873 



LEWIS. 



LEWIS, JOHN FREDERICK. 



873 



of theee contributions to periodicals some on classical subjects, some 

 on foreign literature, some historical, and some philosophic or scien- 

 tific would occupy a large space, and would give an idea of an 

 industry and a mental range rarely equalled. We may add that 

 scarcely an article that has proceeded from Mr. Lewes's pen but has 

 been eminently readable ; while not a few have attracted great notice, 

 even in their anonymous form, on account of their striking views 

 and vivid and sparkling style. Among the moat remarkable of those 

 of deeper character was an article on Spinoza contributed to the 

 ' British and Foreign Review.' These contributions to periodicals 

 and journals, however, represent but a portion of Mr. Lewes's activity. 

 He is also the author of numerous acknowledged works. In the year 

 1845 appeared his ' Biographical History of Philosophy,' occupying 

 four volumes in Mr. Knight's ' Weekly Volumes ' a work of great 

 merit, which has been extremely popular, and of which, aa it is now 

 out of print, the author is preparing a new and extended edition. 

 Another work of Mr. Lewes's, published in Mr. Knight's Weekly 

 Volumes in 1846, was ' The Spanish Drama : Lope de Vega and Cal- 

 deron.' ' Ranthorpe : a Tale,' in one volume, was published in Messrs. 

 Chapman and Hall's series in 1847; and ' Rose, Blanche, and Violet,' 

 a regular novel, in 1848. ' The Life of Maximilian Robespierre, with 

 Extracts from his unpublished Correspondence,' appeared in 1849 ; 

 and in 1853, as one of the volumes of 'Bonn's Scientific Library,' 

 ' Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences ; being an Exposition of the Prin- 

 ciples of the Cours de Philosophic Positive of Auguste Comte.' Mr. 

 Lewes's latest, and in some respects his most important work, is his 

 ' Life and Works of Goethe ; with Sketches of his Age and Contem- 

 poraries from published and unpublished Sources,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1855. 

 While preparing this work, Mr. Lewes spent some months at Weimar. 

 Mr. Lewes is also known as a dramatic author. His tragedy entitled 

 'The Noble Heart,' was published in 1850, and was then acted suc- 

 cessfully ; and of his lighter dramatic performances, one entitled 

 ' The (jarne of Speculation,' has had marked success. Of late years 

 Mr. Lewes has turned much of his attention to natural science 

 and to the more advanced order of speculations in connection 

 with Physiology ; and some of his articles on topics of this class, 

 contributed more especially to the 'Westminster Review,' have 

 exhibited not ouly rare powers of luminous exposition, but also a bold 

 spirit of generalisation. A popular treatise on Physiology has been 

 for some time expected from Mr. Lewes's pen. 



LEWIS, Kings of France. [Louis.] 



LEWIS, SIR GEORGE CORNEWALL, BART., M.P., is the eldest 

 son of the late Right Honourable Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis, Bart, 

 (by a daughter of the late Sir George Cornewall, Bart.), many years 

 M.I', for Ennis, Beaumaris, Radnor, and Radnorshire, who, having 

 filled successively the offices of Secretary to the Treasury, Vice- 

 Preaident of the Board of Trade, Treasurer of the Navy, and Chairman 

 of the Poor-Law Commission, was rewarded for his public services 

 with a baronetcy in 1846, and died in 1855. Sir George Cornewall 

 Lewis was born in October 1806, and having received his early educa- 

 tion at Eton, was removed in 1824 to Christ Church, Oxford, of which 

 he became student, and where he graduated B.A. in 1828, taking the 

 highest honours in classics, and a second class in the mathematical 

 school. In 1831 be was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, but 

 never practised. Having previously held some inferior appointments, 

 in the discharge of which he showed great capacity for business, 

 he was appointed a Poor-Law Commissioner in 1839, and held that 

 port until 1847, when he became Secretary to the Board of Control. 

 In the following year he exchanged this appointment for the Under- 

 Secretaryship of the Home Department, which was then administered 

 by Sir George Grey. In 1850 he became Secretary of the Treasury, 

 but resigned that post in 1852 on the retirement of Lord John 

 Ruisell from the Premiership. In 1847 he had been elected M.P. for 

 Herefordshire, which he represented in the Liberal interest down to 

 the dissolution in 1852, when he failed to secure his re-election; and 

 in the December of the same year he unsuccessfully contested Peter- 

 borough. In February 1855 he succeeded his father as the repre- 

 sentative of his native county of Raduor, and had been ouly a few 

 weeks in parliament when he was appointed by Lord Palmerston 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer on the resignation of Mr. W. E. Gladstone, 

 which office he still holds (Nov. 1856). 



During twenty years of public life and of official engagements, 

 Sir George Lewis has found time to employ his pen in the production 

 of several deep and philosophical treatises. He first became known to 

 the literary world by a translation of Muller's learned treatise on the 

 ancient ' History and Antiquities of the Doric Race,' which he executed 

 in conjunction with the late Rt, Hon. Henry Tufnell, M.P., and pub- 

 lished in 1830 in 2 vols. 8vo. To it Mr. Lewis prefixed a preface, in 

 which he states the philosophical principle on which he has composed 

 his subsequent original historical treatises, and which was carried out 

 with so much succe-s by Niebuhr, namely, " the eliciting of historic 

 truth out of mythical narratives." In such matters, writes Sir G. C. 

 Lewi*, " it is better to reject all than to believe all where the alloy of 

 error it large. In these obscure regions the historian can only be safe 

 when guided by a careful comparison of all the different legends of 

 the numerous states and cities of Greece, so as to decipher their meta- 

 phorical language : by a study of the geography and nature of the 

 country, the history and remains of art, and of religion, of ancient 



inscriptions and coius, and of every other means which ingenuity 

 can contrive for restoring from its fragments the ruined fabric of 

 antiquity." In these words we find the key-note of all the political, 

 philosophical, and historical works which the writer of them has 

 composed, among which we ought more particularly to mention hia 

 ' Inquiry into the Credibility of Early Roman History," au elaborate 

 work in 2 vols. 8vo, in which he follows out the principles laid down 

 by Niebuhr in his investigation into the received accounts of those 

 early times ; the ' Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion ; ' 

 and Essays on the ' Origin and Formation of Romance Languages,' on 

 the ' Use and Abuse of Political Terms,' and the ' Government of 

 Dependencies,' together with ' Remarks on Local Disturbances in 

 Ireland,' a work of considerable merit for its liberality of tone 

 and farsightedness of vision, which he first published in 1836. 

 Besides the above he published in 1852 a ' Treatise on the Method of 

 Observation and Reasoning in Politics," in which he proceeds upon 

 inductive principles to lay down a positive system of philosophy 

 applicable to the study of politics. Like the rest of his productions 

 this work is well stored with facts and illustrations, and consequently 

 evinces a practical turn of mind rather than original powers of thought 

 or imagination. 



In the early part of 1854 Sir G. C. Lewis succeeded the late Pro- 

 fessor Empson as editor of the ' Edinburgh Review,' but abandoned 

 that field of literary employment on taking office aa Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer. In 1844 Sir G. C. Lewis married a sister of the Earl of 

 Clarendon, the widow of Thomas Henry Lister, Esq., who is well 

 known in the republic of letters as the authoress of ' Sketches of the 

 Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon,' her own great and 

 venerable ancestor. 



LEWIS, JOHN FREDERICK, President of the Society of 

 Painters in Water-Colours, is the sou of Mr. F. C. Lewis, himself an 

 engraver and landscape painter of very great ability. John Frederick 

 Lewis was born in London in July 1805, and received his preparatory 

 training in painting aud engraving from his father. His earliest works 

 of any importance were representations of wild animals, painted with 

 remarkable power both in oil and water-colours, and several of them 

 were engraved by himself. Visits to Italy and Spain led him to devote 

 himself to figure-painting, and more particularly to representations of 

 Spanish scenes and character. About 1835 and 1836 he exhibited 

 several Spanish pictures, which won general admiration. Among the 

 more remarkable of these were his series depicting a ' Bull-fight in 

 Seville : ' ' The Opening of the Lists," ' The Death of the Bull,' aud 

 ' The Suburbs of a Spanish City on the Day of a Bull-fight ; 'three 

 pictures which in their po werful expression, vigorous execution, minute 

 fidelity, and breadth and freshness of style were a novelty in the water- 

 colour art. In 1837 Mr. Lewis exhibited 'A Fiesta in the South of 

 Spain Peasants dancing the Bolero,' and 'Peasants at their Devo- 

 tions,' which were equally brilliant in style and execution ; but the 

 main attraction that year was his picture of ' A Spy of the Christino 

 Army brought before the Carlist General-in-Chief, Zumalacarregui : ' 

 this and the ' Suburbs of a Spanish City ' of the year before were 

 engraved, and formed two popular prints. Mr. Lewis also published 

 this year fac-similes of 25 of his 'Spanish Sketches,' drawn by himself 

 on stone. Soon after completing these sketches and a few other 

 Spanish pictures of which 'Murillo painting the Virgin in the Fran- 

 ciscan Convent at Seville," and the ' Pillage of a Convent in Spain by 

 Guerilla Soldiers,' were exhibited in 1838 he again visited the Conti- 

 nent, where he stayed about a couple of years. At Rome Mr. Lewis 

 painted a noble picture of ' The Pope blessing the People,' which he 

 forwarded for exhibition at the Water-Colour Gallery, and then pro- 

 ceeded to Constantinople. 



In all Mr. Lewis remained in the East ten years from 1840 to 

 1850 his head-quarters being Cairo, but making various excursions 

 into Asia Mi*>r, &c. During this time only a few*of his less important 

 sketches were forwarded to Europe, but he brought home with him a 

 portfolio more richly stored with studies of eastern life aud scenery 

 than had ever before been obtained by an English artist. The effect 

 of his sojourn in the East appeared in the Water Colour Society's 

 exhibition, 1850, in a picture of considerable size entitled 'The 

 Hhareem,' a representation of a Turkish dignitary seated on a divan, 

 with his three wives, while a newly purchased Abyssinian slave is 

 being introduced by an Arab female. The work produced a great 

 impression. To a considerable extent it was a novelty in art, and 

 though the subject appeared to be voluptuous in character it was 

 treated with the utmost chasteness and refinement. As a work of 

 art it was admitted on all hands to be almost perfect in execution, 

 combining a degree of minute finish scarcely equalled, with great 

 breadth and vigour of effect ; and rich and delicate in tone and colour : 

 the capabilities of water colours had in fact scarcely ever been so 

 fully brought out before. In 1852 Mr. Lewis exhibited an 'Arab 

 Scribe a Scene in Cairo,' even more remarkable than the Hhareem 

 for elaborate finish, but less striking as a whole; while in his 

 pictures exhibited at the Water-Colour Gallery in 1854 -'Halt in the 

 Desert,' ' Bedouins and their Camels a Scene hi the Desert of the 

 Red Sea,' and ' Roman Peasants at a Shrine,' he appeared to be 

 trying experiments in colour, without adding thereby to the effect 

 of his pictures ; and in neither of his subsequent pictures, ' The 

 Well in the Desert, Egypt' (1855), and 'A Frank in the Desert of 



