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.

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 tower 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.

CHAPTER IX

AN ESSAY OF RECENT LITERATURE

What of the faith and fire within us,
Men who march away ...

To hazards whence no tears can win us,
What of the faith and fire within us,

Men who march away?

Hardy, "The Song of the Soldier"

Before the World War wrought its change on the spirits of men, fusing the will and feeling of millions into one superb national impulse, life seemed very complex in England, and literature was busily reflecting its complexity rather than its unity, its surface eddies or cross-currents rather than its deep underflow. A host of writers held up each some problem or interest or field of the far-flung empire, and their collective work now makes upon the reader an impression of hopeless confusion. At the outset of our study, therefore, let these three matters be clearly understood:

First, this essay is not in any sense a "history" of recent literature, since no man can possibly write the history of his own times. The best we can do is to select a few representative writers, to the exclusion of many who may prove of equal or greater power. The general plan is to examine the work of one important author in some detail (this to suggest a study method) and to view the others broadly in convenient groups.

Second, the standard of selection is not the opinion of any critic, but rather a consensus of readers' opinions whenever such can be found. If you object that a selection based on fickle popularity can have little value, the answer is that until Time has its way with books popularity and personal taste are the only means we have of judging them.

Of taste and its vagaries non disputandum, but of popularity something may still be said-enough, at least, to distinguish the false from the true. There are many so-called Popularity popular books which are superficial or clever or funny or sentimental or sensational, each appealing to its own class of readers, and with such books, which come and go like summer hats, we have here no concern. But there is another kind of popularity in literature that goes back to the root-word "people," which means men and women, old and young, wise and ignorant. To be popular in the true sense, therefore, a writer must show some elemental human quality that appeals to folk generally, and that not only diverts them for a moment but makes them think and remember and approve or disapprove.

་་

Such popularity indicates power of some kind. It may be the power of truth or falsehood, of a genius or a dancing dervish; but the writer who holds the attention of many different people is not common; he should be looked at twice. If he is merely popular," his book will be forgotten on the appearance of another, as Trilby was forgotten; but if he wins the next generation and the next, he is on the Road of Few Travelers which leads to Parnassus. Kipling serves us well as an illustration some critics call him a great writer, others a showman in letters; but all agree on his immense and fairly won popularity.

The third matter to be emphasized is that no essay of recent literature can be authoritative, and that at every point the reader, no less than the writer, is free to follow his own. judgment. The essayist, examining by light of his personal taste a few works which are popular in the best sense, must try to be temperate with what he likes and fair with what he heartily dislikes; but if he wholly succeeded in the latter aim, he would be more or less than human. The reader, on the other hand, will remember that Time is the only critic who can surely tell which authors have the quality of greatness. Meanwhile the best means of anticipating Time's verdict in