Religion,' 1867. 10. 'The Great Republic: a Poem of the Sun,' New York, 1867; 2nd edit. 1891. 11. 'A Celestial Utopia,' Frome, 1869 (account of the Brocton community, from the 'New York Sun'; authorised but apparently not written by Harris). 12. 'The Lord: the Two-in-One,' Salem-on-Erie, 1876 (by Harris and Lily C. Harris). 13. 'Hymns of the Two-in-One; for Bridal Worship in the Kingdom of the New Life,' Salem-on-Erie, 1876 (by the foregoing, under the pseudonyms of Chrysantheus and Chrysanthea). 14. ’A Wedding Guest,' 1877-8, 5 parts (privately printed at Fountain Grove), which was succeeded by many similar works from the same private press until 1887. 15. 'The Brotherhood of the New Life: its Fact, Law, Method,' Santa Rosa, 1891. 16. 'The New Republic,' Santa Rosa, 1891; London, 1891. 17. 'Lyra Triumphalis,' 1891 (dedicated to Swinburne). 18. 'God's Breath in Man and in Humane Society,' 1892 (photographic likeness prefixed). 19. 'Conversation in Heaven,' 1894. 20. 'The Dawnrise,' 1894. 21. 'The Marriage of Heaven and Earth,' 1903 (written 1866). 22. 'The Triumph of Life,' Glasgow, 1903. 23. 'The Song of Theos,' 1903. Posthumous was: 24. 'Veritas: a Word-Song,' Glasgow, 1910 (written 1898-9).
[Appleton's Cyclop. Amer. Biog., 1887; Oliphant, Life of L. Oliphant, 2nd edit. 1892; R. McCully on Harris, 1893, 1897; W. P. Swainson, T. L. Harris, Mad or Inspired, 1895; J. Cuming Walters, Athenæum, 28 July 1906; Annual Register, 1906; A. A. Cuthbert, Life and World-work of T. L. Harris, 1908; private information.]
HARRISON, REGINALD (1837–1908), surgeon, born at Stafford on 24 Aug. 1837. was eldest son of Thomas Harrison, vicar of Christ Church, Stafford, by Mary his wife. Harrison was educated at Rossall school,
