New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-09
LITERARY ANNALS.
4 HISTORY OF BRITISH LITERATURE SINE
VICTORIA'S CORONATION
THE VICTORIAN AGE OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
Nv Mr. Oliphant Two Volumes. PIP. 1-3l3,
3i4-017 TAFT, sons ~ Co.


II the attempt we're made TO discover a principle
OF unity I'm the pleasant hi>torco critical annals gain
cred I'm these volumes by Mrs. Ollphant. II would
nroboblv res, upon the two most important facts Of
literary history I'm tie nineteenth ccntury-th" cNou
ton OF the periodical aud the formation OF S"ci"S'
learned and otherwise. for which the az" has been
distinguished These were not new inventions OF me
century but III" gradual emancipation Of letters rom
the patronage led TO their almost Infinite
dcyclopmen, Mr.. Ophant seems AT times TO regret
the patron OF other days For example she says, IN
discussing Macaulav: In the good old days oil pat
ronago. literary merit had fifty times III" chance oi
recognition that IT possibly have now. ana Mac"u
lay was not long I'm receiving substantial token III
the admiration felt for hi, genius The question re-
mains n, 10 the pro portion of merit t. mcdocry III
IN. IL nrnclarirs Of these aims to the men OF letters
from party leaders and from private persons oi RANK
or wealth In the unfortunate Tbcodor" Hoo" Sh'
has cited n case which shows how much The wor'd
lad changed I'm respect 10 the matter Of private pa
irons and how drspicablc the character Of the de-
pendent literary man had come to /" early In th'
Victorian period The later years Of Lis lf".' She
writes were spent In nm unhealthy amo phrrc his
great social power, dcha,"d by III" position n"
had sunk 10 n the parasite of great patrons ~ WIS
the fashion of hi, contemporaries TO profess to regard
him merely a. Ioid crford's jester In when char
actcr he WIS bitterly sa,irzcd 10y Thnek"ray and
Dl,raoil rs the Wagg of PendcnniS' aud III" Lucinn
Cav OF .Conns,by'7 Whether II II correct or not to
say that merit rose more readily I'm III" past than
at present. II WAS obvious that the old system OF
fcudal lanrcrson dccaycd. something els" must TAKE
! It's place. The pressure from the two olaSs"s-thc
READERS and the writer the consumers ana III" pro-
duccrs-was bound to create want TO lee filled. Tia"
scope OF the ancl"nt periodical ,ymh"liHod In The
/ Tail.r7 and The Spectator was too narrow. IN
the first place. IFS finances w"r" n"c,,arili m'fr'
AT the best and In the second Iac" II could accom-
modntc only "a few fertile writer, even when pub
\ ftun.. IL.
themes limited. too. by III" tastes Of small
circle Of readers and especially ~ the dominance Of
an editor with prcludccs.
sydney smith claimed tie honor OF having sne'
! gc,,cd the plan Of The Edinburgh Review NJ
! al events hc and Jeffrey and Brougham " lie doing
n great thing for Themselves. conferred vast b"n"ht
on the world by their successful experiment. which
was followed in Of time by all thos" reviews
and magazine, whose name, now familiar. In
contrast the older periodicals, r" PECULIARLY oi
these was the wide they allowed To ia" lndi-
vldual taste, Of Contributor and IN" infinitely "N-
pandcd View rlcy gave OF the literature Of the nation
| while the movement ln which they originated began
long before t. opening 81 III" Victorian era IL" last
| generation may well Lee called the golden age OF th"
quarterly reviews ~ II was nj IA" outset 80 II
continued for many years, when newspapers were
few and Parliamentary reports extremely scanty, the
first intelligence II important event, and the nrs'
development Of the policy Of cabinet, often com
/
having relation, with th- great party leaders The
reviews and IA" monthly magazine, down I" the
present day have continued 10 be III" means 10y wien
the large majority 81 literary found their way 10
TIE public. \ simple catalogue o' English. irish ana
scottish writer who begin In III" periodical, would
exhaust nearly all the names given I'm these volumes.
Now just the Jester and the jonglcnr wcr" the
most ,b,risiyc product Of the ancient fcGd patron
age the universal dominance Of IN" magazine was
bound 10 produce general type In prose and III poetry
Practically. It has destroyed The long poem. and It's
tendency has boon 10 shorten IN" novel which the
circulating library created. But tie specific product
Of the great reviews wa, elias, Of men With Il ire.
mcndoi, power and exquisite skill Of expression.
almost devoid Of the consciousness that there could
BE- any limit, 10 their knowledge In contrast with
modern specialism, iii" territory "f wich men Hike
Carlyle and Macaulay and Jeffrey. and worst OF
all, Lord lIrougham tAought themselves capable OF
ruling with the authority Of master ana the SIT
assertion Of mn expert was appalling In It's extent.
It viii hardly be- asserted that the reviews ever
recover the power they welded In those times. Mean
! while. the daily journals have risen to n place
dreamed Of In the past. AID nave created need which
the purely literary man OF the lat generation
found unfit to I'LL. Doubtless both Southey and
Carlyle Wis" In their own behalf In refusing,
each Is said to have DONE offer from The Times
| OF Dckcns'i experience g. The Daily News Mrs.
Ophant remarks " Dickens man az great
iy, and on" Of the few Instances Of n great writer
(of booksl who was also II good reporter hut II does
not appear that he good leader writer ~ he
believed himself To he, and John Forster thought
! he would make bad editor Forster right
| Dickens not only proved careless editor, but he
very grew weary OF the little he did do I'm that
| nc and handel over his duties to Forster. who. 1t
must be- admitted, did not improve matters much
Forster resigned In few years aud was succeeded by
Frederick Knight Hunt and THE Daily News having
now thrown It's literary ballast overheard began To
| mn. plV
to the development Of the British newspaper. the
lesson Of which To- be- that II Is creating "A
species Of literary man vastly different from that
which dominated the recent past. Iiut no one Will
say that the Of the newspaper Is past It's prime.
that the genius which 1t evokes can yet be
than tentatively estimated. For alongside the modern
! type Of newspaper man must also bc arraycd II few
men like Cocr'dgr, Wordsworth and Lamb-not I'M
succ s,ful In their day. Tie philosophical historian
Of literature In the future will have TO handle an In
ductlon Of bcwildcring extent and variety when he
comes to gcncraizc on the character Of III. English
| journalist.
But most Of the great literary lights OF the Victorian
past belong to the reviews and the magazines md Il
Is the history OF these which explains much OF what
Is common 10 the writer's OF the period. Vet the in
nuencc Of societies must rot be- ignored An impulse
| Of the utmost Importance one whose influence has
wdcncd from that day to the present ana l. likely to
| widen and more In coming years. was given 10
| the minds OF men when Brougham started his Society
for the Diffusion Of Useful Knowl,dg'. II was not
| what that organization accomplished. what any
one OF those which followed II accom- pl,shcd Il was
| the thought that underlay them all witch was the
| essential fnciOr IN the progress Of the age This
thought found applicable 10 everything I'm which
more than person could be- persuaded 10 ink, nm
Interest and It has worked out into what may well he
| called II vast university, In which all conceivable
branches OF learning, nearly every fad that men can
take up seriously and numerous interests of the
highest utility represented in almost every case