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. 1830-1875. (Reigns of William IV. and Queen Victoria.) HE Victorian Age has been one of great productiveness in lit THER 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, and Morris. II. THE PROSE WRITERS, represented by Macaulay, Dickens, Thackeray, Lord Lytton, George Eliot, Si William Hamilton, Darwin, Carlyle, and Ruskin. I. POETS OF THE VICTORIAN AGE. TENNYSON. 1810 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. Alfred Tennyson was born in 1810, was educated at Cambridge, and now lives at Petersfield, Hampshire. He is a man of refined tastes, wide culture, profound thought, and studious and retired habits; and the beauty and purity of his works are but reflection of the character of the man. 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. 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. MRS. BROWNING. 1809-1861. Maud, X., 5. 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 *Edmund Clarence Stedman ("Victorian Poets," p. 115). 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 -a fact that must of delicate health, much of the time an invalid,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 To move the masses. IV. As the moths around a taper, As the bees around a rose, As the gnats around a vapor, So the spirits group and close Aurora Leigh. Round about a holy childhood, as if drinking its repose. V. 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— A Child Asleep. VI. Truth is large. Our aspiration The Dead Pan. ROBERT BROWNING. 1812 Robert Browning, husband of Mrs. E. B. Browning, is by many regarded as one of the greatest poets of the age. Most of his works are dramatic, his finest dramas being Pippa Passes, A Blot on the Scutcheon, and Colombe's Birthday. Of his other works, The Ring and the Book is the longest, and it is also one of the greatest, both in its faults and its merits. All his works exhibit great power, but the style of most of them is so elliptical and obscure as to baffle and repel ordinary readers. His only popular poems are his shorter ones, most of which are among the very best of their class. Among these are—Evelyn Hope, Ratisbon, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, My Lost Duchess, and Herve Riel. MEETING. The gray sea, and the long, black land, Then a mile of warm, sea-scented beach, And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears, MISS INGELOW. 1830 Jean Ingelow, on the death of Mrs. Browning, became "by divine right" the queen of English song. She is a true lyric poet. Her poems are the spontaneous, soulful utterances of one who, bird |
