DILKE, Charles Wentworth, English journalist, antiquary and critic: b. 8 Dec. 1789; d. Hampshire, 10 Aug. 1864. He entered the civil service as a youth, became a clerk in the navy pay office and retired on a pension in 1836. All his leisure meanwhile was devoted to litera ture, and already in 1814-16 he produced
continuation of Dodsley's
Lack of unanimity among the proprietors led to Dilke's withdrawal after three years, when he devoted himself entirely to contributing to the Athenaeum, in the columns of which his best work now began to appear. Among his more important contributions is his series of articles on the mystery of the Junius letters, in which he demolished the claims to their author ship advanced on behalf of Colonel Barre, Boyd, Sackville, Francis and several others. The es says are masterpieces of incisive criticism and quite as interesting as the famous
themselves. They were collected and published, together with his articles on Pope, Burke, Swift, Wilkes, Grenville, etc., in 1875 under the title of 'Papers of a Critic,' by Dilke's grandson, Sir Charles Dilke, in two volumes, prefaced with a memoir of their author. Consult also