INTRODUCTION THE VAGABOND ELEMENT IN MODERN LITERATURE I Explanation of the term Vagabond 3 First note of the Vagabond temperament—restlessness II Second note of the Vagabond temperament—a passion 4 for the Earth Compare this with a passion for Nature Browning—William Morris—George Meredith III Third note of the Vagabond temperament—the note of 6 aloofness Illustrate from Borrow, Thoreau, Walt Whitman IV Bohemianism—its relation to Vagabondage 8 Charles Lamb—a Bohemian rather than a Vagabond The decadent movement in Verlaine, Baudelaire The Russian Vagabond—Tolstoy, Gorky V The Gothic Revival and Vagabondage 12 VI Robert Browning and his “Vagabond moods” 13 Tennyson and William Morris compared VII Effect of the Vagabond temperament upon Literature 15 I WILLIAM HAZLITT I Discussion of the term “complexity” 19 Illustration from Herbert Spencer, showing that complexity is of two kinds: (1) Complexity—the result of degeneration, e.g. cancer in the body; (2) Complexity—the consequent of a higher organism, e.g. dog more complex than dog-fish Complexity and the Vagabond—Neuroticism and Genius Genius not necessarily morbid because it may have sprung from a morbid soil. Illustrate from Hazlitt II Two opposing tendencies in Hazlitt’s temperament: 24 (1) The austere, individualistic, Puritan strain; (2) The sensuous, voluptuous strain. Illustrations of each III The Inquisitiveness of Hazlitt 28 No patience with readers who will not quit their own small back gardens. He is for ranging “over the hills and far away” Hazlitt and the Country—Country people—Walking tours IV The joyfulness of Hazlitt 31 The joyfulness of the Vagabond a fundamental quality V The styles of Hazlitt and De Quincey compared 32 The tonic wisdom of Hazlitt II THOMAS DE QUINCEY I The call of the Earth and the call of the Town 37 Compare De Quincey, Charles Dickens, and Elia The veil of phantasy in De Quincey’s writings seemed to shut him off from the outside world II Merits and defects of his style. Not a plastic 40 style, but in the delineation of certain moods supremely excellent Compare De Quincey and Oscar Wilde