ELLIOTT, EBENK/KR. 



ELLIS, REV. WILLIAM. 



sea 



neither. Meanwhile he ww not neglecting hit 

 ordinary duties. Hi* father had been induced to purchase the foundry 

 bnsinses oo credit, and from his sixteenth to his twenty-third year 

 Elliott " worked for hU father at laboriously as any servant he bad, 

 and without wages, except an occasional shilling or two for pocket- 

 money." It was while thus engaged that ho composed (in his > 

 seventeenth year) his fint published poem, the < Vernal Walk ; ' this | 

 was followed soon after by ' Night,' ' Wharncliffe,' and others : and 

 Elliott, between his rhymes and politics, began to be a local 

 celebrity. He had the good fortune to form the acquaintance of 

 Southey, who was earnest in giving him the full benefit of his own 

 wide experience in poetical studies, and Elliott was in after years 

 prood of proclaiming that Southey taught him poetry. Happily for 

 hit lasting fame, he did not let his respect fur the genius or his 

 gratitude for the kindness of the laureate lead him to become an 

 imitator, or to tame down his wild note* to the orthodox tunes. 

 Between ' Wharncliffe,' and the ' Corn-law Rhymes,' be published in 

 1823 ' Love,' and another poem, accompanying them with a ' Letter to 

 Lord Byron.' 



Elliott's father was too much hampered by the liabilities he had 

 incurred, and his want of capital, to carry on the foundry with 

 success. After a time young Elliott commenced business at Rother- 

 ham on bis own account ; but failing there he removed to Sheffield, 

 wherein 1831 he, at the ago of forty, recommenced the battle of life 

 as a bar-iron merchant, with a borrowed capital of 1002. Here he had 

 a series of commercial successes, built himself a handsome residence 

 in the suburb of Upper Thorpe, and carried on a flourishing business 

 till the great panic of 1837, when heavy losses caused him to 

 contract the scale of bis dealings. He finally withdrew from business 

 in 1841, and retired to a pretty country residence he had built for 

 himself on an estate of his own at Great Houghton, near Barneuley, 

 snd there he resided at ease in his circumstances, the centre and 

 oracle of a circle of admiring friends, till his death, which occurred 

 on the 1st of December 1849, having lived to tee the great change 

 effected in the commercial policy of the country which he had 

 laboured so earnestly to bring about. 



Elliott says of himself, in the ' Autobiography ' already quoted : 

 " There is not in my poetry one good idea that has not been suggested 

 to me by some real occurrence, or by some object actually before my 

 eyes, or by some remembered object or occurrence, or by the thoughts 

 of other men, heard or read." And this is evidently true. All his 

 poetry all the true and living part of it nt leant was suggested by 

 some passing event, or was written to serve some temporary purpose. 

 None of it is the result of a long meditated design, or the completely 

 formed issue of a vivid and vigorous imagination ; or, on the other 

 band, the unpremeditated melody of a heart imbued with happy 

 thoughts and fancies singing as the wild-bird sings. Nevertheless it 

 is true, albeit often very harsh and rugged, poetry. It is the passionate 

 protest against wrong the fiery remonstrance with the wrongdoer 

 spurning the cold incumbrance of prose, and finding its only suf- 

 ficient utterance in the unrestrained flow of poetry. The great public 

 evil that came nearest home to his own hearth, that, as it seemed to 

 him, which was inflicting dire mischief on the labouring classes of 

 his own neighbourhood, and which was undermining the prosperity 

 of the manufactures of his native place, and as he believed of the 

 country generally, was the Corn-laws ; and he resolved to set forth 

 the mischiefs those laws were producing, and the greater dangers they 

 were threatening. He had not been long settled at Sheffield when his 

 'Corn-law Rhymes' began to appear in a local paper, and their 

 effect on the hard Yorkshire artiaos was immediate and luting. And 

 their influence was assuredly well-earned. Rude and rugged in lan- 

 guage, intensely bitter, even savage in their indignation, often, as might 

 be expected, inconsiderate and sometimes unjust in their denunciations, 

 they yet showed everywhere a thoroughly honest hatred of oppression, 

 and fellow-fueling with the oppressed and suffering. With quite a 

 Crabbe-like familiarity with the poverty of the poor, they displayed a 

 Car wanner, deeper, and more genial sympathy. The wrath and the 

 pathos, too, uttered in the most impassioned and the most direct word*, 

 were yet conveyed in genuine music, which made its way at once to 

 the heart When from a local they appealed to the general public 

 they were equally successful. 



The Corn-law Rhymes,' published in a single volume with ' The 

 Ranter,' at once made Elliott's name famous. Men of all shades of 

 opinion joined in the admiration. The language was occasionally 

 objected to, but it was generally felt that the language was really a 

 part of the man. Noticing the objection in the preface to a new 

 edition of the Rhymes, Elliott asked, " Is it strange that my language is 

 ftr.e.it as a welding liea', when my thought* are passions that rush 

 burning from my mind, like white-hot bolt* of steel ?" But this, while.a 

 sufficient explanation of what reads so like excessive vehemence, series 

 really to take off the edge of his poetic declamation, while it destroy* 

 the impression of his prose, as placing within the category of passion 

 what ought to be the result of reason. Elliott followed his ' Corn- 

 law Rhymes' by publishing in 1829 the Village PatriArch,' another 

 but longer corn-law rhyme, much the best of hi* longer pieces, and one 

 which, with many faults, shows that he was capable of producing a 

 great work, could he have subjected his mind to the necessary dis- 

 cipline. 'Love,' 'They Met Again, 'Withered Wild-Flowers,' 'Her- 



honah,' a dramatic fragment, and numerous beautiful little pieces, in 

 which descriptions of the scenery of his much-loved Yorkshire formed 

 the most attractive part, followed; and in 1834 he published his 

 collected works in three volumes. Three or four more editions of 

 his poetry were called for during his life, and to the last he continued 

 to write rhyme*, epigrams, songs, and abort snatches of verse, which 

 usually appeared from time to time in the corner of a local newspaper 

 or the page* of ' Tail's Magazine.' Since his death two volumes of 

 his inedited remain* have appeared under the title of ' More Prose and 

 Verse, by the Corn-law Rhymer,' but they contain nothing that can 

 materially add to his reputation. Two memoirs of him have been 

 published, written by Sheffield friends : but his biography remains to 

 be written ; and it is greatly to bo desired that a fitting biography 

 should be written of one who is emphatically the poet of Yorkshire 

 of its moors and streams, its towns and townsmen the poet of the 

 corn-law struggle, and the poet of the poor. 



ELLIS, GEORGE, was bora in 1745, and early distinguished lam- 

 self by his wit aud ability. His first literary appearance was as one 

 of the authors of the ' Rolliad,' to which he contributed the ' Birth- 

 day Ode;' the 'Ode on Duudas;' the poetical eclogue ' Charles Jen- 

 kiuson,' and several of the 'Criticisms' and ' Epigrams;' he was also 

 one of the writers of 'Probationary Odes;' and later he was, after 

 Canning, one of the most prolific and piquant contributors of both 

 verse and prose to the ' Anti-Jacobin.' While taking a lively interest 

 in politics, he devoted his leisure to the study of our early literature ; 

 and few men have combined as wide a knowledge of English literature 

 with as refined aud genial a taste. In minute antiquarian details be has 

 been far surpassed, but while he always displayed a competent know- 

 ledge, there was in him nothing of the pedantry of minute information, 

 which often enables an inferior person to pass off as a better scholar 

 than he really is. Sir Walter Scott, who was first introduced to Ellii 

 in 1800, and who, in his |>oetical investigations, derived no little benefit 

 from his critical skill and friendly assistance, declared that George Kllis 

 was "one of the most accomplished scholars and delightful companion! 

 he bad ever known;" and that seemed to be the estimate formed of 

 him by those who were best acquainted with him. Mr. Ellis's principal 

 works were his ' Specimens of Ancient English Poetry,' of which the 

 first edition appeared in 1780, an enlarged edition in 1801, aud a 

 fourth edition in 1811 ; and 'Specimens of Ancient English Romances, 

 3 vols. 8vo, 1805 two works which very largely contributed to bring 

 about that increased study of our older writers which marked the early 

 part of the present century, and had so important an influence in 

 restoring to our current literature a healthier tone of thought and 

 a more simple and masculine style. The ' Specimens of Ancient 

 Knglish Romances' was reprinted in 1848, in a very convenient form, 

 in Mr. Bohu'e generally well-edited ' Antiquarian Library ;' but unfor- 

 tunately the editor (Mr. Halliwell) thought proper to " silently amend " 

 what be conceived to be " the various philological errors into which 

 Ellis had fallen," aud consequently the volume is worthless as a book 

 of reference, as the reader is always at a loss to tell whether what 

 he reads is the opinion of Mr. Ellis or of his editor. Mr. Ellis died 

 on the 15th of April 1815. His epitaph was written by his warm 

 friend George Canning, who however, before it was engraved, sub- 

 mitted it to Sir Walter Scott for revision. Mr. Ellis was a member of 

 the Royal Society aud the Society of Antiquaries. 



ELLIS, SIR HENRY, was born in London in 1777. He received 

 his early education at the Merchant Taylors School, and then pro- 

 ceeded to St. John's, Oxford, where he took his degree. In 1805 he 

 married. About this period he became one of the assistant librarians 

 of the British Museum ; and the facilities which this position afforded 

 him for pursuing those antiquarian researches, in which he took an 

 eager interest, were manifested in several valuable publications. In 

 1813 anew and enlarged edition of Brand's ' Observations on Popular 

 Antiquities,' in two quarto volumes, was edited by him. It was sub- 

 sequently republished in a popular form in 1842. In 1816 he was 

 entrusted by the Commissioners of Public Records to write the general 

 Introduction to 'Domesday Book,' and he discharged thin trust with 

 an industry and earn which renders this Introduction one of the most 

 valuable aid* to the proper understanding of that important survey. 

 He was a contributor to the new edition of Dugdale's ' Monasticon,' 

 commenced in 1817. In 1824 he published his first series of 'LrU'-r> 

 illustrative of Knglish History,' and a second aeries in 1827. In that 

 year he was appointed principal librarian of the British Museum, an 

 office which he filled with great efficiency, and with an urbanity which 

 won for him the regard of all persons with whom his official duties 

 brought him into communication. In the early part of 1856 h 

 resigned this honourable post He was for many years a member and 

 joint-secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. His papers in the 

 ' Archicologia' are numerous and most interesting. Sir Henry Klin 

 has thus been a large contributor to the literature of his country. 

 Without striking into any new tract of antiquarian research, he ha, 

 during this long course of unwearied labour, produced most valuable 

 contributions to the knowledge of our national antiquitie.1. II in 

 classical knowledge enabled him to prepare four interesting volumes 

 on 'The Elgin Marbles' and 'The Townley Marbles.' In 1832 

 he was created a Knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, 

 and promoted in 1833 to the rank of Knight Bachelor. 



\ELLIS, I!EV. WILLIAM, whose name has become associated 



