Introduction to Opium. At the university he lived much to himself, and read extensively; and the habit of solitude which he cultivated increased natural diffidence. The result was that, after passing written examinations brilliantly, he so dreaded the orals that he ran away and hence received no degree. During these years, while on a visit to London, he first used opium, the practice to which he unquestionably owed not a little of his fame. His own minute record, however, of a not entirely successful struggle against opium would hardly lead one to desire fame at so great a cost. To the Lake District. After the Wordsworths left Dove Cottage, Grasmere, De Quincey occupied it for a number of years. Though Wordsworth was the chief attraction in the region for him, he found another in the person of Margaret Simpson, a Westmoreland farmer's daughter, whom he married in 1816. Publication of the "Confessions."-The year 1821, when De Quincey removed to London, stands out prominently in his life. In that year there appeared in the London Magazine, in two instalments, The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: Being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar: and De Quincey's career as a contributor to magazines was determined. Readers who had become used to new and striking things in both poetry and prose found in this work a yet greater surprise. The intimate self-revelation, together with the wonderful style which revealed new capacities in the language, made the Confessions eclipse in interest even the Essays of Elia appearing in the same magazine. A Pecul mere, and he remove the remai of his wif im; but De Quincey occupied he contin abode, w papers m his prope follow hi the latter A com pages of this book. Not only was he a voluminous writer; he wrote on a wide range of subjects, classified by Masson as autobiography, biog- TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF This edition was published anonymously. romances. Minor Writings. - no purpose (New York Public Library.) criticism of Goethe, in which he asserts that the German poet's reputation will sink for several generations till it reaches its proper level, is a classic of misconception. One of his literary essays, however, On the Knocking at the be in M twentythe imp the Firs 99 effort o in the contrasting of "the beautiful English face of the girl and "the sallow and bilious skin of the Malay;" in various descriptions of an opium-eater; and in accounts of tremendous opium "dreams." Despite his digressions, De Quincey shows also great constructive power; and the combination of this with the flow of poetical, "impassioned" language results in literary art of a high order. NOVELISTS In addition to reaching great heights in poetry and essay, the Romantic period is marked by high achievements in another field, the novel. Of the two chief novelists of the period we may say that each created a type of novel, and attained a preeminence in that type which has not yet been successfully disputed. Sir Walter Scott, the "Wizard of the North," is still, after a century of imitation, our foremost historical novelist; Miss Austen, in like manner, remains our foremost writer of the novel of social comedy. SIR WALTER SCOTT, 1771-1832 One of the fullest, most varied, and most attractive lives to be found in the annals of literature is that of Sir Walter Scott. His literary life began, while he was engaged in the practice of law, with translations from the German; proceeded with a collection of ballads from the Border peasantry; continued with a series of romances in verse; with lives of Napoleon, Dryden, Swift, and the novelists; extensive editions of the works of Dryden and Swift; essays on a |