part II.) was issued in 1594. In 1597, he purchased the best house in his
native town, and about 1604 he retired to Stratford, where he spent the last twelve years of life, and where he is supposed to have written many of his plays, but we have no means of determining the exact order in which they were composed. He died April 23rd, 1616. His works are of world-wide fame, and need not be enumerated here. The name is often spelled SHAKSPEARE.
SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE.--An eminent English poet, born near Horsham, Sussex, August 4th, 1792. He studied at Oxford, from whence he was expelled for publishing a _Defence of Atheism_. He made an unhappy marriage and soon separated from his wife. He published _Queen Mab, Alsator_, and in 1817 the _Revolt of Islam_. In 1818 he left England, to which he was destined never to return. In July, 1822, (July 8th), while residing at Leghorn, he went out on the Gulf of Spezzia, in a sail boat, which was upset in a squall, and the poet perished. In addition to the poems already mentioned he wrote _The Cenci_, _Adonais_, _Prometheus_, and a number of smaller pieces. As a poet he was gifted with genius of a very high order, with richness and fertility of imagination, but of a vague and partly unintelligible character.
SHERIDAN, RICHARD BRINSLEY BUTLER.--A celebrated Irish orator and dramatist, born in Dublin in 1751. He directed his attention to literature, and in 1775 produced the comedy of _The Rivals_, and several other pieces. In 1777, his celebrated comedy of _The School for Scandal_, established his reputation as a dramatic genius of the highest order. He managed Drury Lane Theatre for some time, and also entered Parliament. His speech on the impeachment of Warren Hastings is regarded as one of the most splendid displays of eloquence in ancient or modern times. He died in London, in July, 1816.
SOUTHEY, ROBERT.--An eminent author and poet, born at Bristol, August 12th, 1774. Intended for the church, he studied at Oxford, but abandoned divinity for literature. His first poem was _Joan of Arc_, published in 1796. He was a most voluminous writer, being the author of more than 100 volumes of poetry, history, travels, etc., and also of 126 papers, upon history, biography, politics and general literature. His principal works are _Madoc, Thalaba the Destroyer, The Curse of Kehama_, lives of _Nelson, Bunyan, John Wesley_, etc., etc. He was appointed poet laureate in 1813. He died at Keswick, Cumberland, March 21st, 1843.
TENNYSON, ALFRED (Lord Tennyson), a distinguished and the most popular English poet, born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, August 5th, 1809. He early displayed poetic genius, his first volume (written in conjunction with his brother Charles) entitled, _Poems by Two Brothers_, having been issued in 1827. In 1842, a volume of his poems was published and was most enthusiastically received, since which period his well-known productions have been issued at intervals. We need only mention _The Princess, In Memoriam_, (a record of the poet's love for Arthur Hallam), _Maud, Idyls of the King, Enoch Arden_, and the dramas of _Queen Mary, Harold_, etc. In 1833 he was appointed poet-laureate. Refined taste and exquisite workmanship are the characteristics of all he has written. His range of poetic power is very wide, and as a describer of natural scenery he is unequalled, while his rich gift of imagination, his pure and elevated diction, and his freedom from faults of taste and manner, give him a high place amongst those who are the great masters of song. He was elevated to the peerage in January, 1884, as Baron Tennyson.
THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE.--A distinguished English novelist and humourist, was born in Calcutta, July 18th, 1811. He I was educated at Cambridge, and at first inclined to be an artist, but after a few years, devoted himself to literature. He gained popularity as a contributor to _Punch_, but his progress in popular favour was not rapid, until in 1846, when he published his _Vanity Fair_, one of his best works, which raised him into the first rank of English novelists. His subsequent works all tended to enhance his popularity. We need only mention _Pendennis, the Newcomes, History of Henry Esmond_, the _Virginians_, etc. He was also a popular lecturer, and his lectures on the _Four Georges_, and _The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century_, were very successful. He edited the _Cornhill Magazine_ from 1860 until April, 1862, when he relinquished it, continuing however to write for the Magazine. He died somewhat suddenly on December 24th, 1863, leaving a novel, _Denis Duval_, unfinished. His inimitably graceful style, in which he has been excelled by no novelist, may be in part due to his familiarity with Addison, Steele, Swift and their contemporaries. His pathos is as touching and sincere as his humour is subtle and delicate. His fame as a novelist has caused his poems to be somewhat neglected, but his admirable ballads and society verses attain a degree of excellence rarely reached by such performances.
THOMSON, JAMES.--A celebrated poet, born in Roxburghshire, Scotland, September 11th, 1700. He went to London to seek his fortune in 1725, and his poem of _The Seasons_, published in 1726-30, was an important era in the history of English poetry, as it marked the revival of the taste for the poetry of nature. Besides the _Seasons_, Thomson wrote some tragedies, which were failures, also what some critics consider his best work, _The Castle of Indolence_, published in 1748. He is often careless and dull, his poetry disfigured by classic allusions to Ceres, Pomona, Boreas, etc., but he had a genuine love of nature, and his descriptions, despite their artificial dress, bear the stamp of reality. He was successful in obtaining a comfortable competence by his literary exertions, and died August 27th, 1748.
TWAIN, MARK (Samuel Langhorne Clemens.) An American humourist, who has achieved great popularity, was born in Florida, Missouri, in 1835, and after an apprenticeship on the "Press," sprang into notice on the publication of his _Innocents Abroad_, published in 1869, a semi- burlesque account of the adventures of a party of American tourists in Europe and the East. _Roughing It_, and other works of his published subsequently, have been equally successful. The qualities of his style are peculiar, slyness and cleverness in jesting being his predominant qualities.
WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF.--The Quaker Poet of America, born December 17th, 1807, near Haverhill, Mass. He passed his early years on his father's farm, but in 1829 he began to be connected with the "Press" and edited newspapers until 1839. He early identified himself with the Anti-Slavery movement and rendered it noble service by his pen and influence. His first work, _Legends of New England_, was published in 1831. His works are very numerous, _Maud Müller_ being the best known of his poems, and _Barbara Frietchie_ of his poems connected with the Civil War. As a writer of prose he unites strength and grace in an unusual degree, and his poetic effusions are characterized by intense feeling and by all the spirit of the true lyric poet.
WILLIS, NATHANIEL PARKER.--A distinguished American poet and writer, born at Portland, Maine, January 20th, 1806. He graduated from Yale in 1827 and devoted himself to literature, publishing a volume in that year which was well received. He wrote between thirty and forty separate publications, in addition to editing the _Evening Mirror_ and other periodicals including the _Home Journal_. Though marred by occasional affectation, the sketches of Willis are light, graceful compositions, but the artificiality of his poems have caused them to be neglected. He died at Idlewild, New York, January 20th, 1867.
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM.--An illustrious English poet, born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, April 7th, 1770. He studied at Cambridge and took his B. A. degree in 1791. In 1793 (after a residence for a short time in France) he produced his first verses, entitled An Evening Walk. In 1798, a small volume entitled _Lyrical Ballads_, was published in conjunction with ST. Coleridge, but was not a success. In 1800, he settled in Grasmere, Westmoreland, where also resided Southey, Coleridge, de Quincy, and Wilson, to whom the critics applied the term "Lake School." In 1813 he removed to Rydal Mount, where he published _The Excursion_ in 1814, _The White Doe of Rylston, Peter Bell, The Waggoner, The Prelude_, etc. In 1843 he was appointed to succeed Southey as poet-laureate. He is undoubtedly a poet of the first rank. Regarding Nature as a living and mysterious whole, constantly acting on humanity, the visible universe and its inhabitants were alike to him full of wonder, awe and mystery. His influence on the literature and poetry of Britain and America has been immense, and is yet far from being exhausted. He died April 23rd, 1850.
YOUNG, EDWARD, An English divine and poet, born at Upham, Hampshire, in 1684. He was educated at Oxford, and in 1727 was ordained and appointed to the living of Welwyn, Hertfordshire. As a poet he excels most in his _Night Thoughts_, which abound with ornate images, but are often very obscure. He wrote several other works. Died in 1765.