Victorian Literature: Sixty Years of Books and Bookmen

by Clement King Shorter

James Martineau1805- was born at Norwich, and was originally educated for the profession of civil engineer, but turned to theological studies, and was for some time the minister of a Presbyterian Church in Dublin. Then, during a residence in Liverpool, he became a supporter of the philosophy of Bentham and the elder Mill, but finally abandoned that position for Kantian metaphysics. Thenceforth he was to be a great power on behalf of the Theistic and Unitarian position, and he turned vigorously upon the materialistic beliefs which he had abandoned, and was, it may be added, somewhat too harsh to his sister Harriet when, later in life, she adopted them. His "Endeavour after the Christian Life" and "Hours of Thought on Sacred Things" are two of his best known works, although a more philosophical interest attaches to his "Study of Spinoza" and his "Types of Ethical Theory."

I have dwelt at some length on the work of the High Church and Broad Church parties during the reign, because with these bodies it has been a period of great literary achievement, and it can scarcely be claimed that Evangelicanism, however earnest, zealous, and numerically powerful, has added much of enduring worth to religious literature. Richard William Church1815-1890, Dean of St Paul's, who wrote so eloquently on Dante and St Anselm, belonged to the Liberal High Church school, as did also Henry Parry Liddon1829-1890, a canon of the same cathedral, whose Bampton lectures "On the Divinity of Jesus Christ" marked him out as one of the most eloquent of modern preachers. One of the greatest scholars in the English Church, Joseph Barber Lightfoot1828-1889, Bishop of Durham, who replied to the author of "Supernatural Religion," belonged to the same party. Midway between the Broad Church and the Evangelical schools we find Frederick William Farrar1831-, Dean of Canterbury, who, as head-master of Marlborough College, wrote stories of boy life. He succeeded Kingsley as a Canon of Westminster, and excited much attention by his sermons on the doctrine of eternal punishment. His lives of Christ and of St Paul have been widely read. John Charles Ryle (1816- ), Bishop of Liverpool, has been perhaps the most famous literary exponent of the Evangelical position. "Shall we know one another in Heaven" and "Bible Inspiration" were characteristic books from his pen. John Saul Howson1816-1885, Dean of Chester, who, in conjunction with the Rev. W. J. Conybeare, wrote an able work on "The Life and Epistles of St Paul," was also a Low Churchman.

The most distinguished Nonconformist minister of the Victorian period, and the man whose sermons found most readers, was Charles Haddon Spurgeon1834-1892, with whom eloquence and earnestness were combined with the possession of a simple English style, which he derived from a study of the Puritan fathers. In "John Ploughman's Talk" (1868) Spurgeon put forth much homely wisdom in a quaint and humorous garb.

I have said well nigh enough concerning speculative writers and theologians, but it is necessary to mention here Henry Longueville Mansel1820-1871, who succeeded Milman as Dean of St Paul's. Mansel was a vigorous defender of the Anglican position. "The Limits of Religious Thought" was the title of one of his books; "Metaphysics, or the Philosophy of Consciousness, Phenomenal and Real" was another, but he crossed swords with many disputants, with F. D. Maurice, with J. S. Mill, and indeed he was ever a fighter, subtle and skilful. Another theologian, Cardinal Manning1808-1892, was a disputant on behalf of Roman Catholicism, he having left the Anglican Church in 1851. His many books and sermons are to-day only of interest to the theological student. His life was written in 1896, and caused much controversy through its exceeding candour and indiscretion.

Philosophy has had notable students also in Ferrier, Caird, and Clifford. James Frederick Ferrier1808-1864 who was a nephew of Susan Ferrier the author of "Marriage," was professor of moral philosophy at St Andrews. He wrote "Lectures in Greek Philosophy" and other works. Edward Caird (1835- ) is master of Balliol and he has written "Philosophy of Kant," "Essays on Literature and Philosophy," and "The Evolution of Religion." William Kingdon Clifford1845-1879 belonged to the opposite camp. He obtained an early reputation as a mathematician and became professor of applied mathematics in University College, London, in 1871. His powerful contributions to the literary side of science were contained in "Seeing and Thinking" and "Lectures and Essays," the latter volume being edited after his death by his friends Mr Leslie Stephen and Sir Frederick Pollock.

The three most notable books that we have seen from the anti-theological side, apart from Matthew Arnold's "Literature and Dogma," are "The Creed of Christendom," "Phases of Faith," and "Supernatural Religion," although to these may perhaps be added translations of the Lives of Christ, of Strauss, and of Renan. The "Creed of Christendom" was the work of William Rathbone Greg1809-1881, who wrote also "Enigmas of Life" (1872), and "Rocks Ahead" (1874). "Phases of Faith" was the work of Francis William Newman1805-1897, a younger brother of Cardinal Newman, but at the opposite pole of religious conviction. He has written many books, the most successful being one on "The Soul" (1849). Another on "Theism" (1858), was inspired by the same theistic, but non-Christian impulse. "Phases of Faith" (1858), was his most successful work. The author of "Supernatural Religion" is Walter Richard Cassels, who has also published a reply to Bishop Lightfoot's strictures upon his larger work—a work now all but forgotten, but which created a considerable sensation at the time of its appearance.

The age has been, particularly in its later developments, an age of good critics of literature. Criticism unhappily rarely lasts much beyond its own decade. Even Mr Matthew Arnold lives now only by his poetry, and the many good things that he said about books are being steadily forgotten. Arnold was a great critic, and so also was Walter Pater1839-1894, whose "Marius the Epicurean" and "Imaginary Portraits" should have ranked him with writers of imagination were it not that criticism was his dominant faculty. Pater has been described as "the most rhythmical of English prose writers," and his "Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry," and his "Appreciations" give him a very high place among the writers of our time.

Philip Gilbert Hamerton1834-1894 was another great critic, who wrote at least one work of imagination. "Marmorne" is a very pretty story of life in France. With every aspect of French life Mr Hamerton was well acquainted, as he lived in that country for very many years. He wrote regularly upon art topics, and edited an art magazine, The Portfolio; but it is by his volume of essays entitled "The Intellectual Life" that he will be most kindly remembered for many a year to come.

Certain writers whom I must mention are entitled to a place both as critics and as poets. Mr W. E. Henley, Mr F. W. H. Myers, William Bell Scott, and William Allingham for example. William Ernest Henley1849- has written plays in conjunction with R. L. Stevenson, and his "Book of Verses" and "Song of the Sword" entitle him to very high rank among the poets of the day. But he is also a critic of exceptional vigour and force, and since Matthew Arnold there has been no volume of criticism so full of discrimination and sound judgment as "Views and Reviews." Ill health has compelled Mr Henley to waste much of his undoubted talent. He is at present editing fine library editions of Burns and Byron. Frederic William Henry Myers1843- wrote "Saint Paul," a poem of considerable reputation, but his critical essays are more widely known. They were published in two volumes, "Classical" and "Modern," and are full of delightful ideas delightfully expressed. His biography of Wordsworth is a daintily fanciful memoir, abounding in good criticism. Mr Myers's brother Ernest is also a poet, and so also was William Bell Scott1811-1890. He was, it is true, a poet of a narrow range, but a critic of great energy and industry. Bell Scott became best known by his "Autobiography," published after his death. In it he discussed Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite movement with sufficient frankness. William Allingham1824-1889 wrote many poems and ballads full of the Celtic spirit, and of Ireland, which he loved as the land of his birth. Allingham was for a time editor of Fraser's Magazine, and he contributed regularly to the chief literary periodicals of his day.

Literary critics of importance to-day are Edward Dowden, Richard Garnett, George Saintsbury, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen, and Andrew Lang—all of whom are happily living and writing.