He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1888 became vice-master of the college. He was one of the editors of the Journal of Philology from its foundation in 1868, and was secretary to the Old Testament revision company from 1870 to 1885. He edited the plays of Shakespeare published in the "Clarendon Press" series (1868-1897), also with WG Clark the "Cambridge" Shakespeare (1863-1866; 2nd ed. 1891-1893) and the "Globe" edition (1864). He published (1899) a facsimile of the Milton manuscript in the Trinity College library, and edited Milton's poems with critical notes (1903).
He was the intimate friend and literary executor of Edward FitzGerald, whose Letters and Literary Remains he edited in 1889. This was followed by the Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1895), his Miscellanies (1900), More letters of Edward FitzGerald (1901), The Works of Edward FitzGerald (7 vols., 1903). He edited the metrical chronicle of Robert of Gloucester (1887), Generydes (1878) for the Early English Text Society, and other texts.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.