Excerpt from English Literature 1880-1905 Melancholy is the keynote of the last genera tion of English literature, the period beginning about 1880 and ending, let us say, about 190 5. Artistic impotence and artistic philistin ism exercise even separately a melancholy effect; but, taken together, the effect they bring about is lamentable. The mere title given to one of the most typical productions of this period, The Yellow Book, is startlingly apt. The whole atmosphere of the time is yellow, jaundiced. Weakness of will is a, prominent characteristic of those who, had they been stronger in this respect, might have rescued the literature of the age from the mire into which it was gradually sinking. But the period required stronger men to grapple with it. It is, indeed, only too true that the age. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.