CORSON

corson, hiram (1828- ), american scholar, was born on the 6th of november 1828, in philadelphia, pennsylvania. he held a position in the library of the smithsonian institution, washington d.c. (1849-1856), was a lecturer on english literature in philadelphia (1859-1865), and was professor of english at girard college, philadelphia (1865-1866), and in st john's college, annapolis, maryland (1866-1870). in 1870-1871 he was professor of rhetoric and oratory at cornell university, where he was professor of anglo-saxon and english literature (1872-1886), of english literature and rhetoric (1886-1890), and from 1890 to 1903 (when he became professor emeritus) of english literature, a chair formed for him. he edited chaucer's _legende of goode women_ (1863) and _selections from chaucer's canterbury tales_ (1896), and wrote a _hand-book of anglo-saxon and early english_ (1871), and, among other text-books, _an elocutionary manual_ (1864), _a primer of english verse_ (1892), and _introductions_ to the study of browning (1886, 1889), of shakespeare (1889) and of milton (1899). the volume on shakespeare and the _jottings on the text of macbeth_ (1874) contain some excellent shakespearian criticism. he also published _the university of the future_ (1875), _the aims of literary study_ (1895), and _the voice and spiritual education_ (1896). he translated the _satires of juvenal_ (1868) and edited a translation by his wife, caroline rollin (d. 1901), of pierre janet's _mental state of hystericals_ (1901).