s.
Its author is known almost exclusively by his one voluminous poem, for
though Bailey published other verses he is essentially a man of one book.
_Festus_ has undergone many changes and incorporations, but it remains a
singular example of a piece of work virtually completed in youth, and never
supplanted or reinforced by later achievements of its author. It is a vast
pageant of theology and philosophy, comprising in some twelve divisions an
attempt to represent the relation of God to man and of man to God, to
emphasize the benignity of Providence, to preach the immortality of the
soul, and to postulate "a gospel of faith and reason combined." It contains
fine lines and dignified thought, but its ambitious theme, and a certain
incoherency in the manner in which it is worked out, prevent it from being
easily readable by any but the most sympathetic student. Bailey died on the
6th of September 1902.

BAILEY, SAMUEL (1791-1870), British philosopher and author, was born at
Sheffield in 1791. He was among the first of those Sheffield merchants who
went to the United States to establish trade connexions. After a few years
in his father's business, he retired with an ample fortune from all
business concerns, with the exception of the Sheffield Banking Company, of
which he was chairman for many years. Although an ardent liberal, he took
little part in political affairs. On two occasions he stood for Sheffield
as a "philosophic radical," but without success. His life is for the most
part a history of his numerous and varied publications. His books, if not
of first-rate importance, are marked by lucidity, elegance of style and
originality of treatment. He died suddenly on the 18th of January 1870,
leaving over L80,000 to the town of Sheffield. His first work, _Essays on
the Formation and Publication of Opinions_, published anonymously in 1821
(2nd ed., 1826; 3rd ed., 1837), attracted more attention than any of his
other writings. A sequel to it appeared in 1829, _Essays on the Pursuit of
Truth_ (2nd ed., 1844). Between these two were _Questions in Political
Economy_, _Politics, Morals, &c._ (1823), and a _Critical Dissertation on
the Nature, Measure, and Causes of Value_ (1825), directed against the
opinions of Ricardo and his school. His next publications also were on
economic or political subjects, _Rationale of Political Representation_
(1835), and _Money and its Vicissitudes_ (1837), now practically forgotten;
about the same