James Augustus Cotter Morison

James Augustus Cotter Morison (20 April 1832 – 26 February 1888), was an English essayist and historian, born in London. Early years His father, who had made a large fortune as the inventor and proprietor of "Morison's Pills", settled in Paris till his death in 1840, and Cotter Morison thus acquired not only an acquaintance with the French language, but a profound sympathy with France and French institutions. He was educated at Highgate School and Lincoln College, Oxford. Here he fell under the influence of Mark Pattison, to whom his impressionable nature perhaps owed a certain over-fastidiousness that characterised his whole career. He also made the acquaintance of the leading English Positivists, to whose opinions he became an ardent convert. Yet he retained a strong sympathy with the Roman Catholic religion, and at one time spent several weeks in a Catholic monastery. Career One other great influence appears in the admirable Life of St Bernard, which he published in 1863, that of his friend Carlyle, to whom the work is dedicated, and with whose style it is strongly coloured. Meanwhile, he had been a regular contributor, first to the Literary Gazette, edited by his friend John Morley, and then to the Saturday Review at its most brilliant epoch.