The Reverend Charles Kingsley, writer of poetry; novels; historical works; sermons; religious tracts; scientific treatises; and political, social, and literary criticism, was one of the Victorian age's most prolific authors. His was by no means the stereotypical writer's ivory-tower existence, however, as his extensive practical activities in the public arena reveal. A parish priest for much of his life, Kingsley was also a prominent social reformer, political activist, and practical scientist, as well as the Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, chaplain to Queen Victoria, the private tutor to the future Edward VII, and the canon of Westminster. Clearly, he led a varied and interesting life and was well known among his contemporaries. Today Kingsley's abundant writings and diverse causes are largely forgotten, and few commentators would consider him in the front ranks of eminent Victorians. Although his condition-of-England novels, Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet (1850) and Yeast; a Problem (1851), still find a small readership and a few historians associate him with Christian Socialism, "muscular Christianity," or the great controversy with Cardinal Newman, Kingsley is primarily recalled for a single aspect of his career, one which he undoubtedly considered of minor importance-his writings for children.
