COLERIDGE AND SOUTHEY LIV. The Devil's Walk 206 SYDNEY SMITH LV. The Letters of Peter Plymley--on "No Popery" 208 JAMES SMITH LVI. The Poet of Fashion 216 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR LVII. Bossuet and the Duchess of Fontanges 218 LORD BYRON LVIII. The Vision of Judgment 226 LIX. The Waltz 236 LX. "The Dedication" in Don Juan 243 THOMAS HOOD LXI. Cockle _v._ Cackle 249 LORD MACAULAY LXII. The Country Clergyman's Trip to Cambridge 253 WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED LXIII. The Red Fisherman; or, The Devil's Decoy 257 LXIV. Mad--Quite Mad 264 BENJAMIN DISRAELI (LORD BEACONSFIELD) LXV. Popanilla on Man 270 ROBERT BROWNING LXVI. Cristina 277 LXVII. The Lost Leader 280 WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY LXVIII. Piscator and Piscatrix 281 LXIX. On a Hundred Years Hence 283 ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH LXX. Spectator Ab Extra 292 C.S. CALVERLEY LXXI. "Hic Vir, Hic Est" 296 INTRODUCTION. Satire and the satirist have been in evidence in well-nigh all ages of the world's history. The chief instruments of the satirist's equipment are irony, sarcasm, invective, wit, and humour. The satiric denunciation of a writer burning with indignation at some social wrong or abuse, is capable of reaching the very highest level of literature. The writings of a satirist of this type, and to some extent of every satirist who touches on the social aspects of life, present a picture more or less vivid, though not of course complete and impartial, of the age to which he belongs, of the men, their manners, fashions, tastes, and prevalent opinions. Thus they have a historical as well as a literary and an ethical value. And Thackeray, in speaking of the office of the humorist or satirist, for to him they were one, says, "He professes to awaken and direct your love, your pity, your kindness, your scorn for untruth, pretension, imposture, your tenderness for the weak, the poor, the oppressed, the unhappy. To the best of his means and ability he comments on all the ordinary actions and passions of life almost."[1]