rary undergraduates with a turn for
humour; and he was able in spite of his affliction to issue some things
later, the chief being _Fly Leaves_ in 1872. Calverley, as has been
said, was a scholar, and his versions both from and into the classical
languages would of themselves have given him a reputation; but his forte
lay partly in the easier vein of parody, wherein few excelled him,
partly in the more difficult one of original light verse, wherein he had
a turn (as in his famous eulogy on tobacco) quite his own. He has never
been equalled in this, or even approached, except by James Kenneth
Stephen (1859-92), whose premature death deprived his friends of a most
amiable personality, and literature, in all probability, of a
considerable ornament. As it was, "J. K. S." left next to nothing but
two tiny collections of verse, showing an inspiration midway between
Calverley and Praed, but with quite sufficient personal note.

Two other writers of less scholarly style, but belonging to the London
Bohemian school of the third quarter of the century, W. J. Prowse,
"Nicholas" (1836-70), and H. S. Leigh (1837-83), may be noticed. Prowse,
whose career was very short, was the author of the charming lines on
"The beautiful City of Prague," which have been attributed to others:
while Leigh's _Carols of Cockayne_ (he was also a playwright) vary the
note of Hood happily, and now and then with a real originality.

Except Miss Rossetti, no woman during this time approached the poetical
excellence of Mrs. Barrett Browning. But the whole period has been
unprecedentedly fertile in poetesses, and whereas we had but five or six
to mention in the earlier chapter devoted to verse, we have here at
least a dozen, though no one who requires very extended notice here.
Lady Dufferin (1807-1867), mother of the well-known diplomatist, a
member of the Sheridan family, and her sister, and junior by a year,
Mrs. Norton (1808-1876), were both writers of facile and elegant verse,
with the Irish note of easy melody. The former was the less known to the
general reader, though a few of her pieces, such as "The Irish Emigrant"
and "Katie's Letter," have always been favourite numbers for recitation.
Mrs. Norton at one time enjoyed a considerable reputation as a poetess
by contributions to "Annuals" and "Souvenirs," chiefly in the
sentimental ballad style which pleased the second quarter of the
century. "The Outward Bound," "Bingen on the Rhine," and other thing