Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) was canon of Westminster and chaplain to the Queen, born at Holne Vicarage, near Dartmoor. He studied at Cambridge, and became rector of Eversley, in Hampshire, in 1844. He was the author in 1848 of a drama, entitled "The Saint's Tragedy," with St. Elizabeth of Hungary for heroine, which was followed successively by "Alton Locke" (1849), and "Yeast" (1851), chiefly in a Socialistic interest. "Hypatia," a brilliant book in the interest of early Christianity in Alexandria and "Westward Ho!" a narrative of the rivalry of England with Spain in the days of Elizabeth, and besides other works, including "Two Years Ago," "Water Babies," and "Hereward the Wake," he was the author of the popular ballads of "The Three Fishers," "The Starlings," and "The Sands of Dee". His writings had a great influence on his contemporaries, particularly on young men. Professor Saintsbury writes an appreciative estimate of Kingsley.

Wisdom & Quotes

• Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long.
- A Farewell

• For men must work and women must weep,

And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep.
- The Three Fishers

• When all the world is young, lad,

And all the trees are green;
An every goose a swan, lad,
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
And round the world away;
Young blood must have its course, lad,
And every dog its day.
- Water Babies

Herman Melville