Thomas Love Peacock authored the essay

The correct option is “Four Ages of Poetry”.

Detailed Explanation:
“The Four Ages of Poetry” is a famous satirical essay written by the English novelist and poet Thomas Love Peacock, published in 1820 in the sole issue of Ollier's Literary Miscellany. In this essay, Peacock evaluates poetry through a historical framework, arguing that it cycles through four distinct ages: the Iron Age, the Golden Age, the Silver Age, and the Brass Age. He critically characterizes his contemporary Romantic era as the Brass Age, arguing that poetry had become obsolete and useless in an age dominated by scientific advancement and utilitarian progress.

Peacock's essay is historically significant because it provoked his close friend, the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, to write his famous response and counter-defense, A Defence of Poetry (written in 1821).

Overview of the other options:
• “Revolt of the Tartars” is an essay written by Thomas De Quincey, published in 1837.
• “An Essay on the Principles of Human Action” is a philosophical treatise written by William Hazlitt, published in 1805.
• “Seven Lamps of Architecture” is an influential extended essay on architecture written by John Ruskin, published in 1849.