B I O 



414 



B I O 



algebra. The proof is certainly, if the details be correct, of 

 a logical character, but it is far above the student. The 

 remark* on other demonstrations in the preface, though 

 dissenting entirely from many of them, we should recom- 

 mend to the attention of the advanced student, as an exercise 

 in the consideration of objections. At the same time we 

 may recommend the remarks in Woodhouse's Analytical 

 Calculation*. 



BIOGRAPHY, a modern term, and one indeed of only 

 recent introduction, formed from the Greek /3/oc (biot), 

 ' life,' and ypn^i) (grapfir), ' writing,' and therefore signi- 

 fying literally 'life-writing'. It is that department of litera- 

 ture which treats of the actions and fortunes of individuals. 

 Biography is commonly distinguished from history by the 

 latter term being confined to the narration of the actions 

 and fortunes, not of individuals, but of the large communi- 

 ties of men called states and nations; but properly bio- 

 graphy is only a branch of history. Thus Thomas Stanley, 

 in the preface to his 'History of Philosophy,' observes, 

 ' There are two kinds of history ; one represents general 

 affairs of state, the other gives account of particular persons, 

 whose lives have rendered them eminent' At the time 

 when this was written (the middle of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury) the word biography, we believe, hod not been invented. 

 Stanley adds, ' Homer hath given an essay of each : of the 

 first in his Iliads, a relation of n war between different 

 nations; of the second in his Odysseys, confined to the 

 person of Ulysses.' 



Owing to this their natural connection, history and bio- 

 graphy are frequently combined in the same work. Indeed 

 it is scarcely possible to write any history of a nation, which 

 shall not consist, in a great part, of narratives or notices of 

 the acts of individuals. The life of every eminent political 

 character, and of every person who has been conspicuously 

 engaged in the conduct of any department of public affairs, 

 makes a portion of the history of his country. But besides 

 such occasional threads of biography as arc interwoven in 

 almost every historical composition, a more formal intermix- 

 ture, or association in the same work, of biographical details 

 with national history, has sometimes been attempted. Thus, 

 for example, to his ' History of the Age of Louis XIV.,' 

 Voltaire has added a biographical appendix of the more 

 celebrated writers, painters, musicians, sculptors, and other 

 artists who lived in France during that period. So, in 

 the very useful ' Synopsis of Universal History,' written in 

 German by J. H. Zopf, of which there is nn enlarged and 

 otherwise improved translation into French (5 vols. 12mo. 

 1810), an account of the most eminent writers of every cen- 

 tury is regularly added to the abridgment of political events. 

 In many more regular histories, such as Henry's ' History 

 of Great Britain,' Lord John Russell's ' History of the Al- 

 laire of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht,' the progress of 

 literature is in a similar manner traced alongside of that of 

 national affairs, in distinct chapters, containing accounts of 

 the lives and writings of men of letters. There is indeed 

 scarcely any other way than this of incorporating the history 

 of literature with the history of political transactions; and 

 it will therefore be more or less resorted to whenever the 

 furrnor subject is thought of sufficient importance to be in- 

 cluded in the writer's scheme. 



But biography has sometimes been intermixed with his- 

 tory on a more comprehensive principle. We have an ex- 

 ample of this in one of the divisions of the ' Encyclopaedia 

 Metropolitan^' which is described in the plan of the work 

 as containing ' Biography chronologically arranged, inter- 

 spersed with introductory chapters of National History, Po- 

 litical Geography, and Chronology.' Here the history would 

 appear to be subordinate to the biography. In the ' General 

 Introduction' to the Encyclopaedia, which was written by 

 Mr. Coleridge, though much altered lioth by interpolation 

 and otherwise after it left his hands, it is said, ' Biography 

 nd history tend to the same points of general instruction, 

 in two ways: the one exhibiting human principles and pas- 

 sions acting upon a large scale ; the other showing them as 

 they move in a smaller circle, but enabling us to trace the 



orbit which they describe with greater precision As- 



.ly the great use of history is to acquaint us with tho 

 nature of man. This end is best answered by the most 

 ul portrait; but biography is a collection of portraits. 

 At the same time there must bo some mode of grouping 

 and connc' individuals, who are thci. 



great landmarks in the map of human nature. It has ' 



us that the most effectual mode, of attaining 

 the chief objects of historical knowledge will be to ; 



history in the form of biography chronologically arranged. 

 . ...Thus will tho far greater |>ort i\ lie com. 



not only in its most inti-rcstiun, but in its IIHIM philosophical 

 and real form ; while the rei ..-is will be intorv. 



in the preliminary and conn ;<teni.' Substantially 



Identical with the plan hero traced is that of a work, the 

 first volume of which appeared at Glasgow in 1833, and 

 which is still (1835), wo believe, in course of publication, 

 entitled, ' Lives of Eminent and Illustrious Englishmen, on 

 an original plan, comprising the twofold advantage of a 

 general English Biography and a History of England : 

 edited by G. G. Cunningham.' In his prel 

 this work appears to admit that its plan i> more udaj . 

 exhibit the popular attractions than tho scientific pn . 

 or most important lessons of history. 



Some of the most antient literary compositions in 

 ence ore works of biography, or of mixed biography and 

 history. In the historical books of the Old Testament the 

 narrative of public events is everywhere intermixed with 

 the lives of individuals patriarchs, lawgivers, captains, 

 high priests, judges, kings, and other ruler* or eminent 

 characters. In some cases the composition is purely biogra- 

 phical, as the Book of Ruth. 



Of professed biographical works, by far the greatest that 

 has come down to us from the Greeks, is thn 'Parallel 

 Lives' of Plutarch, written in the second century of our 

 cera. This work comprehends distinguished characters in 

 all the departments both of military and civil life. Another 

 collection of very small value is that of the ' Lives of Emi- 

 nent Greek and Roman Commanders,' written by Corneliu* 

 Nepos, in the reign of Augustus. There is also the work 

 entitled ' The Lives of the Twelve Ctcsars,' by Suetonius, 

 which however is necessarily in some degree of an historical 

 character. It is a very indigested composition, to wh: 

 class it may be considered as belonging. Suetonius like- 

 wise wrote a book of lives of celebrated grammarians, of 

 which some fragments have been preserved. 'They who 

 writ of philosophers,' says Stanley, 'exceeded the re- 

 in number, of whom to give a particular account will be un- 

 necessary, because their works are not extant, and therefore 

 we shall only name them: Aetius, Anaxilidos, Antigonu*, 

 Antisthenes, Aristoclcs, Aristomcnus, Callimachus, Clitc- 

 machus, Diocles, Diogenes Lac'rtius, Eunapius, Ileradid. >, 

 Hermippus, Hesychius, Hippobotus, Ion, Idomeneus, Ni- 

 cander, Nicias, Panaetius, Porrius, Plutarch, Soliou, and 

 Theodorus. Of almost all these (which in much to lu> de- 

 plored) there remain not any footsteps ; the only author in 

 this kind for the more antient philosophers is Diogenes 

 Laertius: lor the later, Eunapius. And to make the 

 fortune the greater, that which Laertius gives us is so far 

 short of what he might have done, that there is much more 

 to be found of the same persons dispersed Amongst Other 

 authors.' Diogenes lived in the beginning of the third cen- 

 tury. At the end of the second and beginning of the third 

 century we have Flavius Philostrntus, who wrote a collection 

 of biographies in two books, entitled ' Lives of the Sophists.' 

 Of single biographical sketches tho antiunts have also left 

 us several, most of which seem to have been originally pre- 

 fixed to editions of the works of the persons to whom they 

 relate. Thus wo have a Life of Homer attributed to He- 

 rodotus; and another of Plato, by Olympiodorus of Alex- 

 andria. Of all such single lives perhaps the most curious 

 is that of Apolloniusof Tyana, written in Greek by the 1'lii- 

 lostratus above-mentioned. An earlier life of Apollonius, 

 which is now lost, is said to have been written by his disciple 

 and contemporary Damis. 



Since the revival of letters numerous biographical works 

 have appeared in every language of Europe. Many of these 

 havo been accounts of the lives of single individuals, pub- 

 lished either separately, or (in the case of authors) along 

 with tho works of the persons to whom they relate. In 

 some cases the writer of such a life has aimed at making 

 his work present a history, political, ecclesiastical, liti-ran , 

 or general, of the age to which its subject bcl, 

 Among instances of such atti'inp: mentioned ,'iur- 



tin's Life of Erasmus, Godwin'* Life of Chaucer, ami M'< 

 Life of Knox. As answering a similar end, though written 

 apparently with a lo-s particular regard to the, same c>' 

 may be added one of tne most amusing, and in some re- 

 one of the most perfect, of all biographical works, 

 H' Life of Johnson. Others of these single liu-> aio 

 autobiographies, or narratives which individuals hn\c 

 \\ritti-ii of their own lives. A collection of the most cele- 

 brated autobiographies, which it is evident must in general 



