following: George John Whyte-Melville (1821-1878), author of several spirited sporting tales, and a fairly successful historical novel, The Gladiators (1863); Richard Blackmore (1825– 1900), whose Lorna Doone (1869) is an admirable, and almost a great, historical romance; William Sharp (1856–1905), who, under the pseudonym Fiona Macleod, wrote poems and tales instinct with Celtic mysticism; Walter Besant (1836-1901), who collaborated with James Rice (1843-1882) in several most readable novels- e.g. Ready-Money Mortiboy (1872) and The Golden Butterfly (1876)—and wrote single-handed others not less readable (e. g. All Sorts and Conditions of Men (1882) and The Children of Gibeon (1886); George MacDonald (1824-1905), a minor master of the novel of Scottish life and character (David Elginbrod (1863), Robert Falconer (1868), &c.); John Watson (Ian Maclaren-1850-1907), a member, though by no means the chief member, of the 'kailyard' novelists whose stories follow the tradition set by Galt, and centre round Scottish parochial life. As the literature of the past passes on toward the present, Conit becomes increasingly difficult to appraise it, or do more clusion. than single out its greater masters; and when the present is actually reached, the difficulty and danger of generalization become acute. A few conclusions, however, seem possible. In poetry, the Georgian period has been one rather of interesting experiment than of masterly achievement. For some years before the war, there had been clear signs of an exhaustion of poetic power, a reaction, it would seem, from the mighty activity of the Victorian Age. Yet, despite this slackening, which has occurred in all ages and countries after periods of great artistic energy and tension, the spirit of poetry is awake: there is acute interest in its practice, much daring and brilliancy of formal handling, keen sensibility to new influences, and a wise catholicity of outlook. The burden and agony of the War may seem to have overwhelmed literature for the time being, but out of the War's effort and sacrifice there may well come soon a quickening that shall find expression in great poetry-the poetry which in our literature has so often accompanied the birth, or rebirth, of a great ideal or faith. In the practice of the novel, there has been much brilliancy and some greatness: indeed, one of the greatest novelists who have ever written in English is still with us to-day. Apart from him there have been a few stray masterpieces, but hardly any man stands out as unmistakably a master. In drama there has been still less performance and promise. For reasons already specified, there has for long been an estrangement between our stage and our greatest imaginative literature; and drama not written for the stage must always fall short of the supreme. Yet there has been brilliancy here too; and in criticism, as we have shown, there has been brilliancy and something more. If English literature at the present day is not supremely great, neither is it decadent. There has been slackening rather than failure: a level has been kept from which greatness may at any time arise. To those who doubt the future, any student of his country's literature might well reply in Rossetti's lines: Nay, come up hither. From this wave-washed mound A. B. C., Chaucer's, 38. INDEX Absalom and Achitophel, 198, 208. Addison, Joseph, 115, 204, 219– Address to Kilchurn Castle, 285. Aeneid, 60, 75, 94, 109, 153, 178. Aids to Reflection, 312. Albertus Wallenstein, 151. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 357. All Fools, 142. All for Love, 195, 198. All Sorts and Conditions of Men,367. Almond for a Parrot, An, 109. Altar of Righteousness, The, 335. Amadis of France, 93. Amends for Ladies, 151. American Taxation, Speech on, 259. Amusements Serious and Comical, Amyot, Jacques, 108. Anacreontics (Cowley), 178. Anatomy of an Equivalent, The, 213. Ancient and Modern Learning, Ancient Mariner, The, 72, 278-81, Ancren Riwle, 15. Andrea del Sarto, 332. Andreas, 5, 6, 7. Andrewes, Lancelot, 186. Andromeda (Kingsley), 342. Anna Karenina, 323. Anne of Geierstein, 315. Answer to the King's Flyting, 64. Antiquary, The (Marmion), 151. Antonio and Mellida, 142. Apology for his Life (Cibber), 206. Appeal from the New to the Old Appius and Virginia (Heywood), 145. Areopagitica, 182, 183, 213. Argument to Prove that the abolish- Ariosto, 91, 124, 131, 159. Arnold, Matthew, 231, 286, 291, Arthur and Merlin, 25, 27. Arthur of Little Britain, 76. Art of English Poesie, The, 105 n. Ascham, Roger, 97-8, 99, 103, 105. Assembly of Ladies, The, 43. Astrolabe, Treatise on, 38 n., 42. As You Like It, 21, 125, 131–2. Atheist's Tragedy, The, 145. Aurora Leigh, 340. Austen, Jane, 313, 316, 361. Autobiography (De Quincey), 310. Aytoun, William Edmonstoune, Bacon, Francis, 113, 117, 191. Bage, Robert, 316 Bagehot, Walter, 354. Bailey, Philip James, 326. Balder Dead, 341. Baldwin, William, 155. Ballads and Poems of Tragic Life, Ballads and Songs, 346 n. Ballads and Sonnets, 338. Bandello, 108, 127, 131, 132. Banished Cavaliers, The. Bannatyne MS., 61, 64. Banville, Theodore de, 172 Baptistes, 87. Barbara Allen, 71. Barbour, John, 27, 52. Barclay, Alexander, 78, 157. Barons' Wars, The, 128, 164. Battle of Alcazar, The, 121. Battle of Blenheim, 289. Battle of Brunanburh, 4, 7. Battle of Maldon, 4, 92. See Battle of the Summer Islands, 177. Beaumont, Francis, 135, 138, 146, Beaumont, Joseph, 176. Beauty and the Prisoner, 58. Beckford, William, 313. Bee, The, 256. Beggar's Bush, The, 148. Beggar's Opera, The, 235, 249. Belleforest, Pierre de, 131, 133. Bellman of London, 110. Bentham, Jeremy, 350. Bentley, Richard, 225, 229, 231. Beowulf, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 92. Berkeley, George, 228, 229. Berkenhead, Sir John, 217. Berners, John Bourchier, Lord, Besant, Walter, 367. Best, Captain George, 111. -shire, 308. Blackmore, Richard, 367. Blackmore, Sir Richard, 237. Blackwood's Magazine, 299, 306, Blair, Robert, 267. Blake, William, 252, 275-7, 278, Blurt, Master Constable, 143. |