Dobson, Henry Austin

Henry Austin (1840-), an English poet. He was born at Plymouth, England. In 1856 he became a clerk in the Board of Trade, and later one of the officials known as principals. His earliest verses were published in St. Paul's magazine, and later in book form under the title Vignettes in Rhyme, and Vers de Societe. Proverbs in Porcelain, Old World Idylls, and At the Sign of the Lyre are other volumes of poetry. Dobson has also produced prose works, among them the Lives of Fielding, Hogarth, Goldsmith, and Walpole. Dobson is probably the best and most popular author of that class of poetry called "Society verse," much in vogue during the latter part of the nine-teenth century. "Society verse," of whose French name, "Vers de Societe," the English translation is a poor equivalent, is marked, Stedman tells us, "by humor, by spontaneity, joined with elegance of finish, by the quality we call breeding--above all, by lightness of touch." Dobson's verses display these characteristics to a marked degree. He also makes admirable use of the French forms, rondeau, rondel, and triolet, in many beautiful little poems.