pular poems of its
size--it contains about 10,000 lines--ever written, and he and Spenser
were called the Homer and Virgil of their age. They must, however, have
appealed to quite different classes. The plain-spoken, jolly humour,
homely, lively, direct tales, vigorous patriotic feeling, and
rough-and-tumble metre of Warner's muse, and its heterogeneous
accumulation of material--history, tales, theology, antiquities--must
have appealed to a lower and wider audience than Spenser's charmed verse.
The style is clear, spirited, and pointed, but, as has been said, "with
all its force and vivacity ... fancy at times, and graphic descriptive
power, it is poetry with as little of high imagination in it as any that
was ever written." In his narratives W. allowed himself great latitude of
expression, which may partly account for the rapidity with which his book
fell into oblivion.

WARREN, SAMUEL (1807-1877).--Novelist, _b._ in Denbighshire, _s._ of a
Nonconformist minister. After studying medicine at Edin. he took up law,
and became a barrister, wrote several legal text-books, and in 1852 was
made Recorder of Hull. He sat in the House of Commons for Midhurst
1856-59, and was a Master in Lunacy 1859-77. He was the author of
_Passages from the Diary of a late Physician_, which appeared (1832-37)
first in _Blackwood's Magazine_, as did also _Ten Thousand a Year_
(1839). Both attracted considerable attention, and were often reprinted
and translated. His last novel, _Now and Then_, had little success. W.
entertained exaggerated ideas as to the importance of his place in
literature.

WARTON, JOSEPH (1722-1800).--Critic, elder _s._ of the Rev. Thomas W.,
Prof. of Poetry at Oxf., was _ed._ at Basingstoke School, (of which his
_f._ was headmaster), Winchester, and Oxf. He took orders, held various
benefices, and became headmaster of Winchester Coll., and Prebendary of
Winchester and of St. Paul's. He _pub._ miscellaneous verses, 2 vols. of
_Odes_ (1744 and 1746), in which he displayed a then unusual feeling for
nature, and revolted against the critical rules of Pope and his
followers. He was a good classical scholar, and made an approved
translation of the _Eclogues_ and _Georgics_ of Virgil. He and his
brother Thomas (_q.v._) were friends of Johnson, and members of the
Literary Club. His last work of importance was an _Essay on the Writings
and Genius of Pope_, of which the first vol. appeared in 1757, and the
second in 1782, and