Charles Kingsley (1819-1875)

The Reverend Charles Kingsley was a Church of England minister, novelist and poet, probably most well known for his novels 'The Water Babies', which was published in 1863, and 'Westward Ho!' in 1855. He was a friend of Charles Darwin and supported his theories on evolution. Kingsley was also a believer in Anglo-Saxonism - a racial belief developed in the nineteenth century that linked the English and Teutonic races and believed them to be superior. He became Chaplain to Queen Victoria in 1859 and Canon of Westminster in 1873.  

"...but Walter Scott’s stupid anachronism of Sir Piercie

Shafton is all they have chosen to know about…" 

There are two letters in the Sampson Low Collection written by Charles Kingsley. In this letter written in 1869, he refers positively to an edition of Philip Sidney's (1554-1586) romance 'The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia' which was published two years earlier by Sampson Low, Marston & Co. in 1867. Kingsley suggests that John Lyly's (c.1553-1606) 'Euphues: the anatomy of wit' could be published in the same 'Gentle Life' series. Believing 'Euphues' to be superior to 'Arcadia', Kingsley castigates Walter Scott who satirised Lyly's style of writing (known as euphuism) in the character of Sir Piercie Shafton in his work 'The Monastery'. 

View Charles Kingsley's letter [opens in a new window]

Image Rights: Wellcome Collection. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/