494 



LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1886. 



of Cassiodorus," and a translation of the " In- 

 stitutes of Justinian " was -prepared by Drs. 

 Abdy and Walker. Irish classics were repre- 

 sented by Prof. Bugge's translation of " Meru- 

 gud Uilix Maicc Leirtis," the Irish Odyssey, 

 and Sir Richard F. Burton's marvelous trans- 

 lation of the "Thousand and One Nights" 

 reached its tenth and concluding volume. To 

 complete the list of translations, Sir Theodore 

 Martin issued the second part of Goethe's 

 " Faust." 



In literary essays and criticisms there were 

 a number of notable works published, includ- 

 ing a new volume (" Othello ") of Mr. Fur- 

 ness's variorum edition of Shakespeare; the 

 sixth edition of Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps's " Out- 

 lines"; "Othello and Desdemona," a critical 

 essay by Dr. Ellits ; and Mr. Fleay's " Chroni- 

 cle History of the Life of Shakespeare." There 

 was issued a new edition of Miss M. F. Ros- 

 setti's "Shadow of Dante," and that of Pope's 

 works, with Elwin and Courthope's notes, was 

 nearly completed. The new English Shelley 

 Society began several series of publications, 

 and Prof. Dowden's " Life of Shelley " was 

 one of the most important and interesting bio- 

 graphical and critical works of the year. An 

 essay on Victor Hugo by Mr. Swinburne, and 

 others on Browning by Corson and Rolfe, with 

 one on Tennyson by the latter writer, were 

 also valuable contributions to current literary 

 criticism. A collection of "Essays on the Po- 

 ets " was published by the Hon. Roden Noel. 

 Mr. G. W. Cooke in his " Poets and Problems," 

 and Mr. Andrew Lang in "Letters to Dead 

 Authors," combined humor with criticism. This 

 department closes with Mr. Frederic Harrison's 

 clever work on " The Choice of Books." 



Biography. Among the more important bio- 

 graphical works of the year should be men- 

 tioned Mr. Lowe's " Historical Biography of 

 Prince Bismarck," Mr. Thompson's "Public 

 Opinion and Lord Beaconsfield," Mr. Barnett 

 Smith's "Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria," 

 Lord Beaconsfield's " Correspondence with his 

 Sister," Lord Nelson's " Letters and Dispatch- 

 es"; Sir Henry Gordon's memorials of his 

 brother, " Chinese Gordon," Major Walford's 

 "The Parliamentary Generals of the Great 

 Civil War," and William Gisborne's New Zea- 

 land's "Rulers and Statesmen" from 1840 to 

 1885. In literary biography and autobiogra- 

 phy, there were Findlay's "Recollections of 

 De Quincey," Edmund Lee's " Story of Dor- 

 othy Wordsworth," Ruskin's " Proeteritn," 

 being the beginning of his autobiography, Mr. 

 Tupper's "My Life as an Author," Arniel's 

 " Journal," and " Thoughts of the Abbe Roux," 

 translations, Sir Francis Doyle's " Reminis- 

 cences and Opinions," Dr. Russell's " Reminis- 

 cences of Yarrow," the " Hay ward Letters," 

 and Rev. James Pycroft's " Oxford Memories." 

 Works of a more general character are Jern- 

 ingham's "Reminiscences of an Attach^," be- 

 ing experiences while connected with the Brit- 

 ish embassy in Paris during the second empire ; 



Oxenham's "Memoirs of Lieut. De Lisle"; 

 Comte de Castellane's <k Souvenirs of Military 

 Life in Algeria," translated by Margaret Lov- 

 ett ; " Memorials " of Sir Herbert Edwardes, 

 an officer distinguished in the Indian service; 

 a new edition of Lord Herbert's " Autobiog- 

 raphy " ; Hobart Pasha's " Sketches " ; Groom 

 Robertson's work on the philosopher Hobbes ; 

 " The Radical Pioneers," by Daly, and " Eng- 

 lish Letters and Letter-Writers," by Williams; 

 and new volumes of the " English Worthies " 

 series, including Marlborough, Admiral Blake, 

 Lord Shaftesbury, Sir Walter Raleigh, Ben 

 Jonson, and Sir Richard Steele. The lives of 

 Sir Henry Raeburn and Giovanni Dupr6 were 

 the principal contributions to art biography. 



The " Letters of George Sand " were trans- 

 lated and edited, in six volumes; Sir Ronald 

 Gower wrote a sketch of Marie Antoinette ; 

 Miss Stewart "A Life of Mary Queen of 

 Scots" ; and Mr. Round a "Critical Essay on 

 Anne Boleyn. Mr. Scott published his Hulsean 

 prize essay on " Ulfilas, Apostle to the Goths," 

 Mr. Collins an historical study of "Boling- 

 broke and Voltaire in England," Wilkinson 

 his "Reminiscences of the Court and Times of 

 Ernest, King of Hanover," Mr. Bettany two 

 volumes of sketches of "Eminent Doctors," 

 and Mr. Leslie Stephen's "Dictionary of Na- 

 tional Biography" reached its tenth volume. 



Poetry. The only poetical writer of note 

 who published anything original during the 

 year was Lord Tennyson, whose " Locksley 

 Hall Sixty Years After" was the subject of 

 mingled praise and criticism. Mr. Coventry 

 Patmore produced a collective edition of his 

 "Poems," that revived public interest in a 

 once popular writer ; Miss A. Mary F. Robin- 

 son published "An Italian Garden"; Justin 

 McCarthy appeared in " Plafiz in London," and 

 Ernest Myers in "The Judgment of Prome- 

 theus." Mr. Browning published "Parley- 

 ings with certain People of Importance in 

 their Day." On the whole, the poetic presei 

 ment was even unusually meager. 



Fiction. The list of novels by British \vrit 

 was large, but included no really first-ch 

 work, though "The Silence of Dean Mai 

 land," by "Maxwell Grey," a new writer, 

 to be a woman, attracted general attentic 

 and is certainly a remarkable first attempt. 

 The most strikingly popular novel wa> Mr. Ste- 

 venson's "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 

 Hyde " ; after that came H. Rider Haggard's 

 "King Solomon's Mines," and Stevenson's 

 " Kidnapped," Anstey's clever skit " A Fall< 

 Idol," Grant Allen's "Babylon" and "Fc 

 Mamie's Sake," and George MacDonald' 

 " What's Mine's Mine." Wilkie Collins pul 

 lished two works, "The Evil Genius" am. 

 "The Guilty River," neither of which added 

 to his reputation, and Mr. Hardy's " Mayor of 

 Casterbridge " was considered as below the 

 standard of his previous works. A posthu- 

 mous work by the late Hugh Conway, "A 

 Cardinal Sin," was of about the caliber of its 



