person who would have been a prominent figure among the adherents of the King in the Great Civil War.

The poem which I have quoted from him shows extremely well this side of his character.

It was

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1828-1882), best known as a painter, had succeeded as a poet before he took to art, for "The Blessed Damozel," on the whole his most memorable poem, was written about 1847, though not published till a year or two later. only in 1848 that he became the pupil of Ford Madox Brown, and laid the foundation of his artistic fame. The years from 1850 to 1860 seem to be thought those in which he achieved most in painting. His collected poems had been buried with his wife in 1862, but were exhumed by permission of Henry Bruce, later Lord Aberdare, when he was Home Secretary, and published in 1870.

Strange to say, his poetical powers which had slumbered for a great many years, thanks to bad health and other causes, blazed up again, and he published in 1880 some very remarkable work, including the "Ballad of the White Ship." No other Englishman has achieved so much success in the combined characters of painter and poet.

ELLEN MARY PATRICK DOWNING (1828-1869), known in her day as "Mary of the Nation," has been rescued from oblivion, at least on this side of the Irish Channel, by Mr. Stopford Brooke's valuable collection of Irish poetry in the English tongue. The poem

which I have reprinted is said to have been the last

written by its authoress before she went into a convent in 1849. It stands out delightfully from the political ravings with which it was originally associated.

CHRISTINA GEORGina RossettI (1830-1894) succeeded brilliantly in more than one totally different kind of poetry, and above all in her intensely mystic poems, which are very numerous, and which make some critics regard her as far superior to any English poetess, with the exception, perhaps, of Mrs. Browning. I should not myself agree with that verdict; but she certainly deserves a high place. She was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and hardly less gifted.

JEAN INGELOW (1830-1897) was a most prolific writer alike of poems and novels. Several of the former are so admirable that I have found much difficulty in choosing the one I like best, the second place, if not the first, belonging certainly to the very exquisite lines entitled "Requiescat in Pace." I have, however, settled finally on "The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571."

EDWARD Robert Bulwer LyTTON (1831-1892), first Earl of Lytton, began his education at Harrow, studied at Bonn, entered the Diplomatic Service, and had a very distinguished career in it. When he was Minister at Lisbon in 1876 he was, much to his surprise, offered the Viceroyalty of India. He retained that great office for four years, but resigned in 1880. He returned in 1887 to his old profession, becoming Ambassador in Paris, a post in which he was emi

nently successful. He published" Clytemnestra and other Poems" as early as 1855, "The Wanderer" in 1859, "Lucile" in 1860, and continued publishing poetry from time to time through the whole of his active and brilliant life.

CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY (1831-1884), the best of parodists, early showed an extraordinary power of writing Latin verse, and won the Balliol Scholarship in 1850. He soon, however, quarrelled with the authorities, disappeared from Oxford and went to Cambridge, where he managed his affairs better, but died prematurely in 1884, leaving less behind him than might have been expected from so very clever a

man.

ADAM LINDSAY GORDON (1833-1870) was educated at Cheltenham College, and kept some terms at Merton, but went out in 1853 to South Australia, where he became a trooper in the Mounted Police, and led a wild life, which ended unhappily. He wrote some exceedingly vigorous ballads, from one of which I have taken a very striking verse.

RODEN BERKELEY WRIOTHESLEY NOEL (18341894) was the fourth son of the first Lord Gainsborough. He was educated at Trinity, Cambridge, and took his degree in 1858. He wrote a great many volumes of poetry, was much interested in philosophy, and became a member of the Metaphysical Society, but died suddenly while travelling in Germany.

JAMES THOMSON (1834-1882) was born at PortGlasgow, was appointed, while still very young, an assistant-schoolmaster in the army. When stationed near Cork he became acquainted with a young girl who seems to have exercised a most extraordinary and most salutary influence over him; but died, unhappily, before they were married. In 1868 he left the army, and was offered a home by Mr. Bradlaugh at Tottenham. While he lived near London (or, as was the case later in it) he wrote a great deal. His "City of Dreadful Night" first won him fame, but ere fame came he had, unfortunately, taken to drinking. He went to live in Leicester, but removed, just before his death, once more to London, where he died very sadly.

WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1899) would have been a useful person in his generation if he had done nothing more than give a powerful and enduring impulse to the beautifying of our houses; but as far back as 1858 he was recognised as a true poet. In 1867 appeared the "Life and Death of Jason," while in 1873 came the book by which he is best known, "The Earthly Paradise." Many may wish that he had kept to work of this class, and had not wasted his time over Socialistic follies.

The most remarkable thing about Lord DE TABLEY (1835-1895) was the extraordinary range of subjects which he not only knew, but knew well. He was a most assiduous student of poetry as well as a poet himself. He was minutely acquainted with English botany, and an authority upon Greek coins. In 1865

G

he fought Mid-Cheshire in the Liberal interest as well as he skated, and he skated as well as he wrote about book-plates! It was one of his characteristics that he was never satisfied with doing anything great or small by halves. If he took up a subject he mastered it thoroughly. Whether his taking up so many subjects was to the advantage of his fame with the general public may be a question, but those who knew him would not have wished him in any respect, save that of health, other than what he was.

AUGUSTA WEBSTER (1837-1894) was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Davies, married a Fellow and Law Lecturer at Trinity, Cambridge, and lived long there. Endowed with a very powerful intelligence, great industry, and poetical power, she wrote "Dramatic Studies," and much else, but comparatively little which is suited to a collection like this. I have chosen a sonnet, very good of its kind, and on a dignified subject.

JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS (1840-1893) was one of the most interesting men of letters who has lived in our days, thanks to his heroic and really magnificent struggle with health which would have reduced most men to absolute idleness. He was educated at Balliol, coming early under the influence of Conington and then of Jowett. Later, he was elected a Fellow of Magdalen, but married, while still young, the second daughter of Mr. Frederick North, long a familiar figure in the House of Commons. His first book appeared in 1871, and from that date to the end he