PAGE

CHAPTER III.

Summer pleasures at Lynton-Eclogues piscatory and pastoral

-Gay's burlesques-Southey's remarks upon them-

William Browne and his Britannia's Pastorals-Ben

Jonson's eulogistic lines-And Drayton's-Browne's style,

its defects and beauties-His love of rural scenes-Extracts

-His ambition as a poet-Posthumous renown-Ben

Jonson-His enjoyment of country life-To Penshurst-

To Sir Robert Wroth-Extracts-Herrick's Hesperides

-His philosophy and his love-making-His love songs

-Extracts of rural passages-His dislike of the country

-Modern style of his poetry-His portrait

CHAPTER IV.

Society necessary to the literary man-A word about Southey

-Milton and Dryden-Milton and Jeremy Taylor-Milton

not appreciated in his own age, and not sufficiently appre-

ciated in ours-His descriptions of nature-Dr. Johnson's

statement regarding them-And Mr. Keightley's-Was

Milton's knowledge of natural objects derived from books or

observation ?-Illustrations from other poets-What is a

plagiarist ?-L'Allegro and Il Penseroso-Lycidas-John-

son's criticism criticised

CHAPTER V.

Pope's Pastorals-Mr. Ruskin's two orders of poets-In the

fields-Thomson and Shelley-A catalogue of poets-

Blair's Grave-Somervile-Shenstone's Pastoral Ballad-

Gray upon Shenstone-Thomas Aird-Gray's Elegy-His

diction condemned by Talbot-The friendship between

Gray and West-West's Ode to May-Collins not one of

the minor poets-Thomas Warton-The Hamlet-Warton's

ignorance of rural life..........

CHAPTER VI.

Thomson's Seasons-His character-Letter to Miss Young-A
poet dying for love-A select library-Britannia and
Liberty-The Castle of Indolence-Walpole's criticism—

Wordsworth upon Thomson-Fallacy of his argument-

Thomson as a rural poet-Comparison between Thomson

and Cowper-Sunshine in England-Anatomy of Melan-

choly-A snow scene-Winter within doors and without-

Thomson and Cowper should be read at the same time—

Extracts-Field sports-Town and country life-The evils

of the latter-The agricultural labourer-Government

education-The author of Friends in Council-The worth

of poetry-A ghost laid.

CHAPTER VII.

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155

A lesson from the Lyn-Poets of the second order prone to

melancholy-The greatest poets eminently sane and cheer-

ful-William Cowper-His life and poetry-His eminence

as a rural poet-Earl Stanhope on Cowper-Character of

his poetry-Reasons why it is so popular-The Task-

Extracts-Southey's opinion of the poem-Something

about genius-The fame of poets more secure than the

fame of warriors or statesmen-Poets prophesy their own

immortality-Cowper's views on the subject-The delight

of poets in their work-The law of compensation-

Southey's Life of Cowper-His honesty as a biographer ... 186

CHAPTER VIII.

Excursions in Devonshire-Praise of the country-Foreign and

home travel-Cowper's blank verse-Are field sports law-

ful?-Cowper's gentleness of disposition-His letters—

Hugh Miller's visit to Olney-Cowper a vigorous writer-

Professor Wilson on Cowper's satires-Cowper's regard

for dress

CHAPTER IX.

Sensational literature-The poetry of Wordsworth-Mr.
Matthew Arnold on the difference between ancient and
modern poetry-A discussion of his argument-Words-
worth's theories injurious to his poetry-His sonnets-Mr.
Henry Taylor on Wordsworth-Wordsworth's descriptions
of nature-His greatness and his weakness-The fathers of
the modern pastoral-Wordsworth's pastorals-His pathos

205

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always painful-The woods versus the sages-Woodland

walks around Lynmouth-The use of criticism-Familiar

extracts-Nutting-Peter Bell-Lord Jeffrey's criticisms-

Wordsworth's inspiration-His remedy for blue devils-

Fashionable poets-The art of blotting-The Prelude not

properly appreciated-Its biographical interest-Extracts

-Obscurity of style, a fault of recent poets-Mr. Bailey's

Mystic Wordsworth's praise of Tennyson-The Waggoner

--Wordsworth not a vain man-And not a man of letters

-Comparison between Wordsworth and Southey-Literary

biographies generally the most interesting-Editions of

the poets-The Ruined Cottage-Eccentric criticisms-

Wordsworth's opinion of contemporary poets-Wordsworth

a Christian poet-His knowledge of nature-The Solitary

Reaper-Hood's Ruth

CHAPTER X.

Coleridge-His position as a poet, compared with Wordsworth's

-A biography needed-Coleridge and Keats upon the

nightingale-Devonshire girls-The holy estate of matri-

mony-To-morrow-Affectation of the poets-Samuel

Rogers-To Autumn-The poetry of Keats-His death-

Henry Vaughan-Campbell a plagiarist-Field Flowers

-Campbell's reputation as a man and as a poet-

Thomas Hood-A reason for sitting up late-Rustic poets

-Modern rural poetry-Mrs. Barrett Browning and

Tennyson-Mr. Browning-Tennyson's idylls-Crabbe-

The Village-Daybreak.................

220

264

CHAPTER XI.

Hartley reads an Essay which is discussed and approved-The

pastoral poetry of Scotland-Farewell to Lynton!............ 301

Epilogue

319

THE season was the childhood of sweet June,
Whose sunny hours from morning until noon
Went creeping through the day with silent feet,
Each with its load of pleasure, slow yet sweet.

SHELLEY.