Chapter XI: The Victorian Age (2)

The particular picture on which Sam Weller’s eyes were fixed,
as he said this, was a highly coloured representation of a
couple of human hearts skewered together with an arrow, cooking
before a cheerful fire, while a male and female cannibal in
modern attire: the gentleman being clad in a blue coat and white
trousers, and the lady in a deep red pelisse with a parasol
of the same: were approaching the meal with hungry eyes, up a
serpentine gravel path leading thereunto. A decidedly indelicate
young gentleman, in a pair of wings and nothing else, was
depicted as superintending the cooking; a representation of the
spire of the church in Langham Place, London, appeared in the
distance; and the whole formed a “valentine,” of which, as a
written inscription in the window testified, there was a large
assortment within, which the shopkeeper pledged himself to
dispose of, to his countrymen generally, at the reduced rate of
one and sixpence each.
_The Pickwick Papers_

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811–63)

=1. His Life.= Thackeray was born at Calcutta, and was descended from an ancient Yorkshire family. His father having died in 1816, the boy was sent to England for his education; and on the voyage home he had a glimpse of Napoleon, then a prisoner on St. Helena. His school was the Charterhouse, and his college was Trinity College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1829. Both at school and college he struck his contemporaries as an idle and rather cynical youth, whose main diversions were sketching and lampooning his friends and enemies. For a time Thackeray had some intention of becoming an artist, and studied art in Paris. Then the loss of his entire fortune drove him into journalism for a living. He contributed both prose and light verse to several periodicals, including _Punch_ and _Fraser’s Magazine_, winning his way slowly and with much difficulty, for his were gifts that do not gain ready recognition. It was not till nearly the middle of the century that _Vanity Fair_ (1847) brought him some credit, though at first the book was grudgingly received. Thenceforward he wrote steadily and with increasing favor until his death, which occurred with great suddenness. Before his death he had enjoined his executors not to publish any biography, so that of all the major Victorian writers we have of him the scantiest biographical materials.

=2. His Novels.= For a considerable number of years Thackeray was groping for a means of expression, and wavered between verse, prose, and sketching. His earliest literary work consisted of light and popular contributions to periodicals. The most considerable of these are _The Yellowplush Papers_ (1837), contributed to _Fraser’s Magazine_ and dealing with the philosophy and experiences of Jeames, an imaginary footman, and _The Book of Snobs_ (1846), which originally appeared in _Punch_ as _The Snob Papers_. Snobs, who continued to be Thackeray’s pet abhorrence, are defined by him as those “who meanly admire mean things,” and in this early book their widespread activities are closely pursued and harried. _The History of Samuel Titmarsh_ (1841), _The Great Hoggarty Diamond_ (1841), and _The Fitzboodle Papers_ (1842) appeared first in _Fraser’s Magazine_. They are deeply marked with his biting humor and merciless observation of human weaknesses, but they found little acceptance. _The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon_ (1842) is a distinct advance. It is a species of picaresque novel, telling of the adventures of a gambling rascal, an amiable scapegrace who prowls over Europe. In range the book is wider, and the grasp of incident and character is more sure. In _Vanity Fair_ (1847) the genius of Thackeray reaches high-water mark. In theme it is concerned chiefly with the fortunes of Becky Sharp, an adventuress. In dexterity of treatment, in an imaginative power that both reveals and transforms, and in a clear and mournful vision of the vanities of mankind the novel is among the greatest in the language. _Pendennis_ (1848) continues the method of _Vanity Fair_. Partly autobiographical, it portrays life as it appears to the author. Thackeray refuses to bow to convention and precedent, except when these conform to his ideals of literature. In this book Thackeray openly avows his debt to Fielding, the master whom he equals and in places excels. _Henry Esmond_ (1852) is a historical novel of great length and complexity, showing the previous excellences of Thackeray in almost undiminished force, as well as immense care and forethought, a minute and accurate knowledge of the times of Queen Anne, and an extraordinary faculty for reproducing both the style and the atmosphere of the period. By some judges this book is considered to be his best. His novel _The Newcomes_ (1854) is supposed to be edited by Pendennis. In tone it is more genial than its predecessors, but it ends tragically with the death of the aged Colonel Newcome. With _The Virginians_ (1857) the list of the great novels is closed. This book, a sequel to _Henry Esmond_, is a record of the experiences of two lads called Warrington, the grandsons of Henry Esmond himself. In the story, a pale shadow of her former self, appears Beatrix Esmond, the fickle heroine of the earlier book.

In 1860 Thackeray was appointed first editor of _The Cornhill Magazine_, and for this he wrote _Lovel the Widower_ (1860), _The Adventures of Philip_ (1861), and a series of essays, charming and witty trifles, which were reissued as _The Roundabout Papers_ (1862). Both in size and in merit these last novels are inferior to their predecessors. At his death he left an unfinished novel, _Denis Duval_.

Like Dickens, Thackeray had much success as a lecturer on both sides of the Atlantic, though in his methods he did not follow his fellow-novelist. Two courses of lectures were published as _The English Humourists_ (1852) and _The Four Georges_ (1857). All his life he delighted in writing burlesques, the best of which are _Rebecca and Rowena_ (1850), a comic continuation of _Ivanhoe_, and _The Legend of the Rhine_ (1851), a burlesque tale of medieval chivalry.

=3. His Poetry.= On the surface Thackeray’s verse appears to be frivolous stuff, but behind the frivolity there is always sense, often a barb of reproof, and sometimes a note of sorrow. _The Ballads of Policeman X_ is an early work contributed in numbers to _Punch_. Others, such as _The White Squall_ and _The Ballad of Bouillabaisse_, have more claim to rank as poetry, for they show much metrical dexterity and in places a touch of real pathos.

=4. Features of his Works.= (_a_) _Their Reputation._ While Dickens was in the full tide of his success Thackeray was struggling through neglect and contempt to recognition. Thackeray’s genius blossomed slowly, just as Fielding’s did; for that reason the fruit is more mellow and matured, and perhaps on that account it will last the longer. Once he had gained the favor of the public he held it, and among outstanding English novelists there is none whose claim is so little subject to challenge.

(_b_) _His Method._ “Since the writer of _Tom Jones_ was buried,” says Thackeray in his preface to _Pendennis_, “no writer of fiction among us has been permitted to depict to the best of his power a MAN. We must shape him and give him a certain conventional temper.” Thackeray’s novels are a protest against this convention. He returns to the Fielding method: to view his characters steadily and fearlessly, and to set on record their failings as well as their merits and capacities. In his hands the results are not flattering to human nature, for most of his clever people are rogues and most of his virtuous folk are fools. But whether they are rogues, or fools, or merely blundering incompetents, his creations are rounded, entire, and quite alive and convincing.

(_c_) _His Humor and Pathos._ Much has been made of the sneering cynicism of Thackeray’s humor, and a good deal of the criticism is true. It was his desire to reveal the truth, and satire is one of his most potent methods of revelation. His sarcasm, a deadly species, is husbanded for deserving objects, such as Lord Steyne and (to a lesser degree) Barnes Newcome. In the case of people who are only stupid, like Rawdon Crawley, mercy tempers justice; and when Thackeray chooses to do so he can handle a character with loving tenderness, as can be seen in the case of Lady Castlewood and of Colonel Newcome. In pathos he is seldom sentimental, being usually quiet and effective. But at the thought of the vain, the arrogant, and the mean people of the world Thackeray barbs his pen, with destructive results.

(_d_) His _style_ is very near to the ideal for a novelist. It is effortless, and is therefore unobtrusive, detracting in no wise from the interest in the story. It is also flexible to an extraordinary degree. We have seen how in _Esmond_ he recaptured the Addisonian style; this is only one aspect of his mimetic faculty, which in his burlesques finds ample scope. We add a typical specimen of his style:

As they came up to the house at Walcote, the windows from within
were lighted up with friendly welcome; the supper-table was
spread in the oak-parlour; it seemed as if forgiveness and love
were awaiting the returning prodigal. Two or three familiar
faces of domestics were on the look-out at the porch--the old
housekeeper was there, and young Lockwood from Castlewood in
my lord’s livery of tawny and blue. His dear mistress pressed
his arm as they passed into the hall. Her eyes beamed out on
him with affection indescribable. “Welcome,” was all she said:
as she looked up, putting back her fair curls and black hood. A
sweet rosy smile blushed on her face: Harry thought he had never
seen her look so charming. Her face was lighted with a joy that
was brighter than beauty--she took a hand of her son who was in
the hall waiting his mother--she did not quit Esmond’s arm.
_Henry Esmond_

GEORGE MEREDITH (1828–1909)

Of the later Victorian novelists Meredith takes rank as the most noteworthy.

=1. His Life.= The known details of Meredith’s earlier life are still rather scanty, and he himself gives us little enlightenment. He was born at Portsmouth, and until he was sixteen he was educated in Germany. At first he studied law, but, rebelling against his legal studies, took to literature as a profession, contributing to magazines and newspapers. Like so many of the eager spirits of his day, he was deeply interested in the struggles of Italy and Germany to be free. For some considerable time he was reader to a London publishing house; then, as his own books slowly won their way, he was enabled to give more time to their composition. In 1867 he was appointed editor of _The Fortnightly Review._ He died at his home at Boxhill, Surrey.

=2. His Poetry.= During all his career as a novelist Meredith published much verse. _Chillianwallah_ (1849), his first published work, contains much spirited verse; other works are _Modern Love_ (1862), _Ballads and Poems_ (1887), and _Poems_ (1892). Like his novels, much of Meredith’s poetry is almost willfully obscure, as it undoubtedly is in _Modern Love_; but in the case of such poems as _The Nuptials of Attila_ he is clear and vigorous. He loved nature and the open air, and in poems like the beautiful _Love in the Valley_ such affection is brightly visible. Like Swinburne, he was always eager to champion the cause of the oppressed.

=3. His Novels.= Meredith’s first novel of importance is _The Ordeal of Richard Feverel_ (1859). Almost at one stride he attains to his full strength, for this novel is typical of much of his later work. In plot it is rather weak, and almost incredible toward the end. It deals with a young aristocrat educated on a system laboriously virtuous; but youthful nature breaks the bonds, and complications follow. Most of the characters are of the higher ranks of society, and they are subtly analyzed and elaborately featured. They move languidly across the story, speaking in a language as extraordinary, in its chiseled epigrammatic precision, as that of the creatures of Congreve or Oscar Wilde. The general style of the language is mannered in the extreme; it is a kind of elaborate literary confectionery--it almost seems a pity on the part of the hasty novel-reader to swallow it in rude mouthfuls. Nevertheless, behind this appearance of artificiality there ranges a mind both subtle and sure, an elfish, satiric spirit, and a passionate ideal of artistic perfection. Such a novel could hardly hope for a ready recognition; but its ultimate fame was assured.

The next novel was _Evan Harrington_ (1860), which contains some details of Meredith’s own family life; then followed _Emilia in England_ (1864), the name of which was afterward altered to _Sandra Belloni_, in which the scene is laid partly in Italy. In _Rhoda Fleming_ (1865) Meredith tried to deal with plebeian folks, but with indifferent success. The heroines of his later novels--Meredith was always careful to make his female characters at least as important as his male ones--are aristocratic in rank and inclinations. _Vittoria_ (1867) is a sequel to _Sandra Belloni_, and contains much spirited handling of the Italian insurrectionary movement. Then came _The Adventures of Harry Richmond_ (1870), in which the scene is laid in England, and _Beauchamp’s Career_ (1874), in which Meredith’s style is seen in its most exaggerated form. In _The Egoist_ (1879), his next novel, Meredith may be said to reach the climax of his art. The style is fully matured, with much less surface glitter and more depth and solidity; the treatment of the characters is close, accurate, and amazingly detailed; and the Egoist himself, Sir Willoughby Patterne--Meredith hunted the egoist as remorselessly as Thackeray pursued the snob--is a triumph of comic artistry. The later novels are of less merit. _The Tragic Comedians_ (1880) is chaotic in plot and over-developed in style; and the same faults may be urged against _Diana of the Crossways_ (1885), though it contains many beautiful passages; _One of our Conquerors_ (1890) is nearly impossible in plot and style, and _The Amazing Marriage_ (1895) is not much better.

We add a short typical specimen of Meredith’s style. Observe the studied precision of phrase and epithet, the elaboration of detail, and the imaginative power.

She had the mouth that smiles in repose. The lips met full on
the centre of the bow and thinned along to a lifting dimple;
the eyelids also lifted slightly at the outer corners and
seemed, like the lip into the limpid cheek, quickening up the
temples, as with a run of light, or the ascension indicated
off a shoot of colour. Her features were playfellows of one
another, none of them pretending to rigid correctness, nor
the nose to the ordinary dignity of governess among merry
girls, despite which the nose was of fair design, not acutely
interrogative or inviting to gambols. Aspens imaged in water,
waiting for the breeze, would offer a susceptible lover some
suggestion of her face; a pure smooth-white face, tenderly
flushed in the cheeks, where the gentle dints were faintly
intermelting even during quietness. Her eyes were brown, set
well between mild lids, often shadowed, not unwakeful. Her hair
of lighter brown, swelling above her temples on the sweep to
the knot, imposed the triangle of the fabulous wild woodland
visage from brow to mouth and chin, evidently in agreement
with her taste; and the triangle suited her; but her face was
not significant of a tameless wildness or of weakness; her
equable shut mouth threw its long curve to guard the small
round chin from that effect; her eyes wavered only in humour,
they were steady when thoughtfulness was awakened; and at such
seasons the build of her winter-beechwood hair lost the touch
of nymph-like and whimsical, and strangely, by mere outline,
added to her appearance of studious concentration. Observe the
hawk on stretched wings over the prey he spies, for an idea of
this change in the look of a young lady whom Vernon Whitford
could liken to the Mountain Echo, and Mrs Mountstuart Jenkinson
pronounced to be “a dainty rogue in porcelain.”
_The Egoist_

OTHER NOVELISTS

=1. Charlotte Brontë (1816–55)= is the most important of three sisters, the other two being =Emily Brontë (1818–48)= and =Anne Brontë (1820–49)=. They were the daughters of an Irish clergyman who held a living in Yorkshire. Financial difficulties compelled Charlotte to become a schoolteacher and then (1832) a governess. Along with Emily she visited Brussels in 1842, and then returned home, where family cares kept her closely tied. Later her books had much success, and so she was released from many of her financial worries. She was married in 1854, but died in the next year. Her two younger sisters, brilliant but erratic creatures, had predeceased her.

The three sisters began their career jointly with a volume of verse, in which they respectively adopted the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. The poems, which appeared in 1846, are unusually fine in parts, especially the pieces ascribed to Emily. Charlotte’s first novel, _The Professor_, which was written before the poems were published, had no success, and was not published till after her death. _Jane Eyre_ (1847), which was given to the world after _The Professor_ had failed to find a publisher, created a stir by its unusual candor, passion, and power. It was based on the work of Thackeray, whom Miss Brontë, in the second edition of the book, acknowledged as her Master in the art of fiction. Her other novels were _Shirley_ (1849) and _Villette_ (1853).

The truth and intensity of Charlotte’s work are unquestioned: she can see and judge with the eye of a genius. But these merits have their disadvantages. In the plots of her novels she is largely restricted to her own experiences; her high seriousness is unrelieved by any humor; and her passion is at times overcharged to the point of frenzy. But to the novel she brought an energy and passion that gave to commonplace people and actions the wonder and beauty of the romantic world.

Emily wrote a novel, _Wuthering Heights_ (1847), a wild effort, hit or miss, at the tragical romance. Where she is successful she attains to a tragical emphasis that is almost sublime; but as a whole the book is too unequal to rank as very great.

The third sister, Anne, in her short life wrote two novels, _Agnes Grey_ (1847) and _The Tenant of Wildfell Hall_ (1847). They are much inferior to the novels of her sisters, for she lacks nearly all their power and intensity.

=2. Charles Reade (1814–84)= was born in Oxfordshire, being the youngest son of a squire. He was educated at Iffley and Oxford, and then, entering Lincoln’s Inn, was called to the Bar. He was only slightly interested in the legal profession, but very fond of the theater and traveling. After 1852 he settled down to the career of the successful man of letters. He died at Shepherd’s Bush.

He began authorship with the writing of plays. As a playwright he had a fair amount of success, his most fortunate production being _Masks and Faces_ (1852), written in collaboration with Tom Taylor. _Peg Woffington_ (1853) was his first novel, and was followed by _Christie Johnstone_ (1853), which deals with Scottish fisherfolk. _It’s Never too Late to Mend_ (1856), sometimes considered to be his masterpiece, treats of prisons and of life in the colonies. _The Cloister and the Hearth_ (1861), one of his best novels, is a story of the later Middle Ages, and shows the author’s immense care and knowledge; _Hard Cash_ (1863) is an attack upon private lunatic asylums; and _Griffith Gaunt_ (1866), _Foul Play_ (1869), and some other inferior books are in the nature of propaganda against abuses of the time.

When he is at his best Reade tells a fine tale, for he can move with speed and describe with considerable power. But he tends to overload his narrative with historical and topical detail, of which he collected great masses. His style, too, is frequently marred by annoying tricks of manner, such as over-emphasis and mechanical repetition. Since his own day his reputation has declined.

=3. Anthony Trollope (1815–82)= is another Victorian novelist who just missed greatness. The son of a barrister, he was born in London, educated at Harrow and Winchester, and obtained an appointment in the Post Office. After an unpromising start he rapidly improved, and rose high in the service.

In all Trollope wrote over fifty novels, the best of which are _The Warden_ (1855), _Barchester Towers_ (1857), _Doctor Thorne_ (1858), _Framley Parsonage_ (1861), and _The Last Chronicle of Barset_ (1867). He is at his best when he deals with the lives of the clergymen of the town that he calls Barchester, which has been identified with Salisbury. His novels, owing to the rapidity of their output, tend to become mechanical and ill constructed; but he has a genial humor, a lively narrative method, and much shrewd observation. _Barchester Towers_ contains several characters not unworthy of Dickens.

=4. Wilkie Collins (1824–89)= is considered to be the most successful of the followers of Dickens. At one time, about 1860, his vogue was nearly as great as that of Dickens himself. Collins was born in London, and was a son of a famous painter. After a few years spent in business he took to the study of the law, but very soon abandoned that for literature. He was a versatile man, dabbling much in journalism and play-writing.

Collins specialized in the mystery novel, to which he sometimes added a spice of the supernatural. In many of his books the story, which is often ingeniously complicated, is unfolded by letters or the narratives of persons actually engaged in the events. To a certain extent this method is cumbrous, but it allowed Collins to draw his characters with much wealth of detail. His characters are often described in the Dickensian manner of emphasizing some humor or peculiarity. He wrote more than twenty-five novels, the most popular being _The Dead Secret_ (1857), _The Woman in White_ (1860)--the most successful of them all--_No Name_ (1862), and _The Moonstone_ (1868). _The Moonstone_ is one of the earliest and the best of the great multitude of detective stories that now crowd the popular press. Collins was in addition one of the first authors to devote himself to the short magazine story; After Dark is a little masterpiece.

=5. George Eliot=--the pen name of =Mary Ann Evans (1819–80)=--was during her lifetime reckoned to be among the greatest authors, but time has dealt rather unkindly with her reputation. Even yet, however, she ranks among the greatest of women novelists. The daughter of a Warwickshire land-agent, she was born near Nuneaton, and after being educated at Nuneaton and Coventry lived much at home. Her mind was well above the ordinary in its bent for religious and philosophical speculation. In 1846 she translated Strauss’s _Life of Jesus_, and on the death of her father in 1849 she took entirely to literary work. She was appointed assistant editor of the _Westminster Review_ (1851), and became the center of a literary circle. In later life she traveled extensively, and married (1880) Mr. J. W. Cross. She died at Chelsea in the same year.

Her first fiction consisted of three short stories published in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ and reissued under the title of _Scenes from Clerical Life_ (1857). _Adam Bede_ (1859), her second book, was brilliantly successful. It is a story of country life, subtly yet powerfully told. To this succeeded _The Mill on the Floss_ (1860), partly autobiographical. This book is longer and heavier than its predecessor, but it has much tragic force and acute observation, and a placidly caustic humor. _Silas Marner_ (1861) is shorter, crisper, and exceedingly effective, but _Romola_ (1863), a laborious story of medieval Florence, is overweighted with learning and philosophizing. After this point the decline is rapid in _Felix Holt_ (1866), _Middlemarch_ (1872), _Daniel Deronda_ (1876), and _The Impressions of Theophrastus Such_ (1879).

In some respects George Eliot is first rate: in humorous observation of country folk, in keen analysis of motive, and in a curious kind of grim subdued passion. But she lacks fire and rapidity, and is deficient in the warmer kind of humanity. The consequence is that, especially in the later books, when the heart became subordinated to the head, her people are icily unreal. In these last books, moreover, she allowed her religious, racial, and political theories to run away with her, and thus to ruin her work as artistic fiction.

=6. Charles Kingsley (1819–75)= was a Devonshire man, being born at Holne and brought up at Clovelly. He completed his education at Oxford (1842), where he was very successful as a student, and took orders. During his early manhood he was a strenuous Christian Socialist, and for the first few years of his curacy he devoted himself to the cause of the poor. All his life was spent, first as curate and then as rector, at Eversley, in Hampshire. In the course of time his books brought him honors, including the professorship of history at Oxford and a chaplaincy to the Queen.

His first novels, _Alton Locke_ (1849) and _Yeast_ (1849), deal in a robust fashion with the social questions of his day. They are crude in their methods, but they were effective both as fiction and social propaganda. _Hypatia_ (1853) has for its theme the struggle between early Christianity and intellectual paganism; in workmanship it is less immature, but the cruelly tragic conclusion made it less popular than the others. _Westward Ho!_ (1855), a tale of the good old days of Queen Elizabeth, marks the climax of his career as a novelist. At first the book strikes the reader as being wordy and diffuse, and all through it is marred with much tedious abuse of Roman Catholics; but once the tale roams abroad into exciting scenes it moves with a buoyant zest, and reflects with romantic exuberance the spirit of the early sea-rovers. _Two Years Ago_ (1857) and _Hereward the Wake_ (1866) did not recapture the note of their great predecessor.

Kingsley excels as the manly and straightforward story-teller. His characters, though they are clearly stamped and visualized, lack delicacy of finish, yet they suit his purpose excellently. In treatment he revels in a kind of florid description which is not always successful.

As a poet Kingsley achieved some remarkable results, especially in his short poems. Of these a few, including the familiar _Sands of Dee_, _The Three Fishers_, and _Airly Beacon_, are of the truly lyrical cast: short, profoundly passionate, and perfectly phrased. His longer poems, such as _The Saint’s Tragedy_ (1848), are not nearly so good. Kingsley could write also a rhythmic semi-poetical prose, as is seen in his book of stories from the Greek myths called _The Heroes_ (1856) and to a less degree in his delightful fantasy _The Water Babies_ (1863).

=7. Walter Besant (1836–1901)= is a good example of the class of light novelist that flourished in the later Victorian epoch. He was born at Portsmouth, educated at London and Cambridge, held a professorship in Mauritius, and then, returning to England (1868), settled down to the life of a novelist. Along with =James Rice (1844–82)= he wrote many novels, including _Ready-Money Mortiboy_ (1872) and _The Golden Butterfly_ (1876). These books do not aspire to be great literature, but they are healthy and amusing productions.

=8. George Borrow (1803–81)= had a curious career which did not lose its interest from his method of telling its story. He was born in Norfolk, and was the son of a soldier. From his earliest manhood he led a wandering life, and consorted with queer people, of whose languages and customs he was a quick observer. At one stage of his career he was a colporteur for the Bible Society, visiting Spain and Morocco (1835–39). Then he married a lady with a considerable income, and died a landed proprietor in comfortable circumstances.

His principal books were _The Bible in Spain_ (1843), telling of his adventures as an agent of the Bible Society; _Lavengro_ (1851) and _The Romany Rye_ (1857), dealing with his life among the gypsies; and _Wild Wales_ (1862). His books are remarkable in that they seriously pretend to tell the actual facts of the author’s life, but how much is fact and how much is fiction will never be accurately known, so great is his power of imagination. Taken as mere fiction, the books exert a strong and strange fascination on many readers. They have a naïve simplicity resembling that of Goldsmith, a wry humor, and a quick and natural shrewdness. As a blend of fact and fiction, of hard detail and misty imagination, of sly humor and stockish solemnity, the books stand apart in our literature.

=9. Richard D. Blackmore (1825–1900)= was born in Berkshire, and educated at Tiverton and Oxford. He was called to the Bar, but forsook the law for the occupation of a farmer, which suited him much better. He died at Teddington-on-Thames.

He began authorship by writing verse of little value; then turned to writing novels, which are much worthier as literature. The best of these are _Lorna Doone_ (1869), an excellent historical romance of Exmoor, _The Maid of Sker_ (1872), and _Cripps the Carrier_ (1876). Blackmore had little skill in contriving plots, and many of his characters, especially his wicked characters, carry little conviction. Yet he has a rare capacity for tale-telling, a real enthusiasm for nature, and a romantic eloquence of style that falls little short of greatness. _Lorna Doone_ stands high among historical novels.

=10. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94)= was born at Edinburgh, and was called to the Scottish Bar. He had little taste for the legal profession, and a constitutional tendency to consumption made an outdoor life necessary. He traveled much in an erratic manner, and wrote for periodicals. Then, when his malady became acute, he migrated to Samoa (1888), where the mildness of the climate only delayed a death which came all too prematurely. He lies buried in Samoa.

His first published works were of the essay nature, and included _An Inland Voyage_ (1879), _Travels with a Donkey_ (1879), and _Virginibus Puerisque_ (1881). His next step was into romance, in which he began with _The New Arabian Nights_ (1882), and then had real success with _Treasure Island_ (1883), a stirring yarn of pirates and perilous seas. Then came _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ (1886), a fine example of the terror-mystery novel, and several historical novels: _Kidnapped_ (1887), _The Black Arrow_ (1888), _The Master of Ballantrae_ (1889), and _Catriona_ (1893), which was a sequel to _Kidnapped_. With the exception of _The Black Arrow_, the historical novels deal with Scotland in the eighteenth century. At his death he left a powerful fragment, _Weir of Hermiston_.

In the novel Stevenson carries on the tradition of George Meredith. He applies to the novel a cultivated style and a laborious craftsmanship. These features would in themselves have made his novels unattractive, but to them he added a pawky sense of humor, a swift and brilliant descriptive faculty, and a wide knowledge of and a deep regard for the lore of his native land. Compared with Scott he seems cramped and finicking in his methods, and his outlook is sometimes crude and juvenile, but his finer qualities more than atone for his shortcomings.

Stevenson’s poetry is charming and dexterous, excelling in its treatment of child-nature. His best volumes are _A Child’s Garden of Verses_ (1885), _Underwoods_ (1887), and _Ballads_ (1889).

=11. Samuel Butler (1835–1902)= was born in Nottinghamshire, and educated at Shrewsbury and Cambridge. In 1860 he emigrated to New Zealand, where a few years’ successful sheep-farming allowed him to return to England and live a modest literary life. Butler was a man who harbored unusual ideas on music, art, education, and social conditions in general. His mind was at once cultured and credulous; and his gift of pungent language gave him much influence among the more ardent and advanced minds of his day.

His first work, _Erewhon_ (1872), appeared originally in a newspaper in New Zealand. It is a combination of _Gulliver’s Travels_ and _Utopia_ adapted to modern life, and full of Butler’s odd prejudices and sardonic wit. Its acute thinking and solid narrative gifts are also very apparent. His great novel _The Way of All Flesh_ was published posthumously in 1903. It is modern enough in its keen satire upon conventional education and parental methods of control and in its candid personal disclosures. As time goes on the work will probably take its place as one of the outstanding novels of the period.

THOMAS CARLYLE (1795–1881)

=1. His Life.= Carlyle, who was born at Ecclefechan, in Dumfriesshire, was the son of a stonemason. He was educated at Annan and at Edinburgh University, and, giving up his intention of entering the Church, became for a time a schoolteacher in Kirkcaldy. After a few years’ teaching, during which he saved a little money, he abandoned the profession and removed to Edinburgh, where he did literary hack-work for a living. At this time (1818) he was poor in means and wretched in health, and his spiritual and bodily torments are revealed in _Sartor Resartus_. In 1828 he married Jane Welsh, an able woman who possessed a little property of her own; and after a brief spell of married life in Edinburgh they removed to Craigenputtock, a small estate in the wilds of Dumfriesshire owned by Mrs. Carlyle. Here they lived unhappily enough, but here Carlyle wrote some of his best-known books. In 1834 they removed to London, and settled permanently in Chelsea. Carlyle’s poverty was still acute, and as a means of alleviating it he took to lecturing. He was moderately successful in the effort. Then his books, at first received with complete indifference or positive amazement and disgust, began to find favor, and for the last twenty years of his life he was prominent among the intellectual leaders of the time. His wife died in 1866, and in his latter years he was much afflicted with illness and by his deep concern for the state of public affairs. He died at Chelsea, and was buried among his own people at Ecclefechan.

=2. His Works.= Carlyle’s earliest work consisted of translations, essays, and biographies. Of these the best are his translation of Goethe’s _Wilhelm Meister_ (1824), his _Life of Schiller_ (1825), and his essays on Burns and Scott. Then _Sartor Resartus_ (1833) appeared piecemeal in _Fraser’s Magazine_. It is an extraordinary book, pretending to contain the opinions of a German professor; but under a thin veil of fiction Carlyle discloses his own spiritual struggles during his early troubled years. The style is violent and exclamatory, and the meaning is frequently obscured in a torrent of words, but it has an energy and a rapturous ecstasy of revolt that quite take the breath away. Carlyle then turned to historical writing, which he handled in his own unconventional fashion. His major historical works are _The French Revolution_ (1837), a series of vivid word-pictures rather than sober history, but full of audacity and color; _Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches_ (1845), a huge effort relieved from tedium only by Carlyle’s volcanic methods; _The Life of John Sterling_ (1851), a slight work, but more genial and humane than his writing usually is; and _The Life of Frederick II_ (1865), enormous in scale and heavy with detail. His works dealing with contemporary events are numerous, and include _Chartism_ (1839), _Past and Present_ (1843), and _Latter-day Pamphlets_ (1850). The series of lectures he delivered in 1837 was published as _Heroes and Hero-worship_ (1840).

=3. Features of his Works.= (_a_) _His Teaching._ It is now a little difficult to understand why Carlyle was valued so highly as a sage in moral and political affairs. Throughout his works there is much froth and thunder, but little of anything that (to a later age) is solid and capable of analysis. Carlyle, however, was a man of sterling honesty, of sagacious and powerful mind, which he applied without hesitation to the troubles of his time. His influence, therefore, was rather personal, like that of Dr. Johnson, and cannot be accurately gauged from his written works. His opinions were widely discussed and widely accepted, and his books had the force of _ex cathedra_ pronouncements. In them he sometimes contradicted himself, but he did great service in his denunciation of shams and tyrannies, and in his tempestuous advocacy of hard work and clear thinking.

(_b_) _His Historical Method._ Carlyle’s method was essentially biographical--he sought out the “hero,” the superman who could benevolently dominate his fellows, and compel them to do better. Such were his Cromwell and his Frederick. His other aim was to make history alive. He denounced the “Dryasdust” who killed the living force in history. To achieve his purpose he sought out and recorded infinite detail of life and opinion, and by means of his own masculine imagination and pithy style he brought the subject vividly before his reader’s eye.

(_c_) His _style_ is entirely his own. At the first glance a typical passage seems rude and uncouth: with many capital letters in the German fashion, with broken phrases and ejaculations, he proceeds amid a torrent of whirling words. Yet he is flexible to a wonderful degree: he can command a beauty of expression that wrings the very heart: a sweet and piercing melody, with a suggestion, always present, yet always remote, of infinite regret and longing. In such divine moments his style has the lyrical note that requires only the lyrical meter to become great poetry.[223]

The following are two specimens of his style. The first, based on German models, is in his cruder early manner; the second is more matured and restrained. Note in this the quizzical humor.

(1) “_Es leuchtet mir ein_, I see a glimpse of it!” cries he
elsewhere: “there is in man a HIGHER than Love of Happiness: he
can do without Happiness, and instead thereof find Blessedness!
Was it not to preach-forth this same HIGHER that sages and
martyrs, the Poet and the Priest, in all times, have spoken and
suffered; bearing testimony, through life and through death,
of the Godlike that is in Man, and how in the Godlike only has
he Strength and Freedom? Which God-inspired Doctrine art thou
also honoured to be taught; O Heavens! and broken with manifold
merciful Afflictions, even till thou become contrite, and learn
it! O, thank thy Destiny for these; thankfully bear what yet
remain: thou hadst need of them; the Self in thee needed to be
annihilated. By benignant fever-paroxysms is Life rooting out
the deep-seated chronic Disease, and triumphs over Death. On the
roaring billows of Time, thou art not engulfed, but borne aloft
into the azure of Eternity. Love not Pleasure; love God. This
is the EVERLASTING YEA, wherein all contradiction is solved:
wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with him.”
_Sartor Resartus_

(2) The good man,[224] he was now getting old, towards sixty
perhaps; and gave you the idea of a life that had been full of
sufferings; a life heavy-laden, half-vanquished, still swimming
painfully in seas of manifold physical and other bewilderment.
Brow and head were round, and of massive weight, but the face
was flabby and irresolute. The deep eyes, of a light hazel,
were as full of sorrow as of inspiration; confused pain looked
mildly from them, as in a kind of mild astonishment. The whole
figure and air, good and amiable otherwise, might be called
flabby and irresolute; expressive of weakness under possibility
of strength. He hung loosely on his limbs, with knees bent,
and stooping attitude; in walking, he rather shuffled than
decisively stept; and a lady once remarked, he never could
fix which side of the garden walk would suit him best, but
continually shifted, in cork-screw fashion, and kept trying
both. A heavy-laden, high-aspiring, and surely much-suffering
man. His voice, naturally soft and good, had contracted
itself into a plaintive snuffle and sing-song; he spoke as if
preaching,--you would have said, preaching earnestly and also
hopelessly the weightiest things. I still recollect his “object”
and “subject,” terms of continual recurrence in the Kantean
province, and how he sang and snuffled them into “om-m-mject,”
“sum-m-mject,” with a kind of solemn shake or quaver, as he
rolled along. No talk, in his century or in any other, could be
more surprising.
_The Life of John Sterling_

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY (1800–59)

=1. His Life.= Macaulay was born in Leicestershire, his father being Zachary Macaulay, the earnest upholder of negro emancipation. Macaulay was educated privately, and then at Cambridge. From his infancy he was remarkable for his precocity and his prodigious memory. At Cambridge he twice won the Chancellor’s Medal for English verse; and after taking high honors he was called to the Bar. By this time his father’s business had collapsed, and Macaulay had to depend partly upon his pen for a living. At first he contributed to _Knight’s Quarterly_, but later he began writing his famous essays for _The Edinburgh Review_. Having entered Parliament as a Whig (1830), a very promising political career seemed to be opening before him when he accepted a lucrative legal post in India. He was in India for four years; then, returning to England, he re-entered political life, and became in turn Secretary of State for War and Paymaster of the Forces. In 1857 he was raised to the peerage, and died when he was still busy with his _History_.

=2.= His =poetry= was nearly all written early in his career, and most of it is included in his _Lays of Ancient Rome_ (1842). In style the poems resemble the narrative poems of Scott, and in subject they are based upon the legends of early Rome, the best-known dealing with the story of Horatius. His verse is virile stuff, moving with vigor and assurance, and is full of action and color. Like his prose, however, it is hard and brassy, and quite lacking in the softer qualities of melody and sweetness and in the rich suggestiveness of the early ballad. It is not great poetry, but it will always be popular with those who like plenty of action and little contemplation.

=3. His Prose Works.= Before he left for India Macaulay had written twenty-two essays for _The Edinburgh Review_; he added three during his stay in India, and finished eleven others after he returned to England. With the five biographies that he contributed to _The Encyclopedia Britannica_, these include all his shorter prose works. The essays are of two kinds--those dealing with literary subjects, such as those on Milton, Byron, and Southey, and the historical studies, including the famous compositions on Warren Hastings and Lord Clive. His method of essay-writing was as follows: he brought under review a set of volumes that had already been published on the subject, then, after a survey, long or short as the case might be, of these volumes, gave his own views at great length. His opinions were often one-sided, and his great parade of knowledge was often flawed with actual error or distorted by his craving for antithesis and epigram; but the essays are clearly and ably written, and they disclose an eye for picturesque effect that in places is almost barbaric.

His _History of England_, the first volume of which was published in 1849, was unfinished at his death. After two long preliminary chapters, it began with the Whig revolution of 1688, and Macaulay intended to carry the story down to his own time. But he managed to compass within the three completed volumes only the events of a few years. His historical treatment is marked by the following features: (_a_) There are numerous and picturesque details, which retard his narrative while they add to the general interest. (_b_) The desire for brilliant effect resulted in a hard, self-confident manner, and in a lack of broader outlines and deeper views. These defects have deprived his _History_ of much of its permanent value. (_c_) To this he added such a partiality for the Whig point of view that his statements, though they are always interesting and illuminating, are generally distrusted as statements of fact. To sum up, he said, “I shall not be satisfied unless I produce something which shall for a few days supersede the last fashionable novel on the tables of young ladies.” He had full reason to be satisfied; his book had an instant and enormous success, which, however, has been followed by distrust and neglect.

The extract given below gives some idea of his style. It is entirely direct and clear, and free from any shade of doubt and hesitancy. Observe the use of the short detached sentence, and the copious and expressive vocabulary:

Then was committed that great crime, memorable for its singular
atrocity, memorable for the tremendous retribution by which
it was followed. The English captives were left at the mercy
of the guards, and the guards determined to secure them for
the night in the prison of the garrison, a chamber known by
the fearful name of the Black Hole. Even for a single European
malefactor, that dungeon would, in such a climate, have been
too close and narrow. The space was only twenty feet square.
The air-holes were small and obstructed. It was the summer
solstice, the season when the fierce heat of Bengal can scarcely
be rendered tolerable to natives of England by lofty halls and
by the constant waving of fans. The number of the prisoners was
one hundred and forty-six. When they were ordered to enter the
cell, they imagined that the soldiers were joking; and, being
in high spirits on account of the promise of the Nabob to spare
their lives, they laughed and jested at the absurdity of the
notion. They soon discovered their mistake. They expostulated;
they entreated; but in vain. The guards threatened to cut down
all who hesitated. The captives were driven into the cell at the
point of the sword, and the door was instantly shut and locked
upon them.
_Essay on Clive_

JOHN RUSKIN (1819–1900)

=1. His Life.= Ruskin was born in London, of Scottish parentage, and was educated privately before he went to Oxford. During his boyhood he often traveled with his father, whose business activities involved journeys both in England and abroad. After leaving the university Ruskin, who did not need to earn a living, settled down to a literary career. He was not long in developing advanced notions on art, politics, economics, and other subjects. In art he was in particular devoted to the cause of the landscape-painter Turner, and in social and economic theories he was an advocate of an advanced form of socialism. To the present generation his ideas appear innocuous, or even inevitable, but by the public of his own day they were received with shocked dismay. At first the only notice he received was in the jeers of his adversaries; but gradually his fame spread as he freely expounded his opinions in lectures and pamphlets, as well as in his longer books. In 1869 he was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Arts at Oxford. Illness, however, which was aggravated by hard work and mental worries, led him to resign (1879) after a few years; and though shortly afterward (1883) he resumed the post, it had at last to be abandoned. He retired to Brantwood, on Coniston Water, in the Lake District, where he lived till his death, his later years being clouded by disease and despair.

=2. His Works.= Ruskin’s works are of immense volume and complexity. They were often issued in a haphazard fashion, and this makes it all the more difficult to follow the order of their publication. For a start he plunged into what turned out to be the longest of his books, _Modern Painters_, the first volume of which was issued in 1843 and the fifth and last in 1860. This work, beginning as a thesis in defense of the painting of Turner, develops Ruskin’s opinions on many other subjects. The first volume was not long in attracting notice, chiefly owing to its sumptuous style, which was of a kind unknown in English for centuries. _The Seven Lamps of Architecture_ (1849) is a shorter and more popular work, which once again expounds his views on artistic matters. _The Stones of Venice_ (1851–53), in four volumes, is considered to be his masterpiece both in thought and style. It is less diffuse than _Modern Painters_; there is a little more plan in the immense array of discursive matter; and the luxuriance of the style is somewhat curtailed. His other writings are of a miscellaneous kind, and comprise _The Two Paths_ (1859), a course of lectures; _Unto this Last_ (1860), a series of articles on political economy which began to appear in _The Cornhill Magazine_, but were stopped owing to their hostile reception; _Munera Pulveris_ (1862), also an unfinished series of articles on political economy, published in _Fraser’s Magazine_, and also withdrawn owing to their advanced views; _The Crown of Wild Olive_ (1864), a series of addresses; _Sesame and Lilies_ (1865), a course of three lectures, which is now the most popular of his shorter works; and _Præterita_, which first began to appear in 1855, and which is a kind of autobiography.

=3. His Style.= Ruskin himself often deplored the fact that people read him more for his style than for his creed. His views, which he argued with power and sincerity, must in time give way to others; many of them are now self-evident, so rapid sometimes is the progress of the human intellect; but his prose style, an art as delicate and beautiful as any of those he spent his life in supporting, will long remain a delectable study. For its like we must return to the prose of Milton and Clarendon, and refine and sweeten the manner of these early masters to reproduce the effect that Ruskin achieves. In its less ornate passages Ruskin’s diction is marked by a sweet and unforced simplicity; but his pages abound in purple passages, which are marked by sentences of immense length, carefully punctuated, by a gorgeous march of image and epithet, and by a sumptuous rhythm that sometimes grows into actual blank verse capable of scansion. In his later books Ruskin to a certain extent eschewed his grandiose manner, and wrote the language of the Bible, modernized and made supple; but to the very end he was always able to rise to the lyrical mood and fill a page with a strong and sonorous sentence.

The paragraph given below, it will be noticed, is one sentence. Observe the minute care given to the punctuation, the aptness of epithet, and the rhythm, which in several places is so regular that the matter can be scanned like poetry.

Then let us pass farther towards the north, until we see the
orient colours change gradually into a vast belt of rainy green,
where the pastures of Switzerland, and poplar valleys of France,
and dark forests of the Danube and Carpathians stretch from the
mouths of the Loire to those of the Volga, seen through clefts
in gray swirls of rain-cloud and flaky veils of the mist of
the brooks, spreading low along the pasture lands: and then,
farther north still, to see the earth heave into mighty masses
of leaden rock and heathy moor, bordering with a broad waste of
gloomy purple that belt of field and wood, and splintering into
irregular and grisly islands amidst the northern seas, beaten by
storm, and chilled by ice-drift, and tormented by furious pulses
of contending tide, until the roots of the last forests fall
from among the hill ravines, and the hunger of the north wind
bites their peaks into barrenness; and, at last, the wall of
ice, durable like iron, sets, deathlike, its white teeth against
us out of the polar twilight.
_The Stones of Venice_

OTHER WRITERS OF MISCELLANEOUS PROSE

=1. John Addington Symonds (1840–93)= was among the foremost of the literary critics who flourished after the middle of the century. He was the son of a Bristol physician, and was educated at Harrow and Oxford. A tendency to consumption checked whatever desire he had to study the law, and much of his life was spent abroad.

A large proportion of his work was contributed to periodicals, and was collected and issued in volume form. The best collection is _Studies of the Greek Poets_ (1873). His longest work is _The Renaissance in Italy_ (1875–86), in which he contests Ruskin’s views on art. In style he is often ornate and even florid, and in treatment he can be diffuse to tediousness; but as a critic he is shrewd and well informed.

=2. Walter Horatio Pater (1839–94)= was, both as a stylist and as a literary critic, superior to Symonds. Born in London, he was educated at Canterbury and Oxford, becoming finally a Fellow of Brasenose. He devoted himself to art and literature, producing some remarkable volumes on these subjects.

His first essays appeared in book-form as _Studies in the History of the Renaissance_ (1878), and were concerned chiefly with art; _Marius the Epicurean_ (1885) is a remarkable philosophical novel, and is the best example of his distinguished style; _Imaginary Portraits_ (1887) deals with artists; and _Appreciations_ (1889) is on literary themes, and is prefaced by an important essay on style.