James, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFORD

James, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFORD, romance-writer, was born in London in 1801. The son of a well-known physician, he was educated at Putney and in France, and by seventeen had written some eastern tales, which found favour with Washington Irving. Thereafter he ceased to write, dictating instead to an amanuensis his 'thick-coming fancies.' In all he published seventy-seven works, in 198 volumes—historical romances mostly, but also biographies, poems, &c. The best were among the earliest—Richelieu (1829) and Henry Masterton (1832). He was British consul at Richmond, Virginia, from 1852 till 1858, and then at Venice till his death there on 9th May 1860. 'G. P. R. James' may be classed as a hybrid—a productive hybrid—between Dumas and Mrs Ann Radcliffe. Leigh Hunt writes kindly of him, and Sir Archibald Alison could 'revert with pleasure to his varied compositions,' which even yet may be safely recommended to the 'young person.' But his two horsemen will be remembered best, if not indeed solely, by Thackeray's parody Barbazzure.