LITERARY STUDIES VOL. II. PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON LITERARY STUDIES BY THE LATE WALTER BAGEHOT M.A. AND FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON _WITH A PREFATORY MEMOIR_ EDITED BY RICHARD HOLT HUTTON IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. _FOURTH EDITION_ LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET 1891 _All rights reserved_ CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. ESSAY PAGE I. EDWARD GIBBON (1856) 1 II. BISHOP BUTLER (1854) 54 III. STERNE AND THACKERAY (1864) 106 IV. THE WAVERLEY NOVELS (1858) 146 V. CHARLES DICKENS (1858) 184 VI. THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY (1856) 221 VII. BÉRANGER (1857) 261 VIII. MR. CLOUGH’S POEMS (1862) 299 IX. HENRY CRABB ROBINSON (1869) 323 X. WORDSWORTH, TENNYSON, AND BROWNING; OR, PURE, ORNATE, AND GROTESQUE ART IN ENGLISH POETRY (1864) 338 _APPENDIX._ I. THE IGNORANCE OF MAN (1862) 391 II. ON THE EMOTION OF CONVICTION (1871) 412 III. THE METAPHYSICAL BASIS OF TOLERATION (1874) 422 IV. THE PUBLIC WORSHIP REGULATION BILL (1874) 438 LITERARY STUDIES. _EDWARD GIBBON._[1] (1856.) A wit said of Gibbon’s autobiography, that he did not know the difference between himself and the Roman Empire. He has narrated his ‘progressions from London to Buriton, and from Buriton to London,’ in the same monotonous majestic periods that record the fall of states and empires. The consequence is, that a fascinating book gives but a vague idea of its subject. It may not be without its use to attempt a description of him in plainer though less splendid English.