Majesty to recognise the claims of literature and science by conferring two baronetcies on representative men. The names selected were Bulwer and Herschell.

Sir Edward having distinguished himself as a popular novelist and successful political writer, next sought dramatic laurels. In 1836 he had written a drama in five acts, The Duchess de la Vallière, which upon the whole was a failure. Nothing daunted he produced, two years later, The Lady of Lyons, which, though written in less than a fortnight, was highly successful, and is still regarded as one of the most popular of our modern dramas. Richelieu, written in the following year, was almost equally successful; and in 1840 appeared the brilliant comedy of Money. In the interval, Sir Edward had undertaken the editorship of a new periodical-the "Monthly Chronicle," and had written Ernest Maltravers and other tales, besides contributing to various magazines. In 1843 appeared the Last of the Barons, and in the same year, by the death of his mother, he became possessor of the Knebworth estates. In conformity with the conditions in her will he now assumed, by royal license, the name of Lytton.

About this time Sir Edward's health appears again to have given way, for in 1845 appeared his Confessions of a Water Patient, in which he gratefully details his obligations to hydropathy. In this year also were published, in a collected form, his translations from Schiller, which had appeared from time to time in the pages of "Blackwood," and as still further evidence of his mental activity and versatile powers this same year witnessed the brilliant success of his satirical poem, The New Timon. In 1847, after an interval of four years, he again appeared before the public as a novelist. The Story of Lucretia, however, did not add to his fame and was severely criticised. In the following year, however, he not only retrieved his position as a novelist, but advanced to higher ground than he had yet occupied. That year not only witnessed his fine historical novel of Harold, but also his charming story, The Caxtons. The tale first appeared anonymously in the pages of "Blackwood," and in the same periodical

were published the other tales of this series-My Novel and What will He Do with it.

In 1849 appeared the most ambitious of all Sir Edward Lytton's poems, the epic of King Arthur, in twelve books. In 1850, the formation of the Guild of Literature and Art, was first broached at Knebworth, and Sir Edward offered the ground for the erection of a building to shelter "the decayed veterans of pen and pencil." For the same institution-as has been already mentioned in the life of Charles Dickens-he also wrote the comedy entitled Not so Bad as We Seem, which was performed for the first time in Devonshire House, in the presence of Her Majesty and Prince Albert. During this year (1851) also he again appeared before the world as a political writer in his Letters to John Bull in favour of Protection.

In the election, which took place in 1852, Sir Edward came forward as a Conservative candidate for the county of Herts. During the interval that had elapsed since his rejection at Lincoln, he had been invited by Westminster and other constituencies to come forward in the Liberal interest, but had declined in consequence of his dissent from the principles of Free Trade. When, therefore, he appeared at Herts as an avowed supporter of Lord Derby, he met with great opposition from the Radicals, and a determined attempt was made on the day of nomination to prevent his being heard. His appearance on the hustings was greeted with a perfect storm of yells and execrations, but his courage and presence of mind disarmed his opponents. When the tumult was at its height, he suddenly sprang down upon the reporters' table upsetting the ink-bottles and scattering the pens and paper. The noisy mob was silent for a moment with sheer astonishment. He seized the opportunity to enter into conversation with one of the noisiest of the hostile ringleaders, "mollified the man by a goodhumoured joke, shook hands with him, drew him into a humorous argument, and then slid imperceptibly from personal conversation into public speech. He spoke for

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above an hour, and was listened to in the most respectful silence, interrupted only by cordial cheers."

When Sir Edward re-entered Parliament he occupied a position of still greater weight and influence than he had done previously-this was doubtless owing in a great measure to the fame he had acquired as an author, and in Lord Derby's second administration, in 1858, he was appointed Secretary for the Colonies, though he had not previously held office. He soon, however, justified the confidence which his illustrious friend reposed in him. Though only in office for twelve months, he terminated the monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company, and called into existence the two colonies of Queensland and British Columbia. But though his tenure of office was short, it had put an excessive strain upon his nervous energies, and when Lord Derby formed his last cabinet, his health prevented him from joining it. He was raised to the peerage in July 1866, but like Lord Macaulay he never addressed that assembly, though he prepared a speech on the Irish Church Bill, which is now among his published addresses.

But though thus engaged in the excitement of politics, he had not been unmindful of literature. In 1860 he had published a brilliant poem entitled St. Stephens, in which he describes, in heroic verse, the various chiefs of parliamentary eloquence living at that time. Two years

later, his Strange Story appeared in the pages of "All the Year Round." In 1866, he again appeared before the public as a poet in his Lost Tales of Miletus, and, in 1869, he added to his fame as a translator by his ingenious rendering of the Odes and Epodes of Horace. It was as a novelist, however, that he was best known to the public, and great was the interest excited when, after a silence of ten years, it was announced, in 1872, that a new tale would issue from his pen. He did not, however live to see its publication. The final proofs of Kenelm Chillingley were corrected only a few days before his death. It now appears that the Coming Race, which created so great a sensation a year or two before, as well as the Parisians,

which was appearing in the pages of "Blackwood" at the time of Lord Lytton's death, were also from his prolific pen. He died on Saturday, Jan. 18, 1873, in his sixtyeighth year, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Lord Lytton undoubtedly possessed great and various. talents, but he would never have achieved the success he did, both as author and politician, had it not been for hard work and indomitable perseverance. Addressing the scholars of the High School at Bishop's Stortford, in 1856, he says:—

"Boys, when I look at your young faces I could fancy myself a boy once more. I go back to the days when I too tried for prizes, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing.

I was once as fond of play as any of you, and in this summer weather I fear my head might have been more full of cricket than of Terence, or even Homer. But still I can remember, that whether at work or at play, I had always a deep though a quiet determination that sooner or later I would be a somebody, or do a something. That determination continues with me to this day.

It is of course upon his novels that Lord Lytton's fame as a writer chiefly depends, and of these there are above forty volumes. They may be classified into novels of life and manners, historical novels, novels of mystery, and the Caxton series. The first division includes the great bulk of his stories; the last, those in which he has achieved the greatest distinction. In the second class we place Harold, The Last of the Barons, Rienzi, and the Last Days of Pompeii. The novels of mystery are Zanoni, A Strange Story, and the Coming Race. There is little dispute that Lord Lytton's greatest work of fiction is My Novel; or, Varieties of English Life; the skilfully arranged plot, the number and variety of the characters, the descriptions of English scenery, and the genial humour form a combination rarely met with even in the works of the greatest masters. Here, as in everything else, the many-sidedness of the author is visible. The characters in My Novel range from the highest to the lowest stages of society, and all are equally original, equally well sketched. In this respect Lord Lytton had the advan

tage over his brother novelists Thackeray and Dickens; the former can sketch a Colonel Newcome and the latter a Peggotty, but, in the words of the "Quarterly Review," Lord Lytton "is equally at home in the cottage and the Pall Mall Club; and though perhaps he fails in his descriptions of middle-class society, he can paint with equal ease the honest rustic and the loose vagabond, the country squire and the London politician."

CHARLES KINGSLEY-1819-1875.

WE had completed our brief sketches of Eminent English Writers, and the last sheets were passing through the press, when the long illness of Canon Kingsley terminated fatally, and another name was added to the long roll of distinguished authors who have adorned our literature, and then passed away.

Charles Kingsley belonged to an ancient Cheshire family who had served with distinction on the Parliamentary side during the Civil Wars, and had suffered severely for their cause. He was born, however, in Devonshire, in the old vicarage of Holne, on the southern border of Dartmoor, in 1819. His father at the time

had temporary charge of the parish; but shortly afterwards he was appointed vicar of Clovelly, on the north coast of Devon; and here, amidst scenery afterwards celebrated in Westward Ho, young Kingsley's boyhood was spent. Up to the age of fourteen he was educated under his father's roof; he was then for a time placed under the care of the Rev. Derwent Coleridge. He subsequently became a student of King's College, London, and in due time entered Magdalen College, Cambridge. At the university he was well known as a boating man, and he took a great interest in athletic sports; but his studies were not neglected. He gained a scholarship and other distinctions; and, when he took his degree in 1842, he