n life as
a democratic visionary, and was strongly influenced by the French
Revolution, but gradually cooled down into a pronounced Tory. He was
himself greater and better than any of his works, his life being a noble
record of devotion to duty and unselfish benevolence. He held the office
of Poet Laureate from 1813, and had a pension from Government. He
declined a baronetcy.

_Life and Correspondence_ (6 vols., 1849-50) by his younger son, Rev. C.
Southey. _Life_ by Dowden in Men of Letters (1880).

SOUTHWELL, ROBERT (1561?-1595).--Poet, _b._ at Horsham St. Faith's,
Norfolk, of good Roman Catholic family, and _ed._ at Douay, Paris, and
Rome, he became a Jesuit, and showed such learning and ability as to be
appointed Prefect of the English Coll. In 1586 he came to England with
Garnett, the superior of the English province, and became chaplain to the
Countess of Arundel. His being in England for more than 40 days then
rendered him liable to the punishment of death and disembowelment, and in
1592 he was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower for three years,
during which he was tortured 13 times. He was then put on trial and
executed, February 22, 1595. He was the author of _St. Peter's Complaint_
and _The Burning Babe_, a short poem of great imaginative power, and of
several prose religious works, including _St. Mary Magdalene's Teares_,
_A Short Rule of Good Life_, _The Triumphs over Death_, etc.

SPEDDING, JAMES (1808-1881).--Editor of Bacon's works, _s._ of a
Cumberland squire, and _ed._ at Bury St. Edmunds and Camb., was for some
years in the Colonial Office. He devoted himself to the ed. of Bacon's
works, and the endeavour to clear his character against the aspersions of
Macaulay and others. The former was done in conjunction with Ellis and
Heath, his own being much the largest share in their great ed. (1861-74);
and the latter, so far as possible, in _The Life and Letters_, entirely
his own. In 1878 he brought out an abridged _Life and Times of Francis
Bacon_. He strongly combated the theory that B. was the author of
Shakespeare's plays. His death was caused by his being run over by a cab.
He enjoyed the friendship of many of his greatest contemporaries,
including Carlyle, Tennyson, and Fitzgerald.

SPEED, JOHN (1552?-1629).--Historian, _b._ at Farington, Cheshire, and
brought up to the trade of a tailor, had a strong taste for history and
antiquities, and wrote a _History of Great Britain_ (1611), which