CHAPTER XXI.

SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: CONCLUSION.

1. OUR studies upon English literature, beginning with Cadmon in the seventh century, have now come to their necessary end in that portion of the nineteenth century in which we live, and in which the actors and the writers are very near to us, and are covered by the dust of contemporary conflicts and by the mist of contemporary opinions. We are upon the battle-field itself; the battle is still going on around us; we see here and there noble soldiers fighting bravely, and doing grand deeds; but in the trampling of so many feet, in the shouts of so many voices, in the hurrying this way and that of armed and of disarmed hosts, we cannot tell either just what all these movements mean, or just how this particular battle will end, or just what is the measure of praise or of blame that should be given to each one who is having a hand in it.

2. Some indication of the substance of English literature since the middle of this century may be gathered from the following record in the form of Annals:

1850. Alfred Tennyson becomes Laureate, In Memoriam. Robert Browning, Christmas-eve and Easter-day. Dickens, David Copperfield; Household Words established. Thackeray, The Kickleburys on the Rhine, Rebecca and Rowena. Leigh Hunt, Autobiography. Douglas Jerrold, The Catspaw. Harriet Martineau, History of England during the Thirty Years' Peace. Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets. Elizabeth C. Gaskell, Moorland Cottage. E. B. Lytton, Harold. Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Death's Jest-Book. Alexander Dyce, Edition of Marlowe. Wilkie Collins, Antonina. Sydney Dobell, The Roman. Francis W. Newman, Phases of Faith. F. D. Maurice, Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, Part i. Charles Merivale, History of the Romans under the Empire, 7 vols. (1850-61).

1851. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Casa Guidi Windows. John

Ruskin, The Stones of Venice. Thomas Carlyle, Life of John Sterling. Arthur Helps, Companions of My Solitude. Douglas Jerrold, Retired from Business. W. Hepworth Dixon, William Penn. E. B. Lytton, Not so Bad as We Seem. J. O. Halliwell, Edition of Shakespeare. Robert Chambers, Life and Works of Burns. W. E. Gladstone, Two Letters on Neapolitan State Prosecutions. Charles Kingsley, Yeast. G. L. Craik, The English Language. Richard Chenevix Trench, On the Study of Words.

1852. Thackeray, Esmond. Anna Jameson, Legends of the Madonna. Dickens, Child's History of England. Wilkie Collins, Basil. B. Disraeli, Lord George Bentinck: a Political Biography. John Earl Russell, Memoirs of Thomas Moore. W. Hepworth Dixon, Robert Blake. Charles Reade, Peg Woffington. Charles Kingsley, Phaeton. A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Babylon. Henry Morley, Life of Bernard Palissy of

Saintes.

1853. Charlotte Bronté, Villette. Macaulay, Speeches. Dickens, Bleak House. Thackeray, English Humorists. Sydney Dobell, Balder. Leigh Hunt, Religion of the Heart. Elizabeth C. Gaskell, Cranford, * Ruth. Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, Poems. E. B. Lytton, My Novel. Charles Knight, Once upon a Time. Michael Faraday, Lectures on Non-Metallic Elements. Charles Kingsley, Hypatia. Charles Reade, Christie Johnstone.

1854. Dickens, Hard Times. John Forster, Life of Goldsmith (enlarged edition). W. E. Aytoun, Firmilian. Douglas Jerrold, A Heart of Gold. Robert Bell, Annotated Edition of the Poets begun. H. H. Milman, History of Latin Christianity, vols. iii., iv. Gerald Massey, Ballad of Babe Christabel. William Allingham, Day and Night Songs. Thomas Henry Huxley, Educational Value of Natural History. Richard Owen, Structure of Skeleton and Teeth. F. D. Maurice, Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. John Doran, Table Traits. John Ruskin, Lectures on Architecture and Painting.

1855. Robert Browning, Men and Women. Alfred Tennyson, Maud. Dickens, Little Dorrit. Thackeray, The Newcomes, The Rose and the Ring. G. H. Lewes, Life of Goethe. Arthur Helps, The Spanish Conquest of America (1855-61). Macaulay, History of England, vols. iii., iv. Charles Kingsley, Glaucus, Westward Ho. A. P. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine. George Macdonald, Within and Without: a Dramatic Poem. George Meredith, Shaving of Shagpat. Leigh Hunt, The Old Court Suburb, Stories in Verse. Elizabeth C. Gaskell, North and South. Anthony Trollope, The Warden. Matthew Arnoid, Poems, 2d series. Charles Shirley Brooks, Aspen Court. Saturday Review established.

1856. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh. W. E. Aytoun, Bothwell. David Masson, Essays, Biographical and Critical. Alexander Dyce, Edition of Shakespeare. J. O. Halliwell, Edition of Marston. J.

A. Froude, History of England from Fall of Wolsey to Death of Elizabeth, vols. i., ii. Thackeray, Miscellanies. Dinah Maria Mulock (Craik), John Halifax. Edward A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Sara

cens.

1857. Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days. Elizabeth C. Gaskell, Life of Charlotte Bronte. Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers. Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England. Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago. Charles Reade, Never Too Late to Mend.

1858. Thackeray, The Virginians. "George Eliot," Scenes of Clerical Life. John Forster, Historical and Biographical Essays. Thomas Carlyle, Life of Friedrich II., vols. i., ii. Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne. James A. Froude, History of England, vols. iii., iv. Arthur Helps, Oulita the Serf: a Tragedy. Matthew Arnold, Merope: a Tragedy. E. B. Lytton, What will he Do with It? Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland. William Morris, Defence of Guinevere, and other Poems. W. E. Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age. Adelaide Anne Procter, Legends and Lyrics.

1859. "George Eliot," Adam Bede. Alfred Tennyson, Idyls of the King. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Darwin, Origin of Species. Sir William Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic. Anthony Trollope, The West Indies. David Masson, Life of Milton, vol. i.; British Novelists. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty. John Earl

Russell, Life of C. J. Fox.

1860. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Poems before Congress. 'George Eliot," The Mill on the Floss. G. H. Lewes, Physiology of Common Life. John Forster, Arrest of the Five Members. Shirley Brooks, The Gordian Knot. Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White. Macaulay, Miscellaneous Writings; History of England, vol. v. James A. Froude, History of England, vols. v., vi. Charles Reade, The Cloister and the Hearth.

1861. "George Eliot," Silas Marner. Dickens, Great Expectations. Thackeray, The Four Georges, Lovel. Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage. Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. W. E. Aytoun, Norman Sinclair. Charles Knight, Popular History of England (1858– 62). Earl Stanhope, Life of Pitt. Theodore Martin, Translation of Catullus.

1862. Thackeray, Adventures of Philip, Roundabout Papers. Thomas Carlyle, Life of Friedrich II., vol. iii. E. B. Lytton, A Strange Story.

Sir Henry Taylor, St. Clement's Eve. F. D. Maurice, Claims of the Bible and of Science. David Gray, The Luggie, and other Poems. Caroline E. Norton, The Lady of Garaye. Jean Ingelow, Poems. Mrs. Browning's Last Poems. John William Colenso, The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua Examined, 5 Parts (1861-65). Theodore Martin, Translation of Dante's Vita Nuova. Charles Darwin, Fertilization of Orchids.

1863. "George Eliot," Romola. Thomas Henry Huxley, Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature. John Tyndall, Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion. Edward A. Freeman, History of Federal Government, vol. i. Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies. A. W. Kinglake, History of the Invasion of the Crimea, vols. i., ii. Elizabeth C. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers. John Keble, Life of Bishop Wilson. A. P. Stanley, History of the Jewish Church. Florence Nightingale (b. 1820), Notes on Hospitals. George Macdonald, David Elginbrod.

1864. Alfred Tennyson, Enoch Arden. Robert Browning, Dramatis Persona. John Forster, Life of Sir John Eliot. Algernon Charles Swinburne, Atlanta in Calydon. John Henry Newman, Apologia pro Vitâ Suâ. William Allingham, Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland. G. II. Lewes, Aristotle. Thomas Carlyle, Life of Friedrich II., vol. iv. E. B. Pusey, Lectures on Daniel, An Eirenicon. John William Kaye, History of the Sepoy War. John Doran, Their Majesties' Servants. Henry Morley, English Writers before Chaucer.

1865. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend. Algernon Charles Swinburne, Chastelard. John Stuart Mill, Comte and Positivism. Fortnightly Review established. Thomas Carlyle, Life of Friedrich II., vols. v., vi. Elizabeth C. Gaskell, Wives and Daughters. W. II. Dixon, The Holy Land. F. D. Maurice, Conflict of Good and Evil in Our Day. George Grote, Plato.

1866. “George Eliot," Felix Holt. Lord Lytton, The Lost Tales of Miletus. James A. Froude, History of England, vols. ix., x. Wilkic Collins, Armadale. Matthew Arnold, New Poems. Bryan W. Procter, Charles Lamb: a Memoir. Christina Rossetti, The Prince's Progress, etc. Francis Turner Palgrave, Essays on Art.

Edward A. FreeThackeray, Denis

1867. William Morris, Life and Death of Jason. man, History of the Norman Conquest, vol. i. Duval. Jean Ingelow, A Story of Doom. G. H. Lewes, Biographical History of Philosophy (enlarged edition). Thomas Carlyle, Shooting Niagara, and After? W. II. Dixon, New America. Theodore Martin, Memoir of W. E. Aytoun. Matthew Arnold, Study of Celtic Literature. James A. Froude, Short Studies on Great Subjects. John Tyndall, Sound. Augusta Webster, A Woman Sold, etc. Henry Maudsley, The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind. John Hill Burton, History of Scotland, vols. i.-iv. Henry Morley, English Writers from Chaucer to

Danbar.

1868. "George Eliot," The Spanish Gypsy: a Poem. Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book. William Morris, The Earthly Paradise. Gerald Massey, Shakespeare's Sonnets Interpreted. Edward A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, vol. ii. W. H. Dixon, Spiritual Wires. A. P. Stanley, Memorials of Westminster Abbey.

1869. Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy. Edward A. Freeman,

History of the Norman Conquest, vol. iii. John Forster, Life of W. S. Landor. Harriet Martineau, Biographical Sketches. W. H. Dixon, Her Majesty's Tower, vols. i., ii.

1870. Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women. Matthew Arnold, St. Paul and Protestantism. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Poems. Thomas Henry Huxley, Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews. John Henry Newman, Miscellanies. 1871. Robert Browning, Balaustion's Adventure, Prince HohenstielSchwangau. Robert Buchanan, Napoleon Fallen: a Lyrical Drama. Lord Lytton, The Coming Race. David Masson, Life of Milton, vol. ii. W. H. Dixon, Her Majesty's Tower, vols. iii., iv. Benjamin Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato translated into English, with Analyses and Introductions. Charles Kingsley, At Last: a Christmas in the West Indies. John Morley, Voltaire. A. C. Swinburne, Songs before Sunrise. Anthony Trollope, Ralph the Heir.

1872. "George Eliot," Middlemarch. Alfred Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette. Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair. William Morris, Love is Enough. George Grote, Aristotle, edited by Alexander Bain and George Croom Robertson. William Chambers, Memoir of Robert Chambers. John Forster, Life of Dickens, vols. i., ii. Edward A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, vol. iv. James A. Froude, The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century. Charles Darwin, Expression of the Emotions.

1873. Lord Lytton, Kenelm Chillingly. Anthony Trollope, Australia and New Zealand. Samuel Plimsoll, Our Seamen. John Morley, RousMatthew Arnold, Literature and Dogma. Robert Browning, Red Cotton Nightcap Country. David Masson, Life of Milton, vol. iii. ter N. Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance.

seau.

Wal

1874. George Long, Decline of the Roman Republic. William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, vols. i., ii. W. H. S. Ralston, Earty Russian History. John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People. J. P. Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece. Theodore Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, vol. i. David Masson, Drummond of Hawthornden. W. S. Jevons, Principles of Science. Edward A. Freeman, Comparative Politics. Henry Sedgwick, The Methods of Ethics. Mrs. M. E. Fawcett, Tales on Political Economy. S. Baring-Gould, The Lost and Hostile Gospels. Frances Power Cobbe, The Hopes of the Human Race, Here and Hereafter. David Livingstone, Last Journals. Augustus J. C. Hare, Days near Rome. Leslie Stephen, Hours in a Library. John Morley, On Compromise. Miss Thackeray, Toilers and Spinsters. William Black, A Princess of Thule. Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. G. H. Lewes, Problems of Life and Mind. "George Eliot," The Legend of Jubal, and other Poems.

1875. Adolphus William Ward, History of English Dramatic Literature