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Bride of Abydos; Parisina; The Prisoner of Chillon, &c. The noblest episode in his life's history belongs to the final scene of it. This was his devotion to the cause of Greece, when that nation was struggling to free itself from the yoke of the Turks. With heroic self-sacrifice he threw himself into the conflict, and fell a victim to fever at Missolonghi, 19th April 1824.

THOMAS CAMPbell (1777—1844) was a native of Glasgow, and distinguished himself at the university of that city by poetical translations from the Greek. He went to Edinburgh to study law, and while there published his Pleasures of Hope. A career of literary fame now opened up to him. Campbell's longer poems are The Pleasures of Hope; Gertrude of Wyoming; and Theodric; but his lyrics are his masterpieces, and some of the brightest gems of English lyric poetry are his, such as-Lord Ullin's Daughter; Ye Mariners of England; Hohenlinden; and The Battle of the Baltic.

ELIZA COOK (1818).—This favourite poetess is the daughter of a respectable tradesman in Southwark. At an early age she became a contributor to various periodicals, and started in 1849 the Journal which bore her name. Many of her poems have attained the highest popularity. Melaia and several of her lyrical pieces bear marks of true poetic feeling.

WILLIAM COWPER (1731-1800).—As the alternation of cloud and sunshine sometimes reveals to us beautiful varieties of landscape, so the shadows under which the inner being of this poet sometimes moved have given us a rich variety of thought and feeling. He was born at Great Berkhamstead, in Hertfordshire, and was educated for the legal profession; but when about to enter upon the active discharge of its duties, his intensely sensitive temperament gave way to a form of insanity which afflicted him at various periods during life. The Task is his most elaborate production; but Table Talk; Truth; The Progress of Error; Expostulation; Hope; Charity; John Gilpin, &c. also display high genius.

JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700).—The great literary champion of England from the Restoration till the Revolution, was the son of a Northamptonshire gentleman. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, On the accession of Charles II. his career of honours and distinction began. Every year brought a fresh play from his pen, all more or less echoing the corrupt tone of the age. In 1668 he succeeded Davenant as Laureate. As a writer he is vigorous, learned, and an acknowledged master of satire and criticism. Astræa Redux: MacFlecknoe; Annus Mirabilis; Absalom and Achitophel; Religio Laïci; The Hind and the Panther; The Medal; and a translation of Virgil, are among his more important productions.

MRS HEMANS (1793-1835).-Felicia Dorothea Browne was the daughter of a Liverpool merchant. She cultivated verse-making at a very early age;

and the retirement of her father to a place near Abergele, in Denbighshire, fostered her poetic genius. Her poetry, especially her lyrical effusions, rapidly became popular. The Forest Sanctuary; The Vespers of Palermo (a tragedy); and The Sceptic, are some of her efforts in the higher kinds of verse.

ROBERT HERRICK (1591-1674), the most graceful and melodious of the lyric poets of the seventeenth century, was born in London, and educated for the Church at Cambridge. His poems, which are all lyrical, vary in subject from light amatory to deep religious sentiment. He died at Dean Prior, in Devonshire, of which he held the living.

THOMAS KIBBLE HERVEY (1804—59), a native of Manchester, was for some time editor of the Athenæum. He is best known by his works on Modern Sculpture and England's Helicon.

JAMES HOGG (1770-1835), the 'Ettrick Shepherd,' drew his inspiration directly from Nature and the traditionary past. Stories of Border foray and haunted ruin, ballads that had been handed down from sire to son, and rugged mountain scenery, all conspired to fire his youthful imagination. He became an author in 1801 by the publication of a small volume of Scottish Pastorals, Poems, Songs, &c. Scott, whose generous disposition led him to assist every literary aspirant, became his patron. The Queen's Wake; The Pilgrims of the Sun; Madoc of the Moor; and The Mountain Bard, embrace some of his best pieces.

JOHN HOME (1722-1808) was the son of a Leith town-clerk, and while a student, was captured by the rebels in 1745, and imprisoned in the castle of Doune. He became minister of the Scottish church at Athelstaneford; but, for writing his famous play Douglas, the presbytery of which he was a member persecuted him so bitterly that he had to resign his charge. Lord Bute afterwards procured for him a sinecure office and a pension.

THOMAS HOOD (1798-1845).—This humorous and charming poet was born in London, and began his literary career by contributing to a Dundee periodical. Seriousness and genuine depth of feeling are constantly intermingled with the lighter strains in which his sportive muse revelled. He is best known as the author of The Song of the Shirt; The Bridge of Sighs; and The Dream of Eugene Aram.

LEIGH HUNT (1784-1859), essayist and poet, was a native of Southgate, in Middlesex. Charles Lamb and Coleridge were his companions at Christ's Hospital, London. On leaving this, he obtained an appointment in the War Office. With his brother John, he started the Examiner in 1808. The sentiments of this journal thrice exposed the brothers to charges of libel. Two years' imprisonment for the third offence furnished him with leisure enough to write his beautiful Story of Rimini; The Descent of Liberty; and The

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Feast of the Poets. His other chief poems are The Legend of Florence and The Palfrey, a love-story of old times.

JOHN KEATS (1795-1820) is one of the many fine poets whose voice had been hushed in the silence of death before the world learned to appreciate its inspired utterances. He gave early and ample promise of a rich imagination, and had already contributed to literature some brilliant proofs of his genius, when consumption cut him off at the age of twenty-five. Endymion (a poetic romance); Hyperion; The Eve of St Agnes; Lamia; and Isabella (a story from Boccaccio), are his longest and most elaborate pieces.

THOMAS KNOX (1818), a merchant in Edinburgh, has become honourably known as one of those who seek by all moral and social influences to raise the masses. Especially has he rendered himself conspicuous as a promoter of education and temperance. His name is associated with the reform of the Edinburgh educational hospitals, and their conversion into public schools known as the Merchant Company's Schools.

JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART (1794-1854), born at Cambusnethan, in Lanarkshire, and educated at Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford, is best known as the biographer of his father-in-law, Sir Walter Scott. As a novelist, essayist, and critic, his name occupies a prominent place. His Spanish Ballads are polished and vigorous.

JOHN LOGAN (1748-88), a native of Soutra, in East Lothian, studied for the Church, and was appointed to the parish of South Leith, but demitted his charge in 1786, on account of intemperate habits. His chief productions are Runnymede; The Country in Autumn; and some Scriptural Paraphrases.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807), a native of Portland, in the state of Maine, has occupied for many years a high place among living poets. His poetry has won the hearts of English readers everywhere by its purity and loftiness of tone, more than by any richness of imagery or sublimity of conception. He was appointed, in 1835, Professor of Modern Languages and Belleslettres in Harvard College. His more elaborate pieces are-The Golden Legend; The Spanish Student; Hiawatha; Evangeline; The Courtship of Miles Standish. Lyrics of high merit are also to be found in Voices of the Night and Poems on Slavery.

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY (1800-59), the celebrated historian, essayist, and critic, appears on the roll of poets as the author of Lays of Ancient Rome; The Armada; The Battle of Ivry; and other pieces political and moral. His poetry, like his History, is clear, simple, and vigorous. He was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, but was of Scottish descent.

His career at Cambridge was crowned with honours; and in 1857 he was raised to the peerage, in consideration of his great literary merits.

CHARLES MACKAY (1814).-This genial writer is a native of Perth. He first appeared as an author in 1834 by the publication of a small volume of Poems. From that time he became a journalist, and devoted himself to literature. He has produced several works of real merit; such as-The Hope of the World; Voices from the Crowd; Voices from the Mountains; Town Lyrics; Egeria; A Man's Heart, &c. The University of Glasgow conferred on him the title of Doctor of Laws in 1846.

NORMAN MACLEOD (1812-72).—This eloquent preacher and able writer was educated at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities, and in Germany. After filling some minor charges, he became minister of the Barony Church, Glasgow. His active benevolence and fluent pen were indefatigable. Besides the thorough discharge of his clerical duties, he found time to cultivate his poetical tastes. He was the original editor of Good Words, and furnished for it such admirable tales as The Old Lieutenant and his Son; Wee Davie; &c.

THOMAS MOORE (1779-1852).—This brilliant and facetious poet was the son of a Dublin merchant. After attending the university of his native city, he went to London to study law. His recently published translation of Anacreon, his bright talents, cheerful disposition, and native wit, soon elevated him to the society of the highest circles. But adversity crossed his path, and rendered the steady use of his pen imperative. On the Irish Melodies his fame chiefly rests. They are sparkling ebullitions of genius, warmed and stimulated by the impulses of the strongest and tenderest feelings. Other pieces of considerable merit are Lalla Rookh and Loves of the Angels.

MRS OPIE (1769-1853).—Amelia Alderson, the novelist, was born at Norwich. She became, in 1798, the wife of John Opie, the celebrated artist. This union of poetry and painting was productive on both sides of several works of considerable merit. She died in 1853, having survived her husband forty-six years.

ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) was the son of a London linen-merchant. From infancy he was of a delicate constitution, and received on that account an education limited and irregular. He began to write poetry when very young, and scrutinised his lines so carefully that he became master of a style polished and elegant beyond that of his predecessors. Among his productions the principal are- The Messiah; Windsor Forest; Essay on Criticism; The Rape of the Lock; The Temple of Fame; An Essay on Man: The Dunciad; and a translation of Homer.

SAMUEL ROGERS (1763-1855).—For strict regard to the purity and elegance of his poetry, and patient industry to gain that end, few writers can be placed

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before this London banker. When diligent attention to his profession had earned for him a competent livelihood, he devoted the remainder of his days to the culture and gratification of his poetical tastes, and to the benevolent encouragement of all whom necessity or inclination impelled to literary pursuits. The best of his poems are-The Pleasures of Memory; Human Life; and Italy.

SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832).-Among the brilliant intellects that thronged the Scottish capital at the beginning of the present century none enjoyed a wider reputation than that which gave to the world The Lay of the Last Minstrel; Marmion; Lady of the Lake; and the Waverley Novels. Walter Scott was the son of an Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, and received his education at the High School and university of his native city. He also entered the legal profession; and became Sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire, the duties of which office afforded him leisure for the cultivation of congenial pursuits.

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE (1564-1616)-England's, perhaps the world's, greatest poet-was born at Stratford-on-Avon. After spending there a somewhat erratic youth, he went to London, and found employment in one of the metropolitan theatres. What this employment was, has never been clearly made out; but having obtained an entrance, he soon rose through the various grades of promotion, until he became a shareholder of the 'Globe,' and wealthy enough to purchase a house and land in his native town. Thither he retired in 1612, after twenty-six years of brilliant theatrical life. He enjoyed this retirement for only four years. The plays he has left behind him are thirtyseven in number, and contain the grandest array of ideal creations ever produced by any single human intellect. His other poems are-Venus and Adonis; Lucrece; A Lover's Complaint; and The Passionate Pilgrim.

HENRY KIRK WHITE (1785-1806) was born at Nottingham. His father was a butcher; but the young poet, after attempting the same trade and likewise that of weaving, found more congenial employment in an attorney's office. At the age of seventeen he published a volume of Poems, with the proceeds of which he was desirous of obtaining a university education. Generous patrons, especially Southey, read his productions, and gave him encouragement. He was rapidly gaining distinction at Cambridge, when death cut him off at the early age of twenty-one. Chief poems, Clifton Grove and The Christiad.

JOHN WILSON (1785-1854) was the son of a Paisley manufacturer. After studying at Oxford, he settled down among the Westmoreland lakes, where he enjoyed the companionship and imbibed the poetical tastes of Wordsworth. On the death of Dr Thomas Brown, he was appointed to the Chair of Moral Philosophy in Edinburgh University. His writings are rich with the exuberant fancy of the poet, and the fervid eloquence of the orator. He is best known by