mously, with a prefatory note by Miss Beatrice Harraden, in 1899. She usually lived in London, but about three years before her death retired to Brougham House, Malvern. She died at Queen Anne's Mansions, London, on 14 July 1898. A posthumous portrait was painted by the Hon. John Collier for presentation to the public library at Keswick, and a drawing by Samuel Laurence, taken when she was twenty, is in the possession of the Rev. Augustus Gedge, her brother-in-law.
[The principal authority for Mrs. Linton's life is Eliza Lynn Linton, her Life, Letters, and Opinions, by George Somes Layard, 1901. See also My Literary Life, 1899; Men and Women of the Time; Athenæum, 23 July 1898.]
LINTON, WILLIAM JAMES (1812–1898), engraver, poet, and political reformer, was born in Ireland's Row, Mile End Road, on 7 Dec. 1812. His father, whose calling is not recorded, was of Scottish extraction, the son of 'an Aberdeen ship carpenter with some pretensions to be called an architect.' His younger brother, Henry Duff Linton (1812–1899), who was also a wood-engraver, and was associated with W. J. Linton in many of his earlier productions, died at Norbiton, Surrey, in June 1899 (Times, 23 June 1899).
Linton received his education at a school in Stratford, and in 1828 was apprenticed to the wood-engraver George Wilmot Bonner, with whom he continued for six years. He subsequently worked with Powis and with Thompson, and in 1836 became associated with John Orrin Smith [q. v.], then introducing great improvements into English wood-engraving. About the same time he married the sister of Thomas Wade [q. v.] the poet, after whose death he wedded another sister. He now began to mingle in literary circles, and to make himself conspicuous as a political agitator. Under the influence of his enthusiasm for Shelley and Lamennais, whose 'Words of a Believer' were among the gospels of the time, he had adopted advanced views in religion and extreme views in politics, and, while throwing himself with ardour into the chartist movement, went beyond it in professing himself a republican. He was especially connected with Henry Hetherington [q. v.] and James Watson (1799-1874) [q. v.], the publishers of unstamped newspapers, and in 1839 himself established 'The National,' designed as a vehicle for the reprint of extracts from political and philosophical publications inaccessible to working men. It had no long existence.
In 1842 Linton became partner with his employer, Orrin Smith, but the partnership was dissolved by the latter's death in the following year. During their connection Linton had done much important work, especially on 'The Illustrated News,' established in 1842. He was also active in literature. Through his brother-in-law Wade he had become intimate with the circle that gathered around W. J. Fox and R. H. Home in the latter days of 'The Monthly Repository,' and with their aid, after an unsuccessful experiment in 'The Illustrated Family Journal, he succeeded (1845) Douglas Jerrold as editor of 'The Illuminated Magazine,' where he published many interesting contributions from writers of more merit than popularity. Among these were 'A Royal Progress,' a poem of considerable length by Sarah Flower Adams [q. v.], not hitherto printed elsewhere, and specimens of the 'Stories after Nature' of Charles Jeremiah Wells [q. v.], almost the only known copy of which Linton himself had picked off a bookstall. Their publication elicited a new story from Wells, which Linton subsequently dramatised under its own title of 'Claribel.'
As a politician Linton was at this time chiefly interested in the patriotic designs of Mazzini, with whom he formed an intimate friendship, and the violation of whose correspondence at the post office in 1844 he was instrumental in exposing. The chartist movement had passed under the direction of Feargus O'Connor [q. v.], whom Linton distrusted and despised, and he had little connection with it; of the free-trade leaders, W. J. Fox excepted, he had a still worse opinion, and continued to denounce them with virulence throughout his life. An acquaintance with Charles (now Sir Charles) Gavan Duffy led him to contribute political verse to the Dublin 'Nation' under the signature of 'Spartacus.' In 1847 he took a prominent part in founding the 'International League' of patriots of all nations, for which the events of the following year seemed to provide ample scope, but which came to nothing. The more limited and practical movement of 'The Friends of Italy' was supported by him. In 1850 he was concerned with Thornton Hunt and G. H. Lewes in the establishment of 'The Leader,' which he expected to make the organ of republicanism, but he soon discovered his associates' lukewarmness in political matters, and quitted 'The Leader' to found 'The English Republic,' a monthly journal published and originally printed at Leeds. After a while Linton carried on the printing under his own superintendence at Brantwood, a house which he had
