Gibbon

James Augustus Cotter Morison, an English essayist and historian, was born in London. His father, who had amassed a huge fortune as the inventor and proprietor of "Morison's Pills," lived in Paris until his death in 1840, and Cotter Morison thus gained not just knowledge of the French language, but also a deep affinity for France and French institutions. He was educated at Highgate School and Lincoln College, Oxford. Here he was influenced by Mark Pattison, to whom his receptive personality may have owed a certain over-fastidiousness that defined his entire career. He also met the main English Positivists and became a devout follower of their views. Nonetheless, he maintained a great affinity for the Roman Catholic religion and once spent several weeks in a Catholic convent. Another significant influence shows in the magnificent Life of St Bernard, which he published in 1863, that of his friend Carlyle, to whom the work is dedicated and whose style it is heavily influenced. Meanwhile, he had been a regular writer, first to the Literary Gazette, edited by his friend John Morley, and later to the Saturday Review during its most creative period.