English historian and biographer whose History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of the Spanish Armada was covered in ten volumes published 1856-70. Of his biographical works, that of Thomas Carlyle was his most extensive (4 vols., 1882-84). Though his work had a vividly descriptive but orderly narrative style, it was often criticized by other historians for inaccurate use of documents and careless use of facts.