The world's history and its makers

E. W. Estes.

presented to the
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
SAN DIEGO

by

MR. Mary A1p1a.na.1a.p

Estes.

o

E. W. Estes.

ft

CONTENTS

PAGft

INTRODUCTION -

i

ENGLISH • •

. 17

FRENCH -

'97

GERMAN

. 276

DANISH -

343

NORWEGIAN

349

SWEDISH

353

ITALIAN

372

SPANISH « • » •

• » • -383

AMERICAN

* » * • 3Q2

PHOTOGRAVURES

VOLUME IX.

PAGE.

SAM WEI,UER'S VALENTINE i

ROMOI.A AND HER FATHER 94

LOREI.EI 316

OF AMERICAN AUTHORS 429

INTRODUCTION

GENERAL VIEW OF MODERN HISTORY AND ITS RELATION
TO LITERATURE

Centuries furnish convenient divisions for grouping
great historical events and national movements, and thus
marking the course of the world's progress in civilization.
In modern- history, the Fifteenth Century shows the cap-
ture of Constantinople by the Turks, but this loss to
Christendom in the East was soon offset by the marvelous
discovery of a New World in the West. The leading
event of the Sixteenth Century was the Reformation, be-
gun by an obscure German monk, and ending in the prac-
tical severance of the nations of northern Europe from
their former obedience to the Pope. The Seventeenth
Century was marked by the devastation of Germany in
the Thirty Years' War and the struggle for civil and
religious liberty in England, in which one King lost his
life and another his throne, and the Revolution of 1688
made William of Orange King by the voice of Parlia-
ment. As a consequence of the same struggle the Eng-
lish settlement of the Atlantic Coast of North America
was begun. In the meantime, through the consummate
statecraft of Richelieu, France, though agitated by civil
and religious wars, rose to a dazzling eminence, which
she maintained in the splendid reign of Louis XIV. The
Eighteenth Century was marked by the introduction of
Western civilization into Russia by the half-savage Peter
the Great, by the warlike career of Frederick the Great,
which made Prussia one of the Great Powers, by the

2 INTRODUCTION

partition of turbulent Poland, and by two great revo-
lutions. The American Revolution not only severed the
English colonies from the mother country, but it pro-
claimed as a fundamental principle that all governments
derive their just rights from the consent of the governed.
The French Revolution, asserting the rights of man
against the long-established oppression of the privileged
classes, made its watchword "Liberty, Equality, Fra-
ternity," and threatened to engulf the monarchies of
Europe. It called to its aid the military genius of
Napoleon Bonaparte, who soon directed its forces to
new aims.

The Nineteenth Century opened with Napoleon as sole
Consul of France, soon to be crowned Emperor by the
Pope. With no military rival to endanger his supremacy,
he sought to be the dictator of Europe. But his seizure
of Spain was a blunder, his invasion of Russia proved to
be a fatal mistake, and his astonishing career ended in
irretrievable defeat at Waterloo. The allied sovereigns
of Europe, still dreading revolution, used their efforts to
baffle the desires of the people for constitutional freedom.
The restored Bourbons had learned nothing and had for-
gotten nothing. But the revolutionary spirit, though
harshly repressed, was not extinguished. In 1830 an
Orleanist King was placed on the throne of France with
the expectation of relief, and when this was disappointed
another revolutionary crisis in 1848 brought in a republic.
The wave of revolution again passed over Europe, threat-
ening the stability of thrones and frightening monarchs
from their propriety. But in a few years the French
Republic was transformed into an empire under Napoleon
III. In his brilliant reign of nineteen years Paris was
again the most splendid capital of the civilized world.
While France had thus been wasting its substance in vain

show, Prussia, by severe discipline and rigid economy,
had been renewing its moral and material strength. Its
steady growth furnished to Bismarck and Moltke the
means for its triumph over Austria in 1866 and over
France in 1870, and made the Prussian King emperor of
a remodeled Germany. France, crushed to earth, be-
came again a republic, and so remains in spite of many
reactionary attempts. Italy, long "merely a geographical
expression," had, by the statesmanship of Cavour, the
aid of France, and the enthusiasm of Garibaldi, been
united under Victor Emmanuel, who made Rome his capi-
tal. England had borne the chief expense of the wars
with the first Napoleon, and its people groaned under in-
tolerable burdens. But from 1830 there was a series of
constitutional and legislative reforms which gave needed
relief in many directions and produced a wider diffusion of
political power.

The United States, little concerned in the wars of
Europe, rapidly developed the immense material ad-
vantages of its own vast territory. Though conflicts,
chiefly due to the existence of negro slavery, brought on
a bloody and costly civil war, it terminated in the restora-
tion of the seceded States to the Union, and the constitu-
tional prohibition of slavery. The political revolutions
in Europe in the early part of the century gave Mexico and
the South American dependencies of Spain and Portugal
the opportunity to throw off their yoke, but their new
governments have not been stable or prosperous. At the
close of the century Spain has been compelled by the
United States, after a remarkably brief war, chiefly naval,
to relinquish the last of her possessions in the Western
Hemisphere.

So far we have looked chiefly at the political history of
the world. The manifest tendency has been to a larger

4 INTRODUCTION

admission of the people to a share in the government.
Parliamentary institutions are found even in the mon-
archies inclined to despotism. In those countries where
they have always flourished, the power of the lower house
or popular branch has steadily increased, while that of
the upper house or peers has been restricted to an occa-
sional obstruction of legislation on which the Nation was
not fully agreed. As a necessary support for the wide
extension of suffrage popular education has been liberally
promoted. This has not been confined to elementary
branches, but has included all the courses of university
teaching and various departments of industrial and
mechanical training. This wider extension of education
is undoubtedly due to the larger view of man's intellectual
powers and to the better understanding of his relation to
the world around him.

The Nineteenth Century has far surpassed its prede-
cessors in mechanical inventions and scientific discov-
eries. This movement began with Watt's application of
steam to stationary engines in the 'Eighteenth Century, but
has increased in manifold proportion since its later appli-
cation to land locomotion and ocean navigation. Other
conspicuous triumphs are seen in the use of the mysterious
power of electricity in the telegraph, the trolley car, and
as an illuminant; in the invention of the sewing machine,
the harvester, the telephone, the typewriter, the photo-
graph, and the bicycle. The progress of science is attested
by the wonders of the spectrum analysis, the ascertaining
of the influence of microscopic organisms, the discovery
of the Roentgen ray and other forms of radiant energy,
the detection of new chemical elements in the atmosphere.
But the grandest results have been the two profound gen-
eralizations, which have effected not only the investiga-
tions of all scientists, but the thought of all studious men

INTRODUCTION 5

— the conservation of energy, and the doctrine of evolu-
tion— the former showing that no force in the universe
is ever lost, the latter proving the gradual adaptation of
living creatures to their environment. The recent dis-
covery of these fundamental principles of natural law and
the simultaneous invention of numerous aids to human
comfort seem to indicate the dawn of a new era of civiliza-
tion.

Admitting then the superiority of the present age in
material and scientific results, it is natural to ask, Has its
intellectual and literary development been proportional to
its mechanical progress ? As we have taken a rapid view
of the general movement of the modern centuries, we may
add a similar survey of their relation to literature. The
Fifteenth Century was distinguished by the invention of
printing with movable metal types, which furnished an
easy means of multiplying copies of all works. At first
used for Latin Bibles, church-service books, and religious
treatises, it was soon employed for works of all kinds. In-
vented in Germany, it was transferred speedily to France,
Italy, England, wherever books were in demand. The
Reformation of the Sixteenth Century called for transla-
tions of the Scriptures into the national languages, and
thus gave a standard of prose style and orthography,
which assisted in elevating the common speech. National
enthusiasm stimulated the writers no longer cramped by
efforts to express themselves in a dead language. The
lusty vigor of youth is displayed in the lyrical and narra-
tive poetry which found favor in royal court and baronial
hall. Before the close of this century the drama became
the popular form of entertainment. In England, where
it was freed from the encumbering rules of classic tragedy,
its success was greatest. There Shakespeare rose to a
pre-eminent height as the unrivalled master of both

6 INTRODUCTION

tragedy and comedy. In France at the opening of the
Seventeenth Century critics determined the rules of classi-
cism which still to some extent regulate its poetry. In
spite of these fetters Corneille and Racine achieved mas-
terpieces, while Moliere, by his comedies, won still more
decided triumphs in overcoming the ecclesiastical preju-
dice against the stage. In England for a time the Puri-
tans closed the theaters, but after the Restoration a more
licentious form of comedy, imitated from the French, be-
came popular. Yet at this time Milton, in poverty and
blindness, set himself to compose the greatest English
epic. Dryden, a poet of robust genius, yielded to the
popular currents, and wrote licentious plays and poems of
various degrees of merit.

At the opening of the Eighteenth Century everything,
both in prose and verse, had been reduced to rule and
measure. The French critics had become the acknowl-
edged authorities in every form of literature. In Ger-
many the native speech was neglected for literary pur-
poses. Frederick the Great, much as he did for Prussia,
wrote all his works in French. According to the prin-
ciples then laid down, the chief aim of poetry was to be
correct both in matter and form ; to be natural was to be
vulgar. Pope is the English examplar of this style, which
long prevailed. In English prose, Addison held a similar
place, and perhaps upon juster grounds. Later Dr. Sam-
uel Johnson, a man of greater intellectual force, introduced
a more artificial inflated style. His power lay in the sin-
cerity and vigor with which he expressed his opinions,
however prejudiced they might occasionally be.

But early in the same century there appeared two
counter currents which were to increase in force and grad-
ually overwhelm and sweep away the love of feeble cor-
rectness. The first was a new delight in the aspects of

INTRODUCTION 7

wild nature and a desire to depict natural beauty as a
mental gratification apart from any human interest.
Thomson's "Winter" (published in 1727) is one of the
earliest evidences of this tendency in English poetry, and
it is notable that in it he employed blank verse rather than
the rhymed couplets then common. Combined with this
love of nature was a growing distaste for the prevailing
artificial civilization, and a desire to return to simpler
tastes and a more primitive mode of life. This tendency
was assisted by the publication of Bishop Percy's
"Reliques of Ancient English Poetry," the first important
collection of native ballads. These rude snatches of popu-
lar song infused new life and spirit into the poetic imagi-
nation.

A singular result of the uncritical revival of interest
in old forms of literature was a crop of literary forgeries.
A man named Ireland attempted to palm off a tragedy
called "Prince Vortigern" as a work of Shakespeare's.
The most pathetic case was the boy Chatterton's endeavor,
by the use of obsolete words and disguised spelling, to
pass some not unworthy composition of his own as poems
of a pretended monk, Thomas Rowley of Bristol. The
precocious genius was but eighteen when, to avoid starva-
tion, he committed suicide. But the most noted of these
forgeries was James Macpherson's edition of the "Poems
of Ossian." They were founded on some fragments of
Gaelic traditional poetry, ascribed to Ossian or Oisin, a
bard of the Third Century, but modified in form and tone,
and filled with vague, sentimental gloom, which gave
them vogue throughout Europe, and affected French and
German writers of the beginning of the Nineteenth Cen-
tury. The sturdy common sense of Dr. Samuel Johnson
was proof against the delusions of Macpherson.

Two new forms of literature sprang up in this century

8 INTRODUCTION

— the periodical essay and the novel. The former, an
adaptation of a French style of writing, was an outgrowth
or department of the newspaper, which had begun in Eng-
land about the middle of the Seventeenth Century. It
flourished luxuriantly and became the favorite mode of
prose-writing with professional authors. Although De
Foe had written "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe"
and other fictitious biographies, not without merit, the
origin of the novel is usually ascribed to the honest printer
Richardson, who, in preparing a model letter-writer, tried
to make it attractive by incorporating an entertaining
story. The bulky book was called "The Story of Pamela ;
or, Virtue Rewarded." The witty and satirical Henry
Fielding undertook to ridicule this moral story by relating
"The Story of Joseph Andrews," in which Pamela's
brother is made to pass through corresponding tempta-
tions to equivalent rewards. Both sober Richardson and
gay Fielding persevered in their respective courses, pro-
ducing new stories, superior to the first, but few other
writers were induced to imitate them. The rollicking
Smollett and the charming Goldsmith were the most suc-
cessful in portraying ordinary life and character. The
whimsical Laurence Sterne achieved unique but temporary
success by his "Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,
Gent.," in which he defied the conventions of society, and
even of decency. His "Sentimental Journey" was written
after a visit to France, in which he became acquainted
with Rousseau's writings. The dilettante Horace Wai-
pole published, in 1765, "The Castle of Otranto," and a
few imitations of this romance were indications of reviv-
ing interest in mediaeval history. But when we consider
the overwhelming flood of novels which was to come on
subjects of all kinds, domestic and historical, adventurous
and analytical, it is astonishing that so few efforts were

INTRODUCTION 9

made in this direction in the Eighteenth Century, after the
example was set. A more potent leader was required to
smite the flinty rock and cause the streams of prose fiction
to gush forth.

Modern France has been noted for its ready acceptance
of formal rules in all matters of social observance. In
the struggle which arose against the wanton tyranny of
authority in church and state in the Eighteenth Century,
there was no disregard of literary criticism. The witty,
spiteful, mirth-provoking Voltaire, after having estab-
lished his reputation as a versatile artist, as poet, satirist,
critic, dramatist and philosophical writer, was ever ready
to come forward as the champion of the oppressed. The
peculiarity of his genius was shown in his boldness in
attacking existing abuses and his success in escaping pun-
ishment from the powerful persons interested in them.
The Swiss republican Rousseau, who was twenty years
younger, was of entirely different temperament and tastes.
While Voltaire was the favorite polished author of a cul-
tured society, who appreciated the keenness of his wit and
the vigor of his onset, the serious, moody Rousseau was
simple in habit, a lover of nature, one who despised the
supposed advantages of refinement, and wished to benefit
mankind by proposing a return to barbarism. He re-
jected any positive rule of duty, and, insisting on the
natural goodness of the heart, made sensibility the regu-
lator of conduct His own life was a wretched caricature
of the ideal he proposed in his writings. Asserting that
virtue was not compatible with wealth or dependence, he
gave up an official position, discarded the customary dress
of gentlemen, lived in concubinage with an illiterate
woman, and bestowed his five children on foundling hos-
pitals, because he was too poor to maintain them. And
yet this selfish wretch who neglected the plainest dictates

io INTRODUCTION

of humanity, was able, by his plausible, deceptive elo-
quence, to fill the hearts of his readers with pity for
imaginary sorrows, with pardon for the basest seduction.
The germs of his works can be traced to English litera-
ture or to his observations during his brief residence in
England. Even "The New Heloise" owes much to
Richardson's "Clarissa Harlowe." His "Emile" advo-
cated persuasively education in conformity with natural
inclination, rather than by compulsion. Its best prin-
ciples have been adopted in later systems of education.
His "Social Contract" supplied a new theoretical basis of
government, and though entirely without historical proof,
has been a most effective argument in extending modern
democracy. No other writer of the Eighteenth Century
had vaster or more permanent influence on the social,
political, and literary movements of Europe. He dissolved
the bonds which had united the people in the existing gov-
ernments, and resolved them into a loose aggregation of
atoms. And yet, by his sentiment and love of simple
nature, he seemed to satisfy the demands of the soul.
Rousseau created the intellectual atmosphere which was
essential to the terrific explosion of the French Revolution.
In other parts of Europe, in the beginning of that cen-
tury, in spite of the almost universal acceptance of the
social fashions and literary decrees of the French court,
there were evidences of a struggle against this intellectual
bondage. The aspiration after the truth of life and nat-
ural feeling was not confined to France or England.
Strange to say, a most efficient instrument in this new
movement was "Robinson Crusoe," which was speedily
translated into German, and gave rise to numerous imi-
tations. That familiar story led to further acquaintance
with English literature, and especially with Shakespeare
and Milton. Rival schools of critics were formed; the

INTRODUCTION u

pedantic Gottsched in Leipzig maintained the traditional
classicism, and made Milton a special object of attack;
while the more judicious Bodmer, who had been com-
pelled to seek refuge in Switzerland, defended free na-
tionality. The latter became a pioneer in the rescue of
the old German poems, especially of the "Nibelungenlied,"
since regarded as one of the chief glories of the Teutonic
race. In his defense of Milton, whom he translated
partly, he was aided by Klopstock, whose "Messias" is
the most successful imitation of the spirit of "Paradise
Lost," though more resembling an oratorio than an epic
or dramatic poem. The romantic Wieland and all the
literary youth supported the same cause, and the despotic
Gottsched was deposed from his literary dictatorship.
The liberal and learned Wieland passed through many
stages in his literary career. At first he was pietistic, like
the more earnest Klopstock, and imitated the English Dr.
Young, author of the "Night Thoughts." But later ra-
tionalism led him to lighter French models, and finally
his epicureanism was shown in romantic interpretations of
ancient Greek life. "Agathon" reveals many views of
Greek character in the Fourth Century before Christ.
In "The Abderites," on the other hand, there is, under a
veil of ancient names and manners, a burlesque of the
provincialism of petty German courts. But Wieland's
chief work is the brilliant romantic poem of "Oberon"
(1780) in which he exhibits changing pictures of rural
simplicity and Oriental splendor, city tumult and dismal
deserts, gay feasts and wretched shipwreck, and through
them all heroism and trusty friendship.

Greater than the cultured Wieland was the lofty ideal-
ist Lessing, who emancipated the German mind from
slavish imitation of foreign models. He not only led an
attack on the classic French drama but gave the

12 INTRODUCTION

German stage beautiful models which still hold their
place even beside Goethe and Schiller's master-
pieces. His greatest work is "Nathan the Wise," in which
he taught the duty of religious toleration. In
his masterly treatise, "Laokoon," he investigated and
Demonstrated the ultimate principles of art, and its neces-
sary limitations in its several departments of sculpture,
painting and poetry. In his "Education of the Human
Race" Lessing maintained that in all positive religions
there is something of divine truth ; that Providence is the
teacher, mankind the pupil, and the successive religions or
revelations the text books, but humanity, when fully de-
veloped, will need no such external aids.

The intellectual agitation already produced in Ger-
man by these and other native writers was intensified when
the writings of the republican Rousseau began to appear.
His urgent call to men to return to the state of primitive
simplicity and to reject the pretended advantages of super-
ficial civilization met with warm responses. All limita-
tions to individual feeling, instinct and passion were to be
removed. Sensibility was to be the universal rule of con-
duct. This period is known as that of "Storm and Stress,"
from the title of a drama by Klinger in 1776, in which
the hero's insatiable craving for activity leads him to run
away to take part in the American Revolution. Many
plays of this period indicate a rebellious state of society and
threaten a speedy and inevitable revolution. Yet while
there existed much distress and suffering, a corrupt aris-
tocracy and disregard of humanity, there were also to be
found domestic joys, pleasant lives in both city and coun-
try. From the pictures of evil presented by the dramatists,
or more probably from direct observation of their subjects,
many of the rulers took warning and sought to avert the
misery by initiating reforms, social and political. Botk

INTRODUCTION 13

Frederick II of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria were true
benefactors of society, and rulers of smaller territories
were not less devoted to the welfare of their people.

Goethe is considered by some to have initiated the
"Storm and Stress" movement by his powerful national
drama "Gotz von Berlichingen," written when he was only
nineteen years of age. Born in 1749, he owed much to his
early acquaintance with English literature, especially with
Goldsmith and Shakespeare. The long and steady growth
of his powers, his determination to make every opportunity
contribute to self-culture, his unsurpassed ability in com-
bining the pure ancient Hellenic with the varied modern
Teutonic spirit, gave his genius a universal sweep, making
him truly cosmopolitan and rendering him eventually the
foremost literary exponent of the Eighteenth Century.
Schiller, ten years younger than Goethe, died at the early
age of forty-five, having worn himself out with tireless
industry. More true than Goethe to the limitations of the
German spirit, Schiller is the beloved and typical poet of
his race. His first drama, "The Robbers," is full of revo-
lutionary fervor and boyish extravagance. It expressed
the new spirit of the time, and was hailed with enthusiasm.
Though punished for it by the Duke of Wurtemberg, he
obtained protection from others, and went on composing
dramas of liberty and lyrics of philosophic idealism. He
was made professor of history at Jena, and there became
intimate with Goethe. This loving friendship had excel-
lent effect upon both, stirring them to new displays of
power. It was after consultation with the elder poet that
Schiller decided to divide his play on the fate of Wallen-
stein into three parts, "Wallenstein's Camp," "The Pic-
colomini," and "The Death of Wallenstein." This tri-
logy is his masterpiece, and the hero's character is the
most complex of his dramatic conceptions. His later

plays are of high excellence, "William Tell" being the most
admired as a highly romantic picture of a popular struggle
for liberty. Schiller suffered from frequent illness, but
never permitted his weak health to lower the joyful and
inspiring tone of his poetry. His moral influence stimu-
lated and encouraged the hearts of the German people in
the period of their severe national trial.

The immediate effect of the outbreak of the French
Revolution was to arouse youthful and enthusiastic minds
with hopes and aspirations of a new ideal of humanity and
fill them with dreams of a new golden age. Even the
triumph of the baser elements and the bloody scenes of the
Reign of Terror did not in all cases produce the revulsion
which they did upon the philosophic statesman Burke and
upon the poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey,
turning them from ardent Revolutionists into staunch
Conservatives. Byron and Shelley continued to war upon
social order and their works propagated the spirit of revo-
lution. Sir Walter Scott, whose feelings were strongly
wedded to the past and to the established institutions of
his country, had probably shown less sympathy with the
destructive spirit of the age and yielded less to its illusions
than any other man of genius in Europe. Goethe, who
in his earliest writings had shown moderate revolutionary
inclinations, had become justly conservative when the
storm burst upon the Continent. These two great writers
preserved the connection with the literature of the
Eighteenth Century, and gave the impulse to much of tha*
of the Nineteenth.

The broad characteristic of European literature at the
opening of the Nineteenth Century is the reign of Roman-
ticism. The settled result of the general agitation and
many contradictory movements was an abandonment of

INTRODUCTION 15

the artificial and conventional stiffness produced by close
adherence to rhetoricians' rules and pedants' notions.
The spirit of life which breathed in the ancient classics
was lost in the modern classicism. The new romantic
spirit turned with fond regard to the faith and mysticism
of early Christianity, to the pomp and ceremonies and
sensuous religious worships of the days of chivalry, to the
solemn cathedrals and ruined castles of the Middle Ages.
It sought to recover the feelings of the knights and barons,
priests and people of those ages of faith. It even went
further abroad, seeking religious sentiment beyond dogma,
and poetic beauty beyond myths. It found pleasure in the
flowery poetry of the East, in the legends and traditions
of Pagan mythology. The strange stories of the gods
and goddesses of the Scandinavian North were studied and
rehearsed with new zeal and eagerness. Though political
events exercised disturbing influences in every country,
yet the renovation of the human mind was made manifest
in every department of literature. The poet's muse found
fresh themes in the new revelation of the human heart and
the beauties of nature. The satirist poured scorn on the
shams of society and pedantry of the schools. Essayists,
no longer confining themselves to tea-table miscellany, dis-
cussed philosophy and the science of government, and
promulgated the doctrine of the equality of all men before
God and the law. Soon great novelists undertook to paint
the manners and characters of remote and foreign nations
as well as those of their own time. Instead of the former
rigid rules of expression, there was henceforth large
variety both in matter and manner, and style became as
capricious as human nature itself. The imagination was
let loose to find in nature or history whatever could best
illustrate the passions of the heart. This absolute liberty

1 6 INTRODUCTION

granted to writers is controlled by the approval accorded
only to those who have expressed adequately the truth of
nature and character.

In the following pages we shall endeavor to trace the
development of each national literature in its principal
representatives.

LITERATURE OF THE NINE-
TEENTH CENTURY

ENGLISH LITERATURE

FIRST OR PRE- VICTORIAN PERIOD 1800-1837

In the opening of the Nineteenth Century the virtuous
but obstinate George III was King of England. His
government, strongly backed by the people, was strenu-
ous in resisting the ambition of Napoleon and the
equally dangerous spread of French revolutionary ideas.
William Pitt, who had been inclined to liberal reforms,
had, under the stress of war, become severe and arbitrary
in his home policy. But while the ruling classes were
reactionary and were aiding the cause of despotism on
the Continent, the great humanitarian movement which
had given rise to the French Revolution was still in prog-
ress and manifested itself in manifold ways. The free-
dom of the press was invoked and maintained in its
behalf. Poets and philosophers gave varied utterance
to its spirit and delivered its message to the hearts of
men. Not alone the oppressed and discontented listened
and echoed its cries. The thoughtful, religious, and
tender-hearted of all classes were moved and incited to
action. The timid sought escape from evils of the
present in dreams of a golden age, in stories of mediaeval
faith and feudal chivalry. But the bold were more eager
and ardent in their passion for reforming the world. In
the political field the revolutionary movement was re-
pressed by William Pitt and the Tory party, but in the
literary field it was soon overwhelmingly triumphant.
Voi,. 9— a 17

i8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

London has been the literary center of England from
the golden age of Queen Elizabeth — not merely the em-
porium of books and publishers, but the residence or
frequent resort of all who have felt impelled to instruct
or delight their fellow-men with the pen. There, in the
reign of Queen Anne, Addison at Will's coffee-house
gave his little Senate laws. There Pope and Swift and
kindred spirits met and concocted the sayings and doings
of the Scribler's Club. Not far off was the odious, noisy
Grub Street, in which needy poets vainly strove to eke
out a miserable existence. In his early years Dr. Samuel
Johnson in his satire, "London," imitated Juvenal's famous
description of Rome, but after drudgery had brought
him fame, he ruled with imperious sway in the Club, which
contained Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick, Goldsmith, and
Burke. Great as was the gathering of intellect and
genius in the English metropolis, its life was largely
political and commercial, and it is justly called the modern
Babylon. The fresh impulse that was to recreate
parched English literature with the new century came
from the North — from the hills and lakes of Scotland, and
from the spirited debates of its picturesque capital.

The literary rivalship of Edinburgh is a prominent
feature at the opening of the Nineteenth Century. The
union of Scotland with England in 1707 had partly di-
minished the city's importance, yet it continued to be the
residence of many of the Scotch nobility. It was the seat
of a flourishing university, and the place of publication
of many historical and philosophical works. The Scotch
have always shown skill in compiling text-books, and
encyclopedias and other works of reference have been
wont to appear in Edinburgh. In spite of its nickname,
"Auld Reekie," the town had an intellectual atmosphere,
and its citizens were justified in giving it the surname of

ENGLISH 19

"the modern Athens." Notwithstanding political divi-
sions, its general tendency has been Liberal. When the
British government under Pitt was lavishing its wealth
and bending its utmost energies for the overthrow of
Napoleon, the citizens of the Northern capital were still
discussing the principles and tendencies of the French
Revolution. From this intellectual ferment came the
new impulse which was to transform English literature.
About 1797 the witty English clergyman, Sydney
Smith, started to go to Germany with a pupil, but was
driven by the outbreak of war to take refuge in Edin-
burgh, and there officiated in a chapel. Forming the
acquaintance of a number of talented young Whigs, who
chafed under the repression of Liberal views, he per-
suaded them to start the "Edinburgh Review" in 1802.
For its motto he proposed a line from Vergil, which he
translated, "We cultivate literature on a little oatmeal,"
but as this statement was too close to the truth, a more
severe sentence from an almost unknown classic was sub-
stituted. The first contributors were Francis Jeffrey,
Henry Brougham, Francis Horner, J. A. Murray, and
Smith, who edited a single number. Jeffrey, as the re-
sponsible editor from 1803 to 1829, exercised an im-
mense influence on periodical literature and criticism.
Soon the power of the "Edinburgh Review" was widely
felt and acknowledged. It was due to the fact that its
contributors were men of decided convictions. They were
liberally paid for the candid expression of their opinions
on new publications. Its judgment was looked for by
authors with fear and trembling. In it Jeffrey castigated
Byron's first volume, "Hours of Idleness," but called
forth a fierce retort in his "English Bards and Scotch Re-
viewers." He was bold enough to condemn Scott's
"Marmion" as childish. Jeffrey also persistently con-

20 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

demned and ridiculed Wordsworth's poetry, opening his
critique on "The Excursion" in 1815, with the memorable
words, "This will never do." In matters of taste Jeffrey
still adhered to the established ideas of the Eighteenth
Century. He was succeeded by Macvey Napier.

The "Edinburgh Review" was an independent ex-
positor of the principles of the Whig party. It advo-
cated reforms in church and state, Catholic emancipation
and removal of disabilities from Dissenters, Parliamen-
tary reform and extension of the suffrage. It reopened
questions of history as well as politics, and rendered new
verdicts according to new light. Many of its articles
were not merely reviews, but monographs on interesting
questions. Thus it furnished Macaulay the proper field
for the brilliant miscellanies which gave him much of his
fame, and prepared the way for his history. Sir Walter
Scott, though a Tory, contributed to the "Edinburgh
Review" until the vehemence of its Whiggism required
him to withdraw.

In opposition to the brave and vigorous "Edin-
burgh," the English Tories felt compelled to establish an
organ of their own. It was called "The Quarterly Re-
view," and was first published in London in 1809, edited
by William Gifford, a satirist and translator of Juvenal.
It attained its best repute when under the control of John
G. Lockhart, son-in-law and biographer of Sir Walter
Scott. Among its early contributors were Canning,
Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and John W. Croker. Be-
sides its steady defence of the old principles and anom-
alies of the British Constitution, it was noted for its
ponderous learning.

But the Tories of the North, smarting under the
attacks of the "Edinburgh Review," were not fully satis-
fied with their new ally. It was too remote ; its guns too

ENGLISH 31

heavy and slow. Therefore William Blackwood, the
Tory publisher of Edinburgh, began in 1817 to issue a
monthly in their behalf. As regards politics it was
fiercely conservative, defending monarchy, aristocracy
and the Established Church ; and briskly attacking all in-
novations ; on its literary side it presented from the start
brilliant stories and poems, and it overflowed with fun
and animal spirits. An early number contained a pre-
tended "Chaldee Manuscript," which gave in the style of
the English Bible, a bitter satire on the Edinburgh no-
torieties of the time. This was soon followed by the
"Noctes Ambrosianse," a series of mirthful dialogues,
interspersed with songs and poems, professed to be held
by its chief contributors at Ambrose's tavern. These
were mostly written by the brilliant Professor John Wil-
son, who, in his editorial capacity, bore the pseudonym
of "Christopher North." He was a noted athlete and
sportsman, a lover of the beautiful, a writer of pathetic
tales and charming poetry, and was also professor of moral
philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. His love of
fun and display of it in "Maga" caused his more serious
powers to be somewhat disparaged and neglected.

Beyond the Whigs of the "Edinburgh Review" there
was a class of thinkers, urging Utilitarianism in phi-
losophy and Radicalism in politics. These opposed the
existing systems in church and state, and were severely
criticized in the "Edinburgh" as well as in the "Quar-
terly." Jeremy Bentham was one of their leaders, and
to defend and propagate their views, he founded in 1824
the "Westminster Review." Among its contributors
were James Mill, and his greater son, John Stuart Mill,
Sir John Bowring, and the philosophic historian, Buckle.
As it led the way in removing the restrictions and legal
disabilities of women, it is not surprising to find two

32 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

eminent women writing for its pages — Harriet Mar-
tineau, and Marian Evans, who was to win fame as
"George Eliot." It was long an object of curious dread
in Conservative and Orthodox circles.

The literary success of "Blackwood's Magazine" led
to the founding of other monthlies, some of which had no
decided political bias. The "New Monthly Magazine"
was edited by the poet Campbell, and numbered among
its contributors Bulwer and Hood. Captain Marryat
published in it some of his famous sea-stories. "Eraser's
Magazine," started in 1830, was of high order, and gave
cordial welcome to articles not readily accepted else-
where. Thus Carlyle, who had done much writing,
especially on German subjects, for the "Edinburgh Re-
view," turned to "Eraser" when he wished to bring be-
fore the world his new fantastic clothes-philosophy in
"Sartor Resartus." The "Dublin University Magazine,"
begun in 1832, was an outlet for the wit and learning
which were cherished among the Irish Protestants of
Trinity College, Dublin. It is remarkable that while
scholars and graduates of the English Universities as-
sisted in various reviews and magazines, no periodical
was regularly issued in connection with either Oxford or
Cambridge. The life of the English scholar was dis-
tinctly apart from the activity even of the literary world.
But the reform movement began by the brisk, alert Syd-
ney Smith in Edinburgh, eventually reached and agitated
the quiet academic retreats on the Cam and the Isis. Then
it took a new and strange form, and an Oxford move-
ment, chiefly eccleciastical, passed around the English-
speaking world. For a time it bore the name of Dr.
Pusey, but the true leader was the preacher and theo-
logian who became Cardinal Newman.

THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL

SCOTT

English literature in the Eighteenth Century had
sunk into general monotony. The prevailing form of
prose-writing was smooth didactic or reflective essays,
except so far as some daring but incompetent novelists
tried spasmodic, melodramatic tales. The established
manner in poetry was the heroic couplet of Pope, whose
aim was to be "correct" in matter and style. Thomson
and Cowper had introduced a more varied and natural
mode, but were more praised than imitated. Suddenly,
with the opening of a new century, came a burst of free-
dom. Sir Walter Scott, Byron, Moore, Shelley, Keats,
Southey, and Crabbe, displayed new varieties of metre,
new wealth of subjects, new brilliance of description.
Most of them published tales in verse or minor epics,
some of them ballads and lyrical pieces. Wordsworth
and Coleridge issued "Lyrical Ballads," and the former
proclaimed the discovery of a new law of poetic diction,
which he himself forsook in his better work. Foremost
in popularity were the lilting lays of Scott, which revealed
to the English the scenery, characters and traditions of
North Britain.

Walter Scott, born in Edinburgh, August 15, 1771,
had spent his childhood in the romantic Scottish Border,
and been imbued with its traditions of warfare and super-
stition. After passing through the University of Edin-
burgh he had learned German, then a rare accomplish-
ment. Filled with enthusiasm for its romanticism, he

2.1

24 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

translated ballads from Burger and Goethe, and made a
spirited version of the latter's youthful tragedy, "Gotz
von Berlichingen." Though slightly lame, Scott was
active on foot and horseback, and when in 1799 he was
made sheriff of Selkirkshire, he galloped around the
country in search of ballads and legends. Thus were ob-
tained three volumes of the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border," published in 1802. Its phenomenal success led
the Countess of Dalkeith to request Scott to turn into
verse the story of the goblin page connected with her family
traditions. The result appeared in "The Lay of the Last
Minstrel" (1805), which was received with universal ac-
clamation and sank deeply into the popular heart. No
English poem had ever sold so widely before, and Scott
decided to give up practice at the bar for authorship.
His official income, indeed, gave him ample means, and
his generosity induced him to advance capital to James
Ballantyne, the printer of his books. Ballantyne proved
incompetent in business affairs, and eventually ruined
himself and his trusting friend.

Scott in his "Lay" used octosyllabic verse, which,
though founded on the metre of the Norman trouveres,
had not previously been employed in English for serious
poems. Its easy gallop and freedom from strict rules
caused it to submit readily to the author's caprice. He
varied it in passages expressing strong feeling or violent
movement with an occasional short verse, while the
longer lines rhyme sometimes in threes or fours. Scott
wrote with great rapidity and did not pause to polish or
correct, yet his flowing versification echoes well the senti-
ment of the moment. An admirable feature of his "Lay"
is the framing of the story of sorcery and chivalric ad-
venture— the description of the aged minstrel, his diffi-
dence in the presence of the great lady, his gradual recall

ENGLISH 25

of youthful inspiration, and the outbursts of poetic ex-
altation when his feelings are fully aroused. The most
striking scene is the opening of the tomb of Michael
Scott, and the taking of the book of gramarye from the
lifeless hand of the mighty wizard.

Scott followed up the unprecedented success of the
"Lay" by producing "Marmion," a somewhat similar tale,
in 1808. It related the visit of a valiant but unscrupulous
English knight to Scotland, and concluded with the fatal
field of Flodden (1513). A memorable tragic scene
describes the immuring of Constance before a grim tri-
bunal in the vaults of Lindisfarn Abbey. The battle is
also grandly produced with true Homeric directness, and
the death of conscience-haunted Marmion is an appro-
priate conclusion. Two years later appeared "The Lady
of the Lake," generally regarded as Scott's masterpiece.
It sets forth the conflict between the civilized Lowlanders
and the wild Highland clan, under the leadership of Rod-
erick Dhu. Few scenes are more impressive than the
carrying of the Fiery Cross to summon the clansmen to
war, the battle of Beal' an Duine, and the death of Rod-
erick.

Scott issued more metrical tales, but he seems to have
felt that he had exhausted the best of his poetic vein.
Later, with his notable generosity to the merits of other
writers, he acknowledged that the more dazzling and
forcible genius of Byron had surpassed his own, and he
quietly retired from the field of contest. But not to be
idle ; on the contrary, to work more strenuously than ever
in the new realm of prose fiction. In 1814 appeared
anonymously, "Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since,"
an attempt to recall the stirring events of 1745, when the
defeat of Culloden gave the death-blow to the hopes of
the Stuart Pretenders. The story was eagerly welcomed

26 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

by the people, many among whom could vouch for the
truth of the picture. Scott, though full of enthusiasm
for his native land and its people, had yet sufficient sym-
pathy with English ideas to be able to treat his country-
men with the necessary aloofness for true perspective.
He avoided the grossness and indecency which had pre-
vailed in previous novel-writing and by his dignified self-
respect commended his work to a wider circle of readers.
Without disclosing his authorship, he soon issued "Guy
Mannering," in which a young Englishman ventures into
Scotland and becomes involved in the fate of some of its
people. Among the striking characters presented were
Meg Merrilies, the Gipsy seeress, and Dominie Sampson,
the schoolmaster, overflowing with learning and kind-
ness. A still more vigorous sketch of Scotch life and
manners is found in "The Antiquary," in which he
made friendly sport of the foibles of his friend, George
Constable, and indeed of his own. Meantime, to keep up
the mystification about "The Great Unknown," Scott
prepared under his own name treatises on chivalry, ro-
mance, and the drama, edited the works of Dryden and
Swift, issued new poems, and wrote much for an "Annual
Register." He had bought land at Abbotsford in 1812,
and entered upon vast schemes for building a mediaeval
castle. When the foolishness of his printer friend and
partner threatened bankruptcy, the liberality of other pub-
lishers helped to tide over the crisis.

In "The Black Dwarf" and "Old Mortality" (1816)
Scott entered on a new field of Scotch life, the struggles of
the Covenanters, and when he was accused of treating
them unfairly, he boldly reviewed his own novels in the
"Quarterly," stated the principles and ideal of historical
romance, and claimed high merit in truth of character for
the works of the mysterious author. "Rob Roy," a

ENGLISH 27

spirited presentation of Highland life and manners, ap-
peared in 1817, and then "The Heart of Midlothian,"
the pathetic tale of Jeanie and Effie Deans, perhaps the
best of his novels in delineation of passion. It was fol-
lowed by "The Bride of Lammermoor," a domestic trag-
edy of similar excellence; and "The Legend of Montrose,"
noted for the character of Major Dugald Dalgetty,
pedantic soldier of fortune.

In 1819 the prolific author for the first time turned to
England for the main scene of his story, and in "Ivanhoe"
described that country in the time of lingering Norman
and Saxon strife in the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion.
The portrait of the Jewess Rebecca, one of his finest
female characters, was suggested by Washington Irving's
description of a lady of Philadelphia. "Ivanhoe," being
free from the embarrassment of the Scotch dialect, and
rich in pictures of feudal chivalry, has received wider
popular approval than any other of Scott's works. "Ken-
ilworth" is also a favorite, describing Queen Elizabeth's
visit to the Earl of Leicester's castle in Warwickshire,
and her interview with the beautiful and unfortunate
Amy Robsart. "The Fortunes of Nigel" relate to Lon-
don life, when the Scotch King had come to the English
throne as James I. In "Quentin Durward" Scott at last
ventured to cross to the Continent, and portrayed the
strife between the crafty, superstitious Louis XI of
France and Charles the Bold of Burgundy. In other
stories of less merit Scott had returned to his native heath
and presented both historic and domestic scenes. In
1825 he published the "Tales of the Crusaders," with
Richard Coeur de Lion as a prominent personage.

Scott had for some years believed himself entirely
freed from pecuniary embarrassments by the arrange-
ments made by his partners in 1818. But the financial

28 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

crash of 1825 carried down the London and Edinburgh
houses with which the Ballantynes were involved, and
the silent partner was astounded to find himself legally
liable for not less than £130,000. Scott was now fifty-
four years old and might easily have taken advantage of
the bankrupt law, but his pride or high sense of honor
would not permit. Refusing all assistance, he deter-
mined to pay his debts or die in the effort. His wife soon
died, and he suffered other painful bereavements. Leav-
ing the grandeur of Abbotsford, he took modest lodg-
ings in Edinburgh. The first novel written in the new
quarters was "Woodstock," a tale of Charles II's wander-
ings and restoration to the throne. It was written in
three months and brought £8,000. Within two years, as
the proceeds of some novels, including "The Fair Maid
of Perth," an elaborate but strongly prejudiced "Life of
Napoleon Buonaparte," and "Tales of a Grandfather,"
relating to Scottish history, Scott had accumulated
£40,000 for his creditors. But the steady drain on the
vital powers was too much for his endurance. Illness
began in 1829, and in the following February he had a
stroke of paralysis. Yet he worked on, and in spite of
friends and physicians would not take rest. His last
novels, "Count Robert of Paris" and "Castle Dangerous,"
show signs of failing powers. He became possessed of
the idea that his debts were paid, and then consented to
take a sea-voyage, recommended by his physicians. On
a government vessel he sailed for Naples and cruised
about the Mediterranean for some months. When he
felt that his end was near, he insisted on being taken back
to Abbotsford. There he died September 21, 1832.

Monuments have been erected to his memory in Edin-
burgh and other cities, but his true monument is Scotland
itself, nearly every province and town of which has been

ENGLISH «9

made familiar by his magic pen. He was "The Wizard
of the North" who conjured up the men and manners of
the past, "who bestowed upon Scotland an imperishable
name." His works abound in wonderful variety of char-
acter and incident; while he excelled in delineating the
Scotch of both high and low degree, he was able from his
historical and antiquarian researches to present portraits
of other nationalities sufficiently individualized. By his
skillful handling of subjects, he taught later historians
how to write, to give vivid effect to what would otherwise
be chronological details or philosophical abstractions.
Scott was an omnivorous reader, and no critic was more
generous in acknowledging the merits of his contem-
poraries. Thoughtful critics confess his poetic excel-
lence and admit his matchless power in turning back the
thoughts of men to the storied past, in giving a grand
impetus to the study of mediaeval history and art.

BYRON

The genius and force of Lord Byron had powerful
effect not only on the youth of his own time in England,
but in France, Germany, Italy, and throughout Europe.
He was a stimulating propagator of Romanticism. In
all his verse-stories he was his own passionate hero, and
that hero was recognized as the ideal of the youth of the
age. Though regarded even in England as more original
and forcible than Sir Walter Scott, yet careful examina-
tion proves that Byron owed the general suggestion and
much of the success of his poetry to Scott. Critics are
astonished at his voluminous output, for he was cut off
at the early age of thirty-six.

George Gordon Byron was born in London, January

30 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

22, 1788, but his early training was received at Aberdeen,
where his mother, who had been deserted by her dissi-
pated husband, went to live on a slender income. By an
accident at birth one of his feet was deformed and caused
a slight limp through life. When Byron was eleven
years old, he succeeded to the title and estates of his
grand-uncle, and removed to Newstead Abbey. He was
sent later to Harrow School and Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, but found delight in rude sports rather than study.
Yet he scribbled verses and his first publication, "Hours
of Idleness" ( 1807), was severely criticized in the "Edin-
burgh Review." The young poet retorted with furious
vehemence on the whole literary craft in his "English
Bards and Scotch Reviewers." But the attack was so
absurd and unjust, that he afterwards endeavored to sup-
press it. When of age, he took his seat in the House of
Lords, but had few acquaintances, and soon set out on a
tour through Southern Europe. After two years' ab-
sence he brought back "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"
(1811), a poetical version of his travels, in Spenserian
metre. The French wars had in great measure shut out
the English people from the Continent; now a graphic
poet presented them with brilliant pictures of scenery
and countries almost unknown. But more than that, the
traveler possessed a mysterious interest of his own; he
was an outcast from his native land; he was consumed
with melancholy, he sought distraction from himself.
The immediate impression of the work is shown in By-
ron's exclamation: "I awoke one morning and found
myself famous." At once the doors of the rich and noble
were opened to the author. His pale melancholy fea-
tures captivated women; his sweet voice and graceful
form attracted every eye. He was flattered and idolized,
but he did not yield to utter idleness. He added to his

ENGLISH 31

fame by poetical tales of the East, which had been drafted
amid its scenery. These tales, whose metre was bor-
rowed from Scott, were "The Giaour" (1811), "The
Bride of Abydos" (1813), "The Corsair" (1814), "Lara"
(1814), and "The Siege of Corinth" (1816). However
different the story, there was but one hero in them all :

" The man of loneliness and mystery,
Scarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh."

In these tales there are also constant references to a
woman purely beloved, and there is reason to believe that
an actual person is meant, who died in 1811. Her death
is lamented at the end of Canto II of "Childe Harold,"
but her name is not given.

In January, 1815, Lord Byron married Miss Anne
Isabella Milbanke, a lady of wealth and position, but a
year later, after the birth of a daughter, she separated from
him. The true reasons have never been published, but
their tempers seem to have been incompatible; she
was of severe morals and unsympathetic; he was licen-
tious and of violent temper ; she thought him actually in-
sane. Public opinion in England condemned the hus-
band, and he went abroad full of bitterness. At Geneva
he wrote another canto of "Childe Harold," and "The
Prisoner of Chillon." In 1817 he formed a liaison with
the Countess Guiccioli, which was maintained through
the rest of his life at Venice and other cities of Italy. His
literary work was continued without intermission and
included "Don Juan," "Mazeppa," the dramas "Marino
Faliero" and "The Two Foscari," and the fierce satire,
"The Vision of Judgment," in reply to Southey's absurd
laudation of George III. In 1823 Byron was induced to
take an active part in the Greek struggle for independ-
ence. He sailed from Genoa with arms, but the insur-
gents were insubordinate and not prepared for action.

32 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

H? was seized with a fever at Missolonghi, and died April
19, 1824.

Immense as was the effect of Byron's personality and
works on literature throughout Europe, the critical esti-
mate of his ability has fallen greatly during the century.
Shelley and Keats are ranked above him in artistic quali-
ties and metrical effect. He was an admirer of Pope,
and accepted Pope's rules of diction, but he practiced
in various metres offered by contemporary poets, who are
now forgotten. His mind was full of the stormy thoughts
of his time, and thus he became the poet of revolu-
tion, able to stir mankind. His misanthropy and pro-
fessed scorn for the world's opinion gave him power over
that opinion. His descriptions are great and varied, and
he was able to concentrate scenes in a line. The later
cantos of "Childe Harold" are of greater value than those
which gave him his first fame. "Don Juan" is perhaps
the fullest exhibit of his character and poetical power;
a splendid epic with an inglorious hero. It is full of
sublime and exquisite descriptions, but does not hesitate
to link these with vile and ignoble associations.

The meter and method of treatment are borrowed
from the Italian burlesque poets, but in matter the poem is
highly original; it is a succession of pictures of human
life and society as he viewed them, with occasional satire
or jesting comment. In spite of its lack of well defined
plan, there is an artistic balance in its mixture of comedy
and pathos.

MOORE

Thomas Moore, at one time eulogized as the most
brilliant poet in England, is remembered chiefly by his
popular "Irish Melodies," songs which have not lost all
their charm. Besides his Celtic faculty of writing verses

ENGLISH 33

for singing, he was a lively conversationalist, and thus
became a favorite with the Whig aristocracy at the be-
ginning of the century.

Born in Dublin in 1779, he early showed his literary
talent, and graduated at Trinity College in 1800. Going
to London with a free translation of Anacreon, he ob-
tained permission to dedicate it to the Prince Regent,
afterwards George IV. A year later an original collec-
tion of licentious verse was published as "The Poetical
Works of the Late Thomas Little," for the indecency of
which he afterwards professed repentance. In 1803 an
official post in the Bermudas was assigned to Moore,
but he left it in charge of a deputy, and traveled in the
United States. On his return to London he was wel-
comed by the world of fashion and satirized the Ameri-
cans. His "Irish Melodies," adapted to ancient tunes,
arranged by Sir John Stevenson, began to appear in
1807, and many additions were made in later years.
These fascinating amatory and patriotic effusions rescued
from vulgar associations the music of his native land,
and are the best expression of his powers. His sparkling
rhymes and varied measures so delighted the public that
the Longmans offered him 3,000 guineas for an Oriental
poem to be written in a year. Though he had never
visited the East, he endeavored to steep his mind in Per-
sian lore and imagery, and the result was the gorgeous
"Lalla Rookh." It relates, in a frame-work of prose, the
love-pilgrimage of the beautiful daughter of the Indian
Emperor Aurungzebe, who, being betrothed to the
Prince of Bucharia, set out from her royal home to meet
him. The tedium of the caravan-march is beguiled by
the charming recitations of a poet, with whom, ere she
has reached her destination, she discovers she has fallen
in love. But happily when she is presented at the Per-

34 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

sian court, she beholds on the throne the poet who had
won her heart. The poem is overloaded with tropical
riches and tawdry ornament, but is redeemed also with
many passages of pathos and quiet beauty. Moore's
reputation was maintained for years, but after the advent
of Tennyson it faded away, and recent critics have denied
him real merit except that of improvisation.

His deputy in the Bermudas proved unfaithful, and
Moore, being called on to make good his embezzlement,
was plunged in pecuniary difficulties. He sought refuge
on the Continent, and in "The Fudge Family of Paris"
he satirized the boorishness of English travelers. In
1830 he published "The Life, Letters, and Journals of
Lord Byron," whose friendship he had enjoyed. Some
interesting documents which had fallen into his hands
as editor, he destroyed, in order to spare the feelings of
persons and families involved. In spite of some trivi-
ality of character, he was loyal to his native land, to his
religion and his political party. Towards the close of his
life his mental powers failed. He had suffered the loss
of his five children, but his faithful wife survived him.
He died in 1852.

SHELLEY

Even more than the passionate, erratic Byron the
mild, philanthropic Shelley was the poet of revolt against
the laws and forms of his age, yet he had much less influ-
ence in this direction. So refined and ethereal was his
spirit, that his voice was lost on the multitude. But his
poetry, apart from his philosophy, has been more and
more admired by the best judges as time has passed on,
and the later poets have resorted to him for instruction in
their art. His lyrical faculty is almost without parallel
in English poetry. Far beyond the light drawing-room

ENGLISH 35

songs of Moore, Shelley's lyrics, "The Skylark," "Ode to
the West Wind," are buoyant and free and carry the
spirit above the solid earth of every-day fact into the
pure ether. He was a master of language as well as
of melody. Beautiful and inspiring as is his poetry at its
best, his life was a sad tragedy, full of grievous errors and
useless rebellion.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792, the eldest
son of a wealthy baronet. He was educated at Eton and
Oxford, but carried away by the infidelity of the French
philosophers, he published a tract on "The Necessity of
Atheism," and was therefore expelled from the Uni-
versity in 1811. The wild and fantastic poem, "Queen
Mab," privately printed in 1813, expressed more boldly
the same opinions. At the age of nineteen the impulsive
Shelley, partly out of pity, married Harriet Westbrook,
a girl of sixteen, daughter of an inn-keeper, and was de-
nounced by his family, though his father granted him a
moderate allowance. The youthful couple wandered on
the Continent, but the marriage proved unhappy, and
they were separated after the birth of two children. Be-
fore his first wife died in 1816, Shelley found more con-
genial companionship with Mary Godwin, who, as the
daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft,
had been trained in opposition to the ways of the world.

In 1818 he published "The Revolt of Islam," a poem
which, under another title, had been prohibited by the
authorities. It is a declamatory narrative, showing the
triumph of his philanthropic theories over the tyranny
and hypocrisy of established religious systems. The
courts deprived Shelley of the custody of his children,
and he went to Italy, where, during his few remaining
years, he produced his best poetry. In "Prometheus
Unbound" he attempted to solve the great problem of

36 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

human free will, as suggested by the "Prometheus" of
u-Eschylus. Shelley was a profound Greek scholar, and
an ardent Platonist. His Prometheus is the personifi-
cation of resistance to universal tyranny and priestcraft,
which he always regarded as imposed on men by ex-
traneous force, and not arising from internal causes.
His strongest drama is "The Cenci," founded on one of
the horrible stories of revolting crime in the Italian
Middle Ages. In the elegy, "Adonais" (1821), he
lamented in noble Spenserian verse the untimely death
of the poet Keats. In his last poem, "Hellas," he ex-
pressed his hope of a grander and better golden age than
that of ancient Greece. His death was singular and mel-
ancholy. While he was returning in a small yacht from
Leghorn to Spezia, the vessel was caught in a squall, and
Shelley, with two companions, perished. The poet's
body was afterward cast on the shore, and was buried.
But two weeks later Byron and a few friends burned it on
a funeral pyre in the ancient manner.

Shelley, as a man, was mild, benevolent, temperate,
his person was extremely delicate and refined ; his poetry
was full of tender, spiritual harmony; his diction choice
and transparent ; his power of imagination inexhaustible,
carrying the mind far beyond the original idea, and intro-
ducing a perpetual interchange between the type and the
things typified. In contrast with the serene philosophy
of his real temperament he was too apt in writing to ex-
aggerate the horrible and repulsive, and to use a fierce
declamatory tone, which marred his early work. Pos-
terity has learned to reject these extravagant outbursts
and to dwell upon his sweet, graceful and ethereal lyrics
as the true expression of his genius.

ENGLISH 37

KEATS

John Keats was another remarkable manifestation of
the poetic spirit of this period, though he had nothing of
the revolutionary outburst. Born in humble circum-
stances in London in 1795, he was at fifteen apprenticed
to an apothecary. His sympathy with the great English
poets and with the Greek mythology, though he knew
nothing of that language, led to his composing a narra-
tive poem, "Endymion." It was published in 1818, in-
scribed to the memory of Chatterton, whom the new poet
somewhat resembled. The ambitious epic was assailed
severely by the "Edinburgh Review," and indeed all the
critics, who lumped it with other poems as products of
"the Cockney school." The poor consumptive Keats
was wounded in spirit, yet, conscious of poetic power, he
persevered in his chosen line. In 1820 appeared
"Lamia," the pathetic "Isabella," the beautiful "Eve of
St. Agnes," and the classical fragment, "Hyperion." The
improvement in style and treatment won for them a more
favorable reception1 than his first attempts. Keats, in
expression and native melody, was of kin to Shelley, but
he was free from the soaring philanthropy and passionate
fierceness of the young aristocrat. He was content to
live in the enjoyment of his poetic dreams without at-
tempting to make an evil world better by savage denun-
ciation. Gifted with fine fancy and a genuine predilec-
tion for Greek ideas, the slight errors due to his lack of
careful culture are easily pardoned. Attacked with
hemorrhage, he went to Italy, where he died in February,
1821, leaving as his epitaph, "Here lies one whose name
was writ in water."

35 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

HUNT

Leigh Hunt is notable as an associate of most of the
prominent English writers of the first half of the century.
His father had been a Tory lawyer in Philadelphia, but
left after the Revolution and took orders in England.
Leigh was born in 1784 and educated at Christ Hospital,
of which he has left a pleasing sketch. He began early to
write verses, and was employed on newspapers. An in-
cident in his editorship of "The Examiner" had a perman-
ent effect on his career. It aimed to be independent in
political and literary criticism, and published a sharp, but
practically true, attack on the Prince Regent. For this
Hunt was convicted of libel and sentenced to two years'
imprisonment. This rendered him a martyr and brought
him visits from Byron, Moore and other Radicals. But
his cell was made a charming bower and abode of gayety,
and his newspaper went on as before. Hunt's peculiar
poetic talent was shown in "A Story of Rimini," a
sprightly version of Dante's celebrated incident of Paolo
and Francesca. He revived the natural style of Chau-
cer's tales, though he occasionally sunk into familiarity
and flippancy. The new style was taken up by Shelley,
Keats, and others. "Blackwood's Magazine" called them
the "Cockney School of Poetry," but it was only Hunt
that deserved the implied censure.

Hunt, careless and generous in money matters,
through most of his career, suffered from pecuniary dis-
tress, and Shelley was a liberal benefactor. Hunt de-
fended the poet when public opinion was against him,
and a few years after Shelley went to Italy was induced
to join him. A new periodical was projected, "The
Liberal," to which Byron, Shelley, and Hunt were to con-
tribute. But Shelley's sudden death and Byron's depar-

ENGLISH 39

ture for Greece, destroyed the plan, though a few num-
bers appeared with poems from those authors.

The general demand for information about Byron led
Hunt in 1827 to publish "Lord Byron and His Contem-
poraries." In this he took undue advantage of the op-
portunities he had enjoyed while living under Byron's
roof, and sank in public esteem. He was condemned not
merely as a man too ready to accept money obligations
from those around him, but as willing to sell knowledge
obtained in confidence. In spite of his diligent writing
and many publishing schemes, Hunt was unable to re-
trieve his losses. At last Mrs. Shelley and her son settled
an annuity on him and the government in 1847 gave him
a pension.

The pitiable moral weakness of Hunt's character was
generally known, and when Dickens caricatured him as
Harold Skimpole in "Bleak House," the likeness was
recognized, though the novelist afterwards endeavored
to deny it. In many ways Hunt was a pleasant com-
panion; his books abound in naive egotism and petty
affectations, but also in correct criticism and genial fancy.
His "Autobiography," published in 1850, is a truthful
picture of himself, but reveals less about his distinguished
friends than might have been expected. Though he
wrote many pleasant pieces of verse, none has attained
wider fame than the delightful "Abou Ben Adhem." He
died in 1859.

THE LAKE SCHOOL OF POETRY

WORDSWORTH

Two chief branches of the Romantic school of poetry
which characterized the opening of this century, have
been treated in brief outline — the first, comprising
Scott, Byron, and Moore ; the second, containing Shelley,
Keats, and Leigh Hunt. It may be noted that the last of
each group has gradually fallen in public estimation from
the high rank once accorded to him, and might even be
omitted without serious loss to literature, though the
truth of history justifies his retention. The same is the
case with the third class which remains to be mentioned —
comprising Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey —
often classed as the Lake School of Poetry, from their
residence among the English lakes, and from some agree-
ment in treating the aspects of nature. These writers
really began to publish at an earlier date than some of
those who have already been described, but they were
slower in obtaining adequate recognition, and as regards
fame they followed the others, though eventually they
overtook and distanced them.

William Wordsworth was the chief leader in the
movement which changed the direction of English poetry.
In the Eighteenth Century a new love of nature had
sprung up, which is exemplified in the works of Thomson
and Cowper, but it hardly dared assert antagonism to the
artificial poetry, inculcated by the precept and example
of Pope. Then suddenly the peasant Burns stirred the
hearts of the Scottish people with songs of love and

4o

ENGLISH 41

patriotism and human equality. These lyrics, though
in a rude, difficult dialect, reached the English stirred by
the revolutionary spirit. Poets, who had been imitating
old ballads, now began to discard rigid rules as worth-
less and stiff diction as cumbersome. Wordsworth de-
liberately attacked the artificial correctness of Pope, and
demanded the expression of primal truth in natural man-
ner. In his early utterances he was carried too far by
his theory, but he finally brought his poetic phrase into
harmony with his elevated sentiment.

William Wordsworth was born in 1770 in the County
of Cumberland, where his ancestors had held land for
centuries; to this perhaps was due his strong suscepti-
bility for the beauty of nature. He was educated at
Cambridge and traveled in France in 1791, when young
men were filled with hope that the world was being made
anew. Of this time he wrote long afterward :

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven."

But lack of money compelled him to return, and for
three years his prospects were uncertain. Then a legacy
from a friend enabled him to pursue his natural bent.
With his sister Dorothy he took a simple cottage and
resolved to dedicate himself to poetry. He had already
published two ventures, when he came in contact with the
persuasive and stimulating Coleridge. The two poets
published "The Lyrical Ballads" in 1798, to exemplify
their theory of poetry. In the preface to the second edi-
tion (1800) Wordsworth declared that true poetry is
"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." Its
language is therefore the simple, direct utterance of the
heart. Its proper subjects are not strong passions, re-
venge, ambition, unbridled love, but the tranquil virtues,
the development of the affections, and the effort of the

42 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

soul to unite itself with God. In his "Lyrical Ballads,"
Wordsworth gave weight and dignity to themes, which
the "Edinburgh Review" condemned as trivial and vul-
gar. But the self-centred poet was not to be swerved
by the judgments of critics; he moved calmly on, com-
posing his meditative and reflective poems on simple in-
cidents of life, yet rising at times to lofty and impassioned
utterances on the Divinity which he beheld in nature.
He regarded external nature as a conscious expression
of the Divine nature. His tendency was to a mysterious,
sublime pantheism, but it was held in check by his pro-
found belief in the Christian revelation.

Wordsworth lived from 1813 at Rydal Mount, sus-
tained in steadfast devotion to his lofty purpose by
the cheerful companionship of his sister Dorothy and his
wife. His poems were received with ridicule and pro-
test by nearly all the critics, yet gradually the tide turned ;
Oxford bestowed on him the degree of D.C.L. in
1839, and Sir Robert Peel made him poet laureate in
1843. He died in 1850 at the age of fourscore. Eng-
lish public opinion had come to recognize him as a poet
of the second rank, above Pope and Dryden, Thomson
and Cowper, and almost on a level with Milton. The
drawback to his fame is that much of what he wrote is
dull and unworthy, and that his theory of poetic diction
spoiled his utterance, owing to his lack of humor. In
his later work he discarded the extreme simplicity and
puerility which offended the early critics.

His great merit lies in his power of delineating na-
ture, and the poetic force which his tendency to pantheism
adds to this gift. He is also successful in noble lines,
which record his feeling at special times and places. In
his "Tintern Abbey" and "Ode on Intimations of Im-
mortality from the Recollections of Childhood," he rose

ENGLISH 43

to sublime heights, even above the limit reached in other
valuable work. His longest poem, "The Excursion," is
but a fragment of a projected epic, in which a Scotch
pedlar, a clergyman, and a disappointed visionary dis-
cuss fundamental questions concerning God and man,
the problems of human life and duties. "The Prelude,"
which was intended as an introduction to this, was pub-
lished after the author's death. Wordsworth took up
the sonnet, which had been long neglected by English
poets, and gave it new vogue. Some of his examples, as
"Westminster Bridge" and "The World Is Too Much
with Us," rank among the best specimens in English
literature.

COLERIDGE

Coleridge, who was most intimately associated with
Wordsworth in his youth and stimulated his early poeti-
cal work, was yet of entirely different character. Though
a writer of abundant prose and verse of many kinds, he
was influential on the public rather as an astonishing and
suggestive talker. He was one of the first to introduce
German philosophy into English thought. In theology
he assisted in the change which produced the Oxford
movement, and he was also the suggester of what has
become known as the Broad Church School. Yet with
all his ability his intellectual work was fragmentary and
his career a melancholy wreck.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the son of a clergyman,
and was born in Devonshire in 1772. He was educated
at the famous Charterhouse or Christ Hospital in Lon-
don, where he formed a lasting friendship with Charles
Lamb. Afterwards he went to Jesus College, Cam-
bridge. Though a diligent scholar at first, he got into
difficulties and enlisted as a dragoon, but by the assistance

44 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of friends obtained a discharge a few months later. He
returned to college, but fell in with Southey, and the two
became engaged to sisters at Bristol in 1794. Both were
filled with Revolutionary ideas and formed vague
schemes of renovating humanity by founding on the
banks of the Susquehanna a community to be called Pan-
tisocracy (equal government of all). Coleridge left the
university and was married to Sara Fricker in 1795.
He became a Unitarian preacher, published some poems,
and started a weekly paper, called "The Watchman." At
Stowey he was associated with Wordsworth, and con-
tributed to the "Lyrical Ballads," "The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner," but withheld other poems already
written.

The kindness of friends enabled Coleridge to go to
Germany, where he studied literature and philosophy for
fourteen months. Returning in 1800 he settled with
Southey and Wordsworth in the Lake district. The
three Radicals now became Conservatives, and Coleridge
gave up his Unitarian views. As poets they had mutual
effect on each other's work. Coleridge translated freely
Schiller's "Wallenstein," enriching the drama. For a
time he was secretary to the Governor of Malta, and after
his return he was busy in newspaper work, lecturing, and
the publication of two dramas and some poems. In 1816
he published "Christabel," which, though incomplete, is
one of his finest poems. His friends were ever ready to
help him, but though he was fertile in schemes literary
and philosophical, he was incompetent to execute them
in a reasonable degree. "The Friend" was a periodical
issued for two years; "Biographia Literaria" is full of
judicious criticism. The explanation of his imperfect
performance is that he was a victim of the opium habit.
He was unable to keep house with his own family, but

ENGLISH 45

was sheltered by those who had regard for his abilities.
Dr. Oilman is especially remembered for this service, and
at his house in Highgate, Coleridge discoursed elo-
quently to vistors. There, with the exception of occa-
sional excursions, he resided till his death in 1834.

So far as his own literary productions are concerned,
Coleridge is remembered by a few exquisite poems —
"The Ancient Mariner," "Love, or Genevieve," and the
fragments, "Christabel" and "Kubla Khan." They all
exhibit wonderful command of metre, language, and the
power of exciting emotion. His other poems vary in
excellence, sometimes sinking to worthlessness. His
prose-writings were written piece-meal, and have been dili-
gently collected by several editors, but though there are
occasional gems scattered among them, their general
value is diminished by their lack of connection or comple-
tion. Yet, while the bulk of his writing is out of propor-
tion to its utility, probably no man of the century, except
Sir Walter Scott, had wider-reaching effect on the higher
thought, philosophy, and literature of England.

SOUTHEY

Southey in his youth seemed likely to be as radical
in opposition to English ways as Byron, yet he soon
settled down to steady work as a Quarterly Reviewer,
an unflinching supporter of Church and State. In 1813
he was made poet laureate, and held the position for
thirty years. His Oriental poems, as elaborate but not
as gorgeous as Moore's "Lalla Rookh," have fallen into
a more profound oblivion. As a poet he is remembered
by a few short pieces; as a prose- writer, by his biographies
of Nelson and Wesley, and by the whimsical rambling
work, "The Doctor," which was an improvement in

46 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

decency, though not in lively interest, on its model,
Sterne's "Tristram Shandy."

Robert Southey was born at Bristol in 1774, and went
to Balliol College, Oxford, but left without taking a
degree. Infatuated with the wildest revolutionary doc-
trines, he published, in 1794, the drama of "Wat Tyler,"
and, with the aid of Coleridge, another on "The Fall of
Robespierre." The Jacobinical poets became engaged
to sisters, named Fricker, and also formed a Utopian
scheme, learnedly called Pantisocracy. It was their
dream to found a model community on the banks of the
Susquehanna, a river of which they knew little except its
romantic name. Here the golden age should be renewed
in a Platonic republic from which vice and selfishness
would forever be excluded. But alas ! for want of the
necessary money the beautiful vision was never realized.

Southey married Edith Fricker in 1795, yet went
immediately alone to Lisbon, where his uncle was a Brit-
ish chaplain. This visit led to his thorough study of
Spanish and Portuguese history and literature, which
proved of service in later years. His epic "Joan of Arc"
(1796) showed that change of scene had not yet altered
his republicanism, but the need of steady employment
sobered his fancies. He had nothing to do with Words-
worth's "Lyrical Ballads," but cherished poetic fancies
of his own. In 1804 he settled at Greta Hall, near Kes-
wick, in the Lake country, and thenceforward led a
laborious literary life, assisted by the generosity of
his friends, yet grinding away on topics of the time for
daily bread. When Coleridge deserted his family,
Southey took up the additional burden. He had now
come to hate and detest Napoleon as a tyrant, and sus-
tained the Tory government of England in its repressive
policy. His most ambitious undertaking was to illustrate

ENGLISH 47

the mythologies of the world in a series of poems.
•'Thalaba the Destroyer," "the wild and wondrous
song," is founded on Arabian traditions, and celebrates
the victory of faith over the powers of evil. It was
written in irregular verse without rhyme, and, in spite
of some beautiful passages, was received with little fa-
vor. "The Curse of Kehama" was founded on the Hin-
doo mythology, whose extravagant fables and horrors
overtaxed the powers of the poet and his readers. In
it he admitted rhyme, but he had less expectation of suc-
cess as the theme was beyond the range of human
sympathies.

In his next epic, "Madoc," Southey made use of
Welsh traditions in regard to an early discovery of
America. It was the least successful of his long poems,
while the most popular was "Roderick," the tragic story
of the last Gothic King of Spain. For the Christian
King's sin his people were defeated by the Moors, but
Roderick, escaping, though supposed to be killed,
became a hermit. Called by a vision to redeem his peo-
ple, he wandered through the country in the garb of a
priest, and rallied his friends to a new conflict with the
Moors. In the battle he was recognized by his war-cry,
but after the victory he disappeared. Centuries later a
humble tomb with his name was discovered in a hermitage.

All of these poems required an immense amount of
reading in order to gather the material and proper sur-
roundings. In fact, Southey's writing, both in prose
and verse, was based on the most painstaking investiga-
tion, and his wildest fancies wear a matter-of-fact shape.
His library contained 14,000 volumes, gathered for use
and systematically read, as his "Commonplace Book" and
"Omniana" testify. Yet as a poet, though he won high
praise, he never was popular; he received far less for his

f8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

toilsome works than Moore and men of less note for airy
fancies. Finding that his poetry became less salable, he
confined himself to prose, though even in this he did not
find time to accomplish the great works which he had
planned. His domestic life had its tragedies; his only
son and prettiest daughter died, and his wife was insane
for two years before her death in 1837. Two years later
the bereaved poet married Caroline Bowles, herself a
poet, but after a short period of comfort, his brain gave
~,yay, owing to his excessive work. He sank into imbecil-
ity and died in March, 1843.

Southey had resolutely clung to hope of fame as a
poet, but he was doomed to disappointment. Though
early classed with Wordsworth as forming the Lake
school of poetry, he justly protested against this mistake
of the "Edinburgh Review." Whatever lawlessness was
manifested in Southey 's poems, it was not due to Words-
worth's theory of poetic diction. In spite of his quiet,
retired life, Southey retained his vehement partisan spirit
after he had changed his party. His ode written dur-
ing the negotiations with Napoleon in January, 1814, is
one of the strongest denunciations of the Emperor. His
lively burlesque of "The March to Moscow" bears wit-
ness to the same feeling. His most deplorable piece is
the "Vision of Judgment," in which, as poet laureate, he
depicted the entrance of George III into Heaven. In the
preface he attacked what he called "The Satanic School,"
and Byron, who had already become a personal enemy
of the laureate, took revenge in a severe satire on this
absurd deification of the unfortunate English sovereign.
But Southey must always be remembered with respect for
his unflagging industry, his varied learning, his excellent
prose style, his genuine humor, and a few cherished
poems.

ENGLISH 49

Besides the men of genius who have already been
described as giving new character to the first third of the
Nineteenth Century, there were several contemporaries
of fair repute and respectable performance. The eldest
of these, who lived to the age of ninety-two, was Samuel
Rogers ( 1763-1855) ), a Whig banker. His best remem-
bered works are "the Pleasures of Memory" (1792) and
"Italy" (1822). The former is in rhymed couplets, the
latter in blank verse, but both belong in spirit to the
Eighteenth Century. They are the efforts of a dilettante
rather than the composition of a true poet. Rogers,
by his wealth, was able to be a patron of literature and
a connoisseur in art. His life was devoted to the pleas-
ures of society; his hospitality was enjoyed by all the
celebrities of the time; his conversation was highly
esteemed; though his wit was sharp, his actions were
charitable.

"The Pleasures of Hope," which gave early fame to
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), was suggested by
Rogers' poem, but was more directly an imitation of
Goldsmith's "Traveller." In it Campbell, then but
twenty-one, made a poetical survey of Europe. His
spirited ballads on events of the time, "Hohenlinden"
(1799), "Ye Mariners of England" (1800), and "The
Battle of the Baltic" (1809), have retained popularity,
when his longer poems have lost it. Campbell, having
settled in London, was constantly and remuneratively
employed as miscellaneous writer, editor of biographical
and critical works, and collections of poetry. His "Ger-
trude of Wyoming" ( 1809) is a tragic story in the Spen-
serian stanza, but the scene is laid in Pennsylvania, with
which the author had no direct acquaintance. It is a con-
ventional English tale with foreign locality, and melo-

50 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

dramatic accessories. Campbell added to his fame by
"Lochiel's Warning" and "The Exile of Erin," but not by
his longer narrative poems. In 1830 he was made editor
of Colburn's "New Monthly Magazine." He died in
1844.

REVIEWERS, MAGAZINISTS AND MINOR POETS
OF THE FIRST PERIOD

The judicious Scotch lawyer and the witty English
clergyman who gave the chief impulse to the "Edinburgh
Review" in its first quarter of a century, deserve a little
further notice. Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850) was a strug-
gling barrister when he, with some hesitation, accepted
the editorship. It was his sterling honesty and resolute
independence which made the Review respected.
Though his politics were Liberal, his literary principles
were of the old school, and his censure even of his
friends' departure from the established ways, were
emphatic. Hence his impartial condemnation of Byron
and Wordsworth, Scott and Southey, Leigh Hunt and
Keats. His judgment of poetry has been reversed by
time, but in all other respects his control of the Review
was admirable. In 1829, when he had become the
acknowledged leader of the Scottish bar, he resigned his
editorship and was made Lord Advocate. After a brief
experience in Parliament, he was made a judge, and
thenceforward, according to Scotch practice, was known
as Lord Jeffrey.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) who, by accident, was
stranded in Edinburgh for five years, though he con-
stantly quizzed the national foibles of his Liberal friends,
did them the great favor of uniting their abilities in the

ENGLISH 51

Review. He soon left the Scotch capital for a church in
London, where he achieved success as a preacher and
lecturer. In 1806, when his political friends got into
power, he was presented with a living in Yorkshire.
Though it was a practical banishment from congenial
society, he showed his wonted cheerfulness in his new
circumstances and won the hearts of his rustic parishion-
ers. He continued to write for the "Edinburgh" for a
quarter of a century. His range of subjects was wide,
including educational and geographical topics, as well as
political and ecclesiastical, enlivening all of them with
unexpected fun without departing from instructive and
orderly exposition. Though he attacked grave social »
questions with lively wit and humorous exaggeration,
he never indulged in mere buffoonery. When he made
his reader laugh it was at something observed in the argu-
ments or position he was attacking. In "Peter Plymley's
Letters" he ridiculed the opposition of the country clergy
to Catholic emancipation. His reputation as a wit unfor-
tunately prevented his being made a bishop, but he was
made a canon of Bristol Cathedral in 1828, and a prebend
of St. Paul's in 1832. In his "Letters to Archdeacon
Singleton" (1837) he defended, in his usual witty man-
ner, the arrangements of cathedrals, which it had been
proposed to alter. In private life he was a mirthful
companion, as specimens of his table-talk, which have
been preserved, abundantly testify.

Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) has been pro-
nounced by many poets, from Coleridge and Shelley to
Swinburne and Lowell, to have been a great poet, and by
excellent critics to have been an exquisite prose writer.
He set himself to be an artist in language, but he is too
coldly intellectual ever to win the hearts of the people.

52 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

His epic poem, "Gebir," is an Oriental story of no great
interest, but it has many passages of magnificent beauty.
It has been declared to have "Tennyson's finish, Arnold's
objectivity and the romance of Keats and Morris." Lan-
dor was a most eccentric, ungovernable person, married
in haste, quarreled with his wife, and went to Italy. Aris-
tocratic in tastes, he was a republican in principle, and
gave vent to explosions of wrath against Kings, critics and
cooks, who were all in the wrong. His most valuable work
is "Imaginary Conversations," in the several volumes of
which he reports discussions of important subjects by
noted historic personages. He had returned to England
some years before 1858, where he published caustic epi-
grams and satires, under the title "Dry Sticks Fagoted."
This overwhelmed him with libel suits, from which he
fled again to Italy, there to die in exile at the age of
eighty-nine.

As "Christopher North," the versatile editor of
"Blackwood's Magazine," John Wilson (1785-1834 )has
already been mentioned, but his career deserves more
notice. He was born at Paisley, Scotland, and gradu-
ated at Glasgow University in 1803 and at Oxford in
1807. He had become proficient in pugilism and
pedestrianism, and was prominent in the "town and
gown" fights, without neglecting the classics. His
wealth allowed him to devote himself to athletics on his
estate of Elleray on Lake Windemere. His love of lit-
erature was shown in "The Isle of Palms," a volume of
poems bearing evidence of Wordsworth's influence. In
1811 Wilson married Jane Penny, and spent four more
happy years at Elleray. Then, most of his fortune being
lost in his uncle's speculations, he removed to Edinburgh
and became a lawyer. Jeffrey, observing his ability, had
solicited his contributions for the "Edinburgh Review,"

ENGLISH 53

but men of such opposite temperament could not long
agree. In 1817, when "Blackwood's Magazine" was
started, Wilson was called to assist, and soon became its
controlling spirit. Its red-hot Toryism and general
vehemence put vigor in its partisans. In 1820 the chair
of moral philosophy in the University of Edinburgh
became vacant and Sir Walter Scott and other Tories
urged the town-council to appoint Wilson. They were
successful, and Wilson honored their choice by his mas-
terly conduct of his classes for thirty years. Having
sufficient leisure for literary work, he devoted himself
with ardor to the interests of "Maga." His pathetic
powers were shown in "Lights and Shadows of Scottish
Life," published under a pseudonym in 1822, and in
later tales. He treated subjects of all kinds from
athletic sports to classical criticism in a lively, exuberant
style, varying from intense enthusiasm to wild burlesque,
and making abundant use of italics, capitals, dashes and
exclamation points. Several volumes of these articles
have been collected, but his most famous work is "Noctes
Ambrosianse," unrivaled as convivial table-talk, full of
life, humor and dramatic force. In 1835 Wilson suffered
a severe blow in the loss of his wife, but did not give up
his writing until stricken with paralysis in 1851. He
died at Edinburgh in 1854.

Closely associated with "Christopher North" in "Black-
wood's Magazine" was the Ettrick Shepherd, James
Hogg (1770-1835). His ancestors had been sheep-
farmers in Selkirkshire for generations, and he was thus
employed when Sir Walter Scott was collecting ballads
for the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border." Hogg, who
had learned to read after reaching manhood, astonished
Scott by his poetic talent and his wealth of ballad lore.
The Ettrick Shepherd was introduced to the literary cir-

54 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

cles of Edinburgh, where his racy speech, rustic humor
and poetic inspiration soon made him a favorite. He
was one of the projectors of "Blackwood's Magazine"
and suggested "The Chaldee Manuscript," its earliest
explosive. "Christopher North" made Hogg a prominent
interlocutor in the "Noctes Ambrosianse," heightening
his foibles and peculiarities, yet doing justice to his gen-
ius. Though Hogg in prose and verse received advice
and help from his better educated associates, he preserved
a unique originality. His best songs, such as "Donald
Macdonald," "The Village of Balmawhapple," rank close
with those of Burns; in his "Jacobite Relics" he inter-
spersed some clever forgeries. His long poems, "The
Queen's Wake," "The Pilgrims of the Sun," "The Moun-
tain Bard," are plainly imitations of Scott, yet not
unworthy of comparison with the master's work; the
fairy poem of "Kilmeny" is perhaps his best. In his
novels, also, he followed the author of "Waverley," but
with unequal steps. Though perfectly acquainted with
Scotch life, he was deficient in construction of stories.
"The Brownie of Bodsbeck," "The Three Perils of
Man," "The Three Perils of Woman" are his most suc-
cessful attempts.

A stranger genius, who gave to "Blackwood's" part
of its striking character, was William Maginn (1793-
1842), an Irish wit, noted for his extensive scholarship,
and still more for his reckless bohemianism. He com-
posed Anacreontics in Greek and Latin, and wrote gay
ballads in thieves' slang. He appears in the "Noctes
Ambrosianae" as "Morgan O'Doherty." He afterwards
went to London and, after service on various Tory
journals, he was one of the projectors of "Eraser's Maga-
zine." In it appeared his "Homeric Ballads" and
"Shakespeare Papers." His irregular habits caused his

ENGLISH 55

connection with it to be broken off, and reduced him to
extreme poverty.

The "London Magazine," founded soon after "Black-
wood's," was marked by certain English peculiarities; it
was more inclined to Liberalism, though it had some Tory
contributors. Charles Lamb, Thomas DeQuincey, and
William Hazlitt were among its noted writers. The per-
sonal history of Charles Lamb (1775-1834) is an affect-
ing tragedy, brightened by his genial character. He was
educated at the famous Blue-coat School, and at an early
age became a clerk in the East India House, where he re-
mained for thirty years. The cloud on his life was the
fact that his elder sister, Mary, was liable to fits of in-
sanity, and that in one of these she stabbed her mother to
the heart. For a time she was confined in an asylum, and
when her sanity returned Charles was permitted to take
her home. Mary was never made aware of her desperate
deed, but afterwards when she felt the trouble recurring,
she cheerfully accompanied Charles to the asylum. While
she was in mental health, they lived happily "in double
singleness," and had weekly gatherings of literary friends.
The gentle Charles, precluded from marriage, was a dili-
gent student of early English writers, while Mary amused
herself with the current literature. Charles wrote a
tragedy, "John Woodvil," in the antique style, but it was
severely scored in the "Edinburgh Review." His farce,
"Mr. H — ," failed at Drury Lane. Then he issued "Speci-
mens of the Old English Dramatists," with excellent brief
introductions, and with the aid of his sister, prepared for
children, "Tales from Shakespeare." But the "London
Magazine" opened for the literary clerk the proper field for
his peculiar powers. Taking the pseudonym "Elia," he
poured forth his fanciful observations and crotchets with-
out restraint. He was essentially a Londoner, and told

56 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of curious characters and incidents he had remarked on
its streets. He was also a lover of curious half-forgotten
lore, and he delighted to recall it for entertainment of a
new generation. His quiet merriment and genuine pathos
are set off by his quaint, old-fashioned style. His con-
versation abounded in puns, the effect of which was height-
ened by his stuttering. His "Letters," which have been
carefully edited, are written in the same vein as the more
finished essays, and prove that habit of thought to have
been natural. At times he soars in the realms of the im-
agination, but generally he keeps close to the familiar
earth. His "Dissertation on Roast Pig" is a classical
piece of fun; "The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers" is full
of humorous kindness; his "Dream-Children" and "The
Child- Angel" reveal the tender heart of the writer. He
describes his sister fondly under the name of "Bridget
Elia," and tells of his bachelor's life and mental oddities
with playful frankness. The essays, written simply to
entertain his friends, were a recreation after his daily
drudgery at office work. One stroke more must be added
to the tragedy of his life. Ten years younger than his
unfortunate sister, he died thirteen years before her. His
friend Talfourd wrote his biography without mentioning
the central tragedy in order to spare her feelings, but after
her death revised the narrative.

Another writer in the "London Magazine" who had
considerable influence in this direction was William Haz-
litt (1778-1830). He has been pronounced by competent
judges the greatest of English critics. He was the son
of a Unitarian preacher, and in early manhood, coming in
contact with Coleridge, was powerfully affected by him.
His inclination was to art, and for a time he practiced
painting, but he was drawn into newspaper work in Lon-
don. He became a critic of art and the drama, lectured on

ENGLISH 57

literature, and wrote essays. His variable temper made
him difficult to get along with. His severity was shown
not only to his political opponents, but to those who tried
to be his friends. He quarreled with his first wife, who
had brought him some property, and was discreditably
divorced from her. Then came a violent passion for the
daughter of a lodging-house keeper, and when she jilted
him he told the whole story without reserve in his "Liber
Amoris." He married a second wife, but she left him in
a few years. Hazlitt was a man of wider experience of life,
more robust and more fluent as a writer than gentle Charles
Lamb. His miscellaneous essays are not so uniformly ex-
cellent, but they comprise many admirable sketches, as
"Merry England," "Going a Journey," "The Indian Jug-
glers." But his most valuable work is seen in his literary
criticism, in "The Characters of Shakespeare," "The
Elizabethan Dramatists," "The English Poets," and "The
English Comic Writers." His strong personality caused
him to have intense prejudices, so that his opinions need
to be watched, but whenever he is really judicial, he ex-
hibits the highest excellence of criticism — proper and ade-
quate estimate of the authors considered.

Among the papers which gave high literary value to the
"London Magazine," none were more remarkable than
"The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater," which ap-
peared in 1821. The author, Thomas DeQuincey (1785-
1859) was b°rn at Manchester and educated at Oxford,
but being under no restraint, he wandered at times to Dub-
lin, London, and elsewhere. He also acquired the opium
habit, and after he settled in 1809 at Grasmere, in the Lake
district, in a house formerly occupied by Wordsworth,
the use of opium, or rather laudanum, grew upon him. He
was at this time wealthy, and was admitted at once to in-
timacy with the families of the poets already domiciled

58 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

there. He had previously bestowed, through a friend,
£30x3 on Coleridge, as an acknowledgment of some slight
favor shown him. Gradually his fortune was wasted, and
the strange genius had to resort to his pen for a living.
In his "Confessions," and still more in his portrayal of
scenes from his dreams, DeQuincey used an elaborate
semi-poetical style. It was partly founded on his study of
music, and is seen in "Our Ladies of Sorrow" and "The
English Mail-Coach." Although he did not begin to write
for publication till he was thirty-six, once started he kept
it up vigorously to the end of his life. It comprised criti-
cal, narrative, biographical and autobiographic sketches,
in some of which he has been charged with falsifying facts,
and excused on the plea that to him dreams and realities
were often interchangeable. For these and other reasons,
there remains much mystery about the curious little man.
He removed to Edinburgh in 1830, and made that his chief
place of residence for the rest of his life. But his habits
were uncertain; he was fond of night rambles, and ap-
peared and disappeared without notice. As a writer, when
at his best, he has seldom been excelled in strength or
brilliancy. At times he indulged in a peculiar, grotesque
humor, and often he marred the effect of his writing by
excessive argumentation, wearisome trifling, or endless
digressions. Apart from the collection of his Essays,
made to various magazines, his few books have little
value. When the enterprise of an American publisher had
first put his essays in book form, the grateful author issued
a revised edition, which forms an enduring monument to
his memory.

ENGLISH 59

WOMEN WRITERS OF THE FIRST PERIOD

A marked feature of the Nineteenth Century has been
the number and excellence of its women writers. The first
of merit still acknowledged is Maria Edgeworth (1767-
1849). Her "Castle Rackrent" (1801) is a lively picture
of the recklessness and misconduct of Irish landlords. Her
"Belinda" (1803) exhibits the female dissipation of the
time. In "Ormond," a youth of impetuous character,
whose education has been neglected, rises to true nobility.
In "Helen," a story of thrilling interest, it is shown that
deceit brings misery in its train. "The Absentee" reveals
the wretchedness inflicted on the tenantry by unscrupulous
agents while the gentry pursue their pleasures in London.
When Miss Edgeworth visited Sir Walter Scott in 1823,
he said that her stories had made him wish to do for Scot-
land what she had done for Ireland. But this may have
been only the baronet's gallantry to a lady author. She
treated only of Protestant society, and dealt but sparingly
with the peasantry and middle classes, and hence was not
thoroughly national. Her chief excellence is in sprightly
dialogue and amusing scenes. Her short tales are better
than her long novels, and her moral stories for children
have not yet entirely lost their vogue. She did not fully
attain the art of creating individual characters, but rather
depicted a variety of types and set them off with humor.

Another woman, less popular in her day, but now re-
garded as having a higher genius, was the English Jane
Austen (1775-1817). Her first publication, "Sense and
Sensibility," was in 1810, but she is said to have written
novels many years before. In spite of her secluded life,
and slender knowledge of society, she succeeded in creat-
ing many real characters. Her skill lay in building them
up with an infinity of detail. Her delicate irony is rare

60 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

among women, and gives her a modern tone. Two of
her six novels were published after her death.

The three novels of Susan Ferrier (1782-1854) were
published anonymously, — "Marriage," in 1818; "The
Inheritance," in 1824, and "Destiny," in 1831. Sir Wal-
ter Scott praised their clever portraiture of contemporary
Scotch life and manners, and called her, with reference
to their common anonymousness, his "sister shadow."

Even more popular than these novelists was the poet
Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1794-1835), whose verses
won praises from the leading poets and critics of the day.
Being a woman of wide culture, she ranged over
Europe, seeking subjects for pathetic dramas, romantic
tales, and songs of the affections. She wrote too flu-
ently and did not stop to correct. The religious tone
of her poetry, which descanted on the transitoriness of
this world and the assured hope of a better world, com-
mended it to the favor of many readers. She had been
unhappy in her marriage with Captain Hemans and was
compelled to write for the support of her children.

Two other women who were for a time unduly
esteemed and afterward entirely neglected were Joanna
Baillie (1762-1851) who wrote "Plays on the Passions,"
containing both tragedies and comedies on hatred, fear,
love, revenge; and Miss Landon (1802-1838), known as
"L. E. L.," who dashed off sentimental and impassioned
lyrics, and several prose romances.

SUMMARY OF THE PRE-VICTORIAN LITERATURE

In the first third of the Nineteenth Century, England
underwent one of its periodic revolutions in thought, poli-
tics, and literature. The system of reaction and repression
which prevailed during the wars with Napoleon and for

ENGLISH 6:

some time after his downfall gave way under the influence
of free discussion to a liberal tendency which was first
strikingly manifested in the political sphere in the Par-
liamentary Reform of 1832, abolishing many rotten bor-
oughs and admitting new cities to representation. Cor-
responding with this movement, and helping to produce
it, was the literary revolution, whose conspicuous features
have already been indicated and are here rehearsed.

1. Independent literary criticism, inaugurated by the
"Edinburgh Review," gave a new impulse to literature,
which was increased by the larger opportunity granted
to writers by the establishment of "Blackwood's" and
other monthly magazines.

2. The rise of romantic poetry, for which the repub-
lication of old ballads had prepared the way, was first ex-
emplified in Sir Walter Scott's picturesque metrical tales,
whose success swept away the artificial barriers of classi-
cal poetry. These tales were objective presentations of
historical or semi-historical scenes, leading captive the im-
agination before the critical faculties were roused to per-
form their supposed duty.

3. Byron adopted this narritive style, but charged it
with his own powerful personality and passion. He thus
added the subjective element, which brought the poetry
home to the hearts of his readers.

4. Wordsworth scornfully rejected Pope's limitation
of the nature and diction of poetry. His defense of sim-
ple language and common incidents as proper for poetry,
though his practice carried this to an undue extreme, was
necessary to overcome the formalism which had stifled the
imagination.

5. Wordsworth elevated the idea of poetry by mak-
ing its highest aim to be the recognition of the Divinity
in nature and the soul of man. His dedication of his life

62 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

to this purpose was an inspiring example to his own and
future generations.

6. The revival of genuine lyrical poetry is the strong-
est proof of the profound change in English nature. As
in the Elizabethan age this lyrical outburst was manifested
in a great variety of metres.

7. Prose style underwent a similar enlargement, re-
sulting in quaint and elaborate effects, as in Lamb, De
Quincey, Wilson, and others.

8. This period is grandly characterized by the rise of
the historical romance, in which Sir Walter Scott was the
unrivaled leader. To him is due in large measure the
wide revival of interest in the Middle Ages, and the con-
sequent restoration of medievalism in art and religion.
As high artistic blendings of historic fact with a gorgeous
imagination, the works of "the Wizard of the North"
stand alone, in spite of all attempts to rival their charm.
It is noteworthy that Scott's long concealment of his
authorship of "Waverley" was partly owing to the belief
that such work was unworthy of his professional dignity,
and that it required his phenomenal success to raise the
novel to fair recognition as a legitimate branch of litera-
ture.

9. It is of interest to observe that in the early years
of this century, when cultured women were restrained by
rigid notions of their proper sphere from venturing into
print, a few women poets were encouraged by words of
praise from the greatest writers, and that the women
novelists were admitted to have improved upon the ex-
travagant romancings of the end of the Eighteenth Cen-
tury. These beginners were the harbingers of the great
crowd of women who have conferred honor on the reign
of Victoria by their achievements in literature.

SECOND OR EARLY VICTORIAN PERIOD—
1837-1870

Students of English history note that the fourth
decade of the century (1831-40), in which Victoria came
to the throne, marks broadly a definite stage of progress.
Let us glance first at the social and political changes
during her reign. Parliamentary reform, which had
been held back during the Napoleonic wars and the
ensuing period of repression, had won its first victory in
1832. The reactionary policy of the Government came
to an end, and the people rejoiced in their newly
obtained privileges.

Conspicuous in bringing about these changes was
Henry (afterward Lord) Brougham. He assisted in
founding the University of London, entirely free from
sectarian distinctions, and the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge, which published instructive works
at low prices. At his suggestion Mechanics' Institutes
were formed in all leading towns. A thirst for knowl-
edge seemed suddenly to have seized the Nation. Agi-
tation for the repeal of the corn laws followed, and
proved successful in the next decade, when in 1845 Eng-
land definitely adopted the policy of Free Trade. Social
reforms were urged by the Radicals, but did not enlist
popular support until 1848, when a tide of revolutionary
sentiment again swept over Europe. The Chartists had
come forward with demands for manhood suffrage and
annual elections to Parliament, but they were suppressed
by force. Still, this agitation in behalf of the working
classes led to various schemes for the improvement of their
condition. The most prominent, under the name of Chris-
tian Socialism, was supported by some distinguished

63

64 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

clergymen and showed its influence on literature. The
cooperative societies for trade and industry which they
favored, were generally failures.

The middle of the Century seemed to create a change
in the national outlook. The World's Fair in the Crystal
Palace, London, in 1851, the first of the international ex-
hibitions, was hailed with enthusiasm, as inaugurating an
era of universal peace. This feeling also manifested itself
in contemporary literature. Yet within a few years came
the futile Crimean War, which Englishmen now find it
difficult to justify. It had, however, important reflex ac-
tion by bringing about an alliance between England and
France and promoting their friendly intercourse. In the
next decade the secession of the Southern States and
formation of the Confederacy found unexpected favor in
England, but the Government refrained from active in-
terference, though it did not fully enforce its neutrality
laws. Further Parliamentary reform, the disestablish-
ment of the Irish Church and effective promotion of pub-
lic education brought the seventh decade to a close. The
same year (1870) witnessed the downfall of Napoleon
III, speedily followed by the establishment of the new
German Empire and the French Republic.

Let us turn now to consider the literary movement
during the same period. The great impulse which had
quickened every department of literature at the opening
of the century spent its creative force in three decades.
Sir Walter Scott died in 1832, in the same year as Goethe,
the revered Jupiter of the German Olympus. Other cre-
ative masters had already passed away, or practically
rested from their labors, their honors being won, and their
fame established. In the fourth decade new stars were
beginning to appear above the horizon — Macaulay, Car-
lyle, Hallam, Bulwer and Dickens, soon to be followed by

ENGLISH 65

Thackeray. Some of the great poets who had opened new
fields still lingered and were yet adding to their work.
Tennyson had begun to sing, but the Brownings still re-
mained obscure. In every department of literature there
was vast activity, and in some there was unquestioned pre-
eminence. Poetry did not so deeply stir the minds of men,
who had fallen into contemplative mood. But there was
new interest and vigor in history, and men of genius were
studying with zeal the records of the past and preparing
new works which should soon be accepted as standard.
The result of their labors has been in many cases a pulling
down of long established views of men and institutions.
The prejudiced decisions which had been widely diffused
by partisan writers unable or unwilling to examine the
original documents relating to controverted points have
been rudely shattered by earnest iconoclasts. Credit must
be given for some of these alterations to the change which
has come over the spirit of governments, even in the most
despotic courts. The archives, long jealously guarded,
have been opened to students, seeking only to ascertain the
exact facts. Floods of light have thus been shed on mys-
terious events and disputed characters. The genius of
new historians and biographers has been employed in
formulating new judgments on the leaders of the world
and in presenting them for public discussion.

Another change in intellectual activity is seen in the
enlarged study of nature, its laws and resources. The
great practical applications of physical science which had
followed Watt's invention of the steam engine had neces-
sitated a closer examination of the natural world and its
elements. New discoveries were made and new theories
advanced in chemistry, physics, geology, and other
branches of science. Some of these scientists were able

to present their labors and conclusions in works attract-
Voi,. 9—5

66 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ing general readers by their picturesque and finished style.
On the borders of literature proper there were writers
who treated philosophical subjects in a popular way.
John Stuart Mill was for some years editor of the "Lon-
don and Westminster Review," and the chief advocate of
Utilitarianism and Radicalism. But the philosophic Rad-
icals did not then so deeply affect the popular mind as did
the theological controversy, known as the Oxford move-
ment. It dates from 1833, when Newman, Keble and
Pusey began to issue "Tracts for the Times." Intended to
rouse the Church of England from its lethargic latitudi-
narianism, it yet boldly attacked the Evangelicalism which
had been taught by the most active and pious of the clergy.
It called for a return to the primitive doctrine of the
Church, and this was declared to be pure Catholicism.
Newman and other leaders eventually went over to the
Church of Rome, but the movement continued and was
largely literary as well as religious.

Another ecclesiastical controversy, which affected
Scotland only, resulted in the withdrawal of more than
four hundred ministers from the Established Church to
form the Free Church of Scotland. In the subsidence of
these controversies the teachings of Coleridge and his fol-
lowers gave rise to the Broad Church movement, which
had closer relations with literature than the Oxford move-
ment. It was the result of the teachings of Coleridge, but
was largely developed by Maurice, Kingsley and Dean
Stanley. Being ethical and historical rather than dog-
matic, it soon pervaded the literature of the time.

After 1860 the whole world of thought began to be
revolutionized with the doctrine of evolution. Though
put forth early in the century as a scientific theory, it was
not generally accepted and had little practical influence
until after the publication of Darwin's "Origin of Spe-

ENGLISH 07

cies," and the philosophy of Herbert Spencer. Gradually
the new doctrine spread, and later its results, direct and
indirect, were seen in the growth of scepticism and materi-
alism, agnosticism and pessimism.

But the most striking feature of Victorian literature
is the rich and overwhelming abundance of prose fiction.
The novel has become a necessity of modern society. Its
all-pervading power compels genius to yield to its sway,
and writers of all kinds seek thus to present their thoughts
to the public. The novel no longer deals merely with
heroic persons and perilous adventures. It is no longer
intended for mere amusement. It finds nourishment and
support in the common scenes and daily walks of life. It
is concerned with the development of character, the exhi-
bition of the struggles and varieties of ordinary existence.
It may also be employed in the inculcation of new theories
of education, of religion, or society. It is the most ef-
fective means for the teacher of whatever views to reach
the public mind.

But back of all these forms of literary activity and
affording them substantial support is the immense struc-
ture of periodical literature, ever varying in its details,
yet permanent in its general effect. The Parliamentary
Reform of 1832 led directly to the extension of educa-
tion by mechanics' institutes and societies for the diffusion
of knowledge. Charles Knight in England and the
Chambers in Scotland deserve grateful remembrance for
their cheap publication of useful knowledge and general
literature. Every advance in popular education has
brought forth new periodicals and enlisted new writers
of ability. While the world must still wait patiently for
the divine gift of convincing genius, the general average
of expression in poetry and prose has undeniably been
improved, rather than lowered, by the magazines.

NOVELISTS OF THE EARLY VICTORIAN
PERIOD

BULWER

The novel is the leading element in the literature of
Victoria's reign. It had been prominent from the begin-
ning of the century, but now, by its ever-increasing quan-
tity and its higher artistic excellence, it commanded
attention and admiration from reluctant critics. A
writer who attained eminence in this field as early as the
third decade maintained his place by successive efforts
for half a century. He is commonly known as Bulwer,
his full name being Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer,
changed afterward, on succeeding to his mother's estate,
to Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and finally, on his admis-
sion to the peerage in 1866, to Baron Lytton. He was
born in 1805, his father being General Bulwer, and was
educated at Cambridge, where he won the Chancellor's
prize for a poem. Even earlier he had published some
juvenile poems. His first romance, "Falkland" (1827),
was in the fantastic German style, but his fame began
with "Pelham" (1828), in which he brought his gentle-
man-hero in contact with all the varieties of English life,
from the man of fashion to the retiring scholar, and from
the reckless rogue to the bustling statesman. The story,
written in his twenty-third year, displayed not only
vivacity of intellect, but maturity of judgment. Other
novels speedily followed — "The Disowned" (1828),
"Devereux" (1829), "Paul Clifford" (1830), a melo-

68

ENGLISH 69

dramatic chronicle of a highwayman, and "Eugene Aram"
(1832), a revelation of the steps by which a fine moral
nature may sink to brutal crime. Then the brilliant
author turned to historical romance, and in "The Last
Days of Pompeii" (1834) gave a vivid picture of life
under the Roman Empire, and the struggle of Christian-
ity with Paganism. In "Rienzi" (1835) he described
the attempt to restore the ancient republic in mediaeval
Rome. His Spanish romances, "Leila" and "Calderon,"
were less popular. When the author returned to Eng-
lish ground in "Ernest Maltravers" and its sequel "Alice,"
he was censured for the low moral tone of his treatment
of social problems. From the first critics had satirized
his melodramatic scenes and ridiculed his highly rhetori-
cal style, but these very faults probably contributed to his
marked success with the public.

Literature by no means absorbed Bulwer's energy.
He was active in politics, favoring social and parliamen-
tary reforms, and in the House of Commons, from 1831
to 1841, supported the. Whig policy. He was on friendly
terms with the leading Radicals, and accepted some of
their ideas, but his professed aim was to elevate the masses
to better education, courteous manners and an aristocratic
sense of honor.

In 1838 he turned his attention from novels to the
drama, and with the aid of the tragedian Macready,
produced three plays which still hold the stage — "The
Lady of Lyons," "Richelieu" and "Money." His later
dramatic attempts were unsuccessful. New novels fol-
lowed, among them being the mystical "Night and Morn-
ing" (1841), and "The Last of the Barons" (1843), a"
effective historical romance of Warwick, the King-
maker. Then the indefatigable writer turned to poetry and
executed fine translations from Schiller; a satire, "The

70 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

New Timon," which provoked a reply from Tennyson,
and a romantic epic, "King Arthur." The last-named,
on which he staked his reputation as a poet, fell flat.
It was written in stanzas of six lines; the story, char-
acters and incidents seemed feeble and ineffective. In
1848 the dauntless author published anonymously in
"Blackwood's Magazine" a new form of story, "The
Caxtons." It was really an admirable adaptation of
Sterne's style to new circumstances, and captivated the
public before the authorship was avowed. Of the same
kind were "My Novel" (1853) and "What Will He Do
With It?" (1858). In these he treated again the varie-
ties of English life, but showed perhaps a less hopeful
spirit.

When Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton returned to Parlia-
ment, in 1852, he took sides with the Conservatives, hav-
ing been opposed to the repeal of the corn-laws. For
some years he was busy with official duties. In "A
Strange Story" (1862) advantage was taken of popular
interest in Spiritualism to present a melodramatic
romance. His later stories were published anonymously
and won success by their merits. "The Coming Race" was
a predictive display of the new condition of mankind
when women should be the rulers and electricity should
give increased control over nature. In "The Parisians"
and "Kenelm Chillingly" the effects of modern ideas on
French and English society respectively were strikingly
contrasted. The veteran author died in 1873, leaving
unfinished another historical romance, "Pausanias the
Spartan."

From the outset of his career Bulwer was a studious
critic, as well as a prolific writer. He formed theories
of his art and laid down general rules which he endeav-
ored to observe, but in minor matters he was careless,

ENGLISH 71

and he made the great error of describing the thoughts
and feelings of his characters instead of making them
reveal themselves in speech. The lasting wonder is that
his works put forth in extreme old age showed no diminu-
tion of inventiveness or disposition to repeat his earlier
ideas. Besides his novels, poems and dramas, he wrote
many essays and disquisitions, full of well-digested learn-
ing and sage philosophy.

The chief misfortune of his life was his disagree-
ment with his wife, a high-spirited Irish woman, who
carried the quarrel into public in every possible way,
while he manfully bore all in silence.

DICKENS

Nearly ten years after the first success of the versatile
aristocratic Bulwer, another novelist of humble origin
and widely different genius sent the English world into
fits of laughter. Charles Dickens was born in 1812 at
Portsmouth, where his father was a government clerk.
But soon the family removed to London, where for years
they struggled with poverty. Young Dickens received
little education, and was early compelled to earn his own
living, while his father was lodged in a debtors' prison.
Charles became a reporter of Parliamentary debates and,
after reaching manhood, contributed to a daily paper
sketches of humorous incidents. They attracted atten-
tion, and were published in two volumes as "Sketches by
Boz." This nickname was due to his brothers and sisters
comparing Charles to Moses, the simple-minded youth
in the "Vicar of Wakefield," who traded the family horse
for a gross of green spectacles. Moses was corrupted
by the children to "Boz," and the young author gave this
cognomen celebrity. In 1837 ne was engaged to write

72 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

papers to accompany comic sketches of Cockney sports-
men by Seymour. But the artist died, and Dickens
changed the character of the publication. It became
"The Posthumous. Papers of the Pickwick Club," in
which the kind-hearted Pickwick passes through strange
trials without losing a jot of his faith in human nature.
Other characters intervened — the poetic Snodgrass, the
susceptible Tupman, the amateur sportsman, Winkle,
the loquacious swindling Jingle, and, above all, the irre-
sistible Sam Weller, whose wit and wisdom shine tri-
umphantly at every turn. The novel humor of the "Pick-
wick Papers," with their caricature of the absurdities of
elections, courts and common life, set the world of Eng-
land wild with merriment. Henceforth Dickens wrote
monthly or weekly serials on such themes as he pleased.
With all his love of fun, he wished to be a social reformer,
and in novel after novel, rapidly composed, he attacked
with potent ridicule some glaring evil of that land.
Thus "Oliver Twist" reveals the woes of orphans in the
parish work-house and throws a flood of light on the
haunts of crime in London. In "Nicholas Nickleby" the
dreadful mismanagement of private boarding-schools
was exposed in Do-the-boys Hall, conducted by Wack-
ford Squeers. "Old Curiosity Shop" blends pathetic
pictures of Little Nell and her grandfather with the
gayety of the Marchioness and the boisterousness of
Dick Swiveller, while the hideous Quilp supplies the
malevolence. "Barnaby Rudge" is in part a historical
romance, depicting in sombre colors the Lord George
Gordon riots of 1780 and their sudden collapse.

In 1841 Dickens, tired of incessant weekly labor,
visited America, and was received with enthusiasm.
Accustomed to the snug inns of England, he was shocked
with the rawness of the new country and the rude accom-

ENGLISH 73

modations and rough company on his travels. His
"American Notes for General Circulation," by their caus-
tic comment and depreciatory tone, provoked severe
retorts from those who had shown him hospitality. But
his next novel, "Martin Chuzzlewit," repeated the offense
in aggravated form. Yet Americans have since admitted
that much of the satire and ridicule was deserved,
though a cheerful philosopher might have been
expected to find better things deserving of notice.
Dickens did labor to promote cheerful views of life,
and one of his ways was in his Christmas stories, of which
the "Carol" was issued in 1843. "The Chimes," "The
Cricket on the Hearth," and "Marley's Ghost" followed
in successive years, overflowing with good cheer and
charity. After a year's residence in Italy, which furn-
ished the descriptive papers called "Pictures from
Italy," Dickens issued "Dombey and Son" in monthly
numbers. It satirized the pompous pride of the British
merchant and contrasted his disappointment in founding
a family with the hearty good nature of half-witted crea-
tures. "David Copperfield" has always been regarded
as largely autobiographic, and the inimitable Micawber
is, in part, drawn from the author's father. With it is
interwoven the pathetic tragedy of the homely Peggotys
and the alluring villain Steerforth.

In, 1850 Dickens became editor of "Household
Words," a weekly, which soon attained an enormous
circulation. For it he wrote "Hard Times," a story pro-
testing against the cramming system of education. He
also continued his monthly serials and did much mis-
cellaneous writing. In "Bleak House" the tedious chan-
cery system and its waste of life is severely arraigned.
"Little Dorrit" exposes the evils of imprisonment for

74 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

debt. In 1836 Dickens had married Catherine Hogarth,
who survived him, but in 1859 he separated from her.

In 1859, in consequence of a quarrel with his publish-
ers, Dickens left "Household Words" and established
"All the Year Round," a similar weekly. For it he wrote
"A Tale of Two Cities," in which he exhibited a striking
episode of the French Revolution. "Great Expecta-
tions" is a novel of contrasts, in which a transported con-
vict tries to leave a fortune to a boy who did him a slight
kindness. In "Our Mutual Friend" the satire is directed
against the rage for rising in the social scale. Besides
the large income Dickens drew from the sale of his pub-
lications, he drew more from public readings of his
works. For this purpose he again visited America in
1867, and his tour proved a social and financial success.
After his return "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" began
to appear, but was not completed. He died June 8, 1870,
and was interred in Westminster Abbey.

The general quality of Dickens' works remained the
same from first to last, though animal spirits predominate
in the earlier. His enormous humor and exaggerated
sentiment gave immense popularity to his pictures of low
and middle class life, especially in London. His sym-
pathies were with the honest poor; he made all the
world share in their joys and sorrows and privations.
He ridiculed class pretensions, but he never really under-
stood the upper classes. He was fond of the theater from
childhood, and took part in private theatricals, but he
wrote no dramas, probably because he was always kept
too close at other writing. Yet in actual life he was
a constant actor, eager for the world's applause. He was
handsome, with waving brown hair, and dressed in gaudy
style. He was hard-working, painstaking, fertile in
schemes, and fond of novelty and excitement. The con-

ENGLISH 75

tinued strain made him restless and irritable, and too
exacting of those around him. The wonder is that none
of this irritability escapes into his works. There he
exhibits not precisely what he observed, but with artistic
and humorous exaggeration the effect of that as trans-
formed by his peculiar genius. In youth his exuberance
of fun partly concealed his intolerance of wrong, but as
he grew older, though his humorous characters are as
abundant as ever, his serious moralizing becomes plainer
and stronger. "David Copperfield" represents his pow-
ers at the best ; the works before it still excel in popular-
ity those that followed that masterpiece. For pure
amusement we still go back to the "Pickwick Papers."

THACKERAY

Though Thackeray was born a year before Dickens,
he was more than a decade later in reaching popularity,
and even then it was by no means equal to his great com-
petitor's. He belonged to a wealthy Yorkshire family,
but first saw the light in 181 1 in Calcutta, where his father
was in the civil service. When seven years old he was
sent to England for his education, and after some years
at the famous Charter-House, he went to Cambridge.
But he did not graduate ; having a comfortable fortune,
he studied painting and traveled on the Continent.
When the fortune was lost by imprudent investments or
folly, the half-taught artist sought employment as an
illustrator. Among those to whom he applied was Dick-
ens, then starting the "Pickwick Papers," but Hablot K.
Browne, known as "Phiz," was chosen. Thackeray there-
fore began to write squibs for "Eraser's Magazine," just
started, and later for "Punch," which first appeared in
1841. To the latter he contributed the "Snob Papers"

76 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

and "Memoirs of Mr. Jeames Yellowplush," in which
the Cockney footman's views of life are set off by bad
spelling. Other pen-names of this period are "Michael
Angelo Titmarsh" and "George Fitz Boodle," but the
industrious humorist was still little esteemed. Yet he pub-
lished some pretty Christmas books and "A Journey from
Cornhill to Cairo."

At last, in 1846, Thackeray began, like Dickens, to
issue a novel in serial numbers. It was called "Vanity
Fair, a Novel Without a Hero." It was written in a
sociable, conversational tone, but was a scathing expos-
ure of the shams and follies of the upper classes. The
interest centers in the adventures of the shrewd and clever
Becky Sharpe, who has set her heart on making a grand
match. Unfortunately, the man whom she marries misses
the coveted -estate; then she becomes entangled with
an aged debauchee, and is crushed by her husband's unex-
pected return from a sponging house. After the surpris-
ing success of "Vanity P'air" Thackeray never returned
to the trifling writing which had chiefly occupied his
time.

In 1849 ne began "Pendennis," the hero of which
represents himself, though the adventures through which
he passes are not similar. Arthur has his faults and
foibles, but his regret and repentance evoke the sympa-
thies of the reader. His sweetheart Laura is a model of
patient endurance with waywardness. In 1851 Thackeray
visited America, lecturing on "The English Humorists of
the Eighteenth Century." That age was always his
familiar hunting-ground, and he discussed Addison,
Steele and Swift with sincere sympathy. Still further
use was made of this knowledge in his next book, "The
History of Henry Esmond," which professed to be
autobiographic and was exact in its imitation of the style

ENGLISH 77

of "The Spectator." Among the historical characters
presented were Queen Anne, the Pretender, the Duke of
Maryborough, and Addison, but the interest centers in
the gentlemanly Esmond and his hopeless suit for his
beautiful but proud cousin Beatrix. Fully assured of his
position, Thackeray next issued "The Newcomes," a
charming novel of social satire and philosophy. The
real hero is the retired Colonel Thomas Newcome, a per-
fect gentleman in his dealings with all the world, who
yet is fated to lose his fortune and die a pensioner in the
Charter-House in which he had been a pupil.

Thackeray visited the United States again in 1856,
and lectured on "The Four Georges," unveiling their
foolish and vicious characters, with due exception and
regard for George III, the only honest, virtuous man
among them, yet doomed to sad attacks of insanity. The
income from these lectures provided a fund for Thack-
eray's daughters, to whom he was specially affectionate.
His wife had become insane in 1841, but she outlived
him without recovering her reason. Partly as a result
of his visit to America, Thackeray wrote his "Virgin-
ians," a continuation of "Henry Esmond." Among the
characters introduced is Washington as a young man.
The American regard for the Father of his Country
caused an outcry against this picture, but more recent
criticism is disposed to accept it as probable. Objection
has also been made to some of the English portraits, but
the interest of the story does not depend on these inci-
dental figures.

In 1860 Thackeray again followed Dickens' example
and became editor of the "Cornhill Magazine," a monthly
which soon attained the unprecedented circulation of
100,000. In it he published "Loved the Widower" and
"The Adventures of Philip," which recalled "The New-

78 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

comes." Philip has a wicked father and a stupid wife,
but is greatly helped by the kindness of the Little Sister.
A new novel, "Denis Duval," had just been commenced in
the magazine, when the author was interrupted by death
on the day before Christmas, 1863.

Thackeray was tall and strongly built, with abundant
waving hair, which early became white. He had, unfor-
tunately, a broken nose, owing to some accident, and was
sensitive about its being noticed. His ordinary style
was in clear, idiomatic English, but, under various
pseudonyms, he used an appropriate variety of speech.
In verse he sometimes adopted a half-serious, half-comic
tone, which suited his philosophic resignation to the
changes of time. Being thoroughly acquainted with
English society, he was able to satirize effectively its
wickedness and follies. He was a genuine humorist, and
skilled in dealing with human foibles. A notable feature
of his novels is his discoursing aside with his readers,
letting the story pause while he moralizes shrewdly on
the vagaries of human nature. His scenes and characters
are real, true to life, idealized only so far as to adapt them
to literary purpose. The critical appreciation of his
work has steadily risen since his death, and he is even
pronounced by some the first novelist of the century.

DISRAELI

Perhaps the most unique figure in English literature
is Benjamin Disraeli, who, after a remarkable political
career, full of stormy fights and glorious victories,
became Earl of Beaconsfield. He v/as of Spanish- Jewish
descent, but his father, Isaac Disraeli, the quiet plodding
author of the "Curiosities of Literature," withdrew from
the synagogue. Benjamin, born in 1804, early displayed

ENGLISH 79

a widely different character from his father, and in 1826
astonished the world with his dashing political novel
"Vivian Grey." It satirized briskly the leaders of the
time, discussed political problems seriously, and even
prefigured his own career. It quite eclipsed Bulwer's
"Falkland" which appeared in the same year. After a
tour in the East, the successful young author published
"Contarini Fleming" ( 1832), which treats of the develop-
ment of a poetic character and gives brilliant sketches of
Italy and Syria. Then came the "Wondrous Tale of
Alroy" (1833), a dithyrambic Oriental romance of a
mediaeval Messiah, and "The Revolutionary Epick"
(1834), in which he eulogized tyrannicide in blank verse.
Meantime, Disraeli had been trying to get into Parliament
as a Radical, but being twice defeated, he turned round
and gave splendid help to the disheartened Tory party
by his "Runnymede Letters" (1836), defending the Brit-
ish Constitution. Yet he always retained much of his early
Radicalism and even compelled the reluctant Tories to
accept some of it in order "to dish the Whigs." Other
books were issued before he reached Parliament — "Hen-
rietta Temple," a very sentimental love-story, and "Ven-
etia," in which he rehearsed the story of Byron's life.

At the age of thirty-two, the persevering Disraeli
entered Parliament, but his maiden speech was a deplor-
able failure. When hooted down, he replied, "I have
begun several times many things, and I have often suc-
ceeded at last. I shall sit down now; but the time will
come when you will hear me." In 1839 ne married the
wealthy widow of his friend, Wyndham Lewis, whom he
afterward praised as a perfect wife. He assisted in
forming a political literary group known as "Young Eng-
land," and expounded its principles in "Coningsby; or,
the New Generation" (1844). In this, as in all his

So LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

political novels, which should be read by those wishing
to know the inside of English history, he drew the prin-
cipal characters directly from prominent persons of the
day, and the public were delighted at tracing the resem-
blance. In "Sybil" ( 1845) ne treated of the Chartist agi-
tation. "Tancred; or, the New Crusade" (1847) was a
further exposition of the political views he was urging
on the Conservative party. Disraeli had now become a
prominent speaker in the British legislature, and fiercely
assailed Sir Robert Peel for his adoption of Free Trade.
When the Tories returned to power in 1852, Disraeli
was made the leader in the House of Commons. His
increased political duties prevented his giving much time
to literature. He first became Prime Minister in 1868.
Two years later, while out of office, he published
"Lothair," a brilliant presentation of the religious as well
as the political tendencies of the time. It was aimed par-
ticularly at Cardinal Manning and the Jesuits. In 1872
he was called to mourn the loss of his wife, who had
gloried in his triumphs and lightened his reverses. In
1874 he was again Prime Minister, and two years later he
accepted the peerage which had been offered to him long
before. Still greater glory awaited him when he took
part in the Berlin Congress, which readjusted the results
of the Russo-Turkish War, and when he induced Parlia-
ment to confer on Queen Victoria the title of Empress of
India. The veteran statesman died in April, 1881. In
the same year was published his last novel, "Endymion,"
in which were presented, after his usual fashion, Lord
Palmerston, Louis Napoleon (as a young man), and
other celebrities.

The career of Lord Beaconsfield is more romantic
than his novels, brilliant as they are with epigram and
paradox. His style was highly rhetorical and sometimes

ENGLISH 8 1

tawdry. Plagiarism was occasionally proved against
him, in speech and writing, and yet his overwhelming
originality could not be denied. His frequent presenta-
tion of living characters under thin disguises piqued curi-
osity, yet the real value of his work lay elsewhere — in the
discussion of the social and political problems of Eng-
land. He treated them ironically, yet he stated a certain
amount of permanent truth.

MARRYAT

In the early numbers of "Blackwood's Magazine" ap-
peared two series of sea-sketches — "The Cruise of the
Midge" and "Tom Cringle's Log." They were com-
posed by Michael Scott (1789-1825), and contain some
fine descriptions of sea-fights, tropical scenery, the flirta-
tions, duels and dangers of West Indian life. This was
seventy years after Smollett, who was a ship's surgeon,
had already used his knowledge of sailors' lives in his
fictions. But the writer who has won highest distinction
by his tales of nautical adventure is Captain Frederick
Marryat (1792-1848). As a boy, though the son of a
wealthy Londoner, he had frequently run away to sea,
and at the age of fourteen he was allowed to enter the
navy. Serving under the daring Cochrane (afterwards
Lord Dundonald) he witnessed fifty engagements in
thirty months. He was highly commended for valor in
war and humanity in peace, and was distinguished as
post-captain in the Burmese war of 1824-5. After more
than twenty years' experience of sea-life, Marryat began
to describe it in 1829. His first novel, "Frank Mildmay,"
was but a thinly disguised rehearsal of the adventures of
Cochrane and his crew, and had material for half-a-dozen

stories. The second, "The King's Own," is more artis-
Voi,. 9—6

82 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

tic, and contains, besides some playful writing, a powerful
dramatic scene, in which the captain sacrifices the frigate
Aspasia in order to wreck a French line-of-battle-ship
on a lee shore.

Marryat, having discovered his literary gift, retired
from the naval service in 1830 and produced in rapid
succession "Newton Forster," "Peter Simple/' "Jacob
Faithful," "Japhet in Search of a Father," "Midshipman
Easy," and "Snarley-yow, of the Dog Fiend." Of these
"Peter Simple" is the most popular, on account of the
lively succession of humorous incidents, though the wild
hilarity of "Dignity Ball" may be too "briny" for serious
people. But "Snarley-yow" has been ranked higher for
humorous portraiture and richness of incident. From
1832 to 1836 Marryat was editor of the "Metropolitan
Magazine," and he produced a dozen more stories, some
relating to the land and some intended for juvenile
readers. He died at the age of fifty-six. His biog-
raphy has been written by his daughter, a novelist of
ability. Marryat's books have the faults of other sea-
stories, a certain ferocity and fondness for practical jokes,
yet they are full of vivacity and vigor, and show the ter-
rible hardships and heroic actions, as well as the light-
hearted fun of the sailor's life. Marryat's sea-stories
were directly imitated by Chamier and Captain Howard,
but their books did not obtain the same success.

LEVER

The military novels of Charles Lever have a strong
resemblance to the nautical novels of Captain Marryat.
Both authors endow their characters with an exuberant
flow of animal spirits and furnish a rapid succession of
amusing and exciting incidents. But Lever changed his

ENGLISH 83

style of writing more than once in his career. He was
the son of an English architect, but was born in Dublin
in 1806; educated in Trinity College of that city, and
afterward at Gottingen, he became a physician. He
displayed courage and skill in several parts of Ireland
during the cholera outbreak of 1832. Then marrying
Miss Baker, he went to Brussels and practiced among the
British residents. From his own experience and the
entertaining stories of retired officers who had served in
Spain, he gathered the material of "The Confessions of
Harry Lorrequer," "The Adventures of Charles O'Mal-
ley," and "Jack Hinton." These novels are careless in
plot, but full of boisterous good humor, and describe fight-
ing and battle-scenes with vigor. All classes of military
men figure in them, from the Duke of Wellington to the
reckless Micky Free. Lever became editor of "The Dub-
lin University Magazine" from 1842 to 1845, and pub-
lished in it several Irish novels, as "Tom Burke," "The
O'Donoghue," "The Knight of Gwynne." They exhibit
the volatile side of Jrish life, and a racy national humor.
In later life Lever resided on the Continent, at Carls-
ruhe, in the Tyrol, at Spezzia, and finally at Trieste, where
he died in 1872. In the novels of this period he described
English travelers or residents on the Continent. Among
them are "The Daltons," "The Dodd Family Abroad,"
"Davenport Dunn." He wrote also for "Blackwood's
Magazine" miscellaneous papers under the name of "Cor-
nelius O'Dowd." His latest novels were the best con-
structed, but the vigor of his invention and humor had
been already spent, so that they never reached the pop-
ularity of his early ones.

84 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

OTHER IRISH STORY WRITERS

There are other novelists who more truly or fully
represent the Irish character. John Banim ( 1800-1842)
in "Tales of the O'Hara Family" and "The Denounced"
shows the passionate and tragic side of peasant life.
Gerald Griffin (1803-1840) dealt with the middle classes,
and showed both the pathetic and humorous features of
their lives in his famous "Collegians," which has been
adapted for the stage under the title "Colleen Bawn."
He had just achieved success after a hard struggle, when
he withdrew to a monastery two years before he died.
No one has depicted more faithfully all the aspects of the
Irish peasant than William Carleton (1794-1869). His
"Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry" appeared in
1830, and from that time to his death his literary activity
was incessant. The most powerful of his works is
"Fardarougha the Miser," in which the beautiful char-
acter of the miser's wife is sketched from his own mother.
"The Black Prophet" graphically describes the sufferings
of the famine of 1846. Thomas Crofton Croker (1798-
1854), who was an antiquarian rather than a novel-
ist, is best known by his collection of "Fairy Legends of
the South of Ireland." The most amusing pictures of
the Irish peasant have been furnished by Samuel Lover
(1797-1868), who was chiefly an artist and song-writer.
Both the song and the story of "Rory O'More" came
from his pen. But his most famous book is "Handy
Andy" (1842), which relates the comical blunders of a
droll, muddle-headed peasant of the lowest class, who
yet becomes an Irish peer, with the title Lord Scatter-
brain.

ENGLISH 85

MINOR WRITERS

One of the earliest imitators of Sir Walter Scott was
George Payne Rainsford James (1801-1860), who pub-
lished his first and perhaps best novel, "Richelieu," in
1825. He flung off rapidly some two hundred stories,
which bore a strong family likeness, but were cheerfully
received by the uncritical public, who sought only diver-
sion. James was for many years a British Consul in Italy
and the United States, and wrote some respectable his-
torical works.

William Harrison Ains worth (1805-1882) was also
a prolific novelist, who confined his attention to English
historical subjects, but handled them in a melodramatic
way. His most popular books are "Jack Sheppard" and
"The Tower of London," but neither is well constructed.

KINGSLEY

Charles Kingsley was the apostle of muscular Chris-
tianity, but his life was singularly uneventful. He was
born in June, 1819, at Dartmoor, Devon, where his father
was an old-fashioned fox-hunting rector. He went to
Cambridge, took honors, and was ordained in the Church
of England. In 1841 he became curate at Eversley,
Hampshire, and was afterwards rector there till his death
in 1875. He had been appointed professor of history in
Cambridge in 1861, canon at Chester, and at Westminster
in 1873. He made some trips on the Continent and
visited America.

Kingsley's first book was "The Saint's Tragedy"
(1848), a drama on the story of St. Elizabeth of Hun-

86 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

gary. Being roused by the Chartist movement and the
writings of Carlyle to the necessity of righting the wrongs
of the oppressed, he joined with F. D. Maurice in an
effort to put Christian life into the masses. His sym-
pathy with the working-classes was shown in "Alton
Locke" ( 1850), the pathetic story of a London tailor who
took part in the Chartist insurrection, and in "Yeast"
(1851), which made the stir of the time appear as a
struggle towards a better life. His contributions to
"Eraser's Magazine" treated of a variety of subjects from
literature to fishing. "Hypatia," his first historical novel,
is a vivid panorama of Alexandria in the Fourth Century
and the struggle of Christianity with Pagan philosophy
and other foes. These foes are virtually the same in all
ages, notwithstanding the diversity of appearances. Hy-
patia, slain by a fanatical Christian mob, was the martyr
maid of philosophy. Kingsley's next novel, "Westward
Ho!" (1855) generally considered his masterpiece, re-
called the Elizabethan adventurers, Raleigh and Drake.
"Two Years Ago" (1857) dealt with the Crimean War.
"Hereward the Wake" (1866) went back to the Saxon
times. Throughout these historical novels the land-
scapes and sea-scenes are lovingly depicted, and the more
remote they are, the more care is taken to render them
pictorial. "Andromeda" (1858) has been pronounced
the most successful attempt at the use of hexameter verse
in English. It treats of the Greek myth of Perseus.
"The Water Babies" (1863) is a charming fairy tale for
children, yet contains satire for adults. His short poems,
such as "The Three Fishers," are full of freshness and
grace. An incidental remark of Kingsley's in 1864,
which seemed to charge Newman with excusing disre-
gard of truth, drew from the latter his famous "Apologia

ENGLISH 87

pro Vita Sua." This controversy was one of many which
gave color to Kingsley's life.

His younger brother, Henry Kingsley (1830-1876),
was also a vigorous novelist, though he never reached
the same general recognition. Having lived in Australia
five years, he made that land the scene of his best stories,
''Geoffrey Hamlyn" and "Ravenshoe."

TROLLOPE

Among the severe British criticisms of America none
was more deeply resented than Mrs. Frances Trollope's
"Domestic Manners of the Americans." It was written
after three years' residence, during which she was in busi-
ness in Cincinnati. Being left a widow at thirty-five, she
was obliged to support her family and became an indus-
trious writer of lively books of travels and novels of some
merit. Her eldest son, Thomas Adolphus Trollope
(1810-1892), lived more than half his life in Italy, and
wrote historical sketches and novels, chiefly relating to
that country. But the younger son, Anthony Trollope
(1815-1882), was perhaps the most prolific and popular
novelist of his time, yet he was late in beginning to write.
His first book, 'The Warden" (1855), in which the chief
character is a simple-minded, conscientious clergyman,
was the beginning of a series comprising "Barchester
Towers," "Doctor Thorne," "Framley Parsonage," "The
Small House at Allington," and "The Last Chronicle of
Barset." In these certain characters and whole families
appear again and again, so that the reader keeps watching
for old acquaintances or their relatives. They all belong
to England of his day and range from the lower middle
to the upper class, including especially clergymen and
their wives. The stories contain the ordinary incidents

88 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of life, and the conversation is sprightly. In "Phineas
Finn" and some other books Trollope entered the region
of politics, giving sketches of Gladstone and Disraeli
under other names. He wrote a few books of a different
class, but not successfully. He had an official connection
with the Post-Office, which, however, did not occupy
much of his time. The public were surprised to learn
from his "Autobiography" that he did his writing almost
mechanically, so many words an hour, and were disposed
to underrate the value of what they had previously prized.

READE

Perhaps one of the most eccentric English authors
was Charles Reade (1814-1884). He was born at Ips-
den, near Oxford, graduated at that University, and was
elected a Fellow of Magdalen College. This gave him
independence, so that he was slow in beginning to write.
After some unsuccessful attempts at drama, he published
in 1852, 'Teg Woffington," a brilliant short story. His
"Griffith Gaunt" is a powerful but disagreeable picture of
life in the Eighteenth Century. "It Is Never Too Late to
Mend" ( 1856) is a tale of his own times, exposing the ill
treatment of prisoners and describing mining life in Aus-
tralia. "The Cloister and the Hearth" (1861) is his
longest and greatest work, professing to relate the story
of the father of Erasmus in the Fifteenth Century.
Though he borrowed much from Erasmus himself, he
added romance, passion and pathos. He used to accumu-
late newspaper clippings of strange facts and incidents,
which he arranged and indexed in huge scrap-books, and
then drew from these sources such details as he required
for his powerful stories of modern life. Yet it was
rather his own genius than this patchwork that enabled

ENGLISH 89

him to reveal the gloom of prisons, the horrors of mad-
houses, the outrages of trade-unions, the perils of the
sea. His stories -show him a man of strong likes and
dislikes. He assisted in dramatizing some of his stories,
and had lawsuits and newspaper controversies about the
copyrights.

Wilkie Collins ( 1824-1889) was a prominent member
of Dickens' staff in the "Household Words," and was
noted for his skill in constructing intricate plots. The
reader of the serial was kept in anxious suspense from
week to week until the elaborate tangle should be un-
raveled. This sensation was especially produced by the
"Woman in White" (1860), in which was presented his
most life-like character, the plausible, fat Italian, Fosco,
adventurer and villain.

Judged by his books, George Borrow (1803-1881)
was a man of roving and adventurous temper, fond of
the Gipsies and their wild life, yet he was also a thorough
Englishman, devoted to his country and its institutions.
For a few years he wandered over many lands and
mingled with strange folk, yet he spent the last half of
his life quietly in his native place. He was born at Nor-
folk, the son of a soldier, and went to London, where he
was employed in obscure literary work until, in 1833, he
was selected by the British and Foreign Bible Society as
a traveling agent in Russia and the East, and afterwards
in Spain. Returning to England in 1840 he married a
lady of some wealth and published the books by which he
is known. The first was "The Gipsies in Spain" ( 1841 ) ,
soon followed by "The Bible in Spain" (1842) a wildly
romantic book of travels, whose fanciful coloring makes

90 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

them seem like the phantasms of a dream. His powerful
novel, "Lavengro" (1851) partly autobiographic, tells
the story of a man who joins the Gipsies and is full of fas-
cination for a select class of readers. Its sequel, "Rom-
any Rye" ( 1857), is of less interest. Besides these, Bor-
row issued some dictionaries and translations from
strange tongues, and "Wild Wales," a book of travels in
his former style.

The most successful attempt at portraying school-boy
life is "Tom Brown's School Days" (1856), by Thomas
Hughes (1823-1896), who afterward became a member
of Parliament. The title page of his book correctly
described him as "An Old Boy." Throughout his life,
devoted to earnest endeavors to benefit workingmen and
others, he retained much boyishness of spirit and interest
in boys' affairs. He was really Tom Brown himself,
while his friend, little Arthur, was afterwards Dean Stan-
ley. The book was a tribute to Dr. Arnold and his sys-
tem of education at Rugby. It was followed by "Tom
Brown at Oxford" (1861), written with studious accur-
acy, but not the native force of the Rugby book. His
other books were popular discourses on practical re-
ligion.

WOMEN WRITERS OF THE EARLY VICTORIAN

PERIOD

BRONTE

Women have held a conspicuous place among the
writers of Victoria's reign. Prominent among the nov-
elists was Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), the eldest of
three sisters, daughters of an eccentric Irishman, who had
become parson of a moorland parish in Yorkshire.
Brought up amid poverty in this dreary wilderness, they
had intense longings for advantages beyond their reach.
They were intended to be governesses, and for this pur-
pose Charlotte and Emily spent a year at Brussels. After
their return the three sisters published a volume of
poems, under the assumed names, Currer, Ellis, and Ac-
ton Bell, each retaining her own initials. The literary in-
stinct was strong, and they resolved to write each a story.
Charlotte's attempt, "The Professor," could not secure
a publisher. Then she set to work on "Jane Eyre,"
which, after being refused by several publishers, was at
last accepted and issued in 1847. ^ is the story of a
plain orphan girl, educated by charity, who enters the
household of Edward Rochester, an ugly, domineering
master, whose insane wife is kept in concealment. This
man, who had been sated with the excitements of the
world, finds himself, to his own surprise, becoming in-
terested in the little, plain, but intelligent woman, who
evidently tries to avoid his attentions. The book re-
vealed with circumstantial detail much of the author's
experience, and also the deepest feelings of her heart.
Its truthfulness captured the reading world, and Char-

91

92 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

lotte was summoned to London to meet the literary mag-
nates, but the shy little woman soon returned to her
moorland home. Her second book, "Shirley" (1848),
was more labored than the first, and shocked some readers
by making her heroine seek too eagerly for the man of her
choice. In "Villette" (1852) she made use of her ex-
periences in Brussels, and won a new success in the love
of the vivacious French professor, Paul Emmanuel, for
the modest little English girl, Lucy Snowe. In 1854
Charlotte was married to her father's curate, Mr. Nich-
olls, but she died within a year. Her sister, Emily
(1818-1848), had written a fiercely tragic novel, "Wuth-
ering Heights," and some short poems of strong feeling.

The strange biography of the Bronte family was writ-
ten by Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), herself a
novelist of merit. Her first story, "Mary Barton"
(1848), was a pathetic delineation of some scenes of
Manchester life. "Ruth" (1850) was a story of the re-
demption of a too trusting girl who had been seduced by
a villain. But the most noted of Mrs. Gaskell's works is
"Cranford," a pleasing chronicle of the simple events of
a quiet little village.

One of the most highly esteemed women-novelists
was' Dinah Maria Muloch, afterwards Mrs. Craik (1826-
1887). Her most noted work is "John Halifax, Gentle-
man" (1857), a quiet story of a pure love. She had
written some novels before this, and many more after it,
but none quite equal to this delicate master-piece.

GEORGE ELIOT

In the sixth decade of the Century a new name ap-
peared in imaginative literature, to which at once high
rank was awarded. This was George Eliot, the pseu-

ENGLISH 93

donym of Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans, who was then
living with George Henry Lewes as his wife, though they
had not been legally married. Marian Evans was born
at Nuneaton in Warwickshire in 1819. Her parents
were respectable, religious, narrow-minded people, but
after her mother's death she came in contact with persons
of somewhat wider culture, who held extreme Unitarian
views. Influenced by the culture, she quickly adopted
their views, and at their request translated Strauss's "Life
of Jesus." After a year of study in Geneva, she settled
in London, contributing to the "Westminster Review"
and making more translations. Thus she was introduced
to George Henry Lewes ( 1817-1878), a versatile but not
very successful writer, though an able critic. Mr. Lewes
had separated from his wife, and he induced Miss Evans,
who had little regard for the conventions of society, to
take the vacant place. At first they were utterly con-
demned by the London world, but after her genius was
manifested, they were practically forgiven. The low-
ness of their fortunes led Mr. Lewes to suggest that his
consort should use her ability for social description in
fiction. The first result appeared in "Blackwood's Ma-
gazine" as "Scenes of Clerical Life," of .which "The Sad
Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton" attracted the
most attention. Her first novel, "Adam Bede" (1859)
is the finest literary report of the spirit of Methodism.
The Quaker preacher, Dinah Morris, was drawn from
the author's aunt. The book was the first adequate study
of English country life apart from the gentry. "The
Mill on the Floss" is a more tragic story, in which Mag-
gie Tulliver is the victim of her own trustfulness. In
"Silas Marner" (1861) Methodism again played an im-
portant part. These books were the natural, unaffected
outpouring of the author's genius. Mr. Lewes, who had

94 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

discovered and fostered her abilities, drew around her
a remarkable circle of worshipers. The constant ap-
plause, seldom tempered by criticism, and her own love
of philosophical study, led her to yet more arduous
efforts. In "Romola" (1863) she treats of Florence in
the time of Savonarola, but while the preaching monk is
carefully portrayed, the interest lies in the other charac-
ters— Romola, the idealized school-girl, and the attrac-
tive, yet remorseless, villain Tito.

Then the great author, now recognized as a supreme
analyst of character, returned t6 English ground. Yet
" Felix Holt, the Radical " ( 1 866) was her least success-
ful work. " Middlemarch " (1817), however, retrieved
her fame and presented a memorable picture of literary
failure in the scholar Casaubon, said to be drawn from
Mark Pattison, and of woman's devotion to a fading
ideal in the lovely Dorothea. In "Daniel Deronda"
(1876) she embodied a noble conception of the modern
Jew, and commended his aspirations on behalf of his
race. But stubborn English opinion declined to be
moved. Still less did it care for "The Impressions of
Theophrastus Such" (1878), a volume of essays. Mr.
Lewes died in 1878, and in May, 1880, Miss Evans was
formally married to John Walter Cross, but died in the
following December. Mr. Cross published her biog-
raphy, but it gives an inadequate idea of this woman of
genius. Her earliest books were faithful delineations of
characters that had been familiar to her youth, and
abounded in genuine humor. Her later books were
more ambitious studies of the complex characters of a
larger society, highly philosophical, but not finally satis-
fying. Her poems never enjoyed public favor.

96 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

tended into literature, beginning about 1840 or earlier.
It was a return to the spirit of the Middle Ages, and had
grown out of the Romanticism of the beginning of the
Century, fostered by the ecclesiastical Oxford movement.
It affected many poets, but its chief representative is
Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( 1828-1882), the son of an Italian
exile who had settled in London. Rossetti was both a
painter and a poet, and endeavored in his poems to ex-
press pictorial ideas. "The Blessed Damozel," his first
published poem, is a typical example of his school. His
gifted sister, Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1895),
also belonged to this school, and her work was deeply
colored by her religious feelings.

A poet who, though he published but little, had great
effect upon subsequent poets, was Edward FitzGerald
(1809-1883). This effect was produced by his remark-
able translation or paraphrase of the Persian astronomer-
poet, Omar Khayyam, which first appeared in 1859. By
its ridicule of asceticism and self-denial, and its mystical
materialism, it has done much to render an epicurean pes-
simism popular.

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) is more famous as a
critic than as a poet, yet he showed considerable power
in his poems, in which he endeavors to restrain the tend-
ency to ornament and to return to the simplicity of
Wordsworth, or rather of Greek.

About 1850 there was a stir of poetic feeling which
was chiefly manifested in what was ultimately condemned
by its name, the Spasmodic School. The leaders were
the English Sydney Dobell (1824-1874) and the Scotch
Alexander Smith (1829-1867). Dobell, who was
afflicted with ill health, wrote two dramas, one of which,
"Balder" (1853), has been compared to Ibsen's later
work. Smith published "A Life Drama" (1853), which

ENGLISH 97

had a phenomenal, but only temporary success. The
two poets, excited by the Crimean War, published to-
gether, "Sonnets on the War" (1855), and Dobell con-
tinued in the same strain in "England in the Time of
War" (1856). Smith published "City Poems" (1857),
and afterwards confined himself chiefly to prose descrip-
tion. During their vogue the young poets were extrava-
gantly praised, but judicious critics pointed out their
heaping up of imagery and sentiment and excess of pas-
sion. They were in fact heirs of the spirit of Byron,
but transferred their heroes' struggles from the world of
action to the world of thought. Their dramatic efforts
were effectively burlesqued by W. E. Aytoun in his "Fir-
milian, a Spasmodic Tragedy," which silenced them.

An older poet, belonging to the same school, was
Philip James Bailey, born in 1816, whose "Festus"
(1839) for a while took the world by storm. It was a
long poetical and philosophical colloquy between God,
Lucifer, angels and men. Some admirers regarded it as
a Christian reply to Goethe's "Faust." But in spite of
some fine passages, it was soon neglected, and the author's
later poems did not revive his reputation.

TENNYSON

Alfred Tennyson distinctly devoted his life to poetry,
and though, without fortune, waited patiently for recog-
nition by the world. He was forty-two when he was
made poet-laureate and thereby helped to wealth, which
he lived long to enjoy. He was the son of a clergyman
and was born at Somerby in Lincolnshire in 1809. He
was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and pub-
lished "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical" in 1830. These poems
were fresh and sweet and musical, but were severely at-

98 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

tacked by the critics. The poet afterwards rejected some
and amended others. In 1833 came a second volume,
containing ''The May Queen," "The Lotos-Eaters," and
"A Dream of Fair Women." The first became a uni-
versal favorite, the others showed a singular power of
dreamy fancy, which was often exercised afterwards. In
1842 another volume was published, which some early
admirers thought he never excelled. It contained "Lady
Clara Vere de Vere," "The Talking Oak," and the weird
soliloquy of "Locksley Hall." "Morte D'Arthur" was
the germ from which was to be developed the long series
of the "Idylls of the King." In 1847 came "The Prin-
cess," a narrative poem in blank verse, treating pleasantly
of woman's rights. It told how a Princess, eager to as-
sert woman's equality, had gathered a court, from which
men were carefully excluded, and how her plans were
thwarted and she herself became a victim to love. A few
of the poet's finest lyrics were interwoven — "The Splen-
dor Falls," "Tears, Idle Tears," and "The Bugle-Song."

In contrast with this was "In Memoriam" ( 1850), the
wonderful elegy in which the poet laments the loss of his
friend, Arthur H. Hallam, who had been betrothed to his
sister. It consists of 130 poems, each of several stanzas,
representing all the varying moods of his thought on his
affliction, recollections of the past, and hopes of the
future. Though all the stanzas are of the same peculiar
form, the poet's mastery of music and diction has pre-
vented unpleasant monotony. Again, in contrast with
this song of grief came in 1855 "Maud," a poem of love
and marriage, with many happy lyrics. But its too cloy-
ing sweetness was not so well relished. The author
afterwards amended it.

In mature life Tennyson took up again the favorite
story of King Arthur and sought to make it an English

ENGLISH 99

epic. The four poems of the original "Idylls of the
King" (1859) are named from four women, prominent
in the story — Enid, Vivien, Elaine, and Guinevere. The
contrast of style and subject in these idylls was carefully
wrought out. But the epic was steadily enlarged by the
poet until it comprised fifteen separate poems. Founded
originally on Sir Thomas Malory's prose romance, it was
largely reconstructed with aid from the Welsh and French
chronicles, and even modernized in tone. How far the
later additions are improvements is disputed by critics.

Meantime Tennyson had written many other poems,
some of which were on events of the time, as the noble ode
on the funeral of the Duke of Wellington; "The Charge of
the Light Brigade," a battle lyric of Balaklava in the
Crimean War; and "The Defence of Lucknow," one of
the Sepoy Mutiny. "Enoch Arden" is a touching idyll
of common English life; "Rizpah," a tragic idyll from
Scripture narrative. "The Voyage of Maeldune" was a
rarely successful reproduction of the spirit of old Celtic
poetry. In 1875 the poet began a series of dramas with
"Queen Mary," and continued it with "Harold," "The
Falcon," "Becket," and "The Foresters," some of which
were put on the stage. In 1880 he issued a volume of
"Ballads," worthy of his fame. "Locksley Hall, Sixty
Years After" is a fitting companion to the thoughtful
poem of his youth. In the last volume appearing in his
life-time was "Crossing the Bar," which was taken as his
dying song. He died at Aid worth in October, 1892, and
was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Tennyson from the beginning of his career was noted
for the exquisite music of his verse, the exactness of his
rhymes, the attention to sound as well as sense. This
faculty he undoubtedly learned from Keats, though he
improved it and made it thoroughly his own. He

ioo LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

profited by the criticism of his earliest work, but without
submitting unduly to the arbitrary decisions of others.
To the end of his life he continued to correct and improve
his work, making it more clear and harmonious. He has
been censured for lack of profundity, but he does not
avoid expressing thought on the great problems of exist-
ence, though he refuses to rave and gesticulate about
them. His strength lay in his thorough understanding of
the simple elements of life, and his ability to express their
full meaning. His versification is the most perfect in the
English language, and has been the model to his suc-
cessors, as it was indeed to his contemporaries.

ROBERT BROWNING

Browning was in almost everything in direct contrast
with his great contemporary, Tennyson. From his first
utterance the latter was recognized as a sweet singer, long
before he was found to be an interpreter of the human
heart. The former, if listened to at all, was regarded as
a speaker of dark sayings, an unintelligible discourses
But after he had unexpectedly burst into snatches of
melody, attention was given to his enigmatic torrents of
words, and he was discovered to be a profound analyst of
souls and motives. Then the wide-spread interest of this
age in the study of character caused him to be esteemed a
prophet, and led to the formation of societies to observe
his wonderful experiments. In the end, as Tennyson
was quoted with affection, Browning was worshiped
with awe. Yet he never lost his self-poise, but cheerfully
kept his place in society and watched with continual in-
terest the doings of his fellow-men.

Robert Browning was born in London in May, 1812.
He belonged to the middle class, was the son of a Dis-

ENGLISH 101

senter, and was educated privately. His first book,
"Pauline" (1833), was an immature attempt to describe
a philosophic life ; it had, like some later poems, dramatic
qualities without dramatic form. After a year's travel
on the Continent he published "Paracelsus" (1835), in
which the hero seeks infinite wisdom, but comes to see
that knowledge without love is vain. The tragedy of
"Strafford" (1837) was written for the stage, and had
some success in spite of the complicated involved style
which characterized all his early work. In "Sordello"
(1840) he filled up the meager outline of a story sug-
gested by Dante, and made the Italian troubadour over-
come the temptation of lending himself to a faction that
he might accomplish great good for mankind. In all
of these works there was a certain egotism, the heroes
being indeed but shadowy projections of the author's
soul. But people refused to take the trouble to under-
stand them. The series of "Bells and Pomegranates"
( 1846) opened with the beautiful lyrical drama of "Pippa
Passes," and contained lyrics which won general praise.
A friendly allusion to them by Miss Elizabeth Barrett in
one of her poems led to the acquaintance of the two poets,
which ripened into love and marriage. They went to
Italy and resided chiefly in the Casa Guidi Palace in Flor-
ence fifteen happy years, until his wife's death in 1861.
In that time Browning published "Christmas Eve and
Easter Day" (1850) and "Men and Women" (1855),
dedicated to his wife as "the Moon of Poets." In 1869 he
boldly challenged the world with his long, complicated
mediaeval Italian story of "The Ring and the Book" in
four volumes, containing 20,000 lines. The kernel is
that a middle-aged husband, jealous of his child wife, so
tormented her with ill treatment that she fled under care
of a young priest, who afterwards is brought to trial

102 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

before the Pope. The case is told over and over again
by the various participants, good and bad, from their
several points of view, their own souls and motives being
revealed in the telling. Strange as is the form of this
poem, its power must be acknowledged.

Later Browning found pleasure in skillful translations
from the Greek tragedians — "Alcestis," "Agamemnon,"
and afterwards from the great comic poet in "Aris-
tophanes' Apology." But he was not merely a scholar ;
he was a favorite in London society. There he found
subjects of his own time in "Mr. Sludge the Medium,"
"Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau," and "Bishop Bloug-
ram's Apology." These are apologetic poems, tending
to prove that a man's character is determined not by what
he thinks but by what he does. Other works continued
to flow from his pen, mostly in his peculiar blank verse,
sometimes narrative, sometimes dramatic monologue.
His last work, "Asolando" (1889), named from Asolo,
a favorite village near Venice, is thought to be one of his
best, as it contains some fine lyrics. Just after it was pub-
lished he died, on December 12, 1889, at his only son's
residence in Venice.

Browning deliberately set at naught the rules and
usages of English speech; he used strange words, odd
phrases, bad rhymes ; he seemed to be in so great a hurry
to deliver his message that he could not pause to select
the proper terms. Many personages in his poems used
the same broken style. In his early works he expressed
through characters partly drawn from history, rather
the tumult of his own soul, but as years brought the phi-
losophic mind he became a realist and studied the char-
acters of others as seen in life or gleaned from reading
records. All readers are constrained to admit his power
of turning souls inside out, and to feel the humor and

ENGLISH 103

pathos of these revelations. While he took most delight
in delineating character, he described external nature
with freedom and force, painting it in grand outlines,
with felicity of color. Considerable part of his work
was dramatic, and besides the one already mentioned,
"The Blot on the 'Scutcheon" and "Colombe's Birthday,"
tvere presented on the stage. He was indeed a master of
dramatic character, though perhaps not of construction.
But for the general public his power lies in his shorter
pieces, in the spirited and beautiful lyrics; even into these
he sometimes thrust his queer expressions and fantastic
phrases. Perhaps "The Last Ride Together" is the most
perfect, but others are more widely known.

MRS. E. B. BROWNING

By universal consent Mrs. Browning is the first of
England's women poets. She had reached fame before
her husband seemed ever likely to do so. Born Eliza-
beth Barrett at Carlton Hall, in Durham, in 1806, she
was taught Greek, early and wrote poetry. But the
breaking of a blood-vessel weakened her frame and when
sent to the sea-shore she was shocked by the drowning of
her brother. Unable to be removed, she lay there a year,
and when at last taken to her father's house in London,
she was a confirmed invalid, doomed to a darkened room.
Yet she studied in many languages and composed poems,
full of feeling. "The Seraphim and Other Poems"
(1838) and "The Romaunt of the Page" ( 1839) showed
her classic taste and bore some resemblance to Shelley.
The two volumes of "Poems" (1844) were more orig-
inal. In "A Vision of Poets," seeking to set forth the
relation of suffering to genius, she gave brief description
of "the dead kings of melody" from Homer to Byron.

KH LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

The public, who loudly welcomed the woman singer, gave
preference to the romantic "Rhyme of the Duchess May,"
the pathetic "Bertha in the Lane," and the grand sacred
lament of "Cowper's Grave." A report of the condition
of children in the factories stirred the weak invalid to
rouse the slumbering humanity of England with "The
Cry of the Children." The long narrative of "Lady
Geraldine's Courtship," in which she alluded flatteringly
to Browning's "Pomegranates," had a romantic sequel in
fact. The robust young poet called to express his
thanks, was permitted to see the invalid on her sofa, be-
came a frequent visitor, and persuaded the prisoner to
marry him even against her family's wishes. Restored
by love to unexpected strength, she went with him to
Florence. Full expression of her passionate love to her
husband was given in her pretended translations, called
"Sonnets from the Portuguese :"

A mystic shape did move
Behind me and drew me backward by the hair,
And a voice said in mastery, while I strove :
'Guess now who holds thee?' — 'Death!' I said. But there
The silver answer rang : 'Not Death, but Love !'

The revolutionary movements in Italy excited the
poet's interest, and her feeling at what she witnessed is
expressed in "Casa Guidi Windows." Other political
poems followed, but more labor was devoted to the long
novel in blank verse, "Aurora Leigh" ( 1856) . The chief
characters are an Italian girl, highly endowed by nature,
but trained in the English method, and an English gentle-
man compelled to forfeit her love because of his guilt
toward a young countrywoman. In spite of its fervid
energy, the poem could not long maintain its hold on
popular sympathy. The gifted author died in June,
1861.

ENGLISH 105

While Mrs. Browning by her pathetic sentiment early
won general favor, critics who admired her poetic genius
could not overlook her faults. She possessed an original
metrical faculty and must have been a careful observer of
nature before she was confined to her sick-room. But
she allowed her fluency to carry her poems to excessive
length, and used strange and superfluous words. She
was careless about rhyme, not only using mere vowel
rhyme, but compelling vulgar or ridiculous pronuncia-
tion. Her greatest failure was her attempt to put a
whole novel into verse. Yet Swinburne has lately in his
energetic fashion, declared again his high admiration for
"Aurora Leigh." But this and many of her shorter pieces
are forgotten by the public, while memory lingers on her
lyrical and narrative poems.

MINOR POETS

Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton (1808-1877), often
called the Hon. Mrs. Norton, was a granddaughter of the
famous Richard Brinsley Sheridan. At the age of nine-
teen she was married to the Hon. George C. Norton, but
in 1840 the union was dissolved after she had been sub-
jected to shameful persecution for alleged infidelity.
From her childhood she had written verses, and in 1831
she published "The Undying One," a poem on the Wan-
dering Jew. After her separation from her husband she
published many tales and poems and contributed fre-
quently to periodicals. She was pronounced by the
"Quarterly Review" "the Byron of our modern poet-
esses." This indicates the intense personal passion and
forceful expression of her work. She is best known by
the favorite piece for recitation, "Bingen on the Rhine."

Another woman who later touched the popular heart

106 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

with her poems was Jean Ingelow (1830-1897). She
had published some tales before her reputation was
gained by her "Poems" (1863). The most noted of
them are "High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire" and
"Songs of Seven," exhibiting seven stages in woman's life.
Other poems and stories did not increase the popularity
she had obtained as an exponent of woman's feelings.

HOOD

The contrast between the hard life struggle and the
mirth-provoking works of Thomas Hood (1798-1845)
is truly pathetic. He was the jester and punster of his
generation, and an exquisite song writer, yet he is best
remembered by two sorrowful poems, "The Song of the
Shirt" and "The Bridge of Sighs," the pitiful wail of the
poor seamstress and the heart-breaking lament for the
drowned outcast of society. These verses awoke the
popular heart to a deep sympathy with suffering and a
remorseful horror for complicity in crime. Hood was
the son of a poor bookseller and had learned a little of
engraving before he began to write for the press. The
"London Magazine," "Punch," and other periodicals
published his wares, but the remuneration was scanty.
For his serious poems, excellent as are "The Plea of the
Midsummer Fairies" and "The Haunted House," he got
so little that he was compelled, as he expressed it, to be
"a lively Hood for a livelihood." Various misfortunes
deprived the poor consumptive of enjoyment of his small
earnings, and he had to flee to the Continent to escape the
debtors' prison. When enabled to return, he edited
more than one periodical with unflagging diligence and
gayety in spite of the inroads of the dread disease of
which he died. Shortly before the end, Sir Robert Peel
awarded him a pension.

ENGLISH 107

Much more cheerful, yet even shorter, was the life of
a similar genius, Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802-
1839), who also died of consumption. He was educated
at Eton and Cambridge, and at both displayed his talent
for verse writing. He was called to the bar, served in
Parliament, and held a government office. But he is re-
membered by his bright poems, which mingle spice,
humor, and tender sentiment, or touch off gracefully
social trifles. The best of his exquisite pictures is "The
Vicar;" his "Speaker Asleep" is a keen thrust at Parlia-
mentary practice.

Less popular than Hood, yet even more full of fun, was
Richard Harris Barham (1788-1845) who, strange to
say, was a clergyman, strictly attentive to his parochial
duties. In spite of a crippled right arm, he was a diligent
writer. His early charges were in smuggling districts,
which furnished materials for his later "Ingoldsby
Legends." He removed to London in 1821 and there
became active in journalism, while not neglecting the
church. In 1834, under the pseudonym "Thomas
Ingoldsby," he began to contribute to the newly established
"Bentley's Miscellany," the humorous stories in prose and
verse, which made him famous. They were founded on
old legends of mediaeval saints and miracles or other dis-
coveries of his antiquarian studies. The poetical stories
were a loose, rambling metre, with unexpected doggerel
rhymes, which helped the fun of the narrative. Morals,
equally unexpected, were often attached. Barham was a
matter-of-fact Englishman and rampant Protestant of the
old High Church style. Regarding the old stories as
superstitions, he found in them excellent material for his
tvit and fancy, and still fancied he was doing good service.

io8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Ebenezer Elliott (1781-1849), a Yorkshire man, who
won fame as "the Corn-law rhymer," was a dull boy at
school, and was early put to work in an iron foundry with
which his father was connected. His poetic genius was
awakened by his brother's reading to him Thompson's
"Seasons," and was confirmed by the bequest to his father
of a curate's library, containing other poetry of a high
order. His first poem, "The Vernal Walk," and many
others, testified his strong love for country scenes. But
his deepest feeling was stirred by the sufferings of poor
mechanics and their families, and in his "Corn-Law
Rhymes" (1831) he gave voice to their hatred of the tax
on bread. Yet Elliott himself knew these sufferings
rather by observation than experience. After carrying on
the business of an iron-founder at Sheffield for twenty
years he retired with a competent fortune.

"The Angel in the House," an idyl of domestic love, is
the chief performance of Coventry Patmore ( 1823-1897).
It was issued in four parts, "The Betrothal" ( 1854), "The
Espousal" (1856), "Faithful for Ever" (1860), and
"The Victories of Love" ( 1862). Never was the perfect
blessedness of married life more sweetly or chastely sung
than in this quietly beautiful and somewhat mystical poem.
Patmore was a native of Essex, and for over twenty years
was an assistant librarian at the British Museum. In
1877 he published anonymously "The Unknown Eros and
Other Poems," indicating unabated vigor, but not adding
to his fame.

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861) appeared to his
friends capable of accomplishing better things than his
actual work. He had distinguished himself at Rugby
and Oxford, but the Tractarian controversy first attracted
and then repelled him. His "Bothie of Tober-na^

ENGLISH 109

Vuolich" relates in hexameters the aspirations and
adventures of some English students with their tutor in
the Highlands. Losing his religious faith, Clough
resigned his Oxford fellowship, but engaged in educa-
tional work through most of his life. "Amours de
Voyage" gave his impressions of Rome, as seen in a vaca-
tion. "Dipsychus" (double-minded) is a serious poem,
with fine descriptive passages. "Mari magno" (on the
great sea) contains homely tales of love and marriage,
dough's scepticism mars his work both in spirit and in
execution, but when he forgot it, he showed genius.
Matthew Arnold lamented him in "Thyrsis."

Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821-1895) was one of
the modern troubadours, touching in elegant verse the
whims and fancies of society. His "London Lyrics"
(1857) stand at the head of this class. As a companion
volume he collected from other poets "Lyra Elegantia-
rum (1867) and to these added a miscellany of prose
and verse, partly original, called "Patchwork."

OWEN MEREDITH

Owen Meredith is the name in literature of Robert,
first Earl of Lytton ( 1831-1892) only son of the novelist
Bulwer. He was an indefatigable writer of verse, begin-
ning with "Clytemnestra" (1885). He belonged to the
diplomatic service, and, by the favor of Lord Beacons-
field, reached the high posts of Viceroy of India in 1876,
and Ambassador to Paris in 1887. His most popular
works are "Lucile" (1860), an animated narrative of
modern high life, and "Tannhauser" ( 1861), the story of
a German mediaeval minstrel, who fell into the snares of
Lady Venus, but repented and was saved. While resid-

no LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ing in Constantinople, Lord Lytton translated many
songs from the Servian. He had, indeed, a fine lyrical
faculty, which was shown in most of his works. He had
also a peculiar power of suggestive narration and of
symbolism. The latter appears in his "Fables in Song"
(1874), the former in "Chronicles and Characters"
(1869). His "Glenaveril" (1885) is a long narrative in
rhyme, more serious than "Lucile." One of his last
works was a fantastic romance, "King Poppy." He died
while writing the last words of a poem. Though
endowed with original powers, he sometimes experi-
mented in the style of other writers, thus bringing on
himself the charge of plagiarism.

The literature of the Nineteenth Century has been
distinguished by large and valuable additions to history.
The tremendous upheaval of the French Revolution com-
pelled men to consider from new points of view the
foundations of government, and led them not only to
examine more closely the process of the construction of
the existing state of society, but to compare with it the
remains of former civilizations. From consideration of
dynasties and family compacts of sovereigns they turned
to the condition and welfare of the people. "History is
philosophy teaching by examples," said Bolingbroke
early in the Eighteenth Century. Historians were stimu-
lated by the later events of the same century to draw from
the records of the past the proper lessons for the conduct
of the present. .The people were coming to assert their
power and needed to be instructed in what direction to
do so. After a time enlightened governments began to
admit the people to their confidence; they opened the
treasuries of their archives, and arranged state papers
for consultation by students.

The reviews and other periodical literature fur-
nished new opportunities for historical writers to gratify
the desire of the public for information on the past as
well as the present. Historians could thus make essay
of their powers and trial of the public taste. Many
authors who were chiefly devoted to other departments
of literature not only made such occasional contributions
to history, but wrote one or more volumes. Sir Walter

ii2 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Scott, besides his "Life of Napoleon," retold and vivi-
fied the annals of his country in his delightful "Tales of a
Grandfather." Southey prepared an elaborate "History
of Brazil." His "History of the Peninsular War,"
though well written, was eclipsed by the more brilliant
work on the same subject by the enthusiastic warrior, Sir
William Napier (1786-1860), which has been pro-
nounced "the finest military history in the English lan-
guage." Dickens, in the midst of his labors as editor
and novelist, found time to write a "Child's History of
England." G. P. R. James compiled histories of Charle-
magne and Louis XIV, which are now esteemed more
highly than his novels. But attention is here given only to
the great writers who have in this age reconstructed the
history of the past and erected enduring monuments.

It is singular that the history of ancient Greece, told
admirably in its own language by Herodotus, Thucydides
and Xenophon, should in recent times have become a
favorite field of exercise for historians. William Mitford
(1744-1827) was the first to give zest to the study of
antiquity by infusing into it his hatred of democracy.
His "History of Greece" ( 1784-1818) is vigorously writ-
ten, but is often inaccurate. It is remarkable that there
should have been two restatements of that history from
the Liberal side, one by Bishop Connop Thirlwall (1797-
J875), which began to appear in 1835, and the other,
still more radical, by George Grote (1794-1871) who
was a banker and member of Parliament. Though he had
not attended a university, Grote displayed accurate
scholarship and gave new life to the old texts of the
Greek authors. He is an ardent pleader for the Athenian
democracy, and even for the sophists and demagogues.
Thirlwall's "History" is more dignified and judicial in
tone, but never attained the same degree of popularity.

ENGLISH 113

The early history of Rome also attracted the attention
of investigators as needing reconstruction on account of
its fabulous character. The German scholar Niebuhr
had shown the improbability of the traditions which had
long been accepted, and had endeavored to extract what-
ever truth was concealed in them. Dr. Thomas Arnold
(1795-1842), the great schoolmaster of Rugby, followed
in his footsteps and retold the "History of Rome" from
its foundation to the time of Hannibal. Still further
valuable labor was confidently expected from him when
he was made professor of modern history at Oxford,
but after delivering one course of lectures, he died sud-
denly. Charles Merivale (1808-1894), dean of Ely,
afterward undertook in his "History of the Romans
Under the Empire" to bridge the gap between the end of
Arnold's and the beginning of Gibbon's great history.
He also prepared for the "Students' Series" a smaller
"General History of Rome."

BUCKLE

A most remarkable historical monument is the incom-
plete "History of Civilization" by Henry Thomas Buckle
(1823-1862). He had been privately educated, was
wealthy and learned, but he had imbibed strong preju-
dices against religion and the church. With a view of
expounding ultimately English civilization, he undertook
first to discuss European civilization, and to show that
the differences in it depended on geographical conditions
and on the forms of government, civil and ecclesiastical.
As examples he treated at great length Spain and Scot-
land; his facts are capriciously selected to suit his
theory, and his arguments are one-sided. Nevertheless
the clearness of his style and the aggressive force with

which he pleaded his position gave his work a brief popu-
Voi.. 9 — 8

iH LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

larity, which, however, it did not retain. As it followed
the French method of excessive generalization and
propagated Voltaire's views, the sober English mind
rejected the curious work.

HALLAM

Three great historical works form the monument of
Henry Hallam. They are distinguished by their judicial
impartiality, and are referred to as authorities by men
of all parties. Hallam was born in 1777, the son of a
dean of Bristol, and was educated at Eton and Christ
Church, Oxford. He was called to the bar, but early
obtained an official position which allowed him plenty of
leisure for authorship. After contributing some articles
to the "Edinburgh Review," he published "A View of
the State of Europe During the Middle Ages" (1818),
to which he added a supplemental volume thirty years
later. Meantime he had issued in 1827 his "Constitu-
tional History of England," and in 1837 his "Introduction
to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth,
and Seventeenth Centuries." The two later works are
really continuations of the first, though in different direc-
tions. The "Middle Ages" is a comprehensive survey of
European history from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Cen-
tury. The author carefully avoids generalization on
the movements of society. The "Constitutional History"
brought the English part down to the reign of George
II. It was confined to changes in the organization of
the state, and omitted personal history as much as pos-
sible. Hallam considered that the modern Whig con-
stitutionalism was the ideal standard to which all ques-
tions should be referred, and may therefore have been too
severe on Charles I and some statesmen of his century.
His "Literature of Europe" is rigidly an account of the

ENGLISH 115

books of the period, arranged according to the dates of
publication and the nature of their subjects. Bio-
graphical notices of the authors were excluded, thus
diminishing the general reader's interest. But the critic's
conscientiousness and accuracy are as conspicuous as his
patient industry and wide range of reading. No mere
display of erudition is made, but results are given as
compactly as possible. His style is clear and uniform,
and in the "Literature" there are passages of special
beauty. Hallam died in 1859, having outlived his wife
and two sons. One of the latter, Arthur Henry Hallam
(1811-1833), was of most brilliant promise, and has
been lamented by his friend Tennyson in the most
exquisite elegy in the English language.

ALISON

Sir Archibald Alison (1792-1867) was the son of a
clergyman of the same name, whose "Essay on the Prin-
ciples of Taste" was long admired. The son was edu-
cated at the University of Edinburgh, was called to the
bar, and was appointed sheriff of Lanarkshire. He was
a strong Tory and contributed to "Blackwood's Maga-
zine" on a variety of subjects. After thirty years of
preparation he published, from 1839 to I^59, a "History
of Europe" from the commencement of the French Revo-
lution to the accession of Napoleon III. It occupied alto-
gether eighteen volumes, yet it proved popular. But the
critics condemned it for its turgid and diffuse style, for the
clumsy arrangement of the material, and the poor por-
traiture of characters. The author's partisan prejudices
often prevented him from stating cases fairly, yet the
work is not so inaccurate as it has sometimes been repre-
sented. The real trouble is that it is difficult to read,
as both friends and foes of his principles have admitted.

n6 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

MILMAN

Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868) was distinguished
as a poet and even dramatist before he became a church
historian. He was educated at Eton and at Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxford, and wrote several plays, of which the best.
"Fazio," was acted in 1815. Then, taking orders, he
became vicar at Reading, where he still wrote poetry,
including some fine hymns. In 1821 he was made pro-
fessor of poetry at Oxford, but the tragedy of "Anne
Boleyn" (1826) closed his career as a poet. After
contributing several articles to the "Quarterly Review,"
Milman published a "History of the Jews" (1829) which
called forth censure by its tendency toward the later criti-
cal views of the Old Testament. He went on with a "His-
tory of Christianity to the Abolition of Paganism"
(1840) and finally issued his ablest work, "History of
Latin Christianity" (1854). This grand subject was
handled with adequate erudition. The author edited
Gibbon's great "History of Rome," correcting errors and
adding new information. In 1849 Milman had been
advanced to the deanery of St. Paul's, which is considered
the highest literary preferment in the Church of England.

LINGARD

Turning now to the history of England itself, the
earliest name encountered is that of John Lingard (1771-
1851). His "History of England" has been praised by
critics of all classes for its accuracy and fairness, in spite
of his professional predilections and prejudices. He
was a Roman Catholic priest, having been educated at the
English college at Douay and at Crook Hall near Dur-
ham. He was professor of philosophy at Ushaw, but in
1811 withdrew to Hornby, where he composed his his-

ENGLISH 117

tory. In 1817 he visited Rome to make researches in the
Vatican Library, and in 1821 Pope Pius VII made him
doctor of divinity. His historical work began with "The
Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church" (1806) which
was afterward considerably enlarged. His "History of
England" appeared in eight volumes, from 1819 to 1830.

MACAULAY

In popular esteem the foremost historian of the cen-
tury is still the brilliant partisan Macaulay. He gives to
events of the past, not too remote for general interest, a
perennial freshness. He tells an entertaining or thrilling
story in full detail, without delivering a philosophical lec-
ture. His style is pointed, vigorous, and full of allusions,
which add to its weight.

Thomas Babington Macaulay was born at Rothley,
in Leicestershire, in 1800. He was the son of a Liver-
pool merchant and remarkably precocious. Sent to Trin-
ity College, Cambridge, he distinguished himself as a
debater and won prizes for poems. He had just been
called to the bar in 1825 when his well-known radical
article on Milton appeared in the "Edinburgh Review."
This opened his literary career, and he soon obtained
political rewards for his services to the Whig cause.
When elected to Parliament in 1830, his first speech on
Reform established his fame as an orator. In 1834 he
was sent to India as a member of the Supreme Council,
and prepared a code of laws for that country, which, how-
ever, was not adopted. He was returned to Parliament
in 1839 as a member for Edinburgh, but in 1847 ne was
defeated, his support of a grant to Maynooth College
having shocked the Protestantism of his constituents.
During these years he had steadily contributed to the
Review brilliant essays on historical, critical and miscel-
laneous subjects. He had also published his spirited

ii8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

"Lays of Ancient Rome" ( 1842) . He had long cherished
the intention of writing the history of England from the
accession of James II. To this work his time was now
devoted, and in 1848 two volumes were issued. They
won instant popularity and increased his fame. The elec-
tors of Edinburgh, in 1852, returned him again to Parlia-
ment without exertion on his part. In 1857 he was raised
to the peerage as Baron Macaulay of Rothley. He died
of heart disease in December, 1857. His personal repu-
tation was much enhanced by the excellent biography
published by his nephew, Sir George Trevelyan, which
revealed his admirable private character.

Macaulay had a brilliant classical prose style which
won the admiration and even the envy of his contempora-
ries for its effectiveness. His "Essays," dealing chiefly
with the great men of English history and literature, yet
including Frederick the Great and Machiavelli, have
become familiar to all readers. The particular book
which furnished the subject of discussion was usually
briefly dismissed, while the essayist gave his own views
at length. These views were stated in the most positive
terms, so that his heroes became angels, and his villains
almost devils who should be driven from the world. In
his "History" his wide range of reading and firm grasp
of results were yet more remarkably displayed. His
view of the state of England at the death of Charles II
is a marvelous compilation from a thousand sources, yet
presenting a consistent, perfectly intelligible picture.
Macaulay has been accused of suppressing or distorting
the evidence in regard to some characters, but it has
hardly been proved, except in the case of William Penn.
In general, he took the utmost pains to be accurate, not
only reading all the records of important events, but
visiting the actual places. The example thus set has been
followed by later historians to the great gain of truth.

ENGLISH 119

CARLYLE

Like a rugged peak towering grandly above the un-
dulations of a mountain range, stands Thomas Carlyle
among the great writers of the century. He wrote his-
tories with the inspiration of a poet, biographies with the
choice precision of an artist, essays and pamphlets which
combine the solemnity of a seer with the scurrility of a
buffoon. Nearly forty years were requisite to raise him
from the obscurity of his native corner to his predestined
place among the leaders of his age, and then for forty years
he swayed the minds of men or growled contemptuously
at their neglect. His manifest sincerity and intense earn-
estness compelled respect for his repellant individuality.
Beneath his savage moroseness dwelt a tender human
heart, with an unshaken belief in the eternal verities.

Thomas Carlyle was born on the 4th of December,
1795, at Ecclefechan, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. His
father was a stonemason and a stern Covenanter. Thomas
was sent at fifteen to the University of Edinburgh to study
for the ministry, but his conscience forbade him the pulpit.
He taught school for a time, and in 1822 became tutor in
the Buller family. He wrote also for Brewster's "Ency-
clopaedia" and contributed to the magazines. His special
acquaintance with German was shown in his excellent
translation of Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" and his ad-
mirable "Life of Schiller." In 1826 he married Jane
Welsh, a woman of brilliant intellect, who is said to have
hesitated in choice between him and the gifted preacher,
Edward Irving. They lived for some months in Edin-
burgh, but the unpolished rustic was not admitted to its
literary circles. Then he resolved to retire to a small
moorland farm which his wife owned at Craigenputtoch
in Dumfriesshire. In this wilderness Carlyle fought his

120 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

great spiritual battle and emerged triumphant. For earth-
ly living he wrote for the "Edinburgh Review" many
articles on German literature, Burns, Dr. Johnson, etc.
It was a bright gleam of sunshine when Emerson made
his pilgrimage to this remote spot to honor one whose
greatness he was among the first to discern. He had been
attracted by the fantastic essays on Clothes-Philosophy,
which were appearing in "Eraser's Magazine" under the
title, "Sartor Resartus" (The Tailor Done Over). Their
importance was disguised by representing them as an-
notations on a book by a German professor, Diogenes
Teufelsdrokh (God-born Devilsdung). It was really
Carlyle's autobiography, summary of philosophy and con-
fession of faith. By Emerson's favor the papers were
gathered into a book and published at Boston two years
before an English edition was printed. Carlyle received
his share of the American profits.

After six years' residence at Craigenputtoch, Carlyle
removed to London and took the little house at Chelsea,
which has now been made a memorial and place of pil-
grimage. Here he completed his work on the French
Revolution, already commenced in the Scotch farm-house.
John Stuart Mill borrowed the first volume in manuscript
and lent it to his friend, Mrs. Taylor, whose housemaid
used it to kindle a fire. Mill insisted, against Carlyle's
proud refusal, on paying for the loss, but the terrible task
of rewriting the manuscript had to be performed. This
work, which first gave Carlyle fame, is memorable for its
creation of a prose epic style, as well as for its new mode
of viewing and interpreting history by vivid pictures. The
"French Revolution" came out in 1837, and in spite of
furious outcries against its style and temper, gave its
author rank among the great historians of the world.
Carlyle now lectured on "German Literature," on "His-

ENGLISH 121

tory" and on "Heroes and Hero-Worship," the last being
printed in 1841 and becoming one of his best-known books.
He discussed the political problems of the time in
"Chartism" (1839), and in "Past and Present" (1843),
which greatly stirred the thoughtful public. In 1845 ne
published his "Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell,"
in which he did much to explain the character and deeds
of that extraordinary leader.

The revolutions of 1848 filled Carlyle with indignant
scorn for the weakness and stupidity of governments that
did anything but govern, and henceforth he insisted on the
submission of the common herd to the Strong Silent Man.
In "Latter-Day Pamphlets" (1850) he discussed the
"nigger" question and other political problems. In con-
trast with this came his "Life of Sterling" (1851), which
was written as a reply to Archdeacon Julius Hare's sketch
of their friend, and exhibited distinctly Carlyle's attitude
towards the Church. The "History of Frederick the
Great" was next undertaken, and fourteen years were spent
as Mrs. Carlyle expressed it, "in the valley of the shadow
of Frederick." The historian was drawn to the Prussian
King by his admiration for strong individual will. Yet
he became conscious of the demerits of his hero, and ex-
plained that he was called Great only "because he man-
aged not to be a liar and a charlatan as his century was."
Carlyle did not appreciate the making of a strong Prussia
as preliminary to the formation of a new German Empire.
So also he had no sympathy for the North during the
American Civil War, yet, long after it was over, on read-
ing the "Harvard Memorial Biographies," which a friend
had sent him, he exclaimed in thoroughly Scotch style,
"I doubt I have been wrong." He was chosen Lord Rector
of Edinburgh University in 1866, and his address to the
students had great success. The only drawback was

i3i LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

that his wife was unable to attend; she died before his
return to London. Carlyle poured forth the bitterness of
his anguish in his "Reminiscences," which he marked to
be revised before publication. Unfortunately, his exec-
utor, the historian Froude, published them without reser-
vation, and thus brought deep reproach upon the philoso-
pher. Carlyle survived his wife fifteen years, but did no
important work in that time. "The Early Kings of Nor-
way" was his last history. He died in 1881, aged eighty-
six.

Carlyle' s works are chiefly historical or biographical,
though like a Hebrew prophet, he delivered many mes-
sages to his countrymen on the social and political sins
or duties of the time. He denounced Disraeli's Reform
bill of 1867 as "Shooting Niagara," and predicted deplora-
ble consequences. It was well said of him, "Carlyle com-
prehends only the individual; the true sense of the unity
of the human race escapes him." Hence he turned his-
tory as far as possible into biography of heroes. Hence,
too, he insisted that the duty of each age and country is
to discover its hero, and, having discovered the fated lead-
er, to commit control of everything to him. Beyond this,
the duty of every man is to work, to employ usefully for
himself and others whatever talents he possesses. With
loud vociferation Carlyle denounced speech, and clam-
ored for silence, yet appeared unconscious of the self-con-
tradiction. His peculiar style was partly due to his study
of German, especially Richter, but it is more largely due to
his giving vent to his native Scotch fervor, and express-
ing in print the twists and turns of his own thought and
speech. There is great variety in his style, which changes
readily from sober statements to fierce denunciation or
quaint humor, to glowing enthusiasm or pathetic lamenta-
tion. His aim is always to lead men to live and act as in
the presence of an eternal righteous ruler.

THEOLOGICAL WRITERS

Few writers of theological works can be treated in a
history of general literature. Yet some have had such
wide effect on the public mind and have given occasion
for so much discussion that they claim special mention.
Perhaps no one has a stronger claim than John Henry
Newman (1801-1890) who, after leading the movement
which gave new life to the Church of England, abandoned
it for the Church of Rome, in which he was made a Car-
dinal. He was born in London and educated at Oxford.
He held various positions in his University, and in 1827
became vicar of St. Mary's Church, which gave him oppor-
tunity by his sermons to direct the minds of the students.
He had originally been an Evangelical, but his studies of
the early Church led him to adopt views generally con-
sidered Roman Catholic. These were justified by his
theory of. development. In 1833 he began to publish
"Tracts for the Times," in which he was assisted by Keble
and Dr. Pusey. When Tract No. XC was condemned
by the bishops the series stopped. In 1843 Newman re-
signed St. Mary's, and two years later he was admitted to
the Church of Rome. In its communion he worked
quietly. He assisted in the attempt of 1854 to establish
a Catholic University in Dublin, but spent most of his time
in educational work at Edgbaston, near Birmingham. In
1864, taking advantage of a charge made against him by
Kingsley, he issued his famous "Apologia pro Vita Sua"
as his defense. By its masterly style and careful argument
it turned the public mind in his favor. In 1872 he entered
into controversy with Gladstone on Vaticanism. In 1879

123

/24 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Pope Leo XIII advanced him to the Cardinalate, for which
he visited Rome. When he died, in August, 1890, men of
various positions spoke in praise of his character.

Newman's works comprise nearly 40 volumes, and from
these he had edited a selection in his later years. Good
judges reckon him among the best English prose writers.
His "Sermons" are in this respect much superior to his
"Development of Christian Doctrine" and "History of the
Arians in the Fourth Century." Their characteristics are
simple but impressive language, moderate sentences, spar-
ing use of illustrations and metaphors, perfect clearness,
and through them a deep seriousness and solemnity. New-
man's few poems are also excellent, the best being the fa-
miliar hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light," written in 1833.
"The Dream of Gerontius," a vision of death and judg-
ment, was a product of his old age. Soon after his ad-
mission to the Roman Church, he published two religious
novels: "Callista," a story of the persecution of Chris-
tians in North Africa in the Third Century; and "Loss and
Gain," a story of his own time.

Newman's early associate in the Tractarian controver-
sy, Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882) remained in the
Anglican Church, and lived to see his party become
dominant in it. He edited the "Oxford Library of the
Fathers," translations of early Christian writers. His
"Sermons," not so attractive in style as Newman's, were
well adapted to University students. The most notable
work of his old age is the "Eirenicon," a plea for the re-
union of the great Christian Churches.

In sacred verse John Keble (1792-1866) was the suc-
cessor of the saintly George Herbert of the Seventeenth
Century. His "Christian Year" ( 1828) , a series of hymns
on the church festivals, elevated the religious feelings of
the country and assisted the Oxford movement, which

ENGLISH 125

a sermon of his in 1833 started. He had a brilliant course
at Oxford, taking many prizes, and in 1831 was made
professor of poetry there. He wrote several of the cele-
brated "Tracts for the Times," but his life was chiefly
spent in his country church at Hursley. Besides the
"Christian Year" he published "Lyra Innocentium,"
hymns for children, and "Miscellaneous Poems." All are
characterized by perfect taste as well as high spirituality,
careful diction and melody.

One of the effective promoters of the Broad Church
movement, which grew out of resistance to the extreme
views of the Tractarians, was Frederick Denison
Maurice (1805-1872). He had been educated at Cam-
bridge, but being then a Unitarian, could not obtain a de-
gree. Under the influence of Coleridge, his views were
changed, and he went to Oxford, got his degree, and was
ordained in 1834. His rejection of the doctrine of eternal
punishment caused him to lose a professorship in King's
College, Cambridge. Others who were charged with
heresy found in him an able defender, but he refused to
form a party. He was a promoter of Christian Socialism,
and of plans for the benefit of workingmen. His long-
est work is "History of Moral Philosophy," of which
branch he was made professor at Cambridge in 1866. His
writings were numerous and had great influence on other
clergymen rather than on the public directly.

More widely known and more prominent in literature
was Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881) commonly
called Dean Stanley, from his position in Westminster
Abbey. He was the son of a bishop and became the son-
in-law and biographer of his teacher, Dr. Arnold, of Rug-
by. After a distinguished course at Oxford, he held
various preferments in the Church and was from 1856 to
1863 professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford. Church

126 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

history was the chief field of his studies and writings.
Among his works are "Sinai and Palestine" (1854), the
result of a tour in the Holy Land; "Lectures on the Greek
Church" ( 1861 ), derived from a visit to Russia; "History
of the Jewish Church" (1843), a volume on "The Church
of Scotland," and "Christian Institutions" (1881). Re-
garding the Church as an historical society, necessarily
subject to variations in different ages, he delighted to trace
its growth and development. But he sought also to pro-
mote in his own day a more comprehensive spirit of Chris-
tianity, and took every opportunity to show his recogni-
tion of it in other men. Hence he frequently entered into
controversy to protect those whom he considered unjustly
attacked. The term Broad Church was originated by
him to indicate the proper attitude of the English Church
towards clashing opinions and doctrines. When canon
of Canterbury he prepared the interesting "Memorials of
Canterbury" (1855), and later he prepared the still more
valuable "Memorials of Westminster Abbey" ( 1867) . In
1878 he visited the United States and afterwards published
"Addresses and Sermons" delivered there. The leading
characteristic of his speaking and writing was the uni-
versality of his religious sympathies, finding good in all
men.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE OF THE EARLY
VICTORIAN PERIOD

Science has occupied a prominent and steadily increas-
ing place in the publications of the Nineteenth Century.
Most of these are not considered to belong to literature,
yet some, from being addressed to the general public
rather than scientific experts, and from the excellence of
the style in which they are presented, are allowed at least
honorable mention. Among the earlier writers were the
chemist Sir Humphry Davy, the Scotch encyclopaedist, Sir
David Brewster, the astronomer, Sir John Herschel, the
geologist, Sir Charles Lyell. But none of their writings
attracted so much attention as one which appeared anon-
ymously in 1844, "The Vestiges of Creation," but which
was eventually known to be the work of Robert Chambers,
distinguished both as publisher and editor. It was, as he
said, "the first attempt to connect the natural sciences into
a history of creation." It treated of the formation of the
solar system, then of the earth in its geological periods
and the kinds of life found in each, the origin of animals
and of man. Although the author tried to show that the
order of creation indicated by scientific research agreed
with the Biblical account, the book was strongly con-
demned by the theologians. But fifteen years later, a
bolder speculator, more thoroughly equipped with scien-
tific knowledge, by publishing "The Origin of Species,"
revolutionized the whole world of thought.

128 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

DARWIN

Charles Robert Darwin, the greatest man of science of
his time, was born at Shrewsbury in 1809. He was the
son of Dr. Robert W. Darwin, a physician, and grandson
of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, who wrote a didactic poem called
'The Botanic Garden." Charles went to Glasgow to study
medicine, and afterwards to Cambridge, where, under the
influence of Prof. Henslow, he acquired a liking for
zoology and botany. On taking his degree in 1831, he
received an appointment without pay on the Beagle, a
vessel about to sail for South America on a scientific cruise.
Five years were spent in the Pacific Ocean, during which
Darwin laid the foundation of his theory. When he re-
turned the Government granted him £1,000 to prepare
a full account of his observations and discoveries. The
first result was a very entertaining "Narrative of the Sur-
veying Voyages," which was followed by the "Zoology"
and some geological treatises, including one on "The
Structure of Coral Reefs" (1842). Darwin's health was
much impaired by his voyage. In 1839 he married his
cousin, and having a moderate fortune, he selected a house
at Down, in Kent, where he was able to carry on his
ingenious experiments in regard to pigeons and domesti-
cated animals. In 1844 he wrote a sketch of his conclu-
sions on the formation of species by natural selection.
Later he communicated a paper on his views to a few sci-
entists, but in 1858 he was surprised at receiving a letter
from Alfred R. Wallace, then in the East Indies, con-
taining the same theory. By the advice of friends, Mr.
Wallace's letter and Darwin's paper were read to the Lin-
naean Society in 1858. In the next year Darwin's "Origin
of Species" was published, and at once scored a success.
The sensation and discussion extended far beyond scien-

ENGLISH 129

tific circles. The argument was so clear and so well sup-
ported by experiments that most readers were convinced
that in the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest
there was adequate explanation of the facts of the animal
world.

The author went steadily on with his experiments and
gathered material for an enlargement of his theory. In
"The Variation of Plants under Domestication" (1868),
new arguments were added, and finally, in "The Descent
of Man" (1871), the conclusion which had been antici-
pated was formally reached. The doctrine of evolution
was completely formulated. The non-scientific world had
loudly protested against the first >vork, but able controver-
sialists had defended its conclusions, so that the later met
with much less opposition. Darwin himself was always
cautious in his experiments and careful not to draw un-
warranted inferences from them. His clear and pleasing
style went far in winning attention to his arguments. His
sincerity in declaring his views and his generosity in
acknowledging the help of others made all scientists his
friends. To the end of his life he continued adding to his
scientific discoveries. His "Expression of the Emotions
in Man and Other Animals" emphasized the connection
extending through animated nature. One of his latest
treatises was "The Formation of Vegetable Mould
Through the Action of Worms" ( 1881 ) . He died April
19, 1882.

HUXLEY

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) was not only a
scientist, but a ready writer on many topics. He was born
at Ealing, studied medicine, and became a doctor in the
navy. While off the coast of Australia natural history
occupied much of his time, and his discoveries procured

130 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

for him admission to the Royal Society on his return in
1851. He then began to lecture at the Royal School of
Mines, and soon became one of the directors of the official
side of scientific life in London. Already noted as a com-
parative anatomist, palaeontologist and microscopist, he
became an ardent defender of Darwinism. He wrote for
the London Times its review of the "Origin of Species."
His own work on this question is "Man's Place in Nature"
(1863). Visiting the United States in 1876, he lectured
on evolution, and on his return published his "American
Addresses." One of his noted works was "The Crayfish"
(1877), commended as a model scientific treatise. In
1880 Huxley was appointed inspector of fisheries, but five
years later he retired on account of ill health. In 1883 he
had been made president of the Royal Society, and in 1892
a member of the Privy Council. Throughout his career
he took an interest in philosophical discussion, as was
shown in his treatises on Descartes and Hume. At its
close he stated his main object to have been "to promote
the application of scientific methods of investigation to all
the problems of life." Believing that knowledge of God
is beyond the reach of man, he opposed theological spec-
ulation, and, objecting to the name "skeptic" (doubter),
he invented the term "agnostic" (one who does not know)
to indicate his position. His "Essays" were collected in
nine volumes in 1894. After his death in June, 1895, his
scientific publications were collected in four volumes.

TYNDALL

Another scientist who claims attention by felicity of
style is John Tyndall (1820-1893). He was born near
Carlow, Ireland, and became an assistant in the Ordnance
Survey in 1839. Afterwards he was a railway engineer

ENGLISH 131

at Manchester and taught physics in Queenwood College.
He pursued special studies in magnetism in Germany, and
in 1857 obtained the degree of Doctor at Marburg. He had
already been professor of natural philosophy at the Royal
Institution in London, and in 1867 he was made its super-
intendent. His noted works are "Heat Considered as a
Mode of Motion" (1863), "On Radiation" (1865), "Dust
and Disease." He spent many vacations in Switzerland
studying the glaciers, and published some books on moun-
tain-climbing. In 1872 he lectured in the United States,
and gave the proceeds for the promotion of scientific study
in this country. In 1874, at the meeting of the British
Association at Belfast, he delivered an address defending
the cause of science, claiming for it complete freedom in
its own domain, and excluding religion from the field of
knowledge, but allowing it exercise in the region of emo-
tion. In his explanation of evolution, he said : "I discern
in ... matter . . . the promise and potency of all ter-
restrial life," yet he also said: "The whole process of
evolution is the manifestation of a Power absolutely in-
scrutable to the intellect of man," and declared himself
not a rank materialist. He did much to popularize science
by his lucid expositions. His "Fragments of Science"
are full of entertaining reading.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE AND CRITICISM

Dickens, who was much more than a novelist, gave a
new impulse to periodical literature by starting "House-
hold Words" on lines of his own devising. Charles
Knight and others had in the thirties issued weekly jour-
nals which made popular instruction their chief aim.
Dickens sought to meet the public who had shown their
approval of his novels, to give them rational entertainment
by lively and picturesque descriptions of places, travels
and whatever was of general interest. While he wrote
much himself, and obtained novels from Bulwer and Lever,
he gathered around him a staff of younger men whom he
specially trained for this work. The plan proved success-
ful, not only in the first form, but in "All the Year Round."

In 1859 "Macmillan's Magazine" was started with the
design of giving for a shilling (instead of 2 1-2 shillings,
the price of older monthlies), a supply of literature by the
Kingsleys and writers of equal excellence. Almost im-
mediately the rival "Cornhill Magazine" appeared with
Thackeray as editor, and with illustrations from some of
the best artists. It maintained a high literary tone, Mat-
thew Arnold and Ruskin being among its contributors.
Its success was seen in its unprecedented sale of 100,000
copies. The desire to reach the widest possible audience
prevented these magazines from taking distinct sides in
politics.

Weekly newspapers had for a long time been published
whose chief object was to comment on public affairs. "The
Examiner," founded in 1808 by Leigh Hunt and his
brother, had a brilliant career of nearly seventy years. u.t?-

132

ENGLISH 133

der various editors, as an advocate of the Liberal cause.
"The Spectator" was founded in 1828 to represent the
attitude of more orthodox Liberals towards the questions
of the day. It attained a high reputation for its unswerv-
ing honesty. In recent years it has represented the Broad
Church attitude in regard to public affairs. It departed
from Gladstone's policy when he began to advocate Home
Rule for Ireland. The "Saturday Review," founded about
1840, as an independent Tory paper, has always been im-
bued with classical culture. Avoiding the scandalous per-
sonalities of earlier satirical papers, it commented freely
and sharply on the public utterances and records of prom-
inent men, and waged relentless war on folly and igno-
rance. It was written "by gentlemen for gentlemen," and
became the highest critical authority in politics, literature
and social matters. It still pursues its well-marked course,
brilliant in execution, but critical rather of evil, than in-
spiring to good.

Sir Arthur Helps (1813-1875) was respectable as a
historian and essayist, and was honored by being chosen
by Queen Victoria to edit the speeches of her husband and
her own "Journals of Life in the Highlands." He was
educated at Eton and Cambridge, where he was a friend
of Tennyson. Afterwards he was secretary to several
ministers, and of the Privy Council, and used his leisure
in essays and historical writing. His most popular work
is "Friends in Council" (1847), which reports the discus-
sion of ethical and aesthetic questions by a group of well
educated persons. Occasionally a slight story is introduced
to illustrate the attitude of a disputant Helps had already
published biographies of Columbus and the Spanish Con-
querors of the New World, and he combined these studies
in his "History of the Spanish Conquest in America"
(1855-61). The latter, though accurate and carefully

134 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

written, has not superseded Prescott Helps, having won
a wide circle of readers, published more dialogues and
essays and one mildly philosophic romance, "Realmah."
For his editorial services to the Queen he was knighted in
1872.

MATTHEW ARNOLD

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was distinguished as
both poet and critic, but especially in the latter capacity.
He was the eldest son of Dr. Thomas Arnold, of Rugby,
and was educated at Oxford. For most of his life he was
a government inspector of schools. His first book of
poems, "The Strayed Revellers" (1849) was published
anonymously; his second, "Empedocles on Etna" (1853)
was recalled after a few copies were sold. Then he issued
a collection from these with a preface discussing poetry.
He maintained that true poetry depends on the subject
and its appropriate treatment, not on occasional bursts
of beautiful thought. Arnold was professor of poetry at
Oxford from 1857 to 1867. Though strongly influenced
by Wordsworth, his high culture disposed him to go back
to Greek literature for form and models. He was the
poet of thought rather than of life. Hence he was the
poet of the Universities, but did not reach the people.
Among his longer poems the most notable are "Sohrab
and Rustum," a tragic narrative from Persia; "The Sick
King in Bokhara;" "The Scholar-Gipsy," which describes
finely the country around Oxford; and "Thyrsis," a noble
elegy on his friend Clough. Many of his short poems are
full of romantic grace, expressed in a classical style.

A new era was opened in his career when he began
to publish "Essays in Criticism," which were collected in
1865. They noted and satirized English lack of culture,
and pointed out what the French Academy had done for

ENGLISH 135

common writing. The ordinary Briton, absorbed in prac-
tical and material things, indifferent to art and intellectual
pleasure, was held up to scorn as a Philistine — an enemy
of light — a term borrowed from the German universities.
Criticism was declared to be "a disinterested endeavor to
learn and propagate the best that is known and thought
in the world." The essays had considerable effect on the
professional critics, as well as on the public. Henceforth
the long reviews were more animated, the short ones less
flippant.

Arnold being encouraged to go on, entered the theo-
logical field, for which he was less qualified by knowledge
and training. Yet his "Literature and Dogma," "God
and the Bible," "St. Paul and Protestantism" were none
the less popular. With keen wit and a lordly air he
attacked the crude notions and palpable inconsistencies of
common beliefs. He insisted that the language of the
Bible is not fixed and scientific, but fluid and literary. To
interpret its phraseology as precise leads to absurdities.
But the new definitions he proposed deserve little favor.
He dwelt on the name God, and defined it as "the Eternal
not-ourselves which makes for righteousness;" salvation
is "a harmonious perfection only to be won by cultivating
many sides in us." His earnest desire was for "sweet-
ness and light." He taught that the way to gain a higher
life is by self-renunciation.

After some years Arnold returned to pure literary
work, varying it with political discussion. He never
meddled with art. For books of selections from Byron,
Shelley and Wordsworth he wrote introductions of vary-
ing value, that on Wordsworth being his best. He made
two visits to the United States, lecturing in the principal
cities, but offended the Bostonians by his verdict on Emer-
son, pronouncing him neither a poet nor a philosopher,

136 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

but acknowledging him as a seer. His "Discourses in
America" contained several utterances as little likely to
be acceptable to his hearers. Yet he won credit by hav-
ing the courage of his convictions. Hardly had he
returned to England, when he died suddenly in April,
1888.

RUSKIN

The greatest master of English prose is John Ruskin,
who after setting out to be an artist, became an art-critic,
and thence proceeded to be a critic of everything pertain-
ing to human life. He was born in London in 1819, the
only son of a wealthy wine merchant. After a strict relig-
ious training at home, he was educated at Oxford, and
journeyed on the Continent. After some years' study of
art he published, in 1843, tne ^rst volume of his "Modern
Painters. By an Oxford Graduate." It was a revela-
tion of a new world to art-neglecting, dim-eyed England,
immersed in business and politics. In that country
aesthetics had not been cultivated; few paintings were pub-
licly exhibited, private collections were small and limited.
The new critic, or rather prophet of art, deeply imbued
with the Romantic revival, and devoted to Sir Walter
Scott, found in the splendid nature-painting of J. W.
M. Turner a noble realization of his own ideas, and became
the herald of his genius. But he had to teach an ignorant,
hostile crowd, and he assailed names hallowed by tradi-
tion. He issued a second volume in 1846, and the fifth in
1860, having remodeled the plan on which he started.
Meantime his "Seven Lamps of Architecture" (1849)
applied to another department the principles on which he
insisted, that true art involves the highest morality. The
seven lamps are sacrifice, truth, power, beauty, life, mem-
ory, obedience. The "Stones of Venice" (1853) treated

ENGLISH 137

of sculpture in the same grand way, working ethics into
essential relation with aesthetics. In his enthusiasm for art
he insisted that beauty is utility, and in the "Political Econ-
omy of Art" ( 1858) he sought to combine what had been
considered opposing elements.

Ruskin's views on art, presented with splendid rhetori-
cal force, made constant headway. Though for a while
derided, his influence as an art-teacher rose. He was the
inspirer of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which flour-
ished about 1850, but afterwards dissolved. Ruskin was
made Slade professor of fine arts at Oxford in 1870, and
gave £5,000 to endow a master of drawing. Meantime
he had issued a great number of small works with fantastic
titles, often in Latin. Among these were "Unto this
Last" (1862), opposing common views of political econ-
omy; "Sesame and Lilies" ( 1865) , treating of female edu-
cation; "The Crown of Wild Olive" (1866); "Queen of
the Air" ( 1869). He came to advocate socialistic views,
and advanced impracticable projects for the benefit of
working men. Though his theories were almost universal-
ly rejected, particular applications were adopted. Art and
art-literature became popular. But among the new gen-
eration of artists there was opposition to his teaching.
They insisted on art for art's sake only. Ruskin's royal
dogmatism on all subjects provoked revolt, yet his works
were eagerly read. For many years ( 1871-1884) he pub-
lished at irregular intervals rambling papers called "Fors
Clavigera." When it was pointed out that he sometimes
contradicted himself, his answer was easy : "I never met
with a question yet, which did not need, for the right solu-
tion of it, at least one positive and one negative answer,
like an equation of the second degree. Mostly, matters of
any consequence are three-sided, or four-sided, or polyg-

138 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

onal; and the trotting round a polygon is severe work for
people any way stiff in their opinions."

In 1885 Ruskin began to issue his charming, frank,
complacent autobiography, "Praeterita," full of his usual
digressions into all manner of subjects. Many of his
essays were collected in "Arrows of the Chace." His later
writings are often colloquial in style, though sometimes
rising into passages of grand eloquence. From the first
he had been master of a grand ornate style, surpassing in
evenness of power "Christopher North" and DeQuincey.
It was sometimes unduly florid, tending to become blank
verse in prose. Yet this tendency was held somewhat
in check by regard for the beauties of nature and art which
he aimed to describe. He excelled Kingsley in his gor-
geous descriptions of scenery. As regards matter, his
works abounded in childish crotchets and feminine dis-
likes. In ideas he was an unsafe guide, full of visionary
notions. His ample fortune has been largely diminished
by his liberal gifts to various schemes for promoting art
and benefiting workingmen. His most remarkable self-
sacrifice was his relinquishing his wife to the painter Mil-
lais when he found that they had fallen in love with each
other.

THIRD OR LATER VICTORIAN PERIOD—
1870-1899

The period from 1860 to 1870 was the heyday of
Liberalism and Reform. A willing ear was lent to all who
had proposals for the welfare of mankind. So complete
was the tendency in popular sentiment that the astute
Disraeli, always awake to the stirring of the social breezes,
persuaded the reluctant Tories to adopt Parliamentary
reform extending popular suffrage, and thus take the "leap
in the dark" — "shooting Niagara," as Carlyle vigorously
phrased it. Liberalism won new political victories,
including the disestablishment of the Irish Church and
the Educational Reform of 1870. It looked steadily
ahead for new triumphs.

Literature reflected this spirit of hopeful confidence.
Perodical literature put forth new ventures as at the be-
ginning of the Century. Writers abounded, and newcom-
ers were eagerly welcomed. The public listened readily
to new claimants for its regard, whether their subject was
society or philosophy, science or religion, the times before
the flood or the topics of to-day. In this era of free dis-
cussion a new tendency sprang up alongside of the
prevalent, progressive, hopeful spirit. The doctrine of
Evolution, put forth scientifically by Darwin, and extended
philosophically by Herbert Spencer, was at first stoutly
opposed, after a time cautiously admitted as a possible
or probable theory, and still later almost universally
affirmed. So far reaching was this theory that as soon
as it was fairly considered it had its effect not only on
natural science but on history, the record of human
development. It had its effect on religion, on ethics, on

140 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

poetry, on essays, on fiction, on social life, on politics.
New publications and new writers rose to advocate and
apply it in every direction. For many it removed the firm
basis of past beliefs and led to doubt and pessimism. Some
it turned to study of remote races and times. It gave
importance to hitherto neglected customs and supersti-
tions and roused curiosity respecting savage tribes.

That period inaugurated a new era of travel and ex-
ploration. The Suez Canal opened a new route between
east and west. Darkest Africa was brought to light.
Japan was opened to Western civilization. Every great
nation had its expedition to make a dash for the North
Pole. In every part of the world there was running to
and fro and knowledge was increased. All this activity
was reflected in the pages of literature. It gave new
theories to the journalist, to the light essayist, to the sober
statistician, to the thoughtful philosopher, and to the soar-
ing poet. It was the germ of imperial expansion, which
was soon to prevail in Great Britain, and has, to the aston-
ishment of all, taken firm hold on the American mind
to-day.

During this period writers have come more than ever
to look to the people for remuneration of their services of
instruction, entertainment, moral and intellectual uplift-
ing. The immense circulation of newspapers and periodi-
cals has caused a demand for the labors of talented writers
which has proved more remunerative than the gifts of
sovereigns and noble patrons in former centuries. Nor
has this reward been carelessly, or unwisely distributed
Compare the list of the poets laureate of England from
Ben Jonson to Alfred Austin with the leading names on
the catalogues of publishers of to-day. The pensions
bestowed by the British government to-day are regulated
by the Prime Minister, who is guided by the enlightened

ENGLISH 141

criticism of the press. The literary pension list of the
past sixty years is a roll of honor, every one borne on it
has done something to elevate, instruct or entertain his
fellowmen.

It is not because Queen Victoria has had any special
interest in literature or has given marked encouragement
to authors that this period bears her name. She has pub-
lished some books of personal interest, and she has en-
listed the services of a graceful writer in behalf of her hus-
band's memory. But her name is stamped on this litera-
ture as her effigy is stamped on the coins of the realm,
because she is, in her station, the accepted embodiment of
the unity of the empire. During the early part of this
period she maintained a seclusion, perhaps too strict, out
of respect for her consort's memory. Later she has
occasionally discharged the public functions belonging to
her exalted place. At all times she has borne well the
"fierce white light which beats upon a throne." But it has
belonged to a mightier power to direct the varying course
of English literature.

The reviews, which did much to stimulate and elevate
literature at the opening of the Century, had fallen into
the background toward its close. The "Edinburgh,"
"Quarterly," and "Westminster" are still issued regularly
and contain able articles, but the)'- no longer exert the
power and command the obedience which once they did.
Of the monthlies, "Blackwood's" still holds its own, main-
tains the same political views, and furnishes reading of
the same quality as of yore. "Eraser's," which for a time
was edited by Froude, and had brilliant success, declined
from its prestige under his successor. It was bought by
Longman, who, finding it difficult to restore its fortunes,
changed it in 1882 to "Longman's Magazine," lowered its
price, and sought to please less critical readers. "Mac-

142 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

millan's Magazine" continues to be marked by the fine
style and correct taste which characterized it at the start.

A new impulse was given to periodical literature by
the establishment of the "Fortnightly Review" in- 1865.
The popular monthlies, seeking to reach all classes of read-
ers, had tabooed politics and accepted only comparatively
light literature. But there was a large number of thought-
ful persons who wished for careful statement and sober
discussion of the questions of religion and politics con-
stantly brought forward. The "Fortnightly," intended
for this class, seemed to take the "Revue des Deux
Mondes" for its model. It was edited at first by George
H. Lewes, and afterwards by John Morley, but in 1882
passed into the charge of T. H. S. Escott, and again in
1887 to that of Frank Harris. At first, as its name indi-
cated, it was published every second week, but afterward
became a monthly without change of name. It was Liberal
in politics, but on other questions it solicited contributions
from leading thinkers without regard to their special
views. Yet as a fact, it favored agnosticism by giving
prominence to its advocates.

This agnostic bias of the "Fortnightly" led to the
establishment of the "Contemporary Review" in 1866.
It had the same general features, was Liberal in politics,
but Christian in tone. It was edited at first by Dean
Alford, but in 1870 passed to James Knowles. In 1877
the latter being denied by the publishers the freedom which
he deemed essential to the welfare of the Review, left it
and founded the "Nineteenth Century," which also proved
successful. These three Reviews still flourish, and fur-
nish to their readers discussion of all important questions
by able writers. The names of the contributions are in
nearly every case given. In 1883 the "National Review"
was established to support the Conservative cause. It is

ENGLISH 143

edited by W. J. Courthope, editor of a "History of Eng-
lish Poetry," and Alfred Austin, whom Lord Salisbury
appointed poet laureate in 1895.

The large number of periodicals has enabled writers
to reach the public more easily than in former times. Not
only the famous, who are solicited by editors, but the
beginners find their means of communication. Many
works of value, apart from fiction, have been first pub-
lished, in whole or in part, in periodicals. Most authors
of acknowledged merit have been frequent contributors
and some, as Morley and Froude, to say nothing of Dick-
ens and Thackeray, have been editors.

In the last quarter of the Century English fiction
underwent still another change. Analysis of character
was still regarded as the highest aim of literary art, and
writers, great and small, worked to this end. But when
the magazines were lowered in price and appeal was made
to a wider circle, it was found necessary by the editors
and other caterers to public taste to furnish more amusing
and exciting material. In French the short story had been
cultivated and brought to an exquisite perfection. Cer-
tain English writers adopted this form, and it proved
acceptable. But for the longer novel, which was still indis-
pensable both in book form and as a serial in magazines,
something else was necessary. This was found in a return
to the romantic style, and even to the historical romance
of Scott, which had become obsolete. R. D. Blackmore was
one of the leaders in the experiment with his "Lorna
Doone." Others followed with strange tales of foreign
lands.

STATESMEN-AUTHORS

GLADSTONE

In the opening sentence of an article in the "Edin-
burgh Review" in 1839, on Gladstone's first appearance
as an author, Macaulay described him as "a young man of
unblemished character and of distinguished parliamentary
abilities, the rising hope of the stern and unbending Tories.
His abilities and demeanor have obtained for
him the respect and goodwill of all parties." This descrip-
tion has become memorable from the fact that Gladstone
in becoming the greatest of Parliamentary leaders reversed
the partisan expectations then formed.

Great as is the prominence of William Ewart Glad-
stone in political history, this sketch must be limited to the
briefest outlines. Born of Scotch parentage at Liverpool
in 1809, he was educated at Eton and Oxford, winning
the highest honors. In 1832, aided by the Duke of New-
castle, he was elected to Parliament ,and there was a
devoted follower of Sir Robert Peel. When the struggle
for free trade came, Gladstone went with Peel in his con-
version, and even resigned his seat. But he was still a
High Churchman, and the University of Oxford chose
him as its representative in 1847. The prolonged rivalry
of Disraeli and Gladstone began in 1852 when the latter
defended Peel against the former's fierce invectives. Lord
Palmerston made Gladstone Chancellor of the Exchequer
in 1853, and then the first of his famous budget speeches
was delivered. By force of genius he became leader of the
House of Commons in 1865, and in the next year he

1 44

ENGLISH 145

attempted new Parliamentary reform. But the crafty
Disraeli outwitted him, persuading even the Tory party
to adopt more radical measures and take "a leap in the
dark." But the Liberals were soon restored to power, and
Gladstone first became Prime Minister in 1868. In contra-
diction of the arguments of his own early book, he soon
brought about the disestablishment of the Irish Church.
The Education Bill of 1870 did much to popularize instruc-
tion. The advocates of every advance movement appealed
to Gladstone to take up their cause, but the body of Par-
liamentary supporters fell off. Being defeated at the polls
in 1874, he soon announced his retirement from political
strife. No competent successor was found in the Liberal
party. The Bulgarian atrocities of 1877 rekindled the zeal
of the Grand Old Man, and in 1880 by a memorable cam-
paign he not only carried the district of Mid-Lothian but
returned to Parliament with a splendid majority at his
back. Desiring to settle the troublesome Irish question,
Gladstone granted, in 1881, a new land law for that island.
Great as this relief was, more was demanded. Coercion
failed to restore quiet. The Home-Rulers steadily
obstructed Parliamentary business. Finally, in 1886,
Gladstone, in a supreme oratorical effort, introduced a
measure granting Ireland autonomy, but the bill divided
the Liberal party, a large section becoming Liberal-Union-
ists. Yet in 1892 Gladstone's followers won at the polls,
and he again became Prime Minister, pledged to the same
policy. The Home Rule bill passed the House of Com-
mons, but was rejected by the Lords in September, 1893.
In the following March the veteran statesman finall}-
retired from political life. He died May 19, 1898, having
suffered much from cancer in the face.

Gladstone was a great Parliamentary leader, a master
of finance, and after he had fairly entered on his career, a

Vol.. Q — TO

1^6 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

steady advocate of reform in English government and of
liberty and progress in other nations. The hostility which
he encountered in the later years of his activity was due not
merely to his advocacy of Home Rule for Ireland, but to
his resistance to the growing desire for the expansion of
the British Empire. He had special gifts as an orator —
a grand presence, a clear, ringing voice, a brilliant eye, a
thorough sincerity, and an overpowering enthusiasm.
But he had faults of speech which appeared still more in
his writing and were pointed out by Macaulay even in the
review already quoted : "His rhetoric, though often good
of its kind, darkens and perplexes the logic which it should
illustrate. Half his acuteness and diligence, with a bar-
ren imagination and a scanty vocabulary, would have
saved him from almost all his mistakes. He has one gift
most dangerous to a [philosophical] speculator — a vast
command of a kind of language, grave and majestic, but
of vague and uncertain import."

It was his work on "The State in Relation to the
Church" (1839), which gave Macaulay the opportunity
for this criticism. Gladstone had early acquired fondness
for Greek literature, and in the intervals of his political
career he published "Studies on the Homer and the
Homeric Age" ( 1858), and other similar books, including
a "Homeric Primer," in which he maintained very con-
servative views about that poet. Still insisting that the
truest relaxation is to be found in change of employment,
the statesman frequently contributed to leading reviews on
literary and miscellaneous topics. Many of these articles
were collected in his "Gleanings of Past Years" (8 vols.,
1 879 ) , but many more were written subsequently. Perhaps
his most interesting essays are those of a biographical char-
acter— as on Bishop Patteson, Leopardi, Daniel O'Con-
nell. Americans are attracted by his "Kin Beyond Sea."

ENGLISH 147

After he had retired from political life, he amused himself
by translating Horace, and toward the close of his life, as
a pious tribute to the great philosophical defender of relig-
ion, he edited "The Works of Bishop Butler."

MORLEY

John Morley is well known as a Liberal statesmen,
and has been frequently mentioned as a possible leader of
his party in the House of Commons, yet he is really and
essentially a literary man, and has done more for literature
than for politics. He was born at Blackburn, Lancashire,
in 1838, graduated at Oxford and was called to the bar.
He became editor of the "Literary Gazette," and in 1867
of the "Fortnightly Review," which owed its success to his
efforts. To this he joined charge of the "Pall Mall
Gazette" in 1880. But in February, 1883, he was elected
to Parliament from Newcastle-upon-Tyne as an advanced
Liberal. He now withdrew from editorial duties except
those of "Macmillan's Magazine," whch he held until
1886. In Parliament he soon rose to be an effective de-
bater, and on the platform he became one of the chief
speakers. Gladstone, in 1886, and again in 1892, made
him Chief Secretary for Ireland. Morley has since shared
the fortunes of the Liberal party, while remaining stead-
fast to the policy of Home Rule for Ireland.

To literature Morley has contributed a number of
biographical studies of the highest value — "Edmund
Burke" (1867), "Voltaire" (1872), "Rousseau" (1876),
"Richard Cobden" (1881), and "Diderot and the
Encyclopaedists" (1878). His essays on historical, liter-
ary and social topics were collected in "Critical Miscellan-
ies" (1871 and 1877). Morley was drawn to the French
biographies by his interest in the rise of the democratic,

148 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

socialistic and sceptical views which in modified forms
have come to prevail in his own time. He is a sympathetic
interpreter of the views and suggestions of those reform-
ers for the amelioration of society, however vague and
impracticable their schemes might be. In spite of the
audacity of his utterances on religious questions, Morley,
by his clearness of style and skill in presentation of opin-
ions and arguments, won the regard of his readers. In
his later works he is more restrained and yet equally
effective. Besides the writings already mentioned be pub-
lished two excellent treatises "On Compromise" (1874)
and "Aphorisms" (1887).

The Conservative leader of the House of Commons,
Arthur James Balfour, nephew of Lord Salisbury, is an
able writer on philosophical subjects. His most import-
ant treatises are "The Foundations of Belief" and "An
Apology for Philosophic Doubt."

HISTORICAL LITERATURE OF THE LATER
VICTORIAN PERIOD

More than 130 years ago the historian Robertson
wrote: "The universal progress of science during the
two last Centuries, the art of printing, and other obvious
causes, have filled Europe with such a multiplicity of his-
tories and with such a vast collection of historical mate-
rials that the term of human life is too short for the
study or even the perusal of them." If this was true in
his day, how much more true is it at the present time. In
spite of all the labor-saving inventions, the historical stu-
dent is more than ever overwhelmed with the countless
issues of the press, the publications of governments,
societies, antiquarians and fellow laborers. The result is
that for his main work he is compelled to renounce vast
ambitions, and to restrict himself to single epochs. In
slight essays he may take a rapid survey of great regions
or important events apart from his chosen field. The
reviews and magazines give ready admission to such
sketches and they help to give him necessary practice in
writing and supply the needy student with means for his
more important work. Hence we have Freeman's "His-
torical Essays" and Froude's "Short Studies," which are
more attractive to the general reader than their more solid
work. But the vast learning and minute research which
went to form the latter were equally requisite in the for-
mer. Still that genius may find a way to accomplish what
common sense pronounces impossible, is perhaps proved
by the labor of John Richard Green.

149

150 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

FREEMAN

Although blessed with an ample fortune, Edward
Augustus Freeman (1823-1892) wrote diligently as for
daily bread, not merely the great histories which bring
him solid fame, but monographs and articles for reviews,
magazines and newspapers, on almost all manner of sub-
jects. Yet through them all one spirit is easily traced.
"History," said he, "is past politics; politics is present his-
tory." These two subjects, which he pronounced one and
the same, dominate nearly all his writings. He was born
at Harbourne, in Staffordshire, in 1823, and was educated
at Trinity College, Oxford. His earliest writing was on
architecture, treating of church restoration and the cathed-
rals of England. The general interest in the Crimean
War first drew him into his larger field, leading him to
prepare a "History of the Saracens." When the American
Civil War was raging he began a "History of Federal
Government from the Achaean League to the Disruption
of the American Republic." But the work was suspended
when only one volume was completed. The title of this
work shows his too great confidence in his own judgment
as to results, yet he was passionately fond of truth, and
spent much time not only in ascertaining facts for his own
works, but in controverting the incorrect statements of
others. The architectural studies which led to the detec-
tion of some of these errors, probably gave him a bent
in this direction, and his writing for the "Saturday
Review" helped it. His greatest work is the "History of
the Norman Conquest" (6 vols., 1867-76), written in a
graphic style and abounding in evidence of careful
research. In fact, the research and consequent discussion
are too fully displayed, often occupying in notes and
appendixes more than the rest of each volume. In this

ENGLISH 151

work the attention is confined to public men and leading
events, to William and Harold, and the battles between
them ; the actual condition of the people, Saxon and Nor-
man, is not regarded. But the characters are carefully
portrayed and the story is told with animation. As part
of his passion for accuracy he insisted on spelling Anglo-
Saxon names in the old style, while he Anglicized the
French names in a queer fashion. A "Short History of the
Norman Conquest" (1880) was afterward prepared, and
the larger one was extended in the "Reign of William
Rufus" ( 1882) . Meantime, from the numerous contribu-
tions to reviews were collected "Historical Essays" (3
series, 1875-80). Several of his works treated of the
Turks and their government, to which he was bitterly op-
posed. Others related to the growth of the British consti-
tution, and to various forms of government In 1881
Freeman visited America, lecturing in the principal cities ;
these lectures on the development of the English race were
published, as were also his "Impressions of the United
States" ( 1883). His latest great work was a "History of
Sicily" (3 vols/, 1888-92), which was left incomplete.
Freeman died at Alicante, in Spain, in March, 1892.

FROUDE

The greatest historian of recent times, most brilliant
if not absolutely accurate in details, was James Anthony
Froude. His character and career afford many contrasts
with those of Freeman, who frequently took occasion to
point out Froude's mistakes, yet without much diminish-
ing the regard felt for his history. Froude was born in
1818, the son of a clergyman, and was educated at West-
minster and Oxford. Coming under the influence of
Newman, he took part in the Tractarian movement, and

152 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

assisted in writing "Lives of the English Saints." Bst
when Newman entered the Roman Church, Froude
recoiled and, falling into scepticism, wrote "The Nemesis
of Faith" (1849), which was severely censured. Carlyle
now became his adviser. From conscientious motives
Froude gave up his college fellowship, and sought to
make a living by literary work, writing for "Eraser's Mag-
azine" and the "Westminster Review," the essays that
were afterward collected in "Short Studies." But his
chief work is the "History of England from the Fall of
Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada" (12 vols.,
1856-70) . It was founded on original research, on a care-
ful examination of the documents of the period, especially
the acts of Parliament. These, he insisted, must be cor-
rect in fact, while narratives would partake the prejudices
of the writer, especially if an ecclesiastic. Froude endeav-
ored to restore life to the past, to render the personages
introduced more than mere lay-figures. And he suc-
ceeded in presenting Henry VIII, Queen Catharine, Mary
Queen of Scots, Mary of England, and Elizabeth as actual
human persons, though whether they preserved exact
resemblance to the originals was keenly disputed. Froude
was possessed not only with artistic sense, but with intense
patriotic feeling, which made him believe and assert that
in the main England had acted right in the momentous
crisis of the Reformation. He regarded ecclesiasticism
as injurious to genuine morality. These were undoubt-
edly the motives of his selection of this epoch as his theme.
Another subject fruitful in controversy was next handled
in "The English in Ireland" (3 vols., 1871-74). This
strongly partisan work, which supported the general
course of the alien rulers, offended the Irish Nationalists
without satisfying English readers. Froude was then sent
by the British Government to visit and report on the

ENGLISH 15^

colonies. The result is seen in his "Oceana," a general
sketch, and "The English in the West Indies." The
author's reports and recommendation to the Government
called forth angry replies from the colonists, and were
never acted upon. Froude was appointed by Carlyle his
literary executor, and as such gave to the world the
reproachful "Reminiscences," which the writer had
marked not to be published without revision. The result
was to expose the bickerings of the Carlyle household, and
exhibit the philosopher as a chronic faultfinder, snarl-
ing at everybody. His admirers were intensely dis-
pleased and threw the blame on Froude for not suppressing
or discreetly editing the papers put in his charge. But
the bold writer went steadily on his course. Eventually
when Freeman, his severest critic, died, Froude was
appointed to succeed him as professor of history at Oxford.
He delivered three courses of lectures, which were pub-
lished in 'The Life and Letters of Erasmus," "English
Seamen of the Sixteenth Century," and "Lectures on the
Council of Trent." They give further example of the
qualities seen in his previous historical works — lively
picturesque style, skill in rendering characters and inci-
dents as real. Froude died in October, 1894.

MAINE

Still another great writer in the historical field was
Sir Henry Sumner Maine (1822-1888), whose special
department was the development of law and the organiza-
tion of society. Educated at Christ's Hospital and Cam-
bridge, he graduated in 1844, and became Professor of
Civil Law. In 1862 he was called to India to take part in
legislative reform. On his return, in 1870, he was
knighted and was appointed Professor of Jurisprudence at

154 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Oxford, and was made member of the Council for India.
In 1877 he was chosen Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge,
and Professor of International Law. Maine early under-
took to correct the theory of organized society maintained
by Blackstone. He showed in his "Ancient Law" ( 1861 )
that social institutions were developed by custom, and that
society moves from status to contract, that is, from
regarding everything as fixed by class usage to allowing
special arrangements to be made by individuals. His views
were supported by what he observed in India, as reported in
his "Village Communities in the East and West" (1871),
and were further developed in his "Early History of Insti-
tutions" (1875). His lucid style and fine literary power
promoted the general acceptance of the new theory. His
"Popular Government" ( 1890) is a severe arraignment of
democratic institutions and tendencies.

LECKY

Prominent among the philosophic historians who dis-
cuss social movements rather than events, ideas rather
individuals, is William Edward Hartpole Lecky. He was
born at Dublin, Ireland, in 1838, and graduated from
Trinity College in 1859. His first work, published
anonymously in 1861, was "Leaders of Public Opinion
in Ireland," treating of Dean Swift, Flood, Grattan and
O'Connell. Its flowing style and wide sympathy won for
it general favor. After extensive travel on the Continent,
Lecky settled in London, and published his "History of
the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in
Europe" (2 vols., 1865). Rationalism was defined to be
that cast of thought which leads men to subordinate dog-
matic theology to the dictates of reason. Its influence
makes men regard the successive systems of theology as

ENGLISH 155

varying expressions of the universal religious sentiment ;
in ethics, it makes them regard duty as depending on con-
science only; in history, it causes them to attribute
phenomena to natural causes rather than supernatural.
The progress of this mode of thought was held not to
depend directly on the teaching of great thinkers, but to
be slow and indirect, gradually rising from the mass of
the laity to the clergy. The peculiar nature of this phil-
osophic work, treating- of magic, witchcraft, miracles, per-
secution, and the separation of politics from the church,
drew to it special attention. The "History of European
Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne" '(2 vols., 1869)
is a parallel work. Lecky rejects utilitarian ideas, and con-
siders morality as intuitive. He contrasts the Stoic and
Epicurean systems with Christian morality, and finds the
cause of the conversion of the Roman Empire in the ade-
quacy of the latter to the wants of the age. The causes
alleged by Gibbon are pronounced helpful, but not suffici-
ent. The rise of asceticism and monasticism is traced to
evils for which they were temporary remedies.

Lecky had now established his reputation as an original
thinker on historical and moral problems. In his next
work he came closer to the questions of his own time.
His "History of England in the Eighteenth Century"
(7 vols., 1878-88) is not a history in the ordinary sense,
but a collection of essays on the prominent facts and feat-
ures of the nation's life. It discusses separately the nature
of monarchy and aristocracy, the growth of democracy,
the increasing power of Parliament and the press, relig-
ious liberty, the rise of Methodism and the causes of the
French Revolution. Besides these, considerable space is
given to Irish affairs, and later this part was printed sepa-
rately as a "History of Ireland." It relates chiefly to the
rebellion of 1798, and is markedly impartial. The part

156 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

relating to the American Revolution has also been issued
separately in this country. Lecky had been elected to Par-
liament as a Liberal, but in 1886 he refused to follow Glad-
stone in the movement for Home Rule, and was afterwards
defeated for re-election.

BRYCE

Of the English philosophic historians none has been
better known in the United States than James Bryce. His
"American Commonwealth" (1888) was a revelation to
Americans themselves of the true significance and value of
their institutions. James Bryce is of Scotch-Irish descent,
and was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1838. He was edu-
cated at Glasgow University and at Oxford, graduating
in 1862 with high honor. His prize essay on "The Holy
Roman Empire" ( 1864) raised him at once to high rank
among historians. This valuable treatise first fully
explained the importance of the imperial idea in the Mid-
dle Ages, and its lasting effect upon Italy and Germany.
Bryce was made professor of civil law at Oxford in 1870.
He spent his vacations in foreign travel, which gave him
abundant material for contributions to magazines. In 1880
he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal, and in 1886 he
was made Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs in Glad-
stone's cabinet. His valuable work on the United States
was the result of careful observation during three visits to
this country. Compared with DeTocqueville's "Democ-
racy in America," published fifty years earlier, it exhibits
not only the astonishing growth of the nation, but its
power of readjusting its institutions and laws to meet
emergencies. Excellent as was the Frenchman's report,
Bryce's work surpasses it in broad views and wealth of
information. While he does not hesitate to point out

ENGLISH 157

defects, his general tone is that of admiration and
sympathy. A curious result followed its publication.
Having allowed Seth Low to write the chapter on Tam-
many rule in New York City, he was afterward prosecuted
for libel by A. Oakey Hall, who had been mayor of New
York, but was then resident in London. Bryce was con-
victed, and obliged to pay damages and cancel the offen-
sive chapter.

SYMONDS

Another noted historian, who gave attention, however,
to art, literature and criticism instead of politics, was John
Addington Symonds ( 18401893). He was born at Bris-
tol, educated at Harrow and Oxford, and was a Fellow of
Magdalen College. Though wealthy, he had inherited
consumption, and was obliged to reside at Davos-Platz, in
Switzerland, for benefit of the climate. His culture was of
the highest order, and to promote it among men was his
chief aim. Culture he defined as "the raising of intellectual
faculties to their highest potency by means of conscious
training." His greatest work, "History of the Renais-
sance in Italy," in five volumes (1875-86), treats
fully of the revival of learning in the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Centuries, the flourishing of the fine arts and
literature, and the Catholic reaction which followed. The
great characters, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Michael
Angelo, Raphael, are described sympathetically. During
his loving labor in this monumental work, many essays,
critical and speculative, were prepared. His "Studies of
the Greek Poets" are not only valuable contributions to
classical scholarship, but are full of freshness and vigor,
which commend them to the reader unacquainted with the
originals. His interest in the rise of modern literature led
to studies of Shakespeare's predecessors, and biographies

158 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of Sir Philip Sidney and Ben Jonson. He was also fully
awake to the literature of his own time, as is seen in his
criticisms of Walt Whitman and Zola, both of whom he
regarded as having helped man to understand himself.
His essays treat of a variety of other subjects connected
with art and literature. His original poems are light, ele-
gant and romantic; his translations are chiefly from his
favorite Italians.

GREEN

Among the few historians that have the faculty of
making history entertaining, Green holds a foremost place.
His "Short History of the English People" won more
readers than any other work of its class, while its original-
ity obtained credit from the ablest critics. Yet the author
had not set out to be an historian, but rather was drawn
by circumstances to his task. John Richard Green was
born at Oxford in 1837, and educated there without
obtaining distinction. On graduating he entered the
Church, and in 1865 became Vicar of Stepney in East Lon-
don. Holding High Church views, he was active in
parochial duty and in charity organization. To eke out
his slender income he wrote for the "Saturday Review"
articles on historical and social topics, which were after-
ward collected as "Stray Studies in England and Italy."
Part of them were derived from his winter visits to Italy
on account of his delicate lungs. When his health was
broken down by parish work, and his former rigid church
views abandoned, he retired from active clerical work.
Archbishop Tait made him librarian at Lambeth, where
Green began his "Short History of the English People."
Published in 1874, it was at once received with enthusi-
asm. His aim was to entertain as well as instruct, to
exhibit the life of the people in successive stages rather

ENGLISH 159

than recount the doing of Kings and Courts. His vivid,
picturesque style brought distant times and places close to
view. Some errors in minor particulars evoked criticism,
but these were soon corrected. The gratified author then
enlarged his work to four volumes ( 1878-80), still retain-
ing the methods and style which had given the original
popularity. Then he sought to go more deeply into the
origin of England's greatness, and in "The Making of
England" (1882) treated the early Anglo-Saxion period.
This was to be followed by "The Conquest of England,"
but the work was interrupted by his death at Mentone,
Italy, in March, 1883. His wife had faithfully watched
over his precarious health, and helped him as amanuensis.
Since his death she has superintended special editions of his
works. The distinguishing merits of Green's work are
his wide human sympathy and his power to make the past
real to the imagination. He steadily refrained from
injecting into the past the party spirit, political and ecclesi-
astical, of the present.

KINGLAKE

The prodigious scale on which modern history is often
constructed is exemplified in Kinglake's "History of the
Crimean War," which occupies seven volumes, though the
war lasted but two years. Alexander William Kinglake
( 181 1-1890) was educated at Eton and Cambridge. His
travels in the Levant furnished material for "Eothen"
( 1844) , a gem of literary art. His rollicking adventures
were related in a lively, humorous style, smart and some-
times flippant. Kinglake was elected to Parliament, but
was never prominent as a member. From love of adven-
ture he visited the Crimea during the war and received
kindness from Lord Raglan, which he abundantly repaid.

:6o LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

At the request of Raglan's family he undertook the history
and then made most careful study of all the details of the
war. Accounts of these he arranged in the most orderly
fashion, so that an affair of ten minutes may be spread over
seventy pages. A volume is given to the battle of Inker-
mann. His partiality toward Lord Raglan and other
British generals is offset by his prejudice against Napoleon
III and the French commanders, yet he is full of admira-
tion for the Russian defender of Sebastopol, Todleben.
His style is too brilliant for history, and the entire work
was condemned by Matthew Arnold as an example of
British bad taste.

Samuel Rawson Gardiner, born in 1829, was professor
of modern history in King's College, London. He
devoted himself especially to the history of the Seven-
teenth Century, and has published the "History of Eng-
land from the Accession of James I to the Restoration"
( 12 vols). Apart from this he has published an excellent
"Student's History of England" and several books
describing epochs and characters of the period of his chief
work.

Justin McCarthy, born at Cork, Ireland, in 1830, has
been an active politician and journalist, and has written
some novels of merit. His chief historical work is "A
History of Our Own Time" (1879-97), notable for its
fairness in treating political questions still in dispute. The
success of this work led him to write a "History of the
Four Georges" (1889) and a "History of Ireland," which
show the same excellent qualities.

Down to the last decade of the Century the two great
poets who are the literary glory of the Victorian era sur-
vived in revered old age, and still sent forth poems worthy
of their fame. But their lives and works have already
been discussed and others claim attention. A general
characteristic of these later poets, as indeed of nearly all
poets of the Century, is the tendency to recur to the past
for themes of their important works. This is partly an
imaginative escape from the recognized ills or prosaic
monotony of the present, just as poets of former days sung
of the Golden Age. But it is partly due to the increased
knowledge of history, which, in these days of books and
universal education, is forced upon everybody. Hence
latter-day poets revert to King Arthur and the knights of
the Round Table, to the quest of the Holy Grail, to
mediaeval legends; to classical mythology and Icelandic
sagas.

Another characteristic is the frequency of imitation,
the distinct following of an earlier poet, or of Words-
worth, Tennyson, or even Browning, as a master. This
is due to the spread of criticism and the careful study of
the thought and art of those who have been awarded
admission to high station in the temple of the Muses. The
beauty of their work being acknowledged, it is regarded as
the duty of others to learn wherein it consists, then follows
imitation, conscious and unconscious. Even Matthew
Arnold, a poet of ability, was overborne by his critical
spirit and study of his predecessors. Such poets remem-
ber too much of what others have sung, and waste their
VOI..9-U |6

i63 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

own talents in striving to reproduce the effect of the songs
hallowed by associations.

The greatest poets of this time, except the first two,
are Swinburne and William Morris, both highly educated,
and both decidedly musical. Swinburne, indeed, is the
greatest musician in English verse, the most complete mas-
ter of both words and meter. His work is chiefly lyrical,
but he has also composed excellent dramas. Morris was
an epic poet, but chose to present his narrative poems in
rhyme, with occasional lyrics interspersed. Besides these
there have been several poets who have introduced new
forms and measures from old French verse. Some of
them have gone on to more serious work in poetry, others
have turned to writing light essays. The period has been
full of experiments, and taken altogether, poetry has
declined. This was proved, perhaps, when Tennyson
died, for three years passed before one was found worthy
to take his place. The two mentioned above were, of
course, excluded for their pronounced political opinions,
Swinburne being a Republican, and William Morris a
Socialist. So the highest official honor which can be given
to an English poet passed after a long pause to Alfred
Austin, who then, at the age of sixty, first became known
to the world.

A curious but exquisitely pleasing mixture of old fash-
ions and modern style is found in the work of Austin
Dobson. His poems have been chiefly vers de societe and
imitations of old French meter. In prose he has written
biographies of English literary men, and studies of four
French women, all belonging to the same period as his
"Eighteenth Century Vignettes." Austin Dobson was
born at Plymouth in 1840, studied civil engineering, and
has held office in the Board of Trade. He began writing
in 1868, but published no volume till 1873, when his

ENGLISH 163

"Vignettes in Rhyme" were collected. Another collection
is called "At the Sign of the Lyre" (1885).

His friend, Edmund Gosse, born in 1849, was in youth
an assistant librarian at the British Museum, and wrote
poems and essays for the periodicals. He afterward be-
came translator to the Board of Trade. Poems collected
in several volumes "On Viol and Flute" (1873), "Fir-
dausi in Exile" (1885), show his skill as a lyrist. In
many of them Old French metrical forms are used. His
"Studies in the Literature of Northern Europe" (1879)
are the result of travels in Sweden and Norway. Other
books treat of English literature in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries, in which he is an acknowledged
authority. Thorough knowledge of his subject and deli-
cate skill in handling mark all his work.

WILLIAM MORRIS

Although at first a product of the Pre-Raphaelite
movement, William Morris developed a true originality of
poetic idea and expression. Well trained in the Greek
classics, and ever retaining warm affection for them, he
yet gave the wealth of his genius to the wild sagas of the
Norsemen, until he himself became an inventor of sagas
undistinguishable from the originals. But Morris's
energy was not confined to the poetic field. Entering into
business as a designer of household decoration, he forced
that department of art on the public attention until he
revolutionized the interiors of all buildings of any pre-
tentions. Similarly, he revived the quaint art of the early
printers of books. But more than this, though a wealthy
man, he was active in propagating Socialism as the panacea
for human woes.

William Morris (1834-1896) was born near London,

164 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford. He studied
painting before he turned to literature and house decora -
tion. His first poem was "The Defence of Guinevere"
( 1858), showing that he had been attracted by the Arthur
ian Legend, as was Tennyson, whose "Idylls of the King"
began to appear in the same year. His next was the "Life
and Death of Jason" ( 1867) in which the Greek myth was
told at great length in romantic style. Then came hi.*
distinctive work, "The Earthly Paradise" (1868), which
is a cycle of twenty-four narrative poems of different
lengths, all in rhyme, but in various meters. Mariners
of Norway seeking Paradise but baffled in their quest,
happen upon a land occupied by descendants of the ancient
Greeks, and a year is spent in alternate tales from Greek
and Norse mythology. Here are recited by one party the
steries of Atalanta, Cupid and Psyche, Pygmalion and
Galatea ; while the others tell of Ogier the Dane, Gudrun,
and Tannhauser. They are picturesque and full of a subtle
musical charm, the classical spirit still predominating.
Morris went on to "The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and
the Fall of the Niblungs" ( 1876), in which he tells in his
own inimitable way the famous German epic of the
"Nibelungenlied." This work he regarded as his best, but
readers generally prefer the earlier poems. Translations
of three great epics, Virgil's "^Eneid" (1876), Homer's
"Odyssey" (1887) and the Saxon "Beowulf" (1895),
testified his devotion to former poets. Yet the translator
used his opportunity freely, seeking to render these mas-
terpieces into poems of his own style. From the Icelandic
several prose translations were made, Professor Magnus-
son assisting in the "Saga Library," of which five volumes
were issued, including the "Heimskringla." But besides
these translations Morris published other things of his
own, as "Hopes and Fears for Art" ( 1881 ) and "Aims of

ENGLISH 165

Art" (1887) and Socialist treatises and hymns. Finally
came his own romances in the form of old sagas, "The
House of the Wolfings" ( 1889) , "The Story of the Glitter-
ing Plain" (1891), "The Wood Beyond the World"
(1894), and "The Well at the World's End" (1896).
These prose poems go back to the primitive age of the
Teutonic race, telling of noble warriors and their heroic
deeds, of lovely women and splendid feasts. This ever-
increasing devotion to dreams of a world which has long
passed away, if it ever actually existed, prevents Morris
from obtaining the wide recognition which is necessary to
true fame. Subjects totally out of our knowledge cannot
satisfy the desire of the mind for intellectual gratification.

There is another Morris, a poet somewhat popular, but
by no means of the fame of William. This is Lewis Mor-
ris, who was born at Carmarthen, in Wales, in 1834. He
was educated at Oxford and was called to the bar in Lon-
don. In 1880 he was made Justice of the Peace for his
native county, and went to reside there. His "Songs of
Two Worlds" appeared in three series (1871-75) ; "The
Epic of Hades" (1877) is poetical drama, describing the
punishment and purgation of spirits. Though censured
by the critics, it enjoys favor with the masses. Among
his latter works are "Songs Unsung" (1883) and "Songs
of Britain" (1887).

SWINBURNE

Swinburne has been recognized from his first appear-
ance as a poet unmatched in the mastery of rhythm and
melody, and in the serious beauty of his descriptions. In
spite of his continuous writing, he has not attained a higher
place than he reached by his first effort. But that place

1 66 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

was high, so that he was even regarded by some as superior
to Tennyson and Browning. He still remains next to
these among the poets of the later Victorian era.

Little is known of the life of Algernon Charles Swin-
burne. His father was a British Admiral, his mother a
daughter of the Earl of Ashburnham. He was born in
1837 near Henley on the Thames. He was educated
partly in France, partly in Etoji, and then went to Balliol
College, Oxford, but left in 1860, and went to Italy. He
afterward lived in London with Rossetti, and later at
Wimbledon. He entered literature as a dramatic poet,
publishing "Rosamond" and ''The Queen Mother" in
1860, "Atlanta in Calydon" in 1864, and "Chastelard"
in 1865. Of these "Atalanta" attracted most attention, as
being a noble imitation of Greek tragedy. But in 1866 the
public were amazed and shocked by his "Poems and
Ballads," which displayed his wonderful poetical powers,
but in some instances dwelt on forbidden subjects. The
objectionable pieces are said to have been written in pro-
test against conventional morality. The American edi-
tion bore the title "Laus Veneris." After a time Swin-
burne issued more "Poems and Ballads," full of sweetness
and beauty, and free from the .sins of his youth; then
"Songs Before Sunrise," dedicated to Mazzini, and hailing
the revolution in Italy; "Songs of Two Nations," in which
the "Song of Italy" is conspicuous; "Songs of the Spring-
tides," and other volumes. As the titles of these indicate,
Swinburne is above all a musician, who elicits, even from
the harsh and crabbed Saxon tongue a wonderfully sweet
and unprecedented harmony. "Tristram of Lyonesse,"
though a narrative in rhyme, is strongly dramatic; "The
Tale of Balen" (1896) is derived from Sir Thomas
Malory's "Morte d' Arthur." To his former dramas several
others have been added. "Erechtheus" is another Greek

ENGLISH 167

tragedy; "Bothwell" and "Mary Stuart" treat the story
of the beautiful Queen of Scots, but with bitter prejudice
against her. "Marino Faliero" is from Venetian history.
Besides his poetical work, Swinburne has done much
in prose, critical, controversial and miscellaneous. The
work of the Elizabethan dramatists has been examined and
expounded with exhaustive skill in monographs and
essays. Swinburne's eulogies are often extravagant, his
controversial writings are sometimes rabid. His prose style
is vehement and often obscure from his recondite allusions
and strange use of words. Though an aristocrat by birth
and training, he is a Republican by conviction, and has
given unqualified utterance to his views. Even his poetry
is marred by the fierceness of his hatred to Napoleon III,
whom he regarded as the betrayer of liberty.

SIR EDWIN ARNOLD

By a sympathetic revelation of the principles of Bud-
dhism in "The Light of Asia," Edwin Arnold won wide
fame for himself and favor for the religious system which
moulds the lives of one-fourth of the human race. He
was born in Sussex, England, in 1832, and after graduat-
ing at Oxford, engaged in teaching at Birmingham. As
principal of a Sanskrit college at Poonah, India, from 1857
to 1 86 1, he acquired that special familiarity with the relig-
ions of Asia which is displayed in his later work. Return-
ing to England for a vacation, chance led him to an
important editorial position on the London "Telegraph."
After some translations from Greek and Sanskrit, he
issued, in 1879, h*s poetical paraphrase of the life
and teachings of Buddha. By its brilliant local color and
gorgeous imagery, as well as the interwoven resemblance
to the Christian Gospels, this epic captivated the world.
Then in 1881 came "Indian Idylls," taken from the Hindu

1 68 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

epic, Mahabharata, and in 1883, "Pearls of the Faith; or
Islam's Rosary,'' which was intended to do for Moham-
medanism what his former poem had done for Buddhism.
Next the author turned to Persia, and translating from
Sadi's poems, published, in 1888, "Sadi in the Garden; or
the Book of Love." Taking up the story of Jesus, he
wrote "The Light of the World" ( 1892), but none of his
later works attained the success of that on Buddha. His
visit to Japan in 1892 furnished material for his prose
work "Japonica," and led to his marriage with a Japanese
lady. His former wife was an American. Arnold has
been a diligent and versatile journalist as well as poet.
His friendly exposition of non-Christian religions has
brought high honors from the King of Siam, the Sultan of
Turkey, the Shah of Persia, and the Emperor of Japan.
Queen Victoria also, in 1888, created him Knight Com-
mander of the Indian Empire. These honors are undoubt-
edly deserved, as Arnold's works have done much to make
the adherents of various religions better acquainted with
each other's views. But his merits as a poet are not so
highly esteemed as formerly. The poetry is picturesque,
the meter graceful, but the embellishment too lavish to
suit the Western mind, and the introduction of foreign
terms, hardly to be understood, fatigues the reader.

WILLIAM WATSON

When Lord Tennyson died in 1892, the question of the
succession in the laureateship was widely discussed, and
many critics urged the claims of William Watson.
Unfortunately a mental trouble about that time required
his removal to an asylum. He afterwards entirely recov-
ered. Watson was born at Wharfdale, in Yorkshire, in
1850. His father was a Liverpool merchant. On
account of delicate health, the boy was educated privately.

ENGLISH 169

He became passionately fond of Shelley, Keats and
Wordsworth. He had published two volumes before his
"Wordsworth's Grave" (1892) brought him into general
recognition. His tribute to Tennyson's memory "Lach-
rymse Musarum" (1892) secured for him, through Glad-
stone, a government pension of £200. "The Purple East,"
which was afterward enlarged into "The Year of Shame,"
was a series of sonnets, upbraiding the English for their
neglect of the Armenians in 1896. These ringing sonnets
recall Milton's vehement denunciation of the persecution
of the Vaudois. Watson's later volumes are "The Tomb
of Burns" and "The Father of the Forest."

AUSTIN

When it was announced in 1895 that the poet laureate-
ship left vacant since the death of Lord Tennyson had
been bestowed by Lord Salisbury on Alfred Austin, most
Americans were astonished; they did not know the man,
had never heard of his poetry. Yet Austin was then sixty
years old, and had been active in literature for many years.
He was born near Leeds in 1835, of Roman Catholic
parents. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and St.
Mary's, Oscott. His early poems were satires, among
which "The Golden Age" had the most success. After-
ward came dramatic, lyric, and narrative poems, fairly
good but not striking, the best being "The Human
Tragedy," "Rome or Death" (1873), and "Savonarola"
( 1 88 1 ) . The laureate's later poems have had no striking
merit. He is simply a respectable minor poet, with
strong patriotic feeling, which is well shown in "England's
Darling," a eulogy of Alfred the Great. His fondness for
quiet country scenes appears in many poems, as "The
Garden I Love."

PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS

HERBERT SPENCER

The philosophical writer who has had the widest and
most penetrating influence upon the intellect of the Cen-
tury is Herbert Spencer, the apostle of evolution, even be-
yond Darwin. He was born in 1820 at Derby, where his
father was a schoolmaster of especial note for his skill in
teaching geometry. Herbert, at the age of seventeen, be-
came a railway engineer and soon contributed papers on
technical subjects to engineering journals. In 1842 he
published a pamphlet on "The Proper Sphere of Govern-
ment," and in 1848 was made sub-editor of the "Econo-
mist," which position he held five years. He had in the
meantime published "Social Statics; or the Conditions
Essential to Human Happiness Specified, and the First of
Them Developed," which was in 1892 abridged and re-
vised in connection with his later "Man and the State."
In 1852 Spencer contributed to the "Westminster Review"
an article on "Manners and Fashion," showing that politi-
cal, religious and ceremonial forms are protective envel-
opes within which a higher humanity is gradually devel-
oped, but are cast aside when they become hindrances. In
1855 he published his "Principles of Psychology," which
was afterward incorporated in his "Synthetic Philosophy."
In 1860 his prospectus of this system was issued, announc-
ing that it would be complete in ten volumes. The next
twenty-five years were spent in carrying out this elaborate
programme with immense labor and phenomenal ability.
The doctrine of evolution, toward which he had been mov-

170

ENGLISH 171

ing even before Darwin had published his "Origin of
Species," was now made the basis and guide in all human
affairs as in the world of nature. Evolution he defines to
be "an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation
of motion, during which the matter passes from an in-
definite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent
heterogeneity." After the introductory treatise on "First
Principles" (1862), came "Principles of Biology," of
"Psychology," of "Sociology," "Ceremonial Institutions,"
"Political Institutions," "Ecclesiastical Institutions." The
"Data of Ethics" was issued among these, out of its proper
order on account of its importance. The sciences relating
to the inorganic world he omitted as sufficiently treated in
other ways. The aim of his philosophy is to encourage
the scientific study of life and society as the practical means
of attaining the highest good The absolute and infinite
is regarded as unknowable, though the exercise of trying
to find it out may not be altogether unprofitable.

Before this grand work was fairly commenced, Spen-
cer issued his valuable treatise on "Education — Intellec-
tual, Moral and Physical," from which a few principles are
here briefly stated. Science is compared to Cinderella,
the household drudge, who has been despised by her
haughty sisters, but is now to be advanced to the highest
station. Knowledge must be made attractive to the pupil
if he is to be benefited. The aim of moral education is to
make self-governing beings. The preservation of health
is a primary duty for the discharge of which the laws gov-
erning the body must be known. All of these principles
have been approved and put in practice by the leading
teachers of to-day.

The next in popularity of Spencer's work is "The
Study of Sociology" ( 1874) which sets forth the means of
ascertaining the principles by which human society should

172 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

be regulated. His political views are presented in "The
Man versus the State" (1884), in which he opposes the
later tendency of Liberalism to compulsory laws, making
it indeed a new form of Toryism; he also objects to the
belief in the divine right of Parliament as the great poli-
tical superstition of the present time, as the belief in the
divine right of Kings was of the past. The only proper
function of government, as he has always held, is to pro-
tect life, property and order, leaving the settlement of the
general relations of society to individual action. Spencer
has thus been a determined foe of Socialism and an advo-
cate of individualism. He has not hesitated to enter into
controversy on behalf of his views. Herbert Spencer
was also the editor of a series of volumes called "Descrip-
tive Sociology," in which it was intended to bring together
a repertory of facts concerning the physique, habits and
customs of several sections of the human race. Eight
volumes had been issued when the work was suspended on
account of the enormous expense involved. In spite of ill
health, which threatened to prevent the conclusion of his
proposed great "Synthetic System of Philosophy,"
Spencer worked steadily and systematically till it was com-
pleted in 1897. He persistently refused to join scientific
societies or accept university honors or do anything which
might distract him from his self-appointed work.

Spencer's idea of evolution was gradually worked out
through diligent study of scientific facts, and was eventu-
ally extended till it embraced the whole universe. Then
in explication of his system he reversed the process, apply-
ing his theory to the basic conditions of the world, and
showing its agreement with recorded facts. This requires
that immense amount of illustration from every depart-
ment of science, with which his work seems to some to be
overloaded. His philosophical system, the only strictly

ENGLISH 173

inductive one in the world, has quickly been accepted by
students of science, and has gradually won its way among
philosophers. Its far-reaching effects are felt in every
department of thought.

DRUMMOND

In the borderland of literature between science and
religion no writer has obtained more readers than Henry
Drummond. He was born at Stirling, Scotland, in
1851, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh
and at the Free Church Divinity Hall. During his course
at the latter he was an active assistant to Messrs. Moody
and Sankey in their evangelistic tour in Great Britain and
Ireland. On being ordained he was appointed to a mis-
sion chapel in Malta, but in 1877 was made professor of
natural science in the Free Church College at Glasgow,
where he also took charge of a mission church. During
one of his vacations he made a geological expedition to the
Rocky Mountains with Professor Geikie. His lectures
and other addresses furnished his "Natural Law in the
Spiritual World" (1883), but before it was published he
had gone on a journey to the heart of Africa. The bril-
liant presentation of new views of the old spiritual
truths gave the work immediate success. Drummond
returned to take up religious work among college students,
and later in its behalf visited Australia. In 1893 he trav-
eled through the United States, addressing college stu-
dents and lecturing in the large cities. Several of these
addresses, as "The Greatest Thing in the World," "Pax
Vobiscum," were widely circulated. "The Ascent of
Man" (1893) is an able reply to extreme Darwinian
views, showing that nature includes struggle for others
as well as for self. Another publication was "Tropical

174 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Africa," which gives the clearest view of the condition of
that region yet published. Africa, however, had im-
planted the seeds of disease in his system and the brave,
hard-working Christian professor after two years of strug-
gle with ill health, died in March, 1897.

ESSAYISTS AND MISCELLANISTS

MALLOCK

A singular fate has overtaken William Hurrell Mai-
lock. It is his misfortune to be almost entirely excluded
from serious consideration, not by the future, but by the
very success of his first book. The jest of his satire was so
piquant that he can hardly afterward be regarded as in
earnest. He is a nephew of the historian Froude and was
born in Devonshire in 1849. He was educated at Ox-
ford and won the Newdigate prize by his poem. "The Isth-
mus of Suez." His satrical ability was shown in "The New
Republic" (1876), a modern dialogue in imitation of
Plato's "Republic." The speakers represent, under thin
disguises, the leaders of modern thought — Matthew Ar-
nold, Huxley, Tyndall, Ruskin, and others. They sev-
erally propose to dismiss from their New Republic imagi-
nation, poetry, superstition, religious belief, serious convic-
tions, the middle classes, but are driven out in confusion
when Mr. Herbert (Ruskin) banishes the upper classes as
well. The parody on the style of thought and writing of
the speakers is perfect, and the success of the skit was
complete. The author followed it up by "The New Paul
and Virginia; or, Positivism on an Island" (1878), but
this had little effect. Mallock then turned to serious writ-
ing, and discussed "Is Life Worth Living," in which the
emptiness of this life, if there be no future, is forcibly
presented. His numerous essays on social topics have
been collected in several volumes, among them being
"Property, Progress, and Poverty" (1884), and "Classes

ITS

176 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

and Masses; or, Wealth and Wages" (1896). He is a
strong reactionary, seeking to go back to medisevalism in
social organization and religious belief. But into all his
writing a bitter mixture of doubt and mockery is infused.
Mallock has also published some sentimental romances
which receive but little attention.

Among the writers noted for elegance and even dainti-
ness of style, Walter Pater (1839-1894) holds the chief
place, though he wrote but little. He was educated at
Oxford and became a Fellow of Brasenose College. To
him the chief object of life was to extract the utmost of
pleasure from living in a refined way, especially from
education and art The study of Greek pervaded Pater's
life and writings. Nor was his first book, "Studies in the
History of the Renaissance" (1873), untrue to this^prin-
ciple, since it had reference to the revival of Greek culture
in modern society. This next, "Marius the Epicurean"
( 1885), is a story of ancient Rome in the time of Marcus
Aurelius, when the Stoic philosophy dominated the higher
classes, and Paganism and Christianity touched and
blended. An important character is the celebrated
Apuleius, to whom Pater shows favor. In "Imaginary
Portraits" (1887) and "Appreciations" (1890) the style
is not so perfect as in his former works. At his best his
style is less exuberant than Ruskin's, more finished and
exquisite, never overloaded with ornament. It aims at
well modulated harmony, and excels in the construction of
paragraphs to this end.

In modern times there have been a few writers who
won fame by giving such accurate descriptions of nature as
attested their loving feeling for it, and drew others to
share, at least while reading, this love. Such was Gilbert

ENGLISH 177

White, of Selborne, in the last Century, and such is John
Burroughs in our own time and country. The only recent
English representative of this class, which may be called
nature-essayists, was Richard Jefferies, whose life was
cut off before he knew his fame. The son of a farmer, he
was born near Swindon, in Wiltshire, in 1848. Self-
educated, he began writing for local newspapers at
eighteen, and in 1877 went to London to engage in jour-
nalism. His first book was "The Gamekeeper at Home"
( 1878). This was followed by "The Amateur Poacher"
( 1879), "Hodge and His Master" ( 1880), "Round About
a Great Estate" ( 1880), and "Life of the Fields" ( 1884).
These were highly praised by observant critics for both
matter and style. They are breezy books, which make
men and boys fond of out-of-door rural life. The author
wrote also some novels, which were of little value. For
several years he was an invalid and, brooding on his
troubles, he became a mystical pessimist. His "Story of
My Heart" (1883) was a remarkable autobiographic
sketch, which was hardly heard by the public till after his
death, in August, 1887. A strange fame then set in and
gave value to his writings, which had before but slight
appreciation by the public.

LANG

A most pleasant writer of light verse and graceful
essays, an able translator of Homer and French lyrics, a
judicious exponent of anthropology, and many other im-
portant matters is found in the gifted Scotchman, Andre\v
Lang. He was born at Selkirk in 1844, and was educated
at St. Andrews University and Balloil College, Oxford.
He soon began to write for periodicals, and in 1872 pub-
lished "Ballades and Lyrics of Old France." With some

VOL. 9—IJ

178 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

friends he began to imitate the forms of old French verse,
introducing ballads, rondeaus, and villanelles. His "Bal-
lades in Blue China," "Ballades and Verses Vain,"
"Rhymes Old and New," indicate by their titles their gen-
eral light, airy quality, yet sometimes he attempts some-
thing of a higher kind, and performs it well. "Helen of
Troy" ( 1882) is his most ambitious poem and should have
led to something still grander. In the field of anthro-
pology and comparative mythology he has been an earnest
worker, as is shown by his volumes, "Custom and Myth"
(1884) and "Myth, Ritual, and Religion" (1887). He
proves that many myths, long held to be of Aryan origin,
are practically found among savage tribes in various parts
of the earth. Lang is a fine classical scholar, as he has
shown not only in his excellent prose translations of Theo-
critus and Homer, but also in numerous lively essays by
quotation and allusion. Yet he is by no means so wedded
to the ancients as not to have regard for the modern clas-
sics. From foreign lands he has brought into English
some fine collections of fairy tales, as in the "Blue Fairy
Book" and the "Red Fairy Book." His essays on French
literature are valuable contributions to that department.
"The Mark of Cain" (1886) is a caricature of the sensa-
tional story, which was then largely in vogue. But he has
also seriously attempted historical romance in> "The
Maid of Fife" ( 1895), which has Joan of Arc as the cen-
tral figure. He has written some excellent biographies,
as the lives of Lord Iddesleigh (better known as Sir Straf-
ford Northcote) and of Lockhart He has also edited
many selections of standard literature, writing excellent
introductions.

NOVELISTS OF THE LATER VICTORIAN
PERIOD

MACDONALD

The earliest of the novelists of Scottish life, with
marked religious purpose, was George Macdonald. He
was born at Huntly, in the North of Scotland, in 1824.
After graduating at Aberdeen University, he studied
theology in the Independent College, Highbury, London.
For some years he was a preacher to Scotch Congrega-
tionalists in London, then resigned his ministry and joined
the Church of England. He became principal of a sem-
inary, but has been chiefly engaged in literary work, and
has resided much in Italy. His first publications were
poems, which were followed by "Phantastes, a Faerie Ro-
mance" (1858). His first novel, "David Elginbrod,"
appeared in 1862, and was the harbinger of a large num-
ber of the same class. His motive is to present to his
fellow-men "the common good, uncommonly developed,"
as being more true to humanity than pictures of evil or
failure. This strong moral purpose, faithfully carried
out, does not prevent him from showing power in his
carefully wrought plots, life-like characters, and dramatic
incidents. Among his best novels are "Alec Forbes of
Howglen," "Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood," "Wilfrid
Cumbermede," "The Marquis of Lossie," and especially
"Sir Gibbie." Peculiarly attractive are his stories for
children, "At the Back of the North Wind" and "The
Princess and Curdie." He has also published some ser-
mons and religious treatises. His poems are pure and
spiritual.

179

i8o LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

BLACKMORE

Although Richard Doddridge Blackmore has written
many novels, he is known as the author of one — "Lorna
Doone," a semi-historical romance, which has given fame
to a Devonshire valley. He was born in Berkshire in
1825, graduated at Oxford, studied law, practiced as a
conveyancer, and when his health failed, became a market-
gardener near London. His first literary ventures were
poems. He did not attempt novel-writing till he was
nearly forty, nor did he secure much attention for some
time after his best work was published in 1869. Slowly
its merits were recognized and at last the melodramatic
romance attained popularity. "Lorna Doone" is a story
of the time of King Charles II. The Doones were a
family of outcast nobles, living as robbers in Bagworthy
forest, the wild road to their home being strictly guarded
against intruders. But young John Ridd, the stout and
valiant son of a simple yeoman, who keeps sheep on the
Downs, chances to meet Lorna Doone, the fair queen of
the wild band, falls in love with her, undertakes wild and
desperate adventures for her sake, and rescues her and
himself out of perils by his native shrewdness. Among
Blackmore's other stories are "The Maid of Sker,"
"Cripps the Carrier," "Erema; or, My Father's Sin," "Sir
Thomas Upton." He depicts with much skill the peasants
and fisher-folk of the West of England, hardy, slow of
speech, yet keen-witted. His stories are told in a quaint,
meditative way, are full of adventure and dramatic situa-
tions. His heroes are gallant, and his heroines sweet, but
the other characters, parsons and rustics, or even highway-
men, usually excite more interest.

Perhaps the most prolific writer of books in the present
day is the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould. He was born at

ENGLISH 181

Exeter in 1834, graduated at Cambridge twenty years
later, and entered the Church. He became rector at Lew
Trenchard, Devonshire, in 1881. Part of his youth was
spent in Germany and France, and from the literature of
these countries he has drawn for his numerous writings.
His easy conversational style has enabled him to treat
English rural life, Ireland, theological topics, mediaeval
myths, folk-lore, comparative mythology, and German his-
tory in an equally interesting way. The best known of
his books is "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages" ( 1866).
Of more than thirty novels may be mentioned, "Red
Spider," "Mehalah; a Tale of the Salt Marshes," "Gabri-
elle Andre," "In Exitu Israel." Wide information and
powerful imagination are shown in these, but the striking
characters often drawn from English peasant life, are not
attractive. Much more pleasant is his biography of the
Rev. R. S. Hawker, "The Vicar of Morwenstow."

Henry Rider Haggard is a fine story-teller, whose
accounts of wild adventures gave him for a time extraor-
dinary success. He was born in 1856 and had been on
Government service in South Africa. After publishing
an account of "Cetewayo and His White Neighbors"
(1882) he used his knowledge of strange lands in ro-
mances of adventure. Among the most noted of his books
are "King Solomon's Mines" (1886), "She" (1888), and
"Allan Quartermain" ( 1889) . In "The World's Desire"
he was associated with Andrew Lang.

BLACK

The Scotch Highlands and the rocky islands to the
West are the region which William Black has made fam-
iliar by several fine stories, but he is quite as much at home

i»2 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

in London drawing-rooms. He was born at Glasgow in
1841 and went to London in 1864. In 1875 he gave up
journalism for fiction, in which he had already made some
ventures. His first really successful novel was "A Daugh-
ter of Heth" ( 1871 ), in which a gay Southern girl, full of
innocent wiles, is sadly bewildered and tragically mis-
understood by the grim, sober folk among whom she has
thoughtlessly been lured. In the "Princess of Thule,"
the proud and beautiful heroine by her feminine witchery
and skill in sailing, captivates the summer tourist. "The
Strange Adventures of a Phaeton" (1872) describes a
tour through Great Britain, interweaving a love-story.
"White Wings" (1880) is a yachting romance. "Shan-
don Bells" (1883) is an Irish story, telling the struggles
of a literary man. Black is an enthusiastic lover of out-
door sports, of fly-fishing, yachting, and deer-stalking, and
describes all these in his stories. He is equally skillful in
delineating the wild scenery of rocky islands, the grandeur
of sunsets, the terrors of ocean storms, and the melancholy
temperament and peculiar humor of the Highland chief
and clansmen.

HALL CAINE

As Black has given prominence to the Hebrides, Hall
Caine has given his native Isle of Man a place in literature.
He was born in 1853 an<^ became an architect in Liverpool.
He had, however, an inclination to literature, which was
fostered by his friendship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
with whom he went to live in London in 1880. His first
book was "Recollections of Rossetti," and in 1885 he pub-
lished his first novel, "The Shadow of a Crime," which
was written with prodigious pains. "The Deemster"
(1887) obtained more favor, "The Scapegoat" (1891)

ENGLISH 183

still more, and "The Manxman" (1894) completed his
group of pictures of Manx life. Yet for each of these he
has declared that he drew the primary idea from the Bible
— from the story of Joseph and his brethren, from David
and Uriah, and from David and Jonathan. Mr. Caine
visited Russia in 1892 in behalf of the persecuted Jews, and
in 1895 lectured in the United States. His novel, "The
Christian" (1897), presents, according to his view, the
religious question of to-day. John Storm, a religious
fanatic, is yet in love with Glory Quayle, a friend of his
childhood, who has become a famous actress, and tries to
draw^her from demoralizing associations. When she re-
fuses, his frenzy makes him seek to kill her, but her words
restore him to sounder mind. Storm, who has been a
High Churchman, finally becomes a Salvation Army
preacher, and after a meeting is assaulted by a mob in the
streets. Glory hastens to him and they are married while
he is lying on his death-bed. The scenes of the story are
highly realistic, but the whole is wildly improbable.

BESANT

Sir Walter Besant had been a worker in other fields
before James Rice, editor of "Once a Week," took him
into partnership in novel-writing. Good as their joint
efforts were, Besant's chief fame is due to his later inde-
pendent output. An astonishing material response to his
"All Sorts and Conditions of Men" was the People's Pal-
ace, built and liberally furnished to provide recreation for
the poor but honest inhabitants of East London. This
in turn brought the philanthropic author his knighthood.
Walter Besant was born at Portsmouth in 1838, and was
educated at King's College, London, and Christ's College,
Cambridge. He became professor in the Royal College of

i»4 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Mauritius for seven years. Then, returning to England,
he published "Studies in Early French Poetry" (1868)
and "French Humorists" (1873). He was secretary of
the Palestine Exploration Fund and, with Professor Pal-
mer, wrote a "History of Jerusalem" (1871). Mean-
time, his acquaintance with Rice had ripened into their
well-known partnership, the results of which were "Ready-
Money Mortiboy," "With Harp and Crown," "The
Golden Butterfly," and "The Chaplain of the Fleet." The
latter relates to the Fleet prison, into the foul atmosphere
of which an innocent country girl, niece of the chaplain,
brings an air of purity. After the death of Rice in 1882,
Besant issued his famous novel, depicting the ordinary,
dreary life of East London, which his hero and heroine
undertake to relieve with a palace of pleasure. In other
stories, as "The Children of Gibeon" (1884) and "The
World Went Very Well Then" ( 1885) Sir Walter Besant
pursued his philanthropic schemes. But in many more he
treated a wide range of subjects and characters, sometimes
the woman question or other problems of the time, some-
times a miser or whimsical individual, sometimes the
wrongs of the poor, and sometimes the sufficiency of a
little for life's wants. Some of them are tragical or melo-
dramatic, but most of them are pervaded with a cheerful
humor, which is seen even in their titles, as "Call Her
Mine" and the "Wapping Idyll."

HARDY

Far different in aim and effect is the stern realist,
Thomas Hardy, loving painter of rural scenery, but grim
pessimist in his delineation of character and fate. Born
in Dorsetshire in 1840, he studied architecture, but at the
age of thirty turned to novel-writing and soon proved sig-

ENGLISH 185

nal ability. "Under the Greenwood Tree" (1872) showed
him a master of rural life and of the English rustic, whose
homely dialect talk reveals an unconscious humor. In "A
Pair of Blue Eyes" (1873) the heroine, Elfride, when a
girl, trifles a little with a village youth, who pines and dies,
leaving his mother to avenge his wrongs. A slight im-
prudence of Elfride's with another is magnified into a
scandal which drives off her true lover. In "The Return
of the Native" the lofty pride of the dainty Eustacia Vye
destroys the ambition of Clym Yeobright without granting
him love. In "Jude the Obscure," the hero wishing to
become a student at Oxford, is tricked into marriage with
the sensual Arabella. Later, when his early hope seems
likely to be realized, he meets his intellectual cousin, Sue,
who is so highly educated that she is too pure to think of
marriage, yet in too intimate association with Jude, falls
into sin. In "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" a fair country
maiden had been betrayed, but had gone to tend a dairy a
short distance away, where her fault was unknown.
Angel Clare, a gentleman's son, falls in love with the dairy-
maid, but on their marriage-day he feels bound to confess
a previous love-affair. Tess then tells her own story, and
Clare, horrified, repulses her as unclean, and she is swept
downward to her wretched fate. These powerful but
gloomy novels show Hardy's stern, fatalistic view of
human life, regarding the causes and chances leading to
failure and misery as more numerous and powerful than
those tending to success. In parts of these stories and
still more in his short tales, the charms of the country are
finely depicted, and in this Hardy excels all other novelists.

x86 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

GEORGE MEREDITH

George Meredith is unique among English novelists.
He can never become popular, for he disdains elaborate
plots and cares little for dramatic scenes. His design is to
reveal character as it is exhibited in real life in a succession
of apparently unimportant incidents. All subjects are
treated with philosophic calmness, yet with patient study.
The minds and thoughts of men, and still more of women,
are the objects of his searching analysis. Meredith was
born in Hampshire in 1828, and spent much of his child-
hood in Germany. He studied law, but soon devoted
himself to literature. He married a daughter of Thomas
Love Peacock (1785-1866), the fantastic author of the
satirical romances, "Headlong Hall" and "Nightmare
Abbey." After a volume of poems, Meredith published
"The Shaving of Shagpat" (1855), a burlesque Oriental
poem. His first and perhaps his finest novel, "The Ordeal
of Richard Feverel" (1859), opens with a beautiful love
idyll, exhibits a variety of eccentric characters, and closes
with tragic gloom. Most of his books deal with the com-
edy of life, yet in a highly philosophic, rather than amus^
ing way. The most noted are "The Egoist" (1879),
"The Tragic Comedians" (1881), "Diana of the Cross-
ways" (1885), and "The Amazing Marriage." Women
are his favorite study, and Diana, the strong and beautiful
Irish gentlewoman, is most radiant, while her lovers are
satellites to her glory. Meredith's poems are full of the
same philosophic spirit as his novels, and his imagination
and love of nature carry him to even greater achievement.

ENGLISH 187

STEVENSON

The life of Robert Louis Stevenson was spent in the
constant pursuit of health and happiness. Early doomed
to death by consumption, that scourge of the Scotch race,
he struggled manfully to stave it off by traveling and resid-
ing in the most favorable climates. In spite of this in-
cubus, he was diligent in writing and left a large number
of delightful volumes in prose and verse. He belonged
to a family famous from his great-grandfather down to
his father, for the erection of light-houses. He was in-
tended to be an engineer himself, but fate by his physical
and mental constitution decided otherwise. He was born
at Edinburgh in 1850, studied there at school and uni-
versity, was called to the bar, but did not practise law.
From his boyhood he had been a persistent cultivator of
style in writing, not originally for publication, but for its
own sake. He imitated various authors, from Sir Thomas
Browne to Hawthorne, and then became expert in the
choice and collocation of words. For the sake of his
health he went to the South of France in 1873, leading a
seemingly idle life. He had begun to publish essays in
the "Cornhill Magazine," which were afterwards gathered
in two volumes. His first books were "An Inland Voy-
age" (1878) and "Travels with a Donkey in the Ceven-
nes" ( 1879) . He crossed the Atlantic as a steerage pass-
enger in 1879 and went to California, where he married
Mrs. Osbourne, whom he had first met in France. She
took special care of his health and collaborated with him
in some stories. His "Treasure Island" ( 1883) first gave
him wide reputation. It is just such a story as boys
delight in, full of adventure, pirates and fights. Quite as
entertaining are the short stories of the "New Arabian
Nights" and "Prince Otto," which introduces a few fine

i35 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

poems. Some of his stories were written in collaboration
with his stepson.

In 1886 Stevenson created wide sensation by his
"Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," in which the
chief personage is transformed at intervals, physically and
mentally, so as to appear and act in entirely different ways.
The story is told in a restrained, measured way, which
helps to retain the reader's belief in the good faith of the
narrators. In the same year came another adventurous
story, "Kidnapped," which the author considered his best
in fulfilling the purpose intended. It is a story of the early
Eighteenth Century, full of grim and terrible scenes and
characters, in dealing with which lay, as he believed, his
forte. "The Black Arrow" is an historical romance of
the War of the Roses. "The Master of Ballantrae"
(1889) is another of the powerful stories with terrible
scenes. Before this Stevenson had begun his voyages in
the Pacific, which resulted in his making his home in
Samoa. There some measure of health came to him
again, and he was able to spend much time out of doors.
His "Vailima Letters" (published after his death) and
"A Foot-Note to History" show what interest he took
in the strange people among whom his lot was cast. Their
fond regard for this new friend was proved by their mak-
ing, at his suggestion, the Road of the Loving Heart,
which was the name they bestowed on him. One more
novel the invalid lived to complete, "David Balfour"
(1893); one he left unfinished, "Weir of Hermistoru"
Both are reckoned among his best achievements. After
the many years of watchful care of a frail, diseased body,
he died suddenly December 3, 1894.

Besides his prose writings, Stevenson wrote considera-
ble amount of verse, which is gathered in "Underwoods"
(1887), "Ballads" (1891), and the earlier "Child's Gar-

ENGLISH 189

den of Verse" ( 1885). These are all simple in style and
metre, and especially the last has won much favor. They
seem to be the spontaneous expression of his thoughts,
while his prose is distinctly labored. He has told in full
detail how he wrought to obtain a perfect style, and ad-
mitted that he had not always succeeded. While most
critics award him high praise, a few have alleged against
him an occasional strain after effect. It has also been
objected that his stories are not brought to a close as care-
fully as the case demanded. Yet his story-telling faculty
remains unimpeached, and the general verdict pronounced
him the most delightful of essayists and most fascinating
of romance-writers of his time.

While the story of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was
terribly tragical, another story of transformation was
entirely comical. This was Frederic Anstey's "Vice
Versa," which showed a respectable middle-aged, com-
mon-place father metamorphosed into his small son at
school, while the boy takes the father's place. The joke
was received with loud laughter throughout England.

BARRIE

In the latter part of the eighties a small group of nov-
elists appeared who depicted in a life-like manner the
peculiarities of Scotch character. The first was James
Matthew Barrie, born in May, 1860, at Kirriemuir, which
he has described under the name Thrums. He was the
son of a physician, and after graduating at Edinburgh
University, went to London to work as a journalist. In the
"St. James's Gazette" he began the series of "Auld Licht
Idylls," showing the stiff, stubborn character of the mem-
bers of the smallest body of Scotch Presbyterians, yet
awakening sympathy for their kindly nature, hidden deep

190 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

under the forbidding surface. In "A Window in
Thrums" the sketches of life in the little village are con-
tinued, from the point of view of a crippled woman, Jess,
and her daughter Leeby. But Barrie's real success came
with "The Little Minister" (1891), a romantic story in
which a Scotch minister who undertakes to reprove and
rebuke a half-gipsy girl ends by being married to her with
gipsy rites. In spite of the improbability of the plot, the
whirl of the incidents, the gay humor of the writer, and
the variety of strange characters, enlist the reader's favor.
"Sentimental Tommy" (1895) is a grim revelation of the
miseries of child life in London, mitigated by the fancies
and posings of the hero.

IAN MACLAREN

The second of the "Kail-yard Group," as these Scotch
novelists have been somewhat contemptuously called, is
the Rev. John Watson, who writes under the pen-name
Ian Maclaren. Though of Highland Scotch descent, he
was born in 1850 in Manningtree, Essex, England, but
was taken to Scotland in childhood. He was educated at
Edinburgh University in the class with Robert Louis
Stevenson. Watson was ordained to the ministry in the
Free Church of Scotland, and became pastor at Harvest-
field, in Perthshire, a village which he has described as
Drumtochty. Hence he was called to be assistant pastor
in Glasgow, and thence in 1880 to take charge of a Pres-
byterian Church in Liverpool. His sermons exhibit his
culture as well as the liberality of his views and deep spirit-
uality. In 1896 he delivered the Lyman Beecher lectures
at the Theological Seminary of Yale University, which
were published as "The Mind of the Master." In his pro-
foundly pathetic story, "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush"
(1894), the characters of the ambitious scholar, of his

ENGLISH 191

loving mother, and above all of Doctor William Maclure,
strongly touched the hearts of the people. In "The Days
of Auld Lang Syne" other sketches of Drumtochty were
presented. In "Kate Carnegie" (1896) the theological
disputes which make so much of Scotch Church history,
are so treated as to impress the truly religious- feeling
which underlies them. Dr. Watson's combination of droll
humor, with genuine religious sentiment, has given him
his deserved popularity. It has frequently been urged
that his characters were a trifle too good to be quite true.

MRS. HUMPHRY WARD

No novel of recent years has excited wider discussion
than "Robert Elsmere" ( 1888) . Mr. Gladstone honored
it with a long article in the "Contemporary Review," and
at once it secured an enormous sale. It boldly presented
an existing phase of the moral and intellectual world, por-
traying the gradual loss of faith in a cultivated religious
mind through the sceptical tendency of the times. The
novel thus became the vehicle of fundamental religious
controversy. This startling innovation was made by Mrs.
Humphry Ward, a granddaughter of Dr. Arnold, of
Rugby. Her maiden name was Mary Arnold. Her
father, Thomas Arnold, had become a Roman Catholic,
and after doing considerable literary work in England,
had gone to Tasmania to teach. Mary was born at
Hobart Town in that island in 1851. The family after-
wards removed to Oxford, England, and Mary was thor-
oughly educated. She was married to Humphry Ward,
editor of various works. Her scholarship was shown in
reviews and translations, including "Amiel's Journal."
Her first novel, "Miss Bretherton" (1884), told the
growth of love between a young actress and a middle-aged
man of letters. "Robert Elsmere," depicting a tragedy of

192 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

the soul, was the next. It was criticized as being too
didactic, but its vitality was seen in other characters as well
as the central figure. "The History of David Grieve"
( 1892) is a contrast as well as a companion to its prede-
cessor. It showed the growth of faith in persons of
humbler class than Elsmere, but brought them through
severe straits. The earnest David, who had spent his boy-
hood with his more spirited sister Louie, in a quiet nook
of England, is transported to the bustling streets of Lon-
don and the gay scenes of Paris before his moral develop-
ment is completed.

Mrs. Ward turned next to the training of a noble
woman, and did it through social and political rather than
religious influences. In "Marcella" (1894), a crudely
romantic English girl becomes finally a worthy leader of
society. The English world, London and Parliament, the
rich and the poor, politics and socialism, are all described
with minute fidelity. In "Sir George Tressady" (1896)
Marcella appears again as Lady Maxwell and passes un-
scathed through a perilous temptation. Tressady, married
hastily to a pretty wife, finds her unfit intellectually for his
companionship. In a later novel, "Helbeck of Bannis-
dale" (1898), Mrs. Ward took up again the subject of
religion. Helbeck is a Catholic bachelor, who, in his zeal
for the faith, is consuming his estate to build chapels. To
his house comes an invalid relative, whose daughter Laura
has been trained by an agnostic father. They fall in love
with each other, and Laura strives to overcome her repug-
nance to her lover's religious zeal, but fails and drowns
herself. Though the characters are finely portrayed, they
become to the thoughtful reader mere pawns in the great
game between Roman Catholicism and Agnosticism.

ENGLISH 193

,4; DU MAURIER

The most suddenly successful novel of recent times
was "Trilby," first published in "Harper's Monthly" in
1894. It was written by George du Maurier (1834-
1896), who had long been a special artist of "Punch," and
had published "Peter Ibbetson" in 1891. His father was
a Frenchman, who wished his son to be a chemist, while the
latter had stronger propensity for art. Severe study so
injured his sight that he had to give up painting. After
two years of idleness he began to draw for periodicals, and
soon had permanent engagement on "Punch." No
attempt was made at broad fun or political satire. Cer-
tain phases of London society occupied his attention, and
he was especially successful in the delineation of women.
Much care was given to the brief dialogues below the
drawings, and in this way Du Maurier was trained to
write. The story of "Peter Ibbetson" had often been told
to his friends before it was written. When given to the
public, its quotations from American poets helped to com-
mend it. "Trilby" was founded partly on the author's
experience in Paris studios, while the hypnotism was a
recognition of a fashionable fad. The immense popu-
larity of the story was due to its revelation of life-like char-
acters in a singular society. Du Maurier, who had long
suffered from ill health, did not live long to enjoy his
success. He died before his next novel, "The Marti-an"
(1897), appeared.

KIPLING

The Nineteenth Century was drawing to a close; stu-
dents of literature lamented the passing of the great

masters of song and story; watchful critics noted with
Voi,. 9—13

194 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

sorrow the signs of decadence; careful judges pronounced
that henceforth in this age of science and materialism the
spirit of poetry and imagination was extinct, nor could it
possibly be revived; when lo ! from the far East was heard
a voice like a trumpet, waxing louder and stronger and
sweeter, and the cry arose, "The new genius has arrived;
Kipling is here." "Plain Tales from the Hills" (1888) was
the unexpected herald of a new era. The stories were
realistic in a new style, of new characters, new scenes, new
life. Other tales quickly followed, treating of English
private soldiers and native Hindoos and Mohammedans,
sometimes pathetic, sometimes tragic, always startlingly
real, and strongly masculine. In the humorous group of
"Soldiers Three" came a revelation of the inner and outer
man of the British private, previously unknown even to
those most concerned. Again came touching stories of
children in "Wee Willie Winkie" (1888). After some
preliminary tuning there arose in the air also a burst of
soldiers' songs, gay, reckless, warlike, irresistible, in "De-
partmental Ditties" (1891) and "Barrack-Room Ballads"
(1892).

Rudyard Kipling is the son of John Lockwood Kip-
ling, principal of the school of industrial art at Lahore, and
was born at Bombay in December, 1865. He was sent to
school in England, but returned to India in 1882, and
became sub-editor of a newspaper at Lahore. Here he
learned to write swiftly and effectively, and soon produced
stories and verses that were circulated through India.
From these a selection was made in the "Plain Tales from
the Hills," his first challenge to the outer world. The
response of welcome was clear and unmistakable. In
1889 Kipling went to England and soon afterwards made
a tour across the United States, writing descriptive letters

ENGLISH 195

as he journeyed. Then he married Miss Balestier, the
sister of Wolcott Balestier, with whom he had collaborated
in a novel, "The Naulahka" (1892). He built a house at
Brattleboro, Vermont, and settled there for a few years,
but went back to England in 1897.

Besides his Anglo-Indian stories, Kipling in 1894 pro-
duced an entirely unique kind of fables in "The Jungle
Book." These are dialogues and stories of the life of
the wild beasts of India from their own point of view.
For these almost a special dialect was invented, marvel-
ously appropriate and suggestive. Compared with
^Esop's simple moralizings and the grotesque German
stories of "Reineke Fuchs," these jungle stories are in-
tensely realistic, yet are not lacking in ethical suggestions.
"The Light that Failed" (1890), Kipling's first novel,
included a graphic account of an Egyptian campaign, with
a sketch of studio life in London. "Captains Courageous"
(1897) is a breezy narrative of the perilous adventures of
the fishermen of Gloucester, Massachusets. In some
short stories Kipling has availed himself of his observa-
tions in America. His quickness in perceiving and accu-
racy in reproducing details of new subjects are equally
astonishing. Yet he leaves the impression of being able
to tell more if it were necessary. His poems, even the
coarse soldiers' ballads, are full of imagination and patriot-
ism. He has proved himself, without appointment, the
inspired poet laureate of England. His "Seven Seas" is
a glorification of the British imperial policy; his "Reces-
sional" was an appropriate hymn of humble praise for the
celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Vic-
toria's accession; the "Truce of the Bear" was a startling
yet genuine British response to Czar Nicholas' suggestion
of the disarmament of nations; "The White Man's Bur-

196 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

den" is a thrilling presentation of the unavoidable duty
of the capable white race to the incapable, unreliable col-
ored races of the world, in spite of all the inherent difficul-
ties of the glorious task. With this royal leader in prose
and verse, England grandly enters a new literary era.

FRENCH LITERATURE

GLANCE AT THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Literature of a high order was virtually extinguished
in France during the terrors of the Revolution. The
public mind was too excited by grim realities for the neces-
sary calm to consider works of the imagination or reason.
Yet the mind must still be supplied with intellectual food,
and found it in parliamentary eloquence and journalism.
The latter, indeed, may be said to have been created for
France at this time. There was also, strange to say, con-
siderable scientific writing; chemistry and natural phil-
osophy were cultivated throughout the stormiest period.
But literature proper had to await a breathing time, when
public thought could regain its balance and recover from
the shock of the explosion. The national ideal had been
cast from its throne at the very time and by the very means
which were expected to extend its sway over the earth.

Before the Revolution, while France in general was
still professedly and really Catholic, the skepticism of the
English deists of the Eighteenth Century had permeated
its higher literature. Voltaire had early and prophetically
declared, in view of the general borrowing from the Eng-
lish, "we shall imperceptibly acquire from them their noble
freedom of thought and their profound contempt for the
petty trifling of the schools." The French wits and think-
ers went far beyond their English teachers. Nothing was
free from their mockery, which was open and undisguised.
The church, the government, the throne, did not escape.
The Classicism, which had prevailed in literature fornearly

197

198 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

two centuries and formed its finest models, was contrasted
with the Gothic freedom of Shakespeare and Milton. But
in pure literature the classic spirit was not lightly to be
extinguished. The Encyclopsedists, D'Alembert and
Diderot, with their destructive criticism, did not in their
great work undertake to dispel all illusions. They
restricted themselves to statement of facts. But in the
salons profound human problems were discussed and
solved by means of epigrams. Faith was undermined
and when the fearful time of trial came, it fell, and great
was the fall thereof. Church, state, religion, literature,
went down — in one vast ruin blent. At the close of the
Century France, so far as literature is concerned, was
living on husks. The soul seemed to have left the body of
her poetry ; the outward form of the drama was devoid of
substance; philosophers discoursed in lifeless platitudes.
Brunetiere, the greatest living French critic, declares that
the decay of classicism in his country's literature was due
to its rule of preserving the impersonal. In literature
abstractions were sought for, the presentation of real char-
acter was excluded. The decadence of the later Eight-
eenth Century literature was derived from these two
causes, the growth of philosophic materialism on the one
hand, and a sham idealism on the other.

The powerful Voltaire, the crowned laureate of the
nation, the perfect embodiment of the Gallic mocking
spirit, never disturbed the prescribed rules of literature in
poetry or prose. However revolutionary in actual effect
were his utterances, in form they were of perfect propriety
according to the canons of the time. He therefore re-
mains distinctly the national classic, whose precise work
is imperfectly comprehended outside of France. But
Rousseau, his younger contemporary, the gloomy, dreary
Swiss republican, was more than a Frenchman — he be-

FRENCH 199

longed to all Europe. He was the inventor of new modes
of thought and writing, the apostle of sentimentalism, the
teacher of love of nature, the reformer of education, the
reconstructor of human society. In due time his ideas
germinated. All Europe heeded his voice and gave reality
to his dreams. Literature, education, government, so-
ciety, took on new forms according to his bidding. One
man, of little account in literature, Rouget de Lisle, was
inspired at the opening of the Revolution to give voice
to the impassioned feelings of his countrymen in the spirit-
stirring "Marseillaise," still the national song of France.

Three other men of moderate power have had a lasting
influence on French literature. Beaumarchais, in his
Figaro comedies, taught the Nineteenth Century how the
drama can sparkle with wit, satire, wholesome merriment,
but, like too many others, tainted it with indelicacy. Ber-
nardin de Saint-Pierre was the successor of Rousseau in
propagating love of nature and made the world his debtor
by the romantic story of "Paul and Virginia." The third
figure is Andre Chenier, guillotined at thirty-two, who
combined the sensuous feeling of modern verse with a
marked classic simplicity. These three, so different in
life and work, were yet, each in his own peculiar way,
harbingers of the coming Romanticism. They agreed in
proclaiming individualism as a protest against the imper-
sonal ideals of the later decaying classicism.

Even the pioneer scientists, like Buffon, and philoso-
phers, like Condorcet, showed regard for this individual-
ism. Man in himself was to be regarded as greater than
mathematical and political and theological systems.
Henceforth the human heart was to be the theme and realm
of an awakened literature. None of these forerunners
saw the tendency of their own work, but in retrospect it is
possible to trace a sure movement toward the old faiths

200 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

that had been so violently flung off. The transition from
lifeless classicism and materialistic philosophy to sunny
Romanticism.and renewed Christianity may be dated from
the very opening of the Nineteenth Century.

By the Revolution of the i8th Brumaire (pth of
November, 1799), Napoleon Bonaparte was made First
Consul and became virtually supreme dictator of France.
His unparalleled military and unscrupulous political
glories had raised him to that proud eminence. Fully
aware of the unstable foundation of his suddenly acquired
power, he was desirous to cement it with the potent tradi-
tions of the past. Utterly indifferent as he was personally
to spiritual considerations, he was well aware of their
incalculable influence on the mass of mankind, and he saw
clearly the growing desire of the people for much that
they had lost. The failure of the vaunted Revolution to
realize the sublime dreams of its self-deceived promoters
was palpable to all. For liberty, equality, fraternity, they
had received slavery, anarchy, bloodshed. They longed
for the restoration of order, for a government which
should possess the ability and will to maintain itself un-
moved against foreign enemies and domestic factions, for
the restoration of the Christian worship. Napoleon de-
clared that his object in the permission of public worship
was to gain the hearts of the people. In return for the
contemplated ridicule of the skeptics he won the gratitude
of millions throughout the Empire. But further he made
way for an unexpected triumph of Catholicism which not
only greatly assisted him at the time, but eventually revo-
lutionized the literature of France.

THE RISE OF ROMANTICISM, 1800-1830

CHATEAUBRIAND

If one man and one book can fairly be fixed as marking
the entrance of the new order of French literature, that
honor belongs to Frangois Auguste, Vicomte de Chateau-
briand and his work, "Le Genie du Christianisme" (The
Genius of Christianity), published in 1802. In that work
was included "Rene," a somewhat gloomy youthful
romance of the "sensibility" type, afterwards issued sepa-
rately. Though not strictly great as a writer, and cer-
tainly not great as a man, Chateaubriand fancied himself
to be Napoleon's literary counterpart. He really had an im-
mense influence not only on literature, but on popular
thought. He was born of a noble Breton family in 1768,
and was intended for the church, but entered the army at
sixteen, and was presented at the court of Louis XVI. On
the outbreak of the Revolution, having neither accepted
nor rejected the new opinions, he voyaged to America in a
fruitless attempt to discover the northwest passage, still
dreamed of by geographers, He journeyed from Niagara
to New Orleans, and this visit gave him direct knowledge
of American scenery, which he utilized later. He dined
with Washington in Philadelphia, and said with reference
to him, "There is virtue in the look of a great man. I felt
myself warmed and refreshed by it during the rest of my
life." On hearing of the execution of the King, Chateau-
briand returned to France, and as a royalist joined the
"emigrants." He also, at his sister's suggestion, mar-
ried a lady from whom he soon parted, though he con-
tinued to show her respect. After being wounded in

202 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Conde's army, he took refuge in London, where he re-
mained until 1800, in honorable poverty. Here he wrote
an essay on the Revolution, showing the bitterness of his
spirit. He also began his work on Christianity, which
occupied altogether four years. In 1801 he published the
romance "Atala," portraying the loves of idealized Ameri-
can Indians, and depicting the primeval forest scenery of
the New World. Amid the plaudits awarded to this pic-
turesque romance of natural emotions and primitive so-
ciety Chateaubriand issued the "Genie du Christian! sme"
( 1802) . It was likewise an innovation, both as a literary
and a philosophical performance. After the multitude of
books and discourses which had dismissed Christianity as
vulgar and obsolete, here was a champion who exalted it
above Paganism and skepticism, who did not dwell on its
truth, but on its artistic superiority. The new work
showed religion possessed of all the arts of refinement and
the dignity of a royal career. In it were displayed Cha-
teaubriand's poetical gifts of interpretation and expres-
sion. His readers enjoyed his delineation of historic
events, of the experiences, emotions and outpourings of
Christian life. Compared with these the pretentious
fictions and stilted poems of the Century just past seemed
hollow and worthless. The terrible realities of social con-
vulsion made these pictures of a better life strongly capti-
vating to wearied and anxious minds. The author had
struck the right chord for the times and the public mood,
by lifting poetical romance into the region of religious
feeling. He revealed the beauties and elevation of relig-
ion. Subsequent historians and philosophers, as well as
poets and romancists, confess their indebtedness to Cha-
teaubriand for splendor of style.

Napoleon recognized the author, now famous, by ap-
pointing him secretary to the embassy at Rome. But

FRENCH 203

Chateaubriand was estranged from the Emperor by the
murder of the Due d'Enghien, and he later pronounced
the condition of France under Napoleon "slavery without
shame." In 1806 he made a tour to Greece and Palestine
to familiarize himself with regions in which he proposed
to lay the scene of a new romance. This was a prose
epic, entitled "The Martyrs ; or, the Triumphs of the Chris-
tian Religion" (1809). It treated of the persecution of
Diocletian, and wanders from the Holy Land to Gaul and
mythical Prankish Kings. It presents the argument of
his greater work in a more popular form. The "Itinerary
from Paris to Jerusalem" (1811) is a picturesque record
of the author's travels. His implacable enmity to
Napoleon was shown in his eloquent pamphlet "Bonaparte
and the Bourbons" ( 1814), which Louis XVIII afterward
declared had been worth to him a thousand men.

Under the Restoration the renowned Chateaubriand
showed himself an ultra-royalist. He held embassies to
Berlin, London, and Rome, and was for some months min-
ister of foreign affairs. After the Revolution of 1830
he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Louis Philippe.
His waywardness in politics is indicated in his own words :
"I am a Bourbonist by honor, a royalist by reason and con-
viction, and a republican by taste and character." His
writings after the Restoration added nothing to his repu-
tation or influence. His brilliant imagination and elo-
quent style enabled him to endow his books with vital
force. He died in July, 1848, having witnessed the
advent of the second Republic. His posthumous memoirs,
"Memoires d'Outre-Tombe" (1849), displayed his genius
and egotism. He had filled a large space as author, trav-
eler and politician, but his chief distinction is in having
inaugurated the return of French literature from artificial-
ness and negation to the natural and supernatural in art.

204 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

MADAME DE STAEL

From a different starting-point and in a different way
Madame de Stael contributed to infuse new ideals and
methods into French literature. It is impossible here to
give full consideration to the genius and unique person-
ality of this extraordinary woman. She was born at
Paris in 1766, Anne Louise Germaine Necker, daughter
of the famous Swiss banker and financier, Jacques Necker,
who had been made a baron and minister of France. Her
mother was Suzanne Curchod, with whom the historian
Gibbon had once been in love. As a child the daughter
was trained by her mother in rather a rigid way, but at her
more liberal father's instance she was early permitted to
converse with the distinguished men of the time. Her
precocity was extraordinary and her vivacity baffled her
mother's efforts to control it. At the age of twenty she
was married to Eric Magnus, Baron of Stael-Holstein,
who was preferred by her father to other suitors, but for
whom she had no real affection. She obtained by this
marriage a privileged place at court, as her husband was
the Swedish Ambassador. After his death in 1802, if not
even before, she professed enthusiastic attachments to
various distinguished public characters, not excepting
Napoleon himself, who hated her as a woman that had
departed from her sphere and as a political idealist. Her
mental development, social experiences and philosophical
aims must be rehearsed.

In 1788 she published "Letters on Rousseau" and other
short papers on literary topics, in which her coming pow-
ers are discernible. During the Reign of Terror she made
courageous and successful efforts to save the lives of some
proscribed persons. In 1793 she withdrew to England,
where she lived with Talleyrand and other exiles. But in

FRENCH 205

1795 she returned to Paris to wield considerable influence
under the Directory. In 1800 was published her import-
ant treatise "De la Litterature consideree dans ses Rap-
ports avec les Institutions Sociales" (On Literature Con-
sidered in its Relations with Social Institutions). Here
she contended nobly for the greater liberty asserted,
claimed, and ultimately won by the patriots of the Ameri-
can Revolution. She declared her faith in human nature,
in progress, and in republican principles, which would
inspire a grand world-literature, uniting the practical and
the ideal. So far she still adhered to the philosophical
style then in vogue. In her first novel "Delphine" ( 1802)
she bewailed the lot of gifted women with ambitions. The
heroine's free will, free speech and free acts are all mis-
interpreted by a stupid community so that despairing of
liberty with a good name, she flies to the wilds of
America.

Madame de Stael was herself banished by Napoleon's
order from Paris and forbidden to reside within forty
leagues of that capital. She went to Germany and sought
the society of Goethe, Schiller and Schlegel at Weimar.
The great German poet listened to her brilliant conversa-
tion "with vast admiration and not a little fatigue." She
insisted on philosophizing in society, and gave her
hearers, who were expected to reply, not a moment for
reflection on the most important topics. They must
dispatch the deepest concerns as lightly as in a game of
shuttlecock. After a tour in Italy, this swift-witted woman
produced, in 1807, her best-known novel, "Corinne," in
which she herself, somewhat idealized, is the heroine, a
woman of genius hemmed in by conventional restrictions.
She has a faithless lover, and dies of a broken heart. The
author had returned to France to attend to the publication
of this work, but its success drew from Napoleon an order

206 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

banishing her from France. She had incurred his enmity
persisting in severe criticisms of his actions in spite of
warning. After traveling in Germany, she settled at
Coppet, in Switzerland, where several of her friends went
to console her. Her book on Germany "De I'Allemagne"
was printed at Paris in 1810, but seized by the police, and
not reprinted until 1813 in London. In it she portrayed
intellectual and political Germany with keen feminine
intuition. Contrasting the literatures of France and
Germany she showed that the former concerned itself
mainly with a limited society and consequently lacked the
element of growth and elevation traceable in the literature
of the Northern races, marked by imagination, introspec-
tion, and religious sentiment. Goethe declared the work
ought to be "a powerful battery making a wide breach in
the wall of superannuated prejudices between the two
nations." By this tribute to the rising German literature
and by example in her mature writings, Madame de Stael
gave a strong impulse to the Romantic movement.
Though aristocratic in sentiment, she was not hostile to
the Revolution. She admired the German temperament
and believed that reason and philosophy made steady-
progress despite the innumerable misfortunes of the
human race. She inveighed against social restrictions
which prevented her from living in freedom from conven-
tional rules. Her timely exposition of German intellectual
power had considerable effect on French thought. Among
her other works are autobiographic memoirs, entitled "Ten
Years of Exile," and "Considerations on the French Revo-
lution," which was published after her decease in July,
1817. She had returned to Paris after Napoleon's abdica-
tion. Her daughter became the Duchess de Broglie.
Madame de Stael was formerly considered the greatest
authoress of modern times, but her fame has declined in

FRENCH 207

recent years. Critics now maintain that in style she is too
diffuse, and in matter she had little originality, but great
power of absorption of the best ideas of others, which she
then expressed with admirable vigor and clearness.

THE IDEOLOGISTS

The new literature which was to signalize the new
Century found its most telling expression in imaginative
writings, that class of work which most directly touches
the heart. But this spirit also animated the works of phil-
osophers and religionists, whose conflicting contributions
to the thought of the day, though sometimes resisting the
rising tide, yet in the main added to its momentum. A
certain class, who were known as Ideologists, bold pro-
pounders of advanced ideas, argued in other literary forms
than poetry and fiction. The most accessible and perhaps
the most representative book of this class is Volney's
"Ruins of Empires," as it has been called in English. Its
dreamy meditations are not without lofty eloquence and
poetical charm. The author, Constantin Francois Chasse-
bceuf, Comte de Volney (1757-1820), was a traveler and
moderate statesman, who was raised to the peerage and
Senate by Napoleon, though he was not a servile partisan.
The name of his chief work is in French, "Les Ruines, ou
Meditation sur les Revolutions des Empires." It was
published in 1791, but is mentioned here as being the repre-
sentative of a class which continued into the present Cen-
tury. He visited the United 'States, and wrote a book on
its climate and soil. His last work was "Researches on
Ancient History" (1814).

Among the general writers a notable figure is Hugues
Felicite Robert de Lamennais (1782-1854). As a priest
and ardent champion of the church he was deeply dis-

2o8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

tressed by the widening of the gulf between it and the
people. With his poetical temperament he set himself to
bridge that gulf with mutual concessions and thus unite
theocracy and democracy in happy content. This ideal
he sought to make practical. After a sojourn in England
he published a work that made a startling and deep impres-
sion, "Essai sur I' Indifference en Matiere de Religion"
(Essay on Indifference in Regard to Religion). The
conservative party in the church sharply criticized the
work, but this opposition moved him to more aggressive
polemics, resulting in more ecclesiastical trouble. His
paper L'Avenir (The Dawn) had for its flamboyant motto
"God and Liberty; the Pope and the People," and called
upon the clergy to separate themselves from Kings and
join with the working classes. But this programme was
too radical and the paper was suppressed. Failing to
broaden the church, Lamennais changed his tack and
sought to spiritualize democracy. His "Paroles d'un
Croyant" (Words of a Believer) is a singular but fascin-
ating prose poem. He was derisively charged with
flaunting the cross crowned with the red cap of Liberty,
like Pere Hyacinthe of the present day. Lamennais did
valiant service in behalf of intellectual progress, mellowed
by religious faith, but his church frowned him down, de-
fied his not unfriendly attacks, and let him die outside its
pale. In the history of literature he must be reckoned as
one of the forces in the widespread Romantic movement.

BERANGER

We pass to the creative writers whose works appeal
to the sense of pleasure first and to the reasoning faculty
only secondarily. The first and greatest of these is cer-
tainly Victor Hugo, preeminent in both prose and poetry,

FRENCH 209

but on account of the length of his career, treatment of
him is postponed. The next greatest is Lamartine, who
likewise distinguished himself in the two grand divisions ;
a third, Beranger, wrote only songs for the people. Treat-
ing them in chronological order, the last is first to be con-
sidered. Jean Pierre de Beranger, born in 1 780, has been
denied by some critics a place among the poets, but he
was certainly a song-maker, and the dividing line has yet
to be discovered which shall exclude the songs of Burns
and Beranger from the garden of poetry. If the question
were to be decided by the sovereign people, who would
be more likely to gain their suffrages than the candidate
who could set them singing his ideas in their own simple
language? It was because the appeal was to the people
that Beranger, to his own amused astonishment, found
himself a power in the land. For he did not possess the
recognized elements of greatness, either as man or poet.
Born of the humblest class, he was apprenticed to a
printer, and began to write songs at the age of sixteen.
Some of these he sent to Lucien Bonaparte, who rewarded
him handsomely and procured for him a clerkship under
the Empire. Thenceforth he was equally devoted to
Napoleon and the Republic, and despised the emigrant
nobles. After the Restoration he lost his place and was
fined and imprisoned for his biting satires. His songs
helped to bring about the Revolution of 1830, but he
refused to accept any office from the new government, nor
would he serve when elected to the Constituent Assembly
of 1848. Though he lived in a garret, he had long been
allowed to sing as he pleased, and this was his only desire.
As he says in one of his songs, "God in His grace bade me
sing, Sing, poor little one." When he died, in 1854, the
Government of Napoleon III accorded this people's poet
a grand funeral.
VOL. 9—14

zio LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Beranger sent his artless songs straight into the hearts
of the people, and set them singing grander sentiments
than they could even have comprehended in eloquent prose.
A loftier and purer inspiration would have limited his use-
fulness or have brought it to an untimely end. Of an easy
temperament, with a love of simple comfort in perilous
times, he gave the people chorus-songs of love and jollity,
while waiting for the good time coming, and in each
sprinkled some political spice. For more than thirty years
he reigned as king of the light-hearted whistling multi-
tude. He was the poet, he felt himself the prophet, of
old and young folks, at home and out of doors, and varied
his song to suit each class, yet without yielding his own
clear view of what was right. Those qualities ensured
popularity, which Beranger estimated and utilized to the
full. The politics may be obsolete, but other elements of
his songs remain, of which many a greater poet would be
proud. He was despised by both classicists and Roman-
ticists in his day as vulgar, but the best critics of to-day
recognize his lively wit, his touching pathos, his hearty
patriotism, his thorough humanity. His power is still felt
in the later popular lyrics.

LAMARTINE

Lamartine, compared with Beranger, fills a nobler
space in a loftier realm. Whatever Beranger lacked to
make his songs undeniably true poems — depth, dignity,
sublimity — Lamartine possessed. His grandeur of soul
lifted him beyond the reach of his early comrades. In that
age of sentiment even the affectation of it gave some writ-
ers reputation. But with Lamartine all was genuine. It
was the free spirit rather than his highly finished verses
that gave him lasting fame. Alphonse Marie Louis Prat

FRENCH 211

de Lamartine was born at Macon in Southern France in
1790. From his infancy, he revelled in the beautiful, as
his expanding mind perceived it in his mother's reading's,
in the dawn of love with sorrow in its train and in Italian
travel. He entered the life-guards of Louis XVIII in
1814, but retired to Switzerland during the Hundred
Days. In 1820 he published his "Meditations Poetiques,"
the masterpiece of which is the elegy "Le Lac" (The
Lake), expressing the contrast between the instability of
human affairs and the perseverance of nature. The
appearance of this book has been likened to that of a new
planet in the firmament, brilliant and abiding. Here was
a singer who, discarding artifice, struck the new, true
note. His beloved one had passed away, but the love
survived. In these meditations on the mysteries of life,
love, and death Lamartine gave play to the elemental
emotions common to all men. The book gave a new trend
to poetry.

After serving as charge d'affaires at Florence, Lamar-
tine returned to Paris and in 1830, published a new vol-
ume, "Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses" (Poetical and
Religious Harmonies), declaring his devotion to the
church and throne. After the Revolution of that year he
gave up his official position. With his wife, an English
woman, and his daughter, he made a tour in the East, and
returning published, in 1833, what is called in the English
version "A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land." He had mean-
time been elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and in the
course of a few years passed from conservative to republi-
can principles. In 1836 "Jocetyn" was published, an
ambitious attempt at poetizing an incident of the Revolu-
tion. Jocelyn, a peasant child, had taken refuge in the
mountains from the perils of the time, and there found a
companion, who, after their friendship is established, is

212 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

discovered to be a girl. "Jocelyn" is an essentially noble
poem, soaring to the heights, exquisite in description, and
chaste in conception, but its length and monotony of mel-
ancholy prevent it from reaching the standard of its
predecessors. Lamartine's last great poem, "La Chute
d'un Ange" (The Fall of an Angel), was still more a fail-
ure. It is an unwieldly composition, too flighty for a
treatise on human ideals, too sentimental for an epic like
"Paradise Lost."

Lamartine had now evidently exhausted his stock of
poetic inspiration. He may then have deliberately given to
statecraft a genius better fitted for poetry, as Milton had
done in the middle of his career, or his ambition may have
spurred him to attempt other conquests in the arena of
public life. If eloquence and other oratorical gifts had
sufficed to sustain a great statesman's reputation, Lamar-
tine might have had that fame. But there seems to have
been a glittering insincerity in the poet, and the same qual-
ity made him in his political career a skilful time-server.
His eloquent "History of the Girondists" ( 1847), in which
he first avowed democratic principles, had an important
political influence in bringing about a new Revolution.
For a few glorious months in 1848 Lamartine seemed the
master of his country's destinies, and then fell to an in-
glorious obscurity. He labored diligently with the pen,
pouring out a vast quantity of his historical, biographical
and autobiographical works, which are useful but not in-
spiring. His last purely literary work was the pretty
romance of "Graziella" (1852). He lingered under the
imperialism which he had anathematized and even became
a pensioner of Napoleon III before he died in 1869.

The immortal part of a man's work must be viewed in
the light of the times and conditions in which it was done.
Lamartine came when poetry was limping, unbound its

FRENCH 213

wings and set it free to soar. For this his fame may
rightly be judged to transcend that of greater poets who
followed where he had led. His after decline may per-
haps be traced to the enervating affectation of sentiment
which brought to light the defects of its noble quality.
Chateaubriand and Lamartine are conspicuous examples
of true genius crippled and finally smothered with insin-
cerity of thought and over-refinement of diction.

The lasting popularity of the affecting story of "Pic-
ciola; or, the Prison Flower" (1825) entitles its author
to mention. Xavier Boniface Saintine (1790-1845) left
nothing of merit besides this brief story.

BEYLE (STENDHAL)

Henri Beyle (1783-1842), who used the pen-name
Stendhal, was a prolific writer of novels, remarkable for
depth and a peculiar power of analysis. Though not
widely known, he is considered by the foremost French
critics to be not simply an able delineator of human pas-
sions, but to be the precursor of the psychological novel-
ists of recent times. He practically anticipated both the
coming Romanticism and the later realism. He told
Balzac, in 1840, that he fancied he "might meet with some
success toward 1880." Born in 1783, he served under
Napoleon, and in his hatred of the Restoration, betook
himself to more congenial Italy. Its music, pictures and
sculptures are worked into his early romances. After-
ward a bitter philosophy is infused into his profoundly
intellectual stories, and spoils their effect. Beyle wrote
much miscellaneous biography and criticism. His aim
in all his writings was to acquaint the nations with those
literary works which yield the highest degree of pleasure.
He had written first as an artist, but he afterward became a

2i4 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

psychologist. His best novels are "Le Rouge et Noir"
(The Red and Black) (1830) and "La Chartreuse de
Parme" (The Carthusian Nun of Parma) (1839), but
much of his influential work is of earlier date.

In an essay, which was translated into English in 1823,
Beyle contrasts the style of Racine with that of Shakes-
peare, to the glory of the latter. Voltaire's tribute to the
effect of the free note in English literature applies with
renewed force to the years when the Waverley novels
began to fill his countrymen with enthusiasm for romance.
Beyle's efforts to enlarge and enrich the national litera-
ture by introducing foreign theories and treatment were
being put in execution. French dramatists and poets were
busy transferring Othello and Shylock, Cromwell and
Chatterton to their stage. The old national romances of
Spain, Germany and other lands were also pressed into the
new movement. Not only the poetical renaissance, but also
the monarchial Restoration, had marked effect on the
young writers of the time. The temporary result was a
curious blending of effete conservatism with a sham lib-
erty, but this could not last. If the Romantic spirit meant
anything, it meant absolute freedom of range. It would
discern and employ whatever of beauty the church and the
throne had to boast, but it would enslave itself to neither.
A small group, known as the Cenacle, withdrew from court
service, and became the apostles of Romanticism, liber-
ated from every species of fashionable patronage.

DE VIGNY

The work of another writer belonging in part to this
period has provoked considerable criticism. Some com-
plain that he has not received full appreciation. Alfred
de Vigny (1797-1863) was one of those men of gloomy

FRENCH 215

genius who prefer the proud isolation of their souls to the
applause of crowds. He was a young soldier when the
Empire fell, and composed poems in the somber year of
Waterloo. His first book was published in 1822, and
was followed by another in 1826. These poems are
thought by some to have had influence on the works of
Hugo and other Romanticists, while others regard de
Vigny himself as an imitator. He certainly ceased writing
poetry for many years, but he published in 1826 the novel
"Cinq-Mars." Here, again, critics differ; some pronounce
it one of the finest, as well as earliest, historical romances
in the style of Sir Walter Scott. But other critics declare
it deficient in dramatic quality and even void of interest.
It had an excellent style, and received the favor of the
Royalist party. De Vigny married an English lady, but
the union proved unhappy, and he took refuge in gloomy
philosophy. His knowledge of English served him in
paraphrazing "Othello" and adapting "Shy lock" from
Shakespeare. His own drama, "Chatterton," when pre-
sented on the stage, shocked the audience by showing the
hero's suicide. His strange book, "Stello," represents an
invalid as relating to his physician the sad fate of three
unfortunate poets — Gilbert, Chatterton, and Andre
Chenier. His last work, "Poemes Philosophiques" was
only partly published before his death. The poems
abound in expressions of despondency, mingled with
exhortations to stoical resignation.

CLASSICISM AND ROMANTICISM

The radical difference between Classicism and Roman-
ticism, so prominent in French literary history, may be
broadly stated to be that between artificialism and natural-
ism. The former insisted on strict observance of certain

216 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

rules and principles derived by rhetoricians from the study
of the ancient classics, the masterpieces of Greek and
Roman literature. These rules were particularly strict
in regard to the drama, and in France that form of litera-
ture has always had a dominant effect on the rest. The
three unities — of time, place, and action — must be strictly
observed in every tragedy. The plays are in rhymed coup-
lets, and each couplet must be complete in sense, as in
Pope's poetry in English. The diction was strictly
limited to dignified expressions, and certain words of con-
stant use in prose were positively prohibited. The dra-
matist who dared on one occasion to introduce in the most
carefully guarded way the word "mouchoir" (handker-
chief) was compelled to cancel it before the play could be
repeated. Other artifices of refinement cramped the
genius of French writers, and while many of their produc-
tions are truly grand, the wonder to those accustomed to
English freedom is not merely that under the stifling
panoply genius could achieve so much, but that it could
exist at all. Even the great Corneille was censured for his
violation of rules in his masterpiece, "The Cid," but the
unstinted applause of Paris supported him against the
decision of the Academy. The rules of all poetry, whether
lyrical, satirical, didactic, or epic, were equally strict and
cramping in regard to subject, treatment, diction, and
metre.

But from England, just when it was adopting many
of these artificial regulations for its own poetry, came the
knowledge of what had been achieved by the so-called
Gothic genius of Shakespeare and his successors. Both
Voltaire and Rousseau resided for a time in England, and
both were more affected by their novel surroundings than
they were fully aware. Though Voltaire censured Shake-

FRENCH 217

speare as barbarian, he was compelled to admit his power.
Bolingbroke, Hume and others from Britain resided in
France and diffused acquaintance with English literature.
At the same time, Germany, casting off the bondage of
French fashion, welcomed the English freedom and helped
to transmit it to France. Later the emigrant nobles
learned much in their exile, and did not altogether forget
it on their return. Still more, the grand wars of Na-
poleon caused an unprecedented mingling of races, and a
breaking down of the barriers between them. Madame
de Stael revealed to France the intellectual movement in
Germany and called for a European bent of mind. When
the French were thus made ready for the acceptance of
new ideas, the Romantic movement began, not in one coun-
try, but almost simultaneously in all the leading nations of
Europe. In Great Britain it was manifest in the genius
of Scott and Byron; in Germany in that of Goethe and
Schiller.

The open controversy between the Classicists and the
Romanticists was started by Lamartine in his "Medita-
tions" in 1820, assisted by Victor Hugo's first book in
1822, "Odes et Ballades." In the preface to the second
edition Hugo roundly declared that he was "absolutely
ignorant of what was meant by the Classic School and the
Romantic School." But he certainly altered his views
within a few years. Romanticism was opposed to arti-
ficialism, conventionalism, and formalism in literature. It
sought for freedom in choice of subjects and for natural
expression of primal feelings. Some of the earliest, like
Chateaubriand, to find scope for their feelings, went back
to the religious fervor of olden times, or abroad to the
simple nature of savage tribes. Later Romanticists, like
Hugo, full of self-consciousness, sought to express directly

218 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

their own emotions or passions. The impulse of every
passing experience was to take the place of the studied
phrases of classicism. Individual aspiration, hope, and
despair were to be the body and soul of the new literature.
To its exponents and enthusiasts the rules and traditions
of poetry were of no value or use, but rather fetters and
shackles. The heart alone must direct the voice or pen.

THE REIGN OF ROMANTICISM, 1830-1870

HUGO

In the land of Romance there are three Kingdoms—
that of Poetry, of the Drama, of the Novel. Only once
has one strong conqueror worn the triple crown, and that
was when Victor Hugo was hailed as first in song, first
in stagecraft, and first in prose fiction. Time has cor-
rected not a few of the estimates formed by his contem-
poraries, nevertheless, it cannot be disputed that he
had a truly imperial genius, a mind that spanned the
wide earth, and touched the heavens above and the depths
of misery below. Hugo was the most romantic of poets
and the most realistic of romancers.

Victor Marie Hugo, born at Besan^on in 1802, passed
as a child under powerful influences, traceable in his ma-
ture work. His father was an army officer, who flourished
and declined with the Bonapartes; his mother was a
Catholic and a royalist. With her children she followed
her husband to Spain and Italy, when Victor was but
five years old. The characters, Hernani, Quasimodo, and
Triboulet, are taken from incidents of that time. At fifteen
he won the prize offered by the Academy for a poem on
"The Advantages of Study," though there was at first
some doubt whether this attempt of 320 lines could be
original. Hugo had already written in his diary: "I
wish to be Chateaubriand or nothing," and that great
writer, then at the height of his renown, pronounced the
boy poet "a sublime child." Other prizes were awarded
to the youth at the Floral Games of Toulouse. He lived

219

220 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

in Paris with his mother and remained in her faith until
her death in 1820. His father, who had been obliged to
dwell in seclusion at Blois, on account of his former con-
nection with Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, survived
her eight years. In 1822 Hugo published his first book,
"Odes et Ballades." The poems were highly finished, but
not according to classical rules ; they were in wrong metres,
and extravagant in style. Hugo was still a Royalist and
had not openly withdrawn from the Classicists. King
Louis XVIII, hoping to encourage a new genius in aid of
the Bourbons, bestowed on him a pension of 1,500 francs.
This was welcome, for Hugo had married his youthful
love, Adele Foucher. In 1823 came his first novel, "Hans
d'Islande" (Hans of Iceland), which shows the fondness
for the extravagant and grotesque, found in his later
works. "Bug Jar gal" ( 1826), the next tale, was praised
in the organ of the "Romantics," who were then beginning
their war on the Classicists.

The French Academy, always so potent in literature,
was at this time decidedly opposed to innovations, and
upheld the principles which had dominated the Eighteenth
Century. The young writers who had grown up amid
the storms of the Revolution and Empire, rebelled against
its dictation. Hugo, though deeply filled with the spirit
of Romanticism, held aloof for a time, and then entering
the new school, passed at once to its head. In the preface
to his drama, "Cromwell" (1827), which was not allowed
to be acted, he preached the new doctrine. "Amy
Robsart," which was based on Scott's "Kenilworth," was
not successful. These dramas from English sources
showed the direction of the author's thoughts. When
"Marion Delorme," which had been approved by the poet's
friends, was offered for presentation on the stage, the cen-
sor found disloyal allusions in it and prohibited its produC'

FRENCH 221

tion. King Charles X, whom Hugo had eulogized in an
ode, offered to quadruple his pension if he would withdraw
the play, but the poet, who declared that it was not meant
to have any political significance, refused to accept the
bribe, and wrote at once another drama, "Hernani." The
first performance of the new play on Saturday, February
25, 1830, was made a battle between the old and the new,
the Classicists, and the "Romantics." The former gath-
ered to hiss, the latter, comprising several who were after-
ward notable in literature, decked themselves with red
badges and gay apparel, and came to applaud. Young
France was victorious in spite of brawls. Though the
press, with but one exception, condemned the play, it was
repeated for two months. The King had aided the Clas-
sicists in the attempts to crush the play and in July he had
to fly from Paris. Hugo had been made a power in the
state in spite of himself.

The victorious dramatist published a volume of poems,
"Les Feitilles d'Automne" (Autumn Leaves), which
added to his fame. This was still further increased by his
great historical novel, "Notre Dame de Paris" (1831),
which fairly presents both his strength and his weakness.
It is full of contrasts, guilt and innocence, beauty and
deformity, intrigue and simplicity, ferocity and love. The
work itself, in spite of its grandeur, is an ill constructed
conglomeration. The author was entirely destitute of
humor, and therefore liable to pass unconsciously from
eloquence to bombast, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
And yet this great work has not inaptly been compared to
the great cathedral which gives it name — an architectural
wonder, full of splendid sculpture and ornament, brilliant
shows and gloomy recesses, glorious works of religious art
and frightful or burlesque gargoyles. The censorship of
the stage was relaxed under the new citizen King, Louis

222 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Philippe, and when "Marion Delorme" was allowed to
appear, it ran for more than two months. The contest
between the Classicists and "Romantics" continued at its
representation. Then Hugo wrote a new drama, "Le Roi
S' amuse" (The King's diversion), a play of the time of
Francis I, which was performed amid a tumult. The cen-
sor had condemned some passages, and the press pro-
nounced against the whole play as indecent. King Louis
Philippe was induced by the Conservatives to forbid its
repetition. Hugo defended his play against the charge of
immorality and sued in the courts for compensation, but
was defeated. Still undaunted, he produced another
drama, perhaps still more offensive, "Lucrece Borgia,"
which was presented at a different theater. So he went
on, year after year, writing plays, sometimes in verse, as
the foregoing were, according to the old rules, and some-
times in prose, according to the new license. His last suc-
cessful play was "Ruy Bias" in 1838. Then his popularity
as a dramatist passed to younger men, who had been
trained by his example. In 1843 ne tried to regain favor
by "Les Bur graves" but it failed and was withdrawn after
a month's presentation. Yet Hugo did not altogether
relinquish dramatic writing, as some half dozen examples
remain to prove.

In the meantime his poetical activity had continued
unabated. In "Les Orientals" (Songs of the Orient) his
lyrical power is displayed in richness befitting its title. In
"Les Chants du Crepuscule" (Chants of the Twilight)
he deals with the realities of modern life, divided between
hope and despondency. "Les Voix Interieures" (The
Inner Voices), dedicated to his father, and "Les Rayons
et les Ombres" (The Rays and the Shadows), repeat this
mingled strain. On these volumes Hugo's fame as a
lyrical poet firmly rests ; other French poets have equaled

FRENCH 223

him in power or delicacy; he alone combines both in an
eminent degree.

Hugo was defeated more than once in seeking a place
in the French Academy, but succeeded in 1841, thanks to
the goodwill of Balzac, who retired from the competition,
and never became an Academician. Four years later Hugo
was made a peer. When Louis Philippe was driven into
exile by the Revolution of 1848, Hugo supported the
Republic, and in the new Assembly he showed his demo-
cratic and socialist tendencies. Though taunted with his
political changes, he remained firm in his new principles.
He so strenuously opposed Louis Napoleon, that when the
coup d'etat was effected in December, 1851, Hugo's name
was put at the head of the proscribed, and a large reward
offered for his capture. He was concealed by a Royalist
nobleman, escaped to Brussels, and afterward fixed his
residence in Guernsey in the English Channel. His exile
continued until the fall of the Empire in 1870, and was
rich in literary production. In ceaseless diatribes in prose
and verse, he continued his war on Napoleon the Little.
Among other publications were "Les Contemplations," a
poetical record of his own early life ; and the first part of a
projected epic, "La Legende des Siecles" (Legend of the
Ages), which was to embody the history of the human
race in pictures of successive epochs. But a grander prose
work was to extend his fame over the world. In 1862
appeared "Les Miserdbles," in which he put forth all his
powers as if to eclipse the generation of popular novelists
by one mighty effort. It consists of five volumes, and
reveals to the gaze of the world the life of the wretched
and outcast. The author himself with his love for grand
phrases, called it "a sort of planetary system, making the
circuit about one giant mind that is the personification of
all social evil." It was followed in 1866 by "Les Travail-

224 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

leurs de la Mer" (The Toilers of the Sea), founded on his
observation of the fisher-folk of Guernsey. Still another
of the same kind was "L'Homme qui Rit" (The Man Who
Laughs) ( 1869), which was less popular. Hugo, though
a monarch in literature, was a preacher as well as a poet,
and though a peer of France, desired to win the hearts and
suffrages of the uncultured multitude. From his island re-
treat he often put forth appeals in behalf of those oppressed
or in danger of condemnation to death, and called for the
abolition of capital punishment, as he had already done
when in the Assembly. On the surrender of Napoleon
III at Sedan in September, 1870, Hugo returned to Paris,
and at once took an active part in public affairs. He was
now an extreme Radical, and as such was elected in 1876 a
Senator for life. During the last years of his life he was
regarded by the people as a national hero. Yet he did
not rest from literary labor, but sent forth pamphlets,
poems, autobiographic sketches, a drama, and one more
powerful novel, "Quatre-vingt-treize," treating of insur-
rection in Brittany in behalf of the King in 1793. One of
his most charming productions is the volume of verse,
"L'Art d'etre Grand-phe" (The Art of Being a Grand-
father). He died after a brief illness on the 22d of May,
1885. His state burial at the Pantheon was a memorable
spectacle.

Hugo's national popularity may be attributed partly to
his longevity. He became the Grand Old Man of France.
But his fame was founded on the most substantial work.
In lyrical poetry he excelled Lamartine and Alfred de
Musset in the amount, the variety, the power, and the deli-
cacy of his odes. In the drama he had no close competi-
tor. In fiction he surpassed Balzac, who, though a most
laborious workman, never became a real artist. He rivals
Dumas in his depiction of adventure, and George Sand in

FRENCH 225

delineation of emotion and idyllic life. Other poets,
dramatists, and novelists in various degrees claimed pop-
ular attention, but Hugo rose above them in his splendid
enthusiasm for humanity and marvelous versatility. He
was the typical representative of the Gallic spirit at its
best enthusiastic and rhetorical, eloquent in behalf of the
oppressed and in denunciation of tyranny, abounding in
epigram and prone to exaggeration. No other man of the
Century lorded it so superbly over so vast and brilliant a
realm as did Hugo, governing with the glad consent of
the governed. More than graceful courtesy moved the
Laureate of England to lay his wreath on Hugo's coffin,
bearing the inscription, "To the World's Greatest Poet."

DE MUSSET

After Hugo there followed a brilliant crowd of writers,
who adorn the new reign of Romance. In the Cenacle
one of the youngest was Alfred de Musset ( 1810-1857), a
typical Parisian, regarding pleasure as the chief end of
life. He was a disciple of Hugo, and still more of Byron,
and published at nineteen, "Conies d'Espagne et d'ltalie"
(Stories of Spain and Italy), which had an immediate
success. The stories are in verse and are ideals of love-
poetry. His first drama, "Une Nuit Venitienne" (A
Venetian Night), failed on the stage in 1830, and the
author was seriously hurt. After some further poems,
Musset returned to the drama, producing "Les Caprices de
Marianne" (Marianne's Caprices), in which he sought to
present a compromise which should combine the merits of
the Classical and the Romantic schools. Through adhering
pretty closely to the unities, it is fully imbued with the
Romantic spirit. It is called a comedy from its fresh dia-
logue and swift action, but it has also tragical elements in
vol.. 9—15

226 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

plot and character. The chief event of Musset's career is
his unfortunate liaison with George Sand, which has given
rise to much controversy. The two authors went to Italy
in 1833, and after a short period of passionate devotion,
separated. George Sand published her version of the
story in "Elle et Lui" (She and He), charging him with
mad jealousy. After Alfred's death, his brother Paul
replied in "Lui et Elle" (He and She), charging her with
infidelity. When Alfred recovered from the shock, he
produced his most notable poems, "Les Nuits" (The
Nights) , describing the seasons of love in four parts, May,
August, October, December. His prose "Confession
d'un Enfant du Siecle" (Confession of a Child of the
Age), is a wild protest against his surroundings, throw-
ing all the blame of the moral evil of the time on the despot-
ism of Napoleon. The fault of the poet's life lay in the
moral weakness of the man himself. His genius enabled
him to give expression to the ardor of his youth and to the
mental conflict of his later dissipated life. He was ad-
mitted to the Academy in 1852, being then regarded as a
poet of the highest rank.

Other poets and dramatists of the Romantic school
who became also novelists, will be treated later. The most
notable were Theophile Gautier and Alexandre Dumas.
Petrus Borel and Gerard de Nerval affected wierd poetry
with a certain success. Later came Charles Baudelaire
(1821-1867), who translated Poe's short stories. He
copied and exaggerated the morbid features of his master's
imaginative writings. He had, however, original genius
which he unfortunately put to vile uses, making the evil of
human nature the theme for his artistic skill in language.
His excellent critical instinct is seen in some admirable
studies of poets.

THE ROMANTIC NOVELISTS

The novel, now all but supreme in the literature of the
world, is traced by literary historians to the prose romance
which originated, with little, if any foreign impulse, in
France in the Twelfth Century. It was at first the telling
in simpler form for a ruder audience of the poetical
romances of chivalry, as in "Amadis of Gaul." In the
Seventeenth Century there arose pastoral romances
which described the characters and doings of the
French court under a disguise borrowed from ancient
history. Then there came tales of the adventures of
rogues and vagabonds. But the name Novel was applied
to the long drawn out tales which depended for their inter-
est on their "sensibility," or proper regulation of the ten-
der feelings of the human heart. With the opening of the
Nineteenth Century some of these forms were partly
revived. But the French novel, as commonly accepted,
came in with the Romanticism, which has been viewed in
its poetical and dramatic aspects. Previous stories had no
marked power or length and no special design. The in-
vention of the French novel destined to live and exert
influence is ascribed to George Sand, Hugo, Dumas, and
Balzac. Their methods and ideals differed materially, but
together their efforts made a new species of literature.

GEORGE SAND

George Sand is the literary pseudonym of a woman,
who was by birth Armantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, and
became by marriage Baroness Dudevant. Born in 1804,

227

228 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

her life is as fantastic as her fictions. She inherited an
untamable gypsy temperament. Her childhood was a
breezy idyll ; then she spent two years in the seclusion of a
convent. At eighteen she was married to a country squire,
and nine years later, with her two children, she left her
husband to live by her pen in Paris. Jules Sandeau was
one of the new novelists who sought to unfold character
and picture the actual life of the time. He was her lover
and assisted her in writing a story of this sort, "Rose et
Blanche" ( 1831 ) . Though she appropriated a syllable of
his name as her pseudonym, their literary union did not
continue. She had found her vocation and could go alone.
Within a year she wrote "Indiana," the first unrestrained
protest against what she felt to be the subjection of woman,
and a plea for freedom in love. The book brimmed over
with high-flown sentiment expressed in the music of
words. The same plea was repeated with variations in a
long series of romances which flowed rapidly from her
pen. The liberty which she claimed in her books she
practiced without concealment in her long, varied, and by
no means happy life. She was a child of nature, shrewd
enough to utilize her mastery of literary art in adapting
her ideas for the market, in which her first book had made
her a favorite purveyor. Having shown the evils flowing
from unhappy marriages, she next depicted those due to
unhappy liaisons, and labored to prove that no unions are
binding beyond the mutual passion of the hour. Her per-
sonal influence upon such weak men of genius as Musset
and Chopin was sadly in contrast with the happy results
alleged to flow from her theory of freedom. Experience
seems to have brought disillusion. Her earlier books
expressed the universal unrest in impracticable and pas-
sionate ways. In her later books she left off her rhap-
sodies for abstractions and unreal liberty, and turned back

FRENCH 229

to enjoy the sweet simplicity of her early years in the coun-
try. "Consuelo" (1843), which is partly based on her
acquaintance with Chopin and her experience in Venice,
marks the turning point in her literary career. Among
her later books, "La petite Fadette" (Little Fadette),
"L'Homme de Neige" (The Snow Man), and "La Mare
au Diable" (The Devil's Pool), are the best liked. The
"Histoire de ma Vie" (Story of My Life), is a romance
of reality, but leaves much untold. For her pastorals she
invented a style of her own, using words so simple that
peasants could understand them, and so pure that the
Academy would approve them. In her peaceful old age
she wrote fairy stories for her grandchildren. She died
in June, 1876, having witnessed many revolutions, political
and literary.

BALZAC

As George Sand is the typical emotionalist in romance,
Honore de Balzac is the accepted type of the realists. She
was a prose poet, revealing the joys and sorrows, the
revolts and aspirations of individuals. He was the me-
chanical recorder of the people's daily life, yet was able
to penetrate into the average man's personality. Honore
de Balzac was born in moderate circumstances in Touraine
in 1799. His father wished him to study law, but a sister,
who understood his character, helped him to devote himself
to literature. His early novels were not read, but he per-
severed in writing. A few years before Victor Hugo
published his "Cromwell," Balzac had tried the same
theme for a tragedy, but could not get it printed. At last,
when he was thirty, his "Chouans," an historical romance
after Scott's style, gained some favor. Then he published
a rapid succession of stories, striking while the iron was
hot. He was always fond of speculation, and made sev-

23o LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

eral ventures in trade, especially seeking to establish a large
printing and publishing house, which loaded him with
debt. In literature he undertook to make a modern
"Human Comedy" to display all the types and varieties of
human life and character. And so far as French char-
acter represents humanity in general he succeeded in
depicting it with marvelous truth. Intense love of money
was a part of his own character, and he makes it a universal
ruling principle in his work. This binds him to a sordid
view of life, and makes his stories less elevated in tone
than a cheap daily newspaper. Balzac called himself the
secretary of society and was indeed, by choice, a matter-
of-fact reporter, and had scant regard for any higher life
than the streets of Paris afforded. But his indomitable
will and perseverance in his self-appointed task are beyond
all praise. Twelve hours from midnight to noon he toiled
at his desk, stimulating himself with strong coffee. He
sacrificed himself to his ambition. He was engaged to a
Polish Countess for sixteen years, and at last, when fifty-
one, was married to her in March, 1850. He had looked
forward to a happy old age as compensation for years of
toil, but was disappointed, dying in the August after his
marriage.

In the work which he had planned and systematically
arranged, he claimed to have portrayed over two thousand
distinct types of character. The idea of the vast comedy
was not announced by him until 1842, when he had already
been at work twelve years. He undertook to analyze and
classify human life as the naturalist Buffon had done with
the animal kingdom. The characters of his previous
novels were arranged to suit his plan, and he set out to
supply all missing parts. But being of plebeian birth,
he could not study the patrician aright. He did not dis-
guise his preference for the baser sort and baser side of

FRENCH 231

life. Intellectually he was intense rather than comprehen-
sive. Poetry and refined sensibility were alien to his habit
and work. He was deficient in style, and this defect kept
him from being recognized early. He had power but not
grace, point without polish, and verbosity without fluency.
Yet French critics, admirers and lovers of perfect style,
have pronounced him the greatest novelist of the world.
Taine has declared his works "the greatest storehouse of
documents of human nature." If other students may not
be able to accept this view and regard Balzac as the
supreme master in modern fiction, they can still award
him the full honor of being a founder of a grand school
of novelists. They may admit that he has done more than
any other single writer to intensify the study of human
nature in the realistic way.

His "Comedie Humaine" was divided into three main
sections — Studies of Manners, Philosophic Studies, An-
alytic Studies. The studies of Manners comprise twenty-
four stories grouped as Scenes of Private Life, ten stories
of Provincial Life, three stories of Country Life, twenty
stories of Parisian Life, and seven stories of Political and
Military life. The Philosophical Studies comprise twenty
stories and the Analytic Studies only two. The catalogue
of these works is immense, and it is difficult to select those
which far surpass others. Balzac has several portraits of
misers; one of these is the father in "Eugenie Grandet,"
of whose greed the wife and daughter are victims. In
"Cousin Pons," an old musician is preyed upon by rogues.
In "Le Pere Goriot," the father lives in a shabby boarding
house, while his married daughters revel in luxury. In
"The Greatness and Decline of Cesar Birotteau" a per-
fumer who has worked his way to wealth, is made the vic-
tim of bankers. In the "Peau de Chagrin" (The Magic
Skin) Raphael, the hero, has the skin of a wild ass as a

232 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

talisman, by means of which his wishes can be readily
obtained. But a serious condition is attached, that as the
skin is diminished his life is shortened, and that every
desire gratified takes a certain portion from the skin. It
has been truly said that Balzac's own life is symbolized in
this story.

DUMAS

Alexandre Dumas shares with Hugo the glory of the
revival of the romance of adventure. He was the son of
General Alexandre Dumas, who was a Creole, the illegiti-
mate son of a French Marquis and a negro girl. General
Dumas was a man of remarkable gallantry, but so little
inclined to submit to control that Napoleon dismissed him
from the army. His wife was an innkeeper's daughter,
who proved an affectionate mother. The great Alexandre
was born at Villers-Cotterets on July 4, 1802. He was
boisterous and troublesome in youth and at the age of
twenty-one went to Paris to seek his fortune. He entered
the employ of the Duke of Orleans, and two years later
began to write small pieces for the theater. He took quite
naturally to the Romantic movement, being influenced by
the visit of some English actors to Paris, who introduced
him to Shakespeare. The performance of his drama of
"Henri III" on February n, 1829, was the first success
of the Romantic school. In the Revolution of July, 1830,
Dumas took an active part. But he soon returned to the
theater and wrote "Antony," a powerful but immoral
play. When his "Tour de Nesle" ( 1832) led to a charge
of plagiarism, critics discovered that in his earlier plays
also he had appropriated whole scenes from foreign plays,
fitting them ingeniously to his plot. Dumas not only con-
tinued this practice afterward in his novels, but employed
various collaborators, none of whom, however, could ob-

FRENCH 333

tain the same success, when working independently. On
account of a duel, he was ordered to leave France, and
went to Switzerland. In 1842 he married an actress, who
three years later separated from him and went to Italy.

At last, in 1844, appeared the first of his great novels,
which gave Dumas at once a European reputation. No
romance since "Waverley" had excited such universal
interest as 'The Count of Monte Cristo." The brilliance
of its coloring, the unflagging rush of the narrative, the
frequent surprises and the air of probability given to the
most improbable circumstances filled the world with aston-
ishment. Scarcely was this story finished when "The
Three Musketeers" followed, characterized by the same
qualities. The immediate demand for Dumas' services as
a story writer for the daily journals led him to put in
practice the plan already mentioned of employing skilled
assistants. In one year he is said to have issued forty
volumes and still the demand grew for more. Whatever
the amount of help from others, or of direct plagiarism,
which he called "conquest," Dumas had the gift and the
ambition of story-telling. He saw life in fascinating
motion, a series of adventures dazzling and exciting. He
loved the elemental, and believed in it as an artist. The
secret of all genuinely great art is to appeal to the senses
and not in vain. Dumas had this gift in perfection.
Thackeray wrote to Dumas: "Of your heroic heroes I
think our friend Monseigneur Athos is my favorite. I
have read about him from sunrise to sunset, with the ut-
most contentment of mind. He has passed through how
many volumes, forty, fifty ? I wish there were a hundred
more."

Dumas made money by his manufacture of novels, but
squandered it faster than it came. Among his most cele-
brated works, besides those already mentioned, were

234 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

"Twenty Years After," a continuation of 'The Three
Musketeers," 'The Vicomte de Bragelonne," "Margaret
of Anjou," and "The Memoirs of a Physician." Novel
writing did not withdraw him from the drama. He
adapted some of his best romances for the stage and wrote
original pieces, such as "The Youth of Louis XIV," "A
Marriage Under Louis XV." He also published several
historical works, chiefly relating to France. In 1852 he
began the publication of his "Memoirs," which gives beau-
tiful pictures of his early life. The Revolution of 1848
had cut off much of his income, and his splendid but
unfinished palace of Monte Cristo was sold in 1854 for a
tenth of its cost. Dumas lived to witness the Prussian
invasion, and died at Dieppe in December, 1870.

AUGIER

In the fifth decade of the Century there was somewhat
of a reaction against the Romanticists, which was called
the School of Common Sense. Its nominal leader was
Frangois Ponsard, but Emile Augier (1820-1889) de-
serves, perhaps, the chief place. He was born at Valence
and was intended for the bar, but became a dramatic
writer. His first play, "Cigue" (Hemlock), was a senti-
mental picture of old Greek life. It was first acted in
1844, and is still occasionally produced. In 1849 Augier
departed from the practice of the Romanticists in his
"Gabrielle." Here, in the usual complication of husband,
wife, and lover, he was bold enough to make the husband
the hero. It won for the author a prize from the Acad-
emy. Several other plays of unimpeachable morality fol-
lowed, and in 1855 as a protest against the younger
Dumas' famous play, "La Dame aux Cornelias" known
in English as "Camille," Augier brought out the

FRENCH 235

"Manage d'Olympe." A comedy written in collaboration
with Jules Sandeau, "Le Gendre de M. Poirier" (M. Poi-
rier's Son-in-Law),has been pronounced, perhaps, the best
French comedy of the Century. Other comedies, clean
and wholesome, helped to make Augier the foremost of
French dramatists, and warranted his election to the Acad-
emy. After the German war he endeavored to stir the
patriotism of his countrymen, and then returned to his
usual style.

PHILOSOPHERS AND HISTORIANS

The ideas of England and Germany, introduced by
the Romanticists, affected philosophic thought and his-
torical writing as well as poetry and fiction. Their effect
in these regions became apparent in the second quarter of
the Century. The great philosophers of Germany —
Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel — had propounded their
systems, and had endeavored to give a rational view of the
universe. The French, who have been diff users rather
than creators of philosophy, took up the discussion of these
new views and modified them according to their own
apprehension. Victor Cousin ( 1792-1867) was the leader
in appreciation and exposition of the new ideas. He was
professor at the Sorbonne and after the Revolution of
1830 his services were enlisted in the service of the gov-
ernment and for a time he was Minister of Public Instruc-
tion. The English system of philosophy, founded by
Locke, and extended by the Scotch philosophers, Reid and
Stewart, considered that all human knowledge is derived
through the senses. The German philosophers insisted
that certain higher ideas are intuitive and are ascertained
by pure reason, while the knowledge obtained through the
senses belongs to practical reason or understanding.
Cousin endeavored to effect a compromise, and formulated
the Eclectic system, derived from many sources. He gave
much attention to Plato, and translated his works into
French. Under his management national education was
improved. His colleague, Abel Villemain (1790-1870),
held similar positions and in his discourses on Eighteenth
Century literature directed attention to the pre-eminence

236

FRENCH 237

of English literature and oratory. The work of both was
direct and fruitful.

There were other thinkers who are generally regarded
as philosophical only and yet had considerable influence
on literature and the general course of events in French
history. They were Eclectics at the outset, but they in-
sisted on carrying their convictions to practical results.
Their ideas have become foundation-stones for many lat-
ter-day edifices. Claude Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-
1825) is interesting as the father of Socialism, a theory
which has spread over the world and entered into the
life of the present day. He was the seer, the pioneer who
blazed the way through the forest, but was not qualified
for constructive work. Francois Charles Fourier (1772-
1837) worked out a definite social scheme, which is called
by his name. While this system of organized communism
failed to take root except in a few places, it contributed
to the rapid development of its basic idea, the perfecting of
fraternalism. Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865)
went so far in his radicalism as to pronounce that property
is theft. He gave the force of literary expression to com-
munistic doctrines.

The founder of the Positive philosophy, belongs to a
superior class of world reformers, considered as systematic
thinkers. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) is the most orig-
inal of French philosophers since Descartes. His system
is not only philosophic and social, but religious, having
Humanity as its Divinity, good people as its Saints, and a
new social order made by rule on a vast and complex plan.
The Comtist school has had some distinguished men in
science and literature among its disciples.

238 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

THIERRY

On turning now to the French historians, the work of
Thierry firsts enlists the attention. History had been
written by Dryasdusts in chronological style for genera-
tions. At best it gathered crude facts, made loose deduc-
tions, and wound up with moral comment. But what had
been a wilderness Thierry's art turned into a garden.
Stirred by the imaginative writings of Scott and other
Romanticists, he was endowed with sufficient poetic gift
to grace his own substantial work. He perceived that
history is, if rightly seen, a splendid epic. Jacques Nicolas
Augustin Thierry was born at Blois in 1795, went to
Paris and passed under the influence of Saint-Simon, to
whom he was secretary. He dreamt of international
solidarity with national individuality, a view which gave
tone to much of his subsequent work. But his chief ser-
vice to progress consisted in his proving by research that
the past cannot be understood without intimate acquaint-
ance with ancient traditions and records, showing the
racial character of the people. His "Lettres sur I'Histoire
de France," published in 1820 and revised in 1827, marks
the new departure in the interpretation of history. His
"History of the Norman Conquest of England" first ap-
peared in 1825, and was much improved in the edition of
1840. Picturesque, brilliant and accurate, it was hailed
with acclamation in England and Germany, as well as in
France. But the dread calamity of blindness overtook
him in 1830. Yet, aided by his wife, he persevered in his
labors, publishing "Dix Ans d' Etudes Historiques" (Ten
Years of Historic Studies) in 1834, and "Recits
Merovingiens" (Merovingian Narratives) in 1840. He
died in 1856. His younger brother, Amedee (1797-
was also an able historian, treating chiefly of

FRENCH 239

Roman Gaul, but did not attain the same success. Kis
most popular work is the "History of Attila" (1856).
Under the Empire he was made a Senator.

MICHELET

In Jules Michelet (1798-1874) literature recognizes a
brilliant compound of historian, poet, philosopher, natural-
ist and reformer. The poetic faculty lent his work in the
other capacities a characteristic glamour. He was the son
of a Parisian printer and having received a good education
was made professor of history in the College Rollin. His
early works were school books, good of their kind, the
"Precis de I'Histoire Moderne" (Summary of Mod-
ern History) (1827) being the best. The "Intro-
duction to Universal History" (1831) first showed
his peculiar power of poetizing facts. His great
"History of France" occupied him for thirty-seven
years, and was completed in nineteen volumes, yet
it comes down only to the Revolution, which was
treated in a separate work (1852). The history was
based on a thorough examination of all the authorities
accessible, but the writer's strong religious and political
prejudices, as well as his picturesque style, render it often
untrustworthy on account of its suggestions, though it
never falsifies facts. The part relating to the Middle
Ages is the most interesting account of that period.
Michelet was a believer in progress, and found in the rec-
ords of the past support for his visions of the future.
.While his main work was under way, he sent out a swarm
of other books, more or less related to it. His "History of
the Revolution" is not equal to Carlyle's though full of
enthusiasm for the cause of liberty. When Louis
Napoleon became Emperor, Michelet would not take the

240 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

oath of allegiance, and therefore lost his place in the
Record office. He began a new series of books on natural
history, probably suggested by his second wife. These
books, "The Bird," "The Insect," "The Sea," "The Moun-
tain," "Woman," "Love," were filled with a fervent pan-
theism; they showed all nature as divine. In them the
author's peculiar poetic prose was carried to its furthest
limits, and became declamatory. His "Bible de I'Human-
ite" (1864) is a similar poetizing of the history of all
religions. After the downfall of the Empire, Michelet,
then seventy-two, began a "History of the Nineteenth
Century," but carried it only to Waterloo. He died in
1874. '

GUIZOT

Frangois Pierre Guillaume Guizot (1787-1874),
eminent as a statesman and historian, was born at Nimes,
where his father, a Liberal and Protestant, was guillo-
tined in the Revolution. The son was educated under
his mother's care at Geneva, and studied law at Paris.
There he began to write for the press, and in 1812 was
made professor of modern history. He was a firm be-
liever in constitutional monarchy and upheld that system
against the democratic spirit of the age and the absolutism
of the court. His important political sendees to his coun-
try must be passed by in this notice of his literary career.
Besides editing many historical works, among which was
Gibbon's "Rome," and translating Shakespeare, he pub-
lished an impartial "History of the English Revolution,
1625-60." His greatest work is the "History of Civiliza-
tion in Europe," which was only the introduction to his
"History of Civilization in France." They are both reck-
oned among the classics of modern history. The author's
profound study of the history of France from the Tenth

FRENCH 241

to the Fourteenth Century gave prominence to the growth
of solidarity in the nation. The chief deficiency in the
work is the author's prosaic plainness of thought and
speech; he rejects enthusiasm and ornament and contents
himself with arguments, dry in presentation, however
cogent in force. Guizot rose to be prime minister under
Louis Philippe, and fell with him in the Revolution of
1848. During the last twenty-six years of his life he
was a philosophical spectator of human affairs. In his
old age he wrote for his grandchildren a "History of
France," which is thorough and attractive, and has proved
immensely popular.

THIERS

Another great historian, who was also a statesman,
was Louis Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877). His dim" cut
role during and after the Franco-German war displayed his
quality- as statesman, and has given him a prominent place
in the world's history. He was born in Marseilles, was
educated for the bar, but turned to journalism and became
a noted political writer. His literary fame rests on two
works, "The History of the French Revolution"
(1823-32) and "The History of the Consulate and
Empire" (1840-62). Their chief fault is excess both in
matter and manner of relation. They have also been
charged with unfairness, but this probably arose from
the author's being obliged to decide between witnesses
who contradict each other, and following the one whose
testimony suited his own views. Still another fault is the
glorification of Napoleon, which was due in part to the
writer's patriotism.

242 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

DE TOCQUEVILLE

Americans should feel special interest in the French
historian who revealed to Europe, and even to America
itself, the real meaning and tendency of the institutions
established here. Alexis Charles Henri Clerel de
Tocqueville, to give him his full due, was a philosopher
rather than an historian. His study was of the democratic
principle rather than the democracy then entering upon the
second experimental stage of it. He was born in Paris
in 1805, studied law and was made a judge. In 1831 he
visited the United States, being sent with G. de Beaumont
to examine the penitentiaries. After his return he pub-
lished "La Democratic en Amerique" (4 vols., 1835-40),
in which he predicted the progress and predominance of
democracy in the world. He had a gift for true perception
and his work has not receded from the place originally
accorded to it by common consent. He believed in the
principles of enlightened Liberalism and he anticipated
their ultimate triumph, but frankly exposed the errors,
observable in this country and his own. He himself be-
came minister of foreign affairs under the French Republic
of 1848 and was driven from the public service by the
coup d'etat of 1851. Five years later he published
"L'Anden Regime et la Revolution," a further testimony
to his abiding interest in political philosophy. His search-
ing analysis and forecast of popular destiny deserve honor-
able mention in literature.

LITERATURE UNDER THE EMPIRE, 1852-1870

In the reign of Louis Philippe serious literature had
been cultivated. Several of the leading statesmen, as
Guizot and Thiers, had already won fame as historians,
and political writers. But the overthrow of the Republic
drove such men from power. The Empire, founded by
violence, was opposed to serious discussion. Its aim was
to amuse and entertain the people. Great writers like
Hugo were banished. Some of less force of character
were bribed by sinecures or lucrative places. Some, indif-
ferent to political considerations, continued to devote them-
selves to their chosen field of literature. In Paris the con-
dition of affairs under the Empire was favorable to the
development of light literature. It was an era of outward
prosperity and pleasure. Novel-reading, and theater-
going occupied the time of the populace. The dominant
note was that of enjoyment, and everything was shaped
and directed toward that. Familiar ideas were retold
with new readings in plays and stories. Impressionism
was cultivated; ingenious subtleties were discovered by
those who catered for popular taste. Playwrights began
to introduce moral problems or riddles into the drama.
Song-writers expanded their light verses into treatises on
society and conduct, the art of the singers adding zest to
the effect. Music and the graphic arts used the same
devices to catch public attention by infusing a more intel-
lectual quality into the lightest performance. Naturally
the minor novel multiplied a hundred-fold in such favoring
soil.

244 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

GAUTIER

Among those who were conspicuous in the contest over
the memorable first performance of Victor Hugo's
"Hernani" in 1830 none was more so than Theophile
Gautier (1811-1872) who had arrayed himself for the
occasion in a crimson vest. Born at Tarbes in Gascony,
he went to school in Paris, and studied art. But his real
bent was toward literature, and he gave much attention to
the writers of the Sixteenth Century. He astonished the
critic Sainte-Beuve with some poems written when he was
but eighteen. The aggressive young "Romantics" who
were ready to strike a blow, as well as argue and applaud,
for their side, found in him a spirited leader. He had no
dramatic faculty and prepared nothing for the theater, ex-
cept a few masques and ballets. His first long poem
"Albertus" (1830) and others of his early career showed
great command of language, but were marred by extravag-
ance. For a while he was an assistant to Balzac, but hated
the drudgery. His own first novel, "Mademoiselle de
Maupin" (1835), was a tale of a girl who sought adven-
tures while dressed in man's attire. The licentiousness of
the story offended even French readers and hurt the
author's reputation. But Gautier persevered and cul-
tivated his style so that his prose has become a model for
his successors. Of his short tales the masterpiece is the
highly artistic but ghastly story, "La Morte Amoureuse"
(The Dead Leman). It is founded on the mediaeval
superstition of the incubus, and tells how a devout young
priest is ensnared by the beauty of a girl, who transports
him in sleep to a distant castle. Finally she is discovered
to be but a corpse who receives animation for a while from
the blood of her victims. That such an unnatural subject
should be so treated as to win the verdict of critics is a tes-

FRENCH 245

timony to the power of Gautier's perfection of handling.
Other weird and fantastic stories are his "Arria Marcella,*
a revival of the life of Pompeii; "Omphale," in which a
gay lady of olden times emerges from a tapestry; "Roman
de la Momie" (Romance of the Mummy), which repro-
duces the life of ancient Egypt. "Le Capitaine
Fracasse" (Captain Fracasse) (1863) is a novel of stir-
ring adventures in the fashion made popular by Dumas,
and is considered by many Gautier's best work.

To the last Gautier remained the master of pictorial
prose and poetry. His elaborately finished poems were
collected in "Emaux et Camees" (Enamels and Cameos),
first published in 1856. They are polished gems and show
his love for beauty in art and nature. To search for beauty
he gave all his powers with an absolute indifference to any
other consideration. He cared nothing for religion or
science, but was acknowledged as supreme in criticism of
art and the drama. He formulated the principle of art for
art's sake and lived up to it. In his later career he traveled
much and wrote brilliant descriptions of various countries
and places. Most of his writing was done for newspapers,
but he never lowered his style nor took sides in politics.
He died in October, 1872.

SAINTE-BEUVE

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve might have been in-
cluded among the early Romanticists, but his valuable
work was as a critic. He was one of the staff that made
the "Globe" an engine of war against the classical. In
its columns he wrote his first work (1827-28) the
"Tableau de la Poesie Franqaise au XVI Siecle." It is
to be noted that the rise of journalism gave criticism its
opportunity, may almost be said to have created it. This

246 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

half-literary, half-historic sketch was designed to back up
the Romantic revival with proofs that his comrades were
worthy followers of the great poets of old. He linked
their work with that of Ronsard, whom he pronounced
king of all wielders of the French language, and with the
other famous poets of that age. In this Sainte-Beuve dis-
pleased the Classics, whose national models were of later
date. He also published a selection of Ronsard's poems in
support of his contention. Then he ventured a book of
his own poems, the "Vie, Poesies, et Pensees de Joseph
Delorme" (Life, Poems and Thoughts of Joseph
Delorme) in the introspective fashion of the hour. A year
later saw his second venture "Consolations" (1830),
pitched in the same key. In 1834 he issued his solitary
novel, "Volupte" (Pleasure) ; and in 1837 his last poetry
book "Pensees d'Aout" (Thoughts of August). He was
not a success as poet. His vein of romance was drying up.
Journalism with free play for his critical pen attracted him.
He considered that French poetry, his own included, lacked
body and soul as compared with that of the English sing-
ers, and his constant advice to his verse-making friends
was to study English. He next undertook the first stages
of a work on Port Royal. It was not finished for twenty
years. This work, five volumes, was in part delivered as
lectures before the Academy of Lausanne in 1837. As
Brunetiere pronounces this "beyond question one of the
great books of the Century," it is well to cite his reasons.
Its author, he says, displays in it these master qualities,
examination of works, analysis of sentiments, apprecia-
tion of ideas. In the chapters on Pascal, Montaigne, St.
Francis de Sales, Corneille and Boileau are seen the pre-
cision of the historian, the subtlety of the psychologist, and
judicial firmness. Here, then, we get a first glimpse at
the making of a critic.

FRENCH 247

Sainte-Beuve was appointed to the Mazarin Library in
1840, a comfortable post which allowed him time to master
the Greek poets in the original, and earn an income by his
pen. Between 1832 and 1848 he published seven volumes
of his "Portraits Litteraires" and "Portraits Contempo-
rains" afterward pronounced by himself youthful
gush. In 1832 he had written of Hugo in these make-
believe criticisms that the poet was "sublime," "adorable,"
but within four years the idol was pronounced "artificial,"
"theatrical" and "violent." The critical faculty was
asserting itself. Steadily the depth and keenness of the
work increased. The Revolution of 1848 indirectly caused
his acceptance of the chair of French literature in the Uni-
versity of Liege, his lectures afterward forming two
volumes on Chateaubriand and his group. When
Napoleon III brought twenty years of stability to the
country Sainte-Beuve began his famous series of
"Causeries du Lundi," familiar talks on literary men and
topics, appearing every Monday in the "Constitutionnel"
These continued in the "Moniteur" until his death, and
afterward were published in twenty-eight volumes. His
allegiance to the Empire cost him friends and influence.
He accepted offices of emolument from it and the cross
of the Legion of Honor. In 1865 he was made a Senator,
but his health was broken.

As a richly qualified and mellowed master in criticism,
Sainte Beuve pronounced himself to be simply a searcher
for truth. Having started on the track of the merely
beautiful he wisely refused to be longer identified with a
cult which he had become convinced was erroneous. "I
hold very little to literary opinions ; they occupy very little
place in my life and thoughts. What does occupy me seri-
ously is life itself and the object of it. I am accustomed
to call my judgments in question anew, and to re-cast my

248 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

opinions the moment I suspect them to be without
validity." A man brave enough to follow this principle
up is sure of enemies. Sainte-Beuve had plenty. His
method created them, his courage embittered them. From
Romanticism to Naturalism is a clean sweep to the oppo-
site pole. His mode of work was first to ascertain the
interesting thing about the book before him. This found,
described, and explained, he then took its author in hand,
seeking to know all about him and his environment that
could illuminate his work, account for its quality and
mainspring. Thus he would aim to enlarge the man and
his book into the history, or an epitome and reflection of it,
of a period or a movement. The method has its draw-
backs even in the hands of so great and clearheaded a
writer as Taine, who owned Sainte-Beuve as his master.
Except the "Port Royal" and the early efforts, this great
critic's works are monographs, "infinite riches in little
room." Perhaps he was not always quite fair to some of
his neighbors — Balzac, for example. But he was a noble
spirit, a finely equipped guide, philosopher and friend for
the student of French literature and the literary genius at
large. Not strictly the founder of a system or a school
of his own choice, he was a leader whom the best are
proud to follow.

MERIMEE

The popularity of the opera "Carmen" directs atten-
tion to Prosper Merimee (1803-70), on whose story it is
founded. Born in Paris, he studied law, but entered the
civil service, was expert as a linguist and archaeologist,
gradually rose to important positions, and became a per-
sonal friend of the Emperor Napoleon III. As a young
man he was affected by the Romantic movement, but his
cynical temper kept him from becoming a partisan. His

FRENCH 249

entrance into literature was with some pretended transla-
tions of dramas by a Spanish lady, Clara Gazul. These
were followed by a book called "La Guzla," which pro-
fessed to be translated from the Illyrian language. Good
scholars were hoaxed by these tricks. After some smaller
pieces Merimee published, in 1830, the Corsican story,
"Colomba," and in 1845 the Spanish gipsy story of "Car-
men." These and his other short stories are especially
distinguished by their local color, thrilling tragedy and
artistic finish. Merimee is one of the greatest masters of
French prose style. Besides his stories he published his-
torical works, some translations from the Russian, and
official reports which display his accurate scholarship. He
died in September, 1870. After his death appeared his
interesting "Lettres a une Inconnue" (Letters to an
Unknown Lady) which display the same beautiful style
and vary in manner from friendship to love. Other series
of his letters have also been published, and all tend to in-
crease the regard for him as a man and writer.

THE RISE OF REALISM

The transformation of the novel became complete
when Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) startled even Paris
with his realistic creation, "Madame Bovary," in 1856.
What Balzac had roughly though minutely begun, his
pupil worked up to the finest finish. Flaubert had the
enormous advantage to a novelist of refined instincts, high
culture, and a facility in the strictly artistic use of lan-
guage. He naturally began life under the banner of
Romanticism. A period of travel gave a different bent to
his earlier tastes. He took the pessimist's ungenial view
of the world. Balzac had portrayed the dismal side of
life with a realism that enchained the interest without
exhilarating either the sense of pleasure or the better emo-
tions. Flaubert thought he could paint a picture of an
unattractive subject, yet which should kindle admiration
by the skill and beauty of the workmanship.

Flaubert succeeded so well in this pen-picture that even
the police were moved by it. His trial was the grand
tournament of literary champions; the romanticists, real-
ists, and rational respectabilities waged a three-cornered
duel, with the law as umpire. Flaubert made his own
defense, the artist must not be punished for holding the
mirror to the mob in the streets. He won the fight,
because the game of suppression is liable to turn into the
business of oppression. Flaubert took higher artistic
ground in his powerful study of ancient Carthage, named
"Salammbo," from its heroine (1862). The charm of
this is in its ultra-realistic picture of the time and people.
Here his years of special study and travel for this

25°

FRENCH 251

repay the effort. Great as it is, the average novel-reader
will find it dry. The author carefully suppresses himself
in his books; he refuses to point a moral or make an excur-
sion into happier regions. His "Tentation de Saint
Antoine" (1874) is an equally appalling picture of a holy
man of old in the Egyptian desert, before whose vision
passes the nightmare of humanity's evils, incurable woes
intensified by futile efforts to ameliorate them. Flaubert's
best novel of modern life is "L'Education Sentimentale"
(1870). He again depicts a phase of sordid life in all
its ugliness. By causing the hero to lose in the long run
by rascality, the author may for once have posed as
moralist to that extent. Flaubert's style may captivate
the stylists. Those who want heart-throbs or romance
will find him cold and repellent. Partly by heredity and
partly by choice, he made himself one of the conspicuously
able school of naturalists, some of whose later disciples
have carried its methods several degrees farther in the
direction of animalism.

That all its followers denied themselves the right to
sunshine is disproved in the case of Octave Feuillet (1821-
1890) . A realist he was, but he did not disdain all roman-
ticism. He began his career as one of Alexandre Dumas'
clever young men, who worked up his plots in that mer-
chant's back office. He collaborated with another in two
romantic dramas, produced in 1845, and brought out his
first original novel, "Bellah," in 1850. In this his lean-
ings to realism were marked, though it preserved the
romantic spirit. So in the succession of novels written
during the next few years, "La Petite Comtesse" (1856),
and his most popular and durable story, the "Roman d'un
Jeune Homme Pauvre," (Story of a Poor Young Man)
(1858). These have characteristics of importance as
viewed in connection with their date and the author's posi-

252 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

tion. The last named has a distinct value as a picture
of rural life in Normandy. Though written on the lines
of simple realism, it is imbued with a softened poetical
influence, possibly suggested by the "Vicar of Wakefield,"
which rises into idealism. There is moral force, if not
purpose, in the story, and the most confirmed naturalis-
tic devotee would not venture to deny that its literary art
gained by this gentle trait. In 1862 he ventured to break
a lance with George Sand in the work, "Histoire de
Sibylle" She replied a year later in her romance, "Made-
moiselle de la Quintinie." It doubtless influenced her in
the departure she was taking from the individualistic
story. Both of them were tired of the selfish claim for
personal gratification at any cost. To this extent Feuillet
was distinctly a reformer of fiction, while continuing to
picture the shadows of life. He contended for legitimate
liberty for women, as for men, but always upheld pure love
and honorable marriage as the ideal happiness and the
only sure path to it. His greater novels are "M. de
Camoes" (1867), "Julie de Trecoeur" (1872), "Le Jour-
nal d'une Femme" (1878), and "La Morte" (1886).
There are several others, besides five volumes of plays.
One advantage he had in sustaining the tone he adopted,
his novels mostly portray the lives of well-to-do people.
Feuillet was a gentleman, and wrote as one. A high
standard of honor is upheld generally. As a whole, his
work may be pronounced clean, artistic, and with a ten-
dency to the good.

Though Alexandre Dumas, the younger, who was
born in 1824, died in 1895, his fame as a dramatist was
won under the Empire. It is likely to endure, though
disproportioned to the intrinsic worth of his literary influ-
ence. His father's wild nature was largely repeated in
the romantic youth. Not until 1852 did he perceive that

FRENCH 253

he must offer original work, the outcome of hard think-
ing, if any such celebrity as his father's was to be his. He
produced the novel, afterward turned into the better
known play, "Dame aux Camelias" (1848). As a study
of the phase of Paris life with which he was most familiar,
it was recognized as faithful and strong. There was some
difficulty in getting permission to have it played, but it is
a stock piece to this day. The next dramatized novel was
"Diane de Lys" which failed, and then came the "Demi-
Monde" in 1855, which is regarded as a masterpiece. The
atmosphere of these plays cannot be breathed for any
length of time with pleasure. Following up the lead thus
secured, Dumas availed himself of the notoriety of his
origin by using it as material for two unabashed charac-
ter plays, the "Fils Naturel" (1858) and the "Pere Pro-
digue" (1859). One of these, the "I dees de Madame
Aubray" (1867), pleaded for sympathetic judgment for
those who fall through weakness. Dumas took his success
very seriously, favoring the world with several volumes
of his plays, prefaced with eloquent arguments in proof
of their moral value. From this time he regarded himself
as a public oracle. No national event, such as the war
of 1870, or scandal, or law suit involving large issues,
was allowed to pass without its Dumas play or pamphlet
to settle the principle at issue. His dramas, "La Visite
de Noces" (1871), and "La Femme de Claude" (1873),
showed that henceforth the stage was to be his pulpit.
The point to be remarked here is that in this new departure
from stage tradition Dumas was undoubtedly doing his
best to widen and deepen its influence. His success was
not continuous, but it was something that a mercurial peo-
ple could be induced to ponder grave problems in the place
where hitherto they had sought only merriment. It shows
that, irrespective of his fitness for the office of moralist,

254 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Dumas possessed artistic power in no ordinary degree.
He had the rare distinction of beirig admitted to the
Academy in 1874 by a large majority, with Victor Hugo
among them.

A poet of note in the naturalistic school, Charles Marie
Rene Leconte de Lisle, ( 1818-1894) may be included here.
His work has come to the front again, owing to a new
development of the literary principles he formulated for
himself and adhered to. De Lisle wrote "Poemes Antique"
(1852), "Poemes et Poesies" (1853), and "Poemes
Barbares" ( 1 862 ) and "Poemes Tragique" ( 1 884) . The
severest canons of art are observed in these poems, which
are gaining a new repute among the select. They betray
a vein of pessimism, but are instinct with a beauty akin
to the classical, and the polish which art gives to ideas,
themselves coldly rough.

A set of popular works in fiction involved also political
motives. They are sufficiently described as the Erckmann-
Chatrian novels, being written in partnership by Emile
Erckmann (1822-1899), a Lorrainer, with a taste for
literature, and Alexandre Chatrian (1826-1890), an
instructor in law. In 1859 their joint work, "L'lllustre
Docteur Matheus" gained a fair success. Thereafter they
managed to glorify and keep alive the principles of the
Revolution in a long series of stories, most craftily con-
trived to escape imperial censure. Under the guise of
peasant stories of their native region, they depicted the
seamy side of Napoleonism, its crushing influence on the
poor people, and, by suggestion, the mischievous influence
of the Second Empire. This subtle but telling propagand-
ism was veiled in romances, of which the most popular
were "Madame Therhe, ou les Volontaires de '92"
(1863), "L'Ami Frits" (1864), "Histoire d'un Cons-
ent de 1813" (1864), "Waterloo" (1865), "Histoire

FRENCH 255

d'un Homme du Peuple" (1865), "La Guerre" (1866),
"Histoire d'un Pay son" ( 1868) . The influence exercised
by these stories had no little share in ripening the country
for the downfall of imperialism. When the Second
Empire fell the clever collaborators reaped a golden har-
vest by their realistic, though also romantic, disclosure of
the methods by which the royal adventurer had coerced
the nation. This they did in the "Histoire du Plebiscite,
recontee par un des 7,500,000 Oui" (1872). From then
until Chatrian's overstrained mind gave way, they pro-
duced a second string of novels, some almost idyllic, others
strongly naturalistic, which always appealed to the sym-
pathies of the people.

Not every novelist of philosophical radical leanings
indulged in this latent hostility to the Empire. Jules
Sandeau (1811-1882), already referred to as collaborator
with George Sand in her first romantic novel in 1831, con-
tinued to produce his own romances for nearly fifty years.
His work was maintained on a higher level than that of
the popular novel, the characterization was strong, and his
style pure. He did not care to pander to lovers of ques-
tionable sensation. He made no sign against the new
regime. It gave him two lucrative librarianships, and
when the Empire collapsed the republic pensioned him
for the loss of his office in the library of St Cloud. Among
his best novels are "Marianna" ( 1839) , "Le Docteur Her-
beau" (1841), "La Chasse au Roman" (1849), and "La
Roche aux Mouettes" (1871). He was better known as
a playwright in conjunction with Emile Angier. The
most popular piece, "Le Gendre de M. Poirier" is still a
favorite in its English version by Robertson.

Victor Cherbuliez, born in 1829, and elected an Aca-
demician in 1882, wrote one of the strongest romances of
realism in 1873, "Meta Holdenis," the heroine being a

256 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

charming deceiver. His fame had been won by the
"Roman d'une Honnete Femme" ( Story of an Honest
Woman) (1866), a piece of character portraiture of rare
artistic excellence. Cherbuliez did equally striking work
as a critic in art and letters, as may be seen in his "Etudes
de Litterature et d'Art" ( 1873). He also published works
showing deep research and philosophical thought on the
political systems of Germany, 1870, and Spain, 1874.
Among his popular novels are "Le Fiance de Mdlle. Saint-
Maur," "Samuel Brohl et Cie," and "L'Idee de Jean
Teterol."

Another brilliant miscellaneous writer who made the
best of Napoleonism was Edmond About (1828-1885).
His literary career was stormy. He earned his first celeb-
rity by the record of his observations during a sojourn
in Greece, "La Grecc Contemporaine" (1855). His
denunciatory criticisms led to the translation of his book
into several languages. This was followed by an auto-
biographical romance, "Tolla," which he had to defend
against a cry of plagiary. Then came a play, "Guillery"
which was hissed off the stage on the second night. His
novels, which ran through the Moniteur, had better luck,
"Le Roi des Montagues" "Trente et Quarante," and
others. Then he left for Rome, returning with a book on
a political problem of the time, "La Question Romaine"
Between 1860 and 1869 About published political pam-
phlets, witty short stories, such as "The Man with the
Broken Ear" and "The Notary's Nose," and a quick suc-
cession of stories, including "L'Infame" and "Les Man-
ages de Province," besides a manual of political economy
and souvenirs of Egypt. As a friend of the Empire, in
the Paris journals, he went into the field as correspondent,
when the war broke out. In due course he became a loyal
republican and had the honor of being arrested for treason

FRENCH 257

to the German emperor when in Alsace in 1872, but was
released without trial. To this indignity he responded by
issuing "Alsace," in which his patriotic feelings had full
play. He collaborated in several dramas, but without spe-
cial success. His entire work is marked rather by versa-
tility than special ability.

A new form of novel which arose under the empire was
that familiarly known as the detective story. It was prob-
ably due to a hint from some of Poe's work. Emile Ga-
boriau (1835-1873) constructed several of these in-
genious novels in which the reader is started on the hunt
after the perpetrator of a crime or some other
mystery, and for him there is no rest until it is cleared
up. Among his best are "M. le Coq," "Le Crime d'Orci-
val" and "La Degringolade." He has imitators in abund-
ance to-day. Zola was at first one of the purveyors of
this type of novel. Henry Murger had shown a strain of
the old romantic feeling in his realistic portrayal of happy-
go-lucky student life in the Latin quarter, "Vie de
Boh me." Of the throng who courted fame and ill-fame
by their extravagant fiction during the closing years of
the Empire, only a few survivals of merit can be found.
The short story established itself on a broader foundation,
and the typical decadent naturalistic novel entered upon
its questionable career.

Perhaps the downfall of the Empire was a more direct
incentive to the typical novel of the Republic than is sup-
posed. By this is meant the excessively materialistic
novel, which by glaring portrayal of the gross, pretends
to be enhancing the charm of the pure. Once the gayety
of imperialism was extinguished, a field was discovered
for novels which should unveil its wickedness. It was a
neat tribute to stern republican morality. Lest this vir-
tuous motive should not discover itself in the high-colored
9—17

258 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

pictures, the authors prudently avowed their purpose in
impressive prefaces. Thus grew the rage for satirizing
the frailities of the rich, which has not lessened with the
rise of scathing exposures of low life. The popular novel
had gradually to tell a more knowing tale, the popular
play had to turn upon a still stronger situation involving
conjugal honor. Playwright and novelist competed in
the skill with which they could dress foul skeletons to
simulate ordinary men and women. City life was their
study, and of all cities none met the conditions so well as
Paris. Once this rivalry commenced, it had to run its
course. The pace steadily increased. Plays that were pro-
hibited and novels that were prosecuted under the old
regime had now a free course. Here and there a venture
would be made into the realm of romance, and there are
still attempts at a revival of the idyllic story.

LITERATURE UNDER THE REPUBLIC— 1870-

1899.

Giving precedence to fiction over serious literature, the
extraordinary work done by Jules Verne is entitled to first
notice. Beginning as a writer of comedies, he turned in
1863 to a Poe-like romance, "Cinq Semalnes en Ballon"
(Five Weeks in a Balloon), the start on a trail peculiarly
his own. He can now point to books that average nearly
one for each year of his life. This is the more wonderful
because they have demanded harder and drier study in
their composition than the average novel. Verne had an
aptitude for the learning necessary to successful explora-
tion, as his books on travel bear witness. Having hit on
the notion of substituting achievements and possibilities
of science for magical absurdities, he set to work and
devised a series of modern Arabian Nights Entertain-
ments which are worthy to rank alongside those master-
works of Eastern genius. His books need not be named,
they are well known to old and young, and are in no dan-
ger of being forgotten or surpassed. By the exercise of a
strictly matter-of-fact wizardry, prosaic to the last degree,
he compels a not unwilling credence to the wildly impos-
sible, trading on popular faith in the potential omnipo-
tence of science to-morrow. In a way this trick borders
on the poetical without touching it, though the reader may
find himself projected far into the domain of fantasy
when he has closed the book. If novels of life and
manners played no worse pranks with our imagination
than these of Verne, there would have been much less mis-
chief and more happiness to lay to the account of fiction.

36o LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ZOLA

Two novelists of equal talent and fame were born in
1840, Zola and Daudet. Both claim to be of the Naturalis-
tic school. Both have sought to present life as they saw
it, in all verity, and they are allowed to have succeeded
to unusual perfection. Zola came first into a notoriety
which was not then fame. He began as a journalist, then
turned to novel writing for years on starvation wages.
Experience of this kind is not a sweetener of disposition,
especially of naturally gloomy temperaments. Zola might
have been inspired by the spirit of revenge against his fel-
lows high and low alike, so ruthlessly does he pillory them
all. The power of works such as "L'Assommoir," "Ger-
minal" "La Terre" "Nana" "La Debacle/' is extraordi-
nary. The degrees in which they are edifying, amusing,
comforting, which are the three main ends of fiction, is to
be determined by the reader and not for him. The courage
behind the perseverance which created this burden of
nominally light literature is not less extraordinary, and it
is due to Zola to recognize that he insists on the worthi-
ness of his intention. He declares lie is not of the licen-
tious school. The shoveling of filth in broad daylight
before the public eye is not his chosen delight, yet he per-
sists in it.

After a time Zola, having finished the long family
history of the Rougon-Macquart tribe, turned to the sub-
ject of religion of the present day, as he views it. He
prepared after his usual close studies a set of three books,
"Lourdes," "Rome," and "Paris." A priest, named Fro-
ment, but practically Zola himself, finding his mind
troubled, goes on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, but is disgusted
with the worldly aspect of religion there. Then he goes
to Rome to see the Pope and get his faith renewed. Again

FRENCH 261

he is disappointed, and returns to Paris, where he devotes
himself to self-sacrificing work in behalf of the afflicted
and distressed. Zola, not content with his fame as an
author, has drawn the attention of the world upon him-
self by his interference in behalf of Captain Dreyfus, who
has been unjustly condemned, as he alleges. Zola and
his works, the degradation of naturalism, are phenomena
of a curious transition period, to be studied scientifically,
not to be enjoyed.

DAUDET

In sharp contrast with Zola stands his contemporary,
Alphonse Daudet ( 1840-1898) . Born at Nimes of Gascon
blood, his first utterance was a book of verse, "Les
Amoureuses" To this succeeded plays and novelettes, in
which he introduced public men and topics with playful
satiric touches. The story, afterward dramatized, which
gained his popularity was "Fromont Jeune et Risler Aine"
(1874). This became fame after "Le Nabab" (The
Nabob) appeared in 1878. It was an undisguisedly scat-
tering satire of public characters under the Empire, much
of it gratuitous and cruel slander. In better vein are
his delightful short stories in "Letters from My Mill,"
and his entertaining books, the lively adventures of
"Tartarin de Tarascon," of which there are three. They
may take a permanent place alongside the D' Artagnan and
Mousquetaire romances, and perhaps Don Quixote.
"L'Evangeliste" (1883) satirizes the Salvation Army, and
"L'lmmortel" (1888) the Academy, on which he vents
considerable personal spleen. With all his satirical power
Daudet preserved a charming gentleness, a grace of
blended poetry and humor, which beautifies his work as
a whole. He shows nature, Zola shows it up. For this

26a LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

reason Daudet is and will be read with a slightly alloyed
delight, where Zola is tolerated for the fascination of his
experiments in social vivisection.

DE MAUPASSANT

Though only a writer of short stories, Guy De Mau-
passant (1850-1893) won a reputation equal to the best
as an artist. He had the advantage, for such it was to
one who aspired to literature in writing, of knowing Flau-
bert. It is told that the elder insisted on his docile pupil
practicing at descriptive writing for years, giving him
the most trivial objects on which to exercise his powers.
At last he attained the Flaubert standard of proficiency,
and his schooling gained instant attention to his work.
The French short story is now thoroughly acclimated here
and need not be analyzed. Maupassant followed his mas-
ter's method, devoting his days and nights to intimate
exploration of the life he sought to paint. His fatal enthu-
siasm landed him in a madhouse and a suicide's grave, per-
haps the strongest testimony to the realism of his work.
The stories show all the qualities held supreme in this
kind of art work, graphic power, microscopic observation,
knowledge of the morbid mind, quick changes of scene and
impression. If most of them leave a nasty taste in the
mouth, the more enjoyable to those on whose palate the
pleasing is sickly flat.

The brothers Goncourt added notably to the literature
of their day. Edmond, born in 1822, died in 1896; Jules,
1830-1869. Their first joint novel, "En 18 — ," failed on
its first appearance in 1852, owing to the excitement of
the time. They also failed in journalism before they took
to history as material for romance. They made fanciful

FRENCH 263

pictures of Eighteenth Century personages, royal and
other. The "Soeur Philomene" (1861) was a success.
Four years later came "Germinie Lacerteux" a study in
morbid psychology, which caused a sensation. Their pro-
ductions have influenced recent writers ambitious to suc-
ceed in this school. They formed a new Academy de Gon-
court, and Edmond left a large estate for its support.

Anatole France is known by his novel, "Le Crime de
Sylvestre Bonnard," a striking production. In "Thais"
and other stories he goes back to early Christian times
without intent to create sympathy for Christianity. "La
Fille de Lilith," "Le Livre de Mon Ami," and the collec-
tion of stories "Balthasar," display a remarkable versa-
tility, with a subtle vein of irony which somewhat shakes
one's faith in the writer's general seriousness. He is
equally clever as a miscellaneous writer and critic, and may
yet do a strong piece of work.

Jules Viaud, known in literature as Pierre Loti, was
received into the Academy while quite a young man, the
more interesting, seeing he was a lieutenant in the navy.
His claim to remembrance will rest upon his style rather
than his strength. His first books were the outcome of
voyaging round the world. The "Manage de Loti" is a
story of Tahiti, with natives for its heroines, affording
opportunities for the study of love in its primitive mani-
festations, and for sentimental reflections in the vein of
the early romanticists, who pitched their stories among
half- savage people. "Les Pecheurs d'Islande" (The Fish-
ers of Iceland) ventures into a quasi-philosophical analy-
sis of motives in love and duty. The general tone of his
writings, beneath their fantastic peculiarities, is that of a
deep-rooted pessimism, all the gloomier for the half-poetic
flights into introspective wonderland, seeking happiness
and finding none.

264 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

As author of "Cosmopolis" Paul Bourget gained his
footing among novelists who introduce their readers to
fashionable and brilliant metropolitan circles. He dwells
among the sons and daughters of wealth, gathered for its
most effective display in the gayest of cities. These mixed
people he pictures with no marked power, and with no par-
ticular moral, unless to inspire contempt. A criminal trial
suggested the psychological novel, "Le Disciple," as mor-
bid and artificial a story as need be read. "Un Crime
d' Amour," and other books of his confessedly excel in
the presentation of figures which are not men and women.
His fluent style and superficial penetration commend his
books to certain readers, but his better work is seen in
essays and critical studies. His last novel, "La Duchesse
Blue" is an argument for the impersonality of the nov-
elist.

These are the popular men of the hour, whose slight-
est productions are sure of a ready sale. They indicate
the parting of the ways, on the one hand toward rigid
realism, on the other bearing toward a mystical region
not far from the old personal romanticism. In both there
is a strange lack of the rational romantic spirit which lifts
the mind above the oppressive materialism of existence
without losing it in pure moonshine. For the present the
French novelist holds aloof from the old, old story of
honest love, beset with ills from without and frets within,
tested by troubles, strengthened by patient struggle, tri-
umphing over all in the long run with a happiness all the
richer for their buffetings. The passing appetite is for
seasoned and overseasoned meats. The novelist by pro-
fession takes note of public taste. Much excellent natur-
alistic work has been done by Hector Malot, Rene Bazin,
du Boisgobey, and a few others.

POETRY AND THE DRAMA

Much of the foregoing applies to the dramatic output
of the last quarter-century. Indeed, it is more true of the
playwright than the novelist that he is fettered by the fickle
taste of the hour. On the stage, aided by its well-skilled
interpreters, a glittering picture of some phase of social
life catches the public attention quickly and holds it as
tenaciously as the national temperament allows. For
pecuniary reasons the literary men of France court the
theater. Success is more rapidly won by a play than a
book. Scarcely a writer of note but has tried his hand
at the drama. Novels have been turned into plays and
vice versa, with considerable gain to the authors, and occa-
sionally to literary reputations. Victorien Sardou ( 1831 )
is the ablest as well as the most successful dramatist of
the period. From "Candide," produced in 1860, to
"Diplomacy" "Fedora" and the later plays, he has
achieved a succession of literary triumphs not less than
theatrical. Of these, many hold our own stage under
other names, not always translations. His comedies have
been political, as when "Rabagas" satirized Gambetta, and
h?ve freely treated passing questions, sometimes polem-
ically. They are invariably brilliant, and well-earned his
elevation to the Academy in 1877.

Francois Edouard Joachim Coppee (1842-1897)
issued poems in his youth. His first drama, "Le Passant"
was acted in 1869, with success. Among later poems were
"Les Humbles," "Exilee," and a romance, "Une Idylle
Pendant le Siege." Napoleon III made him librarian of
the Senate at Luxembourg, and afterward he was

265

266 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

appointed keeper of the archives of the Comedie Fran-
c,aise. Coppee was not only a true, but an exceptionally
gifted poet. Five volumes contain his poetical and dra-
matic work. He has maintained a pure and noble tone
throughout. His verse interprets the thought and aspira-
tions of the genuinely patriotic of his countrymen. He
has abundant wit, and the charm of native geniality per-
vades all his work.

A number of the prose writers named have been mak-
ers of verse also. Among the aspirants for the laurel
wreath have been a few whom posterity may class outside
the pale of mediocrities. The characteristics of modern
French poetry resemble those of the typical novel and play
in the main. Impressionism has marked it for its own.
There is little to call for remark outside the lyric, and of
its innumerable devotees the one who claims consideration
above the rest is Paul Verlaine (1844-1896). What
Francis Villon was in the Fifteenth Century, Verlaine has
realistically been in ours, to this extent — a voluntary out-
cast if not outlaw, a poet in spite of his rags and tatters,
a pariah despite a wealth of genius. Married and always
in love with his wife, he poetically expended her small
dowry in a merry-go-round with which he haunted village
fairs. Practically it did not pay. The lady upbraided,
and when an onlooker enjoyed the sport Verlaine flew at
him with a knife. In his Belgian prison the poet found
his better self. But the pretty verses, which are pure
poems, he composed for his wife did not bring him good
fortune all at once. He was two years in the cells and the
infirmary. When he came out he was very good, thanks
to the chaplain and nuns. He sang fine hymns of bitter
repentance, then, and on many similar occasions after-
ward. It is told of his artless conception of life that once,
when in trouble, friends collected 300 francs and gave

FRENCH 267

them to him. That night he drove his boon companions
in a hired carriage the whole round of the drinking places,
until there was no more money, drink, or sense. Verlaine
was always pouring out rich devotional verse on these
morrows. His poems commanded cash on the instant,
yet his friends had to fine their slim pocketbooks by mak-
ing constant contributions for his recovery rather than
maintenance, for he managed to exist between whiles.
With body and brain damaged by long neglect, and
toward the last avoided by those who still felt pity for the
hopeless, the poet took to bed for the last time and expired
while imploring his wife to come. Coppee, Zola, and
others who knew the man, declare that Verlaine's poetry
will survive. It meets the requirements of true lyric verse
in being artless, spontaneous, touching, and musical. He
had a perfect ear and taste, and gave polish without hard-
ness to every expression.

HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, CRITICISM

The French Academy has no brighter names on its
roll than those of Renan and Taine. Each in his depart-
ment and degree shed bright luster on the literature of
the half-century. If style can be regarded, as some claim,
apart from the subject matter it illuminates as in itself
a source of intellectual good, then French literature may
be proud of its two glorifiers of the themes usually dulled
by the absence of their art. With the advent of these great
writers it was perceived that the gravest subjects and solid
scholarship could be endowed with high literary charm,
giving a glow as of romance to the hitherto cold records of
special fields of research. In this aspect the service these
men rendered to their country is greater than that of their
several contributions to knowledge. They disclosed the
secrets which had been supposed the peculiar property of
belles-lettres, and demonstrated that they belonged in
common to all craftsmen who knew how to use them in
the fashioning of learned works. Their example told with
varied effect on many disciples in their country and out
of it, on the whole with undoubted benefit to literature
generally, and to the special gain of all who study in their
departments.

RENAN

Ernest Renan rose from a Breton peasant's cottage to
be perhaps the first of those who added the distinct attrac-
tion of literary style to studies in history and allied sub-
jects. He was born in 1823, was brought up religiously,
and trained for the priesthood. In his study of Semitic

268

FRENCH 269

languages he encountered difficulties in his religious belief
which he afterward ascribed to philological causes,
though this was probably a minor reason. In 1845 he left
the Seminary, and was assisted by his sister until he
could gain a living by teaching. He won a public
prize for an essay on the Semitic languages, whereupon
he was commissioned to make researches in Italy, the
outcome of which was the important work on Arabic phi-
losophy, "Averroes et rAverroi'sme" (1852). Various
flattering promotions came within the next few years, dur-
ing which he published "Etudes d'Histoire Religieuses,"
and an "Essai sur I'Origine du Language" ( 1858). When
the army went to Syria, 1860, Renan was appointed scien-
tific commissioner, which enabled him to explore the
Holy Land. His first lecture, as professor of Hebrew in
the College de France, caused a disturbance, of which the
result was the withdrawal of the course. Now appeared
the book with which his popular fame is most identified,
the "Vie de Jesus" (Life of Jesus) (1864). It marks an
epoch in modern religious literature, theological, histori-
cal and critical. 'The title indicated its humanistic bias,
which aroused hostility so strong that the author was dis-
missed, and he refused to accept a proffered appointment
in the Imperial Library as a consolation. The charac-
ter of his book gave it notoriety, but its captivating style
won the place it still holds in the literature of the world.
Strauss's "Leben Jesu" had presented a mythical being
instead of the Christ of loving tradition. Renan por-
trayed an ideal human character, full of beauty and the
genius which touches the divine, yet shorn of the supreme
qualities cherished by and essential to the Christian faith.
The exquisite charm of the book did not conceal its radi-
cal weakness as offering a substitute for the Jesus of the
Gospels. It was the first installment of an elaborate work,

370 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

"Origines du Christianisme," of which there followed
these volumes, "Les Apotres" (1866), "Saint Paul et sa
Mission" (1867), " L' Antechrist" (1873), "L'Eglise
Chretienne" (1879). The same graceful lucidity charac-
terized these studies, which did not wholly escape dam-
age from more drastic criticisms than Renan favored.
His subsequent work included "Marcus Aurelius"
(1881), "History of the People of Israel" (1887-1892).
In his earlier years he issued translations of the Book of
Job and Ecclesiastes.. Besides these Renan wrote sev-
eral philosophical essays and miscellaneous pieces in
lighter vein. He was elected to the Academy in 1878,
and delivered the Hibbert course of lectures in London, in
1880, on the "Influence of Pagan Rome on Christianity."
So great and diversified a body of literary work of such
high character gives its author enviable distinction among
the best writers of his age. His immense learning, pa-
tient research, and his gift of utterance, while they placed
him high among the scholars of the century, and the fa-
vorites of the public, seem nevertheless to have crowned
him with the laurel of a graceful rather than a powerful
intellectual athlete. He wrote "Recollections of Youth"
in 1890. Having found after a long life of study that,
as he expressed it, he really knew little more of the truth
than a street boy gets at a first guess, his future influence
may be gauged as that of a literary stylist first, scholar
next, and a teacher last. Considerable egotism of a weak
kind detracts from the value of his later and more per-
sonal writings.

TAINE

Hippolyte Adolphe Taine, born in 1828, had at twen-
ty-five earned the degree of Doctor in Letters; in the
year following the Academy crowned his essay on the

FRENCH 271

historian Livy, and the public applauded his next effort,
"Voyage aux Eaux des Pyrenees" (Travels in the Pyre-
nees). In 1857 he showed a stronger hand in his "Phil-
osophes Franqais du XIX me Siecle" and in the "Essais
de Critique et d'Histoire" ( 1858). He had formed a sys-
tem of criticism for himself, influenced by the Positive
philosophy, which suited his somewhat dry temperament.
As the realistic school in poetry and romance eliminated
considerations of sweetness and light, moral purpose or
tendency, so his method should content itself with simple
description of what it might find as a fact. Certain in-
fluences from the past operate to shape present conditions ;
men born under those conditions do but reflect them in
their views and acts; writers only voice the average senti-
ments of their day, and it is waste of brain to try and
elevate them to the level of creators. Under these con-
trolling convictions Taine produced his justly famous
work, "History of English Literature," in 1863. What
Renan was at the same instant doing for the author of
Christianity Taine was doing for the kings of English lit-
erature, deposing them from the throne, supposed to be
hedged round with divinity. It was a splendid attempt,
to demonstrate that the great were only the small crea-
tures of circumstance, but it was working a theory to
death. The literary criticism was of itself masterly and,
from a Frenchman's point of view, admirably conceived,
but the backbone of logic seemed to have got a twist.
Taine found it impossible to cover up every trace of origi-
nality in the great poets with his theory of environment.
Within two years, when he was appointed professor of
aesthetics and the history of art in 1865, he had developed
broader views. Gradually he let it be seen that this hard
and rigid naturalistic method was not working well. In his
"Philosophie de I' Art" and "Voyage en Italie" (1865-66)

272 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

he takes account of things below the surface. In his
"Ideal dans I' Art" (1869) he admits not only the wis-
dom, but the duty of judging men and their works, not
simply in themselves, but as influences. This was a de-
parture from the doctrine of art for art's sake. He vis-
ited England in 1871, receiving honors from Oxford, and
next year published his "Notes sur I'Angleterre," which
testify to the enlarging of his perceptions. The result
was a determination to write a history of Contemporary
France and its beginning. The first volume appeared in
1876, "L'Ancien Regime;" then "La Revolution"
(1878), and "La Conqucste Jacobine" (1881), with
other volumes down to 1890. He died in 1893, not hav-
ing completed his work.

When well-matured in years and thought Taine laid
aside the machine standard of criticism in favor of one
whicn should judge men according to their good or bad
aims or tendencies. Hence his impartial distribution of
praise and blame among royalists, republicans and revo-
lutionists alike. It is not so important to fix on the pre-
cise technical classification of this method of criticism,
whether and how far realistic or romantic. The grand
mission of sound criticism is to discover all essentials to
fair judgment, and having displayed them, assist the
reader to discriminate wisely. Taine started out with the
opposite theory, but came back to a more free method of
rational adjudication. His impartiality struck the Aca-
demicians as a welcome progress in conservatism, where-
upon he, with Renan, was admitted in 1878, after hav-
ing suffered two rejections. Compared with Renan' s the
style of Taine, fine as it is, seems artificial. It has great
force, surprising effectiveness, is occasionally eloquent by
simplicity and more often by careful rhetoric. His work
as an historian is probably superior in the higher quali-

FRENCH 273

ties to his more strictly critical work, though the two are
really one. As a philosophical thinker he must always
rank among the most influential by virtue of his power in
setting his readers to work out his conclusions for them-
selves. His "English Literature" is one of the greatest,
most instructive, and delightful reading books on that sub-
ject despite all drawbacks.

RECENT CRITICS

The name of Edmond Henri Adolphe Scherer (1815-
1896) commands exceptional respect. Trained as a the-
ologian he parted company with orthodoxy in a thoughtful
work, "La Critique et la Foi" (1850). He became a
Liberal leader of moderate views, and a moderator of fac-
tionism in his capacity as member of the National As-
sembly in 1871. Journalism occupied his pen for a few
years, but his standard works on theological and espe-
cially literary subjects have placed him among the sound-
est of philosophical writers.

Jules Lemaitre, born in 1853, *s one °f tne foremost
journalists of the younger school. His reviews, especially
of the drama, ancient and modern, have high authority
and make brilliant reading. He was elected an Acade-
mician in 1896. As usual with his fraternity Lemaitre
has attempted play-writing, and since 1891 with success.
Politics, Platonic affection, and less attractive topics he
treats with a light vein of humor, pointed with sharp sat-
ire, the end in view being an evening's entertainment.

Eugene Melchior de Vogue was born in 1848 and was
made an Academician at forty. His mental endowment
and general career have been likened to those of Lamartine.
First appeared, in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," his
"Voyage en 'Syrie et en Palestine'' ( 1873) . That so young

Vox,. 9 — 18

274 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

a writer should make a striking success of a well-worn
theme denotes more than ordinary powers. The book
displays some of the features of the Chateaubriand style,
prose poetry, fine sentiment, put into exquisite French.
The dreamy tone befits wanderings in the Holy Land.
An official sojourn in Russia, where he married a native
lady, brought him into sympathetic contact with Tolstoi
and his school, whose ideals and crusade Vogue eloquently
commends to his own people. He has written largely on
Russia, its people, history, and outlook. He has served
on several diplomatic missions to foreign courts. Of
their order his writings have most of the qualities prized
by lovers of refined language expressing lofty sentiment.
He does not write for art's sake alone. He stands for the
new idealism, a religion of heart freed from ecclesiastical
trammels, a standard of personal and national honor that
shall lift men up out of the slough of materialism in which
they have so long been dragged by the ultra-naturalistic
blind guides, as he conceives them. It is claimed that he
has an enthusiastic following in the young men of the
land, and it is assured that his influence will spread and
prove a power for good.

The latest critic of eminence is Ferdinand Brunetiere,
who was made known to Americans by his' visit in 1897
when several universities listened to his lectures on modern
French literature and its tendencies. He was born in
1849 and was elected to the Academy in 1894. He is
a pronounced Catholic and upholds his religious convic-
tions with courage. His journalistic career was signal-
ized by the bold onslaught he made against the Natural-
istic school. Recognizing its ability he denounces what
amounts to the prostitution of it. He went so far in one
of his lectures as to honor George Eliot above Gustavc
Flaubert, her superior in point of art, because "she has

FRENCH 275

the advantage of not resorting to adultery. The obser-
vation of simple facts suffices her without crime." He
was invited to give a course of lectures in the Odeon The-
ater in 1891, on the Classic Drama. Since then he is
the favorite lecturer in the Sorbonne and elsewhere. He
has published several volumes, and though he is tren-
chantly criticized by his contemporaries and has been hon-
ored with the hostility of the extreme naturalists, his
broad championship of the pure and uplifting as the cri-
terion of all good literature has made him a power. His
last utterance on the present phase of French literature is
hopeful. He shows that individualism was the note of
the Romantic movement, which the naturalistic school has
changed to the impersonal. Now there is in progress a
movement toward the social, in the sense that literature
now aims at the good of all as contrasted with the interests
of the individual. If this is correct, and it is to a large
extent, the new Century will probably bring with it a na-
tional literature purified of its adulterants. When the
transparency of its moral tone shall match the clearness of
its expressive language, French literature may claim the
crown and wear it with the approval of all nations.

\

GERMAN LITERATURE

LITERATURE AT THE END OF THE EIGHT-
EENTH CENTURY

The literature of Germany in the middle of the Eight-
eenth Century had shown many signs of social unrest and
impending political revolution. This was especially evi-
dent in the drama. One of Klinger's plays "Sturm und
Drang" (Storm and Stress), first acted in 1775, has given
an appropriate name to the whole period. Many of these
dramas, written by noblemen, revealed the deplorable con-
dition of the down-trodden masses. They extolled liberty
in hysterical speeches and urged revolt against tyranny
and superstition. Yet while the feelings of the intellec-
tual classes were deeply stirred, the people did not respond
to the alarm. The threatening political storm seemed to
pass over the land to take effect in France, from which
much of the original impulse had come. The reason for
this failure of political action undoubtedly lay in the
divided condition of the Fatherland. Germany was
broken up into some forty different States, varying in size
and importance from the extensive territories of Austria
and Prussia to petty principalities, the boundaries of which
the ruler could traverse in a day's ride. The jealousies
and absurd quarrels of these petty sovereigns and the
rivalry of their subjects attracted and carried off the light-
ning which seemed about to dart from the lowering clouds.

Yet the great epic and lyrical poet, Klopstock, who
survived a few years beyond the Century, had already
roused a general enthusiasm for religion and the Father-

276

GERMAN 277

land. He was the first to direct the attention of modern
Germans to the ancient hero Hermann or Arminius, who
defeated the Roman legions in the Teutoburger forest.
Hermann has now become the symbol of united Germany,
but a full century was required to raise him to his destined
elevation. The popular desire for unity steadily grew,
but the people must pass through terrible trials, bloody
wars and destructive commotions before a real union could
be accomplished. The first of these afflictions was
brought about by the agreement of the Emperor Leopold
II and the King of Prussia to support the cause of Louis
XVI against the revolutionary movement in France.
This unfortunate coalition plunged all Europe into a con-
flict which destroyed the entire State system of the Conti-
nent. The Holy Roman Empire, which had prolonged
into modern times the name, though not the glory, of the
grandest political structure ever erected, was brought to
an ignominious end when Francis II resigned the im-
perial crown at the bidding of Napoleon in 1806. Dur-
ing the struggle between France and Austria Frederick
William III, King of Prussia, had selfishly held aloof,
but he was destined to suffer in turn. When the Confed-
eration of the Rhine, composed of the chief central and
southern States of Germany, was formed under the pro-
tectorate of France, Frederick William, hoping for aid
from England and Russia, declared war for which he was
ill prepared. The first battle at Jena in October, 1806,
laid Prussia prostrate at Napoleon's feet, and after a
second battle at Friedland, the King was compelled to sign
a treaty giving up the best part of his Kingdom and more
than half his subjects. This national humiliation sank
deeply into the hearts of the German people. The na-
tional spirit had already been roused by the lyrics of Klop-
stock and of his followers known as the Hainbund (Grove-

278 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

alliance) ; they were students of Gottingen and had ob-
tained this name by their dancing one night by moonlight
around an oak tree and swearing to devote themselves to
their native land. Under the wise and vigorous states-
manship of Stein and Hardenberg the Prussian system of
education was remodeled, her people trained to be intelli-
gent soldiers, and the whole country was regenerated.
In a few years the War of Liberation, by which the French
were driven out, called forth a grand outburst of patriotic
song.

At the opening of the Century Goethe reigned supreme
in the literary world. In his youth he had been deeply
moved by the influences around him, but now he seemed
to withdraw from the external world and find peace and
comfort in the lofty regions of art. Yet in his heart he
believed in a grand future for Germany and felt his duty
to increase and promote the national culture. Before con-
sidering his career in detail, it is necessary to look at some
of his predecessors. Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-
1803) does not rank high as an original poet. Animated
by a real enthusiasm for human happiness he was unable
to give proper poetic expression to the deep feelings of his
soul. But in his "Stimmen der Vblker" (Voices of the
Peoples) he brought together a splendid collection of the
lyrics of many races, and thus prepared the way for the
lyrical revival among his own countrymen. In his "Ideen
sur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit," (Ideas
on the Philosophy of the History of Humanity), he de-
veloped the idea of progress in the history of the world,
and thus enlarged the scope of historical inquiry. He
had the high honor of directing and stimulating the genius
of Goethe at a critical stage, and had powerful influence
on other leading writers. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock
(1724-1803) is best known as the author of "The Mes-

GERMAN 279

siah," an epic poem on the sufferings of Christ, in which
he sought to surpass Milton, but failed to give the central
figure distinct outlines. It has been pronounced an ora-
torio rather than an epic. His dramas are also failures
from his want of sufficient knowledge of real life and
stage craft. But in his lyrics his genius was shown in
fiery patriotism, enthusiasm for humanity, and strong love
for the grand phenomena of nature. Christoph Martin
Wieland (1733-1813) at the outset of his career was as
religious and patriotic as Klopstock, but he passed into
an Epicurean indifference. Of his numerous works the
most pleasing is the romantic narrative poem "Oberon"
which transports the hero on a fantastic errand to the
court of the Caliph of Bagdad. In his later prose ro-
mances he discouraged enthusiasm and ridiculed the aspi-
rations of his youth. Some of his stories treated themes
of ancient Greek life in a thoroughly modern spirit. Gott-
hold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) had more influence
on the course of German literature. He produced dramas
which still hold the stage, and wrote criticisms which
have borne fruit in successive generations. In his "Lao-
koon" he 'defined the domains of art and poetry; by his
work on the drama he abolished slavery to the French
classical rules; and by his "Wolfenbiittel Fragments" he
started the movement for higher criticism of the Bible.
In his "Education of the Human Race" he showed that
religions which may not be absolutely true may yet have
value in leading toward higher moral ideals. The same
idea is presented artistically in his finest work, the drama
of "Nathan the Wise," the hero of which is an idealiza-
tion of his friend, Moses Mendelssohn. It inculcates the
duty of religious toleration.

280 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

GOETHE

Born in 1749 and dying in 1832, Johann Wolfgang
Goethe belongs to two Centuries and in his active and
varied intellectual career expressed the spirit of both. Hi
is not only supreme in German literature, but in the Euro-
pean literature of his time. In modern times only Dante
and Shakespeare hold similar places. Goethe was born
and spent his boyhood in Frankfort, then still the capital
of the Empire, though not the residence of the Emperor.
His father, descended from a family which had steadily
risen in wealth and importance for some generations, was
the Emperor's representative in the town council. He
was formal and pedantic and exercised his talents in the
strict education of his son and daughter. Their mother
was a lovely, bright-witted woman, who cultivated their
affections. While French garrisons occupied the city dur-
ing the Seven Years' War, young Goethe learned their
language and found pleasure in their theater. He went
to the University of Leipsic, and in 1770 to Strasburg to
obtain his degree in law. Here two important influences
came upon him. First, he met with Herder, poet and
theologian, who taught him that poetry is the expression
of national life, and introduced him to the beauties of
English literature. Secondly, he, then handsome as
Apollo, met with the fair Friederike Brion, whose presence
gives charm to his "Autobiography." On his love affair
with her was founded the story of Gretchen in "Faust:"

After taking his degree in law, the young man went
home and began to write lyrical poems, but he soon at-
tempted a drama after the boisterous style then prevalent.
"Gotz von Berlichingen," though written without a plan,
displayed his genius in vivid representation of a power-
ful character of the Sixteenth Century. Still another man-

GERMAN 281

ifestation of his literary ability was seen in his "Sorrows
of Werther," a story told in letters in the sentimental style
of Rousseau. It was really founded on his own hopeless
love for Charlotte Buff. It exhibits the force of unre-
strained youthful passion and expresses with deep pathos
that weariness of life that overtakes imperfect natures.
Werther, a well-educated young man, falls in love with a
friend's wife, but shrinks from temptation and at last in
fond despair, commits suicide. But Goethe was too
strong intellectually and morally to yield thus. In his
many lyrics the emotions of his soul found vent. In 1775,
at the invitation of the Duke of Saxe Weimar, Goethe
removed to his capital where Wieland already was, and
whither Herder and Schiller came later. The little Saxon
town of Weimar became the intellectual and literary cen-
ter of Germany. "Here," says a biographer, "everybody
worshiped him, especially the women." For ten years
Goethe was busy in official duties and published little ex-
cept some dramas. Then he visited Italy to complete his
study of art and arouse his slumbering genius. He trav-
eled incognito, that his studies might not be disturbed,
and spent two years in the land.

On his return he produced his beautiful drama of
"Iphigenia," a masterly imitation of ancient Greek
tragedy, yet with Christian sentiment interfused. In
"Tasso" are exhibited the woes of a poetic nature which
cannot fairly discriminate between the real and the ideal
world. In "Egmont" there is some splendid historical
portraiture, but the hero is not the real Egmont of the
great struggle oflhe Netherlands for liberty. He is a
young high-minded patriot resisting the relentless bigotry
and despotism of Alva. His love-romance with Clarchen
is especially admirable. To this period also belongs the
first chapter of "Faust" (1790) whose romantic exuber-

282 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ance combines wild outbursts of passion with touching in-
nocence, coarse exhibitions of folly with the highest as-
pirations of the soul. The old folk-story of "Reineke
Fuchs" was retold in flowing hexameters.

In 1794 began the intimacy of Goethe with Schiller,
which was fruitful in effects upon both. As the younger
poet had won fame by his ballads, Goethe entered into
friendly competition with him and generously acknowl-
edged that his rival's were superior. To this period be-
longs the pastoral epic, "Hermann and Dorothea," written
in hexameters. According to the story the son of the
landlord of the Golden Lion is attracted by a girl in a
group of German emigrants who have been driven from
their homes by French pillagers and encamp in the fields.
After suitable explanations and introductions Hermann
leads her to his home as a bride. This pure domestic
poem has been called a "hymn to the family." In 1796
"Wilhelm's Meister's Apprenticeship" was given to the
world. In this prose romance are related a young man's
adventures with a band of strolling players, who include
a variety of characters — the worldly Philina, the romantic
Mariana, and the mysterious fascinating waif, Mignon.
The story contains much of Goethe's mature thought on
human life.

In the new Century Goethe continued to make valuable
additions to his output. In 1805 the greatest work of
his life appeared. The legend of Faust which had occu-
pied his mind from his childhood, had now taken its final
shape. "It appeals to all minds with the irresistible fas-
cination of an eternal problem, and with the charm of end-
less variety. It has every element — wit, pathos, wisdom,
buffoonery, mystery, melody, reverence, doubt, magic,
and irony; not a chord of the lyre is unstrung, not a fiber
of the heart untouched." In most of the succeeding twen-

GERMAN 283

ty-six years of his life Goethe enjoyed contentment and
honor. He now married Christiane Vulpius, a beautiful
woman, who had lived with him since 1788, and
borne him a son. Though not fitted for intellectual com-
panionship, she was a faithful manager of his home.
When he was disturbed by the French troops, he took
refuge in study and scientific experiments. The new
treasures of Oriental lore which were made accessible
about this time deeply impressed the veteran poet's mind.
In 1813 he published his "West-Easterly Divan," a collec-
tion of fine lyrics after the fashion of the Persian Hafiz.
In one of them, "Timur," Napoleon's invasion of Russia
is noticed. In 1818 he published the second part of "Wil-
helm Meister."

Goethe's entertaining autobiography is called "Poetry
and Truth; Pages from My Life." The most impression-
able part of his life is told elaborately, and as the title
seems to imply, with a certain amount of idealization.
He had played many parts in his time; as a child, studious
and observant, as a youth somewhat frivolous; on his ar-
rival at Weimar, a man disposed to take his ease; later,
a dignified official; finally, the serene sovereign of the in-
tellectual world, graciously receiving homage from aspir-
ing intellects of every part of the civilized world. He
died at Weimar, March 22, 1832. To the last he re-
tained his sentimentality especially with regard to women.
All his works, he said, constituted a great confession, but
"Faust," more than any other, is the confession of his
life. In the Second Part, published in 1831, was given
his final solution of the deepest problems of human-exist-
ence. Yet it is still disputed whether his answer to the
grand question is correct. The whole work remains the
mightiest achievement of German genius.

There was a grand selfishness in Goethe through most

284 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of his career. It was fostered by the admiration, and
even worship, which he everywhere received. He came
to regard it as his own duty to cultivate himself, and he
soon urged it as a duty upon others. Hence even during
that grand struggle for the liberation of the Fatherland
in 1813, he kept quiet, except in an occasional outburst
in a letter or in conversation with a friend. When others
complained of his indifference, he declared that he was
true in heart, but that he was convinced the struggle would
then be ineffectual. He went further, and said, "As a
man and citizen, the poet will love his fatherland, but the
fatherland of his poetic strength and his poetic activity
is the good, the noble, the beautiful, which is confined to
no special province or land, which he seizes wherever he
finds it."

Goethe was unexcelled as a lyrical poet, and retained
his power in this respect to the end. In his lyrics as Heine
finely says, "the word embraces you, while the thought
kisses you." But his fame rests upon "Faust," the great-
est drama of the world, yet with a simple well-known plot.
Faust, the most learned scholar, finding at last that human
knowledge is vain, is in despair, when Mephistopheles in
the disguise of a black dog, follows him to his study.
He reveals himself as the spirit of negation, and by echo-
ing Faust's notions, persuades him to sign a compact in
his own blood that when his desires had been fully grati-
fied his life should end. The spirit then transports him
to a students' revel, which only disgusts him; then to the
horrors of the Witches' Kitchen. Faust drinks a magic
potion which renews his youth. He beholds Helena, the
most beautiful of women, and is told that this drink shall
cause him to see Helena on earth. When he returns to
earth, he meets Margaret (or Gretchen, in familiar Ger-
man), a pretty maiden who is afraid of him as so much

GERMAN 285

above her. By the aid of Martha he conveys a casket of
jewels to her room. These awaken a desire for finery
which leads to her ruin. Her mother is removed by a
poisonous sleep-potion. Her soldier brother Valentin,
discovering her shame, fights a duel with Faust and is
slain. To the cathedral the betrayed woman goes as a
penitent, but an evil spirit mocks and taunts her till she
faints. Faust seeks relief from his sense of guilt and
Mephistopheles takes him to the witches' festival on Wal-
purgis night (May i) on the Brocken. When Gretchen
is imprisoned, having been convicted of slaying her
child, Faust returns. Her mind wanders, and she dies
assured of pardon by angel voices. Thus the First Part
ends. The story of the Second Part is so intricate that it
is impossible to relate it briefly. Faust continues to work
out his problems and is bidden to follow Gretchen's spirit
in a new life. He tries in various ways to benefit his fel-
low-men. At the last Mephistopheles is baffled, and
angels, among whom is the spirit of Gretchen, escort his
soul to Heaven. It may be added that in the prologue
to Part First there is some indication that Goethe intended
from the start, to end with Faust's redemption, in spite
of his sins.

SCHILLER

The name of Friedrich von Schiller is inseparably
associated with that of his great friend. While the strong
and healthy Goethe lived to his eighty-fourth year, the
frail Schiller passed away in his forty-sixth. Yet he had
accomplished a vast amount of work in both poetry and
prose which the world will not willingly let die. He was
pure and noble in heart and won the affectionate regard
of his countrymen. He was born at Marbach in the
Duchy of Wurtemberg in November, 1759. His father

286 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

was a Major and overseer of the Duke's gardens. The
son was trained to be a military surgeon, but early showed
his dislike for the army and his predilection for literature.
Under the influence of the "Storm and Stress" period he
composed at nineteen his first drama, "The Robbers," full
of faults yet showing unregulated genius. The hero, Karl
Moor, had been defrauded by his brother and ill-treated
by the world. Therefore he became the chief of a band
of robbers who revenge themselves on society. They
commit many crimes, but at last Moor, on whose head a
price is set, surrenders to a poor workman. Schiller was
still a pupil in the medical school, and the Duke, learning
that he was the author, forbade him to write except on
medicine. When the dramatist slipped off to see his play
he was imprisoned for two weeks. On his release he left
the duchy altogether. But the popularity of the play
went on. Schiller wrote more, attacking in the same
revolutionary style the despotism and vices of the petty
German courts. In "Love and Intrigue" he rebukes the
sale of Hessian soldiers by their rulers. His tragedy,
"Don Carlos," founded on the gloomy story of the son
of Philip II of Spain, showed change in dramatic method.
There is less extravagant declamation. The wayward
Don Carlos falls a victim to the Inquisition and a court
intrigue, while his magnanimous friend, Marquis Posa,
dies for him in vain.

In 1789 Schiller was called to Jena to be professor of
history. He wrote his "Rise of the Netherlands," and
"History of the Thirty Years' War." After a few years
he became acquainted with Goethe and in 1794 they
became fast friends. The older poet declared that Schiller
"created for him a second youth and made him again a
poet, which he had almost ceased to be." The loving in-
tercourse was equally beneficial for the younger; it made

GERMAN a8y

him more artistic, so that his poems became perfect in
form without losing energy and warmth. Schiller pub-
lished a literary journal to which Goethe contributed.
The two friends competed in ballad-making, and Schil-
ler's ballads of this period are his best in strength of con-
ception and dignity of style. They generally represent the
conflict between the higher and the lower in man, and
call upon the will to assert itself against circumstances.
Such are 'The Diver," "The Fight with the Dragon,"
"The Security." Others are remarkable tales from an-
cient history, as "The Cranes of Ibycus," "The Ring of
Polycrates," dealing with the moral government of the
world. His lyrical masterpiece is "The Song of the Bell,"
which describes the course of human life in connection
with the casting and founding of a bell. The charm is
enhanced by frequently varying the meter to suit the
different aspects of the theme. This poem is nobly imi-
tated in Longfellow's "Building of the Ship." Schiller's
exultant "Hymn to Joy" was set to music by Beethoven.
In this period Schiller wrote a noble series of histor-
ical plays. His study of the Thirty Years' War had made
him familiar with the grand figure of Wallenstein, who
was drawn on by belief in his destiny to betray his Em-
peror. The trilogy relating to him consists of "Wallen-
stein's Camp," "The Piccolomoni," and "The Death of
Wallenstein." In the first the devotion of the disorderly
soldiers to their great leader is realistically shown. In
the second the interest lies in the struggle in the soul of
Max Piccolomini between his love for the beautiful
Thekla, Wallenstein's noble daughter, and his loyalty to
the Emperor. To end the struggle he dashes against the
host of Swedes and falls. In the third Wallenstein is led
by his self-deceiving belief in astrology to trust implicitly
Max's father, Octavio, by whom he is betrayed. In the

288 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

tragedy of "Mary Stuart," as in some others Schiller sac-
rifices truth of history to dramatic exigencies. The im-
prisoned Mary Queen of Scots is so carried beyond pro-
priety by her unexpected liberty that on meeting Queen
Elizabeth suddenly in the garden of the castle she
insults her so as to bring upon herself the death sentence
In "The Maid of Orleans," the heroine is not the peasant
girl of history, who is burnt at the stake, but an ideal
warrior maid who dies on the battle-field, because she has
yielded for a moment to love for the English Talbot. His
"William Tell" is a dramatic masterpiece, full of local
color and noble patriotism. In this final tragedy Schiller
renews his youthful energy and love of freedom and com-
bines with them the highest art. It may be regarded as
an emphatic protest against the despotism of Napoleon.
Yet the author died at Weimar May 9, 1805, before he
had seen the lowest degradation of his native land.

RICHTER

Jean Paul Richter is unique among the writers of the
world. His works sparkle with gems, but these are
thrown together without order or reason, and though de-
lightful at first view, they become tiresome when read con-
tinuously. Nevertheless there is strong temptation to go
back again for a fresh look at the riches. Richter, or Jean
Paul, as he is usually called, was born at Wonsiedel in
Bavaria in 1763, the son of a poor country pastor who
died in debt. While he studied at the University of Leip-
sic he suffered from pinching poverty, and finally ran away
to escape imprisonment for debt. After a time the poor
lad became a private tutor, then a schoolmaster, then an
author, and finally a celebrity. His first book was "Law-
suits in Greenland" (1784), a collection of thin, satirical

GERMAN 289

sketches. He did not fairly succeed until he published
his quaint romance "The Invisible Lodge" in 1793. Then
followed, with continued success, "Hesperus" (1794),
"The Life of Quintus Fixlein" (1796), "Flower, Fruit
and Thorn-Pieces" (1797) and several more. The eccen-
tric Jean Paul became the fashion of the time and giving
up his school he visited the literary centers, being every-
where welcomed. After his marriage at Berlin in 1801
he went back to Bavaria and wrote more books, his great
romance, "Titan," the novel, "Wild Oats," "Levana"
(1807), a treatise on education, and a host more. His
collected works comprise sixty-five volumes. They con-
sist of poetical rhapsodies about everything in the universe
great and small. He is a splendid landscape-painter, an
interpreter of the emotions of the soul, a describer of odd
characters and grotesque incidents, a touching painter of
domestic life, a scholar of recondite learning. His books
abound in strange men and women who move about in a
bewitched world, simple dreamers, gay wanderers with-
out care, cynical philosophers, and burnt-out prodigals.
Yet his pages reveal the real life, domestic and civil Ger-
many a century ago. He paints the poor with their vir-
tues and joys, rather than their sin and misery. Among
the most attractive figures are the schoolmaster Quintus
Fixlein and his beloved Thiennette, Dr. Katzenberger,
Wuz, and Lawyer Siebenkaes. His language and style
are as queer as his characters. He enlarged the German
dictionary and tore pages out of the grammar. His
abounding quality, for which many sins of writing are for-
given, is his humor. While he heaped scorn upon every-
thing that smacked of vulgarity and pretence, he was
tender in sympathy for the weakness and failings of others
and earnestly desirous to promote their spiritual and intel-
lectual enlightenment. Carlyle, who borrowed some pe-

VOI.. 9 — *9

290 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

culiarities of style from the German, says of him: "In
the whole circle of literature we look in vain for his par-
allel. Unite the sportfulness of Rabelais and the best
sensibility of Sterne, with the earnestness, and even in
slight portions, the sublimity of Milton ; and let the mosaic
brain of old Burton give forth the workings of this strange
union with the pen of Jeremy Bentham."

THE ROMANTICISTS

The Romantic school in Germany had much in com-
mon with the Romanticists of France, whose views and
practices, aims and doctrines have already been described.
Yet they had peculiar features, due to nationality, circum-
stances, and above all philosophy, which had been so popu-
larized by the labors of Kant, Fichte and Schelling, that
it had become a fashion and indeed a craze. J. G. Fichte
( 1762-1814) who was professor at Jena, then the focus of
philosophy for Germany, regarded the external world as
the projected creation of the Ego or individual. Each
man has or makes his own world. There is therefore an
infinite variety of worlds and no uniform principle per-
vades them. This Transcendentalism, or rather wild ideal-
ism, had important moral and social consequences. It
abolished at once the moral law, for no law could be made
to bind the differing and opposing worlds. It made the
individual superior to society, and his will superior to any
agreements of others, for after all,, what were they but crea-
tions of his mind? F. W. J. Schelling (1775-1854), who
also lectured at Jena, gave a poetical turn to the new doc-
trine by dwelling on the relations between mind and na-
ture. He called his system Nature-philosophy; it was
really an idealistic pantheism, such as may be seen in the
philosophic poetry of Wordsworth. Some of his disciples

GERMAN 291

insisted on the mystery of human life and the world, and
thus assisted the movement toward the introduction of
supernatural in literature.

The students trained under these philosophers found
different modes of expression for their intellectual activ-
ity. Some in wild dramas and romances gave examples
of the individual will opposed to the laws and con-
ventions of society in whatever shape. From this sub-
stitution of individual caprice for moral law of any kind,
others went on to declare opposition to spiritual progress
and to glorify the flesh. Instances of this reversion to
barbarism are not wanting in the Romantic literature of
any country. Byron and Shelley furnish examples in
some of their works. Friedrich Schlegel is a German
example of the same, and in one of his works has set
forth his idea of "charming lawlessness," which is really
moral dissoluteness. He insists upon being allowed this
freedom in writing as in practice. On the other hand,
there were refined, spiritual natures who sought for sepa-
ration from the sin-stained world, and longed for a
perfect transfiguration. Such a person was the saintly
Hardenberg, known by his assumed name Novalis (1772-
1801). He concluded that the highest attainment of the
human spirit is rest and that conscious activity is sin.
The visible world is a chaotic dream, and actual life which
calls constantly for exertion of the will is a disease of
the spirit. He went on to hold that the true object of
poetry is to represent the supernatural, miraculous and
irrational. His poems and mystical prose writings still
find admirers.

But there were other professors at Jena who were
directly concerned with literature. The chief was August
W. von Schlegel (1767-1845) who made the admirable
poetic translation of Shakespeare, which has rendered the

292 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

great English dramatist a German classic. Schlegel
founded the "Athenaeum," a literary journal to propagate
his views. He accompanied Madame de Stael in her tour
in Germany. With his brother, Friedrich, he promoted
the study of foreign literatures, including the Sanskrit.
Heine, however, has maliciously caricatured A. W.
Schlegel, who was lacking in creative power. Friedrich
was the first to attempt a complete history of the literature
of the world.

The early Romanticists were not in sympathy with
the world around them. They found it dull and formal
and without the proper elements for the nourishment of
the mind and spirit. Some of them in their search for
what they missed went back to the Middle Ages, when
chivalry and faith prevailed. They drew splendid pic-
tures of the devout piety which was supposed to regulate
all the affairs of life and produced the grand cathedrals
with their splendid architecture, painting and sculpture,
and their elaborate ritual. Others were attracted by the
recent discoveries of the wealth of Oriental literature —
Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit. Others found satisfac-
tion in English literature, making Shakespeare the god of
their idolatry. Still another group were content with the
early writers of their own land. Many mediaeval authors,
who had been neglected, were now brought to light. In
this search for the new and strange, or for the old and
forgotten, some called attention to the folk-lore and folk-
songs which had previously been considered outside of the
pale of literature. The noble-hearted brothers Jacob and
William Grimm, in addition to their scholastic labors,
gathered the simple nursery tales which have since become
household favorites in all lands. The merit of these sim-
ple stories once revealed, some writers, as Tieck, set tc
work to enlarge the stock. But there is generally an ex-

GERMAN 293

travagance and pretentiousness in the modern inventions
which distinguishes them from the simplicity and playful-
ness of the genuine antiques.

The Romanticists at first regarded themselves as dis-
ciples of Goethe in literature, for there was much in his
writings that seemed to favor the new tendency, but they
gradually separated themselves from his dominion.
Where Goethe urged self-restraint, they clamored for free-
will. They rejected the sense of order in literary form,
and indulged in all manner of extravagant freaks. In
this respect Jean Paul Richter, who preceded the Roman-
ticists, was the chief offender.

The influence of the Romanticists was not confined to
literature. It entered into practical life. Many of its ad-
herents became so filled with enthusiasm for the Middle
Ages, as reconstructed by their fancy, that they sought to
revive medievalism in every direction. On art it had pro-
found influence, which still remains. It deepened the
sense of mystery in religion, and led many into the Cath-
olic Church. It restored general appreciation of the life
of the Middle Ages, and led to closer and fuller examina-
tion of its history with many marvelous results. It led
to a universal recognition that there are elements in man
and the world which cannot be definitely stated but can
only be felt in their manifestations.

The most prominent and most prolific of the German
Romantic novelists is Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853). He
was born in Berlin and from boyhood showed passionate
fondness for Shakespeare and the theater. On graduat-
ing from the University of Halle, he devoted himself to
literature, his earliest work being melodramatic tales.
His "William Lovell" (1775), is a wild story of seduc-
tion, murder and robbery. Next he made satirical farces
out of "Puss in Boots" and "Blue Beard." Then coming

294 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

under the influence of the Schlegels, he translated dramas
from the Spanish and from Ben Jonson. In original work
he was an interpreter of mediaeval life in the curiously
constructed dramas "Genoveva" (1800), and "Emperor
Octavian" ( 1804). For the sake of his health he went to
Italy in 1805, and made a long stay during which a change
came over his spirit and manner of writing. He dropped
his mediaevalism and gave attention to artistic construc-
tion. Henceforth there is in his tales considerable re-
semblance to some of Hawthorne's weird short stories.
It is probable that the American learned from the German
something of his art of making nature exercise direct and
conscious influence on the human spirit. Tieck's new
manner was first shown in the collection called "Phanta-
sus" (1812), in which plays and stories are brought to-
gether in a framework of aesthetic conversation. In later
works with great ingenuity he blended with the story
his comment, which is often ironical, here again resem-
bling Hawthorne. In "The Pictures" there is a dissipated
painter Eulenbock, who gets a beggarly living by forging
old masters when he might have acquired fame and for-
tune by original work. On the other hand in "Luck
Brings Brains" a man of weak character is roused to
proper exertion and realization of his powers by having
responsibility thrust upon him. Two contrasted historical
pieces are "A Poet's Life," referring to Shakespeare, and
"A Poet's Death," to Camoens. More than once Tieck
seems to have tried to make a story counterpart to "Wil-
helm Meister." This may have been the case with "Will-
iam Lovell," written in his youth, and more probably with
"Sternbald's Travel" and "The Young Carpenter." In
"Vittoria Accorambona" (1840), Tieck approaches the
modern French school of fiction. Since 1819 he had been
a resident of Dresden, where he was active in directing the

GERMAN 295

royal theater and gave dramatic readings in the court
circle. He translated the English dramatists before
Shakespeare, and lent his name to the completion of
Schlegel's poetic translation of Shakespeare. At the age
of seventy he returned to his native city by invitation of
the King of Prussia. He died in 1853.

Tieck's original powers seem to have been held in
check by self-criticism, which produced self-distrust. He
was never able to do any large work, but his small pieces
often exhibit unmistakable genius. His want of self-
confidence is shown in his ready submission to successive
influences, while his genius enabled him to produce excel-
lent work in each new style. His natural inclination was
most in accord with a moderate Romantic tendency.

The weirdly beautiful tale of "Undine" is the immor-
tal classic of the Romantic era. Its author, Baron Fried-
rich de la Motte Fouque (1777-1843), was a valiant war-
rior as well as an industrious writer. His family name
shows his French descent, and his Christian name was
taken from the great Friedrich, of Prussia, whose godson
he was, and in whose army his father and grandfather were
officers. At the age of seventeen he himself commenced
his military service, and ten years later he became an
author. With the encouragement of the Schlegels he
published various dramas under the name Pellegrin, then
poems and a romance. By 1808 public favor shown to
these warranted his putting his own name to his story of
"Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer," the first of a series taken
from the old Norse legends. Then came the chivalric
romance of "The Magic Ring" (1811), and other tales
and plays. The year 1814 was signalized by a story for
each season, the spring number being "Undine," the au-
tumn number "Aslauga's Knight," which Carlyle trans-
lated in his "German Romances," and the winter num-

296 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

her "Sintram and His Companions." In 1813 the baron
had buckled on his sword again, but after the battle of
Liitzen was disabled by illness and honorably discharged.
Again he took up the pen and nearly every year till his
death in 1843 issued a volume. For some years the Ger-
man people eagerly waited for each new romance, then the
fashion changed. The popular writer outlived his vogue.
But "Undine" has never lost its charm, and the other re-
mances of the year 1814 are often bound with it.

"Undine" tells how a water-nymph, of beautiful
human form, desired to obtain a human soul. This could
only be done by winning and retaining the love of a human
being. She frequented the hut of two old fisher-folk on
an island, and was treated as their daughter. By render-
ing help to a wandering knight she won his regard and
was married to him. For a time their lives were happy,
but his cousin, who had hoped to marry him, excited dis-
trust of the gentle nymph, and when she is called by her
former companions to rejoin them in the Danube, she
plunges in the stream. Throughout the story there is an
ethereal beauty, enhanced by the simple style. The super-
natural is so exquisitely blended with the natural that the
reader gladly accepts the whole as poetically true.

Far different in effect, and more widely improbable,
are the gruesome tales of horrors presented by Ernst
Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822). The man
himself was as different as possible from the moral, ami-
able Fouque. Though clever in music and painting, and
learned as a jurist, he was dissipated and reckless, mali-
cious and sarcastic, and frequently brought disgrace on
himself, and trouble on his friends. Yet he was powerful
as a writer, and used his imaginative talent on frightful
superstitions and myths. But these are so accompanied
by brilliant descriptions, and stirring dialogue, that they

GERMAN 297

allure even while they repel. "Der Elixire des Teufels"
(The Devil's Elixir), shows revolting delusions; but
among his smaller pieces "The Golden Top," and "Master
Martin and His Comrades" are the most pleasing.

Among the Romantics whose fame has passed away
was Clemens Brentano (1777-1842), who had some orig-
inality of thought and fancy, and with the aid of his
brother-in-law, Achim von Arnim (1781-1831), made a
collection of popular lyrics, "Des Knaben Wunderhorn"
(The Boy's Wonder Horn). Adelbert von Chamisso
(1781-1838) was by birth and training a Frenchman,
but in his literary activity, a German. In 1815 he was
appointed the botanist of a Russian expedition which cir-
cumnavigated the globe, and after his return he had charge
of the botanical gardens at Berlin. He wrote some tales
after the romantic fashion and lyrics in which there is
often true pathos. But he is best known by the story of
"Peter Schlemihl" (1814), the man who lost his shadow.
It was written for a friend's children, and has proved
popular with children of all nations by its fun and lively
incidents, while to older readers it may seem an allegory
of the author's life. With the Romanticists may be asso-
ciated Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokke (1771-1848),
who, though born in Prussia, lived most of his life in
Switzerland, and devoted his historical labors to his
adopted country. His "Pictures of the Swiss" and his
romantic tales, "The Creole," "The Goldmakers' Vil-
lage," "Jonathan Frock," had wide circulation. But his
most celebrated work is "Stunden der Andacht" (1806).
(Hours of Devotion), which consists of meditations on
death and eternity.

The lovely collection of "Household Fairy Tales" has
rendered the names of the brothers Grimm familiar in
all parts of the world. Yet it was only an episode of their

LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

life-work. The elder, Jacob L. C. Grimm, was born at
Hanan, in Hesse Cassel, in 1785, and William a year later.
Jacob, at the University of Marburg, came under the influ-
ence of Savigny, the celebrated investigator of Roman
law, and followed that scholar to Paris as his assistant for
a year. He returned to become a librarian at Cassel, yet
was employed occasionally in diplomatic duties at Paris
and Vienna. The two brothers henceforth worked
together in more than one library. They, with others,
were dismissed from Gottingen in 1837 for signing a pro-
test against the King's abrogation of the State Constitu-
tion, but in 1840 they were called to Berlin. Jacob was
stout and robust, and worked without pause at his great
"German Dictionary and Grammar." William, who had
been equally robust in boyhood, lost his health in youth,
and remained weak the rest of his life. When he mar-
ried, his elder brother continued to live with him. Wil-
liam had greater love of poetry, and was fond of story-
telling. The two brothers had begun to collect the old
epics, ballads, and tales, when the younger suggested a col-
lection of popular stories from books and from mouths of
the people. The first edition of the "Kinder und Haus-
Marchen" (Children's and House Stories) came out in
1812-15. Then they went on to a critical sifting of the
oldest epic traditions of the Germanic races in their
"Deutsche Sagen" (German Stories). This prepared the
way for Jacob's great work on "German Mythology"
(1835), which traced the Teutonic myths and supersti-
tions as far back as evidence would allow. It also treated
of the decay of these myths under change of religion and
showed their fragmentary survival in traditions, stories,
and proverbial expressions. William died in 1859, while
the elder Jacob survived till 1863. Out of their lighter
labors, so apparently trivial in their origin has grown, not

GERMAN 299

only the vast literature of folk-lore, but the important
science of comparative mythology. But the literary value
of these stories really lies in their delightfully naive style,
which has captivated all readers. The tender-hearted
brothers, whose affection and kindred tastes bound their
lives so closely together, opened the doors of fairyland
to the whole world.

William Grimm, in his preface to the Tales describes
their character: "The sphere of this world is limited.
Kings, princes, faithful servants, honest craftsmen, fish-
ermen, millers, charcoal-burners, and shepherds, all the
folk who live nearest to nature, appear in it; what lies
beyond is strange and unknown. As in myths that tell
of the Golden Age, all nature is alive; sun, moon, and stars
are accessible, bestow gifts, or may, perhaps, be woven in
garments; in the mountains dwarfs are digging for
precious metals, in the sea the water spirits rest; birds,
plants, and stones talk and express their sympathy; even
blood speaks and cries out. This innocent familiarity of
the greatest and the smallest has an inexpressible charm,
and we could rather listen to the conversation between the
stars and a poor child lost in the forest than to the music
of the spheres."

Somewhat allied with the Romantic movement, was a
class of plays known as Destiny dramas. The chief
author of these was the eccentric poet, Friedrich Ludwig
Zacharias Werner (1768-1823). It is said that his
mother, at the time of his birth, was insane, and believed
herself the Virgin Mary. Leaving the Prussian civil
service, in 1806, Werner traveled through Germany and
Switzerland, visiting Goethe and Madame de Stael, who
sent him on to Italy. At Rome he was converted to
Catholicism, and in 1814 was ordained a priest, and be-
came noted for half-mad pulpit eloquence. In his Destiny

300 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

dramas, the heroes are shown to be guided by fate, either
to the realms of light, or the abode of night and flames.
Those who are born angels pass through some trials and
are duly admitted to the destined heaven. Destined lovers
find each other, no matter how widely separated. In most
of these dramas Werner took the cheerful view of fatalism,
but in the "Twenty-fourth of February" he shows a per-
son destined to a succession of misfortunes on that day or>
account of a curse pronounced upon him by one whom he
had offended.

PHILOSOPHERS

KANT

Speculative philosophy had direct as well as indirect
effect upon German literature, but it is impossible here
to do more than glance at this vast and profound subject.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the son of a saddler, rose to
be a great metaphysician at Kb'nigsberg, his native city.
He set himself in opposition to John Locke, who had main-
tained that the mind has no ideas except what it gains,
through sensation and reflection, from the external world.
Kant, on the other hand, asserted that besides the ideas
thus obtained, the soul has certain ideas which it perceives
by intuition. His system was set forth in his "Critique of
Pure Reason" (1781), and later works. By determining
the laws and limits of reason he sought to guard against
the dogmatism which overestimates the power of the
human intellect and against the skepticism which under-
estimates the same. Johann G. Fichte (1762-1814) was
the second great metaphysician of Germany, but he was
also an orator and public agitator. He began his career
as philosopher by an "Attempt at a Criticism of all Revela-
tion" and developed his system in his "Doctrine of Knowl-
edge." He rejected sensation altogether as a source of
knowledge, and held that the only thing of whose existence
we are sure is the ego, the thinking soul. The external
world has no existence except in the mind perceiving it.
Fichte was charged with atheism, and resigned his pro-
fessorship at Jena, but made an appeal to the public. He
really held an idealistic pantheism. In 1810 he was made

301

302 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

professor of philosophy in the newly-founded University
of Berlin. In the War of Liberation he used all his influ-
ence and eloquence to arouse the patriotism of his country-
men and finally entered the ranks himself. He died in
January, 1814, at the age of fifty-two. The third great
philosopher was Friedrich W. J. Schelling (1775-1854),
who was for a time associated with Fichte at Jena. He
passed to Munich in 1826, and thence to Berlin in 1841.
From the pure idealism of Fichte he developed a new sys-
tem, according to which the external world is not derived
from, or dependent upon, the ego, but exists along with
it; and further that the opposition in which they stand to
each other is united and reconciled in the Absolute or God.
Another great philosophical leader was Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), who succeeded to the chair
of Fichte at Berlin in 1818. His system has been pro-
nounced more logical, complete, and comprehensive than
those of his predecessors. But his followers have been
divided into several groups, some maintaining that Hegel-
ian philosophy is perfectly harmonious with Christianity,
while others deny the personality of God as well as the
doctrines of Christianity.

Another philosopher, who seemed to start with the
extreme individualism of the Romantic movement, but
departed from it later, was Friedrich Ernst Daniel
Schleiermacher (1768-1834). An "Essay on the Im-
morality of All Morals'* first attracted attention to him.
In his "Discourses on Religion" he placed the true aim of
life in becoming filled with the Divinity. This pantheistic
religion he presented as the fulfillment of Protestantism.
His translation of Plato did much to elucidate the ancient
philosopher, and apply his principles to modern thought.
Schleiermacher was active in founding the University of

GERMAN 303

Berlin in 1809, as part of the new national system of edu-
cation in Prussia. His later work was chiefly theological.
Kant had considerable influence on Schiller, who, in
order to represent the working of the passions, made many
of his characters untrue to nature, and many scenes untrue
to life. The Romantic writers carried this subjective
tendency to still greater excess, and some, by utter care-
lessness for external form, made their works mere dreams.
Following Fichte, young men of genius regarded the ideal
as all-in-all, and demanded for their own will unlimited
freedom. The form is dependent altogether upon the
idea, and cannot be regulated. In poetry, fancy is the
creative principle and the poet follows wherever it leads.
As Schelling had said, "Every phenomenon in nature is
the embodiment of an idea," another class of men of
genius made it the poet's task to point out the ideas to be
thus found in nature. Poetry therefore became symboli-
cal and allegorical. Some early examples of this may be
found in Schiller, but it became the moving principle of
inferior poets. In their attempts to explain these phenom-
ena, many fell into an abyss of mysticism. Goethe re-
jected the mysticism and enthusiasm for the Middle Ages,
and retained his love for the ancient classics, so that he was
reproached as "the great heathen."

SCHOPENHAUER

Still another philosopher long suffered from neglect of
his teachings, but has in recent time had powerful influ-
ence on thought: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860).
He was full of contempt for the superficiality of existence
and became the boldest assertor of pessimism. His life
corresponded to his doctrine. He was unsociable and
dogmatic, in youth immoral, and in age cynical. When

304 LITERATURE XiX CENTURY

his fellow students were filled with enthusiasm against
Napoleon, Schopenhauer recognized in the conqueror
merely the stronger expression of the selfishness of all
men, and instead of taking arms against him, went to the
Weimar Library to write a philosophical essay for his de-
gree. His chief treatise is "The World as Will and Idea"
(1819), in which he maintained that previous philoso-
phers had erred in making reason the primary object in
philosophy; whereas, he argued that in knowing, the ego,
or subject perceiving, and the object perceived, are but
opposite poles of the same thing; but in willing, there is
a revelation of an inner real existence. The identity of
the ego in "I will" and "I know" is the mystery which
philosophy must ponder. Schopenhauer expressed his
admiration for Plato and Kant, his contempt for Fichte,
and his hostility to Hegel. There was practically no call
for his services at any university. He renounced all super-
stitions of duty to country, kindred or associates, and
found pleasure in reading the ancient and modern classics.
He admired asceticism and was attracted to Buddhism,
the similarity of which to his own philosophy is generally
recognized. While the former philosophers had almost
immediate effect upon literature, Schopenhauer did not
exert any in his lifetime, but since his death his views have
appeared in the literature of many countries.

It may be added to this brief sketch of the philosophers
of the earlier part of the Century, that their work has been
continued by eminent successors. Hermann Rudolf
Lotze (1817-1881) was professor in Gottingen and
ranked first among metaphysicians. Among his works
are the "Microcosmos of Philosophy" (1856-64), and his
valuable "History of Esthetics in Germany" (1868).

GERMAN 305

He gave countenance to the later development of physio-
logical psychology.

The successor of Schopenhauer as an exponent of pes-
simism is Eduard von Hartmann, born in 1842. On
retiring from the Prussian military service in 1865, he
devoted himself to philosophy. His greatest work is
"The Philosophy of the Unconscious" (1868), which was
based on physiology. Among his later works are "The
Ethical Consciousness," "The Philosophy of Religion,"
and "Esthetics" (1886), besides numerous essays on

philosophical, religious, and social questions.
Voi.. 9—20

POETS OF THE WAR OF LIBERATION

When Prussia was crushed to earth under the iron
heel of Napoleon it seemed impossible that she should ever
recover her former status. But Baron von Stein (1757-
1831 ), the great forerunner of Bismarck, was able in a few
brief terms of office, in spite of the opposition of those with
whom he had to work, to set in motion forces which liber-
ated the country and started it on a new and more splendid
career. His reputation as a clever financier had caused
him to be recalled to the Prussian ministry after the dis-
astrous battle of Jena, and he set about reorganizing all
the departments of the government with such energy that
Napoleon required his dismissal, but the work he com-
menced went on. German unity, which had long seemed
to be a chimera, was made to appear feasible and the moral
forces were roused in its behalf. Feudalism and serfdom
were abolished and the people were roused to take an inter-
est in governing themselves. The disastrous retreat of
Napoleon from Moscow gave an opportunity for the new
German spirit to manifest itself. At once a wave of
enthusiasm passed over the land, the universities taking
the lead in furnishing volunteers for the War of Libera-
tion. The spirits of the people were cheered by the splen-
did lyrics of various poets, among whom the youthful
martyr, Theodor Korner (1791-1813), takes the fore-
most place.

Korner, born at Dresden, went to the University of
Leipsic, and afterward to Berlin and Vienna, where his
dramas and the librettos to operas met such approval that
he was appointed poet to the Court Theater. He was just

GERMAN 307

engaged to be married when he heard the call to arms for
the liberation of the Fatherland and responded. He was
made lieutenant in the Prussian army and his wild war-
songs sung to old national melodies round the camp-fires
at night, spread such fervor in Liitzow's volunteer corps,
to which he belonged, that it became especially terrible to
the enemy. They were afterward collected under the
name "Lyre and Sword." His last poem, the celebrated
"Sword Song," a love rhapsody to his sword, was written
in a memorandum book at dawn of the 26th of August,
1813. In the pursuit of the French, who had been
defeated, Korner was mortally wounded. Of his other
pieces the most notable are "Lutzow's Wild Chase,"
"Father, I Call Thee," and "Farewell to Life," written
while he lay wounded.

Of much longer life, and equal patriotism, was Ernst
Moritz Arndt (1769-1860) . He was one of the pupils of
Fichte, and became a professor of history at the University
of Greifswald. His bold "History of Serfdom in Pome-
rania and Rugen" ( 1803), led to the abolition of that relic
of barbarism. In "Geist der Zeit" (Spirit of the Time),
( 1807) , he denounced the tyranny of Napoleon and called
on the German people to unite in throwing off the hateful
yoke. Great excitement followed, and the professor had
to flee to Sweden. But his indefatigable pen kept up its
activity, and numerous pamphlets excited hatred of the
French domination. His poems and songs increased the
popular enthusiasm, especially that famous one, "What
Is the German's Fatherland?" When the liberation was
effected, the poet returned and was made professor of
history at the newly established University of Bonn, but
his demands for constitutional reform offended the author-
ities and he was deprived of his chair. After twenty
years' retirement, he was restored in 1840. He con-

3o8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

tinued to lecture and write until his ninetieth year. His
patriotic poems were collected in 1860, another of the
famous ones being that "Song of the Fatherland" in which
he thanks God for making iron that there might be
weapons for freemen.

Friedrich Riickert (1788-1866) was another poet of
the struggle against Napoleon, writing then under the
name Freimund Reimar. Later he gave attention to
Oriental studies and was made professor at Erlangen in
1826, and thence called to Berlin in 1841. Eight years
later he retired to his estate at Coburg, where he continued
to write inferior dramas and superior poems, many of
the latter being translated or imitated from Oriental liter-
ature. He was master of thirty languages. His love of
splendid imagery made Eastern poetry congenial to him,
and his works exhibit a wonderful variety of lyrical forms
from the most simple to the most complex. His most
elaborate work is "Die Weisheit des Brahmanen" (The
Wisdom of the Brahmans), (1836), in six volumes.

August Graf von Platen-Hallemund (1796-1835)
was another poet who was affected by Oriental influences.
He had been educated for a military career and served
against France. He became proficient in many languages
and wrote lyrics and other poems in the Oriental style,
sonnets, and a long narrative poem on "The Abbasides"
(1835). His fierce controversy with Heine afforded
amusement at the time. He is considered the best classi-
cal poet of modern Germany, an aristocratic "sculptor of
words and connoisseur of the sublime." He ridiculed the
Romanticists in two comedies.

Wilhelm Muller (1794-1827) was a lyric poet who
won the praise of the caustic Heine. Born at Dessau, he
left his studies at the University of Berlin to take part in
the War of Liberation, but returned in 1814. Later he

GERMAN 309

traveled in Italy, and then became a teacher and librarian
in his native town. He was cut off at the early age of
thirty-three, but had already published several volumes of
poems, edited a collection of the poets of the Seventeenth
Century and translated "Modern Greek Popular Songs."
His son, Friedrich Max Muller, has won fame by his
philological labors in England. Two series of Miiller's
lyrics have had wide circulation from their having been
set to music by Schubert: "Die Schbne Mullerin" (The
Pretty Maid of the Miller), and "Die Winterreise" (The
Winter Journey). In his "Songs of the Greeks" Mutter
gave voice to the sympathy of the German people for the
Greeks in their struggle for independence against the
Turks in 1822. The Greek Parliament afterward voted
marble for the monument to Muller, erected at Dessau.

Two Austrian poets deserve mention, Zedlitz and
Auersperg. Baron Joseph von Zedlitz (1790-1862),
whose "Wreaths for the Dead" is a series of eulogies on
noble men. His "Dungeon and Crown" treats of the last
days of Tasso, who died before the day on which he was
to be crowned King of Poets. Anton, Graf von Auers-
perg (1806-1876), chose to be known in literature as
Anastasius Grim. His "Walk of a Vienna Poet" is his
best work; he also wrote an epic, "Robin Hood."

THE REACTION AGAINST ROMANTICISM

After the downfall of Napoleon there was need for
reconstruction of Germany. The people expected that
they should receive back all the lands that had ever been
taken from them by France, but the Treaty of Paris in
1816 fixed the boundaries as they had been at the out-
break of the French Revolution. As regards the internal
arrangements of Germany, bitter experience had taught
the need of a real union, and the people would have wel-
comed the establishment of a vigorous Empire. But Aus-
tria and Prussia could not forego their ancient jealousy,
and the lesser princes objected to their petty States being
wiped out. Instead of an Empire the Congress of Vienna
organized merely a Bund or Confederation, leaving each
State independent in its internal affairs. A permanent
Diet, in which each State should be represented, was to
meet at Frankfort and the Austrian representative was to
be its presiding officer.

But the German people had been roused to seek not
only national unity, but constitutional liberty. In the dis-
tricts ruled by the French a higher regard for the natural
rights of man had been introduced, and the principles of
the Revolution had obtained general acquiescence. The
selfish policy of the old German princes was detested, and
the restoration of the old abuses was resisted. During the
struggle with Napoleon the princes had made lavish prom-
ises of reform and concessions after peace should be estab-
lished. In the very Act of Confederation there was a
decree that a constitutional system should be established
in every State. But the sovereigns of Europe, who had

310

GERMAN 311

suffered so severely from the wars of Napoleon, and who
regarded him as a product of rebellious democracy, deter-
mined to prevent the recurrence of such dangers. Alex-
ander of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Frederick Wil-
liam of Prussia, before leaving Paris in 1815, had insti-
tuted the Holy Alliance, which was joined by every Euro-
pean sovereign, except the Pope and the King of England.
The sovereigns were to be brothers to each other, fathers
to their people, and would maintain religion, peace, and
justice. This alliance was soon made the instrument of
a faithless policy which sought to establish the absolutism
of rulers, and suppress the doctrine that the people had
any right in the government. The power of religion was
invoked to crush the rising democracy and to set at naught
the attempts at constitutional government. Eventually
the Holy Alliance drew upon itself the reproach of hypoc-
risy and the hatred of the people. Prince Metternich, the
Prime Minister of Austria, governed the diverse nationali-
ties of that Empire without any regard to their separate
characters and customs. His system was pure despotism.
The King of Prussia repressed the popular aspirations;
he refused a general parliament, but allowed provincial
councils. Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and smaller States, in
which constitutions were granted, soon found their rulers
endeavoring to annul them in practice. Every opportu-
nity was taken to repress the free movement of ideas. The
universities which, in the days of Napoleon, had been filled
with crowds of students, enthusiastic for liberty, were put
under police supervision. Professors who dared to raise
their voices in behalf of constitutional liberty were
silenced. Such was the treatment of the patriotic poet
Arndt, the inoffensive brothers Grimm, and others. A
rigid censorship of the press was established. Secret
societies were hunted out. In the Diet the representatives

312 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of some small States favored conciliation and concession
to the wishes of the people, but the reactionary party was
united and determined, and long checked the wheels of
progress. During this dismal period literature was
repressed. Goethe, who held aloof from politics, busied
himself with science, and labored to complete his "Faust."

Great hopes were entertained when Frederick William
IV succeeded to the throne of Prussia, in 1840, that a
change in the direction of greater liberty would be made.
Concessions were made; professors who had been dis-
missed were restored to their places; the brothers Grimm
were welcomed to Berlin. But there was no disposition
to allow the people a real share in the government. The
new King ruled more wisely than his father, but not less
absolutely. The people were disappointed and the King
soon lost all the popularity he had at the commencement of
his reign.

In the fourth and fifth decades of the Century there
arose a group called "Young Germany," different, how-
ever, in spirit and aims from the "Young England," to
which Disraeli gave countenance. "Young Germany"
was inspired by the influences which led to the Revolution
of 1830 in France. It rose in opposition to the reaction-
ary tendency in theology as well as politics and proclaimed
rationalism as its creed. Among its leaders or supporters
were Borne and Gutzkow. Ludwig Borne (1786-1837)
was a child of the Ghetto, but in later life professed Chris-
tianity. He was chiefly engaged in journalism, and in his
"Letters from Paris," where he had gone in 1830, he
assailed the leading German orthodox writers with caus-
tic wit. He had been an associate of Heine's, but they
quarreled, and Heine wrote a severe criticism of his for-
mer friend. Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow (1811-1878) was
the acknowledged head of "Young Germany." His novel,

GERMAN 313

"Wally, die ZweiHerin" (Wally, the Female Skeptic)
(1835), was pronounced atheistical and subversive of pub-
lic order, and he was imprisoned three months. But his
drama, "Nero," was not any better. He was an able critic
and for a time was an assistant to Menzel, but quarreled
with him. Among his later works are "Blasedow "
(1839), a satirical tale; "Der Zauberer von Rom" (The
Magician from Rome) (1859). But his masterpiece is
the tragedy of "Uriel Acosta" (1847).

Franz von Dingelstedt (1814-1881) also did his best
work in this period, though he lived to become a famous
stage director at Munich and Vienna. His "Songs of a
Cosmopolitan Night- Watchman" (1841) produced a pro-
found sensation. They gave poetical utterance to the sen-
timents of the free-thinking class. Among his novels the
most admired are "Seven Peaceful Tales" (1844) and
"The Amazon" (1868). He wrote also excellent criti-
cism on Goethe and Shakespeare.

HEINE

Heinrich Heine and Goethe are in many respects
opposite as the poles, yet the former is also the real suc-
cessor in literature of the great German. Heine was born
at Dusseldorf, of Jewish parentage, on the I3th of Decem-
ber, 1799. While he was a schoolboy, the French troops
occupied the town and made deep impression on his mind.
Thenceforth he was a worshiper of the great Napoleon.
Though Heine had been intended for mercantile pursuits,
his evident inclination to literature led his uncle, a Ham-
burg banker, to assist him generously. He went to the
University of Bonn, then to Berlin, where he was admitted
to the best literary society, and published his first poems
in 1822. Neither this nor the tragedies which followed

314 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

attracted any attention. Heine obtained his degree in law
at Gottingen in 1825, and professed Christianity in order
to be allowed to practice. But the change brought him
sorrow rather than fortune. Literature claimed him for
her own. His "Reisebilder" (Pictures of Travel)
(1826) caused a great sensation by their bold ridicule
of every idea and institution usually treated with rever-
ence. In its method it resembles Sterne's "Sentimental
Journey," but the spirit is far different. Its readers were
delighted with its wit, elegance, and vivacity, while they
were shocked at its blasphemy. The author added three
volumes to the first, attacking every literary leader of the
day. The audacity with which he voiced the youthful
opposition to the official reactionary policy captivated the
students of the University. Then in 1827 Heine pub-
lished his "Buck der Lieder" (Book of Songs), compris-
ing most that had been in his first book, and these now
found delighted readers throughout Germany. The poems
had a new beauty ; they treated everything, from the great-
est historical themes to the ordinary incidents of life, in
a wonderfully fresh and lifelike way. Some were filled
with melancholy, some with mockery, some with grief,
and some with joy. But they were always original and
impressive.

Heine was now called to Munich, where he edited a
political periodical, but he also visited Berlin, where he had
a quarrel with Count Platen, which produced some witty
and scandalous writing. After the Revolution of 1830,
which had put him in a frenzy, the Prussian Government
so persecuted him that he was obliged to leave Germany.
Henceforth Paris was his home. Soon he became inti-
mate with Victor Hugo, Balzac, Dumas, and other lead-
ers of the literary world. His pen was active in jour-

GERMAN 315

nalism, and his contributions to the press are still attract-
ive by their art, elegance, and keenness of judgment of
affairs. But he wrote also articles of more substantial and
permanent literary value. His discussions of the religion
and philosophy of Germany threw new light on a subject
only half understood. His history of the German
"Romantic School" is a valuable but bitter critical sketch
of the period to which it relates. In 1839 he published
"Shakespeare's Maidens and Wives," an exquisite guide
to the dramatist's portrait gallery. In the preface he has bit-
ter flings at England : "My spirit faints when I consider
that Shakespeare was an Englishman, and belongs to the
most repulsive people that God in his wrath has created.
What a disgusting people ! What an unrefreshing coun-
try!" In 1843 Heine made a visit to Germany and
recorded his impressions in "Deutschland, ein Winter-
marchen" (Germany, a Winter Tale), treating the coun-
try in the same sarcastic, irreverent style.

In 1848, while Heine was in full tide of activity, he
was attacked with a spinal disease which inflicted intense
suffering and confined him for seven years to a "mattress
grave." But his mental faculties were unimpaired, and
to the end he continued to write poetry of the finest luster
and prose of the keenest satire. He had already formed
an attachment for an uneducated grisette, and after some
years of cohabitation they were married. Now she proved
a faithful, loving wife, assiduous in her attentions to the
slowly dying man. He died on the I7th of February,
1856. In his will this strange, witty blasphemer wrote : "I
die in the belief of one only God, the Creator of the world,
whose pity I implore for my immortal soul. I lament that
I have sometimes spoken of sacred things without due
reverence, but I was carried away more by the spirit of

3*6 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

my time than by my own inclinations. If I have unwit-
tingly violated good manners and morality, I pray both
God and man for pardon."

Heine is one of the greatest song writers of the world.
Many of his pieces were set to music by Schumann and
Mendelssohn. His intense personal feeling was essential
to these, to enable them to reach the heart of the people.
The sweetest of his early poems were inspired by a strong
affection for his cousin, and some critics have asserted that
the bitterness of his later years arose from his love not
having been requited. His lyrics are usually very short,
sudden ejaculations or expressions of a momentary feel-
ing, pain or pleasure, regret or love. The tone of sadness
prevails; they never rouse the spirit with words of power.
Among the best of his lyric poems are "The Rose, the Lily,
the Dove, the Sun," "On the Wings of Song," "Thou Art
Like a Flower," "The Sea Hath Its Pearls." Many of his
ballads and narrative pieces have great charm, as "The
Lorelei," "The Princess Sabbat," "Jehuda ben Halevy,"
"Wicked Dreams," "The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar," "The
Island Bimini." His "North Sea" and "Return to Home"
are cycles of song, celebrating the mystery and great-
ness of the sea. Many of his poems which open sweetly
allow a sudden discord to enter and destroy the charm.

In his prose Heine set himself forth as an enemy of
Philistinism, that dull, narrow-minded adherence to con-
ventional ideas in literature and art. But he abused his
power of ridicule, directing it not merely against pedants
and hidebound critics, but against the masters in litera-
ture and philosophy. His "Romantic School" was a vio-
lent blow against the monstrosities and absurdities into
which that school had fallen. His "Pictures of Travel"
is his chief prose work, and contains every variety of
description, from simple narrative to satirical caricature.

GERMAN 319

of inestimable value in the old life. Without them the
German will not feel at home.

Nikolaus Lenau is the pseudonym under which Niko-
laus Niembsch von Strehlenau (1802-1850) wrote. He
has been styled "the German poet of sorrow." This
unhappy Austrian poet was a victim not only of melan-
choly, but of insanity. Its gloom overshadowed his whole
life, even before his madness fully declared itself in 1844,
on the eve of his contemplated marriage. His yearnings
for the release of death had been breathed forth in his
poem, "Der Seelen Kranke" (Soul-Sickness). Hoping
to find happiness and a brighter inspiration in the New
World, he came to Pennsylvania in 1832. But, soon dis-
gusted, he returned to Europe, still under the spell of
melancholy, and died in a lunatic asylum. In his "Faust"
(1836) he made suicide the goal of free thought; in his
"Savonarola" (1837) he denounced modern science; but
in "The Albigenses" (1842) he hailed the progress of
liberty.

MID-CENTURY POETS

Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810-1876), born at Detmold,
was from childhood a scribbler of verse, original and
translated. He was engaged in commercial pursuits until
the success of his first volume of poems in 1838 induced
him to devote his time to literature. He edited various
periodicals, and, after 1845, to°k part in politics, from
which he had previously held aloof. Giving up his royal
pension, he joined the democratic party and aided it effect-
ively by numerous spirited songs. But he was soon
obliged to seek refuge in Switzerland, where he published
a collection of poems translated from English. He was
about to emigrate to America, when the Revolution of
1848 broke out and allowed him to return to Diisseldorf

320 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

In the political strife of the succeeding years he was active
for liberty in spite of trials and imprisonment until 1851,
when he went to London. He continued his translations
from English into German. In 1868 he was allowed to
return to his native land. New songs were composed for
the new war with France, among them "Germania" and
the "Trompete von Gravelotte" (The Trumpet of Grave-
lotte). Freiligrath was a cosmopolitan poet and cannot
be claimed by any poetic school. His poem, "The Lion's
Ride," describes grandly a lion's fierce attack on a giraffe,
which carried the king of beasts in its flight. Many others
of his poems are equally original in subject and treatment.
From Iceland to South Africa, he laid the whole world
under tribute, and yet he was intensely patriotic. Ger-
mans regard him as a political poet-martyr, "the inspired
singer of the Revolution." One of his famous Revolu-
tionary poems is the "Ca ira" His early poems, by their
mastery of rhyme and melody, have attracted most atten-
tion, but his love lyrics and his spirited songs of freedom
are his noblest monument. He is a splendid colorist, and
has been called "the Rubens of German poetry."

Emanuel von Geibel (1815-1884) was a highly cul-
tivated and earnestly religious poet. In 1838 he went
to Greece as tutor in the family of the Russian ambassa-
dor. With his friend, Ernest Curtius, he traveled over
the land and wrote a volume of "Classical Studies." He
assisted in editing a large collection of poetry from the
French, Spanish, and Portuguese. His original poems
were "Voices of the Time" (1841), "King Sigurd's Bri-
dal Journey" (1843), an^ "Twelve Sonnets" (1846). In
1852 he was made professor of aesthetics in the University
of Munich, but resigned in 1857 and returned to his native
Liibeck, where he died. Geibel's poetry is characterized

GERMAN 321

by rich fancy, melodious versification, and beauty of
diction.

Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819-1892) is best
known by his "Songs of Mirza Schaffy," long supposed
to be really translations from the Persian. He was born
in Hanover and bred to business, but devoted all his leisure
to study, and at the age of twenty-one was able to go to
the University of Gottingen. He studied later at Munich
and Berlin, and, going to Russia as a tutor, plunged into
the Slavonic literature. His excellent translations of Rus-
sian poets were considered equal to the originals. While
teaching at Tiflis, he studied Tartar and Persian under a
real Mirza Schaffy, a Tartar philosopher, who had
obtained Persian culture. On his return to Germany
Bodenstedt published a romantic picture of his travels in
"A Thousand and One Days in the East" ( 1850) . Here
Mirza Schaffy, idealized, occupies a prominent place, but
the poetry was Bodenstedt's own, adapted to the charac-
ter of the Eastern sage. The poems were soon published
separately and were enthusiastically received. They treat
of wine and love, of the pleasures of life and the charms
of maidens, in joyful, melodious verses. In a later volume
called "The Posthumous Works of Mirza Schaffy"
( 1874) the poet gave a more serious tone to his philoso-
phy. Bodenstedt was professor in the University of
Munich, and director of a theater in Saxony. After a
visit to the United States in 1879 he wrote an account
of his travels to the Pacific, and an interesting autobiog-
raphy.

South Germany, although the home of the Minne-
singers in the Middle Ages, has been less rich in poets than
North Germany in modern times. Perhaps the most dis-
tinguished Austrian poet of recent date is Robert Hamer-
Voi,. 9—21

322 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ling (1830-1889). He was born at Kirchberg, became
a chorister, and was educated at Vienna. A volume of
poems, published in his twenty-first year, gave promise
of his ability. He was engaged in teaching at Trieste
until 1866, when he retired on account of ill-health, and
was allowed a pension. His fame rests chiefly on his epic
poem, "Ahasuerus in Rome" (1866), which exhibits the
failing power of paganism in the time of Nero. Another
work of note is "The King of Leon" (1868), written in
hexameters. "Aspasia" is a graphic picture of Athenian
life in the time of Pericles, but the erudition interferes
with the poetry. A few dramas, satires, and minor poems
flowed from the author's pen. Toward the close of his
life he wrote an autobiography.

THE REALISTIC NOVELISTS

As in other literatures, realism came to prevail in Ger-
many after the middle of the Century. Fanciful romanti-
cism could not be content with lower personages than
Kings and knights, and sought its subjects in the remote
idealized Middle Ages, or in a supernatural world, unvis-
ited except in dreams. But the extravagance of its prac-
titioners caused a reaction which was helped by some of
themselves who repented of their early works. Heine
confessed that he had once belonged to that school which
he mercilessly exposed after he went to France, and
declared himself a "disfrocked Romanticist." But there
were others who were fortunate enough to be born so late
as to escape the epidemic. They were warned in due time
and avoided the plague. For them real life has furnished
the staple of their works. In the commonplace lives of
ordinary people of town and country have been found the
possibilities of humor and pathos, and occasionally, as in
life itself, grim tragedy may enter.

FREYTAG

Of German novelists Gustav Freytag holds the fore-
most place. He was born at Kreuzburg, in Silesia, in
1816, and graduated at the University of Berlin in 1838.
After lecturing for a few years on the German language
and literature he devoted himself to literature at Leipsic,
where he edited "Die Grenzboten" In 1870 he served in
the Franco-Prussian War, on the staff of the Crown
Prince. After the war he resumed his newspaper work.

323

324 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

He died at Wiesbaden in 1895. His first publication was
a volume of poems, then a comedy, then a tragedy. His
greatest success was with the comedy "The Journalists"
(1853), which still remains on the stage. His first novel,
"Soil und Haben" (Debit and Credit) (1855), was nota-
bly successful. It depicted accurately the social condi-
tions of its time, showing the relation of modern indus-
trialism to the life of the times. A wholesale grocer, pros-
perous in business, is set in contrast with a nobleman who
represents the effete force of feudalism. The hero, Anton
Wohlfahrt, begins a commercial career in the store, and
becomes a member of the firm, and falls in love with the
baron's daughter, Lenore. Her mother asks Anton to
help her husband out of embarrassments produced by an
attempt to run a mill on his estate. The baron rejects his
aid, and Anton returns to the store. Lenore is engaged
to a young nobleman, Fink, who has served in the store
and has visited America. Fink advances money for the
improvement of the estate and ultimately purchases it.
Fink marries Lenore and Anton marries his partner's sis-
ter. Freytag's second story, "The Lost Manuscript"
(1864), tells how Werner, a scholar, seeking for the lost
books of Tacitus, finds his future wife, Use, a noble type
of a German woman. But Werner in his devotion to
scholarship, neglects his wife, whose beauty attracts a
Prince. The seducer endeavors to ensnare the innocent
wife until even Werner sees his aim. The covers of the
lost manuscript are at last found, but the precious con-
tents have disappeared. The professorial life is vividly
and humorously described, and the nobleman is con-
trasted with him to his own discredit.

Freytag next published "Pen Pictures from the Ger-
man Past" (1859-62), which consisted of studies of Ger-
man life in various periods since the Fourteenth Century.

GERMAN 325

The sketch of Doctor Luther in this scries has been most
popular. Then followed the series of historical novels
called "The Ancestors" (1872-80), in which the author
traced a typical German family in each successive period
with most careful attention to historical accuracy. This
ambitious work was intended to be not merely correct in
external antiquarianism, but to reveal the true spirit of
the actors at each successive stage. In this series "Ingo"
and "Ingraban" are the most attractive. Freytag's fault
is his tendency to point a moral, and to philosophize too
much. Besides his novels he wrote an autobiography and
some critical and historical essays. He died at Wiesbaden
in 1895.

Diversified experience in mercantile and military life
as well as in foreign gave Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von
Hacklander (1816-1877) abundant material for author-
ship. Having served in the Prussian artillery, he wrote
sketches of soldier life which attracted the attention of
Baron von Taubenheim, who took him on a journey to
the East. After his return he became secretary to the
Crown Prince of Wurtemberg and traveled with him in
Italy. He accompanied the Austrian Marshal, Radetzky,
in the campaign against Piedmont in 1849. When again
in Italy in 1859 he was invited to the headquarters of the
Emperor of Austria, who afterward gave him a patent of
hereditary nobility. His chief residence was at Stuttgart,
where he was director of the royal buildings, but he went
on many tours. He was in 1857 one of the founders of
the well-known illustrated journal "Uber Land und Meer"
(Over Land and Sea). For this he wrote many of his
stories and sketches of travel. His novels include "Han-
del und Wundel" (1850), translated by Mary Howitt
under the title "Behind the Counter"; "The New Don

326 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Quixote" (1858), "Day and Night" (1860), 'The Last
Bombardier" (1870), "Forbidden Fruit" (1876). His
faculty of quick observation and humorous sketching
were better adapted to books of travel than to long novels.
Among his comedies the best are "Geheimer Agent'1 (The
Domestic Agent) and the "Magnetic Cures." A number
of one-act pieces proved very popular on the stage. After
his death an incomplete autobiography was published.

Fritz Reuter is a master in German dialect stories. He
describes with genial humor the joys and sorrows of the
humblest class in country and village. The characters are
so carefully and vividly drawn that they are immortal-
ized. Fritz Reuter was born in 1810 at the sleepy old town
of Stavenhagen in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He was edu-
cated at the Universities of Rostock and Jena. It was
a troublous time, and the Government was still alarmed
by the Revolution of 1830. When some students made
a noisy demonstration in 1833, Reuter was arrested, tried
and condemned to death for high treason. But the King
of Prussia commuted the sentence to thirty years' impris-
onment, and after Reuter had had experience of several
prisons, he was discharged by the amnesty granted by
Frederick William IV in 1840. He now took to farm-
ing, but failed, and became a private tutor. In 1853 he
published his first volume, "Funny Stories and Rhymes."
It was written in Platt Deutsch or Low German, and the
homely mirth of the stories was strengthened by the appro-
priate dialect. Its success led to the publication of another,
"Wedding Eve Stories," and still another, "The Journey
to Belgium," telling the adventures of some peasants who
traveled to Belgium to find out the secret of industrial
prosperity. "Kern Hiising" (1858), a poem of village
life, was followed by other poems. "Old Camomile Flow-
ers" (1862) is a series of sketches, chiefly autobiographic.

GERMAN 327

He tells of the part played by the village of Stavenhagen
in the uprising of the German people against Napoleon in
1813, of his own imprisonment, how he courted his wife,
and his apprenticeship on the farm. The leading charac-
ters are the comical bailiff, Uncle Brasig, pious Parson
Behrens and his bustling wife, and the rascal Pomuchels-
kopp. The truth of these pictures of village life places Reu-
ter high among the realists of the Century. He died in
1874.

Berthold Auerbach (1812-1882) became widely
known by his homely stories of peasants of the Black For-
est and afterward published large novels which, though
powerful, had only a temporary success. He was born at
Nordstetten in Wiirtemberg and was of Jewish parentage.
He studied at the Universities of Tubingen, Munich, and
Heidelberg, and for his participation in students' riotous
frolics in 1836 he was imprisoned for some months. His
first essay in authorship was on "Judaism and the latest
Literature;" then came "The Ghetto," a series of Jewish
romances, and a translation of the Jewish philosopher
Spinoza. But meanwhile he was contributing to periodi-
cals his tales of peasant life, which, when collected as
"Black Forest Village Stories" (1843), were enthusias-
tically received, not in Germany alone, but throughout the
civilized world. Their happy mingling of the real and
the ideal was helped by their genial humor. Auerbach's
tragedies met with little success on the stage, but the story
of "Little Barefoot" ( 1 856) renewed his former reputation.
His most ambitious work, "On the Heights" (1851), con-
trasted tiresome court life and its ambitions and intrigues
with quiet peasant life, and aimed also to inculcate the
philosophy of Spinoza. It belongs to the class of "pur-
pose" novels. The heroine is an admirable character and
there are others truly human. "The Villa on the Rhine"

328 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

(1868) was another philosophical romance, but treated
different problems. "Waldfried" ( 1874), a patriotic story
of a German family from 1848 to 1871, has not the at-
traction of good literary style. Auerbach afterward
returned to sketches of the Black Forest in "After Thirty
Years" (1876) and other stories. After 1859 ne ^ve(i
chiefly in Berlin, but he died at Cannes, in France, where
he had gone for the sake of his health.

Friedrich Spielhagen's best novel is a worthy succes-
sor of Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister," but he has been so
busy in production that he has not always kept up to his
high standard. He was born at Magdeburg in 1829 and
studied in the Universities of Berlin, Bonn, and Greifs-
wald. His literary ambition was aroused but his earliest
novels seemed failures. In 1860 he began to publish his
"Problematic Natures" showing the struggle between old
established feudalism and the rising industrialism of the
time, yet showing also the futility of the efforts of a man,
richly endowed by nature, to attain high ideals unless he
recognizes his own limitations and the conditions of the
world around. It was intended partly as a picture of
his own mental state, but in the very act of making the
picture he was enabled to outgrow it. The work attracted
attention and Spielhagen was engaged to furnish novels
to a newspaper. He wrote some dramas which were par-
tially successful, and made several translations from
French and English, chiefly of important works, as Emer-
son's "English Traits." But his chief and almost inces-
sant work has been as a novelist. "In Rank and File"
was his second strong novel. "Quisisana" (1880) is
highly interesting, showing a vigorous man of fifty, who
falls in love with a beautiful ward, but overcomes his
passion and marries her to the young man of her choice,
while her filial affection only distresses him who has made

GERMAN 329

the sacrifice. In 1890 Spielhagen published an autobio-
graphical work called "Finder and Inventor," which treats
particularly of his early life and the circumstances under
which he produced his typical novel.

Georg Moritz Ebers ( 1837-1898) won distinction both
as an Egyptian archaeologist and as historical novelist.
Born at Berlin, he studied at the University of Gottingen,
and during convalescence from an injury to his feet be-
gan to investigate the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Afterward
by the instruction of Richard Lepsius he became well
versed in that science. His first novel, "An Egyptian
Princess" ( 1864), was written to impress on his own mind
the period he was studying. He had already visited the
principal museums in Europe and in 1869 went to Egypt,
Nubia, and Petra. On his return he was made professor
of Egyptian antiquities in the University of Leipsic. A
visit to Egypt in 1872 resulted in the discovery of a papy-
rus which now bears his name. Various treatises on his
special subject maintained his reputation as an Egyptolo-
gist. He resigned his professorship in 1889, and died
after long illness in 1898. In literature Ebers owes his
fame to his romances reconstructing the ancient life of
the valley of the Nile. The "Egyptian Princess" is a
story of the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, the king of
Persia. "Uarda" (1877) belongs to a much more an-
cient period, when Rameses the Great was ruler. "Homo
Sum" (1878) tells of the desert anchorites of the Fourth
Century after Christ. "The Sisters" (1880) again takes
the reader back to Memphis in the time of the Ptolemies.
"The Emperor" (1881) treats of Christianity in the time
of Hadrian. In other novels Ebers comes down to mod-
ern history, as in "The Burgomaster's Wife" (1882),
which shows the struggle of the people of Leyden against
Spanish rule in 1547. "Gred" is a story of mediaeval

330 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Nuremberg. "A Question" (1881) is a modern idyl,
and "A Word" (1883) a psychological study. After
these Ebers returned again to his familiar field in "Sera-
pis," "A Bride of the Nile," and "Cleopatra." He wrote
also an excellent biography of his instructor, Lepsius.

HISTORIANS

History has been raised to the dignity of an independ-
ent science in the Nineteenth Century. It was formerly
regarded as the servant of other sciences, the handmaid
which supplied to them what was needed in any exigency
for argument or illustration. "History," said Boling-
broke, "is philosophy teaching by examples." But it was
more commonly regarded as merely gathering and having
ready whatever examples the great dame Philosophy
might see fit to call for. The art of history was to join
these examples in a narrative which should recommend
itself to the reader's taste or prejudices. It was to fur-
nish arguments or morals. But the error of this relega-
tion of history to a subordinate position has been rebuked
and the practice generally abandoned in the Nineteenth
Century. The change was brought about gradually, but
credit for the first step toward it may be given to Barthold
Georg Niebuhr (1776-1831), who was a Dane, son of a
famous traveler, Karsten Niebuhr. This scholar was called
to Prussia to assist Stein in the reformation of its govern-
ment, and was for a time ambassador at Rome. He set-
tled down as a professor at Bonn in 1823, and soon began
his "History of Rome." The new departure in his work
was his entire discarding of the fables which had previ-
ously passed current in regard to the kings and heroes of
Rome. The true history begins centuries later than the
accepted date of the foundation of the city. To prove this
conclusion so clearly that it could not be controverted
was the work of Niebuhr. He went on to show how frag-

332 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ments of the truth could be detected in later writers and
in various institutions of the historical period.

From new materials, gathered by independent
researches, philological and archaeological, he recon-
structed the true course of the history of Rome. But his
labors really went much further and involved the recon-
struction of historical study everywhere. He settled the
fundamental distinction between history and legend. The
method corresponding to this distinction inaugurated a
new epoch in the study of history. Niebuhr was cut off
before he had fully exhibited the results of his method
even in regard to Rome. Some of his hypotheses have
been rejected by later investigators. It was left to his suc-
cessor, Mommsen, to write the "Roman History" which
exhibits the truth in regard to the origin of the Eternal
City and its mighty power.

RANKE

Of the great historians of Germany Leopold von Ranke
is the most distinguished. Born in Saxony in 1795 he be-
gan his historical studies under Niebuhr and Savigny. In
1825 he was called to Berlin and nine years later was
made full professor. He retired from his professorship
in 1871, and undertook the revision of his numerous books.
Many honors had been conferred upon him. In 1865 he
was raised to knighthood; in 1882 he was made a privy
councilor, and in 1895 his ninetieth birthday was cele-
brated amid general rejoicing. He died in the following
year. Ranke's first work was a "History of the Romanic
and Germanic Nations," published in 1824. The first vol-
ume covered but twenty years, from 1494 to 1514, the
beginning of modern history. The author declared his pur-
pose to show the fundamental unity of modern European

GERMAN 333

civilization, and to trace the mingling of the Romanic and
Germanic elements. Throughout his long career he
remained faithful to his method of thoroughly sifting the
primary authorities and carefully examining original docu-
ments. The Prussian government aided him in making
researches in Rome and other foreign capitals. His sec-
ond volume (1827) treated of the Turks and Spain in
the Sixteenth Century. Then his great work on "The
Roman Papacy: Its Church and State" (1834-37) gave
the author fame throughout Europe. When translated
into English it was reviewed by Macaulay in a memor-
able article. The reviewer justly characterized the spirit
of the history as "admirable . . . equally remote
from levity or bigotry; serious and earnest, yet tolerant
and impartial." The whole work was a new revelation
to Protestant Christendom of the greatness and power of
the Roman Catholic Church. Particularly was attention
directed to that counter-reformation by which that church
recovered one-half of the countries which it had lost in the
Sixteenth Century.

In 1841 Ranke was made historiographer of Prussia.
The great historian turned from Southern Europe, in
which Catholicism remained unshaken, to Northern
Europe, where the Reformation had been successful.
First the history of Germany in the time of the Reforma-
tion was presented; then Prussian history in three vol-
umes (1847-48), which were revised and enlarged after
the new German Empire was organized in 1871. Mean-
time there had been issued histories of France (1852-61),
and England (1859-67, afterward enlarged). Altogether
nearly fifty volumes of conscientiously elaborated works
testified the diligence of the veteran. But amply learned
and still vigorous, the old man looked abroad for new
oceans to cross, and continents to discover. At the age

334 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of eighty he ventured to undertake the history of the world
from the dawn of civilization. He lived to complete
twelve volumes, bringing his great work down to the
Middle Ages. Of course there was not in this universal
history the same diligent investigation of original sources,
nevertheless in regard to interest of the narrative and cor-
rect presentation of facts there was no apparent diminu-
tion of the writer's intellectual force. As historiographer
of Prussia, it became Ranke's duty to edit several impor-
tant works. He published treatises on important epochs in
German history and a volume of "Biographical Studies"

(1877).

Ranke in his first work announced a new method of
history and adhered to it during his long career. He de-
clared that the proper aim of history is not to support any
preconceived notions, but to relate the facts without regard
to moral lessons. History is not to be regarded as the
handmaid of any other science, but is mistress in its own
domain. The aim therefore of the historian should be
to ascertain the exact facts in regard to which he gives
evidence. He should discard, as far as possible, his own
views and prejudices. The result will be an objective pres-
entation of the truth. As previous writers, even when
contemporary, had not followed this plan, but had recorded
events as distorted by their own feelings, their histories
should not be accepted as authorities. The only safe
method of ascertaining the truth is to examine genuine
primary sources of information, diplomatic correspond-
ence and State papers. Not only did Ranke carry out this
method faithfully, but in the discharge of his duties as
professor he trained a number of others in the same patient
examination of documentary evidence, so that all recent
historical writing has been largely affected by him.

GERMAN 335,

The most popular of his works is generally known in
English as the "History of the Popes." It sketches the
rise of the Papal power, shows its characteristics in dif-
ferent stages of development, and exhibits the benefits
it conferred upon Europe in the Middle Ages.

Theodor Mommsen, the great historian of ancient
Rome, was born at Carding in Schleswig, in 1817. He
graduated at the University of Kiel in 1844, and spent
two years in further study of archaeology in France and
Italy. In 1848 he was made professor of Roman law in
the University of Leipsic, but his political activity as a
Liberal caused his dismissal. In 1852 he was made pro-
fessor of law at Zurich; two years later he was called to
Breslau, and in 1858 to Berlin. His careful study of
Italian antiquities had borne fruit in several works on the
early languages of that peninsula, its coins and inscrip-
tions. He is the chief editor of the great "Corpus" of
Latin inscriptions, the greatest memorial of German clas-
sical scholarship. But the greatest work of his own labors
is his "Roman History," which began to appear in 1854,
and has been brought down to the time of the Empire.
The Imperial Government of the Provinces has been
treated in volumes intended to form part of the completed
work. Mommsen's thorough scholarship, the basis of his
history, is not displayed in notes, but is shown in many
monographs on particular points. He has gathered into
one continuous narrative the results of life-long investiga-
tions. In regard to the better known portions of his subject
he has taken positions at variance with the common judg-
ment. Thus for Cicero, as a politician, he has nothing
but censure, and for Caesar nothing but eulogy. He is
ready to cite modern parallels and illustrations for his

336 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

judgment of these and other public men of ancient times.
His history has been well translated into English by W.
P. Dickson.

Another distinguished historian of the objective school
is Heinrich von Sybel, who was a pupil of Ranke. He
was born at Diisseldorf in 1817, and chiefly educated at
Bonn. His first work was a "History of the First Cru-
sade" (1841), which exposed various popular errors in
regard to that movement. Then came his "Origin of the
German Kingdoms." From Marburg, where he was pro-
fessor of history, he was called in 1856 by Duke Maxi-
milian II of Bavaria to the University of Munich. There
he introduced Ranke's method, training his pupils in orig-
inal research. On the death of his patron he went to
Bonn as professor, and was soon active in political affairs.
In 1875 he was made director of the State archives at
Berlin. His edition of these important historical docu-
ments began to be issued in 1878. Von Sybel's great
work is a "History of the Revolution Period from 1789
to 1795" (1853-67). Based upon faithful study of State
papers in all the capitals of Europe, it is the most accu-
rate account of the French Revolution. Nor is it defi-
cient in graphic presentation of the facts, though it is free
from the poetic glamour of Carlyle's prose epic. Von
Sybel has published many historical essays and "The Ris-
ing of Europe Against Napoleon" ( 1860) .

Heinrich von Treitschke also takes high rank among
the German historians. He was born at Dresden in 1834,
studied there and at Leipsic, and in 1858 became an assist-
ant in government publications at Berlin. For three years
he was professor in the University of Freiburg, and in
1866 passed to Heidelberg, and thence in 1874 to Berlin.
He was active in the German Parliament as a National
Liberal, and supported Bismarck's efforts for German

GERMAN 337

unity. Treitschke's early work comprised two volumes
of "Patriotic Poems" ( 1856), but his later work was con-
fined to history and politics. In "Der Socialismus und
Seine Conner" (Socialism and Its Protectors) (1875) he
attacked the professors who were giving aid to socialism
by their lectures. In "Zehn Jahre Deutscher Kdmpfe"
(Ten Years of German Conflict) (1875) he rehearsed the
movements by which the new German Empire was formed.
But his most important work is "Deutsche Geschichte im
19 Jahrhundert" (German History in the iQth Century).
The value of von Treitschke's labors is admitted by every
historical student of the period. His sagacity and indus-
try are equal to those of Ranke; his style is more sprightly,
and his judgment of men and events is impartial.

9—22

SOCIALISM IN LITERATURE

Karl Marx (1818-1883), the founder of modern Ger-
man socialism, deserves mention since his masterpiece
"Capital" has become almost the Bible of the Social Dem-
ocrats. Like Ferdinand Lassalle, Marx was of Jewish
descent. He was born at Cologne, and studied jurispru-
dence at Bonn and Berlin. When the newspaper which
he edited at Cologne was suppressed in 1843 for its radi-
cal utterances, he went to Paris and studied political econ-
omy. But driven from France and Belgium, he found
refuge in London. Here he took part in the Working-
men's Congress in 1847, but went to Paris during the
Revolution of 1848. Then he was allowed to return to
Cologne, where he revived his paper and advocated a Com-
munistic Revolution. Though the paper was suppressed,
the juries acquitted him. Again he was banished from
Germany, went to Paris, and thence to London. In 1864
he founded the society known as the International, and
was thereafter the leader and inspirer of its work. For a
time European statesmen were greatly alarmed about its
possibilities, but were relieved when the British workmen
in 1871 refused his leadership as tending to anarchism,
and insisted on confining the work of the society to amel-
ioration of the workingmen's condition.

Marx's book was published in London in 1867. Vol-
ume I is on the process of capital production; Volume II
on "The Circulation of Capital"; Volume III, which was
written by a friend, deals with "Forms of Process and
Theory of History." The literary power of this work lies
in Marx's consummate skill as a thinker and logician.

338

GERMAN 339

Its spirit may be seen in his description of capital as "dead
labor, which, vampire-like, becomes animate only by suck-
ing living labor, and the more labor it sucks, the more it
lives." His theory of the development of history recog-
nizes four eras : First, the Classic Age, when wealth was
represented by slaves; second, the Middle Age, when it
lay in serfs, but has been destroyed by the bourgeoisie and
the Third Estate; third, the age of modern capitalistic
production ; fourth, the coming age, when the proletariat,
or Fourth Estate, is to rise and overthrow this capitalism.
It must be borne in mind that Marx limits the term "capi-
tal" to economic goods in the hands of employers. His
work is based on the political economy of Ricardo and
Rodbertus.

Marx's theories were popularized by Ferdinand Las-
salle (1825-1864), the son of a rich Jewish merchant of
Dresden. Lassalle had a fiery romantic temperament
which led him to champion the cause of the workingmen
and to sacrifice his life in a duel about a lady. He was
a prodigy of learning, and had published a work on an
ancient Greek philosopher, who was surnamed "the ob-
scure." He called himself the "President of Humanity,"
and the workingmen "the disinherited." His attack was
directed against "the iron law of wages" as the keystone of
the capitalistic system. Unlike Marx, Lassalle was a
monarchist and desired the unity of Germany.

CONTEMPORARY WRITERS

Some of the later German novelists, following the
French example, have cultivated the short story. Prob-
ably the most successful of these is Paul Heyse, who has,
however, also written "purpose" novels, that is, novels in-
tended to present a social problem of the times, or to urge
a reform. Heyse is a man of high culture, a poet of
considerable ability both in lyrics and in the minor epic,
and a dramatist of no mean repute. He was born at Ber-
lin in 1830, the son of an eminent scholar. He studied at
the University of that city, and afterward at Bonn, devot-
ing himself chiefly to the Romance languages. His ear-
liest works were poems and dramas, and while he has never
abandoned these departments, he has later given more
attention to prose fiction. His short stories are pictur-
esque, dreamy and melancholy, sentimental and sometimes
dangerously sensuous. His "purpose" novels, "Children
of the World" (1870) and "In Paradise" (1875), have
given him widest fame. They are strongly individual-
istic, asserting the right of every person to seek happi-
ness as he pleases in spite of conventional regulations and
religious restraints. Self-culture is made the aim of life.
The earlier novel, while somewhat philosophical, is more
pleasing, involves a charming love experience and has a
happy ending. The later is more in the spirit of Omar
Khayyam. Both abound in poetical passages. Of
Heyse's dramas the best are the "Sabine Women" ( 1859)
and "Hans Lange." His chief epic is "Thekla." Both
Italian and French influences are strongly manifest in his
work, and yet he remains German in the spirit of Goethe.

340

GERMAN 341

In the latter part of the Century there has been a cer-
tain revival of the Romantic spirit, free from the wild
disregard of the natural seen in the early Romanticists.
No better example can be found than the works, both prose
and verse, of Count Joseph Victor von Scheffel (1826-
1886). He was born at Carlsruhe, Baden, and was edu-
cated in law at Heidelberg and Berlin. He was for a time
in government employ and afterward lived at Weimar, but
spent his last twenty years chiefly in his native city.
In 1853 while in Italy he composed his romantic epic "The
Trumpeter of Sackingen," which has become a favorite
classic. It relates how Werner, who had been a student
at Heidelberg, became trumpeter to the Baron von Scho-
nau. Being wounded in a riot, he is tenderly nursed by
the Baron's daughter, Margaretha, who is already in love
with him. The Baron refuses his consent to their mar-
riage and Werner bids farewell to Sackingen. But his
skill in music enables him to become chapel-master to
Pope Innocent, and thus finally to obtain the fair Mar-
garetha's hand. The Baron's tobacco-pipe and his cat
Hiddigeigei are prorninent features of the quaintly humor-
ous poem. The romance "Ekkehard" (1855) is a fine
reconstruction of mediaeval history. It includes a Ger-
man version of the Latin poem of "Walter of the Strong
Hand," attributed to Ekkehard, a monk of St. Gall in the
Tenth Century. Another of Scheffel's novels is "Junip-
erus, the History of a Crusader" (1883). His collection
of poems "Frau Adventiure, Songs of the Time of Hein-
rich von Ofterdingen" is an echo of the old Minnesingers.
His "Gaudeamus, Songs from Far and Near" are marked
with genial humor.

In contemporary German poetry the most prominent
figure is Baron Detlev von Liliencron, born at Kiel in
Holstein in 1844. In spite of his Danish birth he has

342 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

been a firm adherent of Prussia, in whose army he fought
through both the Austrian War of 1866 and the French
War of 1870. He was wounded in both campaigns. His
first small volume of poems "The Rides of the Adjutant"
appeared in 1883. He has published a comic epic "Pogg-
fred" and two volumes of poems, "Kampf und Spiele"
(Conflict and Play) and " Kampf e und Zlele" (Struggles
and Goals). His North German moorland pictures have
a peculiar charm. He is best as a writer of ballads, and
has shown in striking verse the terrible tragedy of war.
His poems "Who Knows Where?" and "In Remem-
brance" are full of true pathos.

The work and story of Joanna Ambrosius have called
forth special interest. This daughter of a poor laborer
was born in miserable circumstances in a little village in
East Prussia, and early, while occupied with the drudg-
ery of household toil, had charge of an invalid mother.
At the age of twenty she married a field laborer named
Voigt. Two children increased her cares, but love of
them seems to have awakened the poetry slumbering in
her soul. This humble woman began to compose poems.
Professor Karl Weiss-Schrattenthal, who had discovered
her merits in her obscurity, aroused not only national but
international astonishment by reporting her case in 1894.
She deals with simple peasant life, singing from the heart
songs of consolation. In spite of the weariness of toil
she finds in the love of her children a spiritual happiness,
"Believe in pain and anguish," cries this daughter of the
soil, "thy Father means it well."

In the Eighteenth Century, Denmark, like the rest of
Continental Europe, was strongly under the influence of
French ideas. The tragedies of Voltaire were the most
popular dramas and native writers strove to imitate this
pseudo-classical style, but one effective parody, in which
its rules and meter were applied to a trivial plot, Wessel's
"Love Without Stockings," was sufficient to banish all
French plays from the Royal Theater. Only Danish
plays on national subjects were henceforth allowed. A
number of young poets, fellow-students at Copenhagan,
celebrated in lyrics the mountains and scenery of their
native Norway. But this revival fell off in the next gen-
eration, and poetry became mechanical.

At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century the new
fight of Romanticism penetrated into Denmark. The
chief factor in this was the work and influence of the na-
tive Adam Gottlob Oehlenschlager (1779-1850). In
youth he aspired to be an actor and had written poems
in the French didactic style then prevailing, but in 1802
Henrik Steffens, who had studied at Jena under Fichte
and Schelling, converted his friend to the new Roman-
ticism by one memorable interview, which lasted sixteen
hours. Oehlenschlager on the next day wrote "The
Golden Horns." In this poem two carved and inscribed
relics of antiquity recently unearthed are celebrated as the
gifts of the gods, reminding men of their divine origin.
Casting aside his former work the poet devoted himself
ardently to the new impulse and published in 1803 a vol-

343

344 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ume of ballads and lyrics which inaugurated a new era in
Danish literature. Oehlenschlager, who had already
given some attention to ancient Scandinavia, now repro-
duced the "First Song of the Edda," and wrote a pan-
theistic interpretation of nature in "The Life of Jesus
Christ Annually Repeated in Nature." In the dramatic
fairy tale "Aladdin," dedicated to Goethe as his master,
Oehlenschlager sought to illustrate the marvelous power
of genius. The Danish poet went to Germany in 1805, vis-
iting Fichte and Goethe, thence to Paris, Switzerland and
Rome. During the four years thus spent he wrote the
national dramas "Hakon Jarl" relating to the overthrow
of Pagan sacrifices in Norway by Christianity; "Palna-
toke" describing the same period in Denmark; "Axel and
Valborg" a romantic love-tragedy. "Correggio" is a
tragedy in German in which that gentle painter is set in
contrast with the sublime Michael Angelo. On his re-
turn to Copenhagen Oehlenschlager was generally lauded
as the greatest Danish poet, but was severely criticised by
Grundtvig and others. His most important production in
later years was a cycle of splendid poems on "The Gods
of the North." Among his dramas are "Charles the
Great," and "The Land Found and Vanished," which
treats of the discovery of Vinland by the Norwegians.
He requested that "Socrates," his only attempt at a Greek
play, might be performed as a memorial after his death.

Jens Emmanuel Baggesen (1765-1826), who was born
fourteen years before Oehlenschlager, did not come un-
der the Romantic influence. He had risen from poverty
and won his first success by "Comical Tales" in verse, but
when his opera was ridiculed he left the country for for-
eign travel. His descriptive poem "The Labyrinth," pub-
lished on his return in 1790, received applause. There-
after he roamed over Europe, still publishing in Danish

DANISH 345

and German. When Oehlenschlager had achieved fame,
Baggesen was more determined than ever to prove his
own superiority. He remains simply a fine comic writer,
but the best of all his pieces is the simple poem "Child-
hood," translated by Longfellow.

The lyrical dramatist Henrik Hertz (1798-1870) was
of Jewish parentage. His satirical "Letters of a Return-
ing One" (1830), professing to be written by Baggesen's
ghost, were published anonymously and caused great sen-
sation. After a visit to Italy and France, Hertz showed
new power in his romantic dramas "Svend Dy ring's
House" (1837) and "King Rene's Daughter" (1845).
These two beautiful creations still hold the stage in Den-
mark and the latter has been produced in every civilized
country. Yet the troubadour genius of Hertz shines most
in his sweet impassioned lyrics.

Frederik Paludan-Muller (1809-1876) was the best
successor of Oehlenschlager. He wrote under the influ-
ence of Byron. His dramas "The Death of Abel" ( 1854) ,
the philosophic "Kalanus," and "Paradise" (1861) raise
him to a high rank among European poets. He obtained
even greater success in a long humorous epic, "Adam
Homo" (1841-48), which proved him to be a keen satir-
ist.

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872) was
more noted as an earnest theologian than as a poet, and
after long service in the Church was made a bishop. His
study of Scandinavian antiquities resulted in his publish-
ing "Northern Mythology" and "Decline of the Heroic
Life in the North" (1809). In lyrical and historical
poetry he rivaled Oehlenschlager, as in "King Harald and
Ansgar." From the vehemence of the writings which
gave him influence over his countrymen he has been com-
pared to Carlyle.

346 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Bernhard Severin Ingemann (1789-1862), under the
influence of Sir Walter Scott, wrote a number of historical
romances, "Valdemar Seier" (1826), "King Erik" (1833)
and "Prince Otto of Denmark" (1835). Before these he
had published many romantic poems, tragedies, and short
tales. His rapidity of production and the religious mel-
ancholy of his verse gave him high popularity. He was
the author of the national song, "Dannebrog."

Perhaps the only Danish writer who is universally
known is Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the
prince of story-tellers for children. The son of a poor
shoemaker of Odense, he went to Copenhagen and tried
in vain to get employment at the theater. He was always
fond of travel and his trip to Germany gave occasion for
his first book of value, "Silhouettes." After a journey
to Italy in 1833 his novel "The Improvisator" gave his
impressions of that classic and romantic land. Then
came "O. T.," a picture of Northern life. It was not
until 1836 that he began to publish the "Wonder Tales,"
children's stories, forever inseparably connected with his
name. In them he gave his fancy free scope, and re-
vealed his child-like heart. The finest story is "The Ugly
Duckling" (1845), which is really an allegory of his own
career. The most popular of the later volumes are the
''Picture Book Without Pictures" and "Tales and Stories."
Andersen continued to add to this stock during the rest of
his life. In 1837 he published his best novel, "Only a
Fiddler," partly autobiographical. His journey to the
East is shown in "A Poet's Bazaar" (1842). He was a
bird of passage; he never settled down at home till he was
past sixty. His "Story of My Life" has been regarded
as an imperfect portrait, though it reveals both his merits
and his weaknesses. His novels and books of travel show

DANISH 347

the egotism which constantly beset him. But the chil-
dren's tales retain their vogue, because they show all
things as children see them, living and acting, and tell
everything as children wish it to be told.

Wilhelm Bergsoe, born in 1835, was in youth a zool-
ogist, but having so injured his sight that he was obliged
to relinquish such work, he dictated a collection of stories,
"From the Piazza del Popolo" (1866), which won gen-
eral favor. His sight was afterward partly restored and
he continued his literary labor. Later works include a
romance "From the Old Factory" (1869), "In the Sabine
Hills" (1871), stories told in letters; "In the Gloaming"
(1876), "The Bride of Rorvig" (1872), and "Who was
He?" They show keen observation and vivid imagina-
tion and are written in fine style. Some popular works
on natural history have come from his pen.

One of the greatest living critics is Georg Brandes,
born at Copenhagen in 1842. After a distinguished
course at the University he traveled in England, France,
and Germany to become acquainted with men of letters
and science. The result of his studies appeared in his
brilliant and valuable work, "Main Currents of Nineteenth
Century Literature" (1872-76). It showed the gradual
emancipation of thought through the first half of this
Century. His former publications had provoked contro-
versies, but a still greater one arose in 1876 and his oppon-
ents prevented his being appointed professor in the Uni-
versity of Copenhagen. Offended at this treatment he
left the city and went to Germany. But he had already
won a European reputation by "French Esthetics in Our
Day" (1870), "Esthetic Studies" and "Critiques and Por-
traits." For some years he resided in Berlin, but he re-
turned to Copenhagen in 1883. Many biographical works

348 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

have been prepared by him, among them being lives of
Tegner and Lord Beaconsfield. Among his critical works
are "Modern Men of Genius" (1881), "Bjornson and
Ibsen" (1882). He is industrious, learned, energetic,
and brilliant.

NORWEGIAN LITERATURE

Norway had been united to Denmark for four Cen-
turies until Napoleon's wars changed the map of Europe.
At that critical period Denmark came into conflict with
England in defense of her merchant marine, and in alarm
for her own safety, attached herself to victorious France.
After the battle of Waterloo the allied powers punished
her for this, by forcing her to resign Norway to Sweden.
The Norwegians attempted to defend their own independ-
ence under a Danish hereditary Prince, but the Swedish
army advanced on Christiania, and the brave people were
obliged to yield. Norway is still governed by a Swedish
King, but has her own Constitution and a separate Parlia-
ment. Prior to the year 1814 Norway shared the intellec-
tual life of Denmark. For many years after that writers
aimed to celebrate the virtues of the free and inde-
pendent peasant, and to glorify the rocks and waterfalls
of their native land. Two distinct parties were formed,
the clash of whose arguments may still be heard.

Henrik Wergeland (1808-1845) was the son of a
patriotic clergyman, but had imbibed the views of Rous-
seau, and his lyrical dramatic poem, "The Creation, Man,
and Messiah," was an expression of the fermentation of
French ideas of the Eighteenth Century. Though
lengthy and tedious, it contained passages of great beauty
and majesty; and the author was hailed as the first ex-
ponent of a distinctly Norwegian literature. Wergeland
had a marked personality, and used his great powers in
defending the welfare of the common people, and in wag-
ing war against everything having a Danish origin. He

349

350 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

became the leader of the political party called Ultra- Nor-
wegians. It was through his influence that the Seven-
teenth of May, the date of the adoption of the Norwegian
Constitution, was made a national holiday. His zealous
labors in poetry and politics did not cease till his death in

1845-

Wergeland's opponent was Johan Sebastian Cammer-

meyer Welhaven, and those who gathered to his standard
distinguished themselves as "Intelligence." In 1834 Wel-
haven, in the preface to a series of sonnets, pointed out
that a national literature cannot be constructed from noth-
ing; and that for many years Norway must depend on
Denmark for art, culture, and literary style; but that in
time she would be able to evolve a distinct culture of her
own, based on the study of her antiquities, and on an
expression of individual life. These sonnets caused a tre-
mendous sensation. "Intelligence" rallied around Wel-
haven, while Wergeland and his adherents shouted "Trea-
son !" The violent literary feud which ensued has hardly
yet been healed. Welhaven continued his career as
author and university professor until his death in 1873.
By his lectures on Danish literature, and his romances,
founded on popular traditions, he proved himself faithful
to those principles which he had advocated as the leader
of "Intelligence."

Andreas Munch (1810-1863), professor in the Uni-
versity of Christiania, wrote poetry and dramas which are
echoes of Oehlenschlager's, and tales after the fashion of
Welhaven. His poems of "Sorrow and Consolation" are
dear to all Scandinavians. His prose masterpiece is the
"History of the Norwegian People" (1851-64).

The two greatest poets of the North are the Norwe-
gians Bjornson and Ibsen. The former is a writer of
stories, songs, and dramas for his people; the latter is

NORWEGIAN 35 »

the author of the most remarkable psychological plays ever
portrayed by pen or presented upon the stage. Bjorn-
sjerne Bjornson, the son of a clergyman, was born among
the barren Dovre Mountains in 1832, and removed with
his family at the age of six, to Komsdal, the region of all
Norway most celebrated for its beauty. To this may be
attributed Bjornson's magnificent descriptions of natural
scenery. In his early years he devoted himself to folk-
tales and became a passionate admirer of Wergeland. He
commenced his life's work by writing poems and dramas,
but his first important book was "Synnove Solbakken,"
a story of peasant life which captivated the hearts of his
countrymen. It was followed by other tales, poems and
dramas in quick succession. The Scandinavians were
then setting up barriers between themselves and the
thought of Europe. All streams were muddy save the
rivers of the pure North. A modern intellectual move-
ment began in Denmark in 1871 and penetrated to Nor-
way, and Bjornson was the first to profit by it. He read
every variety of work, in every language, and he thus
describes the influence on himself : "I am Norseman. I
am human. Of late I have been subscribing myself:
man." His latest dramas, therefore, are full of the broad-
est humanitarianism. His modern plays are "The Bank-
rupt," "The Editor," "The King." The best of his later
novels is a profound and exquisitely written story called
"Dust." Among all the shorter compositions of Bjorn-
son's the most remarkable is the monologue "Bergliot,"
the lamentations of a chieftain's wife over her murdered
husband and son. Bjornson's great struggle is for free-
dom and modern enlightenment. Personally he is a gen-
ial giant, with a charming and joyous presence. He has
the reputation of being the most eloquent and convincing
political orator in Norway.

352 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Henrik Ibsen, the dramatist of pessimism, was born at
Skien, in Norway, in 1828. His connections were people
of the highest standing in the place, but his father became
a bankrupt, and the boy worked in one menial capacity
after another. He was twenty-two years old before he
had means or leisure for study. His desolate youth, in
which he often did not have enough to eat, unquestionably
soured his disposition. For many years he toiled unsuc-
cessfully as a newspaper publisher, a theater manager,
and a writer of poems and dramas which were misun-
derstood. Ibsen led a wild life, as a young man, and was
disliked and shunned in consequence. At the time of the
Schleswig-Holstein troubles in 1864, he fell into a pro-
found melancholy because Sweden and Norway failed to
stand by Denmark in her war with Prussia and Austria-
Denouncing his countrymen as cowardly, he turned his
back on his native land, and has since lived in Dresden,
Munich, or Italy, a friendless and isolated man. He is
always well received, in a public way, in any city where
he happens to reside. His powerful and gloomy dramas
have at last brought him fame and fortune; and the North
is proud to acknowledge his genius as her own.

His best known dramas are "Brand," "Peer Gynt,'"
"A Model Home" (also called The Doll's House), "The
Pillars of Society," "Apparitions," "Hedda Gabler," and
"Little Eyeolf." Ibsen would hurl all existing institu-
tions off the face of the earth. Nothing is right. A sense
of duty founded upon the conventional claims of others
upon us, and our conventional claims on them, he finds in-
tolerable. Like the early Romanticists he insists on each
man's right to live, think and act as he pleases, with little
regard for others. His dramas have caused an intellec-
tual tumult throughout Europe.

SWEDISH LITERATURE

At the close of the Eighteenth Century Swedish liter-
ature had sunk into a depressed state. The French clas-
sical style prevailed; didactic and serious poems like those
of Pope and Young were the only kind approved. But
Romanticism was introduced by a group of poets whose
organ was called "Phosphor" (Light-bringer), whence
they were known as Phosphorists. The leader of this
group. Peter Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (1790-1855),
edited the journal, which contained only poetry and criti-
cal essays. His lyrical poems called "The Flowers" were
marred by too great fondness for mysticism and allegory.
His most celebrated work is the beautiful drama "The
Fortunate Island" (1823). Another member of this
group, Lorenzo Hammarskold (1785-1827), published in
1806 "Translations and Imitations of Poets, Old and
New," in the preface of which he condemned the Swedish
classic writers, and commended Goethe and Tieck for imi-
tation. His most important work was a "History of
Swedish Literature" (1818).

The leader of the opposition to these Phosphorists was
the far more distinguished Bishop Esaias Tegner (1782-
1846). He was the son of a village pastor and taught
in the University of Lund. In 1808, stirred by the great
events of the time, he composed a war-song which was
welcomed and sung by the people. He then organized a
Gothic League for the study of Scandinavian antiquity.
Its journal "Iduna," so called from the goddess of youth
in Northern mythology, was edited at first by Geijer and
afterward by Tegner. In this journal appeared Tegner's

353

354 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

romance of "Axel," his beautiful idyl of "The Children
of the Lord's Supper," which has been translated into
English by Longfellow, and his famous modernization of
"Frithiof's Saga." The last consists of twenty-four short
cantos or ballads, each having a different form of verse
or meter to suit the special subject, and all taken together
presenting the finest picture of ancient Scandinavian life.

As a reward for this national epic Tegner was made
a bishop, though he had not previously been ordained.
He discharged his episcopal duties well until his mind
gave way. During a temporary recovery he began two
epic poems which were left unfinished. The work of his
youth, however, has placed him at the head of Swedish
literature. As Longfellow has said: "This modern
Skald has written his name in immortal runes, not on the
bark of trees alone, in the 'unspeakable rural solitudes' of
pastoral song, but on the mountains of his native land,
and the cliffs that overhang the sea, and on the tombs of
ancient heroes, whose histories are epic poems."

The other leader of the Gothic League, Erik Gustaf
Geijer (1783-1847), is Sweden's greatest historian. To
the "Iduna" he contributed several essays and some songs,
whose sweet simplicity and ardent patriotic feeling have
made them ever dear to his countrymen. In 1815 he was
called to the University of Upsala to give instruction in
history, and thenceforward devoted himself to that depart-
ment. His "History of the Swedish People" (3 vols.
1832-36) brings the subject down to the close of Queen
Christina's reign in 1654. Many other historical works
and essays were published by him, before failing health
obliged him to resign in 1846. They all exhibit correct
critical insight and artistic arrangement of material.

Frans Michael Franzen (1772- 1847), who was a native
of Finland, became professor of history in the University

SWEDISH 355

of Abo, and eventually a bishop, was the author of many
minor poems full of sweetness and of popular songs. His
epics on Sven Sture, Columbus, and Gustavus Adolphus,
in spite of beautiful passages, are inferior to his short
pieces. His best lyrics sing of domestic joys, the prattle
of children and the beauty of the fields.

The most extraordinary character in Swedish literary
history is Karl Jonas Ludwig Almquist ( 1793-1866) . In
early manhood he gave up an official position at Stockholm
and led a colony to wild forest lands to found a primitive
community called "Man's Home Association." On its
failure he became a teacher and prepared some school text
books. After awhile he issued a collection of dramas,
lyrics and romances, under the name "The Book of the
Thorn-Rose." It contains some of the finest gems of
Swedish literature, and quickly made him famous. Then
a flood of treatises of all kinds, historical, philosophical,
religious, flowed from his pen. With these were inter-
mingled admirable lyrical, epic and dramatic poems. But
the unstable author passed from one position to another,
and raved about socialism. Suddenly in 185 1 he fled from
Sweden, and it became known that he was convicted of
forgery and charged with murder. It was afterward
ascertained that he came to the United States under an
assumed name, earned a precarious living, and it is even
stated that he was a secretary to Abraham Lincoln. When
he was almost within the grasp of the law, his papers were
seized and destroyed, but he himself escaped to Europe.
He died at Bremen. Almquist put in practice the extreme
disregard of morality which some of the Romanticists
taught or exhibited in fiction. His books show great
keenness of observation, rich humor and strong poetic
feeling.

Finland, though now belonging to Russia, is peopled

356 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

by Swedes, and has contributed to Swedish literature.
Johann Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877) as a poet, is sec-
ond only to Tegner. He was born in Finland and edu-
cated at the University of Abo. His little epic "The Elk-
Hunters" (1832) was followed by "Hanna" (1836), a
charming idyl in hexameters. Runeberg was now made
professor of Latin at Borga College, and from this obscure
place sent forth poems which established his high rank.
Among them are "Nadeschda," a romance of Russian life,
"Kung Fjalar," a cycle of romances in unrhymed verse.
His popularity was greatly enhanced by "Ensign Steel's
Stories," poems on the War of Independence in 1808. His
tragedy "The Kings at Salamis" (1863) shows the true
classical spirit. His poems are realistic, yet full of artis-
tic beauty and strong religious feeling.

Another able poet of Finland is Zacharias Topelius,
born in 1818. He was editor of a newspaper in Helsing-
fors until 1860. His poems were collected in book form
in "Heather Flowers" (1845-54). His best prose work,
"The Surgeon's Stories" (1872-74), relates to the history
of Sweden and Finland in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries.

Of Swedish novelists none is more widely known than
Miss Fredrika Bremer (1801-1865). She was born near
Abo in Finland, but her childhood was spent at Arsta near
Stockholm. In 1821 the family went on a tour through
Germany and France. After a year thus spent, Fredrika,
to escape the dullness of country life, began to visit the
poor and sick. To get money for her charities her brother
sold some sketches she had written. When in 1830 "The
H — Family" was issued the Swedish Academy awarded
her a gold medal. Her career was now determined. Her
simple tales of middle-class family life were favorably re-
ceived in Sweden, and even more so in England and Amer-

SWEDISH 35;

ica, when translated by Mary Hewitt. After residing
some years in Norway, Miss Bremer visited England and
America, and on her return wrote her impressions in
"Homes in the New World" (1853). Later visits to
Switzerland, Italy, Palestine and Greece, were also pleas-
antly sketched. The better education of girls and the ad-
mission of women to various employments were advocated
in her later novels, "Hertha" and "Father and Daughter,"
but these "purpose" novels were not so attractive as the
simpler pictures of family life in "The Neighbors," "The
President's Daughters," "Brothers and Sisters," "The
Home."

Less widely known, yet almost of equal merit as a nov-
elist, is Mrs. Emilia Flygare-Carlen (1807-1892). She
was twice married, her second husband, J. G. Carlen, being
a lawyer and poet. Her first novel, "Waldemar Klein,"
was published anonymously when she was thirty years of
age. Its success led her to prepare a long series of similar
works, treating all classes and conditions of Swedish life.
Her wide experience enabled her to depict not only the
well-to-do, but peasants, fishers and smugglers. Among
her best books are "The Professor" ( 1840), "The Rose of
Thistelon" (1842), "The Maiden's Tower" (1848), "The
Tutor" (1851), "The Trading House" (1860), and her
autobiography "Recollections of Swedish Life" (1878).
Her novels are graphic pictures rather than studies of
character, but they are bright and sparkling.

Abraham Viktor Rydberg (born in 1829) is the most
attractive essayist of Sweden. His original work includes
aesthetic and historical studies, treatises on the philosophy
of religion, and one on "Teutonic Mythology" (1886).
His only novel, "The Last of the Athenians" (1859),
relates to the struggle between classical Paganism and
Christianity.

RUSSIAN LITERATURE

When Alexander I came to the throne of Russia in
1 80 1, he was inclined to peace, but the policy and acts of
Napoleon forced him into war, which culminated in the
French invasion and the disastrous retreat from Moscow.
After the downfall of Napoleon, the influence of Alexan-
der was paramount in the Congresses which settled the
affairs of Europe. He was the founder of the Holy Alli-
ance, which was to combine the powers of Church and
State in suppressing revolutionary tendencies. But he
was also intent on promoting the civilization of his vast
Empire. French influence, which during the reign of
Catharine II, had prevailed in literature, was supplanted
by an effort at a truly national literature.

The historian, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1765-
1826) was one of the glories of Alexander's reign, and is
said to have revealed Russia to itself. His father was an
army officer of Tartar descent and wished his son to fol-
low in that profession, but the latter was drawn into liter-
ature at St. Petersburg and Moscow. His visit to France
and England gave occasion for his "Letters of a Russian
Traveler" (1801), but most of his writings were miscel-
laneous and sentimental tales, until he took up in earnest
his "History of the Russian Empire." To accomplish this
he had gone to live in retirement, but the Czar, Alexander,
learning the fact, invited him to St. Petersburg, and gave
him every facility for work. In 1825 his health began to
fail, and a year later he died. His History was brought
down to the year 1613. It was founded on original

358

RUSSIAN 359

research and is written in elegant style, modeled upon
Addison. It has been censured for the romantic air cast
over the barbarism and cruelty of olden times, and has
been called an "epic of despotism." It traced the origin
of Russian greatness to Ivan the Terrible and even to his
grandfather, instead of limiting it to Peter the Great, as
previous writers under French influence had done.

In Russia Ivan Kriloff (1768-1844) holds the same
place as La Fontaine in France. He is the national
fabulist, and lines from his homely verses are stock quota-
tions among the people. He resembled the French fabu-
list not only in the style of his writing but in the careless
unpractical mode of his life. Born at Moscow, the son
of an army officer who died in 1779, he was taken to St.
Petersburg by his mother, who hoped in vain to get a
pension. Kriloff's earliest writings were for the stage,
chiefly translations and imitations, and it was not until
1809 that his first volume of "Fables" was issued. Hon-
ors then began to be heaped upon him and he was appointed
to a position in the Imperial Public Library. Although
he professed indifference to public affairs, his fables were
really suggested by passing events, and by idiomatic grace
and sound sense caught at once the fancy of the people.
Their perfection of style was the result of careful polish.
Personally, he was careless in dress, regardless of etiquette,
and absent-minded.

The chief representative of Romanticism in Russian,
literature is Vasile Andreevich Zhukovski (1783-1852).
He was the preceptor of Alexander II in his youth, and
succeeded Karamzin in editing the "European Messenger"
in 1808. His aim was to familiarize his countrymen with
the best productions of foreign literature, and for this he
translated from Goethe, Uhland, Schiller, Gray, Byron
and Moore. He even translated Oriental poems at sec-

360 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ond-hand through the German. His most famous poems
are the ballads in "The Poet in the Russian Camp" which
were sung by his fellow soldiers in the War of 1812.
Another fine ballad is "Svietlana." His finest tale is
"Mary's Grove."

But the most celebrated of Russian poets is Alexander
Pushkin (1799-1837) who, like Alexandre Dumas, had
some negro blood in his veins. His mother's grandfather
was a negro who had been brought from Abyssinia, and
by his bravery won the favor of Peter the Great. Pushkin
was employed in the ministry of foreign affairs and lived
as a man of fashion until a daring "Ode to Liberty"
incurred censure and he was virtually banished to Bessar-
abia, near the Danube, where he held office. Under the
influence of Byron he composed "The Prisoner of the Cau-
casus," a story of the love of a Circassian girl for a cap-
tive Russian officer. Another poem was a tale of love
and vengeance called "The Gipsies." With this strange
people he had become acquainted in his new residence, and
their mode of life attracted him. His conduct did not
give satisfaction to his superiors, and he was dismissed
from the service in 1824. He retired to his father's
country place and there became embroiled with his rela-
tives, while he was also under the surveillance of the Gov-
ernment. A product of his retirement was the tragedy of
"Boris Gudunoff," in which he departed from the French
classical style, and sought to imitate Shakespeare. His
"Poltava" is a spirited narrative poem of the defeat of
Charles XII by Peter the Great. But a much more origi-
nal poem is "Eugene Oneguin" which relates the adven-
tures of a Russian in sprightly verse somewhat after the
fashion of Byron's "Don Juan." Pushkin had married a
noble lady in 1831, and six years later out of jealousy
fought a duel, in which he was mortally wounded. His

RUSSIAN 361

opponent was banished. Pushkin's fame as a poet ha?
steadily increased. Though strongly influenced by By-
ron, he was not a mere copyist. His subjects and scenery
are thoroughly Russian. He excelled in his poetical tales,
especially in "Eugene Oneguin," in which humor and
satire are well mingled. His few prose tales and his his-
torical novels display dramatic power.

The death of Pushkin was lamented in an impassioned
poem addressed to the Czar by Mikhail Lermontoff (1814-
1841). He declared that if no vengeance was taken on
the assassin Heaven would grant no second poet to Rus-
sia. But the Czar was seriously offended and sent the
new poet, who was an army officer, to the Caucasus on mili-
tary duty. Lermontoff, who had visited those mountains
in childhood, found there the inspiration of his mature
years. He became the poet of the Caucasus, celebrating
the courage and other virtues of the mountaineers, as well
as the sublime and varied scenery amid which they dwelt.
Lermontoff was of Scotch ancestry, as he states in one of
his poems, but was born in Moscow and carefully edu-
cated. When he returned to St. Petersburg, in 1839, he
published a volume of poems and a novel, "A Hero of Our
Time." Two years later, like his predecessor, he fell in
a duel. Three volumes of his poems were then published,
and Bodenstedt translated them into German. Among his
poems are "Ismail-Bey," "The Demon," and a remarkable
imitation of an old Russian ballad.

As in all other countries of Europe, there arose in
Russia imitators of Sir Walter Scott, who endeavored to
renew the life of past ages of their country's history. The
best of these was Zagoskin, who in "Yuri Miloslavski,"
took for his subject the expulsion of the Poles from Rus-
sia in 1612. But a romantic coloring is given to the nar-
rative, and the characters utter sentiments which belong

362 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

to a more refined age than their own. The first really
great and original novelist of Russia was Nikolai Vasilie-
vich Gogol (1809-1852). He was born in Poltava, in
South Russia, and early began writing for the stage. At
the age of twenty he went to St. Petersburg and published
an idyll, which was so severely criticised that he burnt all
the copies he could obtain. Then the recollections of
childhood came back, when his father was regimental
secretary of Cossack troops, and he heard tales of the wild
life of these tribes. These he now undertook to repro-
duce in a periodical under the title, "Evenings on a Farm
near Dikanka." The novelty and brilliance of the stories
were acknowledged by all critics. Gogol went on to pub-
lish "Arabesques," a mingling of stories and essays,
"Taras Bulba," the finest of his "Cossack Tales," and
"The Revisor," a satrical comedy. In the last, a traveler,
who has just arrived in a town, is mistaken for a revisor
or Government inspector, and receives all the attention,
favors and bribes that the town officials intended for the
real inspector. But much more searching and effective
was the exposure made in Gogol's great novel, "Dead
Souls" (1842). A speculator travels around the coun-
try, purchasing from landlords the title to dead souls, that
is, serfs who have died since the last census, and then
obtains advances from the Government on this imaginary
property. This plan enabled the author to introduce and
satirize many varieties of provincial Russians. The pain-
ful realism of the whole is acknowledged, yet it had
important effect in stirring the Government to redress the
wrongs described. A second part of this work was writ-
ten when he was in Italy, but he sank into religious melan-
choly and destroyed most of it. Later he wrote "Con-
fessions of an Author," which showed a mind diseased.
He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but died at Moscow.

RUSSIAN 363

Alexander Hertzen (1812-1870), was a political agi-
tator, who in youth was exiled to Siberia, afterward was
permitted to return and hold official posts, then in 1847
left Russia, and passed the rest of his life in Geneva, Lon-
don and Paris. His chief literary work was a novel,
"Who Is to Blame?" The story tells how a tutor, having
married the unacknowledged daughter of a sensualist of
the old type, dull and ignorant, yet kindly, finds his home
life troubled by the entrance of a sensualist of a new type,
intelligent and accomplished, but callous. The question
of the title has reference to the tragical termination. Hert-
zen's most important political publication was the "Kolo-
kol" (Bell), a periodical printed in London, but vigor-
ously excluded from Russia till after the death of Nicholas
I, in 1855. Then smuggled into the country in large
quantities, it did much to bring about the sweeping
reforms of Alexander II, including the emancipation of
the serfs.

A morbid self-analysis is found in many Slavonic writ-
ers. This is seen in Feodor Michailovich Dostoievsky
(1821-1881), who, akt the age of twenty- three, published
a novel which won for him the name of "the new Gogol."
In "Poor Folk" he revealed the miseries of the poor of
St. Petersburg. The power of analysis shown in this
work appears also in his later short stories, "The Black
Heart," "The Little Hero," and others. In 1849 the
novelist was implicated in a socialist conspiracy, and was
condemned to death, but at the moment of expected execu-
tion, his sentence was commuted to banishment to Siberia.
For four years he toiled in the mines, then was allowed to
return to St. Petersburg, and published "Recollections of a
Dead House," which described his experience. This nar-
rative, revealing the horrors of Siberian prison life, had
powerful effect throughout Russia. "Raskolnikoff,"

364 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

another novel, has been translated into English as "Crime
and Punishment." In it a weak man is led to murder a
woman for a little money, then slowly driven by remorse
to admit the crime to a girl friend, and by her friendly
sympathy, induced to confess it to the authorities and
submit to the punishment of exile. In all Dostoievsky's
work the love of the morbid prevails, so as to make the
reading of them a painful task.

In novel writing, Gogol had introduced the practice of
realism, and Ivan Turgenieff (1818-1883), perfected it.
Until the rise of Tolstoi, Turgenieff was the Russian
author most widely known. He was born at Orel, of
wealthy parents, his father being colonel of a cavalry regi-
ment. In his mother's house French only was spoken,
save in intercourse with servants. The serfs were treated
with extreme cruelty. From one of these Turgenieff
learned that there really was a Russian literature. His
mother believed that her son had degraded himself when
he began to write in his native tongue. His first sketches
that attracted attention were the "Memoirs of a Sports-
man," which set various characters of the Russian peas-
antry in a favorable light and revealed the miseries of
their life. The novelist's next production was the pathetic
story, "A Nest of Nobles" (1859), which was soon fol-
lowed by "On the Eve," which showed the generous but
indolent youth of Russia. In "Fathers and Sons"
(1862), Turgenieff marked the rise of Nihilism, and, in
fact, invented that word to express the destructive doc-
trines then beginning to pervade the educated young men
of his country. Their creed was to tear down all exist-
ing institutions without caring to substitute anything in
their place. During the latter part of his life Turgenieff
resided chiefly at Baden-Baden and Paris. At the former
he met several Russians exiled for their participation in

RUSSIAN 365

plots. He came to see that their schemes were mere illu-
sions, and his romance "Smoke" (1867) showed the
alteration of his opinions. Though he still retained faith
in Russia's final freedom, the Nihilists regarded him as a
renegade. Ten years later he published "Virgin Soil,"
which exposes the futility of Nihilism in action. He was
now accused of having been bribed by the Russian Gov-
ernment; yet the book really shows sympathy with the
liberty desired by the Nihilists, though condemning the
methods they proposed to use in attaining it. Turgenieff
produced many short stories, exquisitely finished. All
his writings exhibit wide sympathy, close study of the
human soul, and pervading all a poetical pessimism.

TOLSTOI

Born of noble family, living the careless and dissipated
life of gilded youth, then raised to high honor in war and
literature, Count Lyof Tolstoi forsook his early ways to
devote himself to the instruction of the emancipated serfs.
But his conversion was not complete until, after close
study of the New Testament, he humbled himself to be-
come himself a peasant in dress, work and mode of life.
In this way he became not only a social reformer in Russia,
but an oracle of the civilized world, the prophet of a new
religion. Yet his dominion is still in literature, and he
is thus the most prominent Russian at the close of the
Nineteenth Century.

He was born in 1828 near Tula, and after his father's
death was brought up on his mother's estate. For two
years he attended the University of Kasan, but left his
studies to lead a wild life, becoming a gambler and an
idolater of individual force. In 1851 he entered the army
and served in the Caucasus, and in the Crimean war took

356 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

part in the defense of Sebastopol. Having attained the
rank of Division Commander, he left the army and mar-
ried the daughter of a German physician. After publish-
ing "Military Sketches," describing the siege in which he
had suffered, he wrote "The Cossacks," portraying the life
and scenery of the Caucasus. His first novel, "War and
Peace," related to Napoleon's invasion, but had for its
chief theme a social complication, in which he showed his
repugnance to divorce, even to end the miseries of mar-
riage. Two years later the successful author began to
devote himself to the instruction of the peasants, and
wrote for them many educational text-books. His next
long novel, "Anna Karenina" (1876), shows a growing
dislike for Russian society and its conventions. Anna,
a gay, impulsive lady, had married Alexei Karenina, an
upright, reserved gentleman. The gallant young Baron
Vronsky wins her affection, and forms a liaison. When
Alexei discovers this he banishes his wife from his house,
and seeks a divorce, but becoming aware of her abiding
love of their son, he afterward refuses to consent to it.
The guilty pair separate, and Anna commits suicide. On
the other hand the same story contains an idyll of pure
love in the wooing of Katia by Constantin Levin.

Tolstoi had begun to show his new views of the Gospel.
He felt bound to adopt a literal interpretation of all the
precepts of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. He formed
on his own estate a community in which every one capable
was bound to engage in manual labor. He himself
dressed as a peasant and worked as a shoemaker. His
religious views have been set forth in "My Confession"
and "My Religion." They approach closely to those of
the Quakers. He teaches non-resistance to evil and force,
rejects ecclesiastical authority, but does not approve dis-

RUSSIAN 367

renting sects, for he holds the spirit to be above all forms
and organizations. He looks on his own past life with
loathing and even regards his novels as monuments of
misdirected energy. Yet, while occasionally issuing
tracts such as "Life," "What to Do," he has still written
some stories, and in the "Kreutzer Sonata" he shocked the
world by seeming to make the institution of marriage
a crime and advocating universal celibacy. But his
friends explain that it is only the abuse of subjecting
woman to man's unstinted lust that is censured. For a
time he appeared to have given up belief in the immortal-
ity of the soul, but afterward he regained it. He insists
that the true remedy for the ills of humanity is work, and
points to the peasants, who, even when working against
their will, have peace of mind and soul, while idle nobles
are driven to despair.

Whatever may be thought of Tolstoi's religious views
and practice, it cannot be denied that he is the most forcible
personage in Russian literature. He has carried on the
realistic exhibition of Russian life, commenced by Gogol,
and elaborated by Turgenieff. As Gogol depicted the
owners of small farms, and Turgenieff portrayed the
peasants and the Nihilists, Tolstoi has added representa-
.tions of the higher classes and their selfish lives. His
works reveal with the utmost effectiveness all the aspects
of war, the glory of victory, the horrors of the battlefield,
the monotony of sieges, the inspiration of patriotism, the
alteration of the common man into the soldier, with his
peculiar code of morals. He has set forth the evils of
divorce and shown the blessing of pure marriage.
Through all his works runs a strong sentiment of kind-
ness and good will toward his fellow-men, and an intense
hatred of sins which are lightly esteemed, because they are

368 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

secret. His prophetic message has been boldly delivered
not to Russia only, but to the world. He has called on
every one to work out his own salvation. There he has
stopped, for he insists on the right of every man to free
will, to choose for himself the way of life or the way of
death.

POLISH LITERATURE

The unhappy Kingdom of Poland came to an end in
1795, when the territories left after two previous divi-
sions went to Austria and Russia. Yet not till after this
national extinction did its literary glory arise. Regret
for what was irretrievably lost, and vain hope for its
restoration, unsealed the mouths of its poets. The first
was Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), a native of Lithu-
ania. Being involved in political trouble at the Univer-
sity of Wilna, he was ordered to St. Petersburg, where
he was well received in literary circles. His poem "Kon-
rad Wallenrod" (1828) described the battles of the Teu-
tonic Knights with the heathen Lithuanians in the Fif-
teenth Century, but it is easy to see that it was aimed at
the wars of the Poles and the Russians. When Mickie-
wicz obtained permission to travel, he went to Germany,
Italy, and finally France. His "Pan Tadeusz" (1832)
gives a picture of Lithuania on the eve of Napoleon's
invasion in 1812. He ceased writing at the age of thirty-
six and afterward his native mysticism grew into a deplor-
able imbecility. A statue to his memory was unveiled at
Warsaw on December 24, 1898, the centenary of his birth.

The second great poet of Poland was Julius Slowacki
(1809-1849), who was also a mystic and an imitator of
Byron. His mysticism was shown in "Anhelli," which
expressed allegorically the sufferings of his native land.
His Byronism appeared in "Lambro," a picture of a Greek
corsair, and "Beniowski," an adventurer like Don Juan.
Sigismund Krasinski (1812-1849), though born in Paris,

VOL. 9— 24 369

370 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

was a thorough Pole and mystic. As his father had
adhered to the Russian Government, the son concealed his
name, and was called "The Unknown Poet." In his
"Undivine Comedy" the woes of Poland were again
bewailed allegorically. His writings seem like a dirge
over her extinction.

The most prolific of all Polish authors was Josef
Ignacy Kraszewsky (1812-1887), who wrote over
250 works, including epics, novels, romances, histories,
and political treatises. A series of his novels was
devoted to depicting Polish history from the earliest
times. Of his other stories, "The Hut Beyond the Vil-
lage (1855) and "Jermota the Potter" (1857) were tne
most popular. The last resembles George Eliot's "Silas
Mariner."

But far beyond any other Polish writer, Henryk Sien-
kiewicz has extended the literary fame of his native land.
This has been partly due to the help of the eminent lin-
guist, Jeremiah Curtin, who translated his works into
English, yet still more must be granted to the creative
genius of the novelist himself. It enabled him to over-
come the opposition of critics in Poland and to win the
approbation of all serious judges elsewhere. Sienkiewicz
was born at Vola in Lithuania in 1846. He was edu-
cated at Warsaw and became a journalist. In 1876 he
came to America with a colony led by Madame Modjeska
to settle in Southern California. A year's experience here
furnished material for newspaper correspondence and
sketches. In 1884 his novels of Polish history in the Sev-
enteenth Century began to appear. They comprise "With
Fire and Sword," "The Deluge," and "Pan Michael," and
describe respectively the Cossack, Swedish and Turkish
invasions. Each has its own hero and its own special
interest, the last being the best. In all of them appears

POLISH 371

a unique character, Zagloba, somewhat boastful and ridic-
ulous, and yet full of sense and spirit. They are generally
regarded as the best historical novels of the last half of
the Century. The profound psychological novel of the
present day, "Without Dogma" (1890), could not secure
the same general attention. But "Quo Vadis" appeared
in 1895, and quickly made the author's name familiar
throughout the world. It is a story of the persecution
of the Christians by Nero, and is founded on a close study
of Roman literature of that period. The art of the novel-
ist has reproduced the brilliance of imperial Rome, the
waning power of Paganism, and the hopeful courage of
the early Christians. The title, meaning "Whither Goest
Thou ?" is taken from the legend which records that when
St. Peter in dismay was leaving Rome, he met his Lord
bearing his cross, and asked that question, to which the
reply was, "I go to Rome to be crucified." This legend
is incorporated in the work. One of the prominent char-
acters is Petronius, who was Nero's master of pleasure,
and has left a humorous Latin description of a feast, which
is also interwoven in the modern author's work. Sien-
kiewicz has also displayed his abilities in fine short stories.
Those relating to America are not equal to those in which
Polish village life is exhibited. The best is "God's Will,"
a tragical story, relieved at times with humorous scenes.

ITALIAN LITERATURE

In the Eighteenth Century there had been an attempt
to reform Italian literature by introducing simplicity in
place of the over-wrought rhetoric which had long pre-
vailed. For this purpose the Academy of Arcadia was
established at Rome. Its members adopted a style of
thought and language supposed to be used in the fabulous
Arcadia of the classical poets. But this was far from
being a real return to nature such as Wordsworth advo-
cated in English. The Arcadian mode was a palpable
sham. The result was a flood of trifling, effeminate son-
nets, madrigals and other forms of verse. But the deep-
reaching social and political ideas which were circulated
in France, and eventually produced the Revolution, made
their way also into Italy. The Arcadian school of feeble,
languishing poets vanished. The mighty but uncultivated
genius of Alfieri was aroused. Inspired with love of
liberty and hatred of tyrants, he poured forth twenty-one
tragedies, chiefly founded on incidents and characters of
classical history. He swept away the foolish trifling that
had usurped the place of literature, and directed the intel-
lectual movement to liberal and national aims.

The Italian poets who were excited by the same causes
and inspired by his example, looked back to the ancient
glory of their land for subjects and to the ancient classics
for models of style. Hence they were careful to" observe
the rules and methods which had long been stamped as
classical. In thought they were really modern, full of
new ideas of the rights of man and universal freedom,

372

ITALIAN 373

but in form they followed that stiff and antiquated style
which the French Romanticists opposed and ridiculed.
Yet it must be admitted that the richness and easy grace
of the Italian language are seen to advantage in their
works.

The most remarkable of these modern classical poets
was Vincenzo Monti (1754-1828), who illustrated in his
career the frequent political changes which swept over
his country. Kindly received at the Papal court, he was
early admitted to the Academy of the Arcadians, but pro-
voked his fellow-members by his sharp satire and impa-
tience of criticism. Then he wrote a classical drama in
rivalry with Alfieri. In 1793 the murder of the French
minister, Basseville, at Rome called forth his splendid
poem, "Bassvilliana," written in imitation of Dante. The
spirit of Basseville is represented as condemned to wander
over France under an angel's guidance, beholding the suf-
ferings brought upon the land by the Revolutionary
principles which he had advocated in life. Strange as
the subject is, the poem abounds in fine descriptive and
dramatic passages, one of which represents the ascension
of the soul of Louis XVI to Heaven. In 1796 Monti
wrote a poem, "Musogonia," which was favorable to the
Papal party, but two years later he altered it to make
Napoleon the hero. Still further was this homage to the
French general carried in the "Prometeo," another imi-
tation of Dante. Here Napoleon was exalted to Heaven
as the impersonation of valor and virtue. After the down-
fall of the Emperor, Monti sang the praises of the Aus-
trians. This frequent change of attitude is attributed to
the mobility of his feelings. He felt keenly the impres-
sion of the moment and immediately gave it utterance in
vigorous poetry. His only deep abiding passion was for
his art. In him the common talent of the Italian impro-

374 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

visator was magnified to a powerful genius. He insisted
on making Dante and Petrarch the models of style, and
opposed the pretensions of the Delia Cruscan school who
wished to limit the literary vocabulary to strictly Tuscan
words. His influence on the regeneration of Italian
poetry was beneficial and permanent.

While the fickle Monti varied in political opinion with
every passing breeze, Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) was ever
steady in his love of country, though a man of fierce pas-
sions, and apt to quarrel with his friends. He was born
at Zante and was proud of being a Greek, yet thoroughly
devoted to Italy. His first fame was due to the "Last
Letters of Jacopo Ortis" (1799), a tragical love story
in imitation of Goethe's "Sorrows of Werther," but also
expressing disappointment that Napoleon did not liberate
Italy. His finest poem, "The Sepulchers" (1807),
rebukes the people of Milan for allowing the poet Parini
to be buried in a common grave with robbers, and tells
how "the aspiring soul is fired to lofty deeds by great
men's monuments." His "Hymns to the Graces" make
beauty the source of all high qualities. In all of his poetry
the charm lies in the harmonious versification. When
made professor at Pavia in 1808, Foscolo offended Napo-
leon by directing his pupils to seek inspiration in patriot-
ism, and again by his tragedy of "Ajax." Obliged to
leave Italy he went to England, where for a time he pro-
moted the study of Italian literature, but afterward by his
waywardness lost his patrons and sank into poverty. His
prose writings were disfigured by rhetorical vehemence.

A third poet who was a still more ardent classicist was
Giambattista Niccolini (1782-1861), born in Florence,
where he became professor of history. His first tragedy,
"Polyxena," was crowned by the Delia Cruscan Academy
in 1810. While he imitated ^schylus he allowed his

ITALIAN 375

Muse more freedom than Alfieri. His tragedies show
lyrical power rather than dramatic genius. His subjects
were taken from modern history as well as classical
mythology. One of them, "Giovanni da Procida"
(1830), treats of the expulsion of the French from Sicily
and ends with the Sicilian Vespers. On its presentation,
it was felt to be an attack on Austrian tyranny. The
"Arnaldo da Brescia," founded on the history of the phil-
osopher who proposed Church reforms in the Twelfth
Century, was directed against the Papal power. Although
in dramatic form, it is too long for presentation on the
stage.

Here may be noted, also, a prose classicist who, in his
"History of Italy," imitated the style of Livy, and after
the fashion of ancient writers put into the mouths of his
characters long declamations. This was Carlo Botta
(1766-1837) of Piedmont, who in early life suffered long
imprisonment for an unproved political offense, and there-
after spent much of his life at Paris. His "History of the
War of Independence in America" (1810) is superior to
his other work, and attests his republican principles.
Cesare Cantu (1805-1895), a Lombard by birth, through-
out his long life was a diligent writer of history. His
chief work was his "Universal History" in thirty-five
volumes, which has been translated into many languages.
It made no pretension to original research of documentary
evidence, but gave in clear and fluent style the traditional
clerical view of the world's progress.

While the Liberal poets in Italy adhered to the classic
forms in literature, there were others who desired the
literary freedom of the Romantic school. In Milan a
large group of these held firmly the Catholic faith, and
from their general avoidance of political controversy,
were sometimes known as the School of Resignation.

376 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

They had for their organ the "Conciliatore," established
in 1818. Its very name shows that they were a party of
compromise. Some of them longed for national unity,
while others looked upon such ideas as chimerical. Minor
controversies about purity of language occupied much of
their attention. The classicists generally insisted on
exclusion of words and forms not belonging to the Tuscan
dialect, while the Milanese desired a literary language
which should draw from all the dialects of the peninsula.
This Milanese or Lombard group is often vaguely called
Romantic.

The most distinguished leader of this new school was
Count Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873). He declared
that its object was to discover and express historical and
moral truth as the eternal source of the beautiful. It has
therefore connection with the later realists as well as the
early Romanticists. In youth Manzoni had at Paris
imbibed the infidelity of Rousseau, but he was converted
by the faith of his wife, and became a fervent Catholic,
as he proved by his "Sacred Hymns" (1810), which fol-
low the festivals of the Church as in Keble's "Christian
Year." Manzoni's noble ode on the death of Napoleon
is called "The Fifth of May." His two fine tragedies
were criticised for violation of classical rules. But his
fame rests on his "Promessi Sposi" (The Betrothed)
(1827), which placed him at the head of modern Italian
literature. The idea of this picture of the past was
undoubtedly suggested by Sir Walter Scott's novels, but
Manzoni did not confine himself to reproducing history.
The plot is slight; Renzo and his betrothed Lucia, simple
peasants, are prevented from marriage by the craft and
violence of Don Rodrigo and the weakness of the priest,
Abbondio. The cruel Innominate assaults Lucia in his
castle. Fra Federigo endeavors to rescue the lovers from

ITALIAN 377

their perils, and the holy archbishop of Milan is brought to
their aid. Don Rodrigo dies of the plague of 1630, which
is fully described from contemporary documents. To his
famous novel Manzoni added a sequel called "The Col-
umn of Infamy." The people of Milan had believed that
an inhabitant had introduced the plague by poison and
therefore destroyed his house and erected a column to
mark the accursed spot. The real value of Manzoni's
work lies in its searching analysis of characters. In his
later years he so far yielded to the claims of the Tuscan
dialect as to revise carefully the diction of his great work.
He outlived all his children and died in his ninetieth year.
Another noted member of the Milanese group was the
gentle Silvio Pellico (1789-1854), most widely known by
his narrative, "My Prisons" (1832). Born of wealthy
parents in Piedmont, he associated with Foscolo and
Monti and wrote tragedies of which the most famous
was "Francesca da Rimini" ( 1818) . He joined the secret
society of the Carbonari, who sought the freedom of their
country. Being arrested, he was tried, convicted and
condemned to death, but this sentence was commuted to
fifteen years' imprisonment. In 1830, ten years after his
arrest, the Emperor ordered his discharge. Pellico went
to live at Turin and wrote there his simple, affecting nar-
rative which attests his piety and charity. This unpre-
tending revelation of Austrian tyranny did much eventu-
ally toward winning liberty for Italy.

When Austrian domination was fully re-established in
Italy, the lovers of their country expressed their feelings
in satire or took refuge in history of its former glory.
The noblest of the satirists was Giuseppe Giusti (1809-
1850), who in spite of ill health, preserved a sunny tem-
perament. His early verses were romantic lyrics, and had
the times been favorable he might have proved himself

LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

the restorer of Italian supremacy. As it was, he employed
his wit on light temporary themes, and the excellence
of his work has caused his admirers regret that his ability
was not displayed on grander subjects. He was a Tuscan
by birth, and his diction is always in that purest dialect.
One of his strongest satires, "The Guillotine," exposes to
infamy the bloody tyranny of the King of Naples.
Another, "Gingillino," playfully yet pointedly treats of
the corruption of treasury officials in Tuscany. Giusti was
at first active in the Revolutionary movements of 1847 and
1848, yet afterward was distrusted by his comrades.

Physical suffering, mental gloom and moral despair
were united in the person of Count Giacomo Leopardi
(1798-1837). This lyric poet of atheism and pessimism
remains in the greatest possible contrast with the cheerful
Catholic novelist, Manzoni. Yet he represents fairly well
the spirit of intellectual Italians under the rigorous, crush-
ing despotism of the Bourbons. His father, an impov-
erished, bigoted and avaricious noble, lived at Recanati in
the Apennines. The sickly, deformed, sensitive boy picked
up his education by solitary reading in the home library.
He became an expert classical scholar and wrote learned
treatises before reaching manhood, but his virtual impris-
onment produced deep melancholy, which ended in athe-
ism. His only recreation was in writing poetry, at first
in the classical style yet full of the Revolutionary spirit,
then realistic descriptions of nature and country life, then
the sorrowful cries of agonizing despair. Deprived of
companionship, friendship and love, he came to regard
all objects of human pursuit and desire as vain illusions.
The bright metal of his genius was consumed with rust.
When the pale, shy, sickly man ventured to Rome at the
age of twenty-four, he was rather an object of ridicule
than of pity. He wandered from one Italian city to

ITALIAN 379

another, and settled at a friend's house in Naples. Not
only is his poetry exquisite and limpid, but his prose has
been pronounced among the best that Italy has produced.
It was chiefly in philosophical dialogues and discourses.
His best poems are "Sylvia," "The Last Song of Sappho,"
"The Villagers' Saturday Night," "Brutus the Younger,"
"The Broom Flower," and "The Night Song." All
critics have united in pronouncing him the greatest of
Italian poets of the Century. It has been said that "pain
and love form the two-fold poetry of his existence." So
exquisite is the melody of his verse that it cannot be ade-
quately rendered in translation.

Two historical novels of this period were received with
enthusiasm, "The Battle of Benevento" (1827), and "The
Siege of Florence" ( 1835). They were written by Fran-
cesco Domenico Guerrazzi (1804-1873), a lawyer of Leg-
horn, who wished to rouse the patriotic feeling of his
countrymen. His activity in political agitation caused
him to be banished more than once. While in exile in
Corsica he wrote "Beatrice Cenci" and other novels, but
none of his numerous later books reached the success of
the early spasmodic novels which for a brief time caused
him to be regarded as the Walter Scott of Italy.

Poet as well as patriot was Aleardo Aleardi (1812-
1878), born near Verona, and educated at the University
of Padua. His "Primal Histories" (1845) is a lofty
rhapsody tracing the progress of the human race through
the Scriptural, classical and feudal periods to the present
age and giving a vision of a glorious future. Another
meditative poem, "An Hour of My Youth" (1858), deals
with his disappointments as a patriot. His later poems,
"Raphael and the Fornarina," "The Three Rivers," "The
Three Maidens," "The Seven Soldiers," are more definite
in scope, finely descriptive, brilliant and impassioned. He

380 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

inclined rather to the classicists, and was Christian as well
as patriotic.

Francesco Dall'Ongaro (1808-1873) was in early
life a priest, but his patriotic feeling brought him into dis-
favor with the authorities, so that he abandoned that pro-
fession and entered on a varied career as journalist, dra-
matist and political agitator. For Madame Ristori he
composed the tragedy "Bianca Capello," and for Salvini
"Fasma" and "II Tesoro." For a time he was banished
from Italy but afterward returned and held literary pro-
fessorships at Milan, Venice and Naples, where he died.
As a lyric poet he took high rank.

Giovanni Prati (1805-1884) was best known by his
political songs and lyrics but wrote also "Edmenegarda"
( 1841 ), a narrative poem in Byron's style, a satire "Satan
and the Graces" (1855), and some epics.

CONTEMPORARY WRITERS

Of contemporary Italian poets the greatest is Giosue
Carducci, born in 1836. To his example is attributed the
marked revival of poetry in recent times. As Leopardi
represented the hopeless apathy of Italy under foreign
domination, Carducci expresses the joy of the nation in
its new life. He is a professor in the University of
Bologna. His first work to attract attention was the
"Kymn to Satan," published in 1865 under an assumed
name. It was really a celebration of the advent of science
and free thought, and showed strong love of Hellenic cul-
ture. This Paganism is displayed in his other poems,
just as it was in the works of artists and poets of the
Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century. It interferes with
the modern poet's regard for the Christian Dante, whom

ITALIAN 381

he otherwise reverences as the supreme master of Italian
literature. In his "Odi Barbare" (Barbarian Odes) Car-
ducci has endeavored to introduce new meters into Italian.
Thoroughly versed in the literary history of his country,
he has published some able treatises upon it. Strong
national feeling, a thoroughly modern spirit, and a love
of art are seen in all his work.

Two writers of later birth have secured more atten-
tion abroad — the traveler Edmondo De Amicis, born in
1846, and the novelist Gabriele D'Annunzio, born in 1864.
De Amicis had been a soldier, and was a journalist when,
in 1869, his volume of short stories called "Military Life,"
at once scored a success. Other stories from civil life
kept up his reputation. But his brilliant books of travel —
"Holland," "Morocco," "Spain," "London," "Paris," and
"Constantinople," have not only been highly popular in
Italian, but when translated into other tongues have
attained equal success. They are picturesque, full of
enthusiasm, and exhibit the best aspects of every land and
people that he has visited. D'Annunzio, born on the
Southern Adriatic coast, began his career at the early age
of sixteen with a volume of riotously erotic poems, but
after some others of similar character, became serious and
even pessimistic. French critics were the first to give him
full recognition as a master of melodious verse. His
first novel, "Pleasure" (1889), was as objectionable as his
early poems. His "Giovanni Episcopo" is a tragedy of
low life, in which a weak man, long tyrannized over by a
brutal companion, at last stabs him for beating his wife
and child. In "The Triumph of Death," a sensualist is
pursued by the thought of death and at last commits sui-
cide by leaping from a cliff into the sea. In the "Maidens
of the Crag," an Italian, wearied with the corruption of

382 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Roman society, retires to his native mountain, and finds
three charming sisters. The problem is, Which will he
choose ? D'Annunzio belongs to the naturalistic school of
fiction, but he surpasses its French representatives by the
poetic beauty of his style.

SPANISH LITERATURE

When Napoleon in 1808 humiliated Spain by treacher-
ously seizing its King and placing his own brother Joseph
on the throne, the intensely proud and loyal people rose in
fury against the outrage. Although in open warfare they
were soon overcome, they maintained a guerilla struggle
for years. This seemingly insignificant trouble proved
to be the beginning of the end for the hitherto irresistible
Emperor. It might have been expected that this momen-
tous uprising of the nation would have important effects
on its literature, which had long been under French influ-
ences. But the style of the most ardent patriotic writers
remained thoroughly French.

Manuel Jose Quintana (1772-1857) has been called
the Spanish Tyrtaeus, from the aid which his popular songs
lent to the patriotic cause. His spirited drama, "Pelayo"
(1805), and his rhetorical "Lives of Celebrated Span-
iards" (1807) were written to incite opposition to foreign
oppression. When the Bourbon King, Ferdinand, was
restored, Quintana, as a constitutionalist, suffered impris-
onment for six ye? ,rs. Later some amends were made for
this unworthy treatment, and in 1855 Queen Isabella II
crowned with laurel the aged poet who had been her
tutor.

The first Romantic poet of Spain was Angel de Saave-
dra, Duke of Rivas (1791-1865), who held firmly to the
national traditions in his epics, "Florinda" (1825), which
treated of the Moorish conquest of Spain, and "El Moro
Esposito" (The Moorish Foundling) (1835).

384 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

drama, "Don Alvaro," also maintained the manner of the
old theater of Spain. But Jose de Espronceda (1810-
1842) belonged to the cosmopolitan school of Byron. His
lyrics are full of fiery defiance to authority. His short
life was unsettled and his Liberal politics made him some-
times an exile. During a residence in London he wrote
a pathetic elegy "To Spain." An unhappy love affair
inspired his "Canto to Teresa." His unfinished "El
Diablo Mundo" (The World Spirit) is the story of an old
man who receives the boon of immortal youth, but yields
to the cynical instruction of a hardened villain, and enters
upon a career of crime. In "The Student of Salamanca"
Espronceda portrayed the lawlessness of his own char-
acter.

Don Jose Zorrilla (1817-1893) was the next repre-
sentative of the Romantic school. The legendary history
of Spain was ransacked for subjects for his dramas and
epics. His "Don Juan Tenoro" (1844) gave a religious
turn to that Spanish story. His comedies in the old Span-
ish style suited the popular taste. He wrote hastily, care-
lessly and voluminously. He went to Mexico, where he
was patronized by the Emperor Maximilian. Before his
protector's death he returned to Spain and was assisted by
others until the Government granted him a pension. In
1889 he was publicly crowned with gold at Granada.
His aim had been to revive national independence in liter-
ature. The last dramatist who adhered to the old Span-
ish style was Manuel Breton de los Herreros ( 1796-1873),
who wrote a hundred comedies.

Like George Eliot and George Sand, the most emi-
nent woman writer of Spain took a masculine pen-name
in order to obtain a fair hearing. Fernan Caballero is
the assumed name of the lady who was at first Cecilia
Bohl de Faber (1796-1877). Her father, a German

SPANISH 385

merchant in Cadiz, had married a Spanish lady of noble
family. The daughter, born at Morges, Switzerland, was
educated in Germany and traveled much with her parents,
but was always passionately devoted to Spain. She was
married thrice to Spaniards, lost her fortune, and when
past fifty turned to literature for support. Her story,
"La Gaviota" (The Sea-gull), appearing in 1849, at once
made her famous. Other stories followed, but never sur-
passed the first. They are deeply imbued with fervent
Catholicism, devotion to the glories of the past, hostility
to all innovations and modern improvements. The poetic
side of Andalusian peasant life is especially revealed in
her books. She resided in Seville, and had favor at the
court of Queen Isabella II. For ten years she was gover-
ness of the royal children. In 1859 sne published the first
collection of Spanish fairy tales. Her object throughout
was to sketch with exactness the home life of the people
of both higher and lower classes, and thus give a correct
view of Spain and its people. Though aiming at real-
ism, as well as morality, her cheerful religious spirit helped
to give an ideal color to her sketches.

Another writer who assisted in making the modern
novel popular was Telesforo Trueba y Cosio ( 1798-1835),
who emigrated to England in 1823, and wrote there most
of his works. He plainly imitated Sir Walter Scott, but
drew his subjects from Spanish history. He wrote also
historical novels and other works in English.

Among those who strenuously opposed foreign influ-
ences was Don Serafin Estebanez Calderon (1801-1867),
who collected a vast library of old Spanish literature, espe-
cially ballads, now incorporated in the National Library
at Madrid. Besides some poems and historical works he
published a novel and a pleasing volume of "Andalusian

Sketches." In the effort to make his style idiomatic and
Voi,. 9— 25

386 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

to avoid foreign words he used rare and provincial terms
which obscure his meaning. Calderon was known as
"The Solitary." His nephew, the distinguished states-
man, Canovas del Castillo, wrote his biography.

The connecting link between the earlier style of novels
and the present is found in the writings of Pedro Antonio
de Alarcon ( 1833-1891 ). In early life he was democratic
but he afterward became conservative and was a councilor
of state under Alfonso XII. Through most of his career
he was an active journalist, and in 1859 he took part in a
campaign in Morocco. His diary of this period made a
fortune for his publishers. . His most celebrated novel,
"The Three-cornered Hat/' is a quaint and humorous
sketch of old-fashioned village life. "The Child of the
Ball" is highly esteemed. "The Scandal" and "The
Prodigal" are sensational stories. Alarcon was also a
poet and critic of no small merit.

CONTEMPORARY WRITERS

The Revolution of 1868 drove from the throne of
Spain the profligate Queen Isabella II, who had compen-
sated for her scandalous behavior by allowing the eccles-
iastical authorities to control the press. When a more
liberal form of government was introduced, the press was
granted freedom. This was soon seen in the criticisms
of old institutions, and in the expression of modern opin-
ions. In fiction the influence of English, Russian and
French writers became manifest. Yet there was also a
strong national spirit which led the writers to seek themes
at home, either of the present day or the past, not too
remote.

The honor of inaugurating the realistic novel in Spain
is usually ascribed to Jose Maria de Pereda, who published

SPANISH 387

in 1859 sketches of the manners and customs of Santander
the district on the Northern coast, in which he was born
in 1834. His first novel, "Men of Property," which
appeared in 1874, showed the rise of a country grocer, who
is elected to the Cortes, but is afterward cheated out of his
property and falls back into the lower class. In his sec-
ond novel, "Don Gonzalo Gonzalez" (1878), the leading
character has acquired wealth in the colonies and returns
to enjoy it, but owing to his innate vulgarity finds him-
self despised and avoided. In other books Pereda
describes with equal force the life of the sea coast and the
mountains of his native province. His style is forcible
and idiomatic. The dialogue is true and racy. His
humor is genuine Spanish of the old type. Pereda is
intensely conservative, an upholder of absolutism. In lit-
erature he is opposed to both Romanticism and classicism.
Juan Valera, born in 1827, still holds an eminent place.
He has been a professor of foreign literatures at Madrid,
was secretary of legation in various capitals, and minister
at Washington. Since his return to Madrid he has been
afflicted with blindness. He had distinguished himself as
a critical essayist and translator of poetry before he wrote
his first novel "Pepita Ximenez" ( 1874) . In it he endeav-
ored to portray the conflict in the mind of a devout young
man, who had been trained by his uncle, the dean of a
cathedral, to be a priest, while his father wished him to
marry and inherit his estate. Pepita is a handsome young
widow whose modest charms seize upon his heart and fin-
ally control his action. Donna Luz, the heroine of another
novel, also meets an interesting priest, but marries a man
of the world. "The Illusions of Doctor Faustino" ( 1876)
is the tragical story of a poor and philosophic patrician,
who, finding himself unable to loosen the tangle of worldly
affairs, commits suicide. In "Commander Mendoza"

388 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

( 1877), a story of the last Century, a Spanish commander
having acquired a fortune in Peru, returns to his native
land. There he meets Donna Blanca, with whom he had
a liaison in Lima, and her daughter, Clara, who is also
his child. To enable the latter to marry the man of her
choice, the commander secretly sacrifices his wealth. Yet
he is rewarded by winning the love of Lucia, his daughter's
friend. All Valera's works are of the most polished style;
he never introduces imitation of dialect.

Benito Perez Galdos has been a prolific novelist in dif-
ferent styles. He was born at Las Palmas in the Canary
Islands in 1845, an<3 at the age of eighteen went to Madrid
to study law. After trying the drama to no purpose, he
began to write novels and in 1868 published "The Golden
Fountain," a Romantic story which told of the rebellion
of the young men of 1820 against the reactionary policy of
Ferdinand VII. His next book, "The Fearless One"
(1872) told the faithful love of a noble maiden for a
youth who fell in that Rebellion. But in 1873 Galdos,
in imitation of the Erckmann-Chatrian stories, began to
issue a series of "National Episodes." They relate to
the deliverance of Spain from the domination of the
French; and the same characters appear in the successive
stories. The first gives the Spanish view of the battle
of Trafalgar; the second tells of the baggage which
Joseph Bonaparte tried to carry out of Spain. In the
"Battle of Salamanca" Gabriel, who tells all the stories,
has risen through many adventures to be major and gives
important aid to Wellington. In a second series Salvador
Monsalud is the principal character. He had been driven
by want to take service with the French, but is hated and
despised by his countrymen. The "Episodes" are well
constructed, graphic in style, full of life and movement.
Galdos wrote next some "purpose" novels, of which

SPANISH 389

"Donna Perfecta," is the best. In this a bright young
engineer who is about to marry his beautiful cousin, finds
unexpected difficulties arise in his way; he shocks the
prejudices and incurs the enmity of everybody in the
village except his true-hearted betrothed; but it is discov-
ered that all these troubles are due to one woman who
wished her homely son to win the prize. Galdos turned at
last to simple realism, setting down the ordinary affairs
of life without any purpose of teaching or surprising the
reader. Yet in these he happens upon the deepest trage-
dies, as in "The Disowned" (1881), and "Reality"
(1890).

A younger novelist, whose stories have been trans-
lated into various languages, is Armando Palacio Valdes,
born in 1853. He excels in rural description and the
portraiture of young women, using sometimes the free-
dom of French writers, yet adhering to morality. He was
born at Entralgo, near Oviedo, in the northwest of Spain,
and studied law at Madrid. These places and neighbor-
ing towns furnish the scenes of his novels. He became
secretary of the Athenaeum at Madrid, and editor of "The
European Review." His first novel, "Senorito Octavio"
(1881) was humorous, sentimental, and somewhat melo-
dramatic. A better one is his "Martha and Mary"
(1883) translated into English under the title "The Mar-
quis of Penalta." Mary, the young and beautiful hero-
ine, gifted with a splendid voice, has become possessed
with so strong religious devotion that she practices the
asceticism of mediaeval saints. She also is induced to
believe that placing Don Carlos on the throne will advance
the cause of religion, and therefore engages in a plot which
results in her being arrested. A realistic romance is
"The Fourth Estate" (1888), which tells of the found-
ing of a newspaper in a primitive village. The main plot

390 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

shows how a young engineer's engagement with a plain
sincere girl is broken by the wiles of her prettier younger
sister. In "Sister San Sulpicio" (1889) a gay girl who
has been induced to enter a convent finds her true happi-
ness in leaving it for the love of a devoted admirer.

Although political writers are usually excluded from
treatment in literary history, an exception is made in
favor of Emilio Castelar, whose eloquence as an orator
and prominence as a statesman have made his name famil-
iar throughout the world. He was born at Cadiz in 1832,
and at the age of twenty-two was conspicuous in the Lib-
eral party. He became professor of history in the Uni-
versity of Madrid. In 1866 he was arrested and con-
demned to death for participation in a revolutionary
attempt, but escaped from Spain. Returning after the
Revolution of 1868 he opposed the restoration of mon-
archy. After the resignation of King Amadeo Castelar
was made president of the Spanish Republic, but being
unable to suppress the Carlists resigned in 1874 and went
abroad. Again he returned and was elected to the Cortes.
He now declared that Spain insists on having monarchi-
cal government and he accepts that conclusion. Among
his numerous works the most noted are "Democratic
Ideas" (1858), "Parliamentary Speeches" (1871), "Old
Rome and New Italy" (1873).

While the novel has been the most absorbing part of
Spanish literature in the Nineteenth Century the drama
has not been altogether neglected. In this field there has
been the same struggle as in that of romance. Some
playwrights adhered strictly to the forms of the old Span-
ish drama, others drew their inspiration from France.
The former wrote in the style of Calderon, the latter in
that of the younger Dumas. Zorrilla wrote in the former
Myle, but his rivals seemed to be preferred. But in the

SPANISH 391

contemporary period Jose Echegaray has been acknowl-
edged as the most vital force in the drama. He was born
at Madrid in 1832, and became a civil engineer and profes-
sor of mathematics. He took part in the Revolution of
1868 and has thrice been a member of the cabinet. His
first dramatic work was "The Check-Book" (1872), but
his fame was established by the tragedy of "Madman or
Saint?" (1877). In this the hero finds himself unable to
induce his friends to accept his view that every man is
bound to render obedience to the moral law at whatever
sacrifice. The dramatist also insists on the necessary
punishment of sin but makes it overtake the innocent as
well as the guilty, and in this shows his tendency to pessi-
mism. He is at his best in the exhibition of passion.
Several dramas of notable excellence followed, the grand-
est being "The Great Galeoto" (1881) which exhibits the
terrible results of evil speaking, even when no evil is
intended. The genius of Echegaray is chiefly tragic, yet
he has produced some lighter pieces, the best of which is
"A Budding Critic."

With the genuine revival of the novel and the drama
in truly national spirit there seems no reason to doubt
that Spain has entered on a new literary era, which may
be as fruitful as her Golden Age.

AMERICAN LITERATURE

GLANCE AT COLONIAL AND REVOLUTION-
ARY LITERATURE

At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century Ameri-
can literature had but a small legacy from Colonial and
Revolutionary authors. Our forefathers had been com-
pelled to exercise their powers mostly in the development
and control of the material and political problems of the
New World. And yet much time and attention as they
gave to these urgent matters there were two things which
most of them prized above all worldly considerations —
religion and religious freedom. Pilgrims and Puritans,
Separatists and Quakers, Huguenots and Roman Catho-
lics, had all come to this country that they might have a
place in which to worship God according to the dictates of
their own conscience. Nor were the stout Churchmen,
the first settlers of Virginia, less pronounced in their pro-
fession of faith. When the British colonists began to
realize their actual separation from the mother country,
with all its benefits and privileges, they set themselves
rigorously to work to supply their needs according to their
own estimate of the comparative importance of these. To
obtain a learned and godly ministry seemed a prime neces-
sity. Hence the early establishment of colleges — Har-
vard and Yale in the Seventeenth Century. Though
both bear the name of English benefactors, they really
depended on the support of the colonists themselves. In
loyal Virginia, the ancient William and Mary received
more substantial aid from England and bears the name of

392

AMERICAN 393

the sovereigns who granted its charter; yet it has not been
able to survive the vicissitudes of later revolutions.
King's College, founded in New York City, in the same
loyal spirit, afterward entered on a new career as Columbia
College, and has commenced a still more promising era as
Columbia University. Dartmouth, near the northern
frontier of New Hampshire, was a missionary enterprise,
intended to benefit Indians as well as whites, but found
its work practically confined to the latter. Princeton, in
New Jersey, and Brown at Providence, Rhode Island,
depended on denominational support, the former from
Presbyterians, the latter from Baptists. The University
of Pennsylvania is the outgrowth of one of the numerous
proposals of Benjamin Franklin for the benefit of his fel-
low citizens of Philadelphia. In all of these educational
institutions a large majority of the graduates before the
Nineteenth Century became ministers in various churches.
The intellectual activity aroused in the colonies was chiefly
directed to religious and theological questions. The few
printers that set up their hand presses in the colonies were
employed in printing sermons and religious treatises, as
well as laws and proclamations, almanacs and handbills.
The learned and industrious Cotton Mather is said to have
published four hundred works, mostly sermons, solemn
and full of quotations from all sources. His ponderous
history of New England is called "Christi Magnolia Ameri-
cana" (The Great Works of Christ in America). It treats
more of the churches, the ministers, and their little con-
troversies, and their political activity, than of the progress
of the people in other matters. The greatest intellect of
New England in the Eighteenth Century belonged to Jon-
athan Edwards, who astonished the philosophers of Great
Britain by the metaphysical ability shown in his treatise
"On the Freedom of the Will." In his "History of

394 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Redemption" he set forth the unity of all history ancs thus
anticipated the German philosophers, whose speculations
•were to be so fruitful in that field.

But besides theology Americans were compelled to give
attention to questions of government. The revolutions in
England produced important corresponding changes in
the colonies, and aroused animated discussion from one
end of the land to the other. The endeavor to protect the
rights of the colonists, inherited or acquired, led to close
study of charters, laws and acts of Parliament. The ulti-
mate result was seen in the Constitution of the United
States, which was not struck off at one blow, but was
framed by careful examination and discussion of many
plans already in operation here and there through the coun-
try. Enlightened publicists in Europe, who had imagined
that the Americans were a rabble of law-defying revolu-
tionists were surprised on reading their political docu-
ments to find in them nearly every element of personal and
national greatness. Thomas Jefferson takes high rank
among the political writers of his time, and the "Declar-
ation of Independence," for literary merit, is not only
worthy of the highest enconiums, but stands unmatched in
the annals of the world. Benjamin Franklin, who added
a few touches to that document, was also eminent as a
practical philosopher able to reach the hearts of his coun-
trymen by his pithy proverbs and pointed paragraphs.
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, by
their masterly exposition of the Constitution in "The Fed-
eralist" have laid the American people under lasting obli-
gations which have been duly acknowledged. John
Adams was a writer of state papers not inferior in style
to those of his great contemporaries. George Washing-
ton, though reserved in speech, and more accustomed and
inclined to action, made his Presidential addresses, and

AMERICAN 395

particularly his ever-memorable ''Farewell Address,"
models of a pure and effective literary style.

The American Revolution developed not only states-
men and writers of public documents but also orators who
possessed the faculty of so presenting the questions of their
time as to excite the feelings of the people, to prove to
them that the imposition of a trifling tax on tea or a stamp
on paper involved the great question of liberty, and to
arouse them to action on its behalf. When the great ora-
tors from Patrick Henry to Fisher Ames had so moved
the hearts of the people, there were responses not only in
assemblies and associations, in preparation for war and
actual fighting, but in a general outburst of patriotic songs,
ballads, and doggerel, which seem to suit well with the
Continental fife and drum. The best of all the satires
of the Revolution was Trumbull's "MacFingal," a Yankee
imitation and perversion of Butler's "Hudibras." It
marks well the ludicrous side of the turbulent epoch, and
held the Tories up to popular ridicule. Captain Philip
Freneau, a mariner of Huguenot descent, was the chief
laureate of the Revolutionary War.

It was through the newspapers that Freneau and
Franklin and writers of less capacity readied the great
public. Newspapers had begun to appear early in that
Century. In 1704 the first American newspaper, "The
Boston News-Letter," was established. The second, "The
New England Courant," was started by James Franklin
in 1720. His troubles in connection with it are well
known from his younger brother Benjamin's famous
"Autobiography." While James by order of the Colonial
Assembly was imprisoned for some unfortunate para-
graphs the paper was issued in the name of Benjamin,
then but a boy. Yet gradually the press worked its way
to freedom in spite of stupid governors and assemblies.

396 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

In 1765, at the time of the Stamp Act, there were forty
newspapers in the British American Colonies.

LITERATURE AT THE DAWN OF THE CENTURY

In the year 1800, gateway to a Century of almost magi-
cal national development, the population of the free States
was 2,684,616, of the slave States, 2,621,316, making a
total of 5,305,932. Philadelphia was the chief city of the
Nation. It had been the national capital during the Revo-
lution, though it fell for a time into possession of the
British army. Here the Declaration of Independence, the
Articles of Confederation, and the Federal Constitution
had been framed and signed. Here the Federal Congress
met and Washington held his Republican court. Here
were the American Philosophical Society, which had
grown out of Franklin's Junto; the Philadelphia Library,
mother of all institutions of the kind; and the University
of Pennsylvania, likewise the outgrowth of Franklin's
matchless genius for public enterprise. The first Ameri-
can monthly magazine had been issued here by Franklin
in 1741. After the establishment of peace in 1783 other
magazines were issued, the principal being the "American
Museum." The city therefore was the literary center of
the new Nation, though the political capital was in 1800
removed to Washington. Foreigners of distinction still
resorted to Philadelphia, whether they came to visit or to
settle in the New World. It boasted itself to be the Amer-
ican Athens.

Noah Webster, long regarded as the American author-
ity in orthography, was in other senses a man of letters,
and deserves note as a pioneer of literature. He was born
in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1758, being descended
from the first settlers. As a young student of Yale in the

AMERICAN 397

spring of 1775, he played the fife proudly before the col-
lege escort, accompanying George Washington on his way
to Cambridge to take command as General-in-Chief of the
new Continental Army. After shouldering a gun as a
volunteer private in a campaign without a battle, Webster
studied law under Oliver Ellsworth, later chief -justice;
then fell into his life career as a school teacher, although
later admitted to the Hartford bar. In 1782, while teach-
ing a classical school at Goshen, N. Y., he compiled his
"Grammatical Institute of the English Language," the
germ of his great "Unabridged." He afterward removed
to Philadelphia and there taught school and wrote pam-
phlets in the interest of the Federal party. For twenty-
five years the chief support of his family was the penny
royalty on his "Spelling Book." Yet he industriously
waged his pioneer work for reformed spelling and a New
World system of language. In 1806 he gave to America
his "Compendious Dictionary." By continued shifts the
self-taught dictionary-maker finally developed his nucleus
into his "American Dictionary," in two volumes quarto,
published in London in 1828. Horace E. Scudder
declares in his appreciative biography, "Webster was the
prophet of a national independence, in which language
and literature were involved as inseparable elements."

Joseph Dennie, then called the "American Addison,"
had come to Philadelphia, in 1799, as clerk to Secretary
of State Timothy Pickering. He had been born in Bos-
ton in 1767, had failed to continue a pupil at Harvard,
had attempted law, and at last had drifted into his Bohe-
mian career in journalism. In January, 1801, he began the
publication of "The Port-Folio" under the sobriquet of
"Oliver Oldschool, Esq." He was the most picturesque
figure of his day in the then metropolitan city on the banks
of the Delaware. The Port-Folio was praised by Josiah

398 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Quincy as the best American magazine of its day, "no whit
behind the best English." Dennie himself had a timid
reverence for the mother country, and he and his col-
leagues drew their inspiration from Pope and Addison.
"To study with a view of becoming an author by profes-
sion in America," wrote Dennie, "is a prospect of no less
flattering promise than to publish among the Esquimaux
an essay on delicacy of taste, or to found an academy of
sciences in Lapland."

Other authors of the Eighteenth Century still sur-
vived : John Trumbull, at the age of fifty, author of the
Revolutionary satire "McFingal," and chief survivor of
the group known as the "Hartford Wits;" Joel Barlow,
aged forty-five, whose prodigious epic, the "Columbiad,"
was issued in Philadelphia in 1807, and dedicated to Rob-
ert Fulton, famous for his steamboat; William Dunlap,
aged thirty-four, who had written plays, "The Father,"
and "Andre," and who was yet to write the "History of
the American Theater;" Joseph Hopkinson, aged thirty,
whose song, "Hail Columbia" — written in 1798, during
the French excitement, to the then popular air of the
"President's March" — shared public popularity with the
celebrated ode of Robert Treat Paine, Jr., "Adams and
Liberty." It was not long afterward eclipsed by the
"Star Spangled Banner," the words of which were com-
posed by Francis Scott Key, a Marylander, during the
British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814.

Philip Freneau did not die until December 18, 1832,
when nearly eighty-one years old. This satirical poet of
the Revolutionary era had witnessed remarkable progress
in his nation 'and the world. Of Huguenot descent, he
was a classmate of Madison at Princeton College, after-
ward a British prisoner of war, and later a savage satirist.
He lent his pen, on the birth of the Republic, to Jefferson

AMERICAN 399

and the Democrats, and so bitter were his newspaper
attacks upon the administration that Washington has
handed him down to posterity in the epithet, "That rascal
Freneau." And yet, while this "rascal's" satires and
lampoons have faded away, he still deserves indelible
credit as the first real American poet. The English poet
Campbell did not hesitate to appropriate one of his most
effective lines, and Sir Walter Scott did him the honor to
borrow, in "Marmion," the final line of one of his stanzas,
"They took the spear, but left the shield." Freneau
handled effectively Indian themes. "In his verses, says
Professor Beers, "appear for the first time, a sense of the
picturesque and poetic elements in the character and wild
life of the redman, and that pensive sentiment which the
fading away toward the sunset has left in the wake of their
retreating footsteps." The Indian was already becoming
a strange, half-legendary figure to the dwellers in the
American towns, and Freneau's "Indian Student" is
brought from the remote backwoods :

"From Susquehanna's farthest springs,

Where savage tribes pursue their game
(His blanket tied with yellow strings),
A shepherd of the forest came."

Even in his day he found "the hunter and the deer a
shade." In his romantic and poetic appreciation of the
American aboriginal, Freneau anticipated, in a mild way,
"The Leather Stocking Tales" of Cooper and Longfel-
low's legend of "Hiawatha."

Of Joel Barlow, it may be noted that he had been one
of the "Hartford Wits," earnest patriots in the Revolution.
But Barlow deserted Hartford for France, where he wrote
his thoroughly American mock epic, "Hasty Pudding,"
and yet became so plague-stricken a Frenchman that he-
wrote a song in praise of the guillotine. In 1805 he

400 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

returned and published in sumptuous style his work, the
"Columbiad," in which Hesper fetches Columbus from his
Spanish prison "to a hill of vision" where the entire pano-
rama of American — or Columbian — history is unrolled
before his eyes. This artificial "Vision," with its machin-
ery borrowed from Milton, and its heroic couplet from
Pope, has sunk into oblivion.

Dr. Timothy Dwight's moralizing poem, "Greenfield
Hill," descriptive of his own rural parish, gave him con-
temporary luster as one of the poets of Connecticut. But
he is now known only by his "Travels in New England
and New York," published posthumously in 1821 and
praised by Southey. These descriptions of the Niagara
Falls, White Mountains, and the Catskills exerted influence
in calling attention to the grandeur and inspiring char-
acter of American scenery. James Hall, in his "Letters
from the West," had before this written, "The vicinity of
Pittsburg may one day wake the lyre of the Pennsylvania
bard to strains as martial and as sweet as Scott; . . .
believe me, I should tread with as much reverence over the
mausoleum of a Shawnee chief, as among the catacombs
of Egypt, and speculate with as much delight upon that
site of an Indian village as in the gardens of Tivoli, or
the ruins of Herculaneum." The first collection of Amer-
ican poems was selected and edited by Elihu H. Smith
as far back as 1793, and a second collection, the "Colum-
bian Muse," appeared in the year following.

CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN

It is necessary to turn now to the true pioneer in the
realm of the American novel. Charles Brockden Brown,
the first American professional man of letters, as well as

AMERICAN 401

first of all Cis-Atlantic writers of fiction, was born in
Philadelphia in 1/71, was educated in the school of Robert
Proud, the historian of Pennsylvania, and would have
entered the bar but for ill health. His first published article
appeared in the "Columbian Magazine" of August, 1789,
and in 1806 he himself became an editor. Perhaps his
invalidism put him in peculiar sympathy with those
ghostly, ghastly, "clumsy-horrible" English romances
before Scott's Waverley Novels — those of "Monk" Lewis,
Walpole, and Mrs. Radcliffe. From William Godwin it
was that Brown caught the style of his first work, "Alcuin,
a Dialogue on the Rights of Women" (1797) . Godwin's
"Falkland" and "Caleb Williams" furnished the models
for Brown's "Wieland" (1798), a story of crime com-
mitted by means of ventriloquism, and "Ormond" ( 1799).
Shelley was under the spell of "Wieland," according to
his own confession, in writing "Zastrozzi" and "St.
Irvyne." Godwin's influence on Brown thus returned
upon Godwin's son-in-law. Sir Walter Scott also
admired this American novelist, naming the hero of "Guy
Mannering" after him, and calling one of its characters
Arthur Merwyn. Brown's novel, "Arthur Merwyn"
(1799), contains vivid descriptions of the scenes in Phila-
delphia during the terrible yellow fever pestilence of 1793.
Brown's somber genius "for churchyard romance" found
a congenial theme in this narrative of the horrors of a
plague. His next work, "Edgar Huntley," followed the
fortunes of a somnambulist in the mountains of Western
Pennsylvania. This curious plot of sleep-walking was as
strange as the ventriloquism of the villain in his first novel,
which led the hero to believe in spiritual voices and to kill
his wife and children; but the incidental descriptions of
wilderness scenery atoned for much. Weak as his style

Vol.. 9—

402 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

now seems, he deserves credit as the first writer to discover
the capability of romance in America, its scenery, and its
people.

The author who was first to gain for American litera-
ture a recognized place in European eyes was Washington
Irving. Born in New York City in 1783, the year of the
peace between Great Britain and the United States, he was
named after the great Commander-in-Chief and first
President of the Republic, and, while yet a child, "blessed"
by him. His was indeed an international mission to heal
to some extent by the sympathetic charm of his style and
his personality the breach between the two countries,
aggravated by the second war of 1812. He became "the
first literary Ambassador of the New World to the Old."
Like a loyal son of the soil, he breathed the breath of liter-
ary immortality into the traditions of his own country, as
well as voyaged to England and began to write about Eng-
lish scenes and associations. Born of a Scotch father and
an English mother, he belonged in religion to the conserva-
tive Episcopalians. Professor Richardson has remarked,
he was "the first conspicuous American author who was
neither a Puritan nor a Southron; his local tone is that of
New York City and the Hudson." Quick to assimilate
the customs and characteristics of other lands, he was the
first to make distinctly American themes familiar to the
world of letters. The main reason for this lay in his truly
Addisonian style, the result of close acquaintance with the
English essayists of the Eighteenth Century. Irving,
like Bryant and Longfellow after him, studied law, but
he found his true bent when he contributed, in 1802, to
his brother Peter's newspaper, "The New York Morning
Chronicle," a series of letters over the signature of "J°na"

AMERICAN 403

than Oldstyle," satirizing the town follies and foibles, and
reflecting the theaters and coffee-houses. While he still
groped toward his destiny his ill-health gave the decisive
turn to his observation. He walked much along the Pali-
sades and in the Hudson region, thus becoming familiar
with the scenes he was later to adorn with humorous fancy
and romance. In 1804, when 'he was twenty-one, his
persistent ill health led to a sea voyage and a "grand tour"
of Europe — then a rare thing — covering two years. To
quote Professor Richardson again: "The American
author was getting his education; the crude Westerner
was becoming a citizen of the world. To see Mrs. Sid-
dons and Kemble; to talk with the greatest of talkers,
Madame de Stael; to tread the pavement of Westminster
Abbey or St. Peter's; to gaze on Vesuvius and the Coli-
seum— all this was a new experience for an American.
. . . Brockden Brown introduced the weird, the
romantic, the appalling, the native American, and made
a failure, on the whole; Irving, using the English manner
for his treatment of American themes, made one of those
happy compromises to which pioneers sometimes owe their
success."

After returning to New York, Irving eventually
gathered around him a group of friends now known as the
Knickerbocker school, which comprised James Kirke
Paulding (a connection of Irving by marriage, who after-
ward became Secretary of the Navy, under Van Buren),
and the poets Drake and Halleck. All four were Knicker-
bockers to the bone. Together with Paulding, Irving
now followed up his early boyish letters with the lively
"Salmagundi" papers ( 1807-8) . This little paper became
the playful satirical censor of that society which dwelt on
the island of Manhattan. Behind the mock individ-
ualities of such pseudonyms as Anthony Evergreen,

404 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Launcelot Langstaff, and William Wizard, these wits
indulged their varied rapier play and thrust of mirth at
the provincial town that was yet to astonish the world by
its growth in size, riches, and power. It was a spirit of
fun akin to that which inspired "Salmagundi," that
prompted Irving to that elaborate burlesque-chronicle,
Knickerbocker's "History of New York," designed at
first as a mere parody of Samuel L. Mitchill's pretentious
and then newly-issued "Picture of New York." The
book, prefaced by a circumstantial account of the fabulous
Diedrich Knickerbocker, and of the way in which the man-
uscript came into the editor's hands, became in the course
of development a jest upon real history, the result being
an immortally amusing cartoon of the Dutchman of the
original Nieuw Amsterdam. Irving made humorous use
of the old Dutch traditions, clustering them about the
romantic scenery of the Hudson. Its mock heroic charac-
ter had at times the coarseness of Fielding. The most
familiar episode in the book is the description of the mus-
tering of the clans under Peter Stuyvesant and the attack
on the Swedish Fort Christiana. Walter Scott declared
Diedrich to be a cousin of Swift and of Sterne. Encour-
aged by his success, Irving made ten years later a fresh
incursion into the Dutch traditions of his native State.
The immortal story of Rip Van Winkle, the vagabond
of the Catskills, and his twenty years' nap, and the
"Legend of Sleepy Hollow," with its quaint picture of
the Yankee schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, gave Irving a
new claim to European consideration; as did his later
flights in this realm of fiction, such as Dolph Heydiger in
"Bracebridge Hall," "The Money Diggers," "Kidd the
Pirate," and "Wolfert Weber" in the "Tales of a Trav-
eler;" and the late published "Wolfert's Roost." But Irv-
ing simultaneously in "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey

AMERICAN 405

Crayon, Gent.," published in London during his second
sojourn abroad, and in "Bracebridge Hall" was the new
Columbus to rediscover "Merry Old England" — for
Americans. His pleasant description of English country
life and its good old Yuletide*cheer was also supplemented
by such tales of pathos as "The Broken Heart," over
which Byron is said to have wept, and "The Pride of the
Village." His Westminster Abbey meditation has been
praised as equal to that on the same theme in Addison's
"Spectator." Irving also opened up for Englishmen as
well as Americans a new literary Mecca in Shakespeare's
birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon, which has since his time
been a favorite point of pilgrimage for the entire English-
speaking race. He investigated, too, Shakespeare-land in
London, at the Boar's Head Tavern. In the same finished
style he wrote his "Tales of a Traveler," which rank high
in the second class of American fiction.

From 1842 to 1846 Washington Irving represented
the United States as its Minister at Madrid. Attracted
by his studies for the "Life and Voyages of Columbus,"
he found a new field of peculiar interest to Americans in
the Iberian peninsula and in the romance of Spain. Truly
picturesque are his succeeding books, "The Conquest
of Granada," "The Companions of Columbus," and the
"Alhambra." His history of "Mahomet and His Suc-
cessors" was comparatively unsuccessful, but his "Life of
Oliver Goldsmith" is a delightful literary memoir. Upon
his return to American soil Irving was greeted as the great
international representative of the motherland. Having
won high honors for American literature abroad, he lapsed
into modest retirement at Sunnyside, that now historic
home of his on the banks of the Hudson, the river of his
romance; and here he lived out, surrounded by friends
and enacting the part of a sort of a national literary host,

406 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

a ripe old age, the influence of which was as sweet and
wholesome as his contributions to the world of letters.
His "Life of Washington," intended to be the chief and
crowning work of his career, is still consulted as an
authority. He died at Tarry town, N. Y., in 1859.

Associated in memory with Irving are the poets Joseph
Rodman Drake (1795-1820) and Fitz-Greene Halleck
(1790-1867). These two comrades made their debut in
the Irving style in the "Croaker Papers," a series of
humorous and satirical verses contributed to the "New
York Evening Post" during the Salmagundi period. In
the year that Irving in Europe published "The Sketch
Book" (1819), Drake gave America "The Culprit Fay."
Three years before this, Bryant had produced his unique
"Thanatopsis," and Drake's "Fay," a delicate fairy-tale
of the Highlands of the Hudson, was the second best poem
then produced in America. As Poe declared, this brilliant
poem is fanciful rather than imaginative. Drake's patri-
otic lyric, "The American Flag," is a spirited national
anthem of the first luster. But this promising poet died
at the age of twenty-five, lamented by Halleck in the touch-
ing elegy, the first stanza of which runs :

"Green be the turf above thee,
Friend of my better days;
None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor named thee but to praise."

Halleck himself lived half a century longer and wit-
nessed the growth of a new literary New York. His noble
ode on the Greek hero, Marco Bozzaris, is worthy to rank
in its way with Drake's "American Flag," while his "Aln-
wick Castle," a playful contrast between mediaeval and
modern life,- has a Praed-like daintiness.

AMERICAN 407

WILLIAM C. BRYANT

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), who in early
youth wrote anonymously a political satire, "The
Embargo," was the first American poet of note. His
stately hymn in blank verse, "Thanatopsis," which
appeared in the "North American Review" in 1817, was
a wonderful masterpiece of precocity, and won him an
audience in England. Wordsworth is said to have learned
the poem by heart, and in dignity of verse and majesty of
style it is certainly still to be recognized as one of the poeti-
cal masterpieces of this Century. Bryant, who was born
in a little Massachusetts town, became America's great
meditative poet of nature, fulfilling what Matthew Arnold
asserts to be the peculiar office of modern poetry, and
giving to nature its moral interpretation. His "Forest
Hymn," "Blue Gentian," "Death of the Flowers," "Green
River," "To a Water Fowl," "June," and "Evening Wind"
belong to the great anthology of high American verse.
Although a country lawyer before he came to New York
in 1825, and a hard- worked journalist during his subse-
quent long career in that busy mart, his heart ever
remained in New England, cradled in the Berkshire Hills,
and the fruit of his ripe old age, such as "The Planting
of the Apple Tree" and "The Flood of Years," is still rosy
with the flush of the springtime of his youth. Or rather,
we think of Autumnal bloom more than Spring blossom.
"Bryant," remarks Prof. Beers, "is our poet of 'the mel-
ancholy days/ as Lowell is of June. ... He is, in
especial, the poet of Autumn, of the American October
and the New England Indian Summer, that season of
'dropping nuts' and 'smoky light.' ' The majesty of
"Thanatopsis" was reflected again in his "Battle Field,"
with its familiar stanza :

408 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

"Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again,

The eternal years of God are hers ;
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies amid her worshipers."

In the last decade of Bryant's life appeared his blank
verse translations of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey," constitut-
ing one of the best metrical versions of Homer in the Eng-
lish tongue.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

As Bryant may be regarded as the pioneer American
poet, and Irving as the pioneer essayist and man of let-
ters, so James Fenimore Cooper may be styled the first
American novelist of true distinction. It is the fashion
nowadays to criticise Cooper's style — even such a public
jester as Mark Twain having taken that office upon him-
self. There can be no doubt that Cooper was too prolific,
too tediously prolix in his style, and actually trashy and
insipid in his novels of society. But this should not blind
us to the real merits of his greater romances, which far
surpassed the writings of Irving in their intense
Americanism, and which are almost as fascinating
to-day as when they were first published. So great
was their appeal to mankind that Morse, the electrician, de-
clared in 1833: "In every city of Europe that
I visited, the works of Cooper were conspicuously placed
in the windows of every book-shop. They are published
as soon as he produces them, in thirty- four different places
in Europe. They have been seen by American travelers
in the languages of Turkey and Persia, in Constantinople,
in Egypt, at Jerusalem, and Ispahan." Cooper was one
of the world's great story-tellers, whose defects of style
are abundantly compensated by the invention of his nar-
rative in plot and incident. He became, furthermore, the

AMERICAN 409

first voice of primeval America, of her virgin wilderness
and her aboriginal children. He created the Indian as a
life-size figure of literature, impressive even if idealized.
And as he originated the novel of the forest, so to a certain
extent he originated the novel of the sea. The early child-
hood of Cooper was mainly passed in the wilderness at
the very time, as his biographer says, when "the first
wave of civilization was beginning to break against its
hills. ... he was on the border, if he could not justly
be said to be in the midst, of mighty and seemingly inter-
minable woods. The settler's axe had as yet scarcely
dispelled the perpetual twilight of the primeval forest.
The little lake lay enclosed in a border of gigantic trees."
When afterward in the first flush of his fame Cooper set
out to revive the memory of the days of the pioneers, he
said that he might have chosen for his subject happier
periods, more interesting events and possibly more beau-
teous scenes, but he could not have taken any that would lie
so close to his heart. The spell of this scenery rests upon
the reader of "The Pathfinder" in particular.

Cooper (1789-1851), was born at Burlington, New
Jersey, but in infancy was taken to the wilderness of Cen-
tral New York. Finding his nature unadapted to
the college life at Yale, he shipped as a lad be-
fore the mast. After an apprenticeship on a mer-
chant vessel he entered the United States Navy
as midshipman in 1806. He married and resigned
his commission just before the War of 1812. His few
years of sea service fitted him to be a great romancer of
the salt water. A special expedition to Lake Ontario in
1808 enabled him to draw, as well, that vivid picture of
the great fresh-water sea in the novel just cited, and to
make the amusing contrast between the old salt and the
fresh-water sailors. Mere accident, however, led Cooper

410 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

to the writing of any kind of novel. At the age of thirty
he had written nothing, nor had he collected any material.
Writing in itself was distasteful to him. He was one day
reading to his wife a novel descriptive of English society;
suddenly he laid down the book and said: "I believe I
could write a better story myself." The result was a novel
(1820) entitled "Precaution." It was not merely a tale
of English social life, but it purported to be written "by
an Englishman," echoing English cant and even compli-
menting George III. It was a practical failure, but Cooper
resolved to try his hand upon a native theme. John Jay
had told him the story of a shrewd, fearless, unselfish spy
on the American side in the bitter struggle of the Revo-
lution, in the Highlands of the Hudson. With this inspira-
tion Cooper produced "The Spy, a Tale of the Neutral
Ground" (1820). Its best characters are its skillfully
drawn hero, Harvey Birch, and the commanding figure
of Washington. "The Spy" made Cooper's reputation,
both at home and abroad, and he now set about the task
that lay near his heart — to describe the frontier life in
which he had been trained. Two years later appeared
"The Pioneers," itself the pioneer of the five famous
romances now known as the "Leather Stocking Tales," of
which series it is the poorest. Perhaps the best of the
series, the "Last of the Mohicans," was next to appear.
The former novel introduced a solitary old white hunter,
whose home in the hills is being invaded by the advancing
tide of settlement and of that civilization which he loathes.
In the latter novel, this hunter had become idealized; he
represents the knowledge, mystery and virtue of the silent
forest. Cooper's Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, also
became idealized, until it became a joke that "Cooper's
imaginary Indians belonged to a tribe that never existed."

AMERICAN 411

But if he gave a prominence to some virtues, real or imag-
inary, of the Indian race, he was careful not to pass over
their vices. Most of the warriors he introduces are
depicted as crafty, bloodthirsty and merciless. Through-
out the whole civilized world, whether his representation
be true or false, the conception of the Indian remains as
Cooper drew it in the two tales mentioned and in "The
Prairie," "The Pathfinder," and the "Deerslayer," which
completed the series. "Leatherstocking," the trapper,
scout and backwoods philosopher — or Natty Bumpo, to
give the hero his other name — was inspired by the actual
personality and career of Daniel Boone, the pioneer of
Kentucky. This man of the woods was the first real
American in fiction.

Of Cooper's sea tales, the two best were the "Pilot,"
founded upon the daring exploits of Paul Jones, and the
"Red Rover," the introduction of which opens in the har-
bors of Newport. Cooper's other tales include an Indian
story of King Philip's War, "The Wept of Wish-ton-
Wish," published in England as "The Borderers" and in
France as "The Puritan in America," although the Puri-
tan minister in it bears the repellent name of the Reverend
Meek Wolf; "Satanstoe," a picture of colonial life and
manners in New York during the middle of the Eighteenth
Century, unsurpassed elsewhere and taking rank among
his best stories; its sequel, "The Chain-Bearer"; and the
"Water Witch."

Cooper's tales reflected to a certain extent the new
era of national expansion, for which a motto might be
found in Bishop Berkeley's famous line, "Westward the
course of Empire takes its way." The westward march
and struggle are also dealt with in Irving's "Tour on the
Prairies" and in Paulding's "Westward Ho!" as well as

412 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

his poem, "The Backwoodsman." It was not long indeed
before the new West was to produce a literature of its
own.

THE EARLY LITERARY MAGAZINES

Meanwhile, in the East, although Irving and his asso-
ciates had made the practical "retort courteous" to Sydney
Smith's bitter taunt in the "Edinburgh Review" : "Who
reads an American book?" it was nevertheless necessary
for professional men of letters to adopt, as Bryant did,
the bread-winning employment of the newspaper. Lit-
erature as a profession did not really exist, and such giants
of literary genius as Poe and Hawthorne, not to mention
Lowell and others, belonged to a generation of poorly paid
Bohemians. In the early forties two Philadelphia maga-
zines began to pay their contributors what was then
thought to be a princely munificence. "Godey's Lady's
Book," which had the chief financial success among the
Philadelphia magazines, had succeeded Dennie's "Port
Folio" in the fine personnel of its contributors. It began
in July, 1830, and its circulation grew several years later
to 150,000 a month, largely due to its colored fashion
plates. Somewhat dimmed by these prismatic fashions,
some of the earliest compositions of Poe, Holmes, Lydia
H. Sigourney, Frances S. Osgood, Longfellow, Bayard
Taylor and Harriet Beecher Stowe, appeared in this mag-
azine. Its chief rival was the "Gentleman's Magazine,"
which George R. Graham in 1841 purchased from William
E. Burton, the actor, and renamed simply "Graham's
Magazine." "There is one thing more," said Burton, after
concluding the sale. "I want you to take care of my
young editor." The "young editor" was Poe, who pub-
lished "The Murderers of the Rue Morgue," "The Masque
of the Red Death," and the poems "The Conqueror

AMERICAN 413

Worm" and "To Helen" and "Israfel" in its various num-
bers. Later Rufus Wilmot Griswold, of somewhat
unpleasant fame, sat in the editorial chair, and Lowell
assisted Poe. Longfellow's "Spanish Student," Cooper's
"Jack Tier," some of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Twice Told
Tales" appeared in its pages. The Cary Sisters, Charles
Fenno Hoffman, Thomas Dunn English, N. P. Willis, W.
W. Story, and E. P. Whipple all contributed to it. Bayard
Taylor and Charles Godfrey Leland are among the last
names associated with it.

Nathaniel Parker Willis came of a race of printers and
publishers, and began his literary career by edit-
ing illustrated Annuals for Samuel G. Goodrich. He was
born in Portland, Maine, 1806, and died on the Hudson
in 1867. In 1829 he established the "American Monthly
Magazine," later merged in the "New York Mirror," a
weekly established by Samuel Woodworth, the printer
who wrote that familiar song, "The Old Oaken Bucket."
Willis was associated with George P. Morris, also a song
writer, but whose only surviving piece is "Woodman,
Spare that Tree." • Willis had distinguished himself at
Yale by his "Scriptural Poems," written in blank verse.
In personality Willis was not a Scriptural sort of figure.
Though far from handsome, he dressed in the extreme of
fashion and affected the dandified manners of a D'Orsay.
He was a kindly helper of struggling literary aspirants,
however, and as Thackeray, who was helped by him as an
unknown, asserted, "It is comfortable that there should
have been a Willis." Like Irving, he enjoyed a European
tour, which resulted in "Pencilings by the Way" and "Ink-
lings of Adventure," dashing sketches of foreign as well
as American life. His style was sparkling and full of
melody, but also jaunty and marred by frivolous conceits.
He was, it is said, the most successful American magazin-

4H LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ist of the second quarter of this Century. His studies of
society life at American watering places of fifty years ago
are still worth reading, and his "Letters from Under a
Bridge" make a charming rural series.

POE

In the Bohemian world of literary newspapers and
magazines, Edgar Allen Foe (1809-1849) found his des-
tiny cast. He had been born in Boston, but he never
belonged there, though his first volume, "Tamerlane and
Other Poems," bore on its title page the words, "By a
Bostonian." His father was a Marylander, for whom
some biographers have claimed a noble descent, but who
was a penniless actor and had married an actress. Early
deprived of both parents, Poe was adopted by Mr. Allan,
a wealthy merchant of Richmond, Va. For a time
he was at school in England and afterward was a student
at the University of Virginia, where his irregular
nature was nurtured in the old cavalier vices of the South.
He drank and gambled, ran in debt, indulged in perverse
pride, and was finally disowned by his adoptive father,
who had tried to make a soldier of him at West Point.
Turning to literature for support, Poe won a prize of $100
offered by a weekly paper for a story. His contribution
was "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle." Being brought
to the notice of John P. Kennedy, he was made editor of
"The Southern Literary Messenger" at Richmond. He
married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, in 1836, and a year
later went, first to New York, and then to Philadelphia,
where he was editor of the "Gentleman's Magazine."
When Graham purchased this periodical and changed its
title to "Graham's Magazine," Poe was retained as editor,
but fifteen months later he left it abruptly. He had in

AMERICAN 415

the meantime published "Tales of the Grotesque and Ara-
besque" ( 1839), which gave him renown as a prose writer.
They were soon translated into French, and since that time
Poe's popularity in France has exceeded that of any other
American writer. After seven years of literary hack-
work in Philadelphia, Poe went back to New York and
carried on the struggle for existence there. He was asso-
ciated with Willis and in 1845 became proprietor of "The
Broadway Journal," in which he published "The Raven,"
the poem which established his fame. His wife died of
consumption in 1847, and two years later he himself died
mysteriously in a Baltimore hospital, while on his way
to Richmond to be married a second time. He had devel-
oped signs strangely like insanity, and was picked up
senseless in the streets of Baltimore.

There was certainly much in Poe's character and life to
call for censure. He drifted from one friend or supporter
to another, but never attached himself long to any one.
His literary distinction was entirely due to his own genius,
yet there was enough of charlatanry in his rodomontade
to justify Lowell's sharp couplet:

There comes Poe with his Raven, like Barnaby Rudge,
Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge.

In his "Essay on Composition" he declares that he
composed "The Raven" on a strange, artificial principle,
but this may be only an ironical hoax, somewhat on the
order of his Hans Pfaal mystification. His theories on
short poems and on the poetic art in general are often
insincere, and yet his critical faculty was strong and his
criticisms on his contemporaries were valuable, though not
free from prejudice. His imagination was so powerful
that it dominated his actual life, producing many prevari-
cations and falsehoods, that still perplex his biographers.
But in his literary work this active fancy produced most

LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

remarkable tales, sometimes introducing curious mathe-
matical problems, as in "The Gold Bug," sometimes super-
natural incidents, as in "The Fall of the House of Usher,"
and sometimes strangely revolting features, as in "The
Murder in the Rue Morgue." It is hard to believe that
these grotesque and weird stories were the result of delib-
erate calculation of effects, as the author asserted of some
of them. Such combination of mathematical and imag-
inative powers is unknown elsewhere in all the range of
literature. It must be admitted that the stories are defi-
cient in display of character, that the persons who act in
them are merely pieces in the game, and not really alive
and self-determined. So also it is evident that Poe had
no humor, and that his attempts at it are failures. In the
preface to his "Poems," Poe declares, "Poetry has been
with me not a purpose, but a passion," and though he else-
where offers a mechanical explanation of his "Raven,"
the poems themselves prove his passion. They spring
from persons or incidents connected with his life, but they
rise into an ethereal region in which the original persons
are idealized and the simple facts are singularly metamor-
phosed. There is an exquisite fascination and enchanting
melody in his verse that seems beyond the reach of cal-
culating art.

NEW ENGLAND LITERATURE

In the early part of the Nineteenth Century there was
in New England a mingled religious and philosophical
ferment. There had been some reaction against the rigid
Calvinism of the Puritans even before the Revolution, but
it was not until Channing arose that Unitarianism took
definite shape, and gave rise to a prolonged controversy.
It was assisted by influences, direct and indirect, from
Germany and France. From these in turn came the New
England Transcendentalism, the experiment of the Brook
Farm community, the Concord school of philosophy, the
Cambridge group of scholars, wits, poets, and romancers,
that brilliant era which justified Dr. Oliver Wendell
Holmes in declaring Boston "the hub of the universe."
It should not be a matter of surprise that New England's
literary awakening was due to religious philosophy, for
that was precisely the case with the German revival of the
latter part of the Eighteenth Century, to which this Amer-
ican revival was much indebted. The philosophy of Kant,
Fichte and Schelling found its way to New England as
well as Old England and France, and in each country
underwent modifications corresponding to its previous
intellectual condition. But furthermore the thinkers and
writers of Boston and Cambridge had a unique ancestry
of ministers and scholars. As Emerson has phrased it,
"Man is a quotation of all his ancestors." Emerson's own
lineage is a striking illustration in point. Most of his
male ancestors in direct line had been Congregational min-
isters in Eastern Massachusetts, and a maternal ances-
tor, Rev. Peter Bulkley, had been the first pastor of Con-
Voi,. 9— 27 i

|i8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

cord. Nearly 50 per cent of Harvard's alumni became
ministers and cultivated style in their discourses. Even
the poets and prose-writers who succeeded this prophetic
generation of pulpit orators, though they did not enter
the same career, did turn to its kindred institution, the
school or college. Amos Bronson Aicott, the patriarch
of Concord philosophers, was a schoolmaster of the tribe
satirized by Irving in Ichabod Crane. Margaret Fuller,
who became Marchioness D'Ossoli, Lydia Maria Child,
Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, and many more, were teachers.

CHANNING

Distinctive American literature has been said to have
been born in "the era of good feeling" which character-
ized the peaceful administration of President Monroe
(1817-1825) when, after the War of 1812, the fierce ani-
mosities of Federalists and Democrats had subsided. It
owed much to the "beneficial influence of such a creator,
critic and stimulating power as Channing." William
Ellery Channing (1780-1842) was born at Newport,
Rhode Island, graduated from Harvard, and was for a
time a tutor in Richmond, Virginia. Chosen pastor of the
Federal Street Church, Boston, in 1803, he held this posi-
tion for the rest of his life. Though he never accepted the
name Unitarian for himself, he really gave to the body
so called the consciousness of its position. This was espe-
cially the result of his sermon preached at Baltimore in
May, 1819, at the ordination of Jared Sparks, afterward
noted for his American biographies. The controversy
which ensued agitated all the churches of New England
and gave impulse to later movements affecting literature
and politics. Channing proclaimed the essential dignity
of human nature, the fatherhood of God and the brother-

AMERICAN 419

hood of men. He was a man of intense spirituality, and
purity of life, yet resolute in following what he believed
to be truth. He became an authority on political and lit-
erary as well as religious questions. His essay on "The
Character of Napoleon Bonaparte" attracted attention
abroad, and one on "Milton" added to his reputation.
His literary work was confined to sermons, addresses and
essays, all carefully prepared, and beautiful with moral
enthusiasm.

The literary organ of the new movement was the
"North American Review," a quarterly established in
May, 1815. It grew out of a scheme for a bi-monthly
magazine by the Anthology Club, an association of young
men of Boston and Cambridge, including George Ticknor,
Edward Tyrrel Channing, John Quincy Adams, and
Richard Henry Dana (1787-1879). Its first editor was
William Tudor, and in its general scope it was modeled
on the "Quarterly Review," of London. In its first num-
ber Dana criticized Hazlitt, and dared to praise Words-
worth. Dana was a melodious and graceful poet, but wrote
comparatively little. Between 1815 and 1830 the "North
American Review" was edited successively by Willard
Phelps, Edward Everett and Jared Sparks. In 1817 it
accepted and published the most famous poem — "Than-
atopsis" — of William Cullen Bryant, then but a youth.
In 1830 Alexander H. Everett became editor, and for the
six years that he was in charge Longfellow, Prescott, Ban-
croft and other distinguished writers were among the con-
tributors. Dr. John G. Palfrey was the next editor, and
during his incumbency Ralph Waldo Emerson was a fre-
quent contributor. James Russell Lowell and Charles
Eliot Norton assumed control in 1864, and at that time
its writers were the most eminent literary men in the coun-
try.

420 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

EVERETT

Edward Everett (1794-1865), Boston-born and Har-
vard-bred, returned in 1819 from Germany, where he had
spent four years, two of them at Gottingen. He was a
Unitarian preacher, and a sermon delivered by him in the
House of Representatives at Washington in 1820, gave
him a national reputation. In the pages of the "North
American Review" Everett unloaded his treasures of Ger-
man thought. More than a hundred articles came from
his pen. In 1824 his address before the Phi Beta Kappa
Society of Harvard on "The Circumstances Favorable to
the Progress of Literature in America," was a prophetic
precursor of Emerson's dissertation on "The American
Scholar," delivered before the same society thirteen years
later. Everett was noted for his high classical scholar-
ship and for the careful finish of his prose style. But he
was not merely a literary man; he was active in public
affairs. He represented Boston in Congress for ten years,
was Governor of Massachusetts for three years, United
States Minister to England for four years, president of
Harvard for three years, Secretary of State in President
Fillmore's Cabinet for one year, and United States Sen-
ator for one year, when he resigned on account of impaired
health. Yet'afterward he delivered in various parts of the
country an oration on Washington for the purpose of rais-
ing a fund to purchase Mount Vernon and preserve it
intact as a national memorial. His final service was in
delivering the oration at the dedication of the National
Cemetery at Gettysburg in November, 1863. His speeches
were polished to the perfection of classical oratory, and
were full of admiring contemplation and thoughtful
admonition. But owing to their lack of fervor and to the
change in public taste, his fame, even as an orator, has been

AMERICAN 42!

greatly diminished. During his life-time he was a model
in eloquence and a controlling factor in literary criticism.

BROOK FARM

One of the most curious episodes in the history of
American intellectual development is the Brook Farm
community, which was founded in 1840, and lingered until
1847. It grew out of the Transcendental movement, in
which Emerson was a leader. The first meeting of the
Transcendentalists was held on September 19, 1836, at
the house of Dr. George Ripley (1802-1880), a Harvard
graduate and Unitarian preacher. The library in his
house in Concord was rich in foreign literature, concern-
ing which he issued a series of books. The organ of the
Transcendentalists was "The Dial," a scholarly quarterly.
Its teachings, combined with certain notions derived from
the French Fourier, led Ripley to propose the experiment
of Brook Farm, to be conducted by a semi-socialistic stock
company near West Roxbury, Massachusetts. It was to
combine agriculture, economical, Unitarian, humanitarian,
and educational features. It was hoped that, while life
could be supported by honest toil, a high ideal of social
and intellectual entertainment might be achieved. Teach-
ing, farming and the milking of cows were to be alter-
nate occupations. Among these intellectual farmers were
John Sullivan Dwight, the musical critic, and Charles
Anderson Dana (1819-1897), afterward the noted editor.
George William Curtis (1824-1896) and a brother,
reported by those who knew him to be still more gifted,
were pupils in the school. Dana, born in New Hamp-
shire, had been prevented by weakness of sight from com-
pleting his course at Harvard, and edited the Brook Farm
organ — "The Harbinger." He afterward served an

422 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

apprenticeship under Horace Greeley on the "New York
Tribune," became Assistant Secretary of War, and finally
editor of the "New York Sun." Curtis, after travels in
Egypt and Syria, became a member of the Tribune staff,
published the "Howadji in Syria," an excellent travel-
book, "Potiphar Papers," a social satire, and "Prue and
I," a delicious series of meditations by a humble clerk,
who philosophizes on New York life as he sees it in his
daily promenades. Later Curtis had a severe experience,
somewhat like Scott's, from a partnership in the publish-
ing business, but finally worked his way clear of embar-
rassment. He gained a special fame by his "Editor's
Easy Chair" in "Harper's Monthly." He was prominent
in advocacy of Civil Service reform, and lived to witness
it in successful operation.

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) also joined the Brook
Farm community, although she never exactly believed in
it. She was regarded by all who came in contact with
her as the most learned and highly gifted American
woman. She was the daughter of a Congressman, and after
his death supported herself as a teacher, conducted "The
Dial," afterward became a literary critic of the "Tribune,"
and lived under Horace Greeley's roof. While on a tour
in Europe she met and married Giovanni Angelo, Mar-
quis D'Ossoli, settled in Rome, and entered zealously
into the Italian struggle of 1849 for independence. After
the capture of Rome by the French army, she sailed for
America with her husband and child. The captain of the
vessel died at the start of the voyage, smallpox broke out
on the ship at sea, and a gale wrecked it off Fire Island
beach. The Marquis and his family perished in the sea.
The principal work of this remarkable but unfortunate
g-enius was "Woman in the Nineteenth Century," which
first appeared in "The Dial." Emerson, Julia Ward

AMERICAN 423

Howe and Thomas W. Higginson have all written biog-
raphies of her. She is reflected in the Zenobia of Haw-
thorne's "Blithedale Romance," which is an idealized and
distorted vision of the Brook Farm.

Hawthorne joined the Brook Farm community in 1841
but was not blind to its ridiculous aspects. Emerson,
curiously practical as well as sublimely transcendental,
stood aloof from it, and humorously called it "a French
Revolution in small, an Age of Reason in a patty-pan."
With all his idealism and semi-Brahmanism, he had a
saving salt of Yankee common sense, that justifies Dr.
Holmes' question :

Where in the realm of thought, whose air is song,
Does he, the Buddha of the West, belong?
He seems a winged Franklin, sweetly wise,
Born to unlock the secrets of the skies.

At Concord he was worshiped in Apollo's two-fold
character, as poet and seer. Dr. Holmes again refers to
him:

"From his mild throng of worshipers released,
Our Concord Delphi sends its chosen priest."

HAWTHORNE

To-day, foreigners probably consider Poe and Haw-
thorne to contain the most classical elements of any Amer-
ican writers, although they will admit Longfellow's cos-
mopolitanism, Lowell's scholarliness and Lowell's descrip-
tion of Emerson as "a Greek head on right Yankee shoul-
ders." As Lowell himself declared :

"There is Hawthorne, with genius so shrinking and rare
That you hardly at first see the strength that is there;
A frame so robust, with a nature so sweet.
So earnest, so graceful, so solid, so fleet,
Is worth a descent from Olympus to meet.

424 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Tis as if a rough oak that for ages had stood

With his gnarled bony branches like ribs of the wood,

Should bloom, after cycles of struggle and scathe,

With a single anemone trembly and rathe.

His strength is so tender, his mildness so meek,

That a suitable parallel sets one to seek,

He's a John Bunyan Fouque", a Puritan Tieck."

Despite a certain delicate humor and playful fancy,
which are revealed so beautifully in his "Tanglewood
Tales," that feat of "Gothicising" the Greek myths (as
he himself described it), he felt the gloomy spirit of Puri-
tanism and became for all time its supreme romantic inter-
preter.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in
Salem, Massachusetts. This old seaport town appealed
at the outset to his spirit of melancholy, and its witch-
craft associations had a peculiar force for him; for one
of his forefathers, Judge Hathorne (so the name was
then spelled), had sentenced several of the "witches."
Hawthorne himself was a graduate of Bowdoin College
in the same class with Longfellow. He was shy and too
lacking in self-assertion. As a collegian he served the
usual apprenticeship to the Muse and after graduation
in 1825 he became a recluse and book-worm, writing by
day and night. In 1826 he published anonymously and
at his own expense a novel entitled "Fanshawe" in which
we can see to-day the real Hawthorne but in which his
contemporaries saw nothing. "I passed the day," he
afterward said of this time, "in writing stories, and the
night in burning them." But some manuscripts, includ-
ing several of the "Twicetold Tales," were sent to Samuel
Goodrich, who published them in '''The Token." Peter
Parley introduced Hawthorne to literary hack-work as
well. The first series of "Twicetold Tales" appeared in
1837 and was reviewed in the "North American" by Long-

AMERICAN 425

fellow with enthusiasm. These half weird but felici-
tously told tales marked an epoch in American literature.
They were followed by his delightful tales for children
from "Grandfather's Chair," in which he first treated
New England history. Meanwhile Bancroft, the histo-
rian, then collector of customs at Boston, appointed him
a weigher and gauger, a place which the Whigs permitted
him to retain but two years. He also embarked in the
Arcadian Brook Farm experiment. "I went to live in
Arcadia," he said, "and found myself up to my chin in
a barnyard." Deserting Brook Farm he married and took
the historic gambrel-roofed home at Concord, from whence
issued the tales collected in the "Mosses from an Old
Manse." His second series of "Twicetold Tales" with
their Legends of the Province House, added a fresh
romantic interest to Revolutionary Boston. Almost
noiselessly his shy genius had made itself recognized as
a new literary force. He returned to Salem for four years
as Surveyor in its old Custom House. After leaving this
berth, he gave forth his master work, "The Scarlet Let-
ter," in the preface to which he has told the story of that
old Salem institution (1850). Hawthorne afterward
observed that "no author without a trial can see the diffi-
culty of writing a romance about a country where there
is no shadow, no antiquity, no mystery, no picturesque
and gloomy wrong, nor anything but a commonplace pros-
perity in broad and simple daylight." Yet in "The Scar-
let Letter" he had touched even the gloom of Puritanism
with the glamour of romance, as well as achieved a world's
masterpiece of psychology. He now retired to Lenox,
Massachusetts, with Herman Melville, author of "Typee,"
as almost his sole companion, and wrote the "House of
Seven Gables," in which with his peculiar mingling of
mystery and melancholy he fairly invested the past-

426 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

haunted house with a spiritual atmosphere. Hepzibah,
sad relic of New England aristocracy, condemned to run a
penny store, and stern Judge Pyncheon are masterly delin-
eations of Rembrandt shadow and force. And yet he could
turn from this somber tale to his charming "Wonder
Book" and parable of the "Snow Image." In Haw-
thorne's genius there was a remarkable intermingling of
delicacy and strength, grave sunshine and beautiful
shadow. In the "Blithedale Romance" he figured forth the
superb Zenobia, the placid Miles Coverdale, the sweet
Priscilla with the same skill as the intensely self-concen-
trated Hollingsworth, blindly abandoning and ruining
himself for a theory. In the "Dolliver Romance" he
found theme for his plot in the idea of an elixir of life.
In 1853 President Pierce, a life-long friend of Hawthorne,
appointed him consul at Liverpool, England. Shortly
before his term expired he resigned, and traveled on the
continent. The record of his sojourn survives in his
charming English, French and Italian Notebooks. In
Italy he sketched the tale of "The Marble Faun," in which
strange tale a young Italian bears the symbolical tell-tale
ears of the Faun of Praxiteles. Here the author treated
with the same fascination — despite its change of scene
from New England to Italy — the old problem of moral
guilt and of passion and sorrow.

LONGFELLOW

Henry Wads worth Longfellow (1807-1882) had been
Hawthorne's fellow collegian at Bowdoin College, became
a professor in his Alma Mater and later in Harvard,
whence, after some years of a professorial work, he retired
and devoted himself to literature. His quality was decid-
edly academic, as befitted a son of Cambridge. Perhaps

AMERICAN 427

the first feature to be here noted concerning him is the
influence which he had as a promoter of American culture,
a service generally overshadowed by his immense popu-
larity as a poet. In the respect noted he was a lineal suc-
cessor to Irving, whom he also resembled in his equal
treatment of foreign and native themes and legends alike.
Such an academic influence as his, broadened and deep-
ened by generous travel abroad to prepare him for his
Harvard chair, was certainly needed in the decade after
1830. By his "Poets and Poetry of Europe" he famil-
iarized Americans with the literature and lore of France,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and even of old
Anglo-Saxon days. His "Outre Mer," a book of travel,
has kept a place for itself until to-day. When he came
to write his Indian legend of "Hiawatha," his familiarity
with the then little known literature of the Northland
enabled him to borrow the curious meter, style of imagery,
and treatment of the Finnish epic, "Kalevala." As a critic
proper, Longfellow possessed more learning than Poe, but
was less truly critical, nor had he the satire and penetra-
tion of Lowell. But it is as the great poet of sympathy,
as America's most popular poet, that Longfellow must
be chiefly considered and in the scope of this brief sketch
it is impossible to give a systematic account of all his
familiar poems. His poetical works include: "The
Voices of the Night," "Ballads and other Poems," "Poems
on Slavery," "The Spanish Student," "The Belfry of
Bruges," "Evangeline," "The Golden Legend," "Hiawa-
tha," "The Courtship of Miles Standish," "Tales of a
Wayside Inn," "Flower de Luce," "Christus," "Three
Books of Song," "Aftermath," "The Mask of Pandora,"
"Keramos." Longfellow's conspicuous note as a poet was
from the heart and not the head. He touched his readers
with such tender poems of common sentiment as "The

428 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Reaper and the Flowers," "The Beleaguered City," "The
Old Clock on the Stairs," and the "Wreck of the Hes-
perus." He sang, too, like Whittier, inspiring songs of
labor such as "The Ropewalk" and the now hackneyed
"Village Blacksmith," personification of honest toil. He
idealized ambition in "Excelsior," and taught the lesson
of existence in "The Psalm of Life." His national hymn,
"The Ship of State," deserves rank as an achievement of
poetic allegory beside Schiller's "Song of the Bell." This
spiritual symbolism was also admirably attained in "Kera-
mos, the Song of the Potter and His Wheel." Long-
fellow's mastery of poetic narrative was revealed particu-
larly in the "Tales of a Wayside Inn," which range from
the charming story of "The Birds of Chillingworth" —
"those little feathered minstrels of the air" — to the noble
mediaeval legend of "Robert of Sicily," who in his pride
is transformed into a poor court jester while an angel
takes his place for a reformatory spell upon the throne.
The same gift enabled him to treat at such elaborate length
his two notable American epics, "Evangeline," which
depicts the woes of the cruelly dispersed Arcadians in
Gabriel's long and futile pursuit of his wandering sweet-
heart, and "The Courtship of Miles Standish," which tells
how that sturdy but Cupid-fearing warrior sent John
Alden as his proxy to woo the fair Priscilla. Said Pris-
cilla : "Why do you not speak for yourself, John ?" and
the poem ends with the mild clerk and not the fierce war-
rior as its real hero. In "Hiawatha" he achieved the poet-
ical apotheosis of the American Indian ; not such a roman-
tic idealization as that of Cooper's Uncas nor such a
heroic idealization as Simm's Yemassee Chieftain, Sanu-
tee, but an idealization of the Indian's religious spirit,
his sense of the Grand Manitou, his feeling for the mys-
tery and beauty of nature, and his appreciation of those

AMERICAN 429

gifts of his native soil, as embodied in the myth of the
birth of the maize. But perhaps Longfellow's best, rip-
est, most scholarly achievement in poetry was his trans-
lation of Dante's "Divina Commedia," published in 1867.
How deeply he lingered throughout this long labor of
love under the spell of the stern Florentine may be seen
in those sonnets inspired by his work and effectively mir-
roring on their surface this "mediaeval miracle of song."
Longfellow's translation is in many respects, such as the
metrical and onomatopoetic, superior to that of Doctor
Carey.

Two tales in prose by him are "Kavanagh" and
"Hyperion," the latter of which with its scenes laid in
Europe, is an expression of the ideals of his heart. The
serenity of his poetic work as a whole was reflected in his
life and especially in his old age. As he himself said in
his poem for the fiftieth anniversary of the graduation
of his class, the beautiful "Morituri Salutamus :"

' And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day."

No figure in American literature has gathered unto
itself such a wealth of affection as that given to him, and
England herself paid her first tribute of memorial honor
to an American writer by placing his bust in the Poets'
Corner in Westminster Abbey.

LOWELL

Longfellow was succeeded in his professor's chair at
Harvard by James Russell Lowell (1819-1888), also a
son of Cambridge, a fine New England heritage, and a
Harvard student. Lowell, while not entitled to Longfel-
low's rank as a poet, nor perhaps any more learned than he,
was a greater critic and essayist, and may to-day be rec-

430 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ognized as the representative of indigenous American
culture in the sense that Matthew Arnold was the repre-
sentative of that of England. Lowell, who took a deep
interest in American politics, was destined to be appointed
by President Hayes to the Spanish Mission and to repre-
sent his country at the Court of St. James, and to receive
the highest degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. In his
youth he was so active in the anti-slavery and other public
agitations of the time that in his rollicking and brilliant
"Fable for Critics" ( 1848) — an imperishable landmark of
American literature — he satirized himself :

"And there is Lowell, who's striving Parnassus to climb,
With a whole bale of isms tied together with rhyme."

And in that very year he did, indeed, "make a drum of
his shell," in his first series of the "Biglow Papers."
These poems, prefaced by a delightful parody of old time
New England pedantry and even of the new fangled Car-
lylese, established Lowell as the great typical Yankee wit.
His creation of "Hosea Biglow," the Down East poet, full
of homely humor, wit, satire, patriotism and idyllicism,
is unique in literature. How well Lowell could write a
Yankee idyl he showed in his little poem, "Zekle Crep' up
all Unbeknown." These poems, written in true Down
East dialect, with the twang of Down East character as
well, were called forth in opposition and satire of the war
spirit fomented by the slaveholders eager for new terri-
tory. Lowell held up the contemptible buncombe politi-
cians of the day to merciless ridicule in the figure of the
Honorable John Doughface. He made Congressman
Robinson a national butt of laughter in those ludicrous
lines :

"John P.
Robinson he
Says they didn't know everything down in Judee."

AMERICAN 433

EMERSON

The most potent force in New England thought was
Ralph Waldo Emerson ( 1803-1882) . For more than two
centuries his ancestors were Congregational ministers.
His father, Rev. William Emerson, died in 1811, and his
mother was assisted by relatives in providing for her sons'
education. William, the elder, went to Germany, and
being unsettled in faith, gave up the intention of enter-
ing the ministry, and became a lawyer. Waldo studied
divinity with Channing and Andrews Norton, and began
to preach in 1827. He became assistant to Rev. Henry
Ware in the Second Church of Boston, and soon had entire
charge. At the end of 1832, being unwilling to dispense
the Lord's Supper, he resigned the pastorate. His wife
had died in that year, and he resolved to go to Europe. He
went to Italy and France, then to England, and found
his way to Carlyle's remote humble home at Craigenput-
tock. The two great thinkers formed a notable friendship
which was maintained by correspondence through their
lives. Emerson married Lilian Jackson in 1835 and went
to live in Concord. He had inherited a modest compe-
tence, but later his chief support was derived from lectur-
ing before lyceums, as he continued to do for forty-six
years. His first book, "Nature," published in 1836, set
forth his transcendental views of man and the universe,
in several chapters with little apparent connection. In
1837 his address on "The American Scholar" proved that
thoughtful minds were attracted by the new force. His
Divinity School address in 1838 on "The Christian
Teacher" deeply stirred the Unitarian body and called
forth a warm protest from his teacher, Professor Norton,
against its radical views. In the controversy which

ensued Emerson declined to take part, though his friends
Voi,. 9—28

434 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

were active. The first series of his "Essays" appeared
in 1841, and met with favor, both at home and abroad.
They enlarged and extended ideas which had been stated
in "Nature." Emerson smiled approval on the Brook
Farm experiment, but took little part in it except to con-
tribute to "The Dial." But he did assist with voice and
pen in the anti-slavery agitation. In 1847 he went on a
second visit to England, which was rich in observation
and effect on his mind. After his return his lectures on
Plato, Shakespeare, Napoleon, Swedenborg, and others,
were published under the title, "Representative Men"
(1850). This proved popular, and still more so was his
"English Traits" (1856). More readers could appreciate
his judgment of great men and nations than could under-
stand his sublime philosophy of the universe.

Emerson had but rarely contributed to periodical lit-
erature, but in 1857 a group of his friends — Longfellow,
Lowell, Holmes — arranged in his parlor for the publica-
tion of "The Atlantic Monthly," Lowell being editor. For
some years Emerson contributed to it regularly prose and
verse. His essays were collected in "The Conduct of Life"
(1860), "Society and Solitude" (1864), and "Letters and
Social Aims" ( 1876) ; his poems in "May-Day" ( 1867) .
He edited a collection of poetry by other authors in "Par-
nassus" (1874), and a selection of his own "Poems"
( 1876) . Thereafter he wrote but little, though he revised
and edited his former publications. The projected
"Natural History of the Intellect," on which he had
labored for many years, was never put into a form suita-
ble for publication. In the latter years of his life his
mind and memory failed. After his death his correspond-
ence with Carlyle was edited by Professor Charles Eliot
Norton (1883).

Matthew Arnold shocked his Boston audience when in

AMERICAN 435

1888 he deliberately pronounced Emerson not essentially
a poet nor a philosopher, but a seer. Yet in the dozen years
which have since elapsed it has been frequently admitted
that the critic was substantially right. Emerson himself
had said, "I am not a great poet, but whatever there is of me
at all is poet." Yet he was aware of his want of facility
in metrical expression, and that his poetic faculty was sel-
dom under the control of his will. A single small volume
contains all his poetic work. Even in his poetry, though
there are often charming lines and melodious passages,
the utterances are generally oracular and sometimes enig-
matic. When he sang of love, for instance, he was not
content to celebrate its rapture, but must elevate it into
a divine sentiment and make it a world-mystery.

No more in philosophy than in any other department
can Emerson be said to have had a system, but he had
intuitions of truth. These are shown in his first book,
"Nature," and restated, reinforced, applied and sometimes
made clearer in his later essays. He held a lofty idealism
or poetic pantheism, such as that of Wordsworth, but was
more consistent in applying it than the English poet.
Nature or the external world corresponds to the human
soul. Nature is the embodiment of God's infinite ideas
and is the symbol of the soul. When nature and the soul
are brought into proper relations to each other, the high-
est powers of man will be awakened, and he will behold
God. To this rapt state all men are capable of attaining.
The idea of nature as a Divine incarnation involved an
optimistic view of the universe; it also made natural and
spiritual laws identical, and thus gave a religious aspect to
everything. To this high ethical conclusion Emerson
remained true throughout life and exemplified it in every
action. But he did not engage in any strife with others.
He avoided all controversy. Having delivered his oracle,

436 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

he left it to others to interpret and apply it for themselves.
He was a teacher rather than a leader. And yet so con-
vincing were his statements that many arose to do as he
had said. Dr. Holmes declared that his address on "The
American Scholar" was "an intellectual Declaration of
Independence," and Lowell said: "We were socially and
intellectually moored to English thought till Emerson cut
the cable and gave us a chance at the dangers and glories
of blue water." "The Conduct of Life" has had wide-
reaching effect by giving practical lessons to the young,
and directing them to noble aims. Like all his other writ-
ings it insisted on self-reliance and intense individualism.
His greatest service to his countrymen is to have taught
and exemplified a marked American type of thought and
feeling, not materialistic, but grandly spiritual.

Horace Bushnell (1802-1876), influenced by the
teaching of Coleridge, introduced liberal views into
Puritan theology and rendered important service to Chris-
tian thought. He was born at Litchfield, Connecticut,
graduated at Yale College, and in 1833 became pastor of a
Congregational church in Hartford. After twenty years'
service he resigned on account of ill-health, yet lived and
worked nearly a quarter of a century longer. His first
publication, "Christian Nurture," insisted on a truly
natural training of children as inheritors of Christianity.
His "Nature and the Supernatural" was an effort to show
the harmony in God's relation to the universe. "The
Vicarious Sacrifice" was a new explanation of a theolog-
ical problem, making Christ's sacrifice the measure of
God's love and not his wrath. "Work and Play," an
oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard in
1848, explained that the highest aim of life is to get free
from the constraint of work and rise to that natural action

AMERICAN 435

of the faculties which may be called play, and that poetry
is the ideal, yet true, state of man's soul. His "Moral Uses
of Dark Things" is a vindication of the Divine govern-
ment of the world. Bushnell's spiritual interpretation of
nature had profound effect upon the orthodox pulpit, set-
ting it free from the rigid bonds which cramped its
thought.

WHITTIER

John Greenleaf Whittier ( 1807-1892), born at Haver-
hill, Massachusetts, was not only the chief Quaker poet,
but the clearest voice of New England country life. Bred
on a farm/he found his first poetic inspiration in reading
the poems of the inspired Scotch ploughman, Robert
Burns. At the age of twenty he had earned enough by farm
chores and shoe-making to secure some instruction at
Haverhill Academy, and then became a district school
teacher. He contributed verse to the "Free Press," and
found a lasting friend in the editor, William Lloyd Gar-
rison, who enlisted him in the anti-slavery crusade. In
1835 Whittier was a member of the Massachusetts Legis-
lature. From 1837 to 1839 he edited the "Pennsylvania
Freeman," at Philadelphia, where his office was sacked
and burnt by a mob. His delicate health obliged him to
return to Amesbury, Massachusetts, where with his sister,
he led a frugal life, contributing chiefly to the "National
Era," published in Washington. Gradually his books of
poems made their way, and when the struggle for Kansas
came, in 1856, he was recognized as the poet of freedom.
These militant poems of a peace-loving Quaker helped to
prepare the Northern people for the Civil War. When the
"Atlantic Monthly" was founded Whittier was a frequent
contributor. His verse celebrated there the emancipation
of the slaves, but in his ballad of "Barbara Frietchie," he

438 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

told effectively the story of the old woman of Frederick,
Maryland, who waved the Union flag over the troops of
Stonewall Jackson, and was gallantly spared by him. This
tribute to Northern loyalty and Southern chivalry has
become a national classic. In some of his New England
poems Whittier told of the persecution of the early
Quakers, in others he simply exhibited the homely features
of farming life. His "Songs of Labor" appealed to the
multitude as combined for general welfare. He revived
the legends of his neighborhood. Especially famous is
his "Skipper Ireson's Ride," the story of a skipper who,
for his neglect to rescue a perishing crew, was tarred and
feathered and carried in a cart by the women of Marble-
head. And yet more famous is the simple ballad of "Maud
Muller" and its dreams of what might have been. The
"Tent on the Beach" is an idyl of summer life by the sea,
in which Bayard Taylor and James T. Fields listen to a
group of tales told by the poet. "Snow-Bound" is the
poet's masterpiece, telling of a New England family shut
in by a snow-storm for three days. The family was that
of the poet's father. After the death of his sister in 1864,
his niece took charge of his house till her marriage, then
for twenty years he lived alone. Whittier became the
most popular American poet, next to Longfellow. This
is due to the simple dignity of his character, the homeliness
and universal interest of his themes. His anti-slavery
lyrics are forgotten, but his pictures of New England life
are treasured in the heart.

HOLMES

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), who was
the last survivor of the famous galaxy of Cambridge poets,
was the cheerful embodiment of the spirit of Unitarian

AMERICAN 439

New Englandism. He was the son of Rev. Abiel Holmes,
a Harvard pastor, who wrote "The Annals of America."
Having graduated from Harvard in 1829, he studied law
and medicine, and spent three years in Europe. He was
but twenty-one years old when he made his famous pro-
test, "Old Ironsides," which saved the frigate Constitution
from destruction, and not much older when in "The Last
Leaf" he combined humor with the deepest pathos.
Holmes was professor of medicine at Dartmouth College
for a year, but settled in Boston in 1840, and seven years
later was made professor at Harvard. Besides lecturing
there and on the lyceum platform, he wrote patriotic and
entertaining poems for occasions and became the laureate
of his Alma Mater, inditing forty poems in her honor.
One of these, "The Boys," is the jolliest class poem ever
written. Holmes was also the bard of Boston, whose
State House he pronounced to be "the hub of our solar sys-
tem." But his lasting fame was due to the founding of the
"Atlantic Monthly" in 1857. Lowell took the editorship
only when assured that Holmes would be a regular con-
tributor. The contribution came in a form of a serial,
"The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." When but twenty
years of age, Holmes had written for a college magazine
two short papers of a similar kind, and at forty-eight he
began the new version with the words "As I was saying
when interrupted." Then followed a long monologue
addressed to some typical New England characters assem-
bled at the table of a boarding house. It consisted of
philosophical reflections on things great and smell, with
occasional "asides" and parenthetical stage directions.
Nearly every number contained a poem, graceful, brilliant,
or humorous, as suited the Autocrat's whim. Altogether
the series was a quaint and happy mingling of wit and
good sense, humor and pathos, worldly shrewdness and

440 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

heavenly aspirations. Among the poems were the comical
logical story of "The Deacon's Masterpiece, or the Won-
derful One-Hoss Shay," which ran a hundred years to a
day, and the mathematical story of "Parson Turell's Leg-
acy," the story of the Harvard President's arm-chair. But
the loftiest utterance among the lay sermons of the Auto-
crat was his own favorite, "The Chambered Nautilus."

At last the ever-grateful monthly series was brought
to an end when the Autocrat invited the quiet, sensible
school-mistress to take the long path with him. Yet it
was renewed, though not with the full vivacity, in "The
Professor" ( 1859) and "The Poet at the Breakfast Table"
(1873). Between these came some novels, in which he
developed certain physiological theories to account for
morbid characters. Thus in "Elsie Venner" the heroine
has certain qualities of a snake, the origin of which the
story serves to explain. In "The Guardian Angel," the
eccentricities of a young lady are similarly explained by
heredity. In later years Dr. Holmes wrote pleasant biog-
raphies of his friends Motley and Emerson. In 1884 he
published "Our Hundred Days in Europe," telling of his
observations there fifty years after his first visit. Then
in hiy eightieth year the veteran renewed his conversa-
tional contributions to the "Atlantic" in a series called
"Over the Tea-Cups," full of the same shrewd sense and
tender sentiment as "The Autocrat." He lived to be a
"Last Leaf," yet without losing his geniality and optim-
ism, preserving to the last the fresh spirit of youth.

Holmes was small in person, but quick and lively in
speech and movement. He belonged to what he called
"the Brahmin caste of New England." He was a physi-
cian, and his medical studies afforded him both illustra-
tions and theories which appeared in his literary works.
Curtis has said : "The rollicking laugh of Knickerbocker

AMERICAN 44!

was a solitary sound in the American ear till the blithe
carol of Holmes returned a kindred echo." Holmes loved
the approbation of his fellow-men, and spoke not unkindly
of the Boston group as a Mutual Admiration Society.
Yet his sturdy independence was shown both in literature
and science. His epigrams were often keen thrusts at
swollen pretensions; but his best sayings were pithy
expressions of general facts of human nature, readily
accepted when stated. He penetrated deeply into the char-
acter and motives of men, and expressed the result of his
research so vividly that all acknowledged its truth. It was
his desire, if his name was to live, to have it live in people's
hearts rather than in their brains, and his wish has been
amply gratified. His wit was never irreverent. His strong
religious feeling is shown in many hymns.

The first American writer to devote himself chiefly
to literary criticism was Edwin Percy Whipple (1819-
1886). Born at Gloucester, Massachusetts, he lived
chiefly in Boston, where for over twenty years he was
superintendent of the reading room of the Merchants'
Exchange. His ability as a critic was first displayed in
an able article on Macaulay in 1843. He lectured as well
as wrote on his favorite topics. Among his best books
are "Literature and Life" (1849), "Character and Char-
acteristic Men" (1866), "Literature of the Age of Eliza-
beth" (1869), "Success and Its Conditions" (1871), and
the posthumous "American Literature" (1887). He was
equally familiar with European literature, and exhibited
careful judgment in weighing the merits of modern writ-
ers and public men not less than the accepted classics. He
discussed political and historical questions as well as litera-
ture. His penetrating insight was well matched by his
humor and eloquence.

442 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Connecticut produced some poets of merit, but of less
power than the Massachusetts group. John Pierpont
(1785-1866), who graduated at Yale in 1804, after being
a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and became a Unitarian
preacher in Boston, Troy, and Medford. At the age of
seventy-six he was made chaplain of a Massachusetts regi-
ment, but soon exchanged the position for a clerkship ift
the Treasury at Washington. His "Airs of Palestine and
Other Poems" ( 1816) was intended to show the power of
music, combined with local scenery and national character
in Palestine and other countries. Most of his other poems
were written for special occasions. James Gates Percival
(1795-1856), who graduated at Yale in 1815, was an
army surgeon, geologist and able linguist. He edited sev-
eral learned works, assisted in revising "Webster's Dic-
tionary," and made geological surveys of Connecticut and
Wisconsin. Throughout his career he published poems,
which were finally collected in 1859. His poetry is schol-
arly and meditative, rather than popular.

THE EARLY AMERICAN HISTORIANS.

In the beginning of the Nineteenth Century a new
view of history was developed, as an outgrowth of the
Transcendental philosophy inaugurated by the German
Kant, and carried out more fully by his successors. His-
tory was no longer regarded as a gathering of isolated
arbitrary facts, but as the study of the progress of man-
kind. National history could not be properly considered
apart from its relation to the general movement. Each
Nation was an actor in a great world's drama. Its con-
tribution was best understood when properly presented in
its true connection.

GEORGE BANCROFT

Bancroft was educated in Germany when this new
view was introduced and emphasized. His first work was
a translation of Heeren's "History of the Political System
of Europe" (1828). By such training he was peculiarly
fitted to present to the world the significance and import-
ance of the great experiment of democratic government
in the New World. For sixty years he continued to labor
on his self-appointed task, enlightening his countrymen
in regard to the work and intentions of their fathers, and
erecting for himself an imperishable literary monument.

George Bancroft was born at Worcester, Massachu-
setts, in 1800, and died at Washington in 1891. He
was the son of a Unitarian minister, was educated at Har-
vard, and afterward at Gottingen, Germany, where he
received the degree of Ph. D. Returning to Massachu-

443

444 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

setts he founded the Round Hill School at Northampton,
to put in practice the best methods of German instruction.
But his ambition was to set forth clearly, adequately, and
in full detail the foundations of his country's greatness.
The first volume of his "History of the United States"
appeared in 1834. It started from the discovery of Amer-
ica in 1492, and when completed, in 1888, the work was
brought down only to the inauguration of Washington.
Colonial History coming down to 1748, occupied about
one-fourth. The overthrow of the European colonial
system and the American Revolution occupied more than
one-half. The remainder, which was issued as a separate
work, treated of the formation of the Federal Constitution.

Bancroft's labors on this work were interrupted by his
political services to his country. He was an ardent Demo-
crat and was made Collector of the Port of Boston in 1838.
When called by President Polk to his cabinet, as Secretary
of the Navy, in 1845, Bancroft founded the Naval Acad-
emy at Annapolis. He also, in anticipation of the Mexi-
can War, issued orders which helped to secure possession
of California. In 1846 he was sent as Minister to Eng-
land. Returning three years later, he fixed his residence
in New York and devoted his time to the history, but
occasionally ventured in other fields. During the Civil
War he was a firm friend of the Union, and after its close
he was sent by President Johnson as Minister to Ger-
many, where he remained until 1874. His later residence
was at Washington, though his summers were spent at
Newport, where his rose-garden was celebrated.

His great history was the result of conscientious
research, careful consideration of authorities, and enthusi-
asm for the subject. Its style is brilliant, though in the
early volumes sometimes discursive and declamatory.
There is a tendency to philosophize, to bring forward too

AMERICAN 445

prominently, the underlying principle of the facts re-
corded. While desirous to give just due to every actor in
public affairs of the time treated, Bancroft offended the
descendants of some, and evoked controversies, which
were humorously called "the war of grandfathers." Over-
whelming evidence was required to convince him that he
had been mistaken in his attempt to render the final verdict
of truth. He was slow in composition, and revised the
chapters of his work repeatedly before they were published.
The later editions show still further correction. Proba-
bly the best part of his work is the last, written after
the Civil War and the discussion of questions of recon-
struction had shed new light on the fundamental principles
of the Union and the Constitution. Though the author
had not historical genius of the highest order, he was
eminently well fitted for his task by a liberal education, by
his capability and disposition to take pains, and by his
judicial insight, which was only occasionally distorted by
partisan bias. Perhaps improperly called the "History
of the United States," the work in its utmost extent tells
only the story of the foundation of the Nation, but it does
point out the sources of its greatness, and sets forth the
virtues of democratic government in a vehement oratorical
way, which rather provokes than disarms criticism. Yet
the whole work, showing at first the exuberant enthusiasm
of youth, and finally the cautious wisdom of age, is a grand
epic of democracy.

HILDRETH

In marked contrast with Bancroft's eloquent declama-
tory narrative stands Richard Hildreth's "History of the
United States." It is dry in style, judicial in tone, never
aiming at brilliance or entertainment. The author de-
clared his object to be "to set forth the personages of our

446 LITERATURE XIX CENTURA

Colonial and Revolutionary history such as they really
were, . . . their faults as well as their virtues."
Three volumes brought the history down from the dis-
covery of America to the adoption of the Constitution.
Three more, wkich surpass the former in interest, carry it
on to the year 1821. The author, who had projected his
work while a college student, evidently desired to correct
the partisan bias manifested in Bancroft's work, and for
this purpose it is valuable, though it can never become
popular.

Richard Hildreth was born at Deerfield, Massachu-
setts, in 1807. He graduated from Harvard in 1826,
studied law, but after some practice in Boston, became
editor of the "Boston Atlas." He was opposed to slavery,
and wrote a novel, "Archy Moore" (1837), which was
afterward republished under the title, "The White Slave."
Another volume, "Despotism in America" ( 1840) , treated
of the political, economical and social aspects of slavery.
For three years he resided in British Guiana, and there
wrote his "Theory of Morals" (1844), and "Theory of
Politics," which was not published until 1853. Mean-
time he had removed to New York and began to publish
his History. He was connected with the "New York
Tribune." In 1861 he was appointed Consul at Trieste,
but when his health failed, he resigned and removed to
Florence, where he died in 1865.

Though Hildreth aimed to be impartial, and by his
calm, judicial tone, gives that impression, his interest in
the politics of the day governed his treatment of men of
the past and made him in some cases unjust. Yet in the
main his views of the founders of our Government are
eminently correct.

AMERICAN 44*

PRESCOTT

William Hickling Prescott was not a profoundly
philosophical historian, yet he became the most brilliant
and famous of our historical writers. This was owing to
his judicious selection of romantic themes, in which the
American people felt an interest, as belonging to the New
World, to his artistic arrangement of the events, and to
his captivating style. His works are all the more remark-
able because of the serious disadvantages under which he
labored. Prescott was born at Salem, Massachusetts, in
1796, grandson of the Captain Prescott who commanded
at Bunker Hill. He was educated at Harvard College,
from which he graduated with honors in 1814. While
a junior in his seventeenth year he was struck in the left
eye with a piece of bread thrown in sport by a fellow-
student. The sight of that eye was destroyed, and, after
his graduation, the right eye was attacked with inflam-
mation, so that it was feared he would lose his sight totally.
The sight, however, improved after he had taken a Euro-
pean tour, but for the rest of his life he was practically
blind, and subject to frequent inflammatory attacks. Yet
undismayed by this grievous affliction, Prescott, who was
wealthy,' set himself at the age of twenty-six, resolutely
to work on a grand historical undertaking. He sought to
present for the first time in English an adequate account
of Ferdinand and Isabella, who laid the foundation of
Spain's greatness. His life was arranged according to
an exact programme; his work was performed with the
aid of amanuenses and secretaries, and he used a mechan-
ical contrivance for writing. His library was supplied
with documents from the archives of Europe. His prac-
tice was to have the authorities read to him, then to make
a careful mental digest of the material, dividing it into

448 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

appropriate chapters, and then to shape his thoughts in
literary form before the final dictation of writing.

The first installment of Prescott's life-work appeared
in 1837, having cost him more than ten years' assiduous
labor. It was the "History of Ferdinand and Isabella,"
printed at his own expense. The romantic nature of the
subject, enhanced by the author's dignified yet charming
style, gave it a popularity which it has retained to the
present day. It was soon translated into several European
languages, and caused the author to be ranked the fore-
most of American historians. In 1843 appeared the "Con-
quest of Mexico," which had an unparalleled reception,
both from the general public and from the highest authori-
ties. It won special praise from Wilhelm von Humboldt,
who had visited that country. Four years later the "Con-
quest of Peru" was published. In 1850 Prescott, who
had suffered domestic affliction, went abroad, visiting
England and the Continent, and everywhere was received
with the highest honor. He never visited the scenes of his
histories. On his return he undertook the "History of
Philip II," which, unfortunately, he did not live to com-
plete; two volumes appeared in 1855 and a third in 1856.
In the latter year his continuation of Robertson's "History
of Charles V." was issued. He published also a volume
of "Miscellanies," chiefly essays contributed to the "North
American Review." Prescott died at Boston in 1859.
His life was written by his friend, George Ticknor, the
historian of Spanish literature.

As an historian Prescott excels in vigorous and pic-
turesque narrative. His work was based on a thorough
study of the original documents, so far as this could be
effected by one who depended on the sight of others. Yet
there can be no doubt about Prescott's broad and catholic
scholarship, his carefulness in selecting facts, and the

AMERICAN 449

glowing style, which gives to his history the interest of
romance. Prescott criticized his own work and admitted
that his style might seem too studied. His rule was to
alternate long and short sentences in order to produce har-
mony. Yet his chief object was to put liveliness into the
narrative, believing that if the sentiment was lively and
forcible, the reader would be carried along without much
heed to the arrangement of periods. Emerson praised
Prescott in comparison with other historians for rendering
his work of such absorbing interest to his readers, for
making them feel its reality, while the others make battles,
sieges and fortunes only words. In later years there has
been criticism on the value of the authorities which he
exhibited so liberally in footnotes, especially in his "Mex-
ico" and "Peru." It must be said in his defense that he
used cautiously the evidence of the actors in the events he
related. They may have misunderstood what they saw,
interpreting it according to European notions of the time.
Prescott had not the means of correcting their errors
which archaeological investigation has since furnished.
John Fiske and some English writers have retold the story
of the Spanish Conquest of America.

MOTLEY

John Lothrop Motley was a man of high scholarship
and varied attainments, but was late in concentrating his
labor on the historical work which was to give him fame.
He was born at Dorchester, (now part of Boston) Massa-
chusetts, in 1814. He was partly of New England Puritan
descent, and partly Scotch-Irish. He was educated at Ban-
croft's Round Hill School and at Harvard College; after
his graduation he went to Germany and studied at Got-
tingen and Berlin, forming a memorable student-friend-
v«, 9 — 29

450 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ship with Bismarck. On his return to Boston he studied
law. His first book, "Morton's Hope" (1839), a novel
of Revolutionary times, was unsuccessful, but his second,
"Merry Mount" (1849), a story of the founding of Bos-
ton, had greater favor. Meantime he had contributed some
historical articles to the "North American Review," and
had determined to write a work on the revolt of the Neth-
erlands from Spain in the Sixteenth Century, and was
encouraged in his undertaking by Prescott. Finding it
essential to his purpose to consult the European archives,
he went abroad in 1851. So great was the labor that his
"Rise of the Dutch Republic" did not appear until five
years later. But it immediately won fame by its impetu-
ous, graphic style, its enthusiastic love of liberty, its mas-
terly exposure of Spanish misrule, tyranny, and religious
persecution under Philip II and the Duke of Alva. The
great hero of the work is William the Silent, and in the
portrayal of this great statesman and others on both sides
of the struggle, the ability of the author was finely dis-
played. The whole work was characterized by vivid de-
scription and dramatic force. After a year's interval, spent
in travel, Motley continued his historical labors, and pub-
lished in 1860 the "History of the United Netherlands,"
which was marked by the same general character as the
former work. While the great hero was missing, the
scene was greatly enlarged, and much attention was given
to English and French affairs. It was an inspiring recital
of the story of a brave little nation conquering for itself a
place in the world's affairs.

When the American Civil War broke out, Motley
wrote to the London "Times" an elaborate letter explain-
ing the cause of the war and the nature of the Union,
which was misunderstood in Europe. He was appointed
by President Lincoln Minister to Austria, where he still

AMERICAN 451

exerted himself in behalf of his country's interests. The
concluding volumes of his "History of the United Nether-
lands" were also issued, bringing the narrative down to
1609. Motley resigned his ministerial position in 1867,
owing to some complaint by an American traveler, which
should have been disregarded. President Grant sent Mot-
ley as minister to Great Britain in 1869 at the request of
Senator Sumner, but afterward, when the President and
Senator quarreled, recalled him. Motley was deeply hurt
and never recovered from the effects of the blow. In 1874
he published "The Life and Death of John of Barneveld,"
a continuation of his history, giving a view of the primary
causes of the Thirty Years' War. Motley had hoped to
bring his narrative down at least to the peace of West-
phalia in 1648, but his health failed, and he died near Dor-
chester, England, May 29, 1877.

It cannot be denied that Motley wrote his histories as
a partisan, as an enthusiastic, eloquent advocate of the
great cause of liberty. Nowhere could he have found a
more inspiring theme than in the uprising of a gallant and
determined people, with few natural resources, against
the crushing, bloody despotism of Spain, enriched with
the spoils of two worlds. But the method of historical
writing has been changed and in treatment of great move-
ments perfect objectivity is now insisted on. Yet Mot-
ley's works retain their high mark and popularity, owing
to their thorough research and splendid delineation of an
important period in the progress of humanity. Froude,
who is the English historian most akin to Motley in spirit
and manner, pronounced his first work "as complete as
industry and genius can make it."

IS* LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

PARKMAN

Another historian, who, like Prescott, labored under
the affliction of partial blindness, and yet achieved mem-
orable results, was Francis Parkman. Descended from
the earliest settlers of Massachusetts, he was born in Bos-
ton in 1823 and was educated at Harvard College. He
studied law, but he had already determined to devote his
life to an adequate presentation of the great conflict
between the French and English for the possession of
North America. In order to understand the background
of the subject fully, he resolved to examine the manners
and customs of Indians as yet unaffected by contact with
the whites. For this purpose in 1846 he explored the
wilderness toward the Rocky Mountains and lived for sev-
eral weeks among the Dakota Indians in that region then
just becoming known. Although previously strong and
fond of exercise, the privations which he endured rendered
him an invalid for life. The immediate results of his
observations and experiences were given in his pictur-
esque book called "The Oregon Trail" ( 1849) . The next
was "The Conspiracy of Pontiac" ( 1851 ) ; chronologically
it treated of a later episode of his historical series, called
as a whole, "France and England in the New World."
This series comprised "The Pioneers of France in the New
World" (1865); "The Jesuits in North America"
(1867) ; "La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West"
(1869); "The Old Regime in Canada" (1874); "Count
Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV" (1877);
"Montcalm and Wolfe" (1884), which was issued in
advance of the one chronologically preceding it; "A Half-
Century of Conflict" ( 1892) . Parkman paid several visits
to France to examine the archives. He gave considerable
attention to horticulture, and for a time taught that branch

AMERICAN 453

in the Agricultural School of Harvard. He published also
'The Book of Roses" (1866). Ten years earlier he had
published his only novel, "Vassall Morton." He died in
1893, having completed his main work, though his ill
health had seemed likely to prevent its consummation.

It is an evidence of Parkman's genius that he observed
and selected a grand historical subject, practically unex-
plored, though the material was rich and accessible. The
real grandeur of his subject can only be estimated by con-
sidering that it was not merely a story of exploration and
colonization of a vast wilderness, but an important part
of a conflict which extended over the world in the Eight-
eenth Century. This was the great question at issue, Was
France or England to become the foremost factor in rul-
ing and civilizing the outlying world? The outcome of
the struggle for Canada decided that England was to be
supreme in the empire of the world. Parkman not only
possessed rare insight into the causes and effects of large
events; he was also an excellent judge of character, and
treated all the actors in the great drama with which he
was concerned, whether French, English or Indians, with
even and exact justice. His personal reputation is
enhanced by the fact that his arduous and delicate work
was done fairly and impartially in spite of the physical ills
which steadily beset him. His history is a permanent
monument reflecting credit on himself and on New Eng-
land.

MRS. STOWE

It was given to a New England woman to write the
most widely circulated book of the Century, one which
had even greater political effect than literary power.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" excited both in North and South

*54 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

that impassioned feeling which culminated in bloody strife
and did not cease till slavery was abolished. Yet the book
was written by a woman who had never been in the slave
States, though she had lived on the border and had learned
much of the working of the slave system from fugitive
negroes and from newspapers. Her strong imagination,
humanitarian sentiment and reforming spirit had supplied
whatever was necessary to make the fiction more power-
ful than fact in overthrowing an institution protected by
legal and constitutional bulwarks.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was the daughter of Rev.
Lyman Beecher, the leading orthodox Calvinistic minister
of his time. Her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, became
even more noted in his time, being as active in the politi-
cal strife as in the theological field. Other brothers and
sisters were prominent in Church and educational mat-
ters. Harriet was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in
1811, and grew up in a strongly religious atmosphere.
She was a pupil and afterward teacher in her sister Cath-
erine's school. In 1832 the Beecher family removed to
Cincinnati, and there Harriet was married to Prof. Calvin
E. Stowe, of Lane Theological Seminary. Her first book
was "The Mayflower" (1849), slight sketches of New
England life. Professor Stowe was called to Bowdoin Col-
lege, at Brunswick, Maine, and there his wife wrote
"Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly." It
appeared first in the "National Era," an anti-slavery
paper published at Washington, but excited no sensation
until it came out in book form in 1852. When its revela-
tions of slavery were called in question, Mrs. Stowe
published a "Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin," containing
extracts from Southern newspapers and other testimony
in vindication of the truth of incidents in her story. As
that book had shown the working of slavery in Kentucky

AMERICAN 455

and Louisiana, she went on to describe the system in Vir-
ginia in "Dred, a Tale of the Dismal Swamp." Being
raised to affluence by the income from her books she went
to Europe, where she was received with high honor. In
1864 the family removed to Hartford, Connecticut, where
she kept her residence until her death in 1896. She made
several visits to Europe and for many years spent her win-
ters in Florida. After the Civil War Mrs. Stowe wrote
several tales of New England life, including "The Minis-
ter's Wooing," "The Pearl of Orr's Island," "Oldtown
Folks," "Poganuc People." In these appeared a new
development of the Puritan spirit, turning away from the
logical discussion and devoting itself to the cultivation
of kindness and immediate social duty. Sam Lawson,
a shrewd, talkative Yankee, was made responsible for
several stories. In "My Wife and I" and other tales, Mrs.
Stowe undertook to teach young married people the proper
way of living. But while these didactic stories were
attractive to a large class, they never reached the wide
popularity of her anti-slavery novels.

NEW YORK AUTHORS

The growing commercial and political importance of
New York, its increase of wealth, and the enterprise of its
publishers, both of books and periodicals, tended to make
it a literary center before the close of the first half-century.
Among the writers drawn thither were some who had been
connected with Brook Farm, including Dr. George Ripley
(1802-1880), who had first suggested that experiment.
Ripley became literary critic of the "New York Tribune,"
which had been founded by Horace Greeley ( 181 1-1872) .
Ripley was also the chief editor of "Appleton's American
Cyclopaedia" (1858-61; revised edition, 1875). In this
he was assisted by Charles Anderson Dana (1819-1891),
a native of New Hampshire, who had also been a member
of the Brook Farm community, and edited its organ, "The
Harbinger." Dana became assistant editor of the
"Tribune," and during the Civil War assistant Secretary
of War, but his chief distinction is as editor of the "New
York Sun," which under his management became the
model in style for American daily newspapers. George
William Curtis (1824-1892), who had been a pupil at
Brook Farm and a student at Berlin, went on a tour in
Egypt and Syria, which furnished material for his enter-
taining books of travel, "Nile Notes of a Howadji"
( 1851 ) and "The Howadji in Syria" (1852). He joined
the "Tribune" staff, and afterward was editor of "Put-
nam's Magazine." In it appeared his social satirical
"Potiphar Papers" and his charming "Prue and I," in
which a clerk philosophizes on New York social life as
he sees it in his daily walks. Partnership with a printer

456

AMERICAN 457

who failed involved Curtis in debts which embarrassed
him for many years. After some contributions to "Har-
per's Magazine" and "Harper's Weekly," he became edi-
tor of the latter and the writer of the "Editor's Easy
Chair" for the former, and retained these positions to the
end of his life. Thirty-five years were thus spent in con-
stant literary work of a high order, but rio books were
issued except the novel, "Trumps," which had been a
serial in the "Weekly." The "Easy Chair" touched
lightly, gracefully, but wisely, all the questions of the
time, and contained tributes to many prominent person-
ages. Curtis was also widely known as a lecturer and
political orator. He was especially active in behalf of civil
service reform, and may be regarded as the champion of
that movement.

TAYLOR

Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) achieved wide fame, yet
never reached the distinction at which he aimed. He was
renowned as a traveler and descriptive writer, was much
sought as a lecturer, but he wished to be known as a great
poet. He was born atKennett Square, Pennsylvania, of
Quaker parents, learned to set type, and early showed
strong desire for travel. At the age of twenty, after pub-
lishing a poem called "Ximena," he set sail for Europe,
and supported himself during two years' wandering by
writing letters to American newspapers. His "Views
Afoot, or Europe Seen with Knapsack and Staff" (1846)
proved very popular. It led to his success as a popular
lecturer, and to an engagement as writer for the "New
York Tribune." On behalf of this paper he went on new
travels to California, Russia, Syria, Central Africa, the
Land of the Midnight Sun, India, China, and Japan. Ten
more books of travel followed the first, besides "Rhymes

458 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of Travel," "California Ballads," "Poems of the Orient."
His novels, "Hannah Thurston" and "A Story of Ken-
nett" were intended to exhibit the scenery and life of his
native Chester county in his own day and in the Revolu-
tionary period. "John Godfrey's Fortunes" is partly auto-
biographical, showing his early experience in New York
city. But all the while Taylor was cherishing his ambition
to be a great poet. He published altogether thirteen vol-
umes of verse in a great variety of styles, from ballads to
dramatic romances. His most laborious undertaking was
the translation of Goethe's "Faust" in the original meters,
and in this he was successful beyond the utmost expecta-
tions of critics. He married as his second wife a
German lady and had indeed become perfectly saturated
with German ideas. He wished to realize in himself the
noble intellectual life of Goethe. When he was appointed
American Minister to Germany in 1878, it seemed that his
desire to write adequate biographies of Goethe and Schil-
ler would be fulfilled, but his health had already failed
and he died in Berlin in December of that year. His two
great poems are "Prince Deukalion," which recites dra-
matically the progress of civilization, and "The Masque
of the Gods," which shows vast movements in human
affairs. His long narrative poem, "Lars," is a pastoral
of Norway. But he was at his best in short lyrical pieces,
whether relating to his native Pennsylvania, or to the
distant Orient.

STODDARD

Richard Henry Stoddard is a connecting link between
the early New York period and the present. He was born
at Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1825. His father, a sea
captain, was lost at sea while the poet was a child. Remov-
ing afterward to New York, Stoddard worked for some

AMERICAN 459

years in an iron foundry. But the iron did not enter into
his soul to the exclusion of poetry. In 1849 ne brought
out a volume called "Footprints," but he afterward
destroyed the edition, and issued a riper volume in 1852.
For many years he was employed in the Custom House
in New York, and in the Dock Department. Yet he did
not abandon writing, nor did the Muse forsake him. His
"Songs of Summer" (1857) abounded in a tropical lux-
uriance of feeling and delicate fancy. For ten years Mr.
Stoddard was literary editor of the "New York World,"
and has since held the same position with "The Mail and
Express," though partly disabled by impaired sight. He
is a just and discerning critic. Among his best poems is
"Abraham Lincoln : a Horatian Ode," a noble tribute to
the martyred President. His fancy has been attracted by
Persian poetry, and he published in 1871 "The Book of
the East." He has also written some tales for the young,
and edited various collections of English and American
poetry. While he has written much prose, his poetry
represents his best literary efforts. He excels in lyrics,
showing delicate feeling and wide sympathy.

HOLLAND

Dr. Josiah Gilbert Holland did good work in editing
the "Springfield Republican," and founding "Scribner's
Monthly," which became the "Century Magazine." He
was born at Belchertown, Massachusetts, in 1819, and in
spite of poverty and ill-health, won a doctor's degree from
Berkshire Medical College at the age of twenty-five. Yet
he was obliged to turn to teaching and other employment
until in 1839 he became editor of the "Springfield Repub-
lican," just founded by Samuel Bowles. To this paper,
under the name Timothy Titcomb, he contributed "Let-

460 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ters to Young People, Married and Single," which by their
moral earnestness, sprightliness and good sense, obtained
wide popularity, especially when published in book
form. In 1870 Dr. Holland assisted in founding
"Scribner's Monthly," which was intended to be (like
"Macmillan's Magazine," then just started in England)
unobjectionable to religious readers and at the same
time of high literary quality. Its success was very
great from the start. Afterward, on a change of pro-
prietorship, it became the "Century Magazine," Dr. Hol-
land remaining editor until his death in 1881. His best
writing is in his short lyrics and his mixed narrative and
dramatic poems of American home life, "Bittersweet"
(1858), "Katrina" (1868), and "The Mistress of the
Manse" (1881). His novels, "Arthur Bonnicastle"
(1873), "Sevenoaks" (1876), and "Nicholas Minturn"
'(1877), did not attain popularity. In all his writings a
high moral aim was manifest.

SOUTHERN AUTHORS

In the South, before the Civil War, literature was not
generally favored. Men of intellectual ability there be-
came statesmen, ministers, orators and jurists. Yet some
of these gave occasional attention to literary work, and a
few devoted themselves to it almost entirely. William
Wirt (1772-1834), of German descent, and famous as a
lawyer, published in 1803 "Letters of a British Spy,"
describing the scenery and prominent persons of Virginia,
and contributed to the volume of essays, called "The Old
Bachelor" (1812). His best known work is the "Life of
Patrick Henry" ( 1817), which preserved the fame of that
orator.

John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), born in Balti-
more, became a lawyer, member of Congress, leader of the
Whig party, and in 1852 Secretary of the Navy. His
chief literary work wag "Swallow Barn" ( 1832), in which
he sought to do for Virginia country life what Irving had
done for the Hudson, and some novels, of which the best
are "Horse-shoe Robinson" (1835), a story of the Revo-
lutionary War, and "Rob of the Bowl." He wrote also
the "Memoirs of William Wirt."

SIMMS

But the principal literary figure of the Old South was
William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870), who was born in
Charleston, South Carolina, where his father had come
from the North of Ireland, shortly after the Revolution.
Left a motherless boy, he was apprenticed to a druggist,

462 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

studied law under difficulties, but early showed devotion
to the Muse. His father had gone to settle in the Terri-
tory of Mississippi and fought in the Florida campaign
under Andrew Jackson. The son joined the father, and
with him made long journeys through the backwoods,
visiting the Creek and Cherokee nations. This experience
laid the foundation for Simms's later work. He was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1827 and became editor of a Charles-
ton paper which opposed nullification, and was thus
reduced to poverty. He had already written fair verses in
Byronic style, and "The Lost Pleiad" showed Words-
worth's influence. His eccentric drama, "Atalantis,"
describes a sea-fairy who is persecuted by a demon, but
rescues herself and marries a mortal lover. The scenes
take place at the bottom of the sea, on an enchanted island,
and on the deck of a Spanish bark. Simms went North
and lived for a time in Massachusetts. His first novel was
written under the influence of Godwin, but his second,
"Guy Rivers" (1834) introduced his readers to new per-
sonages of romance, the Southern backwoodsmen, the
squatters and Indians, the North Carolina mountaineers,
and the Yankee peddler. This was the beginning of a long
series which showed not only the heroism of the settlers of
Carolina and the Southwest, but the bravery and virtues
of their Indian foes. Simms did not make his redskins
as noble as those of Cooper, nor as devilish as did Dr.
Robert M. Bird in "Nick of the Woods." In the tragical
story of "The Yemassee" (1835), the chief Sanutee, the
soul of the uprising of the Indians against the whites,
his wife Mattawan, a lovely character, and their unfortu-
nate son, Oconestoga, perish in their defeat. "The Parti-
san" (1835) was a story of Marion's men, and may be
ranked with Cooper's "The Spy." Its Lieutenant Porgy
is one of Simms's best characters. His "Wigwam and

AMERICAN 463

Cabin Tales" contain thirteen short stories of pioneer and
Indian life. "Grayling" has been praised as one of the
best. Simms wrote historical, geographical and didactic
or reflective works, but he lives only in his novels. Even
these are full of faults, but the rapidity of action and the
vigor of the narrative gave them popularity. They are
in the style of Scott and Cooper, but never reach the endur-
ing qualities of those masters. In the latter part of his
life Simms lived on a plantation at Midway, South Caro-
lina.

Augustus Baldwin Longstreet (1790-1870), born at
Augusta, Georgia, became a judge and president of the
University of Mississippi. His chief literary work was
the humorous "Georgia Scenes" (1840) and "Master
William Mitten" (1858).

Albert Pike (1809- 1891), born in Boston, and educated
at Harvard, went to St. Louis in 1831. Thence he set out
on an expedition to Santa Fe, and finally settled in Arkan-
sas, becoming editor and proprietor of a newspaper, and
afterward a lawyer. During the Mexican War he served
as a volunteer. In the Civil War he organized a force of
Cherokee Indians on the Confederate side, and with them
fought at the battle of Pea Ridge, in March, 1862. In
1867 he became editor of the "Memphis Appeal." Later
he resided in Washington, practising law. His "Hymns
to the Gods" (1831) were for their force and beauty
republished in "Blackwood's Magazine." "Buena Vista"
is a war ballad; other poems showed high lyric power.
Collections of his poems were made in 1873 and 1882.

John Esten Cooke (1830-1886) undertook to do for
Virginia what Simms had done for South Carolina. After
some stories and sketches he published the novel "Leather

464 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Stocking and Silk" (1854), which was soon followed and
surpassed by "The Virginia Comedians" (1854), proba-
bly the best Southern novel written before the war. Others
of his early stories were "The Last of the Foresters" and
"Henry St. John, Gentleman." During the Civil War
Cooke served on the staff of various Confederate Generals.
Afterward he retired to his farm near Winchester, and
wrote biographies of Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and
several novels relating to the great conflict. Among those
were "Mohun, or the Last Days of Lee and His Paladins"
(1868), "Hilt to Hilt, or Days and Nights in the Shen-
andoah" (1869).

Paul Hamilton Hayne (1831-1886), bearing a name
famous in the annals of South Carolina, was the finest poet
of the South. He was a native of Charleston, and edited
literary periodicals there until the war, when he served
on the staff of General Pickens. His house and property
were destroyed in the bombardment of Charleston, and
after the war he settled at Copse Hill, Georgia, where he
pursued literary work till his death. Among his best
poems are "The Pine's Mystery," the ballad "The Battle
of King's Mountain," "The Lyric of Action." His war
lyrics are thrilling and his descriptive and meditative
verses are exquisite in music and thought.

Henry Timrod (1829-1867), also born in Charleston,
suffered from ill-health and poverty, yet wrote poems full
of ardent devotion to the South and its lost cause. His
war lyrics, grand and impetuous, won for him the title of
4<the Tyrtaeus of the South." His poems were edited by
P. H. Hayne.

Abram Joseph Ryan (1840-1886), born of Irish par-
ents at Norfolk, Virginia, was equally devoted to the
Southern cause. He was a Catholic priest, and served
as chaplain in the Confederate army. After the war he

AMERICAN 465

edited religious and literary papers in New Orleans and
Knoxville, and had charge of a church at Mobile. In
1880 he published his "Poems, Patriotic, Religious, Mis-
cellaneous." He died at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1886.
He is best known by his lament over the defeat of the
Confederacy, "The Conquered Banner," and the spirited
tribute to the Southern leader, "The Sword of Robert
Lee." Other fine poems are "Erin's Flag," "Sursum
Corda."

Charles Etienne Gayarre (1805-1892) was born in
New Orleans of Creole stock, and became a lawyer and
judge. His chief work was a "History of Louisiana" (3
vols. 1854-57), but he wrote also a history of "Philip II
of Spain" and two historical novels, "Fernando de Lemos"
(1872) and "Aubert Dubayet" (1882).

LANIER

The most remarkably original singer of the South
was Sidney Lanier ( 1842-1881), who was chosen to write
the cantata for the opening of the Centennial Exhibition
at Philadelphia. He was descended from a long line of
musicians, and distinguished his poetry by the interming-
ling of musical effects. He was born at Macon, Georgia,
find studied at Oglethorpe College, until the war broke
out, when he entered the Confederate service. He was
captured on a blockade-runner, and held prisoner for five
months. The hardships of war developed consumption,
and the rest of his life was a courageous struggle with that
disease. In 1873 he went to Baltimore to be a musician.
He had already published a novel "Tiger Lilies" (1867),
founded on his war experiences. His fine poem, "Corn."
which appeared in "Lippincott's Magazine" in 1875, was

the first to attract attention to his name. For support of
VOL. 9—30

466 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

his family he wrote a "Guide-Book to Florida" and edited
for boys "Froissart," "King Arthur," "Percy's Reliques"
and the "Mabinogion." In 1879, he was appointed
lecturer on English literature in Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity. His "Science of English Verse" (1880) is an elab-
orate study of the metrical structure of English poetry,
in which he held that time was as important as in music.
"The English Novel and the Principle of Its Develop-
ment" (1883) was the first treatise in which the growth
of fiction was fully considered, historically and philo-
sophically. Lanier's "Poems" were not collected until
1884, three years after his death; but since that time his
fame has steadily risen. All of his work is marked by his
strong feeling for music, and many of his pieces are really
songs, "Song of the Chattahoochee," "A Song of Love."
His "Psalm of the West" is a grand expression of true
Americanism. "The Stirrup Cup" is a friendly challenge
to death. "A Ballad of Trees and the Master" is a mys-
tical expression of the sympathy of nature with the suffer-
ings of Christ. Many others of his poems give a striking
personality to the products of nature, as "Corn," "Clover,"
"Tampa Robins," and "The Dove." His dying swan-
chants are found in "Hymns of the Marshes." Though
his art was too fine and high for general appreciation, Lan-
ier must be regarded as one of the greatest American poets.

CABLE

More than a dozen years after the Civil War there
began to appear in "Scribner's Magazine" a series of short
stories, revealing singular types of character, and a pecu-
liar civilization, surcharged with a delightful atmosphere,
admirably adapted to the purpose of romance. They were

AMERICAN 467

found in the limits of the United States, and yet belonged
to a reserved aristocratic French and Spanish community.
This revelation of the Creoles of New Orleans, hitherto
secluded from general observation, was made by George
Washington Cable, who had lived familiarly among them,
and had the artistic sense necessary to set them properly
before the world. He was born in New Orleans in 1844,
the son of a prosperous merchant, who failed a few years
later. On the death of his father, young Cable left school
and became a store clerk. At the age of nineteen he
entered the Confederate army, and served till the close
of the war. Thereafter he led a checkered life, as clerk,
member of a surveying expedition, reporter and con-
tributor to the New Orleans papers. The stories of Creole
life published in "Scribner's Magazine" proved still more
popular, when issued in the volume "Old Creole Days."
In 1880 appeared "The Grandissimes," his first long novel,
followed soon by "Madame Delphine" and "Dr. Sevier."
This remarkable trio of novels has given Cable a unique
place in American literature. No rivals have entered his
field; he stands alone as a truthful delineator of a remark-
able civilization. His scenes were laid in a former gen-
eration, thus giving better scope for his fancy, while his
thorough knowledge of the conservative society and its
environment prevented his going astray in depicting it.
Of course the sensitive, tender-hearted Creoles, jealous
of their caste and their privacy, resented the exposure of
their lives, however sympathetic the relation. Part of his
picturesque stories related to the Quadroons, and the mix-
ture of these with the others gave serious offense. There
were later sketches of the descendants of the Acadians,
who found refuge in Louisiana, when dragged into exile
from Nova Scotia. The volume, "Bonaventure," includes

\68 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

three of the best stories. Mr. Cable wrote also a "History
of New Orleans," in connection with the census of 1880.
He afterward removed to Massachusetts and engaged in
religious work. One more novel has been added to his
list, "John March, Southerner."

THE LATER HISTORIANS

According to the method which long prevailed in the
study of history, attention is confined to wars, battles,
sieges, changes of dynasties, actions of rulers and intrigues
of courts, while the condition and desires of the mass of the
people were disregarded. But in recent years the latter
has come to be considered not only an essential element
but the chief material of true history. It was probably
first exemplified in a single notable chapter of Macaulay's
"History of England." It was afterward fully presented
in J. R. Green's "History of the English People." Its
chief American representative is J. B. McMasters' "His-
tory of the People of the United States," which aims to
exhibit the social growth of the American people from
the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 to the outbreak
of the Civil War in 1861. The first volume appeared in
1883, and four more have been issued, bringing the his-
tory down to 1821.

John Bach McMaster was born in Brooklyn, New
York, in 1852, and graduated from the College of the
City of New York in 1872. He became instructor in civil
engineering at Princeton College in 1877, and after the
publication of the first volume of his history in 1883 was
called to the University of Pennsylvania as professor of
American history. Besides his chief work, he has pub-
lished "Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters" (1887)
and "With the Fathers" ( 1896), a series of historical por-
traits. He is thoroughly democratic in spirit, and objects
to the hero-worship which has occupied so much space in
records of the past. He believes that the true vitality of

469

470 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

a nation consists in the general welfare of the plain people,
whose combined efforts make the commonwealth.

John Fiske was noted as a linguist, an exponent of
evolution, and a synthetic philosopher, before he devoted
himself to writing the history of his country. He was
born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1842. His father was
Edmund Brewster Green, but the son at the age of thirteen
took his present name from one of his mother's ancestors.
His extraordinary facility in acquiring languages was
early displayed. He graduated from Harvard in 1863,
and studied law, but soon devoted himself to literature.
For some years he was assistant librarian at Harvard.
Intending to prepare a work on the early Aryans, he wrote
"Myths and Myth-Makers" (1874), but afterward laid
the project aside, finding it necessary to know more about
the barbaric world. In his "Cosmic Philosophy" (1874),
the system of Herbert Spencer is fully expounded. His
other philosophical writings are "Excursions of an Evolu-
tionist" (1883); "The Destiny of Man" (1884); "The
Idea of God as Affected by Modern Knowledge" ( 1884).
The last were originally delivered as courses of lectures.
Mr. Fiske holds that the Darwinian theory of natural
selection, so far from lowering man in the scale of organic
life, exalts him and his spiritual part as the goal toward
which nature has been tending. Original sin is the brute
inheritance from warring ancestors. Mr. Fiske declares
his belief in a future life and the existence of God, main-
taining that there is no necessary conflict between science
and religion.

Another course of lectures was called for in aid of
the preservation of Old South Meeting House, in Boston.
Mr. Fiske then discussed "American Political Ideas"
(1885), and since its delivery, he has given attention
chiefly to American history. In the "Discovery of

AMERICAN 471

America" he treated fully the condition of the aborigines
found by Columbus and his successors, and traverses much
of what Prescott had written on the authority of the Span-
ish explorers. His other historical works are "The Begin-
nings of New England," "The American Revolution,"
"The Critical Period of the American Revolution." All
his writings are characterized by clearness and fluency.
His vigor and skill are best displayed in the romantic inci-
dents and dramatic crises.

Edward Eggleston had attained popularity as a writer
of stories of Western life before he undertook to relate in
a series of books the history of social life in the United
States. He was born at Vevay, Indiana, in 1837, his
father having come from Virginia. In youth he suffered
from ill-health and went to Minnesota on this account.
Here he became a Methodist preacher, and soon began
writing for newspapers. In 1870 he was made literary
editor of the New York "Independent," and afterward he
edited "Hearth and Home." In this was published "The
Hoosier Schoolmaster," his most popular novel. It was
soon followed by others, "The End of the World," "The
Mystery of Metropolisville," "The Circuit Rider,"
"Roxy," "The Graysons." These were chiefly founded
on his experiences in Indiana, but the last related to an
incident in the life of Abraham Lincoln. Meantime Mr.
Eggleston published a series of sketches of "Life in the
Colonial Period," and a school "History of the United
States" as preliminary to his larger work, which was not
intended to be strict history, but descriptions of individual
and social life at successive periods. The first volume,
"The Beginners of a Nation," appeared in 1896. It treats
of the various experiments in colonization, the various
motives influencing the leaders, and the unexpected out-
come of the several ventures. Mr. Eggleston's industry

472 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of research and realistic imagination are shown in these
picturesque sketches. His style is simple, vigorous and
natural. A strong moral enthusiasm is manifest in all his
writing. In treating of the founders of New England
he condemns their religious intolerance, and while admir-
ing Roger Williams' noble plea for soul-liberty, does not
conceal his scruples about insignificant trifles.

The Adams family has always been prominent in the
history of the United States, and its diaries and other
records are part of the national archives. Henry Adams,
son of Charles Francis Adams, who was the American
Minister in England during the Civil War, has devoted
himself specially to historical writing. He was born in
1838, graduated from Harvard in 1858, and served as
his father's private secretary in England. He was after-
ward editor of the "North American Review" and profes-
sor of history at Harvard, where he introduced the new
methods and inspired his pupils with enthusiasm for
research. Besides many essays, he has written valuable
biographies of Albert Gallatin ( 1879) and John Randolph
(1882). But his most important and characteristic work
is his "History of the United States, 1801-17" (9 vols.,
1889-91). To this subject he was drawn by the fact that
while President John Adams had been the head and front
of the Federal party, his son, John Quincy Adams, who
also became President, went over to the Democratic party.
The History presents an explanation, if not a justification,
of the change. In preparation of it the author spent much
time in Washington, London, and other foreign capitals,
examining archives and studying every subject necessary
for a complete understanding of the questions involved.
The result is a remarkable reconstruction of a period long
supposed to be perfectly understood. The account of the
War of 1812, for instance, is entirely different from that

AMERICAN 473

of former historians, except in the general outline. As
a work of art, the History deserves high praise for orderly
arrangement and clear statement of a vast number of par-
ticulars, without obscuring the general effect of the whole.
Every statement is carefully fortified by array of authori-
ties. The author has enforced by example what he had
before taught by precept.

Theodore Roosevelt has been so prominent as a maker
of history that it excites wonder that he has also been dili-
gent and productive as a writer. He was born in New
York city in 1858, his father being a successful merchant.
He graduated at Harvard in 1880, and three years later
published his "Hunting Trips ola Ranchman." His direct
interest in the West led to his study of its dramatic devel-
opment which is shown in "The Winning of the West"
(4 vols., 1895). These volumes exhibit careful investiga-
tion of original documents, as well as thorough sympathy
with the subject. But they did not exhaust his energies.
He wrote also lives of Thomas H. Benton (1887) and
Gouverneur Morris (1888) and a "History of New York
City" (1891), besides two or three new books on hunting.
Yet during this period of book-making, the author was
also busy in politics; he was member of the New York
Assembly, 1882-84, United States Civil Service Commis-
sioner, 1889-95, president of the New York Board of
Police Commissioners, 1895-97, and Assistant Secretary
of the Navy until the declaration of war with Spain. Then
he resigned, raised a regiment of Rough Riders, went to
Cuba, distinguished himself at Santiago, and returned to
be elected Governor of New York. Throughout his
career he has been conspicuous for stalwart independence,
and a leader in behalf of civil service reform and the puri-
fication of politics. His thoroughly American spirit is as
conspicuous in his writings as in his public life. His style

m LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

is fresh, vigorous and manly. He is an honor to American
literature as to American public life.

An epoch-making work in history was Captain Alfred
Thayer Mahan's "Influence of Sea Power Upon History"
(1890). This treatise was the first adequate literary
statement of the importance of a navy, and even of the real
meaning of its existence. It shows the precise force which
maritime strength has had upon the fortunes of each
nation from 1660 to 1783. The revelation has had pro-
found effect in every civilized country, and when the
author visited Europe in command of the Chicago in 1893,
he received many public honors in acknowledgment of his
services. Captain Mahan was born in New York City in
1840, and entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis in
1856. He was made lieutenant in 1861, and served in
the blockading squadrons during the Civil War. In 1872
he was made captain and he was President of the Naval
War College at Newport in 1886-89 an^ 1 890-93. Before
publishing his great work he had written "The Gulf and
Inland Waters" ( 1883). Afterward he wrote a "Life of
Admiral Farragut" (1892), and continued his great work
in the "Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolu-
tion and Empire" (1893). From various magazines he
has gathered his essays on "The Interest of America in Sea
Power, Present and Future" (1897). His latest publica-
tion is an admirable "Life of Nelson" (1897) which has
been received with the warmest welcome in England. The
chief object of Captain Mahan's labors has been to prove
that the interests of the United States require a departure
from the traditional policy of neglecting the navy. He
appears to have converted the whole world to his central
idea, if not to its intended application.

Henry Cabot Lodge, United States Senator from
Massachusetts, has been as active and distinguished in

AMERICAN 475

historical, as in political work. He was born in Boston
in 1850, and after graduating from Harvard, edited the
"North American Review" and "International Review."
He served in the Massachusetts Legislature two years, in
Congress eight, and was elected to the Senate in 1893.
He published "Life and Letters of George Cabot" (1877),
as a defense of New England Federalism; also lives of
Alexander Hamilton, Daniel Webster, and Washington;
also "Studies in History" (1884), "Political and Histori-
cal Essays" (1888), "Certain Accepted Heroes" (1897).
Mr. Lodge is a painstaking investigator and brilliant
writer, but somewhat disposed to inject into controversies
of the past feeling derived from political conflicts of the
present day.

NATURE-ESSAYISTS

Several writers of this Century have devoted them-
selves almost entirely to the literary treatment of natural
history. Perhaps the first of the Nature-Essayists was
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), who was born and
died at Concord, Massachusetts. The son of a farmer,
he was educated at Harvard, and for a time taught school.
But after a while he took up his self-appointed work of
minute observation of nature. He attached himself to
Emerson, who always showed him friendly regard. In
1845 ne built himself a hut on the shore of Walden Pond,
and lived as a recluse in communion with nature. His
experiences and observations were embodied in "Walden,
or Life in the Woods" ( 1854) . He had already published
"A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers" (1848).
Thoreau was an apostle of plain living and high think-
ing, and practiced what he preached. His life was a pro-
test against all forms of superfluous comfort, and an effort
to reach harmony with nature, as the basis of true hap-
piness. After two years' experience of hut life, he left
the woods because he had "several more lives to live, and
could not spare any more time for that one." He never
entered a church, but he was thoroughly imbued with
Pantheism, and had a devout spirit. His individualism
was carried so far that he refused to pay taxes and was
imprisoned on that account, but was released when Emer-
son, against his wish, paid them for him. But the world's
indebtedness to him is for the love of nature manifested
in his books. Besides "Walden" he wrote "Excursions"
(1863), "The Maine Woods" (1864), "Cape Cod"
(1865), "A Yankee in Canada" (1866), "Summer"

476

AMERICAN 477

(1884), "Winter" (1888), "Autumn" (1892). These
posthumous publications were made up from his daily
journal begun in 1835.

Wilson Flagg ( 1805-1894) also deserves a place among
the American nature essayists. Born at Beverly, Massa-
chusetts, he was educated at Phillips Acadamy, Andover,
and studied medicine. He was a keen observer of out-
door life and natural phenomena. His writings were
contributed to Boston newspapers and to the "Atlantic
Monthly." His best known works are "Halcyon Days,"
"A Year With the Trees," and "A Year With the Birds."

Another man who took delight in the portrayal of out-
door nature with the pen was William Hamilton Gibson
( 1850-1896) . He was also an artist and book-illustrator.
He was born at Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and after study-
ing went to New York, where he was engaged in making
illustrations of botany and natural history for various
publications. Soon he began to write on these subjects,
and to illustrate his own books. Much of his time was
spent in study of the night life of plants and insects. But
in his popular books he gave literary form to his ob-
servations. These include "Camp-Life in the Woods,"
"Highways and Byways, or Saunterings in New Eng-
land," "Happy Hunting Grounds, or a Tribute to the
Woods and Fields," "Strolls by Starlight and Sunshine."

But the best known of the nature-essayists and most
genial successor of Thoreau is John Burroughs, who was
born at Roxbury, New York, in April, 1837. As he says
in an essay, "I think April is the best month to be born
in; in April all nature starts with you." His boyhood
was spent on a farm, and after receiving an academic edu-
cation, he taught school and became a journalist. For
some years he was a clerk in the Treasury Department
at Washington, and afterward a bank inspector. In 1874

tf* LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

he settled on a farm at Esopus, New York, and gave his
leisure time to friendly study of nature. Among his
books are "Wake-Robin," "Birds and Poets," "Locusts
and Wild Honey," "Fresh Fields," and "Signs and Sea-
sons." Burroughs, like Thoreau, has written of travels
and literature, but his chief interest is in nature. In his
essays the charm of out-door life is reproduced. His read-
ers are initiated in wood-craft and bird-lore, and are not
inveigled into mysticism and metaphysics. He is a single-
hearted lover of nature, endowed with sympathy for every-
thing that lives.

Donald Grant Mitchell is well known by the pen-name
"Ik Marvel," under which he wrote his most popular books
— "The Reveries of a Bachelor," and "Dream Life."
Born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1822, he was educated
at Yale College, and became a lawyer, but has given much
attention to farming. His first books were the results of
travel in Europe, "Fresh Gleanings" (1847), and "The
Battle Summer" (1848), and the more popular books,
named above, followed in 1850 and 1851. The "Rev-
eries," to use the author's statement, consist of "such
whimsies and reflections as a great many brother bache-
lors are apt to indulge in, but which they are too cautious
or too prudent to lay before the world." "Dream Life"
sketches a career from the cradle to the grave, from the
aspirations of boyhood to the reminiscences of age. In
1853 Mitchell was made United States Consul at Venice,
and on his return settled on his farm, Edgewood, near
New Haven. Here he has written a series of delightful
books on the practical and aesthetic aspects of rural life,
"My Farm at Edgewood," "Wet Days at Edgewood,"
"Rural Studies." Later he has treated, in a fresh and
lively way, the history of literature in "English Lands,
Letters and Kings," and "American Lands and Letters."

AMERICAN 479

WHITMAN

The most startling and debatable contribution to
American literature is that made by Walt Whitman (1819-
1892). It claimed to be the true voice of Democratic
America, and while the claim has been admitted by a
scholarly few here, and acknowledged by an equal num-
ber of scholarly poets in Europe, there is no evidence that
it has been so accepted anywhere by the people. Long-
fellow and Whittier they know and respect, Whitcomb
Riley and Will Carleton they quote, but Whitman they
care nothing for. Nor does there seem any likelihood
that the few enthusiastic admirers will be able to infuse
their warm feeling into the apathetic masses. Yet respect
must be paid to the high endorsement which this singular
poet has obtained from critics of high rank.

Walt Whitman was born at West Hills, Long Island,
in May, 1819. His father was an English carpenter, his
mother Dutch, and there was a strain of Quaker blood in
him. While he was a boy the family moved to Brook-
lyn, where he attended the common schools and became a
compositor. He began to write for newspapers and in
1838 to publish a weekly paper at Huntington, Long
Island, but after two years' experience returned to the
printer's case. He cultivated familiarity with working-
men of all classes in New York city. In 1846 he was
editor of the "Brooklyn Eagle" and afterward set out
on a long tour through the Western and Southern States,
until he reached New Orleans, getting employment as
compositor or editor in various places. Then he returned
in the same way to Brooklyn and engaged in building
small houses. In 1855 he published his "Leaves of
Grass," having set most of the type himself. Rhyme
and the old regular forms of verse were discarded. Lines

480 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

of various lengths were joined in stanzas quite as abnor-
mal. Slang and uncouth phrases were used, and a bold
egotism was everywhere manifested. "Toward all"
exclaimed the author, "I raise high the perpendicular hand
— I make the signal, to remain after me in sight for-
ever, for all the haunts and homes of men." The book
met with little but ridicule until Emerson, ever generous
and alert for new genius, wrote the author a letter of
praise. This letter was published in an enlarged edition
of the "Leaves," containing matter much more objection-
able than anything in the first. Whitman's thought was a
singular outgrowth of the strong individualism of the
Transcendental School, but Emerson was repelled by its
later manifestations. The Pre-Raphaelites in England
hailed the author as the type of the new American. In
New York city Whitman became the hero of a Bohemian
club of young "cameradoes." Then came the Civil War
and Whitman went to Washington, where for a time he
had employment as a clerk in the Department of the Inte-
rior, and afterward devoted himself to visiting the
wounded in hospitals. The war experiences inspired his
volume of lyrics, "Drum-Taps" (1866), mournful rather
than exhilarating. From 1865 to 1873 Whitman was a
clerk in the Treasury Department, then, having had a
stroke of paralysis, he removed to Camden, New Jersey,
where in a whitewashed cottage he was supported by the
generosity of a few friends. His tastes were simple, his
wants few. The evening of his life was passed in cheer-
ful serenity. Most of his poems were gathered in late
editions of his "Leaves of Grass," but he added "Novem-
ber Boughs," "Specimen Days and Collect," and "Good
Bye, My Fancy." Whitman's aim was to set forth in
poetic spirit, if not recognized poetic form, American man-
hood. At times he presents himself without conventional

AMERICAN 481

disguise, "hankering, gross, mystical, nude;" at times he
calls attention to the swarming multitude around him,
with all their various movements and desires, and refuses
to pronounce any common or unclean; at times, he
describes as the goal of American progress a grand per-
sonification of free and pure Humanity.
Voi,. 9—31

LATER WRITERS

HARTE

Bret Harte was born at Albany, New York, in 1839.
After receiving an ordinary education he went to Califor-
nia in 1854. There he taught school, worked in the mines
and in a printing office, and wrote for the press. In
1867 he published "Condensed Novels," clever parodies
of the leading English and American novelists. From
1864 to 1870 he was secretary of the Mint at San Fran-
cisco, and during this time wrote his poems, "John Burns
of Gettysburg," "The Pliocene Skull," and "The Society
upon the Stanislaus." In 1868 the "Overland Monthly"
was started with Harte as editor, and in it appeared his
tales of frontier mining life. "The Luck of Roaring
Camp" was instantly hailed as the evidence of a new
genius. It was soon followed by "Miggles," "Tennes-
see's Partner," "The Outcasts of Poker Flat." In 1871
Harte removed to New York, and became a contributor
to the "Atlantic Monthly." In 1878 he was appointed
United States Consul at Crefeld, Germany, and in 1880
was transferred to Glasgow. His time, however, was
chiefly spent in London, where he became a social favorite.
He still lives in England, and writes stories usually of
California life.

The first success of Harte's poems and stories was due
to their vivid revelation of strong characters living amid
strange surroundings which brought out in bold relief
their good and evil qualities. The stories showed dra-
matic power, keen insight and glowing humor. Within
a small compass these men and women were swiftly and

482

AMERICAN 483

clearly portrayed so as to be easily understood and recog-
nized. And yet, however real the characters and inci-
dents appear, there is an artistic idealism thrown over the
whole which stamps it the work of genius. Harte did
not succeed so well in his novel "Gabriel Conroy," which
relates to early California civilization. Though it has fine
descriptions and humorous scenes, it is a succession of
episodes, not wrought into an organic whole. Harte' s
best poems are dramatic monologues in dialect. The one
most widely known as "The Heathen Chinee," but prop-
erly called "Plain Language from Truthful James," is an
historical landmark.

HOWELLS

William Dean Howells, born at Martinsville, Ohio, in
1837, is descended from Welsh Quakers. His father was
a printer and published local newspapers. The son
learned the same business and at nineteen went to Colum-
bus, the State Capital, to become correspondent and
editor. With his friend, John James Piatt, he published
a volume of verses, which showed poetic talent. A cam-
paign biography of Abraham Lincoln helped to procure
for the young journalist an appointment as Consul at
Venice. His four years' sojourn in the romantic Italian
city of the sea gave opportunity for his graphic sketches
of "Venetian Life." On returning to the United States,
he settled in New York and wrote for the "Tribune" and
"Nation." In 1871 he became assistant editor of the
"Atlantic Monthly," and for it wrote "Their Wedding
Journey," a pleasant portrayal of American character. In
this mode of sketching actual life he went on with "A
Chance Acquaintance" (1873) "A Foregone Conclusion"
(1874) "The Lady of the Aroostook" (1878) "Dr.
Breen's Practice" (1885). But ms strongest work was

484 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

"The Rise of Silas Lapham," a realistic description of the
success of a country-bred man who acquires wealth by the
discovery on his farm of a substance from which mineral
paint is made. He and his family are brought into con-
tact and contrast with cultured Boston people with result-
ing comedies and tragedies. The story abounds in humor
and shows kindly sympathy with the actors. In 1886
Howells became connected with "Harper's Magazine,"
having charge of "The Editor's Study," and in it explained
and inculcated realism as the proper method of fiction.
Sensationalism and every species of Romanticism are
entirely banished, as giving false ideas of life. People
are sketched and characters revealed in ordinary inci-
dents. Howells has exemplified this in his later work,
as "April Hopes" (1888), "Annie Kilburn" (1889), "A
Hazard of New Fortunes" (1890), "The World of
Chance" (1893). In the romance "A Traveler from
Altruria" (1894), he has set forth the contrast between
the actual life of American people and their ideals. His
interest in social problems and the relations of labor and
capital is shown in several stories. But in general he is
content to exhibit pictures of ordinary life, leaving the
moral to suggest itself. He has been called the apostle of
the commonplace. Some of his stories have been dra-
matized, and he has shown skill in writing parlor dramas
and farces. Many essays in criticism and on social ques-
tions have come from his pen. He has especially been
the interpreter and advocate of the ideas and methods of
the Russian Tolstoi, whom he regards as the greatest nov-
elist of the Century. "Modern Italian Poets" (1887) is
an instructive review of the Italian literature of this Cen-
tury. "Stops of Various Quills" (1895) is a collection of
his poems, showing brotherly interest in the movements of
humanity.

AMERICAN 485

HENRY JAMES

Henry James, noted as an essayist, sketch writer and
novelist, was born in New York city in 1843. His father,
bearing the same name, was a scholarly Swedenborgian
and wrote much in advocacy of his belief. The son, on
account of delicate health, was educated at home. Both
as boy and man he has spent much time in Europe. He
entered early on a literary career, and after publishing
some sketches, issued in 1875, "Roderick Hudson," in
which he displayed the two motives that appear in most
of his work — the contrast between Americans and Euro-
peans, and the contrast between the artistic and the aver-
age human character. These contrasts were brought out
still more strongly in "The American" (1877), in which
Christopher Newman is the hero, but the pathetic short
story, "Daisy Miller" (1878), impressed them most effec-
tually on the public. James has written with great care
and deliberation other short stories and studies, and has
had much effect on the style of other writers, though he
has never become a really popular novelist. He treats
of polite society and cares little for plot. His object is
to reveal character, and this is done in dialogue and pre-
liminaries tending to action rather than in action itself.
He has written descriptive sketches of men and places,
minor travels, and essays on social topics. With Sir
Walter Besant he prepared "The Art of Fiction" (1885)
and he has made translations from the French. One of
his best short stories is "The Madonna of the Future"
(1879) ; others are "The Lesson of the Master" (1892),
and "What Maisie Knew" (1897). "The Portrait of a
Lady" (1882) is deservedly the most popular of James's
longer stories. "The Princess Casamissima" (1886) is
a kind of sequel to "Roderick Hudson," introducing again

486 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

one of his finest characters, Christina Light. It is more
serious and somber than the earlier part. "The Tragic
Muse" (1890) is a long complicated novel of English
characters, who are made more attractive than his Amer-
icans. James has been a close student of Turgenieff and
the modern French school, and has written excellent criti-
cisms of those novelists. He is a realist, yet not in any
offensive sense. He never descends to the vulgar or
impure.

WALLACE

Lewis Wallace had won distinction in other fields thao
that of literature before he became known to the world
as the author of "Ben Hur," but this distinction has
eclipsed his former fame. He was born at Brookville,
Indiana, in 1827, the son of the Hon. David Wallace,
who was at one time Governor of Indiana. At the begin-
ning of the Mexican War he was studying law, but left
his books to take the field. After serving with credit he
returned and was admitted to the bar. He was in the
State Senate for four years and when the Civil War
began received command of a regiment. After brilliant
service both in the West and the East, he was mustered
out in 1865 with the rank of Major-General of Volunteers.
He resumed the practice of law at Crawfordsville, Indiana.
From 1878 to 1881 he was Governor of Arizona, and was
then sent as American Minister to Turkey. Before writ-
ing "Ben Hur" he had published "The Fair God" ( 1873),
a story of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. "Ben Hur,"
a romantic setting of the life of Christ, appeared in 1880,
and soon obtained a wider circulation than any previous
American work, except "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This is,
of course, due to its religious character, as well as its liter-
ary merit. The hero is a noble Israelite, whose eventful

AMERICAN 4*7

life has brought him in contact with the Savior. The
Oriental scenery was accurately depicted from vivid imag-
ination, before General Wallace had ever visited the East.
The description of the chariot race is justly regarded as
one of the most stirring chapters of an historical romance.
The author's style is not free from faults, but these seem
not to have interfered with his popularity. General Wal-
lace has since written "The Boyhood of Christ" (1888),
founded on the apocryphal Gospels, "Commodus, a Trag-
edy" (1889), and "The Prince of India" (1893). The
last is an historical novel, dealing with the capture of
Constantinople by the Turks. The Prince is a finely
drawn character, whose career bears some resemblance to
that of the Wandering Jew. General Wallace in 1897
published an Oriental narrative poem in blank verse, "The
Wooing of Malkatoon."

HALE

Among the most busy and productive leaders of Bos-
ton for nearly half the Century has been Edward Everett
Hale. Born in 1822, he was educated at the Latin School
and Harvard College. For ten years from 1846 he was
pastor of a church in Worcester, and then took charge
of the South Church in Boston. By personal effort as
well as by his writings he has helped to organize societies
for doing good in manifold ways. One of his enterprises
was the magazine, "Old and New," which was finally
merged in "Scribner's Monthly;" another was "Lend a
Hand," which represents organized charity. Besides
these he has written a pile of books, including histories,
novels, poems and short stories. All of his books were
written for instruction, some for spiritual or moral pur-
poses. The most famous is "The Man Without a Coun-

LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

try" (1862), a story intended to inculcate loyalty to the
Federal Government. Though pure fiction, it was told
in such a realistic way as to be taken for fact. Other
stories illustrate his power of making impossibilities
appear real, as the comical "My Double and How he
Undid Me," and "The Skeleton in the Closet." "The
Brick Moon," is in the style of Jules Verne. Among the
other stories which have had wide effect for good are
"Ten Times One Is Ten," and "In His Name." The
novels include "Philip Nolan's Friends," "Mr. Tangier's
Vacations," and "Ups and Downs." Several books of
travel are grouped together under the general name, "A
Family Flight." The story of his early days is told in
"A New England Boyhood." All his books show a true
literary instinct, good sense and sound morality.

MILLER

In 1870 the "Songs of the Sierras," published in Lon-
don, and describing California scenes, produced a literary
sensation in England, and gave the author temporary
fame as the long-expected truly American poet. The
author's name was given as Joaquin Miller, but it was
originally Cincinnatus Hiner Miller, the name Joaquin
being borrowed from a Mexican brigand. Miller was
born in Indiana in 1841, but when he was a boy his
parents emigrated to Oregon. After working on a farm
he went to seek for gold in California, and began to write
verse. Unsuccessful as a miner, he led a wandering life
in California and Nevada, and went with the filibuster
Walker to Nicaragua. On his return to Oregon in 1860,
he studied law and was for a time a county judge. In
1870 he went to England, and having there obtained a
reputation as a poet, came back to America to seek work

AMERICAN 489

as a journalist. In 1887 he settled at Oakland, California.
His poetical works include "Songs of the Sunlands,"
"Songs of the Sierras," and "Songs of the Mexican
Seas." His best known prose works are "The Danites in
the Sierras," " '49, or the Gold-Seekers of the Sierras," and
"The Destruction of Gotham." Miller has not hesitated
to appropriate some of the work of others, and yet he
has originality and force. He cares little for accepted
laws of literature. He is able to represent vividly the wild
life and grand scenery of the Pacific slope.

STEDMAN

Edmund Clarence Stedman has done immense service
to American literature by his poems and criticisms, and
by his editing the "Library of American Literature" ( 1 1
vols. 1890-92), the "Victorian Anthology" (1895), and
a complete edition of "Poe's Works" (1895). He was
born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1833, and was educated
at Yale College. For twelve years he was a journalist
in the country, at New York and with the army. In 1864
he became a broker in New York, yet he has steadily kept
up a connection with literature. His poems were col-
lected in 1884 and a later volume was added in 1897. His
important critical work is seen in "The Victorian Poets"
(1875) and "The Poets of America" (1880). In these
books the chief poetical productions of the Century are
subjected to careful, discriminating and suggestive inspec-
tion. His own poems are chiefly lyrical, celebrating
events of the time in appropriate and memorable verse.
Among the notable pieces are "How Old Brown took Har-
per's Ferry," "The Hand of Lincoln," "Pan in Wall
Street."

490 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

ALDRICH

Thomas Bailey Aldrich is a writer of polished, deli-
cate poetry, and of quaint humorous stories. He was
born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1837, but entered
on mercantile life in New York at the age of seventeen.
Soon he turned to literature and in 1866 went to Boston
to be editor of "Every Saturday." After a tour in Europe
in 1875 he published "From Ponkapog to Pesth," a
charming book of travel. In 1881 he was made editor of
the "Atlantic Monthly," and held this post for nine years.
He has since made a journey around the world. His
poetry is mostly in short pieces, expressing single emo-
tions or describing special scenes. His most noted poem
is "Babie Bell," which relates tenderly the birth and short
life of a child. "Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book" has
met with wide favor. "Judith" and "Wyndham Tow-
ers" are narratives in blank verse, but the most striking
piece in this form is "The Unguarded Gates," crying out
against unrestricted immigration as threatening the sta-
bility of American institutions. In his short stories Aid-
rich has shown a fondness for elaborate mystification, as
in "Marjorie Daw." His longer novels "Prudence Pal-
frey," "The Queen of Sheba," are more serious, yet
involve a quaint humor. "The Story of a Bad Boy" is
an autobiographical record of his youthful pranks, which
has been welcomed by old and young.

CRAWFORD

So competent a critic as Andrew Lang has pronounced
Francis Marion Crawford the "most versatile and vari-
ous" of modern novelists. His novels cover an immensely
wide range and introduce to the reader a great variety of

AMERICAN 491

character as well as environment. He has great adapta-
bility and suppleness of mind and is equally facile and free
of touch in dealing with life in modern Rome or New
York, in India or rural England, at the court of the ancient
Persian Darius or in Sicily of the present day. Liberal
education and wide travel have furnished a rich variety of
knowledge, which his native genius has been prompt to
utilize.

Francis Marion Crawford was born in Italy in 1854,
his father being the celebrated sculptor, Thomas Craw-
ford, whose statue of Liberty surmounts the dome of the
Capitol at Washington. When a lad he was sent to St.
Paul's school at Concord, New Hampshire, but afterward
returned to Italy, and then entered Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, England. For some years after graduation he
traveled on the Continent, and then going to India joined
the staff of a newspaper at Allahabad. The result of his
Indian experiences was shown in his first novel, "Mr.
Isaacs," in which an educated Mohammedan merchant
pays court to a typical English girl. Crawford has since
been an exceedingly prolific writer, and his stores of accu-
mulated knowledge, have stood him in good stead, being
illumined by a vivid and picturesque imagination. His
thorough knowledge of the upper classes of Italian soci-
ety has enabled him to present it in a satisfactory way to
English readers. He has perhaps reached his highest
mark in his trilogy of novels of Roman life, "Saracinesca,"
"Sant* Ilario," and "Don Orsino." Among his other
novels may be mentioned "A Roman Singer," "A Tale of
a Lonely Parish," "Marzio's Crucifix," "Greifenstein,"
"The Three Fates," "Casa Bracchio," and "A Rose of Yes-
terday." To these he has added a remarkably brilliant
description of Rome in various ages, under the title, "Ave
Roma Immortalis."

492 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

CLEMENS — ("MARK TWAIN")

The most distinguished exponent of American humor
is Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known universally as Mark
Twain. He was born at Florida, in Missouri, in 1835,
and became a pilot on a Mississippi steamboat. Here he
got the name "Mark Twain" from the cry used to signify
that the water was two fathoms deep. In 1862 Clemens
went to Nevada, engaged in mining, and wrote for the
newspapers. At the suggestion of a friend "The Jumping
Frog and Other Sketches," were published in New York
in 1867 and set the public in a roar of laughter. Clemens
then went on a tourists' excursion to the Mediterranean
and the Holy Land and gave the voyage wide fame in his
"Innocents Abroad." In his next work, "Roughing It,"
he described in the same grotesque style his mining experi-
ences. He joined with C. Dudley Warner in "The Gilded
Age," to satirize the modern race for wealth. Clemens
fixed his residence at Hartford, Connecticut, and contin-
ued his sketches and stories of Western life in "The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn,"
but hoping for more ample pecuniary returns from book-
publishing, he joined a firm which after a few years' suc-
cess became bankrupt. Clemens had in the meantime been
writing some romances, dealing with history in a novel
way. "The Prince and the Pauper" was a reconstruc-
tion of the story of Edward VI of England. "A Yankee
at King Arthur's Court," was a mingling of things old and
new in fantastic style. Then the story of Joan of Arc
was retold seriously as if written by a personal attendant.
Though this was published anonymously, the authorship
was soon disclosed. Meantime Clemens, in his effort to
get rid of debt, had gone to lecture in Australia and India,
and afterward to Austria, whence he sent humorous

AMERICAN 493

sketches of his observations. He is a bold caricaturist of
human peculiarities, national and individual.

STOCKTON

Among American writers of fiction Frank Richard
Stockton holds a unique place. He was born in Phila-
delphia in 1834 and learned wood-engraving. He began
his literary career by writing for children "Round-
about Rambles" and "Tales out of School." But his
peculiar position was established by his "Rudder Grange'*
(1879), a picturesque humorous exposition of American
life. His peculiarity consists in treating odd, and even
impossible, events as if they were perfectly natural. Over
the improbabilities of character and incident there is shed
a pleasant humor, which beguiles and reconciles the reader.
"The Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine,"
and its sequel "The Dusantes," are full of amusing impos-
sibilities, yet told in such a straightforward manner as to
enchain the attention. "The Lady or the Tiger?" is a
short story which ends like a riddle, leaving the reader to
give his own answer. "The Adventures of Captain Horn"
(1895) and its sequel, "Mrs. Cliff's Yacht" (1897), are
full of absurdly romantic incidents, related in a clear and
charming style.

HARRIS

A remarkable contribution to American literature was
made by Joel Chandler Harris in his negro dialect fables,
popularly known as "Uncle Remus." Harris was born in
1848 at Eatonton, Georgia, learned the printer's trade and
studied law before he settled down to journalism. While
editing an Atlanta paper, he prepared for it the sketches
which were afterward published in book form as "The

494 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation" ( 1880) . The welcome
with which this was received led to "Nights with Uncle
Remus" (1883), "Daddy Jake the Runaway" (1889), and
many more sketches. The four-footed hero of these new
fables is Brer Rabbit, who, weak as he is, manages by his
shrewdness to get ahead of the fox, the wolf and the bear,
and other smart and strong folk. In his book, "On the
Plantation," Harris tells his early experiences, and in
other books he shows his affectionate feeling for the negro
as well as the white.

FIELD

Eugene Field ( 1850-1895) was a remarkable combina-
tion of a book-loving scholar, a wide-awake journalist,
a Western humorist, and a tender-hearted poet. He was
born at St. Louis, studied at more than one college, gradu-
ated from the University of Michigan and traveled in
Europe. After his return he was a journalist in Denver
and other cities, but finally settled in Chicago. Here he
found congenial work in contributing daily to the press
whims and fancies in prose and verse. Some of his poems
were in Western dialect and described vividly rude fron-
tier life. But he also had especial fondness for children
and some of his most pleasing work was lullabies, little
folk's stories, and "Love Songs of Childhood." His clas-
sical scholarship was shown in his translations from Hor-
ace. After his death his works and plays were collected
in ten volumes, and his friends testified their regard in
affectionate praise.

James Whitcomb Riley is the popular Hoosier poet.
He was born at Greenfield, Indiana, in 1852, and early
contributed to local papers, chiefly in verse. He belonged
for a time to a strolling company of actors, for whom he
recast plays and improvised songs. Then he obtained a

AMERICAN 495

place with the "Indianapolis Journal." He has also been
a popular lecturer. Among his publications are "The
Ole Swimmin'-Hole and 'Leven More Poems," "Pipes o'
Pan at Zekesbury," "Rhymes of Childhood," "Poems here
at Home." Though most of his poems are in dialect, he
has written also in serious style, and has touched the
hearts of people, seldom reached by the loftier poets.

Another poet who has won favor with the masses of
the people is Will Carleton. He was born at Hudson,
Michigan, in 1845, graduated at Hillsdale College, and
engaged in newspaper work in Detroit and Chicago. His
numerous poems of rural life and incidents have been col-
lected in "Farm Ballads," "Farm Legends," "Farm Festi-
vals," and a similar series relating to the city. The best
known of his poems are "Betsey and I Are Out," "How
Betsey and I Made Up," "Over the Hills to the Poor
House," and "Gone With a Handsomer Man." Though
not ranking high from a literary point of view, they de-
serve commendation for their correct moral tone.

John Boyle O'Reilly (1844-1891), a native of Ireland,
entered the British army for the purpose of propagating
Fenianism. Detected, tried and convicted, he was trans-
ported to Australia, but managed to escape to an American
vessel. He settled in Boston, where he became editor of
"The Pilot." Besides a narrative of his adventures, he
published some volumes of poetry and a novel, "Moon-
dyne." He was, above all, a poet, and utilized his knowl-
edge of remote lands and seas in both poetry and prose.

Richard Watson Gilder, born at Bordentown, New
Jersey, in 1843, belongs to a literary family. In 1869 he
became associate editor of "Scribner's Monthly" and when
the title was changed to the "Century Magazine," in 1881.
he was made editor-in-chief. His own books have been
poems, artistic and mystical. They include "The Celestial

496 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Passion," "The New Day," "The Poet and His Master"
(1878), and "Lyrics" (1885).

No more vivid picture of the condition of Virginia
just before and during the Civil War has been given than
in the dialect stories of Thomas Nelson Page. These
humorous and pathetic tales are put in the mouth of an old
negro, who looks back with regret to the vanished bless-
ings of patriarchal slavery. "Marse Chan" appeared in
the "Century Magazine" in 1884, and was soon followed
by "Meh Lady," "Ole Stracted," and "Unc' Edinburgh
DrowndinV Page was born in Hanover County, Vir-
ginia, in 1854, was educated at the University of Virginia,
and became a lawyer at Richmond. He has sketched his
own boyhood in "Two Little Confederates" (1888).
Other stories of Virginia war life are "On Newfound
River" (1891), "The Burial of the Guns" (1894). In
"Red Rock" (1899) the troublous times of reconstruction
and carpetbaggers are dealt with from the Southern point
of view.

The novelist who has best succeeded in reproducing the
atmosphere of Kentucky country life before the war is
James Lane Allen, who was born at Lexington in that
State in 1850. He had been engaged as a teacher before
he devoted himself to literature in 1885. For "Harper's
Magazine" he prepared sketches of the Blue Grass Region,
and afterward used these studies as the background of his
stories. "The Choir Invisible" is an enlargement of a tale
of pioneer times originally published as "John Gray."
"With Flute and Violin" is a pathetic story, founded on
the life of a minister of Lexington. One of the "Two
Gentlemen of Kentucky" is an old negro preacher. "King
Solomon" is a tribute to the self-sacrificing heroism of an
outcast. In other stories historical events and personages

AMERICAN 497

are freely introduced. "Summer in Arcady," though full
of local color, is poetical and spiritual.

The American novelist of socialism was Edward Bel-
lamy (1850-1898). Born at Chicopee Falls, Massachu-
setts, he was educated in Germany. He was chiefly en-
gaged in journalism, and for a time resided in Hawaii.
Returning to his native State in 1877, he founded the
"Springfield News." His earlier novels were "Six to
One; a Nantucket Idyl" (1878), "Dr. Heidenhoff's Proc-
ess" (1880). But his name was made widely known by
his novel, "Looking Backward" ( 1888), in which a person
enjoying the public comforts and manifold inventions of
the socialistic era of A. D. 2000 describes the inconven-
ience and troubles of life in the Nineteenth Century. Such
was its effect on the public mind that societies were formed
in all parts of the country to promote the ideas of the
work, especially the single tax on land. After some years
of labor in this cause, Bellamy's health failed, but hevadded
another work, advocating the same ideas, "Equality"
( 1897). His great merit is that he put into literature the
ideal community of the vast mass of the American people,
whether to be realized in the way he proposed or not.

Julian Hawthorne, son of Nathaniel, was born in Bos-
ton in 1846, and went with his father to England in 1853.
He returned to Massachusetts for his education, but left
Harvard on the death of his father in 1864, and went
abroad. After further study in Germany he became a
civil engineer, and was employed as such in New York
City. In 1872 he took up journalism and literature and
since that time has been constantly engaged in contributing
to periodicals and newspapers. For some years he resided
in London and contributed to "The Spectator." His
"Saxon Studies" consists of pleasant sketches of German

life. Among his best short stories are "Bressant," "Idol*
VOL. 9—32

198 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

atry," and "Archibald Malmaison;" among the longer
novels are "Garth," "Sebastian Strome," and "Fortune's
Fool." He has also written a biography of "Nathaniel
Hawthorne and His Wife."

John Hay at one time seemed to be the rival to Bret
Harte, but the wealth acquired by his marriage seems to
have diverted him to other pursuits. He was born at
Salem, Indiana, in 1838, graduated at Brown University,
and entered on law practice at Springfield, Illinois.
Abraham Lincoln, when elected to the Presidency, chose
John G. Nicolay and Hay as his private secretaries, and
during the war employed the latter on missions of import-
ance. For faithful service in the field he was brevetted
colonel of volunteers. When Lincoln died, Colonel Hay
was at his bedside. Afterward he was in the diplomatic
service at Paris, Vienna and Madrid. In 1870 he became
an editorial writer on the "New York Tribune." His
"Pike County Ballads" ( 1871 ), at once took the world by
storm; "Jim Bludso," the pilot who stuck to his post when
the steamboat was on fire, and "Little Breeches"
were the first dialect poems in which the humorous and
heroic were blended. At the same time Colonel Hay
published "Castilian Days," giving his impressions of the
romance and beauty of Spain. The style is graceful, and
the book shows both humor and fancy. A notable novel,
"The Breadwinners," describing the struggle between
labor and capital, has been ascribed to Hay, but he has never
acknowledged it. His most important literary undertak-
ing has been the "Life of Abraham Lincoln" (10 vols.,
1890), prepared in conjunction with Nicolay. It portrays
the martyred President in public and private life and gives
full details of his surroundings in all parts of his career,
ill 1897 Colonel Hay was appointed Minister to England,
and in 1898 he was called to be Secretary of State.

AMERICAN 499

One of the strangely attractive writers of recent times
'is Lafcadio Hearn. He was born in the Ionian Islands
in 1850, of an Irish father and Greek mother. He was
educated in England and France, but came to America,
and was employed on newspapers in Cincinnati and New
Orleans. After publishing "Chita, a Memory of Last
Island" ( 1889) , he was sent to the West Indies to describe
the natives. This was done in "Two Years in the West
Indies," and in "Youma," a tale of the fidelity of a black
nurse to her infant white charge during an insurrection.
Hearn then went to Japan, where he has become a teacher,
learned the Japanese language, accepted the Buddhist
faith, married a Japanese wife and taken a Japanese name,
Y. Koijumi. His books include "Glimpses of Unfamiliar
Japan" (1895), "Kokoro; Hints and Echoes of Japanese
Inner Life" (1896). His style is highly picturesque,
vividly expressing the beauty of the distant land in which
the wanderer has fixed his abode.

Charles Dudley Warner is a delightful essayist, humor-
ist, and companion in travel, and an accomplished editor.
He was born at Plainfield, Massachusetts, in 1829, gradu-
ated at Hamilton College in 1851, was a surveyor in Mis-
souri, and a lawyer in Chicago. In 1860 he removed to
Hartford, Connecticut, and became editor of the "Cour-
ant." He has had charge of the "Editor's Drawer" in
"Harper's Magazine" since 1884. After various con-
tributions to magazines, he became known as a humorist
by "My Summer in a Garden" (1870), a book full of
quiet but irresistable fun. "Back-Log Studies" (1872),
mingled graver thoughts with mirth. Warner was asso-
ciated with Mark Twain in "The Gilded Age" (1873).
His books of travel in Egypt and the Levant, and in the
Western and Southern United States, are among the best
of their class, brisk, bright, and stimulating. Warner has

500 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

also written much on literature, one of his best books being
"The Relation of Literature to Life" (1896). He has
published biographies of Captain John Smith and Wash-
ington Irving. He was chief editor of the "Library of
the World's Best Literature" (1896-8).

Having earned a high reputation as a newspaper cor-
respondent, Harold Frederic (1856-1898) was coming
into fame as a novelist when death suddenly cut short his
career. He was born at Utica, New York, of an Irish
father and New England mother. Taken from school at
twelve, he found his way to a newspaper office. As a
reporter he went to Albany and New York, and in 1884
was made London correspondent of the New York
"Times." His ability was soon widely recognized. Amid
his journalistic labors he found time to write stories and
novels of more than average merit. The first that
attracted notice was "Seth's Brother's Wife" (1887), a
"purpose" story. "In the Valley" was a story of colonial
times along the Mohawk River, contrasting scenes of peace
and war; "The Copperhead," a somewhat similar story
of the Civil War. But "The Damnation of Theron Ware"
(1896), challenged public attention by its startling title
and manifest power. A weak, imperfectly educated
Methodist minister is brought into unexpected contact
with the strong faith and impressive ritual of the Roman
Catholic Church. Swayed from his religious moorings
by admiration and love of an intellectually robust girl, he is
morally shipwrecked. Carefully as the story is wrought,
and exact as it is in separate scenes, the whole is not con-
sistent. The signal ability displayed in the first part is not
maintained to the end. In later stories Frederic turned
to England for scenes and themes. His last, "The Mar-
ket Place" (1898), is equal to any of its predecessors.
Yet the testimony of his associates is that in none of his

AMERICAN 501

works did he exhibit the full measure of the powers they
believed him to possess. In particular, humor, which was
a marked characteristic of his conversation, is absent from
his writings.

Literature for juvenile readers has been almost exclu-
sively an American invention. There had been some
English precursors in "Evenings at Home," "Sandford
and Merton," and Miss Edgeworth's "Moral Tales."
Even Goldsmith and Charles Lamb wrote some children's
stories. But the first who devoted himself with success
to instructive books of this class was the American Samuel
Griswold Goodrich (1793-1860), best known as "Peter
Parley." More than two hundred volumes were prepared
by him, historical, biographical and instructive. So popu-
lar did his pen-name become that more than seventy vol-
umes were issued under it without his authority. Jacob
Abbott (1803-1879) wrote almost an equal number of
instructive story books, including the "Rollo Books," the
"Franconia Stories," and the "Marco Paul Series." Wil-
liam T. Adams ( 1822-1897), a teacher in the Boston pub-
lic schools, became, under the name "Oliver Optic," a
favorite writer for boys. He wrote several series,
"Young America Abroad," "Lake Shore," and "Army and
Navy." Other superior writers of this class are Hezekiah
Butterworth, born in 1839, who has written "Zig-Zag
Journeys" in many countries, many excellent stories and
ballads; Horatio Alger, born in 1834, who has written
"Luck and Pluck," and more than fifty similar books, urg-
ing boys to self-support, besides biographies of Lincoln,
Garfield, etc.; Horace Elisha Scudder, born in 1838, who
has written the "Bodley Books," biographies of Wash-
ington and Noah Webster, some histories, and literary
essays; Willis John Abbot, born in 1863, who has written
boys' books on the Navy in each of the American wars.

502 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

To the same class may be added Charles Carleton Coffin
(1823-1896), best known as a war correspondent, who
wrote for boys the "Story of Liberty" ( 1878) , and a series
of books on the Civil War.

Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, after attaining international
reputation as a specialist in nervous diseases, began, at the
age of fifty, to write stories, sketches, and literary essays,
with increasing success until in "Hugh Wynne, Free
Quaker" (1897), he produced a powerful historical novel
of Philadelphia in the Revolution. He has, however,
done injustice to the Quakers and their mode of life.
Earlier novels were, "In War Time," and "Far in the For-
est." Later came "The Adventures of Francois," a tale
of the French Revolution. Francois was a foundling,
who became a thief, juggler and fencing-master. The
tale is artistically constructed, but has not the same direct
interest as its predecessor. Dr. Mitchell has also written
poems which were collected in 1896. In his dramatic
pieces he has displayed especial vigor. Dr. Mitchell was
born at Philadelphia in 1829, the son of a distinguished
physician. He was led to his study of nervous affections
by his experience as an army surgeon.

The most successful American soldier novelist is
Charles King, born at Albany, New York, in 1844, but
taken to Wisconsin a year later. He is a graduate of West
Point, but resigned from the army in 1879, and was for a
time professor of military science at the University of
Wisconsin. In the Spanish-American War he was made
a general of volunteers, as his father had been in the Civil
War. His literary work consists of narratives of his own
experience, as "Campaigning with Crook" (1890), and
"Famous and Decisive Battles of the World" (1884), and
a long series of novels describing army and frontier life.
Among the best are "The Colonel's Daughter" (1883),

AMERICAN 503

"Kitty's Conquest" (1884), and "Captain Close and Ser-
geant Croesus" (1895). Two of his stories relate to
the Civil War, and one of these, "Between the Lines" has
had special success.

WOMEN WRITERS

The popular story, "Little Women" (1868), was an
idealized transcript of the author's family life. Never was
there a more humorous and pathetic contrast than between
the self-sacrificing devotion of the author and her mother
and the unworldly wisdom of her unpractical father, "the
sage of Concord." Yet family affection united this house-
hold in enviable harmony. Louisa May Alcott (1832-
1888), was born at Germantown (now part of Philadel-
phia), but in infancy was taken to Boston, where
her father taught school. From the age of seventeen she
was busily occupied in helping to support the family, by
teaching, sewing, and writing stories. In 1862 she was a
hospital nurse in Washington, and wrote "Hospital
Sketches." In 1866 she became editor of a magazine for
children, and was* thus led to her successful family story.
This was followed by "An Old-Fashioned Girl" (1869),
and by "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys," as sequels to her
"Little Women." For the "No Name" series she wrote
"A Modern Mephistopheles." Her popularity brought
her fame and comparative wealth, yet for the family's sake
she toiled on until she died on the day of her father's
funeral. Children of all ages are attracted by the unaf-
fected humor of her books, which teach, by lively examples,
the duty of work and loving service of others. The rapid-
ity with which she wrote for support of her family excuses
the carelessness of her style. Some of her best work was
done before she was in demand as a writer for children.

504 LITERATURE XiX CENTURY

The mountains of Eastern Tennessee and their peculiar
inhabitants have been made familiar to American readers
by the genius of Miss Mary Noailles Murfree, who writes
under the name Charles Egbert Craddock. She was born
at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1850, but on account of
ill health, which has rendered her permanently lame, she
spent much time in the mountains. When her stories first
appeared in the "Atlantic Monthly," they were supposed to
come from a man, and the editor was much surprised when,
in 1883, she presented herself in person. Her writings
are free from expression of the author's feelings, and show
full understanding of masculine life. They abound in
picturesque descriptions of scenery, grand mountains and
romantic streams, brilliant sunshine and variegated clouds,
gloomy woods and sylvan glades. Against this back-
ground are depicted hardy, taciturn men and lonely re-
served women, and the strange phases of their isolated life.
"In the Tennessee Mountains" (1884), the first collection
of these sketches, proved popular, and was soon followed
by "Where the Battle was Fought," and "In the Clouds"
(1886). "The Story of Keedon Bluffs" (1887), "The
Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains" (1888), and
"Down the Ravine," are further specimens of her artistic
skill in her familiar region.

Under the initials "H. H." an American woman won
high regard as a poet, and afterward showed brilliant
descriptive power in prose. Later, when her name was
fully disclosed, she took up the cause of the Indian and
in history and a popular novel pleaded in his behalf with
the Government and the people of the United States.
Helen Fiske was born in 1831 at Amherst, Massachusetts,
where her father was professor in the college. At twenty-
one she was married to Captain Edward Hunt of the
United States army and wandered with him in different

AMERICAN 50.,

parts of the country. When he was killed by the explos-
ion of a mine and her daughter died, Mrs. Hunt was
plunged in the deepest grief. After some time she began
to write meditative and descriptive poems which attracted
attention by their strong feeling, and vivid fancy. Some-
times they took the form of parable or allegory, but they
were best when they painted out-door nature. Mrs. Hunt
then wrote prose descriptions which were collected under
the title "Bits of Travel," and proved attractive to
even a wider circle of readers. They abound in humor
as well as pathos, and show the delicate insight of women.
Other books of the same class followed. Two novels in
the "No Name" series are known to have been from her
pen — "Mercy Philbrick's Choice," and "Hetty's Strange
History." The stories published under the pen-name
"Saxe Holm" have also been ascribed to her. After she
was married to Mr. William Jackson in Colorado, she
became fully aware of the gross wrongs done to the
Indians, and exerted herself to secure justice for them
from the nation. For this purpose she studied the full
history of Government dealings with the red men and
summed it up in '(A Century of Dishonor," making a pas-
sionate appeal for removal of the national disgrace. This
was followed by the powerful story "Ramona," written
shortly before her death in 1885. This expiring effort of
her genius is perhaps its fullest illustration.

Another woman writer who has won popularity is
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward. She was born at
Andover, Massachusetts, being the daughter of the dis-
tinguished professor, Dr. Austin Phelps. Her book,
"Gates Ajar" (1868) was an attempt to depict the future
life as in many respects resembling the present. This
idea was continued in "Beyond the Gates," and "The Gates
Between" (1887). In other books, as "The Story of

506 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Avis" (1877), and "Doctor Zay" the conflict in woman's
nature between love and professional ambition is shown.
In 1888 she was married to Herbert D. Ward, and with
him she has written some stories and essays. To her
"Old Maids' Paradise" (1879) they added a sequel "The
Burglars Who Broke into Paradise" (1897).

Frances Hodgson Burnett is best known by her story,
"Little Lord Fauntleroy," in which a boy brought up in
poverty in New York brings English aristocratic life into
humiliating contrast with democratic equality, when he is
restored to his rights as heir to a dukedom. She was born
at Manchester, England, in 1849, and lived there till she
was sixteen. Then the Hodgson family, having suffered
/osses, removed to Knoxville, Tennessee. Frances began
early to write stories for magazines, but did not reach
success till after her marriage to Dr. Burnett, in 1873.
With him she settled in Washington in 1875. "That Lass
o' Lowrie's" appeared in "Scribner's Magazine" in 1877,
and made her name known. Joan Lowrie had been abused
since infancy and was compelled to do a man's work as a
pit girl in an English coal mine. Her father is a vicious
brute, but she develops such noble virtue as to win the
regard and love of Derrick, the educated engineer. The
contrast between this pure soul and her grim and repulsive
surroundings is dramatically brought out. Other novels
sustained the high reputation now awarded the author.
Among them were "Haworth's" (1879), "Louisiana"
(1881), "Esmeralda" (1882), "A Fair Barbarian"
(1882). "Through One Administration" (1883), was a
bright picture of Washington society. Then came "Little
Lord Fauntleroy" (1887), which won greater triumph in
a new field. In "The One I Knew Best of All" (1893),
Mrs. Burnett sketched her own career. In "A Lady of
Quality" (1895), and its sequel "His Grace of Osmonde,"

AMERICAN 507

she seems to have departed from the high moral tone of
her previous works. She has since separated from her
husband.

Octave Thanet is the pen-name of Miss Alice French,
who has written good short stories of Trans-Mississippi
life. She was born at Andover, Massachusetts, about
1850, and was educated there, but her father had settled
at Davenport, Iowa. She has a plantation in Arkansas,
and her stories generally relate to that State or Iowa.
They are marked by strong dramatic quality, truth in
dialect, character, and scenery. Some of her collections
are "Knitters in the Sun," "Otto, the Knight," "Stories
of a Western Town," "Stories of Capital and Labor."

New England life is by no means exhausted as a quarry
for the novelist in search of characters and types. Several
women writers have done good work in this direction and
have brought to light some striking specimens. Among
these is Sarah Orne Jewett, born at South Berwick, Maine,
in 1849. Her first book, "Deephaven" ( 1877) , was in the
form of an autobiography, revealing life in fishing villages.
Her chief novel is "A Country Doctor," but most of her
work has been in short stories, which Howells has pro-
nounced masterpieces. Among them are "The King of
Folly Island" (1888), "The Country of the Pointed Firs"
(1896).

Another successful explorer of this field is Mary
Eleanor Wilkins, born at Randolph, Massachusetts, about
1855. In her first book, "The Adventure of Ann" ( 1886) ,
and other collections of short stories, "A Humble
Romance," "A New England Nun," and "Young
Lucretia," she deals with plain country folk, and espe-
cially the old maids. "Giles Corey, Yeoman" (1893) is
a play depicting colonial times. In her later novels, "Jane
Field" (1893), "Madelon" (1895), and "Jerome, a Poor

5o8 LITERATURE XIX CENTURY

Man" (1897), there is more attempt to introduce roman
ticism. 'The Long Arm" ( 1895) won a prize as a detec-
tive story.

Still another who deals with New England life is Mrs.
Annie Trumbull Slosson, born in Stonington, Connecticut,
of the well-known Trumbull family. She has, however,
directed her attention chiefly to peculiar characters, such
as are "cracked" or "a little off." Seven of her sketches
were collected under the title, "Seven Dreamers" (1891).
The best is "Fishin* Jimmy."

Another writer of this class is Mrs. Sarah Pratt (Mc-
Lean) Greene, who had the unpleasant experience of being
tried for libel for her "Cape Cod Folks" (1881), and had
to alter the story. She has since written "Towhead, the
Story of a Girl" (1884), and "Lastchance Junction"
(1889).

Mrs. Burton Harrison's maiden name was Constance
Gary, and she was born at Vancluse, Virginia, the resi-
dence of her maternal grandfather, Thomas, ninth Lord
Fairfax. She was married to Burton Harrison, who had
removed from Virginia to New York after the war. Her
first story was "Golden Rod" (1878), relating to Mount
Desert. It was followed by "Helen Troy" (1881), a
story of New York society and the Berkshire Hills. Then
came an "Old-Fashioned Fairy Book" (1884), and "Bric-
a-Brac Stories" for children. But the work by which
she attracted special attention was "The Anglomaniacs"
(1889), a brilliant and witty exhibition of certain phases
of American society. "A Bachelor Maid" treated of
social questions of the day; "An Errant Wooing" (1895),
embodies material gathered in a tour in Spain and Italy.
Other stories related to the South before and during the
war. Among them is "A Son of the Old Dominion"

(1897).

AMERICAN 509

Frances C. Tiernan, born at Salisbury, North Caro-
lina, has written, under the pen-name, Christian Reid, a
large number of excellent stories. The first was "Valerie
Aylmer" (1870); others are "A Daughter of Bohemia"
(1873), "A Question of Honor" (1875), "Hearts of
Steel" (1882). In "The Land of the Sky" (1875) the
scene is laid in the Allegheny Mountains.

Mrs. Frances Courtenay Barnum was born in Arkansas
in 1848; her maiden name was Baylor. Besides many
short stories and essays, she has written "On Both Sides,"
an international novel, and "Behind the Blue Ridge."

Louise Chandler Moulton, born at Ponfret, Con-
necticut, in 1835, has been active as a writer of children's
stories, poems, sketches, essays, and novels. Among her
sketches are "Ourselves and Our Neighbors" (1887),
"Some Women's Hearts" (1888).

Blanche Willis Howard, born at Bangor, Maine, in
1847, has by marriage become Mrs. von Teuffel, and lives
in Germany. She has published several popular novels,
"One Summer" (1875), "One Year Abroad" (1877),
"The Open Door" (1889), "No Heroes" (1893).

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