Russian; and
his _Poems_ (1876) went into a second edition. His _Shakespeare Primer_
(1877) was also translated into Italian and German. In 1878 he was
awarded the Cunningham gold medal of the Royal Irish Academy "for his
literary writings, especially in the field of Shakespearian criticism."
Later works by him in this field were his _Shakespeare's Sonnets_
(1881), _Passionate Pilgrim_ (1883), _Introduction to Shakespeare_
(1893), _Hamlet_ (1899), _Romeo and Juliet_ (1900), _Cymbeline_ (1903),
and his article (_National Review_, July 1902) on "Shakespeare as a Man
of Science," criticizing T. E. Webb's _Mystery of William Shakespeare_.
His critical essays "Studies in Literature" (1878), "Transcripts and
Studies" (1888), "New Studies in Literature" (1895) showed a profound
knowledge of the currents and tendencies of thought in various ages and
countries; but it was his _Life of Shelley_ (1886) that made him best
known to the public at large. In 1900 he edited an edition of Shelley's
works. Other books by him which indicate his interests in literature are
his _Southey_ (in the "English Men of Letters" series, 1880), his
edition of _Southey's Correspondence with Caroline Bowles_ (1881), and
_Select Poems of Southey_ (1895), his _Correspondence of Sir Henry
Taylor_ (1888), his edition of _Wordsworth's Poetical Works_ (1892) and
of his _Lyrical Ballads_ (1890), his _French Revolution and English
Literature_ (1897; lectures given at Princeton University in 1896),
_History of French Literature_ (1897), _Puritan and Anglican_ (1900),
_Robert Browning_ (1904) and _Michel de Montaigne_ (1905). His devotion
to Goethe led to his succeeding Max Muller in 1888 as president of the
English Goethe Society. In 1889 he became the first Taylorian lecturer
at Oxford, and from 1892 to 1896 was Clark lecturer at Trinity College,
Cambridge. To his sagacity in research are due, among other matters of
literary interest, the first account of Carlyle's "Lectures on periods
of European culture"; the identification of Shelley as the author of a
review (in _The Critical Review_ of December 1814) of a lost romance by
Hogg; description of Shelley's "Philosophical View of Reform"; a MS.
diary of Fabre D'Eglantine; and a record by Dr Wilhelm Weissenborn of
Goethe's last days and death. He also discovered a "Narrative of a
Prisoner of War under Napoleon" (published in _Blackwood's Magazine_),
an unknown pamphlet by Bishop Berkeley, some unpublished writings