Seed was much admired as a preacher. Dr. Johnson remarked that he had ‘a very fine style,’ but ‘he was not very theological.’ Others deemed his preaching ‘elegant but languid.’ Two sermons were published during his lifetime; others posthumously as ‘Discourses’ (London, 1743, 8vo; 6th, 1766). ‘The Posthumous Works,’ consisting of sermons, essays, and letters ‘from the original manuscripts,’ was edited by Joseph Hall, M.A., fellow of Queen's College, London, and was printed for M. Seed (?his widow), 1750, 2 vols., with a portrait by Hayman, engraved by Ravenet. Other editions appeared, 2 vols., Dublin, 1750; London, 1770, 8vo, 1 vol.; and the work is said to have been translated into Russian.
[Chalmers's Biogr. Dict.; Rose's Biogr. Dict.; Darling's Cyclop. Bibliogr. ii. 2688–9; Gent. Mag. 1747, p. 592; London Mag. xvi. 581; Lysons's Environs of London, iii. 586; Boswell's Johnson, ed. Hill, iii. 248.]
SEELEY, Sir JOHN ROBERT (1834–1895), historian and essayist, born in London on 10 Sept. 1834, was third son of Robert Benton Seeley [q. v.], publisher. From his father Seeley imbibed a love of books, together with a special bias towards history and religious thought. He went first to school under the Rev. J. A. Barron at Stanmore. It was a school where no prizes were given, but where more attention than usual was paid to English literature. From Stanmore he went on to the City of London school, then already winning a reputation under Dr. George Ferris Whidborne Mortimer [q. v.] Here he made such rapid progress that he entered the sixth form when little over thirteen. But the work was too hard for him, and physical exercise was neglected. His health suffered; he was obliged for a time to leave school. Forced to give up his classics, he took to reading English, and obtained a knowledge of English authors very rare in boys of his age. He had already read through ‘Paradise Lost’ four or five times before he left school. In 1852 he went to Cambridge, entering the university as a scholar of Christ's College. He studied classics principally; he read widely, not neglecting the accurate scholarship in vogue at Cambridge, but paying attention by preference to the literary qualities and the philosophical and historical contents of his authors. He impressed at least one of his teachers by his remarkable command of language and expression. In society he was somewhat reserved and shy, but he made some warm friends. Among his contemporaries at Christ's were C. S. Calverley, W. (now Sir Walter) Besant, Skeat, Peile, and other men who afterwards came to distinction. Seeley was known as one of the ablest of an able set. His conversation was noted for its dialectical subtlety and terseness, and, though not combative, he never shrank from thorough discussion. Ill-health compelled him to defer his degree for a year, but in 1857 he graduated, his name appearing, along with three others, at the top of the classical tripos. The senior chancellor's medal, which he also obtained, marked him out as, upon the whole, the best scholar of his year.
Shortly afterwards he was elected to a fellowship in his own college, and was appointed classical lecturer. This post he held for two years. In 1859 he published, under the pseudonym of John Robertson, his first book, a volume of poems, which contains a poem on the choosing of David, versifications of several psalms, and a series of historic sketches, chiefly monologues of historic personages. His mind was clearly busy on the two topics which interested him most through life—religion and history; but the dramatic and personal element is more prominent than in his later works. In 1859 he left Cambridge to take the post of chief classical assistant at his old school. In 1863 he was appointed professor of Latin in University College, London. Here he remained for six years. But the study of his professorial subject did not satisfy him; his mind was actively at work on the problems of Christian doctrine regarded from an historical point of view. In 1865 he published ‘Ecce Homo,’ in some respects the most remarkable of his works. It is an attempt to present the life, work, and teaching of Christ in a simple and positive form, avoiding textual and other dubieties, sketching and connecting the larger features rather than elaborating details. He assumes in general the authenticity of the gospel narrative, but deals with the person of Christ on its human side only. The book immediately attracted attention, and, though intentionally uncontroversial, provoked a storm of controversy, in which Mr. Gladstone (Good Words, ix. 33 et sqq.), Cardinal Newman, Dean Stanley, and others took part. Its title and the limitation of its scope were held to imply a denial of certain doctrines which the author deliberately avoided discussing. In the preface to a subsequent edition he defended himself against misconstructions, without however committing himself to positive assertions on the subjects in question. The book was published anonymously, but the secret of its authorship was not long maintained. In the preface to the first edition Seeley hinted at another volume
