Editing Frederic Harrison (section)

==Legal and publishing career==

He was [[call to the bar|called to the bar]] in 1858, and, in addition to his practice in [[Equity (law)|equity]] cases, soon began to distinguish himself as an effective contributor to the higher-class reviews. Two articles in the ''Westminster Review'', one on the Italian question,{{clarify|date=February 2021}} which procured him the special thanks of [[Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour|Cavour]], the other on ''Essays and Reviews'', which had the probably undesigned effect of stimulating the attack on the book, attracted especial notice. A few years later Harrison worked at the codification of the law with Lord Westbury, of whom he contributed an interesting notice to Nash's biography of the chancellor. His special interest in legislation for the working classes led him to be placed upon the Trades Union Commission of 1867–1869; he was secretary to the commission for the digest of the law, 1869–1870; and was from 1877 to 1889 professor of [[jurisprudence]] and international law under the Council of Legal Education.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was also professor of jurisprudence to the [[Inns of Court]], and an [[Honorary fellow]] of Wadham College.<ref name=TT21021900>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University intelligence|date=21 February 1900 |page=12 |issue=36071}}</ref>

Of his separate publications, the most important are his lives of [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]] (1888), [[William the Silent]], (1897), [[John Ruskin|Ruskin]] (1902), and Chatham (1905); his ''Meaning of History'' (1862; enlarged 1894) and ''Byzantine History in the Early Middle Ages'' (1900); and his essays on ''Early Victorian Literature'' (1896) and ''The Choice of Books'' (1886) are remarkable alike for generous admiration and good sense. In 1904 he published a "romantic monograph" of the 10th century Byzantine resurgence, ''Theophano'', based on the [[Theophano (born Anastaso)|empress of that name]], and in 1906 a verse tragedy, ''Nicephorus'',{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} based on Emperor [[Nikephoros II Phokas|Nikephoros II]]. His ''Annals of an Old Manor House: Sutton Place, Guildford'', first published in London in 1893 as a quarto work, re-issued in a small abridged form in 1899, is a valuable and detailed study of the Weston family and the architecturally important manor house [[Sutton Place, Surrey|Sutton Place]] built by Sir [[Richard Weston (1465–1541)|Richard Weston]] c. 1525. Harrison's father had been the lessee since 1874 and the author had many years of access in which to perform his detailed investigations and researches.

He gave the [[Rede Lecture|Sir Robert Rede Lecture]] at the [[University of Cambridge]] in 1900.<ref name=TT21021900 />