434 



LITERATURE. BRITISH, IN 1887. 



ultory Beading," and a good many other 

 equally incongruous topics ; and finally among 

 the essays may be mentioned Prof. Veitch's 

 " Feeling for Nature in Scottish Poetry," illus- 

 trated by selections, which make it in fact a 

 thoroughly respectable anthology. 



Biography. This subject includes, as usual, 

 men and women of all classes of merit and 

 standing. To begin, we may mention "The 

 Lives of the Sheridans," by Mr. Percy Fitz- 

 gerald, a gentleman who has enjoyed access 

 to fresh sources of information. Dowden's 

 "Shelley" and Oolvin's "Keats" are two 

 works which have attracted universal atten- 

 tion, and are important contributions to Eng- 

 lish literature. The new biographical series 

 of " Great Writers " has thus far presented 

 Mr. Knight's sketch of " D. G. Rosetti," Mr. 

 Hall Oaine's " Life of Coleridge," and, from 

 Mr. Marzials, an excellent life of " Dickens." 

 Mr. Charles L. Reade and the Rev. Compton 

 Reade have produced what is stigmatized in 

 England as " a rather clumsy compilation made 

 up of hitherto unpublished essays and scraps 

 of letters and diaries," forming what they term 

 " A Memoir of the Late Charles Reade." The 

 book is not attractive as a narrative, and may 

 be properly censured for much of its contents, 

 which should not have been permitted publica- 

 tion. Dr. Charles Mackay's " Through the 

 Long Day " presents a pleasing retrospect of 

 the busy literary life of this one-time popular 

 writer, extending quite through the half-cent- 

 ury. A very important biography is the au- 

 thoritative " Life of Darwin," in two volumes. 

 Lee's " Dorothy Wordsworth " and the " Cole- 

 ortan Memoirs" are notable for presenting 

 pen-pictures of the literary life of the earlier 

 half of the century. Mr. George Saintsbury 

 has published his " History of Elizabethan 

 Literature," which is exhaustive, and displays 

 remarkable industry and much critical capaci- 

 ty. Th3 "Life and Writings of Ann Gil- 

 christ," by Herbert Gilchrist, the "Life of 

 Agnes Strickland," and the " Life of Rosina, 

 Lady Hamilton," by Miss Louisa Devey, pre- 

 sent three important female personages of the 

 century. The last work is a dissection of the 

 character of the late Lord Lytton by the hos- 

 tile pens of his wife and her literary execu- 

 trix, and its statements are doubtless to be 

 taken with a very large grain of salt. Still in 

 feminine biography may be mentioned Miss A. 

 Mary F. Robinson's " Margaret of Angouleme," 

 which is her contribution t3 "Famous Wom- 

 en," and the " Historical Biography of Lady 

 Hamilton and Lord Nelson,'' in two volumes, 

 by John Cordy Jeaffreson. Prof. Brandl has 

 completed his "Samuel Taylor Coleridge and 

 the English Romantic School," which has been 

 translated by Lady Eastlake. This important 

 work has had the advantage of the use of the 

 family papers referring to its distinguished 

 subject, besides the assistance of many accom- 

 plished persons who were able to aid in the 

 accomplishment of a very valuable work. The 



story of the short and sad life of the poet Philip 

 Bourke Marston, who was blind from his early 

 youth, has been told in a memoir prefaced to 

 a volume of his sketches entitled " For a 

 Song's Sake, and Other Poems." Many of 

 these stories were published in American pe- 

 riodicals. Mr. Edwin Hodder's "Life of Lord 

 Shaftsbury " is a very incisive and thorough 

 biography. Admiral Hobart Pasha's "Sketch- 

 es from My Life " presents a pleasant memorial 

 ot'-the deceased English sailor who entered the 

 Turkish services after the American civil war, 

 and remained in high command until his recent 

 death. The " Life of Jabez Bunting," of which 

 the first volume was issued in 1859 by his son, 

 has now been completed by the Rev. G. 

 Stringer Rowe. Of Mr. Leslie Stevens's " The 

 Dictionary of National Biography," twelve 

 volumes have now been published, bringing 

 the articles down to " Craigie." Archibald 

 Ballantyne has published a " Political Biog- 

 raphy of Lord Carteret." An entertaining 

 autobiography of Mr. Frith is one of the latest 

 books of the year. Mr. J. fl. Lupton's " Life 

 of Dean Colet " is a graceful memoir of the 

 deceased scholar and theologian. The "Life 

 of James Frazier, Bishop of Manchester," by 

 George Thomas Howes, who was one of Fra- 

 zier's pupils, is a striking biography of a most 

 attractive and genial divine. Other religious 

 biographies are Chase's " Chrysostom," Col- 

 lette's "Cranmer," and Lee's " Cardinal Pole." 

 Norman's '' Corsairs of France." and a bio- 

 graphical volume in Laughton's "Studies in 

 Naval History," complete the list of works to 

 be mentioned in this department. 



Poetry. Mr. Browning has signalized the 

 turning of his third quarter of a century by 

 the production of his quaint but strong "Par- 

 ley ings with Certain People of Importance in 

 their Day," the said people including person- 

 ages of a past age, as follows: Bernard de 

 Mandeville, Daniel Bartoli, Christopher Smart, 

 George Bubb Doddington, Francis Furini, 

 Gerard de Lairesse, and Charles Avison. Lord 

 Lytton has published a volume of " After Para- 

 dise, and other Poems." Mr. Swinburne has 

 issued no volume, but has contributed to the 

 magazines, his most important work in this 

 direction being " Locrine," which is chiefly no- 

 table for having been cabled in full, to the ex- 

 tent of a good many thousand words, to a New 

 York morning paper. Lewis Morris has pub- 

 lished. " Songs of Britain," and Mr. William 

 Morris his first volume of " The Odyssey " of 

 Homer, which has been sharply criticised by 

 the London literary journals. Lord Carnarvon, 

 has also furnished a translation of the same 

 work, both having reached only the first half 

 of it. Robert Louis Stevenson, better known 

 as a writer of fiction, has made his appearance 

 in a volume of poems, entitled "Underwoods," 

 which are pleasing if not remarkable. "Bal- 

 lads and Poems of Tragic Life," by George 

 Meredith, contains much of the quaint man- 

 nerism peculiar to this writer in his prose 



