and was born in Dublin. After receiving a University education, he proceeded to London, and made an attempt to study the law. Finding this an uncongenial occupation, he devoted himself to literature. His Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful attracted general attention; and he joined the club where the great men of the day were accustomed to meet. After some years of hard work, he was appointed Secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham, through whose influence he was elected a Member of Parliament. Then it was that his genius shone out as it had never shone before. Political speeches -usually dry and uninteresting-were embellished by Burke with the most splendid imagery, and delivered with an energy which enforced attention. His greatest speech was that delivered at the trial of Warren Hastings. It is considered one of the most magnificent ever uttered by any orator. Burke's greatest political work is a treatise entitled Reflections on the French Revolution, which is a good specimen of his style. The death of his son-which he took deeply to heart-caused his retirement from public life, and he died at Beaconsfield in 1797. His career is a grand example of the successes which may be achieved by industry and perseverance. 66 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CARNATIC. Having terminated his disputes with every enemy and every rival, Hyder Ali drew from every quarter whatever a savage ferocity could add to his new rudiments in the arts of destruction; and compounding all the materials of fury, havoc, and desolation into one black cloud, he hung for a while on the declivities of the mountains. Whilst the authors of all these evils were idly and stupidly gazing on the menacing meteor which blackened all their horizon, it suddenly burst and poured down the whole of its contents upon the plains of the Carnatic. Then ensued a scene of woe, the like of which no eye had seen, no heart conceived, and which no tongue can adequately tell. All the horrors of war before known or heard of were mercy to that new havoc. A storm of universal fire blasted every field, consumed every house, destroyed every temple. The miserable inhabitants, flying from the flaming villages, in part were slaughtered: others, without regard to sex, to age, to the respect of rank, or sacredness of function, fathers torn from children, husbands from wives, enveloped in a whirlwind of cavalry, and amidst the goading spears of drivers and the trampling of pursuing horses, were swept into captivity in an unknown and hostile land. Those who were able to evade this tempest fled to the walled cities; but, escaping from fire, sword, and exile, they fell into the jaws of famine."-Speeches. Other Miscellaneous Writers.-During this period, SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, a lawyer, wrote an excellent Commentary on the Laws of England, in which the laws of the land are carefully arranged and pleasantly explained. STEVENS and MALONE edited Shakespeare; JAMES BOSWELL produced his Biography of Johnson-the best biography ever written; the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD wrote his famous Letters to his Son; and the satirical Letters of Junius appeared in the public prints. The authorship of these stinging political satires has never been satisfactorily settled. CHAPTER XIV. THE POETS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Introduction. FROM 1800 TILL 1830. POETS.-Wordsworth - Coleridge-Southey Poets. DRAMATISTS.-Sheridan Knowles-Joanna Baillie- THE authors were now exceedingly numerous, and people required guidance as to the books they should read and the books they should avoid. To meet this want there arose a new kind of literature, that, namely, of criticism. The Edinburgh Review, followed shortly afterwards by others of a similar character, had an excellent effect in making authors more careful, and in cultivating a better taste than had hitherto prevailed among the people themselves. It is true that public attention was more and more occupied with business affairs as manufactures and WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. 135 commerce continued to increase, but this did not hinder the poets, who were as numerous, and in many respects as illustrious, as those of the Elizabethan Age, from winning their way to favour and popularity. WILLIAM WORDsworth (b. 1770, d. 1850), the son of an attorney, was born at Cockermouth, in Cumberland. He studied at Cambridge, and, in 1790, made a tour to the Continent, and visited France while the Revolution was raging. Sympathizing heartily with the Revolutionists, he went back to France in the following year, making friends with the Girondists, and remaining among them for fifteen months. On his return to England he had to make up his mind as to his means of earning a living. The Church, for which his friends had intended him, did not suit him; he would rather be a poet if it would pay; but fancying it would not, he was about to become a lawyer and journalist, when a young friend of his died, leaving him a legacy of £900, and earnestly entreating him to devote himself entirely to poetry. This he did with right good will. He resided first in Somersetshire, and afterwards at Rydal Mount, near Lake Windermere, where he enjoyed the pleasant company of his brother poets, Coleridge and Southey, who lived in the same neighbourhood. For this reason, and because of a certain similarity to each other in their style of writing, the three poets have been named the Lake Poets. Wordsworth was in very comfortable circumstances. He had got £1,000 as his share of a sum of £8,500 which had been owing to his father; he had obtained the office of Distributor of Stamps for the county of Westmoreland, which brought him £500 a-year; and, in 1842, he received a pension of £300 per annum. On the death of Southey, he was appointed Poet Laureate; and, in 1850, he died at the close of his eightieth year. His great work is The Excursion, a philosophical poem, forming part of what was intended to be a moral epic, entitled the Recluse. In the Excursion, the poet takes a walk or excursion, and meets first with a Scotch pedlar, who converses-and far too well for a man in his position-about truth, beauty, love, and hope; and tells the touching story of poor Margaret, who died of grief because of her husband's unaccountable absence. Travelling onwards, the poet and the pedlar meet a solitary man whose temper has been soured by continual disappointments. Then, the three together visit a clergyman, who narrates interesting stories about the people who had lived and died in that place, and were buried in the cemetery close by. They afterwards visit a neighbouring lake, and with this the poem concludes. There is little of a story in the Excursion; but the walk affords opportunities for frequent descriptions of scenery, and for many discussions on solemn and important subjects. The White Doe of Rylestone may be named as another of his important poems. Wordsworth had different styles of writing. In his earlier works he imitated the manner of Pope and of Spenser. Later, he began a style of his own, which set the world a-laughing. According to his new plan, everything was to be simple-simple thoughts on simple subjects expressed in simple words. A kitten playing with fallen leaves; Peter Bell getting lessons in virtue from an ass; the story of an idiot boy, &c., &c. These were among the subjects he chose for illustrating his system. From the commonest objects and events of life he attempted to draw useful lessons. "At this rate," says Taine, "you will find a lesson in an old toothbrush which still continues in use; and, again, "there are only three or four events in each of our lives worthy of being related, else I might end by explaining that yesterday my dog broke his leg, and that, this morning my wife put on her stockings inside out." Nevertheless, a few of Wordsworth's simple lyric ballads, such as We Are Seven, are pathetic and tender in the extreme. In the Excursion, again, Wordsworth forgets his own plan of simplicity, and chooses the language best suited to express his ideas, whether it be simple or otherwise. Here he shows himself to be a true poet, full of reverence for religion, strongly WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. 137 impressed with nature's beauties, and finding poetry and instruction in everything about him. His works have risen rapidly in public favour. A PRAYER FOR FREEDOM. "O give, great God, to freedom's waves to ride To sweep where pleasure decks her guilty bowers, Who cries, presumptuous, 'Here their tides shall stay,' LUCY. "She dwelt among the untrodden ways, A maid whom there were none to praise, "A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye; Fair as a star when only one "She lived unknown, and few could know But she is in her grave, and oh, The difference to me!" FROM "THE EXCURSION." "As the ample moon, In the deep stillness of a summer even From the encumbrances of mortal life. |
