I have dealt hitherto with the subject of religion as showing how Crabbe can be used to illustrate his age. For politics I may refer to the witty tale of “The Dumb Orators”; for social life to “Amusements in the Borough,” and to “Clelia” and “Blaney” in the same collection. II. In the biography the son writes with much discrimination of his father’s genius: “Whatever truth there may be in these lines (from “The Learned Boy,” disparaging order), it is certain that this insensibility to the beauty of order was a defect in his own mind; arising from what I must call his want of taste.... This view of his mind is, I must add, confirmed by his remarkable indifference to almost all the proper objects of taste. He had no real love for painting, for music, for architecture, or for what a painter’s eye considers as the beauties of a landscape. But he had a passion for science--the science of the human mind first--,” etc. I believe that in delineation of character Crabbe is an artist indeed, worthy to rank with Jane Austen and the Brontës, and perhaps even more subtle than these ladies. He was not without a certain cynicism, and his powers of critical observation were great. He draws the drunken old reprobate in “The Borough,” the magnificent “Sir Denys Brand,” the gentle, suffering “Ellen Orford,” the University don in “Schools,” with masterly skill. I can only indicate his power in this respect by a few inadequate quotations. The sketches of the characters in the almshouses in “The Borough” I commend to you as masterpieces. Clelia and Blaney had come down in life, and were without much excuse. They had been jobbed into the institution by Sir Denys Brand, and his words at the meeting of trustees throw a world of light on the baronet’s character. Of Blaney he says: “‘’Tis true,’ said he, ‘the fellow’s quite a brute-- A very beast; but yet, with all his sin, He has a manner--let the devil in.’” Of Clelia: “‘With all her faults,’ he said, ‘the woman knew How to distinguish--had a manner, too, And, as they say, she is allied to some In decent station--let the creature come.’” But though these two are powerfully drawn, Crabbe expends more care and skill in depicting Benbow, who had been “a jovial trader; men enjoyed The night with him: the day was unemployed.” Benbow, whenever he could find an audience, used to dilate on “The men of might to mingle strong drink,” whom he had known. There was Squire Asgill, whose manor house was a disgrace and scandal to the countryside. It is needless to particularise. I can explain best by saying that his life was that of Sir Pitt Crawley in his later days, only he was more hospitable and generous. Let us see the worthy squire at his best, in church: