V. FROM WORDSWORTH TO TENNYSON. As we approach nearer to our own day, the number of authors demanding our attention seems to increase. It is no longer a rare accomplishment to write with a certain degree of correctness and elegance. The subjects in which the reading world takes an interest have multiplied, until now every art and science has its own literature and school of criticism. No one can now say with Lord Bacon, "I have taken all knowledge to be my province;" the literary world, like a scientific convention, is divided into "sections," and happy is he who is familiar with any considerable part of the field of modern thought. Compare the London of Addison's time with the London of to-day. The Spectator's daily essay was almost the only intellectual entertainment for all educated people; a glance into the monthly summary of books and other publications in Mr. Murray's "Academy" will show how vast and varied is that entertainment now. And this leads us to remark that mere style is no longer the only criterion in determining the rank to be given a work considered as a part of our literature. The most perfect description of an engine or of a chemical process would be excluded by the nature of the subject, unless it were written by a poet or by a man of great imaginative power, and so lifted out of the class of merely technical treatises. The same would be true of any special essay upon a theological or philosophical topic. So, without using the term "literature" as precisely equivalent to belles-lettres, we must recognize in it a limitation to moral and beautiful ideas and suggestions a limitation not capable of definite boundaries, but easily felt by all persons of taste. This thought will serve to explain the omission of such learned and powerful writers as Sir William Hamilton, John Locke, Herbert Spencer, Mill, and Darwin. There is room for a few comments only upon the authors in the following list. In fiction we should mention the brilliant Eastern romance, "Anastasius," by Thomas Hope, and the equally interesting stories of Persian life by James Morier. Probably a more accurate knowledge of Persian character and manners can be gained from "Hadji Baba " than from any other accessible source. The novels of Miss Jane Austen had a great and deserved popularity; and though younger readers consider them a trifle dull, they are still read with delight by those persons of maturer years who are not infected by the prevailing hurry of our times. The establishment of the leading reviews was a great event, and did much to put criticism upon a higher base, and to give form and weight to the best thought upon current literary topics. A few poets deserve honorable mention. The graceful and tender verses of Mrs. Hemans; the stirring ballads of Lockhart; the natural feeling of Motherwell; the rollicking songs of Maginn, first and greatest of "Bohemians;" the funeral drum-beat of Wolfe, immortal from his one poem; and the striking picture of the desert by Pringle, – "With the silent Bush-boy alone by his side,' all have strong claims upon us, and would be considered as worthy of a place with the best, if a single volume could contain them all. We can point, too, to Grote, the historian of Greece; to Hugh Miller, most enthusiastic and individual of geologists; to the learned and able philologist, Dean Trench; to the historical studies of Dr. Arnold, the great master of Rugby; to the powerful sermons of Dr. Chalmers, the metaphysics of Hamilton, the wit of Jerrold, and the drolleries of à Becket. Earl Stanhope, Lord Mahon. Poetess. Poet.. Miscellaneous Writer. Poet.. Novelist. ... . Dramatist and Comic Essayist. Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford. Theologian and Politician. Rev. John Frederick Denison Maurice. Clergyman.. John Stuart Mill... Dr. Richard Chenevix Trench. 'Caroline E. S. (Sheridan) Norton.. Rev. Robert Montgomery. Charles Merivale. Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke.. Charles James Lever... 1802-1838 180 1802-1871 18031803-1840 1803-1857 Edinburgh Encyclopædia, begun 1808, finished 1830. Encyclopædia Britannica, begun 1810, finished 1824, new edition 1860. Edinburgh Review, founded 1802. Quarterly Review, founded 1809. Blackwood's Magazine, founded 1817. Westminster Review, founded 1824. 1809-1870 1809 VI. CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS (SINCE 1810). The period has now been reached at which the wise critic will hesitate about giving any very positive judgments. As we look far backward, the great lights of our literature shine like stars. Chaucer and Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton, are as fixed in our firmament as Sirius, Arcturus, Lyra, and Spica Virginis are in the blue above us. As to later names, the debate still goes on, and the next age may make a new order of succession; and when we come nearer, such are the honest differences of opinion, growing out of varying religious culture, and varying mental training, it is no wonder that there are nearly as many Valhallas for literary heroes as there are separate sects and schools of thought. When we remember how few geniuses have been appreciated while living, we shall be cautious as to our estimates of contemporaries. We do not know what form of faith, what school of thought, what theory of criticism, is to rule the world. To recognize the divine gift in any of the mortals with whom we daily mingle, and whose errors and foibles are as evident as their talents, requires the eye of prophecy. The suitors of Portia had an easier task set before them, for the enigmatical inscriptions upon the caskets gave some clew for a ready wit to seize upon. There has been no attempt at making these last lists full and complete. The number of living writers is very great, and their relative rank is wholly problematical. It is only hoped that this is a reasonably fair summary. Among writers of fiction will be noticed Wilkie Collins, eminent for his skilfully constructed plots, ― Charles Reade, whose power is unquestioned, and Sala, cleverest of imitators, and with a good style of his own also. Dr. Brown, the genial essayist and charming story-teller, has written only enough to make us regret that an absorbing profession had left him so little leisure for authorship. Some views of the philosophy of history are ably presented by Creasy in his "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World." Lewes challenges the attention of all cultivated readers by his life of the illustrious Goethe and his History of Philosophy. Helps has furnished many topics for discussion to "friends in council." Buckle has taken the vast accumulations of history, and having "sorted" the classes of facts, has given to the world a doctrine of averages, showing a constant law in apparent disorder. But the largest and most valuable contributions to our literature in the widest sense have come from the travellers, natural philosophers, and scientific explorers, who now command the most eager attention from all educated men, and are exerting an influence upon thought, as well as upon the whole tone of literature and language, of which we have but a faint conception. While these powerful causes are at work within, events are ex |