The first authorized biography of John Addington Symonds by his friend, literary executor, and fellow Uranian poet; Horatio F. Brown. There is also a preface by Mrs. Symonds. John Addington Symonds (1840-1893) was one of the foremost men of letters of his time. He was a preeminent Victorian poet, critic, and historian. He is renowned for his reviews, essays, translations, art histories, and poetry. Symonds joined the rarified ranks of John Ruskin and Walter Pater as a major arbiter of Victorian taste. His books Renaissance in Italy and Life of Michelangelo are landmarks of 19th-century literary scholasticism.