PAR COURSE IN A N0 AMERICAN i tKATURE Qfarncll Uniucrsity IQthrary Stliata. Ncm ^ork FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 3EQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Library PR 85.H61 One year course in English and American 3 1924 013 353 903 LnjiUiffi Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013353903 '^#"«.- J^l^ ^ ^ £«- ONE YEAR COURSE IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CHIEF AUTHORS IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE, WITH READING LISTS AND REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY BY BENJAMIN A. HEYDRICK, A.M. Chairman of English Department, High School uf (Commerce, New York City; Author of "How to Study Literature," "Short Studies in Composition," etc. HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE 31-33-35 West 15x1-1 Street, New York City Copyright, 1909, BY BENJAMIN A. HEYBRICK, PREFACE This book is written for the purpose of providing for students in liigti schools and academies an introduction to the literature of their mother tongue. There are already a number of books on this subject : the present work will be found to differ from them in several respects. The method followed by most writers in preparing an elementary text-book on Enghsh literature is, apparently, to take a larger work and make a small one by simply reducing the scale. Fifty pages on Shakespeare are re- duced to ten, and so on. When the minor writers are reached, they are condensed into a line or two, with the result that much of the book is a mere list of names and titles. These dry bones the teacher is left to animate as best he can. In this work there has been no attempt to include all the writers who have contributed to English literature. There are many authors who survive only for purposes of post-graduate study. George Gascoigne, John Skelton, Roger Ascham, Ambrose Phillips, are names of signifi- cance to the scholar tracing the evolution of literary forms, but not to the beginner, who needs a guide to what is best in the public library. Throughout this work, then, em- phasis is placed upon books that still live. The nineteenth century in particular is treated fully; its writers may be no greater than those of the eighteenth, but they have more to say to us. iv I'REFACE The mere study of a text-book, however, will give no one a knowledge of English literature. That must be gained by reading the authors themselves. To this end, each chapter is followed by a Ust of recommended reading in the chief authors, with references to volumes of selec- tions where these may be found. And since many pupils will now begin to form their own libraries, under each chief author is mentioned a standard library edition of his works, and inexpensive editions of single volumes. The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. Guy M. Carleton for valuable suggestions and criticism. B. A. HEYDRICK. New York, January, 1909. CONTENTS I. ENGLISH LITERATURE CHAPTER PAGE L The Beginning of English Literature . . . i Beowulf — Cjedmon — Bede — Alfred. II. Chaucer and his Contemporaries ... g Chaucer — Wiclif — Mandeville. III. The Fifteenth Centurv ...... 15 Ballad Poetry — Early Drama — Malory. IV. The Elizabethan Age 21 Spenser — Marlowe — Shakespeare — Jonson — Bacon. V. The Puritan and Restoration Periods ... 34 Milton — Bunyan — Herrick — Dryden. VI. The Classical Age 46 Swift — Addison — Steele — Pope — Defoe — Richard- son — Fielding, VII. The Age of Johnson 56 Johnson — Goldsmith — Burke — Gibbon — Thomson — Gray. VIII. The Age of Romanticism 66 Burns — Coleridge — Wordsworth — Scott — Byron — Shelley— Keats— Lamb — De Quincey. IX. The Victorian Era 9° Tennyson — Browning — Macaulay — Carlyle — Ruskin — Dickens — Thackeray — Eliot — Stevenson. V vi CONTENTS PAGE Quotations for Memorizing iig List of Books referred to 142 II. AMERICAN LITERATURE PART I. THE PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS, 1608-1809 CHAPTER I. The Colonial Writers ...... 145 Smith — Mather — Edwards. II. The Revolutionary Writers 150 Henry — Jefferson — Hamilton — Freneau — Franlclin. PART II. THE PERIOD OF ACHIEVEMENT, 1809-1870 III. The Knickerlocker School 156 Irving — Cooper — Bryant. IV. The New England Group — Poets and Es.sayists . 167 Emerson — Longfellow — Whittier — Lowell — Holmes — Thoreau. V. The New England Group — Orators, Novelists, AND Historians 193 Webster — Hawthorne — Stowe — Bancroft — Prescott — Parkman — Motley. VI. Early Southern Writers 209 Simms — Poe — Hayne — Timrod. VII. Writers of the Middle States .... 218 Taylor — Whitman — Stoddard — Curtis. PART III. RECENT PERIOD, 1870-1908 VIII. New England since 1S70 228 Stedman — Aldrich — Hale — Warner — Fiske. IX. The New South 237 Lanier — Cable — Harris — Page — Allen. CONTENTS Vll CHATTER TAGE X. Recent Writers of the Middle States . . . 244 Burroughs — Howells — James — Crawford — Stockton. XI. The Rise ok Western Literature .... 252 Harte — Clemens — Eggleston — Field — Riley. (Quotations for Memorizino ....... 262 List of Books referred to ...... . 278 Lndex 279 INTRODUCTION If one were asked to name the chief writers in American literature, one would probably think first of Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, and Lowell. A httle more reflection would suggest Poe, Bryant, Hawthorne, Cooper, Irving, Franklin, and Holmes. These are the writers who stand foremost in our literature, and, with the exception of Franklin, they all belong to a single period. The si.xty years from 1809 to 1869 saw the chief work of these authors. This may be called the Period of Achievement in American literature. The earlier period, which includes the writings of Franklin and of the Revolutionary orators, we may call the Period of Beginnings. And the period since 1870, including authors now living, we may call the Recent Period. So our literary history divides itself naturally into three periods, which will be treated in the three parts of this book. Acknowledgment is hereby made of the permission granted by Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company to use extracts from copyrighted poems by J. G. Whittier, O. W. Holmes, and E. R. Sill ; to Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons for selections from R. H. Stoddard ; to Little, Brown, and Co. for selections from Emily Dickinson ; to Horace Traubel for selections from Walt Whitman; and to James Whitcomb Riley for selections from his own writings. ENGLISH LITERATURE CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Beoivulf Bcdc Cadmon tCing Alfred The beginning of English literature goes back to the beginning of the English race. The people we call Eng- hsh had their first home not in England at all, but on the shores of the North Sea, on the peninsula of Jutland and in that part of Germany now known as Schleswig-Holstein. These people came to England in great numbers in the fifth and sixth centuries, and conquering the original inhab- itants, established the Anglo-Saxon nation, as it was called. They brought with them their hterature, in the Anglo- Saxon language. A great part of this literature has been lost. Of that which survives, the most noted work is an epic poem called Beowulf (Bay'o-wulf). This poem begins by telling how Hrothgar, a Danish king, built a splendid mead-hall where he and his warriors might feast after fighting. A supernatural monster called Grendel, hearing the sound of minstrelsy, comes to the hall by night and slays thirty of the warriors while they sleep. Again and again he comes to the hall ; his strength is so great that no bars can keep him out ; he bears a charmed life, so no sword can wound him. So the hall stands deserted, and King Hrothgar in despair sends for 2 THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Beowulf, a prince of a neighboring land, to come to liis aid. l^eowulf comes with twelve companions, and is enter- tained in the hall with feasting and song. That night Grendel comes again, seizes one of the sleeping warriors, drinks his blood, and devours him even to his hands and feet. Then he attacks Beowulf, and a fearful struggle ensues. Beowulf, who had the strength of thirty men, seized Grendel by the arm; the monster struggled to escape ; his frightful cries filled the hall ; at last he fairly wrenched his arm out of its socket and rushed away to die in his lair. Then there is great joy, a feast is held, and rich presents are given to the hero Beowulf. But that very night the mother of Grendel, a frightful monster, comes to take vengeance, and seizing one of the compan- ions of Beowulf, bears him away to her den. In the morn- ing Beowulf and his fellows follow the trail of the mon- ster and come at last to a dark stagnant water beneath the cliffs. Beowulf boldly plunges in and finds the monster in a cave beneath the water. He grapples with her, and the water is churned up by their struggle. In spite of his great strength, Beowulf is slowly overcome by the monster and forced to the floor of the cave. Reaching out desper- ately, his hand grasps a sword lying on the ground ; it chances to be an enchanted sword, and with it he kills the monster. He returns to the mead-hall with the heads of the two creatures ; their blood is so poisonous that it melts the blade of the sword with which the heads are severed. Beowulf goes back to his own land laden with gifts, and rules there for many years. When he is an old man, his country is menaced by a great danger. A dragon, breath- ing fire, flies by night over the land, seizing people and setting fire to dwellings. Beowulf, old as he is, goes forth to slay the dragon, accompanied by his bravest followers. UEowuLF, ci:dmon 3 As they approach the cave they see skeletons lying all about; the sight is so terrifying that all of his followers except one turn and flee. The hero attacks the dragon single-handed ; a mighty combat follows in which Beowulf slays his enemy, but is himself mortally wounded. His followers bring forth the hoard of gold and jewels the dragon had guarded, and Beowulf gives thanks that he has won them for his people. He dies, and in his honor a lofty mound is built, which may be seen by passing ships; this as a memorial to the king who was " mildest to his men, and most bent upon glory." The poem is typical of the race which produced it. Stern fighters, loyal friends, brave in the face of danger, desiring honor more than they feared death, the Anglo- Saxons gave to the English race the iron in the blood which has made them a conquering people. Beozviilf can hardly be regarded as the first English poem, since it was written on the mainland, probably in the sixth century. The oldest English poem of which we have any record is called Widsith, or the Far- Wanderer. This tells of the wanderings of a poet in many lands, how he was received with honor at the courts of kings, and how in return he sang of their deeds and so gave fame to them. The poem is of interest as showing the position of the poet, or Scop, as he was called, among the Anglo- Saxon peoples. More important than Widsith is the work of Caedmon, a Northumbrian monk of the eighth century. The Anglo- Saxons had been converted to Christianity by missionaries from Rome and from Ireland. Monasteries were estab- lished in many places, and these were the centers of learn- ing as well as of religious influence. At the monastery of Whitby, in Northumbria, lived the poet Caedmon. His 4 THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Story is told by the historian Bede. It was the custom of the time at banquets, after the feasting was concluded, to pass the harp from one to another, and the guests would play and sing, often improvising the words. Caedmon was an unlearned man, and when he saw the harp approaching him, he slipped out from the hall and went to the cattle sheds. There he fell asleep, and in a vision the Lord ap- peared to him and said, " Caedmon, sing something for me." He replied, " Lord, I cannot sing, and for that reason I left the banquet for shame when I saw the harp approaching." Then the Lord said, " Nevertheless, sing for me." — " What shall I sing ? " — " Sing of the Creation." Then he began and sang of the Creation, and of the beginning of mankind. When he awoke he remembered the poem, and repeated it. The monks heard it with astonishment, and took him before the abbess. She bade the scholars tell him more of the Bible history, and he turned this into poetry as before. In this way he composed his great work, the Paraphrase of the Scriptures. It includes the books of Genesis, Exodus, and parts of Daniel. Caedmon did more than merely put into verse the Biblical narratives : there are many places where from his own imagination he adds descriptions and incidents that are highly poetic. In some passages there is a close resemblance between Caedmon's ParapJirase and Milton's Paradise Lost, and it is probable that Milton was influenced by this early poet. The great names in Anglo-Saxon poetry, then, are Beowulf and Caedmon ; in prose they are Bede and King Alfred. Bede was a learned monk of the monastery at Jarrow, in Northumberland ; his most noted work is the Ecclesiastical History of England, in which the story of Caedmon appears. This work was originally written in Latin, which was then the language usually used for BEUE, KINi; ALFRED 5 learned works. He wrote in Anglo-Saxon a translation of St. John's Gospel. This was the last work of his life, and as it progressed he grew weaker, so that it was necessary to have one of his pupils write as he dictated. On the last day of his life the pupil who was writing for him said, " Master, there is still one chapter wanting : does it trouble you to be asked questions } " — " It is no trouble, my son ; take your pen and write quickly." At evening the boy said, " Dear master, there is yet one sentence unwritten." — " Write it quickly," he said. Soon the boy said, "It is finished." He replied, "You have spoken the truth, it is iinished," and with a psalm upon his lips he passed away. Bede was our first English historian; King Alfred (849-901), better known as Alfred the Great, was the first great English educator. When he came to the throne he saw with regret that, owing to the destruction of many monasteries by the Danes, learning was fast dying out. The common people knew no Latin, many of the priests were ignorant, and all the learning of the time was in the Latin tongue. To remedy this, Alfred had many books translated into Anglo-Saxon, and himself aided in the translations. In this way books on geography, history, philosophy, and theology were made accessible to the common people. Bede's Ecclesiastical History was one of the books translated. Under Alfred, too, a great advance was made in recording the history of the time. For many years a record had been kept, now known as the Saxon Clironicle. This, however, was brief and frag- mentary ; a year's history was compressed into a single line. Under Alfred's direction it became a full and spirited narrative, and it remains one of the great monu- ments of Anglo-Saxon prose. 6 THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE It may be well to give here some idea of the Anglo- Saxon language, or Old English as it is sometimes called. The following lines are from Beowulf : Beowulf waes breme, blad wide sprang, Scyldes eafera, Scede-landum in.^ This is not much like modern English. Not only are many of the words strange to us, but the grammatical structure is different. In the second line the word Scyldes is in the genitive case, while laneiiiin is a dative. Anglo- Sa.xon was hke Latin or German in using various endings of a word to express relations which English expresses by prepositions, as shown in the translation. How was this strange speech transformed into the Enghsh that we know.' This was accomphshed through the Norman Conquest. William of Normandy and his followers, who conquered the Anglo-Saxons in 1066, fol- lowed the example of the earlier invaders and settled in the country they had won. Like the Saxons, too, they brought with them their language and literature, and tried to make it the language of the land. Norman French was spoken at court, it was taught in schools, it was the language of the law courts, and of the ruling class as a whole. But the conquered Saxons clung stubbornly to their own speech, and for two hundred years after the Conquest, Anglo-Saxon continued to be spoken and written side by side with French. But the Saxon was obliged to learn some French words, and the Norman to learn some English, so gradually a new language grew up, a blending of the two. It had many Saxon words, but it had lost nearly all the Saxon grammatical endings; it had many French words, but these ^ Beowulf was famous, his renown spread wide, The son of Scyld, in Scandinavia land. READING FOR CIIArXER I ^ were often altered in form or in pronunciation ; this lan- guage, made in the mouth, so to speak, was modern English. It took from the Saxon most names of common things, such as man, house, ivagon, stone; from the French it took words expressing ideas which Norman civilization had introduced, such as eastle, ehivaliy, eourtcsy ; and many law terms, such as damage, trespass, counsel, prisoner. Often both the Saxon and the Norman name survived, as "house" and "mansion" "king" and "monarch," "room" and "apart- ment" "ask" and "inquire" so that the English language is particularly rich in synonyms, and has a larger vocabulary than any other language, ancient or modern. A further result of this blending of two languages was to give to English both the rugged strength of Saxon and some of the grace and polish of French. By the close of the four- teenth century the new language had been formed, it had become established as the language of the schools, of the law courts, and of the universities. It was a fit instrument for a great writer, and in Geoffrey Chaucer that writer was found. READING FOR CHAPTER I Beowulf has been translated by various authors. Ver.se translations are by J. M. Garnett (Ginn), J. L. Hal] (Heath). Prose translations by C. B. Tinker (Newson), J. Earle (Clarendon Press), C. G. Child (Houghton). J. R. C. Hall (Macmillan). Selections are given in S. Brooke's Early English Literature (Macmillan). Caedmon's Paraphrase is most accessible in .S. H. Gurteen's Epic of tlie Fall of Man (Putnam). Extended selections arc given in S. Brooke's Early English Literature (Macmillan). .Selections from Anglo-.Saxon poetry are also found in Longfellow's Poets and I'octrv of Europe (Houghton) and Morley's English Writers, vol. ii (Cassell). Fuller treatment of the writers in this period may be found in B. Ten Brink's Early English IJterature (Holt), S. Brooke's Early English 8 THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Literature (Macmillan), H. Morley's English Writers., vols, i and ii (Cassell). Garnett and Gosse's History of English Literature, \o\. i (Macmillan), gives facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts with quaint illustrations. For changes in the language, see T. R. Lounsbury's History of tlie English Language (Holt) or O. F. Emerson's English Language (Macmillan). CHAPTER II CHAUCER AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES Geoffrey Chaiieer folni Wiclf Sir John de JlTaiidei'ille The first great writer of the Anglo-Saxon period was a poet; the first great writer in modern Enghsh was also a poet. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London about 1340. His father was a wine merchant who had supplied the court, and Chaucer as a boy became a court page. He went to France with the royal army, was captured, ran- somed, returned to England, and received a new court position ; was sent to Italy and other countries on state business, mar- ried a lady of the court, was made controller of customs at the port of London, became a member of Parliament, and after a full and successful life died in London in 1400. He is remembered, however, not as the successful man of affairs but as the first great English poet. In his early life at court he learned French and became familiar with the Norman-French literature of the time. This consisted chiefly of long narrative poems telling the adventures and 9 GEOFFREY CHAUCER lO CHAUCER AND HIS CONTE>n\)RARIES exploits of famous heroes. Some of these poems were based upon the story of the siege of Troy, others told of Alexander the Great, others of Charlemagne and his Twelve Peers, others of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Then there were many short poems dealing with love and chivalry, some of which Chaucer imitated in his earliest writings. When he went to Italy he learned to know another of the great literatures of the world. The poetry of Dante, of Petrarch, of Boccaccio, opened a new world to him ; he read with delight, and under the influence of Italian writers he wrote a long nar- rative poem called Troilus and Cressida. In later life, how- ever, he turned from French and Italian models and wrote his most original and greatest work, the Canterbury Tales. The plan of the book is as follows : a company of pil- grims set out from London to journey to the tomb of Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. The poet represents himself as meeting this company at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, a suburb of London. The host of the Tabard is so much pleased with the company that he offers to ride with them, and proposes that, to make the journey pleasanter, each person in the company shall tell four stories, two going and two returning, and upon their re- turn the one who has told the best tale shall have a supper at the others' cost. This is agreed to, and the pilgrims ride forth. They are a diverse company : there is a knight, a farmer, a lawyer, a merchant, a monk, a parson, a par- doner, a student of Oxford, a miller, a weaver, a nun, a wife — twenty-nine in all, drawn from various classes of society. Each one tells a tale according to his nature. The Knight's tale is one of love and chivalry, the Prioress tells of the sufferings of one persecuted for his faith, the Miller has a coarse tale, the Parson preaches a sermon. GEOFFREY CHAUCER 11 The tales are so well told that they rank among the best in English literature. One of the shorter tales is that of the Pardoner, or seller of indulgences. He tells us that in Flanders there was once a company of young men who were given to drinking and gambling. One day as three of them sat drinking in a tavern, a corpse was carried past. They sent to inquire, and learned that it was a former companion of theirs, who had fallen in a pestilence, in which Death had claimed many victims. In their anger they take an oath to find out Death and slay him. They go forth from the tavern and presently meet an old man whom they greet roughly and demand that he show them where Death is. He replies that he had seen him in a field near by, sitting under a tree. They hasten there, and find a great heap of money, newly coined, at which they rejoice greatly. Finally one of them suggests that if they are found with their treasure they will be taken for thieves, so he proposes that two of them shall remain there to guard it, while the third goes to the town and brings a strong sack in which they may carry away the treasure by night, also some wine to cheer them at their work. Accordingly they draw lots to see which shall go, and the youngest is sent to town. As soon as he has gone, the one who proposed the plan tells his comrade that if it could only be managed that they two could divide the whole treasure between them, they could live in mirth all their lives. The other agrees to this, and the first then unfolds his plan. When the young man returns with the wine, one of his comrades is to wrestle with him in sport, and while his arms are upraised, the other is to stab him in the side. Then they will bury his body and make off with the treasure. This is agreed upon. Meanwhile the young man had been turning over in his mind the beauty of the 12 CHAUCER AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES coins, and wishing that he might have them all for himself. So the Evil One suggests a means of accomplishing this. When he reaches the town he buys food and drink — three bottles of wine. Then he goes to an apothecary and asks for some poison, saying he wishes to kill some rats. He puts poison into two of the bottles, keeping the third sweet for his drinking. Then he hastens back to his comrades. They stab him as they had planned, then they sit down to drink, and opening the poisoned wine, drink of it, and die in great agony. So the tale ends. The Pardoner goes on to make the application of it, saying that it was. the sin of avarice that brought these men to their death, and urges his hearers not to be avaricious, but to give freely to religious men like himself. The Canterbury Talcs, besides its merits as a work of literature, is highly valuable as a picture of English life of the period. Chaucer's busy career had made him famihar with his countrymen, both of high and low degree, and in the Prologue to the Canterbury Talcs, where he describes the pilgrims, he draws a series of portraits that is un- matched in English literature. We are told the stature of the pilgrims, their dress, their complexion, the very ornaments they wore; we learn of their business and how they managed it; we see the poor parson who served a widely-scattered congregation faithfully, the jolly monk who was fonder of hunting than of praying, the lawyer always full of business, "and yet he seemed busier than he was," the Oxford student in his threadbare cloak, who spent all his money for books — all of these are typical characters, and drawn with such art that they live for us to-day. Chaucer is the great name in English poetry of the four- teenth century; the title "father of English poetry" is his WICLIK, DE MANDEVILLE 1 3 without dispute. There were other English poets in his time but none who approached him in genius, and as the plan of this book excludes those writers who are of little or no importance to-day, it is not necessary to dwell upon other poetical productions. In prose, the chief names in this period are Wiclif and Sir John de Mandeville. John Wiclif was a monk and a reformer. He wrote a number of pamphlets attacking the corruption that had grown up in the church, and in order that the common people might have a guide of their own in religious affairs he planned to have the Bible translated into English. Up to this time the only versions had been in Greek and Latin, which few but the priests could read. This translation was completed about 1380, Wiclif him- self writing the New Testament and other scholars the Old. The other famous prose writer of the period, Sir John de Mandeville, was really a Frenchman, but his work was early translated into Enghsh, and its great popularity in England justifies its classification among English books. This was the 1 'oyagcs and Travels of Sir Jolui de Mande- ville. The author represents himself as one who has traveled in Eastern countries and seen many marvelous things. He tells us that the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel are shut up between the mountains of Scythia, and in the last day they shall be released. He says that in Africa there is a race of people who have but one foot, yet they can run very swiftly. When they are tired, they lie down and shelter themselves from the sun with their feet, which are so large that they shade the whole body. Part of this book appears to be a record of real travel, part of it is taken from other books, and a large part from the author's im- agination. But the people of that day were not critical; 14 CHAUCER AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES they were eager to hear travelers' tales, the more marvel- ous the better, so that the Travels was long a popular work. READING FOR CHAPTER II Chaucer. — From the Canterbury Tales, read the Prologue and one or more of the following : Pardoner's Tale, Man of Lawe's Tale, Clerk's Tale, Nun's Priest's Tale. The Canterbury Tales are published in a single volume in the Globe ' and Cambridge series. An inexpensive edition is the Astor. The chief tales, with modernized spelling, are in Everyman's Library. Selections are given in Ward's English Poets, vol. i, Chambers's Cy- clopedia of English Literature, vol. i, Warner Library, and iVlanly's English Poetry. Mandeville. — The Voyages and Travels are in the Library of Eng- lish Classics and National Library, the latter in modernized spelling. For fuller treatment of this period, see the references for Chap. I ; also, J. J. Jusserand's Literary History of the English People (Put- nam), W. J. Courthope's History of English Poetry (Macmillan), F. J. Snell, The Age of Chaucer (Macmillan), and A. W. Ward's Chaucer in the English Men of Letters series (Macmillan) . 1 For pul)lisher and price of various editions, see p. 142. CHAPTER III THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Ballad Poetry Bcgiiniiiigs of the Drama Malor/s " Mortc U Arthur " The century after the death of Chaucer has no such great names as the preceding period. It was a time when civil war after civil war swept over the nation, and this, together with rehgious persecution, left the people little time to think of literature. Yet some genuine literature was produced, and preparation was made for the great revival of literature which followed in the next century. Perhaps the most important literary productions of the period were the Popular Ballads. These were short nar- rative poems, simple in language and in meter, which grew up, so to speak, among the people. No author's name is attached to any of them. A ballad would be composed by some unknown singer, and repeated after him by another, who would perhaps add a stanza or two, and so the song passed through change after change until the original poem may have almost disappeared. Many of these poems deal with the adventures of Robin Hood, a popular English outlaw, who with his band of merry men lay in wait in Sherwood forest. The rich merchant or abbot who fell into Robin's hands had to pay well for his release ; the poor man was often set free with a present. The ballads tell of Robin Hood's skill in archery, recalling the famous chapter in Ivanlioc, where Robin Hood appears as Eocksley. 15 l6 THE FIFTEENTPI CENTURY Other ballads deal with the supernatural, telling strange ghost stories ; in others the story turns upon the solution of a riddle. Of this class a good example is the ballad of King John a)id the Bishop. The King accuses the Bishop of treason, and says that he must forfeit his head unless he can answer three questions. First, he must tell to a penny how much the King is worth; second, he must tell how long it would take to ride around the world ; and finally, he must tell the King's thoughts. The Bishop goes home sorrowful. He meets an old shepherd, who asks why he is sad, and finally offers to go and answer the questions on the appointed day. Dressed in the Bishop's robes, he goes to the palace. The King asks how much he is worth, gold crown and all; the shepherd replies, "Our Lord was sold for thirty pence, and you are worth twenty- nine, for you are worth a penny less than He." To the second question, how long it would take to ride around the world, the shepherd replies, " You must rise with the sun, and ride with him, and in twenty-four hours you will go round the world." Then the King asks what he is think- ing at that moment ; the shepherd, throwing off his hood, says, " You think I am the Bishop of Canterbury, but I am only his shepherd, come to beg pardon for him and for me." Of course the King pardons them both. Besides the ballad literature, we find in this period the beginnings of the English drama. Strange as it may seem, this had its origin in the church. The festivals of Christmas and Easter were observed with great ceremony in the Roman Catholic church. At Christmas they had a representation of the coming of the Three Wise Men, led by the star ; on Good Friday the monks would bury the crucifix in a tomb, and take it out on Easter morning, with monks or choir boys impersonating the three Marys BEGIXNlNiiS OF Till'; DRAMA \-J and the angel at the tomb. These representations grew so popular that it was necessary to hold them in the churchyard. Other scenes from Bible history were repre- sented, and as these grew more like plays they passed out of the hands of the monks and were given by the guilds, or trades unions of the town. These plays, called Mystery Plays, were given annually at many towns in England. As yet there were no thea- ters, so the various scenes were acted on huge platforms or floats drawn through the streets. The spectators assem- bled at various places in the town where the pageant was to pass. First appeared a float on which the Creation of Eve and the Fall of Man was represented. Adam lay sleeping, dressed in flesh-colored garments. The Creator approaches him, touches his side. Eve rises through a trap- door, and Adam wakes, rejoicing. Then the Creator with- draws. The serpent appears, talks to Eve, and persuades her to eat the apple. Then the angels of God come with swords and drive the pair forth. This concludes the first scene ; a trumpet sounds, and the float moves forward to the next stopping-place, where the scene is repeated. Meantime a second float has been drawn in, and the actors have begun the scene of Noah's Flood. They do not keep closely to the Bible story ; Noah's wife is represented as unwilling to enter the ark, and a humorous dialogue follows. The ne.xt scene presents the Sacrifice of Isaac, given by the butchers' guild ; then follow the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and so on, until the procession closes with the Day of Judgment, with the Devil tossing lost souls into the mouth of hell. These plays seem very crude to us. Like the ballads, their authorship is unknown ; they were probably worked upon by many hands. THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Ci?«etifSP«tittt)atKi«?fc fiott) p l)pe fiiocrofijcnrnftiiDcUjoctlictofa. tnoa (uec!> creature to come ana g)>ue a (ountc of t!)trt iptics lit f\)\s iboiiDemno is in manci; oCair.ojaiipiaye.""*™- There was another class of plays popular at this time known as Morality Plays. These, as the name implies, aimed to teach a moral lesson. One of the best examples of this class is Everyman. In the opening of this play God is represented as looking down upon the world and see- ing Everyman devoted to pleas- ure, and quite forgetting his Maker. So he sends his mes- senger, Death, to tell Everyman that he must make ready for a long journey. Everyman begs to have it put off, but Death says it may not be. Then Everyman asks if he must go alone, and Death replies that if he can find any one willing to go with him, he may have company. So Everyman asks his friend if he will do him a service. The friend promises everything ; but when he learns what is required, he re- fuses. Everyman then appeals to his kindred ; they will do anything else for him, but not this. Then he calls upon his wealth. Wealth replies that it is in sacks and piles, and may not stir. At last, in despair, he calls upon Good Deeds. She replies that she is so bound by his sins that she cannot stir. She tells him to seek Knowledge, who guides him to Confession and Penance. By this means Good Deeds is strengthened, and arises to go with Every- man. They set forth, accompanied by Beauty, Strength, Five Wits, and Knowledge. As they approach the grave Beauty leaves him first, then Strength, Five Wits, TITLE PAGE OF "EVERYMAN" MALORY'S MORTE D' ARTHUR I9 and even Knowledge. Only Good Deeds goes with him on his long journey, to appear with him before God. This play is of a higher order than the Mystery plays ; the Morahty plays were usually written by monks, who, perceiving the newly awakened interest in the drama, em- ployed it as a means of moral and rehgious teaching. The Mystery and Morality plays accustomed the people to dramatic representations, trained many in the art of acting, and so prepared the way for the great develop- ment of the drama izi the next century. An important event in this period was the introduction of printing. In 1476 William Caxton, an Englishman who had learned the art of printing in Flanders, returned and set up a press in London. He published a long list of books, including the works of Chaucer and many transla- tions from Latin and French authors. One of the most important of Caxton's publications was the Morte D' Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory. This dealt with the history of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. For many years legends had been told about King Arthur, and, as usual with such tales, they grew as they passed from one to another of the narrators ; the account of the mysterious birth of Arthur was added by one, the legend of the Holy Grail by another. The stories had been written in Latin and in French ; Sir Thomas Malory first put them into Enghsh. This book Caxton published, he tells us, "that noble men may see and learn the noble acts of chivalry, the gentle and virtu- ous deeds that some knights used in those days, by which they came to honour ; and how they that were vicious were often put to shame and rebuke." It is full of tales of chivalry, a treasure-house of romance from which in later days Tennyson drew freely for his Idylls of tlic King. 20 THE FlFTEENllI CENTURY READING FOR CHAPTER HI Ballads. — Si'r Patiiik Spi-iis ; Nid-bycnun Maid ; Clicvv Chase (modern); Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbornc; lld/y, U'afy; King Eslincrc ; Edo/n o' Gordon: Adam Bell; Heir of Liniic; Pair Margaret . The best collection of ballads is G. L. Kittredge's in the Camliridge series.^ Other collections are F. B. Gummere's Old EnglisJi Ballads (Ginn), Percy's Reliques (Everyman's, and Astor ed.). Representa- tive ballads are in Ward, vol. i; Chambers, vol. i; Warner; O.xford, and Manly. Early English Drama. — Everyman, Ralph Royster Doyster. Everyman is in A. W. Pollard's English ATiracle Plays (Clarendon Press). Ralph Royster Doyster is in J. M. Manly's Specimens of the pre-Shahesperian Drama (Ginn) and separately in Temple Dramatists. Ilalory. — From Morte D' Arthur, Bk. 1, Chaps. IV-VII ; Bl^. 11, Chaps. XIV-XIX ; Bl<. XIII, Chaps. I-XV ; Bk. XXI, Chaps. I-VII. The Morte D^Arthiir is in the Library of English Classics (2 vols.). Globe (I vol.), Everyman's Library (2 vols.), Temple (4 vols.). Selec- tions in Athensum and Riverside Literature series. For fuller treatment of this period, see C. M. Gayle3''s Plays of Our Forefathers (Duffieid). F. J. Snell's The Age of Transition (IVIacmil- lan), H. Morley's English Writers, vol. vii (Cassell). ^ For publisher and price of various editions, see p. 142. CHAPTER IV THE ELIZABETHAN AGE Edmund Spenser William Shakespeare Christopher Jfar/oZi. 72_ BUNVAX, HERBERT 39 was published in 1678. The repeal of the law against preaching set him free, and he resumed his exhortations in a chapel which was built for him at Bedford. The Pilgrim' s Progress tells of a man who learns that his native city is threatened with destruction, and goes out to seek safety. One directs him in one way, another in another. He passes through narrow and dangerous paths; is threatened by giants and wild beasts; but at last reaches a safe and happy land. Such is the main outline of the book. But through it all runs a double meaning : the wanderer's name is Christian, his false guide is Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, the true guide is Evangelist, and the country he finally reaches is the Celestial Country. The book is thus an allegory, and pictures the spiritual life of man. The language of the book, modeled upon that of the English Bible, is wonderfully direct and powerful. To this simplicity and strength of style Bunyan added narrative power of a high order. In other circumstances he might have been a great novelist. A third merit of the book is its absolute truth as a pictui'c of spiritual experience. We all bear a burden, as Cliristian did ; we all fall into the Slough of Despond at times, or are imprisoned in the castle of Giant Despair. In reading the book we recognize our own experiences, and as the heart of man is the same in all centuries, so this won- derful book never loses its power. It remains the great- est prose allegory in our literature, and one of the great allegories of the world. Milton and Bunyan are the chief names of this period. There are a number of other writers, both in prose and verse, but our brief survey permits of the mention of only a few. George Herbert (1593-1633) is one of those who cannot be passed over. His little volume of religious 40 THE rURITAN AND RESTORATION PERIODS poesms, Tlic Temple, is full of verses of singular sweet- ness and charm. The quality of his work is seen in the following poem : VIRTUE Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright. The bridal of the earth and sky, Sweet dews shall weep thy fall to-night, For thou must die. Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave, Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, Thy root is ever in its grave And thou must die. Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, A box where sweets compacted lie, M}' music shows you have your closes. And all must die. Only a sweet and virtuous soul. Like seasoned timber, never gives ; But when the whole world turns to coal. Then chiefly lives. Another poet of this time was Robert Herrick (1591- 1674), a country parson who de- lighted in the sight of daffodils and primroses filled with dew, in country merrymakings, and in country superstitions about fair- ies. His brief poems on these subjects have the freshness and beauty of flowers. They were published in a volume called Hesperides. A second volume, Noble Numbers, contains poems on sacred themes that are wor- ROBERT HERRICK thy of thclr tltlC. IZAAlv WALTON 41 Our survey of the period will close with Izaak Walton ( I 593-16S5). He li\-es in literature by his CojiipUat Aiiglci\ a book which, while intended for fishermen, is written in so quaint and delightful a vein, with its pictures of outdoor life and its touches of gentle humor, that it is read chiefly by those who seldom go a-fish- ing. The following is his de- scription of the song of birds : "As first the lark, when she means to rejoice, to cheer herself and those that hear her. she then quits the earth and sings as she ascends higher into the air ; and having ended her heavenly employment, grows then mute and sad to think she must descend to the dull earth, which she would not touch but for necessity. How do the blackbird and throssel, with their melodious voices, bid welcome to the cheerful spring, and in their fixed mouths warble forth such ditties as no art or instrument can reach to ! . . . But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat tliat it might make mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the very laborer sleeps securely, should hear, as 1 have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say : • Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven, when thou affordest bad men such music upon earth ! ' " 12AAK WALTON The law of action and reaction is curiously illustrated in the history of the seventeenth century. The Puritan age, with its theaters all closed and its strict Sabbath observance, was followed by the Restoration, when a pleasure-loving king set the fashion of dissolute living, and a great part of 42 rilE PURITAN AND RESTORATION RERIODS the people followed his example. The literature of the period as usual reflected the changed attitude. In place of the serious and dignified poetry of Milton and Herbert we find poets occupying themselves with satire, or amusing the court with plays which reflected its own low moral standards. Samuel Butler ridiculed the Puritans in a clever poem called Hiidibras. Some of his couplets are still re- membered, as : We grant although he had much wit He was vei'v shy of using it. He could distinguish and divide A hair 'twixt south and southwest side; On either side he could dispute. Confute, change hands, and still confute. Butler describes the Puritans as men who Compound for sins thev are inclined to Bv damning those the)' ha\'e no mind to. In some respects, however, the Restoration influenced English litei'ature for good. The e.xiled King brought back with him from France a taste for French literature. At this time the literature of France was at the height of its achievement. Its prose writers, Pascal, Bossuet, and La F"ontaine, had brought French prose to a far higher degree of perfection than had been attained by any writers in English. In the draina the names of Corneille and Racine in tragedy and Moliere in comedy are still illustrious. This French literature was diligently read in England, and the study of such models helped in the development of English style. This influence is seen in the work of the chief writer of the Restoration period, John Dryden (1631-1700). He JOHN DRYDEN 43 was a man of letters by occupation, and a ver)' industrious one, turning out plays, poems, translations, criticisms, satires, odes — all of it good work, but none of it quite reach- ing the level of great work. He is best remembered as a poet by his Absalom and Achit- op/icl, a political satire; and by his odes, especially Alexander's Feast. Most of his poetry was written in the iambic couplet, a form of verse which he brought to a greater perfec- tion than any previous poet. His lines have been compared to the ring of a great bronze coin thrown down on marble. The famous verses upon Milton give his quality : Three poets,' in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpasseil, The ne.\t in majesty, in both the last. The force of Nature could no farther go ; To make a third, she joined the other two. Dryden's prose writings were chiefly in the form of critical essays. His discussions of Shakespeare and earlier English poets rank him as the first great critic in our liter- ature. The style of these essays, modeled upon the best French prose of the time, was different from that of earlier writers. Milton wrote sentences that were not seldom a page in length, and in construction were more like Latin 1 Ilumer, \^irgil, and Miltim. /'" ^ ^u^erL,. 44 THE rUKITAN AND RESTORATION PERIODS than English. Dryden's prose is clear, vigorous, straight- forward ; he is the first writer in the modern style. One more book of this period remains to be noticed: Pepys's Diary. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was an impor- tant man of the time ; he rose to be Secretary of the Ad- miralty under James II, and was President of the Royal Society. He kept his diary in shorthand, and wrote in it the minutest events of his life. The need of a million pounds for the royal navy is told, and the same page re- cords that he had his wig mended, and went to church with his wife in her new light-colored silk gown, " which is very noble." At Pepys's death he left his diary to Mag- dalen College, Oxford; it was not transcribed and published until a century later. As a picture of the times it is full of interest, and as a revelation of the author's whole self, it is almost unique in English literature. READING FOR CHAPTER V Milton. — Paradise Lost, Books I and II : or Minor Poems : L^ Allegro, Jl Pcnscroso, Coiniis, and Lyculas. Milton's poetical works are edited by D. Masson, 3 vols. (Mac- niillan). Single-volume editions are the Cambridge,^ Globe, and Astor. Paradise Lost is published separately in Temple, Astor, and National. The minor poems (except Covins) and selections from Paradise Lost are in Ward, vol. ii ; Manly; Oxford; Warner, and Chambers, vol. i. Minor poems also in Hales and Pancoast. Bunyan. — The PilgrinCs Progress, Part I, or Grace Abounding. The Pilgrini's Progress is published in Temple, Riverside, Every- man's, and Handy Volume series ; Grace Abounding in National Library. Extracts in Craik, vol. iii. Herrick. — To Daffodils. To Primroses fill' d with Dew, Mad Maid's Song, His Poetrie His I 'itlar. To the I 'irgins. The Pod: of Rubies, Cheny Ripe. To Anthea. A Thanksgii'ing to God, Corinna' s Going ^ For publisher and price uf \avi(_)us cdiliuns, see p. 142. READING FOR ClIArTEK V 45 a-Maying, His Litany, iViglit-Fiiw lo Juliti. To I'ioltis, To Diane/zie, The Hag, To Blossoi/is, The While /slaiu/. To Keep a True Lent. Herrick's poems are in Aldine (2 vols.), Muses, Everyman's, and Temple editions. Copious selections in Ward, vol. ii, and Oxford Book; briefer in Chambers, vol. i; Warner, and Manly. Walton. — Co III pleat Angler, Chaps. II. W. V. This is published in Library English Classics ; also Everyman's, Temple, and National. Brief extracts in Craik, vol. ii ; Warner, and Pancoast. Dryden. — Alexander's feast. Song for St. Cecilia^ s Day, Sketches ot .Achitophel and Zimri in Absalom and Aehitop/iel. Dryden's poems are in Aldine edition (5 vols.), Albion (i vol., F. Warne) : Astor (i vol.). Good selections given in Ward, vol. ii ; Manly; Warner, and Pancoast. For fuller treatment of authors in this period, see : J. H. B. iSIaster- man's The Age of ALilton (Macmillan), R. Garnett's Age of Milton (Macmillan), B. Wendell's Temper of the Seventeenth Century in Eng- lish Literature (Scribner). E. Uowden's Piiiitan and Angliean in Ene;lisli Literature (Holt), and the lives of Milton, Bunyan.and Dryden in English Aden of Letters series (Macmillan). CHAPTER VI THE CLASSICAL AGE Jonathan Swift Richard Steele Daniel Defoe Joseph Addison Alexander Pope Samuel Richardson Henry Fielding The name "classical" is given to the literature of this period because it exhibits the qualities of restraint, of balance, of perfection of form, which characterize Greek and Latin literature. The writers of this period lacked the imagination of the Elizabethans; they were less origi- nal than the Puritan writers, but they excel them both in clearness and correctness. Now clearness and cor- rectness are excellent things, and it was no doubt a wholesome discipline for English literature to be thus trained for half a century. But clearness and correctness we think of rather as belonging to prose than to poetry, and we shall not be surprised to find that this classical period was, indeed, an age of prose. Nearly all the great authors were prose writers ; the only notable poet of the period was Pope. John Dryden, who was discussed in the preceding chapter, really belongs to the classical school, although in point of time he was somewhat earlier. First in time, and among the first in genius of the writers of this period, is Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). He was born in Ireland, although of English parentage, and edu- cated at Trinity College, Dublin. He served for a time as secretary to Sir Wilham Temple, an English statesman, 46 ItiXATIIAN SW'lfT 47 and here met Esther Johnson, who was his closest friend. Seeking, advancement. Swift entered the church. The reUgious controversies of the time called forth his first book, the Talc of a Tub. This dealt with the disputes between the Roman Catholics, the Church of England, and the Dissenters. It showed Swift's power as a satirist, but his satire cut the Church of England as well as the others. He became involved in politics, and for some years exerted great influence in the Tory party. As a reward he was made Dean of St. l^itrick's in Dublin, and unwillinglv left London. His part)-, however, soon went out of power, Esther Johnson died, and Swift sank into despond- ency, which ended in insanity and death. His greatest book, Gullivers Travi-ls, was written after his fall from power. On the surface it is a tale for children ; in reality it is a satire of the bitterest kind. It tells of a voyage to Lilliput, where the men are but si.x inches high and the largest warships measure nine feet in length. It is a most divert- ing story, but when we read that among these people the highest positions at court are given to those who are most skillful in walking the tight-rope, and that a most bloody war was waged on the question whether an egg should be broken at the big or the little end, we see the satire on English political life. This satire deepens in the succes- sive parts of the story, until in the last voyage he describes a country where the men, or Yahoos, live miserably in ^mdi: ^m^- 48 THE CLASSICAL AGE holes, fighting o\'er bits of metal, while horses rule the land. A pleasanter side of Swift's nature is seen in his Journal to Stella. This is a series of letters, written almost daily while he was in London to Esther Johnson in Ireland. Be you lords or be you earls, You must write to naughty girls, he says, and this is the way he writes. M D is his name for Stella. Morning. O faith, you're impudent for presuming to write so soon, said I to myself this morning ; who knows but there may be a letter from M D at the coffee-house ! Well, you must know, and so I just now sent Patrick, and he brought me three letters, but not one from M D, no indeed, for I read all the superscriptions, and not one from .M D. One I opened, it was from the Archbishop; t'other I opened, it was from Staunton ; the third I took, and looked at the hand. '' Whose hand is this?" says I. yes, says I "Whose hand is this?" Then there was wax between the folds : then I began to suspect; then I peeped; faith, it was Walls' hand after all ; then I opened it in a rage, and then it was little M D"s hand, dear little pretty charming M D's hand again. Some writers assert that Swift and Stella were secretly married, but no conclusive evidence of this has been pro- duced. Joseph Addison (1672-17 1 9), like Swift, mingled letters and politics. After his graduation at O.xford he wrote a poem celebrating the victory of the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim, and was rewarded with an office. He rose rapidly to a seat in Parliament, married a lady of rank, and finally became Secretary of State. His chief contri- butions to literature, however, were not his political writings nor his stiff tragedy called Cato, but his essays contributed to llic Spectator. RICHARD SIEELE 49 To discuss this we must turn first to Addison's friend, Richard Steele (1671-1729). Steele and Addison had been together as schoolboys and in college. But Steele left college to become a soldier, left the army to become a writer of political pamphlets, left politics for playwriting, and finally in 1709 conceived the idea of starting a weekly paper. This he called Tltc Tal- ler. It contained, in addition to the news, a brief essay on some topic of current interest. Some- times it was a review ot a book, sometimes a humorous article on the fashions of the day, some- times a story with a moral. This essay was the most popular part of the paper, and presently the news was dropped altogether. Addison was called in to write forthe new journal. It succeeded so well that in 1711 Steele and Addison started a daily paper of a similar nature, and called it T/ic Spectator. In the sec- ond number Steele sketched the character of Sir Roger de Coverley and other members of the Spectator Club, and in following numbers he and Addison completed the series now known as the De Coverley Papers. The success of Tlie Spectator vi3.s remarkable. Of some numbers twenty thou- sand copies were sold. Not less remarkable was the in- fluence the essays exerted upon the manners and morals of the time. For the authors frankly stated that their aim was to drive out vice and folly by making it ridiculous. For us to-day the essays are interesting as a picture of the time. They number nearly a thousand, and reflect cJ^. jf^^^^Z^. 50 THE CLASSICAL AGE almost every side of English social life. We learn of the amusements, the religious views, the popular books, the music, the very street cries of London. Tlie Spectator and Tlic Tat lev are the joint work of Addison and Steele, with occasional papers by other writers. It is difficult to say whose part is the better. Addison's essays are perhaps more finished in style, Steele's more spontaneous and more genial in spirit. Together they share the credit of having developed a new literary form, the periodical essay. In poetry the chief name in this period is that of Alexander Pope (16S8-1744). He was born in London, of Roman Catholic parentage. Consequently the universities were not open to him, and he was educated by tutors. In per- son he was dwarfish and de- formed, but he possessed a keen and receptive mind. He began to write verse almost as a child, and soon became known as one of the chief literary figures of the time. After some early publications he undertook to translate Homer's Iliad; it was published by subscription, and brought the author ;£io,ooo. He purchased a villa at Twick- enham, near London, where he entertained Swift and other friends. He had a jealous nature, and was continu- ally getting involved in literary quarrels. To revenge himself he wrote a long poem called The Duiiciad, or epic of dunces, in which he satirized his adversaries without mercy. His chief works, in addition to those mentioned, ^. (fapC^ ALEXANDER POTE 5 I are the Essaj' on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, and the Lssay on Man. The first of these gi\es rules for writing and for criticising. Pope maintained that the chief merit of poetry lay not in the ideas expressed, but in the manner of expressing them ; or, as he puts it : True wit is nature to advantage dressed, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed. None of Pope's maxims for writing well are original ; he took them from Latin and from French critics, but he has expressed them so well that it is scarcely possible to impro\'e them. Words are like leaves, and where they most abound. Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. He says of the use of words : Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. The Rape of t/ie Lock, a narrative poem based upon the incident of a young lord cutting a lock of hair from a belle's head, is a brilliant picture of fashionable society of the time. The Essay on Man is a philosophical poem ; many of its lines are familiar, as : Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man never is. but always to be, blest. Honor and shame from no condition rise. Act well your part, there all the honor lies. Vice is a monster of so frightful mien. As to be hated needs but to be seen ; Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face. We first endure, then pity, then embrace. 52 THE CLASSICAL AGE Pope is the successor of Dr^'den in poetry; his work has the merits and the defects of the classical school. It is lacking in imagination; it has little originality; it is almost all cast in one mold, — the heroic couplet. But in per- fection of literary form, in aptness of phrase, in pointed wit, it is unsurpassed. Pope is more quoted than any other English poet except Shakespeare. The only other name of importance in the poetry of this period is Edward Young (1681-1765). He was an Oxford scholar, who is remembered as the author of Niglit Thoughts. This long poem is a series of musings on religious themes, usually gloomy in tone. In its day it was very popular; now it survives only in a few oft-quoted lines, such as : Tired Nature's sweet restorer, gentle sleep. Procrastination is the tliief of time. Blessings brighten as they take their flight. One of the notable achievements in this period was the development of the novel. The novel, as distinguished from the romance, aims to give a picture of life as it really is. When we read a book like Gulliver s Travels, we know it is not true ; when we read of Robinson Crusoe on his is- land, we may suspect that it is all a story, yet it might easily be true. There is nothing improbable in it, nothing that has not actually happened. A story of this kind we call a novel, and the credit of writing the first English novel belongs to Daniel Defoe (1659-1731). Defoe was one of the most prolific writers in English literature. Earlier than Steele he pubhshed a weekly paper, the Rcvietu, writing the entire contents himself. He wrote political pamphlets almost without number, and when one of these led to his being sentenced to stand in the pillory, he promptly wrote a Hymn to the Pillory. A short sketch DEFOE, RICHARDSON' 53 called T/ic True Rflation of I\Irs. f^v?/ showed his skill in inventing a story that read like a record of fact. He in- terviewed noted characters, — Jonathan Wild the highway- man and Captain Avery the pirate, — and wrote up their lives as a newspaper man does to-day. He heard the story of Alexander Selkirk, a sailor who had been wrecked on a desert isle in the Pacific ; the incident appealed to his imagination, and Robinson Crusoe was the result. Its suc- cess led him to write other novels, Captain Singleton, Moll Flanders, etc. ; but none of them equaled his first book. Robin- son Crnsoe is regarded as a book for young folks. It is ; but it is also one of the great pieces of fiction in English literature. Its merit lies in its wonderful power of making fiction seem like truth. The little incidents of Crusoe's life on the island, the way he closed the door of his cave, his labor in making a boat, and his disappointment at find- ing when it was finished that he could not move it to the water, his terror at seeing the footprint in the sand, — all these are told so vividly and with such minute detail that they seem the record of real events. A further step in the development of the novel was taken by Samuel Richardson (i 689-1 761). He was a London printer who as a young man had shown great talent for letter-writing. Several young ladies of his ac- quaintance got him to conduct their correspondence with their sweethearts. Some time later he was asked to pre- 54 THE CLASSICAL AGE [lare a sort of model letter-writer, and conceived the idea of telling a story in letters. Tire result was Pamela, his first novel. Tliis met with such success that he followed it with two others, Clarissa Harloive and Sir Charles Grandison, — all written in the form of letters. Richard- son's novels are little read to-day. Their length — his masterpiece, Clarissa Harlowe, fills eight volumes — and the lack of variety in style are not to the taste of modern readers. Yet in one respect he was superior to Defoe; that is, in drawing character, particularly feminine char- acter. His early experiences as a letter-writer, his later years when he was a petted guest at many a tea table, gave him a knowledge of women's minds and women's hearts such as few men possessed. In his novels Richardson always aimed to teach a moral lesson. This lofty tone, and the profuse sentiment of his novels, provoked Henry Fielding (1707-1754) to write Joseph Andreivs in ridicule of Pamela. But once begun, the story soon became more than a mere burlesque, and in this book and its greater successor, Tom Jones, the English novel reached its full development. Fielding's work is notable for the skillful construction of his plots, the way events in the lives of various persons are woven together to make a single story. He dropped the letter-writing method of Richardson, and told his stories as a novelist does to-day. His work has a coarseness which offends mod- ern readers, but in this respect it was typical of the period. The novel, once developed, became so popular that many writers turned to it. Lawrence Sterne wrote A Sentimen- tal Journey and Tristram Shandy ; Tobias Smollett wrote Humphrey Clinker and Roderiek Random; while at the close of the period we have Johnson's Rasselas and Gold- smith's ]^icar of Wakefield, which will be considered later. READlXt; R)R ClIAl'TliR VI 55 READING FOR CHAPTER VI Swift. — Gii/lii'ir's Trai'c/s : loyiij^c to Lilliput ; and Journal to Stella : Letters 10, 31. 6j. GnllroLT's Tra-i'iis is pulilished in Temple, Riverside, Everyman's, and Handy \'olume series.' 'Vhn Journal to Stella is in the Universal LiLirary. Selections in Craik, \-ol. iii ; Warner; Pancoast, and Cham- bers, vol. ii. Addison. — F"roni the Spi-itator. the De Coverlev Papers, or the fol- lowing; essays ; Nos. 13, 25. 50, 102, 159, 173. 235. 247. 275, 281, 323. The Spei'tator is in Evervman's Librarv (4 vuls.). Selected essays in AtlicncVum and Handy \'olunie series. Selection.s in Craik, vol. iii, and Chambers, vol. ii. Defoe. — /\obinsoti Cn/soc. Kol-iiiiS(>ii Crusoe is in Ri\'erside, Ever\'man's, and Handy Volume series. Pancoast gives Tlic Apparition of M)-s. I'c'iifonc of iJefoe's shorter tales. Pope. — i:j.f<7/ ^« .lAr;/. Epistles I. II, and I\'; 3.nd /vapo 0/ t/ic Loil\ or /Ssav on Criluis//;, and llio i'ni'oorsal J'rayor. Pope's works are in Aldine series (3 vols.). Single-\'olume cditicms are CambridLje. Glolje. and Astor. The Essay on Man is in National Librarv. Selections in Ward, vol. iii; Manly; Warner: Pancoast, and Chambers, vol. ii. Tlio Rape of the Lock is in Hales. Fuller treatment of the authors in this period is gi\en in J. Dennis's T/ie .Ige of Pope (Macmillan), E. Gosse's Bislory of Eixiiteent/i Century Literature (iMacmillan), L. Stephen's Hours in a Library (Put- nam). "W. .AI. Thackeray's English Lfuniorists (Holt), W. L. Cross's Development of the English /Yovel (Macmillan) ; also the lives of Swift, Addison, Defoe, Fielding, and Pope in English Men of Letters series (Macmillan). 1 For publisher and price of \ariuus editiun.s, see p. 142. CHAPTER VII THE AGE OF JOHNSON Samuel Johnson Edmund Bnrkc James Thomson Oliver Goldsmith Edivard Gibbon Thomas Gray In this period we see some of the tendencies of the classical age continued, and at the same time the begin- ning of a revolt against these tendencies, — - a revolt that later produced the Romantic Movement. The great name of the period is that of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). He was the son of a bookseller of Lich- field, and grew up among books. He went to Oxford, but poverty obliged him to leave before taking his degree. He tried keeping a school, but without success, and finally went up to London with a pupil, David Garrick, to make his way by literature. He became a booksellers' hack, writing translations, pamphlets, reviews, whatever the publishers would pay for. He planned a Dictionary of tlie English Language, which when published in i/SS gave him considerable fame. He wrote a series of essays in the style of The Spectator, called The Rambler, and a story, Rasselas. His last important work was his Lives of the Poets, dealing with the chief writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He died in 1784, and received the honor of a tomb in Westminster Abbey. In his day Johnson was a sort of literary monarch ; liis praise of a book was enough to insure its sale. To- day his writings, with the exception of Rasselas and the 56 JOIINSCiN, GOLUSMITII 57 Lii'cs of tlie Poets, are seldom read, and the changing standards of criticism make his judgments often strange to us. Yet Johnson is likely to be remembered as long as any name in our literature. He owes this singular im- mortality to the famous Life, written by his friend Bos- well. James Boswell was John- son's most ardent admirer; he followed him about, noting down his sayings and collecting anec- dotes about him, for twenty years. In his book we see John- son as he was in life : the huge form, in the snuff-colored coat with metal buttons, his wig slightly singed where he bent too far over the candle ; we learn how many cups of tea he drank, and his curious habit of treasuring up bits of lemon peel ; we are admitted to his conver- sations with his friends : Gar- rick the actor, Sir Joshua Reynolds the painter, Burke the orator, and Goldsmith the writer ; we have Johnson's report of his interview with the King, and his statement of why he thrashed a bookseller. It is a record as detailed as Pepys's Diary, and as Dr. Johnson was a far greater man than Pepys, the result is a far greater book. It is the greatest biography in English literature. Closely associated with Johnson is Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774). Goldsmith was an Irishman, with an Irish 58 THE AGE OF JOHNSON talent for blundering, an Irish heart for friendship, and an Irish wit that helped him through the trials of a life spent as a bookseller's drudge. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and later went abroad to study medicine. He wandered about the continent for a time ; then, return- ing to England, tried to practice as a physician. Failing in this and other makeshifts, he finally found work with the booksellers. He wrote a series of periodical essays, after- wards reprinted as The Ciiiacn of the Worhi. Two poems. The Traveller zwA The Deserted Jll- Inge, gave him considerable repu- tation. His best-known work, The Vicar of Wakefield, has a curious history. Dr. Johnson received a message from Gold- smith asking him to come in haste. Going to Goldsmith's lodging, he found him held a prisoner by his landlady for not paying his rent. Johnson searched among Goldsmith's papers, found the manuscript of the novel, and taking it to a bookseller sold it for £60. Goldsmith's comedy. She Stoops to Conquer, brought him ^^400, but money always ran through Goldsmith's fingers, and he died heavily in debt. Goldsmith's work lies in several fields of literature, and in all he attained high dis- tinction. His essays in 77^1? Citizen of the World stand comparison with those of Addison. His two poems. The Traveller and TJic Deserted Village, in their genuine feeling and truthful descriptions of nature, show a departure from the artificiality of the classical school In She Stoops to dT^-^-^ i^^.r^'^-^-^^ GOLDSMITH, SHERIDAN, BURKE 5g Conquer Goldsmith has written one of the great comedies of our literature ; it still holds the stage, delighting audi- ences alike by the clever turns of the plot and the wit of the dialogue. The Hear of Wakefield has taken its place among the classics of Enghsh fiction. Its charm is due in part to the humorously tender way in which Goldsmith portrays his characters, in part to its pictures of English rural life. Of Goldsmith's work as a whole, the verdict passed by Johnson long ago still stands: "Sir, he was a very great man." Close to the work of Goldsmith in comedy we may place that of another young Irishman, Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816). At twenty-four he wrote The Rivals, and two years later The School for Scandal. It is sufficient praise to say that in the hundred years that have passed since his time English literature has produced no comedy worthy to stand beside these. A century which created the novel and developed the periodical essay might be thought sufficiently distinguished in prose, but this period is notable also for the greatest of English orators, Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Burke, like Goldsmith and Sheridan, was of Irish descent. Born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, he went to London to study law. But he read more literature than law, and, when his father cut off his allowance, turned to his p)en for support. One of his most considerable pro- ductions was The Annual Register, a sort of political encyclopedia, published year by year, to which he was a chief contributor for thirty years. He entered Parliament as a Whig, and first distinguished himself by a speech favoring the repeal of the Stamp Act. He took a keen interest in American affairs, and on the eve of the Revolu- tionary War delivered his great speech On Concilia/ion 6o THE AGE OF JOHNSON with America, in which he advocated the plan of remov- ing all Parliamentary taxation, leaving it to the colonial assemblies to grant money as they thought proper. In 1788 he once more came forward as the champion of an oppressed people, the occasion being the impeachment of Warren Hastings for misgovernment in India. Burke made one of his greatest speeches on this occasion, and though it failed of its immediate purpose, as Hastings was not convicted, the abuses against which Burke declaimed were never repeated. Toward the close of Burke's life a third great public question, the French Revolution, called forth his famous Reflections on tlie Revolution in France, and his Letter to a Noble Lord. In these Burke appeared as the champion of monarchy ; he saw in the Revolution only the utter overthrow of every principle of established government, and used his utmost power to turn Enghsh feeling against it. Burke presents the curious phenomenon of an orator who was almost a failure when he attempted to speak. His figure was ungainly, his voice harsh, his gestures awkward ; his rising to speak was the signal for so many members to leave that he was nicknamed "the dinner- bell of the House." Yet the same men who left when he spoke were eager to read his speeches when printed, for nowhere else was there such skill in argument supported by such stores of information ; nowhere else such power HUME, GIBBON of seizing the essential points of a great question and lighting them up with the fire of the imagination ; no- where else was there a man who added to a command of the resources of the language a mastery of the great principles of politics and government. John Morley well says of Burke's speeches : " They comprise the most per- fect manual in our literature, or in any hterature, for one who approaches the study of pubHc affairs." In one more department of literature, that of history, this period contains distinguished names. David Hume (1711- 1776), a Scotch philosopher, published a History of England, from the beginning to the Revo- lution. His work has been superseded by that of later writ- ers. Not so the work of Edward Gibbon (173 7- 1794), the histo- rian of the Roman Empire. Gibbon's Hfe affords a signal instance of what may be accom- plished by a single devotion to a great purpose. It was in 1764 that he formed the idea of writing his history ; it was twelve years before the first volume was published, and twelve years more before the work was completed. In that time Gibbon had made him- self master of his subject by reading absolutely everything that could throw light upon it. Gifted by nature with a logical mind, he was able to arrange this vast mass of material in true order and proportion. By diligent ex- periment and practice he developed a style suited to the 62 Till-: AGE OF JOIIXSON dignity of his theme. As a result, his Decline ami Fall of the Roman Empire is still, after a hundred years, a standard work. Gibbon concludes our survey of the prose of the period. Turning to the poets, we find signs that the classical school has had its day. A new school of poetry was soon to arise ; a new impulse, known as the Romantic Move- ment, was to give fresh inspiration to literature. The history of this movement belongs to the succeeding chap- ter, but the way was prepared for it by the poets of this age. Of these the earliest was James Thomson (i 700-1 748), a Scotchman, a graduate of Edinburgh University, who is remembered as the author of The Seasons. The first part. Winter, was published in 1726, followed shortly after by Summer, Spring, and Autumn. These poems describe country scenes under the changing aspects of the year. In choice of subjects The Seasons is in marked contrast to the poetry of Dryden and Pope ; their interests were with the life of the town, and their subjects were taken chiefly from the society about them. In another respect the poem is significant. It is written in blank verse, not in the heroic couplet. This independence of the classical tradition was further shown in Thomson's Castle of Indolence, a long- poem written in the Spenserian stanza. In the rich music of its verse, and the imaginative power displayed, it is a notable contrast to a poem like the Essay on Man. Another poet of this period was William Collins (1721- 1759). He was educated at Oxford, and for a time strug- gled along as a literary man in London. His period of work was brief; his mind became weakened, and he died at thirt}--fi\'e. He has left a slender volume of poems of a singular and delicate beaut)'. His odes, To Evening, The COLLINS, GRAY 63 Passn>//s, and O/i Highland Superstitions, have a music that had been silent in English poetry for nearly a hundred years. He is the first great Ivric poet since Robert Her- rick. One of his odes is brief enough to quote here: ODE How sleep the brave, wlio sink to rest ]'.\- all tlieir eountr\''s wishes blessed! When Spring" with dew_v fingers cold Returns to deck their hallowed mould. She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than fanc\"'s feet have ever trod. r.v taii'v hands their knell is rung ; H\- forms unseen their dirge is sung ; There blonor comes, a pilgrim gray. To bless the turl that wraps (heir clay ; ■ \nd breednm shall awhile repair To dwell, a weejiing hermit, there. The best known of the poets of this period is Thomas Gray ( 1716-1771 ). Gray was fortunate in having means to li\-e without becoming a bookseller's hack. A graduate of Cambridge University and later a professor there, he spent his life in stud)-. He preferred reading books to writing them, and the amount of his literary work is sur- prisingly small. It comprises some very entertaining letters, a few essays, and a mere handful of poems. But one of these poems is probably the most famous short poem in English literature, the Elegy in a Conntry Chnixlt- vard. It was begun in 1742, but not published until 1 75 I. Even then the poet was not satisfied with it, and in successive editions made changes for fifteen years. The poem is representative of the new movement in poetry in its subject, which is drawn from country life, and in its 64 THE AGE (IF JOHNSON tone of 2;cntle melancholy, like a faint echo from Milton's II Pciisiivso. In the tribute to the worth of these simple ^/L- L^^^^^r^ Ji^eSi r^n.^^ J^tt^^y „ ^r- i^K/L^ '^ ' A^ ^u-^Ji^^^^ r^^>-r>2 ^*-r>^ n^t^^n-r- A^-r- ^t^r^J: (3^-nrmjr- REDUCED FACSIMILE OF MS. OF GRAY'S "ELEGY" idllage people one hears the first breathings of a new note — the note of democracy — that later rang out bold and clear in Robert Burns. READING FOR CHAPTER VII Johnson. — Rassclas, or Boswell's Life, chapters covering 1763. Rassdas is published in English Reading series (Holt) ; also in Universal and National Library.' Boswell's Life is in Library English Classics (3 vols.). Temple (6 vols.), Everyman's (2 vols.). Selections from Johnson in Craik, vol. iv ; Chambers, vol. ii, and Warner (under Johnson and Boswell). Goldsmith. — 1'icar of Wakefield, or Slie Stoop t to Conquer, or Tlie Traveller, and Tlie Deserted Village, or selected essays from Cili- ce 11 of the World. The Vicar of JVakefield, with Goldsmith's plays and poems complete in one volume, is in the Library of English Classics. / i'ear of Wakefield separately in Everyman's, Temple, and Handy Volume series. Plays in ' For publisher and price of various editions, see p. 142. READING FOR CHAPTER VII 65 Temple and National Library. Poems in Temple, Aldiiie, and Astor. C///:i-// of the World in Temple and Universal Library. The Deserted I'llldi^e is in Pancoast, Manly, and Hales. Selections from essays in Craik. vol. iv. and Pancoast. Sheridan. — Tlie Rivals, The School for Scandal. Sheridan's pla\"s are published in Library of Enj^lish Classics, Tem- ple. Athena.'um. Evervman's, Handv Volume, and National Library. Burke. — Spcecli on Conciliation, or Speech on American Taxation. Burke's Select Works are published in 3 vols. (Clarendon Press). There are numerous school editions of the Speech on Conciliation. Thomson. — From The Seasons, Spring, 11. 145-175; Summer, 11. 350-423; Autumn, 11. 310-360 and 950-1002; Winter, 11. 223-265 and 323-390- Thomson's poems are in Aldine (2 vols.), Muses (2 vols.), and Astnr (I vol.). Good selections in Ward, vol. iii ; Manly; Warner; Pancoast, and Chambers, vol. ii. Collins. — From the Odes : To Evenint^, The Passions, Simplicity. Oriental Eclogues; II, Hassan; Dirge in Cynibelinc, Ode on Highland Snpcrstitions. CoUins's pi>ems arc published in Aldine, Muses, and Athenaeum series. Selections in Ward, vol. iii; Manly; Warner, and Chambers, vol. ii. Gray. — Elegy. Ode on Spring. Eton College, The Bard, On a Favorite Cat. Grav's poems are published in Aldine and Muses Library. Selec- tions in Athenaeum series. Representative poems in Pancoast; Manly; O.xford ; Ward, vol. iii : Warner; Hales, and Chaml)ers, vol. ii. For fuller treatment of authors of this period, see : T. Seccombe's Age of Johnson (Macmillan), L. Stephen's Hours in a Library (Put- nam), M. O. W. Oliphant's Literary History of England (Macmillan), H. A. Beers's English Romanticism, XV/I/ Century (Holt), and lives of Johnson, Goldsmith. Sheridan. Burke, Gibbon, Gray, in English Men of Letters series (Macmillan). CHAPTER VIII THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM Robert Burns Walter Scott John Keats S. T. Colerido-c Geoixe G. Byron Charles Lamb Wni. Wordszvorth Pcrey B. Shelley Thomas de Qnineey In the preceding chapter we have traced the beginnings of the Romantic Movement as seen in a turning from town to country life, a new feehng for democracy, and a greater variety and freedom in the forms of verse. These tendencies were carried still further in the jjeriod now to be considered, and with others they make up the Romantic Movement. This reached its height in the writings of Wordsworth and Coleridge, but before that time we see the rising of the tide in Cowper, Blake, and Burns. One of the significant events of the time was the publication of a number of the early EngUsh and Scottish Ballads. This fine poetry had been almost forgotten for nearly a century. By chance Bishop Thomas Percy came into possession of an old manuscript containing about a hun- dred ballads, and published them in 1765 under the title Reliqites of Ancient English Poetry. The effect of this book was remarkable. The short ballad stanzas were a form of poetry new to the age, and the simplicity of style was in sharp contrast to the stately, sometimes artificial, diction of the school of Pope. The poet William Cowper (i 731- 1800) adopted the bal- lad measure for his humorous \jotm John Gilpin. His long 66 P.LAKi:, liURiXS 67 poem, The Task, is in blaiilc verse; it shows a love for natural scenery as strong as Thomson's, and a greater skill iji description. As a poet of nature he is the fore- runner of Wordsworth. William Blake (1757-1827) is a strange figure among the poets of the time. He beheved himself to be in- spired, and published strange books of poetical prophecy. He was an artist and engraver as well as a poet, and his books, instead of being printed from type, were en- graved on copper plates, printed from these, and then the illustrations were colored by hand. This new process he said was supernaturally revealed to him. In this way he published three small volumes of l)-rical poetry : Poetical Sketehes, Songs of Innocence, and Songs of Experience. These poems are like nothing else of their time. Some have the simplicity of childhood, some tantalize us with hints of strange meanings just beyond our reach, some are pure bursts of music like bird notes. Blake was ut- terly independent of convention ; in life, as in his poetry, he was guided from within, not from without. And in this breaking away from everything like rules he represents an important aspect of the Romantic Movement. But the greatest of the early Romantic writers was Robert Burns ( 1759- 1796). Burns was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. His father was a farmer in poor circumstances, and the boy got his education from the village schoolmaster. He early formed a taste for poetry, and almost as early fell in love with a peasant lass and wrote verses about her. Love and poetry continued to be his chief interests through- out life; unfortunately neither of them afforded the means of living. He tried farming without success, and decided to emigrate to the West Indies. To raise money for his passage he published a small volume of his poems. This 68 THE ACE OF ROMANTICISM with wild companions brouglit him an invitation to visit Edinburgh. He went, and was received as a lion by Edinburgh society. After two winters of this, Burns secured an appointment as ex- ciseman, or inspector of liquor duties, and returned to Ayr- shire. He married Jean Armour, one of his many loves, and settled down to combine farming with his inspectorship. But neither prospered. His duties as inspector threw him habits of intoxication grew upon him, and his farm went to ruin. He died at thirty-seven, wrecked by hardships and excesses. Burns is the first poet of the common people in English lit- erature. He was born among them, lived and worked and died among them, wrote his songs in their language, and built his monument in their hearts. He is loved by the Scotch people with a passionate devotion that is given to no other poet in no other land. And in other coun- tries, wherever the English lan- guage is spoken, the songs of Burns have the power to touch hearts which more cultivated poets leave unmoved. This power is due in part to the absolute sincerity of his poetry. He had a rich, strong nature, generous in its im- pulses, easily moved to pity or indignation, and his poetry is no mere mechanical verse-making, but the overflow of powerful feeling. He has pity for the field mouse turned up by his plow ; he sees the beauty of the mountain daisy ; he thrills with patriotism at the deeds of Bruce, and these become the subjects of his poetry. Again, Burns P\§i)()^f- H"Mmj ROBERT BURNS 69 had the power of expressing this feeling in words that sing. The distinguishing features of lyric poetry are genuine feeling and singing qualit)-. Burns possessed both to such a degree that he has been called the greatest lyric poet in our literature. His songs are his best work, but close be- side them stand Tarn O' Shanter, with its rich humor, and 'J7h- CotUr's Siiturday Xight, that finest picture of the do- BIRTHPLACE OF ROBERT BURNS mestic life of the Scotch peasant. Burns represents the Romantic Movement in many phases. His poetry deals with country life ; his diction and his meters are not those of classical poets ; his sympathy for the lower animals is apparent in many poems ; and even more pronounced is his democratic spirit. When he sings, Ls there, for honest poverty, That hanws his head, and a' that? The coward slave, we pass him by, We dare he poor for a' that! 70 THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM For a' that, and a' that. Our toils obscure, and a' that. The rank is but tlie guinea's stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that, he expresses what probably many a man had thought but no English poet before him had ever ventured to say. And oOMul 0^' ^mit A /y^^_ MS. POEM BY ROBERT BURNS Samuel Taylor Coleridge (i 772-1 834), like Burns, was a man of genius who had little ability to make his way in the world. He was educated at Christ's Hospital School, London, and at Cambridge University. With Robert Southey, a friend and fellow-poet, he formed a scheme of going to America and establishing there a colony where all would be on an equahty and all work together for the common good- The plan was never carried out, but it is characteristic of the new impulses of the time. Coleridge married and removed to Nether Stowey, in the Lake region of England. Here he was associated with Words- SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDCE 71 worth, and in a single year (1790) produced his best poems; The Aiiiicnt Mariner, Kiibla Kliaii, and the first part of Cliristabel. He x'isited Germany, and became deeply interested in philosophy. He continued to write, ill prose and verse, producing some excellent criticism but no more great poems. He had be- come a slave to the opium habit, and his weakened will made it impossible for him to carry out the great books he planned. He holds a place in literature as poet and as critic. Of his poetry, it has well been said that all that he did excellently might be bound up in twenty pages, but it should be bound in pure gold. The Ancient Mariner is his greatest work. It deals with the supernatural: a story of how the slaying of a bird is avenged by spiritual powers. In the vividness of its suc- cessive pictures, now of a becalmed ship on a glassy sea, now of regions of Arctic ice, now of the Spectre Ship and its horrid crew, we see an imaginative power almost Mil- tonic. And in the tender and beautiful close, Farewell, farewell, but this I tell To thee, thou Wedding Guest, He prayeth well wdio loveth well Both man and bird and beast ; He prayeth best who loveth best All things, both great and small ; For the dear God who loveth us He made and loveth all. y P! C^j'^^^i' 72 THE AGE OF ROMANTICIS:\I we see another side of the Romantic Movement, the new reverence for even the meanest of God's creatures. Coleridge's critical work includes an extended discus- sion of the poetry of Wordsworth, published in his Biogra- phia Literaria, and a volume of Lectures on Shakespeare. Both show critical power of the highest order. William Wordsworth (1770-1850), Coleridge's fellow- poet, was more fortunate in the circumstances of his life than most men of letters. He was born at Cockermouth, in Yorkshire, educated at Cam- bridge, traveled in France and Germany, and finally established himself at Rydal Mount in the Lake region of England, noted for the beauty of its natural scenery. He married a woman of fine intelligence, Mary Hutch- inson, and was also fortunate in the companionship of his sister Dorothy, whose tastes were like ^^^-^.^Tn^ ^'^ °^''"- . ^ fortunate legacy from a friend, and later a gov- ernment position with light duties, supphed his simple wants and left him free to make poetry the serious occu- pation of his life. His first important work was a volume called Lyrical Ballads, the joint work of Wordsworth and Coleridge, which appeared in 1798. This book marks an epoch in English poetry. It contained Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, and a number of Wordsworth's poems, including the famous Tintcrn Abbey. In the preface Wordsworth explained his theory of poetry. His subjects, he said, were drawn from the ordinary life of persons living in rural WII l.IAM WORDSWOK'llI 7:; suiToundini;-s ; ho aimed to make these intcrestin,i;- by thi-(n\-in-" over them the hght of the imagination. The language of his poetry was not to he the artificial diction of the classical school, who spol<:e of country people as "nymphs" and " swains," and of morning as "Aurora," bat it was the language of ordinary hfe. Many of his poems dealt with nature. To him nature was more than a thing to be described ; it was something like a living presence, with power not only to delight but to mold character. He tells us that One impulse fri)iii a vernal wood May teach vm more 'if man. Of moral evil, and of good. Than all the sages can. He finds in nature the power to soothe and comfort the nund, even in recollection of past sights. He says of the daffodils in their beauty, Ten thousand saw I at a glance. Tossing their heads in sprighlh- dance. . , . I gazed, and gazed, but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought. For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, 'I'hey flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude ; And then my heart with pleasure fills And dances with the daffodils. Through nature, he says, man is even led to God. This spiritual view of nature is Wordsworth's great contribution to English poetry. Recognition of his work came slowly, but it came at last, and in 1S43 ^^ ^^^.s made Poet Laureate. He was one of the most voluminous of our great poets ; his poems number nearly a thousand, some of them of con- 74 THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM siderable length. But his work is very unequal, and his best poems, as Matthew Arnold's collection shows, may be contained in a single volume of moderate size. A writer closely associated with Coleridge and Words- worth, but of much less significance, was Robert Southey (1774- 1 843). He was a man of letters by profession, and wrote many volumes of prose and verse. His Life of N^clson is still regarded as a model of brief biography. Of his poetry, The Curse of Kehama, a long narrative poem based upon Hindu mythology, shows him at his best. It illustrates the turning to new subjects which was one of the features of the Romantic Movement. Some of his shorter poems, such as the Battle of Blenheim and the Stanrjas ivritteii in his Li- brary, are better known than his more ambitious epics. Neither Coleridge nor Words- worth was popular in his day. The Lyrieal Ballads were so different from the accepted kind ^-!'V_ °^ poetry that they puzzled most /H>^/l^C-CotJt^^y^^ readers. The writer who made y romantic poetry popular was Walter Scott (1771-1832). We are apt to think of Scott first as a novelist, but he turned to novel writing only after he had won fame as a poet. He was born in Edinburgh ; his father was a lawyer, and sent his son to the Univer- sity there that he might follow the same profession. He studied law and held several judicial ofifices, but his real interests were literary. He was very fond of the ballads of his native land, and his first publication was a collection WALTER SCOTT 75 y<*,nvLC-.^ '^ '<-<'*^:-£.^.^ ,_ ifii.t.^i.^ii--^U^ -«t. > / » <^-cy2lt, ^ ,^ hnM> '^jfl^ jitfj^. ;. . ^^;^ ^^/t>//^ i^^A/^. FACSIMILE OF TENNYSON'S MS, OF "THE THROSTLE • 94 'I'HE VICTORIAN ERA tion. He was gifted with a delicate ear for the fine har- monies of speech, and in his lyric poems beauty of expres- sion and beauty of sound are wedded. Among his finest examples in this kind are the songs in Tlic Princess, includ- ing Sivcct ami Low and Tears, Idle Tears. He was, like Milton, a diligent student of literature, and there are in his works many echoes of classical poets. But he studied nature as closely as he studied books. No poet, not even Wordsworth, saw more clearly or described more truly the appearance of nature. A pool reflecting the setting sun he describes as Round as the red eye of an eagle-owl. On almost every page may be found such examples of in- timate and accurate knowledge of nature. His range is wide: he has written lyrical, narrative, and dramatic poetry. He can be delicately fanciful, as in The Merman, humorous, as in The NoriJicrn Fanner, or nobly indignant, as in Jllaiid ; he can express a nation's grief, as in the Ode on the Diike of Wellington, or treat the deepest problems of our life, as in the stanzas of In Mevioriani. The final es- timate of him will probably be that of E. C. Stedman, who calls him " all in all, the fullest representative of the refined, speculative, complex Victorian Age." Robert Browning ( 1812-1889), who shares with Tennyson the highest place among the poets of this period, was born in Camberwell, a suburb of London. He was educated in private schools, and, guided by a father of literary tastes, read widely in ancient and modern literature. Before he was twelve he had written a little volume of poems which was never pubhshed. His early volumes, Paracelsus and Sordello, were almost unnoticed by the public, though they gained him recognition among his fellow-poets. In ROBERT DROWNING 95 1S46 he married Elizabeth Barrett, who was already well known as a poet, and went to live in Italy. Here the next fifteen years of his life were spent, chief!)' in Florence, in a wedded life that never lost its romance. In this period much of Browning's best work was done, includ- ing the volumes called Dramatic Romances, Dramatic Lyrics, and HIcu and Women. In 1 861 Mrs. Browning died, and the poet returned to London, where he worked for some )'ears on his great poem, 77te Ring and tJic Book. In the meantime his poetry had been gradually growing into public favor. Societies were formed for the study of his works, and honorary degrees were conferred upon him by the universities of 0-\ford and Cambridge. Like Tennyson he continued writing to the close, his last volume, Asolando, appearing in London on the day of his death. If Tennyson represents the ifl.f^]^(r ihl'TA/IUn^j 1 poet of art. Browning stands for the poet of energy. In sheer bulk his work is greater than that of almost any other English poet. His master- piece, The Ring and the Boo/,-, is twice as long as Paradise Lost. He is among the most original of our poets ; he developed a new form of writing, the dramatic monologue, and achieved a style which is, fortunately, unique. He has been vigorously assailed, as vigorously defended, and while not the most read, is certainly the most discussed poet of the Victorian age. His lack of popularity is due to several things, the chief being that in form and 90 THE VICTORIAN ERA Style he is so unlike other poets that at first he is puz- zling. The dramatic monologue is the form he usually employs. In this there is a single speaker, but we are made aware of the presence of others. The poem Uly Last Duchess is a good example of his method. It begins abruptly ; the speaker is a Duke who is about to marr}' a second time ; BROWNINGS HOME IN VENICE to the envoy who comes to arrange the marriage he gives a brief account of his last Duchess. In doing so he re- veals, quite unconsciously, his own character : his love of art, his pride, his selfishness, and his cruelty. In this power to lay bare the very souls of his characters Brown- ing stands without a rival. These characters are usually shown to us at some crisis in their lives, some supreme moment which reveals the real man. He is interested not ROBERT liKOWXlNG 97 in events but in personalities ; he does not tell stories but analyzes motives. Now this, however skillfully done, appeals to the thoughtful few, not to the many. In style, too. Browning's pecuKarities repel at first. He makes no effort to sing lullabies to his readers, but rather stings their minds into activity with some abrupt or puzzling phrase. He said that he never intended his poetry to serve to an idle man as a substitute for a cigar after dinner ; he must be wrestled with to get at his meaning. And what is the prize that one gains ? In the first place, to read Browning is an intellectual tonic. The very difficulties stimulate mental activity. Again, once his poetry is grasped, it yields keen delight. He has a vividness of description that is like the lines of an etching : he can command at times a music as sweet as Tennyson's ; he loves nature, and sings her praises like any lark. But these qualities are found in other poets. What is distinctive in Browning is his power of showing the hidden springs of motive which determine action, in analyzing character, — now a bishop, now an impostor, now a criminal, showing in each the man as he seems to others and the man as he is before God. Subtlest assertor of the soul in song, is the word of a brother poet. And in all this the mood of Browning is one of triumphant optimism. He holds that life is good ; old age but completes youth, death is but the gateway to life, higher, fuller, than we have ever known. He is thus one of the great spiritual teachers of the age. In poems like Rnbbi Ben Ezra and Saul he treats the theme of eternal hfe, not in the mood of half-doubt that is often heard in Tennyson, but affirming with splendid certainty, Thv soul and God stand sure. 98 THE VICTORIAN ERA Elizabeth Barrett Browning (i 806-1861) was known as a poet earlier than her husband. The story of her marriage is one of the romantic chapters in EngHsh Hterature. In girlhood she had injured her spine, and was for years an invalid, occupied in study and writing, seeing but a few intimate friends. Robert Browning read and admired her poems, and sought to know her. Their friendship was opposed by her father, but Browning overcame all obsta- cles, planned a secret marriage, and carried his bride away to Italy. Here her health improved rapidly, and the two poets lived an almost ideal life, each an inspiration to the other. As a poet Mrs. Browning wrote best when under the influence of some strong feeling. TIic Cry of the Cliildrcn is her plea for the poor little factory slaves in England ; in Casa Gnidi Windows she pours forth her sympathy for Italy in its struggle for freedom, and in the famous Sonnets from the Portuguese she tells the story of her own heart. So deep and intimate is this revelation that she attempted to conceal its real nature by giving it a title which suggested that the poems were merely a transla- tion, but such was not the case. The Sonnets are her highest achievement in poetry, and are among the notable sonnet-secjuences in English literature. With them should be read Browning's poem One Word More, ad- dressed to his wife in dedicating to her a volume of his best poems. Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) is chiefly known as an essayist, but he belongs among the poets as well. He was the son of Dr. Thomas Arnold, master of Rugby, known through Thomas Hughes's description in Tom Bnnvn's School Days. After his education at Rugby and Oxford he became an inspector of schools. He was appointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford, which po.sition THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY 99 he held ten years. Among his principal poems are Tlic Forsaken Alcruiaii, a delicately beautiful and imaginative poem, with a music such as one might fancy rings in sea bells; T/iyrsis, a lament for his friend, Arthur Hugh Clough ; and So/irab and Rnstinn, a narrative poem. This deals with a famous hero of Persian legend ; it tells an interesting story, and the closing- passage is one of great beauty. In prose writing the Victorian age has many great names ; in the essay, in history, and in fic- tion its achievement has been notable. Of the essayists the chief are Macaulay, Carlyle, Ruskin, and Arnold. Thomas Babington Macaulay ( 1 800- 1 S59 ) was born in London of well- to-do parents, and, one might al- most say, born a man of letters. He could read before he was three, and was writing poetry at eight. He read almost every- thing he could get hold of, and his marvelous memory en- abled him to retain what he read almost in the words of the author. He once said that if by some catastrophe every copy of the New Testament, The Pilgrim's Progress, and Paradise Lost were destroyed, he could reproduce all three books from memory. At Cambridge University he speedily won distinction by his learning and his power as a debater. After leaving college a reverse in his father's circumstances obliged him to turn to writing for an income. In 1825 he published in the Edinburgh Review an essay on Milton which made him famous. He was sent to Par- 100 THE VICTORIAN ERA liament, and achieved success as an orator, rising to a place in the cabinet. But his interests were with literature, and he gladly welcomed the time when he could leave public office and undertake a work he had long planned, — a history of England. He did not live to complete this ; in fact his History covers scarcely twenty years, yet its sale has been greater than any other work of the kind ever published. His writings include poetry, essays, and history. The Lays of Ancient Rome is a collection of stirring ballads, one of which, Horatiiis, has always been a favorite with young readers. His essays, chiefly on literary or historical topics, fill three volumes. Macaulay's great stores of information and his clear, forceful style made him easily the most popular essay writer of his time. In his History of England the same qualities made history almost as entertaining as fiction. His power of describing a scene or a personage is remarkable. His strong partisan feeling — he was a Whig — sometimes makes him a little unfair ; but in the general grasp of his subject, in the power of handling a mass of details while keeping the main points clearly before you, and above all in the amazing fullness of his knowledge, his History is unique. Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), one of the most consider- able men of letters of the period, was the son of a stone- mason in the little Scotch village of Ecclefechan. But poverty never keeps a Scotch boy from an education, and in time young Thomas walked the ninety miles to Edin- burgh and entered the university. After his course there he became a teacher ; then tried, with little success, to write for magazines. He married Jane Welsh, a clever and ambitious woman, and soon after went to live at Craigenputtock, a place which he described as " the most THOMAS CARLYLE lOI desolate spot in the British dominions." Here he studied hard, and wrote Sirr/or Rrsd/t/zs, his first notable book. Later he removed to London and there wrote most of his historical works, of which T//e Froicli Revoludoti is the chief. He slowly won recognition as a writer, and in 1866 was honored by being elected Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. But in the same year his wife died, and her loss affected him deeply. His strength de- cHned, and though he lived till 1 88 1, he wrote nothing more of importance. His books fall nat- urally into two classes : histories and essays. The histories in- clude The Frencli Revolution, a L ife of Cromivcll, and the History of Frederick the Great. He had a wonderful power of making real and vivid these figures of the past. His imagination makes us see the French Revolution as if we crouched behind the barri- cades in the streets of Paris ; his " portrait-painting " eyes make the figures of Robespierre and Danton stand out boldly from his pages. Of his eight volumes of essays, the most significant are Heroes and Hero- Worship and Sartor Resartus. The central idea of Heroes and Hero- Worship is that " Universal history is at bottom the history of the great men who have worked here." This idea is developed by taking first the hero as divinity, as seen in the Norse Odin ; the hero as prophet, Mahomet; as poet, Dante and Shakespeare; as priest, Luther and Knox ; as man of letters, Johnson and /Xi^t/i-vruCj K^^^/rKj.'^ I02 THE VICTORIAN ERA Burns ; as king, Cromwell and Napoleon. These studies (.)[' great men show Carlyle's power of entering into sym- pathy with men of widely different types and understand- ing them all. He describes people, as did Macaulay ; but while Macaulay tells with great exactness how people looked and what they did, Carlyle tells what they were. This power to go below the surface, to seek the reality beneath the outward appearance, is most clearly shown in Sartor Rcsartiis, a strange, difficult, yet inspiring book. The title means The Tailor Re-tailored, and the book sets forth in a fantastic way a philosophy of clothes. Carlyle points out that the difference between a king and a beggar is largely one of clothes, and then develops the idea further : everything we see is but the symbol of what lies beneath it ; our bodies are but the clothes of the spirit, and the world itself is the Garment of God. The book purports to be a translation from the German, and this gives Carlyle an excuse for writing in a curious style, with sentences broken or inverted, new word-compounds, and frequent capitalization. One other point is noteworthy in Carlyle : his constant attitude of giving warning or advice. He saw the England of his time absorbed in commercial success, and following, he thought, false theories of economics, false ideals in society. Against these things he protested with all his power. He shares with Ruskin the honor of being one of the great reformers of the century. John Ruskin (iS 19-1900), the third of the great essayists of the period, was born in London, the son of a wealthy wine merchant. He passed a strange childhood, having no young playmates, and being brought up very strictly. But his parents were fond of good books and good pictures ; they read aloud in the evenings, and the boy listened to Scott JOHN RUSKIN 103 and Shakespeare and Byron. In the summer they took journeys through England and Scotland, seeing the pictur- esque parts of the country and visiting the great picture galleries. At seventeen he was sent to Oxford. His parents intended him for the church, but the love of art was so strong in him that he deter- mined to devote his Hfe to study and criticism. His first book, Modern Painters, a work in five volumes, was largely a defense of Turner as the greatest of land- scape painters ; it showed that Ruskin was undoubtedly the greatest of English art critics, and led to his appointment as Professor of Fine Arts at Ox- ford. He made frequent visits to Italy, and in his Seven Lamps of Arehitecturc and Stones of Venice he wrote of the principles of architecture as he had of painting. In these books he attempted to educate the British people to an appreciation of true art. But as he grew older he came to believe that art was not a thing that could be taught separately, but that it was the expression of the sound moral life of a nation. He saw, as Carlyle had seen, the mass of the English people indifferent to higher interests, worshiping "the Britannia of the Market-Place, the Goddess of Getting-On." No great art is possible from such a nation, he held, and so he turned aside from his favorite themes to become a social reformer, writing books in which he tried to set forth the true relation between workingmen I04 THE VICTORIAN ERA and employers, the rights of property, and other economic questions. These volumes nearly all bore fantastic titles which gave no indication of their contents, such as Fors Clavigera, Unto this Last, and Aluncra Pulvcris. But Ruskin did not confine his efforts to writing ; he established libraries and art schools, he organized movements for better dwellings for the poor, and gave great sums of money to establish a cooperative community where art and industry should go together. His last book, Prcetcrita, is the story of his own life. Ruskin, like Carlyle, is a reformer, and the writings of most reformers are short-lived. Ruskin's work survives because he was more than a reformer. He possessed a remarkable power of description, particularly of objects in nature. He learned to draw as a child, and continued to make sketches all his life, thus cultivating a habit of close and accurate observation. His parents' training had given him an early love for beauty, in nature and in art. Add to this that he possessed the imagination of a poet, and it will be easy to understand why his descriptions of moun- tains, of clouds, of rock and flower and tree, are unequalled in the whole range of English literature. These descrip- tions are scattered through his Modern Painters ; the best of them are collected into a single volume with the title Frondes Agrestes. No one who cares for the beauty of nature can afford to be ignorant of this book. Another of his shorter books is Sesame and Lilies, containing a famous lecture on how and what to read. The Crozvn of Wild Olive is a good introduction to Ruskin's ideas on modern business and society. Matthew Arnold, whose poetry was discussed earlier in this chapter, has a jjlace also as one of the distinctive essayists. He wrote on various topics, literature, national MATTHKW ARNOLD I05 ideals, and theology, — but his best worlv was in llic field of literary critieism. He \\'as familiar with the litei-atiu'es of (ireeee, Rome, France, German}-, and Ital)-, besides that of England, and so was able to criticise literature comparatively, discussing the characteristics of French literature in general as compared to English literature, or comparing a noted l'2nglish poem with a similar work in Greek or Italian. He wrote a number of brief essa\s on English poets of the Romantic school, such as Wordsworth, B\'ron, Shelley, and Keats. His I:ss(7j's /;/ Ci'iiicism, in two volumes, contain the best of his work ; his Discourses in America has a noted article on Emerson. Arnold closes our survey of the essayists. In history the Victorian age shows a marked advance over its prede- cessors. The work of Macaulay and Carlyle has already been mentioned. To these two other names should be added: Edward A. Freeman (1823-1892) and John Richard Green ( 1 837-1 883). Freeman chose for his field of investigation the Norman Conquest ; he gave to it almost a lifetime of study, and the resulting History of the Xonnaii Conquest is the standard work on that subject. Green was less of a profound scholar, but he had a picturesque way of writing history that made him more popular than any other historian except Macaulay. His Short History of the English People is for the general reader the best brief account of English history. We have considered the poets, the essayists, and the historians of this era. In all these there are illustrious names, yet the most significant literary form of the period is none of these : it is fiction. This is due partly to the fact that this period contains three novelists, Dickens, Thackeray, and George Eliot, whose work has become classic. Partly owing to the success of these writers, I06 THE VICTORIAN ERA fiction has become by far the most widely-read form of literature. Reports of Hbraries show that considerably more than two thirds of all the books taken out are works of fiction. The novelist has taken advantage of this fact and made his story a means of appealing to popular senti- ment to plead a cause or redress a wrong. Again, the field of fiction has grown vastly wider. In the eighteenth century an English novel was a story of English people, in England ; in the nineteenth century it may be a story of Canada or Australia or India or the South Sea islands, introducing, along with English people, odd native types of character. Then too the range of subjects has grown broader. The earlier novels dealt with adventure or love- making or the ordinary social relations of the English mid- dle class; in this period we have added the political novel, the study of crime, the religious novel, the novel of social- ism, and the like. In a word, the whole complex civiliza- tion of our time, with its new social problems, its shifting religious beliefs, its new political questions, its wrongs and doubts, its hopes and plans for human betterment, — all are mirrored, more or less faithfully, in the fiction of the time. In the early part of the period the chief names are those of Edward Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873) and Charlotte Bronte. L)'tton serves to connect this period with the preceding, as he was a contemporary of Scott's. He wrote copiously and enjoyed great fame in his day ; he is now remembered chiefly by his Last Days of Pompeii, a historical romance of the school of Scott. He wrote also two very successful plays, which still hold the stage : RicJiclien and The Leidy of Lyons. Charlotte Bronte ( 1816-1855), like Lytton, is known by a single book : fane Eyre. Her home was in a desolate part of Yorkshire, and in her stories bleak moors, storm-tossed trees, and gloomy CHARLES DICKENS 107 mansions make a fit setting for the play of human passions she portrays. Jane Eyre is a girl such as no novelist before had ever chosen for a heroine : she is poor, plain, and a governess; the hero, if we may call him such, is equally unlike the typical hero of romance. Yet the story is one of unquestioned interest and power. Charles Dickens (18 12-1870) was the son of a poor clerk at Portsmouth. When Charles was nine, the family re- moved to London, and the next year the father was placed in prison for debt. The boy went to work in a warehouse, sleeping under the counter, and spending Sundays with his family in Mar- shalsea prison. Later he had a few years of schooling, and was emplo3'ecI as a lawyer's clerk. He studied shorthand and be- came a newspaper reporter. In this capacity he wrote humorous sketches of London life, and fol- lowed these with another series on a larger scale, called TJte Pickivick Papers. This book at once made him known. Novel after novel followed, and be- fore he was thirty Dickens was the most popular writer of his generation. He was an incessant worker, editing magazines and giving public readings from his works, in addition to writing with great rapidity. The constant strain wore him out, and he died at fifty-eight. He was given the honor of a burial in Westminster Abbey. Dickens is the novelist of the English lower classes. The upper class of English society he scarcely knew, and C^cuJxrOW/le^^ 108 THE VICTORIAN ERA his descriptions of them are poor. But the lower middle class, the small tradesmen and clerks, the butcher and baker and candlestick-maker, he knew by daily contact. And the class below this, the impostors, the petty thieves, the body- snatchers, these he knew too. Those Sundays in Marshal- sea prison and the years of life in the poorest surroundings gave him the materials for Little Dorrit ^.w^l David Copper- field. His first book, Pickwick Papers, was purely humor- ous ; his second, Oliver Twist, was a melodrama, with the villain a bloody villain and the hero and heroine almost too good to be true. In his third book, Nicholas Niekleby, melodrama and humor were mingled, and this continued to be the method of Dickens. His characters, like those of a melodrama, are not quite the people of real life ; they are worse, or better, or more amusing, than the people we know. For this reason Dickens is called a caricaturist, meaning that he exaggerates certain features. From this very fact his characters have come to stand for certain types: as Mr. Pecksniff for hypocrisy, Mr. Micawber for cheerful shiftlessness. The hardships of Dickens's early life gave him a keen sympathy for human suffering. When he be- came a novelist, he tried to right wrongs by calling public attention to them through his stories. The wretched con- ditions then existing in private boarding schools are shown in Nicholas Niekleby ; the mismanagement of poorhouses in Oliver Tzvist. Dickens's stories usually have little plot; an exception to this is The Tale of Two Cities. This is his only historical novel ; the two cities are London and Paris, at the time of the French Revolution. The group of shorter tales called Christmas Stories, including The Cricket on the Hearth, The Chivies, and The Christinas Carol, s\\o\n Dick- ens's cheerful sentiment, his humor, and a touch of the fan- tastic which was characteristic of his work. Perhaps his WILLIAM >LVKErEACE TlLVCIvERAY 109 greatest strength lies in description. His books are a great picture gallery of odd, lovable, fantastic people, set in sur- roundings of tumble-down houses or quaint old inns ; you hear the song of the teakettle or the moaning of the wind described as no other writer has described it ; ghostlike shapes come and go ; it is as if you were looking at a great theatrical spectacle, and you laugh or cry as you follow the play. He has amused and cheered the hearts of English readers as has no other writer of his time. William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), the second great novelist of the period, was born in Calcutta, the son of an Eng- lish civil service official. He was taken to England as a child, and educated at the Charter House School and at O.xford. He studied law for a time ; then went to Paris to study art. Re- verses of fortune obliged him to earn his living, and he returned to London to write for news- papers and magazines. He was a contributor to PuncJi, the fa- mous humorous weekly. Not until he was fort)'-fivc did he discover his true field, the novel. In Vanity Fair, a story of English society, he made his first success. This was fol- lowed by four other long novels, and by the volumes entitled Tlie Four Gcorgrs and FiiglisJi Humorists of the Eigliteciith Century. His home life was sad : early in his married life his wife's mind gave way, and she never recovered. His later years were cheered by the companionship of his daughter, now Mrs. Ritchie, who has edited his works. {hy]AAy%ut^Jc<^s^ no THE VICTORIAN ERA Thackeray is the noveUst of the upper class of English society, as Dickens is of the lower class. At college and afterwards his associates were professional men, men of letters, members of the aristocracy, and " society " people. When he became a novelist he described in Vaiiify Fair and Pcndcnnis this world he knew. It was a brilliant world, with its witty, cultured people, its imposing social structure with royalty at the top, — a glittering spectacle in- deed. Yet it was not altogether a lovely world ; the best qualities of mind and heart counted for nothing beside social success. It had its impostors and cheats, and the lords and ladies, nay royalty itself, were sometimes very pitiful creatures. His comment upon it all is — Vanity Fair. In Henry Esmond he turned aside from the present day and drew a picture of life in the eighteenth century, a pic- ture so true that it ranks as one of the greatest historical novels in English. In TIic N'civconws, a later novel, as if to make amends for his early satire on society, he drew a portrait at full length of a true-hearted, noble gentle- man. Colonel Newcome. Thackeray learned the art of fiction from an earlier master, Henry Fielding. From him he adopted the practice of occasionally turning aside from the story to comment upon his characters, or to chat, as it were, with his readers on other topics. From Fielding, too, Thackeray learned the art of plot construction. Dick- ens's stories are apt to be rambling, and incidents are in- troduced which have little or no relation to the main story. But Thackeray's stories have a plot in the sense that a play has a plot. In his treatment of characters, also, Thackeray differs from Dickens. He does not exaggerate ; he tries to make his people as much like those of real life as pos- sible ; the incidents in his stories appeal to us as probable and natural. From this faithfulness in making his mimic GEORGE ELIol III world a true picture of the real world, Thackeray is classed among the great realists in fiction. George Eliot (1819-1S80), whose real name was Mary Ann Evans, is the third of the group of great novelists. She was born in Warwickshire, on a farm of which her father was manager, and her early years were passed among country peo- ple. She was a great reader, and since no colleges were open to women at that time, educated herself with the help of tutors. She could read seven languages, and was an eager student of science and philosophy. She wrote articles for the JJ\-sti/iin- sti-i- Rcinczv, and became one of its editors. This took her to London, where she met the leading intellectual men of the time. She became the wife of George Henry Lewes, and at his suggestion tried her hand at fiction, writing a series of sketches called Scenes of Clerieal Life. Encouraged by the success of these she produced her first novel, Adam Bede. The freshness of this picture of rural life, the rich humor and the pathos of the story, delighted the novel-reading public and settled the question of George EHot's career. Her next novel. The Mill on the Floss, contains much that is autobiographical; Maggie Tulliver, with her love for her books and for her big brother, is George Eliot herself. She traveled in Italy, and planned a great historical novel dealing with the time of Savonarola. After years of study the book was written : Romola. Of her later works, Middlcmarch is the chief. 112 THE VICTORIAN ERA George Eliot is tlie novelist of English rural life. Like Dickens and Thackeray, she wrote best when dealing with the people and scenes she had known. Silas Manicr, one of her shorter books, is typical of her work. In the first place, it impresses one as true to life. The events are probable, the characters such as one might find in many an English village. George Eliot is therefore a realist. Again, the chief interest in the book is not the story, but the development of character. Silas Marner, a young man of a trusting nature, is deeply wounded by the treachery of a friend. He goes to new surroundings, and there, shunned by every one, leads a lonely and selfish life. Suddenly and strongly this is broken by the coming of the child Ep- pie ; in caring for her he is gradually brought back into sympathy with his fellow-men. There the book ends, for the character-development is complete. And finally, the book conveys a moral lesson. Godfrey Cass's weakness leads him to disown his child Eppie ; in after years he tries to make amends and seeks to win the affection of his daughter, but it is too late. In all her books George Eliot teaches, quietly but not less convincingly, her belief that the transgression of moral laws brings its punishment not hereafter but in this life. The three authors just discussed are the leading writers of fiction in this period. There are however many others, some of them too important to be passed over even in a brief survey. Such are Charles Reade, Anthony Trollope, Charles Kingsley, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Charles Reade (1814-1884) is likely to be remembered as the author of T/ic Cloister and the Hearth, a historical novel which some critics place close to Henry Esmond. It is a remarkably vivid picture of life in Germany in the Mid- dle Ages, and has the merit of strict historical accuracy. TROl.LOPE, KINGSLEY, STEVENSON 113 Peg Woffiiigton is a clever story of the stage. In Never Too Late to Mend Reade followed in the footsteps of Dickens, writing a novel with a purpose, in this case to expose the cruelties of prison discipline in England. Anthony Trollope(i8i5-i882) may be called the noveUst of English clerical life, or, more specifically, of the cathe- dral town. His best novels. The Warden, Barchester Tozvcrs, Franiley Parsonage, and The Last Chronicle of Barset, deal with bishops and bishops' wives, archdeacons and poor curates, and all the society that centers about the established church. They are remarkable for their fidelity to English character. Hawthorne said of Trollope, " He is as English as a beefsteak." Charles Kingsley(i8i9-i875), author of a number of books of indifferent merit, wrote two which are among the notable historical novels. LLypatia is a brilliant romance of Alexandria at the time that city was a world- capital. Westivard Ho ! is a stir- ring story of England at the time of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Robert Louis Stevenson(i85o- 1894) almost deserves a place among the essayists of the time. His early books. An Lnland Voyage and Travels with a Donkey, are dehghtful sketches of travel. In Fzr- ginibns Puerisque he writes on various themes, from falHng in love to the fear of death, with a grace and humor that suggest what a delightful talker he must have been. He achieved success in fiction with Treasure Lsland, a thrilling (RjUJlX— » S^c?^:::^? — 114 THE VICTORIAN ERA Story of adventure. Dr. Jckyll ami Mj: Hyde, a curious and powerful story, deals with the two natures in man. The evil nature of Dr. Jekyll becomes a person, Mr. Hyde, and struggles fiercely for the mastery. The theme is a new one in fiction, and Stevenson's handling of it is intensely dramatic. Kidnapped, David Balfour, and TJic Master of Ballantrac are all romantic tales. Stevenson cares nothing about redressing social wrongs or teaching moral lessons or portraying life exactly as it is ; he is neither reformer nor moralist nor realist. His purpose is to tell a good story ; he is a romancer pure and simple. Rudyard Kipling (1865- ), one of the best-known writers of the present time, was born in Bombay, India, of English parents. Educated in England, a journalist in India, a traveler in Canada and South Africa, a resident for some years in the United States, he gained a wide knowledge of men and things. His first book, P/rt/w Tales from the Hills, short stories of India, attracted attention by the freshness of its subject and by its crisp, graphic style. Other volumes of short stories, In Blaek and White and Life's Handicap, showed that Kipling knew his India, both native and European, and could make others see it, from its steaming rice fields and hot, queer-smelling jungles to the silent peaks of the Himalayas. He showed also the power to tell a story with a swiftness and directness that went straight to the mark. The two yungle Books contain some of the most marvelous and fascinating beast stories ever written. His later books of short stories, The Days Work and Traffics and Discoveries, show his remarkable power of imparting life to whatever he writes of. In A Walking Delegate the characters are the horses on a Ver- mont farm; in .007 they are locomotives, which under his hand become instinct with life. He has written several RLIDVAIU) KIPLl.N'G II5 novels. Captains Courageous is a favorite boys' book, while kiiii is a \'ivid picture of native life in India. In poetr)' also Kipling's achievement is noteworthy. Barrack-Room Ba/Iads are the songs of the British soldier. Some of them, such as Danny Doovcr and hiandalay, sing themselves into the memory forever. In the volume called The Seven Seas Kipling interpreted the lure, the might, and the tragedies of ocean as had not been done before in English poetry. In TJie Five N'ations he is the poet of imperial England, chanting the glories of her world-wide sway and the praise of the great colonial nations who call England mother. Yet he realizes that power is not all, and in the solemn Reeessional, with its burden " Lest we forget," he has written one of the great poems of Victorian England. Kipling closes our survey of the Victorian era, and of the story of English literature. But the story itself is not trnished ; it is still being written. From the presses of publishers thousands of books are issued every year; the new poetry and pla)'s and especially the new fiction is thrust upon us so persistently that we are in no danger of forgetting it. The danger is rather that in the flood of new books, so attractive to the eye, and so loudly proclaimed to be works of great genius, we may neglect the older writers upon whom time, the surest critic, has set his approval. When one tries to recall the popular novels of last year or the year before, and sees how soon they are forgotten, it is a satisfaction to turn again to the great masters, with the assurance that as long as the Anglo- Saxon race endures, these men who have interpreted its life in literature will endure also. Il6 THE VICTORIAN ERA READING FOR CHAPTER IX Tennyson. — Lyrics and descriptive poems: Lady of Slialott, The />i7V Drcaiit, Sir Laiitclot and (2iii'cn Giiinci'i'rc, Sir Galahad, Mariana, s(jngs from Tlic Princess. Narrative: Dora. Enoch Ardeii, Lancelot and Elaine (ia Idylls). Reflective poems: ''Break, break, break" The I'oet, Odeoii the Dnke of Wellington, A/erlin and the Gleam, Crossi)ig Ihe liar. From In Memoriani : Prelude and Sees, xi, xiv, xxvii, 1-Iv, Iwii, Ixxiii, Ixxxv, Ixxxvi, xcvi, cvi, cxx, cxxx. Tennyson's poems, with the author's notes, are published in 6 vols. (Alacmillan). Single-volume editions are Globe, Cambridge, Astor.^ .Selected poems in Athena;um, Golden Treasury, Everyman's, Temple, Muses Library. Idylls of the King and /;/ Memoriani are published separately in Handy Volume and Astor. Copious selections in Page ; Warner ; Manly ; Bronson ; Oxford ; Pancoast, and Stedman. Browning, Robert. — Narrative poems: Houi they bronght the Good iVt-ay, The Pied Piper of Haniclin, Herve Riel, The Flight of the J'l/chess. Lyrical and dramatic; Evelyn Hope, Garden Fancies: I, The Laboratory, The Lost Mistress, Meeting at Night, Love among the Pains, The Last Ride Together, One If'ord More, Home-Tlioughts, from Abroad, Home-Thoughts, from the Sea, The Lost Leader, My Star, Cavalier Tunes. Character studies : My Last Duchess, The Bishop Orders his Tomb, Andrea del Sarto. Reflective poeins : Pro- spice, Abt I'ogler, House, Epilogue to Asolando, Saul, Rabbi Ben Ezra. Dramas : Pippa Passes. Browning's poems, with notes and introductions, are published in 12 vols. (Crowell). Editions in very small type are the Globe (2 vols.) and Cambridge (r vol.). Browning's own selections from his poems are published in Handy Volume and Astor. Other volumes of selections are in Temple, Muses, and Everyman's Library. Copious selections in Page ; Manly ; Warner ; Stedman, and Pancoast. Browning, E. B. — The Sleep, Cowper^s Grave. The House of Clouds, The Mask, The Cry of the Children, A Musical Instrument, Mother and Poet, Sonnets from the Portuguese, especially Nos. i, v, x, xiv, xviii, xxviii, xxxviii, xlii. Mrs. Browning's poems are published in Cambridge and Astor edi- tions. Selected poems in Handy Volume. Page gives Sonnets from ^ For publisher and price of various editions, see p. 142. READING FOR CHAPTER LK II7 the Portuguese complete and other poems : selections also in Ward, vol. iv. Manly ; Warner, and Stedman. Arnold. — Poems: So/irah and Rustiim, The Forsaken Merman, The Buried Life, Memorial Verses, Sha/cespeare, Rcqitieseat, Worldly Place, Self-Depeiidenee, A Wish, Rtigby Chapel. Essays: 0)i the Study of Poetry, in Essays in Criticism, 2d series ; also in Ward's English Poets, vol. i. Introduction, and in Pancoast's English Prose. Arnold's poems are in Globe, Muses, and Astor series ; selected poems in Temple. The Essays are in Eversley series (Macmillan), and in Everyman's Library. Selections from poetry in Page ; Manly ; Eronson ; Warner ; O.xford ; Stedman, and Pancoast. Macaulay. — Essays : Life of Johnson and Lord Clive, or John Bunyan and Warren Hastings. Liistory of England, vol. i. Chap. III. Poems : Lays of Ancient Rome : Horatijis, Virginia. Macaulay's works are published in 8 vols. (Longman). The Essays are in Temple (5 vols.) and Everyman's Library (2 vols.). The His- tory is in Everyman's Library (3 vols.). Lays of Ancient Rome in Temple and National Library. Extracts from Macaulay's prose in Craik, vol. iv, and Warner. Carlyle. — Heroes and Hero-Worship, Lecture V. or Sartor Resar- tus, Bk. I, Chap. Ill; Bk. II, Chaps. VII and IX. Both these books are in Athenaeum, Temple, Everyman's, Universal, and Handy Volume series. Selections from Carlyle in Warner. Carlyle's complete works are published in 30 vols. (Scribner). Ruskin. — Sesame and Lilies, Lecture I; Crown of Wild Olive, Introduction and Lecture I. Frondes Agrestes, Sees. Ill and IV. Ruskin's works are published in 20 vols., Brantwood edition (Long- man). Sesame and Lilies in Everyman's and Handy Volume series ; Crown of Wild Olive and Frondes Agrestes in Handy Volume. ALodern Painters in Everyman's Library. Selections from Ruskin, in Students' series (Sanborn) and Standard Classics (Ginn) ; also in Warner. Dickens. — One of the following: David Copperfield, Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby, Dombey and Son, Oliver Twist, Tale of Two Cities, Old Curiosity .Shop, Our Mutual Friend. There are many editions of Dickens, an inexpensive one is in Every- man's Library. The Standard edition (Macmillan, 20 vols.) is illus- trated. Il8 THE VICTORIAN ERA Thackeray. — One of the following: I'anity Fair, Pcndennis, The Virginians, Henry Esmond, The Neiveoines. The biographical edition of Thackeray has introductions by Thack- eray's daughter (Harper, 13 vols.). Henry Esmond 3.\-iA Vanity Fair are in Everyman's and Temple. Eliot. — One of the following: Silas Marner, Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede, Middlemarcli. George Eliot's works are published in 12 vols. (Harper). Adam Bede and Silas Marner are in Temple and Everyman's. Romola also in Everyman's. Stevenson. — Novels, one of the following : Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Master of Ballantrae, Kidnapped. Essays : Virginibiis Pnerisque. Poems : Child^s Garden of Verses. Stevenson's works, with biographical introductions by his wife, are published in 25 vols. (Scribner). Treasure Island is in Everyman's. The poems are in Handy Volume and Astor series. Kipling. — Prose: From The Phantom Rickshaw. The Man who luould be King. From The Jungle Book : Kaa^s Hunting. From The Day^s Work : -00", The Brushwood Boy. Poems : Barrack-Room Ballads, The Seven Seas. Kipling's complete works are published in 20 vols., Outward Bound edition (Scribner) ; also in Swastika edition (Doubleday, Page). For fuller treatment of the writers in this period, see E. C. Stedman's Victorian Poets (Houghton), G. Saintsbury's Nineteentli Century EnglisJi Literature (Macmillan), F. Harrison's Early Victorian Litera- ture (Lane), W. C. Brownell's Victorian Prose Masters (Scribner), H. Walker's The Age of Tennyson (Macmillan). For Tennyson: S. Brooke's Tennyson, His Art and His Relation to Modern Life (Putnam), H. Van Dyke's The Poetry of Tennyson (Scribner), and the Memoir by A. Hallam Tennyson (Macmillan). For Browning: Alexander's Introduction to Browning (Ginn), E. Dowden's Studies in Literature (Scribner), G. W. Cooke's Guidebook to Browning (Houghton). See also lives of Tennyson, Browning, Macaulay, Carlyle, Ruskin, Dickens, Thackeray, and Eliot in English Men of Letters series (Macmillan). QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING Geoffrf.y Chaucer Tnith is the hii;hest thing tliat man may kepc. Canterbury Tales. Full wise is he that can himselven knowe. Canterbury Tales. Joy of this world for time will not abide ; Fro day to day it chaungeth as the tide. Canterbury Talcs. Edmund Spenser The noblest mind the best contentment has. Faerie <2neene. For he that strives to touch a star. Oft stumbles at a straw. Shcpherd^s Calendar. Christopher Marlowe Honor is purchased by the deeds we do. Hero and Lcander. Epitaph Weep not for Mortimer, That scorns the world, and as a traveler Goes to discover countries yet unknown. Edivard II. O. thou art fairer than the evening air, Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars. Doctor Eanstus- >I9 I20 QUOTATIONS FOK MEMORIZING William Shakespeare The fashion wears out more apparel than the man. J// ill Ado about Notlting. O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength, but it is tj'rannous To use it like a giant. Measiii 'c for Measure . Every one can master a grief but he that has it. Much Ado about Nothing. Nought's had, all's spent. Where our desire is got without content. Macbeth. Give sorrow words ; the grief that does not speak Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break. Macbeth. I count mvself in nothing else so happy As in a soul remembering my good friends. Richard II. Sweet are the uses of adversity. Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head ; And this our life, exempt from pubhc haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running Ijrooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. As You Like It. Full many a glorious morning have I seen Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye ; Kissing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenlv alchemy. Sonnets. He is well paid that is well satisfied. Merchant of Venice. (QUOTATIONS FOR MEMoRlZINO t2I O gentlemen, the time of life is short ! To spend that shortness basely were too long il lile did ride upon a dial's point. Still ending at the arri\al of an hour. Henry IV, Part I. How poor are thev that have not patience! Olhello. For sweetest things turn sourest l)v their deeds. Lilies that tester smell far worse than weeds. Soiiiieis. All things are ready if our minds lie so. He my l'. iMy words fly up, mv thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts ne\er to Heaven go. Ha/iiUi. Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt. Measure far Jfeasure. Young men's love then lies Not trul)' in their hearts but in their eyes. Romeo and Jiiliel . Rich git'ts wax poor when givers prove unkind. Hamlet. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. Romeo and Juliet . The course of true love never did run smooth. Midsunniiei' jVig/ifs Dream. How far that little candle throws his beams ! So shines a good deed in a naughty world. Aferchant of Venice. 122 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts. As You Like It. Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once. Julius Ccrsar. Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies. Kt7ig Henry VIII. Neither a borrower nor a lender be ; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all : to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Hamlet. There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. Julius Ccesar. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air ; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision. The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself. Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve. And, like this insubstantial pageant faded. Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on ; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. The Tempest. (1UUTATI0NS FOR MEMORIZING 1 23 Ben Jonson Here was she wont to go! and here ! and here ! Just where these daisies, pinks and violets grow; The world may find the Spring by following her, For other print her airy steps ne'er left. Her treading would not bend a blade of grass, Or shake the downy bluebell from his stalk ! But like the soft west wind she shot along And where she went, the flowers took thickest root, As she had sowed them with her odorous foot. Tlic Sad Slicplicrd. Francis Bacon I have often thought upon death, and I find it the least of all evils. Essays: Of Dcatli. Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. Essays : Of Revenge . Virtue is like a rich stone, — best plain set. Essays : Of Beauty. Men in great place are thrice servants, — servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business. Essays : Of Great Place. Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. Essays : Of Stiuties. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. Essays : Of Studies. IzAAK Walton Angling is somewhat like poetry, — men are to be born so. T//C Coinpleat Anirler. Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics that it can never be fully learnt. The Coinpleat Angler. Comus. 124 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING John Milton He that has light within his own clear breast IVIay sit i' the center and enjoy bright day ; But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the midday sun ; Himself is his own dungeon. Mortals, that would follow me. Love Virtue, she alone is free ; She can teach you how to climb Higher than the sphery chime ; Or, if Virtue feeble were. Heaven itself would stoop to her. Coinus. God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts ; who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly ; thousands at his bidding speed. And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; They also serve who only stand and wait. Sonnet : On His Blindness. Come and trip it as you go On the light fantastic toe. L" Allegro. I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green To behold the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heavens' wide pathless way ; And oft, as if her head she bowed, Stooping through a fleecy cloud. // Penseroso. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. Paradise Lost. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING 1 25 With grave Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed A pillar of state ; deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat, and public care ; And princely counsel in his face yet shone. Majestic though in ruin : sage he stood, With Atalantean shoulders, fit to bear The weight of mightiest monarchies : his look Drew audience and attention still as night Or summer's noontide air. Paradise Lost. Robert Herrick Afight Piece : To Julia Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, The shooting stars attend thee ; And the Elves also. Whose little eyes glow Lilce the sparks of fire, befriend thee. No Will-o'-the-wisp mislight thee. Nor snake nor slow-worm bite thee, But on, on thy way Without making a stay. Since ghost there's none to affright thee. Let not the dark thee cumber ; What though the moon does slumber ? The stars of the night Will lend thee their light Like tapers clear without number. George Herbert Dare to be true : nothing can need a lie ; A fault which needs it most grows two thereby. TJic Church Porch. 126 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING John Dryden Errors like straws upon the surface flow ; He who would search for pearls must dive below. All for Love. Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide. Absalom and AchitopJicl. Better to hunt in fields for health unbought Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. The wise for cure on e.xercise depend ; God never made his work for man to mend. Epistle to J. Dryden. Jonathan Swift Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for becoming emi- Thoiights. nent 'Tis an old maxim in the schools That flattery's the food of fools ; Yet now and then your men of wit Will condescend to take a bit. Cadenns and Vanessa. Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old. Thonghts. The reason why so few marriages are happy is because young ladies .spend their time in making nets, not in making cages. Thoughts. And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind and do more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together. Gnllivei-^s Travels. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING 12^ Joseph Addison Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. Spectator. A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body. Spectator. Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. Spectator. The tnith of it is, a woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding gown. Spectator. 'Tis not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it. The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger and defies its point. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years ; But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements. The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds. Oliver Goldsmith Cato. Cato. In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill, For e'en though vanquished he could argue still ; While words of learned length and thundering sound Amaz'd the gazing rustics rang'd around ; And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew That one small head could carry all he knew. Tlie Deserted I 'ill age. The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I had gained a new friend ; when I read over a book I have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one. Essays. 128 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING Alexander Pope 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each beUeves his own. Essay on Criticism. To observations which ourselves we make We grow more partial for th' observer's sake. Moral Essays. 'Tis education forms the common mind ; Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined. Moral Essays. Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prescribed, the present state. Essay on Man. All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul. Essay on Man. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan ; The proper study of mankind is Man. Essay on Man. Vice is a monster of so frightful mien. As to be hated, needs but to be seen ; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace. Essay on Man. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance. As those move easiest who have learned to dance. Essay on Criticism. If to her share some female errors fall. Look on her face, and you'll forget them all. The Rape of the Lock. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING 1 29 Samuel Johnson It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking on the bright side of things. BosweWs Life of Johnson. Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome. Rasselas. To him that lives well, every form of life is good. Rasselas. Cultivate your mind, if you happen to have one. Lette7's. Knowledge is of two kinds : we know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. BosiveWs Life of Jolinsoii. Always remember that the fate of the unfortunate may become your own. Rasselas. William Cowper An idler is a watch that wants both hands. As useless if it goes as if it stands. Retirement . Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much ; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. Tlie Task. I would not enter on my list of friends (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense. Yet wanting sensibility) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. The Task. How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home. Progress of Error. 130 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING William Blake The fox condemns the trap, not himself. Proverbs. There is a moment in each day that Satan cannot find. Proverbs. I give you the end of a golden string, Only wind it into a ball ; It will lead you in at Heaven's gate Built in Jerusalem wall. Fragments. Thomas Gray The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power. And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Do you not think the mind has more room in it than most people seem to think, if you will but furnish the apartments? Letters. On Milton He pass'd the flaming bounds of place and time : The living throne, the sapphii'e blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze. He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Closed his eyes in endless night. The Progress of Poesy. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING 13 1 Ror.ERT Burns But human bodies are sic fools, For a" their colleges and schools. That when nae real ills perplex them, They make enow themselves to vex them. The Twa Dogs. Had we never loved sae kindly. Had we never loved sae Ijlindly, Ne\er met. or never parted. We had ne'er been broken-hearted! Ae Fond Kiss. To catch Dame Fortune's golden smile Assiduous wait upon her, And gather gear by every wile That's justified by honor. Not for to hide it in a hedge Not for a train-attendant, But for the glorious privilege Of being independent. Letter to a Voiitig Friend. A prince can make a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that ; But an honest man's aboon his might, Guid faith, he maunna fa' ^ that. For d TJiat and d Tliat. To see her is to love her. And love but her forever ; For nature inade her what she is, And ne'er made sic another! Bonnie Lesley. But pleasures are like poppies spread. You seize the flower, its bloom is shed ; Or like the snowflake in the river, A moment white, then melts forever. Tarn 0' Shanter. 1 May not claim. 132 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING Samuel Taylor Coleridge Epitapli on an Infant Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade, Death came with kindly care ; The opening bud to Heaven conveyed, And bade it blossom there. To a Lady I have heard of reasons manifold Why Love must needs be blind. But this the best of all I hold — His eyes are in his mind. What outward form and features are He guesseth but in part ; But what within is good and fair He seeth with the heart. I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely defini- tions of prose and poetry, that is : prose, words in their best order ; poetry, the best words in their best order. Lectures on Shakespeare. William Wordsworth She dwelt ani07ig the untrodden ways She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A maid whom there were none to praise, And very few to love ; A violet by a mossy stone Half-hidden from the eye ! Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky. She lived alone, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be ; But she is in her grave, and, O, The difference to me ! QUOfATIONS FOR MEMORIZING 1 33 The primal duties shine aloft like stars ; The charities that soothe and heal and bless Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers. Tlie Excursion. That best portion of a good man's life — His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love. Personal Talk. My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky ; So was it when my life began, So is it now I am a man, So be it when I shall grow old. Or let me die. My Heart leaps Up. A creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food ; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles. She was a PJia)itoni of Delight. Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting : The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath elsewhere had its setting, And Cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness. And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory, do we come From God, who is our home : Heaven lies about us in our infancy. Ode on Immortality. To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. Ode on Immortality. A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays And confident to-morrows. The Excursion. 134 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING Charles Lamb The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth and have it found out by accident. Letters. The human species, according to the best theory I can form of it, is composed of two distinct races : the men who borrow and the men who lend. Presents, I often say, endear absents. Sir Walter Scott Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive ! Essays of Elia. Essays of Elia. Marmion. Breathes there the man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said This is my own, my native land ! If such there breathe, go, mark him well! For him no minstrel raptures swell ; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, — ■ Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentered all in self. Living, shall forfeit fair renown. And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung Unwept, unhonored, and unsung. Marmion. Oh, many a shaft at random sent Finds mark the archer little meant! And many a word at random spoken May soothe or wound a heart that's broken! The Lady of the Lake. QL'OTAI'KJXS FOR MEMOUl/JXG 1 35 George Gordox Byron Here's a sigh to tliose who Io\f me, And a smile to those who liate ; And whatever sk_v's abo\-e me, Here's a heart for every fate. To Thomas Moore. 'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark Bay deep-mouthed welcome as w-e draw near home ; 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark Oar coming, and look brighter when we come. Don Juan. Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow. Cliildc Harold. I've seen your stormy seas and stormv women. And pity lovers rather more than seamen. Don Juan. Percy Bysshe Shelley We look before and after. And pine for what is not ; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught ; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. To a Skylark. Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the hap- piest and Ijest minds. ^l Defence of Poetry. Peace, peace ! He is not dead, he doth not sleep ; He hath awakened from the dream of life. 'Tis we who lost in stormy visions, keejj With phantoms an unprofitable strife. He has outsoared the shadows of our night; Envy and calumny, and hate and pain. And that unrest which men miscall delight, Can touch him not and torture not again. Adonais. 136 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING John Keats The great end Of poetry, that it should be a friend To soothe the cares and lift the thoughts of men. Sleep and Poetry. Beauty is truth, truth beauty, — that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Ode on a Grecian Urn. WiLLiA.M M. Thackeray A man is seldom more manly than when he is what you call un- manned. English Humourists. We view the world with our own eyes, each of us ; and we make from within us the world we see. English Humourists. " 'Tis not the dying for a faith that's so hard. Master Harry, — every man of every nation has done that, — 'tis the living up to it that is difficult." Henry Esmond. Thomas Carlyle Great men are punctuation marks in the text of time. Inscription at Winchester School. Sarcasm I now see to be in general the language of the devil. Sartor Resartus. The end of man is an Action, and not a Thought. Sartor Resartus. The history of the world is but the Biography of great men. Heroes and Hero-Worship. The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none. Heroes and Hero- Worship. Do the Duty which lies nearest thee, which thou knowest to be a Duty ! Thy second Duty will already have become clearer. Sartor Resartus. We are all poets when we read a poem well. Heroes and Hero-Worship. QUOTATIONS KOR MEMORIZING 1 37 All that mankind has done, thought, gained, or been: it is lying in magic preservation in the pages of books. Heroes and Hero-Vl'orsliip. IVIatthew Arnold For we are all, like swimmers in a sea, Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate, Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall. And whether it will heave us up to land. Or whether it will roll us out to sea. Back out to sea, to the deep wave of death, We know not, and no search will make us know ; Only the event will teach us in its hour. Sohrab and Riistiirn. We have to turn to poetry to interpret life for us. Essays in Criticism. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Behind no prison grate, she said. Which slurs the sunshine half a mile, Live captives so uncomforted As souls behind a smile. The Maik. There's nothing low In love, when love the lowest : meanest creatures Who love God, God accepts while loving so. Sonnets from the Portuguese. Mark, there. We get no good By being ungenerous, even to a book, And calculating profits — so much help From so much reading. It is rather when We gloriously forget ourselves, and plunge Soul-forward, headlong, into a book's profound, Impassioned for its beauty and salt of truth, — 'Tis then we get the right good from a book. Aurora Leigh. 138 QUOTx-VTIONS FOR MEMORIZING Robert Browning Have you found your life distasteful? My life did and does smack sweet. Was your youth of pleasure wasteful ? Mine I saved and hold complete. I find earth not gray but rosy, Heaven not grim, but fair of hue. Do I stoop? I pluck a posy. Do I stand and stare? All's blue. At the '' Meriiiaidy 'Tis not what man does which exalts him, but what man would do! Saul. My own hope is, a sun will pierce The thickest cloud earth ever stretched ; That, after Last, returns the First, Though a wide compass round be fetched ; That what began best, can't end worst, Nor what God blessed once, prove accurst. Apparent Failure. I count life just a stuff To try the soul's strength on. In a Bahony. Sorrow is hard to bear, and doubt is slow to clear. Each sufferer says his say, his scheme of the weal or woe ; But God has a few of us whom he whispers in the ear ; The rest may reason and welcome, 'tis we musicians know. Abt Vogler. When the fight begins within himself, A man's worth something. BisJtop Bloitgram^s Apology. All service ranks the same with God, With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we : there is no last nor first. Pippa Passes. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING 1 39 John Ruskin If in our moments of utter insipidity we turn to the sky as a last resource, wliicli of its phenomena do we speak of ? One says it has been wet ; and another, it has been windy ; and another, it has been warm. Who among the wliole chattering crowd can tell me of the forms and the precipices of the chain of tall white mountains that girded the horizon at noon yesterday ? Who saw the narrow sunbeam that came out of the South and smote upon their summits until they melted and mouldered away in a dust of blue rain? Who saw the dance of the dead clouds when the sunlight left them last night and the west wind blew them before it like withered leaves ? All has passed away, unre- gretted as unseen. Frondes Agrestes. Life being very short and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them reading valueless books. Sesame and Lilies. George Eliot Our tongues are little triggers which have usually been pulled before general intentions can be brought to bear. Middleinarck. The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand ; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. Scenes of Clerical Life. However strong a man's resolution may be, it costs him something to carry it out, now and then. We may determine not to gather any cherries, and keep our hands sturdily in our pockets, but we can't pre- vent our mouths from watering. Adam Bede. Old men's eyes are like old men's memories, they are strongest for things a long way off. Roiiiola. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best. Felix Holt . I40 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING We are apt to measure ourselves by our aspirations instead of our performances. Conversations. In the old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the City of Destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threaten- ing destruction : a hand is put into theirs which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they no more look back- ward ; and the hand may be a little child's. Silas Afarner. Alfred Tennyson Yet 1 doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs. And the thoughts of man are widened with the process of the suns. Locksley Hall. I am a part of all that I have met. Ulysses. Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 'Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets. And simple faith than Norman blood. Lady Clara Vere de Vere. Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might ; Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, passed in music out of sight. Locksley Hall. I held it truth, with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones. That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things. In Memoriam. He makes no friend who never made a foe. Idylls of the King. God's linger touched him, and he slept. In Memoriam. QUOTATIONS FOR MEM(JRIZING 141 The poet in a golden clime was born, Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, The love of love. The Poet. Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, — These three alone lead life to sovereign power. QLjione. This is truth the poet sings, That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. Locksley Hall. A lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright ; But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight. The Orandinother. So many worlds, so much to do. So little done, such things to be. /// Mcinoriaiii. If thou shouldst never see my face again. Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain. If knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend. For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. Idylls of the King. BOOKS AND EDITIONS REFERRED TO IN READING LISTS Volumes of Selections Bronson, VV. C, English Poems, Nineteenth Century. Selections from the chief writers only, with brief notes. Other volumes to follow^ covering earlier periods, i vol., $i. University of Chicago Press. Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature. Three large volumes, containing biographical and critical accounts of nearly all English writers, with brief extracts from their works. Illustrated with portraits. Set, 3 vols., $15. J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila. Craik, H., English Prose. Includes writers from fourteenth century to present time, giving selections, with biographical and critical prefaces. A companion set to Ward's English Poets, but less valuable, as the selections are seldom complete. 5 vols., $1.10 per volume. Macmillan Co., N. Y. Hales, J. W.. Longer English Poems. Selections from Spenser to Keats, with notes, i vol., $1.10. Macmillan Co., N. Y. Manly, J. M., English Poetry, 1 170-1892. Gives in a single large volume sufficient selections to represent the whole course of English poetry. No notes nor biographies. The best single-volume collection. $1.50. Ginn & Co., Boston. O.rford Book of English Verse. Selections, chiefly lyrical, from 1250-1900. chosen by A. T. Ouiller-Couch. No notes, i vol., $1.90. Clarendon Press, N. Y. Page, C. H., Ilritish Poets of the Nineteenth Century. Includes only the chief writers, but gives nearly 100 pages of selections from each author. Valuable also for the lists of reference books in biography and criticism for each author, i vol.. $2. B. H. Sanborn, Boston. 142 1500KS AND KDITIONS REFERKl-'.D TO 143 Pancoast, H. S.. Stainiarct E>ii:Iis/i l\- Abbey, The Stage Coaek, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Christinas Eve, Christinas Day, The Christinas Dinner. Knickerbocker's History of New York: Bk. Ill, Chaps. I-IV. The Alhainbra : Palace of the Alhainbra, Court of Lions, The Moor's I^egacy. The Rose of the Alhainbra. Irving's complete works are published in 24 vols., Geoffrey Crayon edition (Putnam). The Sketch Book is in Everyman's Library.' Knickerbocker's New York is in CasselPs National Library (2 vols.). Cooper. — At least one of these should be read : The Spy, The Deer- slayer, The Last of the Mohicans. The Prairie, The I^ioneers, The Pilot . Cooper's complete works, with introductions by Susan Fenimore Cooper, are published in 32 vols. (Houghton). The Leather-Stocking Tales (5 vols.) are in Everyman's. Bryant. — Thanaiopsis, To a II 'atcrfoivl, A Forest Hymn, The Death of the Flowers, To the Fringed Gentian, Song of Marion's Men, The Antiquity of Freedom, The Planting of the Apple Tree, Robert of Lin- coln, Sella, The L^lood of Years. Bryant's works are published in 4 vols. The poems are in i vol. (Appleton). Copious selections from Bryant are given in Page's Chief American Poets; selections also in Warner, Library of American Lit- erature, and Stedman. For fuller treatment of the writers of this group, see the references given at the end of Chap. II, and in addition E. C. Stedman's Poets of America ; also the lives of Bryant, Cooper, and Irving in the Ameri- can Men of Letters series (Houghton). ' For pulilisher and price uf liouks referred to, see p. 278. CHAPTER IV THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP — POETS AND ESSAYISTS Ralph Waldo Etncrson James Russell Lowell Henry W. Lougfellozu Oliver Wendell Holmes John G. Whitticr Henry D. TJioreaii American literature began in Philadelphia with Frank- lin ; then New York State produced three great writers, Irving, Cooper, and Bryant. About 1835 the literary center of the country shifted to New England, and the writers of this group — Emerson, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Lowell, Holmes, and Whittier — remain the great names in our literature. It will be convenient to treat these writers in two groups, discussing the poets and essayists in the present chapter, the writers of fiction, orators, and historians in the next. It should be kept in mind, how- ever, that these two chapters do not represent different periods of time. The chief work of all these New Eng- land authors was done between 1835 and 1870. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803- 1882) was the earliest of the New England group to attain distinction. He was born in Boston, May 25, 1803. His father was a clergyman, who died when Ralph was a child, leaving the family to struggle with poverty. Ralph went to Har- vard, paying part of his expenses by waiting at table in the college dining-hall. After graduation he taught for a few years ; then entered the ministry, as his ances- tors for six generations had done. But he came to hold different views from those of his church, and quietly 167 i68 TIIK NEW ENGLAND GROUP resigned his charge. He spent the next years in Europe, where he met Coleridge and Wordsworth, and visited Carlyle in his lonely home at Craigenputtock. Return- ing to America, he took up his residence at Concord, Mass. His days were passed in study, in long walks, and in writ- ing. He lectured frequently, in Boston and elsewhere. In 1836 he pubhshed his first book. Na- ture ; it found but few readers. But he was reaching a larger and larger audience through his lectures, which were given in many cities. In 1837 he deliv- ered an address at Harvard on The Anicricati Scholar, which is one of his greatest public utter- J^Xd^/a^ (£L^<>-f^ ances. In 1841 he published the first volume of his Essays, and some years later his Poems. Carlyle and his other English friends wished him to come to England and lec- ture ; he did so, and afterwards published his addresses under the title Representative 3Ien. His impressions of England were recorded in a second book, English Traits. The slavery cjuestion was now becoming prominent, and Emerson unhesitatingly took his stand with the op- ponents of slavery, though this step cost him some lec- ture engagements which he could ill afford to lose. He continued lecturing and writing until 1870, when his strength began to fail. He died in 1882. Emerson's work includes both prose and poetry. His poetry has never been generally popular ; it has passages of exquisite beauty, but it is often obscure. He had no i^ALPII WALDO EMERSON 169 ear for music, and his verse lacks the singing quality. Yet some o( his shorter poems, such as K/iodora, the Concord Hyiitn, and Days, have a rare excellence. His prose writings, which fill nine volumes, are all in the form of essays, and belong to the class known as re- flective essays. He does not describe places, as Irving did in the SkcU/t Book, nor draw imaginary characters, as 1 1 *^ ^. J i^w^ a||*|ww[|-.„^ -^ 't^ ^n^ '^SSfflK^Sffl^U £i s m m^m '^^ ""v^ EMERSON'S HOME, CONCORD, MASS. Addison had done in the De Covcrlcy Papers, but he chooses general subjects, such as History, Friendship, Compensation, and gives us his thoughts on these. Some- times he is not easy reading; sometimes you can see no con- nection between one sentence and the next ; but light will flash out a moment later, and you will be more than repaid for the delay. His nature was singularly pure, and his mental vision keen ; he seemed to see through the disguises of the world, and penetrate to the soul beneath ; so that in reading 170 THE NEW ENGLAXU GROUP him you learn to look at things in a new light, to see truths that you had not suspected. He is thus one of the most inspiring writers in our literature. So noted a critic as Matthew Arnold calls Emerson's Essays the most impor- tant work done in prose in our language during the nine- teenth century. Emerson is one of the most quotable of authors. He had the power of putting his thought into short, pithy sentences, as had Franklin before him, but Emerson's thoughts are not Franklin's thoughts. Franklin's maxims are nearly all concerned with the wisdom of this world; if you follow him, you will be prosperous. Emerson goes be- yond this, — he is a spiritual leader, and one of the greatest of his time. The following sentences are from his essays : The only way to have a friend is to be one. Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Life is not so short but tliere is always time for courtesy. Want is a growing giant whom tlie coat of Have was never large enough to cover. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. That only which we have within us can we see without. If we meet no gods, it IS because we harljor none. Emerson is chiefly known by his prose ; the next writer of the New England group is a poet, — Longfellow. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ( 1 807-1 882) was born in Portland, Me., Feb. 27, 1807. His father was a lawyer of Portland, his mother a descendant of Priscilla Alden, whom the poet was to commemorate in Miles Staudish. Portland, with its pine-clad hills and its beautiful harbor, was a fit place for a poet's boyhood, and how deeply it impressed Long- fellow is seen in his poem My Lost Youth. HENRY WADSWOKTII LONGFELLOW 171 my whole soul He early showed a taste for literature ; at twelve he read with great delight Irving's Sketch Book, then just published, and at thirteen he wrote verses which were printed in the Portland paper. In 1822 he was sent to Bowdoin College, where Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of his class- mates, and Franklin Pierce, later President Pierce, was a student. In 1824 he wrote to his father, " I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature ; burns most ardently for it, and my earthly thought centers in it." His father sympathized with him, but pointed out that literature was a very uncertain means of support and suggested the law. Fortunately a way was opened, for the authorities of Bowdoin College decided to in- troduce the modern languages in their course, and offered Long- fellow the professorship if he would prepare himself for it. So in 1826 he sailed for Europe, 3\'V/'.C>^\/sVV'-^^-*-»^ where he remained three years, studying the languages and literature of Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. Returning to America, he took up his work as a teacher with enthusiasm, writing text-books and making many translations that he might reveal the beauties of foreign literature to his countrymen. His work at Bowdoin was so successful, that in 1834 he was called to a similar position at Harvard. Again he went abroad for study, and in 1835 his first great sorrow came to him, the death of his wife, the " being beauteous " of his poem Footsteps of Angels. In 1836 he took up his 172 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP work at Harvard, work which he continued for nearly twenty years. In the meantime his pen was not idle. The Voicis of tJic Night appeared in 1839, and in 1841 Ballads and Other Poems, which contained The Wreck of the Hesperus, The Rainy Day, The Village Blacksmith, ■ax\A Excelsior. His first long poem, Evangeline, appeared in 1847, and from this time Longfellow was easily the most popular American poet. In 1843 he married Miss Frances Appleton and made his home in the Craigie house, Cambridge, which is now known as the Longfellow house. Feeling that his college work interfered with his writing, he resigned his professor- ship in 1854. The next year he published The Song of Hiawatha, a re-telling of Indian legends, written in a pecul- iar meter which Longfellow imitated from the Swedish. In 1 86 1 the poet suffered a second bereavement in the death of his wife. How deeply he suffered is shown in the fine sonnet. The Cross of Snow. Feeling incapable for a time of original composition, he turned to translation as a relief for his thoughts, and completed a version of Dante's Divine Comedy. In 1868 he went abroad again, receiving the highest honors from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The rest of his life was spent peacefully in his Cambridge home, which had already be- come a place of pilgrimage for the lovers of the poet. Schoolboys from Boston, admirers seeking the poet's auto- graph, young writers asking for advice or assistance, came by scores, and all met with a gracious reception from the good white poet. He died peacefully March 24, 1884. His death was mourned by the English-speaking world. His bust stands in Westminster Abbey, London ; and his grave in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, always has flowers upon it. IIEiNRY WAUSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1 73 .0 Hi'' i 3 -^' i -^ '^ 1 ^ f J 1 ^ ^ o ' a= 5- : j-^ ^ ^ ^ .^ j^ i( ->5 W VO / ^ I ,;. J 3 ' ^ J^ 174 THE NliW ENGLAND GROUP It is difficult to criticise where we love, and Longfellow is certainly the best loved of American poets. His poetry has its shortcomings : he is less original than Poe, less ardently patriotic than Lowell. Yet his poetry touches the heart as Poe's never does, and his fame, in life and death, is far wider than Lowell's. He is beyond dispute the most popular of our poets, and it is said that in Eng- land he is better known than Tennyson. Of the three main classes of poetry, — lyric, narrative, and dramatic, — he has attempted all, though not with equal success. His dramatic poems were chiefly the work of his later years ; they include The Golden Legend and The Dh'ijie Tragedy. The poet himself preferred these to his other work, but his readers do not agree with him, In narrative poetry Longfellow has probably achieved his greatest success. Short poems like The Wi'eek of the Hesperus, The Skeleton in Armor, and Paul Revere' s Ride have a directness and vigor that have long made them favorites. In longer narratives, such as Evangeline, he shows his mastery of descriptive writing and his power to touch the emotions. It is interesting to learn that the story of Evangeline \n2lS suggested to Longfellow by Hawthorne, who had thought of writing a romance upon it. In Miles Siandish we get ghmpses of Longfellow's humor, a thing he rarely allowed to creep into his poetry. Hiaivatha is, of course, not a faithful picture of Indian life, but rather a beautiful fancy of that life as it might have been. In this idealizing of the Indian we find a character- istic of Longfellow. He always looked for the best in literature and in life ; he preferred not to see the darker side, and seldom touched it in his poetry. To lyric poetry — that which deals with emotion — be- longs much of Longfellow's best-known work. It is inter- JOHN c;REENLEAF WIIITTIER 175 esting to note how many of these poems convey a lesson. In Tlic Ranty l^ay it is that of resignation : Be still, sad heart! and cease repinini;; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each lite some rain must fall. Some days must be dark and drear\'. In The Builders he emjihasizes the importance of honest, faithful fulfillment of our daily task : All are architects of Fate, Working in these walls of Time ; Some with massive deeds and great, Some with ornaments of rhyme. For the structure that we raise Time is with materials hlled ; Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we I)iiild. Let us do our work as well. Both the unseen and the seen ; Make the house, where Gods may dwell. Beautiful, entire, and clean. Excelsior is the poem of aspiration ; the Psalm of Life has a noble message of courage and hope. At times we all feel the need of such lessons as these. Many poets have tried to teach them, but Longfellow has done it so simply and so musically that for many readers he is their chosen poet. Others are more highly praised by critics, but none more loved by their readers. John Greenleaf Whittier (1807- 1892), the next in this group of New England poets, was born in East Haver- hill, Mass., Dec. 17, 1807. The year of his birth is the same as Longfellow's, but the circumstances of the two 176 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP men were very different. Longfellow was the son of cultured parents, and received all the advantages that education and foreign travel could bestow ; VVhittier was the son of a Quaker farmer, who was scarcely able to send his son to the village school. But there were a few books in his father's house, or borrowed from neighbors, that it was almost an education to read. The Bible was one of these books ; another was Burns's poems, and later came Shakespeare and Scott, though J ^•~ his Quaker conscience at first troubled him as to whether he ought to read these books. It was Burns that made Whit- tier a poet. He was a boy of fourteen when he first read Burns ; he had never dreamed that poetry could be written by a farmer's boy, and on the homely subjects that Burns chose. If it was possible in Scotland, why not in Massachu- setts .'' So he wrote verses of his own, which his sister sent to a newspaper. The editor, who was William Lloyd Gar- rison, thought so well of the poems that he came to see the author. He found a blushing, shy, country boy, to whom he talked kindly, urging him to get some education. The boy managed to get a year's schooling at an academy, paying his way by making slippers. Aided by Mr. Garri- son, he then secured a place on a newspaper in Boston, and later held editorial positions in Hartford and Philadelphia. He had written enough poetry by this time to fill a small volume, but little of this early work is important. JOHN GREENLEAF WIIITTIER 17/ About 1S33, however, he found a subject that called forth all his powers. This was the anti-slavery movement. It took courage to be an abolitionist in those days, and Whittier's advocacy of the cause at once closed the columns of many periodicals to his poems. When he was editing The Frcciiiau in Philadelphia, his office was sacked and burned by a mob and his life threatened. But week after week he sent forth poems which roused the conscience of the nation. His Expostulation, Stoiiinojts to the North, Jlassachiisftts to Virginia, — "burning lyrics," as Lowell calls them, — entitle him to be called the poet of freedom. In 1840 his health obliged him to give up his work on The Freeman, and he removed to Amcsbury, Mass., which was henceforth his home. He never married, but the companionship of his sister made his home pleasant. He continued to write in defense of his chosen cause, and dur- ing the war cheered the soul of the North by poems like Barbara Frietehie. When the war had settled the cjucstion of slaver)', Whit- tier turned once more to the quiet scenes of boyhood that had been the subject of his early verse, and wrote Snozv- Bound. The success of this poem, almost as great as that of Evangeline, relieved Whittier from his straitened cir- cumstances, for although he was widely known as a poet, much of his verse brought him little or nothing; it was his gift to the cause. From this time he lived quietly at Amesbury, from time to time pubhshing a slender volume of poems. He clung to his Quaker coat and Quaker ways ; he never attended a theater, and disliked " society," much preferring to talk with his neighbors in the village. He died Sept. 7, 1892. His last words were: "My — love — to — the — world." Whittier's work may be considered as belonging to two 1/8 THE XEW ENGLAND GROUP periods. In the first he is the poet of the anti-slavery movement. Much of the verse of this period was of necessity hastily written ; there was no time to polish lines when a trumpet-call was needed. But the fierce flame of moral indignation that burns in many of his lyrics more than atones for slight faults. When Webster, in his famous Scvcntk-of- March SpcccJi, disappointed many of his admirers by coming out as an advocate of slavery, Whittier wrote the poem Icliabod. It is like the tolling of a great bell for a departed hero. Perhaps the finest poem of this group is one called Lans Deo! (Praise be to God!) It was written at the news of the adoption of the amendment abolishing slavery. Stirred to the depths of his nature by this, he wrote : It is done! Clang of bell and roar of gun Send the tiding.s up and down. How the belfries rock and reel ! How the great guns, peal on peal, Fling the joy from town to town. . . . Blotted out! All within and all about Shall a fresher life begin ; Freer breathe the universe As it rolls its heavy curse On the dead and buried sin! It is done! In the circuit of the sun Shall the sound thereof go forth. It shall bid the sad rejoice, It shall give the dumb a voice, It shall belt with joy the earth! Ring and swing Bells of joy! On morning's wing Send the sound of praise abroad! JOIIX GREENLEAF WIHTTIER 1/9 With a noise of broken chains Tell the nations that He reigns, Who alone is Lord and God ! The Civil War closed the first period of Whittier's poetic work. He now turned to more peaceful themes, and won new laurels as the poet of New England rural life. He had occasionally written on this theme before; the fine poem, The Ban-foot Boy, was published in 1856. It is a poem which only a country boy can appreciate. Snozv-Boitnd is a picture on a larger scale. The home de- scribed is Whittier's own, the sister is the one who was his companion, and whose recent death gave pathos to the poem. With faithful, loving art the poet reconstructs for us the home of his childhood. We see the group about the fire- side, with the apples sputtering in a row, the dog with his head spread upon his paws ; it is as clear as a picture. And the description of those who sat about the fire shows us the hearts of the simple, honest, country folk. Since this home was typical of rural New England at that period, the poem is an artistic embodiment of one of the most signifi- cant sides of our national life. It has been called T/ic Cotter's Saturday Night of America, and deserves the praise. Whittier further appeals to us as the poet of a simple religious faith. This is constantly felt in his poetry ; it is beautifully expressed in the lines to his sister in Snow-Boimd, and is the theme of many short poems of his which have found a place in church hymnals. One of the best poems of this kind is The Eternal Goodness, part of which follows : I long for household voices gone, For vanished smiles I long; But God hath led my dear ones on. And He can do no wrong. I So THE NEW EXGLAKD GROUP And so beside the Silent Sea I wait the muffled oar ; No harm from Him can come to me On ocean or on shore. I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air ; I only know I cannot drift Be^'ond His love and care. ^^^ ^c^wv^ Jt^^ .vy^.^ FACSIMILE OF THE FINAL LINES OF "MAUD MULLER " James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), like Longfellow, was fortunate in that his circumstances favored the develop- ment of his genius. He was born at Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 22, 1819. Cambridge is a suburb of Boston, and Lowell grew up surrounded by the best culture in Amer- ica at that time. His father was a clergyman ; his mother JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL i8i a woman of literary tastes, and especially fond of poetry. His ctiildhood was passed in an atmosphere of books, and in his rambles about the country — for Cambridge was then only a village — he came to know nature as well as books. When he went to Har- — vard he found, fortunately for him, that literary ability was the surest way to distinction among his fellow-students. Not the athlete but the writer was then the college hero. He began to write verse, and was chosen class poet. After graduation he studied law, as had so many other writers, but was strongly drawn toward literature. His first published volume, A Yeai^'s Life, contained among other poems a tribute to Maria White, a young lady of unusual charm, who soon afterward became his wife. He started a maga- zine. The Pioneer, but it had not sufficient support, and left him in debt. He continued to write for other periodi- cals, and in 1846 began The Biglow Papers, which first made him widely known. His wife's health was delicate, and in 185 1 he made a voyage to Europe, hoping it would benefit her, but she died two years later. He was now living in Cambridge, in the pleasant colo- nial house called Elmwood, his birthplace. By writing and lecturing he had become well known in literary circles, and when in 1857 Longfellow resigned his pro- fessorship at Harvard, Lowell was appointed to succeed him. Shortly afterward The Atlantic Monthly was founded, 182 THE NEW EXGLAXl) GROIT with Lowell as its first editor. The prose and verse he con- tributed to it, along with the contributions of Holmes, Whit- tier, and limerson, made the magazine what it still remains, — the expression of American culture at its best. Meanwhile Lowell had been actively interested in politics. He took part in the campaign of 1876, and upon the elec- tion of Hayes, Lowell was appointed Minister to Spain. In 1 880 he became Minister to England. Here his genial yet refined nature, his wit and his scholarship gave Enghshmen a new conception of what an American gentleman might be. Returning to America in 1884, he prepared a collected edi- tion of his works, in ten volumes. He died Aug. 12, 1891. With Lowell as with Whittier the anti-slavery move- ment was the inspiration of much of his best poetry. The annexation of Te.\as called forth The Present Crisis. Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for tlie good or evil side. Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou slialt stand Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against our land? In lines like these was heard a note of patriotism and lofty moral earnestness that was to make Lowell a power in the coming struggle. The attempt to gain new terri- tory for slavery by the Mexican War called forth the series of poems known as The Biglow Papers. These were written in the Yankee dialect, the homely New Eng- land speech that Lowell had heard as a boy. His han- dling of this was masterly. He used it for ridicule, and in Wliat Mr. Robinson Thinks set the vi'hole country laugh- ing at a political trimmer. He used it for description, and in Snnthiu' in the Pastoral Line tells how in spring The maple crimsons to a coral reef; Then saffern swarms swing off from all the willers. So plump they look like yaller caterpillars : JAMICS RUSSELL LiJWELL 183 Then gray liosscliL's'iiuts leetle hands unfold Sofler'n a babv's be at three days old. Thet's robin-redbreast's almanick ; he knows Thet arter this titer's only blossom-snows. He used it to arotise the people's sense of wrong, and the homely speech carried his message straight to the hearts of men. At the close of the war a memorial service was held at Harvard in honor of her graduates who had fallen in the conflict. For this occasion Lowell wrote his Coiinnciiiora- tioit Ode, which marks his highest achievement in poetry. The lines on Lincoln show that Lowell was one of the earliest to appreciate the real greatness of this heroic figure : Great captains, with their guns and drums, Disturb our judgment for the hour, But at last silence comes ; These all are gone, and standing like a tower Our children shall behold his fame. The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man. Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame. New birth of our new soil, the first American. Lowell resembled Whittier again in drawing much of his inspiration from nature. His Iitdian-Suimncr Reverie is a series of delicate landscape sketches ; Pictures from Appledore describes the ocean in storm and calm. The two preludes of The Vision of Sir Launfal, with their pictures of a day in June and a day in December, are or should be familiar to every reader. Mention should be made of Lowell's Fable for Crities, an early production of his, in which he hit off in rollicking verse the characteristics of his fellow-authors. The criti- cisms of Bryant, Poe, Emerson, and Cooper are admirable, 184 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP and our surprise is greater when we consider that at this time these authors were only beginning their work. This poem also shows one of Lowell's chief characteristics, — his humor. This he possessed to a far greater degree than either Longfellow or Whittier. It runs all through The Biglow Papers, where it may be seen to advantage in the short poem The Coitrtiii\ The chief objection to be made against Lowell's poetry is its unevenness. Certain passages, certain lines, have the highest poetic quality, but this height is not main- tained. Few of his poems are satisfactory as a whole. His style, too, is less clear than Longfellow's or Whittier's, and this is perhaps the reason why he has never been as popular as these writers. Lowell's prose writings include seven volumes of essays, nearly all on literary themes. " I am a bookman," he said of himself ; and the very title of these volumes, ]\Iy Study Windoivs, Among BIy Books, Literary Essays, sug- gest that we shall find here the talk of one who was most at home in his library. Some of these essays, as the one on Dante, are the result of Lowell's work as a teacher; others were written as reviews while he was editor of Tlie Atlantie Monthly. In the essay entitled Shakespeare Once More we have one poet discussing another with breadth of knowledge and fine appreciation. Lowell is one of the few great literary critics America has produced. All of his prose is racy with humor ; he has no dull pages, even when he writes of dull authors. One of his shorter essays. My Garden Acquaintance, contains a delightful description of his bird neighbors. Lowell's Letters, which were published in two volumes after his death, show the many sides of his nature : poet, student, teacher, editor, foreign minister, and true American. They are delightful reading. OLIVER \\'ENI)ELL HOLMES 185 Oliver Wendell Holmes ( 1809-1894) is the third in the group of Cambridge poets, including Longfellow and Lowell. Like them he belonofcd to the best New Ens:- land stock ; his father was a Congregational minister at Cambridge. He was born Aug. 29, 1809, in the old house described in T//e Poet at tlic Brcal^fast Table. He went to Phillips Exeter Academy and to Harvard College, graduating in the class of 1829. Deciding to become a physician, he went to Paris for study, and returned to open an office in Boston. He was al- ready known as a wit, and an- nounced to his friends that small fevers would be gratefully re- ceived. He was appointed pro- fessor of anatomy at Dartmouth in 1838, and in 1847 called to a similar position at Harvard, where he remained for thirty years. He made some valuable contributions to medical science, but the world prefers to remem- ber him as an author. He wrote verse while he was in college, where he was class poet. The year after his graduation he saw in a newspaper that the frigate Consti- tution, which had done good service in the War of 18 12, was about to be dismantled, as no longer fit for service. At once he wrote the stirring lines Old Ironsides, which were copied into all the newspapers of the country. The verses saved the ship, and made Holmes known as a poet. His first volume of poems contained The Last Leaf, a deli- cate silhouette, where humor is mingled with pathos, the whole done with a e;race and lightness of touch seldom sur- /^Ur€^ '^^^sii^C^^^^I^■ 1 86 THE NEW e:xgland group jiassed. A later poem, The Chainbci'cd Nautilus, was the one which the poet himself preferred. In after years when his college class held its reunions, he was always called upon for a poem. In this way he wrote Bill and Joe and The Boys. The latter poem was written for the thirtieth anniversary of his class. At fifty most men would ac- knowledge that they are no longer young, but Holmes sings : Has there any old fellow got mixed with the boys ? If there has, take him out without making a noise! Hang the Almanac's cheat, and the Catalogue's spite! Old Time is a liar! We're twenty to-night! Verse of this type, written for some anniversary or other event, is called " occasional " poetry. To this class very much of Holmes's writing belongs. At meetings of all sorts he was called upon, and was generally ready with rhymes for the occasion. Naturally such writing is not likely to be the highest kind of poetry ; it is written for a day, not for all time, and has served its purpose when the occasion is past. It is high praise, then, to say that some of Holmes's occasional poetry still survives, kept alive by the sparkling wit, the perfect finish, and the easy grace which are characteristic of Holmes's poetry. But Holmes's prose is even better known than his verse. When Lowell became editor of The Atlantic Montlily, he did so on condition that Holmes would be a contributor. The first number of the magazine contained the opening chapters of The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. This was followed some years later by The Professor at tJie Break- fast Table, and still later by The Poet at the Breakfast Table. The three books are rather difficult to classify. They are not- fiction, nor essays, exactly ; they are a new form of lit- erature, — conversation. They purport to be the talk of IIENKY I). TIKiRKAU [87 various people at a boarding-house, but it must have been a boarding-house of the gods. The talk ranges over many subjects, now sparkling with wit, now with a shrewd thrust of common-sense worthy of Franklin, now touching deeper themes with reverence, or speaking of sentiment with the feeling of a poet. The Autocrat is perhaps the best of the series ; it has delighted three geherations of readers, and is likely to be the book by which Holmes's name will be longest remembered. Two more essayists remain to be noticed in this group of New England writers : Thoreau and Mitchell. Henry D. Thoreau (i 817-1862) was a friend and disciple of Emerson. He was born in Concord, Mass., graduated at Harvard, taught school for a while, lectured a little, manu- factured lead pencils for a time, followed the trade of a surveyor, and wrote for newspapers. He did none of these things steadily, and cared for none of them ; they were only a means of support. His real busi- ness was to live his own life, with opportunity to observe, and time to think. His thoughts were recorded in a jour- nal, and from this he drew the material for an occasional book. The best known of his works is Waldcn, or Life in the Woods. It tells how he went into the woods near Con- cord and built a hut on the shore of Walden pond, where THOREAU S HUT 1 88 THE NEW EXGLAXL) GROUP he lived for two years. He walked about, studying na- ture with a loving eye ; he read a few books, and wrote his thoughts in his journal. Many have talked of plain living and high thinking ; Thoreau practiced it. His ideals were high. He once refused to pay his taxes, on the ground that he would not support a government that per- mitted slavery. He was put in jail, and when Emerson came to see him and said, " Henry, why are you here ? " the reply was, " Why are you not here ? " Thoreau's chief books are Waldcn, A Week on the Concord and Mcrrimac Rivers, Excursions, The Maine Woods, and Cape Cod. As the titles suggest, they are records of his life with nature. He hated cities ; the only place where he could be happy in Boston was at the railway station waiting for the train to take him away. He taught and practiced a return to the customs of simpler times, saying . that much of what we call civilization only encumbers and distracts us. Whether we accept his philosophy or not, we can take delight in his quaint humor and in his ex- quisite descriptions of nature. He has been called the poet-naturalist; his descriptions have the faithfulness of science and the beauty of poetry. Donald G. Mitchell (1822-1908) was the latest survivor of this group of New England writers. From his quiet home at Edgewood near New Haven, Conn., he sent forth a score of volumes, two of which. Dream Life and Reveries of a Bachelor, have been favorites for many years. Dream Life the author calls "a book of the heart " ; it recalls the work of Irving in the vein of gentle sentiment that runs through it. His last work, American Lands and L^etters, is a familiar account of American lit- erature, richly illustrated with portraits and autographs of authors, many of whom were his personal friends. READING FOR CIIAITER IV 1 89 READING FOR CHAPTER IV Emerson. — EssiJ/s. hirst Scries: Compeiisaltoii. Sclf-Rdiaiicc. Essays, Sicoiid Sirii-s : Maiiiu-rs, Nature. Condiut of Life : Culture. Poems : Tiie Rliodora. Tlie Huj/ihle Bee, The Siunostorin, Tlie Tit- mouse, Coneord Hymn, Ode, July ./, iS^-j, Each and .III, Tlie Problem, Eorhearance, Days, Tlirenodv . Emerson's complete works are published in 12 vols.. Riverside edi- tion ; the poems occupy i vol. (Houghton). The Essays, first and second series, are also publislied in Evervman's, Temple, and Handv \'olume : Conduct of Life is in Hand\' \'olume ; and Representative Men in E\'eryman"s and Temple. Full selections from Emerson's poems are given in Pay;e ^ ; briefer in Warner, Stedman. and Library of A merica n Literature . Longfellow. — Lyrical poems: Psalm of Life. Tlie Reaper and the Eloiuers, Tlie Fire of Driftwood, The Old Cloel; on the Stairs, Resii^na- tio/i, The Rainy Day, Exeelsior, The Slave's Dream. The Arsenal at Springfield, Tlie Ladder of St. Augustine, ^Ly Lost }'outli. The Chil- dreiTs Lhmr. Ballads and other narrative poems : The Skeleton in Armor, The IVreek of tlie Hespei'us. Paul Re^'ere's Ride, Ring Robert of .Sieily. Longer poems : The Building of the Ship, Evangeline, The Song of Hiaiuatha, Sees. IV-X, The Courtship of ALiles Standish, The Golden Legend. Longfellow's poems are published in 6 vols., Riverside edition ; also in I vol., Cambridge and Cabinet editions (Houghton). Editions liy otiier puljlisliers are numerous, Ijut contain only the earlier work of the poet. Copious selections from the poems, including Evangeline, Hia- watha, and Miles Standish in full, in Page ; briefer selections in Warner, Stedman, and Library of American Literature. Whittler. — Proem. Massachusetts to Virginia, Ichabod. Barbara Frietchie, Laus Deo ! The Barefoot Boy, Maud Miiller, SnowJ^ound^ My Playmate, Barclay of Ury, Turns, Skipper /reson's Ride, Prelude to Among the Hills, In Sehool-Davs, J/v Psalm, The Paternal Goodness. Whittier's poems are published in 4 vols.. Riverside edition ; also in I vol., Cambridge and Cabinet editions (Houghton). Editions by ^For publisher and price of buoks referred to, see p. 27S. igo THE NEW enc;lanl) group other publishers are incomplele. Full selections from Whittier, includ- ing Sno-iv-Boiiiid complete, in Page; selections also in Stedman, Library of American Literature, and Warner. Lowell. — Prose ; Aiiioitg My Bootes : Sliatcespearc Once HLorc. My Study IJ'indows : My Garden Acquaintance. Letters: vol. i, pp. 69-73, 86-90, 162-166, 214-217, 272-274. Poems : Rlicccus. Tlie Present Crisis, To tlie Dandelion, Slie Came a /lit Went, Tlie Vision of Sir Lain fat. In tlie Twilight, The First Snow- Liill. For an Autograph, Commemoration Ode, What Mr. Robinson Thiiilcs, The CourtiiC. Lowell's complete works are published in 1 1 vols., Riverside edition ( Houghton). The poems are published in 4 vols., Riverside edition, or in I vol.. Cambridge and Cabinet editions (Houghton). Other editions are incomplete. Full selections from Lowell's poems, including The Vision of Sir L^aiinfal, are given in Page. Selections also in Stedman, Warner, and Library of American Literature. Holmes. — Autocrat of Breakfast Table, Sees. I-LV^. Poems; Old Ironsides. The Last Leaf, The Voiceless, Bill and Joe, The Old Man Dreams, The Boys, The Chambered Nautilus, Grand- inother's Story of Bunker Hill, Contentment, The DeacoiPs Masterpiece, Under the Violets, Dorothy Q, A Familiar Letter, The Iron Gate. Holmes's complete works are published in 14 vols. The poems are published in 3 vols.. Riverside edition ; also in i vol., Cambridge and Cabinet editions (Houghton). Other editions are incomplete. The Autocrat is published in Handy Volume series. Copious selections from Holmes's poems are given in Page ; selections also in Warner, Stedman, and Library of American Literature. Thoreau. — E.rciirsions : The Succession of Forest Trees, Wilil Apples. Walden : Economy, Sounds, Conclusion, Thoreau's complete works are published in 11 vols. (Houghton). Walden is also published in Everyman's and Handy Volume. For fuller discussion of the writers in this chapter, see E. C. Sted- nran's Poets of America (Houghton), Barrett Wendell's L.iterarv His- tory of America (Scriliner), W. P. Trent's .-Imerican Literature (Appleton), C. F. Richardson's American Literature (Putnam), W. C. Lawton's New England Poets (Macmillan), G. E. Wuodberrv's UKAUIXC. FOR CIIArXKR I\' 19! Makci's of IJici'iiluic (Macmillan ). (\. R. Caipeiitcr's AiinTiniii I'rnsc (Macmillan), T. W. Higginsoii's Old Cmi/uii/i^i' ( Macniillaii ), W. I). WowiiWi'^ Liti^yllry J-'ncin/s iiiiii ALquaiiitaiia's ( I lai"|i(i'), J. J. Clia|)- nian's Kincnon aiui Other Essays (ScribiiL-r). E. E. Hale's James Riisst'l! Lo-ii'cll and /lis Frioids (Houghton), G. W. Curtis's Literary and Social Essavs (Harper). See also the lives ol Emerson, Wliittier, and Thoreau in the .-liiierican Men of Letters series (Houghton), and H. E. Scudder's Life of Lowell (Hougliton), and the lives of Emerson anil Wliittier in the English Men of Letters series (Macmillan). CHAPTER V THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP - ORATORS, NOVELISTS, AND HISTORIANS Daniel Wcbstei- George Bancroft Nathaniel Hawthorne William H. Prescott Harriet BeceJier Stoive Francis Parkman John Lothrop Motley This chapter continues the story of literary achievement in New England, taking up the orators, the writers of fiction, and the historians. The period it covers, from 1835 to 1870, resembles the Colonial period in that it was a time when great national issues were at stake, and con- sequently a period when oratory flourished. For twenty years before the Civil War there were threatenings in the air ; the interests of the North and South were not the same, and the fear of a disunited country was ever a grim specter in the background. To reconcile the two sections and thus preserve the Union unbroken, was a task that might well inspire an orator. On the other hand, the cause of the slave seemed to many the cause of prostrate humanity, and with fiery words they strove to arouse men to wipe out the shame of a nation. Two great causes, then, inspired the orators of the time ; the chief spokes- man of union was Daniel Webster, the chief pleaders for the cause of the slave were Charles Sumner and Wen- dell Phillips. These three are taken as representative of the many orators of the period. 192 DANIEL WEBSTER 193 Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was the son of a poor farmer. He was born at Salisbury, N.H., Oct. 24, 1782. As a child he was delicate ; his chief characteristics were a love of reading and a memory which enabled him to learn by heart long passages from his favorite books. This determined his father to send him to college, and he went to Dartmouth. Here he became known for his power as a debater. After graduation he taught school for a time, to help his younger brother through college ; then he studied law. He prac- ticed in Portsmouth, N.H., and his ability led to his election to Congress. Soon afterward he removed to Boston. The Dart- mouth College case which he ar- gued before the Supreme Court at Washington, and won, gave him a national reputation as a lawyer, while his speech at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill monument made him known as a great orator. In 1823 he was elected to the Senate, and as a member of that body delivered in 1830 his famous Reply to Haync. He was twice appointed Secretary of State, filling the position with marked abiUty, and everything seemed to point to the Presidential chair as his destiny. In 1850 Henry Clay introduced into Congress his famous compromise measure on the slavery question. Webster's ardent desire to preserve the Union at any cost led him, in his Scvciith- of-Manli Speech, to support Clay's measures. This was looked upon by the North as a desertion of the cause, and £2^ .^..^ >^^^:^7r- 194 THE NEW ENGLAND GROLU' brought down a very storm of indignation. Whittier's poem Ichabod has already been referred to as expressing the popular feeling at this time. This speech wrecked Webster's ambitions. He died a disappointed man. Webster's great speeches include the two addresses at the Bunker Hill monument, the second delivered at the completion of the structure ; an address at Plymouth in 1820, the Reply to Hayuc, and a discourse on Ada^is and Jefferson. Their style is dignified yet never stiff, the thought is always clear, and they have a strength like that of a great river. When we read his speeches to-day, we lose of course the effect produced by the personality of the orator. That effect in Webster's case must have been ex- traordinary. His appearance is thus described by Carlyle : " The tanned complexion, that amorphous, crag-like face, the dull black eyes under their precipice of brows, like dull anthracite furnaces, needing only to be blown ; the mastiff mouth, accurately closed. He is a magnificent specimen." With this impressive appearance, Webster had a voice of unusual sweetness and volume. When he was a boy, he used to charm the old farmers by reading aloud to them. In his maturity his voice was like a great organ. Imagine the following passage, the close of the Reply to Hayne, delivered with all the eloquence of such a man : ■■When my eye.s shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the brol*«#3KBHi^E^j Is, "^ ■li!^^-'" -s - ^ *i ^-."i^M^^M' iHi^lnl^^l^n ite^ ^^r4?^^^P2: 1|t^^B| 1^^ ik^K. l^K^^'^-- P'sjWI^a'! ^, ^yB^fc---- -^ ^ "^^ ^V^^^x iWi j^^^^j^nHfl ~^~^4;:::'''^r-. •■ '■ ■ ■„■ T'^^^Mm^:M^ ^g '■■'^■■^ 1- ' /" . ■ -.'il'^^* THE OLD MANSE (9«r OM Home, a series of sketches of English life, and Tlie A'laj-blc Faun, a romance of Italy. Hawthorne returned to America in i860, and planned other works, some of which he began but did not live to complete. He died in 1864 while on a trip to the White Mountains in search of health. Hawthorne's writings may be divided into three groups: books for children, short stories and sketches, and ro- mances. The books for children include Graiidfat/icr's NATIlANIIiL UAWTHOKNE 199 Chair, stories of early New England history, and The Wondt-r-Book, tales from Greek mythology. These books rank with Lamb's Talcs from Shakespeare as among the classics of juvenile literature. To the second group, comprising short stories and sketches, belong the Tzvice-Told Tales, Mosses from an Old ]\Linse, and Tlie Snow Image. These volumes contain some of his best work. The descriptive sketches, such as Niglit Sketches, Birds and Bird Voices, The Old Apple Dealer, show his curiously minute, almost microscopic power of observation. The short stories are often in the form of allegory, such as The Celestial Railroad, The Great Carbuncle, and — finest of all — Tlie Great Stone Face, in which the chief figure, Ernest, represents Emerson, and the orator represents Webster. Another group of tales deals with New England history in Colonial days. In such stories as the Legends of the Province House he invests the past with the halo of romance, transforming it from cold, clear fact to a region of shadow and mystery. Haw- thorne shares with Poe the credit of bringing the short story to a higher degree of perfection than had been pre- viously attained, either in America or Europe. Of the longer romances. The Scarlet Letter deals again with Colonial New England ; its theme is the working of sin in two human souls. This is handled with such in- sight and such artistic restraint as Hawthorne alone among our writers possessed. The House of the Seven Gables is less intense, and is relieved by humor ; yet this too has for its theme an ancestral wrong and its strange vengeance. The Blithedale Romance was suggested by Hawthorne's Brook Farm experience, though it is by no means a record of that experience. It is less successful than the other romances. The Marble Faun has its scene in Rome. The 200 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP beauty of the city, majestic in its ruin, the wonders of its art, the charm of the past that lingers about everything, are all interpreted for us here. Against this background Hawthorne paints another study of the effects of sin upon the soul. It is as if the curse called down upon the old Puritan judge had descended upon the head of his great- grandson, so potent a hold has this theme upon Haw- thorne's mind. It remains to say a few words about his work in general. One characteristic is a touch of the supernatural. He gives us no ghosts nor witches, nothing so improbable ; but there are hints and shadows and half-suggestions that make a sort of twilight atmosphere about his page. His style is of that perfection that evades analysis ; you cannot ticket off its qualities, it is simply a perfect medium for his thought. All in all, he is not only one of our greatest writers, but one of the greatest artists in prose of the nineteenth century. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), author of Uncle Toins Cabin, is an example of a writer famous for a single book. She belonged to a gifted family : her father, Lyman Beecher, was a distinguished New England minister ; her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was the most famous pulpit orator of his day. As a girl she showed signs of unusual ability ; at ten years of age she wrote essays and a play. She attended her sister's school at Hartford, Conn., and afterward taught there. In 1832 the family removed to Cincinnati. Harriet visited in Kentucky, and saw something of slavery. In 1836 she married Rev. Calvin E. Stowe, a professor in the theological seminary at Cincinnati. She wrote occasion- ally, chiefly for newspapers. A new paper, The National Era, was established in Washington to aid the anti-slavery HARRIET UKECHEK SrOW'E 20I cause. In April, 185 i, she sent to this the first chapters of riicic Tom's Cabin, which was pubhshed as a serial. For this she received $300. When the story was published in book form, three thousand copies were sold the first day, and within five years the sale reached half a million. It was translated into all the lan- guages of the civilized world, was dramatized almost at once, and is still widely popular as a novel and as a play. Its effect upon its readers at the time may be judged from the fact that historians agree that this book was one of the causes of the Civil War. Mrs. Stowe continued to write for the rest of a long life. The Minister's Wooijig was a story of Colonial New England ; Oldtoivn Folks contains some capital sketches of New England life and character ; but the success of Uncle Tom's Cabin was not repeated. She spent much time and money to help the South in the slow work of rebuilding after the war. Uncle Tom's Cabin is undoubtedly a great book, great in its faults as in its merits. That it is not a true picture of Southern life is now generally admitted. Mrs. Stowe had little opportunity to know the real South, and the strong moral purpose with which she wrote led her to paint the darker side of what she saw. Considered as a novel, its structure is weak. What, then, gives it its wonderful hold upon readers } The strength of the book lies in its appeal to our emotions. It is one of the most J^/Bc^A 202 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP pathetic stories ever written. And as pure pathos cannot be endured long, Mrs. Stowe has introduced humor, in the character of Topsy. Her descriptive power, too, makes us see the characters in a very real setting. The institu- tion of slavery had created in the South a state of society somewhat like that of the old feudal days. Its sharp divisions between classes, its contrast of wealth and cul- ture set off against ignorance and squalor, afforded oppor- tunities for picturesque treatment which were found nowhere else in our country. No Southerner could see this ; it required an outsider, upon whom everything made a vivid impression. Mrs. Stowe realized fully her oppor- tunity, and strove as conscientiously as Whittier to awaken the moral sense of the nation. She accomplished her purpose, and the fact that the book survives long after the issue has passed away shows that she was more than a worker in the cause of humanity; she was, in this book at least, a great creative artist. To the names of Hawthorne and Mrs. Stowe may be added that of a third writer of fiction, Louisa M. Alcott (1832-1888). Mrs. Alcott's work, while not nearly as im- portant as that of the writers just discussed, was well done, and has given delight to three generations of young readers. Her best stories, Little Women, Little Men, Eight Cousins, and Jo' s Boys, have a freshness, humor, and wholesome tone that have made them favorites, especially with girls, ever since their publication. The historians of this group include Bancroft, Prescott, Parkman, and Motley, — a distinguished company. George Bancroft (1800-189 1) was the son of a clergyman of Worcester, Mass. He was educated at Harvard and continued his studies in Germany, taking his doctor's degree at the University of G<')ttingen. Returning to i;AxcR(_)Fr, rREsr( nx 203 America, he taught for a few years ; then took up what he had determined to make his life-work, the writing of the history of the United States. The first volume of this appeared in 1834, the twelfth and last in 1882. In the meantime he had held various public offices : he was Secretary of the Navy in 1 845-1 846, minister to England 1846-1849, and to Germany 1867-1874. In the closing years of his life he revised his great work and published a final edition, in six volumes, completed in 1S85. Thus the History in its final form is the result of fifty years of study. Although called a History of the United States, it comes down only to the adoption of the Constitution. For Ban- croft, like Macaulay, worked on a vast scale. He had access to thousands of documents which had never been printed ; he had a working library of twelve thousand volumes all on his own chosen field, and he treated the early period of our history with a minuteness of detail and an accuracy that make his work an authority for scholars. Its length and rather dull style, however, pre- vented the work from becoming popular. William H. Prescott (1796-1859), the second of this group of historians, was a native of Salem, Mass., and a graduate of Harvard. Like Bancroft he early formed the idea of devoting his life to a definite field of historical study. This was the period of Spanish discovery and con- quest in South America. But scarcely had he formed this plan when an accident almost destroyed his sight. He was obliged to stay in a darkened room and to have books and manuscripts read to him by his secretary. In order to write he had a frame made with wires to serve as lines to guide his pencil, and against such obstacles he pro- duced his great historical works. His first book, Tlie History of Ferdinand and Isabella, 204 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP in three volumes, appeared in 1837. Tliis was followed by The Conquest of Mexico, in 1843, and Tlie Conquest of Peru, in 1847. He was engaged upon a fourth work, Tlie Reign of Philip II, when he died. Prescott's two best-known books. The Conquest of Mexico and TJie Conquest of Peru, are written with a force of imagination and brilliancy of style that make them as interesting as novels. Later historical investigations have shown that some of the documents which Prescott used are not wholly trustworthy, so that his brilliant historical pictures require some toning down to make them faithful. But in the main Prescott is trustworthy, and we may well be grateful to him for giving us histories that read like romances. Francis Parkman (1823-1893), like the other historians of this group, was a Massachusetts man, born in Boston and educated at Harvard. Before graduation he had planned his life work, to write the history of the conflict between France and England in America. To this his whole life was devoted. He studied law only that he might deal properly with the constitutional questions in- volved. He spent his vacations in the wilderness, that he might see life as the early explorers saw it. A knowledge of Indian life and character was necessary for his purpose, so he went to the Rocky Mountains and joined a tribe of Indians, living with them seven months and undergoing all the hardships of savage life. The physical strain of this nearly cost him his life ; he came back with his con- stitution so shattered that for two years he covdd do al- most no work. When he began his first book, he was un- able to write more than six lines a day. Under such circumstances his struggle is even more heroic than Prescott's. FARKMAX, MOTLEY 205 His first book, The California and Oregon Trail, was an account of his adventures in the West. His historical works include Pioneers of France in the Ne-w World, The Jesuits in Nortli America, La Salle, or the Discovery of the Great West, Count Frontcnac, A Half Centii-ry of Conflict, Alontcalm and Wolfe, and The Conspiracy of Pontiac. In all there are twelve volumes, telling the story of French influence in America from the arrival of the first ex- plorers to the final downfall of French power on this con- tinent. Parkman's experiences enabled him to write this story of the woods as no mere book-worm could have done ; his diligence in examining all possible sources for written material led him to make four trips to Europe, studying the records of the French and English govern- ments. With all this he possessed an admirable style for historical writing and a power of analyzing a mass of complex facts into clear and logical form, making his histories always easy to read and often fascinating. Another qualification of the historian he had, and one which is rare, — impartiality. Both Bancroft and Motley wrote as enthusiastic friends of liberty, and sometimes did not quite do justice to their enemies. But Parkman writes in an absolutely impartial way, and therefore by historians themselves he is ranked highest of all our historical writers. John Fiske places Parkman's work beside that of Gibbon ; there can scarcely be higher praise. John Lothrop Motley (1814-1877), like the others of this group, was a son of Massachusetts, born near Boston, and a graduate of Harvard. He studied in Germany, and be- gan his literary work by writing two unsuccessful novels. Then he turned to history, and chose for his subject the struggles for liberty of the Dutch against Philip II of 206 THE NEW ENGLAND GKUUl' Spain. The story of how the Republic of Holland came into existence formed a striking parallel to the story of the formation of the American Republic. Motley regarded each of these events as chapters in the great struggle by which the Anglo-Saxon race established the principles of civil liberty and self-government. To write the story of this he first went to Europe, visited the scenes of the events he was about to describe, and secured the permis- sion of various governments to consult state papers, in order that every statement might be based upon the best authority. When his first book. The Rise of tlie Dutch Rep2iblic, was finished in 1856, the great English publisher Murray refused to take it, doubting its success. Motley published it at his own expense, and in England alone seventeen thousand copies were sold the first year. It was soon translated into Dutch, German, French, and even Russian. Like Bancroft, Motley held various foreign posts; he was minister to Austria and later to England. But his life work was to record the history of the eighty years' war for liberty, and he continued this in two more books, Tlie U)iited Netherlands, in four volumes, 1 860- 1 868, and _/(?//;; of Barneveld, 1874. Motley ranks as one of our great historians. He was as painstaking in his investigations as Bancroft, and possessed a style that made him far more readable. He chose a period of history that was intensely dramatic, and treated it so that his work is not only history, it is literature. His pictures of Philip H and of William the Silent are among the masterpieces of his- torical portraiture. His wit, his command of satire, his brilliancy of execution, fairly entitle him to a place among the first of literary historians. READING FOR CIIAITER V 207 READING FOR CHAI'TER V Webster. — One of the following orations : First Bunker Hill Ora- tion. Adams and Jcffcrsoi. Reply to Haync. Webster's works are pul:)lislied in 6 \'ols. Great Orations of Webster^ I vol. (Little, Brown & Co. ). Selections in D.J. Brewer's World's lUst Orations and T. B. Reed's Modern Eloqnenee. Hawthorne. — Short stories, one of the following groups: From Tii'iee-Told Tales: The Great Carbiinele, Daind Swan, The Gray Champion. The Ambitious Guest. From Thie Sno7v Image: The Snow J?nage, Ihe Great Stone Face, Ethan Brand, The Ulan of Adamant. From Mosses from an Old Manse : The Bijihmark, Birds and Bird- I'oiees. }'o//Jii{ Goodman Brown, Featliertop. Romances, one of the following : The Scarlet Letter, The Marble Faun, The House of ihe Seven Gables. Hawthorne's complete works are published in 13 vols.. Riverside edition (Houghton). Twice-Told Tales. Snow Inujge. and Mosses from an Old Manse are in Handy Volume.' The House of the Seven Gables and Tlie .Scarlet Letter d.rf: in Everyman's and Handy Volume. Stowe. — Uncle Tom's Cabin (Houghton). Prescott. — Conquest of Me.rieo, Bk. I, Chap. HI. Prescott's works are published in 16 vols. (Lippincott). Conquest of Peru is in Everyman's. Parkman. — Conspiracy of Fontiac, Chaps. I, 11 ; Jesuits in IVort/i America. Chaps. I, 111, IV. Parkman's complete works are puljlished in 12 vols. (Little, Brown &Co.). Thie Conspiracy of Poidiac \?, in Everyman's; Oregon Trail in Handy Volume. Motley. — Rise of the Dutch Republic, Part I. Chap. I. Motley's works are published in 17 vols. (Harper). The Rise of the Dutch Republic is in Everyman's. ■ For publisher and price of books referred to, see p. 278. 208 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP For fuller discussion of tlie writers in this chapter, see references at end of Chap. IV, and in addition L. H. Vincent's American Literary Mastei's (Houghton), H. James's Life of Hawthorne in the English Men of Letters series (Harper), ]. Hawthorne's JVathaniel Hawt/iorne and his Wife (Houghton), J. T. Field's Yesterdays wiili Authors (Houghton) ; the lives of Hawthorne, Prescott, and Parkman in the American Men of Letters series (Houghton), and the life of Web- ster in the American Statesmen series (Houghton). CHAPTER VI EARLY SOUTHERN WRITERS William G. Simnis Paul H. Haync Edgar Allan Poc Henry Tunrod We have seen that the New England states in the period from 1830 to 1870 produced eminent writers in nearly every department of literature. In the same period the South produced but one writer of the first rank. The reasons for the comparatively small literary product of this section may be found largely in social and economic con- ditions. The life of the South early developed two classes of people. The ruling class lived on large plantations whose fertile soil assured them ample revenues, enabling them to live at their ease like English country gentlemen. Below this class were the slaves and poor whites, who per- formed most of the labor. Contrast this with conditions in New England, where a poor soil and a rigorous climate forced men to their utmost exertions, and where practically all men were upon a level, so that competition was far keener. Thus the struggle for existence sharpened the wits of the New Englander. Further, the people of New England lived from the first in towns, and it was easy to establish schools for the community. In the South a family hving in the middle of its great estate was separated by miles from the next family ; roads were poor, and no common schools were established. The children were taught in the home, the young men sometimes went to 209 210 EARLY SOUTHERN WRITERS Europe to complete their education, for the colleges were few and these of a low standard ; so the lack of educa- tional faciUties retarded the intellectual progress of the South. Again, there was little to encourage authorship. If one wrote a book, he must go North for a publisher. If he desired to live by Hterary work, the magazines to which he must turn for support were published in Philadel- phia or New York. Such in general was the condition of the South before the war. When the war came, it absorbed the whole strength of the people to a far greater extent than in the North, and its close left them in such a state of exhaustion that literary achievement was hardly possible for a genera- tion. Making allowances for these conditions, then, we shall find that the South has contributed its share to Amer- ican literature ; in Poe alone it has given us a writer whom many foreign critics consider our greatest. The earliest of this group of Southern writers was William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870). His fame has al- most passed away, but in his clay he was the most conspicu- ous literary figure of the South, and his home in Charleston was the center of Southern literary life. He was a man of letters by occupation, producing poetry, dramas, essays, and novels. His best work was in fiction. He aimed to do for the South what Cooper had done for the North: to depict scenes and events of Colonial and Revolutionary days in a series of stirring romances. The Ycmasscc, one of his best stories, deals with the war between the Indians and the early settlers of North Carolina. TJic Partisan is a tale of Marion's men in the Revolution ; Guy Rivers-. has its scene in Georgia, BcaucJiampc in Kentucky. He was not the equal of Cooper in genius, but his novels are interesting as dealing with the same period of history, the EDGAR ALLAN POE 211 scenes being in the South instead of the North. In his pictures of Indian life and character Simms is closer to fact than Cooper, and his best stories still repay reading. Edgar Allan Poe (1809- 1849) was the son of David Poe, of a good old Baltimore family. David became an actor, married an English actress, and their son Edgar was born in Boston, Jan. 19, 1809. The father and mother died within two years, and the orphan was adopted by John Allan, a wealthy merchant of .- — -^ Richmond. Mr. Allan took the boy with him to England in 181 5, and Edgar remained there at school for five years. Re- turning to Richmond he contin- ued his education, and in 1826 entered the University of Vir- ginia. Here his associates were the sons of wealthy Southerners, who drank and played cards for money. Poe contracted some gambling debts, which so an- gered his guardian that he took him from the University and set him to work in his office. Rebelling at this treatment, the young man left Richmond and went to Boston, where he enlisted in the army and served for two years with consid- erable credit. Mr. Allan now became reconciled and se- cured for Poe admission to West Point. The routine here was distasteful ; he could not resign, so he got himself dismissed for neglect of duty. He had been writing poetry meanwhile, and had published a slender volume of verse, which brought him neither repu- tation nor money. He now went to Baltimore and tried to 212 EARLY SOUTHERN WRITERS support himself by writing for magazines. He was quite destitute wiien a story of iiis won a prize of a liundred dollars. He made his home with his father's sister, Mrs. Clemm, and married her daughter Virginia. In 1835 he went to Richmond as editor of the Soiitlicrn Literacy Messenger, at a salary of eight dollars a week. His editorial work was very successful, but his irregular habits caused him to lose his position. He drifted to New York, to Philadelphia, to Baltimore again ; it was the same story. His brilliant talents obtained him new positions, his old habits dragged him down ; he would be absent for days, and resign or lose his place. The use of opium further weakened his powers. Friends tried to help him, but his exceedingly sensitive nature made it difficult, and his lapses into his old ways discouraged them. His life was a constant struggle with poverty. While he was living at Fordham in the outskirts of New York City, in a cottage which is still standing (igo8), a friend visited him and found his wife dying of consumption. It was winter, but there was no fire in the house ; she was wrapped in her husband's army over- coat, and he sat by her, chafing her hands. After her death Poe had brain fever. His friends assisted him once more. He planned a magazine of his own, and wrote some of his most famous poems. But his constitution had been wrecked by his life; he suffered terribly at times, and sought relief in drugs or liquor. He became engaged to a lady of Richmond, and went North to arrange for the wedding. The next day he was found unconscious in a saloon in Baltimore; he was taken to a hospital and died four days later. It is a pitiful story, the saddest in our literary history. The character of the man has been blackened since his death by his enemies, and warmly defended by his friends. It is ElRlAK ALLAN I'UL 213 clear that the indulgence and petting he received as a child did not tend to develop self-restraint ; the child who was brought in to entertain the company by standing on the table and tossing off his little glass of wine naturally grew up to be a man with the taste for drink. Add to this that Poe's nervous temperament inclined him to stimulants and in- creased their effect upon him, and it will appear that much may be said in his defense. But our concern is with the writings rather than the character of Poe. These include a number of criticisms of contemporary writers, several volumes of short stories, and his poems. The criticism is important chiefly as show- ing Poe's power to perceive the work of genius in the midst of much that was mediocre. He was among the first to praise the work of Longfellow and of Lowell, and almost the first to recognize the genius of Hawthorne. Poe's short stories are more important than his criticism ; he ranks as one of the masters in this form of composition. His stories may be classified into several main groups. In tales like Tlie Gold Bug, The JMnrdcrs in the Rue Hlorguc, and The Purloined Letter he shows the power to contrive a series of incidents that utterly baffle the reader to explain, and yet the explanation turns out to be simple. In these tales Poe practically created the detective story, and later writers, such as A. Conan Doyle, admit that Poe was their teacher. A second group may be called tales of terror. Tlie Pit and the Pendulum, The Blaek Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, are stories that depict fear so intense, so overmastering, that it breaks down the reason. In this power to send a shudder through his readers Poe stands without a rival. Of Poe's poetry, it may be said that no other writer in our literature has so great a reputation resting upon so 2 14 EARLY SUUTilERN WRITERS tJlciiiim. pU, SomXI ,irr 1^0^ JIclcL- fi-cnUiJu ^ aitni: pis.diiuJ2 j^ni^cls . t4i J nae>C n-e-ye^ v^i^^ <^ tit, ofnJ. u A/ ^^tt ; tM^cL ^o yh>f-^o-iJLcC "tS '»^ FACSIMILE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF ONE OF POE'S STORIES EUGAR ALLAN TOE 21$ few poems. All that he wrote may be prmted in forty pages, his best work in half the space ; yet these twenty pages contain perhaps the most original work in American poetry. His best poems, Tlie Raven, The Bells, Annabel Lee, The Haunted Palaee, are familiar to every reader. In them we find some of the same characteristics as in his stories. The prevailing mood is one of sorrow or gloom ; a favorite theme is that of a hopeless grief. In the structure of his poems Poe made use of the refrain, or repetition, to a greater extent than had been done before. Sometimes a line is repeated with a word or two altered ; this is called a repetend. These two devices Poe used with great skill. Another characteristic was the use of words which suggested the thought by their sound ; Tlie Bells is full of examples of this. Poe defined poetry as " the rhythmic creation of beauty." His poetry certainly meets this definition. It is rhythmical ; and more, it is musical as few other poems are. And it is beautiful. Its beauty is touched with sadness, which makes it the more beautiful. But some readers seek for more in poetry than beauty and music ; they ask for truth, for in- spiration, for solace, for spiritual help. They will not find these in Poe, for he did not regard them as within the prov- ince of poetry. Each reader, then, will decide for himself whether Poe is to be placed among the great poets. Within his province he is supreme. No other American writer has influenced foreign literature as Poe has done. His work was early translated into French, and has remained a favorite with that cultured nation. In his own country his fame has grown steadily since his death, and his best work is ranked with that of Hawthorne, Two poets remain to be noticed in this group : Hayne and Timrod. Both were associated with the novelist 2l6 liARLY SOUTHERN WRITERS Simms, sharing his hospitality and receiving his encour- agement. Paul H. Hayne (1830-1886) was a native of Charleston and a nephew of the Senator Hayne to whom Webster made his famous Reply. He gave up law for literature, and gave up literature for the battlefield, where he served with distinction. After the war he continued to write, chiefly in verse. His poetry is melodious and often beautiful, yet it is rather lacking in originality, and no single poem of his can be said to be well known. More distinguished than Hayne was his friend Henry Timrod (1829-1867). He was a Charleston boy, and was educated at the University of Georgia. He acted as tutor in a planter's family before the war, and as correspondent for part of the war time. His health was shattered by the hardships of this period, and the rest of his life was full of suffering. His poetry is small in amount, but of high quality. Much of it was inspired by the scenes and events of the war. The Cotton Boll breathes the very spirit of the un- conquered South, and in its glowing color and varied music anticipates the work of Sidney Lanier. Magnolia Cemetery is a noble tribute to the fallen heroes of the Southland. Timrod has a depth of feeling and a spiritual intensity that entitle him to more recognition than he has yet received. Here also may be mentioned some of the fugitive poems of the South, many of them called forth by the war. Among the best of these is TIic Conquered Banner, byAbram Joseph Ryan (1839-1886), better known as Father Ryan. This poem, written after Lee's surrender, is a cry of heart- break, full of the pathos of the lost cause. Another poem. Little Giffen, is by Frank O. Ticknor ( 1822-1874). It is a tribute to one of the many heroes of the war, and has an intensity and stark strength that is seldom surpassed. REAIUXC. KOR (/lIAI'l'Ki; \I 217 READING, FOR CHAPTER VI Poe. — Poems: Tiu- A\iviii. l.Liiorc. To Helen, T/ie Jlclls. . liuuilni Lew The HaiiiiU'Li raldii. I'lie Conqueror ll'orni, The City in the Sea, 'The Siee/ier. hrafel. l-'ruse tales : Tlie L.old Bns;, The Tall of the House of Usher, The J/asque of the A'e.l Heath. The lit and the J'enduluni. The Tell-Tale Jleart. Poe's Complete works are published in 10 vols., edited bv Woodberry and Stedman ; also in 17 vols., X'irginia edition (Crowell). The poems and selected tales are also published in Hand\" Volume series. Full selections trom Poe's poetrv are given in Page;' briefer in Stedman, Warner, and Lilvary of Anieriean Literature. Hayne and Timrod ai"e represented by selections in Stedman and Ljlrary of .Inieriean Literatu)'e. For fuller discussion of the writers in this chapter, see Stedman's J'oets of America (Houghton), S. A. Link's J'ioneers of Southern Lit- erature (Barbae), L. Manlv's SoutJiern Litei'ature (Johnson), C, F, Richardson's Anieriean Literature (Putnam), Barrett Wendell's Liter- ary Llistory of America (.^ppleton), and the lives of I'oe and Simms in .American Men of Letters series (Houghton). ' For pubhsher and price ut books referred to, sec p. 27S. CHAPTER VII WRITERS OF THE MIDDLE STATES Bayard Taylor Walt Whitman Richard H. Stoddard Gt'orn' William Curtis In this chapter we shall consider a group of authors whose work belongs chiefly to Penns3'lvania and New York. The chief authors of Pennsylvania are Bayard Tay- lor and Thomas Buchanan Read; of New York, Walt Whitman, George William Curtis, and Rich- ard H. Stoddard. Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) was born at Kennett Square, Chester County, Pa., of Quaker parents. His schooling went no further than the village acad- emy. Before he was sixteen he wrote poems which were pub- lished in the local paper, and in the intervals of leisure from his work as a printer's apprentice he studied German and Span- ish. He had a passion for travel, and at nineteen started for P^urope, with a capital of one hundred and fifty dollars and a promise from Horace Greeley that he would accept some letters for the Nczv York Tribune. He spent two 218 /a7i^^ BAVARU TAYLOR 219 years in Europe, tramping nearly three thousand miles. On his return his letters to the Tribune were published in book form under the title I'icivs Afoot, and met with a large sale. This determined Taylor's future : he was to be a traveler. He went to California in '49 to describe the gold fields; then to the Orient, visiting Egypt, Syria, Spain, India, and China. Returning to America in 1854, he made an extended lecture tour through the country, then was off again to northern lands, visiting Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and penetrating the Arctic circle. In the course of his travels he met and married Marie Hansen, the daughter of a German astronomer. He was ambitious to build up a large estate by his literary work, as Scott had done, and purchasing a tract of land near his birthplace, built a mansion called Cedarcroft. This in- volved him in debt, and he had to hurry off on his travels again, going to Italy and Spain. He held the position of lecturer on German literature at Cornell University for two years. In 1878 he was appointed minister to Germany, and began to collect ma- terial for a life of Goethe. It was never written, for he died within a year. Taylor was a wonderfully prolific writer : his works in prose and verse fill fifty-two volumes. Such rapid work is not apt to be lasting, and Taylor's fame has suffered with time. Yet his work has many merits. Of his books of travel, the earliest, Vicxvs Afoot, has remained the most popular ; all of them show an eye trained to catch what is new or picturesque, and a graphic style to describe it. When he went to a foreign country, he learned the lan- guage, — which he could do in a few weeks, — adopted the irative costume, and tried to enter fully into the life of the people. He wrote from Constantinople : 220 WRITERS OF THE MIDDLE STATES " I determined to taste the Orient as it was in reality, and so picked up tlie Arabic tongue, put on the wide trousers and adopted as many Eastern customs as was becoming to a good Christian. ... I wear the tarboosh, smoke the Persian pipe, and drop cross-legged on the floor with the ease of any tailor whatever." In addition to his pictures of travel in many lands, Tay- lor's German studies led him to make a translation of Goethe's Faust, in which the original meters are preserved throughout. It is a remarkable work, preserving the spirit of the original to a greater degree than any other transla- tion of the poem. Taylor's writings also include several novels, of which The Story of Kennctt, whose scene is laid in his native village, is the best. It was Taylor's wish to be remembered not as a traveler but as a poet, and it looks as if this wish would be fulfilled. His books of travel, clever and entertaining as they are, yet lack somewhat because Taylor was neither a historian nor a scholar. It was said of him, rather unkindly, that he had traveled more and seen less than any other American. His poetry, however, has stood the test of time better. It covers a wide range, from lyric to pastoral, passing in later years to the dramatic form. His lyrics are his best- known work, including The Song of the Camp, and the famous Bedouin Love Song, which is set to music. The latter is one of the collection called Poems of tlie Orient, poems full of the fire, the passion, the color, and perfume of the East. In narrative poetry his best work is Lars : a Pastoral of Norway, a poem which so eminent a critic as E. C. Stedman places close to Evangeline. Thomas Buchanan Read (1822-1872), painter and poet, like Taylor was a native of Chester County, Pa. He picked up his training in art and letters during a roving- life, partly in America, partly in Europe. Of his numer- READ, WALT WHITMAN 221 ous volumes of verse only some of the shorter poems survive, but these we could ill afford to lose. His Slieri- daiis Ride is a stirring battle-lyric ; in Drifting he has captured the languorous charm of Italian seas and skies. The picture of autumn entitled The Closing Scene, with its delicate landscapes and its soft, twilight music, is worthy of a place beside the work of ColUns or Gray. Of the writers of New York in the period since the Knicker- bocker School, Whitman is easily the most prominent. Walt Whit- man (i8 19-1892) was born at West Hills, Long Island. His father was a carpenter, and gave the boy a common-school edu- cation. The boy gave himself another education, first by ram- bles in the country and long days at the seashore, later by ^J^!^ ^I^;^^^;;^^^ the books he read : the Bible, Shakespeare, Ossian, Scott's novels, the best translations he could get of Homer, Dante, and other great classics. This reading was done in the intervals of his early occupa- tions. He had gone to work in a printing office at thir- teen, later taught school, wrote for newspapers, and edited one. Most of this time he was living in New York. The great and varied life of the city fascinated him ; he loved to be in the midst of its crowds, he made friends with om- nibus drivers and pilots on the ferryboats. He saw the celebrated people of the time : Webster, Lafayette, Hal- leck. Cooper, Bryant, Foe, but made no effort to meet them; his companions were the common people. At 222 WRITERS OF THE MIDDLE STATES thirty he took a long tour through the West and South, walking much of the way, stopping here and there to work as a printer or reporter. Up to this time he had written nothing worthy to be called literature. But this leisurely tour of our country had given him a sense of its greatness and of the power of democracy which he wished to express. After much thought he determined to celebrate in poetry a single typical person, who should stand for the average man in America. As he knew himself best, he took himself as his theme, and wrote his first book. Leaves of Grass (1S55). The book had almost no sale, but it brought an encourag- ing letter from Emerson to the author. In 1862 Whit- man's brother, an army officer, was wounded ; Whitman went to the hospital to care for him, and became an army nurse. His genial nature and his overflowing physical strength made his presence better than medicine. He served in the hospitals and camps about Washington until the end of the war. These experiences resulted in a sec- ond volume of verse, Dr?tj/i-Taps. He held a government clerkship in Washington for a time; but the strain of his hospital service had broken his health, and in 1873 a stroke of paralysis obliged him to give up work. He re- moved to Camden, N.J., where he lived very simply, bear- ing poverty and ill health without complaint. His work was beginning to find admirers; it was reprinted in Eng- land, and gained him some enthusiastic followers. He continued to write, publishing on his seventieth birthday a collection of poems entitled Sands at Seventy. In 1892 a complete edition of his works was published in two stout volumes, one containing his prose writings. In March of that year he died and was buried at Camden, in a tomb which he had himself designed. WALT WHITMAN 223 The poetry of Whitman is not like that of otlier poets. He aimed, as lie said, to express tlie democratie spirit of Ameriea. This was a new theme, and demanded a new style for its expression. The st3'le he chose was an irreg- ular, unrhymed chant, sometimes suggesting the rhythmi- cal prose of the Old Testament. To people who thought that poetry must have regular rhythm and rhyme Whit- man's strange verse seemed not to be poetry at all. Yet it is often musical, with a rhythm that is not measured off mechanicall}', but seems caught from the whisper of winds and the roll of the sea. The following lines, from his memorial poem on Lincoln, show his style at its best : Coffin that pa.sses through lanes and .streets, Through day and night with the great cloud darlii\l. Whitman does not always write like this. His long lines are sometimes mere catalogues of names; yet out of the confused jumble suddenly there flashes upon you a picture so vivid, a metaphor so daring, a phrase so perfect, 224 WRITERS UF THE MIDDLE STATES that you catch your breath as at the highest poetry. This uuevenuess uiakes one constantly in doubt whether to say that Whitman is one of our greatest poets or to say that he wrote incoherent prose with flashes of true poetry. When we turn from the style of Whitman to consider his thought, we find in his work several leading ideas. One, already mentioned, is democracy. Closely alhed to this is his intense patriotism. He believed that it was the destiny of America to become the mistress of the world, not by force of arms, but by the spread of American ideas. Another of his favorite themes is comradeship, the simple, sincere friendship that knows no class distinction. There is no other poet in our language who has written three hundred poems without one on love. Whitman never married; his nature gave itself to comradeship rather than love, and comradeship becomes the theme of his poems. His work as a whole is marked by an invincible spirit of hopefulness. He is never morbid, never despondent, never even doubtful. A splendid courage breathes from his book. He finds life good, all good ; he does not fear growing old, for age is to him the time when The days take on a mellower light, and the apple at last hangs really finished and indolent-ripe on the tree, Then for the teeming, quietest, happiest days of all! And of death he writes poem after poem, entitling them Whispers of Heavenly DeatJi. Whitman's pictures of nature often have a singular power and beauty. He is the poet of the sea, of the "splendid, silent sun," and of the "huge and thoughtful night." That his poetry has its faults is undeniable : he is some- times diffuse, sometimes coarse ; his assertion of democ- KK'IIARi) IIENKY STODliAUl) 22$ racy sometimes appears to be little more than a defiant swagger ; his work is sadly unequal. But the final verdict upon a poet's work depends less upon his faults than upon his merits. Whitman is certainly one of the significant writers of our literature, and since his death his reputation has grown steadily. Richard Henry Stoddard (1825-1903) was not a college man ; he attended the public schools in New York City and then worked in an iron foundry, studying and reading at night. He was a friend of Bayard Taylor and of Haw- thorne, and through the latter's influence obtained a place in the New York Custom House. Later he acted as lit- erary editor of various New York papers, and did editorial work for publishing houses. In this way he wrote a great deal of criticism, and exerted a wholesome influence upon our literature. But his poetry is his chief title to remem- brance. It is marked by grace and finish of style ; it has never become popular, but lovers of poetry find delight in its delicacy and dignified strength. The following lines show his quality : THE FLIGHT (JF YOUTH There are gains for all our losses. There are balms for all our p.iin ; But wlien youth, the dream, dejiarts, It takes something from our hearts. And it never comes again. We are stronger and are better. Under manhood's sterner reign ; Still we feel that sometliing sweet Followed vouth, witli flying feet. And will never come again. 226 WRn'KRS OF THE MIUULE STATES Something beautiful is vanished, And we sigh for it in vain : We behold it everywhere, On the earth and in the air. But it never comes again. i George William Curtis (1824-1S92) was born in Provi- dence, R.I., and came to New York as a boy. When he was eighteen, the Brook Farm project appealed to his idealistic nature, and thither he went, remaining two years. He studied German and music, drove the cows, and helped the women hang out the washing, all with equal zest. Then he went to Concord and spent a year as a disciple of Emerson. Several years of foreign travel followed, which broadened his views. Returning to New York City, he engaged in editorial work. He was editor of Harper s Weekly from 1863 until his death, and for Harper's Maga- zine he wrote the monthly essays which appeared under the heading Editor s Easy CJiair. Curtis is remembered almost more as the good citizen than as the man of letters. He was a zealous advocate of all wise reforms. He was one of the anti-slavery orators before the war, and later stood as perhaps the leading ex- ponent of independence in politics. He took up the cause of civil-service reform and worked long and faithfully to change what he felt to be the most dangerous feature in our form of government, — the spoils system. His speeches on political subjects have been published under the title Orations and Addresses. The best of his essays in Harper's Magazine were published in three small volumes entitled From the Easy Chair. They are the reflections of a wise, a cultured, and a sympathetic observer of American 1 from Poetical Writiiv^s of R. 11. Stoddard, copyright, 1880, by Charles Scribncr's Sons. RKAUIXG FOR CIIAITKI-l VI 1 22/ life. But the book of Curtis's that lias pro\-ed most popu- lar is Pi'uc and /, a book half iiarrati\-c, half cssa)', with a tender vein of sentiment that reminds one of Mitchell's Reveries, or of an earlier essayist who doubtless influenced both Mitchell and Curtis, Washington Irving. READING FOR CHAPTER VII Taylor. — Poems: Ajiiraiit's U'ooim;, Hylas, Bedouin Song, Niibia, The (2iiaker ll'/i/ou', I'roposal. The Lost Crown, /'eaeh Blossom, The Poet in the East. Metenipsyeliosis of tlie Pine. Vieios Afoot: Cliaps. V, VI, XII. XLIX. Taylor's poems are published in 2 vols.. Household editiou (Hough- ton). His travels and novels arc published in i6 vols. (Putnam). Selected poems in Stedman,i Warner, and Lilirurv of American Literature. Whitman. — To t/ie Man-of-U'ar Bird; BatroUim; Parnegat ; Sono of tlie Broad-.-l.ve ; Dirge for Tioo I 'eterans : Captain, My Captain ; Old Ireland; What I'e.t I see in Thee; foy, .Shipmate, foy! ll'hen Lilaes last in the Dooryard Eloom'd. Whitman's poems are published in i vol. (Small. Maynard & Co.). Copious selections from Whitman's poems in Page ; briefer in Stedman, Warner, and Ldirary of American Literature. Curtis. — True and I : My Chateau.v. Curtis's works are puljlished by Harper ; tlie Addresses are in 3 vols.. Literary and Social Essays, i vol., I'rue and I, i vol., I't'om tlie Easy Cliair, I vol. Pi-ue and Li's, also published in Handy Volume. For fuller discussion of the writers in this chapter, see C. F. Richard- son's American Literature (Putnam), E. C. 'is\.itA-m,\x\\ I\'iets of America (Houghton), Barrett Wendell's IJterary History of America (Apple- ton), Jolin Burroughs' Walt Whitman (Houghton), G. E. Wood- berry's National Studies in American Letters (Macmillan), W. D. Howells's My Literary Passions (Harper) ; also the lives of Taylor and Curtis in American Men of Letters series (Houghton). 1 Vox [publisher and price of books referred tu, see p. 278. CHAPTER VIII NEW ENGLAND SINCE 1870 Edmund Clarence Stedinan Edward Everett Hale Thomas Bailey Aldrich Charles Dudley Warner John Fiske In this chapter and the following ones the story of our literature is continued to the present time. In this Recent Period, since 1870, New lingland has lost its leadership, while the South, the Middle states, and the West have made notable contributions to our literature. Yet New lingland has not lacked distinguished writers : Stedman, Aldrich, Warner, and Hale, to mention no more, have worthily continued the traditions of the earlier period. The authors just named might almost have been included in the preceding chapter, since they were in part contem- porary with Longfellow and Lowell and the rest. But if the date of publication of important books is considered, it will be seen that the authors in this chapter all belong to the period after 1870. Edmund Clarence Stedman (183 3-1908), called the " banker poet," spent most of his life in New York City, but by birth, education, and intellectual kinship he belongs to New England. He was born in Hartford, Conn., edu- cated at Yale, and began his literary work as a war cor- respondent. He spent twelve years in journalism ; then finding that the demands of the daily press left him no 228 ED.ML'Xli CI.AKKNCE STEDMAN 229 opportunity for literary work of a more eiiduriiifc kind, he entered a banking house in Wall Street. Mis da\ s were given to business, his evenings and holidays to literature, and the result is a series of volumes in poetry and criticism that is of great value. Stedman began as a poet, and like many others was stirred to write by incidents of the war. Hoii' Old Brown Took Harper's Ferry, Wanted — a Man, and the Cavalier Song are among the best poems of this period. His banking experiences sug- gested the graceful poem Pan in JJ^all Street, which in its light humor and fancy is equal to Holmes at his best. As he grew older, criticism divided his attention with poetry. In 1875 he published Vietorian Poets, a critical survey of English poets of the period. This was enlarged some years later, and followed by a companion volume, Poets of America, which included writers from the begin- ning of our literature to the present. A third volume. Nature and Elements of Poetry, discusses the principles of poetic art. In these volumes Stedman has produced probably the most notable criticism that has been written in America. The only author who can be compared with him is Lowell, and while Lowell has the advantage in his racy style, Stedman's criticism is more deliberate, better balanced, than Lowell's. Stedman has laid lovers of literature under a further 230 NEW ENGLAND SINCE 1S70 obligation by his work as editor and compiler. A Victoria7i Anthology is a selection from the works of English poets of the period, a very treasure-house of poetry, the best things culled from a thousand volumes. An American Anthology does a similar work for American poetry; the two volumes are invaluable to students of literature. In connection with others Stedman also edited A Library of American Lit- erature, in ten volumes, giving selections and biographical sketches of all our authors. Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836- 1907), the second in this group of New England poets, was born in Portsmouth, N.H. His par- ents were unable to send him to college, and he went to New York as a clerk in a store. The beautiful Ballad of Babie Bell and other poems, pubhshed in newspapers, soon made him ^J ^\\ CiiL'S^ t. known as a writer, and he re- ceived an editorial position. Later he went to Boston as editor of Every Saturday, and in 1 88 1 succeeded W. D. Howells as editor of the Atlantic Monthly, a position which he held until 1889. He did not write much, but he was scrupulously careful to perfect all that he did. Perhaps no other American poet took such pains with his work ; he wrote a poem as one would cut and polish a diamond. Babie Bell, his best- known poem, is as delicate and tender as childhood itself. A group of poems dealing with Oriental themes — Dress- ing the Bride, When the Sultan goes to Ispahan — are marked by passion and color. ALDRICII, HALE, WARNER 231 His sonnets are among the best in American poetry ; Fredericksburg in particular shows his power of handling a large theme in brief compass. Aldrich is equally well known for his prose writings. TJic Story of a Bad Boy, which tells of his own boyhood in Portsmouth, has always been a favorite book with boys. Several volumes of short stories show his power of com- pression and the exquisite finish of his style. Marjoric Dazu, in the volume of that name, is one of the brightest and most artistic short stories in our literature. Edward Everett Hale (1822- ), a native of Boston, au- thor, editor, preacher, and chap- lain of the United States Senate, is the author of more than fifty books, but he is chiefly remem- bered by a single story, The Man zvitJiotit a Country. The story is wholly imaginary, but so strong is the impression of reality it conveys that hundreds of read- ers have written to the author to ask for further infor- mation about the strange history it relates. It is one of the finest lessons in patriotism ever written. Charles Dudley Warner (i 829-1 goo) was born at Plain- field, Mass., and spent most of his life at Hartford, Conn., where Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and other liter- ary people were his neighbors. He was a man of letters by profession, editor of the Hartford Coitrant, and one of the editors of Harper s Alagazijie. He wrote an excellent Life of Irving, forming the first volume in the American ^eCocr-z^.,'!^ ^-- 232 NEW ENGLAND SINCE 1870 Meii of Letters series. Like Aldrich, he wrote the story of his boyhood, — Being a Boy, a delightful picture of life in a New England home of the Puritan type. His best work is in the two volumes of essays called j\Iy Sitvtniey in a Garden and Baek-Log Studies. Of the first of these books, the London Quarterly Reviezv said it was such a book as " Charles Lamb might have written if he had had a garden." His style is as clear and pure as Irving's, and humor constantly lights up his pages. To Harper s Maga- zine he contributed a series of little essays under the head- ing TJie Editor' s Draivcr. The best of these have been reprinted in two volumes : As we were Saying and As we Go. In later years he was editor-in-chief of an encyclo- pedia of literature in thirty volumes, called A Library of the World' s Best LiteratiLre, one of the best collections of the kind that has been made. To Stedman and Aldrich the poets, Hale and Warner the prose writers, must be added the names of two historians, John Fiske and Justin Winsor. John Fiske (i 842-1 901) began as a student of philosophy and taught that subject at Harvard. Two brief treatises of his, TJie Destiny of Man and The Ldea of God, are among the few books on philosophical subjects which appeal to the general reader. Later Fiske's interests turned to history. He took for his especial field American history in the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, and his eleven volumes on this subject are a valuable contribution. Fiske 'tA-o&iidJCe^t WlNSoK, SILL 233 was less of an original investigator than Motley or Park- man ; his merit lies rather in the careful selection of mate- rials and in the clear and attractive style in which he set them forth. His chief works are : The Discovery of America, The Be- ginnings of A"ew England, Old Mrginia and her Neighbors, Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America, The American Revo- lution, The Critical Period of American History. Justin Winsor (1831-1897), the librarian of Harvard Uni- versity, planned a history of America on different lines than had before been attempted. His Xarrative and Critical History of America, in eight large volumes, is written by a number of scholars, each taking the period to which he has given special study. It is a work of value, but rather for the student than the general reader. The same plan was followed later by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard in his work The American Nation, which consists of thirty volumes by different writers, making the fullest record of our country's history that has yet appeared. Two other New England writers, E. R. Sill and Emily Dickinson, belong to the class of minor poets. The term signifies one no less truly a poet, but whose work is too slight in substance or too small in amount to win a place among great writers. Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887), a native of Windsor, Conn., spent his life as a teacher in California and Ohio. He wrote two slender volumes of verse, of high quality. At least one of his poems, The FooFs Prayer, is certain of a place in any collection of the best American verse. In spirituality his work often suggests Emerson. Nearly all his poems are short ; his power of compression is seen in these lines : 234 NEW ENGLAND SINCE 1S70 LIFEi Forenoon and afternoon and night, — Forenoon, And afternoon, and night, — Forenoon, and — what! The empty song repeats itself. No more? Yea, that is Life : make this forenoon sublime, This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer. And Time is conquered, and thy crown is won. Emily Dickinson ( 1 830-1 886) was a strange, shy woman, who lived in almost perfect seclusion in her father's house at Amherst, Mass. To a friend who wrote asking who her companions were, she replied : " Hills, and the sun, and my dog. He is better than people, for he knows but he won't tell." Her poems, all published after her death, are all short, many containing but four lines. They are marked by fresh and original expression and intense spir- ituality. The following lines will show her quality : A DAY-' ril tell you how the sun rose, — A ribbon at a time ; The steeples swam in amethyst, The news like squirrels ran. The hills untied their bonnets, The bobolinks begun. Then I said softly to myself "That must have been the sun ! " But how he set, I know not. There seemed a purple stile Which little yellow boys and girls Were climbing all the while, Till when they reached the other side, A dominie in gray Put gently up the evening bars, And led the fiock away. ^Copyright, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ; used by permission. - Copyright, Little, Brown, ci Co.; used Ijy permission. READING FOR CHAPTER VIII 235 In fiction, while New England has produced no author worthy to stand beside Hawthorne, excellent work has been done by a number of writers. Two of these deserve special mention, Sarah Orne Jewett(i849 ) and Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman. Miss Jewett is a native of Ber- wick, Me. In Dccphavcn, A Country Doctor, The Countiy of tJiL Pointed Firs, and other books she has described the beautiful scenery of the Maine coast and the old-fashioned country people whose quiet lives are spent there. Mrs. Freeman, better known as Mary E. Wilkins ( 1862 ), was born at Randolph, Mass. She chose as her field the life of the New England village. Like Jane Austen in an earlier day, she describes with minute realism the life of the provincial town, with its gossip and jealous- ies, its love affairs and small tragedies, the whole done with such fidelity and such art that it is like an exquisite miniature. Her best work is in the form of the short story, in the two volumes called A Nezv England Nun and A Hnnible Romance. She has also written several novels, such 2lS Jerome, The Debtor, and others. READING FOR CHAPTER VIII Stedman. — Pnenis : Toiijours Amour, T/ie Duorstcp, I-'uit Jliiiiii, fan III Wall S/rcct. Cavalry Song, fals/aff's Song, Song from a Drama, Wanted — .•/ Man, The Undiscovered Country, The Dis- coverer, Haiutliornc. Stedman's poems are published in i vol., Household edition (Hough- ton). Selected poems in Stedman,^ Warner, 7a\A Library of American Literature. Aldrich. — Poems : Babie Bell. I-'riar Jerome's Beautiful Book, Tiger Lilies, Wtien the Sultan goes to Ispalian, Hefore the Rain, After the Rain, The Tragedy, Guilelmus Rex, Fretlerictsburg, Slee/i. Prose : Marjorie Daw. 1 Eor publisher and price of boulvs referred tu, see p. 27S. 236 NKW ENGLAND SINCE 1870 Aldrich's poems are published in i vol., Household edition (Hough- ton). His prose works are published by the same house. Selections in Stedman, Warner, and Library of American Literature. Warner. — My SiDivncr in a Garden : First Three Weeks. The above book and Back-Log Studies are published by Houghton ; As we Go and later Essays by Harper. Hale. — The I\faii luithout a Couidry (Little, Brown, & Co.). Fiske. — Tlie Discovery of America, vol. i, Chap. V. Fiske's historical works are published in 11 vols. (Houghton). For fuller discussion of the writers in this chapter, see the references at the end of Chap. VI ; also H. C. Vedder's American Writers of To- Day (Silver, Burdett) and Bayard Taylor's j&J-a/.yaWf/A^o/iJj- (Putnam). CHAPTER IX THE NEW SOUTH Sidney Lanier Joel Chandler Harris Georo-e IV. Cable Thomas A^elson- Paze James Lane Allen The close of the Civil War left the South with little energy for literature, but in the years since 1870 a group of writers has produced work of much significance. This Southern literature, too, has a character of its own; the work of Sidney Lanier, of Joel Chandler Harris, of Lafcadio Hearn, stands out as something distinctive. Their writings are not modeled after classic authors; they have found new and beautiful modes of expression. This freshness and originality has led certain critics to predict that the South is destined to become the leader in American literature. Already it is rich in promise. The life of Sidney Lanier (i 842-1 881) well illustrates the difficulties of a literary career in the South in the earlier days. He was a native of Macon, Ga., and attended Oglethorpe College, then a struggling institution little more than a high school. After graduation he en- listed in the Confederate army, and served through the war. He was captured, and imprisonment and subsequent exposure planted in him the seeds of consumption. After the war he taught school and studied law for a time, but his heart was not in these occupations. From a child he 237 238 THE NEW SOUTH had a wonderful talent for music. Before he could write legibly he could play the flute, guitar, piano, and organ. ^ , The flute was his favorite in- strument, and in prison he cheered the hearts of his fel- lows by his music. He had a remarkable gift of improvisation ; he could continue this for hours, saying that tunes were all the time singing in his head. The other passion of his life was poetry. He burned for distinc- tion in this. That he might gain a solid foundation for his work he studied French and German while in camp, and later read widely in early Eng- lish literature. He said of Poe : " He did not know enough." In 1873 he went North, to Hve if he could by his flute or his pen. In Baltimore he obtained a position in an orchestra, and studied with the passion of one who for the first time has access to a great library. He had married in 1867, and the needs of his family forced him to write boys' books and magazine articles, leaving but little time for writing poetry. His failing strength drove him to Florida and to Te.xas in search of health. In 1879 he was appointed lecturer in English literature in Johns Hopkins University, and for the first time was free to devote him- self to study and poetry. But the relief came too late ; he had held the position but two years when death closed his career. Lanier's works in prose include The Boys' King Artlmr SIDNEY LANIER 239 and The Boys Percy, two books in which old romantic stories are retold in simple language. His lectures at the university were published in two volumes, The English Noi'cl d^wA The Science of English Verse. The latter book is noteworthy as setting forth the theory upon which Lanier's own poetry was composed. Briefly, he held that poetry was closely allied to music, and endeavored to carry the principles of musical composition into poetry. In such poems as The Marshes of Glynn there is no fixed length of lines. They vary with the thought expressed: now long, full, and stately ; now short and tremulous. The words are chosen for their sound-values as well as for their meaning. One of his longer poems, The Symphony, even attempts to give through words the effect of the various instruments in an orchestra. And Lanier's poetry is more than mere beauty of sound. Unlike Poe, he held that the poet had a message to deliver ; The Symphony is a protest against the heartless commercialism of our time. Lanier had a deep and tender love for nature ; his descriptions are notable not only for their beauty, but for their frequent spiritual suggestion. To gain an adequate idea of Lanier's writ- ings one should read aloud one of the longer poems, such as Corn or The Marshes of Glynn. Of recent years the South has given us a number of writers of fiction, of whom the most prominent are George W. Cable, Joel Chandler Harris, Thomas Nelson Page, and James Lane Allen. Much of their work has been in the form of short stories, and is remarkable for its strong local color. Each writer has taken a certain locality or a certain class of people as his province, and given a faithful picture of them, describing their quaint ways and usually reproducing the dialect of the locality. 240 THE NEW SOUTH George W. Cable (1844 ) chose for his field the life of the Creoles of Louisiana. He was well fitted to treat this, as he was born in New Orleans, and his early life as a surveyor and as a newspaper reporter brought him into contact with Creole life on the plantations and in the city. His first stories appeared in Scribner's Monthly; they were reprinted later as 0/d Creole Days. The delicate pathos and humor of these sketches won fame _ - for the author, and encouraged by success, he devoted himself to literature. He has published several novels, of which The Grandissivies, Madame Del- phiiic, and Dr. Sevier are con- sidered the best. Joel Chandler Harris (1848- 1908) was born in Eatonton, Ga. He gained most of his education in a printing office, became a reporter on the At- lanta Constitution, and later one of its editors. A few years before his death he was made editor of a new magazine, called in his honor Uncle ReniHs's Magaaine. His early life made him familiar with the negro, — not the idealized negro of Unele Tom' s Cabin nor the caricature negro of the minstrel show, but the old-time plantation darky. In his books Harris pre- sented the negro truly for the first time in literature. And he did this laot only with fidelity, but with such art, with such rich humor, such quaint philosophy, that the "Uncle Remus" stories have taken their place as little classics. His best books. Uncle Remus, N'io;hts with Uncle y4^ujteJtcci^Ji^y^a-^i^uf PACE, AI.I.EN 241 Rciniis, and others are made up of tales many of wfiich had been handed down from generation to generation of duskv story-tellers. It was his good fortune to see what a rich field there was in the adventures of Brer Rabbit and his companions, and to write them for our delight. Thomas Nelson Page (1853 ) was born in Hanover Count)', \^a., educated at the University of Virginia, and later practiced law in Richmond. His earliest memories were of the South in the old slave-holding days ; his youth was passed in the trying period when the old or- der had passed away and the South was painfully ad- justing itself to new conditions. From such scenes he drew the material for his stories. He presents the old aristocratic South, with its beauty and its chivalry, its faithful servitors, and he shows the pathos of the days that followed. His first book, a volume of short stories called III Olc Virginia, contains some of his best work. Tivo Little Confederates is an autobiography; Red Roek, a story of Reconstruction days. James Lane Allen (1850 -) was born near Lexington, in the famous bluegrass region of Kentucky. Like the other Southern writers he found his material in the scenes and characters of his native place. Like the others, too, he began with short stories in the magazines, which he collected into a volume called Flute and Violin. He gives us the atmosphere of a place through poetic description rather than by the use of dialect; a lover of nature, his descriptions have a delicate beauty that makes them one of the chief charms of his work. This is well seen in the novelette A Kentneky Cardinal. The Choir Invisible and The Reign of Law are longer novels, the scenes laid in his favorite Kentucky. 242 THE NEW SOUTH Laf cadio Hearn (1850-1904) might almost be called a man without a counti"}', since he was born on one of the islands of Greece, educated in England, worked as a journalist in America, and died as a teacher of literature in Japan. By his style and genius, however, he belongs with the writers of the South. His first novel, Chita, A Rlcniory of Last Island, a story of the destruction of a fashionable watering place in the Gulf, contained descriptive passages marked by such beauty, richness, and music as English style had hardly known since De Quincey. After some years spent in the far East he published Glimpses of Unfaviiliar Japan and other works, showing an intimate knowledge of the strange myths and superstitions of old Japan. Mary N. Murfree (1850 ), born in Murfreesboro,, Tenn., has published most of her work under the pen name of " Charles Egbert Craddock." In her books. In the Tennessee Mountains, The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, and others, she describes the picturesque moun- tain people, living far from the railroads, making their moonshine whisky, and executing stern justice with their own hands. The stories are set in a background of natu- ral scenery that adds much to the dramatic effect. F. Hopkinson Smith (1838 ), born in Baltimore, but long a resident of New York, is known as a painter in water colors and a successful civil engineer as well as an author. He has published a number of volumes of stories, short and long ; among the best is Colonel Carter of Car- iersville. This is not a local study, but the study of a type ;, Colonel Carter is the typical Southern gentleman of the old school, and one of the most delightful characters in recent fiction. One of the latest comers in this group of Southern writers of fiction is Miss Ellen Glasgow, a daughter of Vir- REAUIXc; FOR CIIAITKR IX 243 !;inia, whose novels, The DcUvcraiicc, The Battle Groiuid, The I'oicc of the People, and The Aiieieiit Laiv, deal with the Reconstruction and later periods, the scenes laid in the tobacco country of Virginia. Her work is marked by a finish of style and an unusual power of character drawing. READING FOR CHAPTER IX Lanier. — Poems ; Soiie; of llie Cliatlalioocliee, Tampa Robins, The Stirrup Cup. Tlic Moo/ci/n; Bird. Batlad of Trees and tlie Master, Sont^ for tlie Taeqiicrie, Sunrise, T/ic Marslics op Glynn, Lanier's poems are publislied in i vol. (Scribner). Full selec- tions in Page'; briefer in Steilman, Warner, and Library op American /literature. Cable. — Old Creole Vays (Scribner). Harris. — Unele Remus and /lis Friends (Hougliton). Page. — In Ole ]irgi>iia : Meli Lady (Scribner). Allen. — ./ Kentucky Cardinal (Harper). Fuller discussion of the writers mentioned in this chapter will be found in E. C. Stedman's J\h-ts of America (Houghton), W. M. Bas- kervill's Souttiern Writers (Barbee), L. Manly's Soutliern Literature (Johnson). ^ For publisher and i)rice of books referred to, see p. 27S. CHAPTER X RECENT WRITERS OF THE MIDDLE STATES Joint Biirrouglis Henry James IV. D. Hoivells F. Ularion Crawford Frank R. Stockton In comparing the literary work produced in the Middle states in the recent period with that of the period preced- ing, a marked contrast is noticed in the form of the work. In the earlier period the chief writers — Whitman, Read, Taylor, Stoddard, and Curtis — were all essayists or poets. In this period the noted writers — Howells, James, Crawford, and Stockton — are novelists. The one exception is the essayist Burroughs, whose work will be considered first. John Burroughs (1837 ) is a New Yorker, but not a city dweller. He was born on a farm near Roxbury, N.Y., and after a few years spent in teaching school and in a gov- ernment clerkship in Washing- ton, he purchased a few acres of land on the Hudson, in the Catskill Mountain region, where he lives, dividing 244 Jti^A^^ ^t^t-i-W^n^^^^ BURROUGHS, IIOWELLS 245 his time between books and out-door life. He has published some fifteen volumes, whose titles suggest their con- tents : Wakc^Robin, Wuitcr Sniishiiu^ Birds and Poets, Locusts and Wild Honey, Signs and Seasons, Indoor Stud- ies, Walt Whitman. He worthily continues the work of Thoreau as a loving observer of nature. To read him is like taking a walk through the woods with a companion who finds something interesting at every step. His method may be inferred from a saying of his : "You must have the bird in your heart before you can find it in the bush." Besides his na- ture studies he has written sev- eral volumes of literary criticism that is as fresh and original as his out-door studies. He has also published a collection of the best poems on nature by English and American writers, entitled Song's of N'ature. "William Dean Ho wells (1837- ) might be considered as be- longing to the West, since he was born in Ohio; but he came east as a young man and has remained there. He was born at Martin's Ferry, O., March I, 1837. His father was a newspaper editor, and in the print- ing office and the library at home the boy picked up most of his education. His early life he has pictured in the book A Boy's Town. He learned to set type, and served as a reporter on various newspapers. He early showed a love for literature, and being denied the opportunity for a regular education, he taught himself Spanish, Italian, and German and read eagerly in these languages. In i860 he wrote a /r-o^^T^/^i^ 246 RECENT WRITERS OF THE MIDDLE STATES campaign biography of Lincoln. With the money he received for this he made a trip to Boston to see Lowell, Emerson, and Longfellow. In 1861 he was appointed United States consul at Venice, where he remained four years. His impressions of this period are recorded in Venetian Life and Italian Journeys. Returning to America, he engaged in journalism in New York; then went to Boston as editor of t'ao. Atlantic Monthly, a position which he held from 1871 to 18S1, when he re- signed to devote himself more to his own writing. In 1888 he removed to New York, where for a time he con- ducted the Editor s Study and later the Editor s Easy Chair in Harper s Alagazine. He has been an industrious writer; the list of his works already numbers more than forty volumes. These cover a wide range, including poetry, essays, books of travel, criticism, short plays, and novels. His plays, or rather dramatic sketches, comedies in miniature, sparkle with humor and are written with a light, sure touch that is Mr. Howells's peculiar gift. They present amusing situations in everyday life, such as The Elevator, The Sleeping Car, The Mouse-Trap, and others. Mr. Howells's novels are his chief work, and probably the most important work in American fiction since Haw- thorne. His theory of the novel is set forth in the volume called Criticism and Fiction. He is a realist, a follower of the Russian novelist Tolstoi, and defines realism as " noth- ing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material." His material is American life. It was his good fortune to be born in a typically American commu- nity, and then to spend four years abroad, giving that per- spective, that knowledge of other nations, which is necessary to understand one's own. Thus equipped, Mr. Howells iic>\vl;lls, jamks 247 began writing stories of American life, or to speak more exactly, of that part of it which he had known in Ohio, New York, and New England. And even here he limited his field. He did not write of the leaders of society, of the multi-millionaires, or of the criminal classes ; these are the exceptions, and realism demands that an author shall treat of the usual, not the exceptional. So his characters are drawn from the great middle class in our social scale ; we see ourselves in his pages, pic- tured with a minuteness and accuracy that is almost photographic. His style, so exquisite in its choice of words, so delicately responsive in conveying shades of meaning, is a delight in itself. His descriptions — for example the passage in Their Wedding Journey describing the city on a hot day — have a wonderful power of conveying to the reader not only the scene but the sen- sations of such an experience. The underlying tone of his work is always wholesome. In this he presents a con- trast to the chief realistic writers of European countries. Their books, dealing with the seamy side of life, are often of doubtful moral value. Mr. Howells finds American life sound and true, and has so depicted it. Among his best novels are The Lady of the Aroostook, A Modern Instance, The Rise of Silas LapJiam, and A Hazard of New For- tunes. He ranks to-day as the dean of American men of letters. Henry James (1843 ) was born in New York City, but was educated abroad, and has lived abroad so long that one scarcely thinks of him as an American author. He has written essays of travel, literary criticism, an excellent life of Hawthorne, and a number of novels and short stories. Among his best novels are The Americans, The Europeans, The Portrait of a Lady, The Princess Casamis- 248 RECENT WRITERS OF I'HE MIDDLE STATES sima, and the volumes of short stories entitled The Lesson of tlie Master and The Better Sort. A favorite subject of his is to portray Americails against a European background, the contrast in social and other standards affording a theme for his carefully finished studies of character. He is, like Howells, a realist, and even carries his theories farther than Mr. Howells. The novel, he holds, should exhibit life as it is. But life as it is does not exhibit well-constructed plots, so his stories have no. plots. In life, too, relations between events are not so clearly defined, as most novelists portray them. We cannot always trace an effect to its cause ; we do not see the results of many of our actions ; life is rather a tangled and perplexing thing. And Mr. James, trying to reproduce this, does not give us nicely rounded-out stories, with a proper ending, happy or unhappy as it may be, but rather portrays the shifting scene : people come and go ; we do not see the beginning; we do not learn the end, except as we may fancy it for ourselves. Such stories naturally do not appeal to the average reader, but Mr. James's admirers find delight in the skill with which he shows the characters of his mimic world, and in the finished art of his style. Mr. James has recehtly undertaken a rather remarkable task,- — the rewriting of all his novels, some of which were published thirty years ago, in the form in which he would write them to-day. Francis Marion Crawford (1854 ) was born in Italy, his father being a noted American sculptor. He came to New York as a child and was educated in this country. Of recent years he has returned to Italy, living in a villa near Sorrento. He is a very prolific writer ; since 1882, the date of his first book, he has written thirty novels, in addition to half a dozen books of history and description. His first CRAWFORD, STOCKTON, DAVIS. : 249 novel, Air. Isaacs, is a romantic story of the East, introduc- ing occultism, jewels, and picturesque descriptions. Zoro- aster is a tale of ancient Persia in the days of Darius and the prophet Daniel. Saraciiiesca, Saitf Ilario, and Don Orsino, three novels dealing with the fortunes of a noble Italian family of the present day, give a history of Rome from 1865 to 1887, the period of the struggle for su- premacy between the civil power and the Papacy. Mr. Crawford's books have usually a historical background. They have little distinction of style, but are always in- teresting, and in consequence he is one of the most popular of living novelists. Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902) was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the high school there ; became a journalist, contributed many stories to St. Nicholas, and was an assistant editor of that magazine. After publishing a number of stories for children he wrote Rudder Grange, a series of amusing sketches that were widely popular. This was followed by a number of longer stories, including- The Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine, The. Dusantcs, and The Squirrel Inn. His best short stories are in the two volumes called A Chosen Few and Tlie Lady or the Tiger. The last named is one of the most famous short stories ever written. All of Stockton's work is humor- ous, and the humor is of a peculiar type. A favorite de- vice of his is to place people in some absurdly impossible situation, and then relate their actions and conversation in a matter-of-fact way. ■ • Richard Harding Davis ( 1 864 ), like Stockton, was a son of Philadelphia. He began as a; journahst in .Philadel- phia and New York, and acted as war correspondent during ' the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese wars. He has published some forty volumes of travel, short stories, and 250 RECENT WRITERS OF THE MIDDLE STATES novels, but nothing that he has written quite fulfills the promise of his early work. In two volumes of short stories, Va?i Bibber and Others and Galleg/ier, he sketched certain sides of city life, in particular the life of the clubs and scenes from a reporter's experience. The stories had the freshness of youth ; with their crisp style and sharp outlines they were like a series of little etchings of metropolitan life. To these writers of fiction must be added the names of two scholars : Professor McMaster and Dr. Furness. John Bach McMaster (1852 ), professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, is the author of a History of the People of the United States, in seven large volumes, cover- ing the period from the Revolution to the Civil War. Mc- Master, like Macaulay, felt that the true history of a country is not a record of sovereigns and wars, but rather of the social, industrial, and intellectual progress of the people. In his history, therefore, he writes not only of presidential campaigns and foreign poHcies, but of the building of canals and railways, the passing of the ten-hour law, the growth of newspapers, the spread of popular education, the progress of agriculture and manufactures, — in a word, the story of the common people of America. Horace Howard Furness (1833 ) has edited the most complete edition of Shakespeare ever published. The Vari- orum Shakespeare, as it is called, devotes a large volume to each play, giving the text, with various readings, followed by a summary of all the notes of editors from the earliest to the present time, including extracts from the best criticism in English and other languages, and reprints of the sources of plays, where that is known. The volumes thus form a veritable cyclopedia of Shakespearian scholarship and criti- cism. READING FUR ClIArXER X 25 1 READING FOR CHAPTER X Burroughs. — U'iii/cr Suiiskiiu- : TIw Apple ; Kii'erby : Eychcaiiis. Burroughs's essays are published in 15 vols. (Houghton). Selec- tions in Riverside Literature series. Howells. — One ot the following novels : Tin- Lady of the, Aroostook, A Modfin Iiistaiiit'. A Hazard of New Fortunes, The Rise of Silas Lapliain (Houghton). James. — Short stories: The Lesson of the Master (Macniillan). The Better Sort (Scribner). Novels, one of these : The Europeans, Tlie Portrait of a Lady (Houghton). Crawford. — One of the following: Mr. Isaaes, Zoroaster, Saracin- esea,Don Orsino, Sant^ Ilario (Macniillan). Stockton. — Tlie Lady or the Tiger, A Chosen Few, liudder Grange (Scribner). For fuller discussion of the writers in this chapter, see H. C. Vedder's Atneriean Writers of To-Day (Silver, Burdett), J. W. Abernethy's American Literature (Maynard, Merrill & Co.), A. G. Newcomer's Ai/ieriean Literature (Scott, Foresman). CHAPTER XI THE RISE OF WESTERN LITERATURE Bret Hartc Edivard Eggleston S. L. Clemens Eugene Field James Whiteonib Riley That section of our country which lies between the Ohio River and the Pacific Ocean has been so recently de- veloped that one would scarcely expect to find much liter- ature. When we remember that New PZngland and the South, from the time of their settlement to the Revolution, — a period of one hundred and fifty years, — produced not a single book that lives as literature, it would not be strange if the West, in fifty years, should have little to show. Yet the development of the West has been far more rapid in every respect than that of the colonies, and although its literature has but begun, it contains much of promise and at least two distinguished names : Bret Harte and Mark Twain. The very beginning of Western literature was in the sixties, wh,en a group of humorists, trained chiefly in news- paper work, became widely popular. One of the chief of these was Charles Farrar Browne (1834-1867), who wrote under the name of " Artemus Ward." He was a reporter in Cleveland ; he had gone farther west, visiting Utah, and prepared a humorous lecture on The Mormons. This proved very successful in England as well as in America; 252 SHAW, BRET liARTE 253 it is to be found in most collections of American humor. His drolleries still provoke laughter. Henry W. Shaw (1818-1885), better known as "Josh Billings," published a series of comic almanacs, — Fai'inci's AUmiiiax, he called them, — in which the odd spelling and the humor served to give point to shrewd common sense. Some of his sayings are yet quoted, as : . " Style iz everything for a sinner, and a leetle of it won't hurt a .saint." " Thare iz sum pholl 254 THE RISE OF WESTERN LITERATURE rests on two or three of these. His earhest book, a collec- tion of short stories called Tlie Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales, shows him at his best. The scene is the Western mining camp; the characters are the rough, simple miners ; the gambler, polished and reckless ; the wrecks of humanity, men and women, who drifted with the tide that carried thousands across the plains in search of gold. This life Harte had seen at an age when impressions are strongest ; he has pictured it vividly, with its pathos, its unconscious humor, its heroism, often unconscious too. By his descriptions of scenery and people, by suggestion, by the use of dialect, he gives one the very atmosphere of the place. He is thus the pioneer writer of the short story of local color, the field in which Cable and Miss Murfree in the South, Sarah Orne Jewett and Mary E. Wilkins in New England, have since done ■*, their notable work. Besides his short stories, Harte has written a volume of poems. The best of these, like his stories, deal with Western life. His Plain Lan- guage from Truthful James, also known as The Heathen Chinee, is a good example of his humorous verse. Samuel L. Clemens (1835- ), whom everybody knows as Mark Twain, is a Westerner by right of birth. He was born at Florida, Mo., Nov. 30, 1835. He picked up most of his education in a printing office. He was by turns a wandering printer a Mississippi River pilot, a miner in Nevada, a journalist in /^{^,^(^f^ A^T-zi.;/o^s of tlic Sierras, Songs of the Siiulands, Songs of the Desert, and others, in which the free life, the tropical scenery, and the great open spaces of the Southwest are celebrated in swinging, musical, if some- what careless verse. But among the many Western writers of verse two stand out above the rest : Eugene Field and James Whitcomb Riley. Eugene Field (1850-1895) was born in St. Louis, Sept. 3, 1850. He was educated in the East, but went West again to become a journalist. He worked on vari- ous papers in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Denver, and in 1883 went to Chicago to join the staff of the Daily Nezus, a position he held until his death. He had a column in the paper called Sharps and Flats, where he wrote what he pleased. Sometimes it paragraph at the expense of Chicago's society leaders ; sometimes it was a rollicking bit of verse ; sometimes a tender story. The best of this work he gathered up into half a dozen volumes of prose and verse. His first witty 258 THE RISE OF WESTERN LI lERATURE book of poems, A Little Book of Western Verse, was wel- comed with delight for its freshness and its humor. In subsequent volumes, A Second Book of Verse, Love Songs of CJdldlLood, andothers, Field won widerand wider recognition. His child poems, contained in the Love Songs and Witli, Tnimpct and Drum, are perhaps his finest work. The sifnplicity and charm of such poems as Little Boy Bine, \Vy)ikc'n, Blynken and Nod, and The Rockaby Lady of Hushaby Street fairly entitle him to be crowned the poet laureate of childhood. Iw A Little Book of Profitable Tales he has collected some of his best sketches and short stories, which show his humor and pathos in equal degree. James Whitcomb Riley (1852- ) was born at Greenfield, Ind., and has spent nearly all his life in his native state. In his youth he was by turns traveling signpainter, actor, and journalist. While a reporter on the India- napolis yi??/;'««/ he wrote for that paper some poems in Hoosier dialect, which were published over the signature of " Ben- jamin F. Johnson, of Boone." In 1883 these poems were gathered into a slender volume called The Old Szvimmiri Hole, and 'Leven More Poems. The cordial reception given to this book decided Riley's career. He has pub- lished twelve volumes of poetry, of which Poems Here at Home, Neighborly Poems, and Old-Fashioned Roses are among the best. For some years he gave readings from his poems, with great success; but he disliked the work, CJ ^vTR^-tTT^iw^ JAMES WIIITCOMB RILEY 259 and prefers to live quietly in his " home town," writing when he is in the mood for it. Riley is known, in America and England, as a dialect poet. He has done for the Hoosier dialect what Lowell did in the BigUnv Papers for the Yankee dialect : lifted it into literature. His country boyhood, his roving life, made him know the plain people ; he has shared their pleasures, felt their griefs, read their few books, and read more often in the Book of Nature. He writes from their standpoint, puts their feelings into his poetry, and so uses their speech as fittest. With him, then, dialect is not an artificial device of a writer striving for a new literary effect, but a sincere and natural medium of expression. With it he can call up old memories of boyhood, mingled with deeper thoughts that touch the springs of tears ; he can make us laugh at his quaint sayings; he can picture the old orchard with clover blooms underneath, bluejays in the branches, and white clouds sailing overhead. His Knee- Deep in June is as genuine in its feeling and as musical as Lowell's "What is so rare as a day in June" in T/te Vision of Sir Launfal. Again, Riley, like Field, is one of child- hood's favorite poets. Tlic Raggedy lilan, Little Orpltant Annie, The Runaway Boy, are poems to which the heart of childhood makes instant answer. In conclusion, a word may be added as to the general characteristics of the literature of this period, not only in the West but the country over. The chief development has been in fiction, and of this fiction much has been in the form of the short story. One reason for this is in the multiplica- tion of magazines. The past twenty years has seen their number more than doubled, and as each issue commonly contains several short stories, a ready market is afforded for 260 THE RISE OF WESTERN LITERATURE some hundreds of these each year. These short stories commonly take the form of studies of loca] color, and in this way the dialect, the manners, and the characteristics of various parts of our country have been, so to speak, pho- tographed, section by section, so that a foreigner, by put- ting together the work of a number of writers, might obtain a tolerably correct idea of our whole country. As in prose the favorite form is the short story, so in poetry it is the lyric. Of dramatic poetry little of conse- quence has been produced, with the exception of the work of William Vaughn Moody (1869 -), whose Masque of Judgment vs, one of the most significant of recent volumes of verse. Perhaps it is the hurry, hurry of restless American ■life that leaves us no time for anything but short stories and short poems. It would be a pity if this were true, for the greatest writers in English and American literature have found that the short story and the lyric, while admirable in themselves, offer too limited a field for sustained, serious literary achievement. And finally, as to the authors themselves, while there are more people writing and writing well than ever before, there seem to be few or no great authors. Per- haps we are too close to them to realize their signifi- cance. When Lowell and Hawthorne were writing their books, few people thought of them as among the greatest authors in our literature. So it may be that in another generation certain authors of to-day — it would be rash to mention names — will be placed among the chief writers in American literature. RKADIXG FUR CIIAITKR XI 261 READING FOR CHAPTER XI Harte. — Poems : John /litnis of Gr/tys/u/ii:, Cahkvdl of Spriin^Jield, Ramon, Doius Flat, J'iain Lani;iiage from Tnilh fill James, Tlic Society upon the Stanislaus, Her Letter. Grizzly, Diekens in Camp. Prose ; The Luck of Roorini; Camp. Bret Harte's complete works are published in 19 vols. ( Houglitoii). Selections from the poems in Stedman, Warner, M\A LiOrarv of Ameri- lan Litei-ature.'^ Clemens. — One of the following: Tom Saiover, Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Jhississippi (hPrrper). Eggleston. — The Hoosier School/iiaster ( Jiidd). Field. — Poems: A Little Book of Il'dter/i I'erse, With Trumpet and Drum. Prose: A Little Book of J'rof table Tales. Field's complete works are published in 12 \-ols. (Scribner). Selec- tions from his poems in Stedman, Library of .Imerican Literature, and Warner. Riley. — NeigJiborly Poems (Bobbs, Merrill), Poems Here at Home (Century). Riley's collected works in prose and verse are published in 12 vols. (Scribner). Brief selections in Stedman and L^ibrary of ^Imerican Literature. For fuller discussion of the writers in this cha]3ter see the references at the close of Chap. X. 1 For publisher and price of books referred to, see p. 27S. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING Benjamin Franklin Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is tlie stuff life is made of. Poor RiiiianVs Abnaiiac. If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some ; tor lie that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing. Poor RicJiard^s Ahnanac. There never was a good war or a bad peace. Letters. ?',xperience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other. Poor RicJiard^s Abnaiiac. If you would have your business done, go ; if not, send. Poor RiclianVs Abnaiiac. He that lives on hope will die fasting. Poor RicJiard^s Abnanac. A man is often more generous when he has but little money than HJien he has plenty, perhaps through fear of being thought to have but little. A iitobiography . Fitz-Greene Halleck Burns There have been loftier themes than his. And longer scrolls, and louder lyres, And lays lit up with Poesy's Purer and holier fires ; 262 qudtations kor mkmori/.tnc 2G3 ^ ct vcatl llic names tlial know not dcadi ; Few nobler ones tlian Burns are there ; And few have won a greener wreath Than that which binds his hair. His is that language of the heart. In which the answering heart would speak, - Tliought, word, that bids the warm tear start, Or the smile light the cheek ; And his that music, to whose tone The common pulse of man keeps time. In cot or castle's mirth or mourn. In cold or sunny clime. Edwakd C. Pixckney I fill this cup to one made up Of loveliness alone, A woman, of her gentle sex The seeming paragon ; To whom the better elements And kindlv stars have gix'en A form so fair, that, like the air, 'Tis less of earth than heaven. A I/.-altk. WlLLIAJI CULLEN BRYANT Truth crushed to earth shall rise again. The eternal years of God are hers ; But error, wounded, writhes with pain And dies among his worshipers. T/ie Battlrfifhl. Thou who wouldst wear the name Of poet 'mid thy brethren of mankind. And clothe in words of flame Thoughts that shall live within the general mind! Deem not the framing of a deathless la\' The pastime of a drowsy summer day. The Pod. 264 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING The hills. Rock-ribbed and ancient as tlie sun, — the vales, Stretching in pensive qnietness between ; The venerable woods, — rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks That make the meadows green ; and, poured round all. Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste, — Are but the solemn decorations all Ot" the great tomb of man. Tliaiiatopsis Ralph Waldo Emer.son So nigh is grandeur to our dust. So near is God to man. When Duty whispers low. Thou must. The youth replies, I can! / 'oluiitiu'ies. Consider what you have in the smallest chosen library. A company of the wisest and wittiest men picked out of all civilized countries, in a thousand years, have set in best order the results of their learning and wisdom. Society and Solitude : Books. Every spirit makes its house, but afterwards the house confines the spirit. Condjut of Life : Fate. A day for toil, an hour for sport. But for a friend a life's too short. FriendsJiip. The pleasure of life is according to the man that lives it, and not according to the work or the place. Conduct of Life : Fate. Wilt thou seal up the avenues of ill? Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill. Suiim Luique. nUOTATlOXS FOR MEMORIZING 265 If a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man. in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! It the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore ; and presen-e for many generations the remembrance of the City of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile. Nature. \Vc arrive at virtue by taking its direction instead of imposing ours. Perpdual Forces. To-day is a King in disguise. To-day alwavs looks mean to the thoughtless, in the face of an uniform e.xperience, that all good and great and happy actions are made up precisely of these blank to-days. Let us not be so deceived. Let us unmask the King as he passes. Lecture on the Times. By the rude bridge that arched the flood. Their flag to April's breeze unfurled. Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world. Concord Hymn. To be great is to be misunderstood. Essays : Sclf-Reliancc. The measure of a master is his success in bringing all men round to his opinion twenty years later. Conduct of Life : Culture. Henry W. Longfellow Upward steals the life of man As the sunshine from the wall ; From the wall into tlie sky. From the roof along the spire, — Ah, the souls of those that die Are but sunbeams lifted higher. The Golden Legends 266 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING Not in the clamour of the crowded street. Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng. But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat. The Poets. No one is so accursed by fate. No one so utterly desolate, But some heart, though unknown. Responds unto his own. Endyinion . Look not mournfully into the Past ; it comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present ; it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future without fear and witli a manly heart. Hyperion . The setting of a great hope is hke the setting of the sun. Hyperion. There is no death ! What seems so is transition ; This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life Elysian Whose portal we call Death. Resignation. Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels. Evange/inc. When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music. Evangeline, The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight. But they while their companions slept Were toiling upwards in the night. The Ladder of St. Augustine. Fame is the fragrance of heroic deeds. The Bell of Atrt. Oh, fear not in a world like this. And thou shalt know ere long, — Know how sublime a thing it is To sufter and grow strong. Tlie Light of Stars. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING 267 John G. Whittier For still in mutual sufterance lies The secret of true living ; Love scarce is love, that never knows The sweetness of forgiving. Among the Hills. I pray the prayer of Plato old : God make thee beautiful within, And let thine eyes the good behold In everything save sin ! My Namesake. Ah, well ! for us all sone sweet hope lies Deeply buried from human eyes ; And. in the hereafter, angels may Roll the stone from its grave away. Maud Midler. James Russell Lowell In life's small things be resolute and great To keep thy muscle trained : know'st thou when Fate Thy measure takes, or when she'll say to thee, '• I find thee worthy ; do this thing for me? " Sayings. Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide. In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side ; Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight. Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right. And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. The Present Crisis. Careless seems the great Avenger ; history's pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word ; Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong forever on the throne, — Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. The Present Crisis. 268 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING One day. with life and lieart, Is more than time enough to find a world. Coluinbt(s . Ez fer war, I call it murder, — There you hev it, plain an' flat ; I don't want to go no furder Than ray Testyment fer that ; God hez sed so, plump an' fairly, It's ez long ez it is broad, An' you've gut to git up airly Ef you want to take in God. Biglow Papers : A Letter. It is useless to argue with the inevitable. The only argument with an east wind is to put on an overcoat. Democracy . Life is a leaf of paper white Whereon each one of us may write His word or two, and then comes night. Greatly begin ! though thou have time But for a line, be that sublime, — Not failure, but low aim, is crime. For an Ai/tograph. A college training is an excellent thing ; but after all the better part of every man's education is that which he gives himself Essays : Books and Libraries. Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. Sonnets. Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose power a man is. Literary Essays: Rousseau. Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come. Democracy. Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action. Literary Essays : Rousseau. <^)U(n' ATIONS FOR MKMoRIZIXG 269 And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days ; Then Heaven tries earth if it lie in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays ; Whether we look, or whether we listen, We hear life murmur, or see it glisten ; Every clod feels a stir of might. An instinct within it that reaches and towers, And, groping blindly above it for light, Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers ; The flush of life may well be seen Thrilling back over hills and valleys ; The cowslip startles in meadows green. The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice. And there's never a leaf or a blade too mean To be some happy creature's palace. The Vision of Sir Laiiiifal. No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. There is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will ; And blessed are the horny hands of toil. A Glance behind tlic Curtain. To say why gals acts so or so. Or don't, 'ould be presumin' ; Mebbv to Ti\&t.x\ yes an' say no Comes nateral to women. The Conriin\ John G. Saxe In battle or business, whatever the game. In law or in love it is ever the same, In the struggle for power or the scraniljlc for i)elf. Let this be your motto: Rely on vourself; And whether the prize be a ribljon or throne, The victor is he who can go it alone. 270 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING Oliver Wendell Holmes But now he walks the streets, And he looks at all he meets Sad and wan, And he shakes his feeble head, That it seems as if he said, "They are gone." The mossy marbles rest On the lips that he has prest In their bloom ; And the names he loved to hear Have been carved for many a year On the tomb. Tlie Last Leaf. Sin has many tools, but a lie is a handle that fits them all. Ai/tocrai of the Breakfast Table. 1 would have a woman as true as death. At the first real lie which works trom the heart outward, she should be tenderly chloroformed into a better world, where she can have an angel for a governess. Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. John Burroughs Waiting Serene, I fold my hands and wait. Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea ; 1 rave no more 'gainst time or fate. For lo ! my own shall come to me. I stay my haste, I make delays. For what avails this eager pace? I stand amid the eternal ways And what is mine shall know my face. Asleep, awake, by night or day, The friends 1 seek are seeking me ; No wind can dri\'e my bark astray Nor change the tide of destiny. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMOKI/.ING 2/1 Nathaniel Hawthorne No fountain is so small but tliat Heaven may be imaged in its bosom. American Note Books. Moonlight is sculpture; sunlight is painting. American Note Books. Life is made up of marble and mud. T]ie House of the Seven Gables. Bayard Taylor From the Desert I come to thee On a stallion shod with fire ; And the winds are left behind In the speed of ni}- desire. Under thy window I stand, And the midnight hears my cry : I love thee, I love but thee. With a love that shall not die Till the sun grows cold, And the stars are old. And the leaves of the Judgment Book unfold I Bedouin Song. Walt Whitman Whoever you are! you are he or she for whom the earth is solid and liquid. You are he or she for whom the sun and moon hang in the skv. A Song of the Rolling Earth . Ah, little recks the laborer How near his work is holding him to God. Song of the Exposition . That shadow, my likeness, that goes to and fro seeking a li\elihood, chattering, chaffering. How often I find mvself standing and looking at it where it flits. How often I question and doubt whether that is reall_\' me. That Shadow My Likeness. 272 (QUOTATIONS FOR AIKMOKIZING Josh Billings (Henry W. Shaw) Most people are like an egg, too phuU of themselves to hold enny- thing else. Fanner^ s /Uliiiiiiax. Thare iz menny a slip between a cup and a lip, but not hat" az menny az thare ought to be. Fanner^ s ^Ubninax. I don't never hev enny trubble in regulating mi own condukt, but to keep other pholks straight is what bothers me. Farmer's Albniiiax. It iz better not to kno so mutch than to kno so menny things that ain't so. Fari/icr's Alliniiiax. Charles Dudley Warner Lettuce is like conYcrsation : it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling you scarcelv notice the bitter in it. Like most talkers, it is, however, apt to run rapidly to seed. My Sii miner in a Garden. Our lives are largely made up of the things we do not have. A Little Journey in the World. Henry Timrod Sleep sweetly in your humble graves, Sleep, martyrs of a fallen cause : Though yet no marble column craves The pilgrim here to pause. In seeds of laurel in the earth The blossom of your fame is blown. And somewhere, waiting for its birth. The shaft is in the stone ! At Magnolia Cetnetery. QUOrATlONS FOR MEMORIZING 273 Thomas Bailey Aldkich God fashioned man trom oal the coinnion earth, But not from earth the woman : so does she. Even when fallen, ever bear with her Some sign ot Heaven, some mystic starry light. Judith. And thev called her cold. God knows. . . . Underneath the winter snows The invisible hearts of flowers grow ripe for blossoming. And the lives that look so cold, if their secrets could be told, Would seem cast in gentler mold, would seem lull of love and spring. Tlie Lady of Castebwire. When to soft Sleep we give ourselves away. And in a dream as in a fairy bark Drift on and on through the enchanted dark To purple daybreak. — little thought we pay To that sweet bitter world we know by day. Sleep. Cynicism is a small brass field-piece that eventually breaks and kills the cannoneer. Marjorie Vaw. Henry D. Thoreau The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance a palace or temple on the earth, and at length the middle- aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them. Joii nulls. I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than to be crowded on a yelvet cushion. Walden. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. 1 1 'aide n. Who is most dead, — a hero by whose monument you stand, or his descendants of whom you have ne\'er heard? Talks luitli R. //'. l-jiierson. 274 (IIIOTATTONS FOR MEMDRIZING THE013ORE O'HaRA The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo ; No more on Life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. On Fame's eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead. The Bivouac of tlie Dead. Ed\v.\rd Rowland Sill i The ill-timed truth we might have kept — Wlio knows how sharp it pierced and stung! The word we had not sense to say — Who knows how grandly it had rung ! The Fool's Prayer. Fret not that the day is gone, And thy task is still undone. 'Twas not thine, it seems, at all : Near to thee it chanced to fall, Close enough to stir thy brain. And to ve.x thy heart in vain. Somewhere, in a nook forlorn. Yesterday a babe was born : He shall do thy waiting task ; All thy questions he shall ask. And the answers will be given Whispered lightly out of heaven. . . . 'Tis enough of joy for thee His high service to foresee. Service. Do not correspond with more people than you correspond to. Prose If'ritiiii^s. George William Curtis For those of us whom Nature means to keep at home, she provides entertainment. One man goes four thousand miles to see Italy, and ^ From Poems by E. R. Sill, copyrighted l)y Houghton, Mifflin & Co. QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZINC, 275 docs not see it : he is so short-siglited. Another is so far-siglitcd tli;it he stays in his room and sees more than Italy. „ , , ^ ' true and 1. If gilt were only gold, or sugar candy common sense, what a tine thing our society would be! ,, „ , •■ •, * -^ Our /test iiociety. It's a good world, if you don't rub it the wrong way. Folipliar Papers. Richard Henry Stoddard T/ie Sky.^ The sky is a drinking cup That was overturned of old, And it pours in the e\ es of men Its wine of airy gold. We drink that wine all day, Till the last drop is drained up, And are lighted off to bed By the jewels in the cup. Joaquin Miller Peter Cooper I reckon him greater than any man That ever drew sword in war ; I reckon him nobler than King or Khan, Braver and better by far. And wisest he in this whole wide land Of hoarding till bent and gray ; For all you can hold in your cold dead hand Is what you have given away. Mark Twain (S. L. Clemens) The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — 'tis the difference between the lightning-l)ug and the lightning. ^^.^ ^^ Authorship. 'From Poetical IVrilings of Richard Henry Stoddard, copyright, 1880, by Charles .Scribner's Sons. 276 QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING To be good is noble, liut to show others how to be good is noble and no trouble. FolUnuiiii^ tlic Equator. William Dean Howells As I understand it, we are all dreamers. If we like a man's dream, we call hira a prophet; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank. Tlie World of CJiancf. Many a woman who would be ready to die for her husband makes him wretched because she won't live for him. A Modem Instance. Everybody does the things that you think no one else does. Tlie Lady of Hie Aroostook. The character of no man is fixed until it has been tried by that of the woman he loves. A Woman^s Reason. Emily Dickinson' The pedigree of honev Does not concern the bee ; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. Life Our share of night to bear, Our share of morning, Our blank in bliss to fill. Our blank in scorning. Here a star, and there a star, Some lose their way. Here a mist, and there a mist, Afterwards — day ! ^ From Poems ^A Emih' Dickinson, copyright, Little, Bruwn, & Co., by permission. QULITATIDNS FOR MEM( IRI/IXC 277 Jamks Whitcomb Riley ^ Away. I cannot say, and I will not say That he is dead. — He is just away. With a cheery smile, and a wave of tlie hand, He has wandered into an unknown land, And left us dreaming how very fair It needs must be, since he lingers there. It ain't no use to grumble and complain ; It's jest as cheap an' easy to rejoice : When God sorts out the weather, and sends rain. W'y, rain's my choice. ll'ii Ji'eat/ia- Talk. Plague! ef they ain't sompin' in Work "at kindo' goes agin' My convictions! 'long about Here in June especially! Under some old apple tree. Jest a-restin' through and through, I could git along without Nothin' else at all to do. Only jes' a-wishin' you Was a-gittin' there like me And June was eternity! Knee-Deep in June. Jest do your best, and praise er blame That follers that, counts jest the same. My J'/iilosofy. ^ From Po€)ns of James Whitcomb Riley, copyrighted, by permission. LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO Cabinet edition. Well-printed volumes, with frontispiece portraits, small but clear type, including the chief American poets. Each complete in I vol., $1. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. Cambridge edition, Enghsh and American Poets. Large volumes, well printed, each containing the complete works of a poet, with por- trait, biographical sketch, and brief notes. A desirable library edition. 20 vols., $2 per volume. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. Everyinan^s Lidraty. A series of 300 vols., including standard Eng- lish and American works in all departments of literature. One of the best cheap series. 40 cents per volume. E. P. Dutton & Co., N.Y. Handy Volume Classics. Includes about two hundred titles of standard works, small type but clear. 35 cents per volume. T. Y. Crowell & Co., N.Y. Library of American Literature, edited by E. C. Stedman and Ellen M. Hutchinson. Gives extracts from all authors, with portraits. 1 1 vols. C. L. Webster, N.Y. Page, C. H., Chief Americait Poets. Contains extended selections from Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, Whitman, and Lanier ; also biographical sketches and valuable lists of references to critical articles. The best guide for the above authors. $1.75. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. Stedman, E. C, An American Anthology. A collection, in a single large volume, of some of the best work from all American poets. It includes many more writers than Page's work above, but usually gives only a few pages to an author. A valuable collection, $3. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. Trent, W. P., and Wells, B. W., Colonial Prose and Poetry. A series of extracts from the authors, lesser and greater, of the period ; interesting and valuable for reference. 3 vols., set, $2.25. T. Y. Crowell & Co., N.Y. Warner, C. D., Library of the IVorhVs Best Literature. Extracts from English and American authors, with brief biography and criticism of each. Many portraits. 30 vols. R. S. Peale and J. A. Hill, N.Y. 278 INDEX PAGE Ahf^alom and Acfiitophel (Dvyden) . 4:5 Adam St de (Eliot) ...'..., Ill Adams, Samuel 151 Adilms and Jeferson (Vinh^lvf) . .194 Addibon, Joseph 45 reading list l'5 quoted 12T AdoMli.') (Keats) 79, SO Alcftenii.st, The (Jonsuii) 31 Alcwtt, Loi-iSA M 202 Aloricii, Thomas Bailev 230 reading list 235 quoted 273 A/eXundfr'x Feast (Dryden) .... 48 Alfred the Great 5 A/hawbra. The (Irving) . . . 16S, 159 Allen, James Lane 241 reading list 24:3 All Sortx and Caudition.s of Men (Besant) 90 Ainei-ican, The (James) 247 American Anthology (Stednian) . , 231) American Flag (Drake) 100 American Lands and, Letters (Mitch- ell) 188 American Nation, The (Hart) . . . 233 American Revolution, The (Fiske) , 233 American Scholar, The (Emerson) . 108 Ainanij My Books {iMweW) . . . . 184 ,l«ci>»? in«, yAe (Glasgow) . . . 24;J Ancient Mariner, r/tf (Coleridge) 71,72 Anglo-:5axon language nation 1,3 Annabel Lee (Poe) 215 Annual Register, The (Burke) . . .59 Anti-slavery orators llrj Arnold, Matthew, poetry .... 98 prose 104 reading 117 quoted 137 Asolando (Browning) 95 As We Go (Warner) 232 As We M^ere Saying (Warner) . . . 232 As You Like It (Shakespeare) . , . 3u Atlantic Monthly Ai'STEN, Jane Autohiograjihy (Franklin) Autocrat of the Breakfast Tahl, (Holmes) Back-Log Studies (Warner) . Bacon, Francis reading list quoted Ballad of Babie Bell (Aldrich) Ballads, English and Scottish . reading list BaNOROET, CrEOKOE .... Barbara Frietchie (Whittier) Barchester Tou-ers (Trollope) Barefoot Boy, The ( Whittier i Barrack-Room Ballads (Kiplin Battle Ground. The (GlaSL'ow) Battle of Blenheim (Southey) Battle of the Baltic (Campbell) Beauchampe (Simms) . . . Becket (Tennyson) .... Bede, The Venerable . . . Bedouin Love Song (Taylor) Beginning of English literature Being a Boy (Warner) . . . Bells, The (Poe) Beinculf reading Better Sort, The (James) . . Biglon) Pai'ers, The (Lowell) 1 Bill and Joe (Holmes) . . . Billings, Josh. See Shaw, Henr Biographia Literaria (Colerid, Birds and Poets (Burroughs) Black Cat, The (Poe) . . . Blake, William reading list quoted Blank verse, lirstused in English Bllthedale Romance (Hawthorne) 198, lioswKLL, James PAGE . . 181 . . 83 162, 154 The 180, 187 132, y W. ) 232 31 33 122 230 16 20 202 177 113 179 115 243 74 82 210 92 4, 6 220 1 232 215 1, 6 7 248 184 186 72 245 213 07 87 130 22 199 57 279 28o INDEX PAGE Boyn, The (Holmes) ISO Boi/h' King Arthur (Liiiiier) . . . 'SS-^ Boi/s' Percy (Lanier) 'jyi) Boy's Town, A (Howells) 245 Bread winner'^. The (Hay) .... -"iC Break, break, break ^Tennyson) . . 01 Bride of Lammermoor, The (Scott) >^--' Bronte, Charlotte Ui6 BfiowNii;, CiiAULES Farf.ar .... 2j2 Browning, Elizabeth Bareett . . 9S reading- list 116 quoted 13T Browning, Robert 94 reading' list IIG quoted 13s Bryant, William Citllen .... !*>> reading list 1B6 quoted '203 Buds and Bird-Voices (Hawthorne) iy9 Bailderfi, Th.e (Longfellow), quoted ITo BuNYAN, John 3S reading- list .44 Burke, Edmund 59 reading list 05 Burns, Kobert 67 reading list 87 quoted 130 Burns (Halleok), (jimted 160 Burroughs, John 244 reading list 251 quoted 270 Butler, Samuel 42 Byron, Georgk Gordon 77 reading list 87 quoted 134 Byron, Life of (Moore) SI Cable, George W 240 reading list 243 C-EDMON 3 reading list T California and Oregon Trail, The (Parkman) 205 Campbell, Thomas SI Canterbury Tales (Chaucer) . . . 10, 12 Cape Cod (Thoreau) ISs Captainji Courageous (Kipling) . . 115 Ciiptiiin Singleton (Defoe) . . . . R^ Carly'le, Thomas 100 reading list 117 quoted 136 Casa Guidi WiruJoirs (E. B. Brown- ing) 98 Ca fating Au-ay of Mrs. Leeks, etc. (r^tockton) 249 Castle of Indolence (Thomson) ... 62 PAGE Cato (Addison) 48 Cavalier Song (Stedman) 229 Caxton, "William 19 Celestial Railroad. The (Hawthorne) 199 Cenci, The (Shelley) 79 Chambered Nautilus, The- (HoIimcs) 1s6 Charge of the Light Brigade, The (Tennyson) 92 Chaucer, Geoffrey !i, 25 reading list 14 quoted 118 Childe Harold (Byron) . . . . . 77, 78 Chimes, The (Dickens) 108 Chita (Hearn) 242 Choir Invisible, 77(6 (Allen) .... 241 Chosen Fea\ A (Stockton) 249 Christmas Carol, A (Dickens) . . . 108 Christmas Stoj^ies (Dickens) .... 108 Chronicle plays 25 Circuit Bider, The (Eggleston) . . 256 Citizen of the World, The (Guldsniith) 58 Clarissa Ilarlowe (Kiehardson) . . 54 Classical Age in English literature . . 46 Clemens, Samuel L 254 reading list 261 quoted 275 Cloister and the Hearth, The (Keade) 112 Closing Scene, Tlie {\iitiii\) . . . .221 Cloud, TJie (Shelley) 79 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor .... 70 reailing list 86 quoted 132 Collins, "William 62 reading Hst 65 Colonel Carter of Cartersville (Smith) 242 Colonial period of American literature 145 Comedy, earliest English 25 Comedy of Errors, Tlie (Shakespeare) 29 Cornni em oration Ode (Lowell) . . . 183 ('ompleat Angler, 771-^. ("Walton) ... 41 ConiU!^ (Milton) 36 Conciliation with America (Burke) . 59 Concord Hymn (Emerson) .... 169 Confessions of an Opium Eater (De Quincey) 85 Conquered Banner, The{'Kyixr\) . . . 216 Conquest of Mexico, 7'7ie(Prescott) . . 204 Conquest 0/ Peru, 7'/t« (Prescott) . . 204 Conspiracy of Pontiac, The (Parkman) 205 Cooper, James Fenimore 161 reading list 166 Corn (Lanier) 239 Corsair, The (By i-ou) 77 Cutter's Saturday Night, The (Burns) 69 Cotton Bull, The {T\T{\vm\) .... 216 Count Fronienac (Parkman) .... 205 INDEX 2«I Co'intry Doctor, A (Jewett) .... 2o^f Counirij of the, Pointed Firs (.lewett) 235 Coi(rtin\ The {Low b\\) 1S4 Courtship of Miles Staiidish, The (Longfellow') 174 CowPEK, William OG reading list SO .juotcd 129 Cp.ADDOCK, ClIAKLESEliBERT. ScC Muf- free, M. N 242 Crawford, F. Marion 24S reading 251 Cricket on. the Hearth, The (Dickens) lOS Critical Period of American Ilifitory, 7y;(j,(Fiske) .' 233 Criticism and Fiction (Ilowells) . . 246 Cromwell, Life of {Qa.v\Y\e) . . . .101 Cros&ing the Bar (Tennyson) . . . '.)2 Cross of Snow, The (Longfellow) . . 1T2 Crown of Wild Olive (Ruskin) . . . 104 Cry of the Children, The (E. l;. Browning) 90, 98 Culprit Fay, The (Drake) 160 Cnp, The (Tenny&oT]) 92 Curse of Eehama, Tlie (Soutbey) . . 74 Curtis, George William 226 reading list 227 quoted 274 Cyiifheline (Shakespeare) 30 Danny Deever (Kifiling) 115 Dante, Longfellow's translation of . . 1T2 Darkness (Byron) 7S David Balfour (Stevenson) .... 114 David Copperfield (Dickens) . . . lOS Datis, Richard Harding 249 Day, A (Dickinson) 234 Days (Emerson) I*i9 Day's Work, Tlie (Kipling) . - . .114 Debtor, The (Wilkins-Freeman) . . 235- Declaration of Independence, Tlie . 151 Decline and Fall of the lioinan FJm- pire, 27i« (Gibbon) 61 De Coverley Papers, T^e (Addison) . 49 Deejjhaven (.Jewett) 235 Deerslayer, The (Cooper) 162 Defoe, Daniel 52 reading list 55 Deliverance, The (Glasgow) .... 2i-! De Mandeville, JOIIN 13 reading list 14 De Quinoev, Thomas s5 reading list ^'"- Deserted Village, The (Goldsmith) 58, 59 Destiny of Man, The {¥\%'ke) . , . .232 Dialect, use in poetry 182, 259 page Piary (Topys) 44 Dickens, Charles 107, 110 reading list 117 Dickinson, Emil"^- 234 quoteii 276 Dictionary of the English La^iguage (Johnson) 56 Discourses in America (Arnold) . . 105 Piscovery of America, 7'Ae(Fiske) . 233 Divine Tragedy, The (Longfellow) . 174 Doctor Faustus {^l3i,v\nwe) 26 Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Steven- son) 114 Doctor Sevier (Cable) 240 Don Juan (Byron) 78 Don. Orsino (Crawford) 249 Drake, Joseph Rodman 160 Drama, beginning of the English . . 16 Dramatic Lyrics (R. Browning) . . 95 Dramatic monologue, nature of ... 96 Dramatic Romances (R. Browning) 95 Dream, TV/e (Byron) 78 Dream Life (Mitchell) 188 Dref'singthe BrideA.\\Ax\Ci\) . . . 230 L>rifting iKi'^i]) 221 Drum Taps {\y hitman) 222 Dkyden, John 4;'> reading list 45 quoted 126 Dunciad, The (Pope) 50 Dusantes, The (Stockton) 249 Dutch and Quaker <''olo7ties, Tlie (Fiske) 233 Ecclesiastical History (Bede) ... 4 Ecclesiastical History of Neio Eng- land (Mather) 147. 148 Edinhurghlierieio 77, 99 Edward II (Marlowe) 26 Edwards, Jonathan 148 Eggleston, Edward 255 reading list 261 Eight Cousins (Alcott) 202 Elegy in a Country Churchyard. (Gray) 6^3, 64 Elevator, The (Howells) 246 Eliot, George Ill reading list 118 quoted 139 Eliot, John 147 Khzabetluiii age 21 IvMKKsoN, Ram'h Waldo . . . 16T, 199 reading list 189 quoted 170, 264 Emma (Austen) 83 Endymion (Keats) 80, 81 282 INDEX PAGE Ev'jlish nHHio)-isis<>f Eighiefi^th Ce>i~ iiiry (Thackeray) lOi) English laii|j:uage, formation of . . , 6, 7 EnS, 170 Essays in Criticism (Arnol*]) . . . 105 Essays of Ella (Laml)) S4 Essay on Man (Pope) 51 Eternal Goodness, The C^'hittier) . 170 Europeans, The (James) 24T Euiaio Springs (Freneau) 152 Evangeline {IjOu^MViw) , . . 17'2, 174 Evans, Mary Ann Ill Evening Post, New York 1G4 Eve of St. A(jne-^, T/te (Keats) ... SI Everyman IS Every Man in his Ihunour (Jonson) . 31 Excel.-^lor (Longfellow) .... 172, 175 Excursions {Thore^w) ISS Expo>^/ (Fiske) 232 Idylls of the King, The (Tennyson) . 92 1 liiuK I'o|>e'.s translation of ... . 50 // Penseroso (Milton) 30 In Black and White {Ki\Aiu'^) . . . 115 PAOK Indian Bible i'moi) 147 Indian. Sunimer Reverie (hvwcW) . . ]Si Indoor Studies (Burroughs) .... 245 Inland Voy\v\>vv) ... 66 John of Bar ne veld (M >>{],■)■} .... 206 Johnson, age of 56 Johnson, Samuel 56 reading list 64 quoted 129 JoNSON, Ben 31 reading list 33 quoted 122 Jo's Boys (A]c<)U) 202 Joseph Andren:s (f^ieldiiig) .... .54 Journal to Stella (^w\(t) 4S Julius Caesar (Shakesjieare) .... 3(1 Jumjiing Frog, T'/zf. (Clemens) . . . 255 Jungle Book, T/tc (Kipling) . . . .114 Keats, John 80 reading list 88 quoted 135 Kenil worth (Scott) 82 Kentucky Cardinal, A {KW^w) . . .241 Kid>iapped (Stevenson) 114 Kirn (Kipling) 115 King Henry /F (Shakespeare) ... 30 King Henry F (Shakespeare) ... 30 King Henry F/ (Shakespeare) ... 29 King John and the Bishop .... 16 King Lear (Shakespeare) 30 KiN(;sLEY, Charles 113 Kii'L[NO, Kudyard 115 reading list 118 KnepJ>eep in June (Riley) .... 259 284 INDEX PAGE Knickerbocker Magazine I-'^'Ij Koickerbocker School of writers . . . ir»(') Knickerbocker's Il/fitori/ of Kew y.>rk (Irviiiu^) .....*. loT, 159 Kubla Kkan (CuleriJg'L-) 71 La BeUe- Dame Sanst Merci (Keats) . SI Lady of Lyons, The (.Lyttun) . . . Ii)f3 Lady of Sh aloft. The (Tennyson) . Hi, H'i Lady of the Aroo-^took, The (lIowellM -'IT Lady of the Lake (Scott) TO Lady or the Tiger, The (Stockton) . '249 Lalla Rookh (Moore) SI V Allegro (Milton) 30 T-AMR, Charles S3 reading list SS quoted 1-33 Lanier, Sidney '237 reading: list 24-3 Lars, a Pa-storal of ^oricai/ (Taylor) 22U £a Salle {Varkman) 205 Last Chronicle of Bar. 'iet (TroUope) . 113 La.ti Days; of Pompeii, TJie (Lytton) 100 La.itLeaf TJie (Holmes) lx"> Last of the Jlohican-'i, The (Cooper) . li>2 Laus Deo f (WhUtiev) 178 Lay of the Last Jlinstrel, The (Scott) 70 Lays of Aiicient Rome (Macaulay) - . lOO Leather-Stocking Tales, The (Goopei) 102, 103 Leaves of Grass (Whitman) .... 223 Lectures on Shakespeare (Coleridge) 72 Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The (Irving) 157. 159 Legends of the Province Iloase (Hawthorne) 199 Lesson of the Master, The (Janu-s) . 24S Letter to a Noble Lord (Burkr) . . 00 Library of American Literal itrf . . 230 Life (Sill), quoted 234 Life on the Bfississippi (Clemens) , . 255 Lifers Handicap (Kipling) .... 115 Lines to a Waterfowl {Vji-yojii) . . .104 Literary Essays (Lowell) 1S4 Little Book of ProfitaUe Tales (Field) 25S Little Book of Western Verse (Kield) . 25S Little Boy Blue (Field) 25S Little Dorrit (Dickens) lOS Little Giffen (Ticknor) 210 Little Men {Kli^ott) 202 Little Orphant Annie (Riley) . . . 259 Little Women (Alcott) 202 Lives of the English Poets (Johnson) 50, 57 Local color, in the short story . . 239, 2.54 Lockshy Hall (Tennyson) 91 Locusts and H7M i/u/, The (Ilarte) 254 Lucrece (Shakespeare) 29 Lycidas (Milton) 36 Lyrical Ballads 72, 74 Lytton, Edward Bulwek 100 Macaulay, Thomas Babington . . 99 reading 117 Macbeth (Shakespeare) 30 M<;Ma8ter, John Bach 250 Madame Delphine (Cah\e) .... 240 Magnolia (Mather) 147 Magnolia Cemetery (Timrnd) . . . 210 Maine Woods, The (ThorL-au) . . .188 Malory, Sir Tjiomas 19 I'eading 20 M G ISS Modern Instance, A (Howells) . . . 247 Jfodern Painters {llnskin) . . lo:l, li)4 JfoU Fhinderfi (DefoQ.) r>:^ Montcalm and Wot/e (Purkmaii) . . '205 Moody, William A'aughn '200 MoHKE, Thomas SI Morality Plays IS Mormons, The (Biv.wne) 17^1 Morte D' Arthur (Malory) 10 3Iorte !>' Arthur (Tennyson) .... 91 Mosseti from an Old Manse (Haw- thorne) HIT, IDO Motley, -Tohn Lotih:(>p ...... '2u (Tenny- son) 92, 94 Oft in the Stilly Night (Monro) ... SI rV/i yl^)/)^e />m/(^r (Hawthorne) . . .199 Old Creole Days (Cable) 240 Old Fashioned Roses (Uiley) .... 203 Old Ironsides (Holmes) 1S5 Old Sicirnmin'' Hole (Uiley) .... 25S Oldtoum Folks {J^iowQ) 201 Old Virginia and Her Neighbors (Fiske) 233 Oliver Tu-i, st imckens) los One ir'/(r O^^ /A,me (Hawthorne) . . . .198 Page, Thomas Nelson 241 reading list 243 Pamela (Richardson) r4 Pan in Wall Street (Stedinan) . . . 229 Paracelsus (R. IW-owning) .... 94 Paradise LoU (Milton) ... 4, 30, 37 Paradise Regained (>Hlton) ... 36 Paraphrase of Scripitares (Ca^dinon) 4 Paekman, Francis 204 reading list '2(i7 Partisan, 7^e (Simms) 210 Passions, The (Collins) 63 Past, r/^e (Bryant) 105 Pathfinder, The (Cooper) 102 /■(h;^ 7?<'.re?'*'-'.s -S'iffe (Longfellow) . , 174 Peg Woffington (Reade) 113 Pendennis (Thackeray) 110 Pepys, Samuel 44 Percy, Thomas 66 Personal Memoirs (Grant) .... 256 Philipthe Second, Reign o/(Prescott) 203 Phillips, Wendell ....... 195 Pickwick Papers (Dickens) . . 107, los Picturesfrom Appledore (Lowell) . 1 S3 Pike Oounty Ballads (Hay) .... 256 Pilgrim's Progress, The (linnyan) 3S, 39 Pilot. The (Cooper) 162 Pioneers, The ^Cooper) 162 286 INDEX PACE Pioneers of France in the XeiolVoj-lii (Parkinan) 'Ji).") Pit and the Pendulum, The (Poe) . '-M;i Plain. Language from Truthful James (Harte) L'al Plain Tales from the Hills (Kipling:} Iir> Planting of the Apple Tree, The (Bryant) H'4 Pleasures of Hope, The (Campbell) . s] PoK, Edgar Allan 211 readint^ list '217 Poems Here at Home (Riley) . , . 2i"iS Poems of the Orient ('I'iiylor) . . . 220 Poet at the Breakfast Table, The (Holmes) ISO, isr, Poetical Sketches (Blake) .... OT Poetry, Lanier's theory of -I'-W) Poe's theory of 21.') Poets of America (Stediiiaii) . . . 22!i Poor Eichard''s Almanac (Franklin) ir4 Pope, Alexander 5il reading list r>5 quoted 51, 1 2^ Portrait of a Lady, The (Jauies) . , 247 Pra-ttrita (Ruskin) 104 Prairie, The (Cn..per) 1(12 Precaution (Cooper) 1(i| Pp.EsroTT, William II 2ii3 readin^^ 207 Present Cris-is, The (Low.-ll) . . . 1S2 Pride and Prejudice (Au.sten) ... 815 /'/7"7;c'^*s, r/^e (Tennyson) . . . 91.114 Princess Cas8i7in's.-iii/ta, The (James) 247 Printinfr, introdiiceil into England . . lU Prisoner of Chillon, The (liymn) . . 78 Professor at the Breakfast Table, TJie "(Holmes) ISO Prometheus Unbound (Shelley) ... 79 Prophet of the G)-eat Smoky Moun- tains, The (Murfrce) 242 /*/■(/e) . . . 51 i:,iss RiLEV, James Wiutcomb 258 reading list 261 quoted 277 Ring and the Book, The (R. Browning) 05 Rip Van Winkle {Irviw^) . 157, 150, 100 Rise of Silas La pham, TAe (Howells) . 247 Rise 'of the Dutch Republic, The (Motley) 20(j Rivals, The (Sheridan) 59 Robinson Crusoe (Defoe) 53 Roderick Random (Smollett) . . . 54 Romantic Movement in English liter- ature 62, GO, 81 Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare) . . 29 Romola (EUot) Ill Rox-y (Eggleston) 256 Rudder Grange (Stockton) .... 249 Runaway Boy, The (Riley) .... 259 Rltskin, John 102 reading list 117 quoted 139 Rvan, Abram Joseph 216 quoted 274 Samson Agonistes (Milton) .... 36 Sail ds at Seventy {\\\\\tmtxx\) . . . .222 Sant flario {Q.vA\vfiiv>\) 240 S,,nicn>i^s<:a (Crawford) 240 Sartor Resartas (<_'arlyle) . . . lOl, 102 Saul (K. Browning) 97 INDEX 287 PAGK .Saa-on Chronicle, The 5 Scdrlet Letter, The (Hawthorne) U6, 197, 199 Scenes of Clerical Life (Eliot) . . .111 SdtoolJ'ov Scandal, The (Sheridan) . 59 Science of English Verse (Lanier) . . 239 Scott, Walter, poetry 74 novels S2 reading list 87 quoted 134 Seasons, The (Thomson) 62 Second Book of Verse (Field). . . . 25S Sense and Sensibility (Ansten) ... 83 Sentimental Jonriifij (Sterne) ... 54 Sesame and Lilies (linskin) .... 104 Sei'en L^amps of Architecture (llusicm) 103 Seven Seas, The (Kipling) 115 Seventh-vf-March Speech (Webster) 178, 193 SUAKKSPEARE, WiLLIAM 2T reading list 32 quoted 120 Shakespeare Once More (Lowell) . . 1S4 Sharj>s and Flats (Field) 257 SuAw, Heniiv W 253 quoted 272 Shelley, Perc^' Bysshe 79 reading list 87 quoted 134 Shepherd's Calendar, The (Spenser) . 23 Sheridan, liiciiARo Buinslev ... 59 reading list 65 Sheridan's Ride (Read) 221 She Sloops to Conquer (r.oldsinith) . 5S Short .stories, in American UteraturL- . 259 Siege of Corinth (Byron) 77 Signs and Seasons iy^xw-Ti-m^ha) . . 245 SilasMarner {'^\Mt) 112 Silent Woman, The (Jonson) ... 81 Sill, Edward Kuwland 233 quoted 234, 274 SiMMR, William kin) .... 103 Story of a Bad Boy, The (Aldrich) . 231 Story of Kennett, r/ic (Taylor) . . . 22ii Stowe, Harriet IJELiiiF.ii 200 reading list 2ii7 Summons to the Korth. (Whittier) . . 177 Sumner, Ciiari.ek 195 Su.nthin* inthe Pastoral Li}ie (LoweU) 182 Surrey, Earl of 22 S'/spiria. de Profnndis (De Quincey) 85 Symphony, The (Lanier) 239 Tale ofaTuh 47 Tale of Tioo Cities, A (Dickens) . . 108 Tales from Shakespeare (Lamb) . . 84 Tales of a Traveler (Irvini;) . . .159 Talisman, The (Scott) 82 Tamburlaine (Marl.. we) ..... 26 Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare) . 30 Tarn Traveller, TV^e (Goldsmith) . . . 5s, 59 Travels fciih a Donkey (Stevenson) . 113 Treasure Island (Stevensun). . . . 113 Tristram Shandy (Sterne) .... 54 Vroilus and Cres.sida (Ohaucer) . . 10 'l'i:iiT,ij.)PE, Anthony 113 True Grandeur of Nat ions. The (Sunuier) 195 True Relation (Smith) .... 145, 146 True Relation- of Mrs. Veal. The (Defoe) 53 Twain, Mark. See (Ueinens . . . . 254 Tivice Told Tales (Hawthorne) . 196, 199 Two Admirals, The (Cooper) . . . U\-i Two Little Confederates (Page) . . 241 riysses (Tennyson) 91 Vacle Rem-us (Ikoi-i^i) 240 PAGE I'nele Tom's Cahin (Stowe) .... 201 United Netherlands, History o/ (Mot- ley) 206 Unto This Last (Paiskin) ... 90, 104 Van Bihher and Others (Davis) . , T'a?/;7y ^«;r (Thackeray) . . . 109, Vitriorum Shakespeare (Fiirness) Venetian. Life {Yio-weW^) Venus and Adonis (Shakesjiearo) . Vicar of Wakefield, The (Gold smith) 5S, Victorian Anthology (Stedman) Victorian Era In English literature . Victorian Poets {SteAman) . . . Vieivs Afoot (Taylor) Ullage Blacksrriith, The (Longfrllow Virginians, TA^. (Thackeray) . . Virgiuibus Puerisque (Stevenson) Virtne (Flerbert), quoted .... Vision of Sir Launfal, The (Lowell) Voice of the People, The (Glasgow) Voices of the Night (Longfellow) Volpone (Jonson) Voyages and Travels (De Mandeville) 250 110 250 246 29 , 59 230 90 229 219 172 110 113 40 183 243 172 .31 13 Wake-Rohin (Burroughs) 245 Walden, (Thoreau) 1S7 Walking Delegate, A i'KiliWni::) . . . 114 Walton, Izaak 41 reading Mst 45 quoted 122 Walt Whitman {nm-rous'ii^) .... 245 Wa?ited^A Man (Stoddard) .... 229 AVarji, Artemus. See Browne, C. F. . 252 Warden, r//^. (Trollope) 113 AVarner, Charles Dudley .... 231 rea{ling list 2:36 quoted 272 Washington, Life of (Irving) .... 15S Waverley {%Q.otX.) 82 Way to Wealth, The (Franklin) ... 154 Weisstek, Daniel 193, 199 reading list 207 Week on Concord aiul Merrimac (Thoreau) ISS Western literature, rise of 252 Westminster Review^ The . . . .111 Westward IIo ! (Kingsley) 113 We.st Wind, The i)^\ie\\(i\) 79 What Mr. Robinson Th'inksiUnveW). IS'^ When. Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Btooin'd (Whitman), quoted . . . 223 When the Sultan goes to Ispahan (Aldrich) 230 INDEX 289 PAcn Whispers of Ueavenhj Penih ("U'hit- man) '224 "Whitman, ^VALT '221 reading list ^'ll quoted '271 WiiiTTiEK, J<.>HN' Oreeni.kaf .... 175 reading: list ISO quoted '267 Wirup, John 13 WhjKiih 3 Wild I/onei/suclie (Freneau) .... iri'2 "Wilkins-Freeman, Makv E 235 Wing and Wing (Cooper) 1(V2 WiNSOR, Justin 233 Wi7iter*s Tale, A (Shakespeare) ... 30 Winter Siins?iine (Burroughs) . , . 245 Wonder-Bot'/.\ T/ie (Hawthorne) 198, 199 PAGE Wonders of the Invifiihte World (Mather) US "Wi.iKHSWoRTn, WlLLl.VAI 72 reailing list SB quoted 73, 132 Wreck: of the /Ir.ywrus, The (Long- fellow) 172, 174 T\'yatt, Thomas 22 W//nk'en, Blynken and Nod {¥\e\(\.) . 25S Ye:ir's Life, A (Lowell) 181 Yellow Violet, The (Whittier) . . .164 Ye Mariners of England (Campbell) , s2 Yemassee, The{'A\mui&) 2lU Young, Edward 52 Zoroaster (Crawford) 249