It only remains for me to name =Alfred Austin (1835- )= the Poet Laureate. After Lord Tennyson's death in 1892 the office remained vacant for four years. The two poets who might have been considered to have had some claim, William Morris and Mr Swinburne, were supposed to be impossible on account of democratic sympathies, although it is doubtful if either would have accepted the office. Almost every living poet, however small the bulk of his achievement, and however inconsiderable his years, was nominated--by the press--in turn. Finally, in 1896, by a pleasant irony of circumstances, the laureateship was given to a journalist,--for Mr Austin had been a leader-writer on the staff of the _Standard_ newspaper for many years. He has written "The Golden Age, a Satire" (1871), "Savonarola" (1881), "English Lyrics" (1891), and many prose works. His "English Lyrics" contained an appreciative introduction by William Watson, the author of "Wordsworth's Grave," "Lachrymæ Musarum," and other poems which have been received with abundant cordiality by the press and public. Another living poet who has been well and justly praised is =Rudyard Kipling (1864- )=. He made his earliest fame as a writer of short stories of Indian military life. "Soldiers Three" and "Wee Willie Winkie" have entirely captivated the imagination of Mr Kipling's contemporaries. It is as a poet, however, that he will perhaps longest retain his hold upon them. His "Barrack-Room Ballads" (1892) are finely touched with that martial spirit which so strongly appeals to the heart of our nation. FOOTNOTES: [1] As, for example, _The Battle of Blenheim_, _The Inchcape Rock_ and _The Cataract of Lodore_. [2] "The Nelson Memorial," by J. K. Laughton, 1896. "The Life of Nelson. The embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain," by Captain A. T. Mahan, 1897. [3] "Select Poems of Wordsworth," by Matthew Arnold. "Golden Treasury Series." [4] Charles Kingsley's "Two Years Ago" appeared the same year--in 1857. [5] Reprinted in 1875 in "Essays and Studies." [6] See "Poems and Prose Remains" by Arthur Hugh Clough, with a Selection from his Letters, and a Memoir, edited by his wife. 2 vols., 1888. [7] All over the country the peasants chanted a ballad of which the burden is still remembered. MACAULAY, History, Vol. II., p. 371. CHAPTER II The Novelists