AINSWORTH, WILLIAM HARRISON

born Feb. 4, 1805, Manchester, Lancashire, Eng. died Jan. 3, 1882, Reigate, Surrey English author of popular historical romances. Ainsworth initially studied law but left it for literature. His first success came with the novel Rookwood (1834), featuring the highwayman Dick Turpin as its main character. This book was followed by many other historical novels, 39 in all, including The Tower of London (1840), Old St. Paul's, a Tale of the Plague and the Fire of London (1841), Windsor Castle: An Historical Romance (1843), and The Lancashire Witches (1849). Ainsworth became editor of Bentley's Miscellany in 1839, and he owned that periodical from 1854 to 1868. He was also editor at various times of The New Monthly Magazine and his own Ainsworth's Magazine. His novels made him a wealthy man, but his ventures as an editor and publisher were generally unsuccessful. His novels excel in accurately and vividly conveying the pageantry and bustle of history, but they lack coherence of plot and subtlety of characterization.