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rand, Professor at the University of St. Petersburgh, through whose influence, in 1849, he obtained the appointment of Professor of English Literature at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum. His lectures were eagerly attended; no professor acquired more thoroughly the love and respect of his pupils, many of whom continued his warmest admirers and friends in after life. In October in the same year he married Miss Annette Warrand, daughter of the Professor.

In 1851 he came to England for the purpose of taking his degree of Master of Arts; and on his return to Russia he was elected Lector of English Literature at the University of St. Petersburgh. His first pupils were the Princes of Leuchtenburg; and, his reputation being now thoroughly established, he was in 1853 engaged as tutor and Professor of English to the Grand Dukes, an appointment which he retained till his death.

For nine years Mr. Shaw's position was in every respect enviable; happy in his married life, loved by his pupils, respected and honored by all for his high attainments and many virtues, his life passed in peace and prosperity. A few years more, and his means would have enabled him to retire and pass the evening of his life in literary pursuits. But this was not to be. In October, 1862, he complained of pain in the region of the heart; yet he struggled hard against his malady, until nature could bear no more. For a few days before his death he suffered acutely, but bore his sufferings with manly fortitude. On the 14th of November he was relieved from them, dying suddenly of aneurism. His death was regarded as a public loss, and his funeral was attended by their Imperial Highnesses, and a large concourse of present and former students of the Lyceum. A subscription was raised, and a monument is erected to his memory.

The following is a list of such of Mr. Shaw's works as have come to our notice :

In 1836 he wrote several pieces for The Fellow and Fraser's Magazine. In 1837 he translated into verse numerous German and Latin poems, and wrote a few original poems of merit, some of which

A BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.

XV

appeared in The Individual. Two well-written pieces, "The Song of Hrolfkraken, the Sea King," and "The Surgeon's Song," were contributions to Fraser's Magazine. In 1838 and two following years he contributed several translations from the Italian to Fraser. In 1842 he started The St. Petersburgh Literary Review; he also published in Blackwood a translation of "Anmalet Bek,” a Russian novel, by Marlinski. In 1844 he published his first work of considerable length, a translation of "The Heretic," a novel in three volumes, by Lajetchnikoff. The work was well received, and an edition was immediately reprinted in New York. In the following year appeared in Blackwood his "Life of Poushkin," accompanied by exquisite translations of several of the finest of that poet's productions. In 1846 his leisure time was entirely occupied in writing his "Outlines of English Literature," a work expressly undertaken at the request of the authorities of the Lyceum, and for the use of the pupils of that establishment. The edition was speedily sold, and immediately reprinted in Philadelphia. In 1850 he published in the "Quarterly" an exceedingly original and curious article, entitled "Forms of Salutation."

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

IN

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

N their literary inheritance, the readers of the English language are the richest people that the sun shines on. Their novelists paint the finest portraits of human character, their historians know the secrets of entrancing and philosophical narration, their critics have the keenest acumen, their philosophers probe far into the philosophy of mind, their poets sing the sweetest songs. But before beginning a discussion of the lives and the works of the great men who have contributed to the riches of our literature, it is well for us to remind ourselves of the long centuries of ignorance and of conflict that passed over England before her nationality and her language were developed.

The most ancient inhabitants of the British Islands were of that Celtic race which once occupied a large portion of Western Europe. They had not a respectable degree of civilization, their habits were nomadic and predatory; they neglected agriculture, and by tattooing and staining their bodies they gave infallible proof of their untutored state.

The first important intercourse between the primitive Britons and any foreign nation resulted from the invasion of

55 B. C.] the country by the Romans under Julius Cæsar. The resistance of the Britons, though obstinate and ferocious, was overpowered in the first century of the Christian era by the superior skill and organization of the Roman armies. The central and southern portion of the country became a Roman province and was subject to foreign domination for about four hundred years. According to their custom, the invaders strove to introduce their laws, their habits and their civilization among the barbarous subjects. The Celts who yielded acquired a consideraole degree of civilization; those who were unsubdued inhabited mountainous regions inaccessible to the Roman arms, and frequently descended from the rugged fastnesses in Wales and Scotland, to carry devastation over the more civilized province, and tax the skill and vigilance of the foreign soldiery. Upon the withdrawal of the Roman troops at the beginning of the fifth century, the Celts who had submitted to the yoke found themselves in a desperate position. Swarms of Scots and Picts came upon them, to reclaim the territory, and swept away every trace of civilization. Ancient Celtic legends tell of the vengeance wreaked upon the Britons who had bowed to the Roman invader.

Traces of the Celtic element in the English language are found only in the names of places, and in the titles of a few familiar objects. In the vocabulary of one hundred and four thousand words given in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, it would be difficult to find one hundred derived directly from the Celtic. That most of the words to which the lexicographer assigns a Celtic derivation were not inherited from the old Britons is proved by the fact that they are not to be found in the Anglo-Saxon. They were transplanted from the Celtic into some Romance tongue and thence were grafted into modern English. The aboriginal speech of Britain has bequeathed to us less than any other language with which our Anglo-Saxon race has been asso

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