Linton, WILLIAM JAMES,

Linton, WILLIAM JAMES, wood-engraver and author, was born in London in 1812. As a wood-engraver he may be said to be the most artistic who ever lived. Some of his finest work may be found in the pages of the Illustrated London News, to which he frequently contributed, from its commencement till he finally went to the United States in 1867. As an author, the zealous chartism of his youth tinged much of his work. Among his various works may be mentioned The Plain of Freedom (1852), Claribel and other Poems (1865), several volumes of The English Republic, Some Practical Hints on Wood-engraving (1879), Life of Thomas Paine (1879), A Manual of Wood-engraving (1884), Poems and Translations (1889), and The Masters of Wood-engraving (1890). He died 29th Dec. 1897. See his Memories (1895).—His wife, ELIZA LYNN, born at Keswick, 10th Feb. 1822, had published her first novel a dozen years before their marriage in 1858. Together they prepared a volume on The Lake Country (1864), he furnishing the illustrations and she the letterpress; in 1867 they separated. Mrs Lynn Linton was an indefatigable worker, and her novels were many; The True History of Joshua Davidson (1872) and The Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland (1885) are of heavier calibre than the rest. She did a great deal of magazine work, and her 'Girl of the Period' articles in the Saturday Review appeared in a collected form in 1883. She died in London 14th July 1898.