Dobell belongs to the "spasmodic school," as it was named by
Professor Aytoun, who parodied its style in _Firmilian_. The epithet,
however, was first applied by Carlyle to Byron. The school includes
George Gilfillan, Philip James Bailey, John Stanyan Bigg (1826-1865),
Dobell, Alexander Smith, and, according to some critics, Gerald Massey.
It was characterized by an under-current of discontent with the mystery
of existence, by vain effort, unrewarded struggle, sceptical unrest, and
an uneasy straining after the unattainable. It thus faithfully
reflected a certain phase of 19th century thought. The productions of
the school are marked by an excess of metaphor and a general
extravagance of language. On the other hand, they exhibit freshness and
originality often lacking in more conventional writings. Dobell's poem,
_The Roman_, dedicated to the interests of political liberty in Italy,
is marked by pathos, energy and passionate love of freedom, but it is
overlaid with monologue, which is carried to a dreary excess in
_Balder_, relieved though the latter is by fine descriptive passages,
and by some touching songs. Dobell's suggestive, but too ornate prose
writings were collected and edited with an introductory note by
Professor J. Nichol (_Thoughts on Art, Philosophy and Religion_) in
1876. In his religious views Dobell was a Christian of the Broad Church
type; and socially he was one of the most amiable and true-hearted of
men. His early interest in the cause of oppressed nationalities, shown
in his friendship with Kossuth, Emanuel Deutsch and others, never
lessened, although his views of home politics underwent some change from
the radical opinions of his youth. In Gloucestershire Dobell was well
known as an advocate of social reform, and he was a pioneer in the
application of the co-operative system to private enterprise.

The standard edition of his poems (1875) by Professor Nichol includes
a memoir.

DOBELN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the (Freiberg)
Mulde, two arms of which embrace the town as an island, 35 m. S.E. from
Leipzig by rail, and at the junction of lines to Dresden, Chemnitz,
Riesa and Oschatz. Pop. (1905) including the garrison, 18,907. It has
two Evangelical churches, of which the Nikolai-kirche, dating in its
present form from 1485, is a handsome edifice; a medieval town hall, a
former Benedictine nunnery and a monument to Luther. There are an
agricultural and a commercial s