AIKIN, JOHN (1747-1822), English physician and author, was born at Kibworth-Harcourt on Jan. and died at Stoke Newington, London, on Dec. 7, 1822. He practised as a con sulting physician in London from 1792 onwards, but gradually became absorbed in literary pursuits. Aikin and his sister, Anna Letitia Barbauld, wrote popular books which had a great vogue. Their admirable miscellany, Evenings at Home was translated into many European languages. Aikin's voluminous works include General Biography (I 799-1815 ), and Lives of John Selden and Archbishop Usher (1812) .
His daughter, LUCY AIKIN (I 781-1864), born at Warrington on Nov. 6 I 781, wrote several books for children, including versions of classical stories written in monosyllables. She also wrote : a novel, Lorimer (1814) ; Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth (1818) ; Memoirs of the Court of James I. (1822); Memoirs of the Court of Charles I. (1833) and a Life of Addison • Miss Aikin died at Hampstead, where she had lived for 4o years, on Jan. 29 1864.
See a Memoir of John Aikin, with selections of his miscellaneous pieces (1823), by his daughter; and the Memoirs, Miscellanies and Letters of Lucy Aikin (1864), including her correspondence (1826-42) with William Ellery Channing, edited by P. H. Le Breton.