The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two.
§ 43. J. A. Doyle; E. J. Payne
Colonial history attracted fewer students in the mothercountry during the earlier, than during the later, part of the century. Among more recent writers, it seems right to make special mention of John Andrew Doyle and of Edward John Payne, both of whom were born in 1844. The former gained the Arnold prize at Oxford for an essay on the English colonies in America before the Declaration of Independence, and the chief production of his literary life treated the same theme. The latter devoted the historical labours of his later years to English and other European colonies and to America in general. His comprehensive undertaking A History of the New World called America (1902–9) was, however, but partially carried out. Sir Arthur Helps gave to colonial history so much of his busy leisure as was left for historical research. His Spanish Conquest of the New World did not, however, attain to an enduring success, though the separate biographies in which he reproduced portions of the work could not fail to be popular.