lived far into the Victorian age, dying in 1859, in the same year as Macaulay. Arthur Hallam, the son of the historian, was Tennyson's gifted friend, whose untimely death gave rise to the remarkable series of poems entitled In Memoriam. OTHER PROSE WRITERS OF THIS AGE. HISTORICAL. JOHN LINGARD (1771-1851), author of History of England, from a Roman Catholic point of view, written with great candor, learning, and ability. THOS. ARNOLD, of Rugby (1795-1842), History of Rome, and Lectures on Modern History. FICTITIOUS. WM. GODWIN (1756-1836), author of Caleb Williams, St. Leon, and other novels; also of Life of Chaucer, Political Justice, etc. MARIA EDGEWORTH (1767-1849), author of Early Lessons, Parent's Assistant, Castle Rackrent, etc. JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817), author of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, etc. JOHN GALT (1779-1839), a prolific Scotch writer, author of Ayrshire Legatees, Annals of a Parish, etc. MISS MARY Russell Mitford (1786-1855), author of Our Village, American Tales, etc. Capt. Marryatt (1792-1848), author of Midshipman Easy, Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful, etc. SCIENTIFIC. Dugald Stewart (1753-1828), Prof. of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, author of Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, Outlines of Moral Philosophy, etc. JEREMY BENTHAM (1748-1832), a bold and original writer on legal and political science. CRITICAL AND MISCEllaneous. WM. GIFFORD (1756-1826), a satirist and slashing reviewer, long editor c The London Quarterly. JOHN WILSON (1758-1854)—“ Christopher (or Kit) North," editor of Blackwood's Magazine, and Prof. in the University of Edinburgh. He wrote poems and novels, but his fame rests chiefly upon his critical Essays and a brilliant series of papers entitled Noctes Ambrosianæ (Ambrosial Nights). SIR JAS. MACKINTOSH (1765-1832), a statesman, a college professor, and brilliant writer on ethical, political, and historical subjects. WM. HAZLITT (1778-1830), author of several volumes of critical Essays SYDNEY SMITH (1771-1845), Canon of St. Paul's, one of the wittiest and ablest of the contributors to the Edinburgh Review. LORD JEFFREY (1773-1850), a very able essayist, long editor of the Edinburgh Review. LORD BROUGHAM (1779-1868), a great scholar, orator, statesman, and reviewer. J. G. LOCKHART (1794-1854), son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott, author of Life of Scott, Gifford's successor as editor of the London Quarterly Review. Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864), author of Imaginary Conversations, and some very graceful Poems. Leigh Hunt (1784-1859), a genial poet and critic, author of Rimini, The Palfrey, A Legend of Florence, etc. MRS. ANNA Letitia Barbauld (1743-1825), a distinguished teacher, author of Early Lessons for Children, Hymns in Prose, etc. THEOLOGICAL. DR. THOMAS CHALMERS (1780-1847), a powerful and learned preacher, leader of the Free Church of Scotland, Prof. of Theology in the University of Edinburgh, etc., and author of Astronomical Discourses, Natural Theology Christian Evidences and many other works. One of the greatest men that Scotland has ever produced. AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES. William Wirt, John James Audubon, Chancellor Kent, and Chief Justice Marshall. PERIOD IX.-VICTORIAN AGE. 1837-18-. (Reign of Queen Victoria) HE Victorian Age has been one of great productiveness in lit THE erature, science, and invention. Its poetry, which is both abundant and excellent, has a marked peculiarity, being of a more reflective and thoughtful character than formerly, and being penetrated through and through with the scientific ideas of the period. In prose literature this deserves to rank as our golden age. More great works have been produced in history, in philosophy, in science, and above all in fiction, than in any other era of the world's his tory. Indeed, so great have been the amount, variety, and excellence of its productions in the latter department, that it has by some writers been denominated "the age of prose fiction.' The only historical event of this age that has affected the literature of England is the Crimean war. The authors will be divided into two classes : I. THE POETS, represented by Tennyson, Mrs. Browning, Robert Browning, Jean Ingelow, Swinburne, William Morris, and Matthew Arnold. II. THE PROSE WRITERS, represented by Macaulay, Grote, Froude, Dickens, Thackeray, Lord Lytton, George Eliot, Sir William Hamilton, Darwin, Carlyle, and Ruskin. I. POETS OF THE VICTORIAN AGE. TENNYSON. 1810-1892. The truest representative and completest embodiment of the poetic genius of the Victorian age is Alfred Tennyson, Poet-Laureate of England. Its fine culture; its analyzing, inquiring, doubting spirit; its subtlety of thought and daintiness of phrase,—are all shown in their highest perfection in the works of this great poet. He was born in 1810, educated at Cambridge, and resided for many years at Aldworth, in Sussex, with a summer residence at Farringford, on the Isle of Wight. He was a man of refined tastes, wide culture, profound thought, and studious and retired habits. In 1884 he was raised to the peerage, as Baron D'Eynecourt, Lord Tennyson, by which title he has since been known. The following are among his finest poems: The May Queen, Locksley Hall, the Princess, In Memoriam, The Talking Oak, Maud, Enoch Arden, and Idyls of the King. Of those named, probably the greatest are In Memoriam and The Idyls of the King. The former is a lament for the untimely death of his bosom-friend, Arthur Hallam, son of the historian; the latter is a sort of metrical romance, celebrating the lives and adventures of the mythical King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.* The Princess also is a great poem. It is a *See Bulfinch's "Age of Chivalry," where the romances of Arthur are given in detail. poetical discussion of the nature of woman, and her relation to man and to society; and it serves as a setting for a number of exquisite songs, such as Sweet and Low, The Bugle Song, etc. Tennyson has published two dramas-Queen Mary and Harold They are interesting historical studies, but not great dramas; and they add nothing to the author's fame. His death, which occurred at Aldworth, Oct. 6, 1892, was marked by a solemn grandeur in keeping with the loftiness of the great soul that was then "Crossing the Bar." * Ah God, for a man with heart, head, hand, Forever and ever by; One still strong man in a blatant land, Aristocrat, autocrat, democrat-one Who can rule, and dare not lie. Maud, X., 5. * See his last poem, "Crossing the Bar," page 162. MRS. BROWNING. 1809-1861. In the opinion of a very competent critic,* Elizabeth Barrett Browning was not only "the greatest female poet that England has produced, but more than this, the most inspired woman, so far as known, of all who have composed in ancient or modern tongues, or flourished in any land or clime." Elizabeth Barrett was born in 1809, received a fine classical education, married the poet Robt. Browning, and died in Italy in 1861. She was a woman of delicate health, much of the time an invalid,—a fact that must be borne in mind in estimating her genius. Had her physical strength been equal to her mental, she might have equalled, if not surpassed, the Poet-Laureate himself. Her greatest poem is Aurora Leigh. Among the best of her other poems are-Lady Geraldine's Courtship, Casa Guidi Windows, Bertha in the Lane, Cowper's Grave, The Cry of the Human, The Cry of the Children, A Child Asleep, He Giveth His Beloved Sleep, and her Sonnets. To move a body; it takes a high-souled man IV. Of all the thoughts of God that are Along the Psalmist's music deep, Now tell me if that any is For gift of grace surpassing this- Aurora Leigh. * Edmund Clarence Stedman ("Victorian Poets," p. 115). |