A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Garnett, Richard

by John William Cousin

Garnett, Richard (1835-1906).—Biographer and writer on literature, s. of Richard G., an assistant keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum. B. at Lichfield, and ed. at a school in Bloomsbury, he entered the British Museum in 1851 as an assistant librarian. There he remained for nearly 50 years, and rose to be Keeper of Printed Books. He acquired a marvellous knowledge of books, and of everything connected with pure literature. He made numerous translations from the Greek, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and wrote books of graceful verse, The Twilight of the Gods and other Tales (1888), various biographical works on Carlyle, Milton, Blake, and others, The Age of Dryden, a History of Italian Literature, and contributed many articles to encyclopædias, and to the Dictionary of National Biography.