THE LATE MR. JOHN DENNIS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Stu,—The recent death of Mr. John Dennis at the advanced age of eighty-six should not be passed unnoticed by your constant readers. As the younger brother of George Dennis, whose book on the " Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria" opened a new chapter in prehistoric archaeology, he may be supposed to have inherited some literary talent. Some thirty years ago, when your distinguished predecessor, Mr. R. H. Hutton, had raised the Spectator to the high position amongst weekly reviews which it has since maintained, he was a regular contributor to its columns, and continued to write for it till the year 1898. An occasional poem or sonnet is far from representing his effective work for it, which consisted chiefly of anony- mous articles and criticisms on English writers and English literature. Some of these have been reprinted in various original volumes of which he appears as the author- " Studies in English Literature," " Heroes of Literature," "English Poets," and "The Realms of Gold" (" Talks on English Poetry for Children "). As editor he was responsible for a selection of "English Sonnets," "English Lyrics from Shakespeare to Milton," the "Aldine "edition of Scott's Poems, &c. Some of these books were well known in their day, but his most successful work was that on "The Age of Pope," which is now in its seventh edition, and is largely used by students of English literature. In these days of short-lived books this is no small testimony to his discriminating criticism and literary skill.
Always of a weakly constitution, he spent the last ten years of his life in continuous ill-health and seclusion at his house at Crowborough, yet nevertheless was able to write introduc- tions and annotations for the whole of " The Chiswick Shakespeare." Of his personal character it is difficult to speak briefly in adequate terms. His friends will retain the memory of a man gentle, courteous, sincere and humane in the widest sense of the term. With him passed from amongst us—on the 8th of this month—a spirit akin to that of his old friend the late Aubrey de Vere, who died several years before him.—
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