BULWER-LYTTON, Edward George Earle ( 1st Loan LYTTON), English politician and novelist: b. London, 25 May 1803; d. Tor quay, Devonshire, 18 Ian. 1873. The Bulwers, long settled at Heydon Hall, Norfolk, claimed descent from the Normans and Vikings, per haps as a ready explanation of their bold and turbulent spirit. The novelist's father, William Earle Bulwer, was colonel of the 106th regiment or Norfolk rangers. His mother, Elizabeth Barbara, was the only daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth in Hertford shire, the family seat since the time of Henry VII. From her and her father, who was a learned scholar, Bulwer claimed to have derived his love for letters. As a boy he lived much among his grandfather's books and read through three circulating libraries. He wrote volumes of Byronic verse, some of which was published at the age of 17. Prepared for the university at various private schools, he entered Trinity College, at Eas-. ter in 1822; but soon migrated to Trinity Hall, where it was not necessary to attend lectures. At Cambridge he was a conspicuous member of the Union; he won the Chancellor's medal in 1825, and sketched two novels. At this time he also read enormously in history and began the practice of keeping those huge common place books which afterward became useful in preparing his historical novels. Before receiving his bachelor's degree in 1826, he published more Byronic verse, fell desperately in love, made a tour of Scotland and the Eng lish lakes, and passed a season in Paris, where he was received into the most brilliant salons. Returning to London °a finished dandy," he married on 29 Aug, 1827, Rosina Doyle Wheeler, a beautiful Irish girl of some accom plishments. The marriage led to an estrange ment from his mother and the young man was consequently thrown upon his own resources. He settled with his wife at Woodcot House in Berkshire, where he attempted to live in style from what he could earn with his pen. The marriage proving uncomfortable, a legal sepa ration was obtained in 1836 after years of a life apart. On the death of his mother in 1843 he inherited Knebworth and assumed the sur name of Lytton.
To pass by Bulwer's numerous contribu tions to annuals and periodicals, he published in 1827, 'Falkland,' a sentimental novel in imi tation of Rousseau's 'Nouvelle Heloise.' After a quick passage through the sentimental stage, he came out with 'Pelham' in 1828, a brilliant novel founded upon what he had seen of high life in London and Paris. It was likewise Bul
wer's first excursion into politics and crime. Late in the same year followed 'The Dis owned,' a curious novel which the author called °metaphysical° inasmuch as the charac ters are intended to stand for °certain disposi tions influential upon conduct." After (Devet eux) (1829), an experiment in historical ro mance, Bulwer took up the criminal novel, publishing 'Paul Clifford' (1830) and