Baring-Gould, SABINE

Baring-Gould, SABINE, an active littérateur in widely different fields, was born at Exeter in 1834, of an old Devonshire family. In early life he lived much in Germany and France. Educated at Clare College, Cambridge, he was appointed incumbent of Dalton, Thirsk, in 1869; rector of East Mersea, Colchester, in 1871; and in 1881, rector of Lew Trenchard, Devonshire, having also on the death of his father succeeded to the family property there in 1872. He travelled in Iceland in 1861, and published the results in Iceland: its Scenes and Sagas (1862). His most important books are those for which he has drawn upon his wide knowledge of out-of-the-way medieval lore: The Book of Werewolves (1865), Post-medieval Preachers (1865), Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (1866-67), The Silver Store (1868), Curiosities of Olden Times (1869), and Legends of Old Testament Characters (1871). He has written several volumes on Germany, both historical and descriptive, and has made numerous contributions to theological learning, the chief being The Origin and Development of Religious Belief (1869-70), a work less lucid than learned; Lives of the Saints (15 vols. 1872-77), Some Modern Difficulties (1874); The Lost and Hostile Gospels (1874); as well as several volumes of practical and pointed sermons, of which perhaps the best are Village Sermons for a Year (1875); The Preacher's Pocket (1880); The Seven Last Words (1884); and The Trials of Jesus (1886). One of his most interesting books is his account of Robert S. Hawker, The Vicar of Morwenstow (1876). He published a novel, In Exitu Israel, without much success, in 1870; but of late years he has won celebrity with a series of novels (at first anonymously). Mehalah (1880) is a story of uncommon power, but unequal and somewhat extravagant; among its successors are John Herring, Court Royal, The Gavrrocks, Richard Cable, Evca, The Pennycomequicks, Arminell, Urith, Jacquetta, Mrs Curgenven (1893), and The Queen of Love (1894). Grettir the Outlaw (1889) is based on a saga. In Troubadour Land (1891), The Tragedy of the Caesars (1892), Church Songs (1884), and The Songs and Ballads of the West (with others, 1890), are in other departments of literature.