CRAIG, GEORGE LILLIE, was by birth a Scotchman. Born in Fifeshire in 1799, he was educated for the church at St. Andrews university, but, preferring a literary career, he went to London in 1824. his first work of importance was the Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties (1831), forming part of the series of publications issued by the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. He also contributed largely to the Penny Cyclopcedia. In 1839, C. became editor of the Pictorial history of England, some of the most valuable chapters of which were written by himself, and have since been enlarged and republished separately as independent works. Such are his Sketches of the History of Literature and Learning in England from the Norman Conquest to the Present Time (6 vols., 1844), and his History of British Commerce from the Earliest Times (3 vols., 1844); and in the same year, Bacon, his Writings and Philosophy. In 1849, C. was appointed to the chair of history and English literature in Queen's col lege, Belfast, a situation which he occupied till he died in 1866. 0. possessed an
energetic mind, his thinking was clear, his style accurate, and he was conscientious in his statement of facts. Many of his slighter works contained suggestions in politics and social science which were both valuable and original, some of which were after wards appropriated by, or ascribed to, others. In the first class we may mention the idea of mutual citizenship; and in the second, that of the representation of minorities, which unquestionably originated with him. Between 1849 and 1852, appeared his Romance of the Peerage; in 1855, his Outlines of the History of the English Language, which has passed through various editions; and in 1857, his essays on The English of Shakespeare, successive editions of which appeared in 1859, 1866, and 1867.