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Lytton

lord, appointed, lisbon and minister

LYTTON, lit'on, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, EARL or, English poet and diploma tist : b. London, 8 Nov. 1831; d. Paris, 24 Nov. 1891. He was the only son of the well-known novelist, Bulwer-Lytton (q.v.). He was edu cated at Harrow and Bonn, and entered the diplomatic service in 1849, being appointed at tache at Washington, where his uncle, Henry Bueller, afterward Lord Dalling, was Minister. Subsequently he held diplomatic posts at Flor ence (1852) and other European capitals, and was secretary of legation successively at Copenhagen, Athens, Lisbon and Madrid. In 1874 he was appointed Minister at Lisbon, and was made viceroy of India by Disraeli in 1876. At a great durbar held at Delhi in 1877, he.pro claimed Queen Victoria empress of India. In the great famine of 1877-78 he conducted admi rably the work of relief. He adopted an aggres sive policy in Afghanistan, which brought about the second Afghan War (1879). His adminis tration was marked by notable internal reforms, such as the abolition of the inland customs, the repeal of duties on cottons and the promulga tion of new civil service rules. In 1880 he was created earl of Lytton, and on the accession of the Liberals to power in that year, who were strongly opposed to his policy in Afghanistan, he sent in his resignation as viceroy. In 1::7

he was appointed British Ambassador at Paris. For many years Lytton was better known as a poet than as a diplomatist, under the pseudonym of Meredith .° His published works in clude and Other (1855) ; Wanderer' (1859) ; (Lucile' (1860), a story in timed anapaestic couplets, which met with a very great popular success; Ring of Amasis> (1863)t 'Orval, or the Fool of Time,' which is the solitary representa tive in English of the great Polish school of mystic verse (1869); in Song' (1874) ; (1883, the narrative comes down only to 1832) ; (1885) ; Paradise) (1887) ; Poppy,' his best poetical work abounding in lofty poetry and gay irony, appeared posthu mously (1892). As a prose writer Lytton takes high rank. Consult the works by his daughter, Lady Betty Balfour, 'History of Lord Lytton's Administration, 1876-1880) (London 1899) ; and (Personal and Literary Letters' (New York 1906).