In the meantime letters were passing between real men and women. The correspondence be tween Sir William Temple and Dorothy Osborne, his future wife, records a tender attachment. A little later, Temple's amanuensis, afterwards Dean Swift, was sending his charming prattle to Stella ; but her letters in reply were destroyed by the great Dean. Swift also kept up a cor respondence with Arbuthnot, Bolingbroke, and Pope, and wrote those `masterpicees of dreadful humor' called the I Ire pier's Letters. Pope's own correspondence with his friends, presenting the poet as he wished to appear to the world. is a good example of an autobiography in letter form. One of Pope's correspondents was Lady Mary Wortley Montani, whose letters. eovering nearly fifty years, were published after her death. As vivacious comments upon contemporary life. social and literary. they are among the best that have ever come from women. Individual letters of Dr. Johnson, as the repudiation of Lord Chesterfield. are eelebrnted. Chesterfield's let ters to his natural son, forming a eyeloprdia of polite manners. created a great stir in their time, and arc still read for their natural grace and good breeding. In the Citi..-xn of tire World. Goldsmith turned an imaginary corre spondence into a light satire of contemporary manners. Many imitators followed down to the time of Robert Southey. The political satire in letter form attained its greatest popularity iu the Leiters of Junius (q.v.). The finest per sonal letters of the eighteenth century came from Walpole, Nvlio wrutc 1Vith atm is Ion, giving loose rein to anecdote, gossip, scandal, and playful cynicism. Gray's letters, tender, affectionate, and lighted here and there with gleams of ex quisite humor. are perfect in tone and temper. In style Cowper stands midway. Ilis letters, written without revision or erasure. are the spon taneous expression of a tender and humorous nature softened by melancholy. Among other names of the eighteenth eentu•y that should not be forgotten are Addison, Sterne, Prances Bur ney, Mary Wollstonecra ft, Hannah More, and Burns.
the last century the literature of letters b"ecame vast. The death of any author of repute is now sure to be followed by the publication of his correspondence, which serves as an autobiography for the whole or a part of his career. Particularly interesting was the fairly successful attempt to tell the story of George Eliot's life by a chronological arrange ment of her letters with slight connecting links from the pen of her husband. Though the novel in letter form has lost its prestige, the fictitious correspondence, usually depicting a lo•e-passion, has retained its vogue. Of genuine letters ad dressed from friend to friend, the choicest since Cowper are by Byron and Charles Lamb. The letters of Edward PitzGerald, addressed to sonic of the most eminent men of his time, are also models of ease and frankness. Public curiosity
has led to the publication of the love-letters of literary men. The two most notable examples are the letters of Keats to Fanny Brawne and the correspondence between Browning and Miss Barrett just before their marriage. Great inter est also attaches to the correspondence of Scott, Southey, De Qnincev, Leigh 'hint. Sydney Smith, Lockhart. Ilood, Macaulay, Emerson, Carlyle, Mrs. Carlyle, Thaeke•ay, Ruskin, Matthew Ar nold, Stevenson. Lowell, and T. E. Brown.
It has generally been conceded that the French excel all other nations in the art of letter-writ And certainly if one were called upon to select the most charming lette•-writer of modern times, the lot would fall to Madame de a member of the celebrated Hotel de Rambonillet. She was a part of the best Parisian society for more than forty years. Her daughter married the Count de Grignan and settled in Provence. This separation was the occasion of the famous correspondence. never intended for publication, describing with extraordinary art and esprit the life of the capital. To the same period belong the letters of Madame de Maintenon, Guy Patin, and Racine. The theological letter received its highest style from Pascal in the Leltres a en prorincial. For the eighteenth century may be cited Madame dui Detrain]; Voltaire, who left many volumes of correspondence, including letters from England and letters to Frederick the Great; and Rousseau. who, besides numerous letters to his friends. wrote a novel in letter form. The classic traditions of the French letter were con tinued by Madame de Stael, Hugo, Saint-Beuve, George Sand, Alfred de Musset, the Goneonrts, and Minlin6e, whose intimate Lettres it wee in colonic appeared after his death.
German letters do not impress a foreigner with those prime requisites to a good letter—ease and grace. On the other hand, the German usually has something worth saying. Best known out side of Germany are the letters of Luther to his friends and family, the correspondence between Goethe and Schiller, and the letters of Bismarck to his wife. No letters equal those between Goethe and Schiller for letting one into the secrets of great authorship. Each informs the other of what he is doing and, so far as he can, describes the method of procedure. Schiller's letters to Korner treat in part the same theme. Among other Germans who have left valuable letters are Lessing. Herder, Winckelmann, the brothers Humboldt, Richter, the Schlegcls, Heine, the Grimms, and Richard Wagner Consult: Roberts, History of Letter-writing from the Earliest Period to the Fifth Century (London. 1843) ; Knight, Half-hours with the Best Letter-Writers (London, 1S67) ; Holcombe, Literature in Letters (New York, 1866) ; and Scoones. Four Centuries of English Letters (Lon don, 1880).