t is coarse, dark, gross,
and prosaic. The mental atmosphere and the types and characters that
he gives, express only beauty and charm.

One approaches the poems of Austin Dobson as one stands before a rare
collection of enamels, fan-mounts, jeweled snuff-boxes, and delicate
carvings in ivory and silver; and after delighting in the beauty and
finish of these graceful curios, passes into a gallery of paintings
and water-colors, suggesting Watteau, Fragonard, Boucher, Meissonier,
and Greuze. We also wander among trim box-hedges and quaint gardens of
roses and bright hollyhocks; lean by sun-dials to watch the shadow of
Time; and enjoy the sight of gay belles, patched and powdered and
dressed in brocaded gowns and gypsy hats. Gallant beaux, such as are
associated with Reynolds's portraits, appear, and hand them into
sedan-chairs or lead them through stately minuets to the notes of
Rameau, Couperin, and Arne.

Just as the scent of rose-leaves, lavender, and musk rises from
antique Chinese jars, so Dobson's delicate verse reconstructs a life

"Of fashion gone, and half-forgotten ways."

He is equally at home in France. Nothing could be more sympathetic and
exquisite than 'A Revolutionary Relic,' 'The Cure's Progress,' 'Une
Marquise,' and the 'Proverbs in Porcelain,' one of which is cited
below.

In the 'Vers de Societe,' as well as his other poetry, Dobson fulfills
all the requirements of light verse--charm, mockery, pathos, banter,
and, while apparently skimming the surface, often shows us the
strange depths of the human heart. He blends so many qualities that he
deserves the praise of T.B. Aldrich, who says, "Austin Dobson has the
grace of Suckling and the finish of Herrick, and is easily master of
both in metrical art."

Henry Austin Dobson, the son of Mr. George Clarisse Dobson, a civil
engineer, was born in Plymouth, England, January 18th 1840. His early
years were spent in Anglesea, and after receiving his education in
Beaumaris, Coventry, and Strasburg, he returned to England to become a
civil engineer. In 1856 he entered the civil service of Great Britain,
and ever since that date he has held offices in the Board of Trade.
His leisure was devoted to literature, and when Anthony Trollope first
issued his magazine St. Paul's in 1868, he introduced to the public
the verse of Austin Dobson. In 1873 his fugitive poems were published
in a small volume entitled 'Vignettes in Rhyme' and 'Vers de Societe.'
This was f