and Ye duck and drake, wi' airy wheels In accurate first-hand observation, in abundant knowledge, in the use of felicitous descriptive epithets, in great personal joy in Nature, in delight in winter, in love for animals, and in a critical estimate of the value of truthful portrayal, Burns represents the new spirit. William Lisle Bowles is another of the reputed "fathers" of modern poetry. His slender title to the distinction thus conferred upon him by Rev. George Gilfillan,' rests on the admiration of Coleridge, Southey, and Lovel for his early poems. From 1798 to the end of his life Bowles wrote constantly, so the list of his works is a long one; but in the present study we are concerned only with the poems before 1798, the ones that stirred Coleridge to abandon metaphysics for poetry. From fourteen to nineteen years of age Bowles was in Winchester School under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph Warton, who won the boy's confidence and inspired him with his own tastes. In the "Monody on the Death of Dr. Warton," written eighteen years after these school days, Bowles says of Warton, Burns, "Elegy on Captain Henderson." • Bowles, "Poetical Works," II, XII (ed. 1855). See sonnet by Coleridge. 4"After this third edition came out, my friend Mr. Crutwell, the printer, wrote a letter saying that two young gentlemen, strangers, one a particularly handsome and pleasing youth, lately from Westminster School, [Robert Southey] and both literary and intelligent, spoke in high commendation of my volume."-Bowles, "Poems" (Introduction to ed. of 1837). s "Fourteen Sonnets," 1789. The same with additions, 1790. The same reproduced with illustrations, 1798. Catherine, upon whose foss-encircled brow So passed my days with new delight. Warton also taught him to love literature. He learned to read Greek poets with "young-eyed sympathy," and he went with "holier joy" to The lonely heights where Shakespeare sat sublime. Charmed, the lad bent his soul Great Milton's solemn harmonies to hear. "Unheeded midnight hours" were beguiled by the wild song of Ossian, and his fancy found a "magic spell" in the "Odes" of his master, Dr. Warton. The influences of these early school days had awakened Bowles to love of Nature and of poetry, and when sorrow came it was to Nature and to poetry that he turned for relief. His "Sonnets" are the direct and genuine expression of a personal grief. They were composed, he says, during a tour in which he "sought forgetfulness of the first disappointment in early affections," and they are pervaded by a melancholy unmistakably real. But along with this deep sadness is a frequent recognition of the power of Nature to give at least temporary respite from grief. Not only does she "steep each sense in still delight," but she bestows "a soothing charm." The lovely sights and sounds of morning Touch soft the wakeful nerve's according string. | Bowles, "Poems," Introduction to edition of 1837. • "Hope." 3 "The Tweed Visited." "Elegy Written at the Hotwells, Bristol." The river Itchen brings "solace to his heart." After visiting the Cherwell he says: Whate'er betide, yet something have I won Of solace, that may bear me on serene.' In the midst of sorrow he is Thankful that still the landscape beaming bright What Bowles saw in Nature was largely determined by his state of mind. His own sadness led him to a quick perception of the pensive or melancholy suggestions in any scene. He loved sequestered streams, romantic vales, the hush of evening. The sounds he heard were soft and plaintive. The river Wainsbeck makes "a plaintive song among its "mossy-scattered rocks." He listens to the wind and seems to hear a plaint of sorrow." Sea sounds are Like melodies that mourn upon the lyre." There is strange music in the stirring wind Of the bells at Ostend he says: And hark! with lessening cadence now they fall; The mournful magic of their mingling chime Again, his own striving after self-control leads him to look with pleasure on such natural objects as have withstood the shock of tempests. Rugged Malvern Hill, on which the "parting sun sits smiling," teaches him a lesson of victory over grief, and he exclaims, Ev'n as thou Dost lift in the pale beam thy forehead high, The smile unchanged of peace, though pressed by care!' Some of the brief descriptions in these sonnets are not without a certain beauty in themselves, as in this passage from "Dover Cliffs": On these white cliffs, that calm above the flood And o'er the distant billows the still eve Sailed slow, has thought of all his heart must leave But here, as elsewhere in the poems, the chief thought is human grief; and the most important characteristic of the poems, taken as a whole, is the intimate union between the spirit of a man and the spirit of Nature. It was always Bowles' theory, says Clark,' that Nature is the true subject of poetry; but he does not, in his later work, strike so true. and simple a note as in these early sonnets. Such general statements as are to be drawn from this study of specific poets can be more advantageously made after the chapters on "Fiction," "Travels," "Gardening," and "Painting," for these chapters offer facts that modify or confirm the impressions gained from the poetry. 1 "At Malvern." • Bowles, "Memoir." CHAPTER III The great achievement of the eighteenth century was in the development of fiction. The famous names here are, of course, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne. After them, and also to a less degree contemporary with them, are many writers of fiction the quality of whose work has consigned them to the list of "The Neglected, the Disdained, the Forgotten," and in most cases it would be a literary misfortune if by any chance they should fall into the fourth class, "The Resuscitated." As literature they are almost unreadable. It is only from the historical point of view that they can arouse any real interest. For the present purpose I do not pretend to have read all the works of fiction written in the eighteenth century. The forty-three mentioned here were selected because by their dates they represent the century as a whole, and because they represent also the various kinds of fiction. I shall first speak of these briefly in chronological order, and then indicate such general statements as may seem the legitimate outcome of the facts presented. The one point to be considered is the use made of external Nature in the novel or romance. The "Sir Roger de Coverley" papers (Addison and Steele, 1712) are continuous narratives marked by some at least of the characteristics of the coming English novel. Many of these papers purport to be written from the country and Will Wimble complains that they "begin to smell confoundedly of woods and meadows." After a time the author finds himself growing short of subjects in the country, and |