versity of Pennsylvania in 1840, and also studied in Paris. On his return he settled in Philadelphia. He has contributed largely to sporting terature, edited with additions "Youatt on Dogs" (Philadelphia, 1847); and is the author of "Hints to Sportsmen " (1851; enlarged ed., entitled "The American Sportsman," 1855 ; 3d ed., 1857).
LEWIS, Ellis, jurist, b. in Lewisberrv, Pa.. 16
May, 1798 ; d. in Philadelphia, 19 March, 1871. His
ancestor, Ellis, came to this country from Wales
in 1708 and settled in Haverford, Pa., and his
father, Eli Lewis, bought large tracts of land in
York county, and founded the town of Lewisberry.
The son's inheritance was dissipated through mismanagement during a long minority, and he was thrown on his own resources. He became a print-
er, and followed the business while studying law. At the age of twenty-four he was admitted to the bar, and soon rose in his profession, in 1824 he
was appointed deputy attorney-general of the state, and in 1832 elected a member of the legislature. He was active in advancing measures for the in-
ternal improvement of the state, and framed a bill relating to imprisonment for debt which became a law, and was the first step toward the abolition of
the debtor's prison. In 1833 he was appointed attorney-general, and in October of the same year president judge of the 8th judicial district. In
January, 1843, he was made president judge of the 2d district, in 1851 he was elected a justice of the state supreme court, and in 1854-'7 was chief justice. He was unanimously renominated by the Democratic state convention, but declined and retired to private life. Judge Lewis was one of the
commissioners to revise the criminal code of the
state. His acquaintance with medical jurisprudence
gained him the honorary degree of M. D. from the Philadelphia college of medicine, and he also received the degree of LL. D. from Jefferson college
and from Transylvania university. His decisions and opinions are cited with approval by the most eminent authorities on jurisprudence. He pub-
lished "Abridgment of the Criminal Law of the United States" (Philadelphia, 1848).
LEWIS, Enoch, mathematician, b. in Radnor, Delaware co.. Pa., 29 Jan., 1776 ; d. in Philadelphia. 14 June, 1856. He belonged to the Society of
Friends. He early exhibited a talent for mathematics, at the age of fourteen was usher in a country school, and at fifteen became principal. In the
autumn of 1792 he removed to Philadelphia, studied mathematics, teaching half of each day to earn his support, and in 1795 was engaged as a surveyor
in laying out towns in western Pennsylvania. He was in charge of the mathematical department in the Friends' academy in Philadelphia, in 1796-'9,
subsequently was mathematical tutor at the Westtown, Pa., school, and in 1808 opened a private school for mathematical students, which he successfully taught for several years. He edited several mathematical works, with notes, and about 1819 published a treatise on arithmetic that was followed by one on algebra, and by a work on plane and spherical trigonometry. In 1827 he became editor of a monthly called " The African Observer." which continued only one year, and from 1847 till his death he was in charge of " The Friends' Review." His publications include a " Life of Penn " in the "Friends' Library," treatises on "Oaths" and on "Baptism," and a "Vindication of the Society of Friends," in answer to Dr. Samuel H. Cox's "Quakerism not Christianity." — His grandson, Charlton Thomas, lawyer, b. in West Chester, Pa., 25 Feb., 1834. was graduated at Yale in 1853. He was professor of mathematics, and later of Greek, in Troy university in 1859-'62, deputy commissioner of internal revenue in Washington, D.C., in 1863-'4, managing editor of the New York " Evening Post " in 1870-'l, and secretary of the chamber of life insurance in 1871-4. He had studied for the ministry of the Methodist church, but abandoned it for law, and now (1887) practises his profession in New York city. He has been for ten years chairman of the Prison association of New York, and has visited in its interest many European prisons, his observations on which have been printed by the association. He has published Bengel's "Gnomon of the New Testament," edited and translated with Rev. Marvin R. Vincent, D. D. (Philadelphia, 1860) ; " A History of the German People" (New York. 1870); "Harper's Latin Dictionary," with Prof. Charles Short (1881) ; and has in preparation "A School Latin Dictionary."
|
|
LEWIS, Estelle Anna Blanche Robinson, author, b. near Baltimore, Md., in April, 1824; d. in London, England, 24 Nov., 1880. She was the daughter of John Robinson, a wealthy planter of Anglo-Spanish birth, and inherited his poetical and melancholy temperament. While a school-girl, she translated the Æneid into English verse, composed a ballad called “The Forsaken,” which Edgar A. Poe praised extravagantly, and published “Records of the Heart,” which contains some of her best minor verses (New York, 1844). She married Sidney D. Lewis, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1841, and afterward resided much abroad, principally in England. While in Italy, in 1863, she wrote her tragedy of “Helémah, or the Fall of Montezuma,” which was published on her return to the United States the next year (New York, 1864). The success of this work encouraged her to write “Sappho of Lesbos,” a tragedy, her best dramatic work (London, 1868). This reached a seventh edition, and was translated into modern Greek and played at Athens. She returned to England in 1865, and her last work was a series of sonnets in defence of Edgar A. Poe. Lamartine called her the “Female Petrarch,” and Poe “the rival of Sappho.” Her other works are “The Child of the Sea and other Poems” (New York, 1848); “The Myths of the Minstrel” (1852); “Poems” (London, 1866); and “The King's Stratagem,” a tragedy (1869).
LEWIS, Fielding, patriot, b. in Spottsvlvania county. Va., in 1726 ; d. in Fredericksburg, Va., in December, 1781. He was the proprietor of half the town of Fredericksburg, Va., of which he was the first mayor, and of much of the adjoining territory, and during the Revolution he was an ardent patriot, superintended a large manufactory of arms in that neighborhood ; the site of this establishment is still known as " Gunny Green." He was a magistrate and a member of the Virginia legislature for many years. He married Elizabeth, sister of George Washington, and built for her a mansion that is still standing, called Kenmore House, which
