AN ILLUSTRATED RECORD IN EIGHT VOLUMES VOLUME IV-PART I FROM THE AGE OF JOHNSON TO THE PREFACE TO THE FOURTH VOLUME THE principles of selection which were followed in the earlier volumes of this work have been adhered to in this also, except in the last chapter, where it was found necessary in some degree to modify them. The age through which we have just passed is still too close to us to enable us to decide with any confidence which, among the many names which were prominent in the second rank of its literature, will continue to interest posterity. Instead, therefore, of crowding the page with eminent names, certain leading figures have been taken as unquestionably in themselves attractive, and as probably representative of the time. This portion of the work, it is obvious, must be peculiarly liable, in future editions, to extension and alteration. At present, its limit is the death of Queen Victoria, and it deals with no living person, except with one famous and venerable philosopher, whose work, we must regretfully suppose, is finished. So far as the illustration of this volume is concerned, we descend through grades of picturesque decline to the period, not merely of the frock-coat and of the top-hat, but of that most inæsthetic instrument, the photographer's lens. We may claim, perhaps, to make up in copiousness for a lack of beauty which is no fault of ours. Among those whose kindness and generosity have enabled us to enrich this volume, my particular thanks are due to Mr. William Archer, to Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson, to Mr. Ernest H. Coleridge, to Mr. Coningsby D'Israeli, to Mr. Warwick Draper, to Mrs. John Richard Green, to Miss Gaskell, to Mr. John Murray, to Mrs. Richmond Ritchie, to Mr. Clement Shorter, to Mr. M. H. Spielmann, to Mrs. Baird Smith, to Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co., and to Mr. Butler Wood of Bradford. As before, I have to thank my friend Mr. A. H. Bullen for his kindness in reading the proofs and Mrs. Sydney Pawling for her valuable help in obtaining matter for illustration. E. G. November 1903. TABLE OF CONTENTS Cowper-Table Talk-John Gilpin—The Task-Crabbe-The Parish Register-The Borough -Tales of the Hall-Blake-Songs of Innocence-His Visions-Burns-Early Life-Poems in the Scottish Dialect-Tam o' Shanter-His Friendships and Love-affairs - Scotch Doric Verse-The Four Great Poets of the Eighties-Minor Poets-Erasmus Darwin-Thomas Russell-W. L. Bowles-The Publication of Lyrical Ballads -One of the Greatest Events in Literature-Wordsworth and Coleridge - The Importance of their Influence-The Wordsworths at Grasmere-Friendship with Scott and Sir George Beaumont-Later Life and Work - Death in 1850- Coleridge-Friendship with Wordsworth and Southey-The Ancient Mariner-Christabel -His Troubles in Old Age-Southey-The Beauties of his Character not always reflected in his Poetry-Campbell-The Pleasures of Hope-Lord Ullin's Daughter- Scott-Considered as a Poet-The Lay of the Last Minstrel-Marmion-The Lady of the Lake-Early Life and Education-Friendship with Ballantyne-His Tremendous Activity and Tireless Brain-His Death in 1832-Burke--The Extraordinary Ardour and Enthusiasm of his Writings-Inquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful Letters to a Noble Lord-The Regicide Peace-Godwin-Mary Wollstonecraft-The Rights of Women -Mrs. Radcliffe-M. G. Lewis--Beckford-Holcroft-Hannah More-Fanny Burney--- Maria Edgeworth--Jane Austen-Her Place in Literature-Pride and Prejudice-Sense and Sensibility-Emma-Scott's article in the Quarterly Review- The Reviews-Lord Jeffrey -Napier-Sydney Smith-Cobbett-Combe-Bentham-Isaac D'Israeli-Mackintosh -Dugald Stewart-Scott's Novels-Their Perennial Freshness and Variety-A Heritage Innocence and Purity of the Age of Wordsworth-Revolutionary Tendency of the later |