A 920,263
HUNT
ENGLISH
PROSE
AND
PROSE
WRITERS
820.9
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PROPERTY OF THE
University of
Michigan
Libraries
1817
ARTES
SCIENTIA VERITAS
I
820.9
4947
REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH PROSE
AND PROSE WRITERS.
REPRESENTATIVE
4052
ENGLISH PROSE
AND
PROSE WRITERS
BY
THEODORE W
HUNT, PH.D.
Professor of Rhetoric and English Langunge in the College of New Jersey
AUTHOR OF "THE PRINCIPLES OF WRITTEN DISCOURSE," ETC.
A
NEW YORK
A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
714 BROADWAY
1887.
Copyright, 1887,
By A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON.
PREFACE.
€
The present volume is offered as a contribution to the
study of English Prose in its representative Historical
Periods, in its representative Literary Forms and in some
of its Representative Authors. That portion of our prose
is especially discussed that dates its beginning from the
reign of Elizabeth in the writings of Bacon and Hooker
and extends to the present decade in the pages of Carlyle.
This is English Prose Proper. As we advance, careful
attention will be given to the discussion of English Prose
Style as visibly expressed in a few of our prominent prose
writers. The work will be literary, throughout, in its
method, subject matter, and purpose, as distinct from
that order of treatment that might be termed technical
or speculative. A detailed account of the life and times
of the separate authors examined will thus be aside from
our main design, such allusions being made only in so
far as they serve to cast light on the particular author's
work as an author.
We have aimed to make the discussion both philosophic
and practical, in a department of our literature as yet but
approximately covered.
We trust that the treatise is so presented in thought
and external form, that, while serving a special educational
purpose in our college class-rooms, it may also prove
stimulating and helpful to every ingenuous student of
English Letters.
T. W. H.
COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY.
Princeton, N J„ Feb. 1887.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
ENGLISH PROSE FROM BEDE TO THE CHRONICLE
CHAPTER II.
. 15
ENGLISH PROSE FROM THE CHRONICLE TO BACON
• 25
ᏢᎪᎡᎢ L
REPRESENTATIVE HISTORICAL PERIODS.
CLASSIFICATION OF PERIODS.
CHAPTER I.
THE FORMATIVE PERIOD.
. 43
A-CAUSES OR AGENCIES
49
Friendly Agencies
49
1. Antecedent Work
49
2. Awakening of English Literary History
50
3. Attitude of Royalty
51
4. English Versions of Scripture
52
•
Adverse Agencies
54
•
1. Grammatical Structure
2. Rise of Euphuism .
3. Revival of Classical Languages
54
55
56
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
B.-CHARACTERISTICS
59
1. Increasing Grammatical Regularity
59
2. Increasing Vocabulary
60
3. English Spirit.
4. Versatility
60
61
5. Human or Catholic Spirit.
62
63
6. Protestant and Ethical Spirit
TRANSITIONS
•
CHAPTER II.
THE TRANSITION PERIOD.
APPROPRIATENESS OF THE TERM TO THIS EPOCH.
A.-CHARACTERISTICS
1. Franco-English
2. Inferiority of Diction
B.-HELPFUL AGENCIES
1. Popular Agitation
2. Personal Character and Work
CHAPTER III.
THE PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT.
THE TERM AUGUSTAN
•
APPROPRIATENESS OF THE WORD,
SETTLED
•
A PERIOD OF PROSE
A.-CHARACTERISTICS
1. Periodical
2. Popular
•
•
B.—ADVERSE AGENCIES
Rise of French Criticism
C.-FRIENDLY AGENCIES
Philological Study of English
CHAPTER IV.
. 67
69
71
71.
73
75
75
77
. 80
87
88
90
90
92
94
94
95
95
THE PERIOD OF EXPANSION AND EXPRESSION.
THE MODERN PERIOD PROPER.
PREVALENCE OF PROSE IN THIS AGE
99
. 100
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
V
THE WORDS, EXPANSIVE AND EXPRESSIVE
•
A.-SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS
1. English
2. Literary
3. Natural
B.-HELPFUL AGENCIES
1. Influence of Germany
2. Political Agitation
3. Revival of First-English
GENERAL INFERENCES
1. Comparative Limits of Periods
•
2. Comparative Amounts of Prose and Poetry
3. Unity of Periods
4. Progressive Development
5. The Period and the Writer.
PART II.
REPRESENTATIVE LITERARY FORMS.
LITERARY FORMS
THE WORD, FORMS
METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION
CHAPTER I.
HISTORICAL OR NARRATIVE PROSE.
CONTENTS
BIOGRAPHY
•
Remarks
HISTORY PROPER.
Its Meaning
A.-CHARACTERISTICS OF HISTORIC PROSE
1. Accuracy of Statement
2. Clearness of Statement
3. Unity and Order
. 101
. 103
103
104
105
107
•
. 107
110
115
. 116
116
•
116
. 117
118
119
. 125
125
. 126
128
, 129
130
. 133
. 133
134
134
134
•
. 135
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
4. Delineation
5. Simplicity.
6. Gravity
B. METHODS
1. The Chronological
2. The Logical
SUGGESTIONS
CHAPTER II.
DESCRIPTIVE OR POETIC PROSE.
. 136
137
137
•
138
·
· 138
. 138
. 139
THE WORD,
DESCRIPTIVE
BENEFIT OF DESCRIPTIVE PROSE TO STYLE
THE MENTAL ELEMENT IN THIS FORM
PROVINCE OF DESCRIPTINE PROSE
POETICAL PROSE
PROSE FICTION
The Phrase Prose Fiction
CLASSES OF PROSE FICTION
1. The Historical Novel.
2. The Descriptive Novel
3. The Ethical Novel
4. The Romantic Novel.
RANK AND VALUE OF PROSE FICTION
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DESCRIPTIVE PROSE.
1. The Imaginative Element
2. Pictorial Diction
3. Comprehensiveness and Minuteness
CHAPTER III.
ORATORICAL OR IMPASSIONED PROSE.
. 143
144
145
146
146
•
148
148
151
151
·
152
153
•
155
. 158
•
159
. 159
•
•
160
160
THE WORDS, ORATORICAL AND ORAL
A.-CHARACTERISTICS
1. Emotional
2. Objective.
. 162
. 162
. 162
. 163
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vii
3. Free.
165
4. Interesting and Stimulating
NOTES
B.-DIVISIONS .
165
166
167
•
1. Forensic Prose
•
2. Judicial
3. Sacred .
167
•
168
•
169
CHAPTER IV,
PHILOSOPHICAL OR DIDACTIC PROSE.
A.-CHARACTERISTICS
1. Unimpassioned.
2. Thorough.
3. Sedate and Dignified.
4. Adaptive
5. Prose Distinctively
B.-CONTENTS
NOTES
•
. 174
174
•
•
174
. 176
177
. 177
178
181
CHAPTER V.
MISCELLANEOUS PROSE.
. 183
A.-GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
1. Variety of Topic
2. Brevity.
•
184
•
. 185
3. Unity of Benefit
4. Increasing Literary and Moral Character.
5. English in Origin
•
6. Human and Natural
B.-DIVISIONS
1. Essays
2. Letters .
•
•
3. Travels and Tales
4. Journalism
INFERENCES.
186
·
188
. 190
191
· 192
192
194
195
197
198
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
1. The Relation of Prose Forms to Prose Period). . 198
2. Relative Value of Forms.
3. Form and Idea .
. 200
. 201
PART III.
REPRESENTATIVE PROSE WRITERS
AND THEIR STYLES.
A.-CLASSIFICATION OF PROSE AUTHORS
B.-EXPLANATORY STATEMENTS
PLAN OF DISCUSSION.
CHAPTER I.
. 205
. 207
209
THE PROSE STYLE OF FRANCIS BACON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
. 211
HIS USE OF LATIN
. 211
HIS PROSE WORKS IN ENGLISH
214
LEADING QUALITIES OF HIS STYLE
217
Excellences
217
1. Condensation and Compactness
217
2. Analytical Clearness and Suggestion
219
3. Incisiveness.
220
4. Strength and Force
222
5. Imagination and Illustration
224
6. Versatility and Variety
225
Main Faults or Defects
1. Want of a pure English Diction
2. Want of Development of Idea
3. Want of Literary Finish
CHAPTER II.
THE PROSE STYLE OF RICHARD HOOKER.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
227
227
229
230
+
HIS PROSE AUTHORSHIP
231
231
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
ix
THE TIMELINESS OF HIS PROSE PRODUCTION
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STYLE.
Merits
1. Philosophic Weight and Vigor
2. Logical Sequence
Leading Faults
Diction and Structure .
. 232
231
234
231
•
237
239
239
CHAPTER III.
THE PROSE STYLE OF JOHN MILTON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
246
MILTON AS A PROSE WRITER
215
•
HIS PROSE WORKS IN ENGLISH
243
CHIEF DEFECTS OF HIS STYLE
251
1. Anglo-Latin Diction and Construction
231
2. Faulty Imagery.
3. Personal Allusion
LITERARY MERITS
1. Ingenuousness
•
2. Directness of Purpose
253
255
253
•
255
. 257
3. Impassioned Energy
253
•
CHAPTER IV.
THE PROSE STYLE OF JONATHAN SWIFT.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
265
HIS PROSE WRITINGS
265
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STYLE
233
Faults.
259
1. Absence of Literary Elegance
. 270
2. Inferior Order of Imagination
Merits of Style
1. Force and Spirit
2. Satirical Power
3. Individuality and Independence
4. Good Use of English
5. Freedom from Pedantry
271
272
. 272
274
276
278
285
•
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
THE PROSE STYLE OF JOSEPH ADDISON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
HIS PROSE WORKS
D
HIS PREFERENCE FOR PROSE
•
HIS PROSE STYLE
SPECIAL FEATURES OF HIS STYLE
1. Literary Gentleness and Grace
2. Plainness and Precision.
3. Wit and Humor
4. Versatility
5. Ethical Character
ADDISON'S CRITICAL ABILITY
•
288
288
290
291
291
291
294
. 298
302
304
. 305
CHAPTER VI.
THE PROSE STYLE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
HIS PROSE WRITINGS
•
EXAMINATION OF HIS STYLE
Defects
1. Anglo-Latin Element
2. Want of Flexibility
310
. 310
311
311
311
317
3. Absence of Impassioned Energy
321
•
Merits of his Style .
323
1. Substantial Clearness.
323
2. Literary Gravity
325
3. Johnsonianism
328
HIS WORK AS LEXICOGRAPHER AND CRITIC .
331
CHAPTER VII.
THE PROSE STYLE OF EDMUND BURKE.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
VIEW AS TO HIS RANK
·
334
334
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
xi
HIS PROSE WRITINGS
•
HIS PROSE STYLE, CONDITIONS
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STYLE.
1. Forensic and Impassioned.
2. Dignified and Manly
3. Practical and Timely
4. Satirical and Figurative
5. Lack of Literary Finish
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PROSE STYLE OF CHARLES LAMB.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
HIS PROSE WRITINGS
DEFECTS OF HIS STYLE
1. Diction and Structure
2. Absence of Logical Development
3. Want of Permanent Literary Effect
MERITS OF Style
1. English Character and Spirit
2. Humorous Element.
3. Naturalness and Flexibility
4. Sympathetic Tenderness
5. Critical Element
•
DEFECTS OF HIS STYLE AS CRITICAL:
1. Want of Impartiality
2. Want of Comprehensiveness
CHAPTER IX.
THE PROSE STYLE OF THOMAS
BABINGTON MACAULAY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
HIS PROSE WORKS.
POPULAR ESTIMATE OF HIS PROSE STYLE
. 336
339
342
342
348
352
355
358
. 363
363
•
364
364
365
. 368
369
369
371
375
378.
• 380
384
384
384
. 387
387
388
xii
TABLE OF contents.
ANALYSIS OF HIS STYLE
1. Skill in Narrative and Descriptive Writing
2. Excellence of Sentence Structure
3. Literary Personality
CHIEF DEFECTS
1. Want of Intellectual Depth and Vigor
2. Want of Ethical Earnestness and Aim
PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE RANK OF HIS STYLE
CHAPTER X.
. 390
390
¿
·
398
405
408
408
413
414
THE PROSE STYLE OF THOMAS DE QUINCEY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
. 417
MISCELLANEOUS CHARACTER OF HIS WORKS
•
MERITS OF STYLE
1. Variety and Flexibility.
417
419
•
419
2. The English Element
3. Intellectual Character
4. Impassioned Vigor
5. Humor and Satire
•
6. Pictorial and Artistic Power
ALLEGED DEFECTS
1. The Want of Full Discussion of Ideas
420
•
423
429
433
435
་
437
437
2. Errors of Diction, Sentence, and Moral Force.
440
CHAPTER XI.
THE PROSE STYLE OF CHARLES DICKENS.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
PROSE FICTION AS A FORM
HIS PROSE WORKS
•
444
444
446
PROMINENT FEATURES OF HIS PROSE STYLE.
Merits
449
449
1. Delineative and Dramatic Power
2. Pathos.
449
•
454
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
xiii
3. Humor and Satire.
457
4. Practicality
461
5. Ease and Naturalness.
465
Defects of Style.
467
1. Want of Philosophical Power
469
472
•
473
2. Want of Artistic Finish
PROBABLE PERLIANENCE OF HIS PROSE
CHAPTER XII.
THE PROSE STYLE OF THOMAS CARLYLE.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
HIS PROSE WRITINGS
CHARACTERISTIC MERITS
1. Original.
2. Cogent
·
3. Versatile and Suggestive
4. Delineative.
5. Caustic and Acute
CHARACTERISTIC DEFECTS
1. Unfinished
•
2. Irregular
3. Mystical.
HIS CHARACTER AS A CRITIC
CONCLUSION
•
479
479
480
. 480
483
486
489
493
495
495
497
. 502
505
514
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
ENGLISH PROSE FROM BEDE TO
THE CHRONICLE.
THE exact historical period covered by this division of
our earlier prose as distinct from poetry may be said
to extend from 673 A.D.—the year of the birth of Bede
—to 1154 a. D.—the year of the close of The Chronicle.
Within these limits, the four prominent centres of
prose writing were Yarrow, York, Winchester and
Abingdon. The four prominent prose writers were
Bede, Alfred and the Aelfrics, representing, respec-
tively, the geographical centres mentioned. The
earliest specimens of First-English Prose were, un-
doubtedly, the collections of the Laws in the seventh
century, by Ethelbert, Hlothere' and Eadric, Kings
of Kent; by Ine, King of Wessex, in the same.
century; by later writers, also, such as Ecgbert of
York, and so on to Alfred the Great who in his care-
fully compiled codes laid the basis of a wise Christian
legislation at the very opening of our literature.
Connecting his code with that of Moses and with the
broader one of Christ and the apostles he adds—·
“Those which I met either of Ine's day my kinsman,
or Aethelbert's who first received baptism among
the English race, that seemed to me rightest, I have
here gathered and rejected the others." Then follows,
16
ENGLISH prose.
The Chronicle, compiled, partly, by Alfred, and
partly, by Plegimund and other less known annal-
ists. This collection, unimportant as it is in itself
or in its literary character, is invaluable in its histori-
cal and civil bearings. Beginning long before the
Conquest, it runs nearly a century beyond it and thus
serves to cherish the First-English spirit and lau-
guage. As the earliest history of any Teutonic
people in a Teutonic language, and with the Laws
the earliest form of English Prose, it has an interest
and value quite aside from its contents. Alfred did
for it what Chaucer did for English Poetry. He
made it national, so that from his time to the death
of Stephen it was the people's authority. Above all, it
was English clear and clean and lies back of all later
English as a basis and guide. As far, therefore, as
mere time is concerned, there are nearly five centu-
ries included in this earliest prose era, a period fully
as long as that from The Chronicle to Bacon's Essays,
and longer by far than that from Bacon to Carlyle.
In noting more specifically the English Prose of this
period, there is, first, the unfinished translation of
St. John's Gospel by Bede. There is, also, Alfred's
translation of Orosius, a kind of manual of general
history. Alfred's translation of Boethius' De Consol
atione Philosophiae is especially memorable. In
this, the classical and the English spirit, the specula-
tive and the practical, are happily combined, while
Christian sentiments are always enforced as superior
to those of a pagan philosophy. It is by way of
eminence that one of Alfred's productions in which
his great and generous English heart reveals itself
most fully. We know of no work of Pre-Reformation
times in which there is found a purer ethical teach-
BEDE TO THE CHRONICLE.
1:7
ing, a more conciliatory spirit or a cleaner prose
style. Then follows his translation of Bede's Eccle-
siastical History of England, a work which Alfred
selected, partly, to give to the people the benefit of
its contents and, partly, because of its intensely
English character behind and below its foreign dress.
He, also, translated Gregory's Pastoral Care-a kind
of Homiletical hand-book for Churchmen. Most of
it reads as an affectionate pastoral letter. It is full
of interest from the fact that Gregory, its author, was
the one who sent the first missionaries from Rome
to Kent; also, because Augustine, who headed this
movement, brought the original work with him to
England, and because in it he speaks sorrowfully of
that olden time when piety and English learning
flourished together, and yet hopefully, in that better
days seemed to be dawning. Such was the noble
work of Alfred as our first great prose writer. If it
be said that his work was mainly that of the compiler,
translator and paraphrast rather than that of a crea-
tive author, it is to be answered, that the original
additions that he made, especially. to Orosius and
Boethius, were so numerous and valuable that he
may be said to have combined the work of an inde-
pendent author with that of a commentator. As to
his style, it has all the best qualities that mark the
First-English character,-plainness, directness, spirit,
ethical gravity and manliness. In these particulars
he may be compared with English writers of any sub-
sequent epoch. Nor must it be forgotten that no
modern translator of Latin into English has had any-
thing like the difficulties of structure and style before
him that Alfred had when he aimed to render a
compact classical tongue into the more flexible En-
18
ENGLISH PROSE.
glish of his time. From the pen of Aelfric the Gram-
marian we have, The Homilies, The Colloquy, Lives
of Saints, a partial translation of Old Testament Scrip-
tures, with a number of manuals and less important
works. Equally clear in his prose with Alfred and
even more poetic and finished, he had to a less
degree that masculine vigor that marked the king.
Most of his prose is so alliterative as to mar its char-
acter and, yet, what he lacks in solidity he supplies
in a more modern, lucid and facile expression. A
later and less renowned Aelfric-Aelfric Bata-en-
larged The Colloquy of his superior.
As far, therefore, as the prose authors themselves
are concerned, they are seen to be but few in number,
not exceeding a half dozen at the most. It might
lead to serious error, however, should it be supposed
that the smallness of the number marked the real
character and results of the work accomplished in
this province. Nor must the principle be too strongly
pressed that in this first era, if matters be reduced to
their last analysis, we have but little of native,
genuine English. It is perfectly true that Bede
wrote nearly all that he wrote in Latin; that Alcuin
the pupil of Bede and the teacher of Charlemagne,
re-edited the old classic authors, and in his Com-
mentaries, Capitularies and ethical treatises, used the
language of the Church of Rome. It is also true that
each of the Aelfrics was in a sense an Anglo-Latin
author and that Alfred was the only writer of First-
English Prose who can with full truthfulness be said
to have given us an example of prose in "English
Undefiled." This is all correct, and yet we are to bear
in mind that beneath the letter is the spirit and be-
hind the text is the man; so that of such an author as
BEDE TO THE CHRONICLE.
19
1
Bede, Morley may justly say-"He leads the line of
English Prose Writers,"-and Mr. Brooke may state
of Aelfric the Grammarian, "that he wrote a sim-
ple, literary English." The indebtedness of Modern-
English Prose to the English Prose of this first era,
in so far as actual subject-matter is concerned, is net
large, nor could it naturally be expected to be. It is,
nevertheless, a real indebtedness, and to overlook it
as some ultra modern writers have done, is as untrue
to literary history as it is to the genius of the English
people. Such an epoch is not to be measured simply
by what it has left in the form of visible prose pro-
duct, but also by what it made possible for succeeding
ages to accomplish and to accomplish more easily.
The study of our first prose is, indeed, now a matter
of etymological rather than of purely literary benefit.
Still, in and through such philological work the
modern English student is continually noting traces
and glimpses of literary value, and is all the better
prepared by such study for the full appreciation of
those later prose eras which have thus been heralded
and hastened. Among the four or five prose authors
already mentioned as illustrating in their writings
more or less of the English element, King Alfred, as
has been stated, is the only one whose prose is out-
and-out English. He is thus, not only the founder of
English Prose historically viewed, but the one First-
English Prose Writer with whom above all others
the modern English student should be thoroughly
conversant.
Intensely English in spirit and mission, all that he
said and wrote was in his birth-tongue, and he lived
mainly to found and foster a home literature. Zeal-
ous as he was in the line of literary service and
20
ENGLISH prose.
political reform, his chief love was in the sphere of
the home speech. "There are only a few," he says,
on this side of the Humber who can understand the
divine service or even translate a Latin letter into
English; and I believe not many on the other side
of the Humber. There are so few, indeed, that I
cannot remember one south of the Thames when I
began to reign." This was his constant lament, and
it was the ruling passion of his life to redeem the
land from such disgrace. To this end, he encouraged
English scholars, founded English schools, wrote edu-
cational treatises, traveled from place to place, and
organized the literary work of the country. It is to
be emphasized, here, that what he wrote, he wrote
in the form of prose as best adapted to the needs of
the hour, and his prose was always mature, thought-
ful and substantial. As Milton after him, he had no
liking for frivolities. He wrote as he lived-for the
weal of the people. It may safely be questioned
whether from the ninth century to the present time.
there has been any prose writer of English who has
better understood his age than Alfred did his, or one
who has done more for his age in the line of literary
advance than did Alfred for his. Hence in any
historical and literary study of Modern-English Prose
we are compelled to go back to the writings and
spirit of Alfred as a necessary introduction. The
meaning of his name-one skilled in council-will
express the character of his mission
If we inquire as to the Characteristics of First-
English Prose, they may be stated as-Brevity, Sin-
cerity, Directness, Vigor and Ethical Earnestness.
What they said and penned they expressed in sen-
tences short, frank, pointed, forceful and serious.
I
1
I
BEDE TO THE CHRONICLE.
21
They called things by their right names; said just
what they meant, nothing less, nothing more, nothing
different; spoke "right on" as "plain, blunt men,
in terse, pithy and homely English, with no other
purpose than to be understood and felt. Just here
is seen the great difference between our first prose and
first poetry. The verse abounds in abrupt inversion,
in paraphrase, excessive apposition, restatement and
circuitous forms. In fact, these are its main marks
and make it at times so difficult as to defy a clear
rendering. There is, perhaps, no language in which
there is such a wide difference as to structure and
consequent difficulty between the prose and the
verse, as in First-English. This difference, fortun-
ately, is all in favor of the prose. It is probable
that there is no period of Modern-English Prose in
which there is so little waste of words in the expres-
sion of thought as in this earliest one. Little is to
be said, however, as to grace or finish of structure in
the prose. It was as devoid of that quality, as it was
of moral looseness. With the exception, however,
of grace and descriptive ease, we find in the prose all
the higher elements of a good literary product. In
an age so wide-mouthed as the present, when fluency
and ideas are so often in the inverse ratio, something
is still to be learned, perchance, of this olden time,
when men spoke and wrote for a purpose and were
sparing of their words.
As to the moral quality of the prose, it should not
be forgotten that in addition to the homilies, Chris-
tian biographies, commentaries and religious treatises
of the time, each of the prominent prose writers-
Bede, Alfred and Aelfric-translated larger or smaller
portions of the Scriptures into the common speech of
22
english prose.
the people. Morley, in his "Illustrations of English
Religion," has very naturally dwelt upon such strik-
ing facts as these, and despite the cynical allusions of
Mr. Taine and the liberal school, they can scarcely be
ignored.
Before leaving this opening era, it is of interest to
inquire as to the AGENCIES which were at work for
and against the development of a native English
Prose.
As to those which were adverse, there were two of
special prominence. One is found in the prevalence
and bitterness of civil strife somewhat deepened by
foreign wars. It is a matter of no small surprise
that any degree of literary life could have been main-
tained in such an era and that Alfred could have
done much of his best work in prose with the sword
in one hand and the pen in the other. As the Jews
in the days of Nehemiah, they must perforce, build
and battle at the same time. Such a condition of
things is a practical explanation of the moral sobri
ety of the prose, and a full explanation of its frag-
mentary character, its comparatively small amount,
and the narrow range of subjects it includes. Literary
art needed a more congenial soil in which to take
root and produce the best fruitage. The temple of
letters as that of Jehovah at Jerusalem must be built
in times of peace. A further adverse agency is
visible in the prevalence of the Latin as the vernacu-
lar of the island after the establishment of Rome's
civil and ecclesiastical power. It is not the purpose,
here, to arraign the Latin at the English bar to
answer for this, or to diminish in one iota that large
measure of benefit which has accrued to England
and the English tongue from this kindred speech.
1
BEDE TO THE CHRONICLE.
23
It is in point, however, to state that by reason of this
Roman and Romish supremacy it was a much more
difficult matter for the native language to make any
headway or the native authors to found a native
literature. The very word which meant, Latin-
leden-also meant language, as if the two things were
identical. So potent was this influence that as has
been seen, Bede and others yielded to it. Aelfric and
others compromised on the interlinear method, and
Alfred alone resisted and overcame it. Even this
was somewhat due to the fact that he lived in the
ninth century, when the Roman influence had dimin-
ished or was superseded by Danish and other less
potent and pervasive agents. Anglo-Latin was the
prevailing language; and had it not been for the un-
conquerable English spirit of these writers, their
translations of Scripture into the folk-speech, the
work of Alfred and of the compilers of The Chronicle,
-the name of First-English as applied to this period
would indeed be a misnomer. In asking for a state-
ment of those agencies which were friendly to the
formation of a home prose, attention must first be
called to this innate and indomitable English spirit
which demanded the preference of the native lan-
guage to all foreign rivals; to the wise and loyal
policy of Alfred as a king, an author and a man; to
the early opposition of the native Church to the order
and doctrine of the Romish; to the preparation of
the Biblical and secular manuals in the vernacular;
and, most of all, to those marked providential agen-
cies at work separating this western home more and
more distinctly from the traditions and teachings of
eastern and continental Europe. Even so cautious
and critical an author as Ten Brinck, in closing his
24
ENGLISH PROSE.
survey of this period writes “The English Lan-
guage had by that time reached a high degree of cul-
ture and aptitude for the purposes of prose writing."
The spirit and drift of the age was after all Teutonic
rather than South European. Hence the remark of
Morley relative to the Anglo-Latin element-"They
are English studies, English aspirations that we fol
low through the Latin Literature. The accident that
use is made of a continental language leaves the
native character unchanged." Even the Danish
hordes that infested the land were pure Teutons, and
it was not till the incoming of the Norman-French
that this Teutonic impulse received any substantial
check. First-English Prose, fragmentary and com-
posite as it is, is after all, more English than it is
anything else. In its spirit altogether English and
so, to a good degree, in its letter and texture, it forms.
the opering chapter in that grand historic series.
which takes a new departure in the days of Elizabeth,
and is even now in manifest expression before us.
Bacon and Addison, Johnson and De Quincey would
not have been what they are in English literary prose
had it not been for these men of vigor who centuries.
before them did their pioneer and preparatory work.
"Thus even before the Norman Conquest there ap-
peared phenomena in England," writes one, presag-
ing the Middle Age of English,"—presaging, we may
add, the Modern Age of English Speech and Letters.
Such is the law of historical sequence as applied 'in
the domain of language and literature.
(6
1
CHAPTER II
ENGLISH PROSE FROM THE CHRONICLE
TO BACON.
THE chronological limits of this period extend from
the close of The Chronicle (1154), on through the
death of Chaucer (1400) to the full opening of the
Modern English Period, in 1561-the birth of Bacon.
This period, it will be seen, is not as long by a
century as that which preceded; and, yet, it rep-
resents, especially at the close of it, a list of authors
and an amount of English prose product altogether
superior to anything that had preceded it and quite
indispensable in its preparative relation to what was
to follow. The general literary character of this
period, both as to prose and poetry, is a matter of
history. Discouraging as it is in some of its epochs
and phases, it is interesting to note that more atten-
tion is now given to this intervening period than at
any previous epoch. German, English, and American
scholars alike, represented by such men as Maetzner,
Ten Brinck and Brother Azarias are vying with
each other in seeking the full explanation of that
long literary decline which then prevailed, and also,
in bringing into prominence any elements of promise
that then lay concealed or but partially revealed.
There is a true sense in which the difficulty of as-
26
ENGLISH PROSE.
certaining the real character of such eras marks the
measure of their importance to the historical and
literary student. The Norman Conquest of 1066,
proceded by repeated Danish invasions, had done its
transforming work, introducing a new system of civ-
ilization, a new language, in part, and a new spirit.
To the older life of the times of Bede and Alfred these
must altogether yield, or on the basis of compromise
be adapted and adjusted. In the nature of things and
by the providential course of events, there was a kind.
of union of systems, each retaining cardinal charac-
teristics of its own. The result was, The Middle-
English Prose. In speaking of the agencies at work
in the First-English Period against the development
of a native English Prose, we mentioned Foreign
Influence and Civil Strife. It is suggestive to note
that these, in somewhat different form and measure,
are the obstacles at work in the Middle Period. In
the early portion of the era-from its opening to
Chaucer-the great opposing influence was the
Norman-French. Beginning early in the eleventh
century and culminating in the year 1066, its influ-
ence is distinctly marked as far on as to the middle
of the fourteenth century. The chief result as far as
structure is concerned, was the change of English
from an inflected to an uninflected language, and as
to vocabulary, the introduction of a large number of
foreign words. However true the theory may be,
that this phonetic decay of English would have taken
place in obedience to an inevitable tendency of lan-
guage to simplify, it must, still, be conceded that
such decay was greatly hastened by Norman influ-
The result was that First-English gave placo
somewhat violently to another form of English, call
ence.
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
27
it what we may.
From this time on, it was all the
more difficult for native writers to express their
thoughts in native forms, or when so expressed, to
have them accepted. As in the earlier era, Anglo-
Latin was the prevailing tongue, as used by Bede, so
now, Anglo-Norman, as it is called, was the liter-
ary language with the old Latin influence largely re-
maining. In fact, Norman-French and Latin now
combined to make the cultivation of the home litera-
ture almost impossible. Hence it is that modern lit-
erary historians in commenting on this period, cor-
rectly speak of English writers in Latin and French.
They wrote either in Latin or in French or in both
combined-in anything but pure English. Such
prose writers were those who wrote immediately at
the opening of the Middle Period, when the foreign
influences were the strongest, and who disappear as
we near the days of Caxton. Such were William of
Malmesbury, Ralph Higden, Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Richard De Bury and Roger Bacon. They were in
no honest sense writers of English, and cannot claim
from the student of English Prose more than a pas-
sing notice. In chronicles, historical romance, and
philosophy, they undoubtedly quickened the intellect-
ual and literary life of the time, but did little or noth-
ing directly for the English as a language. So domi-
nant was this foreign influence for a century and a
half after the Conquest, that these Latin and French
authors on English soil had the field to themselves.
There was no such thing just then as a substantial
body of vernacular prose. It is to this very period
that Ten Brinck refers as he says, "The English Lan-
guage could not maintain itself in the foreground of
literature against the two-fold competition of the
28
ENGLISH PROSE.
:
Latin, which more than ever held the ear of scholars,
and of the Anglo-Norman, which was the idiom of
power and of fashion. It withdrew more and more
into obscurity, as if to gather strength for better times."
Such a work as, The Ancren Riwle, by Bishop Poor,
written first in Middle-English and then in Latin,
was based on a kind of compromise between the two
languages. Never in the history of the English
people has there been a period when the home speech
was so completely in abeyance, and foreign forms so
potent. It was not till the second half of the four-
teenth century that this was changed and English
began to assert itself with some prospect of success.
Though this was signally true in poetry, it was true
to some extent, also, in prose. In the latter part of
this era, or from the death of Chaucer on, we meet
a new obstacle in English Prose, in the Civil Wars
of The Roses, more deadly, if possible, than the bitter
feuds of the Octarchy. No sooner had the literature
taken on a national as opposed to a provincial form,
than these prolonged conflicts made it tend back again
to dialects and local usage. As we stand at the tomb
of Chaucer and cast the eye along the following cen-
tury, we are prepared to appreciate the comparison
which Warton makes between those times of promise
and the beauty of a premature spring. The latter is
no more surely followed by a short return of wintry
winds than was the former by a period of literary
coldness and death. This is especially true of the
fifteenth century, of which it is truthfully remarked
by Morley, "that it has not bred for us a single writer
of the foremost rank." This is true, though it is pos-
sible to number no less than half a hundred versifiers
and not a few prose writers as properly belonging to
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
29
this period. Of the last fifty years, beginning at the
time of Henry VIII, better things can be said. As
far back as Caxton, a new movement was partly vis-
ible as hastened and matured by the introduction of
printing into England and by the liberal policy of
the king toward men of letters. Not only is there
now a new intellectual life abroad, and English
Poetry under Italian influence is rising to newness
of life, but in the special department of English Prose
there is a deep and wide revival of interest. A good
number of names may be cited here as working de-
cidedly in this domain, while it has been suggestively
remarked by not a few critics that the prose of these
years will very favorably compare with that which
followed in the age of Hooker.
This upward movement calls attention to what may
be termed the friendly agencies at work on behalf of
a native prose. Mention might be made here of the
loss of Normandy in 1204, by which the Dukes of
Normandy were no longer Kings of England, and the
political separations of the two countries was substan-
tially completed. The English victories in the Civil
Wars tended, also, to the same beneficent result.
Macaulay's prophecy, that if France had gained in
these struggles, England would have become her de-
pendency, was not a wild prophecy and was nulli-
fied by England's success. If we add to these, the
friendly offices of the government toward native En-
glish writers, we have a partial explanation, at least,
of the new awakening in prose letters.
The two agencies of special note, however, remain
to be stated.
The first was, The Introduction of Printing into
England by Caxton and his colleagues. In Cologne,
30
ENGLISH PROSE.
in 1471, Caxton published the first book ever printed
in the English Language, and in 1474, the first En-
glish book ever printed in England. Each of these
was translated from the French, and it was in
the province of translation and revision that he
put forth most of his energy. As most great
workers, he little understood the meaning of the
instrument he had in hand and its best uses. In-
stead of publishing the accepted authors of former
times, and thereby giving examples of the best styles,
most of the issues of his press were in the department
of romance. We rejoice in what Caxton did. We
deplore what he failed to do in the line of the more
stable adjustment of a classic English Prose. The
second specially helpful agency was the immediate
result of printing itself -The Publication of the
Christian Scriptures in the VERNACULAR. In addition
to some partial versions of the First-English time by
Aldhelm, Egbert, Bede, Alfred and Aelfric, and in
addition to the later versions of Shoreham, Hampole,
and Wyclif, it is interesting to note that between
Caxton and King James we find no less than four or
five Bible versions--Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Roger's,
Cranmer's. This work of Bible translation was a
literary as well as a religious work. It was invalu-
able at the time in giving widespread currency to
the English tongue, in establishing secular literature
on a moral basis, and in opening the way for the En-
glish Reformation. Both as to the matter of printing
and that of Scriptural versions, it is not to be forgotten
that while they belong alike to prose and poetry, it
was in the sphere of prose, especially, that they found
their best expression and uses.
If we inquire as to the writers of English Prose, in
1
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
31
this Middle Period, there are three distinct lists of
names that engage us.
(a) The first is found in that part of the period that
embraces the latter half of the fourteenth century
(1350-1400), and includes four names of greater
or lesser prominence-Chaucer, Mandeville, Wyclif,
and Trevisa. From Chaucer we have in English
Prose-The Parson's Tale and the Tale of Meliboeus in
the Canterbury Tales; his Translation of Boethius;
The Testament of Love; and the Astrolabe, in which
last he says what will apply to all his writings-
"By this treatise I will show thee naked words in
English." In the first of these writings we find what
might pass for a sermon on Jer. vi. 16, wherein the
Pilgrim's Progress of Bunyan is anticipated in the
poet's most serious vein. In the second, the same
strain of serious allegory is continued in dialogue
between Meliboeus and his wife, Prudence, wherein
it is taught that life should be under the control of
the moral law. In the Boethius, the same work
which Alfred did nearly five centuries before, is taken
up again and the union of the First and the Middle
Period happily effected in the sphere of ethical prose.
It is thus reserved for Chaucer not only to preserve
the moral continuity of English Letters, but to sub-
stitute for the Consolation of Philosophy the higher
consolations of religion. It is not a little peculiar
here, as Morley suggests, that although the original
Boethius has poetry as well as prose, and although
Alfred has handed down to us his Metres,—the later
English translator is so intent upon the prose of this
didactic treatise, that he studiously omits the render-
ing of the verse.
In the Testament of Love, supposed by some not
32
ENGLISH PROSE.
to be genuine, there is a most interesting passage of
The Prologue insisting on the wider use of the
native language-" Lette than clerkes enditen in
Latin and lette Frenchmen in their Frenche also
enditen their queinte termes, for it is kyndely
(natural) to their mouthes, and let us show our fan-
tasies in soche wordes as we lerneden of our dame's
tonge." This has the true ring about it, and marks
the man who spoke it as loyal above all to the speech.
of his fathers. The writer pleads in this work for
the presence and solace of the Love of God in the time
of trial-the trial in his own case being supposed to
refer to his imprisonment in 1388. Of the Astrolabe
suffice it to say, that it is written for the benefit of
his son Lewis, and a few years before the author's
death. In it he takes frequent occasion to praise the
use of the native English, and while encouraging his
son in the study of Astronomy makes ever and anon
suggestive hints on education and morals.
From the pen of Mandeville we have "The Travels,"
-an account of his more than thirty years' sojourn
in the East, making a sort of guide-book for those
who might be inclined to journey over the same
ground. Dedicated to Edward III., the date of its
publication was 1356. Translated from Latin into
the French and then into English, it became as an
English treatise widely popular. It had just enough
of facts in it to please the historian, and just enough
of miracle and Eastern legend to frame a romance
for the curious reader. It served to continue in En-
glish romantic prose what Geoffrey of Monmouth and
his Anglo-Norman colleagues had begun earlier in
the era, and to prepare the way for that special kind
of prose in later periods which is marked by the
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
33
!
adventurous spirit. Of Wyclif and his work, it is
scarcely necessary to speak.
His English version of the Scriptures was com
pleted in 1380-the first complete Bible translation
into English. Though not printed until centuries
later, it was for a century and a half the Bible of
England, and, what concerns us here especially, was
the standard English Prose of the time. It is simply
impossible to estimate the immediate and continuous.
effect of this version upon the English mind and the
English speech. With over ninety per cent of native
words in it, and being distinctively the people's book,
it entered into the secular life and common speech of
the time as an essential element. It did for that age
what Tyndale's version did for his; and though a
treatise purely Biblical, takes its place in the history
of English Prose as an example of secular literature.
The Bible was inspired, but its diction was Wyclif's
and it was English to the core.
There remains a single name in this first list,—that
of Trevisa, who did good work in converting Latin
books into English, and his best work in giving an
English rendering of Higden's Polychronicon (1387),
—a kind of universal history bearing especially on
that of England. If we compare Trevisa, the English
Translator, with Higden, the Anglo-Latin original,
we can get a very just idea of the difference between
an Englishman writing in Latin and an Englishman
writing in his mother tongue. Trevisa as contrasted
with Higden reveals to us the progress that was
slowly under way from the foreign to the native
language.
(b) The second list of writers of Middle-English
Prose, also, numbers four, and brings us into the six-
34
ENGLISH prose.
teenth century (1400–1500). They are Pecock, Fortes-
cue, Caxton, and Malory. Of the first of these authors,
it is known that he was a man of high degree in the
Church, able in theological controversy, arguing in
English Treatises against the Lollards, and produc-
ing at length, his most famous work,-The Repres-
sor of Over Much Blaming of The Clergy. As to its
purpose, it is enough to state, that it was a vindica-
tion of the clergy against those charges made by the
“Bible Men,” and others, in justification of pilgrimages
and similar practices. We have to do with it simply
as a specimen of Middle-English Prose, and in that
particular it deserves an emphatic mention as we pass
along. Mixed as his English was, it was English, and
much purer than his doctrine which trimmed too
closely between reason and faith.
Fortescue introduces us into an entirely new depart-
ment of prose-that of political and constitutional
law. A man of high descent, of large legal learning,
of official rank as a jurist and strongly inclined to
democratic views in government, his main English
treatise is The Difference between Absolute and
Limited Monarchy. The object is the same that he
had in view in his Latin work on, The Praises of the
Laws of England; namely, to show the superiority of
a modified form of liberal government to that which
is extremely restrictive or absolute. The spirit is
the spirit of Alfred of old, and he writes as a man
who was looking forward more than two centuries
when English liberties were to be fully established at
the revolution of 1688, under William. Of William
Caxton enough has already been said to show how
in the line of translating foreign books into English,
and as an original writer and printer, he furthered the
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
35
good work already begun and probably did more
than any secular author of his time on behalf of En.
glish Prose, secular and Scriptural. Of the last of
this list, Malory, little is known; but that little is
valuable. Enough is known to state that in speech
and writings he separated himself from all those who
still dallied with the courtly French, and entered
heartily into the English movement. His book-
The Byrth, Life, and Actes of King Arthur-is full of
Christian spirit, and though dealing with the times
of the great British hero, is marked by a true English
zest and phrase. The extreme eulogiums pronounced
upon it by critics serve to show that it has a right-
ful place among the best examples of Middle-English
Prose and serves as another link to connect that
history with all that follows.
Among the literary prose productions of this cen-
tury, "The Paston Letters,” deserve honorable mention
not only by reason of their intrinsic merit, but of their
peculiar relation at the time, to the history of our
prose, and of the important light which they throw
on many matters otherwise obscure. These letters
appear to have been written in the reigns of Henry
VI. and Edward IV., even on to the time of Henry
VII. Composed by the members of a highly respect-
able though not an aristocratic family, they interpret
as nothing else could have done the English life of
the times. There is in such letters an informal and
ingenuous expression of opinion quite foreign to the
more critical and elaborate treatise. The private
correspondence of Racine and Boileau, of Goethe and
Schiller, and of Addison and his contemporaries,
reveals to us far more of the character of the respec-
tive men and their eras than any of their more formal
36
ENGLISH PROSE.
productions could possibly do. Such a form of episto-
lary prose is especially valuable in an age when good
literature is struggling for existence against grievous
obstacles, and when the natural expression of thought
is most difficult and most desirable. When, there-
fore, in The Paston Letters we discern a good degree
of grammatical accuracy, a comparatively large vo-
cabulary, and a fluency of diction indicating "the
pen of a ready writer," we at once, accept the corres-
pondence as a good specimen of the current prose of
the time.
(c) A third and somewhat fuller list of Modern-
English Prosers in this middle era awaits us as we
pass into the sixteenth century, almost within sight
of the Essays of Bacon, and the era called Modern.
The call of the roll is substantially as follows,-More,
Latimer, Lord Berners, Eiyot, Hall, Fabyan, Leland,
Tyndale and Ascham. "Though these writers," as
Minto suggests, "are very far from being of use as
models of style," we may add, that they serve a most
important use in our study of the historic develop-
ment of English Prose from its beginning to its
present forms. With More as the author of " Utopia"
and other Latin treatises, we have nothing to do; but
with More as a literary leader of his time and the
author of English works such as, Edward V. and
Richard III. we have much to do. Young, brilliant
and scholarly; versed in all classical and modern lore,
he was even in his Latin writings a quickener of the
English mind, while in so far as he wrote in the
native tongue, the weight of his personal influence
gave to his words unwonted power.
Latimer was the John Knox of his time, and is con-
nected with the history of English Theological Prose
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
37
as a writer of bold, impassioned, pungent sermons.
He preached straight at the "conscience of the
king" and of all who heard him, and on such wise
that moral reformation speedily followed. The fact
is, that the pulpit prose of that day might well be-
come the model of modern sermonizers, when men
wrote with the Bible before them and for the salva-
tion of men.
One of the English yeomanry by birth,
his homely prose took right hold of the honest En-
glish heart and moulded the character of the common
people. Of Berners it is sufficient to state, that in
his translation of Froissart's "Chronicle" he gives
more than an average specimen of the prose writing
of his time; and of Elyot, that his "Governor " pre-
sents not only a valuable educational treatise for that
early period, but a helpful one in the line of native
prose. His other works-on philology, sanitary and
social science-prove him to have been as versatile
as he was practical. Hall, Fabyan, and Leland were
the chroniclers of their time in the line of work
begun by Froissart, in Latin, and continued by
Berners in English,-one writing, The Union of the
Family of Lancaster and Yorke; another, The
Chronicles of England and France, partly in prose
and, partly, in verse; and the third, The Itinerary,
doing for travelers in England what Mandeville had
done for tourists to Jerusalem and the East. It is
pleasing to note that though, as the King's Anti-
quary, he wrote much in Latin, his best prose work
is in his own tongue. We are now brought to the
name of Tyndale and his great work of Bible transla-
tion. In the face of threats from every quarter, he
determined to "open the King of England's eyes,"
as to Protestant teachings, and to give the Bible to
38
ENGLISH PROSE.
the people in their own tongue, so that boys of the
anvil and the plow would know more of God's
Word than Papal priests did. But we are studying
the subject of English Prose, and with this in view it
may be stated, that Tyndale's version of the Scrip-
tures the first printed version extant-occupies on
its secular side as important a relation to the history
of our prose literature as any other one book. Su-
perior to Wyclif's, in that it was from the original
and was printed, it had the advantage, also, of all
later versions, in that it appeared just when it was
most needed. It determined, then and there, for
all subsequent history, the fortunes of the English
tongue and formed a basis for subsequent versions.
It did for English what Luther's version, a few years
earlier, did for German; and no arithmetic can com-
pute the indebtedness of the respective languages
to the respective translations. Thousands who fail
to form their lives on Scriptural teachings, form
their speech upon them; and to these, and the daily
journals, and a few printed books of household use,
look for all that they learn of style and diction.
Nor is it to be forgotten here, that this close of the
Middle-English era was an era of translations of
Scripture. Coverdale's version in 1535, Matthew's or
Roger's, in 1537, and Cranmer's (The Great Bible) in
1539, appeared as the direct result of Tyndale's work.
"It was wonderful to see," says the quaint historian.
Strype, "with what joy this Book of God was received
not only among the learneder sort, but all England
over." It was for all England over that it was meant,
and in this fact lay its power as a specimen of
English Prose. The last name of the list before us is
the name of Ascham, who stands on the border line
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
39
between the old and the new, acting alike as an
historian and a herald. "His chief service to En-
glish Prose," as Minto, referring to Drake, declares,
"is the example he sets of writing in the vernacular.”
In his "Toxophilus," he gives the principles of good
writing, as well as of archery, and in his "School-
master," touches on various topics of interest in
education. "I write," he says, "English matter, in
the English Language, for Englishmen." He resolves
"to think as wise men, and to speak as the common
people." He is eager to write something for the
yeomen of England and in his classical studies not
to forget his own birth-tongue. Mr. Disraeli is right
when he says,
"that the volumes of Ascham are in-
dispensable to any English library whose possessor
in any way wishes to connect the progress of taste
and opinion in the history of our country." Similar
in spirit to Fuller and Walton, he did in his day an
invaluable work in English Prose, and connects him-
self historically with all that is best in our letters.
Living and writing in four different reigns, he may
well be regarded as the last of the Middle-English
list, or the first of the Modern in the realm of Prose
Literature.
In surveying this roll of Prose Writers from
Mandeville to Ascham, it is to be noted-
That outside of the Bible, we have not yet found.
any standard prose writers of native English, writers
upon whose style a modern student may be safely
urged to base his practice and progress. While this
is true, we have found not a few of these names well
worthy to rank as forerunners of those mightier men
whose number begins with Hooker and Bacon. They
wrote in times of great civil and literary confusion;
40
ENGLISH PROSE.
in a language that may well be termed, Broken
English, and in periods of marked moral decline.
Still, they were staunch enough in spirit and English
purpose to bring some degree of order out of the
chaos; to maintain the thread of English speech
clearly through all deviations and to open the way for
the speedier incoming of a stable, Christian, English
prose. No such example of stern and successful re-
sistance to foreign influence can be found in history
as that of these Middle Englishmen in their relation
to Latin and Norman-French. In the face of all
such opposition, the body of the language remained
what it had ever been, while the native writers
struggled on midway between an inflected and an
uninflected system, to express their thought in native
forms, and they succeeded. It is not to be forgotten,
indeed, that to the Norman-French they were deeply
indebted for a large increase of vocabulary and for a
much larger variety of literary form than was pos-
sible in the preceding period. Still they insisted,
especially in prose, that the freshness of the old folk-
speech must remain inviolate so that after all the
disorder of the intervening centuries English should
emerge in the time of Ascham more forceful than
ever and better prepared for that great literary future
awaiting it. We note that in 1258, Henry II. issued
"to all his faithful, learned and laymen," a proclama-
tion in the English tongue; that in 1349, Latin be-
came subordinate to the home language; that in
1362, English took the place of foreign tongues as
the language of the courts; that in this year, also,
Parliament was opened for the first time in English;
that even in the fifteenth century, French became an
accomplishment rather than a necessity, and that at
THE CHRONICLE TO BACON.
41
the invention of Printing, in 1442, the change from
Middle to Modern-English Prose was philologically
and morally assured. From these historical facts we
may get some glimpse of that great work that had
been done by these writers, no one of whom would
now rank as standard. In a much truer sense than of
the First-English Prose it may be said that in our
estimate of authors and authorship the line and
plummet are not to be applied too closely lest we
undervalue what is of real importance. We do not
desire with the scholarly Erasmus to magnify these
primitive efforts into something unprecedented, nor
do we desire to commit the graver error of some later
critics and count them out as of little moment. It is
far too easy to confine attention to brilliant eras and
refer epochs of preparation to the hands of the
antiquary. English Prose is said to begin with
Hooker, and so it does as a national and stable prose
in its modern type, and yet a noble initial work had
been done by other hands from Alfred to Ascham.
In Italy, the way for the golden age was prepared by
an early Arabian influence at work in Southern
Europe. In France and Germany, similar preparative
processes opened the way. Such influences though
silent, isolated, and irregular, are, after all, determina-
tive and constructive. If fewer and less excellent
prose writings are found in early England than are
found later, it was because nothing was fixed in
literature or society, in politics or culture, and partial
results were the best possible. But had it not been
for these old chroniclers, translators, reformers and
preachers, the golden periods of English Prose might
have been deferred for centuries, if, indeed, they had
ever become a part of our literary history. We re-
1
42
ENGLISH PROSE.
gard it as one of the urgent literary needs of the time
that due attention be given by English critics and
readers to these first and middle eras. It is cer-
tainly an omen of good that increasing interest is
now developing in these directions. Writers are
calling attention to the necessity of the study of our
first authors, not simply as a matter of etymological
profit, but as the means by which an insight is to
be obtained into our later literary life and history.
Until the modern English student is thus furnished he
is but half educated, and is using a language of which
he is ignorant as to its origin and progress. Ever
and anon as he advances from age to age, he will
discern all along the line of the history of our prose,
points of junction between the new and the old,
influences and effects dating in their causes back to
Wyclif and his forerunners. In the life of literature
as in that of philosophy and science, the law of
continuity, of logical sequence is fundamental; and as
we prosecute the study of modern eras it may be well
to keep before us the text of Chaucer in The Parson's
Tale,—“Stand ye in the old ways, and see and ask for
the old paths."
>
PART FIRST.
REPRESENTATIVE HISTORICAL
PERIODS.
CLASSIFICATION.
THE wide variety of view which has been taken by
literary historians as to the number, limits and gen-
eral characteristics of our Modern Prose Periods,
sufficiently serves to indicate the difficulty involved
in reaching satisfactory conclusions, and also the great
importance of reaching them. Such periods are far
more than chronological or historical in their import.
They have as well, a philosophical and logical relation
to each other and to that entire period of which they
are the separate parts. This diversity of view has
arisen, partly, from the particular standpoint at which
each critic has stood at the time of discussion; part-
ly, from the fact that opinions once held are modified
as a literature advances; and, partly, because the his-
toric development of English Prose and Poetry, how-
ever different, has been sufficiently similar to lead at
times to a kind of classification that exactly expresses.
neither the one nor the other. As far as poetry is
concerned, the great historical divisions are substan-
tially the same among leading scholars. In Prose,
these divisions take a wider range and may be said
to be included in three quite distinct methods, repre-
41
ENGLISH PROSE.
sented by such critics, respectively, as Mackintosh,
Minto and Bascom. From the standpoint of the first
we have the following—
(1) From Sir Thomas More (1500) to Clarendon
(1650). This is termed the Latin age of English Prose.
(2) From the Restoration (1660) to 1750. This is called
the Classic Age of natural, idiomatic English Prose.
(3) From Samuel Johnson (1750) to the present era.
The Rhetorical or Literary Period.
This division, it will be noted, is based on a some-
what sharp distinction between the progressive
development of our prose and our poetry. The authors
of it mean it to be confined to prose, and on this basis
exclusively it has some merit, in so far as the dates
are concerned. The names assigned to the respec-
tive periods-Latin, Classical, and Rhetorical, are open
to just criticism.
They are scarcely in accordance with literary facts.
The plan, moreover, is narrow and partial.
Mr. Minto, in his admirable Manual of Prose, goes
directly to the other extreme of undue minuteness,
dividing the history of English Prose into no less
than eight or ten distinct periods, beginning at 1580
and closing about 1850. This gives to the different
eras but an average length of a little over a quarter
of a century-far too limited, in most cases to mark
the full development of the period. In such a period
as 1640-1670 it might do, but by no means in such
periods-1700-1730, or 1790–1820. The classification
as a whole, is so full as to break the historical con-
tinuity by excessive subdivision of epochs; and again,
in its separate parts, so narrow as to forbid a free
expression of the literary prose of the time.
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.
45
A third class of critics, represented by such men as
Morley, Masson, Moir, and Bascom, has wisely avoided
each of these extremes, and adopted a method by
which the logical as well as the chronological view
of English Prose may be manifested. President Bas-
com, in his Philosophy of English Literature, ap-
plies this method both to Modern Prose and Poetry
in the following order of periods-
FIRST CREATIVE,
FIRST TRANSITION,
FIRST CRITICAL,
SECOND TRANSITION,
SECOND CREATIVE,
PERIOD OF DIFFUSION,
1550-1650.
1650-1700.
1700-1750.
1750-1800.
1800-1850.
1850-
In each of these six periods, ample room is given
for the full expression of the individual life of the
period and yet each is sufficiently compact to mark
the period as distinct, while the excellence of the
plan lies in the fact that behind the dates as given
lies the philosophy of literary progress and decline.
In the plan that we present, this last order of divis-
ion will be the preferable one as a guide-though as
to number of epochs, their names and relations, we
shall widely depart from the order presented, and
offer a classification of our own as follows-
I. PERIOD OF FORMATION,
Bacon-Milton.
II. PERIOD OF TRANSITION,
Milton-Addison.
1560-1660.
1660-1700.
III.—PERIOD OF FINAL SETTLEMENT, 1700-1760.
Addison-Johnson.
IV. PERIOD OF EXPANSION,
Johnson-Carlyle.
1760-1860.
!
ENGLISH prose.
46
:
The first of these eras includes the reigns of Eliza-
beth, James I., and Charles I., and the Protectorate.
It is Elizabethan, and Early Stuart, and Cromwellian.
The second era includes the reigns of Charles II.,
James II., William and Mary.
or Restoration Era, and that
Great Rebellion.
It is the Later Stuart,
of The Revolution, or
The third era includes the reigns of Queen Anne,
of George I., and George II. It is Augustan, and
Early Georgian. The fourth era includes the reigns
of George III., George IV., William IV., and Victoria.
It is later Georgian and Victorian.
We have thus clearly before us the historical limits.
of each of these four eras, the leading prose authors.
that mark the beginning and close of each, respec-
tively, and the English kings, queens, and other
rulers who, in each respectively, held the reins of
government and favored or retarded the growth of
letters. We shall arrive at the best results by dis-
cussing each of these periods separately and, at the
close, noting those general inferences which suggest
themselves from a comprehensive survey of the four
eras as one historical period of English Prose.
*
1
!
CHAPTER I.
FORMATIVE PERIOD-1560-1660.
THIS embraces, as we have seen, precisely a cen-
tury, the reign of three sovereigns, including the
Protectorate, and presents some of the leading names
of English Prose. The widely current name assigned
to this epoch-The Reformation Period-is some-
what misleading and is not the best. In all depart-
ments save the ecclesiastical and theological, it is
formative or shaping rather than re-formative. Even
in the sphere of the church itself, formation was,
after all, the main work of Protestants. As English
Protestantis may be said to take form for the first
time in the era before us, it was the English Forma-
tion rather than Re-formation. Precisely so, in Eng-
lish Prose, as, indeed, in English Letters. As English
Prose may be regarded as having taken literary form
for the first time in the days of Elizabeth, as con-
trasted with the Middle and First-English Periods
the phrase, formative, is the proper one to designate
its character. It was in no true sense, re-formative.
In this respect the word, creative, so often assigned
to the poetry of the age before us, is not out of place
as to prose in so far as it involves the idea of fash-
ioning or shaping, although the term, formative, best
expresses that special process which was then going
48
ENGLISH PROSE.
!
on,—the molding or adjusting of all those literary
elements which were at hand into a well ordered
system of prose discourse. As yet, there was no
English Prose existing as a body of literary product
which could be re-formed. The work was more ex-
perimental and tentative, than it was a revision of
that already in being. We no sooner open the best
prose literature of the age, such as Bacon's Essays,
Hooker's Polity, or Johnson's Discoveries, than we see
this formative process in action before us.
As we
shall see later in the, discussion, the real re-formatory
process in English Prose finds ample scope in the
third period, that of Settlement. There was then
something to recast into better shape as an essential
work preparative to the final establishment of our
Prose Literature either as a model for the student or
a study for the critic. The epoch before us is not
without a fitting parallel in the progressive history
of creation. The first chapter in the history of En-
glish Prose as it reads in the sixteenth century, runs
very much in a literary point of view, as the first
chapter of Genesis reads as an account of God's
creative work. It is a record of formations. The
First-English word for creator, Scyppend, the Shaper,
is in place here and describes that partly original
and partly mechanical or plastic work which was
done by the best prose writers in this first period.
Bacon may be truly said to have re-formed philosophy.
He cannot be said to have re-formed English Prose.
He did much, however, toward forming it and putting
it in shape for those who were to follow and perfect
it. In developing more fully this particular period,
we shall examine in order, its causes and character-
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—FORMATIVE.
49
istics, pursuing a line of discussion somewhat similar
to that adopted by Hazlitt in his Literature of the
Age of Elizabeth and ever keeping in mind that our
theme is, Prose Literature.
(A.) Causes or Agencies of Formative English Prose.
FRIENDLY AGENCIES.
(1) We notice, first, that Antecedent and Prepara-
tive Work to which attention has been called, as it
occurred in First, and, more especially, in Middle-En-
glish Prose. Sufficient has been said in the historical
survey of these introductory periods to make emphatic
what is here asserted. We have seen that even be-
fore printing was introduced by Caxton into England,
and before published books were known, English
Prose had a place in manuscript form, and bore an
important relation to all that followed. We have
traced the crude beginnings of prose in the writings
of King Alfred, Aelfric, and the compilers of the
Chronicle. We have followed the course of it on
through the days of Mandeville, and Wyclif, and
Ascham, down to Modern-English time. The history
is one.
The people, the language, the spirit, the
purpose, are substantially one. So connected are
the epochs, that in discussing the opening era of
Modern Prose, we are driven perforce to those still
earlier years, which were what they were and where
they were, more for the ages that followed than for
themselves, and which enter as an essential factor
into the literary productions before us. As a man's
antecedents do not determine, but largely modify his
character and possibilities, so here, Formative En-
50
ENGLISH PROSE.
glish Prose was somewhat the thing that it was,
because of the prose that preceded it.
(2) A second causative agency is found in what
may well be called, The Great Awakening of English
Literary History in the sixteenth century. It was
in England what the Renaissance was in France
and in Southern Europe, and was in literature what
that was in art. The epithet, Great, may be applied
to it in that it affected all departments of thought
and action and pervaded every class of society. It
was a time of new ideas and enterprises; of discovery
and adventure; of mental, political, and religious
revival—the golden age of national life. In the light
of the discussion before us, there were two special
features of this awakening that demand emphatic
notice.
(a) It was distinctly modern,-a time of evoking
new forces into action rather than of the re-awaken-
ing of forces long existent but slumbering. It was
more like a regeneration than a revival or renewal.
It marks the genesis of modern thought as distinct
from ancient and draws once for all that broad bound-
ary line which we discern between the old and the
As far as it was an awakening at all, it was a
modern awakening and in English Prose as in all
things else that are English, manifests its modern im-
press and character.
new.
(b) Nor was it modern only. It was modern En-
glish. It is historically true, as Mr. Hallam urges,
that this awakening was European or Continental,
affecting more or less deeply every important nation
of modern Europe; still, on English soil, as nowhere
else, did these new qualities appear, and in England,
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—FORMATIVE,
51
as nowhere else, did they bear abundant fruit. Not
only did all that transpired in Germany and on the
Continent indirectly affect England for good, but it
was in the England of that time that these new im-
pulses and principles centred and developed, so that
it became for all modern historians the one best
standpoint from which to study what Mr. Hallam
calls "The revival of literature in Europe in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries." These facts bear
directly on English literature and on the prose por-
tion of it. Not only was it the time of first things
in English poetry as in the epic of Spencer and the
dramas of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, but it
marks the formation of English Prose-so that in
history, theology, philosophy, romance, and general
literature the first productions of our language are
here found. Even in the line of English Prose Man-
uals for educational purposes, this fact is quite
significant. In 1551, we note the first scientific
treatise in England on the Art of Discourse, by Wil-
son. In 1558, by the same writer, the first treatise
in English on Logic. In 1586, Bullock gives the first
English Grammar, and in 1589, the work of Aelfric in
the First Period is taken up in better form by Rider,
who prepares a Latin-English Dictionary. Thus it
appears that in technical work as in a wider field
of literary prose, the era was conspicuously modern
and English, and, thus, a mighty agent in the further-
ing of that formative work which is now manifestly
in progress. The eminently English character of this
era and prose will be further noted in the sequel.
(3) We notice another helpful agency in, The
Attitude of Royalty toward the Rising English.
52
ENGLISH prose.
૧
Between the early dissensions caused by the bigotry
of Mary and the later troubles arising from Civil
War, there was now a protracted period of compara-
tive
peace nearly up to the time of the Protectorate.
It is well known how Spanish Letters suffered by the
policy of the Philips; how the literary progress of Italy
was retarded by civil oppression and how similar re-
sults followed in Germany while Adolphus and Wallen-
stein were at war. English Letters now suffered but
little from such disturbances. More than this, there
was positive and practical aid to the aspiring writers
of the time. Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., did
much, directly and indirectly, to favor this formative
work. No modern literature has less to complain of
in this regard than the English; while in certain
instances, as in the case of Elizabeth, the reigning
sovereign has not been content to give political
protection to authorship, but has personally entered
into the lists, and added to the literary product of
the time.
(4) A further friendly agency to the prose is seen.
in the number and importance of the English Ver-
sions of Scripture in this era. Attention has been
called to the fact that this was also a marked char-
acteristic of the Middle-Prose Period, as seen, espec-
ially, in the versions of Wyclif and Tyndale. Equally
striking is the fact that this first period of Modern
English Prose may be said to be opened, as it is
throughout characterized, by the translation of the
Bible into English. The Geneva Bible (1557—60),
prepared by Protestant refugees, in Geneva, who had
fled from the persecutions of Bloody Mary, was the
popular English Bible for half a century; and stands
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—FORMATIVE.
53
at the very opening of this era, as if to give it
character and historic renown as the first prose pro-
duction. As the first example of an English Version
in which the old black letter gives place to modern
English script and type, it fitly marks the passing
away of the old, and the formal introduction of the
new English Era of sacred and secular prose. In
1568, there follow, "The Bishops' Bible," based on
Cranmer's, re-issued by Parker in 1572; and, as most
noteworthy of all, King James' Version of 1611, the
Bible of England and America down to the date
of the recent revisions. This is the Bible of which
ninety-five per cent and over is First-English; and
which, as far as the vernacular itself is concerned,
still remains unequaled. It is more than a speci
men of the King's English. It is the people's
English. Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon
the fact, as bearing on our present purpose, that the
Bible is an example, on its secular side, of English
Prose, and enters as an essential element into this
formative work.
Viewed as a version, or translation, purely in its
human aspect, as an example of English speech, it
undoubtedly stands all through English literary
history, and, more especially, in this era, as the lead-
ing agency of all others. It did then for English
Prose what no other production could possibly have
done. It gave that true direction and character to
English Prose style which is now an elemental part
of it. English Prose is Biblical.
These were the main friendly agencies at work in
this first epoch of English Prose, applying more or
less fully to all forms of literary activity, and, yet,
:
54
ENGLISH PROSE.
:
having a pertinent bearing on the formation of prose.
This is especially true, as seen, of the Scripture
versions as rendered into prose; and largely true also
of that great awakening of modern English life
which marked the era throughout. Let us note
some Adverse Agencies.
ADVERSE AGENCIES.
1. The Peculiar Grammatical Structure of the En-
glish of this period which, as bad as it was in poetry,
was more harmful in prose.
We allude here to the fact that English syntactical
and verbal structure was greatly unsettled, and
necessarily so. This arose, mainly, from the results
that attended the breaking up of the old inflectional
system. That system prevailed in First-English, par-
tially existed in Middle-English, and was still in
process of change. Mr. Abbott, in his Elizabethan
Grammar, has given the full history and explanation
of the English of this period. Varieties of grammati-
cal form not tolerated now were then admissible.
Gross violations of modern grammar were then in
order on every page. Inflections were retained or
rejected at pleasure. Words in double senses outside
of figurative usage were freely employed. Literal
and metaphorical uses were quite the reverse of what
they are now. In a word, the writer took his own
way, despite all existing rules. There was no law
nor standard. Hence, it was with no little difficulty
that the prose authors of that time at all succeeded
in forming an English Prose and serves to show
conclusively that those critics are in error who insist
that we have in this first era a fully developed and
1
1
1
RepresentaTIVE PERIODS.—FORMATIVE, 55
settled English Prose. This was in the nature of
things impossible. The shifting grammar of the
language made it impossible. The authors did the
best they could; and the marvel is, that with such
materials in hand they formed so goodly a structure.
The prose was in formation, just as the language
itself was, and because it was. The one could not
advance toward fixed establishment more rapidly
than the other. In poetry it was somewhat different
in that a larger freedom in the choice and use of
grammatical forms was and is permissible. The
quaint phrase was often the preferable one.
2. The rise of Euphuism, and, The Metaphysical
School of Prose. In a word, the rise of a conceited
style.
This was not germane to England or English
writers, but came from without. English Prose is at
fault in that it so readily received and applied it.
While it flourished, it did no little harm in the forma-
tive work going on. We shall have occasion in the
sequel to trace the presence and influence of this
school of conceit, whose disciples wrote profoundly
of the simplest thing, or atoned for absence of ideas
by a wild profusion of quaint and overdrawn phrases.
In no more unfortunate time could such a style have
entered English Letters. It was untimely, just be-
cause our prose was taking shape and was keenly
sensitive to every surrounding influence. At such a
crisis, it was even more inclined to take on the evil
than the good. Euphuism no sooner came from the
Continent to England, than Sydney, and other prose
writers, became a prey to it; and from that day to
this it has had more or less sway among us. The
Ꮧ

56
ENGLISH PROSE.
Metaphysical School of Donne, and Cowley, in the
reign of Charles I., was the first to perpetuate it, even
in grosser form, to later eras. They had all the
faults of Lyly as a writer, without his redeeming
features.
3. The Revival of the Classical Languages and
Literature.
This was, in all respects, the most prominent, con-
stant and formidable obstacle in the formation of a
native English Prose. We are now speaking of this
classical awakening simply in the light of its un-
friendly relation to the English; it being well known
to every student of history that the blessings of that
general revival of the old learning were invaluable.
There were three distinct forms of foreign influ-
ence which at the time worked against our English
Prose as English, the Latin, Greek, and Italian.
We have noted how, in the First-English Period,
most of the English writers of prose wrote in Latin.
We have seen that in the Middle Period, up to
the time of Caxton, Latin still had a large place
in the prose of Englishmen. In the sixteenth cen-
tury, also, new forces were at work in Europe, in
the interests of old Roman Letters. The revival was
general and pervasive, and once again made it-
self felt in special power on English soil. It is now
that the classical professorships at Oxford and Cam-
bridge were established on a sure foundation, while
it was regarded as in place for all those who were
counted among the scholars of the land, to make
themselves conversant with the old learning now
made new.
Precisely so as to Greek. After the capture of Con-
{
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.-FORMATIVE.
57
stantinople in 1453, this language became the free
property of scholars all over Europe, and of course,
moved steadily northward and westward across the
English Channel. The enthusiasm over the Greek at
the great educational centres of England, was even
greater than over the Latin. It spread far and wide.
It permeated all quarters, so that under such instruc-
tors as Erasmus and Cheke, thousands of ambitious
students were introduced into the mysteries of Attic
lore. It was a kind of Athenian contagion, a "new
thing." So, as to Italian. This was the special
period of Italian influence on English; the age of
Ariosto and Tasso, and the prose writers beginning in
the time of Henry VIII., and pervading the reign of
Elizabeth. From this brief survey it may readily be
seen that if, in one respect, the drift of the age was
modern and English, in another, it was backward and
classical. Books in Latin, and, more especially, trans-
lations in Latin and Greek, now abounded. Fox and
Jewel, Parker and North, and hosts of others, resorted
in preference to the older tongues. The Queen, her-
self, made the Italian and Greek a part of her daily
task-work under the guidance of Ascham and others.
English Reformers wrote and preached and wrangled
in Latin. More and Browne, Milton and Bacon
wrote in Latin. Nothing will more clearly reveal
the powerful sway which the Latin then had than the
language which Bacon himself uses. Of his Essay's
he says: "I do conceive that the Latin volume of
them, being in the universal language, may last as
long as books last." Again he says: "My labors are
now most set to have those works which I have form-
erly published (in English) well translated into Latin.
58
ENGLISH prose.
For these modern languages will, at one time or
another, play the bankrupt with books; and since I
have lost much time with this age, I would be glad
to recover it with posterity." Such language was
somewhat natural, perhaps, in a man whose main
work was philosophical and who wrote with one eye
always on Aristotle and the Latin Schoolmen; but it
was not confined to Bacon. It was in the air and
temper of the time as the result of the classical
renaissance, and is still another proof that whatever
the English Prose of the time was, it could be forma-
tive only, and not final. The foreign influences from
all quarters of Europe were too many and potent to
allow it to become stable, or to do anything more.
than successfully to offer resistance, or make judicious
compromise. In fine, there was a strong reactionary
tendency to other forms than English. Just as in
the Civil Wars of Middle-English, the language con-
tinually reverted to old dialectic usage, so now, under
a pressure from abroad, native forms and forces re-
verted of necessity to the older life of medieval and
ancient Europe. The era was more than critical for
English Prose and Poetry and for the English Speech
itself.
If we ask how and why the influence was checked
and caused to recede, we come in contact, at once,
with the providential element in human history-
especially manifest in English History. It was thus
that the Roman armies strangely left Britain when
they did, in 425 a. D. It was thus that Romish
Missionaries in the sixth and seventh centuries in
England were thwarted in reducing the country to
Romish doctrine and rule. It was thus that in the
:
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—FORMATIVE.
59
French and English Wars, England somehow tri-
umphed; and so it was, that just as the old heathen
influence from Latium, Greece and Italy, poured in
upon England as a flood, there was another flood of
deeper depth and mightier momentum, in the form
of the Protestant awakening; so that the English
Church and the English Tongue were saved together
as English.
(B.) Characteristics of Formative English Prose.
1. Increasing Grammatical Regularity.
Allusion has been made to the variable, unsettled
structure of the grammar of this period, due to the
surviving struggle between inflected and uninflected
English. Hence, the diction and rhetorical character
of the authorship were ever changing, but also, ever
tending to permanence. The conflict now, it is to be
noted, was not between foreign forms and native, but
in the bosom of the home-speech itself between one
form of English and another. There was danger in
all this, and, yet it was the sign of life and progress;
the same inward principle of life that was at work in
First-English Prose at the hands of Alfred, and in
Middle-English under Wyclif and Ascham. Here it
is once again manifest, that English Prose was not
yet fully settled, but in process of settlement. Even
such cautious writers as Tyler, and Morley, speak of
formed" English Prose even before this era. It was
formative only, but as such, more and more inclined
to take an abiding cast and character. Unsettled, in
a sense, as the best examples of it are, there was still
a molding work done at that time which could have
"
60
ENGLISH PROSE.
been done neither before nor after, and which was
absolutely essential to the existence of this form of
literature.
2. An Increasing Vocabulary.
From what has been said relative to the great
mental and moral awakening of this period, it can
readily be inferred that words were pouring into
English from all quarters. This was not confined,
however, to the incoming of foreign terms. The
native speech was broadening under the influence of
the new impulses. Mixed English was becoming
more and more a pure English, while even for-
eign words themselves were received and com-
pacted into the body of the home language. Those
prose authors who felt obliged, for prudential rea-
sons, to continue the use of the classical Latin,
did so with ever renewed distrust; until at length,
they yielded with the poets to the resistless pres-
sure of native influences. Even at this early pe-
riod there were forty-five thousand words in our
vocabulary, nearly one half of the present number
-while the manner in which the Bible Versions
controlled common speech made it more and more
native in character.
3. Its English Spirit.
Foreign Influence had now reached its height and
was declining, while the home influences were coming
into ever wider scope. Especially true in poetry, this
characteristic marks, also, the prose. Though Bacon
wrote his philosophy in Latin, still, that part of his
prose which was designed to be practical, "to come
I
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—FORMATIVE.
61
home to men's business and bosoms," was wisely
written in the mother tongue. Though the reign of
James I. was somewhat under the influence of Spanish
Letters and though canons of French taste revived
toward the time of Cromwell, still, this English spirit
was dominant over all and ever on the increase.
The foolish conceits of Lyly and his followers affected
the surface more than the centre of authorship.
Deep down in the inner life of the best literature the
servitude either to ancient or modern Europe was
solemnly forsworn and a new departure at once taken
into the liberty of the home-speech.
The age
was eminently English, because it was free from all
the trammels which had hitherto bound it. Men
were doing their own thinking in their own way, and
this newly acquired intellectual liberty meant an ever
wider removal from classical terms, and an ever
firmer committal to the modern and the advancing.
Modern progress meant English progress more than
anything else and the prose authors of the time em-
bodied and transmitted it. If the queen could boast
of her proficiency in the Greek and Italian, she could
also boast that she employed a preceptor, in the
person of Ascham, to compose his Toxophilus in the
special interests of his native speech. Whatever the
prose period was or was not, it was one of mental
freedom in the interests of the home-tongue.
4. Its Versatility.
This arose largely from the rich infusion of new
ideas that then took place and from the consequent
stimulus of the English mind. Not only in poetry,
but, in prose,—theological, philosophical, to historical
62
ENGLISH PROSE.
and general-this variety is manifest. It reminds
one, as he enters it, of a rich tropical clime where nature
displays herself in a profusion almost bewildering. So
rich and versatile was the literary product that the so-
called second rate authors might with justice be
cited as examples of good literary work, while the
names of first excellence were so supreme as still to
hold in English Letters the place that was then as-
signed them.
5. Human or Catholic.
It
Never were what Whipple would call "Literature
and Life," so closely related as now.
The man was
in the author and his book. Men discussed what
we term living issues, and in a living manner.
is this characteristic of the prose of this age that
Mr. Hallam must have had in mind when he says:
"There was never a generation in England which for
worldly prudence and wise observation of mankind
stood higher than the Elizabethan." It was an age
in which the principles of human nature in general,
as well as the English human nature in particular,
were deeply studied and fully expressed.
Never have writers understood each other and the
world better. They seem to have had an instinctive.
as well as a studied knowledge of their fellows, and
could portray them to themselves. In this particular,
Shakespeare stood first; but he had many able disci-
ples in poetry and prose. It was natural that the
great authors of this period, especially in the days of
Elizabeth, should thus become the skillful interpre
ters of men to men. The literature could not but be
catholic and spacious, in an age when church and
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.-FORMATIVE.
63
:
state were alive with good impulses and when the
special mark of the period was that the ancient was
giving way to the modern, monasteries to universi-
ties, priestly bigotry to Protestantism, and narrow-
ness to breadth of idea and spirit.
English Prose has many excellences now which it
had not then; but it has never had a larger degree of
general robustness and vigor than then it had. It
was heroic, chivalric, and wide embracing,-the age
of man and of truth.
6. Protestant and Ethical.
The Literature of the time was under the influence
of the English Reformation and that of the English
Bible and Christian Reformers. As grand and general
as the intellectual progress of the time was, there
was a moral movement deeper and wider. The
sceptical Buckle, in his account of European Civil-
ization, is scarcely competent, as a rationalist, to give
a true history of this era, on its religious side. It is
a spectacle as pitiable as it is fruitless, to note the
attempt on the part of this adroit historian to give
us the explanation of this era apart from this ethical
feature as most prominent. Gibbon, in his record of
reasons for the early establishment of Christianity in
the Roman Empire, is far more political and judicious
in that, with natural and social causes, he is free to
admit the presence of others. There is no part of the
racy criticism of our literature by Mr. Taine more
suggestive than where he is brought face to face with
this special aspect of British life. Admitting that the
Reformation entered England "by a side door," he
grants that it entered and speedily induced among
61
ENGLISH PROSE.
all the people that "crisis of conscience which is
natural to the race." He calls the Bible " England's
book," and marvels at that persistency which in spite
of protestation causet it to be read and heard.
"Never," he adds, "has a people been so deeply im-
bued by a foreign book, or let it penetrate so far into
its manners and writings, its imagination and its
language." Such are the concessions that must be
made even by. French and prejudiced critics. The
period was Protestant and moral as compared with
the preceding, or as compared with contemporary
periods across the Channel. The age was golden in
this respect as much as in any other. It did more
for our literary future in this regard than in any other,
and served to mark, for all time, the prose of England
as elevated and Christian.
At the close of this era in the days of Cromwell,
an era especially of prose, a peculiar phase of this
ethical literary life comes into prominence. We call
it Puritan, oftener Puritanic, and in some respects, we
admit it marked a decline from the stalwart morality.
of earlier times. Still, it was a distinctively moral in-
fluence, somewhat narrower and less attractive than
that of Sydney's day, and, yet, an earnest protest
against the low and base. Certainly, no sounder
form of English Prose exists in any period than we
find in the writings of Walton, of Fuller, and Jeremy
Taylor.
If Protestantism overreached itself in some of
these Puritan Prosers, and degenerated, often, into
bigotry, the balance was more than struck by their
living earnestness on the side of truth and on behalf
of English morals. The Puritans have had their
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—FORMATIVE.
65
share of sneer and satire at the hands of Macaulay
and others. They had, however, a mission and ful-
filled it. Open to criticism at many points, suffice
it to say that they could be ill spared from English
History or English Letters and in the time of which
we speak did no inferior work in the line of a solid,
serious, ethical, English Prose. As we close the
survey of this first period, it is quite noticeable that,
although at the opening of it, in the reign of Eliza-
beth, English Prose was inferior in quality and meas-
ure to poetry,at the close of the era, as we near the
Protectorate, these relations were reversed, so that
prose has marked an advance and we find ourselves
somewhat further on in its historic development.
Still, from beginning to end, the prose was substan-
tially one. Hooker at the opening, and Milton, at
the close, had much in common both as to merit and
demerit. However different the varied features of
the period are, they are alike in this-that they were
formative and Elizabethan. As Mr. Brocke correctly
remarks in speaking of the prose authors of the
Cromwellian era itself, "The style of nearly all these
writers links them to the age of Elizabeth. The
prose of men like Brown and Burton and Fuller, is
not as poetic as that of the Elizabethan writers, but
it is just as fanciful." He speaks of the prose of Tay-
lor and Milton having all the faults common to the
days of Hooker and Bacon. In fine, the century was
one of prose in process of settlement, and all minor
differences are lost in the great fact that we find in
1650, as the period closes, English Prose was mainly
what it was as the era opened in 1560-a prose still
in formation, with a somewhat stronger principle of
66
ENGLISH prose.
adjustment and unity present in it, and an ever clearer
prospect of final fixedness. That era, however, is
suddenly delayed for a half century of political and
social events, and ere we come to settled prose, we
must note an epoch of transition.
CHAPTER II.
THE TRANSITION PERIOD-1650-1700.
THIS period embraces nearly a half century-the
reigns of Charles II., James II., William and Mary;
and as compared with the period preceding, is one
of decline, as it is, also, far inferior to the era imme-
diately following.
It will be necessary, at the outset, to note the
nature of these Transitions, and the application of
the term to the period now before us.
Transitions.
These are historical and literary and appear in the
development of every nation's mental life. It is
these changes to which Mr. Hallam refers in speak-
ing of the general history of the European mind
-its best and worst epochs. He says, "There is,
in fact, no security, as far as the past history of
mankind assures us, that any nation will be uni-
formly progressive in science, art, and letters, nor do
I perceive, whatever may be the current language,
that we can expect this with much greater confi-
dence of the whole civilized world." Such a remark
is made from no pessimistic view of the defeat of
truth in the earth, or the relation of Providence to
68
ENGLISH PROSE.
human progress, but rather from the undeniable
lesson of the world's experience that all that is
human is subject to change. It is precisely what
Disraeli would call the principle of "crises and re-
actions," as founded in nature and ratified in history.
In no department of mental inquiry and study is
this principle more patent and influential than in
literature. No important literature of ancient or
modern times, has failed to exhibit it. If Italy had
her golden age of Tasso and Ariosto, she had, as well,
the reactionary age of Marini, in the seventeenth
century. The age of Cervantes, in Spain, was closely
followed by that of Gongora; while the classical eras,
both of France and Germany, were alike preceded
and followed by epochs of mental weakness or lit-
erary indifference. In the history of English Let-
ters, both in prose and poetry, this law of action and
reaction is manifest. In the First-English Period, it
is seen in connection with Danish and Norman
invasions; in the Middle-Period, at the time of the
English and French Wars; and in the Modern era,
at successive epochs, such as the Civil Wars and
Revolution in the age now before us.
In fact the history of a literature, as of English,
might be divided into the two periods of permanence
and of transition, acting upon each other and interact-
ing. The former are so fixed and their character so
revealed that but little difficulty is found in correctly
interpreting them. The latter are more perplexing to
the literary student and, yet, full of interest and
most important in relation to what precedes and fol-
lows. These transitional epochs would seem to have
a life and history of their ow, and give origin to
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—TRANSITIONAL.
69
many questions of peculiar interest. Why in En-
glish Letters they occur just when they do; why they
are long or short in duration; why they appear
at somewhat regular intervals along the development
of the literature, and why they should be now from
the better to the worse and, now, the opposite-are
queries which belong to the philosophy of literary his-
tory, and are at this moment the subject of careful
study on the part of the best English Critics. Presi-
dent Bascom, in his discussion of English Literature,
speaks of two of these transition periods-the one
being that era now in question and the other, the
second half of the eighteenth century. What he
calls "The Retrogressive Period," from the opening
of the fifteenth century to the middle of the sixteenth,
might also be called by this name. Mr. Taine, in his
English Literature, less formally, but with equal cer-
tainty, marks the appearance and disappearance of
these eras in our prose and poetry.
Appropriateness of the Term to this Era.
This is seen from its Unsettled Character. The
Revolution of 1640 had closed with the execution of
Charles I. The stormy days of Cromwell then fol-
lowed. After that, in the era now before us, there
came the civil disorders under the second Charles,
and James II., ending, in the Revolution of 1688,
in the reign of William. For more than half a cen-
tury, the nation was distracted. The period was
purely revolutionary, either by the presence of home
or foreign strife. Even when, for a time, there
seemed to be peace and settled order, the quiet was
purely external and there was constant danger of
70
ENGLISH prose.
In
outbreak. It was an age of violent extremes in
thought and life. In the church, the struggle was
between Puritan and Prelate, Protestant and Papist,
Presbyterian and Independent. In the state, the
Royalists and Roundheads opposed each other.
society, morality was confronted with open profligacy;
while, in literature, ability and character struggled
to hold their own against mediocrity and the lower
æsthetic tastes of the time. At no era in English
history can such clashing interests be found. Level-
ers and Seekers, Rationalists and Free Thinkers, Fifth
Monarchy Men and Fanatics, were all active for
precedence.
It is not strange that Dryden, the central literary
figure of the time, especially in poetry, exclaims with
feeling:
"Must England still the scene of changes be,
Tost and tempestuous, like an ambient sea?"
There was no moderation in the age. The golden.
mean was never reached by any sect in church or
state. Monarchy need not be despotic, but the
Stuarts became so. Prelacy may exist without inter-
fering with the subjects' freedom and Puritanism can
be held without offending the world by its morose-
ness, but it was not thus. Bad men were especially
bad and good men were good to a fault, in the mode
of the expression of their goodness. There was no
unity. All was divergent and one-sided, unnatural and
transitional. What the age was in church and state,
and society, it was in literature-and it was in Prose
Literature-an age of extremes. If we find keen and
telling satire against the vice of the age, we also find,
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—TRANSITIONAL. 71
and even from the same pen, the most abject adula-
tion of the great. High moral teachings strange-
ly mingle with debasing maxims, while throughout
the era, the shocking absence of any high order of
English Prose as continuing the formative prose of
the earlier period makes it manifest that such litera-
ture had for some reason come to a sudden cessation.
The literary as well as the social continuity was
broken and, for a time, the best minds of the age
must either look back to the days of Milton, or on-
ward to those of Addison, to be cheered in their
work as prose authors.
(A.) Characteristics of the Prose of this Period.
1. Franco-English, or Anglo-Gallic.
The satirical Butler, who was especially sensitive
as to this feature of English in his time, speaks of'
England as "going to school to France." The
expression may be taken as literally true. There
were special reasons why Gallic influence was pecu-
liarly strong at this epoch. It was the golden age of
French Literature and an inferior age of English
Literature. It was but comparatively a short time
before the restoration of Charles II. that the French
Academy was established (1636) under the sagacious
policy of Richelien, as the centre of French Culture,
and in the middle year of this era it was in its glory.
It was but natural that the influence of the French
School at such a time was far-reaching and pervaded
England. To this it must be added, that the exile
king going to France, attracted numbers with him,
and he and they veritably "went to school to France."
On their return to England, there began a kind of
72
ENGLISH prose.
Franco-English dynasty and English Literature re-
ceived then and there a Gallic impress from which it
will never be entirely free. Some benefit resulted,
indeed, but the issue was mainly evil, as to our prose
and poetry. The special misfortune lay in the fact
that, whatever may have been the apparent relation
of the two countries and literatures, they were at
heart utterly at variance. There are no two national
characters more unlike than the English and the
Gallic. They are not necessarily hostile, as the
German and the Gallic are, but they are uncongenial.
'Twas so in the eleventh century (1066), when a kind
of coalition was effected at the point of the bayonet.
Even Dryden, with all his classic and continental
tendencies, saw this and deplored it. He entreats
his fellow authors to be natural, as Englishmen.
"Let us our native character maintain.
'Tis of our growth to be sincerely plain."
The advice was ingenuous but of no avail, while
Dryden himself sinned against his own theory. No-
thing could have been more untimely and harmful as
to its effect on English Prose than such an influence
in such an era. Our prose was in process of forma-
tion. From the time of Ascham to that of Milton
and Bunyan, this formative work had not been materi-
ally checked. It was continuous and promising
and just about to take shape permanently not only as
prose, but as English Prose. Foreign French influ-
ence now enters, not only to delay, but to direct and
modify the plastic work-to turn the course of
prose development into a new channel-to make it a
mixed English Prose. Elizabethan prose had many
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—TRANSITIONAL. 73
defects incident to its character as formative, but
with all its faults it was superior to that which fol-
lowed. Instead of the natural, fresh expression of
the earlier English, there appears the formal, courtly
style of the foreign school, and all is changed for the
worse. Rarely, if ever, has our literature been so
sadly affected by outside agency. Under other social
and historical conditions, the influence might have
been overruled and salutary. As it was, it was
baneful.
In Chaucer's time, French influence was strong.
In the time of Henry VIII., Italian influence was
strong as was that of Germany later in our history.
All these influences, however, were under the control
of the home literature at the time and were helpful,
more than harmful. In the days of the later Stuarts,
it was partly the shame and mainly the misfortune
of England, that it was a dependency of France and
its authors were the vassels of Gallic leaders. This
explains another feature of the prose patent to every
careful reader.
2. The Inferiority of the Diction.
It was what Swift aptly terms "a jargon." Double
and doubtful senses were purposely given to words;
partly, as an exercise in frivolous wit, and partly, as
the natural result of the inferior ability behind the
language. Brevity of statement was carried to such
extreme as to defeat its own end and became the
veriest buffoonery and burlesque. In fine, it was a
form of that old Euphuism which flourished in the
first period, but which, coming to England through
France, had taken on new phases even more revolting
74
ENGLISH PROSE.
to good taste and in which Lyly and Donne were
entirely outdone. The diction was mainly in the line
of verbal device or display-the result both of mental
and moral perverseness-and well adapted to thwart,
for the time being, any advance in native prose.
Just to the degree in which it was bombastic and
pedantic, it was un-English, and marked an ever
wider departure from earlier models. It cannot be
denied that the vocabulary of our prose was largely
increased in this half century of transition; but there
are some things better for a literature than mere in-
crement of words. The verbal gain was not all the
gain, since it involved the addition of elements which
have worked only harm in the province of English
Prose.
All this, in diction, was fully in keeping with the
trivial temper of the time. The age was not serious.
Why should the authors be? The violent reaction
from Puritan precision had set in, intensified and pro-
longed by influences from the Continent; king and
courtiers were alike corrupt, and Satan was abroad,
in poetry. Cowley and Waller were absorbed in
writing effeminate verses for characterless ladies. In
the drama especially, Wycherley is preferred to neg.
lected plays of Shakespeare, while in the sphere of
solid prose anything is admissible, so it reminds not
of duty and moral responsibility. The phraseology
of the time expressed the superficial character of
the time. Most of those who wrote did what they
did as the exponents of the hour; and it is not
strange that it was in such times as these that
John Milton ended his days in disappointment and
neglect, while third and fourth rate versifiers and
representatIVE PERIODS.—TRANSITIONAL. 75
prosers were in honor at court and among the peo-
ple. He had fallen on "evil days and evil times.”
So had English Letters.
(B.) Helpful Agencies at this Era.
It is not to be supposed, that even in this period
of transition and general decline, there were no forces
at work on behalf of good literature and the develop-
ment of a clear and substantial prose. One or two of
these are conspicuous in their influence.
2. Popular Agitation of Thought and Life.
This has been noted in speaking of the revolution-
ary character of the time and on the side of its
danger and disadvantages. It has another side,
equally important. Agitation in itself is healthful
and stimulative. When exercised with regard to
proper objects and confined within reasonable limits,
and thus, under control, it has always tended to
strengthen, rather than to weaken. Even when
but partially fulfilling these conditions, it is pro-
ductive of good in so far as it does fulfill them and
serves to increase the evil resulting from lawless
insurrections.
It is quite noticeable here, that just as the Forma-
tive Period of our Prose closed with political and
popular agitation in the persons of Cromwell and the
Puritans, so this period of Transition, beginning with
the general excitement attendant upon the return of
Charles II. and continuing in bitter feuds of the time
of James II. ended in the reign of William and Mary,
with the Great Revolution of 1688. Whatever the
Commonwealth agitation did for the first era in the
76
ENGLISH prose.
line of a stalwart and trenchant prose, this final and
pervasive English Revolution did far more. It settled
two questions among others which, in their religious,
political and social bearings cannot be overestimated,
and which in the realm of the literature, then transi-
tional, did a potent and enduring good. It settled
the relation of the Romish Church to the Protestant,
(in England) as one of subjection rather than su-
premacy, and it settled the basis of Constitutional
Government in England as opposed to despotism,
or absolute monarchy. It introduced and guaran-
teed the doctrine of popular rights in such wise
that it has not been permanently disturbed since
that era.
The effect of this agitation on the native prose was
extremely happy and healthful. It gave it just what
it needed at the time-literary spirit, flexibility, force,
manliness, positiveness and freedom of expression.
It recovered that Protestant and evangelical tone
under William of Orange which it had formerly
possessed under Elizabeth and Cromwell and had
lost under Charles II. and James II. It regained that
native English temper and vigor which, in the inter-
val of Stuart rule, had been impaired by excessive
foreign influence. More than all, it recovered some-
thing of that ethical purity which had so marked it
in former days as distinct from the gross literature
of the Continent.
Not only was the Revolution of 1688 the most im-
portant one in English history, but equally so in
English Prose. The sum total effect of it was libera-
tive and exalting. It broke away the barriers which
a despotic church and civil polity had raised, and
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—TRANSITIONAL. 77
bade the English people go out into a wide area and
on to a better history. The nation began to breathe
a purer air and live a freer life. Men thought inde-
pendently of others and spoke and wrote as they
thought. Just as soon as the outward agitation
ceased and matters settled into civic and social order,
the authors of the time, who had been repressed and
hampered, at once awoke to the splendid issues before
them, and the future of English Letters was assured.
It is noticeable just here, as in the days of the Pro-
tectorate, that such healthful agitation expressed it-
self mainly in prose, rather than in poetry. In each
of these periods-Formative and Transitional--poetry
was prevalent at the opening, but prose at the close;
and in each, this order was in keeping with the
agitated character of the time and the special de-
mand for honest, earnest words. In such times,
authors must for a while forego the pleasure of poetic
invention and the indulgence of imaginative power
and resort to that straightforward method of ex-
pression which obtains in prose discourse. Locke
and Temple, South and Sydney, Bentley and Collins
could have written at that time in no other form than
in prose. The gravest questions of church and state,
of society and letters were before them and there
was but one medium for their expression.
2. The Personal Character and Work of
Leading Minds.
This traditional era, bad as it was, was not given
entirely over to evil men and agencies. Now, as ever
in English history, strong opposition was manifested
and so strong as, at times, to prevail. Special meed
•
78
ENGLISH prose.
is due to those men who, in such a time, sternly
contended for sound morals and good letters and
wrought patiently in the sphere of native authorship.
One of the special features of the period is seen in
the defensive attitude assumed by some of the prose
authors of the time against the prevailing degener-
acy. Their effort was to conserve what was already
theirs.
Inferior as the era in some respects was, it is safe
to assert that there is scarcely an able writer of that
time in English didactic prose who was not upon the
side of mental and moral reform. It was because
they were so outnumbered by the hosts of second-
rate authors and men that the results are not more
apparent. Even Dryden, whose main work was in
poetry, and who in that sphere too often transgressed
the limits of propriety, was in his prose more discreet
and classic. As far as he went in this direction he
was able and helpful and had he continued his prose
work beyond mere Prefaces, Dedications, Translations
and Epistles, might have gained a conspicuous place
among his countrymen. If Thomas Hobbes was writ-
ing in the interests of a false philosophy, Cudworth,
Locke and Newton opposed him. If some were
slavishly addicted to the French, most of the best
were loyal to their English ancestry and speech. A
brilliant order of English Prose is not to be expected
in such a period. The conditions did not exist. It
is creditable to find even a second order of prose
writers who, amid all discouragements, maintained
their ground and preserved, to some extent, at least,
the historical continuity of English Letters. If the
era was transitional, it had reference to what was to
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—TRANSITIONAL.
79
follow it as well as to what had preceded it. The best
that can be said of it is, that as we go steadily on
from the opening to the close of it through its forty-
two years, English Prose at the end of it, in 1702, is
seen to be on a better basis, after all, than ever before;
and we can discern more easily than ever the character
of the future that awaited it.
CHAPTER III.
PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT-1700-1760.
THIS period includes a little over half a century;
the reigns of Queen Anne, George I. and George II.,
and may fitly be termed in this respect the Queen
Anne and Early Georgian period of our prose.
The Term Augustan applied to this Period.
Leaving the transitional period between the For-
mative era and the present, it is now in place to
note this special epoch before us in the days of
Swift and Addison. This age has been known here-
tofore both in poetry and in prose, by no other
name than Augustan and until recently, has been
accepted by critics without debate, as deserving the
title it bears. It has, also, had the sanction of general
acceptance, though, it must be added, mainly through
ignorance, or indifference as to the exact appropriate-
ness of the phrase. The people of that era
quite willing, on grounds of national and intellectual
pride, to have the age thus designated in history.
Modern literary and historical criticism has objected,
and rightly, to this appellation; so that the question
is an open one. If inquiry is made into the precise
origin of it, it will appear that the very reaction
era were
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED.
81
It was so rela-
Still further, we
which took place in church and state, in life and
literature, led to its adoption. To those who had ex-
perienced the troublous times of the Stuarts and the
more objectionable extremes of the Great Rebellion,
the period was indeed Augustan.
tively, however, rather than really.
note from the pen of Carruthers, an English bio-
grapher, that the age "was Augustan only in the
patronage it extended to authors, which for extent
and liberality was unexampled."
In confirmation of this, he goes on to cite examples
of English authors who enjoyed the protection and
favor of the government. This high eulogium is in
a sense true, but needs modification. If we look
carefully into the personal character of the kings and
rulers of the time and their respective political poli-
cies, a particular of interest will be noted. It is, that
their type of personal character was not such as to
lend to literature or to anything else a strong, posi-
tive support. The order of royal mind was negative
and inferior. They cannot be said to have discour-
aged letters. They did not heartily favor them.
The attitude was one of indifference. It was scarcely
possible for the narrow-minded time-serving Queen
Anne to enter with zest into that new literary move-
ment which had arisen by the sheer force of events.
As to George I. his notable lack of culture was a
disgrace to the nation he ruled. Little encourage-
ment, surely, could be expected from him who was
as ignorant of the correct and elegant use of English,
as he was brutishly indifferent to its cultivation.
Though at times assuming the air of a litterateur, he
did so from mercenary motives and was playing a
82
ENGLISH PROSE.
3
part for which he was in no sense fitted. He was
certainly in no wise a representative of the great
Roman Augustus, from whom the age, in Rome and
Britain, took its name. George III. in morals, fol-
lowed his fathers, and as to genius, was a soldier, only.
The royal attitude, therefore, in so far as it was
favorable, was patronizing. Addison, Swift, Steele
and other prose writers, as well as the poets, were
the subjects of such favor; but it was for purposes of
policy and selfish interest. Partisan politics absorbed
too much of the attention of the powers to allow of
any disinterested kindness to authors. It has been
aptly remarked by Ward in this connection, "that
the Whigs will crown Addison the Laureate of their
party, but not till he has sung the glories of their
acknowledged hero." Courtiers of varied rank and
title feasted and flattered the authors, if so be the
authors returned the favor in the form of excessive
laudation. Failing to offer such return, the face of
official support was coldly diverted from them. Sir
Robert Walpole, so utterly unscrupulous in matters
of state, was equally loose in his relations to literary
men whose services he wished to secure.
tensively favored the authors of the time for private
ends that he brought political patronage into de-
served odium and transmitted his name to history as
the most reckless "pen-hirer" of his day. He was
strikingly different in this particular from Sir Wm.
Temple, the famous diplomat at the court of William
and Mary. In view of such facts, it is not surprising,
to find the writers of the time lamenting the want
of a more healthful and ardent support at the hands
of official power.
He so ex-
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED.
83
One of the tenderest expressions in English Letters
is found in a poem written by poor Savage, called
"The Poet's Dependence on a Statesman," in which,
bastard that he was, he looks to the final judgment
as his only consolation.
"A scene will show, all righteous vision haste!
The meek exalted and the proud debased.
Oh! to be there! to tread that friendly shore
Where falsehood, pride, and statesmen are no more!
The age was Augustan in the freeness of its royal
patronage, but not in the motive and quality of such
patronage. In noting still further the origin and
propriety of the name Augustan, reference must be
made to Latin Letters at the time of Augustus.
Professor Covington, in speaking of the poetry of
this age, remarks: "It is a curious circumstance
that the advice given by Walsh to Pope-to be cor-
rect in his writing-was precisely the advice which
Horace gave to his countrymen." The remark will
apply fully as well to the prose of this era. The
point is, that the Horatian idea of written expression
was different from that which had preceded. Horace
took exception, as Boileau did in France, and the
Essayists did in England, to the manifest indifference
of most preceding writers to the external form of
discourse. He cautions them against what might be
called, a loose extravagance of ideas and words, at
the expense of concise finish of style. He insists
that writers must express themselves with more
precision and elegance. He rebukes the pride of
Lucilius when he boasts of having produced two
hundred verses in an hour and much prefers the
!
84
ENGLISH PROSE.
painstaking care of Vergil who, after eleven years of
revision, called his Eneid unfinished. In fine, he
aimed to adjust, in their true proportions, quality and
quantity in the literary product. In this particular,
the term Augustan is in place, especially as to the
first half of this Period of Settlement, between which
time and that of Horace there is striking analogy.
In each epoch, alike, the external structure of litera-
ture was specially expressed. Not only so, but the
epochs preceding and following these respective
periods, in England and Rome, were strikingly sim-
ilar as to the relation of form and subject-matter.
The Pre-Horatian Period of Cicero, though not strictly
a golden age as was that of Elizabeth, was, still, an
age of profuse production, as distinct from that which
is precise. The Post-Horatian Period also corres-
ponded to the Post-Augustan Age in England as to
the subjection of the critical element of Juvenal and
Tacitus to wider forms of literary expression. Hence,
in the use of the word, Augustan, as here applied, it
is not to be employed as a synonym of Golden, thus
relating it to the age of Bacon, but as referring to
the times of Latin Letters, when perfection of literary
form took precedence of the creation of literary ideas.
If we divide the schools of literary expression into
Creative, Impassioned and Critical, it is to the last
of these that special reference is made. It was an
age of didactic and formal prose, rather than one of
original and emotional power. There was little of
the "sensuous or passionate," of which Milton speaks.
The statement which Mr. Hallam makes of the lit-
erature of the reign of William will apply here far
more correctly, as he says: "It marks the nadir in
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED. 85
works of imagination." So strong was this didactic
bent and tendency, that even in poetry it controlled
all else. Where one expression of genuine poetic.
fervor is given, of the style of Thomson's "Seasons"
or Collins, scores are given us after the formal man-
ner of Pope and Young and Prior. Mark Akenside
writes a poem on "The Pleasures of the Imagination,"
of which the two main features are, that there is no
imagination evinced in the production of it and no
pleasure experienced in the perusal of it. It should
have been written in prose. The era was one of
verbal precision and in this respect sharply in con-
trast with the ages preceding. It will be seen in the
subsequent parts of this discussion that there are
benefits as well as evils connected with this critical
tendency in letters and that in this very feature of
the era there are to be found those elements that
make the Augustan and Early Georgian age one of
prose rather than poetry. In this connection there
remains a further feature of the age to be noted—
POLITICAL PARTISANSHIP. It was a time of petty feuds
and party rivalries-a war of words and pens, more
bitter, at times, than that of the sword. It seems to
have been the general impression of the time that
after the Revolution of 1688 had closed affairs of
state would adjust themselves into unity and pol-
itical order. As already stated, in all substantial
senses this was true. English Liberties and English
Constitutional Government were for the first time
guaranteed, as the result of that revolution. As in
all such events, however, the immediate and external
results were of a different character, and a certain
amount of friction was oocasioned just because affairs
86
ENGLISH PROSE.
were settling into proper relations and law was
becoming triumphant. This friction expressed itself
in the sharp discussions of Whigs and Tories. There
were factions for and against the government, för
and against the policy which Temple had introduced
into statecraft, divers opinions as to foreign policies
and the mutual relations of subject and sovereign.
Friends of the old Stuart dynasty were still in the
realm and as the double-minded Anne ascended the
throne the Tories were in power. Political clubs of
all descriptions, from the "Kit Cat" to the " October,”
arose, and defended their respective tenets. Addison
was issuing "The Freeholder" on behalf of religious
principles, while Swift was issuing his "Conduct of
The Allies," and "Public Spirit of the Whigs," in
defence of Toryism. The queen was worse than a
figure-head. She was the puppet of the politicians.
All were wondering as to the future, and as the death
of Anne was announced in 1714, all was reversed.
Dukes and Duchesses fled to France to escape the
Tower. The top went to the bottom and the Whigs
triumphed. "Curse on the word, party," said Pope.
The strange thing is that literature lived at such a
time. It finds its partial explanation in the fact that
the clubs then formed were literary as well as civil.
Comparing the Whig and Tory circles in this respect,
it is suggestive that in the one, literature was domi-
nant over politics, while in the other, this relation
was reversed. When Swift wrote his trenchant
prose invectives as a Tory leader, he was more of a
partisan politician than an author. When Addison
wrote his prose essays as a Whig exponent, the
author was prominent over the interested member of
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED.
87
a faction, and it was the influence of this Addisonian
spirit that gave to letters a permanent precedence in
England over politics. As far as this party strife had
sway, it tended to evil, and degenerated, often, into
personal scandal and abuse. The inquisitive Disraeli
might have constructed a volume upon, The Quarrels
of Authors, without going beyond the limits of this
age. Had this strife been central rather than su
perficial and general rather than restricted in area,
the age of Anne and the first George would have
been the most unstable period of our history and
literature.
As it was, it is all the more interesting to note that
English government and English Prose were alike
established for the first time in this Augustan and
Georgian Age to an extent hitherto unknown, and
in a form from which they have not materially
departed.
Appropriateness of the Term, Settled, here Applied.
This is seen in the fact that the great substantial
frms of modern prose and the leading qualities of
prose style as we shall study them are now so fully
illustrated that they may be taken as a standard, or
point of departure, in all critical study of our lit-
erature. By this, it is not meant that there is exhib-
ited in this period as high a style of English Prose
as is found in succeeding years, but that it was in
advance of anything preceding it both as to quantity
and character, and is more modern in form and effect
than the best that had been produced hitherto. To
our mind, critics have overreached themselves in their
excessive praise of this era. We are aiming simply
88
ENGLISH PROSE.
to emphasize the fact that, apart from its quality as
better or worse, it marks a prose for the first time
settled, as distinct from one in process of formation
or transition, as well as distinct from that which
later on is more fully developed and applied. As
settled, it was a better order of prose than that of
the days of Bacon and Dryden, though inferior to
that which followed in the succeeding era.
A Period of Prose.
The most important feature of this period, as com-
pared with the two preceding it, is its distinctively
prose character. In our study of the historical de-
velopment of English Prose, this fact is invaluable
and full of promise. It reveals to us the truth that
from the days of Ascham on to Addison, progress had
been in the main, unbroken. Despite the transitional
character of Stuart times, the continuity was not
altogether unbroken, and when in the days of Queen
Airne our prose took settled shape and character, it
must be confessed that forces had been at work of
which no full account had been taken and that more
advance had been made than the most sanguine
critics had allowed. All the tendencies of the age
were prosaic in the best sense. The character of the
age as it has been described demanded such a form
of literary art as distinct from verse, so that even
when verse was attempted it was of that order that
bordered the most closely upon the un-metrical.
Just as in the poetical age of Elizabeth, Sir Philip
Sydney wrote the Arcadia in a prose that might be
called poetical, so now, Pope and his colleagues in the
sphere of poetry wrote a poetry that might be called,
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED.
89
technical and didactic. Most of what they wrote
was virtual prose and they did wisely in yielding
thus far to the spirit of the age. Never were the
historical tendencies of a period and the literary
work of authors more in harmony. Prose writers
entered with fullest zest into the meaning of the hour,
and poets if they must versify did so in terms of prose
discourse and were poets simply in the sense that
the accents of their poetry occurred at regular inter-
vals. It is also suggestive to note here that the
critical character of the age, as distinct from the
creative, was inclined to express itself in prose.
Essays on criticism, such as Pope's, were written in
metre but are really prose productions. That temper
of mind and order of mental power that finds its
best expression in reflective and minute comment
naturally uses the un-metrical form. Critical writing
as critical, prefers the prose form, and when assum-
ing any other, departs somewhat from its natural
sphere. Hence it is seen that all the main literary
tendencies of the age united in fostering that partic-
ular form of literary art for which the nation was
ready.
It has been already stated that the close of each
of the preceding periods was distinctively prose as
compared with the opening. Here, the period from
opening to close is a prose period; emphatically so
and increasingly so as it goes on. Standing midway
between the first two periods and the fourth, it ex-
pressed the best of what had been secured already
and laid the groundwork for all that was to follow.
What Saintsbury says of Dryden may more justly
be spoken here of Addison: "At the time when he
90
ENGLISH prose.
first began to write there was no accepted prose style
of English. Great masters may be quoted from the
seventeenth century, but their excellences were al-
most wholly individual and provided in no way a
model whereby the average writer might form him-
self for average purposes. Prose is now the instru-
ment of the average purpose."
English Prose, as systematic, now takes its place
once for all in our literary history as distinct from
those isolated and exceptional specimens of it that
had marked the earlier eras. "For the first time,"
says Saintsbury, "the style of English Prose becomes.
simple and clear." If we compare the essays of Ad-
dison with those of Bacon and Cowley, we shall
understand what is meant by settled or formed prose
as distinct from that which is formative and tran-
sitive. Some of the characteristics of the English
Prose of this era may now be noted.
(A.) Characteristics.
1. Periodical, as opposed to those more extended
forms in which the prose of preceding and later
periods found expression. The most cursory reader
of the prose of the age will mark this feature first of
all, and the more carefully the student examines it,
the more he will see that, as certainly as the age
demanded prose rather than poetry, it demanded the
periodical form in preference to any other. This
particular tendency began early in the era in the
person of De Foe, who may be said to open that
splendid series of periodical prose literature which
has marked the history of English thought
since his day. Dying in 1731, he belongs in part, to
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED.
91
the Augustan era. That the age should have de-
manded such a form is eminently natural after what
has been said as to its political partisanship and club
life. It was the golden era of party pamphlets-
short, crisp and racy. The lines of Young were in
place.—
"Our senate meets; at parties parties bawl,
And pamphlets storm the streets and load the stalls,
Truce, truce, ye Vandals! our tormented ear
Less dreads a pillory, than a pamphleteer."
The official leaders and middle classes are just well
informed enough to produce and read such documents
and for the time being they monopolized the English
mind. The transition from the political to the dis-
tinctively literary pamphlet or essay, might have
been difficult at some epochs, but was not in this.
As already stated, the clubs were of both characters.
Their members mingled in civic and scholarly debate.
Addison and others wrote political essays in a lit-
erary manner; and the transition from the partisan
pamphlet to the finished essay was short and natural.
When the strife of factions subsided, the literary
element came into prominence and English periodical
prose took its permanent form. It was the age of
a prose that was sketchy and readable, the people's
era in the realm of letters. That type of prose pro-
ductions which is now termed "miscellaneous " began
at this point. For this reason, if for no other, we
are not to look to the Augustan age as some do, for
our highest prose. For this reason, however, we
are to look there for a settled type of general prose.
The Essayists were in power.
92
ENGLISH PROSE.
2. Popular. It is important to emphasize the
fact often contested, that the prose of this age
was popular prose to a greater degree than any be-
fore it. It was so just because it was periodical
or racy, rather than technical. It was not theolo-
gical to the extent in which Hooker's was, nor was
it philosophical in the sense that Bacon's was, or
formal and scholarly even to the degree in which
Dryden's was, but miscellaneous and catholic, the
language of the club and the social company, a kind
of conversational writing for the great body of the
people. Nor can it be said that the prose of this
age was thereby devoid of literary character and
representative of the lower rather than of the higher
order of style.
It is one of the remarkable features of the era that
while the English aimed to write a popular prose
and succeeded in it, they still presented a prose
which had all the essential marks of a high order
of composition. As before stated, they did not pre-
sent the highest form as compared with what fol
lowed, but they did improve upon all that had pre-
ceded and handed down to the future a body of
English Prose which, even yet, is warmly recom-
mended by critics to the student of English style.
It was, in fact, the best work of this age that, avoid-
ing the scholasticism of Baconian days, the extreme
classicism of Dryden, and, also, that loose order of
style which aims to win applause at the expense
of good taste and literary law, it stood on the safe
middle-ground between these dangerous extremes,
and produced a prose, literary and popular, and thus,
readable by all.
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED.
93
This was the very form which the succeeding age
was wise enough to adopt, perfect and transmit to
the present era. Technical prose belongs to the
schools. Prose produced in violation of all rhetorical
principles and merely for the hour dies with the
hour that marks its birth. The prose that is produced
to live and which the educated public may not “wil-
lingly let die," is that which was established in the
age before us and still abides.
It is important to note, in this connection, that
British Prose Fiction finds its historical origin, as
the periodical essay does, in this Augustan Age and
in the persons of the same authors, De Foe and Swift.
This fact is notable as marking the prose character
of the period and, also, the fact that its prose
was narrative, descriptive and popular rather than
philosophic.
Masson, in his "British Novelists" shows conclu-
sively, that whatever may have been the earlier
traces of the Novel in England and Britain, it began
essentially in this age as a systematic prose form:
and that whatever the superior excellence of later
fiction, this was sufficiently good in the persons of
Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne to mark it as
worthy of criticism and historical place. Prose
Fiction was then settled as all other prose was set-
tled, and on the basis thus laid arose to that wide
expansion which marked it in the days of the great
British Novelists of the time of Thackeray.
Before leaving this period, attention should be
called to any special agencies at work for or against
the native prose. We shall allude to one example
of each.
94
ENGLISH PROSE.
(B.) Adverse Agencies.
The Rise and Prevalence of French Criticism.
The French Academy aimed to rule in England as
well as at home. The ultra critical school of Boileau
was in the ascendant and enforcing its technical
precepts on every occasion. It was the reign of
the Precieuses-a school so extreme in its canons.
and methods that the French dramatists themselves
were obliged to satirize it.
French influence had somewhat manifested itself
before, in the days of Charles I., and more especially,
at the return of Charles II. That, however, was
largely social in its form and affected literature
mainly on the ethical side.
Now, this Gallic influence was purely literary,
working in English Prose somewhat as Euphuism
from Italy affected the prose in the days of Sydney.
Nor did the influence consist merely or mainly in
the introduction of foreign terms into the vocabulary,
but rather in the imposition of French laws of liter-
ary criticism. Nothing could be allowed to pass
current until it had squared itself to the line laid
down by Boileau and the Academy. The danger was
in the form of undue precision and nicety of expres-
sion and when it is noted that all the tendencies of
the time were critical, it was especially to be feared
that criticism would control all else and present a
body of prose without life or force. Such would have
been the result had the French School with its En-
glish adherents prevailed. The drift of the age, how-
ever, towards its close changed from the critical to
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—SETTLED.
95
the popular and natural and the doom of the formal-
ists was sealed.
The revival of classicism which began with Dry-
den and was furthered by his successors had well
nigh spent its force when George II. came to the
throne, and, henceforth, English Prose was to be
less foreign and more native than ever. The En-
glish Academy had already taken the place of the
French.
(C.) Friendly Agencies.
There was at work at this time a friendly agency
that is not to be overlooked in its relation to English
Prose. We refer to the Philological study of English.
The subsequent history of our prose will reveal the
pervasive influence of this agency. The student of
our literature, especially on its prose side, will find
from this time on that the development of the litera-
ture and the language go together. Such develop-
ment took its scientific origin in the age before us
and its importance can scarcely be overestimated.
In the Formative and Transitional Periods, it is in
no sense a systematic study, but occasional and
irregular; Bacon, Johnson, the Translators of the
Bible, Milton, Locke, Temple and Pope had called
attention to such study, but rather indirectly than
otherwise. No school or science had been formed
and no special study devoted to the subject till agi-
tated by Dryden, De Foe and Dean Swift. Dryden
had already lamented the looseness of English dic-
tion even as it obtained in Elizabethan days and had
taken actual measures for its correction. Had not
Dryden been so devoted to the old classical lore, in
96
ENGLISH PROSE.
theory and practice, his influence would have been
more marked. Swift, in his "Proposal for Correct-
ing, Improving and Ascertaining (fixing) the Eng-
lish Tongue" (1712), did the first and best work in
the scientific study of English for its expression in
prose forms. Tickell, in his " Prospect of Peace,"
speaks hopefully of a time when the language shall
be released from its present bondage. So Prior, in
hisCarmen Secularo," makes mention of:
"Some that with care true cloquence shall teach
And to just idioms fix our doubtful speech."
Poets and prose writers alike were now alive, as
never before, to the study of the native speech, not
for its own sake, but on the behalf of literary ex-
pression. When, in 1755, Dr. Johnson issued his
“English Dictionary," a work was done for English
speech and English Prose which cannot now be appre-
ciated. Though it was a failure as an etymological
lexicon for the scholar, it was a valuable dictionary
for the age in which it was prepared, the people's
word-book, excellent for the time in its definitions,
rich in illustration, and serving to unify and adjust
all that had been done by Swift and others. Non-
scientific as it was, it marked the beginning of the
higher study of English Philology, and every later
lexicographer must look into it. It introduced a
kind of study which has done more for our literature
than any other. Authors have understood that before
they write they must know the nature of that language
which they are using,-its forms, capacity and powers.
Other things being equal, he will use the language
with clearness, vigor, facility and grace, who subjects
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS — SETTLED. 97
it, as a language, to careful study on a systematic
method.
At the point of view where we now stand, it may
be clearly seen that English Prose has made decided
advances since the days of Bacon and Dryden. Mr.
Saintsbury, in his "Life of Dryden," assigns the ad-
vance to four distinct causes: "The pulpit, political
discussion, miscellaneous writing, and literary criti-
cism." Whatever the causes may have been, they
were numerous enough, and sufficiently potent to
give us a prose finally fixed, rather than one in form-
ation or transition. This was a decided advance
and marks the age as one of prose. The age did
more than this; it settled the prose as English, rathit.
than foreign; as popular, rather than technical; "its,
correct, rather than loose and irregular; as simple,
rather than involved; and as healthful, rather than
harmful.
Whatever may be said of the morality of the poetry
of the time, or of the prose of such writers as Swift
and Smollett, it is safe to state that the prose of the
Augustan and Early Georgian Age was, in the main
a marked advance over the preceding period, and
fully in keeping with that of the age of Elizabeth.
In the Restoration, immorality was the law. Now,
it is the exception. The general influence of the
period was good.
The time is now rife for a still wider and higher
development of English Prose. Premonitions of its
approach are distinctly seen as early as the opening
of the Georgian era, and more distinctly still, as we
enter the reign of George II. It was in the days of
Queen Anne and of Addison (1709), that he was born
98
ENGLISH prose.
{
whose name fitly stands at the head of the new de-
velopment. Samuel Johnson, with his dictionary in
one hand and his Rasselas and Rambler in the other,
introduces us, in person, to the fourth and final
period of English Prose.
CHAPTER IV.
PERIOD OF EXPANSION AND EXPRES-
SION-1760-18—.
As far as the royal power is concerned, this may be
styled the Later Georgian and Victorian Era.
It includes the reigns of George III., George TV.,
William IV., and runs on, a quarter of a century.or
so, into the present English queenship. It covers,
in exact limits, the course of a century, while its
forces are still at work before us.
The Modern Period Proper.
After noting in brief survey the First and Middle-
English Periods as introductory, Modern English
Prose was divided into four eras. Each of these falls
within the province of Modern as distinct from our
Earlier Prose. The period now before us is, however,
peculiarly so. Nor is it simply meant by this that it
is most modern, because the last of the series of each.
period is more modern than the one preceding it, but
that in character and measure of production it is so.
It might properly be termed Present-English Prose,
inasmuch as the larger portion of the period is in
the present century. Even that portion of it found
100
ENGLISH prose.
in the eighteenth century is the very prose in its
quality that is found in the nineteenth. It is modern
emphatically in that English Prose has not materially
changed in character since the opening of the era in
1760. It has now the same cast of tone and may so
be studied. Just as Modern-English Prose dates from
Shakespeare, and yet the English of to-day in En-
gland and America is more modern than his and thus
different, so as to the literature, and especially the
prose literature. It is nineteenth century prose. Built
on the basis of Augustan Prose, it widely differs in
the form and measure of its development. It has an
individuality of its own. It is essentially new.
Prevalence of Prose in this Age.
We have seen that in the first period poetry pre-
valled, though prose had a history throughout, and
was especially prominent at the close. In the second
era, these were more evenly adjusted, poetry being
more prevalent at the opening, and prose at the end
of the era. In the third, prose takes precedence
throughout. In this final period, there is a more
healthful relation of these two forms of literary ex-
pression than ever before. On a cursory glance over
the period, it is puzzling to state the prevailing form.
We state it correctly by saying that each is promi-
nent throughout, and that while at the beginning
the main development is poetic, the prose form tends
more and more to precedence as the era goes on and
finally secures it. If we extend this modern era to
the England of to-day, the statement is more and
more confirmed. It is certainly safe to style this
period a distinctively prose period, whether we refer
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE.
101
to quality, or amount of product. The era strikingly
confirms the central point of our whole discussion—
the gradual, historical progress of English Prose from
Bacon to Carlyle; interrupted at times, but again re-
viving with renewed power, until we come to its
highest expression in the present era. The Georgian
Age has been termed by Masson, Minto, and most
critics, the Prose Age. This is all true by way of
quantitative estimate, aud relation to poetry. The
proportion of Prose over Poetry was greater than it
was before, or has been since; but in other senses, this
more modern era is fully as much entitled to the dis-
tinction. It may be expressed as follows: That in
measure and character of prose writing it has no
parallel in English Letters. It is an Age in which
more standard English prose has been written, and
by more standard English writers than is true of any
other-the Golden Age of our Prose, as that of
Shakespeare is of our poetry.
The Words Expansive, Expressive, as here Applied.
These are selected as best setting forth the peculiar
nature of the era.
All modern critics of English Letters have united
in referring to this period as one specially signalized
by its rich development of prose. This is partly the
cause and partly the effect of that general enlarge-
ment which marks the period. This rapid growth of
all that is English had its beginning as far back as
the opening of the eighteenth century, greatly in-
creased immediately after the close of the French
Revolution, and it has scarcely yet reached its climax.
It was not, in fact, until all earlier work had been
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ENGLISH PROSE.
done in the way of formation, transition and final
settlement, that this expansive process could begin
and increase so that, when it did begin, it advanced
with such vigor and rapidity. No sooner had the
basis been well laid, in Addison's time, than the
superstructure rapidly arose. Everything was ready
in state and social life, in public enterprise and
general intelligence, to foster and further the expan-
sion. It is simply in keeping with the spirit of the
age that literature should have taken on a new life,
and equally natural that this life should express itself
mainly in prose. All was astir. The old ways were
too strait for the new movements, and growth is the
law. "We are here in the middle of a tide of prose,"
writes Masson, "unexampled in any former time.
What wealth, what variety, what versatility! It is
clearly an age in which the most important and
effective work of the British mind devolved on Prose."
Expression was the one business before the minds of
the educated. Men must give currency and play to
the thought that agitated them.
This expansive character of the era in its prose is
seen in nothing more than in the English Vocabulary.
Words increased in rapid ratio in all departments.
The area covered by our prose vocabulary in Bacon's
time, and even in Addison's, was by no means equal
to the needs of the writers in this new era. The de-
mand arose and the supply came with it; and at the
opening of the present century our language must
have numbered seventy thousand words, as distinct
from the fifty thousand of Elizabeth's time, and the
one hundred thousand of to-day. Nor was this verbal
expansion purely verbal. It was the actual result
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE. 103
of the rapid enlargement of the English mind and
character.
This expression also manifests itself in the growth
of Periodical or Miscellaneous Prose, as well as in
the rapid development of historical and impassioned
writing. These last forms took such shape in English
literature and became so prominent, that they may be
said almost to have arisen in this fourth period, as the
Novel began in the days of De Foe.
English historical and oratorical prose is fairly
identified with this era, while the periodical itself
grows to still larger proportions. Here we find the
great schools of English Historians, Forensic Writers.
and general Essayists. Each school covers a spacious
period, while Prose Fiction itself finds here its full-
est expansion and expression in the writings of
Dickens and his successors. The period, at its open-
ing, was fertile and ever enlarging, and the enlarge-
ment still continues.
(A.) Special Characteristics of this Prose Era.
1. English in Form and Spirit.
In no previous period was the prose more dis-
tinctively native and idiomatic. Better English and
more of it has never been written than in the Prose
of this age.
What has been said as to the specially
modern character of the age would confirm this state-
ment. It was so modern because so English, drifting
farther and farther away from foreign models. It is
true that through the influence of Dr. Johnson and
his school, the Latin language had considerable sway
in the literary speech, but it was too strongly resisted
104
ENGLISH prose.
by the vast majority of writers to find general
currency as in former periods. It is, also, true that
in the style of such writers as Gibbon the old Anglo-
French mania threatened once again to overcome and
impair the native style. Still, this was limited in
its scope, as was the Latin. The inevitable trend of
the age was English, and the great body of the best
writers were in sympathy with the tendency. More-
over, that special scientific study of the native tongue
which began in the previous era in the persons of
Swift and Johnson, now took much larger form, in
obedience to the expansive spirit of the time. John-
son's Dictionary was re-edited in better shape, while
English scholars all around, were looking as never
before, into the meaning of the words they were daily
using. It was this very revival of interest in the
study of English that led to that wonderful work new
doing, in this department, which finds its best ex-
pression in the publications of the Early English Text
Society; in the New Philological English Dictionary;
and in the widening of English courses in all lead-
ing modern institutions.
2. Literary Prose.
We are discussing literary prose, and that only,
and there is a special sense in which the prose of
some eras deserves this title. It was so in the Forma-
tive Period, and less so in the Transitional; it was so
in the Settled Period, and is still more so in this of
Expansion. If we close the period strictly at 1860,
it is beyond question the most distinctively literary
of the four. There is more substantial and perma-
nent prose written in this century (1760-1860) on a
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE. 105
purely literary basis, as distinct from that which
is scientific, technical, or professional, than in any
other era.
The authors were men who understood
literary art, its methods and laws; who wrote in the
love of their work and for beneficent ends; and who,
whatever their personal gains might have been,
sought above all else to express their best powers and
elevate their fellows.
This however, is to be confessed. At the end of
this century, (1860) the uprising of a different spirit
is noticeable; the subjection of the literary spirit
to what may be termed, the commercial, or unduly
practical. English Literature in all its forms is fol-
lowing the modern drift and is becoming secularized.
Business-like prose is fast becoming the popular form.
This means the degradation of prose from a purely
literary basis to a mercenary one. No careful obser-
ver can fail to note this; it has almost smothered our
higher poetry out of being: it has materially impaired
our prose. Here, as elsewhere, literature and philosophy
affect each other. If we speak, however, of a definite
century (1760-1860), of that, it may be stated, that
the prose was literary and elevating. While enter-
ing fully into the onward movements of the time,
and making itself a medium for the expression of
modern thought, it still kept itself isolated as a
literary art, and high above the commercial level of
the time.
3. Natural Prose.
This marks as nothing else the spirit of the prose
before us, and is so prominent a characteristic as to
make it questionable whether in any of the preceding
106
ENGLISH PROSE.
1
periods such naturalness had at all existed. It cer-
tainly did not specially mark any of them. Despite
occasional exceptions, as Bunyan and Swift, a simple
spontaneous style of English Prose did not exist
till late in the eighteenth century. It is not to be
found in Hooker, Bacon, Milton or Dryden, and
not in a marked manner, even in the writers
of Queen Anne. They had other qualities, but
not this. When we enter, this period of expan-
sion, the expansiveness is itself the first mark of
its naturalness. All is free, informal and growthy,
and cannot brook restrictions of any kind. The
forms of prose now prevalent, the subjects chosen,
and the spirit pervading them, all reveal a literary
art founded on nature, and developed after a nat-
ural manner.
This
Euphuism is now a thing quite unknown, and this
is the only period of which this can be said. There
was no room for the false, conceited and forced.
naturalness, however, as all else that is praiseworthy,
has its limit, and we soon notice a slight departure
from it in the line of the formal and mechanical.
Just as the purely literary type of this period is seen
to give way more and more to the mercenary and
commercial; so here, the natural gradually retires be-
fore the approach of the conventional. This change
is affected through the rise of modern criticism, tend-
ing to the formal and precise at the expense of the
creative. If we pass the limits of this period (1860)
and enter the era now in progress, it is clearly mani-
fest that English Prose is becoming less spontan-
eous and more artificial. It is the era of literary
criticism.
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIIVE. 107
(B.) Helpful Agencies in this Era.
1. Influence of Germany.
Allusion has often been made to the rare advan-
tages involved in the geographical position of England
relative to the Continent. It is a double advantage
in the way of isolation and of contact; just far enough
removed to escape incessant friction, and yet near
enough to share in all desirable benefits. It is im-
possible but that in thought and general culture there
should be constant interchange of ideas, helpful or
harmful, between Britain and the Continent. We
have noticed this as to Italian influence under Chau-
cer and Henry VIII, and as to French influence, also,
at Chaucer's time in the shape of Norman-French;
and, later, in the time of Transitional and Settled En-
glish; while not altogether absent from the period be-
fore us.
We now speak of Germany in its relation to
England. The influence was, to a degree, mutual.
It is well known in what high regard Goldsmith was
held by Goethe, and it is also known that from the
time of Goethe's entrance upon literary life in the last
quarter of the eighteenth century no name has been.
more prominently before the German mind than
Shakespeare's. It has occasioned more criticism than
any other and modified the German drama more than
any
other. Despite the earnest attempts of Benedix
and others to arrest this movement, it still continues,
and the author of Hamlet is contending even now with
the author of Faust for the Literary supremacy of the
Fatherland. But we speak rather of German influ-
ence upon English Literature and English Prose, an
108
ENGLISH PROSE.
influence dating from the era now before us, and ever
widening in its area.
With the first classical period in German Letters
(1190-1300) we have little, if anything, to do, inas-
much as it occurred in our Middle-English Period, pre-
vious to the Modern Era.
The second classical epoch, however, (1760-1830)
is almost coterminous with the epoch now under dis-
cussion. Hence, its influence would be marked. In
this era are found the most illustrious names in Ger-
man Prose and Poetry; it being quite noticeable that
the first authors, Goethe, Schiller and Lessing, were
alike famous in each sphere. Taking into account
the social and historic relations of the two nations,
their interaction is vital and extensive. English
authors were aware of the vast resources over the
Channel, and went thither in numbers, to return with
precious spoil. Coleridge, in 1798, is a member of the
University at Göttingen, and deeply absorbed in Ger-
man studies as related to modern thought and En-
glish Letters. On his return to England, he devotes
himself to the translation of portions of Schiller, and
calls the special attention of British scholars to the
prevailing philosophy of Germany. So as to Sir
Walter Scott, poet and prose writer. He became
thoroughly aroused by reason of the newly awakened
interest in German literature prevalent at Edinburgh,
and, following the example of others, translated into
English some of the best productions of Goethe.
Shelley, the poet, translated from Faust; while such
authors as Southey, and Wordsworth, acknowledge
and express something of the new impulse from over
the sea.
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE 109
If it be asked, how this influence was helpful to
English thought and prose, it may be noted:
(a) That the helpfulness lay in the mere、 union of
these two types of mind, so accordant and yet so
different. The bias of the one was toward the serious
and practical; that of the other was as strong toward
the liberal and speculative. Literature and philoso-
phy, alike, needed the combination. It was the
quickening influence of that intellectual nation that
England needed, and it was happily at hand just
when this expansive era could receive it and use it.
Whatever may be said as to the critical character of
the German mind and authorship, it must be conceded
that in its very criticism it is original and not imita-
tive, stimulating and not repressive. More than at
any period since, it was natural, suggestive and
awakening. It was in Germany just what the native
literature was at home.
(b) The emotive or impassioned character of this in-
fluence on English Prose was an advantage. A cas-
ual reference to history will reveal this element.
One of the most conspicuous conflicts in German Let-
ters was that represented by the names of Gottsched
and Bodmer.
Before the Thirty Years' War, Opitz and his fol-
lowers had made a kind of beginning in the direction
of a truly natural literature. Nearly a century after
the close of the war, this work was reopened, through
the special medium of literary unions. Here we meet
the two historical schools of Leipsic and of Zurich,
and we note that the one contended for the literature
of form; the other, for the literature of spirit and
of power.
The one, was in the interests of imitation
110
ENGLISH prose.
and of culture based on Gallic models; the other, on
behalf of passion and inspiration based on natural
feeling and English models. It was the old struggle
of letter and spirit, and alike in Germany and in En-
gland the victory was on the behalf of the natural.
In speaking of the reciprocal influence of these two
literatures, it is noteworthy that the German is always
kept subordinate. In this respect there is a marked
difference between this foreign influence and that of
France in earlier days, in that the English was then
subordinate. Whatever the effect of German Letters
in England, our literature remained English in speech,
personality and product. The process was assimila-
tive, and not imitative. The question may justly be
raised whether such German influence was altogether
foreign, in that there is a common Teutonic lineage,
and the forefathers of each people dwelt together
upon the Elbe and Weser. The fond dream of Goethe
as to a universal literature may not be within the
possibility of realization. The prophecy of Milton,
that the time is coming when the literatures of Ger-
many, England and America will be one, is not
altogether improbable. However this may be, the
influence of Germany on English Prose in this period
of prose expansion was a large and healthful one,
and cannot be overlooked by any one who aims to
give a true account of the agencies at work upon it.
2. Political Agitation.
Long before these agitations expressed themselves
in the definite form of civil revolution in England,
they were at work in the heart of Europe. The
erratic Rousseau did not have reference to his own
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE. 111
country, simply, when he wrote "We are drawing
near to a state of crisis, an age of revolution." Such
a period of unrest was far too apparent in the gather-
ing of its forces to be concealed; all Europe was
practically concerned. As far back as the Roman
Empire it began, and its course can be traced more
or less clearly all along the line of Continental and
of English History. It is the earnest struggle be-
tween the old and the new, between royal prerogative
and popular privilege. It is seen in the early
struggle between Saxon and Norman; at the time,
also, of the Great Charter wrested from the King at
Runnymede; in the Reformation at the time of
Elizabeth; in the Great Rebellion of 1640, the age of
Cromwell; and in the Revolution of 1688, when for
the first time general and satisfactory results were
reached in the line of civil and religious. liberty. So
was it in France, and so, across the Atlantic in our
own country; and the question of that hour is still
the question of Monarchical tyranny or Popular
Rights. However important the first English Refor-
mation may have been in its moral aspects, it may
justly be said of this second one, that the issues it
involved were more varied, practical and popular.
It established the modern era of the rights of man.
The point of special interest in our discussion, there-
fore, is that this agitation had an immediate and
lasting influence on English Prose, and most especi-
ally at this period of its enlargement. Hence, we
find the leading authors of the time acknowledging
its power.
Wordsworth was a traveler in France at
the very time of the Revolutiou, and comes fully into
sympathy with the general movement. Coleridge is
ĭ
112
ENGLISH PROSE.
at Bristol, lecturing on politics; Southey, radical and
conservative in turn, wrote and spoke on the ques-
tions of the hour; while the further we go on in the
history of this period through the times of De Quincey,
Macaulay, and the British Orators, the more distinc-
tive is this influence of civil matters in literary
methods. There are some special forms of helpful-
ness in which this period of public agitation expressed
itself, as related to the growth of English Prose.
(a) In that England's attitude toward France was
a formal protest against the further entrance and
reign of Gallic influence. It was the home feeling
opposed to foreign intrusion, not because it was
foreign but because it was Gallic rather than
Teutonic. England regarded France, at this time,
as the most dangerous enemy to her peace and
the peace of Europe. From the declaration of the war
against Prussia in 1790, to the battle of Waterloo
in 1815, the revolution was in progress. In 1793, war
was declared against England, and the strife was
maintained up to the Peace of Amiens in 1802.
There could be no sympathy between the two
peoples, politically or intellectually. The persistency
with which England sought to humble France was
the measure of that deep revulsion of feeling on
the part of English authors against the future imita-
tion of French models in literature. English Prose
Writers above all, spoke and wrote against the
principle, and the tide of Gallic influence was stayed.
(b) English Prose was now greatly benefited in
that the issues at stake were urgent and practical,
just such issues as belonged to the department of
prose, rather than poetry. In all this struggle, there
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE.
113
was a deep emotive element finding its best expres-
sion in that large volume of impassioned prose that
appeared at the time.
Authors wrote in practical ways for practical ends,
and had but little time for paraphrase or indirect
address. The Augustan Age of Settled English
Prose has been called Popular. So it was, but in a far
narrower sense from a literary point of view than is
true of this period. That was the people's era, up to
the limits of possibility in such an age, when the old
restrictions in church and state were still to a degree
influential. Now, all is widened, and healthfully free.
The very word, people, has taken on a new meaning,
and the literature responds to the enlarging process.
(c) Benefit is found in the very changes them-
selves. The spirit of inquiry was astir in all the
departments of human thought. In Natural Science,
the work of the Royal Society, founded in the days
of Newton and of Boyle, was prosecuted with new
zeal. In Theology, there were special discussions
by Clarke, Warburton and Butler. In Adam Smith's
“Wealth of Nations" Social Science may be said to
have taken its origin. It was followed by the " Frag-
ments" of Bentham and, later, by the works of Malthus
and Ricardo. In Political Science, Ferguson wrote
a "History of Civil Society;" while Burke in various
pamphlets gave his views on matters of State policy.
In Jurisprudence, Blackstone was writing his fa-
mous Commentary; Burke and Blair, Alison and Jef
freys were educating the people in the principles of
aesthetic art; while Hume and Smollett, Robertson
and Gibbon were penning their celebrated historical
treatises.
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ENGLISH prose.
In the sphere of mental and moral philosophy,
this spirit of inquiry and expression was especially
manifest.
Hume wrote his "Inquiry concerning Human Un-
derstanding." Fifteen years later, Reid followed
with his "Inquiry into the Human Mind," his labors.
being ably supplemented by Stewart and the Scottish
School. From France, Locke's philosophy was re-
turning with some foreign perversions to which were
added the dangerous theories of Bolingbroke and
Rosseau. Early in the century, Berkeley had given
to the world his "Ideal Philosophy." Toward the
middle of the century Hartley appeared with his
Philosophy of Association"; while near the close
of the era were seen together the skeptical system of
Gibbon, the rationalism of Paine, and the gross ma-
terialism of Priestly. In the line of foreign philo-
sophy, as bearing on British thought, there were
two sets of influence. The one was started and
maintained by the critical discussions of Kant; the
other, by the Encyclopedists of France who began
with doubt and ended with the bold denial of all
moral truth. Catching its spirit from the teachings
of Voltaire, it desired to construct a system fully in
keeping with the reorganizing spirit of the time.
All departments of thoughts were included. Born
out of the bosom of the eighteenth century, it was
to be its worthy representative as opposed to all that
was past; while in and through it all, was the mani-
fest preference of the sensual to the spiritual. In
short, the discovery and diffusion of knowledge was
the governing idea of the time; and just here we
note the accordance of the era with the character of
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE. 115
the prose. Nothing could have been more opportune.
The prose received just what it needed,-expansion
of idea and form; and was enabled, while receiving
this enlargement from the age, to give to it in time
fitting literary expression.
Literature and life were in fullest harmony; and,
if in reading the stirring prose of this period we note
the grounds of this characteristic, they are seen in
that awakened spirit of free investigation prominent
in all lands and ever diffusing itself into wider areas.
3. In the Revival of First and Middle-English.
This movement is not confined to the century
before us. In Wyclif's time, authors were looking
back to Alfred, as in the reign of James I., they were
reverting to Wyclif. Even Milton went so far as to
write a history of Early England for the benefit of his
time. Dryden, critical and classical as he was, ever
referred his English readers to the pages of the old
authors. Ever since the Baconian period, such a
return to earlier eras is noteworthy. Neither the
French influence of the Restoration, nor the classical
influence of the Augustan Age could altogether
annul it; until in the age before us, it revived in
fuller power than ever before. Especially manifest
in the sphere of poetry as induced by the labors of
Ritson, Percy and Warton, it was also seen in our
prose. The age preceding had been one of formal
prose and literary tendencies somewhat imitative.
The demand was for a change in the line of natural-
ness; and the people hailed with delight the return
to what they regarded a more healthful time. Au-
thors were now anxious as never before to reveal
116
ENGLISH prose.
the inherent independence of English Letters and
thereby to lessen foreign influence. The age was to
be English, out and out. The Declaration of Inde-
pendence was not to be confined to civil matters and
American life. English Prose Authors felt most
deeply that just to the degree in which the era was
expansive, impassioned and modern, just to that
degree was there needed a style of prose that was
English in spirit and purpose.
General Inferences as to Periods.
1. Comparative Limits of the Periods.
It
If we compare the four representative eras of
Modern-English Prose now mentioned with the First
and Middle-English eras preceding, as to the time
included in each, we note a suggestive descending
series,-five centuries (673-1164), four centuries
(1154–1561), and three centuries (1560–1860+).
is a good illustration of the inverse ratio of periods to
product. As worthy as was the prose work of Alfred
and Wyclif and others of their times, it was as noth-
ing in comparison with that unexampled display of
literary power manifested in the Modern Era.
As far as the respective limits of the four modern
eras themselves are concerned, it is suggestive that,
as the first and fourth are included each in a century,
the second and third alike are included in a half
century. The longer periods are both in position
and character by far the most important.
2. Comparative Amount of Prose and Poetry.
As far as the introductory eras are concerned,
there is, in First-English, more extant poetry than
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE
117
prose. In Middle-English, the adjustment is more
nearly equal, with the difference in favor of prose.
If we compare the four modern periods, they may
be classified, as before, in pairs. The first and second,
are in the main, periods of poetry; although in each,
prose becomes more and more dominant, until at the
close it prevails.
The third and fourth periods are distinctively
prose, the third being so to a very marked degree,
while in the fourth there is a more equal adjustment
of quantity; the period opening with a striking poetic
revival, but ever developing, as it goes on, more and
more prose tendency and product, till prose prevails.
Taking the entire contents of the literature into
account, there is a remarkable similarity as to the
frequency of these two forms of literary expression.
If a decision must be given, the superiority is un-
doubtedly on the side of prose.
3. Unity of Periods.
The more we subject these periods to close exam-
ination, the more evident will their historical con-
tinuity appear. Amid great variety of epoch and
characteristic, there will always appear the presence
of a definite literary law; so that while the individ-
uality of each epoch is preserved, their unity is just
as manifest. It is this principle that confirms the
view of most literary critics, that in English Prose,
as in poetry, there is such a thing as sequence; a
graduated historical progress throughout; on such
wise that the line of it may be easily followed from
its beginning in the sixteenth century to the present.
No true interpretation of English Prose can be given
118
ENGLISH PROSE.
if such a principle is overlooked.
It is for this
reason mainly, that all periods are found more or
less to overlap each other and defy any absolutely
fixed distinction of dates and writings. We have
presented these periods as Formative, Transitional,
Settled and Expansive; representing respectively,
the Elizabethan, Stuart, Augustan and Georgian eras.
These classifications, however, can be approximate
and relative only. Were this law of historical
method and unity absent, the decisions would be
formal and mechanical. No one can be dogmatic as
to the precise limits of Elizabethan Prose, or tell us
just when the Restoration influences end. "In the
literature of any people," says Morley, "we perceive
under all contrasts of form produced by variable
social influences, the one natural character from first
to last." In no literature is this more apparent than
in English. If the question be raised as to what this
principle is that unifies our prose periods, it might
be answered in Baconian phrase,-" to secure the
glory of God and the relief of man's estate.” It
evinces the ever deepening purpose to express the
content of the English mind for ethical and humane
ends, to gather an amount of literary product together
in which the moral and the practical shall be to-
gether embodied and expressed.
He who sees most clearly this unifying element of
English Prose will be its best expositor to others.
4. Progressive Development.
Mr. Saintsbury, in his "Life of Dryden," insists
upon calling attention to the comparative immaturity
of Elizabethan Prose-what we have termed, Forma-
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIVE.
119
tive.
After stating that "Prose is the necessary
vehicle of thought," he adds: "Up to Dryden's time
no such generally available vehicle had been at-
tempted or achieved by any one." He goes on to
confirm this by a reference to the unnatural con-
structions and phraseology of those Baconian days.
Other critics speak in a similar strain. Though often
stated in extreme form, there is historical truth in
this view, and it is just what is to be expected. The
very term-Formative as applied to this first period
implies this; and the more critically that style of
prose is studied, the more manifest it is, that it marks.
a beginning of development rather than a completion.
As soon as we pass to the second or Transitional
period, despite all deviations, there is a progress
visible. "A new prose," writes Brooke, “of greater
force of thought and of a simpler style than the
Elizabethan, arose." Whatever it was or was not, it
was more varied and flexible than any previous form.
When we pass to the Settled and Expansive periods,
this gradual growth of our prose is so apparent as to
need no exposition. It is, in fact, the special mark
of the two eras, and seems more and more to exhibit
that central law of unity already noted. It was
because there was unity that the progress was conse-
cutive and unbroken, while this in turn intensified
the unity itself.
5. The Period and the Writer.
As a rule, the respective writers of English Prose
at all eminent as models, were in vital sympathy
with the age in which they lived and wrote. What-
ever the general bearing of their authorship might
i
120
ENGLISH PROSE.
(6
be, they had a special meaning at and for the time.
It was on this principle that Bacon wrote his Essays;
Hooker, his Polity; Milton, his political, ecclesiastical
and social treatises; Swift, his partisan pamphlets;
Addison, his Spectator; and the later British Essayists,
their various works. They not only "held the mirror
up to nature," but, as the men of Issachar, "they
had understanding of their times." They gave to the
body of the time its form and pressure." They and
their respective periods exercised mutual influence
upon each other, not to the extent, indeed, which
Mr. Taine would hold in defense of his special theory,
but still to an important extent, so as to mark them
as in one age and not in another. They were suffi-
ciently in sympathy with their time to represent it
and meet its needs; and yet, not so fully subjected to
it as to make their prose local and narrow in its
range. It is not a little remarkable that such works
as Bacon's "Advancement of Learning," and Addi-
son's "Spectator" are still so largely read, despite
their local occasion and purport. They wrote for
their age, mainly, and, yet, for other times, also.
So vital is this relation of writer to epoch, that it
is difficult to conceive how Hooker could have written
in any other age than the Formative one; or Dryden
in any other than than the Transitional; or Johnson
in any other than the Settled; or Macaulay in any
other than the Expansive. There is an historical
and a logical fitness in all this, and the classification
of eras is a virtual classification of writers. It would
scarcely be too much to add that the principle of
gradual progress is apparent even here, so that
Macaulay may be said to have been the exponent
REPRESENTATIVE PERIODS.—EXPANSIIVE.
121
of English Prose in his age, more fully than is true
of any previous author in any particular age that he
represented. Moreover, in the proportion in which
a writer is leading and eminent, in that proportion,
precisely, may he be said to be the true exponent
of the literary character of his time.
PART SECOND.
!
PART SECOND.
REPRESENTATIVE LITERARY
FORMS.
Literary Forms.
As indicated in the Preface, the term, literary, is
emphatic throughout the present treatise as distinct
from any other terms with which it may be con-
founded. By Forms, in this connection, is meant
therefore, exclusively, Literary Forms as distinct
from any other kinds of English Prose possible to
an author,―scientific, speculative, technical. Prose
treatises on science or metaphysics, or any of the
professional departments, would thus be excluded
from the strictly literary sphere, and find their place
more fittingly in the narrower area of the technical
and special. What has been generally termed, the
department of Belles Lettres in the widest and high-
est sense of the term covers the main scope of what
is here intended, and distinguishes these forms from
those which belong to other provinces.
The Word, Forms.
In the province of rhetorical and literary discussion,
this word is used as synonymous with, modes, and
may be so interpreted in the discussion before us.
126
ENGLISH prose.
They are the modes or ways in which literary art
expresses itself and, as to our purpose, in the depart-
ment of prose. Nor is the word, mode, to be so em-
phasized here as to make it sharply distinct from
subject matter, and thus reduce literary expression
to a mere mechanism. It is the expression of the
inner mind of the writer, and, though external, takes
its character from that which is beneath and behind
it. This part of our subject will therefore be nothing
more nor less than a presentation in classified order
of those different divisions of English Prose which
we find illustrated in English as in all literatures. It
may here be stated, that in the subsequent discussion
of English Prose Style, as illustrated in our prose
authors, this study of Prose Forms will be seen to
have been essential.
Methods of Classification of Forms.
If we classify by periods only, then we note such
historical forms as,-The Elizabethan, Stuart, Augus-
tan, and Georgian; or using the divisions adopted,
Formative, Transitional, Settled, and Expansive
Forms.
If we classify by Authors only, there would be,-
Baconian, Addisonian, Johnsonian Forms, and so on,
throughout the list of leading writers.
If by quality of writing, or style proper, there follow
such forms as,-the Clear, the Forcible, the Elegant,
the Suggestive.
If by process and the object merely, we have,-The
Didactic, Logical, Emotional, and Persuasive Forms.
These are not only possible classifications, but have
in turn been adopted and applied by literary critics;
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.
127
and there is in each of them some element of worth
as indicating a method of study. The difficulty is
that any one of them by itself is too restrictive
and mechanical-not wide enough to embrace those
great divisions of prose expression in which the au-
thor can freely move. We shall submit a classifica-
tion essentially including all the principles thus far
mentioned, and, as we believe, quite including all
representative forms thus far illustrated in our literary
history.
The one exclusive principle of the classification
we need not state, inasmuch as there is none suffi-
ciently broad. In the divisions given, however,
special reference will be made to process, quality, and
object, as giving the main basis for a full statement
of the Forms of Literary Prose.
The true classification is as follows:
I. HISTORICAL OR NARRATIVE PROSE.
II.-POETIC (OR DESCRIPTIVE) PROSE.
III.-PHILOSOPHICAL OR DIDACTIC PROSE.
IV.—ORATORICAL OR IMPASSIONED PROSE.
V. MISCELLANEOUS OR PERIODICAL PROSE.
It will be our purpose to discuss each of these in
the order stated, making the discussion brief and yet
sufficiently full to give an intelligent understanding
of the forms themselves and as they are related to
the subjects that precede and follow.
CHAPTER I.
HISTORICAL OR NARRATIVE PROSE.
Contents.
This important division of English Prose may
be said to include, strictly, History Proper and
Biography.
What are termed-Annals or Chronicles, are the
essential basis or material of this department, but in
the literary sense of the term,-Historical Prose,-do
not fall legitimately under it. As mere collections
of dates, facts and incidents, they have no rhetori-
cal character whatever, and are simply means to the
production of prose proper. They sustain the same
relation to History that boards and bricks do to a
building. They must be put into symmetrical form and
position. Even when such Annals take so extensive
a form as in "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" or in the
"Outlines of Universal History," they are not entitled
to the name and rank of History Proper, in that the
material is not presented in consecutive or narrative
form, but simply as an accumulation of facts without
comment or enlargement.
So, as to Memoirs: At times, they assume a some-
what lengthened form, and combine the national with
the personal element, as in "The Memoirs of the Times
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—HISTORICAL.
129
of George IV.," by Queen Caroline; or "The Historical
Memoirs of the Church of France," by Butler. Still,
they are Memoirs, and not connected History with a
rhetorical order and development of thought.
Memoirs are related to Biography as Annals are to
History, constituting its material. They are neces-
sarily fragmentary and brief, and serve their purpose
as ministrant to the forms of prose proper. Hence,
they have no strictly literary character, and do not
fall within the limits of our discussion. They are
personal annals, and as biography is inferior to His-
tory Proper, Memoirs are inferior, even as material,
to Annals proper.
There is a popular and vague use of the words,
Annals and Memoirs; as in MacDonald's " Annals of a
Quiet Neighborhood"; and Pope's "Memoirs of Martin
Scriblerus." With this use of the terms, however,
we have nothing, at present, to do. In the depart-
ment of Fiction and Satire and Humorous Discourse,
it is in their wider and accommodating sense that such
technical terms are generally used.
Historical Prose, as literary, may be said to include,
therefore, the two classes specified, Biography and
History Proper.
BIOGRAPHY.
This is personal history,-the record or account of
human life as expressed in the individual rather than
in the nation or race. It is in the strictest sense
a distinctive form of historical prose, in that it is
continuous, logically progressive, and unlike the me-
moirs, a complete presentation of the subject in hand.
As to its further relation to History Proper, it differs
130
ENGLISH PROSE.
mainly as to its comparative brevity. This limitation
arises naturally from its personal character. In the
limits assigned it, however, it is unique and symme-
trical as a form.
From these two features, personality and brevity,
are derived the two main matters noteworthy re-
garding Biography, its Interest and Clearness. It
has to the reader all the attraction of life-like reality
as to its subject matter, and of literary simplicity as
to its expression. Being the history of a person, it
adds to the historical something of present vividness;
and being brief, it seldom wearies or perplexes. So
long as Pope's statement holds good that "The prop-
er study of mankind is man," so long will Biog
raphy fill a large place in the general reading of
the educated public. It is almost needless to state
that Autobiography is a life written by the author
himself.
Remarks.
(a) There are many works which are biographical
in character, and yet are not strictly Biographies.
They have the personal element in them as distinc-
tive, and yet so in connection with other elements,
historical and general, that the special form is some-
what obscured. Such books as Field's "Yesterday
with Authors," or Knight's "Half Hours with Au-
thors," are of this character. They embrace a series
of authors, and present a kind of combination of
literary history and biography.
We are becoming familiar, in our day, with the
phrase, "Life and Times," of which Masson. in his
Biography of Milton," has given us the finest ex-
(6
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-HISTORICAL,
131
ample in English Prose. In such volumes, the author
is not careful to restrict himself to the poet or prose
writer whom he is discussing, but introduces us to
the history of his age, the peculiar surroundings in
which his youth and later years were passed, and
shows us the close relations of the man to his
circumstances.
(b) This biographical method of composition is
applied, at times, to subjects other than persons,—to
states and nations in their individual character as
political bodies marked, respectively, by well defined
features. They are viewed as personalities, and so
presented. The origin, progress, and varied expres-
sions of their civic life are given, as in the case of
the individual life. Such a series as "The American
Commonwealths" is a good example of this peculiar
phase of historical writing. Such forms may be said
to mark the line of union between biography proper
and history proper, and to have the main element
of each.
(c) Prominence in Modern Times.
No careful observer of the growth and variations
of literary prose product will fail to note the rapid
increase of biographies and biographical writing. In
no particular is this more apparent than in the large
number of serial or collective biographies found in
our libraries. Such as the following will illustrate:
Johnson's "Lives of the Poets," Strickland's
"Queens of England," Thackeray's "Four Georges,"
Thackeray's "English Humorists," Higginson's "En-
glish Statesmen," Morris' "American Statesmen,"
Morley's "English Men of Letters Series," Warner's
American Men of Letters Series."
66
-
132
ENGLISH PROSE.
These examples will suffice to show the increasing
number, interest and value of these serials, and their
tendency to assume the form of lives written by
various authors under the control of a general
editor.
If in addition to these collected biographies, the
references be to separate treatises, the number is sim-
ply beyond recital, having representative expression
in such works as:
Boswell's "Johnson," Lockhart's "Scott," Masson's
"Milton," Stanleys's "Arnold," Forster's "Dickens,"
Trevelyan's "Macaulay," Froude's "Carlyle."
(d) Life and Authorship.
So vital is the relation of an author's personal
character and history to his literary character as a
writer, that in the great majority of cases, certainly,
the one must be known before the other can fully be.
Masson, in his "British Novelists," refers to Words-
worth as objecting to the mingling of the biography
of an author with the reading and study of his work.
In this opinion he opposes the Lake poet, and justly.
Wordsworth himself, is a conspicuous example in
point.
Some authors indeed, as some men in all spheres,
seem to be one thing, and express themselves as
another; but these are few.
No student of our literature can afford to open
the pages of an English author of note, until he has
made himself thoroughly conversant with the life
and times of the author. This is especially impor-
tant in prose discourse, in that poetry lies mor eout-
side of ordinary thought and life, and may be to a
great extent quite independent of periods and persons.
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—HISTORICAL.
133
HISTORY PROPER-HISTORICAL PROSE.
MEANING.
The most specific idea which this term indicates is
expressed in such words as,-civil, political, constitu-
tional. Hume's "History of England," Hallam's
“Constitutional History," Bancroft's "History of the
United States," are examples of this application.
When not otherwise defined, the word means, a
record of the founding and growth of nations; a
narration or relation of the political life of states and
empires. "An account of facts, particularly of facts
respecting nations and states" is the definition given
by Webster, and is the commonly received meaning.
There is, however, a wider meaning which has to
do more with the etymological idea of the word as a
narrative of events, or statement of facts, than with
the subject matter involved, as civil or otherwise.
In this sense, the term may be applied to any depart-
ment of knowledge embodied in the form of narrative
or recital, rather than in any one of the other pos-
sible forms that might be used. Hence, we have the
following:
HISTORY OF LITERATURE, such as, Hallam's.
HISTORY OF POETRY, such as, Warton's.
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, such as, Lewes'.
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, such as, Marsh's.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, such as, Mosheim's.
HISTORY OF DOCTRINE, such as, Shedd's, etc.
In the use of this wider meaning, we are introduced
to a spacious area of historical prose, and the re-
134
ENGLISH PROSE.
lations between the narrative form of discourse and
all other forms, become apparent.
It is, however, in the narrower sense, as synony-
mous with the phrase, Civil or Political History, that
the term is mainly employed. Even as thus defined
and limited, the province it covers is a broad and
inviting one, and full of special interest to the student
of Letters and of English Prose.
(A.) Characteristics of Historical Prose.
1. Accuracy of Statement.
There must be evident throughout, a conscientious
loyalty to the truth; a strict fidelity in the record of
facts. However much personal opinion may vary,
testimony is to be impartial. The deductions which
the historian may draw from facts submitted to him
are one thing and open to difference of view;-the
facts themselves are not his, but belong to the com-
mon stock of truth, and must be given as they are,
and not otherwise. History, as its very etymology
implies, is a recital of past events, and not the
origination of new facts.
2. Clearness of Statement.
This is a strictly literary characteristic and, as
such, has to do with the form of expression as plain
or obscure, rather than with its inherent quality as
true or false.
As clearness may be said to be the first quality of
writing, so there is no province of prose in which it
is more needful than in narration. To the extent in
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-HISTORICAL.
135
which history is doubtful as to meaning, it is un-
eadable, and fails of its prime end.
It is for this reason that most of our leading his-
torians have paid special attention to the subject of
expression and method in their narratives; and, in
order to be understood, have introduced a great
degree of incident, figure, and poetic phrase. This
is noteworthy in all readable historians, such as,
Macaulay and Motley.
3. Unity and Order of Statement.
History has often been said to assume the same
rank in prose discourse that the epic does in poetry.
Each is essentially narrative, and in each, the law
of unity may be said to be fundamental. This im-
plies and demands that in every separate narrative
of events there shall be a central, dominant event,
and that around this as central, all else shall be
grouped in the order of relative worth. This is a
logical as well as rhetorical feature, and lifts the
whole department of narrative prose out of the plane
of the mere recital of events to the higher plane of
the causal connection of events.
It is simply the general law of method in discourse
applied to history.
The application of this principle is especially diffi-
cult in complex narrative, as in the history of a na-
tion in all its periods and variations of life. Hence,
the small number of histories of such a country as
England, in which the narrator has attempted to
cover the entire ground; and the increasingly large
number of those which confine themselves to a separ
136
ENGLISH PROSE.
ate epoch or period, as Froude, Macaulay, Stanhope,
Leckey and Clarendon.
Even when the fuller method is applied, as by
Knight and Greene, the result is rather a collection
of the histories of the several epochs in one aggre-
gate than a separate history by itself. The applica-
tion of this principle of unity in any sphere is as diffi-
cult as it is important. To know precisely what is
the central event or class of events, to adjust them
in right relations to each other, and to know the
definite border line between minute detail and
generalization, is no small matter, and marks the
master.
4. Delineation.
This has to do with both characters and events.
It reveals the presence of the biographical element in
history and, also, its relation as a literary form to
other forms, as, the descriptive. As the word implies
it draws the lines around the event or person. It is
graphic, picturesque and pictorial, and seems to lend
to the didactic element of historical prose something
of that interest which belongs to the less serious
forms of prose expression. Dr. Lord in his discussion
of the great Historical Characters from Charlemagne
down, presents a fine example of this delineative
feature. So in Prescott, Motley, Headley, Freeman
and Macaulay. The historian who is able to hold
it within due limits, and to make it subservient to
the great end of history as instructive, proves
thereby his genius for narrative discourse in its
best forms. There is such a faculty as the Historic
Imagination.
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.~HISTORICAL. 137
5. Simplicity of Statement.
It is safe to say that narration is the simplest as it
is about the earliest form of expression in prose. It is
common to all ages, classes and peoples. It is the
natural form of human utterance-a telling of the
story or fact with unconscious art. This simplicity is
to be preserved in all relations. When history be-
comes so complex or prosaic as to conceal or impair
it, in so far it departs from its normal type. It is in
its primary conception "a plain unvarnished tale," a
speaking "right on," and must be devoid of artifice
and studied attempt at display.
6. Gravity-Moral and Literary.
History is essentially a dignified form of discourse.
Its object is instruction rather than entertainment.
Its subject matter is fact, and its general procedure
orderly and serious. Anything in the line of the
burlesque, flippant and common is excluded. The
historian owes it to himself and his theme, to keep
aloof from all that is belittling, and to regard him-
self as an appointed teacher of men. Judgment
should be apparent everywhere, as superior to fancy or
frivolity. Even in a literary point of view as to dic-
tion, figure and general manner, the author must rise
above all temptations to exceptional methods, and
keep in line with the higher order of minds. Facts
are mighty and important as facts, and need a care-
ful handling. History, as a body of prose, is well
preserving its character in this particular. One of its
main benefits to the student and reader is in this di-
rection. Its effect is elevating and ethical. For this
138
ENGLISH PROSE.
reason, among others, it might well be substituted by
young men for promiscuous fiction as the staple of
their early reading.
(B.) Methods of Historical Prose
1. The Chronological.
This is essentially historical in that the element of
time is prominent. It presents events in temporal
succession. More than this, it is purely and only
historical. It includes no other feature, as the de-
scriptive, reflective or logical. It is a mere recita-
tion of facts, without enlargement or inference.
It is the first and simplest method of historical
prose. As stated, its extreme form is found in the
works of Annalists and Chroniclers, in Outlines and
Schemes. Apart from this, however, it is expressed
as veritable literary history in those authors who pre-
sent facts in a connected form, and yet not suffi-
ciently so to mark their inner bond of relation or to
furnish an historical manner. Such writers always
follow the centuries in regular order, and regard any
deviation therefrom as contrary to law. Such an his-
torian as Hume follows, in the main, this chronolog-
ical order, and is, so far, inferior to most of those who
succeed him as English Historians.
2. The Logical or Causal
This is a more recent and a higher order of narra-
tive prose, and is adopted by all the leading histo-
rians of modern times.
There is such a thing as,-The Philosophy of His-
tory. Facts, are followed by principles reached
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—HISTORICAL. 139
through them. Generalization, succeeds the mere
recital of events. Causes and effects, are discussed
in their relations; and in and through the historical
records are seen the laws that control them.
This is a method in no sense contradictory or op-
posed to the other. It is simply higher and broader.
It is based on the other and is logically dependent
on it. Froude differs from Hume not in decrying
facts, but in subjecting them to ideas and principles.
It will be clear at once that this is the most difficult
method, and yet the more recompensing, It indi-
cates and develops the ability of the historian while,
also, affording to the student of historical prose a
more satisfactory body of literature for reference and
reading.
Suggestions.
(a) The Relations of History.
From what has already been stated, some of these
relationships are apparent, as, to Description, Biog-
raphy, and in the higher forms of historical writing,
to Philosophy and Logic.
We have alluded to the epic as based on the nar-
rative. This is true to a large extent in the Drama.
as involving plot and story. There is a very distinct
dramatic element in history as there is the historical
element in the drama. The Historical Plays of
Shakespeare are examples in point.
Narrative poetry is so called because of this special
element in it.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has poetry as well as
prose in it. The Metrical Chronicle is not without
frequent example.
140
ENGLISH prose.
Many of the older writers, such as, Lydgate,
Drayton and others, wrote their histories in poetic
form.
This narrative element is, also, found very largely
in Fiction. This is so marked as to give us a distinct
order of novel called, The Historical, as in Scott, and
Mühlbach. It is difficult, if not impossible, in much
of our fiction to separate the narrative from the
romantic element.
The relation of History to Geography is close,
especially in that form of Geography called Political.
The historian, to be successful, must not only be con-
versant with geographical data, but must know the
close connection of places and events and how the
course of history is materially determined by the
courses of mountains and rivers; by race, climate and
locality. In fine, the scope of historical discourse is
so broad that it may be said to touch nearly every
main department of human interest, government and
society, morals and industries, life and thought. This
again, adds to its moral dignity and worth.
(b) Effect of Historical Reading on Style.
If, as has been stated, simplicity and naturalness,
unity and clearness, are characteristics of this species
of writing when properly exhibited, then it follows,
that every student of English Style must be conver-
sant with it. It is not only a safe model and profit-
able to consult, but is not optional with the ambi-
tious composer to neglect it. His own interests make
it necessary. To recount a narrative, or state con-
nected facts in a plain and pleasing manner, is a high
literary art; and, when expressed, as it is, in our best
historical prose, should be ever consulted by the
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-HISTORICAL. 141
writer. It is for this reason that literary biography
reveals the fact that some of the most mature and
eminent English writers were in the habit, late in
life, of refreshing and simplifying their style by fre-
quent resort to such models.
It is well known how Thucydides, in his country
and time, served as a model in this respect. Nothing
will more effectually save a writer from the natural
tendency to conceited and extravagant forms of ex-
pression, than a continual contact with our best nar-
rative discourse.
(c) Elements of Interest.
The main feature of interest here is the same as in
Biography, the personal one. Although not so prom-
inent or exclusive as there, it is still sufficiently so to
give this life-like character to the narrative, which
makes it impressive and pleasing. History is more
than a connected record of facts and events, dates
and incidents. It is a record of human life as mani-
fested in the aggregate,-in society and nation,-an
account of the way in which the world acts under all
possible variety of circumstances. It is, in a real
sense, an enlarged biography, and gains in breadth
what it loses in specific reference.
It may be said to be one of the proofs of this, and
one of the marks of modern historical treatment, that
this element of individuality is made increasingly
distinct. Hence, we have such works as,--Green's
History of the English People as distinct from En-
gland, and McMaster's History of the People of the
United States, rather than of the States them-
selves. It
It is now noticeable that historians are
passing more and more from the abstract to the
142
ENGLISH PROSE.
concrete; from the impersonal to the personal; from
the historical, pure and simple, to the biographical
also. These narratives are becoming more and more
practical and helpful in their instruction. Detailed
accounts of wars and civil politics give place to the
record of the common life of the people, their habits
and industries, their domestic, social and moral econ-
omy; in fact, their personal character as expressed in
every day forms. This, moreover, is all in the line.
of the very ideal of history as a record of the past
life of nations for the guidance of present peoples.
In addition to this personal element as conducive
to interest, there may be noticed others such as, the
pleasure of noting the progressive life of nations; the
triumph of right over wrong; the dramatic cast of
narrative discourse as it goes on from scene to scene
towards its consummation; and above all, the spacious
and imposing scale on which history moves as a suc-
cessive and accurate record of the world's career. It
thus resembles the epic, not only in its narrative
feature, but also in its moral sublimity and scope.
CHAPTER II.
DESCRIPTIVE OR POETIC PROSE.
The Word-Descriptive.
THIS term is here used as distinct from the term,
narrative, and as applicable to that kind of prose
which sets forth objects, located in space, rather than
events occurring in time. It conceives of its object
as fixed in definite position, and not as changing its
form through successive eras.
It may, also, be termed descriptive in the sense of
graphic, poetic, or pictorial. It is that order of Eu-
glish Prose which is imaginative, rather than histori-
cal. It is representative rather than presentative.
and has to do with symbols and figurative forms, as
well as with facts. In the higher themes and forms.
of descriptive writing, such as, "The Character of
Milton," or of English Poetry, the presence of the im-
agination is especially seen in its constructive power.
In such cases, the idea to be set forth must have
place and body given it as if it were a visible, tangi-
ble thing. The writer must see it, and so present it
through pictorial emblems that the reader may see
it with equal distinctness. The readers must be made
spectators of the scene presented as in many of the
descriptions of Bulwer and Dickens. In narrative
144
ENGLISH prose.
writing, it is the historic imagination that is at work.
Here, it is the poetic imagination in its normal and
healthful action as the imaging faculty. Hence it is,
that in poetry, as distinct from prose, this element
largely enters, as in dramatic and pastoral forms, and
in that special form of poetry which, by way of dis-
tinction, is termed-descriptive.
Benefit of Descriptive Prose to Style.
As in narrative prose, the main benefits to the
reader and student are naturalness and simplicity;
here they are vividness and vigor. It is because.
these qualities of style are so rare, even among those
possessed of all the others, that such an order of prose
discourse is invaluable. No student of expression
can devote himself either to the frequent production
or consulting of such writing and not become there-
by the master of a lucid, fluent and animated style.
All is life-like. The idea is made to stand forth on
the page as the picture on the canvas. Its outlines
are so clear that from them one can easily discern the
entire content of the scene or object. It is one of
the most healthful indications of modern times in the
department of literary art that the rigid and some-
what lifeless methods of the older schools are giving
gradual place to a more flexible and vivacious style.
Nothing is more marked in the progressive history
of English Prose than in the steady advance it makes
in this direction, whereby the comparatively unbend-
ing forms of Hooker and Dryden give way at length
to the more pliant prose of Addison, and this, in turn,
to the still more natural prose of the Georgian Age.
This is all in the line of a real return to the true in
!
REPRESENTATIVE forms.—DESCRIPTIVE.
145
prose composition in that description, as narration, is
a normal mode of mental expression, and must find
scope and use just to the degree in which freedom
takes the place of constraint, and artifice yields to art.
The Mental Element in Descriptive Prose.
There is a philosophical law that applies here,-
that we can expect to find no more in the effect than
the cause; that what we do find in the effect is due
to the power resident in the cause.
Clear expres-
sion reveals clear thinking. A high order of de-
scriptive prose argues a high order of intellectual in-
sight. The mental ability of the one determines that
of the other. Vivid description, as given us in the
best historians and novelists of England, means vivid
conception. This mental power is especially manifest
in the imagination as a faculty of forecasting and
combining.
Descriptive power is not, indeed, the highest order
of power, since the imaging faculty cannot be said to
rank above the others. Some of our prose writers
excel in this only, thus revealing the fact that im-
aginative power may exist in special excellence when
other powers are feebly expressed. The ratio at
times seems to be inverse. In its proper place and
function, however, it is a mental faculty of high
order, and when ably expressed in literary product
marks a good degree of personal ability.
In this respect, those writers succeed the best who
cultivate and apply their descriptive powers, not as
an isolated form of mental activity, but as vitally re-
lated to all the other essential powers of the mind.
This is the sufficient explanation of the fact, that de-
146
ENGLISH prose.
scriptive writing is so often more healthful and suc-
cessful in prose than in poetry, while in the region
of prose itself, historical descriptions are often the
best, in that the historic imagination controls the
poetic.
Province of Descriptive Prose.
The area covered by descriptive prose is similar
to that covered by the narrative form. These two
divisions of prose so happily combine, and are as
a matter of fact so frequently connected, that the
phrases, historical description, or descriptive narra-
tion, have become current. In history, travels and
biography, the descriptive element is always more or
less present; while in the special department of ex-
perimental teaching it is the controlling form.
"De-
scription," says Bain, "is involved in all the other
kinds of composition."
There are, however, two special forms of prose dis-
course in which this order of writing is clearly prom-
inent.-Poetical Prose and Prose Fiction.
POETICAL PROSE.
As the phrase indicates, this is an order of
prose
that seems to lie on the border line between prose
proper and poetry-a form which, though not met-
rical, has a larger amount than usual of rhythm and
accentual regularity in it.
It means, imaginative or symbolic prose-what
we are here discussing as descriptive. The terms
descriptive, and poetical, are here quite interchange-
able in that the term poetical is used as synonymous
with the term pictorial. An important suggestion at
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-DESCRIPTIVE.
147
this point is, that the term prose when used without
definition or explanation, means an unimaginative,
unpoetical order of writing. It means just what
the word prose (prorsus) etymologically means,—a
straightforward, direct method as distinct from one
more or less indirect. The original idea of
prose has
reference to its various forms other than the imagina-
tive form.
In so far, therefore, as prose expression tends to the
poetic, it departs from its primal law. Historically
viewed, we shall note that of the four or five forms of
prose that are to come before us, the one we are now
discussing is the only one that has swerved from the
old idea; just as in didactic poetry or prose poetry we
mark the one exception in that sphere among all the
existing forms of verse. Exceptional as it is, how-
ever, this species of prose is natural, well established,
widely current, and, in common with all descriptive
writing, manifestly on the increase. It marks a re-
action from that strong didactic tendency prominent
in prose as such, and urges the cultivation of a style
somewhat freer and bolder. Such prose writers as
Sir Philip Sydney in his " Arcadia," or Jeremy Taylor
in his "Holy Living and Dying," or Ruskin in his
"Stones of Venice," or Irving in his "Sketch Book,'
are pertinent examples of this peculiar order of prose.
It is scarcely correct to call such specimens, as most
critics do, examples of a mediate or third form of
writing, one between prose and poetry. It is dis-
tinctively a prose form in that it is unmetrical,
although not so fully such a form in that the
poetical element is unusually present. In the Old
Testament Scriptures, among what are termed The
148
ENGLISH prose.
Poetical Books, there is ample illustration of this
kind of descriptive writing, so germane to the Ori-
ental mind.
PROSE FICTION.
In this species of prose is found one of the most
distinctive provinces of descriptive writing, whether
we view it in its specific character as descriptive, or
in its relations to other forms. It demands, therefore,
a somewhat full discussion.
The Phrase-Prose Fiction.
Critics and authors have quarreled not a little over
the propriety of this phraseology; the point at issue
being whether Fiction belongs, in truth, to the sphere
of prose or poetry.
As far as the phrase which has been accepted goes,
the concession is made to those who claim that it
finds its place in prose. If we define the term fiction
etymologically, as something feigned, imaged or de-
picted in symbol, or if we define it, as generally done,
as that form of discourse in which truth is set forth
through incidents and media invented at the time,
the result is the same, and we have nothing more nor
less than a kind of poetic-prose, prose set forth in unreal
forms, supposed for the time to be real. Despite this
concession, however, the war still wages. Minto, in
his "Manual," writes: "In excluding Romance or
Fiction from a Manual of Prose Literature, I follow
a division suggested by the late Professor Moir.
Romance has a closer affinity with Poetry than with
represenTATIVE FORMS-DESCRIPTIVE.
149
Prose: it is cousin to Prose, but sister to Poetry. It
has the Prose features, but the Poetical spirit."
Minto has done unwisely here in following Moir.
The error lies in the strange confusion of adjective
and noun-poetic and Poetry. The error is so vital
as to detract sensibly from the merits of the "Man-
ual." If the reader will turn to Minto's discussion
of Daniel De Foe, the first strictly English Nov-
elist, he will note how the author unconsciously de-
parts from the suggestion of Moir and assumes safer
ground.
Robinson Crusoe is essentially poetic. It is not a
poem, or poetry.
Mr. Masson, on the other hand, in his "British
Novelists" thus writes: "If we adopt the common
division of literature, into History, Philosophical Lit-
erature and Poetry, or the Literature of the Imag-
ination, then the Novel or the Prose Fiction, as the
name itself indicates, belongs to the department of
Poetry (as that of the imagination). It is Poetry,
inasmuch as it consists of matter of imagination, but
it differs from what is ordinarily called poetry, inas-
much as the vehicle is not verse but prose."
The "
common division" of literature here stated
we cannot adopt, nor the principle that everything is
necessarily Poetry that "consists of matter of imagina-
tion." It is still true, as Masson intimates, that
Fiction belongs to "The Prose literature of the Imag-
ination," or, as he states later, in showing the rela-
tion of Fiction to Poetry, that "The Novel, at its
highest, is a Prose Epic." The detailed coincidences,
however, on which Mr. Masson insists, between the
Prose Fiction and the Epic, are pushed too far in
150
ENGLISH prose.
that it would narrow the province of the Novel to the
narrative or historical.
Fiction, is thus, poetic more or less, but not, as a
matter of course, Poetry. Here is just the point on
which the question turns. The main feature in
poetry, after all, is one of form, and not of essence.
It is its metrical structure. Even bad poetry in
metre is poetry nevertheless, and Fiction belongs to
the sphere of Prose because imaginative as it is, its
form is unmetrical. Its accents are arranged on no
definite system of regular succession.
Quite apart from this question of form, as we shall
see, there are some kinds of Prose Fiction which in
their content are so decidedly prose as to make it
impossible to classify them under any form of verse
production.
Prose Fiction, therefore, is a form of Descriptive
Prose, in which the pictorial and romantic element
enters even more largely than into ordinary descrip-
tion. Prose, as it is, it serves but to manifest still
more clearly the close connection of metrical and
unmetrical literature, and to show that they are but
different forms (external) of expressing the same
mental idea.
It is in point, here, to note, that it is in the histori-
cal study of English Prose and not of English Poetry,
that we come to the origin and earliest forms of the
English Novel.
It were well could we have done with this anoma-
lous phrase-Prose Fiction-and term it Fiction,
pure and simple. If the terms must each exist,
reason requires their reversal so as to read: Fictitious
Prose (or Imaginative Prose).
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—DESCRIPTIVE. 151
2
KINDS OR CLASSES OF PROSE FICTION.
The old division into Novels Proper, and Romances,
need not be emphasized, in that particular forms of
the Novel may be termed-The Romantic.
As to these divisions, various ones have been given,
especially on the side of excessive minuteness. They
range from the thirteen different orders as given by
Masson, to the three given by Bulwer-The Familiar,
Picturesque, and Intellectual.
We shall present a four-fold division of what Mr.
Dunlop has happily termed-The Prose Works of
Fiction, viz:
THE HISTORICAL OR LOCAL NOVEL.
THE DESCRIPTIVE OR SOCIAL Novel.
THE ETHICAL OR DIDACTIC NOVEL.
THE ROMANTIC OR SENTIMENTAL NOVEL.
(1.) The Historical Novel.
If any form of the Novel could be placed under
Narrative rather than Descriptive Prose it would be
this. It marks the union of fact and fiction: the
point of importance being that the fact is for the
sake of the fiction, and not the reverse, as in history
itself; so that the novelist is expected somewhat to
shape and adjust his facts to his plot and plan. For
this reason, the narrative novel must be placed
under Pictorial rather than Historical Prose as a
specific form. It is historical subordinately.
Of this species of Prose Fiction, Sir Walter Scott
may be said to be the father, in England. Histori-
cal Novels had existed as far back as the days of De
Foe, but under Scott they took a definite and leading
152
ENGLISH prose.
place in our literature. In America, Fenimore
Cooper holds a similar place.
Separate examples illustrating this order may be
selected as follows:
Bulwer's
Kingsley's
"Harold, the Last of the Saxon
""
Kings."
England and the English."
"Last Days of Pompeii.
"Last of the Barons."
"Rienzi."
Hypatia.
""
"Westward, Ho!
"Richelieu.”
(6
James'
66
Miss Mühlbach's
Mary of Burgundy."
Henry of Guise."
"Atilla."
"Charlemagne, History of."
"(
"Frederic the Great and his Court.”
Henry the Eighth and his Court."
Joseph the Second and his Court.”
Napoleon and Queen Louisa."
""
Many isolated specimens, as Thackeray's "Henry
Esmond" and "Four Georges," or Dickens' "Martin
Chuzzlewit" and "Barnaby Rudge," might be cited,
while in such a novelist as Disraeli there is seen a
good example of what might be termed Politico-
Historical Fiction.
(2.) The Descriptive Novel.
This is descriptive by way of distinction, and may
be safely viewed as the typical form of Prose Fiction.
It may further be regarded as the most frequent of
REPRESENTATIVE forms.—DESCRIPTIVE.
153
I the higher forms. It is often called-The Novel
i̇ Life and Manners,-whatever the sphere or nation-
lity may be in which that life is exhibited. Its
›bject is to give a graphic and truthful picture of
men and things in a given age or community; "to
hold the mirror up to nature," (human nature) and
reveal the world to itself. Its purpose and method
are delineative in the sphere of character and cus-
toms. It has been called-The Domestic Novel, in
the fullest sense of that term.
In this, the historical element is present but some-
what concealed, while the imagination in its present
active and portraying work is especially active. All
the features that mark fiction as a separate form of
prose and ally it, also, closely to poetry, are present
in this kind of novel more than in any other.
It is not surprising to find, therefore, that the
leading names in Modern English Fiction are found
just here, Dickens, Reade, Bulwer, Thackeray, Miss
Mulock, Miss Austen, Mr. Trolloppe, George Mac
Donald, Collins, Charlotte Brontè and others, as
Hawthorne, in America. If we extend this list so
as to include other novelists, who though out of
England have written in English, their name is
legion.
(3.) The Ethical Novel.
It might be called the Didactic or Philosophical.
As a matter of history it has been known by some as,
The Novel of Culture, and by others as, The Novel
of Purpose. Outside of England, we are pointed to
Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" as an example where
154
ENGLISH PROSE.
the reflective element in character is made the chief
one, and where such a character is represented as
seeking for light in darkness and coming through
doubt to certainty.
In this type of Novel we reach a class where
the distinctive elements of Prose Fiction are least
manifest, and we border most closely on ordinary,
unimaginative prose. Such fiction is so formal in
method and aim, and so introspective in character,
that it lacks much of the spontaneity and scope of
fiction proper. The fictional feature is not promi-
nent, nor is the main object of the novel-to please-
always clear. Motives are dissected and principles
laid bare. Fiction as it is, the ethical, logical and
philosophical cast is so prominent that one is often
in doubt as to just what he is reading. Mentally, it
is the most difficult kind of Fiction to produce or
enjoy, while its moral coloring is evident on every
hand. As might be supposed, this is a species of
the Novel which has but few illustrations as compared
with the others. Its leading exponent, in England,
is George Eliot, whom Sidney Lanier has seen fit to
regard as the representative English Novelist of
Modern times.
By reason of her present wide influence as an au-
thor and a thinker, the ethical novel may be said
to be now at its height and enjoying a popularity
somewhat apart from its intrinsic worth as a form
of fiction.
If it be asked, why this didactic type of novel
should not find place under ordinary didactic prose
rather than under Prose-Fiction or Descriptive Prose,
it may be answered that philosophical as it is, it is
REPRESENTATIVE forms.-DESCRIPTIVE.
155
fictitious and imaginative in its groundwork and
method. In its use of symbolic characters it has all
the descriptive element of dramatic writing. It is
didactic simply as to its aim. Its character is delin-
eative and pictorial.
(4.) The Romantic Novel.
This is what is often termed-The Sentimental or
Sensational Novel. Mr. Masson speaks of it in his
classification as, The Fashionable Novel, its main pur-
pose being to set forth the higher phases of city life.
Bulwer would call it, The Familiar Novel, having to
do with the more common events and affairs of men.
In this type of Novel we have the best examples
of The Romance as distinct from the Novel Proper
-that order of fiction in which the fanciful and ex-
travagant rather than the normally imaginative is
supreme. Of the four classes mentioned, this is by
far the most abundant in English Prose, especially so
in modern times, and is by far the least valuable in
character, method and design. It is necessary to
state that there are two forms of the Romantic Novel.
The less objectionable form deals, though in a
somewhat superficial way, indeed, with the current
phases of fashionable life, and yet keeps compar-
atively clear of moral excess or defect. It succeeds
in taking an indifferent attitude relative to the right
or wrong of any given question, and aims simply to
interest the reader by skipping pleasantly over the
surface of social life. It mingles just enough art,
politics, and sober allusion, to cast a coloring of pro-
priety over all, and yet not enough to detract from
the chief aim of fiction--to entertain and amuse.
A
156
ENGLISH PROse.
į.
Sir Philip Sydney, in his "Arcadia," and Richard-
son and Fielding in their better productions, illus-
trate this form. Mr. Disraeli exemplifies it in his
politico-social sketches, as also, Bulwer, himself, in
some of his lighter works.
With that large class of readers who care but lit-
tle for the Historical or Ethical Novel, and, yet,
are not quite prepared to endorse that order of
production which is positively immoral, this better
form of Romance may be said to be the most accept-
able of all.
As to the lower form of the Romantic Novel, the
words of Masson are in place-"that no harm will
attend its total and immediate extinction." We may
add, that great mental and moral good would attend
such an extinction.
This is the Sentimental Novel-pure and simple.
Transient and unhealthful sensation is its only aim.
Produced as it is more fully in England and America
than any other form, and read more than any other
form, it is yet the one form which should find no
place in any library or community. It is the novel
of low life and tendency-the romance of the street,
brothel, dance house and third-rate theater. As a
form of Prose Fiction it corresponds precisely to the
immoral drama of the time of Dryden, as produced
by Dryden himself, and such authors as Wycherly,
Aphra Behn and Vanburgh. In the latter part of
the Augustan Era of English Prose, the immoral
drama gave way, in part, to an equally immoral order
of novel as seen in the works of Smollett and Sterne.
The key-note of it all is illicit love. The most pro-
nounced indecencies and personal vices are portrayed
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-DescriptiVE,
157
in brilliant light, and glossed over with an adroit lit-
erary art so as to allure and corrupt. This is the
popular romance of Modern Europe and America.
Recent English critics are inclined to take a hopeful
view of the novel of the future. They think they
discern in what they call the increasing realism of
the novel, a decided tendency toward the intellectual
and moral, and away from the fantastic and unsound.
This tendency to realism is, indeed, apparent, but not
in the form that is desired. It is not to the end that
our Prose Fiction may be made more real in the sense
of historical as in Scott, or more real in the sense of
truthful social sketches as in Thackeray, but more
revoltingly real in the form of a material and sensu-
ous view of life. We must have life depicted as it is
say these authors, and hence the rise of-The Exper-
imental Novel of Emile Zola and his English co-work-
ers the last outcome of realism, and the lowest
bottom that fiction has yet reached.
These tendencies are all downward. The only
hope of English Fiction is to return to that form
which, take it together, is the best-The Descrip-
tive Novel-the safe middle-ground between the di-
dactic and the fanciful-the portraiture of healthful
English Life.
Little need be said as to the descriptive element in
this last species of fiction. In each of its forms it is
conspicuous. Often in the lowest form it reaches the
extreme of wild and loose portraiture whereby the
baser passions of the reader may be excited. In these
four species of Fiction, therefore, description is pre-
sent, though the measure of its presence is different
in each.
158
ENGLISH prose.
Rank and Value of Prose Fiction.
Were we to judge of this value by the amount pro-
duced and read, this species of Prose must take rank
over all other existing forms. The proportion is cer-
tainly six-tenths and over. Modern Critics,—Lanier,
Besant and others, intimate that a true estimate
would take us up to eight-tenths. Certain it is, that
the Novel and the Newspaper are the greatest popu-
lar educators of modern times. We say nothing as
to the quality of the education. When it is remem-
bered, however, that this vast amount is mainly made
up both as to production and perusal, by the promi-
nence of the lowest order of Novel, it is seen that
some other principle than mere amount must be ac-
cepted as the basis of estimate. If we have refer-
ence, therefore, to the best forms of fiction only, and
inquire as to its rank, it is safe to say that in the
sphere of prose it covers a most important area
between History Proper on the one hand, and Philos-
ophy Proper on the other. As has been seen, there
are historical and philosophical elements in Fiction,
but not enough to impair its character as fiction, just
enough, indeed, to strengthen it. It furnishes to the
English reader and student just that kind of mental
food that he needs, when not engaged in the weigh-
ing of facts or the adjustment of speculative prob-
lems. It is in the line of relief, refreshment, mental
quickening and aesthetic culture, and when properly
used ministers to the best development of the man.
Lanier, in his masterly work on "The English
Novel" defines it as, "The distinctive form in which
man's new personal relation to his fellow man has
RepresenTATIVE Forms.—descriptive.
159
།
expressed itself." The Novel, in his view, is the ex-
pression of personality. This he calls "the principle
of its development." As far as this goes, he would
rank Prose Fiction as the highest form. This view
is suggestive and full of interest and, yet, pressed
too far.
There are other forms of Prose more important.
It is indispensable, however, as a form. It supplies
a place covered by no other form, and is the natural
mode of the expression of thought. There is no kind
of prose so easily and frequently abused, and none as
to which criticism has been more bigoted.
The lowest form of Fiction should never be read.
Promiscuous novel reading is a mental and moral en-
ervation, and, yet, no student of English should fail to
make himself intelligently conversant with the best
works of our best novelists. Nothing is more unfor-
tunate in a literary and moral point of view, than
that young men should begin with the novel only,
and for a long time continue with the novel only, as
the subject matter of their reading. Still, it cannot
be safely discarded. Its moderate and gradual com-
bination with other forms of English Prose all along
the line of one's literary life is the most desirable
method.
General Characteristics of Descriptive Prose.
1. The Imaginative Element.
As already suggested, this is its main feature as
seen in its two leading forms-Poetical Prose and Prose
Fiction. It has to do with scenes and object conceived
as existing in space, and not with actual data given
160
ENGLISH PROSE.
-
to hand. It is an order of prose in which sketching
takes the place of statement and imagery, that of
logical process.
2. Pictorial Diction.
Descriptive Prose has its own diction. It is called
by the critics-Word Painting In Poetry, natur-
ally, this is the controlling order of diction, as in
Tennyson. In this order of prose it is present in
so far as the prose is poetic. Hence, in Fiction and
other kinds of descriptive writing the phraseology
is peculiar. It is graphic and picturesque. It is
delineative. It is in literature what painting is
in the fine arts, or drawing in the practical arts.
Hawthorne is a notable example. Dickens, in his
"Sketches of Boz," illustrates it, and Victor Hugo,
in his "'93," and "Les Miserables." Outside of
Fiction, in the general province of description,
it is seen in Ruskin, Lamb, and Irving. In His-
torical Description, as in Prescott, Motley, and Ma-
caulay, this pictorial use of language is noteworthy.
Even Gibbon has some striking paragraphs of this
order. A good use of figurative terms is, thus, an ele-
ment of success.
3. Comprehensiveness and Minuteness.
There is no form of prose, even the historical, in
which this adjustment of fullness and detail is so
important and so difficult. Of the object or scene all
the facts must be described and, yet, the extreme of
wearisomeness as to minor points must be avoided.
Success in this marks the master. The description may
be complete, and much, yet, must be verbally omitted.
REPRESENTATIVE Fforms.—DESCRIPTIVE.
161
The reader has his part, and desires to have it. What
this is the writer must know. If either, it is better
to be too general than too minute. A repulsive
minuteness is the vice of the lowest fiction. It is
purposely so. Standard novelists, as Dickens and
Cooper err here, while George Eliot fails at the other
extreme. As a rule, the Ethical Novel tends to un-
due comprehensiveness while the others tend to
undue detail. The best fiction could be condensed
one-half and be improved.
How to adjust generals and particulars in the
presentation of any scene, object, event or charac-
ter, is the problem of descriptive prose as it is its
characteristic.
CHAPTER III.
ORATORICAL OR IMPASSIONED PROSE.
The Words Oratorical and Oral.
THESE are to be here sharply discriminated; the
first referring only to written discourse; the lat-
ter, to spoken or delivered discourse. Oratorical
Prose refers to that form of prose in which those
elements are prominent that would make it adapted
to oral delivery. It is thus more nearly related to
spoken discourse than any other form of written prose.
It may be said to be a kind of middle form between
the written and the oral and that through which the
one passes over easily into the other. As such, its
importance is marked and it is so prominent a species
of Modern English Prose that its careful discussion
is essential. The old writers called it-Persuasive
Prose, having to do with the will and the outward
action of the man.
(A.) Characteristics of Oratorical Prose.
1. Emotional.
It is the impassioned form, as distinct from the
historical and the descriptive. It has to do mainly
with the feelings as sources and agents of power, its
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-ORATORICAL.
163
main object being to express, awaken and control
feeling. It is a form of writing marked by true
inspiration and impulse rather than by the more
cautious processes of reason and logical analysis. It
seeks to impress more than it does to explain; to incite
to immediate purpose and action rather than to show
why such action might be desirable or practicable.
Whatever other qualities of a good style it may be
said to possess, it possesses the quality of force more
than any other. Hence, the themes that it discusses
are cogent, animated themes-the vital issues of the
age or people, calculated to beget true passion in the
soul of the writer and reader.
The diction chosen is thus forcible rather than
merely clear or graceful; the sentence structure is so
built up and related that the leading ideas of the par-
agraph shall stand forth prominently and so that the
best effect of the rhetorical climax shall be produced.
For the same reason, the strongest forms of figurative.
language are used, as Metaphor, Personification, Epi-
gram and Interrogation so that the final effect of the
writing may be intensified and potent. All that is
insipid, puerile or irrelevant is conscientiously discar-
ded if so be the thought expressed may have its fullest
force and move the soul of the reader. This feeling
may be subdued or demonstrative, still, it is in the
soul and in the thought and cannot be concealed.
If it be genuine, little care need be taken as to the
precise manner of its expression.
2. Objective in Aim and Result.
It is a form of prose whose purpose is altogether
outside of itself. It is not so much for the writer's
"C
.164
ENGLISH PROSE.
It
sake or even for the sake of the subject matter, as for
the reader's sake, to move and mold his nature.
is for this reason free from many of those literary er-
rors that arise from restriction and the prominence of
the subjective. It is for this reason that they succeed
the best in this kind of prose who have the fullest
knowledge of men and things outside of themselves.
They understand their fellows and the times in which
they live. They know how to reach men and im-
press them, so that when they take pen in hand to
discuss a living theme for definite external ends they
cannot but be forceful. They are so, sometimes, at
the expense of the graces of literary art. Their
vigor and masculine power are, at times, manifest
to the detriment of the niceties and proprieties,
so called. Such writers are willing to sacrifice the
lesser to the greater, and gain force when they
lose refinement. Devoid of finish as such prose
often is, it would be safe to say, that no species
would be more missed to-day from the body of
our prose literature. It is as much needed as it is
rare.
This external force of impassioned prose lies partly
in the theme or the time, but mainly in the author
himself. The personality of the writer, after all, is
the motive power. It is that which leads to potent
expression and impression. English writers may be
classified on this principle-their ability to project
themselves upon the mind and heart of their readers,
so that the reader, perforce, acknowledges the power
and yields himself implicitly to its sway. These are
the masters. They are but few, but they rule the
world.
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-ORATORICAL. 165
3. Freedom of Thought and Expression.
True feeling cannot be confined within prescribed
limits. In its very nature it is spontaneous. Emo-
tion is motion. The royal law of liberty holds here
most especially. As soon as any formal statute is
applied which the writer must, at all hazards, follow,
the natural flow of passion ceases and all is con-
strained aud sluggish. All genuine emotion must
be under the control of mind and judgment, but this
conceded, its range is to be unrestricted. There is a
drift, a momentum about it that cannot brook ob-
struction, and if obstructed, will leave its normal
channel and break away into dangerous courses.
Specific limitation here is fraught with far more
harm than the largest possible liberty of scope.
4. Interesting and Stimulating.
"Passion," I see, "is catching," said the dramatist.
There is no form of prose in which the attention of
the reader becomes more engrossed. This arises from
its very nature as impassioned, and from the character
of the subject discussed. Earnestness begets corres-
ponding earnestness even to the removal of hostility,
indifference and prejudice. The reciprocal influence of
author and reader is constant and potent and as the
tide of feeling rises in one it rises in the other until
full community of interest is established. Discourse
now appears as a sympathetic interchange of ideas
for mutual good and the happiest results follow. In
oral speech, where the orator and the auditor come
into the personal presence of each other, the results
are at times, indescribable. Even in written prose,
166
ENGLISH PROSE.
however, the principle of sympathy holds good, so
that there is identity of feeling and object. The
reader is more than entertained as in pictorial de-
scription or pleasing narrative. He is absorbed and
engaged and becomes, for the time, personally com-
mitted to the subject in hand. The understandings of
men may be enlightened and their judgments con-
vinced and their taste gratified in other ways and
by other forms of prose, but little is done, after all,
until the soul, as the seat of the affections, is reached
and roused. Men must be moved.
Notes.
(a) This form admits of the presence of the imagin-
ation, in its office of bringing the unreal into real
nearness, and thus making it more effective in awak-
ening feeling. In dramatic literature and in sacred.
discourse this emotive office of the imagination is
especially cogent. The abstract must be made visible,
concrete and real, in order to evoke emotion.
(b) The Ethical Element is here indicated.
Genuine passion has a distinctively ethical feature.
It comes from the soul, the moral nature of man and
is best illustrated in the moral realm. Impassioned
prose, as such, awakens the deepest sentiments of the
heart and appeals to the higher and deeper nature.
In Scripture, in sacred prose and in secular prose of
the ethical order, its best illustration is seen.
Moral feeling is the highest form of feeling.
(c) Its Abuse.
This is as common as it is easy. Just because this
order of prose appeals to the emotions rather than
to the critical faculty, it is delicate and tender in its
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-ORATORICAL.
167
nature. It is as sensitive as sympathy itself. Spon-
taneous in its outflow, it may easily degenerate into
fanaticism or unlicensed passion. In Prose Fiction,
as already discussed, there are striking examples of
such abuse-in those lower forms of the novel where
feeling is excited either for its own sake or for some
transient and base end.
(B.) DIVISIONS OR KINDS OF ORATORICAL PROSE.
1. Forensic Prose.
This would be called in England, Parliamentary
Prose, and in America, Senatorial or Congressional.
The written productions of that class of men known
as the British and American Orators would best ex-
emplify this order of prose-Pitt, Fox, Burke, Adams,
Otis, Clay and others This is the civil or political
prose of English Letters-the literature of statesmen.
Its themes are practical and broad. It has to do
with the discussion of great national issues, on which
the policies of States depend. It seeks to enforce as
well as expound great constitutional principles as
embodied in the various forms of civil government.
Cicero in the Forum, Mirabeau in the Assembly, and
Sumner in the Senate, present a form of prose which
as written and unspoken is oratorical and impas-
sioned. In the days of Aristotle and the Greeks, it
was termed, Deliberative Prose in that it had to do
with the weighing or considering of vital civic ques-
tions. It is legislative in its order and object and is
handed down to later ages in the shape of State
documents for reference and as elaborate orations
for study and instruction.
168
ENGLISH prose.
If the requisites to its successful production be
asked, they may be said to consist in political knowl-
edge and an unselfish devotion to public interests.
The forensic writer must be thoroughly versed in
the Science of Government-its sources, powers, forms
and aims. He must be grounded in constitutional
law as a special branch of law, must know the rela-
tions of rulers to the governed, and what is called,
the genius of government. A state paper from such
a man as Gladstone is valuable in its literary and
official character as coming from one who is a student.
of statecraft as he is a student of Homer and English
Poetry.
Early American Forensic Prose is thus, far in ad-
vance of the later, and may favorably be compared
at that time with that of the mother country.
2. Judicial and Argumentative Prose.
This is closely allied to the former kind in that the
jurist and the statesman, as in the cases of Hamilton
and Webster, have so often been combined. Still it
has a separate place and history. It is the prose of
written debate and jurisprudence and largely illus-
trated in every period of marked mental activity
when sides must be taken and proofs examined. Its
object is to secure, defend and enlarge the rights of
man, national, local and individual; to see that justice
is done on every hand. Nor does its end close with
the mere exposition of the law, but as a form of im-
passioned prose it has more especially to do with its en-
forcement and application. It has a persuasive element
in it, especially as applied in criminal jurisprudence
where feeling sometimes rises to its highest levels.
REPRESENTATIVE forms.-ORATORICAL.
169
Conviction is reached through emotion, as guarded
by reason. In published Debates and printed Judi-
cial Cases and Proceedings this style of prose is
seen.
Here as before, knowledge and personal interest
are the main essentials to success. The judicial
writer must be versed in the principles and details of
law as a separate science, must be imbued with its
spirit as the embodiment of justice and be devoted
to its great end, the maintenance of human rights.
Irrespective of any particular case in hand, he must as
a man, be identified with the triumph of law if so be
he is to write with cogency and success. Erskine of
England and Choate of America finely fulfilled these
conditions.
Just to the degree in which a juristic writer is
conversant with his theme and loyal to the interests
of law and order wherever infringed, will he be fer-
vent in his style and produce a type of prose so
animated as to find its best and fittest expression in
oral discourse.
3. Sacred Prose.
This is best seen in Homilies, Sermons, and Ethical
papers. It has all the emotional elements of ordinary
secular prose as oratorical, with that additional ele-
ment which comes from its moral character.
This form, in its very nature, is persuasive, sympa-
thetic and arousing. It aims at an immediate result
upon the will, conscience and life. Sacred Prose, in
so far as written, should be imbued with genuine
feeling in that it has to do with the highest interests
of man and must reach those interests largely
170
ENGLISH PROSE.
through the affections. The serinon, as distinct from
the technical theological system or treatise, should be
impassioned. In the extant sermons of the great
French preachers-Massillon, Bourdaloue and Bossuet;
in Chrysostom of Greece; in Hall, South, Tillotson
and Taylor of England; in Chalmers of Scotland
and in Edwards of America, this order of prose is
seen to be fervid and forceful to the highest degree.
In each of these forms of oratorical prose men-
tioned, it is to be emphasized, that there is present
an impassioned vigor and boldness of style. What-
ever their didactic basis in knowledge may be, or
whatever their purpose to explain, political, legal or
moral science, their main feature is the emotional
one and their main aim, to stimulate and persuade.
No literature is richer than the English in this form
of prose. Just because it is mediate between written
and spoken discourse it is interesting and serves to
mark the close relations of the two departments. It
is needless to add that as strong as these principles
are in written prose they are immeasurably stronger,
when they assume oral character in the person of the
orator. Modern English and American Prose needs
nothing more than this impassioned element. In the
rise and prevalence of technical criticism and in the
dominance of a false æstheticism in art and literature,
there is danger lest masculine vigor may give way to
the effeminate and the Saxon turn once again to the
Norman.
There is no danger whatever, as some insist, that
high and clean literary art will suffer when passion
We are told that the dispassionate temper is
proper here and no other. This dogma is plausible,
enters.
REPRESENTATIVE Forms.—ORATORICAL.
171
but has overreached itself until the formal has too
often taken the place of the natural and until cor-
rectness has triumphed over creative genius. Dryden
had his day and did his work and need not be re-
called. The period of expansion in our prose is the
best, among other reasons, for this, that it is the most
spontaneous and informal and yet according to law.
English Poetry is fast succumbing to this unimpas-
sioned ideal and is thereby losing its hold on the
modern mind It lies in the line of the best interests
of our prose to conserve this intrinsic element, and
give it all healthful scope as guided and guarded by
rational principle.
CHAPTER IV.
PHILOSOPHICAL OR DIDACTIC PROSE.
THE term-philosophical-is not used here in its
technical sense as applied to the speculative or meta-
physical, but in its more general sense of scholarly,
intellectual or dignified prose. The term, didactic or
reflective will express it It is not mainly historical,
descriptive or impassioned, nor does it include these
elements to any marked degree. As contemplative
and instructive, it differs from them as it also does
from that spacious province of prose included under
the name-Miscellaneous. It has an individuality of
its own.
The most restricted use of the word Philosophy
would mean-Mental Philosophy (Psychology, Meta-
physics). In this sense, philosophical prose would
mean the actual prose of philosophy as a separate
department as seen in Locke, Berkeley, James Mill,
Stewart, Hamilton and others. This is, of course, ex-
cluded. A wider use is indicated in the terms—
Philosophy, Science, Art and Literature. Here the
word includes Mental and Moral Philosophy, Logic
and so on. In such a usage, the prose would be
represented in the works of those respective branches
of learning. The university use of this word as seen
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—PHILOSOPHIC.
173
in the Doctorate of Philosophy is this wider one and
includes even Language and Literature. A further
peculiar and confusing use of this word is seen in the
sense of Science as in the Phrases-Mental Science,
Moral Science, Natural Science and so on, where the
words Science and Philosophy arc strangely mixed.
No one of these uses is in place in the discussion
before us.
Philosophical Prose means here, unimpassioned
prose. It is marked by the absence of graphic, fig-
urative and oratorical elements. It is temperate,
even, academic and intellectual. It has a high de-
gree of literary gravity and is the golden mean between
the lighter and the heavier forms. It is not super-
ficial on the one hand nor is it, on the other, heavy
and repulsive. It is an order of prose we may add,
germane to the calm and reflective character of the
highest minds. It is a style of writing in which
principles are discussed more than facts; laws and
causes, more than special applications. Its method.
is wide and broad. It reaches the frontiers and
foundations of things. Nothing short of thorough-
ness will satisfy it as a method. A few examples of
it outside of the region of Philosophy Proper will
illustrate its meaning and its power. It is seen
in Hooker, Adam Smith, Alison, Chillingworth,
Barrow, Butler, Warburton, Charnock, Whewill and
others. These men were not writers on Mental
Science distinctively; they wrote on theology, social
economy, history, and literature and kindred sub-
jects. In fine, they wrote not on philosophy as a
specific subject, but on all subjects philosophically.
Froude and Bancroft have written philosophically
174
ENGLISH prose.
:
on history as Devey has on English Poetry and Gui-
zot on European Civilization. These names will mark
it as an order of prose by itself. Mr. Emerson of our
own country, is in the main, a philosophical writer on
general topics, though his too frequent obscurity
detracts much from the merit of his style. The phil-
osophical style is as clear as it is profound.
(A.) Characteristics.
1. Unimpassioned.
This allies it somewhat to the Historical order of
writing and marks it as distinct from the Oratorical.
It has little to do with the emotions as a separate
part of the nature of man. Its object is fully gained
when in the clear, white light of reason, the subject
is made plain to the rational understanding of the
reader. The older writers would have called it, the
Expository or Explanatory Form by which the topic
is made plain through an unadorned presentation of
it to the mind. It aims to establish the exact mean-
ing of the idea rather than its truth or falsity—to en-
lighten rather than convince. In sacred discourse
this is often seen in what is called-the expository
method. There is, even in the popular use of this
word, this idea of dispassionateness. Men are said
to take life philosophically, when they accept its
events and issues without any special feeling.
2. Thorough in Method and Aim.
There is a virtual antithesis between the terms-
philosophical and superficial. This general use of
the term is undoubtedly derived from its special use
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-PHILOSOPHIC.
175
as denoting Mental Philosophy. This department
of thought, having to do above all others, with the
most profound questions of human interest, the very
word, philosophical, even in its popular sense has
retained the generic idea of profundity and thorough-
ness. The very nature of it excludes the hasty,
imperfect or desultory treatment of a theme. In this
respect, philosophical prose means a solid, substantial
order of prose, one that carries its own force with it
and whose fitting illustration demands, on the part
of the writer, a profound and substantial mind.
This is a species of prose to which Bacon had
reference when he said: "Studies serve for ability.
Read to weigh and consider. Some books are to be
chewed and digested, to be read wholly and with
diligence." It is safe to say, that for this reason, if
for no other, a literature cannot be said to be com-
plete or excellent without a good degree of such
prose. It acts as a conservative element among
others less stable. It steadies and balances a litera-
ture as ballast does a vessel. Periods may be classi-
fied as safe or excessive by the presence or absence
of it. It marks the Formative, Settled and Expansive
eras of our prose. In the Transitive era it was much
less conspicuous, but had it not been for its partial
presence, the results would have been far more
disastrous. It may be added here that what is
called, a thoughtful or suggestive style, is germane
to this order of prose. From the fact that it deals
with great principles in a weighty way, the expres
sion would be but the outward form of the ideas
behind it, and far more would be intimated than
could be stated. The ideas as germinal and potential
1
176
ENGLISH prose.
would beget other related ideas in continuous succes-
sion, so as to make the style full of intellectual
stimulus. In this regard, it is a type of prose whose
excellence increases with the mental maturity of the
writer. It is alike a cause and a result of such
maturity.
3. Sedate and Dignified.
This amounts almost to a moral quality in this
type of prose-the natural expression of the soul
when in its contemplative moods and the natural
expression of the English mind as distinct from the
South European. It is for this reason that we find
it in every period of our literature and most marked
in those eras when ethical influences are the most
active. Gravity is said to be a mark of the higher
order of historical prose, as of other forms. It is so
when they are the most philosophical, while in
philosophic prose itself it is a vital element. Its
unimpassioned and profound character would demand
this and no excuse would be accepted for its omis-
sion. It corresponds in prose to the principle of
moral sublimity in poetry and its effect is similarly
great. It demands that the theme, method of dis-
cussion and the special aim of the writing be lofty
rather than low, on a spacious and not a narrow
scale and that the result be morally elevating.
When Herbert Spencer writes on-The Philosophy of
Style, or Campbell on-The Philosophy of Rhetoric,
or Schlegel on—The Philosophy of Life and Language
they write philosophically in that the discourse is
marked by a literary and moral dignity throughout.
This form of prose never descends to the trivial or
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-PHILOSOPHIC.
177
puerile or even to justifiable pleasantry and humor.
Its high mission is never forgotten, and the fulfill-
ment of that demands a rational sobriety. For this
reason, it is well that it is not the most frequent form
of prose. For this reason, also, it is well that it is a
distinctive form having place and function in our
prose literature to control more wayward tendencies.
4. Adaptive.
This form mingles freely with all the others, save
the Impassioned, while even there it is not altogether
absent in that feeling itself must ever be under the
control of the judgment. In History it is prominent
in what is termed, the Philosophy of History or the
philosophical method of treating it. Even in Prose
Fiction, there is the Philosophical Novel in which
character is profoundly studied and where the ethical
features are made prominent.
In oratorical prose other elements are more marked
and yet, in judicial and sacred discourse most especi-
ally, the meditative and the moral are present and
potential and lend a philosophic cast. Judicial prose
is in its very nature dispassionate and dignified.
In Miscellaneous Prose, where all the forms find
place this, of course, has a place where any specific
subject is discussed after a philosophical manner.
5. A Prose Form, Distinctively.
There is a species of poetry called Philosophic or
Didactic. It is, however, exceptional and question-
able. If in addition to the metrical form of verse, it
be required that it be essentially poetic, marked by
imagination, passion and a purpose to please, it is an
178
ENGLISH prose.
open question with some whether such verse is
poetry at all. Pope's Essay on Man and on Criticism
are styled Prose Poems, by way of compromise. On
the other hand, as we have seen, there is some prose
so poetical that it would fairly find place in verse and
it is termed, by a similar compromise, Poetical Prose.
In the department of Prose Proper, however,
among all the forms studied, the Philosophical or
Didactic is the most fully prose of all others. It has
the least of the elements of the poetic. In fact, the
terms-philosophic and poetic-are mutually exclu-
sive; the one is unimpassioned; the other, as Milton
holds "sensuous and passionate." The one aims to
instruct; the other, to please. The one is full of
imagery and figure; the other is marked by their
absence. All the main differences between prose
and poetry might be stated in distinguishing philoso-
phic prose from poetry. In this respect, Historical
Prose is the only form that can be compared with it
as a typical form, while in narrative, itself, the poetic
and descriptive elements are freely applied as is not
the case in the form before us.
Prose in the very idea of it is didactic and sedate.
It states facts and truths plainly and soberly, for
enlightenment and moral effect. When, as in de-
scriptive and oratorical prose, there are added the
imaginative and emotional elements, the normal,
original idea of prose is somewhat modified and the
transition already begun toward poetry itself.
(B.) Contents or Divisions.
As already noted, Philosophical Prose would in-
clude in its most general sense, any and every
`representaTIVE FORMS.-PHILOSOPHIC.
179
written production presented in a philosophical
manner-unimpassioned, thorough and sedate. It
would thus make up the body of its product largely
by selecting from other forms what properly belongs
to it, and partly from the classification of those writ
ings which belong to it alone as a specific form.
On the first principle, the divisions would be as
follows-
(a) Philosophical Narration.
This would virtually include all that has been
stated in treating of that department, it being em-
phasized, that Narration Proper has reference only to
dates and facts and events in, temporal succession
and not to causes and effects. Gibbon and Buckle
have thus written philosophical history.
(b) Philosophical Description, as seen in the gen-
eral province of description when applied to the
abstract and immaterial in ethical fiction. What has
been said of this higher kind of description is here
in place, it also being marked that Description
Proper has reference only to the simple portraiture
of visible objects, and not to the invisible or moral.
George Eliot has thus written.
(c) Philosophic Exposition in Oratorical Prose.
This applies to those elements of judicial, forensic
and sacred prose where the unimpassioned feature
is the main one-where laws are to be explained, the
great principles of political codes expounded or
divine truth elucidated. Choate, Webster and Ed-
wards have thus written.
(d) Philosophic Miscellanies.
Here would be found everything in the depart-
ment of Essays and Discussions which in the absence
180
ENGLISH prose.
of historical, descriptive or oratorical features, pre-
sents in marked degree, this philosophic character.
The style is deliberative rather than discursive.
Most of the best essayists, such as Addison and
De Quincey, give examples of this. Critical essays
as a class illustrate it.
On the second and more specific principle, a dif-
ferent classification is reached.
Excluding these four classes already mentioned,
this division may be said to include all those prose
writers who have written philosophically and yet
who have not written on Philosophy Proper, or
Mental Philosophy, so called.
It would include such classes of prose and authors
as the following-already mentioned as illustrations:-
(a) The Philosophy of History by Schlegel.
"Rhetoric
66
66
"
66
Campbell.
26
Language Schlegel.
(6
(6
Style
66
Bascom.
"
CL
(b) Another large division here classified is where
the term Philosophy or Philosophical is not used and
yet might be as marking a peculiar character. Some
of these have been mentioned as, Hooker, Adam
Smith, Barrow and so on. Others are-Bentham, on
Ethics and Jurisprudence; Clarendon, on English
History; John Foster on Character; Kames on Crit-
icism; Temple, on Politics; Walpole, ou Government;
Clarke, on The Being of God; Blackstone, on Law;
Alison, on Taste; Day, on Science and Dunlop, on
Fiction.
Such a list would carry us over all the main de-
partments of human research and reveal, also, higher
tendencies of style and thought.
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—PHILOSOPHIC. 181
Notes.
(a) Rapid Increase of this Form.
From what has been stated, a clear tendency is
visible in our best writers to present subjects from
the standpoint of philosophic calmness and thor-
oughness. It is one of the best literary signs of
the times, and serves to guard our prose against the
excessive growth of those lower forms of fiction,
vapid description and rambling miscellany which
are apt to impair the vigor of style.
(b) Relation to Writers in Formation of Style.
Though a natural and desirable form of prose, it
has less in the way of immediate result for the young
writer than either the narrative or descriptive. It
reaches a higher range of themes; pursues a more
logical method; assumes a good degree of mental
insight and strength and is thus, difficult. It be-
longs to later stages. As a form of prose, however,
it should lie in the line of the writer's ambition. In
all his literary work it should be in view as desirable.
It will thus, indirectly, color and mold his style,
save him from grave errors and prepare him, in due
time, for its appreciation and personal use.
CHAPTER V.
MISCELLANEOUS OR PERIODICAL PROSE.
THESE terms, which have now become generally
accepted, are used to express that order of prose
which cannot be strictly classified under any one of
the four divisions already stated-Historical, Descrip-
tive, Oratorical and Philosophic. Containing numer-
ous examples of each of these forms it cannot be said
to have a sufficient preponderance of any one form
to mark its special character. The word, periodical,
is that which dates from the days of De Foe and
refers to the regular appearance-annually, monthly,
weekly or daily-of the various literary publications.
Periodical Literature is now used in this sense and
applies mainly to the magazine and journal.
The term, miscellaneous, is somewhat broader. It
covers that large area of prose product in which any
one or all of the specific forms may be illustrated
and may mean very much what we mean by mixed
or discursive writing. It confines itself to no one
class of themes; follows no one exclusive method;
adopts no one species of literary style; shows no par-
ticular preference for any one class of prose; and
exercises in this sphere a kind and measure of liberty
similar to that which the poet possesses in the realm
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—MISCELLANEOUS. 183
of verse.
Nor is it to be understood that the term,
miscellaneous, is used to indicate an inferior type of
prose, inasmuch as it defies special classification.
What it loses in this respect in the line of definite-
ness of place and function, it gains in another in the
line of variety of topic, freedom of method and gen-
eral scope. Much of its attractiveness to the general
reader and even to the student, lies in its very
variety, and makes it accessible and helpful where
more elaborate treatises could not be mastered. Its
miscellaneous character need not make it any the less
clear or thorough. That brevity of discussion which
is essential to it is a means to clearness while as far
as it goes on any one line of discussion it may go
thoroughly and effectively.
If, among the forms mentioned, there are any to
which it more directly inclines by way of preference,
they are the Descriptive and Philosophic. If choice is
made between these, the latter would be chosen. In
the strict sense of the term literary, there is no por-
tion of miscellaneous prose more prominent than the
didactic, as expressed particularly in the sphere of
literary criticism. This is a feature, more and more
conspicuous. The fact serves to show the high char-
acter of this mixed form of prose and makes it a
form interesting in itself apart from all others. Gen-
eral as it is, it has an individuality and must be
studied, as any of the others, on its own grounds
and results.
(A.) General Characteristics.
These may be partly gathered from what has been
stated by way of exposition of terms.
184
ENGLISH PROSE.
1. Variety of Topic and Plan.
Disraeli in speaking of this says, "When I hold a
volume of these Miscellanies, I seem to be in a temple
dedicated to the service of the Goddess of Variety."
This embraces a range as wide as the province of
written discourse. There is no form of theme, narra-
tive, imaginative, impassioned or philosophic, which
it does not logically include as miscellaneous. This
scope of topic and treatment is part of the explanation
of its origin, its interest and its need of iudicious
control. Just because it is unrestricted here, all
writers feel free to enter it, all readers find some-
thing in it, and, yet, it may overreach itself in the
direction of the desultory, vague, and superficial.
Hence, it is essential to hold that varied as the topics
and methods are they must be strictly literary in char-
acter, removed from the merely technical, on the one
hand, and the common on the other. If, as in Addi-
son, they be often homely, they must be so presented
as to give them the cast and color of literary art.
Critics speak of the qualities of style as, clearness,
force, naturalness, simplicity and so on. With the
present form of prose before us, it would seem to be
necessary to add, variety, to this list as a distinctive
quality or to hold that the qualities mentioned can-
not exist apart from this as prominent. Monotony,
it may be said, is a literary vice, and here it is argued
by special lovers of Miscellaneous Prose, that its
variety gives it superiority over any specific form.
There is some truth in this and an earnest protest is
to be made against uniformity of style in English
Letters. As hinted, however, special care is to be
REPRESENtative forMS.-M.SCELLANEOUS. 185
ጉ
taken lest the freedom which is granted entice the
writer unawares into a rambling method of expres-
sion, passing in a capricious way from theme to
theme and not abiding long enough at any one to
present it in fitting fullness. As far as it goes, how-
ever, variety in prose expression is a literary virtue
and Periodical Prose has it distinctively.
2. Brevity of Treatment.
The words used to indicate this form might be said
to be synonymous in popular usage with the word—
brevity. Each of the specific forms is so called,
mainly, because it follows out in a continuous and
complete manner some one line of thought. It may
be an historical narrative or a work of Prose Fiction.
In this the discussion is presumably limited. The
distinction is largely that between the book or trea-
tise and the essay or paper, or between the volume
and the pamphlet; the one is exhaustive; the other,
suggestive. The one is logical and consecutive; the
other discursive. In the one, the writer aims to be
as full as possible without being repetitious; in the
other, he aims to be as terse as possible without
being obscure or epigrammatic. As to their special
characteristic, it is not to be argued that every form
of discourse possessing it is thereby good and failing
to possess it is thereby inferior.
In such a style of prose as this, brevity is natural
and effective, while in other forms it might be in-
jurious simply because out of place. In other words,
brevity as a literary quality is relative. Applied in
narrative or history or didactic prose just as it is in
miscellaneous, it would be more harmful than helpful
186
ENGLISH PROSE.
as it would defeat the very purpose of thorough pre-
sentation. Its effect depends on conditions just as
that degree of variety proper to this form of prose
would be subversive of all method in any other
species. Appropriateness is a literary law. It is safe
to say that Miscellaneous English Prose has suffered,
at times, from the extreme application of this princi-
ple. Carlyle and his school have been guilty here
as have Emerson and his school in America. They
have often been terse and curt to a fault, so that the
paragraph has taken the form of a riddle to be in-
terpreted by the magi.
Brevity is perfectly consistent with clearness and
when so adjusted, adds force and point to the style.
It acts as a wholesome check upon that natural
tendency to verboseness, especially common among
younger writers.
3. Unity of Benefit-Pleasure, Information and
Culture.
If the general reader were asked as to the compar-
ative pleasure to be derived from the perusal of the
different classes of prose mentioned, it is well known
that the precedence would be given to prose fiction.
Statistics of libraries and reading rooms, as well as
the receipts of publishing houses reveal this fact. If
the question were to be asked, as to the comparative
profit by way of information, history undoubtedly
would be assigned the first place. If the question
turned simply on the matter of intellectual culture,
one of the other forms might justly be adduced, as,
the philosophic.
Without attempting to answer these questions any
ין
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—MISCELLANEOUS. 187
more minutely it is safe to say that if among the
varied objects of literary reading, true, æsthetic plea-
sure, helpful information, culture of style and general
culture are sought, Miscellaneous Prose may rightly
claim a large place in the realization of such ends
to the reader. Its variety and brevity would secure
these alike in the way of stimulus and restraint.
The well-read man is he who has, in a true sense,
completed the circle of the best literature in all its
forms of prose and poetry and, yet, were a man
obliged, from varied causes, to confine himself to a
separate form, it would naturally be prose, and that,
the miscellaneous style as best giving him the sub-
stance of every other form with the additional feature
of variety. Inside the limits of such a form he could
become comparatively well-read and be able to give
a good account of the literary spirit of his country.
No such alternative, however, is needed, and when to
an acquaintance with other classes of prose this is
added, just that is added which serves to freshen and
fasten what has already been secured.
The phrase-General Culture-has become as cur-
rent as the phrase-Miscellaneous Prose. The one is,
indeed, largely the result of the other. A wide and
varied literary training is based on a wide acquaint-
ance with literary product, by which the student
secures breadth of outlook and freedom from formal-
ism and narrowness.
As to æsthetic pleasure, everything is here calcu-
lated to produce and foster it. As to information,
this is as full as the field is wide. As to style, all
possible features are found here. If in history and
description naturalness, accuracy and graphic skill
188
ENGLISH prose.
are given, and, if in the impassioned or philosophic
treatise, force and solidity are found, each of these
qualities re-appears in some department of Miscellan-
eous Prose and the lessons already learned are re-
impressed. It is, in this respect, the complementary
and supplementary form of prose, as useful in its re-
lations as it is in itself. It unifies all that has pre-
ceded. When we take up representative specimens
of this form from such a writer as De Quincey or Ma-
caulay, we have in hand a literary product in which
narration, description, passion and philosophic re-
flection may all unite to interest, inform and refine.
Miscellaneous Prose is, in one sense, the most com-
pact form of prose, in that it fuses many elements into
one. To produce a masterpiece in this department
is therefore a mark of intellectual and literary power.
Such Miscellanies in English may be easily quoted.
It is this union of qualities that as much as any-
thing else renders this form of prose so popular and
current. None other so happily combines profit with
pleasure. It is thus that Nathan Drake writes in his
invaluable essays on this subject: "A series of papers
thus constituted and forming a whole, replete with
wit, fancy and instruction has been found, by large
experience, not only the most useful but the most
interesting and popular of publications." Hence it is,
that such a form of prose will find demand in every
age and as a matter of literary history has never
been so widely current as now.
4. Increasing Literary and Moral Character.
The term, classical, in the sense of standard, has, by
common consent, been assigned to this order of pro-
REPRESENTATIVE forms.—MISCELLANEOUS. 189
duction. British Miscellany, as a body of prose,
passes readily under this title. There is much to ex-
plain this. The wide sphere opened for the choice of
topics and methods gives opportunity for the choice
of the best, while in that union of qualities to which
reference has been made, there is an element of
strength. One of the reasons and indications of the
rank of this form is found in the fact that nearly
all of the best writers of English Prose in its other
classes have done more or less of worthy work in this.
It would be difficult to make up a list of any length
including these standard writers who did not use
this form. This fact not only endorses the form in
the way of a proper division of prose, but makes it
high in character and proves it to be a fitting medium
for the exercise of the best English talent. Not only
so, but it is well to note that in the historical devel-
opment of English Periodical Prose, there has been a
corresponding literary development, so that where
the first Miscellanies were almost entirely devoted to
politics, trade and social life, later examples have as
fully magnified the features of taste and style and
general culture. In fact, the main difference between
these productions, previous to the days of Steele and
after, lies just here,-in the non-literary character of
the one and the literary character of the other. With
this advance, there has been, also, a moral progress,
and partly, as the result of the former. Elevation
of tone and aim followed close the improvements-
ment of theme and scope. Mere drawing-room gos-
sip and society scandal gave way, at length, to sober
topics in letters and manners, and the atmosphere
was purer. The uniformly ethical cast of the best
190
ENGLISH prose.
miscellaneous prose of England is something as re-
markable as it is true, and has no parallel, in this
particular in any country of Europe.
The term-miscellany-elsewhere has been a some-
what suspicious word. It seemed to mean to many a
broad undefined sphere to which any writer might
contribute anything at pleasure. Each of these ten-
dencies to literary and moral looseness has been nobly
resisted on English soil. In this particular American
literature as now developing, has a lesson to learn
from the mother country.
5. English Origin and History.
Periodical Prose as a systematic body of prose of
high character is especially English. It is certainly
more English than it is anything else. Dr. Drake
goes so far as to say: "The Tatler presented to
Europe in 1709 the first legitimate model." Previous
to this, such productions had been attempted in other
countries, among the Dutch, and especially in the
works of Montaigne and La Bruyere in France and
La Casa in Italy. Even in England similar specimens
were seen between the days of Elizabeth and Anne;
in Bacon's Essays, 1597; in Temple's Miscellanea,
1672; in Collier's Essays, 1697; in Lesley's Rehearsals
1704; in Cowley, Colton and others. It was not how-
ever, till the appearance of De Foe's Review, Feb.,
1704, that the English and Modern Periodical may be
said to have begun. Here, as we believe, is the real
origin and not in the Tatler of Steele in 1709. This
work, as that of Addison, carried on even more fully
what had been introduced and the way was now
opened for unlimited progress.
REPRESENTATIVE forms.—MISCELLANEOUS. 191
Of all the forms mentioned, this is the most de-
cidedly English and retains to this day the clear
mark of its origin and early history. The old
Augustan tinge is still visible in Victorian days.
6. Human and Naturcd.
This is a prime characteristic. The keynote was
sounded as far back as Bacon, who says, of his
Essays: "They come home to men's business and
bosoms:" or, in his Preface: "They handle these
things wherein both men's lives and their pens are
most conversant, of a nature whereof a man shall find
much in experience." Addison expresses the same
idea in another form in the well known statement:
"I have brought philosophy out of closets to dwell
in clubs and coffee houses." It is this life-likeness
which, as much as anything else, explains the fact that
even in the time of the Spectator, twenty thousand
papers were sold in a day, and that the day or week
was regarded as misspent if the periodical had not
been read. It is to the praise of Modern Miscellane-
ous Prose that while it has increased, as stated, its
literary and moral character, it has still retained its
naturalness and its truth to life. The style, in the
best sense of the word, is worldly. It is of the earth,
earthy, and aims to be true to its terrene origin and
object. It is, thus, rather to the credit than the
discredit of the Augustan Miscellanies that, as a
class, they are now but little read. They were writ-
ten for the age of Anne and mainly apply there, as
those of Carlyle are for the nineteenth century and
may be out of place in the twenty-first. Certain de-
partments of Miscellaneous Prose, such as Criticism,
192
ENGLISH prose.
have to do largely with the past; but even here the
writing is brought down to date and we see through
the eyes of our contemporaries. One of the main
benefits of this prose to the general reader and to the
student of style is, that it is full of life and spirit.
The air is tonic and the effect is bracing. No one can
make himself conversant with it and keep himself in
contact with it and be a dull man or a dull writer.
Literature and Life-has become from the pen of
Mr. Whipple a popular phrase. It is worth its popu-
larity. Our English word, prosaic, is a sharp rebuke
at this very point and bids the prose writer be a man
in living earnest as he speaks to men.
(B.) DIVISIONS OR CLASSES OF MISCELLANEOUS PROSE.
It is not necessary to repeat the classifications that
have been adopted of this branch of English Prose,
most of them marking either the extreme of narrow-
ness or that of fullness. The division which we shall
adopt and briefly discuss may be thus stated:
1. ESSAYS AND Reviews.
2. LETTERS.
3. TRAVELS AND TALES.
4. JOURNALISM.
(1.) Essays.
This is a term more nearly synonymous with Mis-
cellanies than any other that might be adopted. In
a literary point of view they may be said to cover a
larger ground than any other and best represent the
main characteristics of discursive prose as already
mentioned. This order of production naturally finds
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-MISCELLANEOUS. 193
abundant application in each of the four special
forms of prose discussed.
Historical or Biographical Essays.
Descriptive or Poetic Essays.
Impassioned Essays.
Philosophical or Didactic Essays.
Such writers as Macaulay, Lamb, Burke and Bacon
will illustrate these respective forms of essay. The
various characteristics stated under the four specific.
forms as separately treated will apply, respectively, to
these essays illustrating them. The historical essay
is simply the historical form of prose in brief and
popular style. So, in turn, as to the others, it being
noteworthy that the great body of English Essayists
is made up of those very writers who have also dis-
tinguished themselves in the production of the separ-
ate classes of prose. Each of the authors mentioned
above is a case in point. But very few authors have
confined their work to the one department of
periodical prose.
By the term-British Essayists-is meant, those
who, whatever their other and more extended work
may have been, have done also an important work
in miscellaneous writing.-De Quincey, Goldsmith,
Lamb, Johnson, Carlyle, and Ruskin.
The Review, so called, is simply a particular kind of
essay and needs no special classification. Its primary
idea was to answer the purpose of a somewhat lengthy
editorial giving the views of some standard literary
organ and founded, generally, on some book or pub-
lication. Its method, as far as it was distinct from
the ordinary essay, was biographical and critical, as
101
ENGLISH PROSE.
3
·
is seen in Lord Macaulay or Dryden. Thus inter-
preted, all critics refer their origin to 1802-3, the date
of the Edinburgh Review, as founded by Jeffrey,
Brougham and Sydney Smith. Its very object was,
literary criticism, often destructive in method and
result, but still useful. This critical spirit is well ex-
hibited in the comparison of conflicting schools. The
Edinburgh Review was Whig in sentiment. The
London Quarterly that followed under Gifford and
Lockhart was Tory. The first mode was in what
was known as the Lake School of Poetry. The second
had for its main supporters the very leaders of that
school-Wordsworth, Southey and others. Whatever
the spirit, however, the establishment of these reviews
marked an important epoch in English Prose. It
marks the origin of English Criticism as a literary
ar and is now represented in the prose of Matthew
Arnold. Hence, it has come to pass that among all
the forms of essay mentioned, the Critical Essay or
Review has taken precedence and bids fair to hold it.
This, in fact, was the first occasion of Miscellaneous
prose-criticism. The difference is, that in former
times the subject of criticism was political and social
rather than intellectual and literary.
:
(2.) Letters.
This is a form of miscellaneous prose that need
not detain us. It is to be marked that the term is
here used to express that order of correspondence
which is literary rather than personal or official, and
which is seen in such intercourse as Goethe and
Schiller had together by pen in Germany, or in the
correspondence of Fenelon and of Madame Guyon,
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—MISCELLANEOUS. 195
of Madame D'Arblay and of Madame de Sévigné, in
France.
Literature and Letters are one and the same word.
Epistolary writing in a social point of view probably
marks the lowest level of artistic composition. It is
even lower and less substantial than the most inferior
form of newspaper writing. Literary letters, how-
ever, have their place as a form of prose. The
Letters of the Fifteenth century furnish us an ex-
ample in English. The celebrated letters of Junius
in the reign of George III., are such. The written
intercourse of Carlyle and Emerson is of this order.
Further instances may be seen in the Letters of
Sara Coleridge, of Johnson, of Scott, Swift, Temple
and Walpole; of Lamb, De Quincey, Macaulay,
Lockhart, Cowper, Lady Montagu and among the
members of the Lake School, as a school.
Here is a large variety of names and topics indi-
cative of the high literary character which such corres-
pondence may assume. It will be noticed that in
this list are the names of many of the best English
Essayists, who, by way of recreative work now and
then resorted to the brief and colloquial form of
epistle. As far as characteristics and general style
are concerned, they illustrate the principles already
mentioned save that they are the most informal
species of literary prose.
(3.) Travels and Tales.
These are often written in the form of correspon-
dence. They involve so fully the narrative and
descriptive elements of style that they might be
called,—Narrative-Descriptive Prose. It is better,
196
ENGLISH PROSE.
nowever, to place them among Miscellanies, as rep
resenting so many different phases of expression.
They so happily combine pleasure and benefit that
they are widely current among the people as a
readable form of literature, and give to the student
of expression some of the simplest and most valuable
elements of style. In their best form they are
marked by accuracy of statement, graphic delineation
and general literary excellence. They are often so
closely connected with higher literary forms that
they may be said to rise to the rank of the best
historical and pictorial prose, while their substantial
character as based on fact, gives them something of
the philosophic or didactic cast. It is further to be
noted that they constitute a comparatively modern
form of prose, are fully in keeping with the drift of
modern times and rapidly increasing in amount and
essential value. The present era is one of rapid
movement, of wide and varied observation and the
publisher follows the traveler on his journeyings to
give to the people the results of his latest experi
ences. The danger is lest the literary element give
way at length to the practical, popular and even
mercenary; lest the superficial rule at the expense of
thoroughness and artistic finish be sacrificed to the
rapid recital of events and scenes.
The phrase-Explorations and Travels-with which
we are now familiar, would seem to indicate that
these accounts of men and things are assuming a
kind of scientific character, and used to convey in
the best form the results of such researches in distant
lands. These records, however, are more technical
than literary as seen in Humboldt's or Livingstone's
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.—MISCELLANEOUS. 197
Travels and Researches, Layard's Nineveh and
Babylon or Dilkes' Greater Britain.
Of the strictly literary order may be mentioned,
among American authors, Irving's Tales of a Trav
eler or Columbus or Alhambra, Howell's Venetian
Life, Bayard Taylor's Northern Travel, Thompson's
Land and the Book, Hawthorne's Italian Note Book
or English Note Book, and Emerson's English Traits.
Among English writers, Dickens' American Notes,
Hugh Miller's England and its People, Mahaffy's Soc-
ial Life in Greece or Rambles in Greece, are exam-
ples. These works are composed on strictly literary
principles and conduce to culture. They serve partly
the purpose of Prose Fiction in the line of wholesome
entertainment while they are superior to it in having
actual historical fact beneath them..
(4.) Journalism.
The reference here, is to that form of journalistic
writing which is of the higher order and allies itself
to thorough, artistic work. This is what Prof. Cop-
pee has in mind when he refers to the Augustan Pe-
riodicals as "the real origin of the present English
Press." There is no room here for the ordinary
Newspaper production of modern times, but for high
class editorial work as seen in the best specimens of
British Journalism. Strictly speaking, Modern Jour-
nalism, if by that is meant, the Daily Newspaper
Press, does not belong to the province of Literary
Prose. Its method, immediate end and actual visible
result preclude this. This is no fault of its own.
the nature of the case, it cannot be held to strict ac-
count in these particulars. If current journalism is
In
198
ENGLISH prose.
in the main clear and accurate in style and in the
line of moral propriety it has accomplished its end.
If by journalism, however, is meant the entire depart-
ment of magazine production, monthly, bi-monthly
and quarterly, as seen in the leading magazines of
Modern Times, then it takes on a distinct literary char-
acter and is sufficiently described under the general
head of Essays and Reviews as discussed. It is sug-
gestive to note that the connection between the lower
and the higher forms of journalism, between the
newspaper and the magazine, is found in the daily
editorial article wherein, on the basis of facts and
items the editor rises to general principles and acts,
for the time, the part of the literary author. Herein,
lies the hope of Modern Journalism and its claim to
professional rank. If it is true that the London
Times is not only a mighty political and social power
in England, but a literary daily in its tone and cast,
and acknowledged as such by men of distinction, it
follows that such an order of Journalism is possible
and should more abound. The Modern Newspaper
must exist as a paper of news, but in connection with
this, the leaders of the English and American Press
can do no better work for popular English, public
morality and the general good than by giving to
journalism enough at least, of a literary character to
ally it with all our best English Prose.
Inferences.
1. The Relation of Prose Forms to Prose Periods.
The peculiar adaptation of English Prose to the re-
spective eras in which it has been produced is worthy
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.~MISCELLANEOUS. 199
of special notice. It is not meant that this adjust-
ment can be discerned at every point along the line
of the history, but can be so discerned at the salient
points as to make the relationship logical and vital.
The names of the periods which we have selected
have been selected on this principle; the name indi-
cating both the historical and literary character of
the time. The Formative, Transitional, Settled and
Expansive periods mark similar types of prose, re-
spectively. Baconian prose was formative, and as
such, would have been out of place and time at any
later period. Addisonian prose, in the days of Ba-
con would have been similarly untimely as that of
the school of Dryden would be in the modern expan-
sive period of Macaulay and Carlyle. The difference
in these periods is nothing more nor less than a dif-
ference of literary style peculiar to each separate pe-
riod. The Spectator was the very thing for the age
of Anne, but would not do for that of Victoria. It
would be as difficult to conceive of Hooker writing
for the Spectator as of Steele writing the Polity, and
this, not because of the difference in the men so
much as by reason of the difference in the epoch
and tendency.
If we inquire more particularly as to this relation
of form to era, it may be stated, that in the Forma-
tive Period, didactic or ethical prose was prominent
as seen in Hooker and Bacon; in the Transitional
Period, descriptive and impassive prose, as in Bun-
yan and Milton; in the Settled Period, Miscellaneous
Prose, as in Addison; while the Expansive Period is
proved to be such from the fact that all the forms are
found in a good degree of fullness and ever develop-
200
ENGLISH PROSE.
+
ing. The Historical is seen in the school of Hume,
Robertson and Gibbon; Prose Fiction, in the school
of Richardson, Fielding and Dickens; Oratorical
Prose in the school of Burke; Philosophic Prose in the
school of Coleridge; and Miscellanies in the great
Essayists.
In this last and present period, now developing, all
forms are unified and compacted, by which a variety
and vigor are secured never before reached. If, as
Bacon holds-"The end of philosophy (knowledge) is
the intuition (perception) of unity" such an end has
been practically reached in the historic development
of our prose.
2. Relative Value of Forms.
It is scarcely necessary to draw close distinctions
here and classify these varied forms on a nicely ad-
justed gradation of higher and lower. As has been
hinted, each in its place is the best form and so
essential that any arbitrary comparison must be
misleading.
It being understood that the Miscellaneous Form
is illustrative of all the others, the remaining forms,
if stated in the order of their importance, abstractly
viewed, would be Historical, Descriptive, Didactic,
Impassioned. If all the classes of English Prose
must be reduced so as to embrace but two, these
would be the Narrative and Descriptive. The most
essential types of human expression are the recital
of events and the portraiture of scenes. Hence it is,
that these two species are so connected in nature and
practice that it is difficult and quite unnecessary
REPRESENTATIVE FORMS.-MISCELLANEOUS. 201
sharply to dissever them, while in such a form as
Miscellanies they again appear as a substantive
feature of the style.
He who is skillful in ordinary narrative and de-
scriptive prose has already reached good results in
writing and gives promise of high literary success.
3. Form and Idea.
The old question as to the relation of thought to
style is still an open question, resulting largely from
the vicious teaching of certain French and English
schools as to the nature and objects of style. De-
fining it as merely the outward expression of thought
in chaste and correct language, and magnifying the
external feature out of all due proportion, it came to
be held that idea was one thing and style quite
another. What is technically called, the Euphuistic
style, is of this lower order-where vain verbal con-
ceits take the place of substantial idea and plainness
is sacrificed to pomp. On this wise, style, so called,
was cultivated for its own sake and naturally degen-
erated into the veriest bombast. It is to be empha-
sized here that the form of English Prose as it appears
upon the page to the eye is a form that embodies
intellectual power. More than that, it is itself in-
stinctive with the mental life that it contains, and
varies in feature and power as that life varies.
The forms of English Prose are the forms of
English thought visible and open, and cannot be
dissevered from that thought of which they are the
natural expression.
Descriptive prose is the writer's poetic personality
202
ENGLISH prose.
in written form. It is more than a graphic depiction
of objects and scenes. It is a portraiture of the
author's mind through such scenes. It is the delin-
eation of the man himself behind the scenes.
Prose Periods are vital by reason of the forces and
human agencies at work at their centre and determin-
ing them. Prose Forms are immeasurably more so
in that they are the express image of the personalities
within them. "The style is the Man."
འ་བ
5
PART THIRD.
*
PART THIRD.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS
AND THEIR STYLES.
(A.) Classification of Prose Authors.
THERE are three distinct principles on which all the
writers of English Prose might be classified.
(a) On the basis of Periods:-Formative, Trans-
itional, Settled and Expansive.
This is the historical or chronological division and
names the writers simply in the order in which they
lived and wrote from Hooker to Carlyle.
(b) On the basis of Forms:-Narrative, Descriptive,
Impassioned, Philosophical and Miscellaneous.
This is the rhetorical division and classifies the
various writers as to the manner in which they have
respectively illustrated the leading kinds of Prose
Discourse.
(c) On the basis of Thought and Style.
This is a purely literary division and has advan-
tages of its own. It is on this principle mainly that
we speak of a certain order of writers as Representa-
tive, all others taking their appropriate places in the
various gradations of rank below this.
While such writers of the first order might, as a
matter of possibility, be arranged under the respec-
206
ENGLISH PROSE.
tive historical periods and rhetorical forms of prose
still, this literary classification is quite independent
of periods and forms and has in view other ends.
These different principles of classification may for
convenience be combined in the division of the au-
thors to be discussed into three separate orders or
groups.
The discussion of Modern Prose Proper is thus
seen to begin with the names of Hooker, Bacon
and Milton. They may be said to constitute the
Earlier Group. Whatever their literary faults, they
are strictly representative. The merits they pos-
sessed are too distinctive to be omitted. Though
not as modern as their successors, they still are
modern authors.
What might be called, The Second or Middle Group
of Modern Prose Writers begins with Swift and ends.
with Burke; including the additional names of Ad-
dison and Johnson.
In these writers, earlier literary faults are fast
eliminated. The grammatical and literary transition.
from Middle to Modern-English, so largely effected
by Bacon and his colleagues, is now fully effected
and authors wrote substantially as they write now.
Still more specifically, the latest list begins with the
name of Charles Lamb. It is the Modern Group
Proper. It is the English Prose of the nineteenth
century happily opened by Lamb, Macaulay, De
Quincey and Dickens; that order of prose to which
Carlyle and a goodly number of others have so bril-
liantly contributed, and which in its present fullness
of promise bids fair to surpass in quality and measure
any results already reached.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.
207
(B.) Explanatory Statements.
(a) The dividing line between representative writ
ers and those immediately below them is often so
close and delicate as to make absolute accuracy impossible;
such authors as Bunyan, Hume and Goldsmith being
placed by some in the first list; by others, in the
second. No dogmatic opinions can here be given.
A discussion of all representative authors will not be
attempted in the present volume but simply enough
to exhibit a comprehensive and correct view of prose
style.
(b) Here and there, as in the case of Carlyle and
Johnson, Hooker and Milton, authors are regarded as
representative in spite of some gross defects and
violations of style. Their thought is so vigorous and
trenchant, and most of their merits of style are so
marked, that the effect of faults is largely concealed
or counterbalanced. Their high literary power can-
not be ignored. Representative writers are not, nec-
essarily, in all respects model writers.
(c) Representative writers are those who not only
have written so many pages of English Prose, but
who, back of all visible product are literary in charac-
ter and spirit and who are identified with the histor-
ical and national progress of literature in England.
Such a fact will give a rank to their prose above that
of others, who apart from this may be authors of
merit.
Such writers as Addison and Lamb are thus far
superior to Raleigh and Sydney.
(d) There are many writers, who so far as they
have gone, have done laudable work in prose, but who
208
ENGLISH PROSE.
have not gone far enough to claim a place as represen-
tative. A large number of our Miscellaneous Essay-
ists are such:-Cowley, Johnson, Wordsworth, Foster,
Steele and Temple. Some of these have done their
best work in poetry.
(e) All representative writers are not representa-
Bacon is so in one sense,
tive in the same manner.
and Macaulay in another. Each is prominent in his
own age and way and, as such, cannot be omitted in
a discussion of characteristic authors. The variety
of the prominence is as great as that of their respec-
tive characters. Some representative writers are more
representative than others. De Quincey is more so
than Hooker; Macaulay is more so than Bacon.
(f) In the study of style as expressed in the best
authorship will be seen the true relation of literary
principles to literary practice—of formal to applied dis-
course. The relation holds in literature as in Logic,
Mathematics or any other department. Whatever
may be theoretically studied in the line of diction.
sentence and figure, or as to the laws, qualities, pro-
cesses and forms of writing is here successfully
applied in concrete expression. Each is important in
its place, and cannot be safely neglected. Mere
rhetorical theory apart from its faithful application
or mere literary practice apart from scientific method
is alike extreme and fraught with evil. This, how-
ever, is to be clearly borne in mind-that the formal
is with reference to the practical and loses itself in
it. The final end of all study of literary law is per-
sonal literary product. Hence it is, that literature
as a visible body of thought must always rank above
the mere knowledge of the laws of expression. Lit-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITErs.
209
erary creation of product is far more than mere
literary criticism. English Prose Style, as studied
in English Prose authors, will conduce alike to
skill in criticism and the higher skill of personal
authorship.
Plan of Discussion.
As stated in the preface, it is not our present pur-
pose to give detailed biographical and historical
sketches of the prose authors whom we study. Such
a minute method is in place on the part of historians
of our literature who aim to be exhaustive in their
treatment, as with Morley, in his,-English Writers,
or Masson in his-Life and Times of Milton, or Craik,
in his-English Literature. At present, our object
is purely literary and critical, and we must keep
within the bounds assigned us.
To the literary critic is left the analysis of the aus
thor's style as a product of literary art quite distinct
from biography and history. The life of any author
under notice will be referred to, therefore, only in so
far as it bears on authorship and style. The discus-
sion at this point is one of style rather than of authors
-the Prose Style of Prose Authors.
In the study now before us special attention will
therefore be called to those leading principles of En-
glish Style which have been accepted as such by all
literary critics and scholars. It is substantially
the method which Nathan Drake applies, in his in-
teresting survey of English Periodical Literature;
which Masson applies, in his study of-British Nov-
elists and which Minto illustrates, among other
methods, in his Prose Manual and which is becom-
210
ENGLISH PROSE.
ing more and more fully the accepted method of
discussion.
It may be repeated, that our present plan does not
necessitate the study of every representative prose
writer, but simply enough to give to the student and
general reader a satisfactory view of the province and
quality of our typical English Prose.
We shall discuss the respective styles of the fol-
lowing Representative Names.
SIR FRANCIS BACON.
RICHARD HOOKER.
JOHN MILTON.
JOSEPH ADDISON.
JONATHAN SWIFT.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
EDMUND BURKE.
CHARLES LAMB.
THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY.
THOMAS DE QUINCEY.
CHARLES DICKENS.
THOMAS CARLYLE.
In such a limited and yet characteristic list as this,
there may be seen, at once, the Historical Develop-
ment of English Prose and that of English Prose
Style.
CHAPTER I.
THE PROSE STYLE OF FRANCIS BACON.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN in London, January 22nd, 1561. In Cambridge,
1573-6. Thence to Paris with an English Ambassa-
dor. Admitted to the Bar in 1582. In Parliament,
1584, from Melcombe; 1586, from Taunton; 1588, from
Liverpool; 1592, from Middlesex. Degree of M. A.
(Cambridge) 1594. In Parliament, 1597, from Ips-
wich; 1601, from Ipswich. Knighted by James I.,
1603. In Parliament, 1603-4, from Ipswich. Counsel
to the Crown. Solicitor General, 1607. Attorney
General, 1613. In Parliament, 1614, from Ipswich.
Keeper of the Seal, 1617. Lord Chancellor, 1618.
Baron Verulam, 1619. Viscount St. Albans, 1620.
Convicted and sentenced, 1621. Died in 1626, at
Highgate.
Bacon's Use of Latin.
The most important fact to be borne in mind at this
point is, that Bacon wrote most of his works in Latin.
He was, as Bede and Aelfric before him, an Anglo-
Latin author. It is, of course, with his works in En-
glish only that we have to do, save in so far as there
212
ENGLISH prose.
are evident in all his writings those general qualities
of style for which he was noted.
It is quite impossible, at this distant date fully to
explain the reason of that particular attitude which
Bacon assumed relative to English and his de-
eided partiality for the Latin, which he loved to call
"that universal language which may last as long
as books last." Not only did he compose his fa-
vorite works in Latin, but regretted that he had com-
posed any in his native tongue and as speedily as
possible, converted them into Latin. Though, as we
have seen, the vernacular was then used by the
poets-by Hooker, Sydney and others with efficacy,
though it was comparatively free from the crudeness
of First and Middle-English times, still, Bacon was
suspicious of it. Specially jealous as to his reputa-
tion, he felt that he might as well commit his works
to the flames as to the vernacular. In a letter
to Mr. Matthew, shortly before his own death, he
says: "It is true, my labor is now most set to have
those works which I had formerly published (in En-
glish) well translated into Latin, for these modern
languages, will at one time or other, play the bank-
rupt with books and since I have lost much time
with this age, I would be glad, as God would give
me leave, to recover it with posterity." There is far
more vanity than piety in this outburst; still, it ex-
presses his view. He applied these sentiments,
among other works, to those very essays which by
his own acknowledgment to Buckingham "of all his
other works had been most current, for that as it seems,
they came home to men's business and bosoms." It
is strange, indeed, that this far-sighted man could not
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BACON.
213
have seen the vital connection between the currency
of the essays and their appearance in English. It is
stranger still that right at the centre of a great
awakening of English thought he should not have
felt that the path of literary duty, honor, and wisdom,
was straight in the line of this home-speech. It was
strangest of all that a man of Bacon's acumen could
have before him the actual products of the English
Language in prose and verse from Hooker and
Shakespeare, and think of this speech "playing the
bankrupt" with an author's fame, and resorting to the
dead languages to secure his reputation with poster-
ity. It may here be suggested, that in Lord Bacon's
preference for the Latin and his extensive use of it,
there is a strong historical and literary argument
against the Baconian authorship of Shakespeare's
Plays. These Plays are English to the marrow and
bone and could not have been written by any other
than an enthusiastic lover of the home-speech. While
every English scholar cannot but regret that Bacon
should thus have misjudged the genius and ever
widening scope of his vernacular, we can yet re-
joice in the fact, explain it as we may, that ap-
parently he has outwitted himself and done good
work in his native tongue. We cannot say, with a
recent English writer, that we have lost in the
Latin Bacon an English classic. If some of his
best works are what they are in and through
their English dress, English scholars should take
the benefit of it. Mr. Taine's eulogy is extreme
when he says:-"There is nothing in English Prose
superior to his diction," still, he has a record as an
English Author.
214
ENGLISH PROSE.
Bacon is not the English writer he might have
been had he used nothing but his own speech. Still,
he is a standard to the degree in which he uses it nor
must it be forgotten that it was mainly in the region
of scholastic philosophy outside of the province of
general literature that he was Anglo-Latin in his
style. To the student of English Prose, as literary
and not speculative, Bacon has few relations save as
a writer of English.
His Prose Works in English.
Bacon was a versatile and voluminous author. His
writings begin in 1582, when he was just past his
majority, and continue nearly to the year of his
death.
The list opens with the- Temporis Partus Maxi-
mus-and closes fitly with a translation of the Psalms.
It embraces a vast variety of subject-philosophy,
church controversy, speeches in Parliament, legal trea-
tises and discussions, political tracts, ethical disquisi-
tions, natural science, history, translation, apothegms,
romance and miscellanies. Mathematics is said to
have been the only science with which he was not
conversant.
It is with his English Prose only, that we are con-
cerned in the discussion of his style, and in such
a discussion there are but few works which need oc-
cupy our attention, viz:
THE ESSAYS.
ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.
HISTORY OF HENRY VII.
THE NEW Atlantis.
REPRESENTATIVE Writers.—BACON.
215
The first edition of The Essays was published in
1597, and consisted of ten; the second appeared in
1612, to the number of thirty-eight-of the same
nature, he says, "which I myself will not suf
fer to be lost and it seemeth the world will not;
and the third appeared in 1625-one year before
his death. This last and present edition numbers
fifty-eight and is entitled-Essays or Counsels, Civil
and Moral. It includes, also, a fragment of an Essay
on Fame.
These essays embrace a large variety of themes,
abstract and practical and are marked throughout
by the peculiar features of the author's style.
The Advancement of Learning-was published in
1605, between the first and second issue of the Es-
says. It was afterward translated into Latin and
enlarged into nine books under the title-De Aug-
mentis Scientiarum-published in 1623. These two
books of, The Advancement, constitute the first part
of his work which he called-The Great Reconstruc-
tion (Instauratio Magna) as he says in writing to
Bishop Andrewes: "For that my book of Advance-
ment of Learning may be some preparation or key
for the better opening of the Instauration." He adds
significantly—“I have thought good to procure a
translation of that book into the general language.
As Mr. Spedding suggests:-Bacon had no faith in the
English as a classical (standard) language. In the
first book he discusses the Discredits and The Dig-
nity of Learning; in the second, he discusses Human
Learning and Divine Learning. Here again the
area traversed is a wide one and the Baconian style.
is everywhere apparent. This work is especially
216
ENGLISH prose.
interesting in that it shows the close relation of
Bacon's philosophical to his literary character.
The History of Henry VII-needs little explana-
tion. In the author's preparatory letter addressed to
Prince Charles, he says of Henry VII., "I have not
flattered him, but took him to life as well as I could."
It is a narrative, pure and simple, rarely ever ris-
ing to the discussion of causes and principles. The
record goes on with great simplicity and we forget
the author in the story. This is a true test of skill
in art. In his own language, he would term it a
history of "narrations or relations." Minto's state-
ment, "that it is probably the very best history of its
kind" is extreme, but reveals the attitude of modern
criticism regarding it.
The New Atlantis-is nothing more nor less than a
romance; as Rawley writes in the preface, "This
fable my lord devised to the end that he might
exhibit therein a model or description of a college
instituted for the interpreting of nature." This
fabulous element is the main one throughout and is
especially interesting as coming from the masculine
mind of Bacon. It reads like to More's Utopia and
has reference to a kind of philosophical golden age
yet to appear.
These four works, it will be noted, respectively
reveal the miscellaneous, philosophical, narrative and
descriptive orders of prose, as already studied, and
serve to show, at once, the versatility of Bacon's
thought and style.
In the discussion before us, special reference will
be had to the Essays and-The Advancement of
Learning.
represenTATIVE WRITERS.—BACON. 217
LEADING QUALITIES OF STYLE.
(1.) Condensation and Compactness.
Many of the paragraphs and sentences are bur-
dened with their weight of thought. They remind
one of an autumnal scene when the trees of the or-
chards are bending to the earth with their fruitage.
Such a collection as the Essays is a real intellectual
treasury. The ideas are packed in so closely as to
defy any nicer adjustment of truth to truth. It is as if
the author had been limited in his province, and was
obliged from the outset, to compress his thoughts
into the most limited area. This compactness of idea
is especially noticeable in that successive readings of
the text only serve to deepen the conviction of its
terseness. The author himself seems to have been
conscious of this characteristic, and to have made it
from the outset a prime object in his writing. It is,
thus, that in speaking of his Essays, he remarks:
"They be like the late new half-pence; the silver,
good and the pieces small;" "certain brief notes, set
down rather significantly than curiously, requiring
both leisure in the writer and reader." It is worthy
of remark, here, that this terseness of style is as true
of his Latin as of his English writings and arises
from the fact that in whatever language he wrote,
his thinking was clear and close and demanded a
corresponding form of expression. In what are called
The Apothegms, and Elegant Sentences, and Wisdom
of The Ancients, this feature of style appears con
spicuously, e. g.: —
218
. ENGLISH PROSE.
"He conquers twice who restrains himself in victory."
'To deliberate about useful things is the safest delay."
"It is a strange desire that men have, to seek power and lose
liberty."
"Discretion in speech is more than eloquence."
"In great place ask counsel of both times;-of the ancient time,
what is best, and of the latter time, what is fittest."
"Riches are the baggage of virtue; they cannot be spared nor
left behind but they hinder the march;" or as he says in the Essays
--" We are to seek them only as we may get them justly, use them
soberly, distribute them cheerfully, and leave them contentedly."
In The Advancement of Learning, speaking of the use of the
aphoristic style, he gives us in a single paragraph a definition and
specimen of it: "It trieth the writer whether he be superficial or
solid, for aphorisms cannot be made but of the pith and heart of
science, for discourse of illustration is cut off; recitals of examples
are cut off; discourse of connection and order is cut off; descrip-
tions of practice are cut off. So there remaineth nothing to fill
the aphorism but some good quantity of observation, and, therefore,
no man can suffice to write aphorisms but he that is sound and
grounded."
This is that kind of condensed utterance which
will not allow the reader a moment's leisure, and
which in its Spartan and Senecan brevity has called
forth the praise of all critics, from Johnson to
Dugald Stuart. In its sententiousness, it extorts
from a foreign critic of English the avowal, "that
Shakespeare and the seers do not contain more
vigorous and expressive condensations."
In the two treatises, specially referred to, we are
free to say that there is more mental stuff in the same
space than in any other similar selection from English
literature.
To attempt to quote any farther would be folly.
The reader may open these books at random for this
Baconian quality.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BACON.
219
(2.) Analytical Clearness and Suggestion.
The subject in hand is always dissected and spread
out in its various parts before the reader so that he
sees into it and through it. He sees it in its nature,
relations and applications. It is a complete rhetori-
cal and logical framework with all the parts in due
adjustment to each other. It is thus that his dis-
tinctively philosophical writings are seminal and ger-
minal rather than fully developed; suggestive rather
than demonstrative. Their special use, therefore, ist
that of education rather than instruction. They are
designed to lead the student on by gradual stages
through a series of hints and teachings to the best
expression of his personal powers, and the highest
forms of mental efficiency. It is thus that the author
aptly terms his essays, "grains of salt that will
rather give one an appetite than offend with satiety."
As examples of this special feature we note the Es-
say on-Simulation and Dissimulation-and that on-
Atheism. In the Advancement, as Morley states it,
"Bacon makes by a sort of exhaustive analysis, a
ground plan of all subjects of study, as an intellec-
tual map, helping the right inquirer in his search for
the right path." If the student or reader will con-
sult the analysis of each book given by Wright, in
his edition of Bacon's Advancement, he will see
what is meant by this "intellectual map." His great
philosophical work--The Novum Organum-affords
an illustration of this analytical habit without any
parallel in our language.
It is on the basis of this critical and deep reaching
dissection of a subject that we have in Bacon that
3-"ו.
220
ENGLISH PROSE.
peculiar form of expression which may be called in-
dicative or exponential rather than declarative, entit-
ling him to the appellation given him by Taine:-" a
producer of conceptions." He suggested far more
than he stated.
(3.) Incisiveness.
The reference here is to a crisp, curt and clean-cut
style. It might be called excisive. Everything
superfluous is removed. The truth is given in itṣ
essence. The old terms, conciseness, preciseness ex-
press it. Thomas Fuller would call it the "pruning
process." It is Bacon's favorite logical method of
Inclusion and Exclusion strictly applied to the do-
main of rhetorical art. While leaving nothing un-
said that is of vital importance, the special object
is, to say nothing that is not important. The writer
is here on the defensive and resists the common
tendency to the verbose and irrelevant. Even what
is called amplification in literary art is viewed with
caution and retrenchment is the order. It is in this
connection that the epigrams and antitheses of Ba-
con's prose are properly noted. Whatever might be
the objections to them in ordinary literature and in
the hands of unskilful writers, they were to Bacon
the most natural form of expression, and the most
essential by reason of the closeness of his reasoning.
Bacon's thinking was incisive. There were those of
his own time under the influence of Euphuism
with whom this incisive characteristic of style was
the veriest artifice and who sacrificed to mechanism
all beauty and vigor of expression. Antithesis is a
dangerous instrument in the hands of a weakling.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BACON.
221
The Pointed Style, with such, is all point. As in
mathematics, it has position without magnitude;
place, but no power. Bacon was intellectually strong
enough to use it without abusing it and its effect is
telling. 'Tis thus that he speaks in praise of the
Queen "that if Plutarch were now living to write
lives of parallels, it might trouble him to find one
for Elizabeth;" "that God Almighty planted the
first garden;" "that in evil the best condition is,
not to will; the next, not to can;" "that the best of
beauty is that which a picture cannot express;
"that it is good to commit the beginning of all great
actions to Argus with an hundred eyes, and, the end
of them to Briareus with a hundred hands; first, to
watch, and then to speed." Such pithy sayings as
these are what Bacon called in another saying as
incisive as any of them "the seeds of arguments to
be cast up into some brief and acute sentences, not
to be cited but to be as skeins or bottoms of threads
to be unwound at large when they come to be used."
Sentences such as these are sufficient to classify Bacon
with the masters of antithesis-with Dryden and
Pope, Johnson and Carlyle, and those of other lands
who have shown special aptness in the use of the
balanced structure. Such a quality of style when
isolated from others is objectionable and serves but
to reveal their absence and the need of them, while
in connection with other and higher qualities, it
serves a most valuable end. There is a tonic influ-
ence in the pungency of it. It compels attention,
if not indeed, assent. It states the case so bluntly
that there is no evasion and the alternative must be
accepted. It acts as seasoning in food. It makes
222
ENGLISH PROSE.
the pages spicy and palatable to the most fastidious.
"It is with times," says Bacon, "as it is with ways;
some are more uphill and downhill and some are more
flat and plain." Some styles, we may add, are all
downhill or uphill or all flat and plain. There is
no variety of contrast. Abruptness is preferable to
monotony. Modern English and American prose is
in need of this incisive quality. Other things being
equal, it marks mental life and spirit and saves the
book from being shelved shortly after publication.
Bacon's best prose, though written three centuries
ago, is still read, not simply because it is in itself so
matterfull, but because it is so presented as to awaken
interest and fix the truth in the mind.
(4.) Strength and Force.
This may be said to result from the united action
of the other qualities or to be the ground of them.
They interact. The style of Bacon is solid. To
define style as mere form or external presentation
will not suffice here. It is the form of substance.
It is itself substantial. It is thus, that in the perusal
of the best prose of Bacon, reading rises to the rank
of a study and his own theory is carried out as he
says in his Essay on Studies:-"Read to weigh and
consider. Some (books) are to be read wholly with
diligence and attention." He despises books that he
calls "flashy" and like "distilled waters."
As we
read the writings of Bacon, we feel that we are
engaged in a mental gymnastic. The experience is
disciplinary more than entertaining. We feel the
bealthful pressure of a strong mind and a strong
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BACON.
223
style, and we are made strong by the contact. The
effect on the mind is like to that of an October
morning on the body,-bracing and vital.
It is thus that his biographer, Rawley, most justly
remarks:-" In the composing of his books, he did
rather drive at a masculine and clear expression
than at any fineness of phrase." It was this same
vigor that elicited from Johnson that high eulogium
on Bacon as an orator without which no analysis of
his style seems to be complete:-"Yet there appeared
in my time one noble speaker who was full of gravity
in his speaking. No man ever spoke more pressly or
more weightily."
There is no one synonym that will better answer
to the word Baconian, as applied to style, than the
word, vigorous. In this respect, the type of Bacon's
mind and style was closely akin to Hooker's. That
same philosophic gravity and mental force belonged
to each. What Hooker was, in the narrower field of
theological controversy, Bacon was as a man and a
writer in the wider field of secular thought.
Hence, it may be said of Bacon as of Hooker, that
his style will never be popular in the sense in which
that of Goldsmith is popular. It is too heavily laden
with idea and substance, too condensed, analytic and
substantial to admit of this. Whatever its incisive
power may be, or its illustrative clearness, it is too
full of “sterner stuff" to please most men. Herein,
however, lies its special attractiveness to special
classes in every age, and herein are found those ele-
ments of power which will preserve it as a classic as
long as classic prose is valued. It is this very qual-
ity of strength which exalts the Essays of Bacon
224
ENGLISH PROSE.
above the Arcadia of Sydney, and makes it necessary
for every student of modern prose to begin with his
writings and those of Hooker as the accepted point of
departure.
Bacon is, thus, one of the best examples in literature
of the true relation of thought to expression. He estab-
lishes for us the vital principle that, given a method
of thinking, cogent and clear, we have, as a necessary
result, a similar style. Instead of shaping the
thought to the expression and making the matter
subordinate to the form, the aim must be, to reach
the manner through the matter. Much of the merit
of the Baconian style lies in this, that it magnifies the
principle that a well furnished, disciplined mind in-
tent upon the expression of the truth for noble ends,
will rarely give utterance to its reflections without a
good degree of clearness and force. The expression
is not a something apart from the subject matter, but
evolved from it by logical and rhetorical laws. Ba-
con never studied formal expression apart from the
thought behind it. It is thus, that while those authors
of his day who polished their paragraphs with ex-
treme nicety, are forgotten, the repute of Bacon is
fresh and full. It is just because Bacon's prose style
is unstudied by him that the careful study of it by
others is the part of wisdom. Naturalness is power.
(5.) Imagination and Illustration.
This quality is especially noticeable as found con-
nected with those already mentioned. It is question-
able whether there is a more striking example in
English Prose of the close relation of the intellectual

3
EPRESENTATive writers.—BACON.
225
and imaginative, the philosophic and the poetic.
This faculty in Bacon's mind and art was eminently
normal. With other prose writers of his time-Syd-
ney, Raleigh and Burton, it was abnormal. With
Bacon, the imagination was under the complete con-
trol of the judgment and will, so that in all its soar-
ings it rarely rose above the credible and rational.
So conspicucus is this feature in his English writings
that, with the one exception of the New Atlantis,
he avoids the sphere of the purely fanciful. In-The
Wisdom of the Ancients,-written in Latin, he takes
special pains to allude to the manner in which alle-
gory has been wrested from its true purpose as an
aid to the truth, and made to minister to the wildest
fancy. His method here was not so much that of
Paul's when he knew not whether he was in or out
of the body, as that of Jacob's, who in his vision saw
a ladder, the base of which rested on the earth.
More philosophic than poetic in its quality, his im-
agination nicely adjusted the relation of all cognate
faculties: "aspiring no higher than to be a faithful
interpreter of nature; waiting for the day when the
kingdom of man should come." Hence, his simili-
tudes are for the sake of setting forth the truth. His
figures are illustrations and have that same incisive-
ness that marks his literal language. It is thus that
in the style of Bacon the gravity of a masculine prose
unites somewhat with the freedom and facility of
poetic expression. A good test of his style lies just
here. To the degree in which he succeeds in making
this union and interaction apparent, is he worthy of
the title given him by Hazlitt-the "prose laureate”
of the time of Elizabeth and James. As far as Hooker
226
ENGLISH PROSE.
went he was not inferior to Bacon, but Bacon went
much further as a writer, and in that respect holds a
higher place.
(6.) Versatility and Variety.
This will be readily admitted when it is remembered
that the History of Henry VII; The New Atlantis;
The Speeches; The Advancement of Learning and
the Essays illustrate respectively each of the five
different representative forms of prose as stated.
There is a true sense, therefore, in which his prose
may be said to be all-inclusive as to classes of style,
while it is not to be forgotten that outside of this
literary area he did a large and effective work as a
writer in the technical department of mental science.
History, Prose Fiction, oratorical prose, didactic trea-
tises and miscellanies are all exhibited, unified
and controlled by the didactic as the prime character-
istic. It is safe to say that we look in vain along the
line of English Prose Literature for any author who
exhibits a more varied combination of qualities and
kinds of style. Johnson and Carlyle approximate
him the nearest.
Versatility in itself is not a mark of power. With
many it is the very sign of weakness and means the
superficial and shallow. With Bacon, it is otherwise.
He had "large discourse of reason looking before and
after." He complained of the statesmen of his time
"that they never looked ahead into universality"
and dedicated his New Atlantis "to the enlarging of
the bounds of human empire." With Bacon, versati-
lity was a necessity. His capacious mind demanded
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BACON,
227
various outlets and forms of expression. He passes
by easy transitions from history to philosophy; from
essays to speeches and romance. He aimed to live
on his own theory: "Whatever is worthy of exist
ence is worthy, also, to be known." This diversity
of intellect and style makes ever new claims upon
the interest of the reader and adds new profit. As
his biographer states: "He had not his knowledge
from books but from some grounds and notions
within himself." Had his moral character remained
unsullied, he would still be the most commanding
presence in English Prose, and next to Shakespeare
in English Letters. The open question as to the
authorship of the Shakespearian Plays connects the
two names more closely still. From the imaginative
and versatile elements of his style, this question of
authorship has not failed to seek material in his
favor.
MAIN FAULTS OR DEFECTS OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Want of a Pure English Diction.
It is scarcely possible to endorse the extreme view
of Minto as to the simplicity of Bacon's language.
Even if we confine ourselves to his purely English
works, there is a noticeable absence of a pure English
diction. As in the case of Hooker and all the
writers of that age, this defect is scarcely a fault.
The language was in such a transition from Middle
to Modern forms, that either grammatical or literary
purity was quite impossible. This was increased in
Bacon's prose by the fact that he was thoroughly
versed in Latin lore; was in full sympathy with it
and, moreover, the very nature of the subjects he
228
ENGLISH PROse.
was discussing called for it. If not controversial as
with Hooker, they were largely didactic and some-
what technical. His studies caused him to live, to at
good degree, in the past and made it all the more
difficult for him to anticipate and further the great
movement in the direction of English speech. What-
ever the causes, however, his language cannot be
called simple. Though far superior to Hooker in the
construction of his sentences, he is more at fault in
the use of complex and ambiguous terms. Even in
the narrative portions of his prose, this error is very
common, while in the strictly scientific and technical
portions, it amounts to a serious literary evil. He is
so extremely fond of Latin quotations and of refer-
ence to the older authorities that it lends au air of
antiquity to the general style as well as to the words
themselves. As in Hooker, so here, words have
become essentially modified in meaning: such as-
advise, anatomy, artificial, censure, climatic, comfort,
convince, delicacy, etc. As to obsolete words, these
abound in Bacon's prose: such as-adoptive, adven-
tive, casuosity, cautel, celsitude, dictature, dolation,
etc. This modification and loss of words make a
glossary needful in the study of Bacon even more
than is true of Hooker. Had Bacon been in more
decided sympathy with the English and had he seen
what its future was to become his vocabulary would
have been more native and simple. In this respect,
he was quite inferior to the best poets of his day as
he was also to some of the less celebrated
prose
writers, as Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Philip Sydney.
Bacon's strength as a writer lay in those other char
acteristics to which attention has been called.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BACON.
229
(2.) Want of Development of Idea.
This was Bacon's prime defect. He was, as we
have seen, fertile in thought, vigorous, versatile,
incisive, compact and analytical, and yet, in the
literary sense of the word, not sufficiently elaborative.
His very terseness of statement and variety of sug-
gestion led to an undue brevity as to any one topic
under discussion. This is especially noticeable in the
Essays. Many of them are painfully short. Conden-
sation overreaches itself and the reader looks for the
fuller statement and unfolding of the idea. Hence,
that apparent abruptness of style which critics have
marked. It arises from the too rapid transition from
point to point ere the subject has been discussed.
In The Advancement of Learning, this is less mani-
fest but much too frequent. The treatise is made up
of a number of principles briefly stated rather than
consecutively enlarged and applied. In modern
times, this error would be charged to the credit of
undue analysis. The logical mechanism of the prose
is often too prominent over the rhetorical and liter-
ary expression of it. By this method, Bacon escapes
everything in the line of the desultory and dis-
cursive but falls into the opposite extreme of being
too rigid and sententious. The latter is the less
frequent and less injurious extreme, but still it is
an extreme. The very ideal of prose composition
is that of elaboration-the working out of the thought
in all its forms and bearings. Analysis and Syn-
thesis are preparative only. Discourse, as the
word implies, is going through a subject; it is
discussion.
230
ENGLISH PROSE.
(3.) Want of Literary Finish.
We have spoken of the imaginative element in
Bacon's style but were careful to note that this is
present in the line of clearness more than in that of
grace or beauty. The cast of his mind was philoso-
phical and not poetic. All his gifts were gifts of
power rather than of elegance. He had little to do
with the aesthetics of life. He was a literary artisan
rather than artist.
One of his collections he calls:-Ornamenta Ra-
tionalia-Elegant Sentences. In reading them we
find that elegant, means forcible or excellent. They
are a collection of brief and weighty epigrams.
In
his Essays he writes on Beauty and Deformity, but
speaks of them in a physical sense only.
His great aim in writing was didactic. He had
no time, inclination or ability to make discourse
pleasing for pleasure's sake or even in the interests
of literary art. He spoke what was in his mind in a
cogent and often a crude form. For finish of style
the student must look elsewhere. Even Hooker had
more artistic grace. Raleigh and Sydney had far
more. What Bacon lacked here, however, he more than
supplied in other and higher qualities, and it is on
these that his style rests as a standard for "the times
succeeding."
References and Authorities.
Church's Bacon (Eng. Men of Let.). Advancement
of Learning (Wright's Ed.). Essays (Wright's Ed.).
Essays (Whateley's Ed.). Bacon's Works and Life
(Spedding and Montagu). Hazlitt's Elizabethan Age.
CHAPTER II.
THE PROSE STYLE OF RICHARD HOOKER.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN at Heavitree, 1553. At Oxford, 1568. Took
degree of B. A., 1573; M. A., 1577. Was Fellow,
three years. Entered the Church in 1581. Was ap-
pointed to preach at St. Paul's Cross. Settled at
Drayton Beauchamp, 1584. Received the Mastership
of the Temple, 1585. In the Rectory of Boscombe,
1591-5. Thence to Bishopsbourne. Died, Nov. 2nd,
1600.
Prose Authorship.
We find it embodied in one distinct treatise known
as, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, the object of
which was to defend the Anglican against the Puritan
and Genevan Church; to show specifically that in con-
nection with the authority of Scripture, that of human
law and reason, also, should be given a place.
This work consists of eight books. Of these, the
first four were published together in 1594, when he
was at Boscombe; the fifth, three years later; while
as to the history of the remaining three, various
views have been current. It is generally conceded
that book sixth has been lost or so changed as not to
232
ENGLISH PROSE.
belong to the original author, and that the seventh
and eighth books are so interpolated as to be useless
as specimens of Hooker's style.
Of the five books that may be said now to consti-
tute the Polity, the first one is not only of special
value as preparative, but is a treatise quite complete
in itself, having as much reference to the general
principles of all law as to the particular discussion in
hand. Comparatively little attention has been given
by literary critics and historians to the several books
that succeed the first. On the basis of this book, as
edited by Church, we may secure satisfactory results
as to the prose of Hooker.
The Timeliness of this Prose Production.
"Hooker," says Disraeli, "is the first vernacular
writer whose classical pen harmonized a numerous
prose." Says Mr. Hallam, "The finest as well as the
most philosophical writer of the Elizabethan period
is Hooker. The first book of the Polity is one of the
masterpieces of English eloquence and excels them
all in muscular vigor." Such eulogiums might be
largely increased, and must be understood to refer,
not so much to the intrinsic quality of Hooker's
prose, as to its great superiority to all that had pre-
ceded it. In this respect, the Polity, as a work of
literary art, marks a new awakening in the province
of English thought, and in the English language
itself as a medium of expression. The sarcastic re-
mark of Cardinal Allen to Pope Clement, that "he
had never, as yet, met with an English book where
the writer deserved the name of an author," was par
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—HOOKER.
233
tially true, the Scriptures aside, with reference to the
vernacular prose up to this period. There had, as
yet, been no great prose production given to National
English Letters, though the need of it, and the ex-
pectation of it was felt on every hand. The first
English writers had done a timely preparative work,
but it was initial only. Chaucer had written long
before in racy English verse, and Spenser's "Fäerie
Queen" had just been given to the reading public;
but among the prose publications of the Middle-
English period, there was nothing which in scope.
and intrinsic worth could at all be compared to these
works. It was a time, moreover, of great religious
and literary activity. All the most vital interests of
Englishmen were before the bar of the popular judg-
ment. It could not, therefore, be brooked that these
questions should be debated and decided in any other
language than the English, especially when the clas-
sical tendencies from Rome and Greece were threat-
ening to become dominant. Right into the heart of
these public movements and in fullest sympathy with
them, Hooker entered, with his Polity, so that it is
quite impossible to estimate the influence of such a
book at such a time upon the destinies of the English
language and Literature. Hence it was that Hooker's
great work in prose was more heartily welcomed than
Spenser's romance in verse. It revealed to the na-
tion, for the first time, the rich capabilities of their
birth-tongue in this direction and made them more
hopeful than ever as to its future. It is in this revel-
ation of the hidden power of the language and the
awakening of general enthusiasm in its cultivation,,
even more than in the specific excellence of the style
234
ENGLISH prose.
of Hooker, that his greatest work was done. He
stood just at the junction where he could be most
helpful to his nation and speech, and was quick to
detect and embrace the opportunity.
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STYLE.
Merits.
(1.) Philosophical Weight and Vigor.
We have already referred to this in quoting from
Hallam, and Walton means the same thing in speak-
ing of his sermons when he says "that he seemed to
study as he spoke; the design of his sermons was to
show reasons for what he spoke." In discussing the
different forms of English Prose, mention was made
of the philosophic form, as marked by various qualities
prominent among which were dignity and sedateness
of style. In this respect Hooker is the first philoso-
phical writer of English Prose as distinct from being
a writer on philosophy itself as a separate branch of
knowledge, and fitly illustrates the difference already
suggested between the technical and popular sense
of the word-philosophical. It is to this character-
istic that Hallam probably refers as he says, "that
Hooker should be reckoned among those who have
weighed the principles and determined the boun-
daries of moral and political science." It is thus that
the Polity enters into the sphere of jurisprudence,
sociology and metaphysics.
"There is no learning," says one, "that this man
has not searched into; nothing is too hard for his
understanding." Hooker was a philosopher in the
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—HOOKER.
235
etymological sense of the word-a lover of wisdom-
and in the wider sense-an inquirer into the nature,
causes and relations of things. He was thoroughly
intellectual in his method of thinking and writing,
and often, in deference to his readers, denied himself
the privilege of going as deep as he would like. His
favorite words are, foundation, root, origin, principle,
reason,―all having to do with the essential and un-
seen. It was impossible for him to be superficial in
his expression of thought. He brings into view, as a
philosopher, the completed circle of laws, human and
divine; descants upon the origin, nature and appli-
cation of law; on the relation of will to action; on
the doctrine of first truths; on true and false sys-
tems of education, and on kindred topics. In the
presentation of some of these, such as, the final end
of God in creation, his method, diction and general
style remind one forcibly of the American Edwards.
In this particular he was, also, similar to the distin-
guished Bacon who was born but eight years later
and whose great work on philosophy appeared about
a quarter of a century after the first part of the
Polity.
It was reserved for Hooker to give to his country-
men the first philosophical statement, in English
Prose, of the nature of law, the order of the world,
the structure of society and the functions of the
human mind.
Mr. Whipple goes, perhaps, to a flattering extreme
when he says:-"Should the English Constitution,
in church and state, he unhappily ruined, the Eccles-
iastical Polity probably contains materials sufficient
for rebuilding the shattered fabric." Deducting from
236
ENGLISH prose.
this all that is overstated, there remains enough to
establish the character of Hooker as a philosophical
writer and thinker.
The appellation given him, of "The Judicious,"
was well deserved.
Many of his shorter paragraphs especially illustrate
that suggestiveness of meaning so germane to the
philosophic style, e. g.,
"He that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are not
so well governed as they ought to be, shall never want attentive and
favorable hearers.
"The general and perpetual voice of men is as the sentence of
God himself. For that which all men have at all times learned,
nature herself must needs have taught, and God being the author of
nature, her voice is but his instrument."
“The main principles of reason are in themselves apparent, for
to make nothing evident of itself unto man's understanding were to
take away all possibility of knowing anything."
"The mixture of those things which by nature are divided is the
mother of all error."
We have spoken of the element of philosophical
dignity in style; it is not too much to say, that in
the pages of Hooker, this something rises to the form
of natural sublimity and passion, where the mind of
the author seems to be overpowered by the great
thoughts of law, providence, causation, redemption
and God himself. As he yields to that influence and
embodies his feelings and imagination in language,
the words are infused with the emotion of his soul,
and his paragraphs have a Miltonic grandeur about
them. There is much in Hooker that prefigures the
majesty of Milton.
While these passages of eloquent passion are not
numerous enough to accord to Hooker the character
RepresenTATIVE WRITERS.—HOOKER.
237
of an impassioned and imaginative writer, still they
occur sufficiently often to relieve the didactic heavi-
ness of the style and to reveal the possibilities of the
author's literary art. This passionate and poetic
element was latent in his soul, and, perchance, with
a different theme and aim would have expressed it-
self in far more pronounced forms. He was a man
of large nature and ever tended to rise above the
merely expository and didactic into the broader realm
of the persuasive and emotional.
(2.) Logical Sequence and Order—Unity.
This follows closely upon the former quality and
has a similar origin in the mind of Hooker. He wrote
as he thought and he thought consecutively. At
the very opening of his treatise he formally states
the method that he pursues as he says: "I have en-
deavored throughout the body of this whole dis-
course that every former part might give strength
unto all that follows and every later bring some
light unto all before." He could not, as a thinker
and writer, relate things that were logically unre-
lated, or state principles out of their natural connec-
tion. It is this quality that, as much as any other,
fitted him, on the one hand, to be the champion of
the Anglican Church against her opponents, and on
the other, to present to the English public a body
of prose writing marked by regularity of plan and
structure. He disliked what De Quincey has termed
-non sequaciousness-and next to the thought itself
valued its orderly statement. In this respect, the
Polity is well worth the study of the writer. What-
ever its faults may be, the main subject is kept cen-
238
ENGLISH PROse.
tral throughout and all statements bear upon the one
point at issue. The rich versatility of thought in it
is not allowed to break its logical coherence. The
key word of the treatise is-Law.
The subject of the first book is-The nature of all
Law, in General. He discusses it in three forms of,—
The Law of God in Creation, The Law of Nature in
Human Reason, and The Law of Scripture. Through-
out the book, this great regulating word and idea is
before him until he closes in that celebrated para-
graph: "Of Law there can be no less acknowledged,
than that her seat is the bosom of God; her voice, the
harmony of the world; all things in heaven and earth
do her homage; the very least as feeling her care, and
the greatest as not exempt from her power; both
angels and men and creatures of what condition so-
ever, though each in different sort and manner, yet
all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother
of their peace and joy." So, throughout the other
books, this regal word holds sway and subjects every
thought to itself. It is a fine example of logical order
tending to the climacteric. It gives character and
basis to the style, and makes it mentally wholesome
to the reader. Such a style cannot be forceless.
These, as we judge, are Hooker's two great
characteristic merits as a prose writer-the philos-
ophic and the logical cast. They carry a great deal
with them which cannot be fully stated. They em-
body more than they express, and on the negative
side prevent the presence and power of minor errors.
They promise the reader something worth the read-
ing, and are so presented as to be intelligible and im-
pressive. There is an utter absence of the puerile
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—hooker.
239
and the frivolous. Everything is solid and germane
to the subject, while through it all there is a moral
sobriety of tone that is most healthful and uplift-
ing. These are qualities somewhat Elizabethan and
English, and for which there is yet room in modern
prose. The later periods have improved on the ear-
lier in vocabulary, diction, sentence and artistic finish,
but not in mental and moral undertone. Each class
of qualities is right in its place and time. Had their
order been reversed, English Prose would not have
been as stable and substantial as it is.
Leading Faults.
Passing to the faults of Hooker's style, we note
his Diction and Sentence Structure.
แ
Mr. Whipple, in his partiality for Hooker here
remarks: "It is doubtful if any English writer since
his time has shown equal power in the construc-
tion of long sentences." This language is somewhat
modified by Whipple when he calls attention to
Hooker's frequent inversions and complex periods,
drawing on a whole block of clauses," as Fuller says,
“before he comes to the close of a sentence." In this
respect, Fuller is nearest the truth. It is, as we be-
lieve, in this sphere of the verbal and syntactical ele-
ments of style, that Hooker's special errors are mani-
fest. It is just here that we must part company with
those critics who insist that in the sphere of diction
and sentence formation Hooker and Bacon and Mil-
ton are to be favorably compared with their successors
from Addison onward. Nor is it natural thus to
nullify the law of progressive advance in prose liter-
240
ENGLISH PROSE.
ature, and expect in the sixteenth century what we
find in the eighteenth and later. We may go further,
and affirm that it was impossible for these earlier
writers to present an order of prose structure equal to
that of the later. The language did not admit of
it. It was in formation and transition, and not until
the appearance of the Augustan Age did it assume
a settled form. Elizabethan English was at best,
Broken English. It was especially so in prose. The
faults were the faults of the age more than of the
authors in it. The writers of those days could not
achieve literary miracles and use English as if it were
finally formed. The marvel is that we have as good
specimens as we do have of verbal structure. The
wisest critics have strangely erred here, and indulged
in groundless eulogiums, as when Dr. Smith affirms
"that in correctness and propriety of language
Hooker has never been surpassed." Dr. Drake, with
his usual judgment has avoided such common error
as he says somewhat strongly of all these first
writers: "They have completely failed to fix a stand-
ard for structure: "and of Hooker, "It must be admit-
ted that the elaboration and inversion of periods are
such as to create no small difficulty in the compre-
hension of the meaning." Mr. Church, in his edition
of Hooker, takes a middle ground, and is, in the main,
safe in his conclusion. He concedes that the con-
structions are artificial, but insists that they are not
involved, and by patient attention may be understood.
Hooker, himself, seems to anticipate trouble here,
but charges it to the character of the subject and
the dullness of the reader,-"albeit much of that we
are to speak in this present cause may seem to a
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS —HOOKER. 241
number perhaps, obscure, dark and intricate, yet,
this may not so far prevail as to cast off that which
the matter itself requireth." "They unto whom we
shall seem tedious are in no wise injured by us, be-
cause it is in their own hands to spare that labor
which they are not willing to endure.”
Apart, however, from the inherent difficulty of the
subject is the unwillingness of the reader to exert him-
self. There is an antique element in the diction, and
a rigidity in the structure of the author which some-
what impair the force of the thought, and which re-
veal too close an imitation of Aquinas and Augustine.
This want of flexibility arose largely from the theolo-
gical bent of Hooker's mind, from the controversial
character of his book, from the actual irregularities
of Elizabethan English, and from his excessive refer-
ence to the pagan authors. Church, in his edition,
cites the names of nearly forty such authors whom
Hooker quotes, such as, Aristotle, Boethius, Hesiod,
Plato, Strabo, and others. While such allusion to the
ancient writings disclosed wide reading and gave to
the Polity a scholarly character, it seriously inter-
fered with the presence of idiomatic English and
modern forms of diction and structure.
His love for long sentences, paragraphs and rhetor-
ical periods rather increased than diminished this dif
ficulty, and made it easy for him to become obscure
and cumbrous. It was the German construction ap-
plied to English and, of course, difficult to adjust.
Hence, a want of ease, grace and simplicity, a me-
chanical connection of words and clauses sometimes
amounting to pedantry, and that diffuseness of dic-
tion with which the style may be justly charged.
242
ENGLISH PROSE.
Attention has often been called to the rhythmic char-
acter of Hooker's prose,-his fine appreciation of the
relation of sound to sense, and of the general princi-
ple of harmony. This statement is not without rea-
son, and yet we are not prepared to term it a marked
feature of his style. As far as it is found, it seems to
indicate in the author the presence of an æsthetic in-
stinct. The poetic as well as the philosophic imagin-
ation had a place among his gifts.
Scores of good sentences and periods can be gath-
ered from the "Polity"-enough to mark a decided
advance in English Prose; and yet no reader will pro-
ceed far without noting that absence of true expres-
sion, lucid structure and general neatness, which
makes all the difference between formative and
settled English Prose. In this respect there is a kind
of crude dignity about the style. In modern phrase
it would be called heavy or prosaic, requiring on the
reader's part an absorbing interest in the theme itself,
so as to make its perusal in any event a kind of neces-
sity. The structure is in keeping with the aim of the
book as didactic. Everything is controlled by the idea,
and in the very attempt that the author makes always
to give the main thought the main place, not a few
errors ensue, and the result is at times confusing. If
ambiguity is at all pardonable, however, it is on such
terms and with such a purpose.
It is safe to predict, therefore, that the prose of
Hooker with all its excellences will find but very
few readers in modern times, apart from restricted
theological circles interested in the questions at
issue and those literary students who make it their
duty to read all that is valuable. The prose is in no
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-HOOKER.
243
sense popular and adapted to general needs. The
occasion that gave it origin is past and the style it-
self, so dignified and logical, has no attraction for the
ordinary reader or even for the educated classes as a
body. The mere fact that scores of words then freely
used with definite meanings have now become modi-
fied so as to make the use of a glossary necessary as
to most of them, would alone make the general cur-
rency of such prose impossible. Such words as abso-
lute, ascertain, cause, civil, common sense, conceit, dis-
course, are of this character. Many are obsolete, as
impatiency, indifferency, intentive, invertigable, judi-
cials, leastwise, momentary, oftenness, otherwhere, etc.
All students of English Letters, however, must be
conversant with this prose and will gather benefit
from it by being brought into contact with its philos-
ophic and logical vigor. It would not be amiss for
the modern reader of the lighter forms of our litera
ture in narrative description and miscellaneousɛ com-
position to recur, at times, to this first writer of En-
lish Prose in order to see the close relation of thought
to style and the solid foundations on which the later
unfolding of our prose literature is based. It is, thus,
gratifying that an edition of Hooker's first book
of the Polity is included in that series of English
Classics so ably superintended by Prof. Brewer. This
of itself is sufficient proof that the prose of Hooker
has merit enough to preserve it and to commend it
still to modern readers.
ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES.
Dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to enter far into
the doings of the Most High whom although to know be life, yet
our soundest knowledge is to know that we know Him not as indeed
244
ENGLISH prose.
L
He is, neither that we can know Him, and our safest eloquence concern-
ing Him is our silence when we confess without confession that His
glory is inexplicable, His greatness above our capacity and reach.”
"In the matter of knowledge, there is between the angels of God
and the children of men this difference. Angels already have full
and complete knowledge in the highest degree that can be im-
parted unto them; men, if we view them in their spring, are at
the first without understanding, nevertheless, from this utter vac-
uity they grow by degrees, till they come at length to be even as
the angels themselves are. The sons of man being at the first as a
book wherein nothing is and yet all things may be imprinted; we
are to search by what steps and degrees it riseth unto perfection of
knowledge."
Now if nature should intermit her course and leave altogether,
though it were but for a while, the observations of her own laws; if
those principal and mother elements of the world, whereof all things
in this lower world are made should lose the qualities which they
now have; if the frame of that heavenly arch erected over our heads
should loosen and dissolve itself; if celestial spheres should forget
their wonted motions; if the times and seasons of the year should
blend themselves by disordered mixture, the clouds give no rain
and the fruits of the earth pine away as children at the withered
breasts of their mothers-what would become of man himself whom
these things now do all serve?"
Such paragraphs as these are not infrequent, and
they mark the comparatively high development which
the native language and prose had already reached.
Hooker and Bacon were doing for prose what Shake-
speare and the dramatists were doing for poetry.
The Polity was more than a polemic treatise in
favor of the Anglican Church. It was the written
expression of what the language could be made to
do as thus far advanced and in this particular was a
masterpiece in its day.
The way was now fully prepared for all later work-
ers, nor was there long delay. In the same year in
which the fifth book of the Polity appeared (1597)
represeNTATIVE WRITERS.—HOOKER.
245
there appeared also the Essays of Lord Bacon and the
future of English Prose was assured. One philosophic
writer gives way to another and the same strong,
sturdy, vigorous form of English is still maintained
and transmitted. Our Formative Prose, whatever it
was or was not, was intellectually vital, and hence,
must abide.
References and Authorities.
Church's Edition of Ecclesiastical Polity (Bk. I).
Walton's Life of Hooker. Literature of The Age of
Elizabeth (Whipple). Literature of The Age of Eliz-
abeth (Hazlitt). Amenities of Literature (Disraeli).
CHAPTER III.
THE PROSE STYLE OF JOHN MILTON.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
Born in London, Dec. 9, 1608. In St. Paul's
School, London, 1620. Entered Christ's College,
Cambridge, Feb. 12, 1625. Received degree of B. A.,
1629; M. A., 1632. Left Cambridge for Horton in
1632-(authorship). Received M. A. (Oxford) in
1635. Remained at Horton till 1637. Went to the
Continent in 1637. Returned for political reasons
in 1639-(authorship). Was Latin Secretary of
State in 1649-60. Became blind in 1652. Retired
from Public Life in 1660-(authorship). Died Nov.
8, 1674.
Milton as a Prose Writer.
To most English readers Milton is known as a poet
only-as the author of Comus and of Paradise Lost
and, yet, the remark of Dr. Smith is true "that those
who are unacquainted with his prose works are in-
capable of forming an idea of his entire personality."
Milton is never more himself than in some of these
fervid prose utterances. It is not to be forgotten
that the prime of his life was almost exclusively spent
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MILTON. 247
in the production of Prose. According to accepted
criticism, his style falls into the three periods-
1. From his birth (1608) to his return from Euro-
pean travel in 1640.
2. From 1640 to the Restoration-1660.
3. From 1660 to his death, in 1674.
The first of these periods was devoted to the com-
position of his shorter poems such as Comus and
L'Allegro. The last period was occupied with his
two great epics and Samson Agonistes. The middle
period, which includes his life from thirty-two to
fifty-two, or the best of his manhood, was wholly de-
voted to prose and even then, as it appears, he ceased
from writing in this form on account of the political
results of the Restoration rather than by way of pre-
ference. "I imagined," he says, "that I was about to
enjoy an interval of uninterrupted ease and turned my
thoughts to a continued history of my country, from
the earliest times to the present." Apart therefore,
from the specific character of the prose, the strong
presumptive argument would be that we are to look
for special excellence in that literary work which ab-
sorbed his best energies and best days midway be-
tween the experiments of youth and the infirmities
of age.
This argument is doubly confirmed when it
is recalled that during this period Milton was in pros-
perity and free to use his pen as it pleased him while
the return of Charles II., in 1660, opened his career
of physical suffering, poverty and political dangers.
Great stress has always been laid upon the quaint re-
mark of the author himself as to his prose-"In this
manner of writing, knowing myself inferior to myself,
هر
248
ENGLISH PROSE.
led by the genial power of nature to another task, I
have the use as I may account it, but of my left hand."
As we read this we are not to forget the other declar-
ation of the author modestly made and yet true, that
all he wrote "whether prosing or versing" had
"certain signs of life in it." Moreover, taking the
language as it reads, it is to be remembered that the
“left hand" of a Milton is more skillful and mighty
than the right hand of most others. Milton's best
work was in poetry. He did, however, a good work
on other lines. His prose is, indeed, local in its occa-
sion and reference. It is, also, controversial in its
tone and aim. Still, there are "certain signs of life
in it" and these must be detected and interpreted.
Despite manifest and flagrant errors, Milton's Prose
has a representative character. Though not an ideal
or model prose, it is characteristic and deserves more
"It
careful study that is generally accorded it.
is to be regretted," says Macaulay "that the prose
writings of Milton, should in our time be so little
read. As compositions they deserve the attention of
every man who wishes to become acquainted with the
full power of the English Language. They abound
in passages, compared with which, the finest declam-
ations of Burke sink into insignificance." So Patti-
son, his latest biographer, writes of his prose works:
"They are monuments of our language so remarkable
that they must always be resorted to by students, as
long as English remains a medium of ideas." He
justly adds "Yet on the score of style, his prose is
subject to serious deductions." It is gratifying to
note that an edition of Milton's Prose Works, by Mr.
Myers, is among recent publications.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-MILTON. 249
His Prose Works in English.
His Prose as that of Bacon, was partly in Latin
and partly in English; the English prevailing, how-
ever, as the Latin did with Bacon. These works
may be said to consist of-The History of England
up to the Norman Invasion and of Pamphlets on
various topics. As to the History, it was his purpose
to carry it down to his own time, but personal and
political events obliged him to close it at the Norman
Period. As far as it goes, however, it is valuable in
giving us an example of Milton in the narrative style
as, also, in revealing a special interest on the author's
part in the early history of England. Opening with
an account of the oldest British history, it closes with
a brief account of Harold, the last of the Saxon
Kings, while from first to last no occasion is lost to
protest against the abuses of Romanism in Saxon
England.
The Pamphlets, about twenty-five in number, are
on various subjects-politics and church government,
education and divorce, and, with few exceptions, are
written in English. The series opens with-Reforma-
tion touching Church Discipline in England—and
closes with-A Ready and Easy Way to establish a
free Commonwealth. Of the series, nine are ecclesias-
tical; eight are political; four are on the question of
divorce; two are in defense of himself; one is on
education and one, on freedom of speech. With the
exception of the tract on Education, the one object
of all is to protest against the exercise of tyranny in
church and state and social relations and to plead for
250
ENGLISH PROSE.
the exercise of that freedom which is the right of
every man.
The titles of the most important are as follows:
Reformation touching Church Discipline in England.
Prelatical Episcopacy; An Apology for Smectymnuus.
Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty.
The Divorce Controversy-four parts. Considerations
touching the Means of removing Hirelings out of the
Church. Animadversions on The Remonstrant. The
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. Iconoclastes. Ready
and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth.
Areopagitica. History of England (Britain).
on Education.
Tract
There are three or four of these which Macaulay
seems to prefer as he writes at the close of his cele-
brated essay on Milton-" We had intended to dwell
at some length on the sublime wisdom of the Areo-
pagitica and the nervous rhetoric of the Iconoclast;
to point out some of those magnificent passages
which occur in the Treatise of Reformation and The
Animadversions on the Remonstrant."
It is not necessary, in the discussion before us, to
emphasize any one of these treatises save to say that
by general consent the Areopagitica,-A Plea for the
liberty of unlicensed printing-is accorded the first
place among his English works.
His Latin Treatise on-Christian Doctrine, pub-
lished in 1824, and giving origin to Macaulay's Essay
on Milton, is by far the most valuable prose produc-
tion of the author.
Confining ourselves to his English authorship, we
shall notice first of all,-The Chief Defects of his style.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MILTON. 251
CHIEF DEFECTS OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Anglo-Latin Diction and Construction.
This frequent use of Latin terms and forms is to
some extent, pardonable in a mind trained precisely
as was that of Milton. He had been educated from
a boy in the daily drill of that Latin verse-making so
common in all the preparatory English Schools of his
time. Before entering the university and while in it,
Latin composition was an essential part of his duty.
The proficiency which he reached is well known in
literary history. In such an example as he gives us
at the age of nineteen, under the title of a "Vacation
Exercise" written in Latin and English, we see this
early habit. Later, in the troublous times of Crom-
well, he is chosen to the office of Latin Secretary.
Accepting the appointment, his Cambridge drill is
utilized and perfected by state correspondence. In
the very year preceding his death, his Latin verses
are republished in connection with his English
poems. Some of his works, as stated, were written
in Latin instead of English and left by the author in
their ancient form.
It is not strange, therefore, that we find this foreign
element in all his prose. With Bacon, the use of
the Latin arose partly from the nature of his subject
and partly from his view as to the inferiority of the
English. With Milton, the use of it was rather a
second nature, the result of carefully formed literary
habit. Hence, to a careful reader of the prose of Mil-
ton it will appear that the Latinism of his language
extends beneath the language itself. When we read
252
ENGLISH PROSE.
such phrases as-Inquisitorient Bishops; Tempori-
zing and Extemporizing Licensers; Exquisitest Books
—it is evident that the Latinizing is not merely ver-
bal. The same element is found in sentence and
paragraph and even in the thought beneath them,
so that the compromise effected between the native
and the foreign makes it difficult to state which has
the precedence. Were Milton, in his diction, more
like Bunyan and less like Browne and Burton, the
inherent worth of his prose would at once give it
power and currency. Instead of this we note harsh
inversions and cumbrous constructions. Our atten-
tion is called, at every point, rather to the earlier and
cruder forms of English than to its more modern
improvements. It is thus that Pattison properly
speaks of "the absence of construction " by which he
means of clear construction. He adds, "Milton
does not seem to have any notion of what a period
means. He leaves off, not when the sense closes but
when he is out of breath." There is truth in this.
Not a few of those passages so often quoted by
critics as examples of clear and elegant English, are
hopelessly involved and must be annotated and ex-
plained in order to be readable. Milton would have
presented a clear diction and structure had he known
"small Latin" and given full expression to his En-
glish speech. It must be added here that the tech-
nical and polemic topics discussed by the author did
much to encourage this free use of Latin idiom and
structure. In fact, it largely made it necessary.
The author seemed to be aware of what the English
language could do and ought to do and is found
giving special attention to its early forms and varied
represeNTATIVE WRITERS.—MILTON.
253
uses. Archbishop Trench, in his philological manuals,
is careful to call frequent attention to the fact that
Milton was one of a few who looked into language
etymologically rather than superficially. "He is the
first English writer," says one, "who possessing in
the ancient models a standard of the effect which
could be produced by choice of words, set himself to
the conscious study of our native tongue with a firm
faith in its undeveloped powers." While this remark
applies more particularly to his poetry, it has an illus-
tration as well in his prose. His diction, after all, is
better than his construction. He never seems to
have at command in his prose, that easy, facile and
natural style that is so conspicuous in his shorter
poems. He is here at a disadvantage and the com-
position is labored. In this respect, Hooker and
Bacon are vastly his superiors. Milton's style, there-
fore, is on these grounds inferior in clearness and fin-
ish. There are too many "colossal involutions; " too
many repetitions and classical phrases to make it a
model for the student.
(2.) Faulty Imagery.
It is excessive, crude and somewhat overwrought.
The too frequent use of figure and principal terms
seems to have the same effect on the style that exces-
sive emphasis has in elocution. The very end aimed
at is defeated. The effect of this on the reader is in
the line of mental weariness. The uniformity is op-
pressive. Scarcely has the attention been called to
an image or a series of images, than it is turned to
consider another. In the multiplicity of the illustra-
254
ENGLISH PROSE.
tions, we are often at a loss to discern the truth to be
illustrated. Even the monotony of excellence is
wearisome. The principle of contrast must enter.
This is especially true as to figure, in that it is a use
of language aside from the common use. If the un-
common is made common, all distinctions are effaced
and the style is as flat as a Western prairie. The
faults here alluded to would be of a far less serious
character were the imagery itself of a poorer type.
That sublime and well governed imagination which.
safely carries him in his Paradise Lost through all
heights and depths and which carries the reader
with him seems to be absent here. In fine, he is, in
his prose, working in a sphere in which there is but
little demand for the highest type of the construc-
tive imagination. The author, however, insists upon
calling it into play at every point. Here is the ex-
planation of the failure. The times were too stirring
and the questions too practical to admit of any fan-
ciful soarings and displays of art. There was very
little of the poetic in the Great Rebellion of 1640,
or in the Commonwealth reaction, and nothing but
solid prose of the most substantial order would meet
the case. Milton saw this and yet with his poetical
nature yielded too much to poetic instinct. The re-
sult is that the imagery is foisted upon the style rather
than being its natural dress. The art is too evident.
Such expressions as, "new vaulted paganism,
"the
fangs and gripes of a boiling and queasy conscience"
are as much violations of true imagery as of chaste.
diction. They are an awkward attempt to intro-
duce the metaphorical when it is not demanded.
The sum of the matter is well expressed by Taine
""
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MILTON.
255.
་
as he writes "Imagination carried him away and
enchained him in metaphor." Mr. Pattison, in his
recent biography, exalts far too highly, as we think,
this imaginative feature in Milton's prose style. If
we interpret it aright, it is void of special literary
excellence.
(3.) Personal Allusions and Invective.
It is quite easy for us, with the character of Milton
and his times before us, to discover some of the
reasons which allured him to indulge in such invec-
tive. His feeling toward many of the existing evils
in church and state was that of a fiery indignation.
His soul was vexed by the prevailing order of things.
Failing to draw a sharp dividing line between the
sin and the sinner, he poured out his wrath against
men and classes with more than Davidic force. He
exhausts the language of abuse and often descends
to the level of the partisan and public scold. Scarcely
a page of his controversial prose is free from this
while, at times, entire treatises are devoted to it.
Such are The Animadversions and The Answer to
Salmasius. He speaks of bishops as "ill bred sons'
"ravens that will pick out the eyes of Christians.”
He alludes to the "saucy tongues of the silly Holland
scholar" and so on. He indulges in imprecations as
David did without David's reason for it. All this
gives to his prose a rough, ragged and violent char-
acter which is anything but literary and makes it
impossible for it to be quoted as in any sense a
model of artistic grace and neatness. It is military
and menacing in its tone and stirs up the baser pas-
++
ENGLISH PROSE.
256
sions of the reader. As we read it we are more in-
clined than ever to endorse the author's "left-handed"
theory and allow him, in the sphere of poetry, to in-
dulge his strongest feelings with Samson the giant,
and with Satan. The only bright side to all this is,
the revelation that it gives us of the author's passion-
ate hatred of what he felt to be wrong. What he
despised he despised with Saxon intensity.
The discussion of Milton's prose, in so far as it is
commendable, is now in place.
LITERARY MERITS OF STYLE.
Prose passages of rarest excellence are found.
Such are seen in his "Reason of Church Govern-
ment" when he "invokes that Eternal Spirit who
can enrich with all utterance and knowledge"; when
in his-Reformation in England-he appeals "to the
Triune God to aid him in his work against the
enemies of the church." So especially in the Areo-
pagitica. As to special features, we notice.
(1.) Ingenuousness or Sincerity of Style.
He was, in this respect, the Luther of his day. He
was in literature what Cromwell was in the state.
What he thought he uttered with all his heart. This
lends a moral clearness to his style which is of great
value and serves to make it rhetorically clear where
it otherwise would not be.
There is no greater need in prose style than this
quality of naturalness-the frank expression of the
writer's personality in his own way. So potent a
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MILTON.
257
factor is this in the sum total of qualities that it
serves to make the previous literary errors somewhat
negative in their effect. It involves much more than
at first sight appears, such as, the writer's individu-
ality as a man and an author, courage in the formation
and maintenance of his own convictions; freedom
from everything in the line of the mechanical and
servile and a general prevalence of what is healthful
and attractive. No man has stronger temptations.
than the writer to act as a mouthpiece or scribe.
for others in the sacrifice of his own independence.
and with no one is ingenuousness more of a virtue.
Just to the degree in which literature is time serv-
ing and evasive it is worthless either in a practical
or artistic point of view. Milton has serious faults as
a prose writer but he had the great excellence of Puri-
tan outspokenness. If the writer follows the high
counsel "To thine own self be true," in whatever
else he fails he will not fail in securing the attention.
and respect of his readers. Naturalness is concilia-
tory in its effect.
(2.) Directness of Purpose.
Definiteness of idea and object is one of the prime
principles of writing. Everything in the writer's
plan must have a purpose in it and a controlling pur-
pose. In the etymological sense of the word, there
must be nothing impertinent. The language, gene-
ral method and style must be relevant to the one design.
Few authors of English Prose have had a clearer aim
in their authorship than Milton. His pamphlets on
questions of state were so closely confined to that
258
ENGLISH PROSE.
*
topic that they could well be classified in the state
archives of England under the head of civil docu-
ments. His treatises on ecclesiasticism would find
fitting place in a theological library as those on the
divorce question would in a library of social science.
Whatever the topic, he never yielded the grasp he
had taken of it until he had done with it. It is this
very directness of purpose and procedure that made
his tracts at the time so telling and awakened such
bitter opposition. It was not simply because he op-
posed despotism in politics and religion, but because
he offered it as he did in a kind of challenging man-
ner, just as John Knox had done in Scotland and
Cromwell did in Milton's time. In fact, in this middle
period of Milton's life-the prose period-his style par-
took of the character of the time. It was aggressive
and martial. He aimed his words as the Ironsides did
their muskets-right at the mark, and when he struck
the target, the result was visible.
Here again, prose style may learn a lesson from
Milton, to the effect that pertinence is a literary virtue,
that nothing is gained by indirectness. Circumlocu-
tion is a figure of speech and, as such, is exceptional.
In the writer as in the orator direct address to the au-
dience is all important. This argues clear thinking, a
clear knowledge of the subject and a conception of the
writer's office as a something more than a literary pas-
time. This business-like element is not incompatible
with high literary art and is a healthful protest
against that aimless writing which is so common
among us.
These two qualities lead to the third and crowning
feature of Milton's style.
J
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-—-MILTON. 259
"
(3.) Impassioned Energy.
Next to clearness this is the most important feature
of prose style and, as far as Milton is concerned,
ranks as the first. No one can read a page of
his best prose apart from the narrative portions, and
not be profoundly impressed. As one rises from the
reading of such a forensic treatise as-The Areopa-
gitica, he feels as Cromwell felt who after its perusal
proceeded at once to establish in the realm by official
statute that liberty of speech for which it argued.
"When God commands to take the trumpet," he
says, "and blow a blast, it lies not in man's will what
he shall say." This has a soldierly sound in it and
speaks of the masculine cogency for which he was
noted. "Though all the winds of doctrine were let
loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we
do unjustly to doubt her strength. Who ever knew
truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter!"
The vigor of this impassioned utterance reminds us
of Luther at the Diet of Worms. It is the old Teu-
tonic spirit. So in his trenchant discussion of the
divorce question, after remarking that St. Paul did
not allow the right of the woman to usurp authority
over the man, he indignantly asks-" If the apostle
could not suffer it, into what mold is he mortified who
can?" Such are some of those cogent passages to
which Macaulay must refer when he says, "Not even
in the earlier books of the Paradise Lost has the
great poet ever risen higher than in those parts of
his controversial works in which his feelings, excited
by conflict, find a vent." There was everything in
the nature of the author and in the peculiar cast of
260
ENGLISH prose.
the age to lead to this fiery utterance. A puritan in
his religious tendencies and a republican in his poli-
tics, he was obliged to see, on the one hand, the tyran-
nical authority of the prelatical church and, on the
other, the despotic rule of the state. His liberal and
catholic nature was profoundly stirred by all this and
he protested against it by voice and pen. He saw at
once what his relation to the age was. It was one of
antagonism and he boldly met it. It was no time for
poetry but it was a time for prose and above all for a
fervid and effective prose. No later writer of English
has surpassed him at this point. He used "words
that burn." They are often at a white heat. Hence
his language is full of sharp rejoinder, of fiery invec-
tive, of the boldest forms of figure, of challenge, pro-
test and accusation, so that even at this late date
when the issues at stake have quite disappeared, the
reader is aroused by them and must take sides in the
questions discussed. Already had the author defined
poetry to be "sensuous and passionate" but he rises
here to a different order of emotion, and expresses
his deepest self. In all this Milton was himself.
His forcible writing is but the manifestation of his
vigorous spirit. It would have been just as impossi-
ble for Milton to have written one of the condensed
didactic essays of Bacon as for Bacon to have penned
one of those passionate appeals. In this respect he
was more nearly anticipated by Hooker although
devoid of that philosophic dignity by which the
earlier writer was marked. It is just here most of
all that Milton's Prose style may be said to be truly
representative, and commendable. It is so in its im-
passioned force and may be consulted by the student
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MILTON.
261
as an example of the vigorous element in style. He is
here superior to any of his predecessors and finds in
Edmund Burke, Chatham, Grattan, and the modern
British orators those who most fitly reproduce him.
It is the true oratorical style of prose. These pam-
phlets are orations rather than treatises or disserta-
tions. They would have sounded better than they
read.
Here again we come in contact with a quality of
prose as excellent as it is rare. In common with
naturalness and directness of purpose, it is seldom
seen, so that the charge of dullness or want of spirit
made against so much of English Prose is justly
founded. The extreme prevalence of the newspaper
and the novel is a partial protest against this so
called, didactic prose. It is prosaic. The infusion
of this impassioned element into ordinary discourse
would be of vital value. It should not be con-
fined to the oration or to fiction but have con-
sistent place in all forms. Genuine feeling is potent
wherever expressed and has place in prose as well as
poetry.
Milton was strongest here and often passed the
line of moderation into the denunciatory and severe,
but it was a pardonable fault. A tame, insipid,
soulless style is no style at all. It is a far more dan-
gerous extreme than that of animation.
A few extracts from the Areopagitica will evince
this vigorous earnestness-
"Truth and understanding are not such wares as to be monopo-
lized and traded in by statutes and standards. What is it but a
servitude like that imposed by the Philistines not to be allowed the
sharpening of our own axes but we must repair from all quarters
to twenty licensing forges! I could recount what I have seen and
"
262
ENGLISH prose.
heard in other countries where this kind of inquisition tyrannizes.
It was in Italy that I found and visited the famous Galileo a pris-
oner to the Inquisition for thinking on astronomy otherwise than
Franciscan and Dominican licensers thought."
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely accord-
ing to conscience above all liberties."
"There be those who perpetually complain of schisms and sects
and make it such a calamity that any man dissents from their max-
ims. They are the dividers of unity who permit not others to unite
those dissevered pieces which are yet wanting to the body of
truth."
'To be still searching what we know not by what we know, still
closing up truth to truth as we find it, this is the golden rule in
theology and makes up the best harmony in a church.”
In noting therefore, the place of Milton in English
Prose, it may be stated that his faults and his merits
are alike prominent. In studying the faults, we are
inclined, at first, to set him aside altogether as a
standard. In the survey of the merits, our views
change and we accord him a leading place. There
is, beyond doubt, much room for diversity of opinion
here. In diction and sentence, imagery and finish of
style, he is inferior. On the other hand, he is in the
main, clear. He is always natural, direct and forci-
ble so that when the balance is struck, it is found to
be largely in favor of the author.
It is because his prose exhibits in prominent form
some of the indispensable qualities of style that we
accord him a place of prominence.
Sir Egerton Brydges has well expressed it in the
striking passage.
"He was in his style
Naked and stern and to effeminate ears
Perchance even harsh: but who will dare dispute
His strength and grandeur?"
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MILTON.
263
The fact is, these early styles-those of Bacon,
Hooker and Milton while they will not bear the
closest critical scrutiny, cannot be spared from
the language. With all their faults, they are typi-
cal. They are so full of thought, character, dig-
nity, personality and power, that they must be as-
signed a large place in the area of English Prose,
nor must it be forgotten that even where these able
men were weak, they might have been strong had
they lived two or three centuries later. In their
place and time they were representative as Addison
and Macaulay were in theirs.
It is a most fortunate circumstance in the history
of our prose that its first exponents were men of such
mental calibre and that its first productions were
marked by such depth and power. The foundations
of our prose were thus laid so deep and broad as to
defy every assault in the line of the superficial and
false. Whatever occasional departures may be no-
ticed along the line of English Prose from this origi-
nal vigor, they will be found to be transient and
indications will be noted of a speedy return to the
primitive order of things. It is not in the Arcadia
of Sydney; in Burton's Anatomy or in the Euphues
of Lyly, but in Hooker's Polity Bacon's Essays and
Milton's Pamphlets that we find the basis of our best
modern prose. We shall discuss more recent and
more excellent prose writers but none more char-
acteristic than these earlier names. Modern prose
begins as far back as the days of Elizabeth. Be-
fore it could become settled, it was formative and
transitional.
264
ENGLISH prose.
References and Authoritise.
Pattison's Milton, (Eng. Men of Let.) Masson's
Life of Milton. Myer's Selected Prose Works of Mil-
ton. Milton's Prose Works, (Griswold). Lowell's-
Among My Books. Macaulay's-Essay On Milton.
Character and Writings, (Channing). Essays of Ad-
dison, Bayne and De Quincey. Emerson's Character-
istics. Taine's English Literature.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PROSE STYLE OF JONATHAN SWIFT.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN Nov. 30th, 1667, in Dublin. Educated at Trinity
College, Dublin, 1682. Thence to England, 1689.
Secretary to Sir Wm. Temple. Went to Ireland as
Prebendary of Kilroot, 1694. Took Church Orders.
Returned to Temple, 1696. In the Vicarage of
Laracor, Ireland, 1699. Dean of St. Patricks, Dublin,
1713. Visited England, 1726. Died Oct. 19th, 1745.
English critics, with but few exceptions, consent to
give to Jonathan Swift a prominent place among our
standard prose writers. Whatever views may have
been entertained by different biographers and readers
relative to his moral character or the occasion of his
eccentricities, there has been but little difference of
opinion as to his authorship. Historians speak of him
as the erratic but brilliant Dean. Others declare
that whoever relies upon his authority in the use of
language may regard himself safe, while not a few
go so far as to place him at the very front of the liter-
ary talent of his time.
His Prose Writings.
Swift was emphatically a writer of prose. It is
true that he indulged at times in the composition of
266
ENGLISH prose.
verse as in his Poems to Stella, his Legion Club and
The Pindaric Odes, but this was his strange work.
The remark made to him by Dryden in reference to
the Odes, "Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet,
would apply equally well to all his poetic productions.
He was even more distinctively a prose author than
Addison himself and his fame must rest solely upon
what he did in this department.
First in order and rated by many critics as the
ablest of his productions is, The Tale of a Tub. This
was probably written as early as 1692, but not pub-
lished till 1704. In this pamphlet the author uses
allegory as the medium of expression and places
before his readers the three prominent ecclesiastical
orders of his day, Anglican, Presbyterian and Papal.
Under the image of three sons of a deceased father
tampering with the will which had been left them,
he takes occasion to hold up to ridicule these conflict-
ing sects. At one time, he lashes with unsparing
vigor the extreme procedures of the Papal church.
In a milder but an equally effective vein, he holds up
to derision the heresies of the English Dissenters,
taking occasion when decisions must be made, to
make them in accordance with the acknowledged
claims of the Established Church. Equally sarcastic
are what he calls, The Digressions from The Tale.
In these, he defines the true and the false critic;
treats of instruction and diversion; and gives a di-
gression in praise of digressions. In all these dis-
cussions, his weapon is irony and he wields it with
pronounced effect. The literary success of the work
was unbounded. As to the general moral effect is
produced, relative to the pending questions of ecclesi-
<
REPRESENTATIVE writers.—SWIFT.
267
asticism, we find the very church it was designed to
favor regarded it as conducive to levity and looseness
in practical religion. This is the fact despite the au-
thor's assertion-"If any one opinion can fairly be
deduced from the book contrary to religion and
morality, I will forfeit my life."
In the same year (1704) appeared-The Battle of
the Books. This was based upon a narrow contro-
versy between Boyle and Bentley as to the genuine-
ness of the epistles of Phalaris, based also, on the far
wider question as to the relative excellence of the
ancients and moderns.
The dispute was opened in favor of the Moderns
by the French writers-Fontenelle and Perrault.
Sir Wm. Temple, the patron of Swift, answered on
behalf of the Ancients. To this, in turn, reply was
made by Walton and Bentley on behalf of the Mod-
At this point Swift took up the discussion in
his usual satirical vein. Under the image of a battle
in the royal library at St. James' between ancient
and modern books, he vindicated the old at the
expense of the new, and dealt out some merciless
criticisms upon the authors of the later school.
erns.
Resting awhile from authorship when engaged in
the duties of his parish and the state, he appeared in
1708, in several successive papers. In his paper en-
titled-The Sentiments of a Church of England Man—
we have the religious and political views of one
who with apparent inconsistency called himself—“A
Whig wearing a gown.” In the same year appeared
the highly popular-Bickerstaff Papers—elicited by
the morbid excess to which the astrology of the
eighteenth century was carrying the English people.
268
ENGLISH prose.
The contemptuous burning of the treatise by the
Inquisition at Portugal exactly expressed the enraged
sentiments of all the almanac compilers in the British
realms.
Now appeared also, his famous-Argument against
Abolishing Christianity-in which irony is expressed
in essence and which Dr. Johnson is pleased to call
happy and judicious." To this there succeeded in
the following years-
6.
A Vindication of Bickerstaff (1709); Letter to the
October Club (1711)—a company of a hundred Tories
bent upon the reform of the existing govenment; A
Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining
(making sure) the English Tongue (1712). The Con-
duct of the Allies (1712). In this state paper he took
occasion to protest against the unfair relation in
which England stood in the Triple Alliance between
Germany and the Low Countries in the Spanish War.
He brought to light the sufferings of his country at
the hands of the mercenary Marlborough, and called
upon the nation for its own protection, to institute
immediate peace.
Swift's influence here is seen in the fact that the
call was heard and heeded. In the space of two
months eleven thousand copies were sold. The cry
was for peace, and now was open that national move-
ment, the approaching result of which was, the depo-
sition of the existing authorities, the elevation of the
Tories to political power and the final peace of
Utrecht in 1713. Dr. Smith pronounces it "the
most successful pamphlet ever printed." In close
relation to this, there followed-
The Public Spirit of the Whigs, (1714).
1
REPRESENTATIVE writers.—SWIFT.
269
The Drapier Letters (1724). This occasion, as is
well known, was the attempt made by a Mr. Wood,
of England, to secure a patent by which he could
coin £180,000, of half-pence and farthings for Ireland,
so destitute then, of copper money. The patent was
ratified by the king and about to be applied.
Swift caught at once, the meaning of the movement
and the auimus of the man behind it. He saw it to
be a selfish and purely personal scheme, and began
to expose it. The Irish were aroused and such a
storm of indignation as burst forth had never been
seen in social history. Drapier was the idol of the
hour.
Gulliver's Travels appeared in 1726, in four parts.
In Part I., is, The Voyage to Lilliput, in which is
satirized the government of George I.
In Part II, is, The Voyage to Brobdingnag, and
special reference is made to William III.
In Part III, the learned world becomes the victim
of the satire, in a Voyage to Laputa.
In Part IV, is the Voyage of the Houyhnhnms.
The book is a satire on the human race.
Other productions may be cited as follows: Me-
moirs as to the Queen's Ministry. Journal to Stella.
Memoirs of Captain Creichton. Discourse as to
Nobles and Commons. Paper on various topics—
Religion, etc.
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STYLE.-FAULTS.
In order to pursue such a discussion impartially,
care must be taken to connect the man and the
author. His personal peculiarities and his violations
270
ENGLISH prose.
of moral propriety are to be noted as we study his
style. There is a sense, in which it may be said, that
Swift was a somewhat better author than a man and
yet his personality goes far to determine his charac-
ter as a writer. We remark—
(1.) Absence of Literary Elegance.
In this particular at least the man and the author
agreed. If Swift had been a purer man his literary
style would have been more attractive. Comparing
his prose at this point with Addison's or Lamb's or
with that of Irving, its inferiority is at once seen. The
texture of his spirit was too gross and coarse to make it
possible for him to conceive of literary grace and finish
as Macaulay conceived of them. This defect is seen.
in subject matter and in style alike. He discusses all
topics in a kind of rough-and-ready method better
adapted to the satisfaction of the many than of the
cultured few. No one is so bold as to connect Swift's
name with the highest forms of literary art.
Hence, he is never more at home as a prose writer
than in the unrefined imagery of Gulliver's Travels or
in those harsh invectives which he pours out against
his political and ecclesiastical foes. In some of his
papers, such as, The Modest Proposal, this buffoonery
descends to ribaldry and the low water-mark of lit-
erary rudeness is reached. His Journal to Stella
reminds one of Rosseau's Confessions. The points of
similarity between the French infidel and the En-
glish Dean are not infrequent.
The fact is, that with the character he had it is
amazing that his style is as clean as it is. His ten-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-SWIFT. 271
dencies were low. He would rather pen a quasi-
moral letter to Stella than discuss a high class theme
on the lofty ground of reason and moral law. Even
if his theme be-A Project for The Advancement
of Religion-he will succeed in disgusting every
sensitive taste ere he has advanced a half dozen
paragraphs. In Gulliver's Travels, especially at the
close, the effect is simply revolting until we are
assured that of all satires on humanity, Swift himself
is the most pronounced. Dr. Johnson is rugged in
his style; Swift is rude. Johnson lacks smoothness
and finish; Swift lacks propriety.
(2.) An Inferior Order of Imagination.
Though this faculty has its special function in
poetry as creative and pictorial, it has in prose, also,
rightful place as historic, philosophic and construc-
tive. It saves prose from being prosaic. Both on its
mental and moral side, Swift's imagination was of
the lower type. Even where it is free in its action
from moral obliquity, it takes the form of fancy
rather than that of imagination proper, and rarely if
ever rises to the level of original constructive power.
There is an absence of a high poetic power of rep-
resentation as applied to prose, and as seen in the
prose of Milton and Hooker. In this respect, he was
far below Addison, where imaginative ability was
sound if not brilliant. One of his biographers-Sir
Walter Scott-goes so far as to say "He never
attempted any species of composition in which either
the sublime or the pathetic was required of him."
In the sphere of allegory, wit and analogy. he was at
home, but there are forms of mental action lying on
272
ENGLISH PROSE.
the borders of true imagery and not within them.
Here again, the relation of mind to character is evi-
dent. It was morally impossible for Swift to rise to
that sublimity of conception which marks the action
of natures ethically pure. Such a modus was totally
foreign to him nor could he adopt it when offered.
The main feature of sublimity in an author is what
Longinus terms-elevation of spirit. Of this the
Irish Dean was devoid. He walked with his face to
the earth.
FEATURES OF MERIT.
(1.) Force and Spirit.
Strange extremes exist here among the opinions of
English critics. Those who follow the guidance of
Dr. Johnson assert that there was little or no force in
anything he wrote and that those treatises which
seemed to occasion such radical changes in public
sentiment at the time did so through the excited pas-
sions of the readers. Others see nothing but im-
passioned cogency in his papers and are willing to
credit to him all those general movements in society
and the state of which the history of that time is so
full. There is apparent truth in each of these posi-
tions. The first is plausible in that those political
changes might have been due to the good judgment
of Swift as an interpreter of the nature of the times
rather than to his style as an author. This theory
would give him credit on the score of foresight rather
than of force. As to the second view, it cannot be
denied that some of these questions were so presented
as to awaken and maintain attention and modify
REPRESENTATIVE writers.—SWIFT.
273
materially the secret councils of Queen Anne. No
one can note the signal triumph of the Drapier Let-
ters as to the social economy of the realm, or the effect
produced by the Bickerstaff Papers and other writings
and consistently charge their author with mental weak-
ness. Many of the topics which he discussed were
of such a nature in their practical relation to the
state and people that he could not but be fervent in
their expression. It is true that the allegorical char-
acter of his style detracted somewhat from its literary
power, that he had in his style little of the strictly
persuasive element of oratorical writing or impas-
sioned strength such as Milton evinced, still, Swift
cannot in justice be termed a nerveless or indifferent
prose writer. The more prolonged and thorough one's
study is of his real character as seen in his writings
the more evident it is that he was possessed of true
literary vigor and rose at times to the level of true
passion. Some of his papers such as, A Letter to a
Young Clergyman, seemed to decry feeling in favor
of cold rational methods. Here he has been misun-
derstood. He is not pleading against fervent force
in style, but in behalf of more decided intellectual
skill. One of his trenchant paragraphs well expresses
his view as he writes to his young clerical friend, “If
your arguments be strong, in God's name offer them
in as moving a manner as the nature of the subject
will properly admit, but beware of letting the pathetic
part swallow up the rational, for I suppose philoso-
phers have long agreed that passion should never
prevail over reason." This is perfectly clear and
eminently safe doctrine. He holds to a wise and
sound rhetorical principle when he insists that dis-
274
ENGLISH prose.
course shall be possessed of as much passion as the
subject matter will allow. To come short of that
would betray weakness; to go beyond it would ex-
pose to ridicule.
In fact, Swift was deeply in earnest in most of his
writings. Against the fraud of Wood as to the coin-
age and against what he conceived to be the political
abuses of the time he protested with all the ardor of
a Chatham or a Burke.
Swift's style is in no sense tame or insipid. It
bristles and sparkles at times, and in its idiomatic.
terseness often reminds us of the manner of Carlyle.
Pungency and point abound. In some of his wri-
tings which are morally objectionable and which as
Mr. Stephen argues justly "ought to have been
burnt" this incisive element is most apparent. In a
literary sense, the style is, thus, readable. Its ani-
mation attracts to the perusal of it and we are not
allowed to become weary.
Swift played a part here that was played in France
by Voltaire, or by Rabelais to whom Voltaire com-
pared him.
(2.) His Satirical Power.
In this he has been rarely, if ever, equaled. He
has been aptly called-The Lord of Irony. He is not
simply ironical at times by way of a pleasing literary
variety but is so throughout. He is more than sar-
castic. Sarcasm itself seems to be embodied in him.
He was born and bred a satirist. The element is in
the blood and bone. It was his meat and drink to
indulge in it. He enjoyed nothing more than this
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—SWIFT.
275
(C
literary dissection of a victim in cold blood. Swift,"
says Taine, "has the genius of insult. He is an inven-
tor of irony as Shakespeare is of poetry." As he
himself proudly asks in one of his own poems-
"Who dares to irony pretend
Which I was born to introduce
Refined it first and showed its use?"
This was an honor which truly belonged to him in
prose as to Dryden and Pope in verse, and it was un-
safe for any of his day to question his right in this
realm. Ironical as he was, he was always the master
of the irony and, in the main, used it for wise and
proper purposes. He knew where and when and
whom to strike. It is a redeeming feature in his
character and style that he rarely exercises his sar-
casm apart from the element of pleasantry. There is
always visible a vein of genuine humor and good
nature so that however much the language might
sting and smart, it did not awaken revenge on the
part of its subject. Addison in one of his letters to
Swift praises him for this quality of style. One of
his intimate friends speaks of it as his "unlucky
quality" in that it placed him at the disposal of de-
signing men. Swift himself speaks of
"His vein ironically given,
As with a moral view designed
To cure the vices of mankind.”
He suggestively alludes to his manner of writ-
ing "as his own humorous biting way." In this
respect, Swift was something of a humorist. He had
a kind nature after all and in this particular reminds
276
ENGLISH prose.
1.
us more of the manner of the genial Cervantes than
of the sour and cruel Voltaire. In some of his
shorter papers such as,-An Argument against Abolish-
ing Christianity, A Project for the Advancement of
Religion, A scheme to make a Hospital for Incurables,
this playful pleasantry rises to its acme. Beyond
doubt, lasting good was done by him in his own day
through this serio-comic method. He struck straight
and hard, and yet with no malice in the blow. Swift
is said to have cultivated, purposely, the cynical, cen-
sorious style and to have indulged in irony because
he loved to wound a sensitive spirit. Something of
this there was here and there evident, but it is not
frequent enough to characterize his style as acrid.
and captious. He believed in the thorough criticism
of men and measures and adopted satire as Butler
and Pope did and as Horace and Juvenal did-for
benign ends. In-The Apology-which he wrote as
an answer to those who were offended by some pas-
sages in The Tale of a Tub-he dwells at length
on this very topic and proved conclusively that his
motive was good throughout his satire. No one can
read this Apology and not be convinced, as never
before, of the ingenuousness of the author as a literary
critic.

!
(3.) Individuality and Independence.
Swift is unique in personality and style. He was
himself and no other one. In the most wayward of
his eccentricities he was consistent with himself. His
oddness was to him perfectly natural and had he at-
tempted to imitate any one in any particular he would
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-SWIFT.
277
have failed as certainly as Dr. Johnson would have
done in a similar attempt. Swift never attempted
strictly dramatic writing. He could not successfully
personate another. Even in his lunacy, there was this
personal element. There was "a method in his mad-
ness" and it was his own. There was no other lunatic
in Britain like him. As this principle applies to
literature, it is not strange to read in a preface to one
of the editions of his works-" that he had never
been known to take a single thought from any writer,
ancient or modern." This is, of course, an extreme
statement and yet approximately true.
No prose
writer of English will stand testing at this point
better than Swift. He aptly expresses of himself
the same sentiment which Denham expresses of
Cowley-that he
"To steal a hint was never known,
But what he wrote was all his own."
In his words of sound advice to a young clergyman
he says, in speaking of the excessive use of common-
place books for quotations, "I could wish that men of
tolerable intellectuals would rather trust their own
natural reason improved by a general conversation
with books." This was, in fact, his own uniform
practice. He was an author in the strict, etymologi-
cal sense of the word-an increaser of knowledge
and ideas. He pursued the plan of his notable pre-
decessor-Bacon—in aiming to add to the sum and
enlarge the bounds of human knowledge.
Swift does not appear to have been so much a
reader of books as an observer of inen and move-
-!!!
278
ENGLISH PROSE
ments and he learned from the latter more by far
than he could have learned from the former. He
trusted, as he would say, to his own intellectuals. In
so far as general reading would enable him the better
to utilize what he saw and heard, he availed himself
of it.
Swift's style indicates clearly that he was a man
who observed and thought for himself. His most
extensive productions have for their very occasion
and leading idea this independence of view in matters
secular and religious. In many instances, he ran
right athwart the current opinions of the hour and
by his bold assertions assumed the part of a reformer
of abuses. The opposition that he so provoked by his
ecclesiastical and state papers proves alike his inde-
pendence of view and his personal courage, and
when assailed he was always ready to give a reason
for his methods.
Mention has been made of the force and spirit of
his style. This quality was the direct result of this
freedom from servility that marked the man as it did
the author. Swift had grave faults but he was not a
time-server in an age of time-servers. In this re-
spect, he was even Addison's superior as he was Lord
Bacon's and more akin in temper to the intrepid
Milton. Swift's style is his own. Its merits and
faults are his. This does much to enhance the
merits and atone for the faults.
(4.) Good Use of English.
No other English writer up to his time had a more
sincere love for his native tongue than did Swift.
REPRESENTATIVE Writers.—SWIFT.
279
No one took a deeper interest in its development and
proper use.
One of the first questions he asked as to any
scholar brought to his notice was, as to his know-
ledge of English and interest in it. If there were
ignorance and indifference that was enough to mark
the man as grossly deficient. This feature appears at
frequent intervals. In his political treatises he speaks
of it. In Gulliver's Travels, he speaks of it; in his
Journal to Stella, he naturally refers to it in that
among his early pleasures at Temple's, had been
Stella's instruction in English. At times, in the
course of his writing when the logical structure
would not demand it he would digress to the praise.
of his native speech. There are two of his papers
in which he dwells with special emphasis on this
subject; These are,—A Letter to a Young Clergyman,
and-A Proposal for Ascertaining, Correcting and
Improving the English Tongue. In the name of the
educated classes of the nation he protests against
the existing imperfections and corruptions of the
language, especially as seen in common conversation
and pulpit discourse. To the young divine he writes,
"I should have been glad if you had applied yourself
a little more to the study of the English Language,
the neglect whereof is one of the most general defects
among the scholars of this kingdom who seem not to
have the least conception of a style, but remain in a
flat kind of phraseology often mingled with barbarous
terms and expressions peculiar to the nation." It is
inspiring thus to see a master of English style re-
buking and stimulating his countrymen as to their
vernacular. It was because there were so few of
280
ENGLISH PROSE.
such reformers that Swift's position was important.
In this respect he was taking up the work which
Milton in his own way had furthered and which Dr.
Johnson was materially to advance. Scarcely too
much can be said on Swift's behalf in that he saw, in
this respect, the need of the hour and up to the
measure of his personal ability, satisfied it. The
debt of modern English Philology to these earlier
enthusiasts can never be fully paid.
In his Proposal, he laments that "our language is
less refined than those of Italy, Spain or France;
notes the various ways in which a language may
change; alludes to the special excellence of English
from the time of Elizabeth to the Commonwealth;
deprecates the excessive corruptions that came in
with the civil wars so that the court was "the worst
school in England;" grieves over the tendency to
undue abbreviations of words and syllables and to
false refinements of language and proceeds to sug-
gest the organization of a body of scholars for the
express purpose of "ascertaining (making sure) and
fixing our language forever." He closes his Pro-
posal by showing how such an enterprise would add
to the glory of the English nation and serve to make
the history of that day full of interest to the "times
succeeding." No later scholar has ever pleaded for
a special educational object with more zeal and dis-
interested love than did Swift for this Proposal.
This, if nothing else, would make his name one of
interest to every English student and lead us to
expect as we open his writings the presence of a
master of English. Hence, we find that in compass,
and quality of diction as, also, in correctness and
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS -SWIFT. 281
vigor of sentence, Swift stands on a high literary
level. In these respects, no writer up to his time
has fewer prominent faults or reads more as a
modern essayist. We are no longer obliged to do
as is necessary with Hooker and Bacon and even
Milton to have frequent resort to a glossary for the
exposition of words and phrases. These are so rare
as to afford no barrier. The language is English
throughout and is a more modern English than the
Elizabethan. We are in the period of Settled En-
glish rather than Formative or Transitional. We
have as yet met no essayist who reads as smoothly
and fluently and none to which, in a literary point
of view, the student of style can be more safely
referred.
In speaking of the author's use of English there
are two features of style needing emphasis.
(a) Ease and Naturalness of Expression.
He had what is called in Scripture "the pen of a
ready writer." He had "the gift of utterance."
Eccentric as he was, his manner as a writer was
marked by freedom and naturalness. Whatever art
there was in his style was adroitly concealed and
every movement was marked by fluency and readi-
ness. However forced his imagery seems at times
to be, his diction was spontaneous and always ger-
mane to the subject. No writer had more thorough
contempt for the affected fancies of Euphuism and
the later French school in England than had Swift,
and no one more fully carried out his theory. There
was nothing artificial. One of the clearest confir-
mations of this fact is, that in the Journal to Stella,
containing Swift's private correspondence, there is
282
ENGLISH prose.
no greater frankness of statement than in his more
public productions. He is outspoken and ingenuous
everywhere and in this respect widely differs from
such authors as Goethe, Schiller and Addison who
adopted one manner in public discourse and quite
another in private.
Swift's ease of style-the absence of studied effect,
is worthy of note. If the law propounded by Quin-
tilian is correct and one is to write so clearly that
the reader must understand him whether he will or
not then Swift was clear and natural. He wrote as
if it were the easiest thing possible for him to do.
The page is in no sense labored but facile and free.
The reader as he goes on rarely thinks of the author
but of the subject matter. Language with Swift was
a means, not an end. To set forth his ideas was the
one object and no undue attention was given to
the medium itself. Herein lies the perfection of
literary style-that in its consummate art it gives
the impression of absolute spontaneity. As Pope
phrases it "True ease in writing comes from art,
not chance." Swift possessed this ease which is the
final result and recompense of all art. His sentences
read as smoothly as those of Macaulay and Lamb.
Nor had Swift gained such ease by haphazard but
in the line of faithful devotion to authorship and
literary law.
(b) Verbal Plainness.
In the twelfth chapter of his Travels he writes--
"My principal design being to inform and not to
amuse, I rather choose to relate plain matter of fact
in the simplest manner."
"Proper words in proper places" is his terse
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—SWIFT.
283
definition of a good style. In his advice to his
clerical friend, he is especially explicit on this
point. The first error to which he calls attention
is, the use of "obscure terms" of which he adds
"that he does not know a more universal and
inexcusable mistake." He speaks of it as especially
noticeable among the educated "that whereas a
common farmer will make you understand in three
words that his foot is out of joint, a surgeon, after
a hundred terms of art will leave you in ignorance."
In a somewhat indignant spirit at the ostentatious
diction of the clergy, he writes-"I defy the great-
est divine to produce any law, either of God or man
which obliges me to comprehend the meaning of
ubiquity, entity, idiosyncrasy and the like." He is
of the opinion that nine-tenths of the terms used
could be changed to the profit of the hearer. He
asserts the principle, that the divine should have
nothing to say to the wisest of men which the
most uneducated could not understand; that the
comprehension of washer-women and servant maids
and daily laborers, should be the standard, rather
than the conversation of savans.
He is never weary
in speaking of simplicity of style as that without
which no human production can arrive at any great
excellence. He takes the strong position, that when
men are not plain, it is either from malice or pride of
learning. He holds that the path of clearness lies
in the line of nature. On this theory, a man to be
obscure must be somewhat perverse. Continuing
his attack against the pride of learning, his wrath
gives way to irony and humor as he avows, that
all the terms of abstract philosophy have with all
the
284
ENGLISH PROSE.
their defects, one great advantage-that they are
equally understood by the vulgar and the preach-
er. He alludes very pertinently in this connection
to the style of Bunyan with whose simplicity he
was charmed "I have been better entertained
and more inspired by a few pages in Pilgrim's Prog-
ress than by a long discourse on simple and com-
plex ideas." He felt attracted as Mr. Froude has
been by the honest Saxon homeliness of the dreamer's
diction.
In all this language we have a revelation not only
of Swift's theory but of his daily practice as a writer.
It is safe to say that in respect to plainness he has
no superior in English Prose. No one has written so
much and written more clearly. In the study of his
style, there is a marked absence of any show of learn-
ing; of the drawing of distinctions without a difference
or of using words for the sake of using them. So
prominent is this feature, that what is called the
natural style of prose was often sacrificed to it. He
preferred intelligibility to high sounding eloquence
of phrase. He was so intent upon saying plain things
in a plain way for plain people that he was in danger,
at times, of reaching the opposite extreme of tameness
or undue familiarity. Hence, some critics speak of his
style as ordinary. The fact is that because of its
simplicity it is quite exceptional. Nothing is more
common than literary obscurity. In his Antony-like
method of "speaking right on " he needed but few of
the devices of the schools and it was his bluntness
that offended his enemies and secured his victories.
He called things by their right names, used terms in
their commonly accepted senses and had no faith in
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—SWIFT.
285
Talleyrand's theory "that language is the art of con-
cealing thought."
"'Twas his occupation to be plain." As to this
quality of style, Swift followed in the line of Bunyan,
Taylor, Fuller and De Foe and anticipated all the
best essayists of the following centuries. He wrote
a simpler English than any one of his contemporaries
Addison not excepted, and in phraseology and struc-
ture was the most modern writer of the Augustan
Age. In this respect, the student of expression may
find in Swift much to admire and imitate. It is, cer-
tainly, a matter of deep regret that the moral charac-
ter of the man was such, and many of his discussions
of such a nature that the true excellence of the style
is not allowed to have its full effect. One additional
feature of his style must be noted.
(5.) Freedom from Pedantry and Hypocrisy.
Mr. Leslie Stephen in the biography of the author
makes frequent allusion to this characteristic of
Swift's style. If we examine closely we shall find
that most of his important writings were occasioned
by his intense opposition to sham and parade of
every sort. He was the Carlyle of the Augustan Age
in his hatred of isms and frauds, and felt himself to
be, as Carlyle did, a self-appointed censor and refor-
mer. Thus, The Tale of a Tub, was as his biographer
writes "another challenge thrown down to preten-
tious pedantry." So, in The Battle of the Books, he
fought against scholastic pedantry as distinct from
ecclesiastical. In the Drapier Letters, he rose to in-
dignant protest against practical corruption under
286
ENGLISH PROSE.
the pretense of public spirited benevolence, while in
Gulliver's Travels he indulged in a scathing satire
against humanity itself as in turn, the author and
the victim of whims and delusions. He feels it to be
his mission to expose the disguise. So, even in his
sermons and smaller papers, satire is the prominent
word. There is, as might be supposed, a dangerous
extreme in all this which Swift in his style did not
escape. He laid himself open to the charge of cyni-
cal criticism and is not yet wholly exoperated. At
times, as in Gulliver, he fairly prefigures the modern
pessimists and lacerates for the sake of morbid pleas-
ure. Hence, the intense bitterness expressed against
him in his own day so that on his own confession, no
less than a thousand papers were penned against him
as a partisan in church and state. At heart, how-
ever, he was a better man and the explanation of his
rancor is found in his opposition to hypocrisy. As
far as this sentiment was healthy and under control
it added vigor, point and spirit to his style and
made him a practical rather than a speculative writer.
His hatred of philosophy arose from its overdrawn
distinctions and he thoroughly believed in every-day
sense. One is struck in this respect with the busi-
ness-like character of many of his papers. He did
not confine himself to the great questions of church
and state, society and letters, but wrote on the most
practical topics of common life even down to-Direc-
tions to Servants. In his best mood Swift was a
helpful critic. In his wayward moods, he was a
cruel, heartless cynic, and not a little of his literary
defect as a writer must be laid at the door of mental
despondency.
represenTATIVE Writers.-SWIFT.
287
In fine, the prose style of Swift had far more merits
than faults. Lacking in grace and high imaginative
power and often bordering on the censorious and
cynical, it still possessed a force, a satirical point, an
individuality, an ease and plainness of English usage
and a downright practical bluntness that marked it
as superior and make it still representative. No one
probably will ever know the poignancy of his per-
sonal trials. The world was against him from the
outset nor has he ever elicited to any degree such
sympathy as has been freely accorded to Lamb and
Goldsmith in hours of similar discouragement. That
he wrote as he wrote amid such experiences is the
greatest marvel of all. He has left a style notable
for most of the essential qualities of good writing,
save literary finish and cannot be said to have had
his superior in English prose up to the days of
George II.
References and Authorities.
Morley's Swift (Eng. Men of Let.). Forsters's
Swift. Thackeray's English Humorists. Johnson's
Lives of the Poets.
CHAPTER V.
THE PROSE STYLE OF JOSEPH ADDISON.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
Entered Oxford,
Returned in 1703.
BORN at Milston, May 1st, 1672.
1687. Traveled in Europe in 1699.
Was Under-Secretary of State in 1706. Member of
Parliament in 1708. Secretary to Lord Lieutenant in
Ireland, 1709. Secretary of State in 1717; Resigned,
1718. Died at Kensington, June 17th, 1719.
Prose Works of Addison.
In 1709, Steele had begun the publication of his
first periodical-The Tatler. He had written but a
few numbers before Addison's attention was specially
called to the author of them. His services were at
once secured by Steele in the further prosecution of
the work. Addison's history as a writer of periodical
prose literature begins here with, The Tatler in 1709
and ends in 1719 with,-The Old Whig.
The Tatler began April 12th, 1709 and closed
January 2nd, 1711. It was begun by Steele under
the name of Isaac Bickerstaff and published, thrice a
week. Of the two hundred and seventy-one papers
comprising it, one hundred and eighty-eight were
REPRESENTAtive writers.—addison.
289
written by Steele and forty-two, by Addison. The re-
mainder were written by them jointly and by other
less famous authors. The Spectator began March 1st,
1711, and was published daily to December 6th, 1712.
Of its six hundred and thirty-five numbers, Addison
wrote two hundred and seventy-four; Steele, two
hundred and forty and Budgell, thirty-seven. The
other numbers were written by various literary
friends. At this point, The Spectator though not
completed was temporarily abandoned and The Guard-
ian was begun by Steele, March 12th, 1713. It was
continued in daily issues till October 1st, 1713. Of
its hundred and seventy-six numbers Steele wrote
eighty-two, and Addison fifty-three. In June, 1714,
The Spectator reappeared in its eighth volume.
ran nearly through the year with three papers
weekly-"a volume," wrote Macaulay, "containing
perhaps the finest essays, both serious and playful,
in the English Language."
It
From December 23rd, 1715, to June 29th, 1716, a
paper called, The Freeholder, appeared once a week.
It was purely political, and Addisonian, written in
the interests of the existing government of The
House of Hanover against the claims of The Preten-
der and of The Papacy. Following this, were a few
papers called, The Old Whig in reply to The Ple-
beian of Steele; an article or two to The Lover,
and a few scattered tracts on the political and com-
mercial questions of the time. Before these period-
icals appeared there appeared, the Essay on The
Georgics and Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, in
1697, and 1705 respectively. A posthumous work—
Dialogues on Medals-1721, belongs to his English
290
ENGLISH Prose.
Prose, as also, a treatise, in 1713, on The Evidences.
of Christianity.
The Essay referred to is prefixed to Dryden's Vir-
gil; the Travels in Italy are full of interesting refer-
ences to Roman history and Letters; the Dialogues
is a learned and curious comparison between the
inscriptions on medals and various points of Classical
history alluded to in classical authors while the
"Evidences" consists of a presentation of Pagan and
Jewish testimony to Christ. Incomplete and indif-
ferent as to style, it is important as evincing the
author's inner self. As he nears the close of life he
turns his thoughts, as Bacon in his Meditations and
as Milton in his Christian Doctrine, to the great
subject of religious belief and authority.
His Preference for Prose.
Addison's poetry is by no means limited. It in-
cludes a period of production from 1693, when he
wrote in verse to Dryden, on to The Drummer, in
1716, and is marked by such substantial poems as-
The Campaign, Rosamond and Cato. His taste and
talents, however, were in prose. If Milton here used
his left hand, Addison used his right. As Milton,
he gave to it the best period of his life and power.
He did not enter on prose work as a side issue, but
as the main issue. Even when engaged in poetry
he felt that he was, in a sense, out of place and time
and where he could not give to God and man the
best account of himself. At the close of one of his
poems he gives expression to these feelings as
follows-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—ADDISON. 291
!
"I've done at length and now, dear friend, receive
The last poor present that my Muse can give.
I leave the arts of poetry and verse
To those that practice them with more success.
And so, at once, dear friend and Muse, farewell!
Of greater truth I'll now prepare to tell."
This greater truth of which Addison the poet spoke
was that vast body of practical and miscellaneous
prose of which he was to be the author.
His Prose Style.
The closing sentence of Dr. Johnson's exhaustive
essay upon our author has become widely current.
"Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar
but not coarse and elegant but not ostentatious must
give his days and nights to the study of Addison."
This judicial opinion remains to this day substantially
in force. Despite the adverse criticism of the modern
French school and the modern English school of lib-
eral tendencies, these Addisonian Essays still hold
their ground as leading specimens of English prose
in many of its qualities. The word "familiar" as
Johnson uses it is not yet obsolete, and has been un-
justly perverted by the late censors to mean that
type of prose which is sharply opposed to the literary.
It is familiar in the sense of unconventional and not
in the sense of common.
SPECIAL FEATURES OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Literary Gentleness and Grace.
This quality may be expressed by various terms
Johnson called it-elegance. Mr. Disraeli would
292
ENGLISH PROSE.
speak of it under-The amenities of Literature, as a
neat facility of expression designed to attract the in-
different and please the fastidious. As we examine
the nature of the times in which the author lived and
study the particular object which he had in view in
his periodicals, the explanation of this order of style
will appear more plainly.
It was a time when the most conciliatory temper
was demanded on the part of any one who desired a
hearing. The author stood in the centre of the po-
litical excitement of Queen Anne's reign. Popular
opinion was restless and violent and the standard of
popular intelligence was low. It was, thus, of the
very first importance for a public instructor to accept
the civic and social status as he found it and within
the limits of moral rectitude to make all possible con-
cessions. "I must confess," says Addison, "were I
left to myself, I should rather aim at instructing than
diverting, but if we will be useful to the world, we
must take it as we find it." It was the author's aim
to conciliate in every worthy way: to adapt himself
to his age rather than harshly oppose it; to be gra-
cious even in his criticisms of men and things and
thus to lead the populace to higher levels. He knew
that in their ignorance they were shy of the teacher
and his teachings and that in their frivolity they
were suspicious of religious severity. "I must, how-
ever," says he, "entreat every person who reads this
paper never to think of himself or any of his friends
aimed at in what is said for I promise him never to
draw a faulty character which does not fit at least a
thousand people, or to publish a single paper that is
not written in the spirit of benevolence." The error
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—ADDISON.
293
of the time was thus rebuked while the erring were
made to feel that the truest friend they had in Eng-
land was the reproving and yet kindly Spectator. A
further reason for the exercise of this affability of
style is found in the fact that special attention was
given by the periodical essayists of the time to the
delicate questions of domestic life and manners in
England. The Spectator does not confine itself to the
outer circle of public life-to the ship, the market,
the place of prayer and the Parliament. A more se-
cluded area is entered and Addison is found in the
drawing-rooms of the English homes. The delicacy
of the position required most delicate address and
description and a skill in literary art possessed by
but few. As the populace was to be conciliated, the
leaders of the realm were to be pleased. All the
graces of prose style were in requisition. Addison
saw at once that truth must be conveyed in affable
manner. The most sensitive taste was to be con-
sulted so as not to be offended. Criticism must be
given in kindly forms and this order of literary gen-
tleness was no more needed than it was germane to
the character of Addison.
Addison's style is here the man himself. His prose
is marked by suavity because he himself was amiable
and generous. It is interesting to note, just here, that
he purposely devoted several of his best papers to the
discussion of Good-Nature. He defines it, shows the
evil that results from the lack of it; states the best
methods of its exhibition and exhorts his readers to its
daily illustration. By this and similarly attractive
features of his prose, the reader, unawares, is led
into fullest sympathy with the writer.
294
English prose.
Quite apart from the subject matter of his periodi-
cals and their aptness to the ever varying circum-
stances of the hour, Addison secured his audience at
the English breakfast table by reason of his genial
good-nature as a writer. Tories and Whigs were
alike charmed by it. The political pages of The
Freeholder were as full of it as the society pages of
The Tatler and The Spectator. Addison was wel-
come for the same reason for which Butler and Swift
were unwelcome. He knew as they did not the
more sympathetic side of human nature and how to
address himself to it. He was in this respect the
Washington Irving of English Prose.
(2.) Plainness and Precision.
At this point the parallel often drawn between Ad-
dison and Swift is a just one. In fact, their literary
characteristics may be said to have been common to
the
age of Anne. There is a studied absence of all
such features of style as, redundance, inversion and
circumlocution. There was very little verbal tinsel
for the sake of effect, and no desire to conceal ignor-
ance under a veil of words. The average intelligence
of the time demanded clearness. In the earlier days
of Lyly and Sydney when the chivalric order of things
somewhat continued, there was a demand for the ro-
mantic and Euphuism was the result. Now, things
had changed. The new civilization was practical
and desired a type of literary expression in keeping
with its character. In this respect he did what Ba-
con did and was aided by the time. "It was said of
Socrates" writes Addison "that he brought philos-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-ADDISON. 295
!
ophy down from heaven to inhabit among men. I
shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have
brought philosophy out of closets and libraries,
schools and colleges to dwell in clubs and assemblies,
at the table and in coffee houses." He saw at once
that it would be impossible for him or any one else
to teach philosophy to the general public of that day
in the strictly philosophic forms as Clarke and
Berkeley taught it to the scholars. He therefore in-
troduced it at the tables of English yeomen, divested
of all its scholastic features and in the simplest forms
of every day wisdom. He taught them philosophy
without their suspecting it. It was in the popular
meaning of the term, Common-Sense Philosophy.
He did not endorse the doctrine that in order to be
profound a man must be unintelligible or that be-
cause a man was understood by the average mind he
was thereby proved to be mentally lacking. He did
not believe in the idea that language was the art of
concealing thought and therefore, never hesitated to
decry that so called literary style which was learnedly
obscure and mysterious. The prose writers of this
age, as we shall see, had their faults, but they were
not in this direction. They wrote plainly to plain
people.
A question of interest has been started here by the
critics-to what degree this adaptation of style to the
middle classes modified Addison's intellectual power?
Did he not in common with his colleagues sacrifice
himself, at this point, to popular weakness? Did he
not, moreover, lower the line of English Prose from
the artistic to the plebeian level?
Whatever the order of Addison's mind was, his
296
ENGLISH prose.
clearness of statement and method were natural.
Homeliness of speech sometimes bordering on blunt-
ness was as much a part of him as it was of Bunyan
or Fuller. Whatever he could or could not do in the
sphere of abstract thought, he made it a matter of
conscience to write and talk in the language of the
many. So marked is this feature that it, at times, is
carried to an extreme and he becomes, as Wordsworth
in poetry, too familiar. Still, the fault, if a fault,
was pardonable, and far more desirable than the
frequent error of undue dignity and loftiness of
style. Nor can it be argued that this in itself be-
tokened an inferior order of intellectual power. Other
things being equal, precision and plainness indicate
clear and wide thinking. Some genius is required to
present high truth in ordinary forms and it is unfor-
tunate, at least, to view such a result as indicative
of average talent only. In short, Addison's mental
rank cannot be determined at this point one way or
the other. The decision must be made up from the
sum total of his writings and doings. It is in point
here to note that verbal precision was carried to an
unhealthful extreme by Addison and his school. So
particular was he in composition, that, according to
Warton, he would often stop the press to insert a
new preposition or conjunction. He was as fastidious
in prose as Pope and Dryden were in poetry. The
greatest defect of Addison's style lies here, in close
connection with one of his greatest merits. It is the
absence of a deep undertone of pathos, what the
French call, unction. All is clear, correct and ele-
gant, but there is no literary inspiration. The
reader would often tolerate a degree of incorrect-
REPRESENTATIVE writerS.—ADDISON.
297
ness, if so be a more emotional expression might
ensue.
Addison might have been less correct, indeed,
without being incorrect and would have more than
gained in power what he lost in precision. It is at
this point that Mr. Taine indulges in his most pun-
gent criticism of Addison and not without reason.
He speaks of his "commercial common-sense; his
business-like resolutions and maxims." "What in
the name of heaven," asks Taine, "would a French-
man do if in order to move him to piety he was told
that God's omniscience and omnipresence furnished
him with three kinds of motives and then subdivided
these into first, second and third? To put calculation
at every stage; to come with weight and figures into
the thick of human passion; to ticket them and clas-
sify them like bales; to tell the public that the inven-
tory is complete and to lead them by the mere virtue
of statistics to honor and duty,—such is this Addi-
sonian method." This is irony in essence and, yet,
not altogether undeserved. Verbal precision over-
reaches itself in Addison. It was, indeed, the error
of the age. Still more marked in poetry, it was too
conspicuous in prose, so that the artificial maxims of
Boileau ruled in both spheres. Correctness was con-
founded with mechanism. Finish and fervor excluded
each other. Here and there in Addison's writings
there are traces of true passion. In some of his
Italian Letters when his soul is stirred by the charms
of nature and art; in his sacred lyrics and other
poetry, the inner life is revealed. There was some
emotion, if indeed, it could be reached. Still, his
temperament was not of the impassioned order.
298
ENGLISH prose.
Even in poetry it is not sufficiently evident and is
one of the reasons why Addison could never have
made an eminent poet. His emotional range was
much narrower than his mental. We have compared
him to Irving in gentleness and grace. At this point
the comparison fails. He lacked the sympathetic
soul which marks the highest characters in prose
or poetry. Addison, though among the first of our
modern prose writers, is by no means the first. Part
of the explanation lies in his want of deep-seated,
impassioned earnestness. He was careful to a fault.
(3.) Wit and Humor.
As among the Periodicals of the time in which
Addison had a greater or less interest the Spectator
revealed his personality more than did the Tatler or
Guardian, so it may be said that among all the au-
thor's literary characteristics, humor is the most
prominent. In fact, no student of Addison can un-
derstand him or his prose apart from a clear appre-
ciation of this quality. There is a spontaneous
overflow of good-nature in his papers which carries
all before it and refreshes the mind of the reader. So
decided is this element in the author's personality,
and so desirous is he that every expression of it shall
be genuine, that he takes occasion in several of his
papers to show to his readers the precise nature of
this quality of style. He is at special pains to call
the attention of all aspirants in prose composition to
the principle of naturalness as essential to all true
humor. It was extremely fitting that in the reign
of Anne when every member of a club house thought
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-——ADDISON.
299
1.
himself a born wit, Addison should fee' compelled to
take up his pen and modestly call attention to his
own merits and success as a Humorist. Such papers
were as readily called forth by the excessive literary
affectation of the time in this direction as were the
protests of Jeremy Collier against the immoral drama
of his day. If wit was attempted, the result was
either burlesque or pedantry. Every writer ventured
upon the most absurd allusions and figures. It was
the golden age of the anagram, the acrostic and the
far-fetched simile. Not to be a punster was an un-
pardonable literary defect. The Euphuism of the
days of Sydney was revived. We may well imagine
the excessive limits to which this vicious custom was
at length carried until a literature which should be
daily increasing in power was in danger of becoming
a victim to the most extreme mental conceit of the
hour. Among all the other benefits which accrue to
English Letters from the work of Addison as a prose
writer, there is scarcely a more important one than
this the restoration of English humor to its rightful
sphere. In every way he asserted that genuine wit
need not be allied to gross vulgarity as was true in
Dryden's time, but could do its best work in the in-
terests of virtue and public morals. "Among all
kinds of writing," says Addison, "there is none in
which authors are more apt to miscarry than in works
of humor. Nothing is so much admired and so little
understood as Wit." This language is used by the
author in close connection with that notable state-
ment-"that the great and only end of these my
speculations is to banish vice and ignorance out of
the territories of Great Britain." This element of
300
ENGLISH PROSE.
pleasantry in the papers of Addison is exhibited in
various ways, and most especially, in the different
characters brought before us as mentioned by Steele
in the second number of The Spectator. Prominent
among these as the central figure of Addison's heroes,
no one would fail to place the name of Sir Roger de
Coverley. He is a general favorite among the author's
readers and, indeed, the author's favorite so that he
declared they were born for one another. Sir Roger
was a large, natural, eccentric country gentleman
and the leading representative of the old October
Club. By his strict adhesion to Tory principles in
church and state he was a true partisan and politi-
cian of his time. Filled to the brim with whims and
fancies he was the life of every circle he entered and
won the esteem even of the great by his unbounded
joviality. Saddened by unsuccessful love; indifferent
to the fashions of the world so that his doublet had
been “in and out a dozen times"; too impartial not
to be an oracle and far too genial not to be a friend,
he put all critics of character at defiance and is still
Sir Roger-nothing more nor less. Whether due to
partial insanity, belief in witchcraft, confirmed rus-
ticity or settled intent to deceive, his acts are best
accounted for by Addison himself as he says-"My
friend, Sir Roger, with all his good qualities, is some-
thing of a hermit. His virtues as well as imperfec-
tions are tinged by a certain extravagance which
makes them particularly his." Some references will
justify this opinion. Sir Roger in the choice of a
chaplain made it a requisite that the incumbent
should possess a clear voice, a good aspect and a
slight knowledge of backgammon. As soon as he
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-ADDISON. 301
is settled in his charge he makes him a present of all
the good sermons which have been printed in English.
Of the haunted house on his country estate he tells
us, that three-fourths of the rooms are unapproachable
on account of strange sights and sounds and that the
only way to utilize them is to require his chaplain to
occupy them in turn. In describing the conduct of
Sir Roger at church the humorous Addison surpasses
himself. The walls of the church are hung with
texts of Sir Roger's own choosing. In his capacity
as landlord of the ecclesiastical estate, he allows to
no one but himself the privilege of sleeping during
service. In singing the psalms he never finishes
when the others do and during prayer stands among
the kneeling suppliants to see if any of his tenants
are missing. Thus the papers go on, containing
some of the richest humor in English Prose. As to Sir
Roger, Dr. Drake truthfully remarks-"that with
the exception of Falstaff, he is, perhaps, the most
humorous character ever drawn." In addition to
this leading personage we note the celebrated Tory
Fox Hunter, confirmed in his partialities and rough
in his bearing, loud mouthed on all occasions in
opposition to existing government. There is also,
Sir Andrew Freeport, the indomitable London mer-
chant and full of the maxims of trade. Also, Captain
Sartoy, retired from the sea and too modest to push
his talent to promotion. Also, the well-bred Will
Honeycomb, affable and coquettish, and last of all,
the aristocratic Wimble. In each of these characters,
the versatile Addison finds fitting occasion to express
mother wit. The same skill in pleasantry is visible if
we examine the papers themselves as distinct from the
302
ENGLISH prose.
characters. In the Spectator there may be cited, his
paper on Superstitious People; on The Clubs in Lon-
don, including the Everlasting Club; on Men of
Science; his Adieu to the Liberal Professions; his
paper on Fans and the various excesses of feminine
attire. In the Guardian and Tatler there may be
noted his paper on Courtship and Amorous Deceits.
Even in the partisan Freeholder called by some—the
political Spectator, the sterner principles of state-
craft as advocated by Tory and Whig are made at-
tractive to the popular taste by a wise infusion of the
humorous. Mention has been made of the extreme
formalism of Addison's style. It is here in place to
add that the great corrective of this error is found in
the quality now under discussion. Had Addison
failed here, his prose would have failed to reach the
popular mind by its monotonous precision. It atoned
for the absence of passion and made the periodical
welcome in English homes. It gave spice and flavor
to every article. It was because the humor of Ad-
dison was similar to that of Lamb and unlike that
of Swift and Pope that it found a ready reception.
(4.) Versatile and Popular.
This feature has probably struck every reader of
Addison's prose and needs but brief notice. It re-
minds us of the later opulence of Dickens and Scott
in the sphere of Fiction. He touches on all topics,
ancient and modern; in church and state and society
aud home; in science, philosophy, history, art and
criticism. In this particular, he is a distinctively
modern writer, rambling in a discursive manner
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—ADDISON.
303
through the open field of periodical themes pausing
at any one point but long enough to glance and
sketch and describe. It is thus that he displayed a
peculiar adaptiveness to the common intelligence of
the time. In this he had no predecessor who was
his equal. He was a kind of self-appointed literary
representative of the great middle class of his time-
the Prose Laureate of the People. This was his
ruling idea as a prose writer and he succeeded in
applying it. He inclined to the desultory method in
the choice and treatment of a theme and studiously
avoided whatever he deemed to be outside the area
of the popular thought and habit. Addison's papers
were read by the educated classes, by the statesmen
and leaders of the time. They were, however, writ-
ten for the masses and were versatile in order to be
the more attractive.
It is at this point, once again, that the open ques-
tion of Addison's mental ability as a prose writer,
already referred to, rises into new prominence. It
is held by some that this versatility and popularity
of style were the necessary result of an inferior order
of mind that must atone for want of thoroughness
by frequent change of topic and brevity of discussion.
Others more charitably refer this order of prose to
the definite purpose of the author and, more than
this, to a voluntary and yet reluctant sacrifice of per-
sonal taste to the public good. He was discursive
because he felt he must be so in order to be under-
stood and helpful. The one class of critics holds that
Addison could no more have written a prolonged
treatise than Wordsworth could have written an epic.
The other holds, that he preferred the appreciation
304
ENGLISH PRose.
of the people to the applause of the great and could
have been more famous by being less useful.
As suggested, whether Addison was or was not a
writer of high intellectual power, is not to be de-
termined by the qualities of style in question, but
must rest on the sum total of his qualifications as a
man and an author.
This much however is to be said-that he is not to
be pronounced mentally inferior simply because his
style was discursive and readable. It is a theory
quite too current and altogether incapable of proof
that to make a simple thing complex is the mark of
great intellectual acumen while it indicates a lower
type of brain power to speak and write so that com-
mon minds may apprehend the meaning. This is
certainly paying a premium to vague profundity and
discourages all that lies in the line of a pure literary
simplicity. In so far as Addison's prose is intel-
ligible, in so far is it successful as a form of literary
art and ranks above all those examples of prose
which seek abstruseness at the expense of plainness.
Other things being equal, simplicity is a mark of
ability and clearness of expression indicates a clear
head.
(5.) Ethical.
Addison's simple faith in Scripture and morality
showed itself in all that he wrote.
"There are in
these papers," he says, "no fashionable touches of
infidelity, no satire upon marriage and popular top-
ics of ridicule. If the stage becomes a nursery of
folly, I should not be afraid to rebuke it.
In short,
REPRESENTATIVE Writers.—ADDISON. 305
if I meet with anything in city, court or country that
shocks morality or good manners, I shall use my
utmost endeavors to make an example of it." This
is that Addisonian morale, too decided and delicate to
be treated with justice by Mr. Taine or even to be
appreciated by a Gallic conscience.
To Addison must be conceded the merit of having
called the attention of his age to the divinely or-
dained relation of authorship and character. He was
in the strictest sense, a Christian Essayist and penned
his papers in behalf of pure morals. If, as many
maintain, his periodical prose furnishes us with the
first example in English Letters of an absolutely safe
model for the imitation of the young writer, then, it
becomes a matter of highest moment that such a
model is founded on Christian principles. In this
respect, he placed himself in line with Hooker, Bacon
and Milton and radically apart from the standards
of Swift and many of the later novelists. He did
much to establish the ethical character of our popular
prose and was in every sense a writer of Good
English.
This Addisonian influence still remains among us.
Critical Ability.
Before leaving the discussion of Addison s prose
style there remains a topic of special interest.-We
refer to the open question of his Critical Ability a;
indicated in his distinctively critical papers. Wa
it superficial or thorough and philosophic? On the
one side, are found the names of Hood and Stewart
and on the other, those of Johnson, Drake and Aiken,
306
ENGLISH PROSE.
while all the later historians of our literature commit
themselves to one of these two positions. The spe-
cific attention which Addison devoted to this de-
partment of prose was by no means limited. In
many of his papers which cannot be classed as crit
ical throughout, is found at frequent intervals, the
studied expression of critical views on current topics.
In addition to his remarks on Wit and Humor al-
ready indicated, critical papers are given on-the
Opera, Tragedy and Comedy, Early English Poetry,
English Language, Genius, Poetry of Pindar, Litera-
ture, Oratory, Poetry, Music, The Art of Composition,
Pope's Essay on Criticism, The Pleasures of the
Imagination and, as most important, The Paradise
Lost of Milton. This last production in common
with most of the others, has been made the occasion
of severe remark. The view which Drake attempts
to establish is a plausible one and in the author's
favor as a writer bent on the people's good. On this
theory, the national habit and literary taste were
such at the time that the people would not and could
not accept abstract criticism. Addison being desir-
ous of calling their attention to topics of substantial
interest, felt bound to adopt the informal method
which he did in place of the rigid systems of Aris-
totle and Boileau. While the beauties or blemishes
of any particular writer might be so indicated as
that all could see and estimate them aright, he knew
that his object would be quite defeated if the reader
were invited formally to a learned discussion upon
the nature of beauty. He knew that if the subject
of poetry was to be presented successfully to the pub-
lic of his day it was to be by objective example and
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—ADDISON. 307
not by subjective analysis. It was merely a choice
of methods-the technical or the simple. He delib-
erately chose the latter and for the same reason that
he chose a versatile and popular style, in all his prose.
This informal method he applied to Milton's great epic
after it had been well-nigh consigned to oblivion by the
excesses of the Restoration and Revolution of 1688.
To Addison's critical study of Paradise Lost was
directly due that reawakening of English interest in
the poetry of Milton which had for its immediate
result the revival of interest in literature itself and
for its final result, the elevation of public taste. Just
here, it is in place to note the quality of Addison's
imagination as bearing on the estimate of his critical
power. He speaks of "a sound imagination as next.
to a clear judgment and a good conscience the
greatest blessing of life." In this emphatic use of
the word, sound, the author has given us the best
description of this faculty as he possessed and used
it. It was sound rather than sublime; healthy rather
than brilliant. It was Baconian in its purity with-
out the Baconian strength and richness. As far as
it went, it was normal and potent. It went, how-
ever, but a comparatively short distance beyond the
bounds of actual life. There was not that mental
reach and surety which ever mark the action of
genius. Addison's critical ability in literature may
be judged here aright when it is said that it was not
in his power to have given the best criticism of
Paradise Lost and kindred works because of the
absence of that creative and constructive imagina-
tion which must to some degree exist in the censor
as well as in the poet.
308
ENGLISH prose.
¿
It was sound but did not soar high enough above
the earth to see the supernal and sublime. It is thus,
that in Addison's papers we must content ourselves
with fable and allegory; with fancy and picture, and
not too earnestly seek the presence of "sacred inven-
tion." Addison's critical prose is a safe and helpful
order of prose but not the highest. He did good
work here but his forte was elsewhere. It was
rather in the sphere of life and manners than in that
of literary art that his critical power was best ap-
plied. He wrote better about men and things than
about books.
In a word, Addison's prose style, whatever its
merits or demerits, was a better practical style than
any that preceded the Augustan Age; was in keep-
ing with the needs and spirit of the time and fixed
in a real sense a standard of prose on the basis of
which later authors have built better and still better
forms. Take it together, no writer of his day wrote.
a better English and while many of his successors
have wielded an abler pen in the realm of prose, no
one of them has used the talent that he had to bet-
ter advantage and no one of them would be spared
from our literary records with more ingenuous
regret.
There is such an order of prose style, still, as the
Addisonian. In common with the Johnsonian and
De Quinceyan, it holds a place and holds its own.
The Spectator and Tatler are now little read but the
prose of their author has become an historic and es-
sential part of English Letters and English Style.
Macaulay and Dickens have written better because
he wrote so well and every English literary histo-
REPRESENTATIVe writers.~adDISON.
309
rian must still concede the fact of his presence and
his power.
References and Authorities.
•
Courthope's Addison (Eng. Men of Let.) Essays
of Macaulay. Taine's History of Eng. Lit. Thack-
eray's Eng. Humorists. The Spectator. Kellogg's
Eng. Lit.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PROSE STYLE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
In Oxford,
BORN at Lichfield, Sept. 18th, 1709.
1728. Obliged by poverty to withdraw. Usher of
a school at Bosworth, 1731. Working for booksel-
lers in Birmingham. Went to London, 1737, for
literary work. A parliamentary reporter, 1740. On
a pension, 1762. Visited Scotland, 1773. Died, Dec.
13th, 1784.
His Prose Writings.
We shall not attempt to mention in detail the vari-
ous works of this illustrious author. In aiming to
reach a true analysis and theory of his style, the
most noted of these are sufficient, as follows:
Periodical-The Rambler, and The Idler. The Ro-
mance-Rasselas (Prince of Abyssinia). The Lives of
The English Poets.
His work as a writer of political pamphlets, as a
lexicographer and as an editor and commentator of
Shakespeare will not be overlooked, as they evince
certain qualities which enter vitally into the struc-
ture of his style. In the few productions mentioned
it will be noted that with the exception of oratorical
ཝི, ན ཝ, '''
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-JOHNSON. 311
prose we find illustrated all the forms of prose to
which attention has been called-narrative, descrip-
tive, philosophic and miscellaneous. Though he was
not as voluminous an author as some it is difficult to
see the justness of Mr. Stephen's statement, "Few
men whose lives have been devoted to letters for an
equal period have left behind them such scanty and
inadequate remains." Few, we may add, have left so
strong an impression upon their age.
EXAMINATION OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Its Anglo-Latin Element.
This is one of the first features that impress the
reader as he studies this prose structure and diction
and it becomes more manifest as the perusal goes on.
With many, it occasions prejudice at the outset and
prevents any continuous and impartial examination
of the author. Most men are too definite in purpose
to read the Rambler and too busy to read the Idler.
There is a widespread antipathy by way of presump-
tion against the Johnsonian Style in this regard so
that many even among the educated must confess to
an utter ignorance of the pages that they pronounce,
Latinized. Few, if any, of the author's biographers
and critics have avoided extreme positions here. If
Boswell is too flattering, Hawkins is too critical. If
Macaulay errs on one side, Taine errs on the other.
Drake and Hallam come nearest to a just estimate.
His diction is beyond question a mixed one. The
foreign element is prominent enough to call attention
to it as foreign and thus to detract from its native
"
312
ENGLISH prose.
simplicity as seen in Swift and Addison. The
student of English must, thus, be cautioned against
an excessive deference to Dr. Johnson's phraseology
lest he go even to greater lengths than his model and
end in the veriest pedantry. The diction of the
Rambler is a distinctively classical diction. It is
English in Latin dress. In his antipathy to the
French he favored the Latin unduly. In his excel-
lent preface to his English Dictionary he thus states
"that our language for about a century has been
deviating toward a Gallic structure and phraseology
from which it ought to be our endeavor to recall it."
He abhorred all Gallicism, but in deference to the in-
fluence of such authors as Sir Thomas Browne and by
reason of his personal classical attainments, he gave
undue weight to the idioms of Rome. It is thus that
we have such terms as-obstreperous, ratiocination
and adumbrate-in great profusion. In his effort to
state to his readers that practical lessons are to be
learned only in the school of life he says-" Exper-
ience soon shows us the tortuosities of imaginary
rectitude, the complications of simplicity and the as-
perities of smoothness." He wishes to give a clear
description of the different processes through which
the ladies at their toilets pass and he writes-" They
pass through the cosmetic discipline covered with
emollients and painted with artificial excoreations."
Such constructions might be greatly multiplied. It
was, probably, amid such literary thickets that Mr.
Taine found himself when he said-"We turn over
the pages of his Dictionary, his eight volumes of
essays, his ten volumes of biographies, his numberless
articles and we yawn."
REPRESENTATIVE WRiters.—JoHNSON. 313
In this respect Johnson failed just where Bunyan
and Swift excelled and to this degree made it impos-
sible to secure for his writings the popular eye. This
being admitted, there are certain modifications that
deserve mention and go far to admit us to the real
nature of the Johnsonian style.
(a) This Latinic element is not offensively present
in all of his writings. Most of the extreme criticisms
offered have been based upon a study of The Ram-
bler. Up to this point, the criticism is just. These
essays probably contain as much of this foreign caste
as all his other works combined. The author's style
simplified somewhat as it went on. He made the
study of phraseology more a matter of literary care
and conscience so that the difference between The
Rambler and the later works is noticeable. Johnson
seemed to be aware of his own defect and anxious to
amend it. He admits that he is inclined to “use too
big words and too many of them." He says to Bos-
well concerning The Rambler "that it is too wordy."
In The Adventurer and The Idler there is more direct
statement. In Rasselas, much of the crude and burly
style of the earlier writings gives place to a genuine
pathos while in, The Lives of the Poets there is a
quality of diction and an order of structure that may
well be compared to that of any preceding writer.
(b) The state of Intelligence somewhat warranted
a more studied style. Nearly forty years had passed
since the completion of the last volume of The Spec-
tator and we find in Johnson's time a generation of
people trained in Addisonian days. The mental
status of the masses at the opening of the eighteenth
century was one thing and in the latter half, quite
314
ENGLISH PROSE.
another. What might have been justifiable in John-
son would not have been so in Addison. This is, in
fact, what Mr. Stephen means when he says, " John-
son's style is characteristic of the epoch. Attempts
are made to restore philosophical conceptions and
though Addison is still a kind of sacred model, the
best prose writers are beginning to aim at a more
complex structure of sentence. Accordingly, John-
son's style acquired something of the old elaboration.”
This is all true and in point. In addition to change of
literary type, there was a radical change in social
modes and activities; in the mechanical and practical,
in the spirit of the age so that we are not to be sup-
posed as we open the Rambler to find the innocent
simplicity of Addison give way to a more cogent and
aggressive style.
(c) Such a phraseology as Johnson used was fully
in keeping with his character and personal habit. No
style in English Prose has been more decidedly the
expression of the author behind it. In all his actions
and ways he was precisely what Garrick meant when
he called him "a tremendous companion." His tre-
mendousness was a vital part of his nature. What-
ever Dr. Johnson was or was not, he was always him-
self. Though it might have been a misfortune that
he was not more simple in style, it was less unfor-
tunate than the result would have been had he at-
tempted to be so unnatural as to be as simple as
Addison. Nature made him on a very large pattern.
All that he was and did was large. When he began
to write, the words were as a matter of course, “big,
swelling words" of the same portly make as their
author. His literary work reflected his mental and
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS —JCHNSON. 315
even physical self and this consistency went far to
atone for the "tremendousness" of the diction.
(d) His Theory as to Diction was correct.
In addition to these considerations just stated it
must be urged that Johnson's theory of diction was a
very high one and he aimed to realize it. He never
omits the opportunity of praising simplicity of style
in others; calls attention to it in literature and de-
votes some of his papers to its discussion. In the
85th, 115th and 138th numbers of the Adventurer,
after taking his text from Lord Bacon's essay on read-
ing, he gives his views on various literary topics and
dwells with special emphasis upon the subject of Dic-
tion as founded on the purest prose models. In num-
ber 70 of the Idler, the author gives all that could be
desired on the subject of phraseology and general
style. He tells us "that to find the nearest way from
truth to truth is the best proof of a healthful mind."
He states "that if an author writes to be admired
rather than understood he counteracts the first end
of writing." He avows to Boswell, that he conscien-
tiously opposed the use of uncommon terms and had
really introduced into the language but four or five
new words. In the last paper of The Rambler, he
speaks of his arduous efforts to refine the language.
In justification of his use of unusual terms he says,
"When common words were less pleasing to the ear
or less distinct I have familiarized terms of philoso-
phy applying them to popular ideas, but have rarely
admitted any word not authorized by former writers."
Among the statements made in the Preface to his
Dictionary, he indicates the true relation of native to
foreign words as he says, "I believe that whoever
316
ENGLISH PROSE.
knows the English tongue in its present extent will
be able to express his thoughts without further help
from other nations." Even in the pages of Rasselas
verbal vagueness is condemned while in number 36
of The Idler we find a satire on obscurity of style
under the title of-Terrific Diction. Some extracts.
from this paper will be of interest.—
"There are men,” he says,
who seem to think no-
thing so much the characteristic of a genius as to do
common things in an uncommon manner-like Hudi-
bras, to tell the clock by Algebra or like the young
lady in Dr. Young's satires, to drink tea by strata-
gem, in fine, to quit the beaten track only because it
is known." He calls it "the bug-bear style by which
the most evident truths are made obscure, causing
the author to pass among his readers as the disguised
dancer in the masquerade." A mother tells her chil-
dren, that two and two make four. The children
remember and apply it in life. When they are fur-
ther told "that four is a certain aggregate of units,
that all numbers being only the repetition of a unit
which though not a number itself is the original of
all numbers," the children either run away in fright
or remain to learn once again that two and two make
four. These references might be increased to show
clearly that Dr. Johnson's general theory of style,
and, especially, of diction was as high as can be held
and that as far as in him lay, he verified it. We can
scarcely believe the theory to be that of the Johnson
of Boswell's biography, but so it is. He is the last
one from whom we expect discussions on vagueness
and ambiguity of phrase.
Macaulay in his trenchant review of Boswell's Life
1
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—JOHNSON. 317
of Johnson writes-" It is well known that he made
less use than any other eminent writer of those
strong, plain words-Anglo-Saxon or Norman-French
-of which the roots lie in the inmost depths of our
language; that he felt a vicious partiality for terms,
which, long after our own speech had been fixed,
were borrowed from the Greek and Latin and which,
therefore, even when lawfully naturalized, must be
considered as born aliens, not entitled to rank with
the King's English.”
This is a just criticism upon the author's diction.
His diction was Latinic, though less and less as his
style advanced. It was in keeping, as such, with
the man and the age and quite opposed to that
theory of simplicity which he was ever urging, but
which he could not possibly illustrate as he wished.
There are some things that elephants cannot do.
They cannot tread softly or walk upon the points of
pins.
(2.) The Want of Flexibility and Adaptation.
This applies to subject matter as well as to method
and external form.
We know from his conversations with Boswell that
he had seen much of the world of his day and had as
he thought, no slight knowledge of human nature,
still his observation and experience were but partial.
A close examination of his life will reveal the fact
that, after all, it was confined to the garret, tavern
and club. These served the purpose of a studio, par-
lor and kitchen. 'Tis true that he made a journey
to the Hebrides and to the Continent; that he was
318
ENGLISH PROSE.
!
much in the streets of London and in the homes of
the great, still the most of his life was passed just be-
neath the rafters or in the back rooms of the Essex
or Turk's Head. "Nobody," says Macaulay, "was so
conversant with all the forms of life as seen from Is-
lington to the Thames and from Hyde-Park corner to
Mile-end Green, but his philosophy stopped at the
first turnpike-gate. He had studied, not the genus
man, but the species, Londoner." It is to be empha-
sized here that his extreme poverty and strong ten-
dencies to melancholy made it impossible for him to
attain to anything like a spacious and healthful view
of life. The limits of his life were too narrow to ad-
mit of much diversity. His style was affected by
these circumstances and especially in the line of want
of adaptiveness to all classes and phases. His method
was rigid and mechanical and the same to all. He
would talk to Goldsmith and Savage and the artisan
in the same manner. Whatever the topic might be,
the treatment of it was the same. The narrative,
descriptive, didactic and critical were all run in the
same mold and branded with the common mark.
They are all in the phrase of Macaulay, "Johnsonese.”
His prose style, as his body, was very much opposed
to change. Starting in one direction and at a certain
pace he maintained it to the end. In all this he was
true to his nationality. In that he was lethargic, he
was English. The phlegmatic element in him was
native to the realm. The Gallic verve and sprightli-
ness was as foreign to him as it was to his country.
He was constitutionally and mentally heavy and
could not face about at will. There are few scenes in
literary history so amusing as when this ponderous
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.~JOHNSON. 319
man attempts to be playful and unbend himself to
passing changes. While he is unbending, the oppor-
tunity passes. Here, as in the case of diction, natur-
alness covers many sins. The very uniformity of his
prose is natural. It is a fault and yet modified by the
fact that it is purely individual and characteristic.
It is very common for literary historians to com-
pare and contrast Johnson and Addison. With
reference to the quality now before us they were op
posites. Johnson's defect is Addison's merit. Va-
riety was the spice of the early Augustan prose. It
was adaptive to all forms of popular life and all grades.
of culture. It had, as we have seen, an intelligible
word for every one and just in season.
It was every-
thing but monotonous. It is very instructive to note
how often Johnson himself refers to such a feature
by way of praise and as contrasted with his own
unyielding style. He writes-" Among the various
censures which the unavoidable comparison of my
performances with those of my predecessors has pro-
duced, there is none more general than that of uni-
formity." In number ten of the Rambler, he alludes
to the same censure and is candid enough to state
the views of others on this point. One of the letters
written by a lady on behalf of her sex takes
up the
old objection and says—“that the readers of the Ram-
bler cannot help a wish, that he would, now and then,
like his predecessors, throw in some papers of a gay
and humorous turn." Another lady far more sharply
desires to know who his friends are, what his amuse-
ments and ways are and whether he is a person now
alive. If he is a mere essayist, and bothers not him-
self with the manners of the age, she tells him, that
:
320
ENGLISH prose.
even the criticisms of an Addison will not save him
from neglect. Lady Racket "hopes to see the Ram-
bler interspersed with living characters." The com-
pliment and censure thus go on. The author accepts
each in good spirit and in the way of pleasant irony
enters into correspondence with his critics. The
result is, that he confesses his lack of adaptation and
says "that a daily writer ought to view the world."
In partial palliation of this uniformity of topic and
method, it is to be noted that he was, with scarcely
an exception, the only contributor to his periodicals.
He had no colleagues as Addison and Steele had.
This fact in connection with his multiplied duties and
his didactic work as a lexicographer made it difficult
for him to be varied and versatile. This apart, how-
ever, the style is lacking in diversity and is dull
up to the borders of moroseness. For this and
other reasons, it is not surprising to hear the author
state "that the number of his friends was not great
and that he had never been worshipped by the pub-
lic." Masculine thought presented in foreign idiom
and unvarying sameness of form will have but few
readers in any age. In the early Georgian Era, such
a style was intolerable and yet this sober minded
author is not altogether sorry that he had failed to
please all classes. In his closing Rambler he writes
I have never complied with temporary curiosity.
I have seen the meteors of fashion rise and fall with-
out any attempt to add a moment to their duration.
They were only expected to pursue them whose pas
sions left them leisure for abstract truth and whom
virtue could please by its marked dignity."
In fine, Johnson was never designed to be a suc-
Σ
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—JOHNSON. 321
cessful periodical essayist. He had a better field in
biography, lexicography and general criticism. He
was far more than a miscellaneous essayist and in
this respect was the superior of Addison. Such
critics as De Quincey are led to speak in high terms
of Johnson's style not so much on the basis of his
periodical work as on that of his entire work as an
author and commentator.
(3.) Absence of Impassioned Energy.
This is a failure common to periodical writing.
The want of consecutive discussion in such an order
of prose is a partial explanation of this. The topics
are too varied and the limits too narrow for the
generation of passion. Miscellaneous and oratorical
prose exclude each other. In no English essayist
after Milton and up to the time of the author is this
emotive element at all prominent. If we examine
the long list of periodicals issued between the time
of the Tatler, in 1709 and that of the Spy, in 1809,
the vast majority are penned either in deference to
the frivolities of the day or made up of the common
platitudes on morality and social order. There is
anything but unction and persuasive feeling. Mr.
Taine's criticisms upon Addison and the Augustan
essayists as to this defect are in place. In Johnson,
the defect is even more pronounced. As we peruse
his pages, we seek nothing so much and so vainly as
the presence of deep and expressive emotion.
We
read conscientiously rather than sympathetically.
There is nothing magnetic and inspiring; nothing to
elicit fervid feeling or high resolve. It does not
322
ENGLISH PRose.
absorb us as we read. It is didactic to a fault so that
we are taught by way of penance and are not sorry
when school is dismissed. There is a good deal of
the pedagogue in this and we, at times, are inclined
to revolt. This element was undoubtedly deepened
by his natural seriousness of mind often tinged with
melancholy. Had it not been for this inherited de-
spondency, his large nature might have been health-
fully tender and his style, impassioned. In his best
hours he was not devoid of susceptibility and inca-
pable of feeling. His profound sympathy for the
poor; his affection for his chosen friends and his
indignation against what he felt to be wrong, reveal
a sensitive nature. In his most mature life, this is
not altogether absent, still, the bent was toward the
sombre and despondent. He rarely rises in his style
to anything like an emotive climax. There is noth-
ing of the projective force of the orator or of the
writer who at all hazards must impress the truth.
He declares the truth but does not deliver it. He
deems it to be sufficient to instruct. Others must
inspirit. In all this, Johnson was himself again and
did a work committed to him. His successes and his
failures were his own.
As to the defects of style, thus mentioned, it is to
be noted, that they are confined to his written thought.
All his biographers from Boswell to Stephen have
marked the vital difference in Johnson the writer
and Johnson, the talker. "When he talked," says
Macaulay, "he clothed his wit and his sense in forci-
ble and natural expressions. As soon as he took his
pen in hand, his style became systematically vicious.
The expressions which came first to his tongue were
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-JOHNSON. 323
simple, energetic and picturesque. When he wrote
for publication, he did his sentences out of English
into Johnsonese." "There are times," says Stephen,
"at which his writing takes the true, vigorous tone
of his talk." There is no author in English prose in
whom this difference as to written and spoken dis-
course is so marked. In conversation, his diction was
pungent and idiomatic; his method ever varied and
his manner marked by personal force and feeling.
In that sphere he excelled just where in authorship
he failed and paradoxical as it may seem, was equally
natural in each rôle. We can scarcely conceive of
him talking as he wrote or writing as he talked. He
had a kind of dual personality. One was for the
coffee-house and street; the other was for the desk.
Boswell gives us more of the former than of the latter,
and for this reason is readable. It still remains for
some psychological critic to co-ordinate these two
personalities or to show why the one did not more
fully influence the other.
In the discussion of Johnson's style as to defects
it is scarcely necessary to add that of-Literary
Grace. The absence of such a quality is but the
natural result of those defects already suggested. It
is thus, that the figurative element is not marked.
It remains to state the merits of his prose style.
(1.) Substantial Clearness.
Despite his Latinic diction, want of variety and
passion, Johnson's meaning is generally intelligible.
Dr. Drake in his lectures on-The Rambler, calls
special attention to this feature and remarks: " Pre-
་
324
ENGLISH prose.
cision in the adoption and use of terms is peculiarly
the characteristic of Johnson's composition." This
may be extreme and, yet, attention should be called
to the important fact that clearness in writers is a
relative quality depending on the nature of the sub-
ject and the type of mind in author and reader.
There is the clearness of brevity and, also, of circum-
locution. The former Johnson does not possess; the
latter, he does. If judged by the highest historical
examples of clear writing, he is seen to fall short of
the standard. Still, he can be thoroughly understood
by the careful reader. If we follow him, he will
bring us safely to the end but by a somewhat indirect
route. The Rambler failed to receive the popular
favor which had been given to the Spectator, not
because the people could not understand it, but in
that it demanded more time and patience than
other periodicals. It was not so clear on the face of
it as that the idea could be snatched easily between
dinner and dessert, but it was clear. Many of the
author's essays that contain the longest words and
sentences and the most complex structure and give
the impression of hopeless obscurity are perfectly
intelligible upon due attention. The use of the bal-
anced order of sentence to which he was so inclined
aided rather than impaired the general plainuess of
the style. He is not a lucid writer in the sense in
which Bacon, Swift and Addison are lucid, neither is
he so conspicuously clear as to make him a model for
the student of style. We simply affirm that the
common view as to the vagueness and ambiguity of
his writing is incorrect and that in a true sense,
though not in the highest he is comprehensible.
Representative writers.-JohNSON. 325
Though he spoke in terms of praise of the style of
Browne and Burton, his own methods of expression
were vastly superior to their's in ease of intelligibility.
In some of his later authorship, most especially in-
The Lives of The Poets-he may be said to compare
favorably with such writers as Addison and Burke as
to perspicuity.
“With all its faults," says a biographer, "his style
has the merit of masculine directness. As Boswell
remarks, he never uses a parenthesis. The inversions
are not such as to complicate the construction, and
his style, though ponderous and wearisome, is as
transparent as the smarter snip-snap of Macaulay."
(2.) Literary Gravity.
The reference here is not to that excessive serious-
ness of manner which often ended in confirmed
melancholy but to that sober habit of mind and ex-
pression which was based on his view of the writer's
vocation. All that he did had a kind of natural sol-
idity about it. There was nothing trivial or puerile
in it all. He has a more than ordinary sense of the
dignity of authorship and addresses himself to his
work in Baconian spirit "To the glory of God and
the relief of man's estate." In this respect he re-
minds us strongly of the "Judicious" Hooker, and
of Milton. He was pre-inclined to the reflective and
serious and wrote as he felt. We shall, therefore,
look in vain, in his writings for the unmerciful satire
of a Swift or even the more harmless pleasantness of
a Steele and Hawkesworth. There is no vicious
abuse of personal or literary character, no serio-comic
•
326
ENGLISH PROSE.
burlesque for the sake of burlesque. Even in the
unguarded conferences of the club and social re-
unions, he rarely indulged in literary levity up to the
degree in which it was regarded as admissible. His
mind was masculine and earnest and he was not
inclined to stoop so far from that level as to be the
favorite of the many. If he must choose between
being a tedious author because so grave in method
and an entertaining author by catering to the whims
of the populace, he makes the choice at once in favor
of the former. In the closing number of the Ram-
bler he writes, "I have seldom descended to the arts.
by which popular favor is obtained."
Fearing lest, at times, he might be carried beyond
legitimate limits, he adds—“ As it has been my prin-
cipal design to inculcate wisdom and piety, I have
allotted few papers to the idle sports of imagination."
As literary criticism so often passes beyond the
province of decorous reproof into personal abuse, he
places it among the subordinate or instrumental arts.
He tells us that he has carefully avoided all arbitrary
decisions as to men and authors asserting nothing
without a good reason. Even as to the use of figure,
he affirms that he has never been so studious of nov-
elty as wholly to depart from all resemblance. Mere
declamation and hyperbole are an abomination to
him in that they depart from the reality of things.
He was thus well aware that his writings were not
popular and could not become so by reason of their
gravity of style and didactic method.
"Scarcely any man is so steadily serious," he says,
"as not to complain that the severity of didactical
instruction has been too seldom relieved and that he
REPRESENTATIVE writers.-JOHNSON. 327
is driven by the sternness of the Rambler's philoso-
phy to the more cheerful and airy companions.
He saw all this and yet adhered to his method.
Despite his sobriety no one wishes that he had done
otherwise. There is a moral attractiveness in the
manner in which he moves massively on quite un-
affected by current criticism.
When all others were
anxious to catch the ear of the time, he was content
to carry out his own methods. Hence, instead of
essays on, Fops and Fans, there are essays on, Pru-
dence, Self-Denial and Habit, History, Friendship,
The Art of Thinking and The Struggles of Life. He
carries us out of the region of parlors and etiquette
and social fashion into the higher realm of ethical
teaching. There is a body to the instruction. The
food is nutritious rather than merely palatable. The
æsthetic gives way to the useful. One can reckon
the specific gravity of Johnson's style. It has been
called ponderous in the sense of being heavy. It is,
also, such in the sense of being weighty. With all
its defects, it is immeasurably better then the sen-
suous style of the Restoration or the chiseled cor-
rectness of the days of Pope. Its richness in mental
instruction and the lofty seriousness of its method do
much to atone for its errors. Had the gifted Vol-
taire been the sober-minded Johnson, common sense
would have held the place of flippant wit and the lit-
erature of France in the eighteenth century been sig-
nally improved. Even Germany has urgent need of
such authors. Every literature needs such bulwarks
and barriers to arrest the tendencies to national de-
cline. It is to the praise of English Letters that this
ethical gravity is an historic part of it from first to last.
328
ENGLISH PROSE.
3
There are one or two features in the style of John-
son so closely related to this one of gravity that they
need mention here-
(a) This element, at times, showed itself in the ex-
treme form of rudeness bordering on severity. Mrs.
Boswell spoke of him to her husband as a "bear" in
his manners. Now and then, his style had this bear-
ish quality. There is a brusque and harsh tone about
it that grates upon the ear. The Sage of Lichfield
had a good deal of the animal in his nature and it
often ruled the other elements. When thus exercised
he would indulge in the most cruel invective and
spare no feelings whatsoever. This however, was
not the man at his best and in the true interpretation.
of his style, the student is to look beneath all this
to the essential good-nature and moral gravity of the
author.
(b) By way of strange contrast to this quality his
style is not infrequently marked by the most playful
humor. Boswell's biography is full of these outbursts
of pleasantry when by way of reaction from the in-
herent sobriety of his nature he would indulge in
sallies of wit and repartee. There is just enough of
this in his prose to give it flavor and attractiveness,
and to redeem the style from excessive seriousness.
In, The Lives of the Poets, this order of style is well
presented.
(3.) Johnsonianism.
The style of Johnson is eminently individual. It
is his own. His full-sized portrait is on every page.
He is as clearly distinct among English Prose Writers
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—JOHNSON. 329
as is Peter among the apostles. He is self-revealing
in every word and phrase. No style preceding his
can be called as unique as his. Among his succes-
sors, Thomas Carlyle approaches him most closely in
the element of literary personality. He thought as
he pleased, said what he thought, said it as it seemed
best to him to say it and consulted no one. During
the forty years between-The Spectator and The
Rambler, nearly all of the one hundred periodicals
that arose were imitative of what had preceded.
The Rambler appeared in 1730 on its own merits, mark-
ing a decided departure from all existing standards.
and introducing a new era in English Prose. Good
or bad, it was natural. "He never seems," says
Leslie Stephen, "to have directly imitated any one,
and adds "Some nonsense has been talked about his
forming a style." This is not altogether "nonsense.”
The Johnsonian style was a new order of expression
as compared with anything in the Augustan Age.
It was new not simply because it was Johnson's
but because Johnson was so peculiarly a man by
himself.
As suggested, we are reminded more of Hooker
than of any preceding author. In fact, Johnson was
far more Elizabethan than Augustan.
He may, in a true sense, be said to have founded a
school. As in his own day, he was an acknowledged
leader, so later on he gave direction to literary form.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, in referring to his own Acad-
emical Discourses, remarks-"Whatever merit they
have must be imputed in a great measure to the
education I may be said to have had under Dr. John-
son.
No man had like him the faculty of teaching
330
ENGLISH PROSE.
י
+
minds the art of thinking." This language is sim-
ply a ratification of Johnson's personal power over
men. Over Goldsmith and others he had a marvel-
ous influence, nor is it too much to say that the his-
torians and essayists of the latter part of the Georgian
era were more Johnsonian in general style than they
were anything else. They improved vastly upon their
model but still they had a model, in the person of
Boswell's hero. To this day, that style is among us.
A further confirmation of this individual influence
is seen in the fact that nearly all the contemporary
and subsequent periodicals take occasion to acknow-
ledge it. The Gentleman praises his diction. In-
The Olla Podrida,-there is a strong defense of him as
against those who would magnify his defects. The
Country Spectator, speaks of the sublime philosophy
of the Rambler. In The Indian Observer, he is repre-
sented as a nervous, original and intrepid genius, in
whose presence impiety shrinks away. The author
of The Advisor, after noting his merits and demerits.
concludes in highest praise of his character and the
undoubted perpetuity of his writings. In fine, he so
impressed himself on his age that his style is marked
by his own features and signed with his own signa-
ture. It will never be confounded with that of any
other English proser.
The lines of Courtenay are here in place-
By Nature's gift ordained mankind to rule,
He like a Titian formed his brilliant school.
Nor was his energy confined alone
To friends around his philosophic throne.
Its influence wide impressed our lettered isle,
And lucid vigor marked the general style."
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-JOHNSON. 331
The language of Hamilton on Johnson's decease is
a testimony to his individuality as he says-“ John-
son is dead. Let us go to the next best. No man can
be said to put you in mind of him. He has made a
chasm which not only nothing can fill up but which
nothing has a tendency to fill up.'
His predecessor-" Rare " Ben Jonson was not so
rare as he. No other man ate and drank; talked and
walked; lived and wrote as he did. He confided in
his own judgment as final. The only body he ever
consulted for advice was-I, Samuel Johnson and
myself. These three always agreed. There is at-
tractiveness in all this. The tendency to literary ser-
vility is so strong, that it is refreshing to see an ab-
solutely independent author. The times of Bacon,
Dryden and of Swift were full of servility. Every
age has too much of it. A writer may as well put up
his pen and close his desk if instead of being himself
and expressing himself he is aiming to appear in the
personality of another. In this particular, Dr. John-
son with all his faults had the first characteristic of a
successful author-Personality. This begets original-
ity of thought and style.
Lexicographer and Literary Critic.
In closing this discussion, mention should be made
of the author's work as a Lexicographer and literary
Critic.
In his Dictionary of the English Language he did
a work not only philological in character, but one in
the interests of English Literature and English Prose
Style. Faulty as it was on the side of scientific ety-
332
ENGLISH PROSE.
mology, it did a vast work in the line of clearer defin-
ition, in distinction of synonyms and apt quotations to
illustrate the sense, and called attention as never be-
fore both to the richness and needs of the native-
tongue. He carried out the ideas suggested by
Dryden and Swift and opened the way for all later
English lexicography.
As a Critic, his work was not of the first order as
compared with such a writer as De Quincey. His
style, therefore, is not a model of critical prose. Even
here, however, his prose has been underrated. If he
failed as a Shakespearian commentator and in his judg-
ment of Milton, he succeeded in that of Addison,
Dryden, Pope and others. Many of his decisions on
men and authors are still standard. Modern stud-
ents of Shakespeare and the English Poets cannot
afford to be ignorant of his opinions in this sphere.
His style, however, as critical lacks breadth and
generosity of view. He had certain pet theories.
to which he adhered and there is a little too much of
the autocratic to make his prose a model in this
regard.
Note should also be taken of his skillful use of anti-
thesis and of his style as in every sense morally pure
and ennobling. He, thus, has a rightful place in
standard English Prose. If his faults were greater
than those of some others, his merits were more pro-
nounced. He could be no more easily spared from
the record of English writers than could any one of
his predecessors. He had a place and did a work,
and prepared a way for still better literary effort. He
advises us in the formation of style to give our "days
and nights to the study of Addison." The careful
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-JOHNSON. 333
study of the best elements of this Johnsonian method
is also needed in the cultivation of a clear, solid and
original English Prose.
References and Authorities.
Boswell's Life of Johnson. Leslie Stephens' Life
of Johnson (Eng. Men of Let.). Macaulay's Essays.
Essays of Drake. Carlyle's Heroes.
CHAPTER VII.
THE PROSE STYLE OF EDMUND BURKE.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN in Dublin, Jan. 12th, 1730. Entered Dublin
University, 1744. Degree of B. A., 1748. Studying
Law at Middle Temple, 1750. M. A., 1751. Trav-
eled up to 1756. Studied and wrote. Private Sec-
retary of Hamilton in Dublin, 1761. Returned to
London, 1764. Private Secretary to Marquis of
Rockingham. In Parliament from Wendover, 1766.
Re-elected, 1768. In Parliament to 1794. Retired
with honor and pensions. Died, July 7th, 1797.
Variety of View as to His Rank.
There are few names, if any, in the records of
English Prose Literature concerning whom there
has been such a wide difference of opinion-at the
extremes of depreciation and of unqualified praise.
Mr. Morley, his latest biographer adduces five
representative classes of critics, each holding stren-
uously to its own special estimate of the man and
the author.
The reference here is not to the opinions held by
the partisan politicians of his time, dependent as
they were on Burke's relation to the great Whig and
represeNTATIVE writers.—Burke.
335
Tory factions, but to his strictly literary character as
a writer. On this basis, some speak of him as Hal-
lam does in connection with the name of Lord Bacon,
as a far seeing and profoundly philosophic mind,
while others, as Carlyle, regarded him as superficial
and unduly verbose. Lord Macaulay, in his brilliant
Essay on Warren Hastings, refers to him as "the
greatest man then living," while others view him as
nothing short of a political fanatic evincing some
occasional excellence in the department of letters.
Mr. Mackintosh speaks of him in the same breath as
of Shakespeare and would bear impressive testimony
to the imperial quality of his powers, while some
have been found who were willing to imply that in
the production of his most prominent works he was
mentally astray.
The great balance of opinion, however, especially
in modern times, has been in favor of this Anglo-
Irish author. "Opinion is slowly, but without re-
action," says Morley "settling down to the verdict.
that Burke is one of the abiding names in our his-
tory, not because he either saved Europe or destroyed
the Whig party, but because he added to the perma-
neut considerations of wise political thought, and to
the maxims of wise practice in great affairs and
because he imprints himself upon us with a mag-
nificence and elevation of expression that places him
among the highest masters of literature." It is no
small tribute both to the political and literary genius
of Burke given by Mr. Froude in his work on Ireland,
"that if Burke had remained in the country where
Providence had placed him, he might have changed
the current of its history." As to the special style
ง
336
ENGLISH PROSE.
of his prose, the gifted De Quincey says "that he was
the supreme writer of his century," to which Minto
in his Manual of English Prose subjoins, "Perfect
command of English is hard to attain; we must be
content to rank Burke among the few that have
come nearest to that perfection."
It is evident from such eulogiums as these that we
have in Edmund Burke one of the commanding men
of English History and English Letters. The very
bitterness of some of the accusations made against
him but confirms the essential greatness of his nature
and his work. In every sense of the term he is a
representative writer of English and will well repay
most careful study on the part of every critic of En-
glish style.
If his great contemporary, Fox, could say-" I have
learned more from him than from all books I have,
ever read," he will have something, at least, of ed-
ucational and literary value for the student of style.
His Prose Writings.
As far as mere quantity of production is concerned,
Burke ranks among those of our prose authors whose
works are limited. Whether we view them as to the
variety of their topics or to their actual numerical
amount, they are limited. In this respect, the au-
thor takes his place with such names as Hooker, and
Milton, rather than with such as Johnson and De
Quincey. We shall find, however, that his range of
subject was varied enough and his area of discussion
broad enough to give full scope for the exercise of
his literary gifts as well as to afford a sufficiently
representaTIVE WRITErs—burke.
337
full amount of prose work to be a basis for intelligent
criticism. An account of what he did in the line of
poetry is not here in place.
The distinction that some have made between his
writings as literary and political is not a valid one
as to the purpose before us, inasmuch as some of his
strongest features as a writer come into prominence
in his civic compositions. It is true, as often stated,
that Burke in one sense left literature for politics and
"gave up for party what was meant for mankind."
In another and a far higher sense, the statement is
misleading, in that he took his literary self with him
into the career of public life and through his author-
ship as a man of affairs became all the more cogent
and famous. From being an author by profession he
became one by practice and, as we shall see, happily
united what is rarely seen in authorship-literary
and civic power.
The prose productions in which his style may be
judged are as follows;
A Vindication of Natural Society, or a "View of
The Miseries and Evils arising to Mankind from
every Species of Artificial Society." This work was
designed to imitate the style of Lord Bolingbroke
and to parody his peculiar system of philosophy and
ethics (1756).
A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas
on The Sublime and Beautiful (1756).
In 1757 appeared-The Account of The European
Settlements in America.
Observations on The Present State of The Nation.
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
338
ENGLISH prose.
1
(1770).—in which he held that government should be
in the hands of an aristocracy.
Reflections on the French Revolution (1790), to which
Paine replied in-The Rights of Man.
Thoughts on French Affairs (1791).
Speech on American Taxation, April 19th, 1774.
Speech on Conciliation with America, March 22nd,
1775, when he offered thirteen resolutions of con-
cession.
Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (1777).
Speech on the Nabob of Arcot's Debts (1785).
Speech on the India Bill of 1783.
Speech on the Economical Reform Bill, 1780.
Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs (1792).
Letter to a Noble Lord (The Duke of Bedford),
(1796).
Letters on a Regicide Peace (1796–7).
The Impeachment of Hastings (1788–9).
In addition to these as the most important of his
prose works reference might be made to-
The Annual Register (1759).
Hints for an Essay on The Drama.
Abridgment of the History of England.
From this list of titles it will be noted that al-
though the province of authorship is limited, it
embraces all the essential forms of prose-narrative,
descriptive, oratorical, philosophical and miscel-
laneous. While the topics are as distinct as the
political, on the one hand, and the aesthetic, on
the other, most of them are civil in character and
given in the form of pamphlets or parliamentary
speeches.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BURKE. 339
His Prose Style-Conditions.
In the analysis and study of Burke's style, two
matters of moment must ever be kept in view.
(a) His Style as conditioned by his Character:
This vital relation of the author and the man is
noticeable, as we have marked in the history of every
prominent English writer. It is an essential part
and indication of such prominence. Every master
in letters is known for his individuality. Second
and third-rate authors imitate others. First-rate au-
thors are self-directing. They write themselves into
their words. Burke as a writer is especially sug-
gestive here. The man must be known in order to be
understood as an author.
It must be borne in mind that he was by birth and
education a Celt. Born in Dublin, early at school at
Ballitore within thirty miles of it and then, in Trinity
College at Dublin, it was not till 1750, just at his
majority, that he is found at London. He had all
that loyalty for his country which characterizes the
native Celt in whatever part of the world he may be.
He had that impatient ambition and fiery zeal which
signalizes the Celt and that Hibernian independence
which led him to say "I was not made for a minion
or a tool; I possessed not one of the qualities, nor
cultivated one of the arts, that recommend men to
the favor and protection of the great." His loves
and his hates were Celtic. His partisan attachment
to what he endorsed took the form of a passionate.
devotion and vented itself in the form of indignant
invective against his opponents. "When bad men
340
ENGLISH PROSE.
combine, the good must associate" was his watch-
word and stimulus, in party organization, and he
believed that nothing could be effectively done save
by concerted action. His convictions were so strong
and deep that opposition only inflamed them into
- greater intensity of expression.
In proneness to satire and fondness for imagery
and romance he was also a true Celt, while in addi-
tion to it all, his character was marked by that
sense of personal dignity which no loyal son of Erin
is without.
The study of Burke's style is largely a study of
these features of the personality of the man. They
appear and disappear but are always present in the
substantial body of the writing and must be seen in
order to its correct interpretation.
(b) His Style is conditioned by his Age.
As decided as Burke's individuality was, it was af
fected in various ways by the peculiar type of the
times in which Providence placed him. The age did
not control but it did modify the expression of his
thought. Though it is true that every master-mind
has, as such, more influence on his age than his age
has on him, it is, also, true that no man however
great can ignore the era in which he lives or rise
above it. He would not do it, if he could. Burke
wrote differently from what he would have done had
he lived a century earlier or later, and yet, no care-
ful observer of the fitness of things can fail to notice.
that he was adapted to his age as his age was to
him. He would not have been the Burke of English
Literature apart from his peculiar epoch.
When we ask as to what the special characteristic
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—Burke.
341
་
1
of the time was, we find it to have been one of agita-
tion. It was an age of destruction in order to con-
struction; of disturbance in order to adjustment.
The very titles of his pamphlets and speeches indi-
cate the unsettled condition of the time. It was the
era of "Present Discontents," the age of the Ameri-
can and French Revolutions, when taxation and
tyranny, conciliation and party, legal right and
constitutional privilege were the topics of the hour.
The conservative tendencies were in conflict with
the progressive. Old traditions were violently dis-
placed by the most extreme policies, "the distempers
of monarchy by the distempers of Parliament."
There was, therefore, more than mere change and
readjustment in the temper of the time. There was
a wildness and passionateness about it that marked
the influence of France on England and the unwill-
ingness of the mother country to yield up the control
of her American colonies.
From all this it will appear that the literature of
the time would reflect the character of the time.
This would be especially so in the province of prose
and on the part of such an author as Burke.
The dispassionate productions of Bacon and Hooker
or the didactic papers of Addison and Johnson or the
light descriptive sketches of Charles Lamb and of
Dickens would have been impossible in such an era.
The age was agitative. All was aglow and ablaze.
Repeal and reform were in order and this meant pre-
ceding dismemberment.
If "the style is the man," the style is the age also.
We shall look in the prose of Burke for a pertinent
example of Mr. Taine's theory on this subject.
342
ENGLISH prose.
·
His treatises on, The Sublime and Beautiful, and on
the Drama, apart, there is nothing that he spoke or
wrote that does not bear upon its face the political
imprint of the era. Never did a period and a writer
more fully represent each other, and this is a fact
which not only adds to the interest of the author's
prose and to the ease of its analysis, but also, indi-
cates on his part the presence of keen intellectual
foresight and literary adaptiveness.
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Forensic and Impassioned.
It was impassioned because it was forensic and
political in character. From what has been said as
to the Celtic nature of the author and the controver-
sial nature of the age, such an order of prose would
be expected. Historians speak of the natural ardor
of style; of its glowing and fervent phrases; its in-
terest and sympathy; its persuasive power and unc-
tion. This is all in the line of correct criticism and
has to do with that special quality now in question.
Burke's prose is as prominent an example as there is
in English Letters of the oratorical style, in the best
sense of that term. The reported speeches of Fox and
Grattan, Pitt and Sheridan-his great contemporaries,
evince occasional passages of equal excellence but as
to the entire body of oratorical prose produced, Burke
is the superior of any one of them and marks the
highest point as yet attained in England in forensic
prose.
His temperament was impassioned. The age was
impassioned. His themes were impassioned. His
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BURKE.
343
very auditors and readers were wrought up to the
very highest levels of emotive interest. The issues
at stake in civil and common life; in politics and
public morals were of primary import. Everything
depended on their proper settlement. In fact, no
author of that time at all alive to pending problems,
could have been anything else than positive, intense
and impressive in his style. Apart from such a
method he would not have been heard or read.
Hence, the historical and literarv fact that the prose
of the period is of the emotive order rather than
didactic, and Burke is supreme in this respect only
because he rose in his writing to a higher and a
more prolonged intensiveness of utterance than did
any of his colleagues. While all of his political writ-
ings are of this order, there are some of them that
are so full of "words that burn" that they cannot be
read even at this late date without eliciting the
profoundest feelings of the soul, and the reader for-
gets that he is a century beyond the French Revolu-
tion and the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
We have already called attention to some of our
prose authors in whom this quality of style is
found. It is in Hooker and in Milton; in Swift
and Macaulay, but in none, save Milton, as an
element of eminence, while even in the Puritan Po-
lemic it is somewhat tempered and weakened by
other elements. In Burke, it is supreme and rises to
the level of the sublime. There is nothing like it in
English annals. It is found in part in Pericles and
Demosthenes; in Cicero as the enemy of Cataline;
in Mirabeau as he appeared in the French Assembly
and in Patrick Henry before the Burgesses of Vir
344
ENGLISH prose.
ginia. If we inquire as to any special examples of
this impassioned style, one can scarcely go astray in
the speeches and pamphlets that he penned.
The most prominent of these undoubtedly is what
he gives us in connection with the Trial of Hastings.
To make selections here would be unnecessary. Never
in the history of secular eloquence has a higher point
been reached than on that day in the great hall of
William Rufus. The excitement of the country on
the Indian question was at white heat. Burke, Fox
and Sheridan and the advocates of Hastings were
moved as never before, and as the famous Irish accu-
ser summed up his charges and detailed the grounds
of his impeachment, the effect was nothing less than
marvelous.
"Therefore hath it with all confidence been ordered by the Com-
mons of Great Britain that I impeach Warren Hastings of high
crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of The
Commons House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I
impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient
honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of
India, whose rights he has trodden under foot and whose country
he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in the name of human nature
itself, in the name of both sexes; in the name of every age; in the
name of every rank, I impeach the common enemy and oppressor
of all."
Macaulay in his brilliant article on Hastings has
given the account and the immediate effect of this
impeachment. It is oratorical passion in the essence.
Brief extracts from some other examples will iudi-
cate a similar intensity of soul. In the speech on-
The Nabob of Arcot's Debts-we read the description
of Hyder Ali's desolation of the Carnatic in part as
follows:
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BURKE.
345
"When at length Hyder Ali found that he had to do with men
who either would sign no convention or whom no treaty or signa-
ture could bind, and who were the determined enemies of human
intercourse itself, he decreed to make the country a memorable ex-
ample to mankind. He resolved to leave the whole Carnatic an
everlasting monument of vengeance, to put perpetual desolation as
a barrier between him and those against whom the faith which
holds the moral elements of the world together was no protection.
Then ensued a scene of woe the like of which no eye had seen, no
heart conceived and which no tongue can adequately tell. All the
horrors of war before known or heard of were mercy to that new
havoc. For eighteen months without intermission, this destruction
raged from the gates of Madras to the gates of Tanjore.
"So completely did these masters of their art absolve themselves
of their impious vow, that, when the British armies traversed, as
they did, the Carnatic for hundreds of miles in all directions, they
did not see one man, not one woman, not one child, not one four-
footed beast. One dead, upiform silence reigned over the whole
region."
In a notable letter to Elliot on the question of re-
form he writes-
"How often has public calamity been arrested on the very brink
of ruin by the seasonable energy of a single man! Have we no
such man among us? I am as sure as I am of my being that one
vigorous mind, without office, without situation, without public
functions of any kind, confiding in the aid of God and full of just
reliance in his own fortitude, would first draw to him some few
like himself and then multitudes would appear. If I saw this
auspicious beginning, baffled and frustrated as I am, on the very
verge of a timely grave, abandoned abroad and desolate at home
yet thus, even thus I would rake up the fires under all the ashes
that oppress it. Even in solitude something may be done for
society. The meditations of the closet have affected senates with
a sudden frenzy and inflamed armies with the brands of the furies.
Why should not a Maccabeus arise to assert the honor of the an-
cient laws and to defend the temple of their forefathers, for when
once things are gone out of their ordinary course, it is by acts out
of the ordinary course they can alone be re-established."
346
ENGLISH prose.
But it is needless to multiply these references. In
his-Reflections on The French Revolution-and his
-Letters on a Regicide Peace, and, most especially,
in his three great efforts in connection with the
American War, these impassioned outbursts are on
every page, while even in his most didactic utterances
there is a kind of suppressed earnestness of soul that
influences the reader. All this is forensic and potent,
full of the genuine Celtic fervor and fire. It is a
quality of prose style that was then at its best ex-
pression in England and Ireland and France and
which rose to special excellence in America in the
persons of Adams, Hamilton, Webster, Clay and Cal-
houn. Specially adapted to the public audience and
to questions uniting political issues, it has, also, a
most important place in the province of literary prose
and goes far to redeem it from that charge of dullness
so often and so justly made against it. When men
speak and write on any topic of vital moment, some-
thing of this Burkeian emotiveness is essential to
the highest effect; Clearness is the first quality of
style, but force is next and close upon it—and these
should co-exist as mutual aids in writing. In these
speeches of Burke we find notable examples of the
close connection between written and oral discourse.
His speeches after their delivery were revised and
sent to the press for publication and became at once
a part of the literature of England. They had all
the correctness of written language, and yet, all the
unction of spoken discourse. While they instruct,
they also impress and stimulate us. They serve to
teach the valuable lesson in style that there is in all
writing an element that may be called oratorical or
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BURKE.
347
impassioned and should ever have its proper place in
common with the other qualities of prose expression.
It is pertinent in this connection to state that
modern criticism has somewhat objected to the style
of Burke as being extreme in the way of oratorical
fervor, or rather as being more declamatory than
eloquent. One of his most successful biographers,
MacKnight, states "that his vehemence was fre-
quently injurious to the object he had in view." So
Carlyle speaks of him as "vehement rather than
earnest," while it has rather been the fashion of late
in certain quarters to reduce this forensic feature in
Burke's style to the minimum. Such a criticism is
not unnatural. There is, at times, too much of the
declamatory element in Burke. There is too much
exaggerated and wayward assertion under the im-
pulse of the moment. There is something of what is
termed the grandiose style. This is true, and yet,
what is to be made of it as essentially detracting
from the high fame of Burke as an intensive writer?
His errors here were altogether exceptional. Never
did a man more carefully forecast the line of his
argument. As Morley remarks of, The Reflections,
"It was no superb improvisation." His pamphlets
and speeches cost him study, care, and the most un-
wearied painstaking. So that as Craik remarks, “His
writings are the only English political writings of
a past age that continue to be read in the present.
In the fiery excitement of the time and the almost
oppressive interest that centred about the great ques-
tions that were under discussion, it is not at all
strange that feeling and imagination, at times, took
control of the judgment and led the author into
348
ENGLISH PROSE.
extremes. This, however, was rare and as in the
case of the trial of Hastings when the audience was
well nigh unmanned, Burke was self-possessed and
master of the hour. It is just here that Burke differs
from Macaulay and is his superior, in that, where
the gifted essayist so often digresses into vapid
declamation without soul or substance, the Irish
orator is full of true feeling, fertile in ideas and ex-
presses himself for a valid purpose. The more care-
fully one understands the temperament of Burke and
his times and the more closely his style is scanned,
the more manifest it will be that while forensic pas-
sion too often passes into extravagance, the great
body of his prose is marked by that genuine emotion
which tells of a great heart and a catholic interest
in the race.
(2.) Dignified and Manly.
Here again, we touch the close relation of Burke's
personality to his style. Even in his boyhood and
early school days, there was seen a kind of maturity
of manner indicative of thoughtfulness and promising
future eminence. Sobriety of temperament was, in a
sense, constitutional with him and in fullest harmony
with his impassioned earnestness of nature, while his
fond devotion to his old Quaker teacher from York-
shire may have deepened and mellowed this inborn
tendency. It is well known what impressions he
made in this particular upon some of the leading
minds of his time. When Robertson remarked that
Burke had wit, Johnson objected, in that he felt that
Burke could never condescend to the level of the
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—BURKE.
349
us
punster and the clown. It was Johnson who tells u
that any person could see at once that Burke was an
extraordinary man, did he but meet him casually
by the way for a moment's chat, and he asserted that
he was the only man he ever met whose common con-
versation corresponded with his high intellectual
character and fame. He was always the great and
manly Burke.
We learn that Burke's view of Sheridan was com-
paratively indifferent in that there was a lack of
moral gravity with which he could have no sincere
sympathy. He was specially fond of discussing high
themes and conversing about the leading names of
history. In this respect, his nature was Miltonic and
Homeric. In our own country it might be termed—
Websterian. His brow was massive and so was his
soul, and he had nothing whatever to do with those
numberless petty questions and incidents that seem
to absorb the thought of the multitude.
All this in the man, revealed itself in the author.
There is a something about the movement of Burke's
prose that is majestic and magisterial-nothing base
or belittling, nothing puerile or trivial, nothing even
merely amusing for amusment's sake, but a kind of
judicial gravity every where apparent that makes it
impossible for a man to be any other than in sober
earnest as he peruses it. His treatise on-The Sublime
—is characteristic of the man, and marks the uniform
quality of his writing. Hence, it is interesting to
note to what views of things as a writer this element
of personal dignity gives origin-to his broad views
of the proper functions and objects of civil govern-
ment; to his wide and sober sc..emes as to church and
350
ENGLISH PROSE.
state, trade and society; to his philanthropic interest
in the oppressed classes whether they were slaves in
chains or colonists in America or the victims of rapa-
city in India. It was this high sense of honor that
gave
occasion to some of the finest passages of his
prose. When asked by the gentlemen of Bristol to
advocate what he felt he could not, he said—" I
should only disgrace myself. I should lose the only
thing which can make such abilities as mine of any
use to the world-I mean that authority which is de-
rived from the opinion that a member speaks the
language of truth and sincerity and that he is not
ready to take up or lay down a great political system
for the convenience of the hour; that he is in Parlia-
ment to support his opinion of the public good and
does not form his opinion in order to get into Parlia-
ment or to continue in it." "I never will suffer," he
said, “any man or description of man to suffer from
errors that naturally have grown out of the abusive
constitution of those offices which I propose to regu-
late,-If I cannot reform with equity, I will not re-
form at all." Such was the manly tenor of his words.
Whenever he wrote or spoke, it was under the influ-
ence of a high idea of the nature of man, the excel-
lence of truth, the momentous interests at stake.
There was a total absence of that cynical view of man
which Swift and Carlyle possessed and nothing of that
spirit of levity which marked the writers of the Res-
toration. He had the gravity of Richard Hooker in
connection with a wider breadth of intellect and
soul.
Morley is right when he says that "Burke had the
sacred gift of inspiring men to use a grave diligence
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-BURke.
351
in caring for high things and in making their lives
rich and austere.
""
It is this feature of the prose before us that gives
to it the additional feature of ethical vitality. There
is a moral tone throughout that is sound and whole-
some. There is what Longinus would term-an
elevation of spirit and expression that at once im-
presses the mind of the reader and inclines him to
the best things. It is not necessary, here, to inquire
minutely into the personal religious life of Burke fur-
ther than to say that he was a pure, conscientious
and upright man. Nor is it necessary to inquire how
he adjusted the Protestant beliefs of his father with
the Romish beliefs of his mother and these again,
with the simple Quaker creed of Shackleton, his early
teacher, further than to say that he was brought up in
the faith of his father and was an English Protestant.
Nor is it necessary to attempt to explain in consist-
ency with his professions certain official acts that a
hostile criticism has charged to his account further
than to say, that Burke's parliamentary record of thirty
years is characteristically free from those official
errors and vices which mark the lives of so many
legislators. We are speaking of his prose style in its
substantial merit when we say that it is morally ele-
vated and elevating throughout. It brings the reader
into the region of the highest and best things and
obliges him to take more exalted views of himself and
his mission. If this be so, the prose of Burke should
find a place in the library of every thoughtful English
speaking student. We may say of it, as we may say
in regard to De Quincey's, that young men, especially,
will find it full of just the literary and ethical teach-
352
ENGLISH PROSE.
ing that they need. The record of English Prose will
furnish no better prose than Burke's in the line of
healthful, literary stimulus and judicious guidance
in the expression of thought. Most of all, must they
read it who wish to do any worthy work in the sphere
of forensic writing. Combining as it does the elements
of genuine feeling and ethical dignity, it is calculated
to produce the best possible effect upon the mind
addressed. Burke is one of the world's dignitaries
and is still potent in modern history. His style is
full of his great soul and no one can put himself fairly
into contact with the moral grandeur of his prose and
not be a stronger man and a more effective writer.
·
(3.) Practical and Timely.
His style was such by the very force of circum-
stances, quite apart from the man himself. He could
not have been otherwise in the reign of George III.,
and as a member of the British Parliament. The age
was practical. The issues at stake were practical.
A few, indeed, such as Bolingbroke were spinning
their metaphysical theories, but the great majority
of the scholars and writers and people of the time
were awake and devoted. The same influences that
made men fervent made them advocates of the use-
ful. All this in the age was fully in keeping with
the inner spirit and purpose of Burke. He was as far
as possible from being a visionary or a mere political
schemer. That moral gravity of which we have
spoken made it impossible for him to do anything
earnestly for any other reason than for its practical
value. Burke was a philosopher in the concrete
represenTATIVE WRITERS.—BURKE,
353
sense of the term. He cared nothing for abstract
speculation and went, at times, to extremes in his
language as to the uselessness of mere theory.
"I do not mean to condemn," he says, "such spec-
ulative inquiries concerning this great object. They
may tend to clear doubtful points and, possibly, may
lead to real improvements. What I object to, is,
their introduction into a discourse relating to the im-
mediate state of our affairs and recommending plans
of practical government."
There was everything in Burke's history to make
him thus suspicious of all vagaries as a writer.
"He
was emphatically," says Mr. Craik, “a practical po-
litician and, above all, an English politician." His
early official life in the Secretaryship, his service of
nearly a generation in Parliament; his constant con-
tact with public men and affairs of state deepened
this tendency. One of the strongest arguments
against the criticism of Burke's oratory as mere
declamation is the fact, that he had actually no time
for such declamation. As Arnold expresses it, he
was saturated with ideas" and used words only as
means to their expression. Even in his great speech
at the impeachment which took hours for its deliv-
ery, he was too busy for the mere parade of his power
nor did he think of it for a moment. What the
critics have called digression and flights of fancy,
was but the method by which unconsciously he re-
lieved his mind from that almost unbearable tension
to which it was stretched. What he was aiming at
was the rectification of Indian abuses under the
policy of Hastings, and every syllable counted for
one, in the solemn indictment.
354
ENGLISH PROSE.
So, in the pamphlets on the French and American
Revolutions and the great questions of reform. His
aim was the defense of popular privilege against the
exactions of despotism and of official purity against
official corruption. Never has a man had a more
definite purpose or more definitely worked toward its
fulfillment. All his utterances revealed this fact,
and most especially do those in which he was con-
tending for popular rights. "I am not one of those,"
he said, "who think that the people are never wrong.
They have been so, frequently and outrageously, in
other countries and in this But I do say that in all
disputes between them and their rulers, the pre-
sumption is at least upon a par." To press this
presumption against all odds was the aim of Burke.
He was not at all in favor of a pure democracy and
therefore opposed the French Revolution from the
outset. He was, however, heartily in favor of a lim-
ited democracy and therefore opposed the monarch-
ical despotism of the mother country in her relations
to the colonies.
It was this union of conservative stability with
progressive ideas as to constitutional reform that
made him such a power in the state.
Burke's prose was thus full of this practical busi-
ness-like element. It was not simply prose as distinct
from poetry, but pertinent and utilitarian as dis-
tinct from indefinite. It was the real proversus or
prorsus—the straightforward way of stating things.
It is in point here to state that this is a feature of
style far too little seen even in authors of note.
There is not enough of direct address-a speaking
and writing to the point in hand, so that the results
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.~BURKE,
355
are manifest and permanent. In this respect, polit
ical prose as represented in Burke has every advan-
tage in that it is addressed directly to the questions
at issue. There is nothing merely poetic or fanciful
here, but all is serious and definite and the writer is
held closely to a practical end by the very nature of
his theme.
(4.) Satirical and Figurative.
Burke's first production of any note-A Vindication
of Natural Society-was of the satirical order as
directed against the style and philosophy of Boling-
broke, and so complete was the disguise that it was
commonly referred to Lord Bolingbroke himself.
This element of irony naturally found its best ex-
pression in his pamphlets and speeches and naturally
took the form of impassioned invective. In his papers.
on the French and the American Revolutions; in his
Impeachment of Hastings and his defense of the
Reform Bill, are to be found some of the finest ex-
amples in English Prose of successful satire. It is,
also, noticeable that inasmuch as satire essentially
involves figurative forms the ironical and figurative
elements combine in the prose of Burke.
In-The Reflections-when speaking of the Nat-
ional Assembly of France he states-
"It is notorious that all their measures are decided before they
are debated. It is beyond doubt that under the terror of the bayo-
net and the lamp-post they are obliged to adopt all the desperate
measures suggested by clubs composed of a medley of all tongues.
i
356
ENGLISH PROSE.
Among these are found persons, in comparison of whom Cataline
would be thought scrupulous, and Cethegus a man of sobriety.
Tenderness to individuals is considered as treason to the public.
Liberty is always to be estimated perfect as property is rendered
insecure. Amidst assassination and massacre, they are forming
plans for the good order of future society."
In his Letter to a Noble Lord-he writes:-
"I challenge the Duke of Bedford as a juror to pass upon the
value of my services. I have no doubt of his Grace's readiness in
all the calculations of vulgar arithmetic, but I shrewdly suspect
that he is little studied in the theory of moral proportions, and has
never learned the rule of three in the arithmetic of state."
In his speech at the trial of Hastings even his own
great powers almost seem to fail him in his effort to
express the deep intensity of his soul. All forms of
irony, from the courteous innuendo to the mock-
heroic are used. All species of figure from metaphor
to hyperbole are used, because as Macaulay states it,
'The thought of the crimes (of Hastings) made the
blood of Burke boil in his veins." No ordinary lan-
guage would at all suffice and he must resort to the
unusual and striking.
At times, the style of Burke reaches the 'extreme
of invective and metaphor and no terms can be too
violent to vent his indignation. In the main, how-
ever, he keeps his prose within the bounds of personal
and literary propriety. Less chaste and cautious
than De Quincey and Dickens, he is more vigorous
than either in his use of imagery, while he surpasses
Macaulay himself in some of his imaginative flights.
Readers have often noted the descriptive power of
Burke's style, its illustrative or imaginative char-
REPRESENTATIVE CATIVE
357
WRITERS.—BURKE.
acter, as exhibited, especially, in his parliamentary
addresses. Such a feature was a part of his Celtic
nature and vastly deepened by his experiences.
He had what is termed the historic imagination as
distinct from the philosophic or poetic. He was
an adept in the re-presentation of the life of the
immediate past as seen in India or France, while
the stirring events of his own time but served
to interpret all the more clearly what had always
transpired.
His description of the desolations wrought by the
wicked policy of Hastings, of the descent of Hyder
Ali upon the Carnatic or of the evils attendant upon
popular revolution, take their place as literary ef
forts by the side of Hugo's Waterloo or Wallace's
Vesuvius.
Some of these passages are full of a genuine pathos
and while arousing righteous indignation against the
oppressed, awaken sympathy for the suffering. In
fine, there is in the prose of Burke in addition to
vigor and dignity and practical aim a kind of de-
scriptive richness of phrase and form-a comprehen-
siveness of style that includes the various forms of
imagery and irony, of pathos and poetic power.
Morley speaks of the "varieties of Burke's literary
methods." Such varieties are mainly seen within.
the sphere of the illustrative and pictorial, in wealth
of diction and rhetorical structure and in that flexible
aptness by which he was able to adapt himself and
his subject to the exigencies of the hour. Too sober-
minded in his style to indulge in the expression of
much humor and too impassioned, at times, to avoid
violations of phrase and sentence structure, he still
358
ENGLISH prose.
succeeded in exhibiting all the substantial qualities
of the best prose style.
We note, in closing, the main defect of Burke's
prose.
(5.) The Lack of Literary Finish.
It is at this point that the critics of Burke are
most on the alert and most hostile. Even by those
who concede all the other qualities referred to, this
one of finish is questioned or flatly denied as exist-
ing. The origin of this current view is undoubtedly
found in the fact that the prose of Burke is specially
forensic or political. As such, it is oratorical, it is
argued, as distinct from being literary; the prose of
the parliament and hustings rather than that of the
study and library. The theory here is that the
terms--oratorical and finished-as applied to prose
production are in a sense exclusive of each other;
that a style which is specially forensic is thereby
less apt to be marked by excellence of form. There
is some degree of truth in all this and, yet, care
must be taken lest the criticism be pushed to an
extreme.
It must be conceded that Burke's prose as being
essentially political is thereby less marked by grace
and elegance than by some other qualities-that it
cannot in this respect, be at all compared with Addi-
son's or Macaulay's, with Lamb's or De Quincey's
and more nearly resembles the controversial style of
Milton in his vigorous state pamphlets. This is so,
and yet it is very much to be questioned whether
Burke himself would have had it otherwise. Poetic
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS —BURKE. 359
!
finish of prose forms was in no sense to his purpose.
The practical character of his writings forbade it nor
would he have surrendered the greater good for the
lesser. If in order to its securing, he must yield one
iota of his cogent manner, he was unwilling to make
the sacrifice. As we have seen, he had no time for
the mere embellishment of word and paragraph but
must speak "right on" as "a plain, blunt man."
His literary theory was all in the direction that
there were some things infinitely better than literary
finish. Hence, his very figures and illustrations were
homely, and often, crude and harsh. At whatever
cost, he must secure an impressive form of statement.
This was, often, at the expense of verbal nicety and
neatness.
In his essay on-The Sublime and Beautiful—he
teaches that strength and beauty do not coincide and
he prefers the former. If in describing the Duke of
Bedford or the chief actors in the French Revolution,
delicacy and refinement of taste stand in the way of
his meaning, then taste must take care of itself and
the truth be told in pungent form. It is just here
that he often violates propriety, and yet, how could
we spare the words that follow such a violation. As
Minto aptly states at this point, "Taste is certainly
not the special virtue of English Literature." Burke
in this respect is a Puritan and a Saxon. He talks
as Fuller and Bunyan, Bede and Alfred talked, quite
irrespective of the elegance of the phrase.
That the critics are right in calling this a defect no
one will question. That they are right in so magni-
fying it as to make it a criminal offense on Burke's
part and an insuperable objection to placing his
360
ENGLISH PROSE.
prose in the first rank, is altogether questionable.
Despite his want of grace of touch, he is at the very
front of our English prosers and gains in effective-
ness where he loses in elegance. More than this,
had he written as Addison or Dickens wrote, his
prose would have perished with the events that
called it forth. Critics must deal with him where he
invites scrutiny-at his strongest points as a writer
and not at a point where he makes no pretense to
special excellence. Bacon and Burke have been
compared, intellectually. They are, also, similar in
their prose style in this-that cogency of statement
must at all hazards be secured. With them, expres-
sion is for impression.
It is interesting and also a matter of justice to note
in this connection, that in the wider sense of the
word, Burke's style had a degree of literary quality.
His scrupulous care in the composition of his writ-
ings is well known.
So literary, indeed, were his speeches that the in-
difference of the members of Parliament at their
delivery is thus explained. We are told that they
read better than they sounded. The early attractions
of literature for him are a matter of history to the
extent that he seriously proposed to make it his
sphere of activity in life. His fondness for reading
was intense, and the information he gathered was of
such extent as to qualify him for the compilation of
The Annual Register. He spoke of Spenser and the
later poets with the freedom of intimate friendship.
His neglect of prescribed study while at Trinity for
the more pleasing pursuits of letters is not questioned,
and even at the Temple in the nominal study of the
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—Burke.
361
law, he was really engaged in storing his mind with
useful information outside of Digests and Commen-
taries. In happy connection with all this is the
account that we have of his literary associates. At
the famous Turk's Head, he was one of the habitual
guests. With Robertson, the historian, and Garrick,
the actor he was intimate. He knew Gibbon and
Reynolds, Goldsmith and Johnson, as literary friends
and helpers, and was attached to some of them by a
passionate devotion. He never left the society of
these masters of letters even after he had formally
abandoned letters for the stirring life of politics.
So decided was he in his literary tastes and abili-
ties that The Letters of Junius, now attributed to Sir
Philip Francis were credited to him until he solemnly
avowed that he was not their author. He prided
himself on basing his style upon the best literary
models of England and France. In fine, if he had
not the element of literary grace in his prose, he had
his full share of literary taste and tendency in his
nature.
Had he not abandoned the literary life proper for
a more public sphere and service, these tendencies
would have been developed in a different direction
and he might have given us epics and histories in the
place of fiery pamphlets on revolution and reform.
He made a deliberate choice, however, in favor of
politics and presents a prominent example in English
Letters of the author in Parliament. Unlike Bacon
and Milton and Addison and Lamb and Macaulay,
he subordinated literature to the offices of state and,
yet withal, maintained his reputation as an English
writer. As a man and an author he has left an indel-
362
ENGLISH PROSE.
'ble impression on English Letters. He was great in
his unique personality and great in the emotive seri-
ousness of his prose.
Whenever students of character
may desire to see the embodiment of nobility and un-
selfishness in human nature; whenever students of
political science and public questions may desire to
see measures and maxims of wide legislative reach,
and whenever students of English Style may desire
to see an example of impassioned, manly, sober and
practical prose second to no other in our literary an-
mals, they must give their attention to the writings
of Burke-a man who thought as he pleased and
spoke and wrote as he thought and whose separate
presence in any era is enough to give it permanent
renown in history.
References and Authorities.
Prior's Life of Burke. Macaulay's Essays. Mor-
ley's Burke (Eng. Men of Let.). Maurice's Friend-
ship of Books. Croly's Historical Sketches.
CHAPTER VIIL
THE PROSE STYLE OF CHARLES LAMB.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN, Feb. 18th, 1775, in London. Was educated
at Christ's Hospital. Thence, to the South Sea
House. A Clerk in the India House, 1792. Retired
with Pension in 1825. Died in London, Dec. 27th.
1834.
His Prose Writings.
Lamb was not a voluminous writer either of verse
or prose.
As far as his poetry is concerned, it is of indifferent
merit and we are at a loss to understand De Quincey's
remark that Lamb had the dramatic intellect and
taste, perhaps, in perfection," save as we interpret
this language in reference to Lamb's ability as a
critic of the drama. In fact, poetry was not his
favorite work. As he sends his sonnets to Coleridge
he says with some degree of spirit, "Take them, for
they tempt me to go on with the idle trade of versify-
ing which I long to leave off, for it is unprofitable to
my soul." In the Essays of Elia he speaks of "his
proper element of prose.'
Even here, the actual amount of literary product
is somewhat limited as compared with the essayists
364
ENGLISH PROSE.
of the Augustan era. As far as our purpose is con-
cerned, we have to do with-The Essays of Elia,
Specimens of Dramatists, Miscellaneous Essays, Rosa-
mond, and with his Letters.
As to any partial Defects of Style which critics
have noted we may mention:
PARTIAL DEFECTS OF STYLE.
(1.) Diction and Structure.
Despite the general excellence of the author's style
at this point, there is something, it is true, to rebuke
and correct.
The frequency of complex parenthesis is noticeable.
In this regard, Lamb is not as discreet as Swift, who
under the cover of digressions, included all the in-
direct material that he wished to use, and yet pre-
served intact the unity of the thought. As to diction
it is, at times, difficult we confess to draw the line
between humorous and sober phraseology. Many
phrases in themselves improper seem to be used for
purposes of wit. 'Tis thus that he speaks of " day-
mare" as well as night-mare; of the "knock-eternal"
rather than nocturnal; of clergy-gentlemanly; of loco-
restive; of a man as parson-ish and of the non-senso-
rium. Apart from such doubtful usage, moreover,
there is too much liberty of coinage until a literary
habit of verbal looseness seems to be formed. Thus,
we have unplain, discapacitate, disputaciousness,
snugify, and similar barbarisms.
It is to be noted here that Lamb's fondness for the
older authors and his constant tendency to the serio-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—LAMB.
365
comic somewhat affected his diction, and not always
for the better. Had he written far more than he did
his prose in this respect would have been improved.
In the main, however, the diction and structure are
of merit. They are so thoroughly in keeping with
the author's individuality that they must be judged in
that light. In many of his critical essays such as-
The Tragedies of Shakespeare-his vocabulary in rich-
ness and compass is of the very first order, while in
his lighter humorous papers, the facile use of English
is worthy of the best prose writers of our literature.
It is extreme criticism to insist that the diction is
inferior by reason of those few examples which mark
a departure from verbal propriety.
(2.) Absence of Logical Development.
This defect has, also, been noted and with some
reason. There is needed, it is said, the presence of a
central idea definitely wrought out and applied.
When Lamb wrote to Coleridge "Cultivate sim-
plicitly, or rather, I should say, banish elaborateness,"
he stated a principle true in itself yet needing ex-
planation. True simplicity is perfectly compatible
with elaborateness" and should so be related in
prose discourse. Lamb, we are told, goes to the
opposite extreme and is simple at the expense of thor-
oughness. Even in Elia the style is, thus, epistolary
and colloquial as well as in the Letters. There is
not enough of the philosophical and consecutive.
It is this special point on which De Quincey dwells
in his criticism of Lamb. He speaks of a want of
continuity; refers to him as discontinuous, abrupt
366
ENGLISH PROSE.
and capricious. In the suggestive language of Cole-
ridge, he is "non-sequacious." A two-fold explana-
tion of this defect is given in, the infringement made
upon the author's time by the constant visitation of
friends, leading to the habit of snatching at learning
by fragments and, also, in the fact that it was a mode
of composition quite in harmony with the unsettled
tendencies of his mind. Be this as it may, "the non-
sequaciousness" is too apparent, and is rightly em-
phasized by the critics. Perhaps his early experience
in newspaper writing led to this style of English
which his latest biographer terms "eclectic." The
style is often fragmentary and transitional, full of
discursive sketches and ramblings even where a line
of reflection more or less sustained would be in order.
It is thus that his biographer cautions us-“If an
essay is headed-Oxford in the Vacation-we must
not complain that only half the paper touches on
Oxford, and that the rest is divided between the
writer Elia and a certain absent-minded old scholar,
George Dyer, on whose peculiarities Lamb was never
tired of dwelling."
This being so, it is maintained that it is in the
light of other tests and canons of criticism that Lamb
is to be judged and commended. Whatever he is in
the line of literary merit, he cannot be called a
mentally vigorous writer as Milton was. Allusion has
been made to some possible explanations of this
defect. The real one has not, as yet, been stated.
It is this. Lamb was a pronounced advocate of the
natural method of writing as distinct from any
method based on prescribed literary law. He rather
boasted in having no style or method, writing what
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-LAMB,
367
and how he pleased, doing in prose what Shakespeare
is represented by Milton as doing in poetry—“ warb-
ling his native wood-notes wild." On this theory,
false as it is, Lamb gains something, perhaps, in the
way of apparent naturalness or freedom of style, but
loses greatly in the way of strength, solidity and true
literary effect. No man can afford to decry thor-
oughness by arguing superficially or decry method
by writing immethodically. The purely "natural
school" in every sphere is its own sufficient answer.
Admitting all this, we shall find however, that this
unrestrained manner was germane to the author's
habit and personality and that he could not have
succeeded as well as he did on any other principle.
He did not pretend to present a Baconian style and
the critics have overreached themselves in protesting
that Lamb must write as some others wrote. In
fact, he made it a point to break away from the older
school as to method. Mr. Taine reaches a better
result here when he maintains that Lamb aimed to
destroy"the great aristocratical style as it sprang
from methodical analyses and court conventions."
This want of logical order is a fault. It is so in
Lamb, but in him not a great fault as thereby he
expressed himself and yet kept within the limits of a
general method. To bind him to any rigorous pre-
arranged plan would be simply to rob him of his
personality as a writer, and of those elements of style
which now endear him to the reading public. Such
a free-hand style is in its place as useful as a more
rigid one and serves to vary that wearisome monotony
which would result from the exclusive presence of a
more philosophic method.
368
ENGLISH PROSE.
(3.) Want of Permanent Literary Effect.
This defect, in so far as it is found, is the inevitable
result of the one just stated. It is not within the
author's mental possibilities to found a separate
school of literature nor is his style, at its best,
dominant and shaping. He was not meant to be a
leader or reformer. As far as his life is revealed and
his writings indicate, he never had as an author any
high ethical end to accomplish as Bacon and Johnson
had. He accepted the condition of things as he found
them and made no sustained endeavor to modify
them. His writings are subjective and devoid of the
aggressive and polemic element. After the perusal
of his works, we stand just where we stood before
relative to the great questions of church and state.
As we shall see, all this had some purpose in it and
such a man was needed to relieve the people from
the rigid methods of Baconian days or the moralistic
sobriety of Augustan times and put the world in
good humor. A softer and more desultory method
was demanded and the need was supplied in the
prose of Lamb. By this it is not meant that we find
in Lamb a style devoid of morale.
In the centre of his character he was a serious
minded man.
His better nature was on the side of
the right and the good. His spirit was in harmony
with what was fine and exalted. All this conceded,
there is the lack of what Chalmers would call "the
expulsive power" of moral character-a strong, per-
manent, ethical impression. His nature was of the
subdued rather than of the positive order. There is
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—LAMB.
369
1
a large element of the Melancthon in his style aud
little of the Luther. It is still true that his prose is
read more for its cheeriness and good-nature than for
any result in the line of permanent moral good.
Talfourd, his biographer, states it exactly as he
says "Of all modern writers his works are most
immediately directed to give us heart-ease and to
make us happy." This language indicates the merit
and, also, marks the deficiency of the author's prose
and prose style.
In noting the more positive and promising merits
of his style, we remark—
PROMISING MERITS OF STYLE.
(1.) Its English Character and Spirit.
No prose writer of England has ever been more;
deeply interested in English Letters and, especially, in
its earlier and quainter forms. In his tragedy of Wood-
vil, he refers to his "Sweet Mother Tongue, Old En-
glish Speech." To Mary, his sister, he says, "that they
were tumbled early by accident or design into a
spacious closet of good Old English reading, without
much objection or prohibition and browsed at will
upon that fair and wholesome pasturage." As the
natural result of such a "browsing" he gave to the
English Public his "Specimens of the English Dram-
atists contemporary with Shakespeare." These were
so attractive as to be called "the quintessence of
criticism." All through his style, we note the in-
forming presence of the older authors; an ardent
devotion to their words and ways and a sacred pur-
pose to restore them, if possible, to their rightful
370
ENGLISH PROSE.
place in Modern English Letters. The pages of his
prose are aptly marked by references to the earlier
times. In a characteristic letter to Coleridge in
which he is using all his influence to persuade him to
concentrate his genius upon the production of an
epic, he adjures him to do it "by the sacred energies
of Milton" and the "sweet and soothing fantasies of
Spenser." He speaks of the "graceful rambling" of
Cowley in his essays and of "the courtly elegance
and ease" of Addison. Of the names of old Kit
Marlowe, of Drayton and of Drummond of Haw-
thornden he writes, that they carry perfume in the
very mention of them. Sydney, Taylor, Fuller, Browne,
De Foe and Walton are each in turn the subject of
just and fervid eulogium. In the presence of Shake-
speare he is fairly overawed and pretends to nothing
more than the barest outline of his dramatic wealth.
He speaks reverentially of his "divine mind and
manners," and calls him, most fittingly, "the immeas-
urable." With the aid of his sister, he gives to the
children of the country an edition of Shakespeare
suitable to their needs and as a stimulus to their
mental life. As literary historians have noted, all
this was at a time when Shakespeare and the earlier
English authors were comparatively unstudied save
by a chosen few. It was the inborn and cherished
love of his native language that impelled Lamb to
open the eyes of his countrymen, old and young, te
the excellence of what had preceded. It is this
which as much as anything else gave to his style that
racy, homelike element which made it readable then
and preserves it as in amber now. It is thus that
Lamb is to be classified in English Prose with Milton
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—LAMB.
371
and Swift, with Dryden, Addison and Johnson as a
special lover of English. His style is a home product
and exponent.
(2.) Humorous Element.
It is at this point that we come in contact with
the innermost nature of Lamb as a man and as a
writer.
It was this feature especially that made his in-
tercourse with Southey and Coleridge, Hazlitt and
Wordsworth so intensely enjoyable that they in love
with the country and he with the city were never at
rest in presenting reasons why they should live to-
gether. This feature of style is but the reflex of
the author's face with its roguish playfulness and
serio-comic cast-a face full of the evidences of old-
fashioned mother-wit. His face is always promising
good things. With his long-drawn visage and cler-
ical tie he seems as sombre as a parson and, yet,
there is something under the eyelids and about the
mouth that warns one to loosen his bands and pre-
pare for a constitutional shake. As the expression
of this inside humor we note some specimens—“On
Burial Societies and Undertakers;" On The Incon-
venience of Being Hanged"; "On The Melancholy of
Tailors" caused by their sedentary habits; and "On
The Convalescent," a man who on his bed changes
sides oftener than a politician. The bed is "a wavy,
oceanic surface whose every furrow is an historical
record of some shifting fortune. Now, he lies at half
length; now, at full length; now, obliquely; now,
transversely and none accuses him of tergiversation."
об
372
ENGLISH prose.
On being asked by an editor for a magazine article
he replies "In Articulo Mortis." To Woods, he
speaks of an entertaining gentleman who had retired
to a green old age on forty pounds a year and one.
When suffering from a distressing cold, he writes to
Barton "that he can't distinguish veal from mutton;
has not volition enough to dot his i's," and adds
that if we should tell him that the world will be at
an end to-morrow, he would reply-Will it?" He
speaks of the two distinct races into which men are
divided-the borrowers and the lenders. In his
chapter on-Ears-he tells us, that he has been prac-
ticing-God save the King-all his life, whistling and
humming it over in solitary corners and has not yet.
arrived in many quavers of it. He tells us that he
has been trying, all his life, to like Scotchmen but
gives up the experiment in despair. In his article
on "Grace before Meat" he accounts for the origin of
it in days of monastic life when a belly full was a
windfall and regarded as a special providence. In
his "Bachelor's Complaint," and " Popular Fallacies,"
the same pleasantry prevails. In his "Dissertation
on Roast Pig," the climax of wit is reached and the
buttons all fly. In fine, the humor is all genuine
humor, is pervasive rather than occasional. Some
of his papers surpass the others in this quality and,
yet, it is quite unnecessary to choose. Among all
the leading English Essayists there is none in whom
humor is so much an essential part of the man and
of his style. This omitted, the distinctive peculiarity
of Lamb is missed. Let the topic be what it may,
there is no cessation of the mirthful jollity. He is
as full of it as an egg is of meat or as a spring is of
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—LAMB.
373
water. It must flow and overflow. Hence it is,
that Gerald Massey and others have pronounced him
the first English Humorist and placed his style in
this element at the head. In his Preface to the
second series of the Essays of Elia-he speaks of
himself in the third person as follows--" He would
interrupt the gravest discussion with some light
He could not restrain himself nor did he
jest."
care to.
He did what Burns did in poetry-gave vent to
his inner self. The reference of Carlyle to Lamb's
wit as "make-believe" is as far as anything could be
from the truth, and is but one specimen among many
of Carlyle's one-sided opinions.
There is one feature in the pleasantry of Lamb
that needs emphasis. It is his partial or confirmed
sadness. In this particular, he reminds one of Gold-
smith, Hood, Sterne, Burns and other less gifted
authors. The close relation of smiles to tears is no-
where more manifest than in humor. Even where
the element of positive sadness does not enter, there
is more or less of sobriety and sudden transition to
seriousness in most humorists. The less of this there
is, however, the more healthful is the humor. This
in Lamb's case was excessive, at times, and it is the
only feature that would cause one to question his po-
sition as first among English Humorists. It is quite
possible to prove, we think, that the humor of Dick-
ens, Thackeray, Sidney Smith and other kindred prose
writers is a higher type than that species which so
draws upon our sympathies as, at times, to be painful.
The end of true humor is pleasure. A certain degree
of sensibility is essential to it, but when wholesome
374
ENGLISH PROSE.
sobriety develops into sadness and our feelings are
enlisted so deeply as to occasion pain, humor over-
reaches itself and misses its end. Just as the enjoy-
ment of beauty cannot admit of the element of terror
so that of humor excludes confirmed sadness. His
latest biographer, Mr. Ainger, speaks of this quality
as belonging "to the profound humanity of its author;
to the circumstance that with him, as with all true
humorists, humor was but one side of an acute and
almost painful sympathy." Very true, if the sympathy
is "almost" and not altogether "painful." Sympathy
is one thing, Personal Suffering, is another. This
tendency to the morbid apart, the prose of Lamb
is a representative example of humorous prose.
When he was in the best mood, and most free
from that mental waywardness that so marred his
life, his humor had no superior in English Prose
and it is in these hours that he is to be tested and
enjoyed.
He had the root and essence of humor in the
kindliness of his spirit. He was more than a wit
or a punster. He could not indulge in that cruel
sarcasm in which Swift so freely indulged. He
was full of that humanity which Thackeray empha-
sizes as the basis of humor. Though he says of him-
self" that he too much affected that dangerous
figure-irony," his satire was always tempered with
good will. He "laughed with men" and not "at
them." He protested that "he never could hate any
one whom he knew." The epithet "gentle" so often.
applied to his name was well deserved. Worcester's
definition of humor as-"kindly pleasantry "-marks
the special excellence of his.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-LAMB.
375
(3.) Naturalness and Flexibility.
Here again we strike one of the great features of
the author's prose.
The epithet "delightful" as used by critics of his
style, finds its justification here. There was a certain
felicity of expression and general literary manner
that won its way as it went on and makes it a diffi-
cult matter to lay aside the reading of his papers.
It is for this reason in connection with their hu-
morous element that-The Essays of Elia-have so
charmed the English-reading public. All critics
have spoken of a certain indescribable something
about the style of Lamb. As Ainger states, "It
evades analysis. One might as well seek to account
for the perfume of lavender or the flavor of quince."
There is a kind of witchery or fascination about it
that attracts and entertains us and we ourselves are
at a loss to know why we are so interested. Other
essayists have had a larger circle of readers but few
have had a more devoted circle. Those of his own
and succeeding times speak of him in terms of per-
sonal affection. They forget the author in the man,
or rather in accordance with the experience of Pascal,
in looking for an author they find a man-" gentle-
hearted" and broad-souled. If asked on what basis
this attractiveness of style rests, it must be found in
its Naturalness. No writer has ever been himself
more than Lamb was Lamb. He was ingenuous to
a fault, and often lays his style open to vindictive
criticism by reason of his unstudied artlessness. He
loved the Confessions of Rosseau, not because they
376
ENGLISH PROSE.
were Rousseau's but because they were Confessions—
the natural outburst of the heart. He preferred the
style of Temple to that of Shaftesbury because it
was "plain, natural chit-chat," and not formal or
courtly.
Critics who have failed to see into the interior of
his character have accused him of egotism in its more
extreme forms. They have called attention to the
first personal pronoun in his writings and contrasted
him unfavorably with other essayists at this point.
In this judgment they have widely missed the mark
and failed to discern one of the very secrets of the
author's power-his intense personality, of which his
naturalness is but the expression in form. As he
says himself, "He would out with what came upper-
most," and was grave or gay, imaginative or plain as
the case might be. He had no particular method
applicable at all times but in the best sense was a
writer at large, freely descanting in his own natural
way upon the topic of the time. Hence, the variety
and flexibility of the style. It is absolutely free
from the literary vice of sameness. There is nothing
stilted or made to order-nothing so fixed as not to
be capable of change. As we have seen, this ten-
dency, at times, degenerated to illogical rambling,
but when at all under control, took the form of a
pleasing variety and vivacity. "Few English writers
have written so differently," says one, "on different
themes." The manner is versatile and free so that
where we lose in logical directness we gain in diver-
sity and area.
Reference has often been made to the author's apt
and frequent use of quotations from those English
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—LAMB.
377
was
authors whom he so much loved-from Browne and
Burton; from Shakespeare and the dramatists; from
Wordsworth and Milton. This habit is characteristic
and yet nowhere is he more natural and nowhere is
the literary richness of his style more marked. In
his quotations no one ever thinks of literary ser-
vility or base imitation. There was not the semblance
of this. So far from it that he seemed to lend to the
references he selected the character and charm of his
own personality. This in itself is an art, but an art
founded in nature and not feasible apart from it. He
individualized and made his own whatever he used.
He was an author of unusually wide knowledge of
earlier and contemporary literature.
No one
more conversant with the best that had been written
or could better appreciate it. He tells us in his essay
on-Books and Reading—that he could read anything
which he called a book. Where others were ignorant
he was informed, and spoke of English authors with
the ardor of a lover-as of Burns and Walton,
Beaumont and Fletcher. All this made it easy for
him to quote and, if convenient, to appropriate, while
the fact that he quoted without appropriating but re-
veals all the clearer the naturalness of his style. It
is in this feature of style that Lamb's descriptive
power appears. What he felt and saw he could tell
Other essayists have surpassed him
in delineative skill and reach. As far, however, as
naturalness of description is concerned, he has had no
superior. He depicted the scene or character as he
conceived it and in so far as he failed, it was due to
other causes—want of comprehensiveness of view
and want of constructive imagination. It is in his
just as it was.
378
ENGLISH PROSE.
humorous descriptions that he is at his best and it is
here that naturalness is a vital quality of style. In
such papers as-Recollections of the South Sea Home,
Oxford in the Vacation, The Old Benches of the
Inner Temple, and Imperfect Sympathies, this power
of natural portraiture is clearly seen.
(4.) Sympathetic Tenderness.
It is difficult to state with clearness the precise
nature of the quality to which we here refer. We
might call it a kind of sensitiveness of style, deep and
delicate as it is attractive. It is what the French
critics might call, unction. It is what Milton would
term in poetry the "sensuous and passionate." A pure
and tender feeling suffuses the pages of the author.
One has to read but a little in order to see it and
yield to its power. It is above all art. It defies ex-
planation or statement. It is simply in the man and
in the writing and a something by which the soul of
the reader is fused into that of the author. They feel
together. This element of style is partly due, beyond
question, to that peculiar life of sadness which Lamb
so often led and not altogether separate from those
hours of mental anguish by which his experience
was marked. There was just enough of the melan-
choly about it to tinge and soften it. We speak of it
here, however, as a healthful literary quality and
tending to strength. This is a feature more manifest
in his Letters and prose romance than in-The Essays.
In that personal correspondence which he held with
Coleridge, Southey, Manning and others there was
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.— LAMB. 379
just enough of the intimacy of friendship to elicit and
foster this tenderness of heart, while in such a touch-
ing story as that of Rosamond Gray, or the Dream-
Children, this fineness of feeling reaches its climax.
Critics speak of the "religious emotion" that per-
vades it, while even Shelley was constrained to ac-
knowledge its peculiar charm. Much of the diction
of Lamb is sympathetic rather than scholastic. Out-
side of oratory and lyric verse, there are few speci-
mens of prose more justly entitled to the name of
impassioned than that of Lamb.
This quality of tenderness in style is unique and
deserves special emphasis. Of all the English writers
thus far discussed, not one is any more remarkable
for this. The tendencies are all in the other direction
-to the dispassionate and didactic or to what might
be termed, a state of emotional indifference. The
Augustan Age had nothing of it. Milton and Burke
evinced a degree of fervor, and, yet, not of this sub-
dued type. Many subordinate writers, such as-
Fuller and Walton possessed it more deeply than
their superiors. Even where it is found at all, as in
Dickens, De Quincey and Eliot, it is generally found
as exceptional and not as a pervasive and central
quality. Cowper in his Letters and Burns and
Wordsworth in their poetry have much of it. The
prose that followed the revival of literature in the
latter part of the eighteenth century is more marked
by it than the prose of earlier times and, yet, Charles
Lamb is quite alone in the depth and fullness of it.
It is as much a part of his style as is its English
character, its humor or its naturalness. These quali-
ties together made up a style that without being
380
ENGLISH PROSE.
great or brilliant is as attractive and satisfying as
any in English Letters.
It remains to speak of the-
(5.) Critical Element in Lamb's Prose.
We are here on entirely new ground as to the in-
terpretation of the author. No estimate of his ability,
style or place in English Literature can be at all just
with this element omitted. It is, however, the very
last feature that we should expect to find. There is
nothing in the qualities thus far examined that
necessarily leads to this further one. They would be
complete without it. There is nothing in the author's
life and character as a man, that would necessitate
it. When discerned, it is not seen to be abnormal but
simply unexpected. In Addison and Johnson, we
look for it. In Lamb, it is a surprise. Hence it is,
that most critics and readers come to the study of this
characteristic of his style with some degree of literary
prejudice. "Is Saul, also, among the prophets?" Can
the "gentle-hearted," sensitive and timid author of
Elia be bold enough to turn censor and sit in judg-
ment on his fellows? Has he the inclination to do
it? Has he the mental faculty? However we might
prefer to answer these questions, the facts are before
us. The author has placed himself on record as a
critic, especially of poetry and the drama. These
papers form a body of literary criticism and must
themselves be criticised as to the style they purport
to exhibit. Lamb's critical style must rest on that
portion of his prose which is critical as distinct from
miscellaneous and descriptive, as follows:-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-LAMB. 381
CRITICAL ESSAYS.
The Genius and Character of Hogarth. The Artificial
Comedy of the Last Century. The Tragedies of Shake-
speare. The Barrenness of the Imaginative Faculty in
the Production of Modern Art. The Poetical Works of
George Wither. The Characters of Dramatic Writers.
Specimens of the English Dramatic Poets.
In addition to these formal essays and this critical
treatise on the poets, many of the Letters addressed
to Southey, Coleridge and others were purely critical
in character. The epistolary form gave them point
and attractiveness. Here it will be noted, is quite
sufficient subject matter on which to interpret Lamb's
style as a critic and, yet, the most diverse judgments
have been held. In his own day he was most cruelly
dealt with in certain quarters. He had an experience
similar to that which Byron and Wordsworth had and
his sensitive nature found it hard to bear it. Later
critics have been found who were willing to continue
this strain of abuse, or to speak of the author with
"faint praise." The burden of evidence, however, is
in his favor, some going so far as to attribute to him
with Southey "a special genius" in the critical art.
In his Letters-whenever he discusses English Po-
etry, and in his-Specimens of Dramatists-are to be
found the best examples of his critical style.
As to this department of criticism he had certain
prime qualifications-
1. Thorough familiarity with his subject;
2. A deep affection for his language and literature;
3. A sensitive appreciation of poetic beauty.
332
ENGLISH prose,
He had "browsed" among the poets till he was
full of their life and spirit, and some of his decis-
ions indicate his critical acuteness. His remarks on
Southey, Beaumont and Fletcher, Walton and Burns
and, most especially, on Shakespeare indicate no or-
dinary degree of literary insight.
Special attention should be called to his critical
style as seen in-The Specimens. The best descrip-
tion of his unique method in Shakesperian criticism
is given in his own words as contained in-The Pre-
face: "The plays which I have made choice of have
been, with few exceptions, those which treat of human
life and manners rather than masques and Arcadian
Pastorals. My leading design has been, to illustrate
what may be called the moral sense of our ancestors;
to show in what manner they felt when they placed
themselves by the power of imagination in trying
situations; how much of Shakespeare shines in the
great men, his contemporaries, and how far in his
divine mind and manners he surpassed them and all
mankind." This is ingenuous and it is, for the time all
new. There had been nothing like it, even in concep-
tion, save in Dr. Johnson's commentaries, and it is
questionable whether in the modern "anatomizing
of Shakespeare, there has been any improvement on
this old and literal method of interpretation. In
this respect Ainger is right in saying." As a critic he
had no master-it might almost be said, no predeces-
sor. He was the inventor of his own art.' More
than this, he laid claim to no technical knowledge of
language, no full acquaintance with classical times.
He made no attempt to solve riddles nor did he spend
his time in attempting the impossible. His only aim
99.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—LAMB.
383
was, to reveal his author to his readers; to present
the inner man to view so that his literary personality
is seen and sympathy is established. Such a method
is not based on erudition as much as on poetic in-
stinct. Such a style is more the outgrowth of a
"sense of beauty" than of a knowledge of its laws.
It is more intuitive than logical. This much can be
said, that no one of Lamb's predecessors in prose knew
anything of this kind of criticism. It was as foreign
The essay-
Lamb was
to Dryden and Pope as it was to Boileau.
ists of Queen Anne knew but little of it.
in middle life when it arose and it arose largely with
himself. A few suggestions in his trenchant way
would throw as much light on a character or scene
as long discussions from the pen of Johnson. It is
most interesting to note his special love of Shake-
speare and the zeal with which he pressed his great
claims on others. If Lamb had done no other ser-
vice for English Letters than this, his name should
be ever held in loving remembrance. He entered
heartily into that revival of Elizabethan days which
marked the century in which he lived and was
never weary of sounding the praises of the times
preceding.
His discussion of his own principle "that the plays
of Shakespeare are less calculated for performance
on a stage, than those of almost any other dramatist”
is one of the finest pieces of English criticism.
Novel as the position was, he ably defended it.
Lamb, however, had his limitations as a critic and
his style bears their impression.
The main defects of his prose as critical are
two.
S
384
ENGLISH PROSE.
MAIN DEFECTS OF HIS PROSE AS CRITICAL.
(1.) Want of Impartiality.
His loves were too strong, at times, to allow of
dispassionate judgment. He could not put himself
into that state of indifference which is said to be.
essential to the critic. He had the strong bias. He
was predisposed to this or that. His pre-judgment
often controlled his judgment. Hence, it has been
urged that he thought too well of the older dramat-
ists to pass a safe opinion on them. It has been said
"Where his heart was, there his judgment was
sound." It must be added that there was, at times,
so much heart that the clear decisions of the head
were unduly modified. It is thus that every reader
of his views on English writers of the earlier period
must bear in mind Lamb's passionate devotion to
those times. Despite this prejudice, however, it is
still true that he set forth the real merits of the older
dramatists in such a way that most of his critical
opinions still pass unchallenged.
(2.) Want of Comprehensiveness.
Lamb's mind was more acute than it was broad.
Some literary historians have applied to him the
epithet of Shakespearian. In some respects this was
true-as to poetic sensibility and devotion to dramatic
art. It is not true, however, as to that broad reach
of intellectual power for which the great poet was so
noted. Lamb's area as a reader was much larger
than his area as a thinker. He can never be properly
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-LAMB.
385
credited with a Baconian order of mental power nor
did he possess that critical compass of mind which
marked De Quincey. As far as his reach extended,
he was skillful in the art of criticism. Beyond that
limit, he was out of his well defined area and is to be
followed with caution.
It is not, however, so much on the critical basis
that his style rests as on the other elements to which
reference has been made. In the light of those, it
must be maintained that although Lamb wrote but
comparatively little prose, his name cannot be well
spared from the list of our leading prose authors.
What he wrote was characteristic, so much so, that
his style is definitely marked from that of others.
Moreover, with all his defects he wrote so well that
he illustrated his own theory of English style—“ good
thoughts in good language," and is a worthy example
to present to the notice of English students. It is
probable that as a writer he will always be ranked
somewhat above his real merits in that his genial
spirit has won so many hearts and disarmed preju-
dice. What critics themselves would begrudge to
such an author as Swift they would cheerfully accord
to Lamb. He will always get the benefit of the
doubt. The essays of The Spectator and Rambler
may fail to hold their ground when--The Essays of
Elia still survive in freshness of interest.
The same
remark may be made of his felicitous papers and of
his general productions as a writer which he himself
made of Walton's Complete Angler, "that it would
sweeten a man's temper at any time to read them."
The praise which Matthew Arnold borrows from
Swift and often affectedly misapplies-" sweetness
386
ENGLISH prose.
and light" may well be applied to that genial and
sympathetic style of which Charles Lamb is the
natural master.
References and Authorities.
Ainger's Life of (Eng. Men of Let.). Essays of Elia,
etc. A Memoir of Lamb (Barry Cornwall). Life and
Letters (Talfourd). Hood's Literary Reminiscences.
CHAPTER IX.
THE PROSE STYLE OF THOMAS BABINGTON
MACAULAY.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN at Rothley Temple, Oct. 25th, 1800. In Cam-
þridge, 1818; B.A., 1822. A Fellow of Trinity, M.A.,
1825. Called to the Bar (Lincoln's Inn) 1826. En-
tered Parliament, 1830, for Calne. Entered Parlia
ment, 1832, for Leeds. Became Secretary of Board
of Control for India. In India 1835-8. In Parlia-
ment from Edinburgh, 1839. Secretary of War,
1840. Retired from Parliament, 1847. Lord Rector
of Glasgow University, 1849. Re-elected to Parlia-
meut, 1852. Raised to Peerage, 1857. Died, Dec.
18th, 1859, in Kensington.
Prose Works.
As far as the prose works of Macaulay are con-
cerned, with reference to the study of style, they are
included in-The History of England, and his-
Essays.
Although he had proposed to write this history
from the accession of James II. down to a time
within the memory of men still living "—as far indeed,
as to the death of George IV., it covers, in fact, but a
;
388 REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MACAULAY.
small portion of the nation's life, closing with the
death of William of Orange.
His essays have been judiciously classified by Mori-
son as follows:
1. English History-Burleigh, Hallam, Hampden,
Milton, Temple, Mackintosh, Walpole, Pitt, Chatham,
Clive and Hastings.
2. Foreign History-Machiavelli, Mirabeau, Van
Ranke, Frederic and Baiere.
3. Controversial -Mill, Saddler, Southey, and Glad-
stone.
4. Critical and Miscellaneous-Dryden, Montgomery,
Byron, Buuyan, Johnson, Bacon, Hunt, and Addison:
These several series include respectively, twelve,
five, four and eight papers, making in round numbers,
thirty productions of this periodical order.
It is not necessary here to follow the example of
many critics and aim to prove the superiority of these
specimens of prose to the History of England. For
the purposes of the student of English, it is better to
regard them as complements of each other, the one
supplying what the other lacks. In what is called
the historical essay and in which Macaulay so suc-
ceeded, there is found the best possible example of
the union of these two forms of prose-narrative and
miscellany.
Popular Estimate of his Prose Style.
Popularity, in the looser sense of the term, is not to
be regarded as a true criterion either of character or
ability. In the higher sense, however, it may be so
accepted and enters as an important factor among
REPRESENTAtive writerS.—MACAULAY. 389
others in making up the status of an author or a
oook.
Lord Macaulay must be classed among the popular
writers of English Prose in the first half of the present
century. From the date of his formal entrance upon
authorship, in his Essay on Milton, published in the
Edinburgh Review, in 1825, on to the date of his
death, in 1859, his prose may be said to have been
inferior to that of no one of his contemporaries in the
hold which it had upon the respect and admiration
of the English people. Since his death and the com-
mitment of his writings to posterity and to criticism,
his prose still has a substantial place in English Let-
ters. The one who denies his claim to be ranked
among the first examples of English style, must see
to it that he be prepared to maintain his difficult posi-
tion. It is probably true, that even at this day, no
history of England, covering the era which Macaulay
treats, is oftener read or read with more intelligent
interest than is his. It is, also, probable that the
modern English student is as familiar with Macau-
lay's essays as with those of any other prominent
essayist of the century. Much of his essay prose, it
is true, is superseded, as to its subject matter, by the
course of events. Much of it was called forth by
local and even partisan issues and served its purpose
when it was penned.
Most of his readers care but little now as to what
he said concerning Walpole, Clive and Hastings, or
as to Machiavelli and Mirabeau. Some have gone so
far as to say, that the partisan character of his essays,
as a class, makes them unreliable for purposes of refer-
The same criticism will apply to the historical
ence.
390
ENGLISH PROSE.
prose. Even of these prose productions, however, it
may be stated, that the literary form in which they
are cast and preserved is such as to make their present
perusal an æsthetic pleasure to the intelligent critic
of style. Such essays as those on-Temple, Hallam,
Hampden and the Pitts, local as was their origin, will
maintain their interest as long as English Literature
has a history. Even such faulty papers as those on
Bacon, Addison and Milton still attract and charm us.
Such a general and sustained literary reputation
as this in prose indicates the presence of qualities of
excellence. Popularity, in this case, means some
degree of merit. No fortuitous combination of cir-
cumstances can do for a man what Macaulay did for
himself in this particular. The orator and the poet
may owe more to native talent than to patient in-
dustry. It is not so with the prose writer. A care-
ful study of his style will reveal his excellences and
errors.
ANALYSIS OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Skill in Narrative and Descriptive Writing.
This skill is observable in each of these species of
prose as, separately, also, in their combination, as Nar-
rative-Descriptive. In that prose which is specifically
historical as, in-The History of England-it is natu-
ral to find this peculiar type of literary expression.
History, as a record of events, must be largely nar-
rative and as involving the portraiture of persons and
scenes must be largely descriptive. This feature of
style, however, is not confined to the history proper
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MACAULAY. 391
or even to those of his essays which may be called
historical, but finds expression in all the prose he has
written.
It is the Narrative-Descriptive style in its best
form and when it is seen what are the essential ele-
ments of prose discourse included in such a style, the
mastery of Macaulay's pen in this special province
will be evident.
(a.) Clearness of Presentation.
This is the first mark of good writing and is an in-
tegral part of that order of style now in question.
Whatever may or may not be said of Macaulay's
prose, it cannot be justly accused of obscurity. The
student is not required, as in the case of Carlyle and
Emerson, to read and read again in order to be sure
of the meaning. The language used is its own best
interpreter and is always chosen with scrupulous care
to express in the plainest terms the idea intended.
Macaulay had, as every notable writer has had, some
unsparing critics. There was everything in the
attitude of the Edinburgh Review; in the political
history of the time and in his brilliant career as a
writer which incited his opponents to the sharpest
censorship. The weak points of his style would of
course be mercilessly exposed. It is noticeable, how
ever, that very little is said as to ambiguity of style.
The fact is, that much of the criticism to which he was
subjected was itself the best commentary on his liter.
ary clearness. His meaning was too well understood.
There was no question as to the mark at which he
was aiming, what he was saying and why he was
saying it. In such an essay as that on Warren
Hastings or Horace Walpole, the reader has an ex-
392
ENGLISH PROSE.
ample as to how Macaulay could make himself under-
stood. The thought is clearly conceived and clearly
phrased. If we look more narrowly into this feature
of Macaulay's prose, it will be found to bear examina-
tion. It is evident from his biography that he made
clearness a prime object in writing; that he severely
revised his own style with reference to it and that he
studied authors and men in the light of it. It is cer-
tainly a matter greatly to his credit as stated by his
most recent biographer-that the workingmen of
England sent him their thanks for writing a history
that they could understand.
+
It is of special interest here to note that the prose
of Macaulay in respect to its clearness was in every
sense true to the claims of the home language. There
are but few representative writers of English whose
style so happily avoids the extreme of pedantry on
the one hand, and that of purism, on the other. His
prose is true to that high and safe rhetorical principle
in action, that the best word under the circumstances
is to be used, whatever its origin may be. It is in
carrying out this law that the just claims of all kin-
dred tongues will be met and, yet, the precedence be
given to the native speech. Mr. Marsh's estimate of
his diction in the Essay on Bacon, as seventy-five per
cent as to its English, is below rather than above the
truth and will fairly express the average percentage
of English throughout his works. His papers are full
of Saxon monosyllables and dissyllables. As a rule,
he seeks the shorter terms and phrases. While not
as fully Saxon as Bunyan and De Foe, he is a long
way in advance of Bacon, Hooker, Milton, Johnson,
and is, in this respect, a sufficiently safe standard for
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MACAULAY. 393
the English student. His clearness was largely the
result of pure English.
(b.) Copiousness of Style.
This quality might be stated in other terms as,
Ease, Facility or Fluency. It is an expression of
literary art which seems to have all the freedom
of nature and gives to the reader the happy impres-
sion of the fullness of the author. The older English
writers would call the style, fertile. It involves what
is properly termed, the art of amplification or para-
phrase. It is the fullest possible expression of an
idea within the limits of rhetorical brevity. No
writer previous to Macaulay so richly possessed this
element. It is one of the latest and most difficult
results of literary labor. Although found in Macau-
lay's earliest prose, its quality is much higher in his
more mature writing. Copiousness in his Essay on
Milton is one thing and in the best parts of the
History, quite another. Natural gifts apart, it de-
pends on a wide and choice area of reading; on a
close study of words, native and foreign, and, above
all, on a healthful literary taste to discern and appre-
ciate whatsoever is good. These things make what
Bacon calls "the full man"; what older critics
called in the best sense, a voluble man. The words
roll out in rich profusion. The style is copious. Nor
is this ease of expression confined to the diction of
his narrations and descriptions, but enters into all
the style. The thought itself flows smoothly and
freely on. There are no bands or restrictions. Much
of the attractiveness of the author's prose is found
just here. The reader is not asked to plod through
the pages as through the heavy style of Burton and
394
ENGLISH prose.
Browne, pitying, at every turn, the crudeness and
bondage of the author, but is carried by the author
himself on the high tide of his thought and feeling.
One often wonders at the ease with which he is
transported from point to point. There is a charm
in the verbal and mental fullness. The style is com-
pletely elaborated without being labored. It is not
denied that danger lurks at the very door of this
quality, in the tendency to verboseness-in a copious-
ness where ideas and words are in the inverse ratio.
Macaulay has been sharply dealt with as to diffuse-
ness of style. Common readers as well as the critics
have noted it. No impartial judge of his prose can
deny the justness of the accusation. "When he has
to tell us" says Morison, "that the Reformation
greatly diminished the wealth of the Church of
England, it costs him two pages to say so."
Macaulay had his own reasons for much of this
wordiness. It was partly unavoidable and partly
intentional. His habit, from early life, of reading
all that came to hand and of seeing what he saw in
many different phases; his marvelous memory in
holding what he had and reproducing it and his
spacious wealth of diction, made it quite impossible
for him to be satisfied with the one statement of an
idea. He must present it and re-present it. On the
other hand, his theory of style, especially as applied
to narrative writing, made it necessary for him to be
copious up to the verge of prolixity. He often passed
that verge and did what Swift and Dickens did in
fiction-incurred the charge of tedious redundancy.
Despite this fault, however, Pope, had he been living,
might have spoken of the copious Macaulay as he did
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS —MACAULAY. 395
of the "copious Dryden." There was a real richness
of word and phrase-a latent store of resources al-
ways accessible at need. The style withal is natural
and original. It is the author's own. His digressions.
are too many and too long but, in time, he always
returns to the main idea as Swift did and as Hooker
did not. In the true sense of the term, his prose
style is voluminous. The best that can be said of it
at this point is, that this copiousness at times degen-
erated to diffuseness, but in the main, kept within.
the limits of literary law and added interest to the
narrative. If he is "one of the best story-tellers" in
Modern-English, story-tellers must have some liberty.
There is such a theory as Prose-License.
(c.) Pictorial Skill.
This is an essential feature of the Descriptive order
of prose.
It might, without error be called-The
Descriptive Style. Critics often refer to it as, the
graphic or picturesque form of prose. It is closely
allied to that literary clearness and copiousness of
which we have spoken and, yet, is a feature distinct
in itself. The French speak of it as, the power of
depicting or painting. It marks the border line
between prose and poetry and is especially prominent
in that exceptional kind of prose known as poetical.
In this department of style, Macaulay has done nota-
ble work. It is difficult to state whether this feature
is more prominent in the essays or in the history. It
is visible in the style throughout and gives to it that
imaginative tinge and vividness of coloring which
the most cursory reader of Macaulay must have
noticed. In giving us his definition of history this
feature is emphasized. He writes-"History is a
K
396
ENGLISH PROSE.
compound of poetry and philosophy." The special
stress laid upon the poetic or pictorial element is seen
as he explains the definition. "It impresses truths on
the mind by a vivid representation of characters and
incidents." As we shall see hereafter, whatever
Macaulay intended to do in the way of combining
the poetic and philosophic in historical prose, and
giving them equal place, he actually magnified the
poetic at every point and made the narrative a real
story in the sphere of the imaginative. Much of the
prose reads as if it were in the realm of fiction.
represents in prose what Historical Plays represent
in dramatic poetry.
·
It
Here, again, Macaulay exposed himself to the
judgment of the critics and has been strongly con-
demned by many of them as guilty of excessive orna-
ment in style. His prose is said to pass the limits of
prose proper and enter the domain of the poetic. It
is alleged, that as an essayist and historian he at-
tempts the rôle of the novelist and subordinates the
didactic element in narrative to the pictorial and
attractive.
There is truth in all this. There is a sense in which
the radical defect of Macaulay's style lies just here-
in the love of excessive finish, in over abundant met-
aphor, in literary painting rather than in the logical
elaboration of the idea for substantial ends. He
seems to delight far too much in embellishment for
its own sake and would artfully decoy the reader
from idea to imagery. Hence, the reader must be
constantly awake to the detection and interpretation
of the figurative element. Metaphors and Similes
become ends in themselves. The description takes
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MACAULAY. 397
precedence as to interest of the scene or object de-
scribed and fact succumbs to fiction. It is difficult
at times to tell where we are, whether on firm ground
or in mid air. Romance and reality are so blended
that the result is, at times, confusing. All this con-
ceded, however, much of the peculiar power of
Macaulay's prose is in its pictorial feature in so far
as it is healthfully exhibited. No impartial critic
could afford to decry this. There is a higher grade
of delineative skill that marks the author as an his-
torical artist. There is a boldness and definiteness
of outline which at once attracts attention, awakens
interest and represents the idea more clearly than
could otherwise be done. It does with the thought
what the old limners did with the typography of the
book-sets it forth in such graphic portraiture that
the reader may take the sketch as a verbal frame-
work and fill in for himself the completed picture.
Some of the author's most brilliant passages are of
this picturesque order. After reading them they
hang before the mind's eye with all the vividness of
a great painting. This characteristic of style is sig-
nally present in the History and the historical essays,
when the author is delineating some striking char-
acter or scene. When he has done, the lineaments
are as clear as if they were sculptured in bas-reliet
and could be approached and touched. There is here
an important province of literary art and it is safe to
say that no writer of English Prose has excelled
Macaulay in it. No one of his predecessors, John
Bunyan apart, at all approximated him. De Quincey
and the great English novelists-Scott, Dickens and
Thackeray—had much of the same skill. Prescoft
398
ENGLISH PROSE.
and Motley of our own country are his closest
petitors in this field of historical art.
Critics, such as Leslie Stephens, have gone toc ·
in a wide-sweeping denunciation of this feature of
Macaulay's style. Morison, in his excellent biography
assumes safer ground when he calls attention to this
quality in some specimen passages and challenges
the critics to decry it.
Descriptive writing is one of the leading forms of
prose and ever inviting more attention. There is
such a thing as legitimate Word-Painting by which
sameness of style is relieved and the meaning made
more effective. Macaulay would have undoubtedly
gained reputation and more permanent influence had
he used imagery and ornament more sparingly.
Still, great care is to be taken lest while this is con-
ceded we lose sight of that exceptional descriptive
skill which he possessed and which goes very far to
explain the facts that his essays and history are still
in demand among us.
(2.) Excellence of Sentence Structure.
Macaulay was the Lombard of his age-a master
of sentences. What his biographer, Mr. Trevelyan,
states, would seem to be confirmed, "that he never
allowed a sentence to pass muster until it was as
good as he could make it," until every sentence ran
as smoothly as running water and every paragraph
closed with a telling clause.
He believed, with De Quincey, that there was no
more important matter in prose discourse than sen-
REPRÉSENTATIVE WRITERS—MACAULAY. 399
tence building-the formation of the frame of the
thought. Very much of that devotion to detail, of
which we read in his life, was spent in this direction,
until he at length formed the habit of shaping his
words in the clearest and most cogent manner. All
readers of Macaulay must have been impressed with
his skill in mere structure, in what has been termed,
the "mechanology" of style. There is a marked ab-
sence of those harsh and crude constructions that
indicate the presence of the novice. The successive.
transitions from clause to clause are so carefully ad-
justed as to give all the effect of naturalness to the
style. Artifice gives place to a genuine literary art.
So distinctive is this element in the author's style
that a good manual of sentence-structure might be
compiled from the pages of his prose. All writers
upon the Art of Discourse must make frequent refer
ence to Macaulay.
There are two types of sentence which are especi-
ally frequent not so much because they were favorites
with the author as that they are in themselves the
best rhetorical forms.
(a) The Periodic Sentence.
In this, as is known, the clauses are arranged
rhetorically rather than grammatically. The object
is not so much to arrange subject, predicate and
adjuncts as a matter of syntax as it is to present the
parts of the sentence in the order of their relative
importance. The thought determines the form. The
result is that of the logical climax. In the frequency,
correctness and force of this progressive structure,
Macaulay's prose is a model. So apt is he in its use,
that almost any page of his writing may be taken at
400
ENGLISH PROSE.
random for purposes of example. Gross violations of
propriety are almost unknown in his prose while
even where the Loose Sentence is used, it is so terse
and skillfully combined as to give to the leading
thought the prominence it deserves. Though, as in
most writers, where the periodic sentence prevails,
the shorter form is preferred, special attention is to
be called to the excellence and comparative frequency
in Macaulay of the longer structure. In no English
prose of equal amount can there be found so many
correctly formed Periodic Paragraphs or Periods.
Some of them are of such length and import as tc
manifest consummate skill in their construction. A
series of such paragraphs is often found in which the
double and difficult result is reached of maintaining
the unity of each separate paragraph and the common
unity of all.
It is just here that the oratorical feature of the
author's prose comes into prominence and finds its
explanation. Literary historians have noted this
quality. “Macaulay's natural aptitude" says Morison
"was oratorical rather than literary." Nor is the
reference here exclusively to his special power in
parliamentary address when he came face to face
with an English audience as a defender of the Reform
Bill. His brilliant success here is well known and
the eulogiums of Peel and Gladstone are a matter of
history. His speeches in the House of Commons, it
is to be noted, are a substantial part of his prose.
work and cannot be left out of the account in deter-
mining his rank as a writer. We refer here, how-
ever, to his distinctively literary prose as possessed
of much of this oratorical force and this, as the
REPRESENTATIVE writers.—MACAULAY,
401
1
result of skillful periodic structure. The parts of the
paragraph are adjusted with reference to their best
effect. As we peruse the periods, the result is impres-
sive as well as enlightening. The reader is often
aroused to a high degree of ardor and feels the hand
of a master. Hence it is, that many parts of Macau-
lay's history read as an oration reads, while his es-
says abound in passages which in their emotive vigor
remind one of the best selections from Burke and
Pitt. There is no marked degree of oratorical grace
but the presence of true English stamina is there and
it is telling. Most of this effect is due, of course, to
the inherent force of the subject matter. Much of it
is, also, due to what has been well termed "the
luminous order and logical sequence of the parts" of
the structure. It is impossible to understand what is
meant by a recent critic in calling Macaulay "clumsy"
in sentence structure. His bitterest opposers have
conceded to him this form of skill as a writer.
(b) The Balanced Sentence.
This species of sentence is equally frequent and
characteristic. Though not so prominent as in the
Essays of Bacon, it is sufficiently so to call for special
notice. The reader advances but a short way ere he
discovers this antithetical bias. It is in this part of
the author's work that there is seen the reason of
much of his literary power as an historian. This is
especially so in that work of delineation which has
been mentioned.
It often occurs that this graphic portraiture of
men behind the facts of history can best be set
forth by the use of sharp contrast rather than
by progressive statement. History and Prose Fic-
402
ENGLISH PROSE.
tion have this element in common and are thus
together related to descriptive discourse. What
is known by the dramatist as, the power of char-
acterization, is here needed and illustrated. Ma--
canlay's prose is
is marked by this. He was
fond of studying men and things by their op-
posites. An idea no sooner presented itself to him
than he saw all the possible ideas with which it
might be contrasted. He explained the positive and
negative by each other. In the province of logie, it
is the argument from contraries. This use of anti-
thesis gives point and pungency to the style; lends
to it a degree of interest which wins attention and
succeeds where other forms would fall. His con-
trasts between Dante and Milton; between the Puri-
tan and other religious orders; between Hastings and
other culprits; between Frederic the Great and other
rulers and between his own times and those pre-
ceding all mark him as a master of this type of
sentence. He had a keen eye to the differences of
things.
Some of the examples of antithesis will be of
interest to the student and general reader.
"The poetry of Milton differs from that of Dante as the hiero-
glyphics of Egypt differed from the picture writing of Mexico.
The images which Dante employs speak for themselves. Those of
Milton have a signification which is often discernible to the initiated
only."
"Logicians may reason about abstractions but the great mass of
men must have images."
“The character of Milton was peculiarly distinguished by lofti-
ness of spirit; that of Dante, by intensity of feeling."
Of Charles I., he says-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-—MACAULAY.
403
"We charge him with having broken his coronation oath and we
are told that he kept his marriage vow. We censure him for having
violated the articles of The Petition of Right and we are informed
that he was accustomed to hear prayers at six in the morning."
"The Puritan was made up of two different men; the one, all
self-abasement, penitence, gratitude, passion; the other, proud,
calm, inflexible, sagacious. He prostrated himself in the dust
before his Maker but he set his feet on the neck of his king."
Such are some of these numerous examples of con-
trasted structure. Clause is set over against clause
with all the mechanism of architectural law and
ideas are made to face and explain each other.
It is suggestive to note, in this connection, that
much of Macaulay's power as a prose satirist finds its
interpretation here. This form of sentence is related
to satire somewhat as the periodic is to oratory. The
plain straightforward structure is not crisp and terse
enough for the purposes of irony. It is, moreover,
too honest to give expression to any double meaning
or in any way to conceal the truth. In poetry and
prose alike, all successful satirists have dealt largely
in counter statement. Butler in Hudibras; Pope,in
The Dunciad; Dryden, in his epistles; Swift, in his
allegories and Addison, in his papers, have all freely
used it. Macaulay knew his forte. He saw, at once,
that his age demanded satirical prose as Dryden's did
(poetry) satirical As Plutarch saw fit to describe
his characters by parallels, Macaulay chose antithesis
and succeeded. The historic scenes and personages
that he has thus portrayed form a part of the common
literary stock of every age.
At this point, once again, the critics are awake and
in arms.
Macaulay's prose is said to carry antithesis too far.
404
ENGLISH prose.
The balanced structure overreached itself. Form, it
is argued, takes precedence of subject matter in that
truth and good taste are alike sacrificed to complete
the verbal contrast. Mechanology is again the vice.
Not a little of the author's prose is clearly open to
this accusation, especially so, where the contrasts are
multiplied at great lengths so that the thought re-
turns upon itself. There are times when the natural
order would seem to be anything but epigrammatic
and, yet, the author insists on presenting the idea in
this form. Beginning a paragraph with a contrasted
sentence, this form is maintained throughout as if
from sheer fancy or artifice. His notable lack of
genuine humor, as seen in Lamb and Addison, is
largely attributable to the fact that the satirical ele-
ment enters into all his pleasantry. Still, criticism has
been unduly severe at this point. In aiming to ac-
count for that degree of literary currency which the
writings of Macaulay have had in enlightened circles,
it would be difficult to assign the leading place to any
one quality of prose style. This epigrammatic brevity,
however, must be admitted as a factor here, nor is it
unworthy of notice that such a structure is all the
more a mark of skill in that it reveals insight and
discrimination. Literary antithesis when of the true
order marks anything but superficiality. It marks
the presence of ideas as the basis of contrast.
Every critical reader of Macaulay's prose wishes
there had been somewhat less of this type of sentence.
As it is, however, it is thoroughly in keeping with the
author's theory of style, with the peculiar quality of
his mental power and his personal characteristics.
In other hands, it would have been more abused
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.--MACAULAY. 405
and can never be safely imitated by the aspiring
writer as a cardinal excellence of style.
The Balanced Structure, properly viewed, is excep-
tional and not regular. Its purpose is to secure vari-
ety and occasional point and not to furnish the staple
form of sentence.
Macaulay's prose without the epigrammatic element
would be another and inferior order of prose. Hence,
it follows that antithesis is a good thing in its place,
but has its limits. Organism is better than Mechan-
ism. The study of Carlyle will reopen this discussion
as to antithesis.
(3.) Literary Personality.
By this is meant not so much that the style is ori-
ginal as that it is individual. It has a character and
tone peculiar to itself by which it may easily be dis-
tinguished from that of preceding and contemporary
writers. His style was his own to that degree that it
carries with it its own interpretation and credentials.
The discerning literary age is never at a loss to de-
tect it, whatever its surroundings may be. Hence,
it is, that Macaulay did what but few authors of Eng-
lish may be said to have done. He founded and
transmitted an English prose style of his own for the
introduction of which he was as much responsible as
is the inventor for his new patent. Whatever it was
in other particulars, it was novel to the eye. It was
Macaulayan. In this respect he did what Bacon,
Milton, Addison and Johnson did in their respective
epochs. He wrote in his own way and did it so
effectually as to establish a kind of a standard and to
406
ENGLISH PROSE.
gather followers. By this individual method in liter-
ary art, he raised himself immeasurably above the
great majority of his contemporaries, while the large
number of his imitators in England and America tes-
tifies to the importance of his work.
A remarkable fact as to the personality of Macau-
lay's style is, that it was so developed and maintained
in the face of strong temptations to surrender it. It
is known from the statements of his biographers that
he was as conversant with preceding and current
literature as was any man of his age. He was con-
versant with all the existent forms of expression
many of which had been accepted as models by the
best critical opinion of the time. Though his style
is antithetical as Bacon's was, it is in no sense
Baconian. Though it is clear and copious as was
that of Swift and Addison, it is in
Augustan.
sense
He used the forms of sentence which Milton and
Johnson used, though in a different way, while satire
with him was quite a different thing from satire
in the essays of Lamb. If, as we are told, the style
is the man, then the personality of Macaulay's writ-
ings must be assigned a high rank. A question of
interest arises here as to the degree in which in-
dividuality of style is a test and mark of personal
ability. It is a question specially difficult to decide in
the case of Macaulay. Reasoning abstractly, it must
be granted that inventiveness of means and methods,
other things being equal, indicates inherent grasp and
power. Historically, however, these forms of power
are found to be in many cases quite dissevered. Mr.
Morison, in his recent biography, decides this ques-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MACAULAY. 407
stance.
tion against the author while admitting the truth of
the principle in theory. "Real novelty of style," he
says, "is generally a safe test of originality of mind
and character. With Macaulay the test does not ex-
tend so far." This we believe to be the safer position.
As we shall see, hereafter, Macaulay's theory of style.
was such that he could easily separate form from sub-
With him, therefore, originality of style
meant simply-newness of method. It did not ne-
cessarily involve or indicate with him high creative
genius in the sphere of prose. His style is original
in prose as that of Pope's was in poetry, not original
as that of Milton, Burns, and Wordsworth was. On
this plane, however, of individuality of method, he
had no superior. Despite the high examples already
existing in the persons of his predecessors, his own
modus was revolutionary in English Prose. It was
neither Elizabethan nor Augustan, but Georgian Prose.
It was, in fact, the inauguration of Modern Prose as
it dates from the opening of the nineteenth century
and as illustrated in the writings of De Quincey and
succeeding authors. There was something about it
that attracted attention merely as to the novelty of
its form. The essay and the history had never been
written just so before or in a manner quite so engag-
ing. Whatever it was as a style, it challenged the
examination of all those who were watching the his-
torical development of English Prose. There was a
freshness about it indicative of newness. Swift and
Addison were animated in style but here was an
order of prose possessed of still more life and range.
It looked forward along the century for its inspiration
rather than to the times of the Tudors. It was a
408
ENGLISH prose.
prose fully in keeping with the age that produced it
and to that degree marks its author as an interpreter
of his time. The notable line of English novelists
and essayists that followed owed something, at
least, of their literary success to the impulses that
were then at work. Charles Lamb and the later
British Orators largely contributed to this fresher
impulse in prose.
Mere personality in literary art is no mark of excel-
lence. It may belong to authors of second and third-
rate excellence. Robert Burton and Sir Thomas
Browne were such authors-original in style and in
no sense models of prose. In fact, such personality,
often, takes the form of literary eccentricity and is
in the inverse ratio of literary power. Real individ-
uality of style as in Bacon and Burke must be but one
among many qualities of excellence, developing with
them and developed by them.
In this sense Carlyle
and Emerson had styles of their own, and in this
sense, personality is a mark of merit. At this point
Macaulay is open to just criticism.
THE CHIEF DEFECTS OF MACAULAY'S PROSE.
(1.) Want of Intellectual Depth and Vigor.
It may be said with safety that the trend of all
later criticism of our author's style is in this direction.
Critics are well nigh agreed that the true test here
must be at the intellectual point and that the test
exposes radical defect. In confirmation of this view,
some particulars may be noted.
(a) Macaulay's Theory of Style was superficial.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.~MACAULAY.
409
We have alluded to the philosophic distinction that
De Quincey makes in his Essay on Style, between
Mechanology and Organology. By the first is meant,
that the main element in style is grammatical struc-
ture; that style is purely an external thing subject
to rigid rule and that the main object of literary ex-
pression,is artistic form in order to gratify the æsthetic
taste of the reader On this basis, the French theory
as to the virtue of embellishment as an end in itself
is correct and the chief aim of the writer is figurative
finish.
By Organology is meant, that matter controls form;
that the writer's main purpose is to express his
thought and himself: that language is a medium only
and not an end; that external adornment is good in
its place but incidental; that the grammatical is
secondary to the rhetorical and literary, in a word,
that Discourse is the expression of intellectual life.
It is organic.
Of these two methods, Macaulay's prose illustrates
mainly the first-the constructive theory of style in-
stead of the vital and natural. Whatever the author's
pretensions were, this was his uniform literary prac-
tice. Hence, his essays and history, as stated, are so
often unduly pictorial. Copiousness runs into re-
dundancy; antithesis, into mechanism; prose into
poetry and we are often at a loss to separate the
writer from the mere artist. That all true style is
based on thought and governed by it, and is worthless
as a theory in and for itself, Macaulay seemed to have
ignored. The great thing was the form. Even his-
torical facts themselves were made to yield to this
ruling passion for artistic presentation. He was
410
ENGLISH prose.
determined as in Bacon and other essays to be read-
able whether he was reliable or not. So dominant
is this theory that it finally leads to moral perver-
sion. No one thoroughly conversant with Macaulay's
method can fail to note this servitude to the esthetic
theory of style. Words for words' sake-Structure.
for structure's sake.-An epigram at all hazards.
Art as mere art,-this is the ideal. Style, he would
tell us, is the art of verbal execution. All this, it
will be noted, is strictly unintellectual in the sphere of
discourse, and here the method must be sharply con-
demned. Nothing could be more foreign to the true
theory of style, as the expression of thought, than this
unsubstantial theory, and it has done untold evil.
Mention has been made of the author's popularity in
his own and subsequent times and of the large num-
ber of those who are pleased to shape their literary
methods on his. This is all true. It is not to be
forgotten, however, that on a different theory of
style, he would have had a far more excellent con-
stituency and would have been a far greater aid to
the ambitious writer. Few things are more unfortu
nate in a literary point of view than that this writer's
theory of style which dissevers idea from form has
received such sanction from such high authority.
Macaulay has great merits as a writer. These have
been stated. He filled a most important place and
did a worthy work but it is ever to be urged that his
view of style was, after all, the lower and not the
higher one, based on taste rather than intellect and
requiring for its illustration nothing of the great
qualities of mind. It was fortunate that he was not
writing in the days of Bacon, when English was in
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MACAULAY. 411
shaping for permanent use and, especially fortunate
that even as he wrote such men as De Quincey were
also writing and strenuously insisting that the first
thing in literary style is the mental life beneath it.
(b) His Cast of mind as an author was cesthetic
rather than logical.
The more closely we examine the inner nature of
the author's mind, the more clearly it will appear
that Macaulay, as a writer, or a man, cannot be
ranked among the intellectual powers of England, as
Hooker, Bacon, Milton and Burke can be. He had
little of that intellectual grasp and reach which
marked such men. He is inferior here even to Addi-
son and far inferior to the strong-minded Johnson.
There are many facts in Macaulay's literary life
indicative of this.
"}
As to the particular kind of reading to which he
was most addicted, we know that it was fiction and
poetry and the elegant literature of Europe, rather
than that order of reading to which Bacon refers as
he says "Studies serve for ability.' His contempt of
all forms of truth that might be called philosophical
or abstract, is well known. He spoke in more than
offensive terms of the sages of Greece and simply
pitied the man who could seem to find in their pages
any kind of profit or pleasure.
His essay on Bacon is an indignant protest
against the utility of all higher study and ere he is
done he denounces all the philosophers as worse than
useless. He speaks of metaphysics as Hamilton does
of mathematics and with as little sense. Macaulay's
criticisms here were harmless in that they were based
on prejudice and total ignorance.
412
ENGLISH prose.
His order of mind was not sufficiently speculative
to lead him to inquire into the philosophy of any
theory. He preferred history, and even there, the
romantic phase of it. He had no idea of the philo-
sophy of history. Few things are more notable in
Macaulay's best prose than the absence of generaliza-
tion. He knew little of logic and cared less for it.
The idea of pursuing an argument dispassionately
through the gradation of proof to the end rarely en-
tered his mind. He preferred the euthymeme to the
full syllogism and often concealed therein his specious
reasoning. He discussed men and measures but not
germinal principles. He followed processes and
methods regardless of the laws on which they are
based. The History of England, in so far as method
is concerned, is narrative and descriptive. As Pope
would express it" it never deviates" into the phil-
osophical. Causes and effects stand by themselves.
So, in the historical essays as in those that are
controversial, there is the same lack of breadth of
brow while as a critic he is hereby made an unsafe
leader. All this is in the line of intellectual weak-
ness, and as we read we long for the Baconian order
of style.
means.
In fine, Macaulay was an accomplished literary
designer. His originality was confined to ways and
He combined the novelist, poet, journalist
and general prose writer in one personality. As a
union of forms this has value and marks some inven-
tive power. Had he added, however, some qualities
eminently intellectual, his influence would have been
more than doubled.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—MACAULAY, 413
(2.) Want of Ethical Earnestness and Aim.
It cannot be denied that the prose of Macaulay is,
to a good degree, emotive and animated. The criti-
cism which questions this is astray from fact. The
point is, as to the source and quality of this feeling.
Here, we must answer that it is purely literary rather
than moral. It is taste and taste only that controls.
The impassioned element is not born out of the inner
recesses of the soul as the home of the ethical in-
stincts. Biographers tell us of the weakness of his
devotion to the truth; of his lack of the "stronger
passion" and of the comparative looseness of his
view of life. Those who have read Macaulay for
years and not discovered this have been desultory
readers. Such will be surprised to note throughout
an almost studied evasion of what Wordsworth calls.
"high-thinking”—an indifferent acceptance of the
world as it is without any special anxious concern as
to its probable future.
We read Macaulay's prose for certain ends and we
secure them-narrative and descriptive skill, correct-
ness of structure, copiousness of diction and general
artistic excellence. If we look for the presence of a
governing moral purpose as a writer, we fail to find
it. What we may call the literary conscience as it
existed in Milton and Addison is an undeveloped
faculty. He writes on Byron and Bunyan with equal
ease and is satisfied with the result quite apart from
any searching analysis of character. His indignation
at Hastings is political more than moral. His refer-
ences to Roman Catholicism and to the English
414
ENGLISH prose.
Reformation are alike in verbal taste while he
utterly fails in the discussion of such a subject as
Milton or Hampden or the great Puritan order to
grasp the sublime moral issues at stake in those
times or the heroic character of the men behind
them. Macaulay was moral in character and in
literary style. He never offended in this regard as
Swift and Smollett have done. His pages are as
clean as those of any English author. He is open
to criticism, however, in that this ethical quality
finds no pervasive or definite expression in his prose.
At this point it is negative and unsatisfactory. As
Morison phrases, he has nothing for us "when our
light is low." No prominent writer of English Prose
has been so free from any offense against moral taste
and yet so devoid of a decided moral impulse and
purpose. The reader is scarcely the better or the
worse, ethically, from the perusal of his papers.
leaves us on moral questions just where he found us.
He does not openly and enthusiastically defend any
great religious principle for the sake of the principle
itself or denounce any great evil because it is an evil.
Such matters he delegates to those whose official
business makes it their duty. His work is literary
and that only. His prose gives no evidence of that
Miltonic spirit which led the great Puritan to do all
his literary work with an ethical aim as "ever in his
great Task-Master's eye."
Present and Prospective Rank of his Prose Style.
He
It is a remark common among English critics of
the present day, that Macaulay's influence in the
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-—MACAULAY. 415
world of prose letters is on the wane and will, in the
near future, quite disappear. It is argued that his
fame hitherto has been out of all proportion to his
merits and that a more intelligent estimate of lit-
erary prose will assign him to his proper place of
inferiority.
Such views as these are current enough to demand
attention. Extreme as they are in the form of their
statement, there is an element of sober truth in them
as in similar views relative to the probable future of
Dickens and Eliot in prose fiction.
We have called attention to the main merits of
his style. As far as they go, they are merits on the
basis of which much of Macaulay's past and present
renown is built. More than this, some of them are
such fundamental qualities of style and withal so
comparatively rare, that the presence of them must
insure a good degree of literary prominence. No
style, for example, can exhibit narrative and descrip-
tive excellence as Macaulay's does and be said to be
inferior or doomed to speedy disappearance. His
prose as it reads to-day is representative English Prose,
though not necessarily in all respects a model form.
It has enough excellences to give it commanding
place and to insure it against extinction.
On the other hand, the two cardinal defects to
which we have alluded are so serious in their nature
as to make the exact place of the author's prose in
English Letters an open question. Even as an ex-
pression of true literary art, its want of intellectual
depth would preclude its occupying the first rank as
does that of De Quincey, while the absence of the
ethical element in spirit and purpose would rank it
:
416
ENGLISH PROSE.
below the prose of Addison. The best that can be
said for it is that by reason of its manifest defects it
cannot be placed first, and by reason of its manifest
merits it must be placed among those specimens of
English which we call representative or leading.
He was in every sense what the French mean by
the--litterateur-a man of letters for letters' sake-
a lover of literary art. As such, he will always be
read and especially by those in early manhood and
womanhood. Probably no English writer is to-day
so influential in molding the prose style of academic
students as is Macaulay. His prose lies so on the
border land between prose and verse as to escape the
dullness of the one and the meaningless fancy of the
other. It is sufficiently solid and serious while not
prosaic and sufficiently attractive and figurative
while not romantic.
Such an order of poetic prose will command large
numbers of readers and shape their style. The read-
able will be read despite all theory and defect. This
being so, it is well that the author's prose is as good
as it is. With all its faults it has high merit. It is
clear, copious, facile and finished. It has delighted
thousands of readers and fascinated not a few, and
while devoid of Baconian strength is marked by some
of the best qualities of standard English style.
References and Authorities.
Morison's Macaulay (Eng. Men of Let.). Minto's
Manual of Eng. Prose. Life and Letters (Trevelyan).
Essays of Bayne and Whipple.
CHAPTER X.
THE PROSE STYLE OF THOMAS DE QUINCEY.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN in Manchester, Aug. 15th, 1785. In the gram-
mar-school at Bath.
At Oxford, 1803-8.
In London, poor and unknown.
Thence, to the English Lakes at
Grasmere. Went to Scotland (Lassuade) 1843. Died
in Edinburgh, Dec. 8th, 1859.
The Miscellaneous Character of his Prose Works.
Prof. Masson in his admirable life of De Quincey
notes the fact that his literary work was mainly
periodical; that his books were projected rather than
completed and that "as Shakespeare may be described
as the author of about thirty-seven plays, so may De
Quincey be said to be the author of about one hun-
dred and fifty magazine articles."
It is this diversity or copiousness of our author's
prose that first impresses the careful reader and in-
vites examination.
The special classification which Prof. Masson gives
is worthy of note and may be said to embrace all the
products of the author's pen.
•
418
ENGLISH PROSE.
I. DESCRIPTIVE, BIOGRAPHICAL and HISTORICAL.
II.
SPECULATIVE, DIDACTIC and CRITICAL.
III. IMAGINATIVE WRITINGS and PROSE POETRY.
This division is founded on one proposed by De
Quincey himself. He suggested that a portion of his
essays was designed to deal with fact and incident
for the special purpose of amusing; a portion, to
present the purely intellectual view of things, and
another portion still, to reach and affect the feelings.
He adopted, in fine, the old triple division of the
human faculties into-Intellect, Feeling, Will and
Taste, and addressed himself in turn to these respec-
tive forms.
This periodical character of his writings carries
the reader back to Augustan days. We are reminded
of Addison and Steele; of De Foe and Swift and of
the later Johnsonian school. The similarity, how-
ever, is simply one of external form. Miscellaneous
Prose meant with De Quincey something quite differ-
ent from what it meant with the earlier authors. It
was distinct in subject matter, method and general
style and, as to rank, marks a higher order of prose.
It has some points in common with the style of
Macaulay, whose death, in the same year as that of
De Quincey, marks their lives as covering substanti-
ally the same literary period. Even here, however, Ma-
caulay was not the equal of his gifted contemporary.
There is scarcely a topic within the range of the
current literature of the time which this voluminous
essayist did not present. It is known from his bio-
graphy what a student and reader he was. Whether
in London or in Edinburgh or at the Lakes, he was
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS—DE QUINCEY. 419
diligently at work in enlarging the bounds of his
knowledge. Southey speaks of him as "better in-
formed than almost any person he had ever met at
his age." History, Travels, Biography, Fiction, Poli-
tics, Metaphysics, Theology and Poetry, all received
their full share of attention. While at Oxford, he is
said to have been noted for his quiet and studious
habits, and even at this early period was looked upon
by the heads of the university as a marvel in the
line of general information. To all this knowledge
of books he added not a little through the medium
of travel and keen-eyed observation.
This miscellaneous character of De Quincey's prose
gave natural origin both to merits and blemishes of
style. We note as to
MERITS OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Variety and Flexibility of Style.
This very versatility of theme already suggested
would call for a corresponding versatility of method
and treatment. Rhetorical sameness would seem to
be impossible here. The biographical gives frequent
place to the descriptive, and the impassioned, to the
didactic, while the prose itself is often so imaginative
as to border on the poetic. If one is somewhat
wearied in the perusal of his paper on-The Essence
of the Pagan Oracles, he may easily turn to the
Autobiographic Sketches, or to the Confessions, for
relief. His Theory of Greek Tragedy may give place
to-Murder as One of the Fine Arts-and to his
paper on, The English Mail Coach. In fact, there is
420
ENGLISH PROSE.
here a full-spread literary feast. The opportunity
for choice is unlimited. It is the European Plan of
diet applied to English Letters. One may call for
what he most prefers and it is forthcoming. Such a
style, whatever it has or has not, cannot be accused
of insipidity or dullness. There is the utter absence
of uniformity or of any one method so unyielding as
to defy change. Even that stiffness of movement and
apparent mechanism seen at times in Addison is
absent here. The Johnsonian heaviness of tread is
not audible. There is the lighter movement of Swift
and Lamb and a flexibility of method not possessed
as fully by any literary predecessor. It is extremely
easy, however, for such versatility to overreach itself
and become superficial.
(2.) Its English Element.
Devoted as he was to the speculations of the Ger-
mans, he preferred the writings of native authors to
all others, and at Oxford is found carefully system-
atizing his studies in this direction He may be said
to be the first prominent English writer who even
made the attempt to reduce the study of English
Letters to a philosophical basis. The work partially
begun by Dryden, Johnson and Charles Lamb, he
carried on to satisfactory limits in common with
Coleridge and Southey, so that on the basis of it we
have now the philosophic method as the most prom-
inent one in such a line of study. The historical
method is subordinate. The literature of Knowledge
is secondary to that of Power.
Referring to his early acquaintance with the most
REPRESENTATIVE WRiters.-de QUINCEY. 421
prominent authors of all times and his consequent
mental resources, he remarks "that any vanity con-
nected with power so rarely attained, was in him
absolutely swallowed up in the tremendous hold
taken of his entire sensibilities by his own English
Literature." In giving an account of his father's
library, he says-"One thing was valuable-all the
books were English." Nor was this a blind devotion
to native authors at the expense of a knowledge of
all others. As already seen, De Quincey was thor-
oughly versed in the best that had been written and
said, and thus fulfilled Matthew Arnold's ideal of the
cultured man. Many of his best papers are on the
classical and continental authors and on questions.
quite foreign to anything British. His position was
simply one of intelligent preference for home product
in literature. He ingenuously believed that no an-
cient or modern nation had so worthy a list of authors
as England had and was glad to have his judgment
and affections so happily combined. It always
grieved him to see the tendency on the part of so
many of his countrymen to decry English authorship
in favor of anything foreign. It was under this feel-
ing that he breaks out in Biblical phrase "Are Abana
and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the
waters of Israel?" As early as at fifteen years of
age, he is familiar with the leading English poets,
while in his more mature years, his affection for
Wordsworth and his school rose to the intensity of
passionate devotion.
When a student at Oxford, he is pained at the de-
ficiency of the Oxonians in the literature of their
vernacular. "It is," he says,
"It is," he says, "a pitiable spectacle
422
ENGLISH PROSE.
to any man of sense and feeling who happens to be
familiar with the treasures of his own literature, and
a spectacle which alternately moves scorn and sorrow,
to see young people spending their time upon writers
most unfit to unloose the shoe-latchets of many
among their own early authors. Surely it is time.
that these follies were at an end; that our practice
was made to square a little better with our profes-
sion and that our pleasures were sincerely drawn from
those sources in which we pretend that they lie." In
writing his varied papers on English Letters and
Men of Letters, it is not strange to find a kind of
eulogium and enthusiasm far too rare among our
literary critics. He speaks of The Canterbury Tales
as "a work that has not been rivaled and probably
will not be, on our planet." Spenser, Beaumont,
Fletcher, Pope, Dryden, Addison and Swift, in turn
receive enconiums while he seems to fail in his at-
tempt properly to exalt the names of Milton and
Shakespeare. After nobly defending Milton against
the charge of pedantry and adherence to pagan forms,
he sums up his view in the words “ Milton is not an
author among authors, but a power among powers.
The Paradise Lost is not a poem among poems,
but a central force among forces."
con-
In the presence of Shakespeare he seems
founded as before "the most august among created
intellects," and as he looks with ever increasing
wonder, remarks-"Reader, nothing greater can be
imagined." In fact, he was at heart a genuine son
of the soil. He prefers Chaucer to Boccaccio; Spenser
to Tasso; Shakespeare to Goethe; the essays of Ad-
dison to those of Martineau; the critical opinions of
REPRESENTATIVE WRiters.—de QUINCEY. 423
Dryden to those of Boileau, and the Lake Lyrists to
Schiller at his best.
All this makes De Quincey's style characteristically
English. He escaped the extreme in each direction.
While acknowledging all that was worthy of imita-
tion in foreign tongues, he never lowered his own
language from the place of honor. His diction is
largely native. His structure and general method
are native. The object of his writing was largely to
exalt that which was home born, while no careful
student of his pages can fail to feel the English spirit
and impulse which beneath all that is external
controls the thought and inner life of the author.
(3.) Its Intellectual Character.
At this point, the style of De Quincey is sharply
contrasted with that of Macaulay and the contrast
is in the former's favor. We are dealing now with
an author whose words are well weighed, whose
object is impressive rather than expressive and who
believed that men are to be reached by rational
methods.
"For my own part," he says "I may affirm that my
life has been on the whole, the life of a philosopher;
from my birth I was made an intellectual creature;
and intellectual in the highest sense my pursuits and
pleasure have been." Elsewhere in his writings he
seems to use this term-intellectual—with similar
emphasis. His use of it would seem to indicate his
devoted fondness for the pursuit of truth. He has
been well styled a-polyhistor.
His desire for knowledge was insatiable and he was
i
424
ENGLISH PROSE.
never happier than when opening up some new mine
of information. Mere knowledge however, is not all
that this word includes with him. It designates an
order of mind and style that is substantial rather than
superficial. It intimates the presence of disciplined
faculties and the presence of thought. One is struck
in this respect with the high-class character of the
topics discussed in the miscellaneous papers of the
author. As a rule, they have to do with the most
weighty problems of human life. Outside of those
examples that are purely humorous and so designed,
the themes are serious and substantial. As Masson
has well phrased it, "It was De Quincey's laudable
habit to put brain into all his articles." In this par-
ticular, his periodicals are far superior to those of
Augustan days. Steele and Addison were obliged,
in deference to what Mr. Courthope calls "the social
style" to choose an order of subject and line of dis-
cussion somewhat lighter than was now appropriate.
Even the sober-minded Johnson is not as intellectual
in his themes as is De Quincey.
It will be of profit here, to note some of the forms
in which this special characteristic of the author's
style, as mental, manifested itself in his literary work.
(a) Analytic Skill and Philosophic Discussion.
The author makes a formal claim to the posses-
sion of this feature of mind and style and has done a
service to English Prose in this respect that is of
high value. He thoroughly endorses what may be
termed-method in writing, as distinct from that loose
manner of expression so common in our literature
and far too frequent even in standard authors. He
saw no great danger in the divisions and subdivis
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DE QUINCEY. 425
ions of a theme, if indeed, they were natural and
moderate. He would as much condemn the ignoring
of them as he would that extreme use of them pre-
valent among the divines of the seventeenth century.
His mind was of the logical order and when he wrote,
he wrote on some well defined plan and purpose.
He condemns Hazlitt because he is "discontinuous.”
He rebukes Lamb for the same literary offense. "No
man," he says, "can be eloquent whose thoughts are
abrupt, insulated and capricious." He is opposed to
what Coleridge calls "the non-sequacious" style.
He advocates a style in which the regular progression
of the ideas is ever visible; in which the relation of
cause and effect, process and product is seen through-
out. It is to be conceded, here, that De Quincey
indulges too freely, as Swift and Bacon did, in digres-
sions from the main issue and becomes thereby his
own judge. His essay on-Hamilton, is an illustra-
tion in point. After a half-dozen pages of irrelevant
matter, he informs the reader that he is about to
begin. After a dozen pages more of matter still less
relevant, he coolly states that he will ignore all that
has been given and begin anew. He begins anew
and again deviates. Had De Quincey penned this
essay in Pope's time, he would have been one of the
heroes of the Dunciad. This digressiveness, however,
is quite exceptional, and even as it does exist is fully
justified by some critics as a relief from the strict
regularity of the style. In the main, he is clear,
acute and orderly. He had a deep insight into char-
acter and topic, which he calls "an inner eye and
power of intuition for the unseen." He had that men-
tal acumen which found such fitting exercise in the
1
426
ENGLISH PROSE.
study of men. Some of his biographical papers finely
illustrate this analysis of character. Those on Plato,
Herodotus, Kant, Shakespeare and Pope are in point.
He detects at once the main features of the subject
and presents them in their true distinctness. A no-
table example of this is his paper on-The True Re-
lations of the Bible to Human Science-in which he
takes occasion to answer objections and advance
positive argument. He ably insists that the Bible
is not a manual of science or philosophy and is not to
be so studied. In discussing De Quincey's analytic
skill as a proof of the intellectual quality of his style,
reference is in place to his critical power. He had
the independence of a true critic and, we may add,
that wealth of historic and scholarly information on
which all true criticism rests. Despite all that he
had read and learned, he insisted on forming and ap-
plying his own opinions for himself. This sometimes
led him into error, but in the main was a safe guide.
When of the philosophy of Plato he says “that it
moves at all only by its cumbrous superfluity of
words;" when he speaks of Goethe as designedly
using the enigmatical to perplex his readers and
refers to Burton and Taylor and Browne as the great
models of English style, we feel that his analysis
is defective and his consequent criticism fallacious.
When he tells us as to the Essenes, that no such
sect ever existed as reported by Josephus, that Judas
Iscariot was a morbid fanatic more than a wilfull
traitor, and when in his papers on Cicero and the
Pagan Oracles, he propounds views altogether his
own, his independence is at the expense of sound
judgment. In the line of literary criticism, how-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-DE QUINCEY. 427
ever, De Quincey is a master. "No English writer,”
says Masson, "has left a finer body of disquisition on
the science and principles of criticism." We speak
unadvisedly of Matthew Arnold as the-father of
Modern English Literary Criticism. This honor be-
longs to Dryden and De Quincey. Allusion has been
made to his early study of English authors on the
philosophical basis. He began, at once, to analyze
the style and the man; to note the defects and the
excellences and the causes of them; to give a rational
explanation of style on the basis of wide established
principles of expression. The amateur critics of the
Augustan Age knew little of this. Even the founders
of the Edinburgh Review and their respective schools
were inferior to De Quincey in this analytic method
of criticism. He reduced what he did to a well de-
fined science and proceeded according to law. One
may almost choose at random from his papers to
illustrate this habit. He gives us in his papers on
Rhetoric, Style and Language, the exact theory on
which he advances. He calls no style excellent in
which the thought is not controlling. He sharply
protests against the mechanical element in expression
and contends that all true expression is an organic
process by which the inner soul of the writer is set
forth. It is in this connection that he makes his
favorite distinction between The Literature of Knowl-
edge and The Literature of Power; between The
Principia and The Paradise Lost.
In no one theory is De Quincey's intellectual char-
acter seen more fully than in the fact that as a
writer and a critic of the writings of others he insists
that style is essentially intellectual-the embodiment
428
ENGLISH PROSE.
and expression of thought, and not a mere external
adornment or the mere use of words with nothing in
them or behind them.
It is for this reason that no body of miscellaneous
prose can be more safely commended to young men
as a guide, in that it is based on this cardinal prin-
ciple of the supremacy of intellect in the art of verbal
expression. Critics have spoken of the scientific
element in De Quincey's style. If by this is meant,
the intellectual as distinct from any other quality,
the view is tenable. There is an analytical exactness
of plan and statement, a strict adherence to the
reality of things so that the literary artist is never
allowed to supersede the philosopher and teacher of
truth. Further study will show how beautifully this
intellectual element is combined throughout with
that artistic grace and finish by which the thought
is made attractive. There is a still additional feature
of this mental element that deserves notice and is, in
fact, the most important.
(b) Suggestiveness or Literary Richness.
This is inventive rather than analytic. It has to
do with the work of origination as the highest form
of intellectual action. Something more is meant
here than that independence of opinion to which
allusion has been made or that versatility of view
already mentioned. There is in the sphere of prose
that which in poetry would be called creative. It is
what the metaphysicians call the power of original
suggestion. It is here, as nowhere else, that the
intellectuality of De Quincey's prose style is seen.
He brings to light and to being that which is his
own. He follows here the guidance of no master.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.~DE QUINCEY. 429
He adopts the creed of no particular school. His
work is unique and fresh. It is true that he had a
special attachment to the Lake Poets, and, most
especially, to Wordsworth. The devotion was, how-
ever, in no sense slavish, but intelligent and manly.
There is in his nature as a writer a high degree of
mental productivity. He was affluent in his resources.
The fertility of his nature might be compared to the
rich bottom-lands of some countries or to the luxuri-
ant vegetation of the tropics. He has that quality
in prose which Mr. Whipple attributes to Shakespeare
in poetry-the power of intimating more than is
fully stated and thus inviting the research of the
reader. De Quincey cannot be termed a profound
writer or thinker in the philosophical sense of that
term, but he is rich in his literary resources and
always gives the reader more than is actually re-
quired. Here, he was the superior of Macaulay
while no writer of the Augustan Age at all com-
pared with him. He displayed in prose that form
and measure of mental opulence that is sometimes
called Elizabethan, and which marked the dramatic
poetry of that age. Within the province of mis-
cellaneous prose there is nothing equal to it in En-
glish Letters. He is the head of that expressive or
expansive prose era which takes its origin at the
close of the eighteenth century and reaches its full-
ness in the following century. It is, in fine, nine-
teenth century English.
(4.) Impassioned Vigor.
As to this quality, also, the author makes a special
claim in the Preface to his Autobiography. He is
430
ENGLISH PROse.
alluding to the subject matter of personal confessions.
He speaks of the difficulties which beset the path of
him who is desirous of making such confessions and
argues that the tone of such composition should
above all else be impassioned. He shows the failure
of other autobiographers in this particular; indicates
his faith in his own ability in this direction and
points the reader for an illustration to-The Opium
Eater, and-Suspiria de Profundis. As far as these
two specified works are concerned all would be will-
ing to justify the author's claim to emotive writing.
The application of the principle may be extended,
however, and it will be seen upon a true interpreta-
tion that his style throughout is characterized by
this feature. We might naturally expect to find it,
from what we know of the man and his peculiar
nature, just as we expect to find it in Lamb, Gold-
smith or Milton.
In many of its manifestations it is but a portraiture.
of his unfortunate life. This quality, in De Quincey's
prose, takes the two distinct forms of pathos and
passion. The one is subdued and tender. The other
is more positive and vigorous. The one takes its
character from the inner experience of the man while
the other is more modified by external influence.
As to the element of true pathcs, it is everywhere
apparent.
In his graphic account of the-Three Memorable
Murders, with their revolting incidents; in his minute
description of that wealth of affection which he and
his sister mutually dispensed and received; in the
specific narrative of the distressing circumstances.
attending the loss of their parents by some children
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DE QUINCEY. 431
on the English hills in the depth of winter; in the
•personal reminiscences he gives us of his visits to
Greta Hall and Rydal Mount; in his Vision of Sudden
Death and his account of the death of Wordsworth's
daughter and, most noteworthy of all, in his affecting
allusions to the death of his own sister-in all these
and similar writings there is a genuine pathos that
marks the style as impassioned. There is a sympa-
thetic tenderness about them that indicates the heart
of the man as keenly sensitive to the deepest feelings
of human nature. "Not to be sympathetic," he says,
"is not to understand," and, as we know, he prefers
the literature of power to that of knowledge, in that
the former moves the soul in addition to informing
the mind.
This subdued pathos in De Quincey is closely con-
nected with a tendency in his nature to the grave
and mysterious. His own experience of the ills of
life and his observation of the ills of others made it
easy for him to incline to the plaintive and pathetic.
This often went to the extreme of moroseness and a
morbid view of character and human history. When
avoiding this extreme, however, it lent a mellow soft-
ness to his nature and suffused it with a touching
regard for the welfare of his fellows. Their appar-
ently unearned sufferings elicited his deepest sym-
pathy and he did not care to suppress it. His fond-
ness for the occult and mysterious heightened this
temper of mind. He had what Masson calls-"the
metaphysical mood." He was ever moralizing on men
and things; on passing events and personal destiny.
He indulged in those secret reveries which so often
mark the lives of students and authors. His physical
432
ENGLISH prose.
constitution inclined him to it and all his proclivities
were in that direction. It seemed at times as in the
case of Wordsworth, to take the form of superstitious
wonder. He had that childlike awe and feeling of
the marvelous which so prevailed among the Lake
Poets and to which the solitude of the mountains
may be said to ministér.
All this was in the line of the emotive. It touched
and swayed the springs of feeling within. There was
just enough of the religious element in it to soften and
deepen it and make it more attractive. De Quincey's
style is permeated by this impassioned element on
the side of pathos.
So, also, as to its more outspoken expression in
passion and strong mental emotion.
Many of the best passages of his prose are strictly
oratorical, so distinctive is the element of feeling.
They read as if taken from Burke or Chatham. We
will find such examples in his Autobiography, in his
recital of the sufferings of neglected children; in his
high eulogium on British womanhood; in his account
of the character and age of Cicero; in his captivating
narrative of the heroism of Joan of Arc; in his graphic
account of the early Christian martyrdoms, and his
description of Greece in the Golden Age of Pericles.
At times, these expressions take the form of indig-
nant invective. In speaking of Wordsworth's forced
acquaintance with Monsieur Simond whose mer-
cenary views were so out of keeping with the high
theories of the Lake Poet, he says "They met and
saw and interdespised." His righteous soul was stirred
to its depths by the manner in which this unpoetic
Frenchman failed to grasp the transcendent excel-
REPRESENTATIVE WRiters.—de QUINCEY. 433
lence of poetry as compared with all material
good.
It is this impassioned element that explains much
of the potency of De Quincey's style and keeps it
fresh among us. It gives it that quality of force
without which mere intelligibility is of little worth.
It most aptly combines with that intellectual element
of which we have spoken and forms a rare example
of prose.
Even in his philosophical and ethical
papers this feature is present while in those which
have specially to do with the historical personages
and great public events it is conspicuous throughout.
(5.) Humor and Satire.
This element in De Quincey might be called-
Satirical IIumor.
An exquisite example of it is given in his paper on
"Murder as one of the Fine arts." Beginning with
the history of murder in the act of Cain, he finds in
the Age of Pericles "no murder of the slightest merit.”
In Rome, he finds nothing worthy of distinction and
then passes over through the Middle Ages to the
England of the seventeenth century. He gives a
graphic description of proceedings at the sumptuous
dinners of the "Thugs" and of the famous character—
Toad-in-the-hole. How natural the explanation of
the absence of the reporter who had been murdered
by one of the party present and about whom inquiry
is made. Non est inventus.
His advice to one inclined to distinguish himself
in manslaughter is-Beware! "If once a man in-
dulge in murder, he comes very soon to think little
434
ENGLISH PROSE.
#
of robbing; from robbing he comes to drinking and
Sabbath breaking, and from that to incivility and pro-
crastination. Many a man has dated his ruin from
some murder or other that perhaps he thought little of
at the time: Principiis obsta." The low value set on
human life and the low estimate of the criminality of
taking it that prevailed at that time in London could
have been rebuked and modified in no better way
than in this of ironical pleasantry. The popular con-
science was too dull to receive direct moral teaching
and it must be reached by indirect methods. The
satire, however, must be couched in humor.
In his paper on-Sortilege and Astrology-there
is a fine specimen of English Humor, as, also, in
his serio-comic description of an
English Mail
Coach."
(6
What a rich vein of merriment is there in "Dinner,
real and reputed," as, also, in the author's ingenious
criticism of Lord Monboddo's theory as to the descent
of man from the ape. Apart from papers, however,
that are specifically of this order, this double element
runs through the style. In some of the personal
sketches as in-The Confessions, it is mingled with
sadness as it is in Lamb and Burns, while, in the
main, it takes the form of a hearty, wholesome
pleasantry. Even when satirical, it is full of that
true humanity which according to Thackeray is
essential to its existence. As a feature of style, it
lends attractiveness and pointedness and saves the
prose from what might otherwise be conducive to
heaviness. Part of the readableness of De Quincey's
prose comes from the pith of its irony and the pleasure
of its humor.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS—DE QUINCEY. 435
(6.) Pictorial and Artistic Power.
All that belongs to the sphere of the descriptive,
imaginative or poetic is in place here, as making up
the element of beauty in discourse and as a necessary
complement to the mental and emotive elements
hitherto suggested.
In the line of general descriptive skill, we note in
the author the faculty of poetic discernment, the de-
tection of those hidden analogies that escape most
men and through the medium of which the highest
artistic effects may be secured. He possessed what
he himself in the "Opium Eater" calls-"the higher
faculty of an electric aptitude for seizing analogies."
Much of that which critics have attributed to the
wide range of reading and grasp of memory is rather
due to this "higher faculty" of mental insight" the
logical instinct for feeling in a moment the secret
parallelisms that connected things apparently re-
mote." It is thus natural to find critics as a
class alluding to De Quincey as a model of exact com-
parison and descriptive sketching. This skill is very
noticeable in his portrayal of natural scenery.
those who have lived among well known scenes, he
discloses beauties hitherto unnoticed. So, as to men
and movements. Though Southey and Wordsworth
may have been known to us for years, De Quincey
interprets them quite anew.
To
Apart from this special descriptive excellence, the
prose is marked throughout by poetic taste and finish.
There is just enough distinct use of figurative lan-
guage to lend variety and general vividness to the
style and, yet, not enough to controvert his own the-
436
ENGLISH PROSE.
ory as to the superiority of thought to form. In the
matter of melody and rhythm, as a part of good prose
structure, the author reaches definite and high re-
sults. Whether we refer to euphony as pertaining to
the mere pleasure of sounds in themselves or as related
to the sense beneath them, there is abundant evidence
of skill. His prose possesses what Beethoven calls.
"pronounciability" and what Masson calls "musical
beauty." Vowels, consonants and liquids are happily
adjusted while he never so magnifies this poetic ele-
ment as to pass the limits of substantial prose or
make it difficult as to where to classify his writings.
In this respect, also, he is Macaulay's superior as he is
that of such an author as Jeremy Taylor. Though De
Quincey was convinced that prose was his forte and
wisely worked in it, he had not a little of that poetic
genius which is found in all great prose writers and
is intensified as in his case so fully, by an intimate
acquaintance with the best specimens of poetry. He
had what lies below all high expression in prose or
poetry-the instinct of literary form; what Matthew
Arnold would call-the sense of beauty. Intellectual
as his style was, it was conspicuously artistic, and in
this he has done the unspeakable service of showing
that the best work in prose literature is neither the
purely didactic nor the purely imaginative, but is
seen in the judicious combination of these elements
in what may be termed the expression of thought
in æsthetic form. The phrase-literary art-if truly
interpreted, means an art based on mental laws and
proceeding by intellectual methods and, yet, expres-
sive of all that belongs to good taste and finish of
form.
REPRESENTATIVE WRiters.—de QUINCEY. 437
i
In De Quincey, this pictorial and artistic quality
rises, at times, to magnificence. There is the ele
ment of literary splendor, a kind of majestic move-
ment corresponding to the element of sublimity in
poetry. The style is stately without being pompous
or inflated. There is something of that lofty bearing
so manifest in Hooker and Milton, but conducted
with more finish and ease. There is a sustained
elegance of form and carriage that indicates high
literary breeding and invites respect.
What an absence there is in De Quincey of the
coarse and base! How completely does he avoid
the extremes of buffoonery and moral impropriety.
There is nothing of Jonathan Swift's lower tastes
here, but all is clean and clear. This was with De
Quincey more a matter of taste than conscience.
His morality was mainly literary. His ethics were
shaped by his æsthetics. His sense of artistic pro-
priety as an author would have made it impossible
for him to have descended to the low levels of Dryden
and the Restoration school. He had a religious re-
gard for what was in good taste, and his prose is,
thereby, the purer and better.
HIS ALLEGED DEFECTS OF STYLE.
(1.) The Want of Full Discussion of Ideas.
Carlyle speaks of his "wire-drawn" papers. He
has in mind his apparent want of elaboration, of
greater thoroughness of treatment. Hence, it is
noticeable that De Quincey rarely ventured beyond
the magazine article into the larger and wider sphere
438
ENGLISH prose.
of prose expression. It seemed to be as difficult for
him to address himself to the sustained production.
of literary work in book form as for Burns or Words-
worth to compose an epic. Miscellaneous writing, is
after all, a subordinate form. Its discursive character
must rank it below those forms which imply and re-
quire protracted mental effort definitely applied to
one topic. The historical essay is not history proper
nor is the descriptive essay a work in prose fiction.
A biographical or a critical paper is not biography or
criticism proper. De Quincey, it is true, experimented
in extended book production, as in his-Logic of Po-
litical Economy. In this he sought to combine logic
and social science into one unique system. He ridi-
culed all existing attempts save one in this direction,
and on the basis of the learned Ricardo, he aimed to
present an acceptable treatise. He called it" Pro-
legomena to all Future Systems of Political Economy."
With this among other projects in mind, an able critic
in the Quarterly Review remarks with irony-" He
never finished anything except his sentences." Here
and there throughout his writings are intimations of
unfinished plans. There is one of these that seems
to be of special note-a work he tells us, "to which
he devoted the labor of his life-a memorial to his
children, of hopes defeated and of the grief and ruin
of the architect." There is the promise of a work
nothing less than Baconian in the title he assigns
to it: "De Emnendatione Humani Intellectus." This
great undertaking was never fulfilled while his vol-
ume of prose fiction entitled--Klosterheim-is not at
present accessible in England. His work as thus
miscellaneous and irregular rather than continuous,
represenTATIVE WRITERS.-DE QUINCEY. 439
opened the great literary temptation to narrowness
of view and undue brevity of description.
Though he understood the utility of full discussion
and gave enough examples of it to show that he
could apply it, such a method was exceptional and
was not fully demanded by the periodic style. That
De Quincey did not carry this principle further, as
many of his less able predecessors did, is not alto-
gether a mystery. We must believe that it was mainly
due to the debilitating effect of opium, by which he
tells us, he had virtually lost the power over his own
will and faculties. It is one of the marvels of meu-
tal philosophy that under this frequent paralysis of
the will, he did anything of worth in English Prose
and, moreover, unquestionable that apart from this
deadly drug, he would have been second to none in
what he has finely termed "the literature of power.
This fault apart, however, most of the main features
of standard prose will appear as we analyze more
closely the style of the author.
""
As a body of miscellaneous prose, it has no supe-
rior in English Letters. For wide richness of subject;
for fullness of knowledge exhibited and for general
attractiveness, no such example of English writing
exists. In making up the estimate of his rank and
power, critics have erred in comparing him with
those who have worked in other departments of lit-
erature for which he had but little ability or taste.
He is not to be condemned in that he did not write
such a work as Bacon's Advancement of Learning
or Hooker's Polity. He is not to be severely com-
pared with those writers, who, in addition to miscel-
laneous work have accomplished large results in
440
ENGLISH PROSE.
other fields, with such authors as Carlyle or the
great historians, novelists and philosophers of Eng-
land, but with others of the periodical order. Among
such, as we shall see, he stands pre-eminent. The
most unsparing criticism must concede that in the
purely miscellaneous sphere no exception can be
taken to this. Compared with Swift, Addison, John-
son and Lamb and all the so-called essayists of our
literature, he has no rival or equal. If the modern
English student were to be restricted to the perusal
of one English essayist with reference either to the
the formation of style or the experience of literary
pleasure, it should be De Quincey. The advice given
by Dr. Johnson in reference to Addison "that we
must spend our days and nights with him," is still
more in place as applied to De Quincey.
"There are few courses of reading," says Masson,
"from which a young man of good natural intel.
ligence would come away more instructed, charmed
and stimulated or with his mind more stretched." In
many respects he is the essayist of English Prose.
(2.) Errors of Diction, Sentence and Moral Force.
As to diction, the errors here are not enough to
justify the assertion made by some critics, that it is
loose, irregular and devoid of correctness. The au-
thor innocently prided himself on his use of language.
He made it a special aim to be precise. In one of
his papers, after detecting the violation of this prin-
ciple he condemns it and adds, "We rarely make
such errors in the use of words." We have already
spoken of his pure English style-his preference for
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DE QUINCEY. 441
1.
the native language over the Latin or any other
foreign tongue. Even where foreign idiom and tech-
nical phraseology enter, the English spirit is so con-
trolling as to preserve the composition from pedantry
or detract from its naturalness. There are authors,
such as-Walton, Fuller, Bunyan and De Foe, who
use in their prose a larger percentage of native
words. Even Swift is his superior here. Still, the
percentage is so large and the general character so
home-like that his language cannot be said to mark
a wide departure from purity. "The strong point in
his diction," says Minto, "is his acquaintance with
the language of the thoughts and feelings, with the
subjective side of the English vocabulary. If “right
words in right places" is a true definition of style,
De Quincey might be regarded as a master. As to his
wealth of diction nothing need be said.
As to sentences and general structure the author is
more at fault, but not enough so to warrant the state-
ment in connection with his paper on Goethe that
the prose was marked by "awkwardness and stiff-
ness." There are, undoubtedly, in De Quincey evi-
dent effects of German Grammar. He had made him-
self so conversant with German authors as to be
somewhat affected by their style while, apart from
this, he had not that natural facility of shaping prose
structure which belonged to Macaulay and Lamb.
Specially inclined to the elaborate periodic order of
sentence, he found himself, at times, so involved
midway in the structure as to make clearness impos-
sible. He indulges too freely in the use of inversion
and parenthesis largely induced by his habit of di-
gression. As a law, however, his meaning is clear
442
ENGLISH prose.
and expressed with vigor. As we know, there was
no subject to which as a question of style he devoted
more attention than to the formation of the sentence.
He is ever enforcing the necessity of a plain and em-
phatic structure, so that even when he errs it is in
the face of his better judgment. What he called-
The Mechanology of Style-had primary reference to
this building of the phrase and paragraph so as to
produce the best effect.
As to the positive moral vigor of De Quincey's
prose, little can be said. No one could have said
of De Quincey, at any time of his life," writes Masson,
"that his strength lay in any predominance of the
moral element in his nature."
We have spoken of his style as strikingly intellec-
tual. It was so because the author was so and
somewhat at the expense of the ethical. He had
here the same defect noted in the nature of Macau-
lay, the want of that distinctively moral purpose
which belongs to high literary art. He was a critic
of style pure and simple rather than of men or char-
acter. He never raised the question as to the place
of conscience in authorship. He would not have
been able to understand what Trollope writes in his
Life of Thackeray-" that every work of fiction must
be morally correct." The more modern theory of the
separate existence of ethics and letters would have
been more agreeable. The curse of opium is again
apparent here in paralyzing the will and motive
forces in the man. The ethical is eliminated or
deadened.
Had De Quincey possessed this quality, no line
could have measured his literary influence. As it is,
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS—DE QUINCEY. 443
he must be viewed apart from it simply as one of the
English Men of Letters.
Judged from this standpoint he has, as stated, no
superior in English prose. A recent English critic
has not overstated it as he says-" The exquisite fin-
nish of his style, with the scholastic vigor of his
logic form a combination which centuries may never
reproduce, but which every generation should study
as one of the marks of English literature." In vol-
ume and richness of diction, in substantial clearness
and strength of structure; in all those qualities of
style that may be termed intellectual and in high
artistic finish of external form, there is nothing bet-
ter in our language. Others had excelled him in spe-
cific features of style but no one up to his time had
so happily unified all the leading qualities. He is
not without defects and positive faults, but they are
largely neutralized by the presence of many masterly
qualities. Representing all that was best in Baconian
and Addisonian style, he, also, represents those later
excellences which belong to English Prose as dis-
tinctively modern and which serve to place it as
second to none in the list of the prose literatures
of the world.
References and Authorities.
Masson's (Eng. Men of Let.). Minto's Prose Man-
ual. Hours in a Library (Leslie Stephen). Illustra-
tions of Genius (Giles).
CHAPTER XI.
THE PROSE STYLE OF CHARLES DICKENS.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
BORN at Landport (Hampshire) Feb., 1812. Studiea
near Rochester. An Attorney and Student. A Re-
porter. From 1836, engaged in authorship. Vis-
ited United States in 1841. Visited United States
again in 1867. Died in 1870.
Prose Fiction as a Form.
It
In discussing the Representative Forms of English
Prose in the former part of this treatise, special
attention has been called to the Descriptive or Pic-
torial Form. As there remarked, Prose Fiction as
a distinct species of prose, falls under this form.
is not precisely co-extensive with Descriptive Writing,
but has its main features. All fiction as such, is
more or less descriptive. It is not true, however,
that all descriptive prose is necessarily fictitious in
character. As already suggested, it has a large place
in ordinary narrative writing and a place larger or
smaller in every prominent form of English Prose
Literature. The style of Dickens is essentially that
of Prose Fiction. There is no writer of our literature
who in this particular has been more unique and

REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
445
individual. Whatever product of his pen we may be
pleased to peruse we know, at the outset, just what
order of style we shall find,-the distinctive style of
the novelist. From early boyhood to the composition
of his last work, Dickens was a novelist more than
anything else, and he could not if he had so desired,
permanently have succeeded in any other sphere.
Some of his attempts in biographical editing and
politico-literary journalism confirm this view. Even
in the closely related form of historical prose, he was
not as much of an adept as many of his contem-
poraries such as-Bulwer, Thackeray, Scott and
Kingsley. It is quite noticeable that but two of
his numerous novels-Barnaby Rudge and A Tale of
Two Cities-may be strictly called historical, while
his-Child's History of England-was but partially
successful.
As to the oratorical or philosophic forms of prose,
he scarcely approached them at any point. His mis-
sion was elsewhere. It was in the region of the ideal
and the imaginative in their relation to the actual
life about him. Hence it is clear that an analysis of
Dickens' prose is nothing more nor less than a study
of style as seen in works of fiction.
It will be seen to have three pictorial elements
that mark it as a kind of pictorial prose. It will re-
veal the presence of imagination more than any other
mental faculty and reveal it on its poetical side more.
than on its historical or philosophic. Even within
the province of fiction proper, the descriptive novel
will be seen to take precedence of all others in his
works. That combined minuteness and comprehen-
siveness of style peculiar to the novel as a work of


446
ENGLISH prose.
ENGLI
¡
literary art will appear. In fine, in the study of
Dickens' prose, we are, for the time being, on a kind
of border line between prose and poetry-the real
and the unreal.
The writing is that of prose fiction as Burke's is
that of oratory, or Addison's that of the Miscellaneous.
Essay. Whatever disadvantage this may have in the
way of restriction, it has the great advantage of pre-
cision. We know just where we are.
His Prose Works.
All
These are of one order and are numerous.
literary critics have noted the wonderful literary
activity which Dickens displayed. He was a con-
scientious and an earnest worker in the field of
English Prose and in this respect alone has left an in-
valuable lesson for those who follow him and who may
be inclined to what is called-elegant literary leisure.
Ward and Forster, his most recent biographers are
never weary of alluding to this characteristic and al-
ways connect it with his great success as a writer and
with that fertility of production which he exhibited.
Late in life he wrote "I am become incapable of
rest. I am quite confident I should break and die, if
I spared myself. Much better to die doing." He early
formed the purpose of doing what he did with all his
heart. Love of thoroughness and system in his work is
every where visible. What he lacked naturally, he
supplied by the greatest assiduity and even in the
days of vacation was storing his mind for his needs
as a novelist. He saw and noted everything, and


REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—Dickens.
417

when he sat down to the definite work of composition
was full of his subject and wrote with ease.
Such an author must have been voluminous: From
the time that he penned his-Sketches of Boz, and—
The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club, on to
Our Mutual Friend, and the unfinished-Mystery of
Edwin Drood, he was at it early and late-passion-
ately devoted to novel writing, carrying out his own
principle Whatever I have devoted myself to, I
have devoted myself to completely."
It is scarcely necessary for our purpose to mention
here all the prose writings of Dickens. At the close
of Mr. Forster's minute biography, such a list may be
found.
As the basis of our criticism may be mentioned the
following:-
Sketches of Boz.
The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club.
Oliver Twist.
Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
The Old Curiosity Shop.
Barnaby Rudge.
American Notes for General Circulation.
The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit.
Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son.
The Personal History of David Copperfield.
Bleak House.
Hard Times.
Little Dorrit.
A Tale of Two Cities.
The Uncommercial Traveler.
Great Expectations.
448
ENGLISH prose.
،
!
Our Mutual Friend.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Christmas Stories:-A Christmas Carol in Prose.
The Cricket on the Hearth. The Battle
The Chimes.
of Life. The Haunted Man.
In addition to these typical works might be men-
tioned some of lesser note, such as his—
Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi.
The Picnic Papers.
Pictures from Italy.
A Child's History of England.
The Serials:-Household Words. All the Year Round.
Master Humphrey's Clock.
Other works of still less importance may be seen
in the list referred to.
There is here manifested unwonted literary indus-
try and productiveness, covering a period of thirty-
five years, from 1835-70. Even when a boy at school
and an attorney's clerk, he was writing sketches. It
is well known that from an early period he was
connected more or less directly with journalism,
partly in the interests of his special work as a
novelist and partly for independent ends in the in-
tervals of regular duty.
As far, therefore, as mere amount of authorship is
concerned Dickens ranks among the first. Though
less voluminous than De Foe or Bulwer he is far more
so than Thackeray or Eliot and has written quite
enough to entitle him to the place to which modern
criticism has assigned him. It is quite possible,
REPRESENTATIVE Writers.—DICKENS.
449
indeed, as in the case of De Foe that he has written
too much for his reputation, while it is not to be for-
gotten, ás suggested, that what he wrote was mainly
in one direction of literary work. Though he wrote
far more than Addison or Johnson or Macaulay, he
was not voluminous as they were in the way of a
large variety of prose form. Those qualities of style
which arise from frequent change of topic as from
history to essay or from criticism to descriptive sketch-
ing are not as prominent in Dickens as in many of
our English writers. On the other hand, the re-
striction of his work, spacious as it is, to the one
department of prose fiction, brings with it certain
advantages in the line of concentrated effort and
ever improving methods. Dickens has often been held
to account by the critics for what he never pretended
to do as a prose writer. His prose is to be examined
and judged within the limits of that form which he
preferred and produced, and that only. Comparing
him favorably or unfavorably with Scott or Thackeray
is in order, but not so to insist that he shall be in
narrative prose what Macaulay was, or in philosophic
prose what Hooker or Bacon were.

PROMINENT FEATURES OF HIS PROSE STYLE.-MERITS.
(1.) Delineative and Dramatic Power.
In this characteristic we touch upon that which
many have regarded as the one leading feature of
the prose before us. It is certainly as conspicuous as
any and would express as fully as any those peculiar
features which mark Dickens as a novelist. Among
the different classes of novels which critics have seen
450
ENGLISH PROSE.
✓
fit to enumerate, the novel of Life and Manners is a
prominent one. It might be called with fairness, the
Descriptive Novel, and it was the special form in
which Dickens did his best work and which best
illustrates his prose style. Attention has already
been called to the early development of descriptive
skill in the life of Dickens, based as it was on that
keen faculty which he possessed of seeing all that
transpired about him and of seeing it with reference
to portraying it in written form. The first substan-
tial product of his pen-Sketches of Boz-happily
suggests this primary quality of his style. In the
best sense of the word, it was sketchy or graphic—a
clear delineation of men and things It is in this
feature of Dickens' style that his imagination as a
pictorial and constructive facuity is seen to enter.
He had by natural endowment a lively sense of the
ideal and fanciful and yet made it a matter of special
care to cultivate this part of his being. We note
throughout the record of his life that he regarded it
as important as any faculty of the human mind and
congratulated himself that in his own case it had
received constant culture. It is just here that much
of the descriptive character of his prose finds its
origin and maintenance. He enriched and enlarged
the descriptive faculties of the mind just as the lo-
gician would expand the logical faculties or the artist
the special faculty of aesthetic taste.
It was by this power of actualizing the ideal that
his characters were, in the main, as real to him as if
they were before him in living personality.
We are told that there is much of the dramatic
cast in Dickens' prose. The criticism is eminently



REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.~DICKENS.
451
just and lies directly in the line of his power of
imagery.
He tells us that he had "always been an actor.”
When a boy at the Wellington House Academy, he
not only wrote the tales which were to be recited,
but was the actual head of the private theatrical per-
formances there established. His enthusiastic fond-
ness for the public recitation of his own writings in
this country, on the continent and at home, is but
another evidence of the presence of this histrionic
instinct and skill.
He loved, as a writer, the work of representation
and in order to express this tendency of his nature
still more fully he often resorted to the platform as a
reader or to the boards of the stage as an actor.
Readers of his life will call to mind the part which
he took as manager and actor in the comedy of-
Every Man in his Humor-The Light House-The
Elder Brother, and other plays.
With Jerrold, Lemon, Collins and Forster, as in-
timate companions, he went about as the old strolling
players were wont to do, partly for sheer jollity and
mainly to give due expression to that particular
element of his descriptive faculty which may be
called dramatic. Ward, in speaking of Bleak House,
remarks—“The idea of making an impressional ob-
ject like a great Chancery suit the centre round
which a large and manifold group of characters re-
volves, seems to savor of a drama rather than of a
story." This statement has a much wider application
than to Bleak House, as in Dombey and Son and
elsewhere.
In fact, Dickens' prose in his fiction throughout,
专
​452
ENGLISH prose.

not
ot only evinces that measure of\plot and character
and catastrophe which marks the novel as a distinct
form of prose but that measure of these which marks
the comedy as a dramatic product To say the least,
it marks the border line between prose fiction and
the prose drama.
Much has been said of late, pro and con, as to
the power of characterization visible in the prose of
Dickens.
Critics who rank him high at this point speak of—
"the photographic power of his pen." Others speak
slightingly of his power here and deny to him any
-genius in this direction.
It is difficult to see the basis of such extreme de-
structive criticism at this point. The author is not
to be compared as to this quality with those who are
dramatic writers only, with such as Shakespeare or
the great Elizabethan dramatists. Characterization
on its dramatic side cannot possibly reach in fiction
that high level which by right it attains in the drama
proper. Somewhat different in its very nature, it is
mostly different in the form and degrees of its ex-
pression. The prose of Dickens is here to be compared
with that of his fellow novelists-preceding and con-
temporaneous, with that of Scott and Thackeray,
Fielding and Richardson. Thus compared, he yields
to no one of them. We deem it safe to affirm that
in the flramatic or representative description of char-
acter, he is far superior to any of his predecessors and
had no equal in his day. If he had not this art, he
had nothing. It was his strong point as a prose
novelist.
Apart from this descriptive feature on its dramatic

REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-DICKENS.
453
side, however, the prose of Dickens is a striking
example of general descriptive prose. He had that
keen and comprehensive view of the outlines of ob-
jects which is so essential to delineative success in
the writer. He knew just where to stand so as to get
the best point of view of the person or scene to be
sketched and how to fill up in the most picturesque
and attractive manner the outline presented. In his
Pictures from Italy; in Barnaby Rudge; in The
Tale of Two Cities and in his Child's History, there
are good examples of this ordinary descriptive writ-
ing on its historical side, while all through his prose
those pen pictures appear which mark the style as
imaginative. He delights to give the "romantic side
of familiar things." The style is illustrated, as he
says, "by every-day life and every-day people." It
is a happy combination of romance with reality by
which the one is saved from groundless fancy and
the other, from literary dullness. His description of
the Yorkshire Sohools, in Nicholas Nickleby; of Mark
Tapley, Mrs. Gamp, and, especially, of Pecksniff, in
Martin Chuzzlewit; of Dover, in A Tale of Two
Cities; of South European life, in his Pictures from
Italy; of the experiences of Pip, in Great Expect-
tations and the inimitable scenes in Oliver Twist,
Old Curiosity Shop, The Pickwick Papers and David
Copperfield will sufficiently indicate that wealth of
faculty which Boz possessed in this department of
prose art.
In fact, it was enough for him to see a
thing once to be able to delineate it accurately and
interestingly to others.
His-American Notes-and portions of Martin
Chuzzlewit are the only serious exceptions to this



2
454
ENGLISH PROSE.
statement and here the sufficient explanation is given
in the words of Ward, his latest biographer—“ that
he had, if not at first, at least, very speedily, taken a
dislike to American ways which proved too strong for
him to the last." Even here, however, many of the
descriptions, which are false as matters of history
are attractive as specimens of pictorial art in prose.
Dickens' prose is descriptive as Bacon's is philosophic
or Burke's impassioned, and no author in English has
written so much descriptive prose who has written.
it better or with fewer substantial literary faults.
(2.) Pathos or Sensibility.
This quality of style is by no means as frequent
in Dickens as the one discussed. As far as it goes
however, it is equally characteristic. It is that ele-
ment of sympathy or sensitiveness which makes im-
pressive any prose in which it is found. One has
but to read a short way into the life of Dickens as a
man or an author before he discovers the prominent.
existence of this quality and the grounds of it. In
his very first work of any import, he illustrates it.
In the Pickwick Papers, it appears in the character
of Sam Weller in close conjunction with the element
of humor. In the Old Curiosity Shop, as Ward sug-
gests: "The key-note is that of an idyllic pathos."
In-Hard Times-even the despicable part of Grad-
grind is relieved by genuine strokes of tenderness
while the one purpose of the book is in the line of
charity for the suffering. This quality is strikingly
manifested in those works and characters where the
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS,
455
""
author seems to aim to counteract or conceal irre-
deemable features of bad men by emphasizing those
that are indicative of some good still remaining. He
believed in the better nature of man and would bring
it into prominence, as in Oliver Twist, in the persons
of Bates and the Artful Dodger. As Lord Russell
wrote of him, he had a faculty of "finding diamonds.
hidden far away. So in his personal and generous
interest in the poor and unfortunate. His devotion
to the cause of Ragged Schools and Hospitals for sick
children evinces this. His attempt, as in Nicholas
Nickleby, Bleak House and numerous other works, to
right the wrongs of the oppressed is in point.
"Be
not hard upon the poor," is his maxim and appeal.
His interest in children and, especially, in the outcast
is proof in point, while in The Chimes, as in all his
Christmas Series, his prominent object is to express
his tender sympathy with all that can alleviate sor-
row and lighten life. He was full of that humanity
of which Thackeray so often speaks and in this
respect resembled his great contemporary. When
as in the case of the death of Little Nell and similar
scenes, this pathetic quality of spirit comes to its full-
est expression, there can be no longer a doubt that it
was a radical part of his nature and literary activity.
Such a personal characteristic would naturally become
a literary characteristic and be suffused through all
that he wrote. It lends to his style what might be
called, a mellowness and sweetness of tone, and goes
far to nullify any of those coarser elements which are
to some extent necessary in fiction. This gentleness
of touch is something that is needed in all prose and
marks the presence of a chaste and sensitive spirit






456
ENGLISH PROSE.
*
behind it. Those who have had the privilege of
hearing Mr. Dickens recite his own productions will
have seen how deep a hold of his large nature this
pathetic element took. Mr. Forster in the third vol-
ume of his biography calls frequent attention to this
quality as seen in David Copperfield and other novels.
It casts a charm over the style and has completely
disarmed much criticism that otherwise would have
been destructive. Some, as Mr. Taine and George
Henry Lewes, contend that this pathos overreaches.
itself, that "the tone is too passionate." They hold.
that the author is controlled by his feelings and sac-
rifices correctness of literary art to an undue effusion
of sentiment.
Mr. Dickens' recent biographers have sufficiently
met this accusation. Coming from such critics as
it does it is a compliment more than a rebuke and
evinces the fact that his style is so permeated by this
element that the most indifferent must admit its
presence. There are exceptional instances, indeed.
when the pathos is too strong for the idea behind it.
In the main, however, it must be conceded that he
is master of it and guides it to the best results. To
eliminate it from his style would be to rob it of one
of its cardinal features. Such a process could be ap-
plied to Scott, Bulwer and even to Thackeray and
Eliot with far less injurious results.
It is largely through this sympathetic element that
the unwonted popularity of the author's prose is ex-
plained. "Passion is catching." The reader is at
once attracted and enchained. He is brought into the
closest relations with the novelist and his characters
and for the time being they are one. It is this ele-





•
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
457
ment, it may be added, that will go far to make the
writings of Dickens permanent in literature.
(3.) Humor and Satire.
"His leading quality," says Mr. Forster, "was
Humor. It was his highest faculty." Without ac-
cepting this statement in full, it is safe to class it
with his descriptive skill as especially prominent. It
was an organic part of the man. Cheerfulness was
with him one of the Christian graces. Probably no
character in English Letters more fully illustrates
the influence on style of a happy, hopeful, hearty
temperament. "He was so full of life," said our own
Longfellow, "that it did not seem possible be could
die." This often took the form, at home and else-
where, of a good-natured expression of gladness of
heart by which all others were made glad. Often, it
took the form of innocent pleasantry and, still again,
often rose in its best expressions to the highest ex-
ample of humor and satire combined. He could not
but see the droll side of men and things. It was as
natural for him to detect the eccentricities as the
more regular features of character and one glance at
an object was sufficient for him to make it the occa-
sion of genuine English mirth
To attempt to cite examples of this quality from
Dickens' prose is almost needless in that it appears
upon nearly every page. In Sketches of Boz; in the
character of Pickwick, Sam Weller and Bo Sawyer,
in Pickwick Papers; in the history of the Squeer's
family, in Nicholas Nickleby; in the character of
Dick Shiveller, in Old Curiosity Shop; in that of

458
ENGLISH PROSE.
NOT
CYNICAL
TO A
GREA
USE
to turn.
Pecksniff, in Martin Chuzzlewit; in that of Mr.
Micawber, in David Copperfield; in that of the horse-
riders, in Hard Times; in that of Mrs Lirriper, in
Christmas Sketches, and, in fact, wherever we please
As in the case of Charles Lamb and Gold-
smith, this literary pleasantry is often closely con-
nected with sadness. It is, often, the serio-comic in
its best expression and with the two elements almost
equally present. Critics speak of the mirth and sad-
ness of his humor. In fact, the highest forms of
humor seem to contain something of this sober ele-
ment, and yet always kept in due subordination.
Gerald Massey has pronounced Lamb the first of
English Humorists. The judgment seems to us to be
incorrect. There was far too much of the mournful
and morose to make it wholesome and tonic.
Dickens was his superior here, in that while there
was enough of the serious to give richness and body
to the humor, there was not enough to make it in
any sense unhealthful. At this point he was superior
to Swift, as being free from his morbid propensity,
and was even superior to Thackeray, as having less
of that cynical element in which the author of The
Newcomes loves to indulge. That sensitiveness of
soul to which allusion has been made entered into
the humor of Dickens and softened it without
weakening it.
As intimated, this quality is often found in unison
with satire in all the varied forms of irony-the
mock-heroic, innuendo and allusion. He was a mas-
ter of what Forster calls "social satire"-the kindly
criticism of what he thought should be rebuked.
Many of the characters already adduced in the line




REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
459
of humor illustrate this related quality. Others might
be mentioned, such as that of Uriah Heep, that of
of Littimer the valet; of Mr. Vholes, Mrs Jellyby
and Mr. Guppy; of Gradgrind; of Pip, in Great Ex-
pectations and of a host of others. In a few rare
instances, this satire takes the form of harsh in-
vective, when for the time being, as in parts of
Little Dorrit, he seems to have lost the fullness of
his sympathy. He despised everything in the form
of pretense, injustice and sham, so that his satire is
often directed against systems and policies as well
as against persons, as in Oliver Twist, his references
to parochial management, and in Little Dorrit, to
British officialism So, also, in his American Notes
and in Chuzzlewit as, also, in his unjust allusions
to persons of his time, in Oliver Twist to Landor,
and to Leigh Hunt in Bleak House. As a quality of
style, however, this ironical element enters to play a
beneficent part. Its close connection with the humor-
ous saves it from bitterness and makes it more effi-
cient. In speaking hereafter, of the practical char-
acter of Dickens' style, it will be seen what an
important part satire performed in the sum total of
the result. The special point to be emphasized here
is, that the humor controlled the satire and not, the
satire the bumor. Dickens was a man in every sense
and a whole-hearted Englishman. He was full of
life and good feeling with an eye ever open to the
irregular and when he wrote he could not but be
jocose and comical. Here, again, is one of the ele-
ments that will give perpetuity to his prose. It
carries its own impulse with it. It is the salt that
saves it. That "freshness and raciness" of style of


460
ENGLISH PROSE.
which critics so often speak, finds its explanation in
this feature. It is more than what Mr. Lewes is
pleased to call by way of contempt, "mere fun." It
is a natural flow of genuine good-will, by which the
reader is made the author's friend. It is to be noted
that Dickens, in his prose fiction, is more than a
mere wit as Voltaire was in France or Swift in Eng-
land. He cannot rest content with verbal perver-
sion, with mere punning, but ascends to that higher
level of humor where the process is psychological and
has to do with character. Such an order of popular-
prose is especially in place in modern times when
there are so many tendencies in literature that are
misanthropic and morose. The despondent philoso-
phy is so current that men must have revealed to
them the lighter side of life lest they be discouraged.
We are not speaking now, of the strictly ethical
side of Dickens' prose, but it is in place to affirm, that
the controlling tendency of it was cheering and up-
lifting and this largely, through its good-natured
pleasantry. He aimed to do in his writings just what
at his home at Gad's Hill he aimed to do as a citizen
-to make the world around him somewhat cheerier
by his presence and effort. He attempted to effect
this by journalism, by active participation in measures
of public reform, and was urged by some of his ad-
visers to enter the House of Commons in order the
better to promote the public good. He found his
sphere, however, as a novelist and has presented a
body of prose about as wholesome and cheerful as
any in our literature. If it is entertaining without
being enervating; if it is popular without being
devoid of substantial merit; if it is racy and readable
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS —DICKENS. 461
without being superficial, it is largely due to the fact
that in it all, humor and generous satire freely com-
bine with all the weightier qualities to interest and
relieve. Prose Fiction, in the very nature of the case,
must largely admit of this attractive element.
(4.) Practical in Character and Aim.
Although the prose before us is properly termed-
prose fiction, there is a basis of reality in it all. Fact
and fiction combine. The latter is founded upon the
former. Nor are we speaking now, simply of that
species of the novel, known as the historical, where,
as in Sir Walter Seett, it is expected at the outset use
that actual recurrences and grants are to form the
groundwork of the plot. We speak of the novel in
all its best varieties as involving this element. The
terms, romance, fiction and novel may be misleading
here and indicative of the absence of the actual and
the trite. It is a significant fact in the history of
fiction that as we ascend from the lower to the
higher forms of the novel, the element of reality
and practicalness more largely enters. In the novel
of sentiment, and that only, the merely narrative
rules. In the novel of life and manners, however, as
the very phrase suggests, we are at once in the region
of the real and have to do with the actual world
about us.
Among all the forms of fiction, this is the
most characteristic and is the special form which
Dickens illustrates. As Forster and others wisely in-
timate, it is no less impossible than it is needless to
draw minute distinctions between the romantic and
the realistic in the best prose fiction. Even in the
for
Scott

462
ENGLISH PROSE.
ethical or philosophical novel, as seen in Eliot, we
have the practical element as seen in its other name
—the novel of purpose. If Thackeray is more realistic
than some of his fellows, this is not to say, that he is
in any true sense devoid of that imaginative power
which marks the writer who has to do with the ideal.
As attesting the practical character of Dickens'
style, attention may be called both to the general
and specifice purposes he had in view. His general
aim was, to disseminate wholesome truth among the
people and, on the negative side, to reform all abuses
and ameliorate the condition of society More speci-
fically, wherever he saw existing wrong or possible
opportunity for improvement, he addressed himself
as a writer of fiction to the case in hand.
So strong
a tendency was this in Dickens that some critics, as
Mr. Ward, admit that the author was in great danger
of forgetting his proper work as a novelist in the
interests of social reform. However this may have
been, he gives us in many of his leading works a rare
combination of the highest literary art with the best
practical aims, doing a work here so nobly done by
his successor-Kingsley.
Undoubtedly, his early experience in journalism
and more especially as a parliamentary reporter gave
him that personal insight into affairs which made his
course as a novelist clear to him. Readers of his life
are familiar with the accounts of his profound inter-
est in all matters of popular progress-on the ques-
tions of temperance, prison life, penal laws, Sabbath
observance and the rights of the laboring classes.
What he gives us as to the Debtor's Prison, in
Pickwick; as to the Yorkshire Schools, in Nicholas


REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
463

Nickleby; as to the Court of Chancery, in Bleak
House; as to Parish Oversight, in Oliver Twist; as to
Administrative Abuses, in little Dorrit; as to Oppres-
sion of the Poor, in Hard Times; as to what he calls
"Social Flunkeyism," in our Mutual Friend; and as
to Hypocrisy in Chuzzlewit, will sufficiently confirm
the presence of this principle. All is fact here save
the verbal form in which, for the best effect, the au-
thor sees fit to present it. The element of the real is
almost as prominent a factor as it is in Macaulay's
History of England, or Addison's Spectator.
It is this same feature of style that appears in his
uniform preference of actual persons aud scenes as
the material of his works. This, as we have seen, at
times, led him to extremes of personal reference. In
the main, it was wisely applied and gave to his
fiction the force of historic narrative.
In Bob Fagin, of Oliver Twist, is represented one
of the boys at the Hacking warehouse at Hungerford
stairs. In Mrs. Pipchin of Dombey and Son, was the
old lady who kept the lodging-house in Little-College
Street. In the character of the Marchioness in Old
Curiosity Shop, in his references to the Garland fami-
ly and Salem House the same principle is illustrated.
The originals of Boythorn and Skimpole; cf Chancery
abuses in Bleak House; of Copperfield, Dora, Miss
Moucher and Micawber in David Copperfield; of
Miss Blimber and the Little Wooden Midshipman, in
Dombey; of the Opium Eater in Edwin Drood: of
Mrs. Gamp, in Chuzzlewit; of Satis House, in Great
Expectations; of Mrs. Clennam, in Little Dorritt; of
Eden, in Chuzzlewit; of the Brothers Cheeryble in
Nickleby; of Mr. Fang, in Oliver Twist, and of Pick-
464
ENGLISH PROSE.
wick in Pickwick Papers, all these are illustrative
of that deep desire he had to combine the real and
the romantic or indeed to make the one the basis of
the other.
Dr. Jowett in his eulogium of Dickens in West-
minister Abbey makes special reference to this practi-
cal character of the man and the author. "He made
it his business to rebuke vice and pretence where-
ever he found it as he rebukes selfishness in Chuz-
zlewit and pride in Dombey." In such characters as
Pecksniff and Gradgrind he has not only exhibited
high power as a novelist but has personally aided the
cause of good morals for all time. There are few
scenes more suggestive than those in which he is
found, as at the door of Whitechapel Workhouse,
striving at the same time to relieve human wants
and to secure for future literary use a true account of
the sufferings of the poor.
Mr. Ruskin in commenting on one of the author's
novels (Hard Times) while taking exception to some
matters makes the strong statement-" He is entirely
right in his main drift and purpose in every book he
has written, and all of them should be studied with
close and earnest care by persons interested in social
questions." The mere cursory reader of Dickens'
prose secures no adequate idea of this business-like
quality of his style. He was a social reformer as
were Howard and Wilberforce, only in a different
way. Never has literature been so fully made the
instrument of direct national benefit. The wide re-
ception which Dickens' writings have met in Great
Britain and elsewhere is not altogether due to their
literary character as works of fiction, but to their
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
465
practical character as in the interests of the public.
He did what Bunyan did-presented life in allegory,
and in each case the results were marvelous. He did
in his own way what Milton and Addison and Burke
did in theirs. There is in all the best English Prose,
this utilitarian element. The true and the beautiful
are one. He writes the best who writes for a definite
objective end.
(5.) Ease and Naturalness.
Dickens is remarkable as a prose writer in this
respect, that it is difficult to tell which one of sev-
eral leading qualities is clearly the most prominent.
Some hold that it is his humor; others, that it is his.
descriptive power or his pathos, and others still, that
it is the marvelous facility and freshness with which
he writes. Almost the only critic of prominence who
dissents from this view is Mr. Taine who suggests
that in the complexity of his narrative he lacks sim-
plicity. This criticism, however, is to be taken with
caution and we may safely endorse the judgment of
that large body of scholars who have spoken of the
pre-eminence of this quality. It appears very largely
in that feature of his style already studied as the de-
scriptive, as, also, in the pathetic and humorous.
elements. Still, it has a distinctive presence and
power of its own and deserves separate discussion.
But little has been written respecting the diction or
sentence structure of Dickens' prose and it is just here
that much of his rhetorical and literary ease ap-
pears. It is in fact because of his comparative freedom
from common fault in these directions that so little


466
ENGLISH PROSE.
has been noted regarding them. As soon as one be-
gins the reading of Bacon or Johnson or Carlyle the
questions of phraseology and structure at once arise.
In the author before us, the very naturalness pre-
vents the starting of the question as to merit or
demerit. Mr. Ward quotes him as saying to Wilkie
Collins that "underlining was not his nature." The
meaning of the words and sentences took care of
itself. The emphasis of the various parts followed
the law of nature and could not be easily mistaken.
Readers of his novels must have noticed the felicitous
way he has of stating what he has to say as he wishes
to say it and stopping there. There are instances,
indeed, where for the sake of oddity and humor he
adopts quaint phrases and paraphrase, as in Pick-
wick, Pecksniff and in other characters. These how-
ever were aside from his regular habit and intensify
by contrast the naturalness of his ordinary style.
Dickens was in no sense a
"bookish" man.
preferred life to literature itself. It was his joy, not
so much that he wrote, as that he wrote for the peo-
ple, as he says, " for the hearth and the home." Hence,
his style was eminently popular and became more
and more so as his work went on.
He
The words affixed to his first work-Sketches by.
Boz-illustrative of Every Day Life and Every Day
People, might have been added to each of his novels.
He was a student of nature and human nature and
wrote a style so homely as to be understood by the
common classes and, yet, not so homely as to be
neglected by the educated. There is very much in
Dickens' prose of the simplicity of Fuller, Walton
and Bunyan and the older English writers. His
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS. —DICKENS. 467
want of knowledge of the classics, while it had its
disadvantages, had also the advantage of shutting
him up more closely to a line of diction and form of
structure entirely English.
In fine, Dickeus wrote a popular prose and largely
due to that ease and naturalness of which we speak.
- His early experience in journalism and his habit of
writing in short serial form as in Household Words
did much to increase the facility of his style. It is
at this point as at many others, that Dickens differs
in such marked degree from the school of George
Eliot. There is nothing of the abstruse and met-
aphysical either in idea or expression-no learned
references to Plato and Tasso and the philosophers,
but a "plain, unvarnished tale," so that "he that
runs may read." He is superior, at this point, even
to Thackeray and Charlotte Bronté and fully the
equal of Scott and Kingsley, Macdonald and Bulwer.
There are but few of those mystic phrases in which
the author of Vivian Grey and Endymion loves to in-
dulge, but an out and out straightforwardness. We
have spoken of Dickens' style as felicitous. There
is no better word by which to express it. Its effect
is a happy one. It is the transfer of nature to the
printed page. It is a facile and spontaneous ex-
pression of simple ideas whereby the reader is alike
charmed and instructed.
DEFECTS OF STYLE.
Dickens' prose has its faults and they have not
been allowed to escape. As in the case of Keats and
Wordsworth, critics have arisen who seem to be
468
ENGLISH prose.
!
more desirous of inflicting wounds upon sensitive
natures than of serving the highest interests of
letters. Students are aware of the application of
this destructive criticism in special instances, as at
the appearance of Bleak House. The "dogs of war"
were "let loose" and "Havoc"! seemed to be the cry.
It was when the author was in his prime and just
after the great success of Copperfield. It was, also,
in spite of the fact that the success of Bleak House was
unprecedented and that in construction and general
character it marked a high order of power. Still, cer-
tain of the critics "of the baser sort" spoke contemp-
tuously of the author and his work, acknowledged
some evidences of genius, but-they called him a
charlatan and caricaturist, spoke of his plan as crude
and of his characters as grotesque and unnatural and
greatly lamented that he could not rise to the dis-
cussion of the "high born and wealthy." This school
of critics has continued since the publication of Bleak
House, in 1852, and finds its latest exponents, as al-
already suggested, in Mr. Taine and Mr. Lewes. The
one may be said to represent the foreign and the
other, the English school of criticism, agreeing, how-
ever, in serious objections to the wide-famed novelist,
as a man whose fancy ran wildly away with him.
Suffice it to say, at this point, that Mr. Taine's
relation to French Fiction, as illustrated in Balzac,
Sand and others, and Mr. Lewes' relation to that
school of English Fiction of which his wife was the
head, made it impossible for either of them fairly to
sit in judgment upon Dickens' work. In each case
there were ends to serve while quite apart from this,
the adverse criticism so overreaches itself as to have
*
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-DICKENS.
469
but little weight with candid minds. Sensitive as
he was to the opinions of others he would willingly
have yielded to the sentiment expressed by Words-
worth-"I am not at all desirous that any one
should write a critique on my poems. If they be
from above, they will do their own work in course of
time; if not, they will perish as they ought." As he
says in his will, "I rest my claim to the remembrance
of my country upon my published works.".
This conceded, there is safe ground on which some
features of the style of Dickens may be judged and
condemned. He had defects and blemishes and,
yet, not enough to depose him from that high rank
he has so long occupied as an able and a facile writer
of English.
Some of these defects of style we shall briefly
consider.
(1.) Want of Philosophical Power.
Of the four great classes of novels-The Descriptive
Historical, Sentimental and Psychological, Dickens
would not have succeeded in the last as he did in the
first. The structure of his style follows the structure
of his mind. Even as to his earliest relations to lit-
erature we are told "that the artists of the stage,
whom he most admired, were not those of the high-
est mental type." It has been strenuously held by
some as confirmed by his works, that the portraiture
of the highest type of man was outside of his sphere
and power. The genius for characterization as dis-
tinct from that for mere caricature, is denied him.
It is just here that Taine and Lewes deal their
7

470
ENGLISH PROSE.
sharpest blows against him, as being more of an en-
thusiast than a thinker. They contend that his
style is not marked by that "high thinking" of which
Wordsworth speaks, but rather by the presence of
those elements which make it readable and popular
only. His imagination, they say, was poetic and in
no sense, philosophic; that he gives us the description
rather than the thorough analysis of character, and
that, thus the highest effect of his fiction is a ge-
nial form of literary pleasure rather than an intel-
lectual discipline and profit. There is an element of
truth in this and, beyond question, it marks the point
at which the author is the weakest. Dickens was in
no definite sense a scholar. Apart from the sphere
of nature and human life, he was not in the mental
view of it, a student. Some of his views on the great
political questions of his day and, more especially, his
hasty conclusions as to American life and character,
manifest an order of mind which had but little to do
with logical processes.
Mr. Ruskin, in commenting
on-Hard Times-well remarks-" I wish, when he
takes up a subject of high national importance, that
he would use severer and more accurate analysis."
Critics speak correctly of his want of logical con-
structive power as seen in most of his earlier novels,
as in Pickwick, and in the later, as in Nickleby and
Copperfield. The charge against Bleak House is
"absolute want of construction," and though ably
met by Forster is still in place.
In fact, Dickens' mind and style, in this respect,
are discursive rather than didactic. He observes
facts better than he reasons on the facts furnished
him by observation. The serial method which he

REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
471
adopted so largely in his publications had some
advantages in the way of viewing a continuous story
or plot in separate sections, but it had the great dis-
advantage of magnifying the part above the whole
and of cutting in twain at various points the logical
sequence of the thought. Serial as the method was,
it was discontinuous. Allusion has been made to
the wide difference between George Eliot's style and
that of Dickens. The difference lies mainly at this
point and with reference to it exclusively is decidedly
in favor of the former. Dickens' style has its great
merits and mission, but it is not in the sphere of the
purely intellectual. Prose Fiction is not the highest
form of prose, partly because of the nature of it as semi-
poetical and partly because of its ultimate purpose.
It is still an open question whether Dickens did
not owe much of his success to the fact that he
worked in a literary sphere where the highest forms
of intellectual power were not demanded in order to
the best results. Even in this sphere, however, he
confined himself to descriptive work, save in Barnaby
Rudge and A Tale of Two Cities. He had but little
aptitude for the historical novel as compared with
Scott and Kingsley, and none whatever for the philo-
sophical, as compared with Eliot. Here, therefore,
is limitation of area and of power. The student of
style must look to Dickens for that only which he
has to offer him. He must not expect to find any
great examples of psychological dissection. His
prose is entertaining rather than educating and
stimulating. It leaves the reader happier, and on
the whole, better, but none the stronger in men-
tal fiber and possibility.


472
ENGLISH PROSE.
In this respect Dickens' style fails just where Prose
Fiction as an order of prose fails--in mental enlarg-
ment and suggestion. Good as it is in its proper
place, it may be safely said that as long as it continues
to form the larger part of the people's intellectual
food, so long will the popular mind fail to reach the
highest levels of intelligence and mental growth
(2.) Want of Artistic Finish.
The question here, is not that started by some crit-
ics-which is the more important, essential excellence
of subject-matter or external execution? On this there
need be no doubt. The principle is that these should
exist together in all the highest forms of prose. In
fact, the more excellent the idea, the more excellent
the outer form should be. When thought and style
exist in the inverse ratio in any writer it proves on
his part total ignorance as to the vital relation of the
two and nullifies the value of each. There is, un-
doubtedly, in fiction as a form of prose, a strong
temptation to the coarse and clownish. It is far
easier for the novelist to violate the "proprieties
and feel guiltless than it is for the biographer, his-
torian or literary critic so to do. It is the prime
object of fiction to present life just as it is and as the
writer is engaged in his personations, he unconsci-
ously passes from legitimate freedom of manner to
looseness and grossness. The aesthetic element in its
best form is too often absent as we read Dickens.
He often yields, for supposed effect, to undue license
here
Some of the forms of this error may be noted.
19.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
473

It is seen, often, in the way of exaggeration as in
Hard Times, Little Dorritt, and other examples; in
that verboseness so common to the best specimens of
fiction, and most especially in what may be called the
Cartifice or mannerism of his style. Repeated atten-
tion has been called to this artistic defect both by
friends and foes. This error is noticeable in Oliver
Twist; in Barnaby Rudge; in Bleak House with its
"overstrained tone"; in A Tale of Two Cities; in Our
Mutual Friend; in Chuzzlewit and Nickleby. Mr.
Ward in forecasting the probable future of Dickens.
as a prose writer alludes to the error now before us
as one of his "characteristic faults." He justifies it,
however, on the ground that "mannerism is incident
to every original manner"; to Carlyle, Thackeray
and Macaulay. This is true and yet its presence mars
the style. Nor must mannerism be confounded with
originality, as Mr. Ward seems to confound it. In-
ventive genius is one thing, artifice is quite another,
and our author is found far too frequently at fault in
the latter. The error of "forced construction" is
somewhat incident to all fiction. At this point
Dickens would have written better had he written
less. He had scarcely the time to complete his
work as to artistic form and detail. The Mystery of
Edwin Drood is not his only unfinished work.

Probable Permanence of his Prose.
As to the future of Dickens' fame as a novelist and
writer of English Prose, various opinions have been
broached. Naturally, those of the school of Lewes
and Taine predict a brief and uncertain reputation in
474
ENGLISH PROSE.
history. Others, less extreme, see no special reason
for an ever-widening popularity and would not be
surprised to mark a gradual decadence of influence.
Others still, pass to the other extreme of forecasting
an earthly immortality for the author equal to that
for which they contend in the case of Shakespeare.
In the analysis of the author's style, already given,
enough has been said to mark both the extent and
the limitations of his future renown, and to indicate,
as we judge, a good degree of literary influence in
the years to come. Local as much of his fiction is in
the occasion of its origin, the issues at stake were,
after all, living issues for the most part and as such
have to do with the continuous history of the race.
There are Pecksniffs, Fagins and Gradgrinds in every
age and as they arise they need rebuke. Hypocrisy,
pride and selfishness are the same now as then, while
the nobler characters and virtues that he portrayed
will ever elicit affection and respect. Quite apart
from all this, as a mere question of style and literary
art, the qualities mentioned are enough to conserve.
any authorship in which they inhere. No writer can
evince such descriptive skill, pathos, humor, practical
purpose and verbal ease and not continue to hold a
prominent place in current literature. The want of
close logical acuteness and of external finish cannot
so seriously impair such a style as to prevent its his-
torical continuance. This is especially so when the
subject matter itself is in the sphere of fiction as
the most popular form of prose. Dr. Jowett remarks
substantially that Dickens, for the last thirty-five
years of his life (1835–70) occupied a larger space in
the minds of Englishmen than any other writer. Mr.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS—DICKENS. 475
Forster opens his eulogistic biography with the refer-
ence to Dickens as "the most popular novelist of the
century." Each of these statements was true when
made.
Modern critics, favorably disposed, need not, how-
ever, insist upon such high eulogium at present in-
order to prove the probable continuance of the au-
thor's fame, but only show that he still holds a pro-
minent and substantial place in English Prose and
bids fair to retain it for generations. "He would be
a bold man," writes Ward, as to Pecksniff, "who
should declare that its popularity has very materially
diminished at the present day." This remark may
apply to all his best productions and to his general
style as a novelist as he adds-"There is no reason
whatever to believe that since his death the delight
taken in his works through England and North
America, as well as elsewhere, has diminished.
Morley and Tyler, in their recent Manual of English
Literature, go so far as to say that "he is still the
most widely read novelist that England has pro-
duced." This assertion is made in view of Beacons-
field, Bronté, Bulwer and Thackeray, and he who
denies it must prove its falsity.
As to the influence of his style, reference is made
by critics to what even Carlyle and Eliot obtained
from him by way of impulse and suggestion; to what
Continental and American romancers, such as Auer-
bach and Harte have owed to him, and to the gener-
al stimulus which all must have gotten from him who
attempt in any worthy way to pen the novel of Life
and Manners.
In estimating more accurately the probable future
476
ENGLISH PROSE.
of the author, the most serious argument against the
conservation of his full power, lies in the direction of
the ethical. "It has been objected," says Mr. Forster,
"that humanity receives from him no addition to its
best types; that the burlesque humorist is always
stronger in him than the reflective moralist; that the
light thrown by his genius into out-of-the-way cor-
ners of life never steadily shines in its higher beaten
ways; and that beside his pictures of what man is or
does, there is no attempt to show, by delineation of
an exalted purpose or a great career, what man is
able to be or do." The criticism is acknowledged by
his biographer as abstractly just, and he attempts to
answer it fully by showing that indirectly, if not di-
rectly, the author served the highest moral ends, that
as a genius he must be allowed to take his own way
and not be held responsible for not doing good just as
Milton and Addison did it. There is truth in this
adverse criticism and some truth in the refutation.
The answer, however, is not satisfactory. Dickens
was a moralist of a high order. He was a genuine
philanthropist. He saw "good in everything" and
aimed to show the "soul of goodness in things evil."
He did a vast and generous work, as we have seen,
on the side of social and public morals and for the
common weal of his fellows. The moral purity of
his style is such that the most delicate taste need not
be offended. All is correct and in good order.
Still, there is something wanting to the fullest force
of the style on its ethical side. The allusion here is
not to his intense hatred of cant, Puritanical strait-
ness, ecclesiasticism and all forms of Pharisaism, nor
to his advocacy of a somewhat liberal Sabbath for the


REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—DICKENS.
477
•
people and an "undogmatic theology." As far as
Romanism was concerned, he was a Protestant, and
but little, if anything more can be said. Connected
by birth and training with the English Church, he is
found in middle life an advocate of Unitarianism,
which for the time, meant for him simply freedom
· from restriction of creed or form. He based his be-
liefs on the New Testament and ignored the Old.
He let no occasion pass for turning his satire on
special goodness in the form of piety, and could
scarcely speak of the clergy without injustice and pre-
judice. There is something suspicious in all this and
the keen-eyed reader of Dickens' prose will detect be-
tween the lines that something is absent that should be
present. The usual question at this point is-whether
Dickens, as a writer, will stand the full Baconian test,
"for the glory of God and the relief of man's estate,'
or that exemplified in John Milton-"as ever in
my Great Task-Master's eye." We believe not. His
prose is an example of classic English and is ethically
It is instinct with noble sentiments and per-
pure.
vaded by a worthy purpose on the thehalf of men.
This is its merit but this is its limit. At this point
he is immeasurably superior to Swift and Smollett,
whom he too fondly loved, but far inferior to such En-
glish writers as Bacon, Milton, Addison and Kingsley.
In the broad daylight of our life, when all is bright
and all is well, his prose is a source of additional
happiness and hope, but he has little for us when the
night cometh and the "lights are low" and we need
the safest guidance through the darkness into day..
19


Dickens' prose will be permanently popular, but
mainly among those who read it purely as a product
478
ENGLISH prose.
of literary art and for the ends of literary profit and
pleasure. To those who look for higher things, other
minds must minister.
He was a novelist out and out. His style is unique
and masterly in that sphere of authorship, and will
ever be studied with profit by him who desires to
write an order of English, which, though it may not
be marked by logical acuteness, philosophic breadth,
deep religious life or exquisite finish, is withal, clear,
simple, facile and practical.
References and Authorities.
Forster's Life of Dickens.
Ward's-Dickens (Eng.
Men of Let.). Whipple's Lit. and Life. Taine's Eng.
Lit. Field's-Yesterday with Authors.
•
i
CHAPTER XII.
THE PROSE STYLE OF THOMAS CARLYLE.
Brief Biographical Sketch.
Entered
Born Dec. 4th, 1795, in Ecclefechan, Scotland.
Educated at Parish School and at Annan.
Edinburgh University, 1810. Left in 1814. Taught
at Annan and Kircaldy. From 1823, devoted to au-
thorship. Lived at Craigenputtoch, 1828-34. Thence
to Chelsea, London. Lord Rector of Edinburgh, 1865.
Died in 1881.
His Prose Writings.
These may be mentioned substantially, as follows:
French Revolution (1837).
Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches (1845).
Life of Schiller (1823–4), Examination of his Writings.
Life of John Sterling (1851).
History of Frederic II (1858–65).
Sartor Resartus (1833–65).
Lectures on Heroes, Hero Worship (1840).
Past and Present (1843).
Latter Day Pamphlets (1850).
Chartism (1839).
Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838).
480
ENGLISHI PROSF.
Translations from the German (1825-7).
Wilhelm Meister (translation) (1823–4).
Specimens of German Romance (1827).
Early Kings of Norway.
Unpublished: Lectures on History of Literature (1837).
Restoration of Modern Europe (1839).
Other productions such as, his Translation of Le-
gendre's Geometry, need not here be mentioned.
CHARACTERISTIC MERITS OF HIS STYLE.
(1.) Original.
If the prose of Carlyle has but one feature, it is
this. Critics who doubt and discuss as to all other
qualities are at one here. The reader has but to turn
at random to any page in the best specimens of the
author to see the illustration of this. It is safe to
affirm that this characteristic may be said to belong
to Carlyle as a writer with as little question as
any literary quality belongs to any separate writer.
Some prefer to call it by different names, but it is, in
reality, one and the same element. It may be termed
the eccentric or quaint or unconventional or inven-
tive. In any case, it is original. It is the real
Carlylese. We read in his life, that as a man he
liked that "independence through which he could
be enabled to remain true to himself"; that he
sought retiracy in order that he might think for
himself and not merely as the multitude.
He did not so much "strive to invent a new sort
of style," as Mr. Hutton has it, but wrote naturally
in a manner and order of his own, quite irrespective
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS-CARLYLE. 481
of the canons of the schools or the habits of his
contemporaries. As Bacon introduced a new method
of philosophy into England, so Carlyle, in his prose,
widely departed from all existing models and became
his own example and guide. He had opened, in a
sense, a new literary world and asked no one to dic-
tate to him as to how it should be worked. There is
a way of putting things that marks inventive ability,
and Carlyle was an adept in the art. On almost
every page the evidences of this originality appear,
in the form of passages that are so striking as to ar-
rest and hold attention. The ideas themselves we
may have heard a score of times, but in the novelty
of their form they give, at the time, the impression
of absolute freshness of utterance, as in the following:
"I should not have known what to make of this
world at all," said Carlyle to Froude, "if it had not
been for the French Revolution." In his wonderful
correspondence with Mr. Emerson, as ably edited in
this country by Prof. Norton, of Harvard University,
we find a passage of this order which is but the rep
resentative of numbers in the same series of letters.-
"There is," he says, "a word, which if spoken to
men, to the actual generation of men, would thrill
their inmost souls, but how to find that word, how to
speak it when found!" This paragraph is Carlylese
throughout and indicates the presence of that ruling
passion-to find and utter the one right truth of all
others.
In his diary kept at Craigenputtoch, he writes—
"To me there is nothing poetical in Scotland but its religion."
"The only inspiration I know of, is that of genius. It was, is,
and will always be of a divine character."
¡
482
ENGLISH PROSE.
"The Devil has his elect."
"One great desideratum in every society is, a man to hold his
peace."
"God is above us, else the future of the world were well nigh des-
perate. Go where we may, the deep heaven will be round us.
""
Similar sayings from other writings may be briefly
mentioned.
In Sartor Resartus, he says-
"Cast forth thy act, thy word, into the ever-living, ever-working
universe: it is a seed grain that cannot die."
In the Latter Day Pamphlets, he writes—
"Contrive to have a true opinion, you will get it told in some way,
better or worse: and it will be a blessing to all creatures. Have a
false opinion and tell it with the tongue of angels, what can that
profit? The better you tell it, the worse it will be."
Again-
"Contrive to talk well, you will get to Heaven, the modern
heaven of the English. Silence means annihilation for the English-
man of the nineteenth century. Vox, is the God of this universe."
In Past and Present, we read-
"Think it not thy business, this of knowing thyself; thou art an
unknowable individual; know what thou canst work at and work
at it like a Hercules."
And again,—
"It is like jesting Pilate, asking-What is Truth? Jesting Pilate
had not the smallest chance to ascertain what was Truth. He
could not have known it, had a god shown it to him."
In these and similar passages capable of large
multiplication, there is the evidence of a "new
organ" of style-a special phase of statement, always
striking and, sometimes, startling. It is personality
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
483
31
and peculiarity combined. There is an individuality
here amounting to genius. The author seemed to
have a kind of gift in this direction whereby all that
he uttered was ratified at once as his and needed no
further witness.
Readers must have noticed, at this point, how ab-
solutely free the author is from reference or quotation
in any servile sense. His quotations are compara-
tively rare, but when he does use them from his
favorite authors, such as, Goethe and Richter and
the English poets, he uses them independently and
as subordinate to his own opinion. Every where he
is himself and only so. His prose is as clearly trace-
able to its author as is that of Pickwick to Dickens,
or that of the Rambler, to Dr. Johnson. There is
high rhetorical and literary merit in this and it is
full of suggestion to the ambitious student. It means
that, first of all, is ingenuousness of style-the candid
expression of the man on the page, unmoved by the
thousand influences that tend to dictate to him just
how he shall deliver himself. "To thine own self be
true," is the word of guidance. "Be thyself. Ex-
press thyself. Speak thy words in thine own way
and there will always be listeners."
Such originality of style is too rare ever to pass
unnoticed.
(2.) Cogent.
This second characteristic of the prose before us is
equally manifest and is, in fact, vitally connected with
the first. Other things being equal, to be original in
method is to be potent. If "knowledge is power,"
creative genius is a greater power.
484
ENGLISH prose.
In Carlyle," says Minto, "the central and com-
manding emotion is power." It is so in his style.
One has to read but a short way in order to see and
feel the presence of personal force. Whatever the
writing is, or is not, it is strong and energetic, taking
hold of the mind and feelings with unusual grasp. It
is suggestive to note how this quality manifests itself
in Carlyle's prose, appearing in special measure in
special writings, such as-The French Revolution,
The Life of Cromwell, and his political pamphlets.
At times, it takes the form of sharp and pregnant
antithesis, equaling the skill of Bacon himself in the
line of apothegm and epigram. In his contrast, be-
tween Schiller and Alfieri, there is a fine example
of vigorous contrast, reminding us of Junius and
Dryden.
In his Death of Goethe-he writes,
"Let the reader have seen before he attempts to oversee.
"Under the intellectual union of man and man, which works by
precept, lies a holier unison of affection, working by example. For
love is ever the beginning of knowledge as fire is of light.”
"This man (Goethe) became morally great by being in his own
age what in some other ages many might have been-a genuine
His grand excellency was this, that he was genuine.”
man.
So elsewhere-
"The fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself."
"Do the duty which liest nearest thee. Thy second duty will
already have become clearer. Find out your task; stand to it; the
night cometh when no man can work."
At times, this vigor of style takes the form of an
intense passionateness of expression wherein the very
soul of the author seems to be embodied. He illus-
represenTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
485
trates in such passages that gospel of activity which
he was so constantly preaching-doing with one's
might what one had to do. He holds that "the end
of man is action and not thought"; that every one
has a mission and must fulfill it or be false to con-
science. His style is full of this active principle by
which in its effect it becomes impulsive and stimula-
tive. There is to the reader a quickening agency in
it so that he is all astir and alive to effort.
Much of the cogency of Carlyle's prose comes from
a kind of "rugged sublimity" that is seen in it. His
earnestness takes an impassioned and fiery form and
often rises to the region of the heroic, illustrative of
many of those principles presented in his lectures on
Hero Worship. Not infrequently he speaks with the
tone and commanding force of a prophet; in seri-
ous and intrepid manner and demands audience and
assent.
Carlyle's admiration of Luther did not stop at
mere admiration. There was in his nature and
style that Lutheran cogency by which telling effects
are produced. The cast of the prose is, at times,
Hebraic in its moral sobriety and must be heeded.
There is nothing of the imbecile and vacillating in
Carlyle. What he was, he was intensely and what
he wrote, he wrote from the soul out. He believed
he had a message to men and he uttered it as if he
believed it.
This cogency and warmth of utterance led Carlyle,
at times, into extravagance of statement. When he
says, "that the essence of all science lies in the Philo-
sophy of Clothes"; "that the art of speech is the
saddest of curses," he speaks at random. His state-
1
486
ENGLISH PROSE.
ments as to the wild disorder of these "latter days";
as to the French Revolution and the times of Crom-
well; his forebodings as to the immediate future of
society and law and his frequent use of the most ex-
treme form of hyperbole and exclamation are in the
line of this extravagance. In these and similar de-
clarations the author must be allowed much margin
and be followed with a wise reserve.
Such cases,
after all, are exceptional, and mark the overflow of
that deep energy of feeling of which he was the sub-
ject and sometimes the servant. He had in his soul
much of that passionateness of feeling which Burke
possessed and each alike gave violent vent thereto
in special emergencies. Carlyle's prose is energized
by this passion and the reader is soon convinced that
he is perusing an author whose language is the
expression of his innermost self and is, therefore,
cogent. Goethe, as quoted by Mr. Froude, seems to
refer alike to his force and originality as he says of
Carlyle, "that he was fortunate in having within
himself an originating principle of conviction out of
which he could develop the force that lay in him.”
(3.) Versatile and Suggestive.
A cursory survey of the writings of the author, as
we have detailed them, will reveal something of this
versatility of talent in the department of English
Prose Literature. We find substantially all the great
forms of prose authorship represented-History,
Biography, Description, Miscellany, Criticism, Di-
dactic or Speculative Prose, Translations and Letters.
In these various forms all the important pending
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
487
questions of the time are discussed as they arise in
politics, society, philosophy and practical life. It is
not to be forgotten that in the prose of Carlyle we
are dealing with the productions of an accomplished
scholar. From the time of his entrance into the
University of Edinburgh, in his fifteenth year, he
was a student of scholarly habits and attainments,
specially versed in classical and scientific knowledge.
His knowledge of the literature of Germany was
greater than that possessed by any Englishman of
his time and accounts for that most important work
which he did in awakening on British soil special
interest in Teutonic Letters.
As to the reading of all that was best in home and
foreign literature he was fully the equal of Macaulay.
Some of his essays, especially those on Goethe, Richter
and German Literature, will reveal to the student
something of the extent and variety of his knowledge.
Carlyle's prose reveals the fact that he was out and
out a lover of letters. He was an author in heart,
and an author by profession. He was proud to be
called "a writer of books." He believed with Fichte,
"that the true literary man is the world's priest, con-
tinually upholding the Godlike to man," or as he says
in one of his essays, "Could ambition always choose
its own path, all truly ambitious men would be men
of letters." It was thus that he loved to write and to
keep himself in close relation by study and reading
with all other writers of ancient and modern note.
It is true, as we are told, that Carlyle has his favor-
ite topics which he is never weary of discussing, and
where constant discussion seems somewhat to detract
from this quality of versatility. Such themes as,
488
ENGLISH PROSE.
Labor, Democracy, Heroes and Heroism, The Ever-
lasting No and Yes, German Literature and the
Discords of Modern Times, he was fond of presenting
whenever opportunity offered. The forms of their
presentation, however, were endlessly diversified
while, as we have seen, outside of these special topics,
his prose reveals what he would call a "wide-acred"
range on all subjects of human interest. Carlyle
had his intellectual hobbies. All great writers have
had them. The criticism is extreme, however, which
insists that he was thereby contracted in his area
and literary variety. A rapid perusal of the different
subjects which make up the seven volumes of his
Miscellaneous Essays would be sufficient to reveal the
injustice of such criticism. Nor is there mere variety
of theme in the prose of Carlyle, but mental sugges-
tiveness and stimulus-a true intellectual impulse
which, after all, is the best benefit that one gets from
the study of an author. It is not necessary to go as
far as Minto when he says, "Probably more intellec-
tual force has been spent upon the production of Car-
lyle's books than upon those of any two other writers
in general literature." It is sufficient to affirm here
that the prose of Carlyle is, in the main, an intellec-
tual order of prose and thus fruitful in suggestion.
As it required mind to produce it, it requires mind
appreciatively to peruse it. It is "mixed with
brains," as John Brown would phrase it. Though
Carlyle was not a metaphysician in the technical
sense and could not sit with patience under the
teachings of Thomas Brown at Edinburgh, he was a
thinker and a philosopher. He held that a man
should be measured by his intellectual power. He
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
489
believed as Bacon did in "mental stuff" and aimed
to compact in his writings as much substance as pos-
sible. No writer of English has, at this point, better
illustrated the vital relation of thought to style.
Carlyle's style is, simply his thought in form. The
style itself is intellectual. Hence, the explanation of
the fact that his prose must be read and read again, if
the full benefit is to be secured. It is a prose that must
be pondered and studied. Nor is this because it is
enigmatical and complex. Something of this element
enters, as we shall see, but in those portions of his
writings that are substantially clear, the meaning
must often be reached by patient re-perusal. Tho
sentences are pregnant with ideas. In many of them
the thoughts are so closely packed that the most in-
tense and undivided attention is needed to unfold them.
Carlyle was a thinker. He was more of a thinker
than he was a logician. He was always cogitating
and with his eyes wide open to men and things about
him, so that when he took his pen in hand it was not
to utter mere truisms or platitudes but germinal ideas
and suggestions. No one can read him and not be
intellectually quickened. His prose is not given us
as a pastime but as a mental stimulant. Whatever
its faults may be, it has the great merit of being a
wide departure from the sentimental, ornate or merely
entertaining. It is thoughtful—full of thought.
(4.) Delineative and Graphic.
This is not as striking a feature in any of its phases
in Carlyle as the others already mentioned. It is too
prominent, however, to be overlooked in any just
490
ENGLISH PROSE.
estimate of his style, especially manifest in the writ-
ings of his later years.
This descriptive talent is expressed in various
forms. They may be said to be Historical Sketching,
Power of Characterization and Figurative Language.
As to the first of these, abundant evidence is given
in his biographical and strictly historical works, most
especially, in The French Revolution and in Frederic
the Great. There are passages here, as indeed in
Cromwell and the Essays, that are worthy of the best
paragraphs of Burke, De Quincey or Victor Hugo,
while some critics have not hesitated to give him
here the first place in English Prose. His descrip-
tion of the disorders that followed the taking of the
Bastile; of the attack upon the palace at Versailles;
of Louis XV. and his courtiers; of Frederic and his
times; of the execution of Raleigh; of events under
Cromwell; of the Pragmatic Sanction and of natural
scenery are among the best specimens of word-paint-
ing and seem for the time to place Carlyle among
the prose-poets of our literature.
In fact, Carlyle's historical style was more descrip-
tive than narrative. He did not write history in
that didactic manner in which Hume wrote it or as
Mr. Fronde has written it, but in a manner so graphic
and pictorial that it may be said to belong to delin-
eative writing. As the French would say, he depicts.
Scenes take precedence of facts, and imagery of
reality.
The History of the French Revolution, in its three
great parts-The Bastile, The Constitution and The
Guillotine-is the best example of this narrative-
descriptive style.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-CARLYLE.
491
In the sphere of dramatic representation or the
portraiture of character, he was even more success-
ful, being mentioned by Minto and others in the
same breath with Shakespeare himself. There is
delineation here on the dramatic side for which the
author has fitting opportunity in his biographical
and miscellaneous papers. His Life of Sterling is a
model in this respect, as, also his presentation of the
great German Emperor and the great English Com-
moner. His depiction of the Revolution of 1848; of
the growth and working of the democratic element
in government; of the right of franchise; of the
presumption of aristocracy; of the inmates of the
"Model Prisons"; of The Soldiers of Literature in
The Republic of Letters and of the Heroic in History
is of this dramatic order of description. There is a
decided histrionic talent manifest here which seems
alike to show the breadth of the author's power and
to infuse into his prose the element of poetic interest.
As to figurative language, a large amount of this
might naturally be expected in such a writer as
Carlyle. On the basis of that originality, passionate
energy and versatility referred to, this symbolic
feature would rest. Such a mind could not abide as
a writer, within the narrow limits of literal usage,
but must accept the privilege of poetic license ac-
corded it in the use of the pictorial. He was a man
in whom imagination had its full place and did its
full work. The speculative tendencies of his mind
led him toward the romantic and figurative. It was
Carlyle himself who held the view so often quoted,
that metaphors make up the largest part of language
and that he acted unwisely who ignored this funda-
492
ENGLISH prose.
mental fact. He called them "its nucleus and tis-
sues." In historical description and in characteriza-
tion he freely used them, while in all his writings
they enter as a radical element. Even where they
are somewhat overwrought and rugged, they answer
his purpose of giving increasing force and vividness
to the meaning behind them. He used them more
for effect than for ornament.
In his speculative writings-Sartor Resartus, Lat-
ter Day Pamphlets and Past and Present, his figures
are often of this character.
"
Your ship
Unanimity of voting-that will do nothing for us.
cannot double Cape Horn by its excellent plans of voting. The ship
to get around Cape Horn, will find a set of conditions already voted
for and fixed by the ancient Elemental Powers, who are careless
how you vote."
Again.-
Not
"A certain people, once upon a time, clamorously voted
He; Barabbas, not He!' Well! they got Barabbas: and they got
of course, such guidance as Barabbas could give them: and, of
course, they stumbled ever downwards and devilwards in their
stiff-necked way."
His description of the possible future of the Amer-
ican Republic is of this order as he says—
"Cease to brag to me of America-its model institutions and con-
stitutions. America's battle is yet to fight. New spiritual Pythons,
plenty of them, loom huge and hideous out of the twilight future.
Brag not yet of our American cousins. What have they done?
Doubled their population every few years!"
This is certainly figurative and on the rough-and-
ready side.
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-CARLYLE. 493
It is the same original Carlyle, talking as it suits
him and aiming to hit. With all its ruggedness, it
has power. So inclined is he to this departure from
literal use that the figurative often takes the place
of the real. Personifications become persons. Dry-
asdust and Herr Teufelsdruckh live and have being.
He dealt largely in Hyperbole, Interrogation, Antith-
esis and Apostrophe, using figures in the line of
boldness rather than beauty. In his essays, especially,
his metaphors are more subdued and chaste. In such
articles as those on Burns aud Richter, his prose reads.
more like that of De Quincey or Macaulay, while
even in the historical writings, the deviations from
propriety are not marked. His contrast by figure in
his Essay on Voltaire between the haughty Tamer-
laine and the humble Johannes Faust; the contrast
between the joy and the closing sadness of the life
of Marie Antoinette; the metaphysical description
of the most striking scenes and personages of the
French Revolution, are all in the line of high graphic
skill. In the use of figure for purposes of embellish-
ment, he had many superiors. In their use for bold
and blunt delineation, he had none.
(5.) Caustic and Acute.
Carlyle has been called "The Censor of his Age."
He was so by self-appointment and was devoted to
his work. He was fonder of nothing than of censor.
ship as it applied to men, manners, institutions and
policies. If the basis of this is said to be a profound
Egoism, be it so. Carlyle did believe thoroughly in
himself. This was his weakness and his strength,
494
ENGLISH PROSE.
and it led him to the office of judgeship. He was
nothing if not critical," and as wit, when made an
end in itself degenerates into buffoonery, criticism
when pursued for the love of it and on the ground of
personal infallibility, degenerates into cynicism and
caustic irony. Carlyle's very humor was satirical.
It was a "prickly sarcasm." It flayed and scorched
the victim. It had but little of that humanity in it
which marks the pleasantry of Lamb and Dickens.
At this point, in his style, the author is the true suc-
cessor of Dean Swift and the English representative
of Voltaire. He had a thought to express and a fault
to rebuke, and if the process was painful to the sub-
ject of the rebuke, so much the worse for the subject.
The reference, here, is to the main drift of Car-
lyle's prose as ironical and humorous. He was not
altogether devoid of tenderness as his Essay on
Burns and his writings on human life,-evince.
Even his humor is, at times, playful and light-
hearted as in his thoughts on The Tramp Orator
-The World in Clothes and Tailors.
In the main, however, he indulges in the cynical
and derisive. He sees the ludicrous side of things
as Swift saw them in Gulliver's Travels, or Butler,
in Hudibras, or Pope, in The Dunciad, and deals
with it in the same unmerciful way and with even
stronger grasp. He loves invective and assumes at
once the polemic attitude. While h says of Amer-
ica "that it would ill beseny Englishman to
speak unkindly" of it, he adds-"They have begot-
ten eighteen millions of the greatest bores ever seen
in this world."
•
The main explanation of this bitter element in
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
495
Carlyle's prose, is his innate and ever deepening
hatred of what he called "Shams, Unveracities and
Phantasms." Whenever he thought of them or saw
them, his soul was stirred as was Burke's in the
view of Hastings' crimes in India. He had what he
would call a righteous indignation against pretense
and deemed it God's work to rebuke it.
So prevalent was this in the world and so deep-
rooted, that he thought it folly to attack it mildly.
Innuendo and allusion must take the form of sarcasm,
and wit must become scorn and vituperation.
There is good and evil in this. It makes the au-
thor's prose crisp, pungent and positive, while it also
serves to keep it down to the lower level of personal
reference and reproach. While it adds to that orig-
inality and cogency that mark his prose, it also adds
to that quality of ruggedness and crudeness which
we have yet to note.
Whatever the subject he had in hand, whether
history, criticism or essay, he was ever on the watch
for the presence of that demon of imposture which
he believed to be the worst spirit on the earth and
which he was determined to oppose. Carlyle's prose,
in this respect, takes its place among the satires. It
reads as Junius and Aristophanes read. It is a pro-
test throughout against imagined wrong and with
all its faults is sincere and effective.
CHARACTERISTIC DEFECTS.
(1.) Unfinished.
We use the word here in its figurative sense, as
indicating want of grace and beauty. In no stand-
496
ENGLISH PROSE.
ard English prose is the absence of this more marked.
There is no writer who so openly discarded all at-
tempt at form. The main thing with him, and in
fact, the only thing was the idea. That he must
express at all hazards. If the form of it pleased
others, well; if not, equally well. It always pleased
him for he had no choice.
He would pass from the sublime to the grotesque
with no thought of inconsistency. His rugged En-
glish was not rugged to him for it conveyed his
meaning. He would not concede that there was any
such thing as grace or finish of style as elements of
literary art. If told that his descriptions were often
coarse and his figures crude and harsh, he would
answer-Do they not express the idea? If so, they
are in order and in taste. He was, in fine, a law unto
himself here as everywhere-the same original and
self-sufficing Carlyle. There are indications, at times,
that Carlyle did not ignore literary art. In some of
his best works, the utmost pains seem to have been
taken. He urges authors to write slowly; to com-
press much meaning in a small compass; to write
prose rather than poetry; and he endorsed, by his
own example, the value of care as to details. Still,
art for art's sake, he despised, and naturally went to
the extreme of gracelessness. His very originality
and cogency were without finish. His words, sen-
tences, figures and general style are devoid of
neatness.
The reader must look elsewhere for "The Ameni-
ties of Literature." Milton, Johnson, Hooker, Bacon
and Burke were deficient here, but not as Carlyle is.
His prose is as unartistic and unesthetic as it well
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-CARLYLE.
497
can be and be as good as it is. In this, Carlyle is at
fault and must himself be judged and condemned.
No standard writer can afford to decry literary taste
and grace. It has a place in all true authorship and
will, in some way, avenge its neglect. Carlyle's
prose
has fundamental merits and will be read, but
not by numbers of those who would be attracted to
its pages were its external form such as that of
Thomas De Quincey's.
(2.) Irregular.
This is, in some respects, the main error in the
style of our author. Nor is the reference here, to
that of quaintness and eccentricity, of which we
spoke in connection with the quality of originality.
It is an irregularity of style for which there is no
just warrant and which, in so far as it is found, im-
pairs both the clearness and the force of the writing.
There are various ways in which this departure from
established principles manifests itself.
It appears, first of all, logically.
Allusion has been made to the fact that Carlyle
was a thinker rather than a reasoner. This state-
ment applies at this point. His reflections were far
safer than his mental processes and conclusions. He
inclined to that form of argument which is found in
mathematics, and as such, is based on axioms and is
demonstrative. In the sphere of probable evidence,
he was far weaker.
The special manner in which this fault indicates
itself in Carlyle's literary prose is, in the want of
logical nexus—that orderly sequence of thought which
498
ENGLISH PRose.
secures unity and symmetry and the best effect.
Just here he failed where De Quincey succeeded.
Readers will note in much of his prose the frequent
recurrence of abrupt transition-a certain looseness
of adjustment of part to part. From early educa-
tional life at Edinburgh, he had but little taste for
logic. His mind revolted at what is called by the
schools-analysis-so that he generally fails when he
attempts to apply it. In such works as-Sartor, Past
and Present and Latter Day Pamphlets, most of the
themes discussed are mere hooks on which to hang
the thought rather than germinal topics out of which
the subject is gradually evolved. In the discussion
itself he preferred the discursive and desultory meth
od to that of a sharply defined and progressive line
of argument. In a word, he was irregular here rather
than regular. He failed to follow those pre-estab-
lished methods which the careful writer is bound to
respect. And if it be said, that he gained much by
this independent waywardness, in the line of freedom
and side suggestion, it is also to be noted that he lost
that most important element of style which may be
called, logical, the element of connection, sequence
and climax.
This irregularity is, also, grammatical. We refer
here, mainly, to structure and syntactical relation.
It would not be correct to say of Carlyle's prose
as he says of Werner's, "It is contorted into end-
less involutions and well-nigh inexplicable in its
entanglements," but there is much, at this point,
to which the impartial critic must take exception.
It is difficult to see how Mr. Minto can assert, on
one page, as to his sentences that they are ex-
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
499
tremely simple in construction," and on another,
"that they are faulty, in that they depart from the
ordinary structure of written composition." He uses
the incorrect loose sentence as freely as Macaulay
uses the periodic or Dryden, the antithetical. His
parentheses are frequent and often involved, while as
to the ordinary distinctions supposed to exist among
the different parts of speech, he takes but little ac-
count. Often in reading Carlyle's prose, one is re-
minded of the transitional English of Elizabethan
days. His grammar seems to be unsettled, and he
passes freely from one form to another as if all were
alike in vogne.
We note such peculiarities as the
•
following:
"He is to know of a truth that being miserable he has been un-
wise, he."
“The sum of it, visible in every market-place, fills one not with a
comic feeling.'
He uses such superlative forms as, precisest, piti-
fullest, inevitables!, totalest, and remarkablest. Such
exceptional usages as these are not to be referred to
eccentricity as much as to positive violation of idiom
and formation. In so far as they exist, they seem to
carry the prose back to the Middle-English Period
and detract, therefore, from its influence in modern
times.
Undoubtedly, something of error, here is due to
Carlyle's proficiency in German and his fondness
for it. He made no effort to give precedence to the
English when the two languages conflicted as to any
particular usage. In speaking of the style of Teufels-
druckh, he writes-" Of his sentences, perhaps not
more than nine-tenths stand straight on their legs.
500
ENGLISH prose.
The remainder are buttressed up by props (of paren-
theses) and dashes." This language is, in a sense,
autobiographical. While in the author's prose, and
especially in his essays and biographies, numerous
examples may be found of faultless grammatical
structure, error here, is far too frequent in a writer
whose merits are so conspicuous.
It is, however, when we come to study style verbal-
ly, that Carlyle's irregularity is most apparent. Here
the violation of precedent and principle amounts to a
literary offense. There is much written at present
on-The English of Carlyle, where the reference is to
his diction. It may be said to be an open question
and not a few are found who are eager to defend,
at all hazards, our author's phraseology.
It is admitted that it is peculiar, often harsh and
mixed and often so aside from usage as to be unin-
telligible. Still, we are told, it is Carlylese and there-
fore, admissible; that it manifests the man in his in-
dividuality; that he cannot be expected to write
English as Bunyan or as Swift did, or even as Dr.
Johnson did. In a word, the originality is admitted
but condoned on the ground of personal peculiarities.
This principle is certainly unsafe as a general test,
and in the case before us leads us often to justify
what cannot be commended. The reference here, is
not to the extent of his vocabulary. This was as
wide as his reading and equal to that of any con-
temporaneous writer. Especially in the description
of character and in the sphere of technical terms, his
verbal wealth was unbounded. We speak of the
quality of his diction when we call it in many cases,
outlandish and unmeaning. It is not that he always
REPRESENTATIVE Writers.—CARLYLE.
501
uses foreign words in preference to Saxon, for this is
not the case; nor is it that he uses words which when
used may seemed somewhat odd, but to which we be-
come reconciled because of their final fitness and
force. It is in the use of terms obsolete and obsolescent
that he seems to revel and which, if allowable, would
not be the best. In such a sentence as this-" Turn
away from their lacquered sumptuosities, their be-
lauded sophistries, their serpent graciosities "—how-
ever admissible the words may be, they are not the
best.
Pages of words might be culled from Carlyle for
which no apology can be made save that they are his.
A few examples will suffice:
disimprisoned,
elsewhither,
vehiculatory,
antecessors,
astucity,
to vilipend,
dislikable,
dubiety,
fuigiously,
maleficent,
vestural,
complected,
stertorious,
misresults.
Here is something more than personality of style.
It is a species of verbal irregularity which is not
venial. It tends to nullify the good influences of
those high qualities to which attention has been
called, and to make language according to Talley-
rand, “the art of concealing thought."
There is far too much of this logical, grammatical
and verbal looseness in Carlyle. Even with his great
individuality behind it, it has not escaped deserved
rebuke. If the author had written when Bacon or
Milton wrote or even at the time of Addison, more
502
ENGLISH PROSE.
excuse might have been offered, but an author liv-
ing in the nineteenth century can scarcely be for-
given for using the diction of the sixteenth or worse
than that, for using a diction objectionable at any
era. Carlyle is never weary of allusion to the sim-
plicity of Goldsmith and Burns. He could have
learned much from either of them in the line of
verbal plainness.
(3.) Mystical.
Next to the feature of originality, this may be said
to be the most salient characteristic of our author's
style. It is, also, the most radical fault. It might be
called mythical and the one for which Jeffrey is con-
stantly reproving him. The reference here, is to a
kind of haze or shadowiness hanging over the thought
and expression. It is especially noticeable in those
productions that are speculative but it is not confined
to these. That long and valuable correspondence.
which he carried on with Emerson is full of it, as
also, are his essays and even histories. At no point are
Carlyle and Emerson more at one than here in this
transcendental atmosphere looking at the partially
revealed forms of truth and surmising the rest. In
chapter tenth, of Sartor Resartus, the author speaks
in suggestive language of his hero-" His grand
peculiarity is, that with all this Decendentalism,
he combines a Transcendentalism no less superla-
tive." Such tendency to Mystification is every-
where traceable. Nothing that he sees but has
two meanings. "There is this old Platonic element
visible throughout-something of the 'Sphinx' in it
represeNTATIVE WRITERS:~CARLYLE.
503
all." He contended for the principle in style that
the meaning of an author should not be seen at once.
In many cases, in his own prose, it is not seen at all.
Though it would not be improper to call Carlyle
an ethical writer, who can gather from his writings
any well defined code of ethics?
Though he is ever discoursing on government,
social order and feasible public policies, who can
reduce these suggestions to a practicable system?
Emigration and education are the catch-words, but
just what is meant is doubtful. In Chartism and
similar pamphlets, it is difficult to find solid ground
on which to stand.
In fine, there is much here that is visionary and
chimerical-a kind of weirdness that attracts and
bewitches and that is all. Sometimes, the author
reaches the sphere of rhapsody and all is fantastic
and airy.
Hence, the phrase and names so frequent in his
prose, as-The Destinies, The Eternal Melodies, The
Eternities, The Divine Silence, The Sphere Harmo-
nies, The Necessities, The Eternal Forces. So far as
this goes, it is unreal and illusory and belongs much
more to the region of poetry than to that of solid
prose.
Carlyle could not have corrected this had he wished
or striven. It was in him as an elemental part of
the man while his home "in the loveliest nook in
Britain," and his strange career only intensified it.
He was the Seer of Chelsea." He "saw visions
and dreamed dreams," and even when he wrote on
events transacting right before him, he looked at
them from the heights above.
504
ENGLISH PROSE.
i
The result of this element as far as it had influence
was to make it impossible for Carlyle to be an abso-
lutely clear writer as he himself confesses: "Mystical
in most cases will turn out to be merely synonymous
with--not understood."
That irregularity of which we have spoken would
contribute to this obscurity, but mysticism still more
80. In his Life of Sterling he says, I have heard
Coleridge talk two stricken hours and communicate
no meaning whatever." The remark is not inappli-
cable to Carlyle. He often defies all attempt to un-
derstand him and often compels the reader to unwil
ling study to determine the sense. In his Essay
on German Literature, he refers to the two great
faults with which the German authors have been
charged-Bad Taste and Mysticism. The first charge
he denies. The second, he admits and defends
even though he defines Mystics to be "men who
either know not clearly their own meaning, or at
least, cannot put it forth in formulas whereby others
may apprehend it."
Here again, German influence deepened what was
already in the man.
It is necessary to add here, that this feature in
Carlyle and his prose expressed itself, at times, in the
morbid and despondent. What a doleful tone pervades
some of his work! In The French Revolution and in
Cromwell, this is apparent as, also, in his political
papers, while in such works as are speculative this
tone controls. This explains his devotion to the
name and writings of Goethe. It is not strange that
he translated Wilhelm Meister and reveled in such
works as Faust and The Sorrows of Werther. They
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
505
ministered directly to his mystical tendencies and on
their morbid side. His very portraits are noted for
this settled sadness. There is not a little of the pes-
simistic in it all. The secret of the difficulty lay
in the fact that while the great problem of human
life and destiny was the one problem he aimed to
solve, the method of its solution was totally wrong
as he applied it and, thus, but added to the mental
disquietude already existing.
To this extent, the prose of Carlyle is not only
obscure, it is unhealthful in its influence. Instead of
that clear view of common life that marks the prose
of Bacon, Addison and Burke there is a misty, half
intelligible and sombre view which more befits the
monastery than the world without. Carlyle has
great merits, but at this point he is an unsafe guide
in style. Less and not more of the visionary is what
is needed. In the historical and literary progress of
English Prose, that authorship will meet with great-
est favor which is hopeful in tone and which may
be understood at sight.
In our study of Carlyle, one topic of interest re-
mains to be noticed-we refer to-
His Character as a Critic.
There is room here for great diversity of view.
There were elements both of mind and character in
Carlyle which fitted him for successful critical work.
while it cannot be denied that he also possessed char-
acteristics which, as certainly, unfitted him for such
work.
As to his qualifications, it may be said that he was
a man who thought for himself on all subjects that
恩
​506
ENGLISH PROSE.
કે
might come before him and to this extent would
certainly pass judgment in the words of no other.
Whatever his verdict was as to a man or work, it
was his own. He was an independent critic as well
as an independent writer. He had the courage to
speak what he believed, and as far as he knew his
own mind and motive, he decided always in the in-
terest of truth.
He possessed in rare measure a further qualification
for this work in his character as a man of letters. As
we have seen, he was an author by profession and by
practice. Whatever the early tendencies of his life.
may have been in the direction of the law and the
ministry or in that of educational work, he soon
found that his tastes and talents were in the line of
literature. To that he devoted himself with his char-
acteristic zeal holding strictly to the view, that what-
ever a man does he should do wholly. He magnified
the work of authorship. He knew the trials and en-
couragements of authors. His own experience had
been varied enough to incline him fully to sympathize
with those who made literature their life-calling.
Still further, his range of reading was such as to
acquaint him with the "best that had been thought
and said." He was thoroughly versed in classical
lore; was a proficient in German, and to some extent,
in South European authorship; knew the literary men
and books of England as well as he knew his na-
tive language, and was thus able to judge of any
given production in the light of all that had been
produced.
In addition to all this it may be said that he seems
to have had as a critic, right views in the main as to
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS —CARLYLE. 507
the laws, standards and methods of criticism. Some
of these he states in connection with his critical
opinions. In one of his Miscellanies he writes:
"Criticism, it is sometimes thought, should be a cold business.
We are not sure of this."
Referring to the crude opinions passed on Faust
and Wilhelm Meister, he says:
"We have heard few English criticisms of such works, in which
the first condition of an approach to accuracy was complied with-
a transposition of the critic into the author's point of vision, a sur-
vey of the author's means and objects, and a just trial of these by
rules of universal application."
Speaking of the advanced state of literary criticism
in Germany, he writes-
"The grand question is not now a question concerning the
qualities of diction, the coherence of metaphors and the fitness of
sentiments, but a question on the essence and peculiar life of the
poetry itself. The problem is not now to determine by what mech-
anism Addison composed sentences and similitudes, but by what
far finer and more mysterious mechanism Shakespeare organized his
dramas and gave life and individuality to his Hamlet. Criticism
stands like an interpreter between the inspired and the uninspired
to clear our sense that it may discern the fine brightness of this ele-
ment of beauty.”
Pages of such high teaching as this may be gath-
ered from the prose of Carlyle. He utterly con-
demned the artificial methods of Pope and Blair;
of Boileau and the French school; and exalted into
prominence the principle of the German critics who,
though somewhat decrying elegance of finish, saw
into the real essence of a work of art and exposed its
508
ENGLISH PROSE.
merits or demerits. From his Essay on German Lit-
erature, it is safe to say that a full and philosophic
theory of literary criticism might be deduced as he
conceived it, verbally phrased it, and aimed to
apply it.
In so far as the theory and final aim of criticism
are concerned, therefore, Carlyle's prose reveals the
truth. The theory was philosophical and the aim
was the highest good of English and European let-
ters. If we inquire as to how Carlyle carried out his
own views, the difficulty begins. Partially, at least,
he succeeded in applying them. We are not speak-
ing, now, of his strictly political productions or even
of those where the historical element is lost in the
political. The reference is to his purely literary
judgment on authors and books. In this, he partially
succeeded, as in his view of Coleridge, given in-
The Life of Sterling; in his judgments on Burns, Vol-
taire, Heyne, Richter and Schiller, as given in his
essays; in his general views on History, on Euro-
pean Literature, and on German Literature in itself
and as related to English; in the main, in his decis-
sions on Goethe, his place and work; and in his views
of English writers, such as Goldsmith, and especially,
Shakespeare.
Special instances of his critical correctness may be
given. His Essay on Burns is sympathic and discern-
ing throughout. In the course of it, he remarks:
"To the ill-starred Burns was given. the power of making man's
life more unerrable, but that of wisely guiding his own life was not
given. The excellence of Burns is, his sincerity. In his greatness
and his littleness, he is ever clear, simple and true."
Again,—
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS-CARLYLE.
509
Independently of the essential gift of poetic feeling, a certain
rugged, sterling worth pervades whatever Burns has written. No
poet is more graphic. Three lines, and we have a likeness."
How aptly he hits the Frenchman right on the
head when he says of Voltaire-
"The chief quality is adroitness."
Further,
"There is one deficiency in Voltaire's original structure -his
inborn levity of nature, his entire want of earnestness.
We find no
heroism of character in him from first to last.”
He speaks of his expertness, facility, wit, in the
shape of cynical ridicule; contrasts him in his de-
ceiving brilliancy with the great and gifted Shake-
speare of England, and is not content to leave him
till he rebukes him for ever having written on
Christianity without the slightest practical know-
ledge of its nature.
On the whole, however, Carlyle's prose reveals the
want of keen, clear, impartial and comprehensive
power as a literary critic. There were reasons, also
for this. Dyspepsia and poverty and misinterpreta-
tion did much to embitter his nature and unfit him
for ingenuous judgment of others. His want of æs-
thetic taste increased the inability. He had not that
full-orbed and sensitive eye which comes only
through the medium of the artistic. This need is
especially manifest in the sphere of poetry.
That logical, grammatical and verbal irregularity
of which we have spoken is a further ground, to
which may be added that mystical element by reason
晶
​510
ENGLISH prose.
of which a kind of haziness enveloped all that he be-
held. As already seen, he was without that analytic
power which is essential to the critic in his interpre-
tation of authors. He must be able to dissect and to
give a safe and full diagnosis. Moreover, his indepen-
dence so overreached itself as to make it difficult for
him to carry out his theory and assume the stand-
point of the author whom he was judging. He was
full of notions peculiar to himself-originating and
developing in his own brain. Everything must be
viewed through them. An author was or was not
successful as he conformed or failed to conform to
these whims and schemes. Hence, Goethe was his
favorite poet and Sir Walter Scott was not. The one
was just visionary enough to suit him and the other
had too much sober common sense. Hence, Coleridge
was a favorite prose writer and Scott was not.
Hence, Sartor Resartus was a favorite subject and
evoked his best power.
Hence, it is, that he is not a clear critic of style.
He deals with men and things and events rather than
with the exact subject matter of authors, and what-
ever may be the theme he is soon adrift on some one
of his specially attractive vagaries. In the German
authors, as a class, he is led to overlook great defects
in that they think somewhat as he thinks, while of
Scott he can say nothing better than that he has " a
general healthiness of mind."
In a word, Carlyle's great lack as a critic may be
expressed in one word-want of Objectivity. He was
purely subjective and, hence, dogmatic, visionary,
eccentric and ruled by prejudices. At this point, he
falls far below De Quincey and even Macaulay, while
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.—CARLYLE.
511
the later school of English criticism, as represented
by Arnold, is seen to excel just where he failed.
His bitterness towards some of his contemporaries
as evinced in his published Reminiscences, is enough.
to confirm the statements here made. His references
to Charles Lamb will no sooner be condoned by the
English-speaking public than Voltaire's contemptu-
ous slurs on Shakespeare.
In the History of His Life in London, lately given by
Mr. Froude, he speaks of the noted men of his time
in the most contemptuous terms.
Of Southey he writes, "A well-read, honest, limited
man"; of Wordsworth, "Very loquacious, worth little
now, intrinsically and extrinsically small"; of Sydney
Smith, "Mass of fat and muscularity with no humor
or even wit, seemingly without soul"; of Macaulay,
"Of essentially irremediable common-place nature,
all gone to tongue"; of Gladstone as, "Addle-pated
nothingness, one of the contemptiblest men, incap-
able of seeing any fact whatever "; and even of Emer-
son to whom he owed so much he says, "Very exotic.
Good of him I could get none. He came with the
rake rather than the shovel." When he does deign
to praise, as in the case of Webster and Dickens, it is
so faint as to be worthless. This is more than bad
criticism. It is bad blood and venom and but one of
the many ways he had of exalting Thomas Carlyle at
the expense of others. Such an egoist could not be a
critic.
All this was unfriendly to that dispassionate
mood in which the censor should sit in judgment
upon his fellows. Though Carlyle was clear headed
enough to establish a just theory of literary criticism,
512
ENGLISH PROSE.
he was not impartial enough to apply it, and En-
glish Letters has received but little from him in this
direction.
His work in English Prose has been of service in
other directions. As a body of prose it is instinct
with intellectual and literary life. Original, sugges-
tive, cogent, impassioned, graphic and incisive, it
teaches all who read it to think freely and think pro-
foundly; to speak their thought with the courage of
their convictions and with terse compactness; to re-
gard human life as the greatest of mysteries and pos-
sibilities; to exalt ideas above things and circum-
stances; and to address themselves to their ascer-
tained mission with that "dreadful earnestness" that
is born out of the deepest experiences and promises
the grandest results.
Whatever Carlyle is or is not, he is a representative
writer of English Prose. Though as a standard for
imitation, he is inferior to many of his predecessors
and colleagues, he is, still, strictly representative, as
much so, at least, as any one of the twelve authors
whose style we have studied.
In the language of Mr. Hutton-"No literary man
in the nineteenth century is likely to stand out more
distinct, to the centuries which will follow." He has
done what few among men have done. He had more
influence upon his age than his age had upon him,
and for this alone deserves the most careful study.
His very faults are historic and add to his wide-
reaching fame. Despite the gravest violations of
literary propriety, he is quoted as a model and leader.
He took his own way despite of precedent, and what
he leaves is his own. Outside of the region of prose
REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS.-CARLYLE.
513
fiction, it may be said that no works of English Prose
are better known at this moment among educated
circles. No essays are read with keener avidity by
young and old. Despite their mysticism and their
"barbarous diction," they are read and this is one.
of the best of tests.
Of the prose of Carlyle this much can be said—it
has such merit that every literary student must be
conversant with it.
It is so faulty, that when the student reads it, it
must be with judgment, caution, dissent and not
infrequent protest. A few such writers are needed
in every century to stimulate and emancipate, and
but few, lest irregularity take the place of literary
law. Carlyle was a Scotchman. English Prose will
always need something of the Scotch element in it to
give it tone and point and literary bluntness and
Christian obstinacy.
References and Authorities.
Minto's Prose Manual. Conway's Carlyle. Carlyle
(Eng. Men of Let.) Lowell's-My Study Windows.
Froude's Carlyle. Essays by Morley, Martineau and
Bayne. Norton's-Emerson and Carlyle.
CONCLUSION.
We have thus briefly surveyed the leading periods,
and forms and some of the leading authors of our
English Prose from Elizabeth to Victoria.
In reviewing this historical development of three
centuries of English Prose from Bacon to Carlyle,
the first and deepest impression is that of Literary
Richness.
We have noted but here and there a name of
prominence among scores that might have been ad-
duced, and it is a matter of mingled pride and sur-
prise to fill up the list of English Prose Writers as
illustrative of the various characteristic forms of
prose.
In HISTORY and BIOGRAPRY, there are such historic
names as-Grote, Green, Raleigh, Boswell, Strickland,
Hume, Clarendon, Gibbon, Hallam, Mill, Buckle,
Turner, Alison, Lingard, Mahon, Warton, Craik, Col-
lier, Tytler, Stanley, Palgrave, Knight, Southey, and
Merivale.
IN DESCRIPTIVE PROSE and PROSE FICTION are—
Bulwer, Edgeworth, Thackeray, Richardson, Bun-
yan, Fielding, De Foe, Sterne, Austen, Porter, Reade,
Disraeli, Kingsley, Bronté, Marryat, and Eliot.
CONCLUSION.
515
In ORATORICAL PROSE are the names of-Barrow,
Taylor, Hall, Fuller, Bolingbroke, South, Chatham
and Chalmers.
In DIDACTIC, CRITICAL and PHILOSOPHIC PROSE, are-
Dryden, Bentham, Wordsworth, Whateley, Chilling-
worth, Shaftesbury, Junius (Francis), Browne, Cow-
ley, Temple, Adam Smith, Paley, Blackstone, Bentley,
Warburton, Boyle, Locke, Cudworth, Butler, Hobbes,
Harrington, Maurice, Miller, J. S. Mill, and Coleridge.
In MISCELLANEOUS PROSE, the name is legion and in
no department of our Letters is there a greater dis-
play of solid wealth-Gifford, Hazlitt, S. Smith, Lan-
dor, Forster, Brougham, Jeffrey, Drake, Thomas Ar-
nold, Newman, Chesterfield, Collier, Goldsmith, Steele,
Mackintosh, Disraeli, Arbuthnot, North, the brothers
Hare, and Pattison.
We have here an approximate list of authors of
English Prose from the time of Bacon, exclusive of
those noted writers still living and at work on
English ground.
It is perfectly safe to say that there is nothing
like it for opulence and variety in any European or
classical literature, while it would be presumptuous
on the part of any critic to draw an exact boundary
line between the first and second orders of English
Prose. There are many writers that stand on the
border line itself and seem to look each way.
The list is rich in any point of view from which it
may be studied—intellectual, literary and ethical. To
the lovers of literary art as verbally expressed it
affords a large and inviting field of personal profit in
the hours of mental leisure.
516
ENGLISH prose.
To the student of literature as an historical and
philosophical development from crude beginnings to
advanced maturity, it opens the widest area for safe
research, analogy and induction.
To the student of style, in its various laws, pro-
cesses, qualities and forms, it becomes alike the all-
sufficient guide and stimulus, while to intelligent
thinkers and readers at large it presents in its spa-
cious contents, at once the evidence of past literary
power and the promise of what the Prose of English
may yet become.
There is nothing of which English-speaking peoples
should more justly boast, while there may be said of
our prose what the German Grimm was pleased to
say of our language-" It may with good reason call
itself universal and seems chosen like the people, to
rule in future times in a still greater degree. In
richness, sound reason and flexibility, no modern
(prose) can be compared with it."
If this be so, every educated man should be thor-
oughly conversant with it in its best periods, forms
and exponents. It is to the reproach and shame of
multitudes of the intelligent and even of the lib-
erally cultured that they are so little versed in its
history, processes and leading names, and ignor-
antly resort with avidity to foreign sources for that
literary discipline that lies accessible at their own
doors in the ample resources of their vernacular
prose.
Most of all should the statesman, the jurist, the
journalist, the minister of the truth to men and all
those who in any way by pen or voice seek to guide
and govern their fellows, be so thoroughly acquainted
CONCLUSION.
517
with this rich department of our prose literature
that when they write and speak they may do it in
the light of what has been done for them and with a
determined purpose to maintain the honor of the past.
Clear, forcible and elegant English has been a steady
literary growth from the days of Elizabeth to those
of Victoria.
It has never been written more ably and acceptably
than in the last twenty-five years. While English
Poetry, even in the persons of its best exponents is
perceptibly marking a decline of power and reveal-
ing tendencies in the line of verbal mechanism and
sensuous undertone all adrift from its earlier char-
acter, English Prose is advancing with the advance
of modern civilization and bids fair to keep abreast of
it through the future. It is, in fact, one of the great
exponents of such civilization. In all the primary
forms of prose, this evidence of life is still visible-in
history and biography, as represented by Froude and
Freeman, Masson, Forster, Morley, Stubbs, Rawlin-
son, Leckey, and others; in description and fiction,
as seen in Black, Collins, Macdonald, Muloch and
others; in impassioned prose as seen in the best public
and Parliamentary addresses of Bright, Gladstone and
others; in didactic and philosophic prose as seen in,
Froude, Brooke, Procter, Symonds and Shairp; in
criticism and miscellany as seen in, Matthew Arnold,
Newman, Mahaffy, Leslie Stephen, Hughes, Ruskin
and an almost limitless list of worthy writers in the
leading periodicals of the day.
If in this wide variety and wealth of prose pro-
duction, there is any one element of danger, it is in
the rapid increase of the lighter forms of prose as
518
ENGLISH PROSE.
found in fiction, descriptive sketching, miscellaneous
essays and journalism, somewhat at the possible ex-
pense of the more intellectual and weighty forms-
the historical and philosophic. This danger, how-
ever, is more apparent than real. Even in the lighter
species of prose (save that of fiction) work of a more
substantial value is now done than hitherto was the
case, while the great departments of narrative and
didactic prose writing are developing with almost
commensurate rapidity.
There is no tendency in modern English more
pronounced and more hopeful than the increasing
tendency to the best forms of instructive prose as
distinct from that which is merely entertaining and
transient.
This is especially true in that grand development of
historical writing now going on before us in England
as, also, on the Continent and in America.
At no period of our prose has there been a larger
number of able historians at work, or a more read-
able and acceptable body of historical literature.
Nor is this work confined to the province of civil
or political history, but ranges through all the forms
of narrative writings-the history of philosophy; of
literature; of art, science, religion and the industries;
of medicine, jurisprudence and Biblical doctrine; of
society and the church; of education and of journal-
ism. Historical methods and aims were never so
thoroughly studied as now. It is a kind of golden
era of narrative prose which makes it one of special
promise for prose in all its forms.
Those cardinal principles of all style, that are so
richly found in history-clearness, simplicity, cor-
CONCLUSION.
519
rectness, definiteness, delineative skill and didactic
aim-are the principles that are needed in every
national literature and which will do much to pre-
serve it pure and stable in the face of lower literary
tendencies.
Such is the drift of Modern English Prose on its
intellectual side and such is its literary promise. In
the rush and pressure of modern civilization, in that
poetic decline and material advance which are so
manifest, there may be some loss of æsthetic tone
and finish in our prose. This can scarcely be
avoided. We may expect less and less of Macaulay
and more and more of Burke and Carlyle. There
will be compensations for this loss of artistic grace in
greater freedom, force and practical directness. The
prose of the century will be in keeping with the charac-
ter of the century, vivacious, pungent and informing,
while at the incoming of a more poetic era, it may
assume, at demand, a more poetic form and finish.
As Bacon wrote for his age, so did Carlyle for his,
and however the ages may differ, they are alike in
this particular-that in each, great intellectual and
material activity prevails and authors must write as
men of the world. In the sixteenth and nineteenth
centuries alike, English prose must needs be cogent
and practical rather than aesthetic. The History of
Literature, as all history, repeats itself and Modern
English Prose is characteristically Baconian. Thus
it is that the centuries are united.
As to the Ethical Character of English Prose, little
need be stated. It may be said to speak for itself.
It is scarcely necessary for such critics as Morley and
Principal Shairp to call the special attention of read-
520
ENGLISH PROSE.
•
ers to this salient feature of our prose. It is so salient
as to be everywhere apparent.
With the one exception of Jonathan Swift, the
authors who have come before us have been ethical
throughout,—in thought, diction and general style.
Though Hume and Gibbon, Buckle and Hobbes
are ranked among skeptics, their pages are compar-
atively pure in a literary point of view. Even in the
department of prose fiction, where the danger is
greater, the leading English prose novelists, with
scarcely an exception, have been those whose teach-
ings are morally sound. Such authors as Smollett
and Aphia Behn are excluded from high place in
the province of fiction, not only on intellectual, but
on moral grounds.
In this respect English Prose has a far brighter
record than English Poetry. There are no such eras
of moral decline and looseness as are found in the
Dramatic Poetry of the Restoration and the later
times of Byron and Shelley. The atmosphere is more
bracing and the moral effect more wholesome.
There is no body of prose in any literature that
will better stand the moral test. The ethical basis
that was laid in our letters as far back as the days
of First and Middle-English, in Alfred, Aelfric and
Wyclif is still the basis of our best literature. That
great religious awakening that renovated the En-
glish mind of the sixteenth century, deepened and
broadened this moral basis so that it can, under Prov-
idence, never be essentially disturbed.
Those erratic tendencies, now at work in the line
of a skeptical philosophy and a more indifferent view
of human life, will not be able, materially, to affect
CONCLUSION.
521
it. The best English Prose extant is the prose of the
English Bible as given in the versions of Wyclif,
Tyndale, and King James. Right at the centre of our
developing prose literature stands the Word of God
in purest English form to guard and stimulate that
development. English Prose is more than ethical.
It is in its origin, history and promised unfoldings
both Protestant and Biblical and quite apart from
its high intellectual and literary character takes its
place as one of the great moral agencies of modern
times.
INDEX.
TOPICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
.
A
Abbott, E. A..
Addison, Joseph.
B
54
Bacon, Roger.
288
Bacon, Francis.
• •
Biographical Sketch.. 288
Preference for Prose.. 290
Features of Style..... 291
Literary Grace..
27
211
211
Biographical Sketch.. 211
Use of Latin....
Prose Works in English 214
Merits of Style. ... 217
Concentration
•
217
291
Plainness..
294
Wit and Humor,
298
Analytical Clearness.. 219
Popularity.
302
Incisiveness.
219
•
Ethical Quality
304
Strength
222
•
His Critical Ability..
305
Imagination
224
•
Prose Works.
288
Versatility
226
His Poetry..
290
Defects of Style..
227
Advancement of Learning, Ba-
con's...
Bancroft, George.
133
215
Bede
•
17, 21, 27
Aelfric Rata
✔
18
Bentley, Richard
77
Aclfric's Prose.
Ainger, Alfred..
Alcuin ..
18 Berkeley, Bishop.
274
374, 375
Berners, Lord
37
18
Biography..
129
Alfred's Prose..
15, 17
Remarks on......
130
Ancren Riwle..
28
Modern Prominence of 131
Anglo-Latin...
211
Biography and Author-
Anglo-Norman Writers....
27
ship.
132
128
Bishop's Bible..
53
Annals....
Apothegms, Bacon's.
217 Blackstone, Sir William ... 113
Aquinas, Thomas.
241 Boethius
Arabian Influence..
41
Boswell, James.
16
315, 317
Arnold, Matthew..194, 385,
Brewer, Prof.
293
421,
427
Bronté, Charlotte.
467
•
• •
Ascham, Roger
38
Browne, Sir Thomas.. 312, 408
Augustan Prose
•
80, 100
Brydges, Sir Egerton
262
•
Augustine, Saint..... 241, 408
Autobiography ……….
130
Buckle, H. Thomas......
Bulwer Lytton.
63
151, 152
524
INDEX.
Burke, Edmund
334
Drake, Nathan
•
Biographical Sketch.. 334
Views as to Rank..... 334
Prose Writings.
336
Conditions of Style.... 339
Characteristics of Style 342
Drayton, Michael.
188
140
•
Dryden, John... 72, 78, 87, 92
Dunlop
151
E
Burton, Robert..
263
Edwards, Jonathan....... 170
Eliot, George.... 154, 377, 471
C
Capitularies, The…………...
Carlyle, Thomas
Biographical Sketch.. 479
Writings, Prose.. 479, 480
Merits of Style..
Defects of Style.
•
Character as a Critic.. 505
Examples of Prose 482,
Emerson, R. W...
Erskine, Thomas
Essays and Reviews.
Essays on the Sublime,
Burke's..
Elizabeth, Queen.
47, 52
16
Elyot, Sir Thomas
37
•
479
481, 502
167
•
192
•
480
495
337, 349
Euphuism
•
55, 299
484...
507
F
Caxton, William
29, 30, 34
Fabyan, Robert.
37
Chalmers, Thomas.
170
Field, James T..
130
Chaucer.
233 First-English Prose... 15, 520
Chronicle, The
16
Chronicles
128
Prominent Centres ... 15
Prominent Writers..
15
Coleridge, S. T...
108, 366, 504
Cowley, A..
36, 74, 90
G
Craik, Prof..
347
107
Cudworth, Ralph..
75
D
De Foe, Daniel ....93, 103, 182
De Quincey, Thomas.... 417
Biographical Sketch.. 417
Classes of Essays
Merits of Style... 419-435
Defects of Style.. 437-445
Dickens, Charles
418
German Influence.
Gibbon, Edward
63, 104
Goethe...... 108, 153, 484, 486
Gregory's Pastoral Care…….. 17
Green, John Richard... 141
Guizot...
H
•
174
50, 67, 84, 133
Hallam, H.
Hall, Edward..
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Hazlitt, W..
37
160
49
67
133
•
• •
•
139
140
443
Biographical Sketch.. 443
Prose Works..
446
Historical Transitions.
Merits of Style...
449
History
Defects of Style.
467
Relations of...
Dictionary, English.
331
Reading of
• •
Disraeli, Isaac. 39, 87, 184, 291
Elements of Interest.. 141
Donne, Bishop
56
Hobbes, Thomas.
·
78
毒
​INDEX.
525
Hooker, Richard
Biography..
231
M
.231 Macaulay, Lord
387
Authorship.
231
Biographical Sketch
387
Merits of Style..
234
Prose Works
387
Faults
239
-Popular Estimate of his
Examples of Prose. 243, 244
Style
388
Howells, W. D
197
Analysis of his Style ... 390
Hugo, Victor...
160, 490
Defects of Prose......
408
Hume, David..
114, 133
March's Estimate of his
Diction
392
I
Examples
.402, 403
Italian Influence... 57, 73, 107
-His Theory of Style.... 408
Malory, Thomas..
35
J
Mandeville's Prose.
32
•
James, G. P. R...
152
Massey, Gerald...
458
Johnson, Samuel.
310
Biography.
310
•
Masson, David...101, 102, 130
McMaster, John Bach ..... 141
Writings
310
Memories..
128, 129
Features of Style..... 311
Middle-English Prose..26, 520
Journalism
197
Miller, Hugh
197
Junius, Letters of
361
Milton, John.
246
K
Kant, Immanuel..
114
ings
•
Kingsley, Charles.... 152, 462
Knox, John ...
258
L
363
Biographical Sketch... 246
Periods of his Writ
Prose Works in Eng-
•
lish...
His Pamphlets
Examples of his Prose
Style....
363 Minto, William.36, 101, 441, 484
247
249
249
261, 262
Lamb, Charles.
Biography
Prose Works
•
Defects of Style.
Merits of Style..
D
363 Moir, David M.
45
364 More, Thomas.
36
369 Morley, Henry..
131, 350
Critical Ability
380
Lanier, Sidney..
154, 158
Morris, Richard.
Motley, J. L.
131
136
• •
Latimer, Hugh :……….
36
Learning, Advancement of, Ba-
N
con's
• •
Leland, John.
Letters
Lewes, G. H.
•
215
New Atlantis, Bacon's
37 Norman Conquest.
219
26
•
194
Norman-French.
456 Norton, Prof.
27
481
Lord, John
Luther, Martin.
136 Novel, Classes of.
•
151
259 Novum Organum, Bicon's. 219
526
INDEX.
0
Schiller..
108
Opium Eater, De Quincey's 430
Schlegel, A. W
176
Orosins
16
Scott Sir Walter
271
Oxford University,
421
Shakespeare, 107, 43, 227,
275.
422
Р
Sir Walter Raleigh.... 228, 490
Paston Letters.
35
Spedding
215
Pattison, Mark..
Pecock, Reginald...
Periods, Prose..
•
Classification of
General Inferences as
252, 258 Spencer, Herbert
126
34 Spenser, Edmund
233
•
43 Stephen, Leslie.
285
43
Sterne, Lawrence.
156
•
Swift, Jonathan
265
to ....
116-121
His Prose Works
265
Philological English....95, 96
Faults of Style
269
Plegimund
16
Features of Merit.
272
Poetical Prose.
•
146 Sydney, Sir Philip .....55, 156
Poetry,
194
Polity, Hooker's.
...231 238
T
Prescott, W. H..
.136, 379
Taine
.63, 297, 312
Prose Fiction.
148
Talfourd, T. N
369
Protestant, English....
63
Ten Brink
1 45
Thackeray, W. M.
.93, 152
P
Tories
€8, 86
Rawley ...
Raleigh, Sir Walter...228, 490
Rambler, Johnson's...327, 329
Revival of Classics
Reynolds, Sir Joshua
Travels and Tales
195
Trench, Archbishop
253
•
216, 223
Trevisa, John .
33
56
Tyler, Prof..
59
329
Tyndale, William.
37
Richelieu
71
Richness of English Prose. 514
V
In History and Biogra-
Victorian Prose.
phy
514
Voltaire.
514
327, 507
In Descriptive and Fic-
tion
514
W
In Oratorical Literature 515
In Criticism..
515
Wallenstein.
Walton Isaac
52
•
•
64, 377, 385
In Miscellany
Rufus, William..
Ruskin, John.
515 Ward, A. W
466
344
Warner, C. D.
131
•
• •
147, 244
Whigs
.86, 535
S
Τη
Saintsbury
Savage, Richard
Whipple, Edwin ..192, 235 239
Wyclif, John...
33
89, 168
William of Orange.
83 William Rufus .
76
• •
344
INDEX.
527
William Tyndale.....
Wilson's Art of Dis-
course
•
Wisdom of the Ancients, Ba-
con's
•
❤
37 Writers, Prose.—Continued.
Wordsworth, William .296, 303
Writers, Prose
•
Classification of
Explanatory State-
ments
Representative Names. 210
Wycherley, William ... 74
51
225
Y
Yarrow
204
204
Z
207 Zola, Emile
•
15
Young, Edward…………………… .85, 91
157
IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL WORK.
The Principles of Written Discourse.
By Prof. T. W. HUNT. 12mo, cloth, 2d edition. Net, $1.00.
NOTICES.
"Professor Hunt writes concisely, employs a clear terminology, and
condenses much material in a little space. We do not recall any volume
in the department of rhetoric and style that contains more information
in a small compass. It is well adapted for collegiate instruction, and
we hope it may be widely adopted."-REV. PROF. SHEDD in The Presby-
terian Review.
เ
Admirably adapted to awaken inquiry as well as to afford instruc-
tion, and to indicate to the aspiring writer the best methods by which
his thinking may be made the most lucid and telling in its outward
forms."-Herald and Presbyter.
"It is an admirable text-book, and its careful use by young writers
would cure a thousand defects found in ordinary wiiting."-Boston
Daily Advertiser.
"It is a brief but thorough-going and invigorating, because vigorous,
treatise. The rhetorical qualities of the volume are as admirable as
the profound view which he takes of the subject."-Presbyterian.
"The student who masters this book will know thoroughly what
discourse, in its deepest significance, means; what are its laws; what is
its fundamental method; what is its true aim."-REV. DR. JNO. DE WITT
in Herald and Presbyter.
"In order to acquire proficiency in public discourse the principles
it lays down and enforces should be thoroughly understood. While it
is systematized for use in the class-room, it aims at advanced rhetorical
teaching, and may be studied with advantage by all scholars and public
writers and speakers."-Christian Intelligencer.
*
66
Prof. Hunt has recast the materials common to the standard
treatises, wrought in with these the results of his study and reflection,
guided by his experience as a teacher of the art and practice of rhetoric,
constructing the whole into a system from his own point of view. And
it is from the latter we discern the peculiar excellence of his work.
* Allowing his personal interest in the author and the volume, he
(the writer) is conscious of no partiality in commending the book to the
attention of teachers and students, and to writers and speakers. He
is confident that a careful study of it will be rewarding even to those
who have been well taught and have learned much by experience.”.
REV. JOSEPH T. DURYEA, D.D., in Andover Review.
"The forms and laws of written discourse are fully described and
aptly illustrated, in a suggestive and logical manner, making it at once a
valuable aid to the comprehension of the science, and a helpful guide to
the practice of the art of discourse. I cannot doubt that the book will
be esteemed both in the class room and in the private study."-[Extract
from letter from Prof. HENRY L. CHAPMAN, of Bowdoin College.]
"A glance only is needed to see that it is an able and scholarly
treatment of the subject."-[Extract from letter from Prof. T. WRITING
BANCROFT, of Brown University.]
"It is an admirable work. Its method is natural, progressive and
attractive. The style is clear and forcible; the examples are well
chosen, and the general presentation of the subject is as valuable for
what it suggests as for what it explains."-[Extract from letter from
Prof. HENRY A. FINCK, of Hamilton College.]
"The book seems to cover the whole field of discourse, with great
clearness of statement. The references to the literature of the subject
are copious; indeed, he presents in a condensed form what one must
* * Prof.
usually gather for oneself from a multitude of sources.
Hunt's treatise is well adapted for class-room work."-[Extract from
letter from Prof. BLISS PERRY, of Williams College.]
12mo, Cloth. 375 pp. Net, $1.00.
Copies for examination sent, postage paid, on receipt of 75 cents.
A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON, New York.
-
WHITE'S STUDENT'S MYTHOLOGY.
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THE STUDENT'S MYTHOLOGY is a practical work, prepared by an experienced
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Itgives, in the briefest compass, all that one needs to know of them in order to understand the frequent
allusions to them in modern as well as ancient literature, and is more portable and available than
any dictionary that we know of. It gives an account, also, of poets of classic fable, with the heroes
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SUPLEE'S TRENCH ON WORDS.
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*
10
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* With all lovers and ap-
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* *
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*
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I
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