Morris, SIR LEWIS

Morris, SIR LEWIS, knighted in 1895, a writer of verse which has attained an extraordinary popularity, was born in Carmarthen in 1832, and educated at Sherborne School and at Jesus College, Oxford, where in 1855 he graduated first-class in classics, and won the Chancellor's prize. He was called six years later to the English bar, and practised till 1881, when he accepted the post of honorary secretary to the university of Wales. In 1877 he was elected an honorary fellow of Jesus College. Sir Lewis's first offerings of verse appeared in 1871, when under the pen-name of 'A New Writer' he published Songs of Two Worlds, which at once passed into numerous editions, and which was followed in 1874 and 1875 by a second and third volume. In 1876 appeared The Epic of Hades, the work with which the author's name is usually associated; it has run into several series, and these series into many editions. He has since published Gwen, a Drama; The Ode of Life; Songs Unsung; Gyeia, a Tragedy; and A Vision of Saints (1890), &c., which have shown no falling off in popularity.