=1. Charlotte Brontë (1816–55)= is the m_A history of English literature

sisters, the other two being =Emily Brontë (1818–48)= and =Anne

Brontë (1820–49)=. They were the daughters of an Irish clergyman who

held a living in Yorkshire. Financial difficulties compelled Charlotte

to become a schoolteacher and then (1832) a governess. Along with Emily

she visited Brussels in 1842, and then returned home, where family

cares kept her closely tied. Later her books had much success, and so

she was released from many of her financial worries. She was married in

1854, but died in the next year. Her two younger sisters, brilliant but

erratic creatures, had predeceased her.

The three sisters began their career jointly with a volume of verse, in

which they respectively adopted the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton

Bell. The poems, which appeared in 1846, are unusually fine in parts,

especially the pieces ascribed to Emily. Charlotte’s first novel, _The

Professor_, which was written before the poems were published, had

no success, and was not published till after her death. _Jane Eyre_

(1847), which was given to the world after _The Professor_ had failed

to find a publisher, created a stir by its unusual candor, passion, and

power. It was based on the work of Thackeray, whom Miss Brontë, in the

second edition of the book, acknowledged as her Master in the art of

fiction. Her other novels were _Shirley_ (1849) and _Villette_ (1853).

The truth and intensity of Charlotte’s work are unquestioned: she can

see and judge with the eye of a genius. But these merits have their

disadvantages. In the plots of her novels she is largely restricted to

her own experiences; her high seriousness is unrelieved by any humor;

and her passion is at times overcharged to the point of frenzy. But to

the novel she brought an energy and passion that gave to commonplace

people and actions the wonder and beauty of the romantic world.

Emily wrote a novel, _Wuthering Heights_ (1847), a wild effort, hit or

miss, at the tragical romance. Where she is successful she attains to

a tragical emphasis that is almost sublime; but as a whole the book is

too unequal to rank as very great.

The third sister, Anne, in her short life wrote two novels, _Agnes

Grey_ (1847) and _The Tenant of Wildfell Hall_ (1847). They are much

inferior to the novels of her sisters, for she lacks nearly all their

power and intensity.

=2. Charles Reade (1814–84)= was born in Oxfordshire, being the

youngest son of a squire. He was educated at Iffley and Oxford, and

then, entering Lincoln’s Inn, was called to the Bar. He was only

slightly interested in the legal profession, but very fond of the

theater and traveling. After 1852 he settled down to the career of the

successful man of letters. He died at Shepherd’s Bush.

He began authorship with the writing of plays. As a playwright he had

a fair amount of success, his most fortunate production being _Masks

and Faces_ (1852), written in collaboration with Tom Taylor. _Peg

Woffington_ (1853) was his first novel, and was followed by _Christie

Johnstone_ (1853), which deals with Scottish fisherfolk. _It’s Never

too Late to Mend_ (1856), sometimes considered to be his masterpiece,

treats of prisons and of life in the colonies. _The Cloister and the

Hearth_ (1861), one of his best novels, is a story of the later Middle

Ages, and shows the author’s immense care and knowledge; _Hard Cash_

(1863) is an attack upon private lunatic asylums; and _Griffith Gaunt_

(1866), _Foul Play_ (1869), and some other inferior books are in the

nature of propaganda against abuses of the time.

When he is at his best Reade tells a fine tale, for he can move with

speed and describe with considerable power. But he tends to overload

his narrative with historical and topical detail, of which he collected

great masses. His style, too, is frequently marred by annoying tricks

of manner, such as over-emphasis and mechanical repetition. Since his

own day his reputation has declined.

=3. Anthony Trollope (1815–82)= is another Victorian novelist who

just missed greatness. The son of a barrister, he was born in London,

educated at Harrow and Winchester, and obtained an appointment in the

Post Office. After an unpromising start he rapidly improved, and rose

high in the service.

In all Trollope wrote over fifty novels, the best of which are _The

Warden_ (1855), _Barchester Towers_ (1857), _Doctor Thorne_ (1858),

_Framley Parsonage_ (1861), and _The Last Chronicle of Barset_ (1867).

He is at his best when he deals with the lives of the clergymen of

the town that he calls Barchester, which has been identified with

Salisbury. His novels, owing to the rapidity of their output, tend

to become mechanical and ill constructed; but he has a genial humor,

a lively narrative method, and much shrewd observation. _Barchester

Towers_ contains several characters not unworthy of Dickens.

=4. Wilkie Collins (1824–89)= is considered to be the most successful

of the followers of Dickens. At one time, about 1860, his vogue was

nearly as great as that of Dickens himself. Collins was born in London,

and was a son of a famous painter. After a few years spent in business

he took to the study of the law, but very soon abandoned that for

literature. He was a versatile man, dabbling much in journalism and

play-writing.

Collins specialized in the mystery novel, to which he sometimes added

a spice of the supernatural. In many of his books the story, which is

often ingeniously complicated, is unfolded by letters or the narratives

of persons actually engaged in the events. To a certain extent this

method is cumbrous, but it allowed Collins to draw his characters

with much wealth of detail. His characters are often described in the

Dickensian manner of emphasizing some humor or peculiarity. He wrote

more than twenty-five novels, the most popular being _The Dead Secret_

(1857), _The Woman in White_ (1860)--the most successful of them

all--_No Name_ (1862), and _The Moonstone_ (1868). _The Moonstone_ is

one of the earliest and the best of the great multitude of detective

stories that now crowd the popular press. Collins was in addition one

of the first authors to devote himself to the short magazine story;

After Dark is a little masterpiece.

=5. George Eliot=--the pen name of =Mary Ann Evans (1819–80)=--was

during her lifetime reckoned to be among the greatest authors, but

time has dealt rather unkindly with her reputation. Even yet, however,

she ranks among the greatest of women novelists. The daughter of a

Warwickshire land-agent, she was born near Nuneaton, and after being

educated at Nuneaton and Coventry lived much at home. Her mind was

well above the ordinary in its bent for religious and philosophical

speculation. In 1846 she translated Strauss’s _Life of Jesus_, and on

the death of her father in 1849 she took entirely to literary work.

She was appointed assistant editor of the _Westminster Review_ (1851),

and became the center of a literary circle. In later life she traveled

extensively, and married (1880) Mr. J. W. Cross. She died at Chelsea in

the same year.

Her first fiction consisted of three short stories published in

_Blackwood’s Magazine_ and reissued under the title of _Scenes from

Clerical Life_ (1857). _Adam Bede_ (1859), her second book, was

brilliantly successful. It is a story of country life, subtly yet

powerfully told. To this succeeded _The Mill on the Floss_ (1860),

partly autobiographical. This book is longer and heavier than its

predecessor, but it has much tragic force and acute observation, and

a placidly caustic humor. _Silas Marner_ (1861) is shorter, crisper,

and exceedingly effective, but _Romola_ (1863), a laborious story of

medieval Florence, is overweighted with learning and philosophizing.

After this point the decline is rapid in _Felix Holt_ (1866),

_Middlemarch_ (1872), _Daniel Deronda_ (1876), and _The Impressions of

Theophrastus Such_ (1879).

In some respects George Eliot is first rate: in humorous observation

of country folk, in keen analysis of motive, and in a curious kind of

grim subdued passion. But she lacks fire and rapidity, and is deficient

in the warmer kind of humanity. The consequence is that, especially in

the later books, when the heart became subordinated to the head, her

people are icily unreal. In these last books, moreover, she allowed her

religious, racial, and political theories to run away with her, and

thus to ruin her work as artistic fiction.

=6. Charles Kingsley (1819–75)= was a Devonshire man, being born at

Holne and brought up at Clovelly. He completed his education at Oxford

(1842), where he was very successful as a student, and took orders.

During his early manhood he was a strenuous Christian Socialist,

and for the first few years of his curacy he devoted himself to the

cause of the poor. All his life was spent, first as curate and then

as rector, at Eversley, in Hampshire. In the course of time his books

brought him honors, including the professorship of history at Oxford

and a chaplaincy to the Queen.

His first novels, _Alton Locke_ (1849) and _Yeast_ (1849), deal in a

robust fashion with the social questions of his day. They are crude

in their methods, but they were effective both as fiction and social

propaganda. _Hypatia_ (1853) has for its theme the struggle between

early Christianity and intellectual paganism; in workmanship it is less

immature, but the cruelly tragic conclusion made it less popular than

the others. _Westward Ho!_ (1855), a tale of the good old days of Queen

Elizabeth, marks the climax of his career as a novelist. At first the

book strikes the reader as being wordy and diffuse, and all through it

is marred with much tedious abuse of Roman Catholics; but once the tale

roams abroad into exciting scenes it moves with a buoyant zest, and

reflects with romantic exuberance the spirit of the early sea-rovers.

_Two Years Ago_ (1857) and _Hereward the Wake_ (1866) did not recapture

the note of their great predecessor.

Kingsley excels as the manly and straightforward story-teller.

His characters, though they are clearly stamped and visualized,

lack delicacy of finish, yet they suit his purpose excellently. In

treatment he revels in a kind of florid description which is not always

successful.

As a poet Kingsley achieved some remarkable results, especially in his

short poems. Of these a few, including the familiar _Sands of Dee_,

_The Three Fishers_, and _Airly Beacon_, are of the truly lyrical cast:

short, profoundly passionate, and perfectly phrased. His longer poems,

such as _The Saint’s Tragedy_ (1848), are not nearly so good. Kingsley

could write also a rhythmic semi-poetical prose, as is seen in his book

of stories from the Greek myths called _The Heroes_ (1856) and to a

less degree in his delightful fantasy _The Water Babies_ (1863).

=7. Walter Besant (1836–1901)= is a good example of the class of light

novelist that flourished in the later Victorian epoch. He was born at

Portsmouth, educated at London and Cambridge, held a professorship

in Mauritius, and then, returning to England (1868), settled down to

the life of a novelist. Along with =James Rice (1844–82)= he wrote

many novels, including _Ready-Money Mortiboy_ (1872) and _The Golden

Butterfly_ (1876). These books do not aspire to be great literature,

but they are healthy and amusing productions.

=8. George Borrow (1803–81)= had a curious career which did not lose

its interest from his method of telling its story. He was born in

Norfolk, and was the son of a soldier. From his earliest manhood he led

a wandering life, and consorted with queer people, of whose languages

and customs he was a quick observer. At one stage of his career he

was a colporteur for the Bible Society, visiting Spain and Morocco

(1835–39). Then he married a lady with a considerable income, and died

a landed proprietor in comfortable circumstances.

His principal books were _The Bible in Spain_ (1843), telling of his

adventures as an agent of the Bible Society; _Lavengro_ (1851) and _The

Romany Rye_ (1857), dealing with his life among the gypsies; and _Wild

Wales_ (1862). His books are remarkable in that they seriously pretend

to tell the actual facts of the author’s life, but how much is fact and

how much is fiction will never be accurately known, so great is his

power of imagination. Taken as mere fiction, the books exert a strong

and strange fascination on many readers. They have a naïve simplicity

resembling that of Goldsmith, a wry humor, and a quick and natural

shrewdness. As a blend of fact and fiction, of hard detail and misty

imagination, of sly humor and stockish solemnity, the books stand apart

in our literature.

=9. Richard D. Blackmore (1825–1900)= was born in Berkshire, and

educated at Tiverton and Oxford. He was called to the Bar, but forsook

the law for the occupation of a farmer, which suited him much better.

He died at Teddington-on-Thames.

He began authorship by writing verse of little value; then turned to

writing novels, which are much worthier as literature. The best of

these are _Lorna Doone_ (1869), an excellent historical romance of

Exmoor, _The Maid of Sker_ (1872), and _Cripps the Carrier_ (1876).

Blackmore had little skill in contriving plots, and many of his

characters, especially his wicked characters, carry little conviction.

Yet he has a rare capacity for tale-telling, a real enthusiasm for

nature, and a romantic eloquence of style that falls little short of

greatness. _Lorna Doone_ stands high among historical novels.

=10. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94)= was born at Edinburgh, and

was called to the Scottish Bar. He had little taste for the legal

profession, and a constitutional tendency to consumption made an

outdoor life necessary. He traveled much in an erratic manner, and

wrote for periodicals. Then, when his malady became acute, he migrated

to Samoa (1888), where the mildness of the climate only delayed a death

which came all too prematurely. He lies buried in Samoa.

His first published works were of the essay nature, and included _An

Inland Voyage_ (1879), _Travels with a Donkey_ (1879), and _Virginibus

Puerisque_ (1881). His next step was into romance, in which he began

with _The New Arabian Nights_ (1882), and then had real success with

_Treasure Island_ (1883), a stirring yarn of pirates and perilous

seas. Then came _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ (1886), a fine example of

the terror-mystery novel, and several historical novels: _Kidnapped_

(1887), _The Black Arrow_ (1888), _The Master of Ballantrae_ (1889),

and _Catriona_ (1893), which was a sequel to _Kidnapped_. With the

exception of _The Black Arrow_, the historical novels deal with

Scotland in the eighteenth century. At his death he left a powerful

fragment, _Weir of Hermiston_.

In the novel Stevenson carries on the tradition of George Meredith. He

applies to the novel a cultivated style and a laborious craftsmanship.

These features would in themselves have made his novels unattractive,

but to them he added a pawky sense of humor, a swift and brilliant

descriptive faculty, and a wide knowledge of and a deep regard for

the lore of his native land. Compared with Scott he seems cramped

and finicking in his methods, and his outlook is sometimes crude and

juvenile, but his finer qualities more than atone for his shortcomings.

Stevenson’s poetry is charming and dexterous, excelling in its

treatment of child-nature. His best volumes are _A Child’s Garden of

Verses_ (1885), _Underwoods_ (1887), and _Ballads_ (1889).

=11. Samuel Butler (1835–1902)= was born in Nottinghamshire, and

educated at Shrewsbury and Cambridge. In 1860 he emigrated to New

Zealand, where a few years’ successful sheep-farming allowed him to

return to England and live a modest literary life. Butler was a man who

harbored unusual ideas on music, art, education, and social conditions

in general. His mind was at once cultured and credulous; and his gift

of pungent language gave him much influence among the more ardent and

advanced minds of his day.

His first work, _Erewhon_ (1872), appeared originally in a

newspaper in New Zealand. It is a combination of _Gulliver’s

Travels_ and _Utopia_ adapted to modern life, and full of

Butler’s odd prejudices and sardonic wit. Its acute thinking and solid

narrative gifts are also very apparent. His great novel _The Way of

All Flesh_ was published posthumously in 1903. It is modern enough

in its keen satire upon conventional education and parental methods

of control and in its candid personal disclosures. As time goes on the

work will probably take its place as one of the outstanding novels of

the period.

THOMAS CARLYLE (1795–1881)

=1. His Life.= Carlyle, who was born at Ecclefechan, in

Dumfriesshire, was the son of a stonemason. He was educated at Annan

and at Edinburgh University, and, giving up his intention of entering

the Church, became for a time a schoolteacher in Kirkcaldy. After a few

years’ teaching, during which he saved a little money, he abandoned the

profession and removed to Edinburgh, where he did literary hack-work

for a living. At this time (1818) he was poor in means and wretched

in health, and his spiritual and bodily torments are revealed in

_Sartor Resartus_. In 1828 he married Jane Welsh, an able woman

who possessed a little property of her own; and after a brief spell

of married life in Edinburgh they removed to Craigenputtock, a small

estate in the wilds of Dumfriesshire owned by Mrs. Carlyle. Here they

lived unhappily enough, but here Carlyle wrote some of his best-known

books. In 1834 they removed to London, and settled permanently

in Chelsea. Carlyle’s poverty was still acute, and as a means of

alleviating it he took to lecturing. He was moderately successful

in the effort. Then his books, at first received with complete

indifference or positive amazement and disgust, began to find favor,

and for the last twenty years of his life he was prominent among the

intellectual leaders of the time. His wife died in 1866, and in his

latter years he was much afflicted with illness and by his deep concern

for the state of public affairs. He died at Chelsea, and was buried

among his own people at Ecclefechan.

=2. His Works.= Carlyle’s earliest work consisted of translations,

essays, and biographies. Of these the best are his translation of

Goethe’s _Wilhelm Meister_ (1824), his _Life of Schiller_ (1825),

and his essays on Burns and Scott. Then _Sartor Resartus_ (1833)

appeared piecemeal in _Fraser’s Magazine_. It is an extraordinary book,

pretending to contain the opinions of a German professor; but under

a thin veil of fiction Carlyle discloses his own spiritual struggles

during his early troubled years. The style is violent and exclamatory,

and the meaning is frequently obscured in a torrent of words, but

it has an energy and a rapturous ecstasy of revolt that quite take

the breath away. Carlyle then turned to historical writing, which he

handled in his own unconventional fashion. His major historical works

are _The French Revolution_ (1837), a series of vivid word-pictures

rather than sober history, but full of audacity and color; _Oliver

Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches_ (1845), a huge effort relieved from

tedium only by Carlyle’s volcanic methods; _The Life of John Sterling_

(1851), a slight work, but more genial and humane than his writing

usually is; and _The Life of Frederick II_ (1865), enormous in scale

and heavy with detail. His works dealing with contemporary events are

numerous, and include _Chartism_ (1839), _Past and Present_ (1843), and

_Latter-day Pamphlets_ (1850). The series of lectures he delivered in

1837 was published as _Heroes and Hero-worship_ (1840).

=3. Features of his Works.= (_a_) _His Teaching._ It is now a little

difficult to understand why Carlyle was valued so highly as a sage in

moral and political affairs. Throughout his works there is much froth

and thunder, but little of anything that (to a later age) is solid and

capable of analysis. Carlyle, however, was a man of sterling honesty,

of sagacious and powerful mind, which he applied without hesitation

to the troubles of his time. His influence, therefore, was rather

personal, like that of Dr. Johnson, and cannot be accurately gauged

from his written works. His opinions were widely discussed and widely

accepted, and his books had the force of _ex cathedra_ pronouncements.

In them he sometimes contradicted himself, but he did great service

in his denunciation of shams and tyrannies, and in his tempestuous

advocacy of hard work and clear thinking.

(_b_) _His Historical Method._ Carlyle’s method was essentially

biographical--he sought out the “hero,” the superman who could

benevolently dominate his fellows, and compel them to do better.

Such were his Cromwell and his Frederick. His other aim was to make

history alive. He denounced the “Dryasdust” who killed the living

force in history. To achieve his purpose he sought out and recorded

infinite detail of life and opinion, and by means of his own masculine

imagination and pithy style he brought the subject vividly before his

reader’s eye.

(_c_) His _style_ is entirely his own. At the first glance a

typical passage seems rude and uncouth: with many capital letters in

the German fashion, with broken phrases and ejaculations, he proceeds

amid a torrent of whirling words. Yet he is flexible to a wonderful

degree: he can command a beauty of expression that wrings the very

heart: a sweet and piercing melody, with a suggestion, always present,

yet always remote, of infinite regret and longing. In such divine

moments his style has the lyrical note that requires only the lyrical

meter to become great poetry.[223]

The following are two specimens of his style. The first, based on

German models, is in his cruder early manner; the second is more

matured and restrained. Note in this the quizzical humor.

(1) “_Es leuchtet mir ein_, I see a glimpse of it!” cries he

elsewhere: “there is in man a HIGHER than Love of Happiness: he

can do without Happiness, and instead thereof find Blessedness!

Was it not to preach-forth this same HIGHER that sages and

martyrs, the Poet and the Priest, in all times, have spoken and

suffered; bearing testimony, through life and through death,

of the Godlike that is in Man, and how in the Godlike only has

he Strength and Freedom? Which God-inspired Doctrine art thou

also honoured to be taught; O Heavens! and broken with manifold

merciful Afflictions, even till thou become contrite, and learn

it! O, thank thy Destiny for these; thankfully bear what yet

remain: thou hadst need of them; the Self in thee needed to be

annihilated. By benignant fever-paroxysms is Life rooting out

the deep-seated chronic Disease, and triumphs over Death. On the

roaring billows of Time, thou art not engulfed, but borne aloft

into the azure of Eternity. Love not Pleasure; love God. This

is the EVERLASTING YEA, wherein all contradiction is solved:

wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with him.”

_Sartor Resartus_

(2) The good man,[224] he was now getting old, towards sixty

perhaps; and gave you the idea of a life that had been full of

sufferings; a life heavy-laden, half-vanquished, still swimming

painfully in seas of manifold physical and other bewilderment.

Brow and head were round, and of massive weight, but the face

was flabby and irresolute. The deep eyes, of a light hazel,

were as full of sorrow as of inspiration; confused pain looked

mildly from them, as in a kind of mild astonishment. The whole

figure and air, good and amiable otherwise, might be called

flabby and irresolute; expressive of weakness under possibility

of strength. He hung loosely on his limbs, with knees bent,

and stooping attitude; in walking, he rather shuffled than

decisively stept; and a lady once remarked, he never could

fix which side of the garden walk would suit him best, but

continually shifted, in cork-screw fashion, and kept trying

both. A heavy-laden, high-aspiring, and surely much-suffering

man. His voice, naturally soft and good, had contracted

itself into a plaintive snuffle and sing-song; he spoke as if

preaching,--you would have said, preaching earnestly and also

hopelessly the weightiest things. I still recollect his “object”

and “subject,” terms of continual recurrence in the Kantean

province, and how he sang and snuffled them into “om-m-mject,”

“sum-m-mject,” with a kind of solemn shake or quaver, as he

rolled along. No talk, in his century or in any other, could be

more surprising.

_The Life of John Sterling_

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY (1800–59)

=1. His Life.= Macaulay was born in Leicestershire, his father being

Zachary Macaulay, the earnest upholder of negro emancipation. Macaulay

was educated privately, and then at Cambridge. From his infancy he was

remarkable for his precocity and his prodigious memory. At Cambridge he

twice won the Chancellor’s Medal for English verse; and after taking

high honors he was called to the Bar. By this time his father’s

business had collapsed, and Macaulay had to depend partly upon his pen

for a living. At first he contributed to _Knight’s Quarterly_, but

later he began writing his famous essays for _The Edinburgh Review_.

Having entered Parliament as a Whig (1830), a very promising political

career seemed to be opening before him when he accepted a lucrative

legal post in India. He was in India for four years; then, returning to

England, he re-entered political life, and became in turn Secretary of

State for War and Paymaster of the Forces. In 1857 he was raised to the

peerage, and died when he was still busy with his _History_.

=2.= His =poetry= was nearly all written early in his career, and most

of it is included in his _Lays of Ancient Rome_ (1842). In style the

poems resemble the narrative poems of Scott, and in subject they are

based upon the legends of early Rome, the best-known dealing with the

story of Horatius. His verse is virile stuff, moving with vigor and

assurance, and is full of action and color. Like his prose, however, it

is hard and brassy, and quite lacking in the softer qualities of melody

and sweetness and in the rich suggestiveness of the early ballad. It

is not great poetry, but it will always be popular with those who like

plenty of action and little contemplation.

=3. His Prose Works.= Before he left for India Macaulay had written

twenty-two essays for _The Edinburgh Review_; he added three during his

stay in India, and finished eleven others after he returned to England.

With the five biographies that he contributed to _The Encyclopedia

Britannica_, these include all his shorter prose works. The essays

are of two kinds--those dealing with literary subjects, such as those

on Milton, Byron, and Southey, and the historical studies, including

the famous compositions on Warren Hastings and Lord Clive. His method

of essay-writing was as follows: he brought under review a set of

volumes that had already been published on the subject, then, after

a survey, long or short as the case might be, of these volumes, gave

his own views at great length. His opinions were often one-sided, and

his great parade of knowledge was often flawed with actual error or

distorted by his craving for antithesis and epigram; but the essays

are clearly and ably written, and they disclose an eye for picturesque

effect that in places is almost barbaric.

His _History of England_, the first volume of which was published in

1849, was unfinished at his death. After two long preliminary chapters,

it began with the Whig revolution of 1688, and Macaulay intended

to carry the story down to his own time. But he managed to compass

within the three completed volumes only the events of a few years.

His historical treatment is marked by the following features: (_a_)

There are numerous and picturesque details, which retard his narrative

while they add to the general interest. (_b_) The desire for brilliant

effect resulted in a hard, self-confident manner, and in a lack of

broader outlines and deeper views. These defects have deprived his

_History_ of much of its permanent value. (_c_) To this he added such

a partiality for the Whig point of view that his statements, though

they are always interesting and illuminating, are generally distrusted

as statements of fact. To sum up, he said, “I shall not be satisfied

unless I produce something which shall for a few days supersede the

last fashionable novel on the tables of young ladies.” He had full

reason to be satisfied; his book had an instant and enormous success,

which, however, has been followed by distrust and neglect.

The extract given below gives some idea of his style. It is entirely

direct and clear, and free from any shade of doubt and hesitancy.

Observe the use of the short detached sentence, and the copious and

expressive vocabulary:

Then was committed that great crime, memorable for its singular

atrocity, memorable for the tremendous retribution by which

it was followed. The English captives were left at the mercy

of the guards, and the guards determined to secure them for

the night in the prison of the garrison, a chamber known by

the fearful name of the Black Hole. Even for a single European

malefactor, that dungeon would, in such a climate, have been

too close and narrow. The space was only twenty feet square.

The air-holes were small and obstructed. It was the summer

solstice, the season when the fierce heat of Bengal can scarcely

be rendered tolerable to natives of England by lofty halls and

by the constant waving of fans. The number of the prisoners was

one hundred and forty-six. When they were ordered to enter the

cell, they imagined that the soldiers were joking; and, being

in high spirits on account of the promise of the Nabob to spare

their lives, they laughed and jested at the absurdity of the

notion. They soon discovered their mistake. They expostulated;

they entreated; but in vain. The guards threatened to cut down

all who hesitated. The captives were driven into the cell at the

point of the sword, and the door was instantly shut and locked

upon them.

_Essay on Clive_

JOHN RUSKIN (1819–1900)

=1. His Life.= Ruskin was born in London, of Scottish parentage,

and was educated privately before he went to Oxford. During his

boyhood he often traveled with his father, whose business activities

involved journeys both in England and abroad. After leaving the

university Ruskin, who did not need to earn a living, settled down

to a literary career. He was not long in developing advanced notions

on art, politics, economics, and other subjects. In art he was in

particular devoted to the cause of the landscape-painter Turner, and

in social and economic theories he was an advocate of an advanced form

of socialism. To the present generation his ideas appear innocuous, or

even inevitable, but by the public of his own day they were received

with shocked dismay. At first the only notice he received was in the

jeers of his adversaries; but gradually his fame spread as he freely

expounded his opinions in lectures and pamphlets, as well as in his

longer books. In 1869 he was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Arts at

Oxford. Illness, however, which was aggravated by hard work and mental

worries, led him to resign (1879) after a few years; and though shortly

afterward (1883) he resumed the post, it had at last to be abandoned.

He retired to Brantwood, on Coniston Water, in the Lake District, where

he lived till his death, his later years being clouded by disease and

despair.

=2. His Works.= Ruskin’s works are of immense volume and complexity.

They were often issued in a haphazard fashion, and this makes it all

the more difficult to follow the order of their publication. For a

start he plunged into what turned out to be the longest of his books,

_Modern Painters_, the first volume of which was issued in 1843 and

the fifth and last in 1860. This work, beginning as a thesis in

defense of the painting of Turner, develops Ruskin’s opinions on many

other subjects. The first volume was not long in attracting notice,

chiefly owing to its sumptuous style, which was of a kind unknown in

English for centuries. _The Seven Lamps of Architecture_ (1849) is a

shorter and more popular work, which once again expounds his views on

artistic matters. _The Stones of Venice_ (1851–53), in four volumes,

is considered to be his masterpiece both in thought and style. It is

less diffuse than _Modern Painters_; there is a little more plan in the

immense array of discursive matter; and the luxuriance of the style is

somewhat curtailed. His other writings are of a miscellaneous kind,

and comprise _The Two Paths_ (1859), a course of lectures; _Unto this

Last_ (1860), a series of articles on political economy which began

to appear in _The Cornhill Magazine_, but were stopped owing to their

hostile reception; _Munera Pulveris_ (1862), also an unfinished series

of articles on political economy, published in _Fraser’s Magazine_, and

also withdrawn owing to their advanced views; _The Crown of Wild Olive_

(1864), a series of addresses; _Sesame and Lilies_ (1865), a course of

three lectures, which is now the most popular of his shorter works; and

_Præterita_, which first began to appear in 1855, and which is a kind

of autobiography.

=3. His Style.= Ruskin himself often deplored the fact that people

read him more for his style than for his creed. His views, which he

argued with power and sincerity, must in time give way to others; many

of them are now self-evident, so rapid sometimes is the progress of the

human intellect; but his prose style, an art as delicate and beautiful

as any of those he spent his life in supporting, will long remain a

delectable study. For its like we must return to the prose of Milton

and Clarendon, and refine and sweeten the manner of these early masters

to reproduce the effect that Ruskin achieves. In its less ornate

passages Ruskin’s diction is marked by a sweet and unforced simplicity;

but his pages abound in purple passages, which are marked by sentences

of immense length, carefully punctuated, by a gorgeous march of image

and epithet, and by a sumptuous rhythm that sometimes grows into actual

blank verse capable of scansion. In his later books Ruskin to a certain

extent eschewed his grandiose manner, and wrote the language of the

Bible, modernized and made supple; but to the very end he was always

able to rise to the lyrical mood and fill a page with a strong and

sonorous sentence.

The paragraph given below, it will be noticed, is one sentence. Observe

the minute care given to the punctuation, the aptness of epithet, and

the rhythm, which in several places is so regular that the matter can

be scanned like poetry.

Then let us pass farther towards the north, until we see the

orient colours change gradually into a vast belt of rainy green,

where the pastures of Switzerland, and poplar valleys of France,

and dark forests of the Danube and Carpathians stretch from the

mouths of the Loire to those of the Volga, seen through clefts

in gray swirls of rain-cloud and flaky veils of the mist of

the brooks, spreading low along the pasture lands: and then,

farther north still, to see the earth heave into mighty masses

of leaden rock and heathy moor, bordering with a broad waste of

gloomy purple that belt of field and wood, and splintering into

irregular and grisly islands amidst the northern seas, beaten by

storm, and chilled by ice-drift, and tormented by furious pulses

of contending tide, until the roots of the last forests fall

from among the hill ravines, and the hunger of the north wind

bites their peaks into barrenness; and, at last, the wall of

ice, durable like iron, sets, deathlike, its white teeth against

us out of the polar twilight.

_The Stones of Venice_

OTHER WRITERS OF MISCELLANEOUS PROSE

=1. John Addington Symonds (1840–93)= was among the foremost of the

literary critics who flourished after the middle of the century. He

was the son of a Bristol physician, and was educated at Harrow and

Oxford. A tendency to consumption checked whatever desire he had to

study the law, and much of his life was spent abroad.

A large proportion of his work was contributed to periodicals, and was

collected and issued in volume form. The best collection is _Studies of

the Greek Poets_ (1873). His longest work is _The Renaissance in Italy_

(1875–86), in which he contests Ruskin’s views on art. In style he is

often ornate and even florid, and in treatment he can be diffuse to

tediousness; but as a critic he is shrewd and well informed.

=2. Walter Horatio Pater (1839–94)= was, both as a stylist and as a

literary critic, superior to Symonds. Born in London, he was educated

at Canterbury and Oxford, becoming finally a Fellow of Brasenose.

He devoted himself to art and literature, producing some remarkable

volumes on these subjects.

His first essays appeared in book-form as _Studies in the History of

the Renaissance_ (1878), and were concerned chiefly with art; _Marius

the Epicurean_ (1885) is a remarkable philosophical novel, and is the

best example of his distinguished style; _Imaginary Portraits_ (1887)

deals with artists; and _Appreciations_ (1889) is on literary themes,

and is prefaced by an important essay on style.

Pater’s individual style is among the most notable of the latter

part of the century. It is the creation of immense application and

forethought; every word is conned, every sentence proved, and every

rhythm appraised, until we have the perfection of finished workmanship.

It is never cheap, but firm and equable, with the strength and

massiveness of bronze. Its very perfections are a burden, especially

in his novel; it tends to become frigid and lifeless, and the subtle

dallyings with refinements of meaning thin it down to mere euphuism. In

the novel the action is chilled, and the characters frozen until they

resemble rather a group of statuary than a collection of human beings.

=3. James Anthony Froude (1818–94)= was born near Totnes, where his

father was archdeacon. After three years at Westminster School he

proceeded to Oxford, where he was not long in feeling the effects of

the High Church movement led by Newman. From this he afterward broke

away, and was elected to a fellowship at Exeter College. He toiled

ardently at literary work, contributing freely to _The Westminster

Review_ and other magazines. In 1860 he became editor of _Fraser’s

Magazine_.

Froude was a man of strong opinions, to which he gave free expression

both by voice and pen, and his career was often marked with

controversy. His handling of the life of Carlyle provoked much angry

comment. In the course of time his true merits came to be valued

adequately, and after being appointed to several Government commissions

he was elected (1892) Regius Professor of History at Oxford.

Froude’s miscellaneous work was published in four volumes called

_Short Studies on Great Subjects_ (1867–83). His _History of England_

(1856–69) was issued in twelve volumes. In period it covers the time of

the Reformation, and in method it follows the lead of Carlyle in its

great detail and picturesque description. In its general attitude it is

an indirect, and therefore an unfair, attack upon the High Church views

of Newman. The work, nevertheless, is composed with much vigor, and is

in the main accurate, though slightly lax in detail. Other books are

_The English in Ireland_ (1871–74), _Cæsar_ (1879), _Oceana_ (1886),

and an Irish novel, _The Two Chiefs of Dunboy_ (1889). His biography of

Carlyle was issued during the period 1882–84.

=4. The Historians.= The nineteenth century produced many historical

writers, of whom only a very few can find a place here.

(_a_) =Alexander Kinglake (1809–91)= was born near Taunton, and

educated at Eton and Cambridge. He was called to the Bar, and

practiced with some success, but in 1856 he retired to devote himself

to literature. He saw much of the world, and watched the progress of

the war in the Crimea. In 1857 he became Member of Parliament for

Bridgwater.

His _History of the Crimean War_ (1863–87) is enormously bulky and full

of detail. In attitude it is too favorable to the British commander,

Lord Raglan, and in style it is tawdry; at its best, however, it is a

picturesque narrative. His other work of note is _Eothen_ (1844), a

clever account of Eastern travel.

(_b_) =John Richard Green (1837–83)= was born and educated at Oxford,

and became a curate in the East End of London. He was delicate in

health, and was compelled to retire from his charge in 1869. His last

years were spent in writing his historical works.

Of these works the best is _A Short History of the English People_

(1874), which at once took rank as one of the few popular text-books

which are also literature. It is devoted to the history of the _people_

and not to wars and high politics. It is told with a terse simplicity

that is quite admirable. _The Making of England_ (1882) and _The

Conquest of England_ (1883) are the only two other works he lived to

finish.

(_c_) =Edward Augustus Freeman (1823–92)= was celebrated as the chief

opponent of Froude. He was educated privately, and then at Oxford,

where he became a Fellow of Trinity College and Regius Professor

of Modern History (1884). He wrote many historical works, the most

valuable of which are _The History of the Norman Conquest_ (1867–79)

and _The Reign of William Rufus_ (1882). Freeman specialized in certain

periods of English history, which he treated laboriously and at great

length. This, as well as his arid style, makes his history unattractive

to read, but he did much solid and enthusiastic work for the benefit of

his students and successors.

=5. The Scientists.= The nineteenth century beheld the exposition

of scientific themes raised to the level of a literary art.

(_a_) =Hugh Miller (1802–56)= was a natural genius, self-taught and

self-inspired. He was born at Cromarty, in the north of Scotland, and

became a stonemason, in which capacity he studied geology. In 1835 he

became an accountant in a bank. He wrote much for the periodical press,

and his writing attracted considerable notice. Latterly he suffered

from mental disorder, and in the end committed suicide.

_The Old Red Sandstone_ (1841) contains much patient observation of

geological fact, and is still regarded as a valuable contribution to

the subject; _The Testimony of the Rocks_ (1857) appeared after his

death. He wrote a little fiction of mediocre quality, published as

_Tales and Sketches_ (1863). Miller’s style is unforced and often

impressive, and for sincerity, piety, and homely wisdom his books leave

little to be desired.

(_b_) =Charles Darwin (1809–82)= is one of the greatest names in

modern science. He was born at Shrewsbury, where he received his early

education, passing later to Cambridge. In 1831 he became naturalist in

_The Beagle_, a man-of-war that went around the world on a scientific

mission. This lucky chance determined his career as a scientist. The

remainder of his life was laboriously uneventful, being devoted almost

wholly to biological and allied studies.

His chief works are _The Voyage of the Beagle_ (1836), a mine of

accurate and interesting facts; _The Origin of Species_ (1859),

which is to modern science what _The Wealth of Nations_ is to modern

economics--the foundation of belief; and _The Descent of Man_ (1871).

We cannot discuss his theories of evolution, but as general literature

his books possess a living interest owing to their rich array of

garnered evidence and their masterly gifts of exposition and argument.

(_c_) =Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)= was one of the ablest and most

energetic of Darwin’s supporters. He was born at Ealing, and became a

surgeon in the Navy. His first post was on Nelson’s _Victory_. Like

Darwin, he traveled abroad on a warship, _The Rattlesnake_, and during

these four years (1846–50) he saw and learned much. Retiring from

the Navy, he took enthusiastically to scientific research, and became

President of the Royal Society and a prominent public figure in the

heated discussions concerning the theories that were then so new and

disturbing.

Huxley produced no work in the same class as _The Origin of Species_.

His work consisted of lectures and addresses, which were issued in

volume form as _Man’s Place in Nature_ (1863), _Lay Sermons and

Addresses_ (1870), and _American Lectures_ (1877).

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY FORMS

The Victorian epoch was exceedingly productive of literary work of a

high quality, but the amount of actual innovation is by no means great.

Writers were as a rule content to work upon former models, and the

improvements they did achieve were often dubious and unimportant.

=1. Poetry.= (_a_) The _lyrical_ output is very large and varied, as

a glance through the works of the poets already mentioned will show.

In form there is little of fresh interest. Tennyson was content to

follow the methods of Keats, though Browning’s complicated forms and

Swinburne’s long musical lines were more freely used by them than by

any previous writers.

(_b_) In _descriptive and narrative poetry_ there is a greater advance

to chronicle. In subject--for example, in the poems of Browning and

Morris--there is great variety, embracing many climes and periods; in

method there is much diversity, ranging from the cultured elegance of

Tennyson’s English landscapes to the wild impressionism of Whitman

in America. The Pre-Raphaelite school, also, united several features

which had not been seen before in combination. These were a fondness

for medieval themes treated in an unconventional manner, a richly

colored pictorial effect, and a studied and melodious simplicity. The

works of Rossetti, Morris, and Swinburne provide many examples of this

development of poetry. On the whole we can say that the Victorians were

strongest on the descriptive side of poetry, which agreed with the

more meditative habits of the period, as contrasted with the warmer and

more lyrical emotions of the previous age.

There were many attempts at purely narrative poetry, with interesting

results. Tennyson thought of reviving the epic, but in him the

epical impulse was not sufficiently strong, and his great narrative

poem was produced as smaller fragments which he called idylls.

Browning’s _Ring and the Book_ is curious, for it can be called a

psychological epic--a narrative in which emotion removes action from

the chief place. In this class of poetry _The Earthly Paradise_ of

William Morris is a return to the old romantic tale as we find it in

the works of Chaucer.

=2. Drama.= Nearly all the major poets of the period wrote tragedy

on the lines of the accepted models. Few of these attained to real

distinction; they were rather the conscientious efforts of men who

were striving to succeed in the impossible task of really reviving the

poetical drama. Of them all, Swinburne’s tragedies, especially those

concerned with Mary Queen of Scots, possess the greatest warmth and

energy; and Browning’s earlier plays, before he over-developed his

style, have sincerity and sometimes real dramatic power. As for comedy,

it was almost wholly neglected as a purely literary form.

A development to be noticed is the popularity of the _dramatic

monologue_. In _Ulysses_, _Tithonus_, and other pieces Tennyson

achieved some of his most successful results; and Browning’s host of

monologues, wide in range and striking in detail, are perhaps his

greatest contribution to literature. The method common to this kind of

monologue was to take some character and make him reveal his inmost

self in his own words.

=3. Prose.= (_a_) By the middle of the nineteenth century the _novel_,

as a species of literature, had thrust itself into the first rank. We

shall therefore consider it first.

In the novels of Thackeray and Dickens the various qualities of the

domestic novel are gathered together and carried a stage forward.

Dickens did much to idealize the England of his day, and to depict

the life of the lower and middle classes with imagination and humor.

As a satirist and an observer of manners Thackeray easily excels his

contemporaries. The other novelists were to a great extent gleaners

in the spacious field that was reaped by the two greater writers.

Charlotte Brontë supplied a somber passion that colored the drabness of

her life; Trollope specialized with his parsons; Collins wrote mystery

stories. Of the rest, George Eliot showed a closeness of application

to the mental process of her characters that was carried further in

the work of Meredith, and has led to the “psychological” novels of the

present day.

In _Esmond_ the historical novel made an advance. Here Thackeray was

not content to master the history of the period he described; he sought

to reproduce also the language and atmosphere. This is an extremely

difficult thing to achieve, and is possible only in novels dealing with

a limited period of time, but Thackeray scored a remarkable success.

(_b_) The development of the _Short story_, as a separate species of

literature, will be touched upon in the next chapter.

(_c_) In the case of the _essay_ we have to note the expansion of the

literary type into the treatise-in-little. This method was made popular

by Macaulay, and continued by Carlyle, Symonds, Pater, and many others.

Of the miscellaneous essayists, both Dickens, in some parts of _The

Uncommercial Traveller_, and Thackeray, in _The Roundabout Papers_,

successfully practiced the shorter Addisonian type; and this again was

enlarged and made more pretentious by Ruskin, Pater, and Stevenson.

(_d_) The _lecture_ becomes a prominent literary species for a time.

Carlyle, Thackeray, Dickens, and many others both in England and

America published lectures in book-form. Earlier critics like Hazlitt

and Coleridge had done so; but, almost for the first time, Ruskin gave

a distinct style and manner to the lecture.

(_e_) The _historians_ are strongly represented. Carlyle and Macaulay,

in spite of their great industry and real care for history, have

now fallen behind in the race as historians, and survive chiefly as

stylists. The new method that arose was typified in the solid and

valuable work of =William Stubbs (1825–1901)=, =Edward A. Freeman

(1823–92)=, and =Samuel R. Gardiner (1829–1902)=. These historians

avoided the charms of literary style, concentrated upon some aspect of

history, and, basing their results upon patient research into original

authorities, produced valuable additions to human knowledge.

(_f_) We have already noticed that in this period the _scientific

treatise_ attained to literary rank. We may mention as early examples

of this type Sir Thomas Browne’s curious treatise on _Urne Buriall_,

Burton’s _Anatomy of Melancholy_, and the graceful essays of Berkeley.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE

With such an amount of writing as characterizes this age it is quite

certain that both in prose and poetry a wide range of style will be

observable.

=1. Poetry.= In the case of poetry the more ornate style was

represented in Tennyson, who developed artistic schemes of vowel-music,

alliteration, and other devices in a manner quite unprecedented. The

Pre-Raphaelites carried the method still further. In diction they were

simpler than Tennyson, but their vocabulary was more archaic and their

mass of detail more highly colored. The style of Browning was to a

certain extent a protest against this aureate diction. He substituted

for it simplicity and a heady speed, especially in his earlier

lyrics; his more mature obscurity was merely an effect of his eager

imagination and reckless impetuosity. Matthew Arnold, in addition, was

too classical in style to care for over-developed picturesqueness, and

wrote with a studied simplicity. On the whole, however, we can say

that the average poetical style of this period, as a natural reaction

against the simpler methods of the period immediately preceding, was

ornate rather than simple.

=2. Prose.= With regard to prose, the greater proportion by far is

written in the middle style, the established medium in journalism, in

all manner of miscellaneous work, and in the majority of the novels.

Outside this mass of middle prose, the style of Ruskin stands highest

in the scale of ornateness; of a like kind are the scholarly elegance

of Pater and the mannered dictions of Meredith and Stevenson. The style

of Carlyle and that of Macaulay are each a peculiar brand of the middle

style, Macaulay’s being hard, clear, and racy, and Carlyle’s gruff and

tempestuous, with an occasional passage of soothing beauty.

Of the simpler writers there is a large number, among whom many

novelists find a place. We have space here to refer only to the

easygoing journalistic manner of Dickens and to the sub-acid flavor of

the prose of Thackeray.

We add a specimen of Stevenson’s prose style. This style, which

in its mannered precision is typical of many modern prose styles,

is noteworthy on account of its careful selection of epithet, its

clear-cut expressiveness, and its delicate rhythm.

But Hermiston was not all of one piece. He was, besides, a

mighty toper; he could sit at wine until the day dawned, and

pass directly from the table to the Bench with a steady hand and

a clear head. Beyond the third bottle, he showed the plebeian

in a larger print; the low, gross accent, the low, foul mirth,

grew broader and commoner; he became less formidable, and

infinitely more disgusting. Now, the boy had inherited from

Jean Rutherford a shivering delicacy, unequally mated with

potential violence. In the playing-fields, and amongst his

own companions, he repaid a coarse expression with a blow; at

his father’s table (when the time came for him to join these

revels) he turned pale and sickened in silence. Of all the

guests whom he there encountered, he had toleration for only

one: David Keith Carnegie, Lord Glenalmond. Lord Glenalmond was

tall and emaciated, with long features and long delicate hands.

He was often compared with the statue of Forbes of Culloden in

the Parliament House; and his blue eye, at more than sixty,

preserved some of the fire of youth. His exquisite disparity

with any of his fellow-guests, his appearance, as of an artist

and an aristocrat stranded in rude company, rivetted the boy’s

attention; and as curiosity and interest are the things in the

world that are the most immediately and certainly rewarded, Lord

Glenalmond was attracted to the boy.

_Weir of Hermiston_

TABLE TO ILLUSTRATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY FORMS

+-------------+-----------------------------+---------------------+------------------------------------+

| |--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

+-------------+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

+-------------+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

|1850 | | | | |Kingsley | | |

+-------------+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

+-------------+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

|1870 | | | | |Besant | | |

+-------------+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

|1880 | | | | | |Stevenson| |

+-------------+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

|1890 | | | | | | | |

+-------------+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+------------+---------+-------------+

EXERCISES

1. The following are brief extracts from dramatic monologues by

Tennyson, Browning, and William Morris. Compare them with regard to

subject, point of view, and style. How far does each reflect the

character of the author?

(1) There lies the port: the vessel puffs her sail:

There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me--

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads--you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

TENNYSON, _Ulysses_

(2) First, every sort of monk, the black and white,

I drew them, fat and lean: then, folk at church,

From good old gossips waiting to confess

Their cribs of barrel-droppings, candle-ends,--

To the breathless fellow at the altar-foot,

Fresh from his murder, safe and sitting there

With the little children round him in a row

Of admiration, half for his beard, and half

For that white anger of his victim’s son

Shaking a fist at him with one fierce arm,

Signing himself with the other because of Christ

(Whose sad face on the cross sees only this

After the passion of a thousand years).

BROWNING, _Fra Lippo Lippi_

(_Guenevere speaking._)

(3) And every morn I scarce could pray at all,

For Launcelot’s red-golden hair would play,

Instead of sunlight, on the painted wall,

Mingled with dreams of what the priest would say;

Grim curses out of Peter and of Paul;

Judging of strange sins in Leviticus;

Another sort of writing on the wall,

Scored deep across the painted heads of us.

Christ sitting with the woman at the well,

And Mary Magdalen repenting there,

Her dimmed eyes scorched and red at sight of hell

So hardly ’scaped, no gold light on her hair.

MORRIS, _King Arthur’s Tomb_

2. In the following extracts point out the features of subject and

style that are characteristic of their respective authors. In each case

say how far the style suits the subject.

(1) Day has bent downwards. Wearied mortals are creeping home

from their field labour; the village artisan eats with relish

his supper of herbs, or has strolled forth to the village

street for a sweet mouthful of air and human news. Still

summer-eventide everywhere! The great sun hangs flaming on the

utmost Northwest; for it is his longest day this year. The

hill-tops rejoicing will erelong be at their ruddiest, and blush

Good-night. The thrush, in green dells, on long-shadowed leafy

spray, pours gushing his glad serenade, to the babble of brooks

grown audibler; silence is stealing over the Earth.

CARLYLE, _The French Revolution_

(2) Monmouth was startled by finding that a broad and profound

trench lay between him and the camp which he had hoped to

surprise. The insurgents halted on the edge of the rhine and

fired. Part of the royal infantry on the opposite bank returned

the fire. During three-quarters of an hour the roar of the

musketry was incessant. The Somersetshire peasants behaved

themselves as if they had been veteran soldiers, save only that

they levelled their pieces too high.

MACAULAY, _The History of England_

(3) We may not measure to the full the depth of this heavenly

gift, in our own land; though still, as we think of it longer,

the infinite of that meadow sweetness, Shakespeare’s peculiar

joy, would open on us more and more, yet we have it but in

part. Go out, in the spring time, among the meadows that slope

from the shores of the Swiss lakes to the roots of their lower

mountains. There, mingled with the taller gentians and the white

narcissus, the grass grows deep and free; and as you follow

the winding mountain paths, beneath arching boughs all veiled

and dim with blossom--paths that for ever droop and rise over

the green banks and mounds sweeping down in scented undulation,

steep to the blue water, studded here and there with new-mown

heaps, filling all the air with fainter sweetness--look up

towards the higher hills, where the waves of everlasting green

roll silently into their long inlets among the shadows of the

pines; and we may, perhaps, at last know the meaning of those

quiet words of the 147th Psalm, “He maketh grass to grow up on

the mountains.”

RUSKIN, _Modern Painters_

(4) Rats!

They fought the dogs and killed the cats,

And bit the babies in the cradles,

And ate the cheeses out of the vats,

And licked the soup from the cooks’ own ladles,

Split open the kegs of salted sprats,

Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats,

And even spoiled the women’s chats,

By drowning their speaking

With shrieking and squeaking

In fifty different sharps and flats.

BROWNING, _The Pied Piper of Hamelin_

3. The two extracts given below are typical of the Pre-Raphaelite

school. Point out the features in style and subject common to both.

Write a brief appreciation of this style of poetry.

(1) The banners seemed quite full of ease,

That over the turret roofs hung down;

The battlements could get no frown

From the flower-moulded cornices.

Who walked in that garden there?

Miles and Giles and Isabeau,

Tall Jehane du Castel Beau,

Alice of the golden hair,

Big Sir Gervaise, the good knight,

Fair Ellayne le Violet,

Mary, Constance fille de fay,

Many dames with footfall light.

MORRIS, _Golden Wings_

(2) “We two,” she said, “will seek the groves

Where the lady Mary is,

With her five handmaidens, whose names

Are five sweet symphonies,

Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen,

Margaret and Rosalys.

“Circlewise sit they, with bounds locks

And foreheads garlanded;

Into the fine cloth white like flame

Weaving the golden thread,

To fashion the birth-robes for them

Who are just born, being dead.

“He shall fear, haply, and be dumb:

Then will I lay my cheek

To his, and tell about our love,

Not once abashed or weak:

And the dear Mother will approve

My pride, and let me speak.

“Herself shall bring us, hand in hand,

To Him round whom all souls

Kneel, the clear-ranged unnumbered heads

Bowed with their aureoles:

And angels meeting us shall sing

To their citherns and citoles.”

D. G. ROSSETTI, _The Blessed Damozel_

4. From a consideration of the specimens given below, and of other

examples that occur to you, write a brief essay on the Victorian lyric.

(1) Say not the struggle naught availeth,

The labour and the wounds are vain,

The enemy faints not, nor faileth,

And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;

It may be, in yon smoke concealed,

Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,

And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,

Seem here no painful inch to gain,

Far back, through creeks and inlets making,

Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,

When daylight comes, comes in the light,

In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly!

But westward, look, the land is bright!

CLOUGH

(2) Oh, to be in England

Now that April’s there,

And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England--now!

And after April, when May follows,

And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops--at the bent spray’s edge--

That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,

Lest you should think he never could recapture

The first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children’s dower

--Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

R. BROWNING

(3) Strew on her roses, roses,

And never a spray of yew!

In quiet she reposes;

Ah, would that I did too!

Her mirth the world required;

She bathed it in smiles of glee.

But her heart was tired, tired,

And now they let her be.

MATTHEW ARNOLD

5. Compare the novels of Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot, the chief

women novelists of the middle of the nineteenth century.

6. Trace the development of the historical novel from the death of

Scott to the death of Stevenson.

7. Write a brief account of the drama of this period.

8. Who are the principal prose stylists of the period? Write a note on

the style of each, quoting whenever you can.

9. “The characteristic of the novel, as it was reconstituted towards

the middle of the century, was the preference for strictly ordinary

life.” (Saintsbury.) Examine this statement.

10. “Prose style in our day is a complex matter.” (Craik.) Expand this

statement, pointing out the wide range of style necessary to meet

modern requirements.

11. “Men of genius may be divided into regular and irregular.” Bagehot,

who makes this remark, calls Dickens an irregular genius. Suggest some

of his reasons for doing so.

12. “Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning represent respectively the

pure, ornate, and grotesque in poetry.” (Bagehot.) What justification

is there for such a statement?

13. “Tennyson’s poetry undoubtedly represents the ideas and tastes,

the inherited predilections, the prevailing currents of thought, of

Englishmen belonging to his class and generation.” (Sir A. Lyall.)

Write a brief essay on this statement.

14. “Thackeray’s manner was mainly realistic.” (Trollope.) How far was

Thackeray a realist? How far did he describe persons and actions as

they really were? Quote examples from his novels. Compare him in this

respect with Dickens.

15. “The novel has supplanted the sermon, the essay, and the play in

the place which each at different times held as the _popular_ form

of literature.” (Saintsbury.) Expand and comment upon this quotation.

16. In what respects did the spread of popular education affect the

literary production of the period?

=1. Charlotte Brontë (1816–55)= is the most important of three