Contents

Page
[Introduction]ix
To Get the Spiritual Essence of a Great Book One Must Study the Man Who Wrote It—The Man Is the Best Epitome of His Message.
[Macaulay's Essays in European History]3
Foremost English Essayist—His Style and Learning Have Made Macaulay a Favorite for Over a Half Century.
[Scott and His Waverley Novels]11
Greatest Novelist the World Has Known—Made History Real and Created Characters That Will Never Die.
[Carlyle as an Inspirer of Youth]20
Finest English Prose Writer—His Best Books, Past and Present, Sartor Resartus and the French Revolution.
[De Quincey as a Master of Style]30
He Wrote the Confessions of an English Opium-Eater—Dreamed Dreams and Saw Visions and Pictured Them in Poetic Prose.
[Charles Lamb and the Essays of Elia]38
Best Beloved of All the English Writers—Quaintest and Tenderest Essayist Whose Work Appeals to All Hearts.
[Dickens, the Foremost of Novelists]47
More Widely Read Than Any Other Story-Teller—The Greatest of the Modern Humorists Appeals to the Readers of All Ages and Classes.
[Thackeray, Greatest Master of Fiction]56
The Most Accomplished Writer of His Century—Tender Pathos Under an Affectation of Cynicism and Great Art in Style and Characters.
[Charlotte Brontë; Her Two Great Novels]66
Jane Eyre and Villette are Touched With Genius—The Tragedy of a Woman's Life That Resulted in Two Stories of Passionate Revolt Against Fate.
[George Eliot and Her Two Great Novels]76
Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss—Her Early Stories Are Rich in Character Sketches, With Much Humor and Pathos.
[Ruskin, the Apostle of Art]87
Art Critic and Social Reformer—Best Books Are Modern Painters, The Seven Lamps and The Stones of Venice.
[Tennyson Leads the Victorian Writers]96
A Poet Who Voiced the Aspirations of His Age—Locksley Hall, In Memoriam and The Idylls of the King Among His Best Works.
[Browning, Greatest Poet Since Shakespeare]106
How to Get the Best of Browning's Poems—Read the Lyrics First and Then Take Up the Longer and the More Difficult Works.
[Meredith and a Few of His Best Novels]115
One of the Greatest Masters of Fiction of the Last Century—The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Diana of the Crossways and Other Novels.
[Stevenson, Prince of Modern Story-Tellers]123
His Stories of Adventure and Brilliant Essays—Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde His Most Popular Books.
[Thomas Hardy; His Tragic Tales of Wessex]131
Greatest Living Writer of English Fiction—Resenting Harsh Criticisms, the Prose Master Turns to Verse.
[Kipling's Best Short Stories and Poems]140
Tales of East Indian Life and Character—Ideal Training of the Genius That Has Produced Some of the Best Literary Work of Our Day.
[Bibliography]151
Short Notes of Both Standard and Other Editions, With Lives, Sketches and Reminiscences.
[Index]165

Illustrations

Facing
Page
Charles Dickens Reading The Chimes at 58 Lincoln's Inn Fields on the Second of December, 1844. From a Sketch by Daniel Maclise, R.A.[Title]
Thomas Babington Macaulay at the Age of Forty-nine—After an Engraving by W. Holl, from a Drawing by George Richmond, A.R.A.[6]
Sir Walter Scott—This Portrait is taken from Chantrey's Bust now at Abbotsford, which, according to Lockhart, "Alone Preserves for Posterity the Expression most fondly Remembered by All who Ever Mingled in his Domestic Circle."[12]
White Horse Inn—From an Illustration to Waverley, Drawn by G. Cattermole and Engraved by E. Finden[14]
Thomas Carlyle—From the World-Famed Masterpiece of Portraiture by James McNeill Whistler[20]
Archhouse, Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, the Birthplace of Thomas Carlyle—From a Photograph in the Possession of Alexander Carlyle, M.A., on which Carlyle has Written a Memorandum to Show in which Room he was Born[26]
Thomas De Quincey—From an old Engraving[30]
De Quincey with Two Daughters and Grandchild—From a Chalk Drawing by James Archer, R.S.A., made in 1855[34]
Charles Lamb—From the Portrait by William Hazlitt[38]
Mary and Charles Lamb—From the Painting by F.S. Cary made in 1834[44]
Charles Dickens at the Age of Twenty-seven—From the Portrait by Daniel Maclise, R.A.[48]
Original Pickwick Cover Issued in 1837 with Dickens' Autograph—Most of Dickens' Novels were Issued in Shilling Installments before being Published in the Complete Volume[52]
William Makepeace Thackeray—From a Drawing by Samuel Laurence, Engraved by J.C. Armytage[56]
Title-page to Vanity Fair, Drawn by Thackeray, who Furnished the Illustrations for Many of his Earlier Editions[58]
William Makepeace Thackeray—A Caricature Drawn by Himself[62]
Charlotte Brontë—From the Exquisitely Sympathetic Crayon Portrait by George Richmond, R.A., now in the National Portrait Gallery of London[66]
Mrs. Gaskell—From the Portrait by George Richmond, R.A. Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Brontë is one of the Finest Biographies in the Language[72]
George Eliot in 1864—From the Etching by Mr. Paul Rajon—Drawn by Mr. Frederick Burton—From the Frontispiece to the First Edition of George Eliot's Life, by Her Husband, J.W. Cross[76]
George Eliot's Birthplace, South Farm, Arbury, Nuneaton[80]
John Ruskin—From a Photograph Taken on July 20, 1882, by Messrs. Elliott & Fry[88]
John Ruskin—From the Semi-Romantic Portrait by Sir John E. Millais[92]
Lord Alfred Tennyson—After an Engraving by G.J. Stodart From a Photograph by J. Mayall[96]
Facsimile of Tennyson's Original Manuscript of Crossing the Bar. (Copyright by the Macmillan Company)[100]
Robert Browning—From a Photograph by Hollyer after the Portrait by G.F. Watts, R.A.[106]
Elizabeth Barrett Browning—After the Portrait by Field Talfourd[110]
George Meredith with His Daughter and Grandchildren—From a Photograph Taken Shortly Before His Death[118]
Flint Cottage, Boxhill, the Home of George Meredith—His Writing was done in a Small Swiss Chalet in the Garden[120]
Robert Louis Stevenson—The Author's Intimate Associates Pronounce this Photograph a Perfect Presentation of His Most Typical Expression[126]
Stevenson's Home at Valima, Samoa, Looking Toward Vaea[128]
Thomas Hardy—A Portrait Which Brings Out Strikingly the Man of Creative Power, the Artist, the Philosopher and the Poet[132]
Rudyard Kipling—A Striking Likeness of the Author in a Characteristic Pose[140]
Rudyard Kipling—From a Cartoon by W. Nicholson[144]