Значение слова WEBSTER в Литературной энциклопедии

WEBSTER

1) MRS. AUGUSTA (DAVIES) (1837-1894).-Poet and translator, _dau._ of Admiral Davies, _m._ Mr. Thomas Webster, a solicitor. She wrote a novel, _Lesley's Guardians_, and several books of poetry of distinguished excellence, including _Blanche Lisle_, _Dramatic Studies_ (1866), _Portraits_ (1870), _A Book of Rhyme_ (1881), and some dramas, including _The Auspicious Day_ (1874), _Disguises_, and _The Sentence_ (1887). She also made translations of _Prometheus Bound_ and _Medea_. 2) WEBSTER, DANIEL (1782-1852).-Orator, _s._ of a farmer in New Hampshire, was a distinguished advocate in Boston, and afterwards a member of the United States Senate and Sec. of State 1841-43 and 1850-52. He was the greatest orator whom America has produced, and has a place in literature by virtue of his _pub._ speeches. 3) WEBSTER, JOHN (1580?-1625?).-Dramatist. Though in some respects he came nearest to Shakespeare of any of his contemporaries, almost nothing has come down to us of the life of W. Even the dates of his birth and death are uncertain. He appears to have been the _s._ of a London tailor, to have been a freeman of the Merchant Taylor's Company, and clerk of the parish of St. Andrews, Holborn. Four plays are known to be his, _The White Devil, or the Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona_ (1612), _Appius and Virginia_ (1654), _The Devil's Law Case_ (1623), and _The Duchess of Malfi_ (1623), and he collaborated with Drayton, Middleton, Heywood, Dekker, etc., in the production of others. He does not appear to have been much regarded in his own day, and it was only in the 19th century that his great powers began to be appreciated and expounded by such critics as Lamb and Hazlitt, and in later days Swinburne. The first says, "To move a horror skilfully, to touch a soul to the quick, to lay upon fear as much as it can bear, to wean and weary a life till it is ready to drop, and then step in with mortal instruments to take its last forfeit, this only a Webster can do." W. revels in the horrible, but the touch of genius saves his work from mere brutality, and evokes pity and sorrow where, without it, there would be only horror and disgust. His work is extremely unequal, and he had no power of construction, but his extraordinary insight into motives and feelings redeem all his failings and give him a place second only to Marlowe and Ben Jonson among the contemporaries of Shakespeare. 4) WEBSTER, NOAH (1758-1843).-Lexicographer, etc., _b._ at Hartford, Conn., and _ed._ at Yale. His long life was spent in unremitting diligence as teacher, lawyer, and man of letters. His great work is his American _Dictionary of the English Language_ (1828), for which he prepared himself by 10 years' study of philology. Many abridgments of it have appeared, and in 1866 a new and enlarged ed. was _pub._ His _Elementary Spelling Book_ is believed to have attained a circulation of 70,000,000 copies. He also _pub._ _A Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the English Language_ (1807), and many other works.

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012