of himself that charms us. It would be well to read this novel
in connection with Kingsley's _Hypatia_, which attempts to reconstruct the
life and ideals of the same period.

Newman's poems are not so well known as his prose, but the reader who
examines the _Lyra Apostolica_ and _Verses on Various Occasions_ will find
many short poems that stir a religious nature profoundly by their pure and
lofty imagination; and future generations may pronounce one of these poems,
"The Dream of Gerontius," to be Newman's most enduring work. This poem aims
to reproduce the thoughts and feelings of a man whose soul is just quitting
the body, and who is just beginning a new and greater life. Both in style
and in thought "The Dream" is a powerful and original poem and is worthy of
attention not only for itself but, as a modern critic suggests, "as a
revelation of that high spiritual purpose which animated Newman's life from
beginning to end."

Of Newman's style it is as difficult to write as it would be to describe
the dress of a gentleman we had met, who was so perfectly dressed that we
paid no attention to his clothes. His style is called transparent, because
at first we are not conscious of his manner; and unobtrusive, because we
never think of Newman himself, but only of the subject he is discussing. He
is like the best French prose writers in expressing his thought with such
naturalness and apparent ease that, without thinking of style, we receive
exactly the impression which he means to convey. In his sermons and essays
he is wonderfully simple and direct; in his controversial writings, gently
ironical and satiric, and the satire is pervaded by a delicate humor; but
when his feelings are aroused he speaks with poetic images and symbols, and
his eloquence is like that of the Old Testament prophets. Like Ruskin's,
his style is modeled largely on that of the Bible, but not even Ruskin
equals him in the poetic beauty and melody of his sentences. On the whole
he comes nearer than any other of his age to our ideal of a perfect prose
writer.

OTHER ESSAYISTS OF THE VICTORIAN AGE. We have selected the above five
essayists, Macaulay, Carlyle, Arnold, Newman, and Ruskin, as representative
writers of the Victorian Age; but there are many others who well repay our
study. Notable among these are John Addington Symonds, author of _The
Renaissance in Italy_, undoubtedly his greatest work, and of many critical
essays; Walter Pater, whose _Apprecia