Modern English Books of Power | Page 2

Whistler 20
Archhouse, Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, the Birthplace of Thomas Carlyle--From a Photograph in the Possession of Alexander Carlyle, M.A., on which Carlyle has Written a Memorandum to Show in which Room he was Born 26
Thomas De Quincey--From an old Engraving 30
De Quincey with Two Daughters and Grandchild--From a Chalk Drawing by James Archer, R.S.A., made in 1855 34
Charles Lamb--From the Portrait by William Hazlitt 38
Mary and Charles Lamb--From the Painting by F.S. Cary made in 1834 44
Charles Dickens at the Age of Twenty-seven--From the Portrait by Daniel Maclise, R.A. 48
Original Pickwick Cover Issued in 1837 with Dickens' Autograph--Most of Dickens' Novels were Issued in Shilling Installments before being Published in the Complete Volume 52
William Makepeace Thackeray--From a Drawing by Samuel Laurence, Engraved by J.C. Armytage 56
Title-page to Vanity Fair, Drawn by Thackeray, who Furnished the Illustrations for Many of his Earlier Editions 58
William Makepeace Thackeray--A Caricature Drawn by Himself 62
Charlotte Bront?--From the Exquisitely Sympathetic Crayon Portrait by George Richmond, R.A., now in the National Portrait Gallery of London 66
Mrs. Gaskell--From the Portrait by George Richmond, R.A. Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Bront? is one of the Finest Biographies in the Language 72
George Eliot in 1864--From the Etching by Mr. Paul Rajon--Drawn by Mr. Frederick Burton--From the Frontispiece to the First Edition of George Eliot's Life, by Her Husband, J.W. Cross 76
George Eliot's Birthplace, South Farm, Arbury, Nuneaton 80
John Ruskin--From a Photograph Taken on July 20, 1882, by Messrs. Elliott & Fry 88
John Ruskin--From the Semi-Romantic Portrait by Sir John E. Millais 92
Lord Alfred Tennyson--After an Engraving by G.J. Stodart From a Photograph by J. Mayall 96
Facsimile of Tennyson's Original Manuscript of Crossing the Bar. (Copyright by the Macmillan Company) 100
Robert Browning--From a Photograph by Hollyer after the Portrait by G.F. Watts, R.A. 106
Elizabeth Barrett Browning--After the Portrait by Field Talfourd 110
George Meredith with His Daughter and Grandchildren--From a Photograph Taken Shortly Before His Death 118
Flint Cottage, Boxhill, the Home of George Meredith--His Writing was done in a Small Swiss Chalet in the Garden 120
Robert Louis Stevenson--The Author's Intimate Associates Pronounce this Photograph a Perfect Presentation of His Most Typical Expression 126
Stevenson's Home at Valima, Samoa, Looking Toward Vaea 128
Thomas Hardy--A Portrait Which Brings Out Strikingly the Man of Creative Power, the Artist, the Philosopher and the Poet 132
Rudyard Kipling--A Striking Likeness of the Author in a Characteristic Pose 140
Rudyard Kipling--From a Cartoon by W. Nicholson 144

Introduction
My aim in this little book has been to give short sketches and estimates of the greatest modern English writers from Macaulay to Stevenson and Kipling. Omissions there are, but my effort has been to give the most characteristic writers a place and to try to stimulate the reader's interest in the man behind the book as well as in the best works of each author. Too much space is devoted in most literary criticism to the bare facts of biography and the details of essays or novels or histories written by authors. My plan has been to arouse interest both in the men and their books so that any reader of this volume may be stimulated to extend his knowledge of the modern English classics.
These chapters include the greatest English writers during the last one hundred and fifty years and they have been prepared mainly for those who have no thorough knowledge of modern English books or authors. They are of limited scope so that few quotations have been possible. But they have been written with an eager desire to help those who care to know the best works of modern English authors. In the same spirit the most appropriate illustrations have been secured and a helpful bibliography has been added. If this book helps readers to secure one lasting friend among these authors it will have done good missionary work; for to make the books of one man or woman of genius a part of our mental possessions is to be set on the broad highway to literary culture.

The Vital Quality in Literature
To Get the Spiritual Essence of a Great Book One Must Study the Man Who Wrote It--The Man Is the Best Epitome His Message.
In this volume as in its predecessor, "Comfort Found in Good Old Books," my aim has been to enforce the theory that behind every great book is a man, greater than the best book that he ever wrote. This strong spiritual quality which every one of the great authors puts into his best books is what we should strive to secure when we read these great classics. Unless we get this spiritual part we miss the essence of the book.
Hence it has been my aim in this volume to make clear what manner of men wrote these books which serve as the landmarks of modern English literature.
The scope of this book is limited, but from Macaulay to Kipling the effort