Queen Victoria

man I honour, and still more highly: Him who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispensable; not daily bread, but the Bread of Life. . . . Unspeakably touchi

Carlyle, Sart

ing the early years of Victoria's reign it is necessary to read the literature, more especially t

of the masters against the men, of Right against Might. England was a sick nation, at war with itself, and Chartism and the Chartists were some of the signs of the disease. The ea

s place. Carlyle denounced this system as "the shabbiest gospel that had been taught among men." He urged upon Government the fact that it was their duty to educate and to uplift the masses, and upon the masters that

sanctity of work. "All true work is religion," he said, and the essence of

happier-more blessed, less accursed! It is work for a God. . . . Unstained by wasteful deformities, by wasted tears or heart's-blood of men, or any defacement of the Pit, noble, fruitful Labour, growing ever nobler, will come forth-the grand sole Miracle of Man, whereby Man h

Carlyle, Past

ndard of English work had become lower; it was 'cheap and nasty,' and this in itself was a moral evil. Good must in time prevail over Evil; the Christian religion was the strongest thing in the world, and for

time they were unpopular and distasteful to the majority, yet he li

place to the novel which pictured life in cruder and harsher colours. The life of th

author, who is best known to most readers by her masterpiece Cranford, achieved an instant success and became a

some years later, from that of capital. Her books are exact pictures of what she saw around

also between ancient and modern civilizations. The South is agricultural, easy-going, idyllic; the North is ste

se who do not really know them, are described with a faithful yet kin

oung person can stand it; but an old man gets racked with rheumatism, and bent and w

ghten naughty children with into being good. I'll tell yo' it's their part-their cue, as some folks call it-to beat us down, to swell their fortunes; and it's ours to stand up and fight hard-not for ourselves alone, but for them round about us-for justice and fair play. We help to make their profits,

rs Gaskell had spoken of both sides. Nicholas Higgins, whose words are quoted above, is a type of the best Lancashire workman, who holds out for the good of

way to North and South, it is interesting. As Ruskin said of Dickens' stories, "Allowing for the manner of telling them, the things he tells us are always true. . . . He is entirely right in

a monster Petition was to be presented to both Houses by their leaders, but London was garrisoned by troops under the Duke of Wellington o

e gave way to union and co-operation. A new champion, Charles

new it from the seamy side. Especially did he blame the Church, which, he said, offered a religion for "Jacob, the smooth man," and was not suited for "poor Esau." This was indeed most true as regard

keep them down? . . . What right have we to say that they shall know no higher recreation than the hogs, because, forsooth, if we raised them they might refuse t

sole enjoyment-such as it was-consisted in recalling "'the glorious times before the wa

hey say there's a sight more money in Engl

old man, 'but it's go

an extent that Kingsley was determined, if possible, to put an end t

s the worst of all, and the starved-out and sweated-out tailor's last resource . . . there are more clergymen among the cu

neymen tailors, and the Chartist riots. Both sides receive some hard knocks, for Kingsley was a born figh

n, he rose to a position of some influence. He was one of the first to propose that museums and public galleries should be opened on Sundays, for he declared that most of the intemperance and vice was owing to the want of wholesome and rational recreation. He insiste

. "Of the general effect," he said, "which his works had upon me, I shall say nothing:

f life. As Carlyle had already pointed out, the question of the people was a 'knife and fork' question-that is to say, so long a

ndred and one taxes which had pressed so heavily upon the poor. Manufacturers were now able to buy t

the famine in Ireland, he removed the duty on corn. Thus,

t "what they wanted was bread in exchange for their cottons, woollens, and hardware, and no other thing can supply the

adly will

our ough

eadly power

r and Lab

iots and much bloodshed that the Irish

ian. By birth a Jew, he had joined the English Church and the ranks of the Tory party. His early works are chiefly sketches of social and polit

he world's

ith sword

career he never hesitated in championing the cause of the People, and declared that "he was not afra

s as their oppressors, who were living in comfort

reckless and irreligious spirit which continued p

p us.' 'Talk no more about thy Goddle Mighty,' was the sneering reply;

or they thought that the cry of 'cheap bread' meant simp

ould save England through its youth. They were, however, known in Parliament in thei

and art were to be fostered by wealthy patrons. The Crown was once more to be in touch with the people. "If Royalty did but condescend to lower itself to a familiarity with the people, it is curious that they will raise, exalt, and adore it, sometimes even invest it with divine and myst

ythe, Viscount Strangf

by deals with the political parties of that time, and is full of thinly-disguised portraits of people then living; Sybil, from which a quotation is

y means of agitation in and out of Parliament in calling public attent

ty and break loose from the worn-out beliefs and prejudices of both political parties. Though in later days he will be remembered as a statesman rath

h their disappearance Chartism came to an end. The failure of the "physical force" Chartists in 1848 had served to enforce the lesson taught by Carlyle and Kingsley, that the way to gain

njoyed peace within her own borders-that peace which a patriot poet, E

tles, give

onour's pro

rees the fet

scorns to m

spurns a ty

lifts each

eoples, no

onquering fr

bids oppres

tles, give

x to CH

toral districts; (5) Abolition of the property qualification for members of Parliament; (6) Payment for members of Parliament. The R

nufacturers. The great northern towns had been enfranchised by the Reform Bill, and sent as leaders of the moveme

Trade defeated in Parlia

'Connell, the leader, arrested. He was found guilty of conspirac

of the potato

of the potato

n the ports free to food stuffs. Free Trade es

public with Prince Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napole

he meeting in London to present a Pe

the chief causes of the death of Chartism. The workers now begin to aim at reforms through their Trades Unio

ional imports nearly treble, and ex

ve us a key to the meaning of the early Victorian Age. 1839. Chartism. 1841.

of the Workhouse). 1850. David Copperfield (contains sketches of Dickens' early

ical life and the 'Young England' policy). 1845. Sybil (the c

1828. Corn Law Rhymes (the poe

(Industrial Lancashire during the crisis of 1842). 185

hard lives of the agricultural labourers). 1850.

ofound knowledge of human nature, and insight into the relations between man, his actions, his destiny, and God." The Queen was also one of hi

o Mend (life in an English prison). 1863. Hard Cash (

. (In the last-named book Ruskin describes the scheme of his St George's Guild, an attem