22. +Prose-Writers.+-- We have now to consider the greatest prose-writers of the first half of the nineteenth century. First comes +Walter Scott+, one of the greatest novelists that ever lived, and who won the name of “The Wizard of the North” from the marvellous power he possessed of enchaining the attention and fascinating the minds of his readers. Two other great writers of prose were +Charles Lamb+ and +Walter Savage Landor+, each in styles essentially different. +Jane Austen+, a young English lady, has become a classic in prose, because her work is true and perfect within its own sphere. +De Quincey+ is perhaps the writer of the most ornate and elaborate English prose of this period. +Thomas Carlyle+, a great Scotsman, with a style of overwhelming power, but of occasional grotesqueness, like a great prophet and teacher of the nation, compelled statesmen and philanthropists to think, while he also gained for himself a high place in the rank of historians. +Macaulay+, also of Scottish descent, was one of the greatest essayists and ablest writers on history that Great Britain has produced. A short survey of each of these great men may be useful. Scott has been already treated of. 23. CHARLES LAMB (+1775-1834+), a perfect English essayist, was born in the Inner Temple, in London, in the year 1775. His father was clerk to a barrister of that Inn of Court. Charles was educated at Christ’s Hospital, where his most famous schoolfellow was S. T. Coleridge. Brought up in the very heart of London, he had always a strong feeling for the greatness of the metropolis of the world. “I often shed tears,” he said, “in the motley Strand, for fulness of joy at so much life.” He was, indeed, a thorough Cockney and lover of London, as were also Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, and Lamb’s friend Leigh Hunt. Entering the India House as a clerk in the year 1792, he remained there thirty-three years; and it was one of his odd sayings that, if any one wanted to see his “works,” he would find them on the shelves of the India House. --He is greatest as a writer of prose; and his prose is, in its way, unequalled for sweetness, grace, humour, and quaint terms, among the writings of this century. His best prose work is the +Essays of Elia+, which show on every page the most whimsical and humorous subtleties, a quick play of intellect, and a deep sympathy with the sorrows and the joys of men. Very little verse came from his pen. “Charles Lamb’s nosegay of verse,” says Professor Dowden, “may be held by the small hand of a maiden, and there is not in it one flaunting flower.” Perhaps the best of his poems are the short pieces entitled +Hester+ and +The Old Familiar Faces+. --He retired from the India House, on a pension, in 1825, and died at Edmonton, near London, in 1834. His character was as sweet and refined as his style; Wordsworth spoke of him as “Lamb the frolic and the gentle;” and these and other fine qualities endeared him to a large circle of friends.