Chapter VIII: The Victorian Age (1837-1901) (3)

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) began as a follower of Thackeray, but in the immense range of his characters and incidents he soon outstripped his master. Perhaps his best work is _Barchester Towers_ (1857), one of a series of novels which picture with marvelous fidelity the life of a cathedral town in England.

Another novelist who followed Thackeray, and then changed his allegiance to Dickens, was Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873). He was essentially an imitator, a follower of the market, and before Thackeray and Dickens were famous he had followed almost every important English novelist from Mrs. Radcliffe to Walter Scott. Two of his historical novels, _Rienzi_ and _The Last Days of Pompeii_, may be mildly recommended. The rest are of the popular and somewhat trashy kind; critics jeer at them, and the public buys them in large numbers.

One of the most charming books of the Victorian age was produced by Richard Blackmore (1825-1900). He wrote several novels, some of them of excellent quality, but they were all overshadowed by his beautiful old romance of _Lorna Doone_ (1869). It is hard to overpraise such a story, wholesome and sweet as a breath from the moors, and the critic's praise will be unnecessary if the reader only opens the book. It should be read, with _Cranford_, if one reads nothing else of Victorian fiction.

Two other notable romances of a vanished age came from the hand of Charles Kingsley (1819-1875). He produced many works in poetry and prose, but his fame now rests upon _Hypatia_, _Westward Ho!_ and a few stories for children. _Hypatia_ (1853) is an interesting novel dealing with the conflict of pagan and Christian ideals in the early centuries. _Westward Ho!_ (1855) is a stirring narrative of seafaring and adventure in the days of Elizabeth. It has been described as a "stunning" boys' book, and it would prove an absorbing story for any reader who likes adventure were it not marred by one serious fault. The author's personal beliefs and his desire to glorify certain Elizabethan adventurers lead him to pronounce judgment of a somewhat wholesale kind. He treats one religious party of the period to a golden halo, and the other to a lash of scorpions; and this is apt to alienate many readers who else would gladly follow Sir Amyas Leigh on his gallant ventures in the New World or on the Spanish Main. Kingsley had a rare talent for writing for children (his heart never grew old), and his _Heroes_ and _Water Babies_ are still widely read as bedtime stories.

Of the later Victorian novelists, chief among them being Meredith, Hardy and Stevenson, little may be said here, as they are much too near us to judge of their true place in the long perspective of English literature. Meredith, with the analytical temper and the disconnected style of Browning, is for mature readers, not for young people. Hardy has decided power, but is too hopelessly pessimistic for anybody's comfort,--except in his earlier works, which have a romantic charm that brightens the obscurity of his later philosophy.

[Sidenote: STEVENSON]

In Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) we have the spirit of romance personified. His novels, such as _Kidnapped_ and _David Balfour_, are stories of adventure written in a very attractive style; but he is more widely known, among young people at least, by his charming _Child's Garden of Verses_ and his _Treasure Island_ (1883). This last is a kind of dime-novel of pirates and buried treasure. If one is to read stories of that kind, there is no better place to begin than with this masterpiece of Stevenson. Other works by the same versatile author are the novels, _Master of Ballantrae_, _Weir of Hermiston_ and _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_; various collections of essays, such as _Virginibus Puerisque_ and _Familiar Studies of Men and Books_; and some rather thin sketches of journeying called _An Inland Voyage_ and _Travels with a Donkey_.

The cheery spirit of Stevenson, who bravely fought a losing battle with disease, is evident in everything he wrote; and it was the author's spirit, quite as much as his romantic tales or fine prose style, that won for him a large and enthusiastic following. Of all the later Victorians he seems, at the present time, to have the widest circle of cultivated readers and to exercise the strongest influence on our writers of fiction.

* * * * *

III. VICTORIAN ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS

There is rich reading in Victorian essays, which reflect not only the practical affairs of the age but also the ideals that inspire every great movement whether in history or literature. For example, the intense religious interests of the period, the growth of the Nonconformists or Independents, the Oxford movement, which aimed to define the historic position of the English Church, the chill of doubt and the glow of renewed faith in face of the apparent conflict between the old religion and the new science,--all these were brilliantly reflected by excellent writers, among whom Martineau, Newman and Maurice stand out prominently. The deep thought, the serene spirit and the fine style of these men are unsurpassed in Victorian prose.

Somewhat apart from their age stood a remarkable group of historians--Hallam, Freeman, Green, Gardiner, Symonds and others no less praiseworthy--who changed the whole conception of history from a record of political or military events to a profound study of human society in all its activities. In another typical group were the critics, Pater, Bagehot, Hutton, Leslie Stephen, who have given deeper meaning and enlarged pleasure to the study of literature. In a fourth group were the scientists--Darwin, Wallace, Lyell, Mivart, Tyndall, Mill, Spencer, Huxley, and their followers--some of whom aimed not simply to increase our knowledge but to use the essay, as others used the novel, to portray some new scene in the old comedy of human life. Darwin was a great and, therefore, a modest man; but some of his disciples were sadly lacking in humor. Spencer and Mill especially wrote with colossal self-confidence, as if the world no longer wore its veil of mystery. They remind us, curiously, that while poetry endures forever, nothing on earth is more subject to change and error than so-called scientific truth.

[Sidenote: TYPICAL WRITERS]

It is impossible in a small volume to do justice to so many writers, reflecting nature or humanity from various angles, and sometimes insisting that a particular angle was the only one from which a true view could be obtained. Some rigorous selection is necessary; and we name here for special study Macaulay, Carlyle, Ruskin, who are commonly regarded as the typical Victorian essayists. This selection does not mean, however, that some other group might not be quite as representative of their age and nation. Our chosen authors stand not for Victorian thought but only for certain interesting phases thereof. Macaulay, the busy man of affairs, voiced the pride of his generation in British traditions. Carlyle lived aloof, grumbling at democracy, denouncing its shams, calling it to repentance. Ruskin, a child of fortune, was absorbed in art till the burden of the world oppressed him; whereupon he gave his money to the cause of social reform and went himself among the poor to share with them whatever wealth of spirit he possessed. These three men, utterly unlike in character, were as one in their endeavor to make modern literature a power wherewith to uplift humanity. They illustrate, better even than poets or novelists, the characteristic moral earnestness of the Victorian era.

* * * * *

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY (1800-1859)

To many readers the life of Macaulay is more interesting than any of his books. For the details of that brilliantly successful life, which fairly won and richly deserved its success, the student is referred to Trevelyan's fine biography. We record here only such personal matters as may help to explain the exuberant spirit of Macaulay's literary work.

LIFE. One notes first of all the man's inheritance. The Norse
element predominated in him, for the name Macaulay (son of Aulay)
is a late form of the Scandinavian _Olafson_. His mother was a
brilliant woman of Quaker descent; his father, at one time governor
of the Sierra Leone Colony in Africa, was a business man who gained
a fortune in trade, and who spent the whole of it in helping to
free the slaves. In consequence, when Macaulay left college he
faced the immediate problem of supporting himself and his family, a
hard matter, which he handled not only with his customary success
but also with characteristic enthusiasm.

Next we note Macaulay's personal endowment, his gift of rapid
reading, his marvelous memory which suggests Coleridge and Cotton
Mather. He read everything from Plato to the trashiest novel, and
after reading a book could recall practically the whole of it after
a lapse of twenty years. To this photographic memory we are
indebted for the wealth of quotation, allusion and anecdote which
brightens almost every page of his writings.

[Sidenote: HIS BRILLIANT CAREER]

After a brilliant career at college Macaulay began the study of
law. At twenty-five he jumped into prominence by a magazine essay
on Milton, and after that his progress was uninterrupted. He was
repeatedly elected to Parliament; he was appointed legal adviser to
the Supreme Council of India, in which position he acquired the
knowledge that appears in his essays on Clive and Hastings; he
became Secretary for War, and was elevated to the peerage as Baron
Macaulay of Rothley. It was said of him at that time that he was
"the only man whom England ever made a lord for the power of his
pen."

[Sidenote: HIS RECREATION]

The last thing we note, because it was to Macaulay of least moment,
is his literary work. With the exception of the _History of
England_ his writing was done at spare moments, as a relaxation
from what he considered more important labors. In this respect, of
writing for pleasure in the midst of practical affairs, he
resembles the Elizabethan rather than the Victorian authors.

While at work on his masterpiece Macaulay suddenly faltered, worn
out by too much work. He died on Christmas Day (1859) and was
buried in the place which he liked best to visit, the Poets' Corner
of Westminster Abbey. From the day on which he attracted notice by
his Milton essay he had never once lost his hold on the attention
of England. Gladstone summed up the matter in oratorical fashion
when he said, "Full-orbed Macaulay was seen above the horizon; and
full-orbed, after thirty-five years of constantly emitted splendor,
he sank below it." But Macaulay's final comment, "Well, I have had
a happy life," is more suggestive of the man and his work.

WORKS OF MACAULAY. Macaulay's poems, which he regarded as of no consequence, are practically all in the ballad style. Among them are various narratives from French or English history, such as "The Battle of Ivry" and "The Armada," and a few others which made a popular little book when they were published as _Lays of Ancient Rome_ (1842). The prime favorite not only of the _Lays_ but of all Macaulay's works is "Horatius Cocles," or "Horatius at the Bridge." Those who read its stirring lines should know that Macaulay intended it not as a modern ballad but as an example of ancient methods of teaching history. According to Niebuhr the early history of Rome was written in the form of popular ballads; and Macaulay attempted to reproduce a few of these historical documents in the heroic style that roused a Roman audience of long ago to pride and love of country.

[Sidenote: THE ESSAYS]

The essays of Macaulay appeared in the magazines of that day; but though official England acclaimed their brilliancy and flooded their author with invitations to dine, nobody seemed to think of them as food for ordinary readers till a Philadelphia publisher collected a few of them into a book, which sold in America like a good novel. That was in 1841, and not till two years had passed did a London publisher gain courage to issue the _Critical and Historical Essays_, a book which vindicated the taste of readers of that day by becoming immensely popular.

The charm of such a book is evident in the very first essay, on Milton. Here is no critic, airing his rules or making his dry talk palatable by a few quotations; here is a live man pleading for another man whom he considers one of the greatest figures in history. Macaulay may be mistaken, possibly, but he is going to make you doff your hat to a hero before he is done; so he speaks eloquently not only of Milton but of the classics on which Milton fed, of the ideals and struggles of his age, of the Commonwealth and the Restoration,--of everything which may catch your attention and then focus it on one Titanic figure battling like Samson among the Philistines. It may be that your sympathies are with the Philistines rather than with Samson; but presently you stop objecting and are carried along by the author's eloquence as by a torrent. His style is the combined style of novelist and public speaker, the one striving to make his characters real, the other bound to make his subject interesting.

That is Macaulay's way in all his essays. They are seldom wholly right in their judgments; they are so often one-sided that the author declared in later life he would burn them all if he could; but they are all splendid, all worth reading, not simply for their matter but for their style and for the wealth of allusion with which Macaulay makes his subject vital and interesting. Among the best of the literary essays are those on Bunyan, Addison, Bacon, Johnson, Goldsmith and Byron; among the historical essays one may sample Macaulay's variety in Lord Clive, Frederick the Great, Machiavelli and Mirabeau.

Careful readers may note a difference between these literary and historical essays. Those on Bunyan, Johnson and Goldsmith, for example (written originally for the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_), are more finished and more careful of statement than others in which the author talks freely, sharing without measure or restraint "the heaped-up treasures of his memory."

[Sidenote: HISTORY OF ENGLAND]

Macaulay began to write his _History of England_ with the declaration that he would cover the century and a half following the accession of James II (1685), and that he would make his story as interesting as any novel. Only the latter promise was fulfilled. His five volumes, the labor of more than a decade, cover only sixteen years of English history; but these are pictured with such minuteness and such splendor that we can hardly imagine anyone brave enough to attempt to finish the record in a single lifetime.

Of this masterpiece of Macaulay we may confidently say three things: that for many years it was the most popular historical work in our language; that by its brilliant style and absorbing interest it deserved its popularity, as literature if not as history; and that, though it contains its share of error and more than its share of Whig partisanship, it has probably as few serious faults as any other history which attempts to cover the immense field of the political, social and intellectual life of a nation. Read, for example, one of the introductory chapters (the third is excellent) which draws such a picture of England in the days of the Stuarts as no other historian has ever attempted. When you have finished that chapter, with its wealth of picturesque detail, you may be content to read Macaulay simply for the pleasure he gives you, and go to some other historian for accurate information.

* * * * *

THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881)

There is little harmony of opinion concerning Carlyle, criticism of the man being divided between praise and disparagement. If you are to read only one of his works, it is perhaps advisable to avoid all biographies at first and to let the _Essay on Burns_ or _Heroes and Hero Worship_ make its own impression. But if you intend to read more widely, some knowledge of Carlyle's personal history is essential in order to furnish the grain of salt with which most of his opinions must be taken.

LIFE. In the village of Ecclefechan Carlyle was born in 1795, the
year before Burns's death. His father was a stone-mason, an honest
man of caustic tongue; his mother, judged by her son's account, was
one of nature's noblewomen. The love of his mother and a proud
respect for his father were the two sentiments in Carlyle that went
with him unchanged through a troubled and oft-complaining life.

[Sidenote: HIS WRESTLINGS]

Of his tearful school days in Annandale and of his wretched years
at Edinburgh University we have glimpses in _Sartor Resartus_.
In the chapters of the same book entitled "The Everlasting Nay" and
"The Everlasting Yea" is a picture of the conflict between doubt
and faith in the stormy years when Carlyle was finding himself. He
taught school, and hated it; he abandoned the ministry, for which
his parents had intended him; he resolved on a literary life, and
did hack work to earn his bread. All the while he wrestled with his
gloomy temper or with the petty demons of dyspepsia, which he was
wont to magnify into giant doubts and despairs.

[Sidenote: CARLYLE AND EMERSON]

In 1826 he married Jane Welsh, and went to live in a house she had
inherited at Craigenputtock, or Hill of the Hawks. There on a
lonely moorland farm he spent six or seven years, writing books
which few cared to read; and there Emerson appeared one day ("He
came and went like an angel," said the Carlyles) with the
heartening news that the neglected writings were winning a great
audience in America. The letters of Carlyle and Emerson, as edited
by Charles Eliot Norton, are among the pleasantest results of
Carlyle's whole career.

[Sidenote: MRS. CARLYLE]

Carlyle's wife was a brilliant but nervous woman with literary
gifts of her own. She had always received attention; she expected
and probably deserved admiration; but so did Carlyle, who expected
also to be made the center of all solicitude when he called heaven
and earth to witness against democracy, crowing roosters, weak tea
and other grievous afflictions. After her death (in London, 1866)
he was plunged into deepest grief. In his _Reminiscences_ and
_Letters_ he fairly deifies his wife, calling her his queen,
his star, his light and joy of life, and portrays a companionship
as of two mortals in a Paradise without a serpent. All that is
doubtless as it should be, in a romance; but the unfortunate
publication of Mrs. Carlyle's letters and journals introduced a
jarring note of reality. A jungle of controversial writings has
since grown up around the domestic relations of the
Carlyles,--impertinent, deplorable writings, which serve no purpose
but to make us cry, "Enough, let them rest in peace!" Both had
sharp tongues, and probably both were often sorry.

[Sidenote: WORK IN LONDON]

From the moors the Carlyles went to London and settled for the
remainder of their lives in a house in Cheyne Row, in the suburb of
Chelsea. There Carlyle slowly won recognition, his success being
founded on his _French Revolution_. Invitations began to pour
in upon him; great men visited and praised him, and his fame spread
as "the sage of Chelsea." Then followed his _Cromwell_ and
_Frederick the Great_, the latter completed after years of
complaining labor which made wreck of home happiness. And then came
a period of unusual irritation, to which we owe, in part at least,
Carlyle's railings against progress and his deplorable criticism of
England's great men and women,--poor little Browning, animalcular
De Quincey, rabbit-brained Newman, sawdustish Mill, chattering
George Eliot, ghastly-shrieky Shelley, once-enough Lamb,
stinted-scanty Wordsworth, poor thin fool Darwin and his book
(_The Origin of Species_, of which Carlyle confessed he never
read a page) which was wonderful as an example of the stupidity of
mankind.

Such criticisms were reserved for Carlyle's private memoirs. The
world knew him only by his books, and revered him as a great and
good man. He died in 1881, and of the thousand notices which
appeared in English or American periodicals of that year there is
hardly one that does not overflow with praise.

In the home at Chelsea were numerous letters and journals which
Carlyle committed to his friend Froude the historian. The
publication of these private papers raised a storm of protest.
Admirers of Carlyle, shocked at the revelation of another side to
their hero, denounced Froude for his disloyalty and malice;
whereupon the literary world divided into two camps, the Jane
Carlyleists and the Thomas Carlyleists, as they are still called.
That Froude showed poor taste is evident; but we must acquit him of
all malice. Private papers had been given him with the charge to
publish them if he saw fit; and from them he attempted to draw not
a flattering but a truthful portrait of Carlyle, who had always
preached the doctrine that a man must speak truth as he sees it.
Nor will Carlyle suffer in the long run from being deprived of a
halo which he never deserved. Already the crustiness of the man
begins to grow dim in the distance; it is his rugged earnestness
that will be longest remembered.

WORKS OF CARLYLE. The beginner will do well to make acquaintance with Carlyle in some of the minor essays, which are less original but more pleasing than his labored works. Among the best essays are those on Goethe (who was Carlyle's first master), Signs of the Times, Novalis, and especially Scott and Burns. With Scott he was not in sympathy, and though he tried as a Scotsman to be "loyal to kith and clan," a strong touch of prejudice mars his work. With Burns he succeeded better, and his picture of the plowboy genius in misfortune is one of the best we have on the subject. This _Essay on Burns_ is also notable as the best example of Carlyle's early style, before he compounded the strange mixture which appeared in his later books.

[Sidenote: HEROES AND HERO WORSHIP]

The most readable of Carlyle's longer works is _Heroes and Hero Worship_ (1840), which deals with certain leaders in the fields of religion, poetry, war and politics. It is an interesting study to compare this work with the _Representative Men_ of Emerson. The latter looks upon the world as governed by ideals, which belong not to individuals but to humanity. When some man appears in whom the common ideal is written large, other men follow him because they see in him a truth which they revere in their own souls. So the leader is always in the highest sense a representative of his race. But Carlyle will have nothing of such democracy; to him common men are stupid or helpless and must be governed from without. Occasionally, when humanity is in the Slough of Despond, appears a hero, a superman, and proceeds by his own force to drag or drive his subjects to a higher level. When the hero dies, humanity must halt and pray heaven to send another master.

It is evident before one has read much of _Heroes_ that Carlyle is at heart a force-worshiper. To him history means the biography of a few heroes, and heroism is a matter of power, not of physical or moral courage. The hero may have the rugged courage of a Cromwell, or he may be an easy-living poet like Shakespeare, or a ruthless despot like Napoleon, or an epitome of all meanness like Rousseau; but if he shows superior force of any kind, that is the hallmark of his heroism, and before such an one humanity should bow down. Of real history, therefore, you will learn nothing from _Heroes_; neither will you get any trustworthy information concerning Odin, Mahomet and the rest of Carlyle's oddly consorted characters. One does not read the book for facts but for a new view of old matters. With hero-worshipers especially it ranks very high among the thought-provoking books of the past century.

[Sidenote: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION]

Of the historical works [Footnote: These include _Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_ (1850) and _History of Frederick the Great_ (1858).] of Carlyle the most famous is _The French Revolution_ (1837). On this work Carlyle spent much heart-breaking labor, and the story of the first volume shows that the author, who made himself miserable over petty matters, could be patient in face of a real misfortune. [Footnote: The manuscript of the first volume was submitted to Carlyle's friend Mill (him of the "sawdustish" mind) for criticism. Mill lent it to a lady, who lost it. When he appeared "white as a ghost" to confess his carelessness, the Carlyles did their best to make light of it. Yet it was a terrible blow to them; for aside from the wearisome labor of doing the work over again, they were counting on the sale of the book to pay for their daily bread.] Moreover, it furnishes a striking example of Carlyle's method, which was not historical in the modern sense, but essentially pictorial or dramatic. He selected a few dramatic scenes, such as the storming of the Bastille, and painted them in flaming colors. Also he was strong in drawing portraits, and his portrayal of Robespierre, Danton and other actors in the terrible drama is astonishingly vigorous, though seldom accurate. His chief purpose in drawing all these pictures and portraits was to prove that order can never come out of chaos save by the iron grip of a governing hand. Hence, if you want to learn the real history of the French Revolution, you must seek elsewhere; but if you want an impression of it, an impression that burns its way into the mind, you will hardly find the equal of Carlyle's book in any language.

Of Carlyle's miscellaneous works one must speak with some hesitation. As an expression of what some call his prophetic mood, and others his ranting, one who has patience might try _Shooting Niagara_ or the _Latter Day Pamphlets_. A reflection of his doctrine of honest work as the cure for social ills is found in _Past and Present_; and for a summary of his philosophy there is nothing quite so good as his early _Sartor Resartus_ (1834).

[Sidenote: SARTOR RESARTUS]

The last-named work is called philosophy only by courtesy. The title means "the tailor retailored," or "the patcher repatched," and the book professed to be "a complete Resartus philosophy of clothes." Since everything wears clothes of some kind (the soul wears a body, and the body garments; earth puts forth grass, and the firmament stars; ideas clothe themselves in words; society puts on fashions and habits), it can be seen that Carlyle felt free to bring in any subject he pleased; and so he did. Moreover, in order to have liberty of style, he represented himself to be the editor not the author of _Sartor_. The alleged author was a German professor, Diogenes Teufelsdroeckh, an odd stick, half genius, half madman, whose chaotic notes Carlyle professed to arrange with a running commentary of his own.

In consequence of this overlabored plan _Sartor_ has no plan at all. It is a jumble of thoughts, notions, attacks on shams, scraps of German philosophy,--everything that Carlyle wrote about during his seven-years sojourn on his moorland farm. The only valuable things in _Sartor_ are a few autobiographical chapters, such as "The Everlasting Yea," and certain passages dealing with night, the stars, the yearnings of humanity, the splendors of earth and heaven. Note this picture of Teufelsdroeckh standing alone at the North Cape, "looking like a little belfry":

"Silence as of death, for Midnight, even in the Arctic latitudes,
has its character: nothing but the granite cliffs ruddy-tinged, the
peaceable gurgle of that slow-heaving Polar Ocean, over which in
the utmost North the great Sun hangs low and lazy, as if he too
were slumbering. Yet is his cloud-couch wrought of crimson and
cloth-of-gold; yet does his light stream over the mirror of waters,
like a tremulous fire-pillar shooting downwards to the abyss, and
hide itself under my feet. In such moments Solitude also is
invaluable; for who would speak, or be looked on, when behind him
lies all Europe and Africa, fast asleep, except the watchmen; and
before him the silent Immensity and Palace of the Eternal, whereof
our Sun is but a porch-lamp?"

The book has several such passages, written in a psalmodic style, appealing to elemental feeling, to our sense of wonder or reverence before the mystery of life and death. It is a pity that we have no edition of _Sartor_ which does justice to its golden nuggets by the simple expedient of sifting out the mass of rubbish in which the gold is hidden. The central doctrines of the book are the suppression of self, or selfishness, and the value of honest work in contrast with the evil of mammon-worship.

A CRITICISM OF CARLYLE. Except in his literary essays Carlyle's "rumfustianish growlery of style," as he called it, is so uneven that no description will apply to it. In moments of emotion he uses a chanting prose that is like primitive poetry. Sometimes he forgets Thomas Carlyle, keeps his eye on his subject, and describes it in vivid, picturesque words; then, when he has nothing to say, he thinks of himself and tries to hold you by his manner, by his ranting or dogmatism. In one mood he is a poet, in another a painter, in a third a stump speaker. In all moods he must have your ear, but he succeeds better in getting than in holding it. It has been said that his prose is on a level with Browning's verse, but a better comparison may be drawn between Carlyle and Walt Whitman. Of each of these writers the best that can be said is that his style was his own, that it served his purpose, and that it is not to be imitated.

[Sidenote: HIS TWO SIDES]

In formulating any summary of Carlyle the critic must remember that he is dealing with a man of two sides, one prejudiced, dogmatic, jealous of rivals, the other roughly sincere. On either side Carlyle is a man of contradictions. For an odious dead despot like Frederick, who happens to please him, he turns criticism into eulogy; and for a living poet like Wordsworth he tempers praise by spiteful criticism. [Footnote: Carlyle's praise of Wordsworth's "fine, wholesome rusticity" is often quoted, but only in part. If you read the whole passage (in _Reminiscences_) you will find the effect of Carlyle's praise wholly spoiled by a heartless dissection of a poet, with whom, as Carlyle confessed, he had very slight acquaintance.] He writes a score of letters to show that his grief is too deep for words. He is voluble on "the infinite virtue of silence." He proclaims to-day that he "will write no word on any subject till he has studied it to the bottom," and to-morrow will pronounce judgment on America or science or some other matter of which he knows nothing. In all this Carlyle sees no inconsistency; he is sincere in either role, of prophet or stump speaker, and even thinks that humor is one of his prime qualities.

Another matter to remember is Carlyle's constant motive rather than his constant mistakes. He had the gloomy conviction that he was ordained to cry out against the shams of society; and as most modern things appeared to him as shams, he had to be very busy. Moreover, he had an eye like a hawk for the small failings of men, especially of living men, but was almost blind to their large virtues. This hawklike vision, which ignores all large matters in a swoop on some petty object, accounts for two things: for the marvelous detail of Carlyle's portraits, and for his merciless criticism of the faults of society in general, and of the Victorian age in particular.

Such a writer invites both applause and opposition, and in Carlyle's case the one is as hearty as the other. The only point on which critics are fairly well agreed is that his rugged independence of mind and his picturesque style appealed powerfully to a small circle of readers in England and to a large circle in America. It is doubtful whether any other essayist, with the possible exception of the serene and hopeful Emerson, had a more stimulating influence on the thought of the latter half of the nineteenth century.

* * * * *

JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900)

The prose of Ruskin is a treasure house. Nature portrayed as everyman's Holy Land; descriptions of mountain or landscape, and more beautiful descriptions of leaf or lichen or the glint of light on a breaking wave; appreciations of literature, and finer appreciations of life itself; startling views of art, and more revolutionary views of that frightful waste of human life and labor which we call political economy,--all these and many more impressions of nature, art and human society are eloquently recorded in the ten thousand pages which are the work of Ruskin's hand.

If you would know the secret that binds all his work together, it may be expressed in two words, sensitiveness and sincerity. From childhood Ruskin was extremely sensitive to both beauty and ugliness. The beauty of the world and of all noble things that ever were accomplished in the world affected him like music; but he shrank, as if from a blow, from all sordidness and evil, from the mammon-worship of trade, from the cloud of smoke that hung over a factory district as if trying to shield from the eye of heaven so much needless poverty and aimless toil below. So Ruskin was a man halting between two opinions: the artist in him was forever troubled by the reformer seeking to make the crooked places of life straight and its rough places plain. He made as many mistakes as another man; in his pages you may light upon error or vagary; but you will find nothing to make you doubt his entire sincerity, his desire to speak truth, his passion for helping his fellow men.

LIFE. The early training of Ruskin may explain both the strength
and the weakness of his work. His father was a wealthy wine
merchant, his mother a devout woman with puritanic ideas of duty.
Both parents were of Scottish and, as Ruskin boasted, of plebeian
descent. They had but one child, and in training him they used a
strange mixture of severity and coddling, of wisdom and nonsense.

The young Ruskin was kept apart from other boys and from the sports
which breed a modesty of one's own opinion; his time, work and
lonely play were minutely regulated; the slightest infringement of
rules brought the stern discipline of rod or reproof. On the other
hand he was given the best pictures and the best books; he was
taken on luxurious journeys through England and the Continent; he
was furnished with tutors for any study to which he turned his
mind. When he went up to Oxford, at seventeen, he knew many things
which are Greek to the ordinary boy, but was ignorant of almost
everything that a boy knows, and that a man finds useful in dealing
with the world.

[Sidenote: TRAINING AND ITS RESULTS]

There were several results of this early discipline. One was
Ruskin's devotion to art, which came from his familiarity with
pictures and galleries; another was his minute study of natural
objects, which were to him in place of toys; a third was his habit
of "speaking his mind" on every subject; a fourth was his rhythmic
prose style, which came largely from his daily habit of memorizing
the Bible. Still another result of his lonely magnificence, in
which he was deprived of boys' society, was that his affection went
out on a flood tide of romance to the first attractive girl he met.
So he loved, and was laughed at, and was desperately unhappy. Then
he married, not the woman of his choice, but one whom his parents
picked out for him. The tastes of the couple were hopelessly
different; the end was estrangement, with humiliation and sorrow
for Ruskin.

[Sidenote: TWENTY YEARS OF ART]

At twenty-four he produced his first important work, _Modern
Painters_ (1843), which he began as a defense of the neglected
artist Turner. This controversial book led Ruskin to a deeper study
of his subject, which resulted in four more volumes on modern
painting. Before these were completed he had "fairly created a new
literature of art" by his _Seven Lamps of Architecture_ and
_Stones of Venice_. He was appointed professor of fine arts at
Oxford; he gave several series of lectures which appeared later as
_Lectures on Architecture and Painting_, _Michael Angelo and
Tintoret_, _Val d'Arno_ and _The Art of England_.

By this time he was renowned as an art critic; but his theories
were strongly opposed and he was continually in hot water. In his
zeal to defend Turner or Millais or Burne-Jones he was rather
slashing in his criticism of other artists. The libel suit brought
against him by Whistler, whom he described as a coxcomb who flung a
pot of paint in the face of the public, is still talked about in
England. The jury (fancy a jury wrestling with a question of art!)
found Ruskin guilty, and decided that he should pay for the
artist's damaged reputation the sum of one farthing. Whistler ever
afterwards wore the coin on his watch chain.

[Sidenote: RUSKIN THE REFORMER]

It was about the year 1860 that Ruskin came under the influence of
Carlyle, and then began the effort at social reform which made
wreck of fame and hope and peace of mind. Carlyle had merely
preached of manual work; but Ruskin, wholehearted in whatever he
did, went out to mend roads and do other useful tasks to show his
belief in the doctrine. Carlyle railed against the industrial
system of England; but Ruskin devoted his fortune to remedying its
evils. He established model tenements; he founded libraries and
centers of recreation for workingmen; he took women and children
out of factories and set them to spinning or weaving in their own
homes; he founded St. George's Guild, a well-housed community which
combined work with education, and which shared profits fairly among
the workers.

England at first rubbed its eyes at these reforms, then shrugged
its shoulders as at a harmless kind of madman. But Ruskin had the
temper of a crusader; his sword was out against what was even then
called "vested interests," and presently his theories aroused a
tempest of opposition. Thackeray, who as editor of the _Cornhill
Magazine_ had gladly published Ruskin's first economic essays,
was forced by the clamor of readers to discontinue the series.
[Footnote: While these essays were appearing, there was published
(1864) a textbook of English literature. It spoke well of Ruskin's
books of art, but added, "Of late he has lost his way and has
written things--papers in the _Cornhill_ chiefly--which are
not likely to add to his fame as a writer or to his character as a
man of common sense" (Collier, _History of English
Literature_, p. 512).] To this reform period belong _Unto This
Last_ and other books dealing with political economy, and also
_Sesame and Lilies_, _Crown of Wild Olive_ and _Ethics
of the Dust_, which were written chiefly for young people.

[Sidenote: END OF THE CRUSADE]

For twenty years this crusade continued; then, worn out and
misunderstood by both capitalists and workingmen, Ruskin retired
(1879) to a small estate called "Brantwood" in the Lake District,
His fortune had been spent in his attempt to improve labor
conditions, and he lived now upon the modest income from his books.
Before he died, in 1900, his friend Charles Eliot Norton persuaded
him to write the story of his early life in _Præterita_. The
title is strange, but the book itself is, with one exception, the
most interesting of Ruskin's works.

WORKS OF RUSKIN. The works of Ruskin fall naturally into three classes, which are called criticisms of art, industry and life, but which are, in fact, profound studies of the origin and meaning of art on the one hand, and of the infinite value of human life on the other.

The most popular of his art criticisms are _St. Mark's Rest_ and _Mornings in Florence_, which are widely used as guidebooks, and which may be postponed until the happy time when, in Venice or Florence, one may read them to best advantage. Meanwhile, in _Seven Lamps of Architecture_ or _Stones of Venice_ or the first two volumes of _Modern Painters_, one may grow acquainted with Ruskin's theory of art.

[Sidenote: HIS THEORY OF ART]

His fundamental principle was summarized by Pope in the line, "All nature is but art unknown to thee." That nature is the artist's source of inspiration, that art at its best can but copy some natural beauty, and that the copy should be preceded by careful and loving study of the original,--this was the sum of his early teaching. Next, Ruskin looked within the soul of the artist and announced that true art has a spiritual motive, that it springs from the noblest ideals of life, that the moral value of any people may be read in the pictures or buildings which they produced. A third principle was that the best works of art, reflecting as they do the ideals of a community, should belong to the people, not to a few collectors; and a fourth exalted the usefulness of art in increasing not only the pleasure but the power of life. So Ruskin urged that art be taught in all schools and workshops, and that every man be encouraged to put the stamp of beauty as well as of utility upon the work of his hands; so also he formulated a plan to abolish factories, and by a system of hand labor to give every worker the chance and the joy of self-expression.

[Sidenote: THEORY OF ECONOMICS]

In his theory of economics Ruskin was even more revolutionary. He wrote several works on the subject, but the sum of his teaching may be found in _Unto This Last_; and the sum is that political economy is merely commercial economy; that it aims to increase trade and wealth at the expense of men and morals. "There is no wealth but life," announced Ruskin, "life including all its power of love, of joy and of admiration." And with minute exactness he outlined a plan for making the nation wealthy, not by more factories and ships, but by increasing the health and happiness of human beings.

Three quarters of a century earlier Thomas Jefferson, in America, had pleaded for the same ideal of national wealth, and had characterized the race of the nations for commercial supremacy as a contagion of insanity. Jefferson was called a demagogue, Ruskin a madman; but both men were profoundly right in estimating the wealth of a nation by its store of happiness for home consumption rather than by its store of goods for export. They were misunderstood because they were too far in advance of their age to speak its trade language. They belong not to the past or present, but to the future.

[Sidenote: FOR YOUNG READERS]

If but one work of Ruskin is to be read, let it be _Sesame and Lilies_ (1865), which is one of the books that no intelligent reader can afford to neglect. The first chapter, "Of Kings' Treasuries," is a noble essay on the subject of reading. The second, "Of Queens' Gardens," is a study of woman's life and education, a study which may appear old-fashioned now, but which has so much of truth and beauty that it must again, like Colonial furniture, become our best fashion. These two essays [Footnote: A third essay, "The Mystery of Life," was added to _Sesame and Lilies_. It is a sad, despairing monologue, and the book might be better off without it.] contain Ruskin's best thought on books and womanly character, and also an outline of his teaching on nature, art and society. If we read _Sesame and Lilies_ in connection with two other little books, _Crown of Wild Olive_, which treats of work, trade and war, and _Ethics of the Dust_, which deals with housekeeping, we shall have the best that Ruskin produced for his younger disciples.

THE QUALITY OF RUSKIN. To the sensitiveness and sincerity of Ruskin we have already called attention. There is a third quality which appears frequently, and which we call pedagogical insistence, because the author seems to labor under the impression that he must drive something into one's head.

This insistent note is apt to offend readers until they learn of Ruskin's motive and experience. He lived in a commercial age, an age that seemed to him blind to the beauty of the world; and the purpose of his whole life was, as he said, to help those who, having eyes, see not. His aim was high, his effort heroic; but for all his pains he was called a visionary, a man with a dream book. Yet he was always exact and specific. He would say, "Go to a certain spot at a certain hour, look in a certain direction, and such and such beauties shall ye see." And people would go, and wag their heads, and declare that no such prospect as Ruskin described was visible to mortal eyes. [Footnote: For example, Ruskin gave in _Fors Clavigera_ a description of a beautiful view from a bridge over the Ettrick, in Scotland. Some people have sought that view in vain, and a recent critic insists that it is invisible (Andrew Lang, _History of English Literature_, p. 592). In Venice or Florence you may still meet travelers with one of Ruskin's books in hand, peering about for the beauty which he says is apparent from such and such a spot and which every traveler ought to see.]

Naturally Ruskin, with his dogmatic temper, grew impatient of such blindness; hence the increasing note of insistence, of scolding even, to which critics have called attention. But we can forgive much in a writer who, with marvelously clear vision, sought only to point out the beauty of nature and the moral dignity of humanity.

[Sidenote: Ruskin's Style]

The beauty of Ruskin's style, its musical rhythm or cadence, its wealth of figure and allusion, its brilliant coloring, like a landscape of his favorite artist Turner,--all this is a source of pleasure to the reader, entirely aside from the subject matter. Read, for example, the description of St. Mark's Cathedral in _Stones of Venice_, or the reflected glories of nature in _Præterita_, or the contrast between Salisbury towers and Giotto's campanile in _Seven Lamps of Architecture_, and see there descriptive eloquence at its best. That this superb eloquence was devoted not to personal or party ends, but to winning men to the love of beauty and truth and right living, is the secret of Ruskin's high place in English letters and of his enduring influence on English life.

* * * * *

SUMMARY. The age of Victoria (1837-1901) approaches our own so
closely that it is still difficult to form an accurate judgment of
its history or literature. In a review of the history of the age we
noted three factors, democracy, science, imperialism, which have
profoundly influenced English letters from 1850 to the present
time.

Our study of Victorian literature includes (1) The life and works
of the two greater poets of the age, Tennyson and Browning. (2) The
work of Elizabeth Barrett, Matthew Arnold, Rossetti, Morris and
Swinburne, who were selected from the two hundred representive
poets of the period. (3) The life and the chief works of the major
novelists, Dickens, Thackeray and George Eliot. (4) A review of
some other novelists of the age, the Brontë Sisters, Mrs. Gaskell,
Anthony Trollope, Blackmore, Kingsley, Meredith, Hardy and
Stevenson. (5) The typical essayists and historians, Macaulay,
Carlyle, Ruskin, with a review of other typical groups of writers
in the fields of religion, history and science.

SELECTIONS FOR READING. Typical selections from all authors named
in the text are found in Manly, English Poetry, English Prose;
Pancoast, Standard English Poems, Standard English Prose; and
several other collections, which are especially useful in a study
of the minor writers. The works of the major authors may be read to
much better advantage in various inexpensive editions prepared for
school use. Only a few such editions are named below for each
author, but a fairly complete list is given under Texts in the
General Bibliography.

Tennyson's selected minor poems, Idylls of the King, The Princess
and In Memoriam, in Standard English Classics, Riverside
Literature, Pocket Classics, Silver Classics. A good volume
containing the best of Tennyson's poems in Athenæum Press Series.

Browning and Mrs. Browning, selected poems in Standard English
Classics, Lake Classics, English Readings, Belles Lettres Series.

Matthew Arnold, selected poems in Golden Treasury Series, Maynard's
English Classics; Sohrab and Rustum in Standard English Classics;
prose selections in English Readings, Academy Classics.

Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Christmas Carol in
Standard English Classics, Lake Classics; other novels in
Everyman's Library.

Thackeray, Henry Esmond in Standard English Classics, Pocket
Classics; English Humorists in Lake Classics, English Readings;
other works in Everyman's Library.

George Eliot, Silas Marner, in Standard English Classics, Riverside
Literature; Mill on the Floss and other novels in Everyman's
Library.

Blackmore's Lorna Doone and Mrs. Gaskell's Cranford in Standard
English Classics. Reade's Cloister and the Hearth, Kingsley's
Westward Ho and Hypatia in Everyman's Library.

Macaulay, selected essays in Standard English Classics, Riverside
Literature, Lake Classics.

Carlyle, Essay on Burns in Standard English Classics, Academy
Classics; Heroes and Hero Worship in Athenæum Press, Pocket
Classics; French Revolution in Everyman's Library.

Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies and selected essays and letters in
Standard English Classics; selections from Ruskin's art books in
Riverside Literature; other works in Everyman's Library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. The works named below are selected from a large list
dealing with the Victorian age chiefly. For more extended works see
the General Bibliography.

_HISTORY_. McCarthy, History of Our Own Times and The Epoch of
Reform. Oman, England in the Nineteenth Century; Lee, Queen
Victoria; Bryce, Studies in Contemporary Biography.

_LITERATURE_. Saintsbury, History of Nineteenth Century
Literature; Harrison, Studies in Early Victorian Literature; Mrs.
Oliphant, Literary History of England in the Nineteenth Century;
Walker, The Age of Tennyson; Morley, Literature of the Age of
Victoria; Stedman, Victorian Poets; Brownell, Victorian Prose
Masters.

_Tennyson_. Life, by Lyall (English Men of Letters Series), by
Horton; Alfred Lord Tennyson, a Memoir by his Son. Napier, Homes
and Haunts of Tennyson; Andrew Lang, Alfred Tennyson; Dixon, A
Tennyson Primer; Sneath, The Mind of Tennyson; Van Dyke, The Poetry
of Tennyson. Essays by Harrison, in Tennyson, Ruskin, Mill and
Other Literary Estimates; by Stedman, in Victorian Poets; by
Hutton, in Literary Essays; by Dowden, in Studies in Literature; by
Forster, in Great Teachers; by Gates, in Studies and Appreciations.

_Browning_. Life, by Sharp (Great Writers Series), by
Chesterton (E. M. of L.). Alexander, Introduction to Browning (Ginn
and Company); Corson, Introduction to the Study of Browning;
Phelps, Browning: How to Know Him; Symonds, Introduction to the
Study of Browning; Brooke, Poetry of Robert Browning; Harrington,
Browning Studies. Essays by Stedman, Dowden, Hutton, Forster.

_Dickens_. Life, by Forster, by Ward (E. M. of L.), by
Marzials. Gissing, Charles Dickens; Chesterton, Charles Dickens;
Kitton, Novels of Dickens. Essays by Harrison, Bagehot; A. Lang, in
Gadshill edition of Dickens's works.

_Thackeray_. Life, by Merivale and Marzials, by Trollope (E.
M. of L.). Crowe, Homes and Haunts of Thackeray. Essays, by
Brownell, in English Prose Masters; by Lilly, in Four English
Humorists; by Harrison, in Studies in Early Victorian Literature;
by Scudder, in Social Ideals in English Letters.

_George Eliot_. Life, by L. Stephen (E. M. of L.), by O.
Browning, by Cross. Cooke, George Eliot: a Critical Study of her
Life and Writings. Essays by Brownell, Harrison, Dowden, Hutton.

_Macaulay_. Life, by Trevelyan, by Morrison (E. M. of L.).
Essays by L. Stephen, Bagehot, Saintsbury, Harrison, M. Arnold.

_Carlyle_. Life, by Garnett, by Nichol (E. M. of L.), by
Froude. Carlyle's Letters and Reminiscences, edited by Norton.
Craig, The Making of Carlyle. Essays by Lowell, Brownell, Hutton,
Harrison.

_Ruskin_. Life, by Harrison (E. M. of L.), by Collingwood.
Ruskin's Præterita (autobiography). Mather, Ruskin, his Life and
Teaching; Cooke, Studies in Ruskin; Waldstein, The Work of John
Ruskin; W. M. Rossetti, Ruskin, Rossetti and Pre-Raphaelitism.
Essays by Brownell, Saintsbury, Forster, Harrison.

* * * * *

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books dealing with individual authors and with special periods of
English literature are listed in the various chapter endings of
this history. Following are some of the best works for general
reference, for extended study and for supplementary reading.

_HISTORY_. A brief, trustworthy textbook of history, such as
Cheyney's Short History of England (Ginn and Company) or Gardiner's
Student's History (Longmans), should always be at hand in studying
English literature. More detailed works are Traill, Social England,
6 vols. (Putnam); Bright, History of England, 5 vols. (Longmans);
Green, History of the English People, 4 vols. (Harper); Green,
Short History of the English People, revised edition, 1 vol.
(American Book Co.); latest revision of Green's Short History, with
appendix of recent events to 1900, in Everyman's Library (Putnam);
Kendall, Source Book of English History (Macmillan); Colby,
Selections from the Sources of English History (Longmans); Lingard,
History of England, to 1688, 10 vols. (a standard Catholic
history). Mitchell, English Lands, Letters and Kings, 5 vols.
(Scribner), a series of pleasant essays of history and literature.