Storico (Windsor 1777 - Penshurst, Kent, 1859), fu tra gli iniziatori della critica storico-erudita in Inghilterra, di tendenza liberale e puritana: The view of the state of Europe during the middle ages (1818); The constitutional history of England from the accession of Henry VII to the death of George II (1827); Introductions to the literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries (1838-39). In politica fu whig, di tendenza moderata.