BROOKE

brooke, stopford augustus (1832- ), english divine and man of letters, born at letterkenny, donegal, ireland, in 1832, was educated at trinity college, dublin. he was ordained in the church of england in 1857, and held various charges in london. from 1863 to 1865 he was chaplain to the empress frederick in berlin, and in 1872 he became chaplain in ordinary to queen victoria. but in 1880 he seceded from the church, being no longer able to accept its leading dogmas, and officiated as a unitarian minister for some years at bedford chapel, bloomsbury. bedford chapel was pulled down about 1894, and from that time he had no church of his own, but his eloquence and powerful religious personality continued to make themselves felt among a wide circle. a man of independent means, he was always keenly interested in literature and art, and a fine critic of both. he published in 1865 his _life and letters of f. w. robertson_ (of brighton), and in 1876 wrote an admirable primer of _english literature_ (new and revised ed., 1900), followed in 1892 by _the history of early english literature_ (2 vols., 1892) down to the accession of alfred, and _english literature from the beginnings to the norman conquest_ (1898). his other works include various volumes of sermons; _poems_ (1888); _dove cottage_ (1890); _theology in the english poets--cowper, coleridge, wordsworth, burns_ (1874); _tennyson, his art and relation to modern life_ (1894); _the poetry of robert browning_ (1902); _on ten plays of shakespeare_ (1905); and _the life superlative_ (1906).