Stacks Mrs. E. Thurston Thieme 3-25-70 826651-29/ PREFACE THE following pages have been written chiefly for the younger students of English Literature. Existing works on this subject usually stop at the threshold of our own time, but the interest of young students, so far from ending there, is strongly attracted towards the authors of to-day. To gratify their natural curiosity, and especially to foster in them a taste for what is beautiful, and of permanent value in the literature of the Victorian era, is the aim which the author has had in view. No scheme of examination has been present to his thoughts in writing. At the same time he has made ample use of facts, and even of dates, in connection with the personal element in the literature of the period, and has sought to show into what setting of circumstances in the life-history of the writer himself, the works of his genius are to be fitted. Except in the case of the poets, scarcely any attempt has been made to illustrate by means of extracts. Nevertheless, the study of literature will certainly fail in its highest effect as an educational agent, if the mind be not brought into direct contact with the style and thought of the writers under review. The manner and the extent to which this may be done, must, of course, depend on the tastes and the circum stances of the individual teacher or student. It will scarcely be questioned that to have such a sense of literary beauty as to be able to respond intelligently and sympathetically to what is best and noblest in literature, is to possess one of the fine flowers of a polite education, and to be within reach of a perennial store of exquisite delights. In dealing with a field so vast as English Literature during the Victorian era, selection was inevitable. Attention, therefore, has been mainly concentrated on the prose fiction and the poetry of the reign; and while other departments, such as the essay, history, biography, science, and philosophy, have been dealt with more cursorily, some, such as the drama, the literature of travel and adventure, and the much vaster area covered by works in theology and religion, have been altogether omitted. The full and adequate history of Victorian Literature has yet to be written, and will no doubt ere long be produced by some competent pen. All that the present author hopes is that his attempt to set forth what has given interest and pleasure to himself may at least be found helpful to the younger readers for whom the book has been specially designed. CONTENTS PAGE C. Dickens-W. M. Thackeray-C. Brontë-G. Eliot— Lord Lytton—B. Disraeli–C. Lever—A. Trollope—C. Reade-Mrs Gaskell-C. Kingsley-Wilkie Collins- T. Hardy-Sir W. Besant-W. Black-J. H. Shorthouse -Hall Caine-Mrs Humphry Ward-R. L. Stevenson -S. J. Weyman-A. Conan Doyle-Anthony Hope T. Carlyle-Lord Macaulay-J. A. Froude-E. A. Free- man-Bishop Stubbs-G. Grote-C. Thirlwall-Dean Milman-Dean Merivale-J. H. Burton-H. T. Buckle -S. R. Gardiner—A. W. Kinglake-W. E. H. Lecky- J. R. Green-J. G. Lockhart-Mrs Gaskell-G. H. Lewes Dr Hanna-Dean Stanley-S. Brooke-Prof. D. G. Rossetti-C. G. Rossetti—J. Ingelow—A. G. Swin- burne-W. Morris-Lord de Tabley-R. Buchanan- F. Locker-Lampson-C. S. Calverley-A. Dobson-A. T. de Quincey-Professor Wilson-J. Ruskin-M. Arnold -Dr John Brown-R. L. Stevenson-John Morley- R. H. Hutton-A. Lang-Professor Saintsbury-F. CHAPTER I Introductory Retrospect THE heritage of literature that has fallen to Englishmen in the nineteenth century is the most wonderful that any nation has to show; and the story of its slow development through so many centuries forms one of the most interesting and remarkable chapters in the history of the human mind. There are three periods in this history that stand out prominently from the rest, and specially deserve the attention of the thoughtful student. The first, which is also the greatest in respect of creative genius and enthusiasm, is the Elizabethan age. The next, separated from its predecessor by a not inconsiderable interval of achievement, is the period of Queen Anne, or so-called Augustan age of English literature. The third is that in which we live, and this, although inferior in power to its predecessors, has nevertheless so distinctly marked a character of its own as to deserve the most intimate knowledge we can give it. It stands differently from the others. Viewed in the calm light of distance, their giant forms are seen in their right perspective and true proportions. We know both what they A |