OBITUARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6509, 6 January 1882, Page 5

OBITUARY.

♦ The following biography of the celebrated novelist, whose death is announced in our telegrams this morning, is from " Men of the Time:"— Amtsw obth, William Habbisox, novelist, eldest Bon of the late Thomas Ainsworth, solicitor, of Manchester, a member of an ancient Lancashire family, was bora in 1805, and having been educated at tbe Free Grammar Sshool of Manchester, was articled in his sixteenth year to Mr Kay, a leading solicitor of that city. Losing his father at nineteen, he came tc London to finish his term with Mr Jacob Phillips, of the Inner Temple. Before he was of age he published the romance of " Sir John Chiverton," which was highly praised by Sir Walter Soott. His marriage in 182 S, with a daughter of the late Mr Ebers, publisher, of Bond street, led Mr Ainsworth to abandon the study of law in order to devote himself to literature in the joint capacity of author and publisher. The latter vocation, however, he soon gave up, restricting himself to what he thenceforth regarded as his profession. " Bookwood," which appeared in 1834, established his fame as a writer of fiction, and passed through several additions; this was followed by " Crichton," whioh wa< equally successful. The first number of "Jack Sheppard " was published in January, 1839; in Bentley's Miscellany, of whioh periodical Mr Ainsworth beoarae editor on the retirement of Mr Diokens in March, 1840. The Btory of "Jaok Sheppard" has always been extraordinarily popular with the multitude ; and soon after the appearance of Mr Ainsworth's in Bentley eight different dramatio versions were produced on the stage. " Guy Fawkes," which appeared in Bentley, and the "Tower of London," added materially to the writer's reputation. In 1841 ho published, week by week, in the Sunday Times, " Old St Paul's." Having at the close of 1841 retired from the editorship of Bentley, he established the magazine which bore his name, and in whiob appeared " The Miser'B Daughter," "Windsor Castle," and " St James'; or, the Court of Queen Anne;" the latter containing a geuerous defence of the character of Marlborough. In J 845 Mr Ainsworth became proprietor and editor of the Hew Monthly Magazine. Three years later he published in the Sunday Times •« Lancashire Witohe.*," followed in 1854 by_ an historical romance, " The Star Chamber,'' and a domestic etory, illustrative of old English manners, styled "The Flitob of Bacon j or, the Custom of Dunmow"—a custom which owes its revival to Mr Ainsworth's liberality. In 1855 a collection of his "Ballads, Bomantie, Fantastical, and Humorous," appoared ; followed iu 1856 by another novel, "The Spendthrift," originally published in Bentley's Miscellany, which periodical had become Mr Ainsworth's property two vears previously. In 1857 he resumed and "issued in monthly parts " Mervyn Olithorop," a semi-autobiographical tale, the publication of which, in a serial form, had beon acoidentallv interrupted. After another interval, during which he composed a spirited poem on a famous Breton legend, entitled "The Combat of the Thirty," he produced in 1860 a romanco of the times of the Commonwealth, called "Ovingdean Grange," into several parts of which are interwoven his own personal experience as a resident in the South Down country. This was followed by "The Constable of tbe Tower," commenced in Bentley in 1861 and since re-published sepa-

mtely; "The Lord Mayo? of London ; or, City Life in the Last Century," in 2862 s " Cardinal Pole; or, the Days of Philip and Mary," in 1863; and "John Law, the Projector," in 1864. Hit mora recent worka are the "Spaniih Match; or, Charles Stuart in Madrid;" "The Constable de Bourbon" "Old Court," "Myddleton Pomfret," and "Hilary 8t Ives"—the three Utter being •tories of modern life, and containing descriptions of the scenery of the southern counties; —" Boscobel, or the Royal Oak; a Tale of the year 1651," 1872; "The good Old Times; the Story of the Manchester Bebeb of »46," &c, 1873; and " Merry Eng.and; or Nobles and Serfs," 1874. Mr Ainsworth'i writings are very popular in America. Most of them hare been translated into German and French, and versions of some exist in the Spanish, Dutch, and Busiian languages.