Part 4

This celebrated statesman (sprung from the class of artizans) raised himself to the highest station by his great talents and their careful and refined cultivation. His love of literature and general knowledge were considerable, and he was a most accomplished leader of the House of Commons. His political life was marked by the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief and the Reform Bills, and his administration by the measures passed for repealing the Corn Laws and General Free Trade. He died from injuries sustained by a fall from his horse, in London.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

Born 1770.—Died 1850.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

This eminent poet is the chief founder of what is called the “Lake School” of poetry. Throwing off the fetters of conventional and “fine” language, and clothing the reality of thought in the simplest words, Wordsworth, as a poet, is the greatest moral teacher of modern times, and no one can make a study of his works without finding himself the better for it. _The Excursion_, _the White Doe of Rylstone_, _The Brothers_, and a multitude of smaller poems, are well known. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey were all strict and intimate friends; but the former outlived most of his early companions, dying at Rydal at eighty years of age. It is much to be regretted that his poems are not spread in cheap forms.

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

Born 1769.—Died 1852.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

Arthur Wellesley, the third son of the Earl of Mornington, went into the army as an ensign in the 73rd Foot, and became a very great general and afterwards a statesman. He went to India in 1797, where his wonderful military career may be said to have begun. From India he passed to the command of the English armies in the Peninsular war against Buonaparte, where he steadily overcame the best French generals, and at Waterloo broke the whole strength of France, and obliged Buonaparte to surrender to the allies. The Duke of Wellington was a man of the loftiest character as a commander and statesman, with no thought of himself, or love of praise or gain. He lived in an unassuming way, with great simplicity, and died at Walmer Castle in 1852.

THOMAS MOORE.

Born 1779.—Died 1852.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

An Irish gentleman and poet who spent much of his time with Lord Byron and the literary men of his time. He wrote several satirical poems, but is best known by his _Lalla Rookh_, and the _Irish and National Melodies_.

SAMUEL ROGERS.

Born 1763.—Died 1855.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

A poet, whose reputation was perhaps greater than his works. His _Pleasures of Memory_ and _Italy_ are those chiefly known, but he wrote a variety of smaller poems of great beauty and finish. His knowledge of literature and conversational powers were extraordinary.

ROBERT STEPHENSON.

Born 1803.—Died 1859.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

The son of George Stephenson, the great engineer and mechanic, who was one of the most extraordinary instances on record of the benefits of self-education and “self-help.” He placed the first locomotive engine on the line between Liverpool and Manchester in 1814. Robert Stephenson succeeded his father in all his works, and carried out several gigantic undertakings, especially the tubular bridge over the Menai Straits and the Victoria bridge over the river St. Lawrence in Canada. He was employed in making railways throughout Europe, and in America, Canada, Egypt, and India.

SIR ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL.

Born 1806.—Died 1859.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

The son of Sir Mark Isambard Brunel, the engineer of the Thames Tunnel. Sir Isambard, the son, first laid down the broad gauge system of railways, and also built the _Great Eastern_ steamship. His railway bridges were planned with extraordinary boldness, and that at Saltash, in Devonshire, is well known.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.

Born 1811.—Died 1863.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

This celebrated writer was a Charterhouse boy. His career began by his lectures upon the English Humorists and the Four Georges (the kings of that name), upon whom he discanted in terms of the most pungent and biting satire. His novels, _Esmond_, _The Newcomes_, _Vanity Fair_, _The Virginians_, have become English classics. Thackeray’s knowledge of life and character was wonderful, but he indulged in too bitter and censorious views of society.

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON,

Born 1784.—Died 1865.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

Henry John Temple. This eminent politician sat in Parliament at an early age, and spent his entire life in various ministerial offices, ending with the highest. Through many changes of ministry he was Secretary of War for twenty years, and then became Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, and Prime Minister. His firmness, tact, and consummate knowledge of men and foreign affairs maintained the reputation of England on the Continent as it has never since been upheld. Lord Palmerston was not only respected as English Premier, but was also one of the most popular ministers ever known.

JOHN KEBLE.

Born 1792—Died 1866.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

The son of a clergyman, and was born on St. Mark’s day at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, where he wrote his beautiful collection of sacred poems for all the Sundays and Feasts of the year, called the _Christian Year_, by which his name will always be known and honoured. Keble College in Oxford was built as a memorial of him, and an acknowledgment of his teaching.

CHARLES DICKENS.

Born 1812.—Died 1870.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.

This fertile and most popular novelist was educated for the law, and then became a reporter to the _Morning Chronicle_ newspaper, in which he published a series of sketches, now known as _Sketches by Boz_. The _Pickwick Papers_ came next, and these were succeeded by _Nicholas Nickleby_, _Oliver Twist_, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, _Barnaby Budge_, and a number of other fictions, in which vice is always painted in its true colours, and the advantage of truthfulness, straightforward dealing, and kindliness brought out in strong and clear characters. He died at the age of fifty-eight, and was privately buried in Westminster Abbey in 1870.