VINCENT, L. H. American Literary Masters. 1906. WOODBERRY, G. E. _Nation_, October 11, 1894. TOPICS AND PROBLEMS Read any one of Holmes's "Breakfast-Table" Series or any one of his novels for evidences of his prevailing belief in the virtues of an intellectual aristocracy. Do the same thing with any of these seven books for the recurrence of illustrations, allusions, or whole passages which only a physician would have been likely to write. Note in any of these books or in any selected group of his poems evidences of his respect for the broad contributions of science and scientific thought. Read poems and passages of broadest jocosity and see if you find any wisdom intermixed with their ingenuity and their good nature. Compare the "society verse" of Holmes with that of Austin Dobson or Brander Matthews. Read at least a half-dozen poems of Holmes written in satire on contemporary men or movements and generalize on them as you can. Read "Poetry," "Urania," and "To my Readers" for Holmes's theory of the content and the purpose of poetry. Compare with the theory of some other American or English poet. Read "Elsie Venner," "The Guardian Angel," or "The Mortal Antipathy" and criticize it for its virtues and defects as a novel. Read "The Guardian Angel" for the autobiographical material discoverable in the character of Byles Gridley. CHAPTER XXII SOME METROPOLITAN POETS In the metropolitan group of the latter half of the nineteenth century Bryant was dominant until his death in 1878. Other conspicuous representatives were Bayard Taylor (1825-1878), Richard Henry Stoddard (1825-1903), Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833-1908), Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) in his early career, and--with a difference--Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909). None of these men was born and brought up in New York, and none but Gilder partook of the nature of the town as Irving and even Bryant and Halleck had been able to do in the preceding generation when it was more compact and unified. Taylor clung to the idea of establishing a manorial estate at Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, but lived more or less in New York and buzzed restlessly about the literary market until he died a victim of overwork in 1878. Stoddard, more stable and unexcited than Taylor or than Stedman, was occupied in a succession of uninspired literary ventures. Aldrich, after a few years, returned to Boston, where he was happier, although always consciously a newcomer. Stedman devoted as much time and energy to poetry as his unsuccessful efforts to become independently rich would allow him. These men were in a way the first American literary victims to "Newyorkitis." Only Richard Watson Gilder succeeded in coping with the great city. The others were not only unable to impress their stamp on the city of their adoption but were engulfed by it. In the midst of