Victorian Literature Part 7

The age has been, particularly in its later developments, an age of good critics of literature. Criticism unhappily rarely lasts much beyond its own decade. Even Mr Matthew Arnold lives now only by his poetry, and the many good things that he said about books are being steadily forgotten.

Arnold was a great critic, and so also was =Walter Pater (1839-1894)=, whose "Marius the Epicurean" and "Imaginary Portraits" should have ranked him with writers of imagination were it not that criticism was his dominant faculty. Pater has been described as "the most rhythmical of English prose writers," and his "Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry," and his "Appreciations" give him a very high place among the writers of our time.

=Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834-1894)= was another great critic, who wrote at least one work of imagination. "Marmorne" is a very pretty story of life in France. With every aspect of French life Mr Hamerton was well acquainted, as he lived in that country for very many years. He wrote regularly upon art topics, and edited an art magazine, _The Portfolio_; but it is by his volume of essays ent.i.tled "The Intellectual Life" that he will be most kindly remembered for many a year to come.

Certain writers whom I must mention are ent.i.tled to a place both as critics and as poets. Mr W. E. Henley, Mr F. W. H. Myers, William Bell Scott, and William Allingham for example. =William Ernest Henley (1849- )= has written plays in conjunction with R. L. Stevenson, and his "Book of Verses" and "Song of the Sword" ent.i.tle him to very high rank among the poets of the day. But he is also a critic of exceptional vigour and force, and since Matthew Arnold there has been no volume of criticism so full of discrimination and sound judgment as "Views and Reviews." Ill health has compelled Mr Henley to waste much of his undoubted talent. He is at present editing fine library editions of Burns and Byron. =Frederic William Henry Myers (1843- )= wrote "Saint Paul," a poem of considerable reputation, but his critical essays are more widely known. They were published in two volumes, "Cla.s.sical" and "Modern," and are full of delightful ideas delightfully expressed. His biography of Wordsworth is a daintily fanciful memoir, abounding in good criticism. Mr Myers's brother Ernest is also a poet, and so also was =William Bell Scott (1811-1890)=. He was, it is true, a poet of a narrow range, but a critic of great energy and industry. Bell Scott became best known by his "Autobiography," published after his death. In it he discussed Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite movement with sufficient frankness. =William Allingham (1824-1889)= wrote many poems and ballads full of the Celtic spirit, and of Ireland, which he loved as the land of his birth. Allingham was for a time editor of _Fraser's Magazine_, and he contributed regularly to the chief literary periodicals of his day.

Literary critics of importance to-day are Edward Dowden, Richard Garnett, George Saintsbury, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen, and Andrew Lang--all of whom are happily living and writing.

=Edward Dowden (1843- )=, who is an Irishman, and a professor of Trinity College, Dublin, has a genius for accuracy and is a master of detail. For textual criticism of Wordsworth and Sh.e.l.ley he has no superior. He has an immense knowledge of the literature of many languages, and holds without dispute the first place among living students of German literature in this country. His knowledge of English literature is profound, and in "Shakspere, his Mind and Art," and "Studies in Literature," he has said some singularly illuminating things about books. With his "Life of Sh.e.l.ley" one observes a certain deterioration; Professor Dowden, with all his profound love of literature, has scarcely the qualities which would find attraction in the curiously impulsive character of the poet Sh.e.l.ley. Dowden was happier when writing about Southey, and he is still more at home with great impersonal literary figures like Shakspere and Goethe.

=Richard Garnett (1835- )=,--better known to the world to-day as Dr Garnett--has also written on Sh.e.l.ley, not merely with sympathy but with partisanship. Dr Garnett, who is honourably a.s.sociated with the British Museum Library, is a most acute critic, a biographer of Carlyle and Emerson, a translator from the Greek and German, and, like Professor Dowden, a poet.

=George Saintsbury (1845- )=, who is Professor of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, has been an industrious critic for many years, and his knowledge of French literature in particular is profound.

His acquaintance with English literature in the seventeenth century has, however, considerably vitiated his style. It is not easy to tolerate the phraseology of the seventeenth century in modern books. This defect of style is regrettably noticeable in two volumes of literary history which Professor Saintsbury has published, one dealing with the seventeenth and the other with the nineteenth century. It is in certain brief biographies of Sir Walter Scott and others that Professor Saintsbury is most excellent; but his wide knowledge and his genuine grasp of the most salient characteristics of good literature are indisputable qualities which rank him high among the bookmen of his day.

=Edmund Gosse (1849- )= is not less distinguished than the writers I have named. He would be widely known as a writer of charming verse were he not actively engaged in literary criticism. The son of a famous naturalist, Mr Gosse is the author of many admirably written books about the literature of the past and the present. What Carlyle so largely did for German literature by introducing it to English readers Mr Gosse has done for Scandinavian literature. In conjunction with Mr William Archer--a dramatic critic of singular insight--he has translated Ibsen, whose influence has been as marked during the past ten years as the influence of German writers was marked during the previous thirty. Mr Gosse's best biography is his "Life of Gray."

A critic of remarkable learning is =Leslie Stephen (1832- )=, whose "Hours in a Library" and "History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century" are books which have profoundly impressed the age. Mr Leslie Stephen has written a large number of biographies, all of them characterised by singular accuracy, by remarkable graces of style, and by genuine insight. He was the first editor of the _Dictionary of National Biography_, a work which has proved invaluable to students of our later literature.

=Andrew Lang (1844- )= is the last of the critics I have named, and not the least active. He has shone in many branches of literary work.

His "Ballads and Lyrics of Old France," "Ballades in Blue China," and numerous other verses, have gained him considerable reputation as a poet. His translations of Homer and Theocritus are by many counted the finest translations that our literature has seen. Some have contended that his musical prose rendering of the Odyssey is incomparably superior to all the efforts of Pope, of Cowper, and of the many other poets who have attempted to render Homer in verse. Mr Lang is an authority on folk-lore; he has joined issue with Professor Max Muller on many points which are of keen interest to those who are attracted towards the science of language and the study of comparative religion. As a writer of fairy-tales, and as the editor of books of fairy-stories, Mr Lang has endeared himself to thousands belonging to the younger generation. But all this is but dimly and inefficiently to appraise Mr Lang's marvellous versatility. He has written fiction, history, and, above all, biography, his biographical work including a Life of Sir Stafford Northcote and a Life of John Gibson Lockhart, Scott's son-in-law.

Biography has generally been written by literary critics, and one requires no apology in any case for ranking the biographers among the critics. =John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854)= himself was a notable example. He was editor of the _Quarterly Review_, and an industrious writer for many years; but he is best known to us by his "Life of Sir Walter Scott," which was published--it is worthy of note--in 1837, the year of the Queen's accession. Lockhart's "Scott" is beyond question the most important biography of the reign. The longest is that of Milton by Professor Ma.s.son. =David Ma.s.son (1822- )= has held a chair of literature in University College, London, and later at Edinburgh. Few men know English literature better than he. His name will always be a.s.sociated with his monumental "Life of Milton," a solid, accurate, exhaustive book; but he has written pleasantly on "British Novelists and their Styles" and "Drummond of Hawthornden," besides sundry other books.

Many of our poets have had capable biographers. Professor Knight of St Andrews has devoted himself for many years to Wordsworth, and has written his biography besides editing his collected works. The late James d.y.k.es Campbell (1835-1894) wrote a biography of Coleridge distinguished by remarkable thoroughness. Professor W. J. Courthope has proved himself Pope's best biographer and editor, and is giving us a good "History of English Poetry," which at present reaches only to the Reformation. Mr Churton Collins, one of the most thorough of our critics, has written on Swift, as has also Sir Henry Craik; and Swift's life in Ireland has been gracefully sketched by Mr Richard Ashe King, a novelist whose "Love the Debt" and "The Wearing of the Green" have commanded a large audience. Swift has been a favourite subject with the biographers. A life of him was the task upon which =John Forster (1812-1876)= was engaged at the time of his death. Forster was an untiring biographer, and he benefited literature as well by his death as by his life, in that he bequeathed his fine library of books and ma.n.u.scripts to the nation. John Forster wrote a Life of Walter Savage Landor, another of Goldsmith, and another of Charles d.i.c.kens, against which it was urged that he had introduced too much of his own personality. Perhaps Forster's best work was his "Life of Sir John Eliot," an expansion of a biography of that patriot which he had contributed to his "Statesmen of the Commonwealth."

Biography is the great medium of instruction and inspiration of that little band of Positive philosophers who accept their gospel from Auguste Comte, whose "Philosophie Positive" they have translated into English. "Study the 'Philosophie Positive' for yourself," says George Henry Lewes, who, with George Eliot, had much enthusiasm for the new cult; "study it patiently, give it the time and thought you would not grudge to a new science or a new language; and then, whether you accept or reject the system, you will find your mental horizon irrevocably enlarged. 'But six stout volumes!' exclaims the hesitating aspirant: Well, yes; six volumes requiring to be meditated as well as read. I admit that they 'give pause' in this busy bustling life of ours; but if you reflect how willingly six separate volumes of philosophy would be read in the course of the year the undertaking seems less formidable. No one who considers the immense importance of a doctrine which will give unity to his life, would hesitate to pay a higher price than that of a year's study." Among the most gifted of the Positivists is =Frederic Harrison (1831- )=, whose "Order and Progress," and "Choice of Books,"

are well known. Among his companions in literary and religious warfare have been =James Cotter Morison (1831-1888)=, who wrote biographies of St Bernard of Clairvaux and Macaulay, "The Service of Man" which was a contribution to religious propaganda; and Richard Congreve (born 1818), who was a pupil of Dr Arnold at Rugby, and who has written many thoughtful political tracts.

An attempt to popularise Comte by an abridgment of his great work was made by =Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)=, who was born at Norwich, and was one of the most versatile of Victorian writers. None of her work has stood the test of time, perhaps because she had so little of real genius, although possessed undoubtedly of great intellectual endowments.

Not the less readily should we recognise that she exercised considerable influence upon her own generation. She wrote many stories dealing with social subjects, and tales ill.u.s.trative of Political Economy, which dispersed many a popular illusion. In a visit to America she learned to sympathise with the Northern States, and perhaps no writer of the day did so much in England to excite sympathy with the cause which ultimately proved victorious. Miss Martineau's "Biographical Sketches"

were originally published in the _Daily News_, a journal to which she was for many years a regular contributor, and for which she wrote her own obituary notice. Her historical work is mere compilation, dest.i.tute alike of originality and thoroughness, and the greater part of her other work has proved to be ephemeral. Such tales, however, as "Deerbrook" and "The Hour and the Man" have still admiring readers. The publication of her "Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development" (1851) excited much controversy, although her fearless honesty won the respect even of her opponents.

A writer who distinguished himself most notably at one period by a combination of antagonism to Supernatural Christianity, and a gift for writing biography, was =John Morley (1838- )=. Mr Morley was born at Blackburn, and educated at Cheltenham and at Lincoln College, Oxford.

Much of his work was done in journalism; he edited in succession the _Morning Star_, the _Literary Gazette_, the _Fortnightly Review_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, and _Macmillan's Magazine_. He resigned the editorship of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ in 1883, when he entered Parliament as member for Newcastle-on-Tyne, and he gave up his post on _Macmillan's Magazine_ on entering a Liberal Cabinet in 1886. He still edits the "English Men of Letters Series," a remarkable collection of handy biographies, for which he wrote a "Life of Burke." His literary achievement, apart from his essays, is entirely biographical, but it was of enormous influence upon the intellectual development of thoughtful young men at the Universities during the seventies and eighties. He has written lives of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot, which throw much light on the period prior to the French Revolution, and give abundant evidence that, had he not devoted himself to politics he would have been able to produce a history of the French Revolution of inestimable value. On the other hand his "Life of Cobden" was a failure from a literary standpoint. The essay "On Compromise" is a most interesting development of the fundamental idea of Milton's "Areopagitica," and is probably the most exhaustive treatment of the question--how far we are justified in keeping back the expression of our opinions in deference to the views and customs of our fellow-men.

Another good biographer who gave up to Parliament time which might have been better employed, from the point of view of a lover of letters, is =Sir George Otto Trevelyan (1838- )=, whose life of his uncle, Lord Macaulay, is a delightful biography, full of entertainment for the most frivolous of readers. Not less entertaining is Sir George Trevelyan's "Early History of Charles James Fox" (1880), a book which makes one wish that the writer had devoted himself to that epoch of our history, and had done for the period of the Georges what his uncle had done for their immediate predecessors.

=Lord Houghton (1809-1885)= wrote poetry as Richard Monckton Milnes, and his lines are still frequently quoted. But his biography of Keats--"Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats (1848),"

although not now in any publisher's list, is certain to be long remembered. Lord Houghton's life was written by his friend, Sir Wemyss Reid, author also of a "Monograph on Charlotte Bronte." His son, after serving as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, became Earl of Crewe; his daughter, Florence Henniker, keeps alive the literary tradition of the family, and is known as a writer of short stories. Lord Houghton had a genuine love of letters and of the society of literary men. So also had =Henry Crabb Robinson (1775-1867)=, whose diary edited by Dr Sadler (1869) brings one in touch with all the literary men and women of the period. At his house in Russell Square Robinson gave breakfasts, to which it became a distinction to be invited. =Samuel Rogers's (1763-1855)= breakfasts have been described in many memoirs. Rogers wrote all his poems long years before the Queen began to reign, but he lived for another thirty years with the reputation of a good conversationalist and story-teller. His "Table Talk" was published in 1856, and it is full of good stories. Two valuable books concerning Rogers have been written by Mr Peter William Clayden, "Early Life of Samuel Rogers," and "Rogers and His Contemporaries."

An important biography was written by =James Spedding (1810-1881)=, whose whole life was devoted to a study of Bacon, and to a thorough destruction of Macaulay's criticism upon the great philosopher. The "Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon, including all his Occasional Works, newly collected and set forth, with a Commentary Biographical and Historical," was published in seven volumes between 1857 and 1874.

Two of the most notable political philosophers of the era were George Cornewall Lewis and Bagehot. =Sir George Lewis (1806-1863)= held important posts in the Governments of his day, being at one time Home Secretary and at another Secretary of State for War. He wrote "A Dialogue on the Best Form of Government" and many other treatises.

=Walter Bagehot (1826-1877)= was one of the greatest authorities of his day on banking and finance. He wrote "Physics and Politics,"

"Economic Studies," and several other works which have little relation to literature; but his "Literary Studies" indicated a critical acquaintance with the best books. A brilliant publicist of our day, who combines, like Bagehot, a love of affairs with keen literary instincts, is =Goldwin Smith (1823- )=, who has made his home in Toronto, Canada, for many years now, but who was once intimately a.s.sociated with Oxford University. Goldwin Smith has written many books and pamphlets, one on "The Relations between England and America," another on "The Political Destiny of Canada," and he has written a short biography of Cowper.

The most famous traveller of the reign and one of our greatest men of letters was =George Borrow (1803-1881)=, who went to Spain as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Hence his "Bible in Spain,"

which has become one of the most popular books in our language as it is one of the most fascinating. It was first published in 1843 under the t.i.tle "The Bible in Spain, or Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula." "Lavengro" (1851) and "The Romany Rye" (1857) have enjoyed almost an equal popularity with "The Bible in Spain."

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American citizen, and his work, therefore, does not come within the scope of this volume. I am the more sorry for this, that I consider Melville's name is ent.i.tled to rank with that of George Borrow as one of the two travellers during the epoch whose books make literature. It is small disparagement to the majority of our great travellers that they have not been men of letters, that their books, although serviceable to their generation, are of little moment considered from the standpoint of art. Although Mr H. M. Stanley, Dr Nansen, and other adventurous spirits of our time, may be quite as important in the general drift of the world's doings as any of the literary men whose names are contained in this volume, their books have no place whatever in literature. It is noteworthy, however, that books written by travellers have been, during the past ten years or more, by far the most popular form of reading, apart from fiction. Interest in historical study and speculative writing seems to have declined; interest in travel is as marked as ever.

The journalism of the reign has been so intimately a.s.sociated with literature that were my s.p.a.ce more ample I should have chosen to devote a chapter to that subject alone. Many of the men I have mentioned, perhaps most of them, have at one time or another contributed to the journals or magazines of the day. Even the novelists have a peculiar interest in journalism, because of late years as large a proportion of their pecuniary reward has come from what is called serial publication in this or that magazine or newspaper as from book publication. Apart from fiction, access to magazines and newspapers has become, if it has not always been, an easy and pleasant way of making oneself heard upon the subject nearest to one's heart. Literary journalists, who have afterwards republished their contributions in volume form include Sydney Smith and John Wilson at the beginning of the reign; as also Douglas Jerrold, Mark Lemon, Edmund Yates, Charles Mackay, and George Augustus Sala. =Sydney Smith (1771-1845)= left nothing that we can read to-day.

He lives as a pleasant memory. We know that he must have been a liberal-minded, as he was certainly a very witty clergyman. He wrote on "The Ballot" in 1837 and on "The Church Bills" in 1838, and he went on writing zealously until his death. "The Wit and Wisdom of Sydney Smith"

was published in 1861. =John Wilson (1785-1854)= has a more purely literary record. As editor of _Blackwood's Magazine_, he made that publication a power in the land. His "Recreations of Christopher North"

appeared in 1842. Many of his essays and sketches may still be read with real pleasure, and indeed his influence will be very much alive for many a year to come. =Douglas Jerrold (1803-1857)= is also well known to-day by his "Black-eyed Susan" and "Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures."

His son, Blanchard Jerrold (1826-1884), wrote his life. =Mark Lemon (1809-1870)= was one of the first editors of _Punch_ newspaper. His hundreds of articles and many novels are all well nigh forgotten, but his name will always receive honourable mention in the history of journalism. =Edmund Yates (1831-1894)=, who founded _The World_ newspaper in 1874, will be remembered by his well written "Autobiography"--one of the best books of the kind ever issued. Yates wrote many novels, but they have all pa.s.sed out of memory. =Charles Mackay (1814-1889)= was an active journalist for a number of years. He wrote novels, poems, and criticisms, and an entertaining autobiography ent.i.tled "Forty Years' Recollections of Life, Literature, and Public Affairs." Dr Mackay was father of Eric Mackay, author of "Love Letters of a Violinist," and stepfather of Miss Marie Corelli the novelist.

=George Augustus Sala (1828-1895)=, who wrote so continuously for the _Daily Telegraph_ and other journals, was also author of many books as well as the inevitable autobiography. "The Land of the Golden Fleece,"

"America Revisited," and "Living London" are well known. =Richard Jefferies (1848-1887)= published his "Gamekeeper at Home" in the _Pall Mall Gazette_. "Wood Magic" (1881), "Bevis" (1882), and "The Story of My Heart" (1883), are his best books.

These names suggest a hundred others. The most honoured journalist of to-day is =Frederick Greenwood (1830- )=, who has edited "The Cornhill Magazine" and more than one newspaper. He has written poems, stories, and essays, his "Lover's Lexicon" and "Dreams" being two of his latest volumes.

Another editor of _The Cornhill Magazine_, =James Payn (1830- )=, has written many successful novels, of which "Lost Sir Ma.s.singberd" (1864) and "By Proxy" (1878) are perhaps the most popular. Mr Payn's many accomplishments, his delightful humour and gift of genial anecdote, have endeared him to a wide circle.

A journalist of equal distinction was =Richard Holt Hutton (1826-1897)=, the editor of the _Spectator_, who in that journal maintained for thirty-five years the high-water mark of dignified and independent criticism, in an age in which the extensive intercourse of authors and critics, the constant communication between the writers of books and the writers for newspapers, has made independent criticism a difficult, and, indeed, almost impossible achievement. Mr Hutton wrote many books, two of the most notable being "Essays Literary and Speculative," which were full of thoughtful and discerning estimates of the works of Wordsworth, George Eliot, and other writers.

Memoirs abound in the epoch, although we are mainly indebted to translations. Amiel's "Journal," translated by Mrs Humphry Ward, "Marie Bashkirtseff's Diary," translated by Mathilde Blind, reflect one side of this literary taste; while the thousand and one memoirs concerning Napoleon I. represents another. The most popular series of political memoirs in English we owed to =Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (1794-1865)=, who became Clerk to the Privy Council in 1821, and held that post until 1860. After his death his diary was edited by Mr Henry Reeve. The first series of the "Greville Memoirs" dealing with the reign of George IV. and William IV., appeared in 1875 and created immense excitement.[19] The later volumes excited less interest.

"The Life of the late Prince Consort" (1874) by =Sir Theodore Martin (1816- )=, naturally contained no indiscretions although it did much to enhance, if that were possible, kindly memories of the Queen's husband.

Sir Theodore Martin made his first fame under the pseudonym of Bon Gaultier. His "Book of Ballads," written in conjunction with Professor Aytoun, had much success. Sir Theodore Martin also wrote Aytoun's "Memoir" (1867), and "The Life of Lord Lyndhurst" (1883). He has translated the Odes of Horace, "The Vita Nuova" of Dante, Goethe's "Faust," and Heine's "Poems and Ballads." In 1885 he published a "Sketch of the Life of Princess Alice."

It is difficult to know where to place =Sir Arthur Helps (1817-1875)=, who wrote plays, novels, histories, and essays. He was an overrated writer in his time. He is perhaps underrated now. Two series of "Friends in Council" appeared, the first in 1847, the second in 1859. They dealt with all manner of abstract subjects, such as "war," "despotism," and so on, and were very popular. Another volume, "Companions of my Solitude,"

was equally successful. Helps was rash enough to enter into compet.i.tion with Prescott in treating of the Spanish Conquest of America; but the picturesque books of the earlier writer are still with us while Helps's "Life of Pizarro" (1869) and "Life of Cortes" (1871) are almost forgotten. That also is the fate of his romance, "Realmah" (1868) and of his tragedies, "Catherine Douglas" and "Henry II." Sir Arthur Helps was Clerk to the Privy Council, and he edited the "Princ.i.p.al Speeches and Addresses of the late Prince Consort" (1862).

Sir Arthur Helps also edited for =Queen Victoria (1819- )= her "Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the Highlands" (1868). The Queen has also published "The Early Days of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort"

(1867), and "More Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands"

(1884).

Her Majesty has been credited with a genuine taste for letters, and a love for good poetry and good fiction. With some show of authority it has been stated that her favourite novelists are Sir Walter Scott, Miss Austen, and Miss Bronte; while it is quite evident to the least inquisitive that many literary theologians have had some measure of her regard. Happily the times have long pa.s.sed when literature needed the patronage of the powerful. To-day it can honourably stand alone. But it is pleasing to remember that the sovereign whose sixty years of rule make so remarkable a record in literature, as in many other aspects of the world's progress, has taken a sympathetic interest in the books and bookmen of the epoch.