THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA FROM THE LIBRARY OF PROFESSOR CARL COPPING PLEHN 1867-1945 ~ . X J f HANDBOOK OP ENGLISH LITERATURE THE HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, BY JOSEPH ANGUS, M.A., D.D., EXAMINER IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND HISTORY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. LONDON: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 56, PATERHOSTEB Row; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHDRCIIYABD ; AND 1G4, PICCADILLY. LONDON : PRINTED BY \VILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, iTAMFOED STKEET AND CHARING CJ1OS3. PKEFACE. IT promises well for education that largely increased attention has been given of late years to the Language and Literature of England. The study may be made a most valuable discipline, and it will yield results rich in thought, in taste, and in practical usefulness. It is partly a cause of this increased study, and partly a fruit of it, that English literature now occupies an important place in the examinations of the Civil Service and in the University of London ; and that professorships of English have been founded . in so many of our colleges and universities. To meet the demand which this increased study creates, the following pages have been written. They are meant as a photo- graph of our literature, with sufficient minuteness of detail to supply the curious inquirer with facts that may serve his purpose or guide him to further inquiry, and with such fulness and breadth of treatment of the more important eras and writers the great centres of literary influence as shall secure a vivid and just conception of the whole. In two particulars this volume is peculiar. It is arranged on the plan of giving a complete history of each subject : Anglo- Saxon Literature, Anglo-Norman Literature, as it has been called, Language, Poets, Dramatists, Prose-writers, and Novelists. And yet the whole may be read in centuries, reigns, or literary periods, at the option of the student. Practically, English lite- rature extends over five hundred years, from Edward in. and Chaucer to Victoria and Tennyson ; or including Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon the English of the second and of the first period ovei a thousand years. For the Language, the writers of the whole period deserve to be studied. For the Literature, the moat important writers are tho,so of the last three hundred, years, 809 vi PREFACE. The works of living, writers are not included in this volume, though occasionally they are named to complete the history of subjects. Besides this peculiarity, the reader will notice another. The author has sought to form a fair estimate of the moral tendency of many of the works he has described. This process, :arried through in a spirit at once generous and faithful, he deems of great importance. Literature claims to be and is one of the mightiest influences of the age. Histories of literature direct attention to the genius and taste' of the works which they chro- nicle : and surely the moral quality of such works is deserving of some regard. Of course such judgments require blended candour and truth. The subjects of this volume have long occupied the thoughts of the writer. It is now more than thirty years since many of the books here mentioned were first read by him, and he has more than once suggested a literary history of this kind. This fact and the two-fold peculiarity to which he has referred may perhaps justify the publication of a new book on this theme. Several useful histories have been published within the last fifteen years ; and yet this history is believed to be sufficiently distinctive to occupy a place of its own. On the history of the language, the writer is largely indebted to the admirable Lectures of Mr. Marsh ; and in other depart- ments to the Histories of Hallam, Chambers, Arnold, Shaw, Craik, Spalding ; and to the Christian Classics of Dr. Hamil- ton. The proof-sheets have also had the great advantage of suggestions from J. Or. FITCH, Esq., late Examiner in English Literature to the University of London. In addition to this volume of AUTHORS AND HISTOBT, it u intended to publish a companion volume of SPECIMENS. Each will be complete in itself ; but the two, it is thought, will give the student advantages that cannot be gained by one alone. The SPECIMENS will contain some of the masterpieces of our literature, and will illustrate the principles of criticism which are found in this volume. CONTENTS. SMM P.RSFACS V CHAPTER I. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE, A.D. 449-1066 . I CHAPTER II. ANGLO-NORMAN LITERATURE, A.D. 1066-1350 . . .16 CHAPTER III. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, A.D. 900-1800: SECTION i. To THE AGE OF CHAUCER, A.D. 900-1400 . . 36 ii. To THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE, A.D. 1400- 1600 . 60 in. THE AGE OF MILTON 92 iv. MODERN TIMES . . . . . -9? CHAPTER IV. ENGLISH POETS, A.D. 1350-1850: SECTION i. POETRY DEFINED AND CLASSIFIED . . .97 ii. CHAUCER AND THE OLD ENGLISH POETS , . 109 in. FROM SPENSER TO MILTON . . . . 133 iv. DRYDEN, POPE, AND THEIR SUCCESSORS . .182 v. COWPER, WORDSWORTH, AND MODERN POETS . 228 VERSIFICATION AND MKTRES . . . .276 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PAQH THE DRAMA, A.D, 1327-1850 . . 284 CHAPTER VI. ENGLISH PROSE WRITERS, A.D. 1350-1850: SECTION i. PROSE WORKS CLASSIFIED ..... 333 ii. FROM CHAUCER TO THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH A.D. 1400-1603 ...... 335 in. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY . . . .356 iv. THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES . 45 7 CHAPTER VII. THE NOVEL, A.D. 1719-1850 599 CONCLUSION . . .636 [KDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS ...... 641 Far Particular* of eacH Chapter and Section, sec ihe pages named. AEEANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PEEIODS. The chapters of this book are so arranged as to treat of subjects : the Language ; the Poets ; the Prose-writers ; etc. It may be desirable, however, to study our literature in centuries or eras : and tor this purpose the following arrangement will be found convenient. For the paragraphs in which the history of each writer is given, see Index at the end. Anglo-Saxon Period, A.D. 446-1066. The Prose of the first half of this period consists of the writings of British Historians, and of part of the Saxon Chronicle : the poetry begins with Beowulf and Caedmon. The latter half includes in prose, the Anglo* Saxon Charters, Laws and Chronicle, various Theological and Scientific Treatises, and Poetic Compositions. The themes treated in the poetry are war and religion never love. Historical Events : Commencement of Anglo-Saxon Invasions A.D. 450 The Union oi' the Anglo-Saxons under Egbert . . . 827 Danes under Canute .... 1016 Edward the Confessor 1042 The Norman Conquest. .... 1066 The names of authors and chief events may be seen in par. 1 1. LITERATURE: POETRV AND PROSE, par. i-i i . . page 1-15 LANGUAGE, par. 31-33 . . . . . . 37-41 Anglo-Norman Period, A.D. 1066-1350. This Period is the period of Scholastic Philosophy and Theology Anselm (1109). Scotus and Occam (1293), and of incipient Science, Bacuii (b. 1219). The prose writers are chiefly historians who write in Lathi. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries form the era of metrical romances, borrowed largely from the French, of metrical chronicles, of Provencal poetry, and ballads. The works of Oim, and of Kobert of Gloucester, show that English is already beginning to be a distinct speech. Toward* a 3 x ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. the close of the period romances are given in prose. Italian poetry attains its highest point in Boccaccio (1313), in Dante (1321), and in Petrarch (1375), and begins to influence thought in England. William I., William n. (1087), Henry I. (noo) . . 1066-1135 Stephen, Henry II. (1154), Richard i. (n89 N . . . 1135-1199 John, Henry in. (1216), Edward i. (1272) . . . 1199-1307 Edward n. (1307-1327), Edward m. . . , . 1327-1377 For Authors and Events, see par. 30. LITERATURE: POETRY, HISTORY, THEOLOGY, SCIENCE, par. 12-30 ....... pnge 16-35 LANGUAGE, pai. 34-38 ...... 41-4? English Literature, A.D. 1350-1600. From EDWARD in. to ELIZABETH : from CHACCER to SHAKESPEARE. The FOURTEENTH CENTURY is the era of the beginning of the Reforma- tion under Wycliffe, of Crecj (1346), of the Great Plagues (1349, 1361. 1369), of Jack Straw (1381), of the victories of Halidon Hill (1333), and of Neville's Cross (1346). ENGLISH KINGS. POETS. PBOSE WBITEKS. OOTCH KINGS. Edw. n. 1328-1400 Chaucer. Chaucer. Robt. Bruce 1307-1327 Edw. m. 1343 Manning. 1360 Langlande. fl. 1579 \Vykehara. 1324-1384 Wvcliffe, 1306-1329 David n. 1327-1377 Richd. n. 1316-1396 T. Barbour. 1320-1402 Gower. fl. 1377 Fordun. fl. 1356 Mandeville, 1*29-137 Robt. ii. 1*771*99 1327, etc. Chester Mys- fl. 1360 Higden. 1370-1390 teries. 1360 Miuot and Roll e fl. 1385 Trevisa. FOURTEENTH CENTURY. LANGUAGE, par. 39-48 page 48-60 POETRY, introduction, par. 96-110, par. 111-115 . 97-120 PROSE, introduction, par. 289-291, pars. 292, 299, 300 . 333-344 The FIFTEENTH CENTURY contains few English poets of eminence; though rich in Scotch. The wars with France, and the wars of the Roses explain this blank. Towards the close of the century, classic learning revives, and printing is introduced by Caxton (1471). The prose is rude but full of promise. It is the age of Owen Glendower (1400), of Lollardism, of Agincourt (1415), of Jack Cade (1450), of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485), and of the discovery of America by Columbus (1492). ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. ENGLISH KINGS. POETS. PROSE WRITERS. SCOTCH KINGS. Henry iv. 1399. Henry v. 1413. Henry vi. 1422. Edw. iv. 1 550-1420 Wyntouu fl. 1420 Occleve. I375-!430 Lydgate. 1 394-14? 7 James i. (Scot.) fl. 1460 Blind Harry. 1412-1492 Caxton. 1430-1470 Forte scue. fl. 1450 Pecock. 1450-1535 Fisher. Robert in. ugc. James i. 1406. James n, 1461. Edw. v. Rich. in. fl. 1470 Hardyng. d. 1506 Hawes. fl. 1485 Mallorye. 1460-82 Paston Letters I4J7- James nr. 1460. 1483. Henry vn. 1485-1509. d. 1508 Henryson. fl. 1509 Barclay. fl. 1500 Colet. fl. 1509 Barclay. James rv. 1 188-15 u The SIXTEENTH CENTURY is distinguished in the earlier half of it by the extended progress of the revival of learning, the completion of the structure of the English language, the increased influence of Italian litera- ture, and the commencement of the regular drama. It is the age of tLs Reformation in England, of Luther (d. 1546), and of the Marian persecu- tions. It is also remarkable for the personal character of the principal European sovereigns: in England, Henry vm. (1509-1547) ; in Scotland, James V. (1513-1515) ; in Germany, Charles V. (1519-1556) ; in France, Francis I. (1515-1547); and at Rome, Leo X. (1513-1521). The latter half of the century is distinguished by the perfection of the drama, and the works of some of our greatest poets and prose- writers: Elizabeth 1558 1603. [The date after the name marks the year of death."] BIRTH. POETS AND DRAMATISTS. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. MISCELLANEOUS. 1460 Dunbar, 1520? ? Fabian, 1512 1474 G. Douglas, 1522 I Tyndale, 1536 1475 Skelton : : Latimer, 1555 Ridley, 1555 1480 1487 Coverdale, 1568 More, 1535 1490 Lyndsay, 1557 . . Cranmer, 1555 J495 1496 Bale, 1563 Maitland, 1586 Bale, 1563 C ? Hall, 1547 Pole, 1558 1500 * ' ( Lelaud, 1552 P. Martyr, 1562 1503 Wyatt, 1541 1504 . . . . Parker, 157; 1506 Buchanan, 1582 j Buchanan ") Fabyau j Knox, 1572 \ A. No well, 1601 1512 * ' i Beccn, 1570 1514 , . . Cheke, 1557 1515 . . . . . | Ascham, 1568 ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. BlBTU. POKTS AKD DBAMATISTS. HlSTOBIAXS. j THEOLOGIANS. F MtjCEmiiTKors. I5l6 Surrey, 1547 . Foxe, 1587 Gilplu, 158^ fl. I52O vaux 1520 Grimoald, 1563 t . Grindal, 1583 1,21 . . Stowe, 1605 1522 . . . . Jewel, 1571 f Berners fl.1530 Hunnis, 1568 , . . . 4 Bellendca ( filyot I52J { Edwards, 1566 Tusser, 1580 } ' * Bradford, 1555 1526 9 . Translators of E. Bible, 1526-1611 1529 , ^ 9 9 Turberville, 1594 ' ' { Calfhill, 1570 Whitgift, i(x>j I5>j . . Hakluyt, 1616 Dering, d. i5-;6 SM{ J. Harrington, > 1582 j ? Purchas fl. 1577 15?; . . Cartwright, 1603 d. 1556 Rochefort Sackviile, 1608 Holinshelfl.i58o 1540 Gascoigne, 1577 { Whitaker, 1595 1)00,1645 1549 m J. Rainolds, 1607 Broughton, 1611) Napier of Mer- chiston 1 Gentilis, 1611 a. 1550 Udall 1551 Camden, 1623 ' { Golding North fl. 1567 1552 Raleigh { Raleigh, 1618 1 Speed, 1629 j FBilson, 1616 I55J { E. Spenser, 1 599 J. Lyly, 1600 Donne, i6ji Hooker, 1600 f Lord Brooke* ) J55.j) 1628 y , Rollodc, 1598 1 Sidney, 1586 } IC-r R. Carew. Andre wes, 1676 d. 1556 Heywood . . WiLwn. 1581 Lodge (Hell- > con), 1625 J Mel vile, 1614 d. 1557 ^ Cavendish P- 557 Tottel's Miscel fl. 1558 Phaer 1558 { Xash, 1601 \\'amer, 1609 Perkins, 1602 Overall 1619 gS^Jfl-iSoo 1560 { Greene, 1592 Southwell, 1595 1561 { Sir J. Hairing- > ton, 1612 ) Bacon, 1626 ? P. Bayne, 1617 Bacon, i:6 fl.i 5 6 2 { A. Brooke Sternbold 1562 Gorboduc * 1562 Darnel, 1619 | Daniel, 1619 Speliuau, 1641 WilleU, 1621 Abbott, i6jj I5&JJ Martowe, 159? 1 SylTCster, ioi8V Drayton, i6ji ) ? Leslie. 1596 { Hildersham, i6ji R. Parson^ 1610 1564 Shakespeare, 161 6 1565 ' Gammer Gurton'SpotUwoode, 1677 Bp,0owper, 1619 ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. xiii The FIFTEENTH and SIXTEENTH CENTURIES. LANGUAGE, par. 49-93 ..... page 60-91 POETRY, par. 116-145 ..... 120-149 DRAMA, introduction, par. 240-247, par. 248-253 . 285-297 PROSE, par. 293-298, par. 301-317 . . . 337-3S& English Literature: The Seventeenth Century, A.D. 1600-1700. The SEVENTEENTH CENTURY is naturally divided into three parts : the first, the age of general literature, including the reign of James I. (1603-1625) ; the second, the age of theology, of political and ethical disquisitions, and of poetry as represented by Milton, the reign of Charles I. (1625-1649), and the Commonwealth (1649-1660); and the third, the age of the Restoration (1660), and of the Revolution (1688). The cen- tury is also remarkable as the era of the commencement in England of science, of ethics, and of newspapers. It was a time of great learning and of prodigious mental activity. BIRTH. POETS AND DRAMATISTS. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. MISCELLANEOUS. 1568 1568 H. Wotton, 1639 Baker, 1645 ? Knolles 1610 R. Bernard, 1641 H. Wotton ( Davies, 1626 J. Welch, 1622 1570 J Middleton. 1627 , Bedell, 1641 \ Ayton, 1638 , Boys, 1625 1572 ? Peele, 1590 Cotton, 1631 1573 Donne, 1631 t Laud, 1645 1574 { Bp. Hall, 1655 B. Jonson, 1637 F. Davison, 1616 CaldenvooJ, 1650 Gataker, 1654 1 Bp. Hall, 1656 ] B. Jonson, 1637 S. Crook, 1649 1576 J. Fletcher, 1625 J. Robinson, 1625 Burton, 1640. T ~MA f ' Paradise of I370 J DaintyDevices.' 1577 ( 1580 { Earl of Stirling, 1640 Ld. Herbert, 1648 Sibbes,i6j? Cameron, 1625 ") J. Jackson, 1640 j Overbnry, 1613 1580 F. Rous, 1659 1581 . Usher, 1656 1582 { Corbet, 1635 J. Beaumont, 1628 1584 { Massinger, 1640") P. Fletcher,i65o 3 Selden, 1654 J Dickson, 1662 Featley, 1645 Hales, 1656 1585 { W. Drummond, \ 1649 j . . Cotton, 1652 fl, 1585 Puttenham 1586 J F. Beaumont,i6i5 Ford, 1639 1 Mede, 1637 I G. Fletcher, 1623 J 1587 ? Webster, 1624 Godwyn, 1643 < Preston, 1625 Sanderson, 1663 1588 G. Wither, 1667 Hobbes. 1679 i *iv ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IX PERIODS. BIRTH. POETS AND DRAMATISTS. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. MISCELLANEOUS. 1590 W. Browne, 1645 ( Herrick, 1674 I 59 I ^ H. King, 1669 1592 159* F. Quarles, 1644 G.Herbert, 163 2 I. Walton, 1683 Hacket, 1670 J. Goodwin, 1665 1594 Shirley, 1650 1595 . . May, 1650 Farindon, 1658 1599 Chalkhill, 1679 Twysden, 1672 J E^y^oSs, 1 !^ Calamy, 1666 } 1600 'Fairfax, 16327 Dekker,i6j8 J P. Heylyn, 1662 B. Walton, 1661 1 Bridges, 1670 j Piynne, 1669 Goodwin, 1679 ) 1600 Carew, 1639 . . S. Marshall, 1655 Rntherford,i66ii 1602 1 Marston, 1634 } ? Crashaw, 1650 j Marsham, 1685 Lightfoot,i675l Trapp, 1669 ( Caryl, 1673 ) Chillingworth, -1644 1604 . . . . Pococke, 1691 Randolph, 1634 9 1605 Habington, 1654 SirW.Davenant, 1668 Whitelocke,i676 T.Sheppard, 1649 Dugdale, 1690 Hammond, f 1660 I Filmcr T. Bro\vne, 1682 Waller, 1687 1606 Rush worth, 1690 Bolton, 1654 1607 Fanshawe ^ 1608 Milton, 1674 T. Fuller, 1661 T. Fuller, 1661 Milton, 1674 1 Clarendon, 1674 t Hale, 1676 1609 ' ' I Bp.Wisheart,i67i . F. Roberts, 1675 1610 Whichcote, 1683 1611 1612 R.Cartwright,i643 S. Butler, 1680 Jenkyn, 168} Pearson, 1687 Harrington, 1677 ? Feltham, 1678 ( Suckling, 1641 t Leighton, 1684 1614 1615 Cleveland, 1658 Denham,* 1668 J. Taylor, 1667 More, 1687 Baxter, 1691 Wilkins, 1672 1616 . . . . Owen, 1683 | Wallis, 1703 L' Estrange, 1704 1617 H. Vanghan, 1695 Ashmole, 1692 Cudworth, i633 i6i8{ Cowley, 1677 > Lovelace, 1658 ) . . J. Smith, 1652 Oowley, 1677 1620 < Brown, 1666 ) Marvel, 1678 f Evelyn, 1706 < Cradock, 1706 Manton, 1706 1621 A. Sydney, 1684 Cross, 1705 1622 . . Clarkson, i636 1623 1624 Grammont, 1720 G.Fox M. Poole Sydenhain, 1689 1625 Stanley, 16-8 Stanley, 1678 Bates, 1699 1'atrick, 1707 1626 Aubrey, 1700 ^ ^ Boyle 1627 Bp. Lloyd, 1717 Flavel, 1691 Dalgamo, 1687 fl. 1628 Earle 1 Charnock, 1680 Temple, 1698 1628 ) Bunyan, 1688 Ray, 1705 ( 0. Heywood, 1702 Grew, 1711 1630 | C. Cotton, 1687 | E. Phillips,i686 J Dryden, 1700 Spencer, 1695 \ Barrow, 1677 ] Tillotson, 1694 Howe, 1705 ' P Henry ? Filmer, 1688 Dryden, 1730 | ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. BlBTII. POETS AKD DRAMATISTS. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. MrecELLAiraocs. l6j2 . . { Wood, 1695 I Pepys, 1703 | Cumberland, 1718 Locke, 1704 [ Allelne, 1668 1633 . . ' ' \ Hopkins, 1690 ] South, 1716 1634 Roscommon, 1684 . . G. Bull, 1710 1635 . . i . . { T. Burnet, 1715 Stillingfleet, 1699 Sprat, 171? Cave. 171? 1636 . . G.Mackenzie, 1 69 1 t Kuclijird, 1697 163-7 Dorset, 1705 { Beveridge, 1708 I Ken, 1710 3 163 8 { T. F.theredge, fl. 1670 i6j9 Sedley, 1701 d. 1640 T. Haywood 1640 1 Wycherley \ Shadwell, 1692 j J. Parker, 1687 Keach, 1704 1641 t W. Sherlock, 1707 Dodwell, 1711 1642 . ^ Traill, 1716 Newton, 1727 rA 4 > f G. Burnet, 1715 IO4J * ' I Strype, 1737 1644 Comber, 1699 Penn, 1718 I6 4 6 9 i 9 W. Wall, 1733 1647 Rochester, 1680 W.Stanley, 1731 Aldrich, 1710 I6 4 8 Settle, 1724 Prideaux, 1724 G. Barclay 1649 Sheffield, 1720 t . Kidder, 170? l650 1650 C. Leslie, 1722 Culverwell H. Scougal, 1678 Abp. King, 1729 Collier, 1716 1651 Otway, 1685 1656 4 m Nelson, 1715 1657 : : { Thoresby, 1725 W.Kennet, 1728 Norris, 1711 Tyndal, 1733 1660 . G. Stanhope, 1728 1661 Cleland, 1689 j Halifax, 17157 Kapin, 1725 3 . . De Foe, 1731 1662 . . { M. Henry, 1704 > Atterbury, 1732 3 'Bentley, 1742 1663 . T. Wilson, 1753 1664 Prior, 1721 1665 Garth, 1718 1667 { Swift, 1745 1 Pomfret, 1703 $ . . . Swift, 1745 Whiston, 1751 1668 Maundrell Bingham, 1723 Drake, 1707 1669 Congreve, 1728 { Bp. Gibson, 1 748) Toland, 1722 3 P. King, 1733 The SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. LANGUAGE, par. 94 . . . DRAMA, par. 254-269, par. 270-276 POETRY, par. 146-176, par. 177-187 . PIIOSE SCIENCE, par. 318-346 . HISTORY, par. 347-368 . MISCELLANEOUS, par. 369-373 THEOLOGY, par. 374-400 page 92 297-323 149-194 357-392 392-409 409-415 415-457 rri ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. English Literature; The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Not including living Writers. This period of one hundred and fifty years may be divided into four: the age of Anne and of George i. (1702-1727); the age of George II. (1727-1760); the age of George in. to the end of the century (1760- 1800) ; and the first fifty years of the present century. The first division is distinguished in prose by the greater correctness of the language and the vivacity and naturalness of the style. The poetry is highly polished and vigorous ; but degenerates in the middle of the century into tame common place. The second division is remarkable for the large increase of readers and of writers. It is the age of novels, as the third is the age of great historians. Prose, which in Queen Anne's day is remarkably easy and idiomatic, becomes in Johnson's hand stiff and elaborate. Poetry, towards the close of the century, combines polish with nature and feeling, and prose becomes at once vigorous and easy. The Eighteenth Century is the era of the commencement of periodical literature, and of political science. In the Nineteenth Century, all the good tendencies of the literature of the preceding are strengthened both in poetry and in prose. A fuller list of Theologians will be seen in par. 488, and of Ethical writers in par. 438. BIRTH. POETS AND DRAMATISTS. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. MISCELLANEOUS. 1670 t . Daubuz, 1740 Mandeville, 173* 1671 Gibber, 1757 Echard, 1730 Calamy, 1732 j R. Steele, 1729 Shaftesbury, 1713 1672 { Addison, 1719 1 Vaubrugh, 1726 J R. North, 1733 . . Addison, 1719 1673 Rowe, 1718 B. Kennett, 1714 Bennett, 1728 1674 Watte, 1748 Potter, 1747 Hutchinson, 1737 1675 A. Phillips, 1 749 Oldmixon, 1742 W.Harris, 1740 Arbuthnot, 1735 1676 J. Phillips, 1708 . . 1 Hoadley, 1761 C. Boyle, 1729 I | Bolingbroke, J 1678 Farquhar, I7O7< I75T ]S'eal, 1743 ( Bp. Sherlock, 1761 Hearne, 1735 I 1 Wodrow, 1734; 1679 Parnell, 1716 1681 Young, 1765 1683 Fenton, 1730 . . { Waterland, 1740 Middleton, 1750 1684 . . . . Lardner, 1768 Berkeley, 175* 1685 A. Hill, 1750 . . R. Erskine, 1752 I636J Tickell, 1740) Ramsay, 1757 f Carte, 1754 j W. Law, 1761 ) Delany, 1768 j" A. Baxter, 1750 1687 Stukeley, 1765 1688 ^ Pope, 1744 . W. Berriman, Gay, 1732 Gay, 1732 ^ 1*740 Pope, 1744 1689 1692 Somerville, 1742 T. Berriman, 1768 Bp. Butler, 1752 S.Richardson,i76i Amory, 1789 1694 Chesterfield, 1773 J.Maclaurin, 1754 Hutcheson, 1747 ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. ivn BIRTH. POETS AKD DRAMATISTS. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. VIlSCELLAKBOUS. 1696 Savage, 1745 . Glas,i77j A. Kames, 178: 1697 Green, 1734 Anson, 1762 J. GUI, 1771 1699 { Blair, 1746 ") J. Dyer, 1758 J . . Warburton, 1779 .Maclaurin,i746 i7ooj Thomson, 1748 Mallet, 1765 Seeker, 1768 \ Towgood, 1792 5 R Law, 1787 1702 t Doddridge, 1751 Doddridge, 1751 1703 , > J. Edwards, 1758 Wesley, 1791 Jenyns, 1787 1706 \ G. West, 1756 \ Browne, 1766 v Birch, 1766 Franklin, 1790 I Brooke, 1783 j 1708 . . Chatham, 1778 Hartley, 1757 1709 { 1710 Johnson, 1784 Armstrong, 17 79 Ld. Lyttelton) I77J ) J. Harris, 1780 Lowth, 1787 Johnson, 1784 Reid, 1790 1711 . . D. Hume, 1776 Wallin, 1-382 Tytler, 1792 1712 { E. More, 1 7 57 \ Glover, 1785 j ? N. Hooke, 1763 1713 f Sterne, 1768 1714 Shenstone, 1763 { Romaine, 179; *l Farmer, 1787 j Monboddo, 1799 1715 { Hawkesworth, 1773 Bryant, 1804 \ Harmer, 17883 Bryant, 1804 1716 Gray, 1771 1717 H.Walpole.1797 Orton, 1783 1718 . . R. Henry, 1790 1 Blair, 1800 Kennicott, 1783 1720^ Merrick, 1769 \ Collins, 1759 3 . . Kurd, 1808 | W. Harris, 1770 G. White, 1793 [ Akenside, 1770 j 1721] Grainger, 1766 \ Blacklock, 1791 j Robertson, 1 79 j Macknight, 1806 Smollett, 1771 1 Foote, 1777 J 1722! Smart, 1770 ") J.Warton.iSooi . . J. Brown, 1787 J. Warton, 1800 1723 . . { 31ackstone,i78o) R. Price, 1791 j Sandeman, 1771 < Reynolds, 1792 A. Smith, 1790 1724 1725 Armstrong, 1805 W. Mason, 1797 Gilpin, 1804 Kippls, 1795 { J. Newton, 1807 H. Venn, 1797 Ferguson, 1816 C. Reeve, 1803 Murphy, 1805 1726 . . . IxJ. Haiies, 1792 1728 \ Goldsmith, 1774) Percy, 1811 > T. War ton, 1790) Goldsmith, 1774 Orme, 1801 Parkhurst, 1797 Gerard, 1795 i73o| Scottof Anrwell,! 1783 Falconer, 1769 J Burke, 1797 ") Bruce, 1794 J Bp. Home, 1792 Home, 1792 i73i { Cowper, 1800 i Churchill, 1764 J Grose, 1800 Porteus, 1808 Cowper, 1800 I7J2 Darwin, 1802 ( . . G. Sharp, 1813 l Horsley, 1806 ' 1733 , . . . \ Hallifax, 1790 Priestley, 1804 ( Priestley, 1804 7M Mickle, 1788 Booth, 1806 wj Langhorne,i779') Seattle, 1803 J . . Beattie, 1803 1736 H. Tooke, 1812 7J7 . Gibbon, 1794 1 Bp.Watson,i8i6 Geddes, 1802 J T. Paine 1809 rviii ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PE1WDS. BlBTH. POKTS AND DaAXATISTS. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. MISCELLANEOUS. 1738 { Macpherson, 1796 Wolcot, 1819 1740 { Junius (Sir P. 7 Francis) 1818 j Boswell, 1795 I74J ' ' { Mitford, 1827 7 Malone, 1812 J Paley, 1805 j B. Edwards, 1800 Paley, 1805 I745-! Roberts, 1791 Dibdin, 1814 Dibdin, 1814 ) DeLolme,i8o7) R. Hill, 1833 H.Mackenzie, 1 83 1 ( Hay ley, 1820 J.Nichols, 1 826! 1746 { Sir AV. Jones, 1792 Grattan, 1820') W.Russell, 1794 y Sir W. Jones, 1792 1747 , , Coxe, 1829 J Jos. Milner, 1797 Scott, 1821 U. Price, 1829 Playfair, 1819 1748 Logan, 1788 ( Parr, 1825 Beutham, 1832 1749 a J. FOX, 1806 1750 1751 Fergusson. 1774 Sheridan, 1817 Is. Milner, 1820 T. Erskine, 1823 Sheridan, 1816 1752 Chatterton, 1770 F. Burney, 1840 I75J 1754 1756 Crabbe, 1832 Gifford, 1826 Roscoe, 1831 j Maurice, 1824 Gifford, 1826 Ryland, 1825 j Blayney, 1801 | Kirwan, 1805 W. Belsharn, 1828 G. Ellis, 1815 D.Stewart, 1828 W. Godwin, 1836 J757 1758 1759 Sotheby, 1833 Bums, 1796 < Pinkerton, 1825 A. Chalmers, Marsh, 1839 7 Alison, 1839 5 Simeon, 1836 VVilberforce, 1833 A. Alison, 1839 T.Gisborne, 1825 W.Pitt, 1806 Porson, 1808 1762 Bowles, 1850 . . . W. Cobbett, 1835 1763! Rogers, 185; 7 Hurdis, 1801 J S. Palmer. 1764 1765 1766 Grahame, 1811 Bloomfield, 1823 Mackintosh, 1832 R. Hall, 1831 Magee, 1831 A. RadclifTe, 1823 Mackintosh, 1832 Malthus, 1836 1767 f Edge worth, 1849 fVJ 1768 ' S. Turner, 1847 Boothroyd, 1836 T.Hope, 1831 1769 { Kelly, 1855 I Mrs. Opie, 1853 i . . . . Mrs. Opie, 1853 1770] Hogg, 1835 ) Wordsworth, > Fosbroke, 1842 J. Foster, 1843 \ 1850 J ( W. Scott, i8ja ) Montgomery, > 1854 ' I M. Park, 1805) Lingard, 1851 j" a Smith. i&4< JJJJi 1774 Coleridge, 1834 ) Cary, 1844 / Mrs. Tighe, 1810 Southey, 1843 Coleridge, i834J J. Mill, 1836 Southey, 1843 Richmond, 1827 T. M'Crie, 1835 Pye Smith, 1851 M'Crie, 1835 Ricardo, 1823 F. Jeffrey, 1850 i' Lieyden, 1811 ] H. Smith, 1839 I | liss Austen, 1817 L. E. L., 1838 [ C. Lamb, 1835 1 ' J. Jebb, 1833 < C. Lamb, 1835 Wj3. Landor, 1 864 Landor, 1864 J J777 |T. Campbell, 1844! _ ^ J. Davison, 1834 1778 j . . (Halluu, 1859) lHazlitt, i? jo/ Dr. T. Brown.iSao ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN PERIODS. six 1 BIRTH. POETS AND D*A1IATIST3. HISTORIANS. THEOLOGIANS. MISCELLANEOUS. 1779 { J. Smith, 1844 Moore, 1852 } . . Wardlaw, 1853 1780 1781 Croly, 1860 E. Elliott, 1849 Chalmers, 1847 R. Watson T. Chalmers, 1 847 M. Russell, 1848 1783 R. Heber, 1826 1784 < Cunningham, ) 1842 I . L. Hunt, 1859 I ( L. Hunt, 1859 J Wilson, 1854 Dr. J. Brown, Prof. Wilson, 1785 1 K. White, 1806 1859 1854 1788 1 Pringle, 1854 Byron, 1824 Sir W. Hamilton, 1856 1789 Conder, 1855 1791 1792 C Wolfe, 1823 Shelley, 1822 . Marryatt, 1848 179*1 1794 Mrs.Hemans, 1835 Clare, 1864 } ; ; A. W. Hare, 1834 E. Burton, 1856 Lockhart, 1854 Keats, 1821 Arno'ld, 1842 J. C. Hare, 1848 1796 H. Coleridge, 1849 1797 H. Bayley, 1839 1798 { Moir, 1851 Hood, 1845 1799 A. Watts, 1864 1800 Macaulay, 1859 Macaulay, 1859 The EIGHTEENTH and NINETEENTH CENTURIES, not including living writers. LANGUAGE, par. 95 . . . . . . pnge 93 POETRY, Eighteenth Century, par. 188-220 . . 196-240 ,, Nineteenth Century, par. 221-239 . . 240-283 DRAMA, Eighteenth Century, par. 277-285 . . 3*3-3 7 9 Nineteenth Century, par. 286-288 . . 329'33 2 PROSE (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries) M .SCELLANEOUS, 45 8 ~5 3 . . 53-53 . . 53-57 par. 401-435 SCIENCE, par. 436-457 . THEOLOGY, par. 458-488 . HISTORY, par. 489-513 . PROSE, FICTION, or NOVELS, par. 514-544 CONCLUSION ..... 599-636 636-640 Lords and Oommous of England ! Consider what nation it is whereof ye *rc. and v/hereof ye are the governors: a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenuous, and piercing spirit; acute to invent; subtle and sinewy to discourse; not beneath the reach of any point tbe highest that human capacity can soar to. . . . Yet that which is above all this, the favour and the love of Heaven, we have great argument to think in a peculiar manner propitious and propending to us. ' When there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions: for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.' MILTON, Areopagitica,. ' Time was when it was praise and tx>ast snough In every clime, and travel where we might, That we were born her children. Praise enough To fill the ambition of a private man, That Chatham's language was his mother tongue.' COWPEB, Tatk. Man is a thinking being, whether he will or no : all he can do Is to turn hl thoughts the best way.' SIB W. TEMPLE, Miscellanies. It seems little to be perceived how much of the great scriptural idea of tie worldly and the unwwlctty is found to emerge in literature as well as in life.' DB QOIKCET. 1 We must be free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake : the faith and morals hold Which Milton held. In everything we are sprung Of earth's first blood, have titles manifold.' WOEDSWOKTH, SoWldS. ' Polite literature will continue will necessarily continue to be the grand school of intellectual and moral cultivation- The evils, therefore, which it may contain will as certainly affect in some degree the minds of the successive students as the hurtful influence of the climate or the seasons will affect then- bodies. To be thus affected, is a part of the destiny under which we are bern in a civilized country. it is indispensable to acquire the advantage; it is lamentable to incur the evil. ... All that I can do is to urge on the reader of taste the very serious duty of continually recallins to his mind the real character of the religion of the New Testament and the reasons which command an inviolable adherence to it.' FOSTEP, THE HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATUEE, CHAPTER I. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE, A.D. 449-1066. 1. INTRODUCTORY: Literature: its Influence and Suggest! veness. 2. English Literature most influential and suggestive. 3. Divisions of : Anglo-Saxon: Anglo-Norman: English. 4. The Kelts, or British, and their Literature. 5. Anglo-Saxon Settlers: their Language and Religion. 6. Their Poets and Poetry. 7. Beowulf, Caedmon, etc. 8. Prose : Alfred, ^Ifric. 9. The Literature of the Anglo-Saxon Tongue. IO. Illustrations. ir. Table of Anglo-Saxon Writers. ' The study of our ancient mother-tongue is an important, I may say an essential, part of a complete English education ; and although it is neither possible, nor in any way desirable, to reject the alien constituents of the language, yet there is reason to hope that we may recover and re- incorporate into the English language many a gem of rich poetic wealth that now lies buried in more forgotten depths than even those of Chaucer's " well of English undefiled." ' MARSH'S Lectures on the English Language. I. THE literature of a people is the collection of its thoughts ratnre ai1 ^ sent ^ ments 5 tne record of all it has done and what* Its in- taught. These thoughts and sentiments express cha- fluence. racter, and they mould it. They are the outward sign of the genius of one generation, and they become the inward life of the following. Literature, therefore, in itanlf n 2 B 2 INTRODUCTORY. noble inheritance, is an expression of the state of society, and it is also its soul. It is the outcome of the mental life, and that life it quickens and regenerates ; or that life it weakens and destroys. Homer, to take one example, is not only rich in poetic thought, but he is the type of the heroic greatness of Greece, and to him we learn to trace much of her subsequent civilization. All great books to formulate facts that belong to every nation and age are precious in themselves, while they throw a double light on the times out of which they spring, and on the times they help to form. a. Of all literature, that of England is one of the richest, and Fn lish litera- to an Englishman the most suggestive. It is the tie fits in-*" literature of a language which Jacob Grimm has pro- nounced one of the noblest in the world ; a language with which none of our day can compete ; a language that is at once a harmonious organ of reason and of imagination, of poetry and of philosophy. It is the literature of a people which com- bines, as no other nation in Europe has combined, the qualities of the Gothic and Romance minds, the sober thought and profound views of the one with the humour, the wit, the clearness, the geniality of the other. It is the literature of a people among whom, ever since the days of Piers Ploughman and Wycliffe, and for five hundred years, men have been taught to think and speak freely ; and every one knows how freedom is conducive to ori- ginality and vigour. It is the literature of a people, above all,- who have studied and written amid the light and blessings of evangelical truth and of the highest civilization. And, in fact, it 13 a literature unsurpassed, and perhaps unequalled, by that of any other nation on earth. There is no literature that embodies nobler sentiments and sublimer truths, or that expresses them in more beautiful forms ; nor is there any that better illustrates the great principles that underlie all true progress, and that tend to promote it. * Any that better illustrates the principles of progress/ say rather, that illustrates them so well. More than any other, Eng- lish literature is the expression of the character of the nation and of its history. The insular position of our country, and her early separation from Normandy, facts to which Macaulay ascribes her nationality and independence, have freed us from DIVISIONS OF HISTORY. 3 those complications which have influenced the destiny and moulded the institutions of most continental nations. But for these advantages, we should have had our ' schools ' and ' styles ' modifying from without, not only our language or the works of particular authors, but the entire thought and utterance of the nation ; whereas now our literature is our own, and has always maintained a self-originated and self-guided existence. Hence it is that English literature is so often a comment on English history. It represents the tastes of the times, the changes the country has undergone, its advance in knowledge, its achieve- ments in art, its triumphs over physical nature, its whole social being. It is, in short, the reflection of the national life, an exhi- bition of the principles to which we owe our freedom and pro- gress : a voice of experience speaking for all time, to any who are willing to hear. No nation could have originated it but in cir- cumstances like those of England ; and no nation can receive and welcome it without reproducing in its life the image of our own. 3. The close connection between the literature and the history of our country suggests a natural division of its literary annals. They may be arranged under three distinct periods : The ANGLO-SAXON period, beginning with the Anglo-Saxon . . invasions of the fifth century, and ending six hundred and fifty years later in the Norman Conquest; a period that answers to the Dark Ages in the general history of Europe : The SEMI-SAXON and NORMAN-ENGLISH period, beginning with the Conquest in 1066, and extending through four and a half centuries to the accession of Henry vm., or to the time of the Reformation ; a period that answers to the Middle Ages in the history of Europe : and The ENGLISH period, from the time of the Reformation to our own day ; a period of three and a half centuries : the modern times of all Christendom. It must be carefully noted, however, that if the historical epoch is created by forces acting on the national mind rather than by forces that spring out of it, the corresponding literary epoch is later than the historical. The true Anglo-Saxon period in literature, and the true Anglo-Norman period, for example, B 2 4 KELTS OR BRITISH. [A.D. 449. date really a century, or even two centuries, subsequent to the great invasions to which they owe their name and their origin. On the other hand, if the historical epoch is the result of internal change, as was the case largely with the Reformation, the literary epoch is contemporary with the historical, or it even precedes it, Hence, the Anglo-Saxon literature extends far into the Anglo- Norman period ; while we have much of the freedom and vigour that belong to the sixteenth century the .Reformation era in the writings and institutions of the fourteenth or fifteenth. In fact for literature, the English period begins with Chaucer and the close of the fourteenth century, and may be reckoned up to our own age, as extending over about four hundred and fifty years. 4. The occupants of Britain before the invasion of the Anglo- The British Saxons were Kelts. Tribes of the same great race and their occupied the whole Western shores of Europe. On ure ' the Continent the Roman conquerors entered into close relations with the vanquished, diffusing among them their customs and speech. Hence it is that there the Latin tongue, though in its later forms grafted on the native Keltic, formed Spanish, French, and Portuguese, while in England there was no such change. The Keltic language remained uninfluenced by the presence of the invaders ; and a few productions of the bards of this race are said to have come down to our times, though the genuineness of them is a matter of dispute.* * Among these writers are Gildas, to discriminate between the real and mentioned by Bede, and said to be the fabulous deeds of this British worthy. author of a tract, De Excidio Britannia, See Hallam, Introduction to the Litera* and the Welsh or British authors, t ure of Europe, i. 35. King Arthur is Taliesin, Merdhin, Tysilio, and others. said to have died in 542, aged 41. The history of the first is discussed by Among the wri tings of Irish Kelts Wright, Biog. Brit. Lit., p. 115; the are bardic songs and historical le- genuineness of the works ascribed to gends. Some of these are as old at the last, by Turner, Anglo-Seasons, vol. least ^ the 9 th - century, the date of iii. The authenticity of the history of the legendary collection called Trie Arthur is connected with the genuine- Psalter of Cashel. It is said also that ness of these writings ; for though Ar- in the Annals of Tigernach, in the thur's history is given most fully in Annals of the Five Masters, and in such Geoffrey of Monmouth (see par. 17), it is local records as the Annals of Innisfalten from these earlier documents it pro- and Ulster, we have the facts and the fesses to be taken. Mr. Whitaker has words of chronicles that date from the attempted, in his History of Manchester, fifth century I066.J ANGLO-SAXONS. 5 5. The Anglo-Saxons came not as invaders only, but as An lo-Saxon sett ^ erSt ^ or a hundred years they poured into the setters: their country, and occupied a large proportion of the reUgkln? and island > as far northward as the shores of the Forth. In a few generations their language and customs had become as prevalent as the modern English tongue became, a thousand years later, in the United States. A form of Saxon, called Anglo-Saxon, was the language they spoke, and was soon known to them by the name of English only. It is really an amalgamated double form of the old Gothic, as developed and spoken by them in these islands. Everywhere throughout England it was substantially the same language, though modified by the circumstances of the country, and the successive invasions of various Saxon and Danish tribes. Some" have supposed that the language had various dialects, and that these dialects belong to different periods of our history, the Britanno-Saxon marking the first three hundred and fifty years of the Saxon occupancy, the Dane-Saxon the last two hundred and fifty, and the Normanno-Dano-Saxon the time from the Con- quest to the death of Henry u., when the language became Semi- Saxon. But in fact two of these three divisions are contempora- neous, and each is distinct from pure Anglo-Saxon. This last is the language of King Alfred, who had an intense fondness for Anglo-Saxon writings ; and it was used throughout the southern and western parts of England. The Dano-Saxon, or Dano-Anglo-Saxon rather, was the language of those districts which the Danes invaded, especially of the north of England and the south of Scotland. The Britanno-Saxon has left no fragment. That the two former prevailed in different districts, rather than at different times, is clear from the fact that we find traces of the Danish element in the MSS. of one convent, and not in the contemporary or later MSS. of another. This Anglo-Saxon was our language for six or seven hundred years. b B Dr. Hickes. in the ancient Mercia, where the two b The dialects of the Anglo-Saxon dialects blend. The purest modern are rather geographical than chrono- English is found in the same district- logical. There are marked traces of an part of the Midland Counties : the dis- Anglian-Saxon spoken in the north and trict least influenced by Keltic and Dan- on the east coast of England, and of a ish influences on the one side, or, later, Southern, and West Saxon. The stan- by Norman influences on the other. See dard dialect would be naturally found GAKNETT'S Philological Essays. 1859. 6 ANGLO-SAXON POETS. i A.D. 4*0- When the Saxons landed in England, an ancient British Church already existed there. They were themselves pagans ; warlike and wild, with blue eyes and flowing hair. Within two centuries of their landing, they were nominally converted to Christianity : the northern settlers, Bede tells us, by missionaries from lona ; the southern, by Augustine. ^Ifric states in his homily on the birthday of Gregory, that the new religion found a hearty response among them, and that they were an illiterate but thoughtful people. * The life of man/ said an Ealdorman sum- moned by Edwin, king of Northumberland, to a ' meeting of the Wise,' to consider the propriety of receiving the Christian faith, ' is like a sparrow that in the winter flieth into a great hall Out of the winter it cometh to return unto the winter eftsoons. What goeth before it, and what cometh after, we know not Where- fore if this new rule bring aught more certain and more advan- tageous, then is it worthy we should know it.' And so without much intelligence, but with practical good sense, they embraced the new faith. They built monasteries and went on pilgrimages. Their priests sang psalms, copied evangels, and illuminated manuscripts drinking the while somewhat freely out of wooden goblets and buffalo horns. Two kings at least, Hardicanute and Edmund, died in a drinking revel ; and priests and people seern to have indulged ID the same excesses. Nor is it surprising that Alfred, looking on these evils should exclaim, 'Oh, Maker of all, Creator; help now the miserable mankind !' 6. What remains of their literature is but scanty. We hear Their ts v i ces but OD ^y na ^ understand them ; we spell out fragments, and find they end abruptly, as if the strains had died upon the poet's lips. Between two fragments in the same volume a century will sometimes elapse and leave no trace. This literature, in short, is no modern palace of story or of song, but a weather- stained ruin with mouldering walls, and here and there a roofless chamber ; yet it contains beautiful pillars, honourable names, and precious inscriptions, deserving not only scrutiny, but admiration. Some of the early poets of the Anglo-Saxons must have been, like the wandering minstrels of France, of no high character for ability or for virtue. King Edgar blames the clergy of his day 68o.] POETRY : BEOWULF, C^EDMON. 7 for entertaining * glee-men ' in their monasteries, where they kept up singing and drinking till midnight ; and he warns them not to become what he calls ' ale-poets.' Those, however, whose works remain must have been of a better order. They are sceepas, shapers, makers, poets in the highest sense. They sang of heroes, of death-struggles, and moral truth, or in their cloisters turned Scripture itself, or Scripture story, into fitting rhymes and song. In looking into their poetry, the first thing we notice is the Etructure of the verse. The rhythm depends on initial alliteration in emphatic syllables, sometimes with rhyme, oftener without it. The lines are most of them exclamatory, and made the more vigorous by the absence of particles. ' The verses ring,' as Long- fellow has expressed it, * like the sharp blows of the hammer upon the anvil ;' and the impression is deepened by the meta- phorical language and quick transitions of the poetry. Flali mah /liteth, The strong dart flitteth, .Flan man hwiteth, The spear man whetteth, .Burg sorg fciteth, The town sorrow biteth, .Z?ald aid thwiteth, The bold age quelleth, Wraec-fsec tcriteth, Wreck suspicion worketh, Wrath ath smiteth. Wrath the city smitth. 7. One of the oldest relics of Anglo-Saxon literature, and the Beowulf. oldest epic poem in any modern language, is Ctedmon. Beowulf. It consists of forty-three cantos, with about six thousand lines. It was probably composed in Sleswick, and was brought over about the close of the fifth century. It was first published at Copenhagen, in 1815, and was translated by J. M. Kemble. The style is simple, and generally wanting in metaphor. It is often prosaic, but, as a whole, forms an instruc- tive study. It is the picture of ' an age, brave, generous, and right- principled.' b The poem opens with a description of King Hrothgar in his great hall of Heort. Not far off, in the fens of Jutland, dwelt a grim giant, the descendant of Cain. This giant used often to visit the king's palace ' to see how the Danes found themselves after their ale-carouse.' On one of his visits he killed thirty Exeter MSS., published by W. J. etc., by J. M. Kemble. M.A., Lond., i8jj Conybeare. & Translation of, etc., by J. M. Kemble The Anglo-Saxm poems, Beoivutf, M.A., Lond., 1837. 8 ANGLO-SAXON POETS. [A.D. 680- inmates, and ever after the whole land was kept in fear of death. At length Beowulf, the Thane of Higelac, heard of his evil deeds, and resolved to deliver the land of his brother Hrothgar. With fifteen followers he sailed for the court of Heort, fought the giant, tore off one of his arms, and hung it up on the palace walls. Retiring to his cave, ' the grim ghost ' died, and thereupon there was great rejoicing. One night, however, there arose a great trouble ; the mother of the giant having appeared at Heort, and carried off one of the ' beer-drunken heroes of the ale- wassail,' Beowulf delivered him out of her hands, and after many adventures killed the old woman with a magic sword, and let her heathen soul out of its ' bone-house,' the body. Beowulf then ascended the throne of Heort, and later, died of wounds received while struggling with a 'fire-drake,' or dragon of wondrous powers. The next and the most important work of this era is Csedmon's paraphrase of portions of Holy Writ. He was a Northumbrian, first a lay brother, then a monk of Whitby, and died in 680. He is sometimes referred to as the father of Anglo-Saxon poetry, be- cause his name stands first on the list of our native poets ; some- times as the Anglo-Saxon Milton, because he sang of Lucifer and of Paradise Lost. The first part of his poems contains portions of the Old Testa- ment ; the second contains scenes from the New, and is chiefly occupied with Christ's ' descent into hell,' a favourite theme in old times as well as in the Middle Ages, when the ' Harrowing of Hell,' as it was called, became a popular play-miracle.* The writer is an earnest, simple-minded man. God he calls the ' Blithe-hearted King,' b the Patriarchs are Earls ; Abraham is a ' wise-heedy man,' c a ' guardian of bracelets ' (wealth), and a ' mighty Earl.' The sons of Reuben are Vikings (warriors, or sea-pirates), and the Ethiopians are ' a people brown with the hot coals of heaven.' d A third poem is a mere fragment. Judith of the Apocrypha is the heroine, and it describes the death of Holofernes in a very a See par. 241. d Csedmon's Metrical Paraphrases of b The 'Blessed God' of the New parts of Holy Scripture in English. Testament. Translated by Benjamin Thorpq F.S.A, c The 'prudent man' of the New Lond., i8jz. Testament. ic6s.] PROSE WRITERS: ALFRED. 9 spirited and even brilliant style. a A fourth is The Death of Byrnoth and the Battle of Holdout Shorter than this is the old poem of the Battle of Finnesburh, a battle of great slaughter that took place at one of the continental settlements of the Anglo- Saxons. Another narrative poem has interest from its connection with Shakespeare's name. It is the chronicle of King Leir and his Daught&rs, and is written in Norman-Saxon. It has small merit as a poem. Cordelia, the gentle daughter, is at last queen over England, though Maglandus, King of Scotland, thinks it a ' mochel same (shame) that a Cwene solde be kinge in thiss land.' Besides these poems, there are in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle five odes of dates ranging from A.D. 938 to 1065. The earliest is the Battle of Brunan Burh, which has been several times translated. To these must be added the Poetic Calendar of King Alfred, a chronicle of saints and martyrs, and the version of the Metres of Boethius, ascribed, more or less probably, to him. c There are also large collections of poems on various subjects, hymns, allegories, and enigmas, in MSS., still preserved in our public libraries. Of these the Exeter MS. is the most remarkable. It was given by Bishop Leofric to the cathedral of Exeter in the eleventh century, and is described as an ' English boc on everything worked in verse.' It was published in 1842 by the Society of Antiquaries, and under the editorship of Benjamin Thorpe. 8. Among Anglo-Saxon prose works, the first place is due to Proge . the Anglo-Saxon laws, the Anglo-Saxon charters, and Alfred, the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. The first and second of ^ lfria these extend from Ethelbert to Canute ; d the Anglo- Saxon chronicle from the middle of the sixth to the middle of the twelfth century, being written by contemporaneous authors, chiefly monks of Winchester, Peterborough, and Canterbury. There are also the works of King Alfred, the ' Truth-teller,' as they called him. The events of the life of this great king are See the original in Analecta Anglo- tutes of England, etc., edited by B. Saxonica. By B. Thorpe, Loud., 1834. Thorpe, and published by the Record b In Thorpe's Analecta, A transla- Commission, 1840, and the Codex Diplo- tlon may be seen in Illustrations of maticus ^Evi Saaconici, Opere J. M. Anglo-Saxon Poetry, by J. J. Conybeare, Kemble, 2 vols., 1839-40. The Laws Lond., 1826. may be seen also in Lambard's ArcJiaio- See Turner's Anglo-Saxons, iii., p. 86, nomia, Lond., 1568, or in Wilkins' Leges and Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit., p. 400. Anglo-Saxmicse, Lond., 1721. d See The Ancient Laws and Insti- 10 ANGLO-SAXON PROSE WRITERS. well known. His battles, his flight into Somerset, his poverty and sufferings, wherein ' he was to be bruised as an ear of corn ;' his stay with the swineherd, where his cake- watching was so unsatisfactory and so needful, for the dame reminded him that he was a great eater,' his successful rally of the country, his victories, and his glorious reign, all are known. But his literary character is less known. * True nobility,' said he, 'is in the mind, not in the flesh. I wish to leave after me when I die my memory in good works.' Among these are his translations of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care, of the Universal History of Orosius, of the Consolations of Boethius, of Bede's Ecclesias- tical History, and of parts of the Bible. Though known chiefly as a translator, Alfred has incorporated with most of his transla- tions reflections of his own. To the soliloquies of St. Augustine he adds prayers; to the History of Orosius, an outline of the state of Germany ; and to the Consolations of Boethius, thoughts * not unworthy either of the original author or of the theme.' The literature of the Anglo-Saxons was cultivated chiefly in the North. Beyond the Humber, at Beverley, Wearmouth, Jarrow, and Hexham, were monasteries long celebrated for learn- ing. South of the Thames, Alfred tells us, the Anglo-Saxon tongue was but little known. Other remains of the Anglo-Saxon age are the Tale of Apollonius of Tyre, the Colloquies and Homilies eighty of them, besides other writings of Abbot ,5Clfric, b of Canterbury ; and a large number of inferior writings, poetical, historical, and religious. A full account of these last may be seen in Wright's Biographia Brit. Lit. 1842, and in Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons. Keeping in mind the number of these authors, Wright enumerating some fifty or sixty, fragments of whose works remain ; the diversity of subjects discussed science by Aldhelm, John of Beverley, and Ethelwold of Glastonbury ; dogmatic theology and literature by Bede, Alcuin, and Winfrid (Boniface) ; practical theology by JElfric and Wulfstan (Bp. Lupus) and the eminence which several of them gained on the Continent, Win- 'Tha thu mycel ete eart.' Asser, ponent of many of the innovations of the quoted by Turner and Longfellow. Church of Rome. Indeed, the writings b ^Ifric, who also wrote a Latin of the Anglo-Saxons were first examined Grammar, a Glossary, and a Manual of in modern times for the help they gave Astronomy, is known as a strenuous op- to the doctrines of the Reformation. GENERAL CHARACTER. 11 frid as missionary Alcuin, educated at York, as teacher, and Erigena, the Irishman, as theologian, we must judge highly of the thinking power of the Anglo-Saxon race. Their mind seems to have been Teutonic slow and solid ; and they were liable to sink into those habits of indolent ease which most writers from Alfred to Scott have ascribed to them. But when they had mingled for some time with the Scandinavians, the Danish tribes that had settled on the northern coast and gained supremacy under Canute, and when, besides, they had acquired somewhat firmer elements of character, they became prepared for greater menial activity and higher literary culture, for political order, and for vigorous self-government. And these elements of national growth the Norman Conquest supplied. Morally regarded, the Anglo-Saxon literature is very remark- able. Its poetry wants the pathos which inspired the songs of the ancient Cymri, the passion that made the writings of the troubadours so popular, the imagination that revelled in the sagas of the North, the legendary lore that gives interest to the history of the beginning of most nations. Its prose is also eminently sober and practical, now and then rising into sentiment, though generally dealing plainly with facts. But both poetry and prose were evidently the productions of men who sought to raise the character of the people and to improve their social condition. Practical and moral are the epithets that best describe both ; nor is it difficult to believe that their literary men were animated by the very spirit that has ruled among their latest descendants. 9. The study of Anglo-Saxon has increased of late years, but Literature of ** * s st ^ w i tnout a ll the facilities and encouragement the Anglo- it needs. Attention to the language began in the Saxon tongue, gjxtgenth cen tury, when MSS. were collected in large numbers by Archbishop Parker and Sir Kobert Cotton, Parker's collections being preserved in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Cotton's in the British Museum. In 1571, Fox, the martyr- ologist, and Wm. Plsle, under the auspices of Parker, published the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels, and some of the Homilies of ^Elfric. Their facilities for study, however, were too few to enable them to make much progress. About the middle of the seventeenth century, the Spelmans (Henry and John), Gibson, Whelock, and Francis Junius, studied the language with greater helps and on better principles. The most important publications 12 HELPS TO STUDY" OF ANGLO-SAXON. [A.D. 15;!- connected with Anglo-Saxon literature, from this period to the close of the last century, were the following: 1639. Ecclesiastical Lavs and Constitutions (Concilia Decreta, etc.), by Sir Henry Spelman ; 1640. Anglo-Saxon Psalter, by the younger Spelman ; 1645. Alfred's Bede and the Saxon Chronicle, published at Cambridge ; 1655. Ccedmon, by Junius ; 1659. Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, by William Somner, the first published ; 1684. The Anglo-Saxon Four Gospels, with a Gothic version, edited by Junius ; 1689. Anglo-Saion Grammar, by Dr. George Hickes, the first that appeared ; 1692. The Saxon Chronicle, by Edmund Gibson, a more accurate text than that of 1645 ; 1698. Alfred's Boethius, by Rawlinson; 1699. Heptateuch, by Thwaites; 1 701. Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary, by Thomas Benson ; 1 705. Thesaurus of Northern Languages, by Dr. Hickes ; 1 71 1. Benson's Vocabulary and Hickes, Thesaurus, abbreviated, by Thwaites ; 1715. Anglo-Saxon Grammar, by Elizabeth Elstob, a niece of Dr. Hickes 1721, 1737. Anglo-Saxon Laics, by Wilkins; 1722. Alfred's Bede, by John Smith; 1772. Dictionary, by Nye and Manning; 1773. Alfred's Translation of Orosius, by Daines Barrington. la 1750 an Anglo-Saxon professorship was founded at Oxford, and in 1795 the first professor was appointed. The revival of the study of Anglo-Saxon literature in the present century we owe largely to foreign scholars. In 1815, Thorkelin, a Dane, published Beowulf. A few years later, Eask and Grimm applied a sounder philology to the study of the language. The former published a Gramrnar (1817), and the latter included the Anglo-Saxon in his Deutsche Grammatik, 1822-1831. Meanwhile our own scholars turned their attention to it Ingram, J. J. Conybeare, and Thorpe. Grammars have been issued by Gwilt, Lisson, Hunter, Bos worth, and Vernon. Thorpe also has prepared an improved translation of Rask (1830), which is now on the whole the best grammar of the tongue. Dr. Bosworth's smaller Dictionary (1838) is a portable and accessible volume, while his larger one is very full and valuable. Nor ought the names of Cox, Madden, White, Guest, Fox, Wright and Phillips to be omitted.* There is still room, however, for See White's OmuZim, preface, p. lir, etc. i8 3 8.J SPECIMENS. 13 further research, and it is generally believed that a more thorough and scholarly examination of Anglo-Saxon literature will throw light both on the etymology and the syntax of our tongue. SPECIMENS. 10. THE SAILING or BEOWULF. Famous was Beowulf; Wide sprang the blood Which the heir of the Shylds Shed on the lands. His ship they bore out To the hum of the ocean, And his comrades sat down At their oars as he bade : A word would control His good fellows the Shyldas. Then all the people Cheered their loved lord, The giver of bracelets. On the deck of the ship He stood by the mast. W. TAYLOR Historical Survey of German Poetry. Three vols* bond., 1828. , TUB FIRST DAT C^EDMON. There had not here as yet Save cavern shade Aught been ; But this wide abyss Stood deep and dim Strange to its lord Idle and useless ; Here first shaped The Lord Eternal, Chief of all creatures, Heaven and earth ; The firmament upreared And this spacious land Established, By his strong powers, The Lord Almighty. THORPE'S Ctedmon, Metrical Para- phrase, Lend., i8j2. THE DEATH OP EDGAR 975 Here ended His earthly dreams. Edgar, of Angles king, Chose him other light, Serene, and lovely. Spuming this frail abode, A life that mortals Here call lean He quitted with disdain. July the month, By all agreed In this our land, Whoever were In chronic lore Correctly taught. The day the eighth, When Edgar young, Rewarder of heroes, His life, his throne, resigned. The Saxon Chronicle, with an English translation, by the Rev. J. Ingram Lond., i82j. THE POETIC CALENDAR. The Creator alone knows Whither the soul Shall afterwards roam, And see the spirits That depart in God. After their death-day They will abide their judgment In their Father's bosom. Their future condition Is hidden and secret God only knows it, The preserving Father. TURNER'S History of (he Anglo- Saxons. Lond., 1807. 14 SPECIMENS. [400- METRES OF BOETHIUS. Ascribed to KING ALFRED. Metre m. Alas ! in how grim And how bottomless A gulf labours The darkling mind, When in the strong Storm's lash Of worldly cares : When it, thus contending, Its proper light Once forsakes, And in woe forgeta The everlasting joy, And rushes into the darkness Of this world, Afflicted with cares ! King Alfred" t Anglo- Saxon Version, of the. Metres of Boetldus, etc. By Rev. S. Fox. Lend., 1835. THE EXILE'S COMPLAINTS. I set forth this lay Concei ning myself, full sad, And my own joumeyings. I may declare What calamities I have Since I grew up. Recently or of old No man hath experience the like ; But I reckon the privations Of my own exiled wanderings the first. Sly lord departed Hence from his people Over the expanse of the waves. I had some care Where my chieftain In the land might be ; Then I departed on my journey, A friendless exile's travel. Jttuttrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry. By J. J. CONTBEABE. Lend., 1826. The original may be seen in Klip- Btein's Analecta Anglo - Saxonica, vol.il., p. 314. THE RUINED WALL-STONE. Reared and wrought full workmanly By earth's old giant progeny, The wall-stone proudly stood. It fell, When bower, and hall, and citadel, And lofty roof, and barrier gate, And tower and turret bowed to fall, And wrapt in flame, and drenched in gore, The lofty burgh might stand no more. Beneath the Jutes long vanquish'd reign Her masters rule the subject plain : But they have mouldred side by side, The vassal crowd, the chieftain's pride : And hard the grasp of earth's em- brace That shrouds for ever all the race. So fade they countless and unknown, The generations that are gone. CCXYBEARB. An ANGLO-SAXON RIDDLE. From the Ex. MS., fol. 112. There sat a man at his wine With his two wives And his two sons And his two daughters, Own-sisters, And their two sons ; The father was there Of each one Of the noble ones, With the uncle and the nephew : There were five in all, Men and women, Sitting there. WEIGHT'S Biog. Brit. Lit., p. &x io66.J TABLE OF AUTHORS AND EVENTS. 15 TABLE OF BRITISH AND ANGLO-SAXON AUTHORS, A.D. 400-1066. CONTINENTAL HISTORY AND LITEBATUBE. EVENTS OF ENGLISH HISTOBY. BRITISH HISTORIANS AND POET8. a ANGLO-SAXON LITEBATUBE .* Poetry. History and Biography. Theology, Philosophy, and Science. 8 8 Clovis, 481. Goths in Italy Saxons first land, 449. Ancient Brit. Church. 31eeman's Song, 450. Beowulf, 450-550. ! Boethius. Code of Justinian. Franks converted. Cerdic. Ida. Ethelbert, first Christian king. Columba founds lona. Gildas. Aneurin. Taliesin. laywarch- Hen. Mcrdhin. Saxon Chro- nicle from 450 to 1 160. I St. Gregory. English Missions Augustine. Edwin converted. York Minster. St. Paul's, Meizant. Elaeth. Cfeedmon, d. 680. Saxon Charters and Laws from Benedict of 1 in Germany. Saracens. London. Theodore, Archbishop of Tysilio. Nennius Aldhelm, d. 709. Ethelbert 593 to Canute 1017. Jarrow, d. 690. Canterbury. Arabian Philosophy. Aristotle Northmen at Lindisfarne. Golyddau. Cuthbert, d. 758. Albinus. Bede, d. 7*5. Berctwald. Aldhelm. Egbert. Ceolfrid. 1 Winfred (Boniface). Charlemagne. Western Empire Seminaries of learning in England. Cuhelyn. Ethelwolf. Felix, fl. 730. Eddius. Felix. Egwin. WiJlebad. Eadfrith. John of Beverley. Wilfrid. . Boniface. Gottschall. Egbert. Alfred. Alcuin. v Haroun al Danes. Alfred, Alfred. Scotus P Raschid. Fe udali sm . Alfred. d. 901. (hrigena), d. 876. Scandinavian Dunstan. Werferth, and German The d. 915. ,0 Poetry. Athelstan, 940. Heliand. Asser, d. 910 O Gerbert, Dunstan, V Decimals. Edward n., 979. Llevoad. Fridegode, Bricfirth. d. 988. Learning very fl. 956. low. Benedictine rules Lantfrid. Ethelwold Capet, King of enforced by Wolstan. (of Giaston- France. Dunstan. bury), d. 984. Scholastic Massacre of vElfric. M Theology. Danes. jElf. Bate. 8 Normans in Italy Turks in Asia Canute, 1016. Cynewulf, d. 1008. Ethelward, 1090. Haymo. Wulfstan 2 Minor. Edward the (Lupus P Lanfranc at Bee. Confessor, 1042. Episcopus). * For the lives of these authors, and an account of their works, see Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit. Anglo-Saswn Period, 8vo., Lond., 1842, also Turner's Anglo-Saxons, voL iii. 16 CHAPTER IL AKGLO-NOBMAN LITEBATUBE, A.D. 1066-1350. 12. The Normans: Their character. 13. Their influence on England, Lanfranc. The Clergy. 14. Influences in favour of the Anglo-Saxon, 15. The Provencals, Troubadours, Trouveres. 1 6. POETRY. Troubadours. Tensons. Romances. 17. Alexander, Arthur, Havel ok, King Horn, etc., Charlemagne, Richard. 18. Fabliaux. 19. Satires. 20. Historical Poetry : Layamon, Wace, Robert, of Gloucester, Manning. 21. Miscellaneous Poems: Ormulum, The Owl. 22. Latin Hymns. Other Latin Poems. 23. PROSE. History: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 24. Other writers: William of Malmesbury, Geoffrey, Matthew Paris, etc. 25. Gesta Roma- norum. 26. Theology : Lanfranc, Anselm, Abelard, Bernard, Peter Lombard, Hales, Scotus, Occam, Bradwardine 27. Natural Science : Roger Bacon. 28. Law: Glanville. 29. UNIVERSITIES. Oxford, Cambridge, 30. Reign of_Edward n. 3 r. Table of Authors and Events. 1 2. AT the era we have reached, the Normans were the foremost race in Christendom. Upwards of a century before, one of the feeble heirs of Charlemagne had ceded to them part of Neustria, a fertile province of France, watered by a noble river and bordering on the sea. To this they added part of Brittany. Without laying aside the courage which had made them the terror of Europe,* they soon acquired all the knowledge and refinement of the country in which they had settled. They embraced Christianity, and with Christianity learned most of what the clergy had to teach them. They adopted the French tongue, in which the low rustic Latin was one chief element, and added to it some of the vigour of their own. Their new language they raised to a dignity which even the Southern French had not Hence the dismal chant of the clergy of Northern France : 'A furore Normano. nun libera nos, Domine J' THE NORMANS : THEIR CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE. 17 yet reached. They fixed it in writing, and used it in legislation, in poetry, and in romance ; ' so that in the opinion of French philologists the earliest specimens of French speech in the proper sense must be surrendered to the Normans.' The prowess of this race was equalled by their refinement. The brutal intemperance to which the Saxon was so prone, the Norman was free from. His magnificence he displayed, ,iOt in coarse feasting or in strong drink, but in buildings, and armour, and horses, and literature. He specially cultivated oratory, and was as much distinguished by natural eloquence as by the general politeness of his manners and the renown of his military exploits. Long before the Conquest, the near neighbourhood of Normandy had influenced the English people. Canute had married a Norman wife, as had more than one of his predecessors. At the Norman court, Edward the Confessor received his education. When he came to the throne, the English primacy and some of the finest of the English estates he bestowed upon Normans ; and meanwhile at Westminster the French language had become familiar as the only language fit for legislation or song. 13. These influences would no doubt have continued and extended if there had been no Conquest. But the 'Conquest certainly precipitated the result to which they were all tending. Nor were other influences wanting. The fervour and discipline of the Saxon clergy had been for many years on the decline. There was much laxity of manners among them, and so much ignorance that many of the priests were not able to chant the Latin prayers of the public service with readiness or accuracy. William, with all his wilfulness, hated pretension and inefficiency : and by the nomination of Lanfranc, a scholar, to the see of Canterbury, he startled the clergy, and commenced a practical reformation in the state of the Church. A few Saxon bishops were retained, as Wulfstan at Worcester, and Agelric at Chichester ; but most of them had to give place to Normans. The discontent moreover of the Saxon population, and their repeated insurrections, exasperated the fiery temper of the conquerors, till at length it was resolved, ' that no monk or clergyman of the Saxon nation should be suffered to aspire to Palgrave, Normandy and England, i. -joj. 2 c 18 THE NORMANS. any dignity.' 8 Disgraced in this way, the Saxon clergy na- turally relinquished study, gave up, except in rare instances, the use of their native tongue, and hastened to master French, or contented themselves with somewhat improved Latin. Necessity confirmed this tendency. The old Saxon ceasing to be studied in schools or to be spoken in higher life, its grammar destroyed, first by the influence of the non-inflectional Danish, and now by the more popular Norman-French, seemed as an instrument fast crumbling away in the hands of those that used it. Necessity and interest therefore combined to give the new language favour. Hence it is that, in the Saxon Chronicle, the latest writer, having continued his entries down to 1154, the first year of Henry n., in very mixed Saxon, abruptly breaks off, as if he had grown disgusted with his work. Hence it is too that his successors, the historians of that age, write history only in Latin, and hence also the poets write sometimes in Latin, sometimes in French, sometimes in Semi-Saxon, and sometimes, even in the same piece, in all three. 14. And yet there was another influence at work in the opposite direction. The very rigour and oppression of the Normans made influences in ^ e ^ sp 660 ^ more dear to the people ; and it soon favour of the became the interest of the ruling powers to con- ' xon ' ciliate them. Macaulay has noted that the prospects of England as a country brightened when John began his reign. England was saved from becoming a province of France by the follies of a trifler and a coward. Driven from Normandy, the Normans gradually came to regard England as their country and the English as their countrymen. The two races had for the first time common interests. The first result of their reconcilia- tion was the Great Charter. Neither the last nor the least was the preservation of the old English tongue. 15. Nor was the Norman influence the only French influence felt in England. The south of France was, in the twelfth century, The Proven- one f ^ e most flourishing and civilized districts of &* Europe. The people had a distinct political existence, being independent of the house of Capet, who then ruled over their Northern neighbours, and were subject only to the Counts William of Malme?bury's Chronicle, p. 287. PROVENCAL . TROUBADOURS. 19 of Toulouse. Their usages and language bespeak a mixed origin. Traces might be found among them of a Gothic element , and history tells us that many of the Visi-Goths had settled in their vicinity. Still more numerous were the traces of a Roman influence; their very language taking one of its names (the Romance) from the prevalence in it of forms and expressions of the Latin tongue : not indeed of classical Latin, but of a later and ruder speech. There was some trace also of Greek, derived probably from intercourse with the city of Marseilles, which had been, centuries before, occupied by a Greek colony. The soil of this region was remarkably fruitful. Amidst vineyards and corn- fields arose many noble cities and stately castles, tenanted by a generous-spirited people. Here the rude warlike genius of the Middle Ages first took a graceful form. A literature rich in song sprang up, and amused the leisure of knights and ladies whose mansions adorned the banks of the Rhone. Professors of the gay science from Languedoc and Provence won golden opinions from the courtly Saladin and the lion-hearted Richard in Palestine ; and nearly every court in Europe did honour to their skill. These were the Troubadours of medise val history . They reckoned among their disciples Richard i. ; and more than one of our kings found a wife among the princely daughters of this region. One of the earliest importations from both districts of France was poetry. It was divided, as we have just seen, into Norman and Provencal. The poets of the former were called Trouveres, and of the latter Troubadours, words that are evidently only dialectic forms of the same name. Both wrote substantially the same language but different dialects, the langue d>oyl and the langue d?oc, the languages of Northern and Southern France : the two divided geographically by an imaginary line running from the Gironde to Savoy. 1 6. The poetry of the Trouveres is mostly epic, with historical and romantic themes ; the poetry of the Troubadours is chiefly PJCI lyric, with love as its chief inspiration. The Trou- Troubadour badour lyrics were known as Tensons, dialogues or Teutons. contentions on some point of amatory metaphysics, which was generally decided by a Court of Love. Others of them had as their themes war, politics, or satire. In the fierce strug- gles of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries this form of com- c 2 20 NORMAN TROUVEREb. [A.D. rioo- position died out in France, though it may be traced in the love romances of Chaucer and our earlier writers. The poetry of the Trouveres had a more lasting influence. It contains Romances, Fabliaux or metrical, humorous, and amusing tales descriptive of common life, satires, historical poetry, and miscellaneous poems. 1 7. Their romances generally treat of four chief themes the Trouverero- ancient world and its great hero Alexander, the mancea. British hero Arthur and the Round Table, the French hero Charlemagne, and the European heroes the Crusaders. Of the first set the Alexandreis is the most im- portant. It is a joint work of two authors, and was published in 1184. The metre in which it is written (the twelve-syllabled rhyming couplet) is known by the name of Alexandrine. It is the heroic metre of the French language, and was very common in German compositions during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is the metre of Drayton's Polyofoion, but has never been popular in English.* The poems on Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are of double origin. They are founded sometimes on the national songs of Wales and sometimes on those of Brittany. During the long struggle between the Saxons and Britons, the AVelsh bards gradually wove into a tissue of romantic song the history of the deeds of their countrymen, and placed Arthur as the centre figure of the group. This poetry passed into Brittany, where the self- exiled Britons were settling in large numbers, and where they found among other Keltic tribes a welcome home. From Brittany it passed into Normandy. A little later the British History of Geoffrey of Monmouth (1150), avowedly a translation of a Breton work, was published in Latin. It became exceedingly popular, and, giving still fuller information about Arthur, was a secondary source of new tales, some in prose and Morte others in verse. These stories of King Arthur have d'Arthur. \^ en more or iggg popular from the twelfth century down to our own time, the Morte d* Arthur and the Idylls of the King being among Tennyson's latest pieces. This series of tales is so numerous, and the adventures of the There is a life of Alexander at- compositions are assigned by him to tbe tributed by Warton to the end of the same oentnry. See Marsh's Origin and ihirteenth century, and other similar History of the English Language, Lect.5 1200.] MORTE D'ARTIIUR. 21 heroes are so complicated, that many pages might be taken up with mere abstracts of them. Generally the writers regard all the heroes as contemporaries of their own, and never scruple to insert new characters or incidents from any source. It is enough to say that there are in all six principal tales. The first is the romance of San Greal, the cup our Lord used in the supper, and in which Joseph of Arimathaea caught the blood (sang-real) shed on the cross. Joseph is said to nave brought it to Britain, and the loss of it is the great misfortune of the nation. Of this cup this first romance gives the history. Merlin is the second tale. It describes the fiend-prophet himself, and the birth and exploits of Arthur. The third the romance of Sir Lancelot, is the history of one who is a pattern of knighthood and yet lives in deadly sin. The fourth, The Quest of the San Greal, de- scribes the wanderings of the Knights of the Round Table, and the successful search by one of them, for the Holy Vessel, though amid so much sinfulness that the discovery is fruitless. The fifth, the Morte d' Arthur, gives the history of the death of Arthur amid wild and supernatural horrors, and tells of the retirement of the surviving knights to convents, where they mourn over the sin and ruin of their race. The sixth and supplemental romance, is Tristan (the Sir Tristram of Sir Walter Scott), which gives a repetition of some previous tales with added beauties. The writers of these romances are all Englishmen ; San Oreal being ascribed to Robert Borron, Tristan to Lucas de Gast (1170), and the rest to Walter Mapes or Map. Nearly the whole of these romances are in prose, and were compiled at the suggestion of Henry n., who was a great admirer of this kind of composition. They vere most of them translated into English before the fifteenth century. Besides these early romances we have others. Havelok de- scribes the adventures of the orphan child of a Dan- ish king espoused to an English princess. The Geste of Kyng Horn * is a Saxon story of somewhat similar import, and extends to sixteen hundred lines. Guy of Warwick and Bevis of Southampton, though of English name and on English subjects, 8 Alle beou he blithe, Godhttd bet 1 his quen ; (*was called) That to my song tythe : Falre ne mighte non ben. A sang ihc schal you Stage He hadde a sone, that het Horn ; Of Murry the kinge. Fairer ne mighte non beo born. Tte Ge&te qf Kyng Horn. The opening lines given in Marsh, p. 212. 22 KORMAN TALES. are romances of chivalry, and were all written by Englishmen who had received their literary culture from France. The metre, it may be added, of most of these metrical ro- mances is either the ten-syllabled rhyme ; or, more generally, the eight-syllabled rhyme, each line consisting of four accented syllables, the metre so familiar to readers of Scott's historical poems. A full account of all these pieces may be found in "VVarton's History of English Poetry or in the Essay prefixed to Percy's Reliques, and specimens may be seen in Ellis's Metrical Romances, in Warton, or in Guest's English Rhythms, vol. ii. Of the romances that refer to Charlemagne, one of the oldest is the Chanson de Roland,* a historyof the death of the brave Roland at the battle of Roncesvalles. This piece was sung by the Xorman minstrels and by Taillefer at the battle of Hastings. Of the cycle of the crusades, the romance entitled Richard Cuer du Lyon b is one of the most celebrated. It was translated from French into English about the time of Edward I. But tho' he was not caught, Scarce better fate that gallant fight unto bold Reoulf brought; For there he died, heart-broke, I ween, with shame and mickle woe. And his corse was after in the Seine (do not all that story know ?) Found floating on the rising tide. So the victory was won, And far and wide was the story spread of the deeds the duke had done. Wace's Roman du Rou (Rollo) : ' Duke William at Rouen,' from Fabliaux or Tale*, Selected and Translated by G. L. Way, 3 vols^ Loud., 1815. In seven-accent metre. * Par foie, now I woll you rede, Lordynges, herkens beforne, ' Off a kyng, doughty in dede ; How Kyng Richard was i-borne . Kyng Richard, the werryor beet Hys fadyr hyghte kyng Henry. That men fynde in ony gest. In hys tyme, sykyrly, Now alle that hereth this talkyng Als I fynde in my sawe God give hem alle good endyiug. Seynt Thomas was i-slawe. Richard Caeur de Lion. Given in Weber's Metrical Romances of the ijth, j^ik, and i$th Centuries. Edin., 1810. The following is from a modern version of the same poem : No captive knight whom chains confine Can tell his fate and not repine Yet with a song he cheers the gloom That hangs around his living tomb. Shame to his friends the king remains Two years unransom'd anj in chains. Richard Cceur de Lion. Translated in Longfellow's Poets and Poetry of Europe, I find., 1855. FABLIAUX. iJ3 1 8. The Fabliaux of the old Trouvferes were humorous tales descriptive of actual life. They paint not a hero but phases of character or of society, and have generally a dash of satire and always of humour in their composition. The Seven Wise Masters a in Ellis's Specimens of English Metri- cal Romances is an example. Many of the tales of Boccaccio's Decameron are taken from this source, and the general spirit and character of them may be learned from Chaucer. Among these Fabliaux may be reckoned the Laye of Marie of France^ a poetess who probably wrote in Brittany, and who mixes with her romances a serious and imaginative element that rises some- times into beauty. They celebrate the marvels of the Round Table, and are remarkable for the fact that she professes to have translated them from the English tongue. She is supposed to have lived in the reign of Henry m. 19. Among satirical pieces are the Eoman de la Rose, begun by de Lorris and completed by de Meun (d. 1320), and the tale of Reynard the Fox. Both are full of attacks upon men in high places, and especially upon the clergy. The last is probably of German origin ; but it certainly existed in Norman-French at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and has been traced back two centuries earlier. * Eeynard,' as the name of a fox, superseded the old French word (Goupil-vulpes) in the fourteenth century. A translation of this book was among the earliest of Caxton's publications (1481). Framed after the same model is the Land of Cokayne? an attack upon the monastic a It is really the Indian romance Sindabad, and has been translated into e-s ery living language of Europe. t> When lays resound, 'twould ill beseem, A man of whom our poets tell Bisclaveret were not a theme ; To many men the lot befell Such is the name by Bretons sung, Who in the forest secret's gloom And Garwal * in the Norman tongue ; A wolf was destin'd to become. From the Lays of Marie de France. Given in Specimens of the Early Poetry of France, by L. S. Costello, London, 1835. e Hallam, i., 134. d List, for now my tale begins, There the Pope for my offence, How to rid me of my sins, Bade me straight in penance, thence, Once I journey'd far from home, Wandering onward to attain To the gate of holy Eome. The wondrous land that hight Cokaigne, The Land of Cokaigne. By G. L. Way. * t. e., Were-wolf or Man-wolf. 24 NORMAN WRITERS: WAGE. A.D. noo- orders, and ascribed among others to Michael of Kildare, the first Irishman who is known to have written verses in English. He flourished in the thirteenth century. A century later appeared the Visions of Piers Ploughman (1360) by Robert Langlande, a secular priest. The author falls asleep on the Malvern Hills, and has a series of visions. In describing these he exposes the corruptions of society, and particularly of the religious orders. This book, like the Ormulum, is a popular representative of the doctrines which were bringing about the Reformation, and is remarkable for the freedom of its utterance, its pure English compared even with Chaucer's, and for the revival of Anglo- Saxon alliteration in place of Norman rhymes. 20. The historical poems of Norman origin that influenced English literature are also numerous. In the twelfth century two metrical romances were written by Historical Frenchmen residing in England, The History of the Poems. English (L'Estorie des Engles) by Geoffrey Gaimer, the translator or composer of ffavdok, and the Brut of England, by Richard Wace, a native of Jersey. The former is taken chiefly from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The latter is from the History of Geoffrey of Monmouth. It gives the records of the English nation, from the landing of the Trojans under Brutus, the grandson of ^Eneas, to the death of Cadwallader, son of Cadwallo, in 689. This volume is the true origin in England of the Romance of King Arthur. It was translated by Robert Bmnne, and had immense popularity. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Layamon (1190), a priest living in Worcestershire, produced an English imitation of Wace's Brut. This work is the earliest poem of great magnitude in the English language, and extends to about fourteen thousand lines of four accents each. It has both alliteration and rhyme, though often of a very rude descrip- tion. So far it is both Freneh and Saxon. The language is much purer Saxon than the latter part of the Saxon Chronicle, and it is said that not more than sixty non-Saxon words have been found hi it. ft Its purity in this respect is owing probably to the fact that the author resided in a country district and had little intercourse with the Norman conquerors. Mareh I 3 64.J MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 25 One hundred years later (1290) Robert of Gloucester wrote Tlie History of England from Brutus to the death of Henry the Robert of Third (1272). It is founded on the histories of Gloucester. Geoffrey of Monmouth and William of Malmesbury, and is written in lines of fourteen syllables or of seven accents, the ' Common Metre ' of our hymns. It displays but little literary skill, though the writer had much more intelligence than Lay- amon. The style is so English that some regard his Chronicle as commencing an era in our language. To Robert of Gloucester succeeds Robert Manning, a monk of Brunne or Bourne in Lincolnshire. For the earlier part of his Manning or history he translates Wace's Brut, and for the latter Brunne. p ar a French metrical chronicle written by Peter Langtoft, canon of Bridlington in Yorkshire. The history ends with the death of Edward I. in 1307, and was completed in 1338. The author adopts Wace's eight-syllable couplets and Langtoft's Alexandrines, and shows a great command of rhymes (par. 42). Manning also translated a French book, the Manuel des Peches, The Handling of Sins, in which the seven deadly sins are illus- trated by legendary tales. 21. Among miscellaneous poems may be mentioned the Orm~ ulum (i 190), a production of a canon named Orm, of some priory The Onnuium. in the north-east of England. -It is a metrical har- The OWL mony of part of the Gospels, and, though deficient in metrical merit, has been praised for its ingenuity and for the purity of its doctrine. It is second only to Layamon as a specimen of the Semi-Saxon stage of the English tongue. It is written in seven-accent metre, unrhymed, and with but im- perfect alliteration. To the reign of Edward i. belongs also the fable of The Owl and the Nightingale. It consists of a descrip- tion of a contest between those two birds for superiority of merit. The poem consists of about eighteen hundred lines, is natural and lively, and is written in four-accent lines. It is interest- ing as the earliest-known narrative poem of an imaginative character not of foreign origin. There are also belonging to the same century several didactic and devotional poems on the Crucifixion, Mary at the Cross, etc. ; specimens of which may be found in War ton. Some of these contain passages of no small beauty and pathos. 26 LATIN HYMNS. LI 200- Among the poems given at length by Warton is one composed after the battle of Lewes (1264) by a follower of Simon de Mont- ford. It contains a great number of French words expressive of ideas which England owed to the Norman invasion ; but it is in sentiment thoroughly English, and shows how completely by that time the Saxon and Norman elements of the nation had combined, 22. It has been seen already that the poetry of the Norman romances was accentual as well as rhyming. It was also written Latin H ns. a ^ most ent -irely by laymen, as the prose writing of the * period came almost entirely from churchmen. Be- sides influencing the poetry of the English vernacular, these Nor- man compositions had no small influence on the Latin poetry of the same age. They induced authors to give up classic metres, and to adopt accent and rhymes. Hymns written in this style are, indeed, found at a much earlier period,' and they did not there- fore originate, as some have supposed, b with Norman, Arabian, or Keltic models ; but they were greatly multiplied in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Among the most popular were those of Anselm, Bernard, Thomas Aquinas, and Innocent IIL None can be grander than the ' Dies iras, dies ilia,' c ascribed to Celano (1250), the friend of Francis of Assisi. In England these Latin rhymes, leonine verses as some were called, were never widely used for religious purposes, though for Other Latin purposes of humour and satire they were very corn- poems, mon. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, especially, they abounded, and were generally pasquinades upon the popular side. Some of the severest and most humorous are written against King John and in favour of the barons. In a few years the Norman-French superseded the Latin, and a little later English became the common medium of this satirical minstrelsy. Among the Englishmen who wrote Latin poetry may be men- tioned Joseph of Exeter (died 1200), whose Antiocheis gives a history of the third Crusade, though only a few verses are now extant, and whose poem on the Trojan War, composed witn great purity, has been ascribed to Cornelius Nepos, and is often appended to early editions of that author. The Mirror of Fools by Hallam. b Matthew Arnold. See Trench's Sacred Latin Poetry, preface, 1864. 1307. J PROSE: HISTORY. 27 N. Wireker (fl. 1200), a monk of Canterbury, gives a history of his ass, Brunellus, who studied at Paris, and entered i a succession all the monastic orders, but was content with none of them. He was about to form a new order when his master caught him and sent him back to his old occupation ! 23. The great mental activity which the Conquest created in England showed itself not only in poetry but in history. Chroniclers sprang up in great numbers. They were Sy^ Anglo- chiefly monks, and most of them wrote in Latin. Saxon Chron- The Saxon Chronicle indeed was still carried on in more than one of the monasteries. The annalists, full of despondency, set down many facts, but record with evident satisfaction omens which seemed to betoken evil to the oppres- sors of their nation. They tell how blood gushed out of the earth in Berkshire near the birth-place of Alfred, and how at Peter- borough, then placed under a Norman abbot, horns \\ere heard at dead of night, and spectral huntsmen were seen to ride through the woods. Meanwhile French words so press upon the writer's brain, and the old syntax becomes so mixed with the grammar of the invading speech, that the chronicler is obliged to cease, and ends his work abruptly in the first year of Henry n. 24. Most of the Chroniclers take Bede as their model ; so, too, do William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon. Others, other histo- M Geoffrey of Monmouth, are evidently bent on ho- rians. nouring their own nation while recording the progress of the conquerors. They may be thus arranged in chrono- logical order : Down to the twelfth century we have, among the chief, William of Malmesbury (to 1142), Geoffrey of Monmouth (1152), Henry of Huntingdon (1154), and others. For the thirteenth we have Eoger of Wendover (123 5), Matthew Paris (to 1259), and William Eishanger (to 1273) ; for the fourteenth, Matthew of Westminster (1307), Peter of Blois, Trivet (d. 1328), and Higden. These writers were all ecclesiastics, and the series extends nearly through- out the Middle Ages. One or two from each of these centuries may be taken to throw light upon the nature of their chronicles. William of Malmesbury was a monk of Malmesbury, a monas- 28 HISTORIANS: GEOFFREY, M. PARIS. tery celebrated in the Middle Ages, and founded by the Irish Maidulf in the seventh century. He was of Norman descent by cne parent, of Saxon by the other, and therefore so far qualified to write of both races impartially. He is the first, as he tells us, who, since Bede, has arranged a continuous history of the English. He traces the progress of events from Hengist to the year 1142, and dedicates his work, which he calls the Historia Eegum Anglice, to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, a son of Henry I., and the chief patron of letters in that day. William's life has been written by the Saxon Eadmer, his disciple. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the author of the Historia Brifonum, was raised to the see of St. Asaph in 1152. * For centuries Europe had been supplied with tales and fables from Bretagne, as it is now with music from Italy, or with metaphysics from Germany.' These tales Walter Calenius, Archdeacon of Oxford, collected, probably in ' the form of a book ' as Geoffrey states, and presented them to the historian. What the book was is not known. The history based upon it will not stand criticism, but the student finds it hard to quarrel with the preserver of the story of King Arthur, and of Lear, and of Cymbdine. It is from this volume that Sackville takes the Ferrex and Porrex. Drayton reproduces a large part of it in his PcHyolbion. Milton frequently alludes to it in poetry, though he has questioned part of its history ; and Pope deemed the Brutus of Geoffrey a fine theme for a national epic. Matthew Paris, a Benedictine monk of St. Albans, wrote, under the title of Eisiaria Major a history of England from 1066 to 1259, the year of his death. The earlier part of his history (from 1066 to 1235) belongs really to Roger of Wendover, who was also a monk of St. Albans, and afterwards prior of Belvoir. Roger wrote, also, a history of England from the year 447 to 1066, taken chiefly from other documents, and specially valuable for its extracts from lost works. William Rishanger continues this series of histories down to 1273. The whole of them are often cited under the name of Matthew Paris. The freedom of his treatment of church questions made the volume a favourite with the early Reformers. Nicholas Trivet, a Dominican monk, composed a series of Annah extending from 1135 to 1307, and Ranulph Higden a work entitled Poly chron icon, extending to 1357. The English GESTA ROMANORUM. 29 translation of this last by Trevisa was a popular book in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It will be noted that there was as yet no historian to write the records of his country in Semi-Saxon or in English. 25. To these histories may be added a large collection of stories written in Latin, and known in literature as the Gesta Roman- Gesta Roman- orum, l The Deeds of the Romans/ These are fables orum. a f ter flj e manner O f ^Esop, scraps of Greek history extending from the days of Argus and Mercury to Alexander, and of Roman history from the days of ^Eneas to the later years of the empire. Between these histories are moral tales and satires, sketches of social life, and monkish legends with moral and reli- gious lessons. The origin of these pieces is various. They were written chiefly by the monks to relieve the weariness of an in- active life, partly for amusement, and partly for instruction. In England they were current, both in French and in Latin, before the close of the thirteenth century. Many of the romances of the minstrels are to be found in these tales, nor is it always certain whether the minstrel borrowed from the monk, or the monk from the minstrel : Guy of Warwick appears in both. Chaucer borrowed from the Gesta two at least of his tales, and Gower two. Here is probably the origin of the Tale of Pericles, the subject of one of the plays ascribed to Shakespeare ; of two of the principal incidents in the Merchant of Venice, the casket scene, and the bond of the pound of flesh, with the judgment of the Paduan doctor whereby the bond was evaded. Here is the origin of the story of the Three Crows, of the Hermit of Parnell, and of the spectre-legend in Scott's Marmion. Nor is it difficult to trace to these records many of the stories with which the earlier preachers used to meet the taste and touch the hearts of a rude and half-lettered people. 26. But the Norman Conquest did more for England than in- fluence the study of poetry and history. It influenced no less the rheolo progress of science and of theology. The origin, on the Continent, of schools for teaching philosophy in modern times is not easily traced. Some have ascribed the honour of their formation to Arabians. It is certain that Haroun al Raschid, the contemporary of Charlemagne, did 50 THEOLOGY. assist in the commencement of a brilliant period of literary activity among the tribes of Arabian descent an activity that lasted from the ninth century to the fourteenth. Nor did any Arabian king- dom enter into this movement with greater earnestness than the Moorish kingdom of Spam. Universities were opened at Cordova, Seville, and Granada. The learning taught in these centres of in- fluence is attested by an immense number of MSS. on almost every subject, still preserved in the Library of the Escurial at Madrid by the hearty acknowledgments of the scholars of Provence, and by the authority of Sylvester n., who himself attended these schools, and introduced into France all he had learned in them. Arithmetic, astronomy, music, mechanical science, and the logic of Aristotle, were among the subjects which were thus popu- larised in France. Charlemagne had also made a strenuous and independent effort to extend education, and under his direction Alcuin, our countryman, had formed a number of schools through- out his empire. The division of his empire among his sons, and the subsequent wars, suspended this important work, so that Charlemagne cannot do more than claim a small share in this revival of letters. This much is certain, that at Bee, in Normandy, a school had been established of great celebrity. Among its teachers at the time of the Conquest were Lanfranc and Anselm. Their lectures were attended both by laymen and by ecclesiastics. Lanfranc was removed by William to Canterbury, and on his death he was succeeded hi that see by Anselm, his colleague and successor at Bee. Both these eminent men con- tributed to the diffusion of a respectable amount of learning among the clergy of England, while they themselves acquired and retained a high place as scholars and as theological authors. Lanfranc was one of the best Latinists of his age, and Anselm has been regarded as the founder of the Scholastic philosophy. He is, at all events, the first who put into scientific shape the a priori argument for the existence of God ; and he discussed with great clearness the doctrines of the Incarnation and Atonement of Christ Original Sin, and the Trinity, though he has not treated of theology as a connected whole. In his treatise on the existence of God, he intimates that the great business of the theologian is to understand what he believes ; an expression which, reverently interpreted, is a happy definition of the aim of all theological ANGLO-NORMANS : 31 science. The spirit of reverential inquiry into theological truth, a spirit which Anselm largely helped to diffuse, has never left the literature of England ; and in that department her literature and language were for ages in advance of her progress in other departments. Anselm' s method of inquiry was taken up by Abelard, who lectured at Paris, Troyes, and Melun. Deficient in the humility and personal consecration that marked Anselm, he rationalized religious truth, and by endless logical distinctions, sophisms, and solutions of sophisms, created a wide-spread disbelief of religion itself. He died at Clugny in 1142. His name and labours have attracted the admiration of both philosophers and poets, Pope and Cousin being among his most illustrious students. Abelard was answered by St. Bernard, the last, and by no means the least illustrious, of the Fathers. The talent, logical Abelard power, and fervent piety, displayed in his addresses to the monks at Clairvaux, in his appeals on behalf of the Crusades, and in his beautiful Latin hymns, are all remark- able ; nor is there any writer whose pages are more rich in those materials of fascination which are supplied by blended piety and genius. Meanwhile Peter Lombard (1164) taught theology at Paris on a somewhat different method, and with great success. The Peter truths of religion he rested upon authority, setting Lombard. them forth in the form of sentences taken chiefly from the early Fathers. Philosophy he confined to the work of draw- ing inferences and harmonising apparent discrepancies. His work is called the Liber Sententiarum, and is divided into four books on God, Man, the work of Christ and of the Spirit, the Resurrec- tion and Judgment, etc. This volume was for ages the text-book of theological students. In return for the teachers whom Normandy had given to Eng- land, she sent forth in the thirteenth century Hales, Scotus, Occam, and others scarcely less eminent. Alexander de Hales, * the Doctor Irrefragable/ was a native of Gloucestershire, the mas- ter of Bonaventura, and the author of the first important com- mentary upon the Sentences of Peter Lombard. He died at Paris in 1 245. John Duns Scotus, 'the Subtle Doctor,' was bora in the North of England, and received his education at Oxford. He taught at Oxford, at Paris, and at Cologne, dying at the latter 82 NATURAL SCIENCE. place in 1308. He is the chief advocate of Realism, as Occam is of Nominalism ; and both were Englishmen. The Nominalists held that our abstract ideas have nothing real corresponding to them, but are either mere conceptions of the human mind, or like class names in language are generalised and therefore inadequate expressions of particular things. The Eealist held on the other hand that abstract ideas are actual things or qualities existing prior to all human thought, and independent even of the divine. The first professed to follow Aristotle, the second Plato. Add to these the name of Middleton, the ' Solid and Copious ' (d. 1 304), and of Thomas Bradwardine, ' the Doctor Profundus ' (d. 1348), both of whom studied and lectured at Oxford, and there is some ground for the boast of Anthony a Wood ' that, if England received Christianity from the Continent, the Continent received her School-divinity from England.' 27. The same century that sent Michael Scott to Germany to prosecute physical science, a study that earned for him the Natural character of a sorcerer, witnessed a like history at Science. Oxford, in the person of Roger Bacon. Born at Ilchester in 1214, he studied at Oxford and at Paris. After entering the order of the Franciscans he returned to Oxford, where he spent a life of unbroken study. His most important work is his Opus Majus, or ' The roots of Wisdom.' In this work he discusses the relation of philosophy to religion, and then treats of language, metaphysics, optics, and experimental science. He was one of the most profound and original thinkers of any age, but being before his time he formed no school and left no disciples. His writings were deemed heretical, and for twelve out of the last sixteen years of his life he was kept in prison ; nor was it till the reign of James i. that he ceased to be regarded as a sorcerer. Doubting the scholastic reasonings of Anselm, and dis- satisfied with the contradictory opinions that were brought to- gether in Lombard's text-book, he proposed to found theology on Scripture alone, thus re^ iving the method of the primitive church and anticipating that of the Reformers.' He died in 1294. His words are : ' All wisdom, as to tributing the prevailing evils of his tims its principle and source, is contained in to ignorance of the Scriptures, he ex- the Scriptures ; of which canon law and horted the laity to the diligent reading philosophy are the development.' At- of the Bible in the original languages. UNIVERSITIES: OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE. 33 28. The study of law began in modern times at Bologna. The laws of the Iloman Empire, collected and classified by Justinian Law (534), and thence called his ' Pandects/ were studied and expounded there by a succession of able teachers, as was the Canon Law, a collection of the canons of Councils and maxims of the Fathers. The fame of these teachers drew students from all parts of Europe, and noted schools of canonists and civilians grew up in that city. English churchmen resorted thither in great numbers, and ultimately they introduced the study of both departments of law into England, partly in de- fence of our English Law, and partly in hostility to the Canou Law, which was never received with favour amongst our coun- trymen. Ranulf de Glanville, chief-justice of England (d. 1 1 90), published the earliest extant treatise on English Law, entitling it On the Laws and Customs of England. 29. All this study and discussion told on the educational insti- tutions of the country. William I. was a great patron of the monasteries. These belonged, up to 1220, to the order of Benedictines alone, an order whose devotion to learning is well known. Among the houses specially distinguished were those at St. Albans, Malmesbury, Canterbury, and Peterborough. Most of these William richly endowed, while he and his barons spent large sums on that round-arched Norman architecture of which v . _ so many specimens remain. The universities, Oxford, William did not himself patronise ; but owing to Cambridge. var j ous influences they soon underwent a most marked change. Whether Alfred founded Oxford is very doubtful, but in the twelfth century that university was in vigorous action. In 1229 a large body of students emigrated from Paris, and in the thirteenth century Grosstete, ' Greathead,' teacher at Oxford, and afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, drew many scholars by his elo- quence and skill. Besides the study of the universal Latin tongue, he encouraged that of Greek and of Hebrew. Many thousand scholars are said to have been studying there in his time. Colleges for the maintenance of poor students were founded in the latter half of that century, Merton and University being the first instances of such foundations. Cambridge was probably somewhat later; but by the year 1209 that university seems to have been founded on a lasting basis. 2 D 34 UNIVERSITIES: OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE. 30. Thus ends this part of our history. The period reaches really to the middle of the fourteenth century ; but the last fifty -years of that time are almost a blank, the reign of Edward n, (1307-1327) being as inglorious in our literature as in our national history. The authors we have mentioned are com- paratively few, though their names are taken from a considerable list. Wright mentions nearly two hundred ; but many of their works have perished, a loss less to literature than to the history of literature. We may say of these works as an able writer has said of the works of several of their successors : ' To that fierce reformation which levelled the monasteries and scattered or anni- hilated their literary accumulations, but sowed living seed wherever it plucked up dry stubble, we owe Spenser and Hooker and Bacon and Shakespeare and Milton ; not one of whom had been possible but for the fresh north wind, which, by sweeping away the swarm of old opinions, old facts, old thoughts, that hung like a darkening cloud over Europe, opened once more the blue eky and the sun and stars of heaven to the vision of men.' Marsh. TABLE OF WRITERS. PRINCIPAL WKITERS OF SAXON AND ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD A.D. I066-IJ5O. EVENTS OP ENGLISH AND OTHER HlSTOKY. SCHOLASTIO AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. POETBY. HISTORY. THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE. William i. First Crusade, 1095. o Peter the o- Hermit. Oxford Univer- sity founded (?). Cistercians founded, 1098. Taillefer. Latin Hymns. Ported' Arthur, iomandu Rou. Havelok. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to 1154. Edmer to 1132. Wulfstan. Agelric. Henry r., noo. "p Stephen, 1135, Carthusians, IIOI. Bevis. Reynard the Fox. Ingulf to 1 109. ^anfranc, 1089, Second Crusade, 1146. Knights Templars, 1120. Guy of Warwick. Giraldus, b. 1146. Anselm, 1109. Henry ii., 1154. Layamon. Ormulum, 1174. Geoffrey to Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164. H ^ Third Crusade, r 1188. Richard I. Lollards, 1170. Robert of Gloucester. Gast, 1170. Walter Mapes, d. 1196. Giraldus, 1146. Marie of France. 1152. Caradoc, 1154. Henry of Hunt- ingdon to 1154. William of Malmesbury to 1142. W. Newbury Bernard, 1153. Peter Lombard, 1159. John of Salisbury, 1180. ^Cceur de Lion), 1189. Vinesauf. Wace, 1156. Brompton to Grosstete, 1190. Averrhoes, 1198. Wireker, 1186. Joseph of Exeter, d. 1200. 1199. Radulf, Gervase to 1200. Glanville. Aquinas. Peter of Blois, Bonaventura. Dominicans founded, 1215. The Owl. De Brakelonde, 1200. Duns Scotus. John. Franciscans, Battle of Lewes Hoveden to 1207. Roger Baon, 8 Magna Charta, Inquisition, Tranlsations of Havelok. Ralph Wen- dover to 1235. Matthew Paris, 1219-1294. Marco Polo, Battle of Lewes, King Horn. 1259. 1275. 1264. Edward i, 1273. Cambridge University founded. Alexandreis. Burton, 1262-1291, etc. Rishanger, 1273. Occam, 1293. Edward 11., Langtoft. Florence of Worcester, Middleton. i Edward in., % 1327- Robert Manning. Piers Plough- 1308. Matthew of Westminster, Bradwardine, d. 1348. P Cre^y, 1346. man. Rolle's Psalms Trivet, 1307. Higden, 1357. Albertus Magnus. D 2 36 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. CHAPTER III. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, A.D. 9OO~l8oO. * Hazlitt's paradox ' Words are the only things that last for ever*- is literally true of man and his works on earth.* MONTGOMERY. 31. Literature partly thought and partly expression : hence the import- ance of the history of language. 3 2. The history divided into four periods. Other divisions. I. To the age of Chaucer, A.D. 900 to 1400. 33. The language of Alfred and ^Elfric. 34. The language of tho period of the Norman conquest, and the changes it has undergone. 35. The language of Layamon, of the Ancren Riwle, and of the Ormulum. 36. Results. The vocabulary and the grammar of the language. 37. Proclamation of Henry in. Robert of Gloucester. Robert Manning. Political poetry. 38. Results. 39. New Influences, (i) The union of the two races, and the vigour of the national life hi the days of Edward ni. (2) The religious excitement of the age. (3) New forms of poetry. Rhyme. Great increase of words. (4) Translations. 40. Man- deville's Travels. 41. Lawrence Minot, Richard Rolle. 42. The earliest English original poem, Piers Ploughman : his Vision and Creed. 43. In- fluence of Bible translations, Wycliffe. 44. His peculiarities. 45. Lan- guage of Theology richer and purer than that of Secular literature. 46. CHAUCER. 47 Gower. 48. Previous influences largely typical. II. To the age of Shakespeare, A.D. 1400 to 1600. 49. General character of the fifteenth century. 50. Works of Occleve. 51. Lydgate. 52. Hawes. 53. James I. 54. Ballads. 55. History of English in Scotland. Theories as to the origin of it. 56. Michael Scot. Thomas the Rhymer. 57. Fordun's Scoti-Chronicon. 58. Barbour's Bruce. Wyntoun's Cronykil. 59. The Wallace of Blind Harry. The Howlate, Hcnryson. 60. Subsequent changes of Scottish English. 6r. Pecock, Fortescue. 62. The Paston Letters, Chatterton's Thomas Rowley. 63. Translations: their history and influence in enriching the vocabulary of our language, in treasuring up the words of the language, in forming new combinations. 64. Early translations from the French and Italian, and the ancient Classic languages. 65. CAXTON: his works and style. LITERATURE. 37 66. The Ship of Fools. 67. Earliest translations from Classic authors: Douglas, Surrey, Phaer, Golding, Wylson, Cheke, North, Holland, Hill, Chapman, Fairfax, Harrington, Sylvester, Florio, etc. Fardle of Faciouns. Decades of Peter Martyr. Hakluyt. 68. Translations of Theological books, Augustine, Luther, Calvin : their number and influence. 69. Trans- lation of the Bible, Tyndale : The Book of Common Prayer. Influences on the side of nnovations. Influences on the side of the Old Saxon. 70. Old Authors and their preference for Saxon English. 71. The acts of the Legislature. 72. English Scriptures, and 73. Ballad Poetry. 74. These translations imply the study of Classic authors. Outline of the history of this study in England. 75. The commencement of separate Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. Progress of the study of Greek. 76. Founda- tion of grammar schools. Early editions of Classic authors. 77. English Grammars. 78. General character of the sixteenth century. Latimer, Foxe, Cheke, Ascham, Elyot. 79. Historians: Berners. 80. Fabyan, Hall. 81. Holinshed. 82. Sir T. More. 83. Poets: Totell, etc. 84. Surrey, Wyatt, Vaux, etc. 8$. Tusser. 86. Scottish poets, Dunbar. 87. Lindsay. 88. Ballads: James V. 89. Euphuism. Its origin and character. Lillie. 90. Skelton. Stanihurst. 91. Sidney. 92. Spenser. 93. SHAKESPEARE. in. The age of Milton, A.D. 1600 to 1688. 94. Euphuistic influence. Fuller, Hall, and Theological writers. The study of Latin and other Classic authors. Taylor, Browne, Scottish poets. French influence of the Restoration. Dryden. IV. Modern Times, A.D. 1688 to 1800. 95. Addison and the writers of Queen Anne's age. Pope, Bolingbroke, Johnson, Gibbon. Results. Jacob Grimm. 31. Literature consists of matter and form. If prose, it is the result of the exercise of the intellect expressed in words ; if P oe * r y> ft i g the resu lt of imagination set forth in expression' rhythm. Nor must it be supposed that the form and thought is Un i m p 0r t an t. At first sight, indeed, a man may suppose that thought is all important, and that expression is of value only as it helps him to assert and display his riches to advantage. The great thing, he may say, is to have wares to sell: to get a window in some front street, whereat to exhibit them, is a secondary one. But the image does not hold. Without affirming with Whately that words are pre-requisites of thought, it may safely be affirmed that expression and BS PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. thought are both essential powers. Mere fluency, indeed, is a poor faculty. But, on the other hand, the thoughts we cannot express are properly not yet ours, nor are they com- prehended. The thing we call expression is not really a sepa- rable accident of the mind : it is not even a separate quality, it is rather a combination of all qualities. It is to the mind and its thinking powers, what the beams of light are to the sun. Expression is utterance with thought and emotion com- bined. We may even go farther ; of the two, expression is, more than thought, the immortal thing in literature. At all events, good a ad noble thoughts, expressed without feeling or aptness, without force or beauty, gam scanty currency, and are of use chiefly to those who take them and reissue them from the mint of their own genius, fresh and new. This principle, which would have force, even if we were writing the history of thought alone, has double force when the subject of investigation is literature, i.e. thought as expressed in letters. Between the language of the Anglo-Norman period, as seen in the Saxon Chronicle, and that of Elizabeth, as seen hi the writings of Shakespeare, a period say of four hundred years, the mind of England had gathered knowledge, and strength, and feeling to a greater degree, perhaps, than was previously known in the history of any race, and its language had gained affluence, and vigour, and clearness, and polish, to at least an equal degree. When authors had to put forth their mightiest efforts, and were, now bursting into song, now revealing long concealed and abstruse truth, English supplied them with words to give adequate and melodious utterances to whatever was in them. The noblest feeling, the profoundest thought, and the loftiest aspirations had immediate and appropriate expression in a tongue which as yet civilised Europe had either not known or had known only to de- spise. It is with the history of this growth we are now concerned the growth of the English language as an instrument of feelirg and of thought.* 32. The division of this history does not completely synchro- nize with the history of our literature. Nor are some History of . . * . language: other divisions, though convenient for some purposes, LW divided. avai i a ble in this case. The Philological Society, From Ettays, by Alexander Smith. LANGUAGE: PERIODS OF. 33 for example, divides the history of the English language for lexi- cal purposes into three periods : first, from 1250 to the Reforma- tion, or say till 1526, the date of the publication of Tyndale's New Testament; the second, from 1526 to the death of Milton in 1674; an( i tne third, from the death of Milton to our age. Oraik also divides the history for literary purposes into three : the first from 1250 to 1350, the age of Chaucer; the second from foe age of Chaucer to the Reformation, 1530 ; and the third, or iodem, from 1530 to our own day. There may he advantages in each of these arrangements ; but the fact stated in a previous chapter needs to be kept in mind, that the literary era is always later than the political ; and, besides, both these divisions over- look the influence of the invention of printing (1460), and of the revival of classical learning in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies ; while the second division classes together writers so widely different as Wycliffe and More, Philip Sidney and Walter Scott, Jeremy Taylor and Robert Hall. Whatever then may be the best division for literature, for lan- guage and its capacity of expressing thought we need other eras, Language : and it will be found in fact, that the most convenient periods of. are Chaucer's, Shakespeare's, Milton's and our own. Chaucer represents the fusion of the old Saxon and Norman- French. Shakespeare represents the results of the freedom and richness of thought produced by the Reformation and the re- covery of the stores of classical learning, and by the immense activity consequent upon the invention of printing. Milton, writing towards the close of his life, represents all the previous elements, together with the influence of the French and Italian renaissance : while our own age represents all previous elements as modified by the ease and naturalness which have been more or less welcomed in our literature ever since the age of Queen Anne. 33. To understand the character of Chaucer's English we need to trace the progress of our language down to his time. A thousand years ago, the language of England was pure Anglo-Saxon : in its declensions, conjugations, and syntax; in the Language of wor( ^ s themselves, and in the arrangement of them Alfred and in sentences. Nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns, were all declined and had each a full complement 40 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. of cases and genders. The arrangement was as rhetorical as in Latin, and the most complex thoughts, both religious and ethical, were expressed in words from Anglo-Saxon roots. a Alfred and .ZElfric writing in the ninth and tenth centuries, show a strong repugnance to admit into their vocabulary any im- portations from foreign sources. The Keltic, as the language of a conquered people, seems to have been despised ; the only words permanently retained referring to menial service, or to agricultu- ral life. Even when these writers were translating from Latin, they carefully rejected Latin words; so that the number of foreign words used by them in all their works is exceedingly small. The following passage taken from Alfred's translation of Orosius will illustrate the accidence and arrangement of the Anglo-Saxon tongue. b Fela spella him ssedon tha Beormas aegjjer ge of hym agenum lande, ge of \>xm lande J?e ymb hy utan wseron : ac he ayste hwaet J>ses sofces war. for bajm he hit sylf ne ge seah. Da Finnas him buhte and ba Beorma.' spraecon neah an gefceode. SwitSos he for fcyder to-eacan bses landes sceawunge, d for ba?m hors-huaelum forbaem hi habbafc swy$e sefcele e ban ou hyra tofcum. \>& tefc hy brohton sume bsem cynincge & hyra hyd bi$ swyiSe god to scip-rapum. Many f tidings (to) him said the Beormas either (. e. both) of their own lande and of them lands that around them about were: but he wist-not what (of) the sooth (truth) was, for that he itself not 'y-saw.s The Finns (him thought) and the Beormas spoke nigh one language. Greatly k he fared thither, ekei the land's seeing, for the horse-whales, k for that they have very h noble bones in their teeth. These teeth they brought some to the king ; and then hide is very h good for ship-ropes. Thus from hyge or hige, thought or care, Turner notes that the Anglo- Saxons formed upwards of thirty words descriptive of mental acts or states ; and from mod, mind or passion, some thirty more. For repentance, baptism, etc., the Anglo-Saxons had words of thfir own long before Augustine introduced cor- responding words of Latin origin. b From Pauli's Life of King Alfred See Marsh, p. 125. Hence go-spel. Hence showing. Hence Athding. Scotch/eiZ. Hence gaze. t. e. Very much, chtefly. i. e. Besides. i. e. Walruses. LANGUAGE OF ALFRED. 41 Se hwsel br& micle laessa iSonne o$re hwalas. Ne bi$ he lengra J?oune syfan elna long ; ac on his agnum lande is se betsta hwsele-huntaS. |?a beo& eahta and feowertiges elna lange, and J?a maestan fiftiges elna lange. j?ara he saxle baet he syxa sum ofsloge syxtig on twam dagum. He was swy<5e spedig man on bsem sehtum be heora speda on beoS, is on wild deorum. He haefde ba-gyt ba he bone cyninge sohte tamra deora unbebohtra syx hund. D deor hi hata<5 hranas bara wstron syx stael-hranas. $a beoiS swyiSe dyre mid Finnum, fori5 d sem hy fod J?a wildan hranas mid. This whale is much less than other whales. Not is he longer than ells lorg ; but in his own land is the best whale-hunting. They are of eight and forty ells long, and the most "fifty elk long. Of these he said that he (of) six some slew sixty in two days. He was a very successful (speedy man in the ownings that their wealth in is, that is in wild- deer. He had yet, at that (time) he the king sought of tame deer unbought six hundred. These deer They hight reins ; of them were six stale-reins. b These are very c dear with Finns, for-that they catch the wild reins with (them). In this passage there are only six words that are obsolete fela, ge (and), ac (but), ymb (around), geSeode (language), and swfeost : though there arc some others which are no longer used in the old sense. Spella, tidings, information, survives in the verb to spell, and in spell, a charm ; spedig in the verb to speed, or prosper. 34. Two hundred years later, and soon after the Norman Con- quest, the language was still Anglo-Saxon. But it had under- gone several changes. Cases were less distinctly th^Norman marked. In consequence the arrangement approached Conquest more near iy to ^he arrangement of modern English, though the number of Anglo-Norman words was still exceedingly small. The following extract from the later part of the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle, will illustrate these changes. " i. e. The largest t i. e. Probably decoy reindeers. * t. a. Very much, chiefly. a The reader will note that aspirated form of t as fc is of d. is the 42 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. From the Saxon Chronicle, written after the death of Stephen [The second column shows what the text would be if written in purer Saxon,] Hi swencon tha wreccan menn of tham lande b mid castel-weorcum. Tha tha castel c waeron gemacod tha fyldon hi mid /felon manuin. Tha namon hi thd menn tha hi weudon thaet aenig God haefdon batwa be nihte d & be daege. Menn hengedon up bi tham fetum & smucon heom mid fulum smece. Menn dydon cnottede strenges abutan heora haefod, & wrath on to- thaet hit code to tham haernes. 6 Hi a swencten the wrecce men of the lane? mid castel -weorces. Tha the castles waren maked tha fylden hi mid yvele men. Tha namen hi tha men the hi wenden thaet am G6d hefden batke be nighfes and be dceies. Me hanged up bi the fet and smoked heom mid ful smoke. JAe dide cnotted strenges abutan here haeved, & writ hen to-thaet it gcede to the hsernes. In this passage the article, adjective, and noun have all ceased to be declined accurately. Verbs have lost the correct plural endings ; and strong preterites (as in smucon) show their tend- ency to end in d. 35. The next stage of our language is the semi-Saxon, lasting from about noo to 1250, and having as illustrations the later La amon portion of the Saxon Chronicle, the writings of Laya- Ancren iiiwie, mon, the Ancren Riwle, and the Ormulum. In Onnuium. Layamon, the chief change is in the accidence and in the consequent arrangement of words. Case endings are dropped or confounded : of is used with the genitive, or with the abso- lute form to indicate the genitive : plural nouns are formed in s They made to labour the wretched mon of the land with castle-works. When the castles were made, then filled they them with evil men Then took Ihey the men whom they thought that any goods had both by night and by day. (Some) men hanged (they) up by the feet and smoked them with foul smoke. (Some) men did (they) knotted strings about their head, and twisted till it went to the brains. >> Or simply thajs landes; if 'of is retained, the noun follows in the dative. c If castel Is treated as neuter, the plural is the same as the singular. If as masculine, the plural is castelo*. Tte confounds it with the genitive. d Nihtes and daeges are genitive forms, and mean by night, by day. If be is inserted, it must be followed by a dative. Hfernes (Scottish barns) is probably not old Saxon. See Spalding's History (/ Engl. Lit., p. 114. I250.J ANCREN KIWLE. 43 rathei than en : the dual form of pronouns ceases, the gerun- dial infinitive and the common infinitive forms are confounded : to is inserted before the infinitive, and the participle in ende is confounded with the infinitive, and both with the verbal noun in ung. Changes of spelling are also noticeable, of which wh for hw is one of the most important. Still foreign words are exceed- ingly few. Out of thirty-two thousand lines that make up the poem there are not more than sixty words of Latin or Norman origin; nor are there any material changes in the syntax or government of words.* The Ancren JRiwle is a code of monastic rules, drawn up in prose by some writer of the twelfth or thirteenth century, for a small community of anchoresses residing at Tarente in Dorset. It is itself of little value, but it is interesting for its vocabulary. Whether the nunnery for which the code was prepared, was of French origin is not known: but the Biwle contains a much larger proportion of Latin and Norman words than any other extant composition of its age. b The Ormulum belongs to the same date as Layamon. The From Layamon, voL ii. p. 384. be time co b wes icoren, ba wes Arfcur iboren. Sone swa he com an eor&pj Alven hne ivengen. Heo bigolen bat child Mid galdere swifc strong ; Heo geuS him mihte To bcon begst alre cnihten. Heo geuen him an ofcer bing, bat he scolde beon riche king. Heo geuen him bat bridde, bat he scolde longe libben. > Ye neschulen eten vleschs no seim, buten in muchele secnesse ; other hwoso is euer feble eteth potage blithe- liche; and wunieth ou to lutel drunch. Notheleas, leoue sustren, ower mete and ower drunch haveth ithuth me lesse then iche wolde. Ne ueste ye ueirne del to bread and to watere The time came that was i-chosen, Then was Arthur born. [So] soon as he came on earth, Elves him seized (y-fingered). They enchanted (galan, to sing) tivj child With enchantment very strong. They gave him might, To be best of all knights. They gave him another thing, Tb.it he should be (a) rich king. They gave him the third, That he should long live. Ye shall not eat flesh nor fat (Ian.') but in much sickness ; or whoso is ever feeble may eat potaga blithely, and accustom you to little drink. Nevertheless, loved sisters, your mea and your drink have seemed to me less than I would. Fast ye not no day to bread and to water, 44 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE L I2 5- fragment of it that remains amounts to twenty thousand lines, and it shows the increasing force of influences already at work among the authors of that century. Case endings have nearly ceased ; and in consequence the forms and the arrangement of words do not differ much from modern English. As the writer probably belonged to some monastery in the north-east of Eng- land, his poem contains several Danish or Scandinavian terms. There are also a few words from ecclesiastical Latin but scarcely any from the French. The work is of special interest, as it indi- cates by spelling the pronunciation of the vowels according to what the author deemed the true standard of the English tongue.* 36. It is easy now to estimate pretty accurately the difference ^ between the pure Anglo-Saxon of Alfred's age and the semi-Saxon of the eleventh, twelfth, and thir- bute ye hebben leave. Sum ancre but ye have leave. Some anchoresses maketh hire bord mid hire gistes make their board with their guesta (friends) withutan. That is to muche nreond- without. That is too much friend- ehipe, nor, of alle ordres, theonne is hit ship, for of all orders, then is it unkuindelukest and mest aean ancre most unnatural and most against an choress ordre, thaet is al dead to the worlde. order, that Is all dead to the world. From the Ancren Riwle. Edited and translated for the Camden Society, by James Morton, [B.D.] London, 1851. There are four MSS. of this work ; three of them In the Cottonian Collection, and one in Christ Church College, Cambridge. The authorship is ascribed by some to Simon, Bishop of Salisbury, who died in 1*15; by Mr Morton to Poor, Bishop of LHirham, and a native of Tarente, who died in 1237- From Orm or Ormin. The Ormulum, edited by R. M. White, 2 vols. Oxfoid. 1852. Affterr }?att tatt te Laferrd Crist After that that the Lord Christ Wass cumenn off Egyppte Was come from Egypt Inntill be land off Galileo Into the land of Galilee Till Nazarsebess chesstre. To Nazareth's toun. boereaffterr, segsJj be Goddspellboc, Thereafter, says the Gospel-book, Bilsef he baer well langge Stayed (be left) he there well long Wibb hise frend tatt haffdenn himui, With his friends that had him, To jemenn & to gaetenn, To take care of and to protect WibJ> Marge batt hiss moderr wass With Mary that his mother was & maggdenn bwerrt ut clene, And maiden throughout clean, & vf\]>]} Josaep batt wass himra sett & with Joseph that was him set To fedenu & to fosstrenn. To feed & to foster. 1258.] RESULTS. 45 teenth centuries. Of foreign words there were but few. The entire English vocabulary of the thirteenth century, so far as it can be known from its printed literature, consists of about eight thousand words. Of these not one thousand are of Latin or Romance origin, nor is there any author in whose works such words exceed four or five per cent. Meanwhile many of the most important Saxon words, ethical and mental, had dropped out of use or had become archaisms. The language, therefore, in its substance was still Saxon ; but, on the other hand^ the vocabulary had diminished, inflections had ceased, and, in consequence, the periodic structure of sentences was changed, the loss of declension being supplied by particles and the conjugation- forms of verbs by auxiliaries. This last result was natural, and would have occurred even independently of foreign influence, but it was hastened and modi- fied by the Anglo-Norman tongue. It was natural ; because in language there is a tendency to reject inflections a tendency that has operated in the history of all nations whose speech is known to us. It was hastened and modified, however, in the following ways. The genitive was often expressed in the Anglo-Saxon by a case-ending in s ; the Anglo-Norman expressed it by the prepo- sition de. All cases had in Anglo-Saxon case-endings ; in Anglo- Norman and in Danish these case-endings were very few. In Anglo-Saxon plural nouns ended in a, e, en, and s ; in Anglo- Norman in s only. The Anglo-Saxons had two forms of the plural for verbs, the indicative in ath, and the subjunctive in en ; the Anglo-Normans could not pronounce ath, and the common forms of their first person plural ended in ows, pronounced nearly as they pronounced the en of the Saxon. The infinitive of the Anglo-Saxon required no preposition, and had distinct forms for the gerund : the Anglo-Normans had but one form, and used a pre- position. The Anglo-Saxon participle ended in ende, and the Anglo-Norman in nt, with a nasal (ng) sound, while the same nasal sound was given by the Normans to the common infinitive and to the gerundial infinitive of the Anglo-Saxon. The com- parative and the superlative of adjectives in the Anglo-Saxon were formed by suffixes, er and est, in Anglo-Norman by adverbs like more and most. In all these cases, and in several more, the Anglo-Norman assimilated Anglo-Saxon usage to its own, and confounded participial and infinitive endings ; while even in 46 PEOG3ESS OF THE LANGUAGE. L r 3- the syntax, a department in which most languages retain their peculiarities, the Anglo-Saxon yielded in some degree.* 37. The middle of the thirteenth century may he trken as the beginning of the English tongue, and to that period belongs Proclamation what is generally regarded as the earliest specimen of Henry nr. o f English, the Proclamation of Henry HI. It is dated in the year 1258, and is addressed to the people of Huntingdon, copies being sent to all the shires of England and Ireland. It does not differ materially from the language of the Ormulum, nor is it on the whole more modern than the Ancren Riwle. It is important, however, because its date is known, and because being addressed to all parts of the country it is a speci- men of the language that was understood by all. , It contains no words of Norman origin except Duke and Marshal. But in the grammar the breaking down of the Anglo-Saxon inflectional sys- tem is clearly seen, and the sense is made to depend upon the sequence of the words alone . b The literary productions of this century are really few ; the Chronicles of Robert of Gloucester and of Robert Manning being Robert of ^ e on ^ historical writings that deserve notice. Gloucester. In the former the proportion of Norman words Manning. - g s ^^ no j. more than four or five per cent., though in the latter it is considerably larger ; nor are the gram- matical peculiarities very numerous. In some of the poetry of tho period (as in ' The Owl ') the Scandinavian form are is used instead of ben or beoth; especially in the north-east of England: and in these Chronicles eth, the third person singular of verbs, is changed into , probably the Norman pronuncia- What Dr. Johnson conjectured, that by the introduction of new words is now the Norman affected the Anglo-Saxon proved to be the fact, more by influencing the inflections than b From the Proclamation of King Henry in., 1258. Thaet witen ye wel alle, tha?t we This know ye well all, that we willen & unnen thaet thaet nre rajdes- will and grant, that what our counuil- men alle other the moare dael of heom, lore all or the more deal of thorn, thaet beoth ichosen thurgus, etc. And that are chosen by us, etc. And this wes idon aetforen ure isworene redes- this was done before our sworn coun- rnen. And al on tho ilche worden is cillors. And all in the same words is isend hi to aeurihce othre shcire over all sent into every other shire over all thaere kuneriche on Englene-loande & ek the kingdom in England and eke Intel Ireland*. into Ireland, From Marsh, p igi 1350.1 NEW LIFE. 47 tion : ath t the plural and imperative form, is changed in some cases into s also. The political poetry of the period is nearly all in Anglo-Norman, though sometimes in Anglo-Norman and Saxon, sometimes even Political in Anglo-Norman, Latin and Anglo-Saxon.* In these poetry. latter cases the tendency is to corrupt the grammar of all. On the other hand, in the collections of ancient lyrical poetry which the zeal of scholars has recently given to the world, there are many amatory and religious poems in the English tongue. b In several of these pieces, moreover, there are sparks of that humour of which the Anglo-Saxon race knew little, but which is a characteristic of the literature of their descendants. 38. Still with all these examples and tendencies there is, strictly speaking, in this thirteenth century and up to the middle of the fourteenth, no English literature, no national Results. .. . ' language, and, in short, no national life ; though there was a literature, as there were at least three languages, in England. The court and the nobility spoke French. The clergy largely used Latin ; and it was only the common people who used, as they had used all along, a dialect of Anglo-Saxon, and that dialect had now an uncertain grammar and a contracted vocabulary. a Nostre prince de Engletere Par le conscil de sa gent, At Westminster after the feire, Made a gret Parliament. A Poem of the year ijn, on The Violation of the Great Charter. Soo Marsh, p. 244. Quando quis loquitur, bote resoun reste therynne Perisum patitur aut lutel so shall he wynne, En seynt eglise sunt multi saspe priores ; Summe beoth wyse, multi sunt inferiores, &c. Political Songs (temp. Edward n.), published by the Camden Society. b Jhesu, that wes milde & fro, Wes with spere y-stonge He was nailed to the tre With scourges y-swongen. Al for mon he tholede shame Withouten gult wlthouten blame, Bothe day ant other Mon ful muchel he lovede the When he wolde maka the fre Ant blcome thi brother. Lyric Po1 part of the works of Chaucer. They Poems of England, vol. i. were discovered by Tyrwhitt, and pub- lished by Riteou in 1795. b Ther is lyf withoute ony deth, And ther is youthe without ony elde; When Philip the Valas heard this, And ther is alle manner welthe to welde Tharat he was ful wroth iwis ; And ther is rest without ony travaille ; He gert assemble his barounes, And ther is pees without ony strife, Princes & lordes of many tounes, And ther is alle manner lykinge of lyf. At Pariss toke thai thaire counsaile, Rolle, What is in Heaven. LANGLANDE: PIERS PLOUGHMAN. 53 sentiments on the subject it discusses.* 1 It is largely querulous, exhibiting herein the tendency of the Englishman to grumble. And yet it is also rich in humour, a quality scarcely known in our earlier literature, and one that must have recommended it to the general reader. Its sketches of social life give a clearer in- sight into the condition of the people than any contemporary work. It is to this author that John Ball appealed, who is known as one of the few clerical advocates of the rights of man in the Middle Ages, and who was long a popular preacher from the text, ' When Adam delved and Ev6 span, Where was then the gentleman ? ' But the work is chiefly important as a specimen of our lan- guage. In its thirty thousand lines are a large number of foreign words. But it is remarkable for its adherence to Anglo-Saxon forms. The verb is inflected for the most part as in the Anglo- Saxon, th distinguishing the plural ending of the present, and en of the past ; plural nouns generally end in s, and adjectives in e t while shall and will are used for the future with general accuracy. The Creed of Piers Ploughman came a few years later, and is directed more exclusively against the corruptions of the Koman Church. Whether this is also by Langlande is more than doubted ; but both books ' aided the reception of the doctrines of Wycliffe, encouraged the circulation of the new English versions of the Scriptures, and thus planted deep in the English mind the germ of that religious revolution which was so auspiciously begun and perfected in the sixteenth century.' b The Vision of Piers Ploughman is an allegory, and has been compared with the Pilgrim's Progress, though it wants the sim- plicity and the dramatic completeness of that matchless work. a Repentedestow 1 evere? quod 2 Repent- Thow haddest be the bettre worthl aunce, (iRepentedst thou. 2 quoth) Ben hanged therfore. Or restitution madest. ' I wende 5 riflynge were restitution, ' quod Yis ones I was y-herberwed, s quod he he ( 5 weened) ( 3 harboured) For I lerned nevere rede on boke ; With an beep of chapmen, And I kan 6 no Frensche, in feith, (Gknow) I roos whan thei were a-reste But of the ferthest ende of Northfolk And rifled hire males. 4 (their 4 packs or (am from.) boxes, ' mcw'Z-coach ') The Vision and Creed of Piers Plough" That was no restitution,' quot Repent- man, edited by T. Wright, 2 vote. aunce, Lond., 1842. The secwid Vision. Butarobberis thefte: > Marsh, 305. 54 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. 1^1365. Like most of the early allegorical poetry of all languages it is written without plan. As a succession of pictures it scarcely needed one ; its excellence depending upon its boldness and vigour, upon the satirical vein that runs through it, upon its sketches of external nature, and upon its bursts of serious feeling. The dreamer fell asleep * weary and forwandered on a May mornenynge on Malvern hilles.' In a fair meadow before him he sees the gathered inhabitants of the world ; he notes their ranks and occupations. A large part of the description he devoted to the different orders of the clergy, and depicts in strong colours their depravity and worldliness. These sketches, with the old story of the Belling of the Cat, form the introduction. In the first section a heavenly messenger, the personification of ' Holi Chirche,' ap- pears and gives the dreamer explanations and warnings. In the second section he perceives ' on his left half ' a woman who, Holi ( lliirche informs him, is Lucre, and who is in * the Pope's paleis ' as familiar as Holi Chirche herself. In the third and fourth sections all classes are seen paying homage to Lucre, who contracts a marriage with Falsehood. She is also taken into favour at court, and is specially caressed by the friars, though their intrigues are somewhat thwarted by Conscience. The King proposes a new marriage of Lucre with Conscience ; but Conscience objects, and appeals to the evils which Lucre had wrought in Church and State, and finally leaves her decision to Reason. In the end Reason and Conscience take the same side, and prevail with the King to give up the match, and to rule his kingdom by the ad- vice of Reason alone. In the second vision the dreamer describes the preaching of Reason, and the different classes of hearers who are convinced by him. A multitude of these repentant hearers set out in search of Truth under the guidance of Palmer, the Pilgrim, who proves but a blind guide ; and at length a number of wanderers put themselves under the direction of Piers Ploughman, who now appears for the first time upon the scene. The new guide employs them in productive labour, but they become rebellious, and are at last reduced to submission by the aid of Hunger, whose influence is described among some fine sketches of English social life. The pardons and indulgences of the Pope, the hope of getting to heaven by giving a painted window to the Church are treated. The Ploughman then goes in search of Dowell, BIBLICAL TRANSLATIONS. 55 a personification of good works, with little ultimate advan- tage. Studie, a strong-minded dame, recommends Piers to hei cousin Clergie, and Clergie gives a long dissertation, with which the Pilgrim is ' but litle the wiser.' Several sections follow iu the same strain. Pleasure, predestination, the divine punishments, the duties of charity and mercy, the great responsibilities of the rich and the learned, the ' coveitise ' of the friars are all discussed. In the eighteenth section the character of Piers Ploughman is identified with that of the Saviour, and the remainder of the sec- tion is occupied with Christ's Passion, his descent into Hell, and his final victories. We have then an account of the foundation of the visible Church, of the opposition of worldly men and princes, and an attack upon Anti-Christ. Afterwards the Castle of Unity, the stronghold of the Church, is assailed by an army of priests and monks. Conscience, the governor of the castle, is driven out, and goes in quest of the Ploughman, when the dreamer awakes, and ' behold it is a dream.'* 43. In most Protestant countries the national literature has commenced with the translation of the Scriptures into the Bible trans] tongue of the common people, which tongue the translation has fixed and preserved for all aftertime. Wyciiffe. Thig remark is true of Luther's German Bible, of the Danish Bible of 1550, and of the English versions of Wyciiffe and Tyndale. The fact is generally admitted ; nor is the ex- planation difficult to find. Most of these versions were made at a time when the vernacular language in each case was charac- terised by simplicity, both in the words and in the combination of them. That language was therefore a better exponent of the original than more modern speech. They were made, moreover, when the mind of the translator and of the reader were in a state of great religious sensibility, and rejoicing in newly acquired free- dom and in newly discovered truth. Add to these causes ano- ther, the translator himself generally felt the responsibility of his office, and girded up his mind to his task. Hence it is not surprising to be told that Wycliffe's New Testament is far superior in its English to his theological writings ; superior in simplicity and purity and dignity, in all the elements, in aiiort, Taken in brief from Marsh's Lectures, p. 314. 56 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. [1380- that make a translation popular, and fit it to react upon the vocabulary and language of a nation." With Wycliffe the religious dialect of this country may be said to have become fixed. For five hundred years it has continued through Tyndale and the authorised version of 1611, to be the language of devotion and of Scriptural translation. In our own day it remains practically unchanged. Any Englishman of com- mon education will understand Wycliffe's New Testament ; and if Wycliffe were now to reappear amongst us, it is probable that he would understand our authorised version, and need but few explanations. 44. The grammatical peculiarities of the version are that th is confined to the third person singular of verbs, and is never used in p r . . the imperative or the plural ; that ye or you is never of hi* transia- used as a singular; that participles end generally in ing not in ende, the old form ; and that feminine nouns which in the Anglo-Saxon end in ster (danster, stayster), now end in esse (daunseresse, devouresse), the classic feminine form. As the version was from the Vulgate, a large number of words of Latin origin are for the first time introduced into our speech. This volume of Wycliffe's circulated very widely among the people ; nor is it unimportant to notice that Langlande, Wycliffe, a Wycliffe's version of Matthew viii. Purvey's revision. Forsothe when Jhesus hadde comen But whanne Jhesus was come dorm fro the hil many cumpanyes doun fro the fail mych puple folewiden him. And loo ! a leproute suede him. And loo ! a leprouse man cummynge worshipide hym, say- man cam and worschipide him and inge ; seide ; Lord, Sif thou wolt, thou maist make Lord if thou wolt thou maist make me me clene. clene. And Jhesus holdynge forthe the And Jhesus helde forth the bond, touched hym, sayinge, I wole : bond, & touchide hym, & seide, Y wole ; be thou maad clene. And anoon be thou maad cleene. And anoon the Upre of hym was cleansid. the lepre of him was clensid. And Jhesus saith to hym ; See, say thou And Jhesus seide to hym ; Se, seie thou to no man ; but go, shewe thee to the to no man ; but go, shewe thee to the preftif ; & offre that Sifte that Moyses prestis ; & off re the gift that Moyses ovmaundide, unto witnessing to hem. comaundide in witnyssing to hem. The Italic words are of classic origin. From Marsh's Origin and History of the English Language, p. 346. 1400.] WYCLIFFE: CHAUCER. 57 and Chaucer, all belonged to the same popular party and were known as opponents of the corruptions of the Church. Though this first version of the Bible into English is commonly described as Wycliffe's, the early part of the Old Testament was really written by Hereford, an English ecclesiastic. The latter part of the Old Testament, however, and the whole of the New, were undoubtedly translated by Wycliffe, and were completed about 1380, and the revision of the New Testament by Purvey, some ten years later. 45, It is worth noticing, by the way, that in England, the lan- guage of theology and of religion was for many centuries in a Language of more advanced state of culture than that of secular theology. prose. The vocabulary was more extensive and the diction more polished. This was largely owing to the excellence of Wycliffe's translation. But it was also owing to the fact that the most earnest men of the nation were theologians, even when they were also statesmen. As the time of the Eeformation drew on, the study of theology became a necessity. It was to the men of literary culture what the study of political history and of pub- lic economy is in our own day. It was the natural completion of education, the preparation of public men for public life. Theo- logical books were read by lawyers and by statesmen of all par- ties. When the Eeformation was established, moreover, many of the public teachers of England were of German, Swiss, and Dutch birth, and many Englishmen visited the Continent, driven sometimes by persecution, drawn sometimes by love. This inter- course largely increased the number of Latinised and foreign words, and preserved to theological language the influence it had already gained. This superiority it retained down to the Restor- ation of Charles n. From that date theology itself declined in public estimation, and its language lost in a single generation all its earlier pre-eminence over the language of secular life. 46. In Chaucer the tendencies of the age, so far as the English language is concerned, culminated. In him were blended in a happy degree the genius of the Gothic and of the Eomance nations. He thought as an Englishman and felt as -a Norman. He had Eomance culture in the widest sense, being intimately acquainted with French, Latin, and 58 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. [1400- Italian, while he was richly endowed with Saxon good sense. To these he added the sensibility and tact which enabled him, as by instinct, to select from a large number of Saxon, French, and Latin words, that were in use around him, those best suited for the expression of English imagery and sentiments. Up to this time there were still practically two peoples and two dialects, and they were now to combine. To Chaucer it was left to fix what share of the contributions of France should be annexed to the inheritance of Englishmen, while he had nothing but good taste to enforce his decisions. The grammar of the language he could not change : it must be Saxon. All, therefore, he could do was to select from diverse accidences, and from conflicting methods of grammatical combina- tion, the inflections and the syntax best calculated to give unity and consistency to the language of the people. The vocabulary was more within his control : and here it was his business, by using his judgment, to ascertain the actual wants of our speech, and to re-stamp with the mint mark of English coinage the French words, which he thought entitled from their own beauty or from our necessities to the rights of citizenship. So carefully and skilfully has he done his work, that his grammar is, with the exception of a few inflections, still current, and though many of the old Saxon words Lave passed out of use, being su- perseded in fact by more recent importations, not more than a hundred of his Eomance words have become obsolete. Chaucer's works are, so far as language is concerned, of three kinds translations, sketches of natural scenery, and tales of social life. In the first, he has introduced a large nuniber of rhyming words of French origin, and in the last we have tales as various in thought and in vocabulary as the characters of the relators. The style is alternately grave and gay, pathetic and humorous, moral and licentious, chivalrous and vulgar ; his excellence con- sisting, as in Shakespeare two hundred years later, not in the number of new words, but in that happy selection and combina- tion of them, which was to secure for each a place in the heart and speech of the people. The study of Chaucer, it may be added, will amply repay the toil. It needs a little acquaintance with French and Italian to master all his words, a little care in pronunciation the final e and the ed of verbs being sounded, and the place of the accent being more varied I 4 08.J GOWER. 58 than in modern English to make the verse harmonious.* But he 'will conduct you,' to use Milton's figure, 'to a hill side, laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospects and melodious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming.' 47. Nor ought John Gower (i 325-1408) to be omitted from this list. He was connected with a knightly family of Kent (or of Yorkshire as is sometimes said), and resided chiefly in London. He studied at Merton College, Oxford, and adopted the profession of the law. His Speculum Meditantib he wrote in French, his Vox Olamentis in Latin, and his Con- fessio Amantis in English. This last was printed by Caxton, in 1483. It consists of a long dialogue between an unsuccessful lover and an experienced counsellor, the priest of Yenus, chiefly on the metaphysics of love. The sententiousness of his style and the general spirit of his writings induced Chaucer and afterwards Lyndsay to speak of him as ' the moral Gower,' and in Shake- speare's play of Pericles (supposing it to be his), taken from the story of the Prince of Tyre in the Confessio, Gower is introduced as the Chorus. The language of the Confessio is older than Chaucer's, though the work is in all probability of a later date. By its greater simplicity and higher moral tone it had a wider circulation than the poems of his friend, as Gower calls him : and hence while greatly inferior as a poet to Chaucer, he enjoyed a high reputation at a period when Chaucer was almost forgotten. 48. Though we have reached but the first stage of the progress of the English tongue, we have already examples of all the in- fluences that were still further to aid its development during the next three hundred years. The national life grew more vigorous ; quickened by the discovery of continents which Englishmen were to visit and to people, by Spanish Armadas, and even by internal civil wars, which, though unfavourable to literature while they last, always create an increase of national energy. The religious excitement of Langlande's day ended in the Eeformation and the struggles of the Puritans. All the languages of Europe, ancient and modern, were studied for poetic utterances, and their On the somewhat vexed question of of Tyrwhjtt's views on the one side an See Marsh, p. 554. 74 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. which have retained their place in our language. His verse is rhymed, of fourteen syllables, a line that better answers to the hexameter than the ten-syllabled couplet. Fairfax, Dryden reckons with Spenser as one of the masters of our language. AYaller professes to have taken from him all the harmony of his own measures. Collins praises his imaginative genius ; and Campbell speaks of his version as one of the glories of the reign of Elizabeth. In 1591, Ariosto was translated by Sir John Harington (died in 1612), though in very inferior style. To the same age belongs Sylvester's Du Bartas. Du Bartas was a contemporary French poet, whose principal work, on the history of the Creation, Syl- vester, translated. His version is remarkable for compound or rather agglutinated words, and it throws light upon several expressions in Shakespeare as well as in Milton and other dramatists of that age. It is otherwise of little interest, though * the divine Du Bartas,' was the delight of the age of Elizabeth. Florio's Mon- taigne (1603) is a specimen of idiomatic English, and abounds in the quaint humour, liveliness, and learning for which that writer is so remarkable. This translation must have been read by Shakespeare, who uses some of its passages in his Tempest. A copy, said to have been his own, is now in the British Museum. Mention has already been made of the Travels of Mandeville and of their influence. To the same class belong Tlie Fardle of Facions, a sketch of the manners and customs of the different nations of the world, translated from the Latin, and printed in 1550 ; The Decades of the Newe World, by Peter Martyr, trans- lated by Richard Eden (1553); The Travels of Vertomannus in the East, and other works, all reprinted in 1812, in a volume in- tended as a supplement to Hakluyt. Nor must Hakluyt's own collection be overlooked (1589-1600), though it is not to any great extent a translation. All books of this class had influence in adding to the vocabulary of our speech. 68. More influential probably than any of these were the translations of books of theology. In the sixteenth century, about T laf n twenty -five translations of works of St. Augustin of theological were published ; about twenty translations of Tvorks of Luther by Miles Coverdale, John Bale and others ; all the Commentaries and Common-places of Peter Martyr ; eight editions of Calvin's Institutes ; and nearly fifty other editions of ANGLO-SAXON INFLUENCE. 75 different works of that Reformer. All these books circulated among the learned class and largely among the people ; so that though they contained fewer new words than translations of classic authors, those words must have become by means of them, more widely known. 69. The influence of these translations from the Italian, French, and ancient classic languages, was all on the side- of innovation, and they must largely have affected both the inflections and the vocabulary of the language. On the other side, and in favour of a purer and more Saxon diction, were many of our best writers the prestige of legal authority, which continued to promote the study of English ; and the translations of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. 70. As early as 1343, Robert Manning in his Handlyng of Sinne, an English version of Grosstete's (or Wadington's) Manuel des Preference for ^ c ^ s i protested against outlandish innovations. * I Anglo-Saxon seke,' says he, ' no straunge Ynglyss.' Wycliffe, Gower, and Chaucer, were all advocates of pure English, and all aided its victories by enriching it with importations from Italy and France. In the middle of the century Rolle, the hermit of Hampole, in his ethical poem, the Prikke of Conscience, ex- pressed the same dread as Manning had expressed : * I seke no straunge Inglyss, bot lightest (easiest) and communest.' Early in 1529, Sir John Cheke, one of the first and ablest teachers of Greek at Cambridge, wrote strongly in favour of his native tongue. ' Our own tongue,' says he, ' should be written clean and pure, unmixed and unmingled with borrowing of other tongues ; wherein if we take not heed betime, ever borrowing and never paying, she shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt.' In 1565, Golding, a translator, who had done much to enrich the language, complained that English in- his day was ' driven almost out of court.' * Dismembered, hack'd, maimed, rent and torn, Defaced, patch'd, marr'd, and made in scorn.' And later, Shakespeare. levelled his wit against the euphuism of the upper classes, as Rabelais had already done against the Latin- ising tendency of French society in his day. Letter to Hoby, quoted in Shaw's Outline of English Literature, p. 2). 76 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. 71. In 1362, during the reign of Edward m., all pleas ip courts of justice were ordered to be made in English, and, though Acts of the statute was not rigidly enforced, it must have J/egisiature. jj ac [ influence in discouraging the study of French and of French forms. In 1385, Trevisa notes that the custom of making children in grammar schools translate all Latin into French had, through the patriotic efforts of one John Cornewaill, been discontinued, so that now ' children leaveth Frensche and construeth and lerneth in Englische.' In 1388, according to Rit- son, the English language was used generally in all Parliamentary proceedings, and about the same time Henry iv. and Henry v. made their Wills in English. In a letter of Henry v. addressed to the Company of Brewers in London, he states that 'the English tongue hath in modern days begun to be honourably en- larged and adorned, and for the better understanding of the people the common idiom is to be exercised in writing.' Fifty years later (1483), at the beginning of the reign of Richard in., the statutes were recorded in English. To this last circumstance, Barrington attributes great power in purifying and fixing the idiom of the language. 72. But most is due, so far as the mass of the people are con- cerned, to the numerous editions and revisions of Scripture. English Tyndale's version was published in 1526, and must Scriptures. have been made before our language was affected by the Latinisms which were introduced in large number a few years later. It is an admirable specimen of the power and purity of the English tongue, and exercised as great an influence on the lan- guage as did Tyndale's labours and martyrdom on the progress of evangelical sentimc-nt. Upwards of a hundred editions of various versions were issued before the end of the sixteenth century, and this wide circulation of such books cannot have failed to in- fluence the language, especially by checking the tendency of secular literature to adopt a Latinised phraseology. Nor unim- portant was the Liturgy of the English Church. It belongs in its present form to the reigns of Edward vi. and Elizabeth; but it is largely Anglo-Saxon in style, and the daily repetition of it by the population both ' lered and lowed ' must have had great in- fluence in fashioning the speech and tinging the written language of the people. BALLADS : STUDY OF CLASSICS. 77 73. The influence of our ballads would deserve special men- tion, if it were not that their grammatical forms abound in Ballad P t ^ cence an( ^ m corruption. They are themselves strongly on the side of an Anglo-Saxon vocabulary ; but their arbitrary variations of grammar must have made scholars suspicious of anything they seemed to sanction, while the uncertainty with respect to their local origin and date makes it impossible to appeal to them as decisive evidence of the state of the language, at any one time or place. They belong, in fact, rather to the history of our literature than to the history of our speech. 74. This large amount of translation implies, of course, the study of the classical languages, and an interest in them, upon the part of the people. This study must itself have had in- fluence upon our language ; and a few words may be allowed us on this theme. To the British Isles belongs some of the honour of preparing the way for the restoration of learning after the dark ages. As Study of classics early as the sixth century there was more than a in England. glimmer of light in the monasteries of Scotland and Ireland, and in the seventh century, when France and Italy were sunk in deep ignorance, they stood, if not quite where national prejudice has placed them, yet certainly in a very respectable position. Irish scholars visited the Continent, where they were received with great honour, and continental students were tempted to pursue their studies in Irish monasteries. In England the study of the Latin and Greek tongues was aided by the influence of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, an Asiatic Greek by birth, sent hither in 668. The Venerable Bede, as he was afterwards called, who flourished in the eighth centuiy, was as eminent a scholar as the world then possessed ; and from the school of York, established somewhat later, came Alcuin, a man equal to Bede in ability, though not in learning. By his assist- ance Charlemagne opened numerous schools throughout his vast dominions. Several hundred schools were also established in England before the death of King John. In spite of these influences, however, the clergy remained in a very low state till the time of Lanfranc, who greatly promoted the study of Latin. In John of Salisbury (d. 1 182), a disciple of 78 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. [1500- Anselm, we have one of the most enthusiastic students of the great classic authors of antiquity, and he is placed by Eichhorn and Heeren at the head of his contemporaries. The historians of the age of Henry n. are generally good Latin writers, especially Gi raid us Cambrensis as Gerald de Barri is styled, and William of Newbury. There is indeed, in that century, evidence of the progress of classical knowledge, and of even refined taste. The study of Greek was patronised by Grosstete, Bishop of Lincoln (fl. 1230), who translated Suidas' Lexicon, and himself read lec- tures at Oxford. 75. This was the age moreover of those munificent patrons of learning, * testators,' as Burke expressed it, ' to a posterity which Oxford and they embraced as their own ' to whom we are in- Cambridge. debted for many of our great educational institutions. In 1373, William of Wykeham, Chancellor of England under Richard IL, and Bishop of Winchester, founded a school in that city. In 1379 he founded New College at Oxford. Seventy years later (1442), Henry vi. founded Eton School, and King's College, Cambridge, two of the most magnificent, as they are two of the earliest, foundations for classic learning in this country. Within the two hundred years that preceded Henry's reign most of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge were largely endowed,* and thus afforded great facility for study, while they gave to the universities themselves a permanency they had not previously And yet the condition of these seats of learning in regard to the At OXFORD : University Hall was University Hall, by R. Badew . ij 26 founded by William, Arch- Clare Hall, by Countess of Ulster 1347 deacon of Durham, in . . 1249 Pembroke Hall, by Couu less of Baliol College, by John Baliol, Pembroke . . . . IJ47 father of King John of Scot- Trinity Hall, by Bateman, Bishop land iz6j of Norwich .... 1350 Merton College, by Merton, Corpus Christi, or Benedicts . ijjr Bishop of Rochester . . 1268 Exeter College, by Stapleton, To this list may be added : Bishop of Exeter . . . IJI5 University of St. Andrews, Oriel College, by Edward n. and founded by Bishop Wardlaw . 1411 De Brom .... 1324 University of Glasgow, founded Queen's College, by Eglesfield, by Bishop Turnbull . . 1450 Chaplain of Queen Philippa . 1340 University of Edinburgh, founded At CAMBRIDGE: Peter House, by by James vi 1582 Belshain, Bishop of Ely . .1256 University of Aberdeen . . 59J 1550. J GRAMMAR SCHOOLS: UNIVERSITIES. 79 conveniences of teaching, and the scholarship of the students, was humble in the extreme. During the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries these colleges were filled, as Hallam puts it, 'by indigent vagabonds withdrawn from useful labour,' and Anthony Wood affirms that they were, very many of them * var- lets who pretended to be scholars, who loved no discipline neither had any tutors.' In the reign .of Edward iv. (1461), learning was certainly at its lowest point, nor was the unpro- pitious reign of Henry vn. likely to raise it. Six centuries before, England had been at the head of all -continental nations in learning : now she was at least a century behind them. With the accession of Henry vm. came the promise of better times. There was a band of earnest men, Linacre, Latimer, Coler, and More, who were resolved on raising the tone of study in their country. With that object in view, in 151.0, they invited Eras- mus to visit England, and to teach Greek at Cambridge. The scholars were very poor indeed, and very few. But a beginning was made, though they never got beyond the grammar. In 1 500 Colet founded St. Paul's School, and published a Latin grammar; not the first though the five or six elementary books previously published are little worth. Lilly, the famous grammarian, who had learned Greek in the Levant, was the first master. In 1497, Terence was printed by Pynson, the first edition of a Latin clas- sic published in England ; and in 1521, the first Greek charac- ters appear in a book printed at Cambridge, Linacre's Latin translation of a book of Galen's. Three years later, the same author printed the first published book on Latin style, and obtained for it great praise from continental writers, Melancthon recommending the work for use in the schools of Germany. 76. At this time there were in both universities several per- sons sufficiently skilled in Greek to write in that language, or to Grammar- translate from it,. But Greek learning was chiefly schools. indebted for its rapid advance to two members of the University of Cambridge Smith, afterwards Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, and Sir John Cheke. Both were professors of Greek in the university, and by their skill and earnestness, gained great influence. Among the men who surrounded Cheke was Ascham, whose knowledge of ancient languages was shown, not in quotations, but in the care with which he transferred the firm- 80 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. ness and precision of ancient writers to his own tongue, in which lie is one of the first that deserve to be named, or that are now read. Lectures on Humanity, that is on classical literature, were in 1535 established by the king's authority in all the colleges of the University of Oxford, and pains were taken to enforce a due regard to philological study. During thirty years of the same reign more grammar-schools were established throughout the kingdom than in the three hundred years preceding. By the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth (1558), as Ascham assures us, both Cambridge and Oxford showed the fruits of this extension of learning. At both, the young spring of learning had -so revived that there were many good plants vigorous and thriving. To the same age belong the earliest editions of Latin and Greek lexicons. The first Latin dictionary by Elyot appeared in 1538. The Greek and Latin lexicon of Hadrian Junius, intended for English use, and dedicated to Edward vi., appeared in 1 546 ; but as it was printed at Basle it can hardly be reckoned an English book. 77. One of the results of this study of the classic languages was an increased attention to the English grammar. Up to this English time it is not known that there existed any English grammar. grammar or dictionary. The first grammatical trea- tise in the language, so far as yet appears, * the earliest evidence that any Englishman had thought of subjecting any modern tongue to the discipline of philological principle,' is Palgrave's French grammar, written for the use of the Princess Mary, and printed in 1530. Though intended for instruction in French, it illustrates the grammar by a comparison with English usage. It thus contributes to our knowledge of the grammar of the period, besides having tended to the improvement ef our language itself. It is based upon one of the Greek grammars then in use, and did much to introduce the grammatical names of the Latin language into English, and to establish philological principles more in har- mony with it. It is an evidence how completely the Anglo- Saxon plural terminations had passed away that Palgrave' forms the plural of adjectives in s, and speaks of verbes actives, an example not followed, however, by other writers. a This book of Palgrave, reprinted at before the times of Elizaleth. It con- the expense of the French Government, tains also a large collection of English is the fullest English dictionary we have phrases. , LATIMER. ei Though no English grammar is known, however, there must have been some grammar in existence. In the middle of the fourteenth century, as we have seen, the study of English was commanded by the King ; but no fragment has reached us. Sir Philip Sidney, writing at the end of the sixteenth centu ry even, says that * English wanteth not grammar, for grammar it might have, but needs it not, being so easie in itselfe, and so void of those cumbersome differences of cases, genders, moods, and tenses ; which I think was a piece of Babel's curse, that a man should be put to schoole to leai-ne his mother tongue.'* Towards the close of the century, however, a brief compendium of grammar was drawn up by Ben Jonson, and was published after the death of its author. It is too short to give much positive instruction, but it shows an accurate acquaintance with the principles of our speech. It is partly taken from classic sources, but refers, for illustration of most of its rules, to the writings of standard English authors of his own and the preceding age. He notes that the plural of verbs en was dropping out of use, a change, he tells us, which he regards with regret. Indeed, it may be said, that at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and certainly by the middle of it, the old Saxon grammatical distinctions of cases and numbers had as completely ceased as a century later ; the occasional use of such distinctions often creating perplexity, partly because not understood, and partly because the use was guided by no principle, 78. In the sixteenth century some of the influences we have seen already at work, were extended, and others were modified. The sixteenth ^ e ^g^ on ) appealing to the people by sermons at Paul's century. Cross, and by popular writings, used generally the Latimer, etc. language of common life. Latimer (1475-1555) spoke bold truth in plain nervous English, and enforced it by a humour that produced a wonderful impression upon the people." n Defence of Poesie. Marye, quode he, wonderfull newes, wee > ' I am content to beare the title of were ther cleane absolved, my mule and sedition w Esai. Thankes be to God, all badde full absolution. Ye may se I am not alone, I am in no singularitie. by thys, that he was such a one that Thys same man that layed sedition thus rode on a mule, and that he was a to my charge was asked an other tyme, gentylma. In dede hys mule was wyser whether he were at the sermon at Paulcs then he, for I dare say, the mule never Crosse; he answered y* he was there, sclaundered the preacher. Oh what an t-nd beync;e asked what newes there, unhappy chaunce had thys mule to carrye 2 G 82 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE Foxe (1517 1587), the martyrologist, wrote as vigorously, his- tories of undying interest, and with a simplicity often extremely touching. Cheke* (1514-1557) and Ascham (d. 1568) each contributed his part. Cheke was long the preceptor of Edward vi., and left behind him a translation of Matthew, intended to exemplify the plan he had conceived for reforming the English language by eradicating all words and combinations not of Saxon origin. He also contemplated a reform in the spelling of Eng- lish, an idea which has occurred to several learned men, and which seems as little likely to be carried out in our time as in any previous age. His only original work in English is a pam- phlet, The Hurt of Sedition, or how grievous it is to a Common- wealth. Ascham was successively University Orator at "Cambridge, preceptor, and finally Latin secretary to Queen Elizabeth. He illustrates the purity and the wealth of the English tongue, while denouncing the employment of it for literary purposes. His principal work, The Schoolmaster, printed by his widow, contains, besides some good general views of education, what Johnson thinks ' perhaps the best advice that ever was given for the study of language.' His ToxophUus (1544), a treatise on arcnery, is written in a style of English, more pure than any that had yet appeared. 6 He strongly urges that Englishmen Mich an asse vppon hys backe.' staled vs from your uickednesse, that by LATDIEE, Third Sermon preacJted before beholding the filth of your fault, we King Henry VIII. in 1549. might lustlie for offense abhorre you ' Among so manie and notable bene- like rebels, whome else by nature we fits, wherewith God halh alreadle and loue like Englishmen.' CHEKE, The plentifullie indued vs, there is nothing Hurt of Sedition, Lond., 1549. more beneflciall, than that we haue by b As for the Latine, or Greeke tongue, his grace kept vs quiet from rebellion everye thinge is so excellentlye done in at this time. For we see such miseries them, that none can do better. In the hang over the whole state of the Englishe tongue, contrary, every thinge common- wealth through the great mis- in a maner so meanlye both for the order of your sedition, that it maketh vs matter and handelinge, that no man can much to reioise, that we have beene do worse. For therein the least learned, neither partners of your doings, nor for the most part, have bene alwayes conspirers of your counsels. For even most readye to write. And they which as the Lacedemonians for the auoiding had least hope in Latine, have been most of drunkenceese did cause their sons to bould in Englishe ; when surelye everye behold their seruante when they were man that is most readye to talke, is drunke, that by beholding their beastli- not most able to write,' ASCHAM'I nesse they might auoid the like vice : Toxophilut, preface, even so hath God like a mercifull father HISTORIANS: BERNEKS. 83 should cultivate the use of the bow for military purposes : but without success, that weapon having ceased to appear in war later than the sixteenth century.* Nor should we omit from this list the writings of Sir Thomas Elyot, an eminent physician of the reign of Henry vni., and author of a popular professional work, entitled The Castle of Health, containing many sound precepts on exercise and regimen. He wrote also a treatise entitled The Governor, and devoted to the subject of education. The earliest English and Latin Dictionary (15 38) we owe to him. Elyot was a personal friend of More, and of Leland, the antiquary. He died in 1546. 79. Among historians, the first place is due to Lord Berners, a favourite of Henry vui., and the translator of Froissart. Lord Historians: Berners was employed for some years on various Berners, etc. missions, and was successively Chancellor of the Ex- chequer and Governor of Calais. His leisure he occupied in literary pursuits. Besides Froissart, he translated Arthur of Little Britain, a romance of Chivalry, and other works. Froissart himself lived some time at the English Court, in the time of Edward in., and though the scenes which his chronicles describe, and which extend from 1326 to 1440, are laid chiefly in France and Spain, he narrates many facts connected with the reign of Edward in. and of Kichard n. The translation therefore, (pub- lished in 1523-5), which is executed with all the freshness of an original work, is a most important contribution to the history of England, and is indeed, the earliest work in English relating to the history of modern times. The sketches themselves are so brilliant and picturesque that they drew general attention to those themes, and formed the commencement of that department of native literature. 1 * a ' Hallam says, that the battle of their vsage, such one aa shuld be Pinkie was the last time it was used. good and profitable for holy churche, If, however, we may trust the language the roraayne assembled the togyder in which the old ballad puts into the lips a great nombre and came into tbe bow- of the 'brave Lord Willoughbey,' it rage of Saynt Peter: they were to the seems to have been used during Eliza- nombre of xxx thousand what one and beth's wars in Flanders. other, to the extent to do yuell, if the b Anon after the dethe of the Pope mater went not accordynge to their Gregory, the cardynelles drew them into appetytes. And they came oftentymes the conclave, In the paleys of Saynt before the conclaue, and sayd, Harke, Peter. Anone after, as they were ye sir cardynalles, delyuer you atones, entred to chose a pope, accordyng to and mske a pope ; ye tary to longe ; G 2 84 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. 80. Chronologically there are two original prose histories prior to Berners' translation of Froissart, The Concordance of Stories Fabian ^7 ^^ ert Fabian (died 1512), and The Union of the Two Noble Ittustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke by Edward Hall (died 1547). Fabian was an alderman of Lon- don, and his Concordance is a general chronicle of English his- tory. He repeats all the stories of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and is rich in details of the history of the city of London. His history has been several times reprinted. The last edition in 1811 was published under the editorship of Sir Henry Ellis. Hall was a judge in the Sheriffs Court of London, and his compilation gives the history of the reigns of Lancaster and York, of Henry vn., and Henry vni. His work is very superior to that of Fabian, and has special interest as having furnished the materials of many of our earlier plays. The style of both is good idiomatic English. 8 1. Later in date, and flourishing in the reign of Elizabeth, is the old chronicler, Raphael Holinshed. The first edition of his Holinshed, ^^ SL PP e&Te ^ m J 5?7 J Holinshed died about 1580. The contributors, however, Harrison, a clergyman, John Hooker, the brother of the author of the Ecclesiastical Polity, and John Stow, the antiquary, belong to a somewhat earlier period. There is, prefixed to the volume, an interesting account of the state and manners of tlie country in the sixteenth century, in which is given a brief history of the languages of Britain and their influence British, Sasssenach, Latin, and Anglo-Norman. It was from Holinshed's translation of Boece's description and history of Scotland, that Shakespeare took the ground- work cf his tragedy of Macbeth. It is generally admitted that these chronicles of Holinshed and Hall both influenced the style of Shakespeare, and furnished him with biographical and historical facts. To Hall he is specially indebted.* 8 1 . This brief notice of the historians of the century may be If ye make a romayne, we will not BEBJTEBS* Proissart. Published in chaung him ; but yf ye make any other, reprint of 1812. Given in ilarsh, the romayn people and counsayles woll p. 498. not take hym for pope, and ye putte See Knighfs Skaktpere, vol. ii., p yourselfe all in aduenture to be slayne.' Ixxx of Introduction to Historiti. POETS: TOTTEL: SURREY: WYAT. 85 fairly closed with the mention of the Life of Edward the Fifth and Eicliard the Third, by Sir Thomas More. This work first appeared in Havdyng's Chronicle (1543), and was afterwards inserted in Hall and Holinshed. It is among the best specimens of early secular prose, and the style of the author was certainly largely modified by the study of theological writers. Hallam pronounces Edward the Fifth, the earliest book he had read in which he had found no obsolete English. It is also remarkably free from vulgarism and pedantry. The Utopia of More, hardly claims a place in the history of the lan- guage, as it was written in Latin, though translated as early as 1551 by Raphe Robinson, and later by Bishop Buraet. 83. The poetry of the early part of the sixteenth century is generally more modern in the forms and vocabulary of its Ian- Poets : guage than the prose, and at the same time more Tottel, etc. purely English in idiom. The writers are none of them first rate, though they are distinguished by qualities that are noteworthy. They are Surrey, Wyat, and other writers in Totters Miscellany, the first collection of English poetry by different authors (1557), and in the Paradise of Dainty Devices (1576), the second collection ; and Tusser, the author of a Hundreth good Points of Husbandrie. We may include also the Scottish poets Dunbar and Lyndsay, and the English ballads, though it cannot be affirmed that any of these last are more modern or more English in language than other productions of that age. 84. Both Surrey (1516-1547) and Wyat (1503-1541) were courtieps of Henry vin.'s reign. The former is supposed to have Surrey, incurred the displeasure of Henry, through the en- Vaux/etc. m i ty O f Lord Hertford, and he was beheaded in 1 546-7. The only charge against him was that he had used the royal arms, those of Edward the Confessor. At the trial it was proved that these arms had been given to his family by Richard n., and had been borne by his father and grandfather. His was the last state-trial of that reign, and the sentence was among the most unjust that even Henry had sanctioned. Wyat hai entertained a secret affection for Anne Boleyn, and died of fever in France. History qf Literature, i. 477. U6 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. Both these poets adopted the colloquial dialect of their ago, and laid aside many idioms and inflections then common in written literature, and especially common in poetry. Their works became exceedingly popular, and were regarded as models of elegant composition. From their time, the style of the old writers began to be considered obsolete. Chaucer and his con- x;mporaries lost influence, and never regained it even with poets, till Spenser's day ; and then but partially. In Tottel's Miscellany and in the Paradise of Dainty Devices, are poems by various authors. Lord Vaux (bom 1520), Captain of the Isle of Jersey, was a chief contributor to the former. The chief contributors to the latter were Vaux, Richard Edwards (about 1523-66), Master of the singing. boys of the Chapel Royal, and a writer of Court Masks, Viscount Rochford, and William Hunnis, Master of the boys of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel. Vaux wrote the lines on A Contented Hind, and Edwards the verses entitled Amantium irce. 85. Tusser is the author of the first didactic poem in our lan- guage. He was born in 1523, received a good education, and practised farming in the east of England. This busi- ness he changed for that of fiddler and poet, and, as might have been conjectured, died poor in 1580. His Hundreth good Points was published in 1557, and contains practical direc- tions for farming expressed in simple, but often forcible, verse. The book was afterwards enlarged by various writers, and pub- lished under the title of Five Hundreth Points of good Hus- landrie. 86. In the Scottish writers of this period the peculiarities of spelling and idiom which distinguish modern Scotch appear, and make the study of their works somewhat difficult. Between 1460* and 1520, lived William Dunbar, a poet, says Scott, ' unrivalled by any that Scotland has ever produced.' Even English critics have sometimes placed him next to Chaucer, for vigour and imaginativeness; and he is wanting only in the chivalrous feeling and strong human tone that characterised the Father of English verse. He received his education at St. Andrews, and was employed at the court of See The, Works of William, Dunbar, &y James Faterson, Edin., i86j. LYNDSAY: BALLADS. 87 James iv., though disappointed in his hopes of patronage. A complete edition of his works was not published till 1834, when they appeared under the editorship of David Laing. A new edition has recently come from the press. His poems are divided into four classes allegorical, moral, comic, and personal. The Thistle and the Hose, a nuptial song on the marriage of James and the Princess Margaret, was long popular, as was The Golden Terge (shield), a poem cited by Lynd- say, as proving that its author had * language at large.' Ono of his moral poems represents the thrush and the nightingale de- bating on earthly and spiritual affection ; the thrush ending each stanza with a refrain in praise of ' a lusty life in love's service,' and the nightingale with the juster declaration, * all love is lost but upon God alone.' Dunbar's satirical and humorous pieces are often indelicate. 87. The celebrated Lyon king-at-arms, Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount (1490-1557), was a man of mark in his age, both as a courtierr and a poet. He was the friend and companion of James v., and was employed in various commercial missions to Holland, Denmark, and elsewhere. He also represented his native county in Parliament between 1 544 and 1 546. He was religiously a warm friend of John Knox and of his doctrine, and lashed the vices of the clergy with great boldness and keen satire. His dialect is now antiquated ; his narrative is often prolix, arid his allusions indelicate. But, nevertheless, his writings abound in racy descriptions and in poetic feeling. With his countrymen he was exceedingly popu- lar, many of his sayings passing into proverbs, and still lingering in the language. His works were published in 1806 by George Chalmers. The best known of them are the play of The Three Estates (1535), a satire on king, barons, and clergy, and the History of Squire Mtldrum (1550), one of the last of the old metrical romances. 88. To the same period belongs some of the best ballad poetry. Scott's first poetical inspiration he drew from ballads which he collected and published as The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The Nut Brown Maid first appeared in Arnold's Chronicle, a book published in 1521, though 88 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. the ballad itself is certainly of somewhat earlier date. In Shake- speare and in Beaumont and Fletcher are many fragments of ballads popular in their day, most of which have been collected and printed in Percy's Reliques. To James v. we owe several ; and among them The Galerlunzie Man. The influence of all these compositions was on the side of familiar English, and they contributed in no small degree to the adoption by writers of a style at once humorous and familiar. Archaic forms gradually fell out of use in poetry, though the people still preferred forms and words homely and idiomatic. 89. Before we can understand all the influences at work in the sixteenth century, special mention must be made of a class Eu huism ^ W1 ^ ters w ^ g ame( l g reat praise in their own day, who have had their imitators in every subsequent age, and who have contributed more than is generally allowed to the beauty and vigour of our speech, The Euphuists. This title is taken from Euphues (the * well born,' * the ingenious '), the name of the hero of a tale written by John Lillie. The first part is called Euphues, the Anatomie of Wit; the second, Euphues and his England. The whole consists of the history of an Athenian, who, in the first part is placed at Naples, and in the second is in England. He reaches our country in 1529, and the plot is little more than a string on which to hang smart sayings, or, as Lillie himself calls them, ' fine phrases, smooth quips, mery taunts, jesting without meane, and mirth without measure.' The characteristics of the style are alliteration and antithesis, chiefly verbal.* In straining after effect, the writers of this school were often led to enlarge their vocabulary, and to experiment upon all possible combinations of words. The mischief was, of course, that they often became through their affectation ridiculous. Nevertheless, their diction long survived as a repository of verbal * There is no privilege that needeth what the enufous have picked out by a pardon, neither is there any remission malice, or the curious by wit, or the to be asked where a commission is guilty by their own consciences ; but granted. I speake this, gentlemen, not this I say, that I was as farre from think- to excuse the offence which is taken, ing ill as I found them from judging but to offer a defence where I was mis- well.' Dedication of the second edition taken. A cleaue conscience is a sure of Euphues. See Marsh, p. 545. card: truth hath the prerogative to There is a good article on Euphuism f prake with ^lainnesse, and the modesty and its influence on style in the to hcare with .patience. . . . i know not Quarterly Review, April, 1861. L1LLIE; SKELTON: STANIHURST. 89 wealth, and suggested attention to style for its own sake. In the days of Lillie, all the ladies of the Court, we are told, spoke euphuisms, or were deemed as defective in education as if they had not spoken French. It is but just to add that Lillie's own writings contain a number of shrewd remarks, and some even profound thoughts. There is much tinsel, undoubtedly ; but there is also more gold than is commonly supposed. Of course the style drew attention and excited criticism. Shake- speare has frequently ridiculed it, as in Love's Labour Lost ; and, it may be added, has occasionally copied it when he did not mean to be ridiculous, aa in some passages in Hamlet. So also has Jonson in Every Man out of Ids Humour. Earlier still it is criti- cised by Thomas Wilson, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and one of the earliest critical writers on our language. In his System of Rhetoric and Logic (1553) he speaks with censure of the false taste of those who speak of * Pitiful poverty praying for a penny.' The name of Euphuism, it is worth noting, waa long obsolete, and was revived by Scott, who, in his character of Sir Piercie Shafton has exhibited the quality, though in an exaggerated form. (See ' The Monastery.') 90. Other writers of the same school are Skelton, Stanihurst, and Sidney. Skelton, who died in 1529, was known chiefly as a satirist, and is described by Puttenham in words that Skelton himself must have approved, however he might question the application of them, as ' a rude rayling rimer. His English is certainly coarse, but he had a reputation foi scholarship, and is praised by Erasmus as the ' dccus ' of hia country. Nor can it be questioned that his pieces display great vigour both of style and of thought. Richard Stanihurst is best known by his description and history of Ireland given in Holinshed's Chronicle. lie also pub- nihuret ^ s ^ e( ^ a version of the first four books of the ^neid , but it found little favour with the public. He was a learned man ; but failed to impress his contemporaries with any strong confidence in his powers. The best idea of his style, as well as of Lillie's, will be gathered from a specimen.* ' The learned have, not without marrow of reason, the creame of expe- reaaon, adiudged an historic to be the rience, the sap .of wisdome, the pith of $0 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. 91. The style of Sidney, who is one of the brightest ornaments of our elegant literature, is largely Euphuistic, though he is less dexterous and graceful than Lillie in the use of its artifices, which always appear in his hands laboured and unnatural, whereas Lillie seems to ' the manner born.' The following praise is, as Hallam intimates, too strongly coloured, but it shows fairly the influence which attention to style was beginning to exereise on the language. * The Arcadia first taught to contemporary literature that inimitable weaving and contexture of words, that bold and unshackled use and applica- tion of them, that art of giving to language appropriated to objects the most trivial a kind of acquired and adventitious loftiness, and to diction in itself noble and elevated a sort of superadded dignity, that power of ennobling the sentiments by the language, and the language by the sentiments, which so often excite our admiration in perusing the writers of the age of Elizabeth.' Sidney's Defence ofPoesie is decidedly superior to his Arcadia. It shows the capacity of the language for 'spirit, variety, graceful idiom, and material firmness.' 1 * It is the * best secular prose yet written., and, indeed, the earliest specimen of real critical talent in our literature.' * In Sylvester the disease of Euphuism assumed a somewhat milder form. In Thomas Fuller and Sir Thomas Browne, pbysician and philosopher, it is so natural, that it seems less a disease than the flush of rude health. In some of the earlier essayists, as Earle and Overbury, and in many of the Puritan writers whose thoughts are vigorous, it is part of their beauty and strength. 93. One other name deserves mention before we reach the Indgemcnt, the librarle of knowledge, the the pelfish trash that is wrapt within thto keraell of politic, the viifoldresse of treatise, 1 shalle craue your lordship to treaoherie, the kalender of time, the lend me either your ears in hearing or lanterne of truth, the life of memorie, your eies in reading the tenor of the the doctresse of behauiour, the register discourse following.' STAKIHUBST, Dedi- of antiquitie, the trumpet of chiualrie. cation of his Hi&tarie qf Ireland, to Sir . . . The gift is small, the giuer his Henrie Sidneie, Lord Deputie GeneralL good will is great : I stand in good hope. Hallam, il., 197, quoted from the that the greatnesse of the one will coun- Retrospective Review. terpoise the smalluesse of the other. b HailatP. Wherefore that I maie the sooner vnbroid c Mur^h, p. 547. LANGUAGE OF SHAKESPEARE. 91 author in whom all the acquirements of the preceding centuries may be said to culminate, and that is Spenser's. With his poetry or thoughts we have at present no concern ; our business is with his style only. His poetical works are all remarkable. The Faerie Queen is best known; but his Shepherd's Kalendar, and his minor poems, will as richly repay study, and they all exhibit the same qualities. The first peculiarity that str-ikes a modern reader of Spenser is his fondness for archaic forms and words, archaic even in his day. On a further acquaintance, however, his true excellence appears, and the student is delighted with that rare felicity of verbal combinations, which is unsurpassed in its own sphere by any writer, earlier or later. Nouns have all their appropriate adjec- tives, aud subjects their appropriate verbs ; while in the musical arrangement of sentences there is all the beauty that can be secured by an acute ear, exquisite taste, and the greatest skill. 8 93. And now we reach Shakespeare's age. By this time old Saxon forms have disappeared. The eight thousand words, that made up our language in the fourteenth century, have become upwards of thirty thousand, and they are taken from all sources, Saxon, Norman, French and classic. Fifteen thousand of these Shakespeare has used ; though many of them, chiefly of Latin origin, occur but once or twice, in his pages. What then is his merit ? Not clearly the extent of his vocabulary, not the creation of new words, but simply the exhibition in words beautifully selected and harmoniously combined of that * myriad-mindedness ' which Coleridge has so justly ascribed to the poet himself, and of those varieties of humanity which belong, it must be added, to such an age as that of Elizabeth, and to such a nation as the English. 8 Lord Chatham's sister, Mrs. A. Pitt, Spenser as he ought to be read will used to say that " he knew nothing what- have a strong hold of the English lan- ever, except Spenser's F. Queen." And guage.' HAKDY'S Life of Lord Clio.rU- no matter, says Burke, how that was mant, ii., 286. said, lor whoever relishes and reads He thoroughly paced our language as to show The plenteous English hand in hand might go With Greek and Latin : and did first reduce Our tongue from Lilly's writing, then hi use- Playing with words and idle similes.' DKAYTON, Of the Noble Sydney 92 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. Our tongue is made up, as we have seen, of ingredients as varied as our blood. The true-born Englishman, as De Foe long since showed, is the representative of the most noteworthy ethnological elements of Europe, and our speech partakes of all the vigour, and intensity, and individuality, that belong to our character and origin. The age of Elizabeth was remarkable, moreover, for many-sided progress in all knowledge, and in all experience. Commerce, freedom, religion, classical learning, internal struggle, fierce inva- sion, had all combined to develop the intellect, the art, the affec- tions, and the passions of the nation. And it was Shakespeare's business to express them all. Low life with its humour, middle life with its colloquialisms and self- sufficiency, higher life with its stateliness and taste ; play, love, war, policy, all are portrayed, and portrayed in language not distinguished by novelty or strangeness qualities which would have conferred no honour but perfect in naturalness and sim- plicity, in beauty and force. 94. From the period of Shakespeare to that of Milton, three chief influences were at work ; the prevalence of Euphuistic taste, showing itself in fondness for alliteration and verbal antithesis ; the study of the Latin classics, and the great extension of scientific discovery ; and the inter- course of the men of Charles IL'S age with continental life, especially that of France. To the first, we owe the charac- teristics of the writings of Fuller, of Bishop Hall, of Thomas Adams and other theological writers. To the second, we owe the opulent diction of Jeremy Taylor and Sir Thomas Browne. They use between them at least three thousand new words of classic origin, which have retained no place in our language. In the Scottish poets of that age we find their pages covered with Latin words, torn up, as Campbell expresses it, and stuck in without a thought whether or not they will grow. In justice to Taylor and Browne, it must be addfxi, that they are as remarkable for the exquisite arrangement of their words as for the number of them. Their prose is often as musical as the Comus of Hilton. With the restoration of Charles came a large importation of French terms; they invaded the theatre, the court, the inter- course of private life and our literature. Soon after the QUEEN ANNE'S REIGN. 93 Restoration Dry-den lifted his voice against them, and influenced the public as much by his example as by his appeals. To each of his plays is prefixed an introduction, more or less explanatory of the principles of literary art and of criticism as applied to the drama. Each introduction may be safely affirmed to be of greater value than the play itself. 95. Early in the next century the tide had completely turned. Pure English, pure in its vocabulary, and natural in its arrange- ment, became the fashion ; Addison, Steele, and Queen Anne's Sterne, and later Goldsmith, all favouring this change. It has become the custom in some quarters to depreciate these writers, and even to denounce them as want- ing in force and richness. This depreciation would hold true if force or richness were the qualities for which we praise them. They none of them possess the masculine strength of Raleigh or Bacon. In command of language they are all inferior to Taylor and Browne, nor, comparing them with a later age, have they the fulness of thought or the power of utterance which distinguish Johnson and Burke. But it is not these qualities which con- stitute their value. Their honour is, that in no other writers is there a finer perception of the various capacities of our language, or a more skilful idiomatic use of it for their purpose. ' The art of Addison,' for example, * is perfectly marvellous. No change of time can render the workmanship obsolete. His style has that nameless urbanity in which we recognise the perfection of manner, courteous but not courtier-like, so dignified yet so kindly, so easy yet so high-bred. It is the most perfect form of English, a safe and eternal model, of which all imitation pleases, to which all approach is scholarship, like the Latin of the Augustan age.' a Let these qualities be shown on any other theme of theology, or philosophy, with earnestness and vigour and depth, such as the theme demands, and every reader will admire and be won by them. In Pope, and in Bolingbroke, the St. John of the poet, and the model of Burke's English, our language is more rich ; and, as became the nature of their subjects, more dignified and stately than in other writers of Queen Anne's age In Johnson this stateliness is excessive, weighed down as it is by a CaaUmia.no, i.. 126. 94 PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE. a Latinised vocabulary and a rhetorical arrangement. In Gibbon the French element reappears, though in the less objectionable forms of brilliancy, clearness, and epigrammatic point. In the writers of our own century we have all these qualities combined, the beauties and the faults ; with a strong and general preference for Saxon-English. Nor is there any sentiment our language is not qualified to express, nor any theme, humorous, logical, rhetorical, poetic, that may not find in it appropriate utter- ance. ' The English language,' says Grimm, ' may with all right be called a world-language, and, like the English people, seems destined hereafter to prevail, with a sway more extensive even than its present, over all portions of the globe.' Further information on the history of the English Language may be obtained from the following works : Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. 1765. Tyrwhitt's Chiucer's Canterbury Tales, with preliminary Essays. 1775. Warton's History of English Poetry. 1774. Edited by Price. 1840. Ritson's English Songs, 1783. Metrical Romances, 1802. Bibliographic Poetica, 1802, &c. Pinkerton's Scottish Poems. 3 TO!S. 1792. Ellis's Specimen of Early English Poets, 3 vols. 1801. Ellis's Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances, 3 vols. 1805. Wright's Political Songs, from John to Edward n. 1839. Wright's Biographia Britannica Literaria. Vol I. The Anglo-Saxon Period, 1842. Vol. n. The Anglo-Norman Period, 1846. The Preface to Todd's Johnson's Dictionary. 1818. Hippisley's Chapters on Early English Literature. 1837. Guest's English Rhythms. 2 vols. 1838. Latham's English Language. 1850. The publications of the Roxburghe Club, the Bannatyne, Maitland, Camden, f nd Surtees Societies, and the recent Shakespeare publications. Madden's Layamon's Brut. 3 vols. 1847. Whi te's Ormulum. 1 vols. 1852. Garnett's Philological Essays. 1 85 9. Morris's Rolle de Hampole Prick of Conscience, 1863. Weymouth's Co at el off Lone, 1864; and other publications of Members of the Philological Society. Craik's compendious History of English Literature and Language. 2 vols. Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature. 2 vols. 1858. Marsh's Origin and History of the English Language. 1862. Publications of the Early English Text Society, and the Clarendon Press Series of English authors. CHAPTER IV. ENGLISH POETS, ' It has always been our opinion that the very essence of poetry apart from the pathos, the wit, or the brilliant descriptions which may be embo- died in it, but may exist equally in prose consists in the fine perception and vivid expression of that subtle and mysterious analogy which exist? between the physical and the moral world, which makes outward things and qualities the natural types and emblems of inward gifts and emotion* ' > JEFFREY, Essays, ii., 555. SECTION I. POETRY DEFINED AND CLASSIFIED. 96. Difficulties of Definition. 97. Classification of Poems. 98. Epic Poetry, with its allied forms. 99. Heroic. 100. Narrative. 101. De- scriptive. 102. Dramatic and Pastoral. 103. Didactic Poetry. 104. Lyric Poetry, Ballad Poetry. 105. Elegiac. 106. Miscellaneous Poems of Fancy and Imagination. 107. Of Sentiment and Reflection. 108. Of Passion and Affection. 109. Of Satire and Humour, no. Religious subjects favourable to Poetry. Johnson's opinion criticised. SECTION II. CHAUCER AND THE OLD ENGLISH POETS. in. Poets and their Schools. 112. Chaucer and his Times. 113. His Life, and 114. Works. 115. His Contemporaries, Langlande, Gower, etc. 116. Characteristics of the Poets of the Fifteenth century, Hawes and others. 117. Surrey. 118. Sternhold and Hopkins. 119. Sackville, Mirror of Magistrates. 120. Harington, Brooke, etc. SECTION III. FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 121. The Reign of Elizabeth. 122. Sidney. His Life and Works. 123. Spenser. 124. The Faerie Queen. 125. Improved Moral Tone of Elizabethan Literature. 126. Imitators and Successors of Spenser. 127. Phineas Fletcher. 128. Giles Fletcher. 129. Daniel. 130. Drayton. 131. Browne. 132. Drummond. 133. Davenant. 134. Denham. 135. Reaction: Philosophical Poets. 136. Davies. 137. Brooke. 138. Fan- tastic Poets. 139. Donne. 140. Crashaw, 141. Habington. 142. Cowley. 143. Lyric Poets. 144. Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis 96 POETRY. Sonnets. 145. Origin and Nature of Sonnets. 146. Jonson. 147. Ra- leigh. 148. Carew, Suckling. 149. Herrick. 150. Wither. 151. Browne. 152. Waller. 153. Satirists and Religious Poets. 154. Gas- coigne. 155. Hall. 156. Marston. 157. Southwell. 158. Herbert. 159. Vaughan. 160. Wotton. 161. Sandys. 162. Quarles. 163. Mis- cellaneous Minor Poets. 164. Milton, not a Puritan Poet. 165-7. His Life, Minor Poems, Prose Writings, Epics ; and 168. Samson Agouistes. 169. Marvel. 170. Other Minor Poets. 171. Beaumont. 172. Ken. 173. Stanley, Cotton, Rochester. 174. Chamberlayne and Roscommoa. 175. Butler's Life, and 176. Poems. SECTION IV. DBYDEN, POPE, AKD THEIR SUCCESSORS. 177. English Poets classified according to the foreign influences mani- fest in their works. 178. A juster classification. 179. Dryden and his Poems. 1 80. His Prose writings. 181. Criticism and its connection with Poetry. 182. Other Poets of Dryden's age. 183. Their Names and Works. 184. Prior. 185. Gay. 186. Addison. 187. The Sempells and Allan Ramsay. 188. The position of literary men in the reign of Queen Anne, and change on the accession of the House of Hanover. 189. Pope; his Life and Works. 190. Character of his Poetry. 191. His Successors and their character. 192. Edward Young. 193. Young's Prose Works. 194. Blair. 195. Thomson; his Life and Works. 196. G. West. 197. Dyer. 198. Sam. Johnson. 199. Gray; his Life and Works. 200. Character of his Poetry. 20 1. Mason. 202. Collins. 203. Armstrong. 204. Akenside ; his Life and Works. 205. A more natural style Shenstone, and 206. Goldsmith. 207. Character of Goldsmith's Poetry. 208. Minor Poets. 209. Hymns. Quality of good hymns. Origin of modern improvements. 210. Isaac Watts and others: their general excellence. SECTION 7. WORDSWORTH AND MODERN POETS. 211. Influence of Ballad Poetry. 212. Percy's Reliques. 213. Thomas and Joseph Warton. 214. The Forgeries of the Eighteenth Century. Ireland. 215. Macpherson and Ossian. 216. Chatterton, 217. Mo- dem Poets classified, 218. COWPER. 219. Burns. 220. Crabbe. 221. W.Scott. 222. Secret of Scott's success. 223. Byron and Scott, 224. Byron. 225. Character of his Poetry. 226. Moore. 227. Camp- bell. 228. Shelley. 229. Keats. 230. Hood. 231. The Lake Poets. Wordsworth. 232. Character of his Poetry. 233. Coleridge. 234. Southey. 235. Other Poets of this period. 236. Religious Poets, Gra- hame, Pollok, Montgomery. 237. Hymn writers. 238-9. English metres, POETRY DEFINED. 97 SECTION I. POETRY DEFINED AND CLASSIFIED. 96. POESY, poem, poets, poetry, are always extremely difficult to define, as the compositions to which they refer are difficult to classify. The relation, indeed, between the words Difficulties of themselves is obvious enough. The poet is the author Definition. or ma k er . p 0esv is the art of making, and some- times the thing made ; a poem is the product of his skill ; and poetry is a general name for collections or parts of such pro- ducts, or sometimes for the mental quality. But what is the poet? Many modern writers consider invention to be the essence of the poet's art; and the ancients, who, after Aristotle, called poetry * imitation,' are quoted as favouring the same view. So Elyot uses the word, deeming those who ' make verses expressing therein only the craft of versifying not poets, but only versifiers.' a So, also, Ben Jonson, and Drayton, and Daniel use it. In the same spirit Bacon notices that, apart from style, which is acci- dental, poetry is nothing but feigned history, and may exist as well in prose as in verse . b It is on this ground, in part, that Coleridge speaks of poetry, not as opposed to prose, but as op- posed to science. ' Prose,' says he, * has as its opposite verse : poetry, fiction, creation, has as its opposite actual fact.' This, no doubt, is part of the truth ; but only part. How, then, is it to be defined ? From its origin ? Then poesy is * heaven-bred,' and poets, as Horace phrased it, ' are born, not made/ Or not * heaven-bred ' but the contrary, as Bacon notes d that 'one of the Fathers calls it Vinum Dcemonum, because it filleth the imagination ; and yet it is not, but with the shadow of a lie.' Plato seems to have blended these two, first defining poetry as * the language of the gods/ and the poet as one who writes with a certain divine furor, and then insisting that both poetry and poets should be banished from his model republic. All such definitions, however, state rather whence it comes than wha,t it is. Shall we define it from its form, and call it 'metrical composi- tion,' as Johnson defines it ? Or, looking at the fact that it deals The Governor, b. i, c. 13. Shakespeare, Two Gentlemtn of b On the Advancement qf Learning, Verona. Works, 2, p. 119. d Assays, Of Truth. 2 H 98 POEIRY DEFINED. in imagery, and in feeling, and takes language appropriate to its materials, define it with Whately as ' elegant and decorated language in metre ?' Or shall we take into account its matter, the thoughts and feelings it is intended to express, and say with Wordsworth, that it is ' the utterance of emotion remembered in tranquillity ;' or with Hare, that * it is the language of feeling ;' ' the spontaneous outflow of powerful emotion ;' or with Blair, ' the language of passion or enlivened imagination formed most commonly into regular numbers ;' or with Sir James Stephen, ' the meet utterance of the deepest thoughts and purest feelings of our nature ;' or with Masson, that it is ' creation and imagery in verse ;' or with Shelley, that it is * the record of the best and happiest moments of the best and happiest minds; or with Milton, that it is the ' simple, sensuous (i.e., realis- ing, not abstract), and passionate utterance of feeling and thought?' Or shall we adopt a definition that aims to be exhaustive, and say with Leigh Hunt, * it is the utterance of a passion for truth, beauty, and power, embodying and illustrating its conceptions by imagination and fancy, and modulating its language on the principle of variety in uniformity ?' Or shall we define it from its aim or results with Horace, as 1 what is intended to profit and delight ;' with Sidney, as 'the sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge, lifting the mind from the dungeon of the body to the enjoying of its own divine essence ;' b or with Bacon, as * the power which gives some shadow of satisfaction to the mind of man in those points wherein the nature of things doth deny it,' * the power which has some parti- cipation of divineness because it doth raise and erect the mind by submitting the shows of things to the desires of the mind, whereas reason doth bow the mind to the nature of things;' or with Aytoun, as * the art which has for its object the creation of in- tellectual pleasures by means of imaginative and passionate language ; and language generally, though not necessarily, formed into regular numbers ;' * or with Macau lay, as ' the art of employ- ing words in such a way as to produce an illusion on the imagination, the art of doing by means of words what the paintei a Guesses at Truth. > Defence of Poesie. On the Advancement of Learning, 2, p. 120. d Article ' Poetry,' Encyclopaedia Britannica. POETRY CLASSIFIED. 99 does by means of colours.' a Or shall we adept Shakespeare's description * As imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a came ? ' Or, dropping strict definition, shall we say simply that poetry is ' thought in blossom ;' ' truth severe in fairy fiction dressed ;' ' the best thoughts in the best language ?' All these definitions are not equally felicitous. Some are even ludicrously defective ; but the reader can compare them for him- self. Such definitions as those of Shakespeare, Bacon, and Aytonn, come nearest to the truth. Whately's and Johnson's have to do simply, it will be seen, with the form of poetry, not with its essence. Admit their definitions, and 'a poetical mind,' 'the poetical side of things/ * a prosaic life,' are expressions that can have no meaning. 97. To classify existing poems satisfactorily is at least as diffi- cult as to define poetry itself. Some poems will not readily take Poems classi- their place in any list, and others may be classed in tied - several. On the whole, however, the following will be found to be convenient. There is The EPIC poem, with its allied forms, the heroic, the nar- rative, the descriptive, the dramatic, and the pastoral ; The DIDACTIC poem, moral, philosophical, or critical ; The LYRICAL poem and the ballad ; The ELEGIAC poem : And lastly, as belonging to none of these, there are Miscellaneous poems, chiefly artistic or aesthetical, which may be subdivided as poems of fancy and imagination, poems of sentiment and reflection, poems of passion and affection, poems of humour and satire. The reason for this last division will at once appear when we have explained the nature of the rest. A simpler division is into narrative, or epic, or dramatic, and lyric ; but the subdivisions under this arrangement become very numerous and somewhat incongruous. Article on Milton,' Edinburgh Review, 1825. H 2 100 POETRY EPIC: DRAMATIC. 98. The EPIC poem is generally regarded as the noblest of all poetic performances. Its essential characteristics were laid down The Epic ty Aristotle more than two thousand years ago. Its P 06 - subject is a great complex action : the action is de- veloped by means of a mixture of dialogue, soliloquy, and narrative. One theme, and that theme an action, with fulness of detail, and dignity of subject and of style, these are its essentials. Homer's Iliad, Virgil's JEneid, Dante's Divine Comedy, Tasso's Jerusalem, Milton's Paradise Lost t are all epics. 99. If the theme of an epic is not an action but a hero, it is called a heroic poem. The Bruce of Barbour, the Mirror of rh He ' Magistrates, a work of the sixteenth century, that gives the tragical histories of a number of celebrated Englishmen, and in our own day the Idylls of the King, are speci- mens ; as are also several of the chivalric romances of the Middle Ages, and among them the grand romance of King Arthur, on the closing scenes of whose life Tennyson's poem is founded. 100. In narrative poetry we have all the peculiarities of the epic, except that the same unity of action is not essential, nor does it require in the subject any intrinsic dignity. "*' To this class belong the Tales of Chaucer, the Con- fessio Amantis of Gower ; allegories in which the moral is not prominent, as in Thomson's Castle of Indolence, and many of Gay's Fables; the romantic poems of Scott, such as The Lay of the Last Minstrel, The Lady of the Lake ; and it may be added Layamon, Eobertof Gloucester, and Dryden's Annus MirabUis. 1 01. Descriptive poetry is generally wanting in definite form and scope. Its theme is natural scenery under its various The Deacrip- aspects, landscapes, towns, and the characters and Uve - actions of human beings. Drayton's Polyolbion de- scribes, for example, the most noted places in every English county ; Grongar EiU, by Dyer, Pope's Windsor Forest, Thom- son's Seasons, a large part of the Epic and other poems of Southey, may be placed in this class, as may the Schoolmistress of Shenstone, Tlie Traveller and The Deserted Village of Gold- smith. 102. Dramatic poems are epics suited for acting ; and of these we need to treat elsewhere. PASTORALS: DIDACTIC POETRF. 101 Pastoral poems are connected with the drama, because pro- perly the pastoral is the drama in an elementary form. It requires both regular scenery, the sloping hill with the goata feeding below, or the breezy upland dotted over with sheep, and various characters the herdsmen piping or singing, with sometimes their Delias or Amandas by their side. The Idylls of Theocritus are the old classic models, and most English pastorals are spoilt by copying them. The pastoral is nothing if not natural, and it is natural only when, as in the pastorals of Burns, Hogg, and others, it represents real life. Sometimes the pastoral becomes largely descriptive, and some- times it is purely lyrical. Spenser's Shepherd's Kalendar, a pastoral for each month of the year, often very beautiful, Drayton's Eclogues, and Shenstone^s Pastorals, are among the best-known specimens. They show, however, that such themes need to borrow from active life, or from philosophic reflection, to preserve them from insipidity. 103. DIDACTIC poems seek to teach some moral, philosophic, or literary truth. Among moral didactic poems are the old alle- The Didactic. & orical satire of Reynard the Fox, with its lessons against cunning and vice, and the Vision of Piers Ploughman, against the corruption of the Church, unless both be placed under the head of satirical poetry ; and the Faerie Queen of Spenser, though this last may be placed among poems of romance or of imagination, Add to these Dryden's Hind and Panther and Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes. Among philo- sophic didactic poems are Da vies' Immortality of the Soul, Arm- strong's Art of Preserving Health, which may be said to belong to medical didactics, Pope's Essay on Man, Akenside's Imagina- tion, and Wordsworth's Excursion. Pope's Essay on Criticism belongs to the literary department of the same class. If the philo- sophy is abstract or verbal, without suggesting important philoso- phic truth, or having a practical aim, it belongs to the metaphy- sical class, or to the poems of reflection and sentiment, which we have placed under the head of miscellaneous. Donne was the earliest representative of this class of writers in England, and Crashaw, Cowley, and others are included in it. 104. The peculiarity of LYRIC poetry is, as the name implies, that it is suitable for music, either in its tone of feeling, or more 102 POETRY LYRIC: ELEGIAC. commonly in its quick movement and vivacity. Its essential The L ic. ^^^7 > tnat ^ be the earnest utterance of the heart, generally in moments of joy or of strong feeling. Its appropriate theme is devotion or patriotism, love or war. Among lyric poems may be reckoned Milton's Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, said by Hallam to be the finest in our language. Many of our best hymns by Steele and Cowper, Hontgomerj' and Conder, Watts, Wesley, and Heber, the Hebrew and sacred melodies of Byron and Moore, are specimens. Hymns, indeed, deserve special mention. From the time of David downward, they have formed the appropriate utterance of devout and joyous feeling with thousands who have never heard of any other poetry, and who have been indebted to them for some of their happiest hours. Patriotism expresses its emotions in the Royalist and Jacobite songs of the Revolution and of the Rebellions of 1715 and 1745, in Gray's Bard, in Moore's Irish Melodies, in Burns' Poems, in Glover's Hosier's Ghost, in Campbell's Mariners of England, and in Dibdin's Sea Songs. Love lyrics are found in the old plays, but, in a pure and simple form, are rare elsewhere till later times. Among the poems of Burns and Moore are beautiful specimens of great melody and pathos. Pastoral love lyrics have been written by Oawfurd, Allan Ramsay, and others. War lyrics are such as Scott's Pibroch o' Donald Dhu, Thomson's Hide Britannia, Campbell's Battle of the Baltic, Hohenlinden, and several of Macaulay's Lays of Rome, The Battle of Ivry, etc. Dry den's Alexander's Feast is a lyric of love and of war. When an epic, heroic, narrative, or descriptive poem is thrown into lyrical shape, that is, when facts are narrated with rapidity, .with striking description, with lively or pathetic touches of sentiment, and the whole is told in familiar language, we have Ballad poetry. Of such poems, the Scotch ballads are the best, and next to them are the ballads of the Northern English border. The best are known through Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, a very unequal collection published in 1765. Sidney notes of one of these, Chevy Chase, that the accents sounded in his ear like a trumpet ; and not a few writers have traced to this collection 'the revival of a genuine feeling for true poetry in the public mind> Hailain. ii.. ijj- POEMS OF FANCY AND IMAGINATION. iod 105. ELEGIAC poetry is the utterance of feeling in accents of mourning, or it is the description of facts fitted to excite inourn- ing. Milton's Lycidas, and Gray's Elegy, are ex- ' egy ' am pies of the first kind; Campbell's Lord Ullin's Daughter, and Hood's One more Unfortunate, are examples of the second. Tennyson's In Memoriam, and Cowper's touching lines on TJie Castaway are examples of both; the case of the lost sailor being applied by Cowper to describe his own : No voice divine the storm allayed, No light propitious shone, When for from all effectual aid We perished each alone ; But I beneath a rougher sea, And whelmed in blacker gulfs than he. For all the class of lyric poetry the reader may find admirable specimens in the Golden Treasury of F. T. Palgrave. 1 06. MISCELLANEOUS poems are such as cannot conveniently bo classified under any of these divisions. Adopting a principle Miscellaneous sanctioned by Wordsworth, and practically illustrated poems. by Arnold, we have called them poems of fancy and imagination; of sentiment and reflection; of passion and affec- tion ; of satire, humour, and wit. Fancy and imagination have been regarded sometimes as dif- ferent names of the same mental power, but the second is at Poems of fancy a ^ events a more vigorous and a more noble exercise and imagiua- of the power than the former. They agree in distin- guishing and exhibiting the resemblances which exist bet ween objects of sense or of intelligence ; but fancy deals only with external or superficial resemblances, whereas imagination, seeks to disclose the essential and internal resemblances that exist between things apparently most unlike. The likenesses with which fancy is conversant are on the surface ; those with which imagination deals are partly in the mind, and are reached after fancy has done her work. * The sunset of life/ for example, is a phrase of the fancy : the lines of Campbell are an utterance of the imagination : Tis the'sunset of life gives me mystical lore, And coming events cast their shadows before. 104 POETRY POEMS OF SENTIMENT. Hogg's lines to the sky-lark are full of fancy : Bird of the wilderness, Blithesome and cumberless, Light be thy matin over moorland and lea I Shelley's rise to imagination : Like a poet hid.len In the light of thought, And singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not ! Such is Coleridge's distinction, and it is convenient to adhere to it. Among poems of fancy may be mentioned The Loves of the Flowers, and other botanic pieces of Dr. Darwin, the Nymphidia of Drayton, and the Mistress of Cowley. This last is a collection of amatory poems, full not of affection, but of conceits, that is of fancies where the resemblance is little more than verbal. Among poems of imagination are Milton's Comus, U Allegro, and 11 Pen- seroso, several of Shelley's and Keats', and all lyrics in which there is more play of fancy than energy of feeling. 107. Poems of sentiment and of reflection are numerous in our language. Those of the former have thought and feeling corn- Poems of sen- b me d> with so much of both that they are incapable timent and o f being reckoned among poems of feeling only. Poems of reflection have thought, but without any obvious moral or a didactic aim. Many of the pieces of Quarles and Herbert belong to this class. Among poems of reflec- tion may be mentioned Young's Night Thoughts, and Blair's Grave, which is formed on somewhat the same model; Burns' Cotter's Saturday Night, a large part of Childe Haroltfs Pilgrim- age, and Wordsworth's Ode on the Intimations of Immortality from the Recollections of Childhood. Denham's Cooper's mil, which is generally classed among descriptive poems, belongs rather to this class : the descriptions are very brief compared with the sentiment. 1 08. In poems of passion and affection the feelings of the a See also A Selection of Synmyms [by Miss Wnately], p. 129. SATIRES: POEMS OF HUMOUR. 105 writer move ' at their own sweet will,' without the vivacity of Poems of movement or the unity which are required in the passion and true lyric. Pope's Eloisa to Abelard, where love and pride and despair seem striving for the mastery, is a specimen of many which may be found in the poets of our own age. 109. Poems of satire, humour, and wit, belong to every age of our literature, and are among the fruits of our freedom. Some of the best writers of satire are really moralists, satire and They write under the feeling that certain evils are humour. Better checked by irony and ridicule than by the direct and unaided action of either religion or morality evils which are rather below the dignity of law, for which it is not worth while to legislate, or which, perhaps, the law, either of the state, or of religious truth, cannot reach. When men are hardened in vanity or in selfishness, it may be easier to improve the wrong- doer, and it is certainly easier to shame and deter others, by exposing the folly of vice than by dwelling upon its wickedness. Satire has hence been called 'the Lynch law of civilised society,' and like Lynch law it visits those cases only which the higher law fails to reach. In defence of it it may be noticed, that every expression of Scripture that is ironical is really a sanction of satire, within its proper limits and in the right spirit.* Moral satires are directed against the morals and manners of the age, or against particular classes. Among the best are Pope's Moral Essays in the form of epistles, and his Imitations of Horace. The Land of Cockayne (which belongs to the eleventh or twelfth century) assails the indolence and gluttony of monastic life, and Piers Ploughman attacks the higher clergy. Political satires are written in the interest of a party in tho Commonwealth. Of these Butler's Hudibras and Dryden's A bsalom and Achitophel are remarkable examples. Sir Hudibras, in the former, is intended for the military Puritan, Who built his faith upon The holy text of pike and gun and Ealpho represents and caricatures a lower type of character, a 'Cry aloud, he Is a god;' 'Full ditions;' 'Now ye are fall, now ye art well ye set .aside the law by your oon- rich, ye have reigned as kings.' lOfl POETRY SATIRES: HUMOUR. in which craft assumes the appearance of devotion without the reality. It is also worth noticing that Hudibras is a satire upon the romances of the previous age, and even in some measure u]>on the Faerie Queen, the headings of Spenser's cantos being imitated hi the headings of those of Butler. The Lillibulero, a political satire in favour of William in. and the Revolution, and Tlie Fudge Family in Paris, by Moore, are among more recent examples. Besides these two classes there is a third, the purely personal satire, in which the acts and characters of individuals are in- troduced to gratify -the personal feeling of the writer. Swift's satire is often of this class, but is the less impressive in conse- quence of the reader's suspicion that it springs, not from moral indignation, but from personal disgust with mankind at large. In Pope!s Dunciad personal satire predominates, as in other iads now nearly forgotten, Hilliads, Smartiads, Baviads, etc. Dryden's MacFlecknoe is an attack upon Shadwell. In Enylish Bards and Scotch Reviewers Byron holds up to ridicule most of the poets of the age. The first two hundred lines of the poem are vigorous, but afterwards it falls off. The injustice he does in this piece to men of undoubted genius he aftervverds neu- tralised by handsome acknowledgments of their merits. The Parody on a celebrated Letter, addressed by the Prince Regent to the Duke of York in 1812, by Moore, is one of the richest specimens of this style. All personal satire, it may be added, is open to suspicion, as there is always a probability that the chastisement is not adminiotered with strict justice. The injured man is generally witness, and judge, and executioner, and he is apt to push his indignation to excess. Personal satire is most effective when it censures vice or manners generally, and quotes living men as examples. This is often Pope's method. The victim is then preserved, amid much precious material, like an insect in amber, for the examination of all after time. Poems of wit and humour are of different kinds. They agree in introducing into the verse words descriptive of real relations between ideas, which relations are not at first apparent. When the relations are between the words that describe the ideas, rather than between the ideas themselves, the wit is of the nature of a pun the lowest form ; but it oftener depends on the form of the verse^ or on the thoughts compared. Humorous poems differ from those of fancy as the resemblances described are always RELIGION FAVOURABLE TO POETRY. 107 between things incongruous, and they excite, not admiration chiefly, but surprise. Between humour and wit there is this slight difference : humour, besides being genial and somewhat serious, has always a dash of feeling in it only a dash ; if there is more, the poetry excites feeling, and the mere wit or humour is felt to be absorbed held in solution by the nobler element. Phillips' Splendid Shilling is a humorous parody on the style of Milton's Paradise Lost, and adapts his sonorous lines to the gross incidents of common life. Gay's Birth of the Squire is a similar imitation of Virgil. In Anstey's New Bath Guide we have both a witty imitation of various styles, and a witty exhibition of characters, some of whom Smollett has introduced into Hum- phrey Clinker. The Rejected Addresses, by the two Smiths, Horace and James, are imitations of the style of modern poets. Cowper's John Gilpin is the popular type of humorous writings ; and nearly all Hood's poems exhibit wit, verbal or real, or both. In them it is the wit that strikes the reader, except when, as often, they combine with it deep feeling or noble sentiment. Let it be noted, once for all, that miscellaneous poems, like most of the others, are classed according to their chief purpose. Let it be noted also that different poets are great each in his own style ; and that it is reserved for but few, such as Shakespeare, Spender, Milton, to be great in several or in all. no. Already we are prepared to estimate an opinion of John- son's, that religious subjects are not suitable for poetry, an Reii ion fa- P mion which he illustrates by remarking of Dr. vourabie to Watts ' he has done better than others what no one poetry. j iag ^ one we ii/ Now it is obvious, first of all, that religion reveals subjects of great grandeur and sublimity. It dis- closes facts which imagination had never pictured, and makes them speak, not to the fancy merely, but to the faith and to the heart. Further, it acts upon the life of men and of nations by consecrating the commonest duties, and giving them a dignity and force of obligation which in other systems are unknown. Apart from all moral influences, it promotes a taste for the beautiful, and culti- vates generosity and honour, especially between the sexes. Ta- citus notices how the ancient Germans held that in woman was sanctum aliquid. All Gothic nations shared this feeling, and Christianity ratifies it. No doubt it has been carried to an 108 POETRY WILSON'S OPINION. extreme. Chivalry made woman not the companion, but the goddess of man. This excess, however, has been rebuked, anl now woman, as the weaker vessel, and as the equal of .man, is in- vested with an atmosphere of sacredness, as favourable to poetry as it is to public manners. Besides, as a matter of fact, the subjects of the three principal epics of modern times are taken from religious themes ; the master-pieces of Tasso, Dante, and Milton. The finest philoso- phic poems of our language, Pope's Essay on Man and Words- worth's Excursion, are largely religious, though both are, in a religious point of view, very defective. The poems of Cowper, who founds the modern school of poetry, owe much of their beauty and power to their devotional sentiment, and even to their direct religious teaching. The best allegorical poem, Spenser's Faerie Queen, has been thought to treat of reli- gious doctrines chiefly, and is certainly tinged with religious sentiments ; while many of our best lyrics we owe to the same influence. It is, perhaps, true, that poems on religious subjects do not appeal to as general a sympathy as poems on secular sub- jects, and that religion is in some danger of being degraded if treated as a subject of art. Both statements may be true. And yet it is no less true, that the poetry which touches the deepest chord of human nature, that which touches and vibrates along all its chords, is the poetry which owes its power to the sentiments and feelings of religion. ' The statement of facts,' says Prof. Wilson, * destroys at once all Dr. Johnson's splendid sophistry splendid at first sight but on closer inspection a mere haze. How far more truly, and how far more sublimely, does Milton, " that mighty orb of song," speak of his own divine gift. " These abilities are the inspired gift of God, rarely bestowed, and are of power to in-breed and cherish in a great people the seeds of virtue and public civility ; to allay the perturbations of the mind, and set the affections to a right tune ; to celebrate in glorious and lofty hymns the throne and equipage of God's almightiness, and what he suffers to be wrought in his high Providence in his Church ; to sing victorious agonies of martyrs and saints, the deeds and triumphs of just and pious nations, doing valiantly through faith against the enemies of Christ ; to deplore the general relapse of kingdoms and states from virtue and God's true worship : lastly, whatsoever in reli- OLD ENGLISH POETS : CHAUCER'S TIMES. 109 gion is holy and sublime, and in virtue amiable and grave; whatsoever hath passion or admiration in all the changes of that which is called fortune from without, or the wily subtleties and reflections of men's thoughts from within ; all these things with a solid and treatable smoothness, to point out and describe." ' a SECTION II. CHAUCER AND THE OLD ENGLISH POETS. in. Pope has said that the history of English poetry is easily traced. * Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Dryden,' and Pope himself, Poets and Cowper and Wordsworth, * mark the road.' They are their schools, ^h fa e representatives of their schools and age. Chaucer is the poet of the fourteenth century (i 328-1400) ; Spenser of the sixteenth (1553-1599) the intermediate century, the era of the troubled reign of the house of Lancaster and of the Wars of the Roses, being a blank ; Milton of the seventeenth (1608- 1674); Dryden and Pope of the Restoration and of the eighteenth century ; Cowper and Wordsworth of the nineteenth. Each re- presents also a different school, though it is not easy to describe it. Chaucer is distinguished by descriptive power, both of nature and of character ; Spenser, by richness of imagery and beauty ; Milton, by grandeur and beauty; Dryden and Pope, by vigour and artistic skill ; Cowper and Wordsworth, by naturalness, both of theme and of sentiment. But no one term can adequately describe the qualities of each : it is enough, at present, to point out the fact that they are representative men. 112. Chaucer belongs to the most remarkable era of modern times. The darkness of the Middle Ages was passing away. New Chaucer and languages were forming on the Continent as well as his times: j n England. Already Dante had excited intense interest throughout Italy by his Divine Comedy ; Petrarch was, as Chaucer describes him, laureate poet at Padua ; and Boccaccio was publishing his Decameron, the ten-day ten-tale collection, from which the English Boccaccio was to borrow some of his happiest pieces. The popular reading of France was now the later Proven9al poetry, with its amorous and metaphysical mys- ticism, poetry which Chaucer studied and admired, at least in his earlier career. In Qermany, John Tauler, the Dominican of Wilson's Recreations, vol. ii. p. 48. Sacred Poetry. 110 POETRY CHAUCER'S LIFE. Strasburg, was taking his place as the founder of what \vas deemed a mystical theology, and as the first German prose writer and he was certainly preparing the way for Luther, as was Chaucer for the English Reformation. The English Occam, ' the invincible doctor,' the last, and one of the greatest, of the School- men, was denouncing realism and the reigning pope, from his retreat in Bavaria. Meanwhile Wycliffe, Chaucer's contemporary, was by his discourses, writings, and translations, creating a great ferment in England. He seems to have won Chaucer's heart, and he certainly gave a direction to his studies and muse. In our civil history the era was one of the most brilliant. Edward in. was then busy building Windsor, had just defied the power of the. pope, and, with the consent of his Parliament, had declared the man an outlaw who recognised the papal authority in ecclesiastical appointments, or who appealed to the see of Rome. He was also encouraging the settlement in the country of Flemish artisans, and extending the trade of our English merchants over every sea of Europe. The victories of Crefy and Poictiers had just spread the terror of the English arms far and wide ; and during the same king's reign, David Bruce, the king of the Scots, and John, king of France, had been seen as prisoners in the English capital. That the times might have a fitting history, Froissart was now writing his picturesque Chronicle. Such are some of the scenes of Chaucer's age, 113. Geoffrey Chaucer was born, as he tells us, in London.* The year seems to have been 1328. Of his parentage nothing is known. Leland the antiquary, his earliest biographer, says he was of noble birth. Godwin gives reasons for thinking that he was a merchant or freeman of London. That Chaucer was educated at a university is clear, but whe- ther at Oxford or Cambridge is doubtful. He seems to speak of himself as ' of Cambridge, clerk,' b but his most intimate friends, Gower and Occleve, were Oxford men. He is said to have entered the Temple as a law student ; but at all events we find him at an early age in the public service, and in confidential intimacy with men of high rank. His chief patron was John of Gaunt, who, late in life, contracted a marriage with the sister of the poet's wife. In his thirty-first year he served in the great army Testament tf Love. Court qf Love. CHAUCER'S WORKS. Ill of invasion which Edward in. led into France, and was taken prisoner, but was released at the peace in 1360. In 1367 he was in receipt of a pension of twenty marks a year (or about sool. in our money). In 1372 he was employed as joint envoy in a mission to the Duke of Genoa, and while in Italy probably made the acquaintance of Petrarch, the * laureat poete ' of Padua. He also visited France to treat of the marriage of the Prince of Wales, afterwards Richard n., and Mary, the daughter of the French king. In 1380 he was clerk of the works at Windsor, where he was charged with the repairs about to be made in St. George's Chapel. On the death of Wycliffe, in 1384, he seems to have fallen on evil times. His party lost power, and he himself was imprisoned in the Tower, and deprived of all his places under government. In 1389, when Richard freed himself from his uncle's tutelage, Chaucer was again restored to favour, and received his old position of master of the works, being employed at Westminster. After this he retired to Woodstock, where many of his Canterbury Tales were written. In 1390 he is again at Westminster. Nine years later his name occurs in the lease of a house taken of the Abbot and Chapter of Westminster, occupying the spot upon which the chapel of Henry vn. was erected. In this house it is probable he died, on the zsth of October, 1400. He was buried in the Abbey, the first of the long array of poets whose ashes rest in that national Walhalla. 114. When Chaucer commenced his poetic career, the old historical romance had lost its popularity, and had been suc- ceeded in France, as well as in England, by sketches of character and life, sketches largely allegorical, and founded on the model of the Fabliaux of the Troubadours or Pro- vencal poets. Chaucer's first efforts were copies of these sketches, and were chiefly translations. Indeed, all his writings bear traces of imitation ; and yet he never copies without adding humorous pictures and beauties of his own. He also states freely whence his pieces are taken, and seems quite as anxious to have credit for learning as for creative powers. To his early life belong The Assembly of Foules, The Flower and the Leaf, and The Court of Love. These compositions of his youth bear marked evidence of the influence cf the ideas 112 POETRY CHAUCER'S WORKS. and language of the Provencal poets.* The Flower and the Leaf was modernised by Dryden. The argument Chaucer him- self has given : ' A gentlewoman out of an arbour in a grove seeth a great company of knights and ladies in a dance upon the green grass ; the which being ended, they all kneel and do honour to the daisy, some to the flower and some to the leaf ;' the mean- ing of which is found to be, that those who honour the flower, a thing fading with every blast, are such as look after beauty and worldly pleasure, while they that honour the leaf, which abideth when they rot, notwithstanding the frosts, are they which value virtue and enduring qualities, without regard to worldly pro- spects. The exquisite delicacy of this poem Campbell has warmly praised. ' With a moral that is just sufficient to apologise for a dream, and yet which sits so lightly on the story as not to abridge its most visionary parts, there is in the whole scenery and objects of the poem an air of wonder and sweetness, an easy surprising transition that is truly magical.' b The Court of Love is a graceful, though pedantic, poem of Proven9al origin, and describes one of those ' tensons ' on knotty points of love, in which the Troubadours were so prone to indulge. To the second period belong Chaucer's Dreme(i^6o^, TheBoke of the Duchess (1370), The Romance of the Rose, and The House of Fame. These are all written in the eight-syllable metre. The Romance of the Rose is a mixture of narrative and allegory, and is taken from a poem bearing that title, begun by William de Lorris, who died in 1260, and finished in 1310 by Jean de Meun, a witty versifier connected with the court of Charles le Bel. Chaucer translated the whole of Lorris' portion, extending to more than four thousand lines, and three thousand six hundred The idea of the Flower and the I^eaf is taken from the Floral Games which had recently been instituted at Toulouse ; and the idea of the Court of Love from those Courts which were now so popular in the kingdom of Kene* of Aquitaine. (For an account of these Courts, see Retrospective Review, vol. v., p. 70; and Warton, vol. ii.) Comp. Hippisley's Chapters on Early English Lit., p. in. b Carew has all unconsciously, pro- bably, given us the same thought in a couple of stanzas : He that loves a rosy cheek, Or a coral lip admires, Or from star-like eyes doth seek Fuel to maintain his fires; As old Time makes these decay, So his flames must waste away. But a smooth and steadfast mind, Gentle thoughts and calm desires ; Hearts with equal love combined Kindle never-dyinfj fires Where these are not I despise Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes. CHAUCER'S WORKS. 113 lines out of the eighteen thousand lines of Meun's continuation ; the original being deemed one of the finest early specimens cf French literature. The theme is the difficulty and the danger of a lover in pursuing and obtaining the object of his desire, lie has to gather a rose, which grows in a delicious garden, and for this purpose he has to traverse vast ditches, scale lofty walls, and force the gates of castles. These holds are all peopled by various divinities, some of whom assist and some oppose his progress.'* T/ie House of Fame is also an allegory framed after the Gothic models, though its immediate origin is no doubt from the Pro- venal. It is full of personifications, and extorts our admiration by the richness and splendour of its imagery. It is like the florid Gothic compared with a Grecian temple or a Eoman am- phitheatre. It was modernised by Pope. The poems of the third period are Troylus and Cressida, The Knight's Tale, or The Love of Palamon and Arcite, and probably others of the Canterbury Tales. Both show the influence of Italian reading. The former is a free translation of the Filostrato of Boccaccio, and the latter of the Theseide of the same author. Troylus contains many historical anachronisms : Cressida, for example, who lives in the era of the Trojan war, is a lady of modern chivalry. She reads the Thebaid of Statius, a favourite book of Chaucer's ; and Troilus is comforted by arguments on predestination taken from Bradwardine, an eminent theologian and contemporary of the poet's. The poem has a very unwelcome theme, but it contains touches of nature that reach all hearts. In all these poems it may be noted that a remarkable fond- ness for natural beauty is evident. The song of birds, the sound of the falling rain, the light chequering the green glades of the forest, these are his delight, and form no small part of the charm of ' our Father Chaucer,' as Gascoigne calls him : Sound of vernal showers Or of twinkling stars Rain-awakened flowers ; All that ever was Joyous and clear and fresh, thy music doth surpass. SHELLEY In the works of the fourth period, The Legend* of Good Warton. 114 POETRY THE CANTERBURY TALES. The Canterbury Tales and their Prologues, The Astrolabie (1391), a iid The Testament of Lave, we see the full power of Chaucer's genius. In the Legende of Good Women, the author makes amends for the reflections which in former works he had cast upon woman's truth and consistency. Nearly all his earlier works are mentioned in it. The Astrolabie, and the Testament of Love, are prose works, as are two of the Canterbury Tales, the Tale of Meliboeus and the Parson's Tale. The Astrolabie is a treatise on astronomy written in 1391, for the use of Chaucer's second son Louis. The Testament of Love is an imitation of the work of Boethius, and is divided into three parts. In the first Love bequeaths instructions to her followers, whereby they may know the causes of cross fortune, etc. In the second she teaches of God, as also of the state of grace and glory. The third- is a discussion on free will and necessity, in which the doctrine of Augustine is expounded and enforced. The Canterbury Tales are the chief foundation of Chaucer's fame. As a whole they belong to the latest period of his life, when his insight into character was most perfect, and while his imagination combined the ripeness of age with the vigour of youth. The style of these tales and the subjects of them were no doubt suggested by the Decameron of Boccaccio. That volume consists of a hundred tales divided into ten decades, each decade occupying a day in the telling. They were told to a party of young ' men and maidens,' who had shut themselves up in a beautiful retreat on the Arno, to escape the plague which was then ravaging Florence: a sad framework. The Canterbury Tales originate more felicitously. They are supposed to be told during a pil- grimage to the tomb of A'Becket at Canterbury. The company consist of thirty-two persons, of whom one, the host of the * Tabard,' in Southwark, is made guide and chief. Nothing can oe finer than the genial spirit in which Harry Bailey, the host, exercises his authority. He is to tell no tale himself, but is to be judge of those told by the rest, and to honour the best poet with a supper at the hostelry on their return. If the scheme announced in the prologue (that each pilgrim should tell one tale in going and another in returning) had been carried out, we should have had sixty-two tales. In fact, there are but twenty- four, two of which are in prose. One of these is told by Chaucer, and a third by the * Chanounes Yemman,' who is not of the original THE CANTERBURY TALES. 115 party. The occasion is thus rather joyous than solemn. It has certainly no mournful associations, and it enables the writer to select characters from all classes, and to show off the humours and the oddities of the company thus assembled. Though not com- plete, it contains more than seventeen thousand lines, and is therefore longer than the Iliad, and nearly twice as long as Paradise Lost. A mere list of the pilgrims would give an in- ventory of English society as it existed in that day : while as his sketch is thrown off, the daily life of each seems to pass before us. There is a Knight * brave in battle, wise in council,' with his son, a young squire, a perfect specimen of the damoyseau, the ' young master,' or ' bachelor,' of noble families, and both are described in the poet's best strain of romantic fancy. They are attended by a Yeoman or retainer, whose ' long bow ' and ' brown visage ' must have had many models in Chaucer's age. After the knight in rank comes a Frankelein, or country gentleman, justice of the peace, and knight of the shire, in whose house * it snowed of mete and drink.' The peasantry are represented by a Ploughman, or farmer, kindly drawn ; a Miller, brawny, short, red-haired, and quarrelsome, with rough satirical humour; the Eeve, or bailiff, a careful manager of his master's property, and able to assist his lord ' and lend him of his owen good.' There is also a large group of ecclesiastical personages, at whose expense the poet indulges his shrewd humour without let or hindrance. Among them is the Prioress, a lady of noble birth and delicate feeling, full of pretty affectations. She is attended by a nun and three priests. The Monk comes next, and is described with strong touches of ridicule, though he is a man still, with much about him that all feel to be human. He is the original of Scott's Abbot of Jorvaulx, in Ivanhoe. Contrasted with him is the Frere, or Mendicant Friar, whose easiness of condition, skill in extracting gifts and gay talk, are very graphically described. Later on we find a Sompnour, or Summoner of the Church courts, whose face is fiery red and covered with pimples, and who will let any man set aside the decisions of the Archdeacon's court ' for a quart of wine.' With him is yoked a Pardonere, or seller of indulgences, who sings a good song, dresses in the fashion, has eyes wide and staring like those of a hare, and has a large collection of relics for sale. And lastly, among church re- tainers, may be named a poor secular priest, who matches the i 2 116 POETRY THE CANTERBURY TALES. Ploughman in simplicity, virtue, and evangelical purity ; and in both pictures we see distinctly Chaucer's sympathy with thf doctrines of the Reformation. The learning of the age has three representatives the Clerke of Oxenforde, whose horse is ' as leane as a rake,' whose clothes are threadbare, and who spends on books all the gold he can collect from his friends ; he has all the bashfulness and pedantry, the sententious morality and formal politeness of the scholar; the Serjeant of the La we, who is plainly dressed, as beseems a man of substance, very busy, but still proud 'to seem busier than he is;' and the Doctour of Phisike, a great astronomer, who 'studied everything but his Bible,' and who deemed * gold hi phisike a great cordiale !' The trading and manufacturing part of the community furnish several pictures. Their aristocracy contains the Merchant, a grave and formal personage, who is strongly hi favour of granting the king a subsidy to defend the sea, and who wears ' a Flaundrish beaver hat/ With him may be placed, though she comes later in the tale, the Wife of Bath, described with keenness inimitable. She repre- sents the female bourgeoise of Chaucer's day. The group from lower life is made up of the Haberdasher, Carpenter, Webber (weaver), Dyer, and Tapiser, with the Cook whom they had brought to attend them, and who well knew a 'draught of London ale.' There were, besides, a Shipman, or mariner, and a Manciple, or purveyor of one of the Inns of Court. These, with- the host and the poet, are the world-famous Canterbury Pilgrims. They form the true national portrait gallery of that fourteenth century. ' After four hundred years have closed over the mirth- ful features which formed the living originals of the poet's descriptions, his pages impress the fancy with the momentary credence that they are still alive.'-* The tales themselves it is impossible to epitomise. It may be noticed generally that the following deserve special attention. The Prologue and the conversations which introduce the tales are all characteristic, and many of them are very beautiful. They add inexpressibly to the vivacity and naturalness of the story. The character of the Parson in the Prologue is the origin of Dryden's ' good priesV and may have suggested Goldsmith's ' passing rich on 4oZ. a year,' as well as Cowper's well-known description of Campbell. Specimens. CHAUCER'S EXCELLENCES. 117 the true minister. The Knight's Tale, which gives the story of Palamon and Arcite, is full of Tourney and enchantments drear, Where more is meant than meets the ear. The story of Griselda exhibits a model of womanly and wifely confidence and patience. The Squire's Tale induced Milton to place its author with Plato and Shakespeare, and his favourite Euripides : wishing to Call up him that left half told The story of Cambuscan bold. The Kinie of Sir Thopas ridicules the fantastical tales of chi- valry, and is written in the metre of the Trouveres ; the host showing the author's real taste by asking the poet to give no more of that * drafty a rhyming.' The prose story of Melibceus is a collection of moral reflections, loosely strung together, on the forgiveness of injuries; and the Parson's Tale is a long sermon on penance. This sermon, some have thought, was written to pacify the priests after the author had attacked them so roughly ; but there is reason to think that he was not a man likely to yield to any such considerations. John Foxe says of him with apparent truth, * He no doubt saw in religion as much as even we do now, and uttereth it in his workes no lesse, and seemeth to be a right Wiclevian, or else was never any.' The tone of these different tales changes from grave to gay, from the most familiar reality to the highest flight of fancy, from pathos the most touching to positive licentiousness, from broad humour to the noblest Christian sentiment. Many of the comic tales, it must be added, are too indelicate for modern reading. The only defence of them is that they are not worse than many of the respectable pieces of that and even of a later age. a Worthless, dirty: from Anglo-Saxon Roscommon on his Essay on Translated Draff, thrown away as not fit to eat. Terse. b Chaucer's early toil Thomson calls Chaucer the ' laughing Founded the Muses' empire in our soil. sage,' but speaks of his ' native manners- Spenser improved it with his painful painting verse as well moralized and hand, as shining through the Gothic cloud of But lost a noble muse In faerie land. time and language.' Dr Chatwood (Dean of Gloucester in c ' I take increasing delight in 1707, and died I'jzd), To Hit Earl of Chaucer. IJis manly cheerfulness Is e*-. 118 POETRY LANGLANDE: GOWER. His excellences have been enumerated by Warton, Camp- bell, Hazlitt, and a host besides. 'In elevation and elegance, in harmony and perspicuity of versification, he surpasses his predecessors in an infinite proportion : his genius was universal, and adapted to themes of unbounded variety. His merit was not less in painting familiar manners with humour and propriety, than in moving the passions, and in representing the beautiful or the grand objects of nature with grace and sublimity.* The strokes of his pencil always tell. He dwells only on the essential ; yet, as he never omits any material circumstances, he is prolix from the number of points on which he touches, . . . and is sometimes tedious from the fidelity with which he adheres to his subject, as other writers are from the frequency of their digressions from it His metaphors, which are few, are not for ornament but use, and as like as possible to the things themselves There were none of the commonplaces of poetic diction in his day, no reflected lights of fancy, no bor- rowed roseate tints. He was obliged to inspect things for himself, to look narrowly and almost to handle the object ; as in the ob- scurity of morning, we partly see and partly grope our way. The picturesque and the dramatic are in him closely blended together, and hardly distinguishable ; for he principally describes external appearances as indicating character, as symbols of internal senti- ments> 115. Chaucer is not only the poet of his age ; he is the centre figure of the whole period of three hundred years, between the Hiscontem- earliest specimens of English (1250) and the reign ^gSnde, of Elizabeth ('5 58> His contemporaries, who be- Gower. long also to an earlier age, were Langlande, whose Vision was published when Chaucer was about thirty-four years old, and had already written his Court of Love; Langlande's poem being addressed to a lower class than those whom Chaucer sought to reach, a class almost purely Saxon : Lawrence Minot, whose ten military ballads commemorate the victories of the peclally delicious to ms in my old age. War ton's History of English Poetry How exquisitely tender he is, and yet $ xviii. how perfectly free from the least touch b Hazlitt's lectures on the English of sickly melancholy or morbid droop- Potts, p. 46. ing.' COLERIDOB'S TabU Talk. POETS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURT. 119 reign of Edward in. (1332-1352): and Rolle, the Hampole Hermit, seventeen of whose devotional pieces are published in Ritson's Biographia Poetica. To the same age belong some of the older metrical romances given in Ritson, of which La Bone Florence is a good specimen. Earlier still are the rhyming chronicle of de Brunne (1339), and the ancient ballads of Randal, Earl of Chester, and Robin Hood, both of which heroes are ascribed to the middle of the previous century, while the ballads written upon them are said by Langlande to have been better known to the priests than their Paternoster. These ballads are not now extant, the present ballad of Robin Hood being of later origin. Before Brunne, flourished Robert of Gloucester, whose Rhyming Chronicle was finished about 1 280. Layamon's version of Wace's Metrical Chronicle appeared in 1185. These have been noticed already at length ; and further back we need not go. There were also writers of another class, as Adam Davie, who lived in the reign of Edward n., and who wrote Visions in Verse. Ellis gives also specimens of love songs not destitute of beauty or of feeling. The Land of Cockayne satirises the luxury of the Church, and various pieces published by Ritson in his Ancient Songs, and by Wright in the Political Songs of England, speak with great freedom of public affairs. But none of these can be compared with Chaucer. By a single bound he takes at once and beyond dispute the first place. * The ancient and moral Gower ' might have been included in the above list, as one of Chaucer's predecessors, for he was some- what older than Chaucer, and he had written poetry in French before Chaucer had published any of his pieces. But he began later than Chaucer to cultivate the English tongue. His Confessio Amantis, the only work by which he is known as an English poet, did not appear till 1393. It is extended to thirty thousand lines, and contains all that constituted the knowledge of that age. In it, moreover, the virtues and vices are allegorised, yet in such a way as never makes truth poetical or impressive. Nevertheless the work has frequently been reprinted, and Gower is generally spoken of by contemporaries, both Scottish and English, with great admiration, an honour he must have owed largely to his personal qualities. His other pieces are the Speculum Meditantis, in ' moral Gower !' is Chaucer's description of him, as gh en In his dedication of Yroilus and Crcsei'df. 120 POETRY THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. French rhymes, and in ten books, wherein he describes the nature of virtue and vice, with many reflections, and the Vox Clamantis, in Latin elegiacs, in seven books, wherein is given the history of Wat Tyler's insurrection. Both exist only in manuscript, and have never been published. 1 1 6. The hundred and fifty years that followed the death of Chaucer are comparatively barren. Warton compares Chaucer to a premature spring day, such as we often find in Sffffteenth our c ^ mate &Q ^ which is succeeded by weeks of storm century. ' and frost Nor is it difficult to account for this fact. During the fifteenth century our history is a record of little but bloodshed and war. One half of the nobility .and gentry are said to have perished on the scaffold or in battle, and the spirit of the people was so brutalised, that there was in no rank encouragement for genius or learning. Not less mischievous was the spirit of religious persecution that was now aroused. In return for the help which Henry iv. received from the clergy, he armed them with the power of the sword, and they used it to put down freedom of inquiry, and, if possible, of thought. There have been times, indeed, when internal commotion sends men of genius to their books and study. Even wit and poetry have in some instances flourished side by side with ferocious bigotry, under the same government, or on the same spot. Jeremy Taylor and Joseph Hall and John Milton are examples of the first. Cervantes and Dante and Bunyan are examples of the second. But such examples are rare, and can be accounted for only from the force of genius, or from the uncommon advantages seme of those men enjoyed, in spite of tyranny and suffering. Yet the fifteenth century was not without redeeming qualities. It could boast, as we have seen, a Fortescue, * though he wandered an exile unprotected by the very constitution which he explained and extolled in his writings.' It witnessed the foundation of many colleges at both the universities. It can enumerate, as Ritson has shown, as many as seventy poets, though none of them are of great name. Of these Occleve, and Lydgate, the author of at least two hundred and fifty poems, were the nearest to Chaucer. The latter indeed, is the most remarkable versifier of the century. Barbour and James i., Hawes, the author of the Pastyme of Pleasure, Barclay, SURREY: STERNHOLD, ETC. 121 the' author of the earliest eclogues in our language, and Skelton, whose chief work, The Croune of Laurel, is an imitation of Chaucer's House of Fame, come later, and can hardly claim attention, except from the student of our language, or from the antiquary. "With the accession of Henry vn. begins a brighter era. The title to the throne is now settled. The light of the art of print- ing may be presumed to shine more steadily in the midst of a quieter atmosphere. The great discoveries of navigation promote intercourse between the nations of the earth. England has wel- comed Erasmus, has commenced the systematic study of the ancient classic languages, has produced More and Tyndal. Scholastic philosophy is waning ; the study of the Bible is begun ; from Italy has been reintroduced the study of lyrical poetry ; and under Wyat and Surrey, Italian models have become as in- fluential as they had previously been in the days of Chaucer. 117. Most of these names we have noticed elsewhere : that of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, deserves further mention. gnrre To him (1516-1547) our literature is under great obligation. For vigour and originality, indeed, he is not superior to many poets who are now forgotten ; but his refine- ment and taste, his foreign studies, his unhappy end, have com- bined to create interest on his behalf. His chief works consist of sonnets and other poems of a lyrical kind, and of a translation of the second and fourth books of the .ZEneid. His? poems are all formed on Italian models. His son- nets were the first in our language, and they began a form of poetry which has been in use from his age to our own. It is thought, also, that his familiarity with Petrarch's works sug- gested to Spenser the study of the great epic of Tasso. To Surrey's ^Eneid we owe our English blank verae. This, also, ho took from an Italian origin, a similar metre having appeared early in thu century. 1 1 8. In the reign of Edward vi. the effect of the Eeformation ivas felt in a somewhat new way. Then nourished Sternhold stemhoid and and Hopkins, who, with good intentions but bad taste, Hopkins. < degraded the spirit of Hebrew psalmody hy flat and homely phraseology ; and, mistaking vulgarity for simplicity, 122 POETRY MIRROR OF MAGISTRATES. turned into bathos what they found sublime.'* This criticism, though true of most of the translations, is too sweeping : some of them hold their place in our collections, and are very fine. They were aided in this work by Clement Marot, who translated some of the Psalms into French ; by Whittingham, the editor of the Geneva New Testament ; and by John Norton, the lawyer, of whom we shall hear again. The collection appeared in 1562. Some of the most polished versions of Psalms in that age had been made some years before by Wyat and Surrey. 119. Two or three other writers demand notice before we reach the age of Spenser. Of these Thomas Sackville, better Mirror of known as Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset, is one Magistrates. o f the chief. His work is entitled The Mirror- of Magistrates, and is a large collection of separate poems, cele- brating unfortunate but illustrious men who figure in Eng- lish history. It was intended to include a series from the Con- quest to the end of the fifteenth century, but part only of this plan was completed. Sackville himself supplied only the Induction, and The Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham, and these were not inserted in the first edition, as Sir E. Brydges has shown. The rest was written by Baldwynne, an ecclesiastic, Ferrers, a lawyer, Churchyard, a voluminous verse writer, and Phaer, the translator of part of the ^Eneid. The book was begun in Mary's reign, though not published till Elizabeth's, and Camp- bell suggests that Sackville's own spirit was influenced by the horrors of that age. It is certain that his work is tinged with despondency. The plan is striking. The poet is musing sadly, in the depth of winter, over nature's decay and man's infirmity : Sorrow appears to him in bodily form, and leads him into the world of the dead : .within the porch of that dread abode is seen a terrible group of shadowy forms, among whom are Remorse, Revenge, Misery, Care, Sleep, War, and Death ; these are the rulers and peoples of the realms below : when the dark lake of Acheron has been crossed, the ghosts of the mighty and un- fortunate dead stalk past in solemn procession. b The tale fur- nished hints for poems which we shall meet hereafter, and even Spenser is said to have been indebted to it for many of his thoughts. It is certainly a link, as Hallam remarks, which unites the school of Chaucer and Lydgate with the author ol the Faerie Queen. Campbell, Euay on Engliih Poetry, vol. ii. >> Spalding. 1 82. REIGN OF ELIZABETH. 123 120. Inferior names are those of John Harington(i534-i582), who wrote some pleasing verses which were published in the Nugce Harington, AntiqucB (Parks edition, 1804); Arthur Brooke, Brooke, etc. whose tragical history of Eomeus and Juliet was translated freely from the Italian, and furnished the ground- work of Shakespeare's drama; and George Gascoigne (1540- I577) who is one of our earliest dramatists and satirists. Ha was successively law student, and, when disinherited by his father, soldier under the Prince of Orange, last of all poet under Eliza- beth, whom he accompanied to Kenilworth, supplying part of the poetical entertainment with which Dudley welcomed the queen to that noble seat. His poem, The Steel Glass, is written in blank verse. In another poem, composed in ottava rima mea- sure, and extending over two hundred and seven stanzas, he describes scenes in the Dutch war, and gives personal adventures and quaint reflections of his own. The only other class of poetic composition between the be- ginning of the sixteenth century and Spenser, are the early attempts in the regular drama which preceded the appearance ol Shakespeare, and the collection published in Tottd. 121. The reign of Elizabeth is the Augustan age of our litera- ture, an honour it owes to the freshness and force of the life Reign of which then began to beat freely throughout the Elizabeth. nation. The intellect of the people had been en- gaged in a struggle for liberty and religion. * It had had time to repose, but not to be enfeebled : it now started on its race, glow- ing, indeed, from the arena, but not weakened, its muscles strong with wrestling, but not exhausted.* The sagacity of Elizabeth gave wide scope for the exercise of these powers. In the second year of her reign she concluded a peace with France, and devoted her energy to the government of her kingdom, and the improvement of the condition of the nation. Men began to trade, and to build, and to seek lands ' Westward Ho !' for new commerce. With leisure for thought, and with wealth for the cultivation of taste, they encouraged genius, and soon formed a literature that made the age world-famous. Among many influences at work there were two that deserve special notice, not as creating literary energy, but as directing it. There had been handed down from early times a chivalrous 124 POETRY SIDNEY : THE ARCADIA. Gothic literature, the old romances and allegorical tales which Chaucer and Sackville had copied ; and there was springing up, in connection with the revival of learning, a love of classic models. Warton notes that, whenever Elizabeth visited a country town, the whole pageant was a Pantheon ; when she entered the hall of one of her nobility, she was saluted by the Penates, and shown to her chamber by Mercury ; at dinner Ovid's Metamorphoses were illustrated in confectionary, while the Siege of Troy was repeated in the iceing of the plum cake. This is a speci- men of the classical influence. If with this sketch we compare Gascoigne's poem on the Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth, or Scott's Kenilworth, or the general descriptions given in Hall* and Holinshed, it will be seen that the romance element was as mighty as the classical. King Arthur was as frequently present as Venus ; and both were made to appear without any misgiving in the same scenes. The earliest poets of the period Sidney and Spenser however, are friends of the old Gothic chivalrous romance. Chivalry, indeed, as a social system, had long ceased in England. Still the memory of it gave a tone to the manners of the court and of the upper classes. With a maiden queen fond of personal attachments, and with such knightly spirits as Raleigh and Essex, it is not difficult to un- derstand how the essential principles of chivalry ' high thoughts in a heart of courtesy,' aa Sidney called them, found ready utter- ance. 122. Sidney was born in 1554, and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, where he gave proofs of unusual shrewdness and Sidney, his life power. After spending three years on the Continent, and works. he returned in 1575 to England, and became one of the ornaments of the court of Elizabeth. Through some court quarrel he retired to the seat of his brother-in-law, at Wilton, and there composed a heroic romance, to which he gave the title of the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. It was not pub- lished till 1590, four years after his death. His next work was The Defence of Poesie, in which he answers the objections brought against the poetic art, in a tract remarkable for the beauty of its style, and the general correctness of its reasoning. In 1585 he was named one of the candidates for the crown of See a good example quoted, by Froude, England, vcl. i., pp. 461-6. SIDNEY: HIS LIFE. 125 Poland, but the queen interposed obstacles, * being unwilling,' as it is said, ' to lose the jewel of her times.' In the following year, when she resolved to send help to the Protestants of the Nether- lands, Sidney joined the troops as a general of horse, and fell at the battle of Zutphen. When he was carried from the field, there occurred the well-known incident, in which he handed the cup of water he was about to put to his lips to a wounded soldier with the remark, * Thy necessity is greater than mine.' He died in the thirty-second year of his age, and was buried in St. Paul's. His chivalrous magnanimity, the grace of his manners, the purity of his character, the refinement of his taste, won him esteem and love wherever he was known. His poetry is generally cold and affected, though some of his sonnets are not unworthy of Petrarch. His claim to this notice rests chiefly on his Arcadia, a somewhat tedious collection of romantic incidents, narrated in prose, with pieces of verse inter- spersed, in imitation of the writer's Italian models. It had im- mense popularity : Shakespeare has in numberless places imitated its scenes and diction, and above all is indebted to it for some of his finest female characters; Shirley, Beaumont, and Fletcher used it as their text-book ; Waller and Cowley copied it ; Temple thought it ' true poetry ;' and to Sidney's own age it served as a complete ' academy of compliments,' Horace Walpole was the first to question the accuracy of these judgments ; he pronounced the piece a tedious, lamentable, pedan- tic, pastoral romance : Gifford deems the plan poor, the incidents trite, the style pedantic : Dunlop called it ' exceedingly tiresome :' Drake and Hazlitt are scarcely less decided ; while, on the other hand, it finds warm admirers in Southey, Coleridge, D'Israeli, and Lamb. The truth probably lies between these extremes. It must be admitted, at all events, that it has passages of ' exquisite beauty,' * and descriptions of great force and elegance, 511 and that 'More sweet than a gentle south- 'In the sweetly constituted mind of west wind, which comes creeping over Sidney it seems as if no ugly thought flowery fields and shadowed waters, in or unhandsome meditation could find a the extreme height of summer.' harbour.' LAMB, Characteristics of SIDNEY. Dramatic Writers. 'And sweeter than the gentle south- west wind, [waters creeping. b Zouch's Memoirs of Sydney, 1808 O'er willowy meads and shadow'd See also D'Israeli's Amenities of Litera* COLERIDGE'S First Advent of IMW. ture, ii., 86. 126 POETRY- SPENSER: HIS WORKS. the author deserves the title which Cowper gives him, when he speaks of Sidney, as ' warbler of poetic prose.' 123. Among the poets who flourished exclusively in the reign of Elizabeth, Spenser stands without a rival ; and it may be <, ensej. admitted, * with the best judges of this and of former ages, that his is still the third name in the poetical literature of our country, nor has it been surpassed except by Dante in any other.' Spenser was born in London, in the year 1553. In 1569 he entered as a sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he formed an acquaintance with Gabriel Harvey, astrologer and pedant, who remained through life his fast friend. On leaving the university he retired to the north of England, probably as tutor, and there, as a love lorn youth, he composed part of The Shepherds Calendar, a rustic poem in twelve eclogues. It shows the influence of Italian reading, and is rich in displays of descrip- tive power. By Harvey he was induced to return to London, and was introduced by him to Sir Philip Sidney, at whose seat of Penshurst Spenser passed some of the brightest years of his un- happy life. Here he completed his Shepherd's Calendar (1579), dedicating it anonymously, under the title of Poet's Tear, to his patron, 'Maister Philip Sidney, worthy of all titles, both of learning and of chivalry.' By Sidney he was introduced to the Earl of Leicester, the favourite of Elizabeth, and the uncle of Maister Philip, and from that moment entered into a golden servitude. 1 * After some years of vicissitude and disappointment, Spenser went to Ireland as Secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton, the Lord Deputy. In 1586 he obtained a grant of three thousand acres of land in the county of Cork, where his friend, Sir Walter Ealeigh, had also obtained a like grant of much larger extent ; and, as Spenser was compelled by the conditions of his grant to reside upon the property, he took up his abode at Kilcolman Castle. Here he completed the first books of the Faerie Queen, and read them to Raleigh, when the two friends agreed that he must visit London, and arrange for the publication of his volume. In 1589- 1590 it appeared, being dedicated to the queen in a style of adulation common in that age. The Faerie Queen was most A Wall am b D'Israeli, Amenities qf Literature. iL TEE FAERY QUEEN. 127 enthusiastically received, and the few first stanzas, descriptive of Una, must have been 'enough to place Spenser above the whole hundred poets that then offered incense to Elizabeth.'* On the publication of this poem, Elizabeth, always economical in her bounties, expressed her delight by a permanent pension on the poet. * All this,' Lord Burleigh is said to have exclaimed, ' for a song 1' ' Then give him what is reason/ rejoined her majesty. The order, however, lay long in the Exchequer un- honoured, and Spenser reminded the queen by a petition, which has become a proverb ' I was promised on a time, From that time unto this season, To have reason for my rhyme ; I received nor rhyme nor reason :' whereupon the Lord Treasurer was reprimanded, and the poet was paid. Fifty pounds a year seems to have been the sum thus given . b After the publication of the first part of the Faerie Queen, Spenser retired to Ireland, and next published the Tears of the Muses, in which he indicates plainly, that, though Sidney and Leicester and Essex were his friends, the unpoetic Burleigh was against him. His Mother Hubbard's Tale, a political satire, ap- peared in 1591, Daphnaida in 1592. In 1595 Amoretti and the Epithalamion were published, relating to his own courtship and marriage. The latter is one of the finest nuptial odes in any language. About the same time appeared the Elegy ofAstrophel, on the death of Sidney, and in 1596 he returned to London, to publish the fourth, fifth, and sixth books of his great poem. Among the most exquisite and passionate of his pieces are his Hymns on love and beauty, to which he added later his Hymns to heavenly love and heavenly beauty. In the former we have the Platonic doctrine, that the soul retains part of her heavenly power, and fashions the body so as to represent her own excellence. Tn the latter there are relics of old Platonism, but the whole is elevated and purified by religious feeling. Meanwhile Spenser had returned to Ireland, though with little a Chambers. * Fuller's Worthies. o In this piece appeared the well-known complaint of a court expectant : For little knowest thou that hast not tried, What hell it is in suing long to bide, "10 speed to-day, to be put back tomorrow, To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow, etc. 123 POETRY -THE FAERY QUEEN. hope of the improvement of the country. In 1597 he laid hefoie the queen his View of the State of Ireland, in which he recom- mends some severe measures for the ' Land of Ire/ and suggests that they should he blended with measures likely to conciliate popular favour. But it was too late. Tyrconnel's rebellion broke out ; the castle of Kilcolman was burnt, and an infant child of the poet, ' new-born,' Ben Jonson says, was left behind and perished in the flames. Impoverished and broken-hearted, Spenser and his wife reached London, and within three months, in an obscure lodging, he closed his eyes in a premature death. He died in 1599, and was buried near Chaucer in Westminster Abbey. The Earl of Essex paid the expenses of the funeral,* and the hearse was attended, as Camden tells us, by brother poets, Shakespeare probably among them, who threw ' mournful elegies ' into his grave. Such is the outline of his life ; the facts are but scanty : a history of the man himself is to be found chiefly in his works. 124. The Faery Queen is, as a title, somewhat deceptive : she presides not over Fairy Land, but over the Land of Chivalry, a The Faery territory in which heroic daring and ideal purity are Queen, the things presented for our admiration, and in which the chief adventurers are knights achieving perilous victories, and ladies rescued from fearful misery. Throughout the whole, moreover, there is an earnest moral purpose, such as is found in no similar work of any preceding age. The Faery Queen was intended to consist of twelve books, six of which only we possess, published at two different times, and a fragment of a seventh. The author himself tells us that the poem is a ' continued allegory ' or * dark conceit/ and adds his own explanation. The Fairy Queen appears in vision to Prince Arthur, who, awaking deeply enamoured, resolves on seeking his mistress in Faery Land. The Queen is then represented as holding a solemn annual feast during twelve days : each ad- venture is undertaken by some particular knight, each knight symbolising some moral virtue. The first is the Red-cross a And had not that great heart (whose honoured head, Ah ! lies full low) pitied thy woful plight, Then hadst thou lien unwept, unburied, Unblest, nor graced with any common rite. P. FJLETCHEB'S Purple Island. THE FAERY QUEEN. 129 Knight, an emblem of holiness ; the second, Sir Guy on, of tender- ness ; the third, Britomartis, a lady knight, of chastity ; the fourth, of friendship ; the fifth, of justice ; and the sixth, of courtesy. Besides these personifications, the chief characters represent historical personages, and their adventures historical events. The Faery Queen, Gloriana, is glory in general, and in particular Queen Elizabeth, who is also immortalised in Belphcebe, in Cyn- thia, and in Britomartis. The adventures of the Eed Cross Knight shadow forth the history of the Church, and the distressed knight is Henry the Fourth of France : Una is truth, or true religion. The Knight of Magnificence, Prince Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, is the Protestant hero, the Captain-General of the forces in the Netherlands the Earl of Leicester. This allegorical character of Spenser's chief poem has generally been deemed a serious fault ; but probably most modern writers will agree with Hazlitt, that the allegory is no bar to the enjoy- ment of the poem, and the reader may safely disregard the sym- bolical applications. Una is not the less finely drawn, whether or not we stop to examine how far she is like the truth, nor is Artegal, the Knight of Justice, or Duessa, though the one represent Arthur Lord Grey, and the other deceit, or the Church of Rome, or later, Mary, Queen of Scots. The allegory destroys no beauty ; it leaves untouched the Bower of Bliss, the wild enchantments, and dark forest, the witcheries of garden and landscape, while those representations of female loveliness and truth, which have never been surpassed in the writings of any age, are equally im- pressive, whether we remember or not, that ' more is meant than meets the ear,' that each wears several changes of dress, and may by-and-by be found in a different scene. It is a more serious objection that the several cantos do not form one poem. Arthur, the nominal hero, who ought to have been a bond of connection, is soon forgotten ; and even if the poem had been finished, and he had appeared at the end, his presence could not have consolidated into a whole the histories of the twelve knights. It is best, therefore, to regard the six books as a collection of pictures, with no relation to one another, except that they are painted on the same plan, and occupy the same gallery.* See Topo's Tetters to Spenc^ t where this comparison is used. 2 K 130 POETRY THE FAERY QUEEN. On the merits of the different books there is substantial agree- ment among critics. The first book is complete in itself, and is the finest of the six, while the allegory has the excellence of ex- ercising the reader's ingenuity without perplexing it. a The second abounds in exquisite painting of natural scenery. In the third, Belphoebe and Amoret appear, two of the most beautiful of Spenser's female characters. The fourth contains the tale of the Florimel, an old romance set off with an array of imagery, which Collins, in one of the noblest of his odes, has dwelt upon with delight. In the fifth book, on justice, there is a perceptible falling off, but with a strength of moral sentiment unsurpassed elsewhere by the poet. Both here, however, and in the following, the wish of the author to introduce personal friends and allusions to his own age detracts from the unity and the force of the whole. It is now seen why the poem is called a romance, and why it is regarded as of Gothic, rather than of Classical origin. This distinction, which modern critics have ascribed to Schlegel, is found, not only in Bishop Hurd, but in the poet Hughes, whose edition of Spenser, published in 1715, formally recognises the division of all poetry into these two classes, though he was hardly aware of the soundness or of the importance of the division itself. It may be added that it is the last great poem modelled on Chivalry, unless we except the latest by Southey and by Tenny- son. That the skill with which he completed his task made his work successful is clear from the fact, that Bishop Hall, while blaming the fantastic extravagance of the Gothic poetry, suddenly checks his temerity in blaming themes made sacred by the Spenserian muse : Let no rebel satire dare traduce Th' eternal legends of thy fairy muse. Renowned Spenser, whom no earthly wight Dares once to emulate. The excellence of Spenser consists largely in his appreciation of the beautiful, and in his power of describing it. ' No poet,' says Wilson, * has ever had a more exquisite sense of the beautiful.' b He is not averse, adds Hallam, to images that jar on the mind by Hallam, ii., ijj. > See a brilliant series of papers en the Faery Queen, pablishe/1 in Blackvccd ir. 1834-5. SPENSEii'S EXCELLENCE. 13 i exciting horror or disgust, and sometimes his touches are rather too strong ; but it is on love and beauty, on holiness and virtue, that he reposes with all the sympathy of his soul, and the slow gliding motion of his stanza, ' with many a bout of linked sweet- ness long drawn out,' beautifully corresponds to the dramatic enchantment of his descriptions.* And all he thus feels he can describe. No masterpiece of the great painters ever glowed on the canvas with more reality and naturalness than his scenes. ' His command of imagery,' says Campbell, ' is wide, easy, and luxuriant ; he threw the soul of harmony into our verse, and made it more warmly, tenderly, and magnificently descriptive than it ever was before, or, with a few exceptions, than it has ever been since. It must certainly be owned that in description he exhibits nothing of the brief strokes and robust power which characterise the veiy greatest poets ; but we shall nowhere find more airy and expansive images of vision- ary things, a sweeter tone of sentiment, or a finer flush in the colours of language, than in this Rubens of English poetry. . . . We always rise from perusing him with melody in the mind's ear, and with pictures of romantic beauty impressed on the imagination.' b Succeeding generations have acknowleged the pathos and richness of his strains, and the new contour and enlarged dimen- sions of grace, which he gave to English poetiy. He is the poetical father of a Milton and a Thomson. Gray habitually read him when he wished to frame his thoughts for composition, and there are few eminent poets in the language who have not been essentially indebted to him : Hither as to their fountain other stars .Repair, and in their urns draw golden light. Spenser deemed himself the poetical son of Chaucer, and has adopted his diction. d He was, therefore, in his own times, taunted with ' affecting the ancients,' and ' with his new grafts of old withered words and exploded persons.' 8 So Virgil gavo a Hallam, ii., 137. b Campbell's Essay on English Poetry. Introduction, p. 5$. c Campbell, p. 56. d Dan Chaucer, well of English undefiled, On fame's eternal beadroll worthie to be fyled." Faerie Queen, bock iv., canto 2. Jonson's Work?, is., 215. Bolton's Hypercritica, 1622. K 2 132 POETRYSPENSER'S METRE. simplicity and venerableness to the .ZEneid, by using words taken from Ennius ; so La Fontaine gave freshness to his satire, by borrowing expressions from Rabelais. Many of his words deserve reviving, and, though the forms are sometimes obsolete, the language is, as a whole, beautiful in its antiquity ; and, ' like the moss and ivy on some majestic building, covers the fabric of the poem with romantic and venerable associations.' a It must be admitted, on the other hand, that the Faery Queen is injured by the redundancy of expression and description, and by deficiency in that important attribute of a great poem,. a continual reference to the truth of nature. The ear and the heart of the reader are frequently disappointed by enfeebling expletives, and by the impotent conclusion of lines and stanzas otherwise striking and beautiful. The metre of Spenser is borrowed from the Italian : it is the ottava rima, the eight-lined stanza of the Tuscan, with a ninth line, an Alexandrine, added, whose ' billowy flow ' gives variety and strength to the music of the verse. This style of versifica- tion, called afterwards Spenserian, has been adopted by Shen- stone in the Schoolmistress, by Beattie in the Minstrel, by Byrcn in Childe Harold, and by Thomson in The Castle of Indolence. The last alone imitates Spenser's allegorical imagery. There arc- also imitations by Gilbert West, by Campbell in Gertrude of Wyoming, by Shelley in the Revolt of Islam, and by Scott in his Vision of Don Roderick. 125. We should fail to do justice to the progress of our nation, if we left unnoticed the improved moral tone already Improved tone observable in popular fiction. * ye knights of of literature. England,' exclaims Caxton, in his Epilogue to hip Order of Chivalry, ' what do you now but go to the baynes (baths) and play at dice; and some not well advised use not honest and good rule, ageyn all order of knighthood. Leave this, and read the noble volume of St. Grael, of Lancelot, of Tristram, . . . and many mo.' He evidently thought the prose romances better employment than the common amusements of his age. Yet Aschain, in his Schoolmaster, too justly charac- terises ' these books of chivalry, read for pastime and pleasure, a Campbell. SPENSER'S SUCCESSORS. 135 as excelling only in open men of slaughter and bold bawdry.' ' Those be counted the noblest knights/ he adds, ' that kill most men without any quarrel, and commit foulest adulteries with subtlest shifts ; as Sir Launcelot, with the wife of Arthur his master; Sir Tristram, with the wife of King Mark, his uncle. This is good stuff for wise men to laugh at, or honest men to take pleasure in.' a In Spenser, at all events, as in most poets of his class, this corrupt taste has given place to a style of writing, as superior in purity, as it is in beauty and in vigour. b SECTION III. FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 126. The poets of Spenser's age, including the first fifty years of the seventeenth century, are very numerous. Ellis reckons .__. . a hundred as belonging to the reign of Elizabeth Imitators ana -, -n t i i , ^ successors of alone ; and Drake has made a list of more than two Spenser. hundred, though many of these have written only short pieces. We must confine our notice, therefore, to the chief of these, and shall do them more justice, if we classify them according to their schools, rather than enumerate them in chronological order. 127. The immense popularity of Spenser naturally created imi- tators, though these are fewer than might have been supposed. Phineas The brother poets, Phineas and Giles Fletcher, are Fletcher. among the earliest and the most successful. Both were clergymen settled in East Anglia, sons of Dr. Giles Fletcher, and cousins of the dramatist. The chief work of Phineas Fletcher is The Purple Island, pub- lished in 1633, but written some time before. The title is poetical enough, but when explained, loses nearly all its beauty. The poem is really an elaborate and minute account of the body and mind of a Hippisley's Chapters, p. 240. So Chrysostom studied Aristophanes ; b In Wesley's recommendations to Bossuet, Homer; and Sharpe whose young men preparing for the ministry, popular eloquence Burnet commends he advises them in their second year to Shakespeare. In Spenser as in Milton, combine with the study of the Hebrew the student has imagery, sentiment, and and Greek Scriptures, the reading of the diction, all combined. See WILLMOTT'S Faery Queen. So the apostle Paul may Lives of the English Sacred Poets, i., 18. ihave studied the comic writers of c Shakespeare and his Times, vol. i., Athens, from whose works he quotes. p. 674. 134 POETRY THE FLETCHERS. man . a For five cantos the reader is treated with the anatomy of the human frame, purple with blood. In the sixth canto the author describes the intellectual and moral powers of the soul. Intellect is the Prince of the Isle, with his wife Volctta or Will, a lady very liable to faint, though restored by Repentance. He has as counsellors Fancy and Memory, Common Sense, and the five external senses. The isle is assailed by the vices, and at length the virtues are victorious, through the interposition of an angel ; who, the poet tells us, is King James. A similar allegory may be found in the King Hart of Gawain Douglas, and in the Mansoul of John Buiiyan. The Holy War of the latter is redeemed from extravagance and insipidity by the skill and obvious moral pur- pose of the whole. In the Purple Island there is the same mono- tony as in the Faery Queen, with a good deal of easy and even beautiful versification ; but the allegory is tedious, and the sub- ject one which a true poetic instinct would have rejected. 128. Giles Fletcher published only one poem of any length,, entitled Christ's Victory and Triumph. It appeared in 1610. Giles The subject is felicitous, and is handled with a mas- Fletcher, siveness and grandeur that certainly strike the ima- gination. 1 ' It shows greater vigour, but less sweetness and less smoothness than the Purple Island. Spenser's Cave of Despair and his Bower of Bliss are both imitated, unless indeed both master and disciple copy Tasso. Giles has the higher honour of Fond man that.looks on earth for happiness, And here long seeks what here is never found ! For all our good we hold from heaven by lease, With many forfeits and conditions bound ; Xor can we pay the fine and railage due : Though now but writ and sealed and given anew, Yet daily we it break, then daily must renew. P. FLETCHEB, Purple Islart-l. o Amocg the companions of offended Justice, Fletcher reckons : Famine and bloodless Care and bloody War, Want and the want of knowledge how to use Abundance, Age and Fear that runs afar Before his fellow Grief, that aye pursues His winged steps ; for who would not refuse Griefs company, a dull and raw-boned spright, That lanks the cheeks, and pales the freshest sigh*. Unbosoming the cheerful breast of all delight. Christ's Victory. Canto L Kalian), 1L, 28. NARRATIVE POETS. 135 being followed by Milton in parts of his Paradise Regained. Both, brothers were endowed with minds eminently poetical, * and were not inferior in imagination to any of their contempo- raries.' a They retain, says Campbell, ' much of the melody and luxuriant expression ' of Spenser himself.' Each uses a stanza of his own, Phineas of seven lines, and Giles of eight. In the preface to Christ's Victory the author defends religious poetry with an earnestness and skill not unworthy of Spenser. With the Fletchers allegorical poems cease, till the style is revived by Dryden in his Hind and Panther, and by Thomson in his Castle of Indolence. 129. The narrative poets of the period are Samuel Daniel (1562- 1619), Michael Drayton (1563-1631), William Browne (1590- 1645), and in part Drammond and Davenant; to these may be added the name of Sir John Denham (1615-1668). Daniel was born near Taunton, and was educated under the patronage of the Pembroke family. In 1529 he entered as a . commoner at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he de- voted himself chiefly to the study of history and poetry. In 1603 he was appointed Master of the queen's revels, and lived in Old Street, St. Luke's, where, as Fuller tells us, * he would lie for months to enjoy the company of the Muses.' Among his human friends were Camden, Seldcn, Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Chapman. Coleridge, who was a warm admirer of Daniel's works and character, thinks it his highest praise, that he formed the mind of the great Countess of Pembroke, and that in turn her mind inspired his. In his old age he turned farmer, and died at Beckington, in Somerset. His History of the Civil Wars between York and Lancaster is a poem in eight books, and was published in 1604. By contem- porary critics he is spoken of as the ' polisher and purifier of the English tongue ;' and his style is certainly the clearest and purest of his age. His correct taste, calm sense, and moral feeling, Hallam warmly praises ; but he wants force and life, and his verse is in consequence but little read. His Musophilus, containing a General Defence of Learning, is also a thoughtful and elaborate work, with the same excellences and faults. As a prose chroni- cler, his merits are described elsewhere (see par. 315). a Hallara 136 POETRY DRAYTON. On the death of Spenser, Daniel was thought worthy to succeed him as poet laureate, and in that character supplied several masques for the court, but he retired before the growing ascendancy ci Jonson.* 130. Dray ton occupies a higher place than Daniel. He was born at Atherstone, and seems to have owed much of his education to the kindness of the Countess of Bedford, and other titled friends. In 1598 he published The Barons' Wars, and England's Heroical Epistles. In these works ' we see symptoms of that taste for poetised history, as it may be called, which marked that age, and which was fully developed in the historical drama.' b The Barons' Wars, it may be added, contains several passages of beauty. Parts of it were known to Milton, and have been imitated by him. The metre is the Ariosto stanza of eight lines, resting, as Drayton describes it, on two last lines as a base. Drayton's more important work, the Polyolbion, appeared partly in 1613, partly in 1622. It is a poem of thirty thousand lines, written in Alexandrine couplets, a measure riot pleasing to the car, though, from the flow of the verse and the even tenor of the whole poem, it reads better than might have been supposed. The subject of the poem is unique. It is a topographical delineation of England, and is composed with such accuracy and fulness of legendary and other learning, that Hearne and Wood quote the book as an authority in English antiquities. Of course it appeals more to the understanding than to the fancy, and is more adapted to instruct the mind than to touch the feelings. Yet it has great merit ; it contains few languid or mean passages, and the language is strong, varied, and sufficiently figurative. If not now read, it is chiefly because such information as it gives can be more readily learned in prose than in verse. a ' His diction is easy, his language And all our labours are without suo natural; and there is a fine philosophic cess, vein flowing through all he wrote.' For either favour or our virtue fails. Mrs. S. C. HALL. Dedication to Philotas. He speaks of his own want of success Well-languaged Daniel, as Browne with some sadness : calls him in his Britannia's Pastoral* I still liave done the fairest offices was one of Southey's favourite poete.' To virtue and the tune; yet nought WAETEB. prevails, b Chambers, L, p. 105. c See Preface to tlie Barons' Wars. BROWNE. 137 131. Browne belongs to the class of descriptive rather than of narrative poets, though his writings are also partly pastoral. He William adopts Spenser as his model. He was born at Browne. Tavistock, and seeins to have caught from the scenery of his native county his taste for description. After being educated at Oxford, he entered at the Inner Temple, but devoted himself chiefly to poetry. In his twenty- third year he published the first part of Britannia's Pastorals, and three years later, in 1616, the second part. In 1614 appeared the Shepherd's Pipe. It is inferior to his other poems ; but the fourth eclogue is written on a plan that closely resembled that of the Lycidas of Milton, and in Lycidas there is also a faint resemblance of some of its images and sentiments. From the Britannia, Warton quotes cme lines that remind the reader of the morning picture of I? Allegro* While still hi the prime of life he took his leave of the Muses, and returned to Oxford as tutor of the Earl of Carnarvon, who fell at the battle of JSTewbury, in 1643. He afterwards resided in the family of William, Earl of Pembroke, and died at Ottery-St.- Mary the birthplace of Coleridge in 1645. As recently as 1852 a third part of his Britannia's Pastorals was printed from the original manuscript still preserved in the Cathedral Library at Salisbury. The Pastorals are written in heroic couplets, and were praised by Drayton, Wither, and Jonson. They contain much beautiful description, given with grace and sweetness, though, as Campbell says, * it is the beauty of mere landscape and allegory, without the passions that constitute human interest.' 132. William Drummond (1585-1649) was one of the most eminent of Scotch poets. He was born at Hawthornden, Drummo was educated at the university of Edinburgh, studied civil law in France, and returning home gave himself to literature. During his residence at Haw- thornden he was on the eve of marriage, when the sudden death of the lady to whom he was betrothed affected him deeply, and By this had chanticleer, the village cock, Bidden the goodwife for her inaids to knock ; And the swart ploughman for his breakfast stayed, That he might till those lands which fallow laid. 133 POETRY DRUM MONO. compelled him to seek relief by travelling. During the eight years he was on the Continent he mixed largely in society, and collected a number of manuscripts and books, some of which are still preserved in the library of his own university. On settling again at his seat he married, hoping for a life of ease and literary culture. But the times were against him. The civil war had broken out, and he was summoned to supply his quota of men for the cause he detested. The execution of Charles I. is said to have hastened his own death, which took place at the close of the same year, 1649. Drummond was intimate with Drayton and Jonson. The latter visited him at Hawthornden in the spring of 1619. Drum- mond kept notes of their conversation, and chronicled some of the personal failings of his guest. These notes have exposed Drummond's character to the charge of meanness or of malignity ; lait as they were private memoranda, never published by him, nor apparently intended for publication, and as most of them speak of faults which none question, he ought to be freed from this charge.* His first publication was a volume of Occasional poems ; his second the Flowers of Zion. His Tears on the death of Mceliades Prince Henry was written in 1612. His Wandering Muses, or the River of Forth feasting, a descriptive poem written on the occasion of King James revisiting Scotland, appeared in 1617. The humour of his Macaronics, in Scotch and Latin, and the elegance of his sonnets, have been sufficiently praised. These last are written hi pure English, and are free from conceits, often showing much pathos and tenderness. His verses are remark- ably harmonious, rich in thought and in fancy, and Hallam notes that he concludes the sense in each couplet as regularly as Pope Milton has copied more than one of his images in his Lycidasp 133. Sir William Davenant (1605-1668), whose life is mor3 * These Xotes, as given in Laing's edition {Shakespeare Society Transaction*}, abound in concise judgments on the poets and literary men of the time, and have considerable value. Sad violet, and that sweet flower that Inwrought with figures dim, and on the bears edge, In sanguine spots the tenor of our Like to that sanguine flower, inscribed woes. Epitaph on Prince Henry. with woe. Lycidas. '["he reader will see how Milton adorns, even when borrowing. DAVENANT: DENHAM. 139 closely connected with the history of the stage than with the progress of poetry, was born at Oxford, and was ivcnant. ^ g(m of ft vmtnen T ne ^ Q tradition, which Pope rehearses, that he was a natural son of Shakespeare, has no authority. In 1628 he began to write for the stage, and in 1638, on the death of Ben Jonson, he was made poet laureate. In the civil wars he sided strongly with the Royalists, and was knighted ; but on the decline of the king's cause he retired to France, where he wrote part of his Gondibert. Trying to reach Virginia, the ship in which he sailed was taken, and he was lodged in the Tower. After two years' imprisonment he was released, it is said by Milton's good offices, a kindness which Davenant was- able to repay after the Restoration. He died in 1668, after a life of astonishing activity, superintendent of one of the London theatres. His works were printed in a large folio volume in 1673- Gondibert, which was published in 1650, is a heroic romance, with too much of mere fancy to justify us in placing it among historical epics. The scene is laid at the court of one of the Lombard kings ; but the plot is defective in interest and in unity. The poem contains about six thousand lines, and is not complete. The metre, the four-line stanza with alternate rhymes, was copied by Dryden in his Annus Mirdbilis, and is masculine, though it becomes monotonous. To the poem is prefixed a preface, which in taste and judgment may be regarded as a precursor to Dry den's admirable introductions to his plays. The style is clear and in vigorous English. Dryden acknowledges other obligations to Davenant, and among these is his first admiration for the genius of Shakespeare. 134. To the class of philosophic, rather than of descriptive Denham poems belongs the Cooper's Hill of Sir John Denham r first published in 1643. Denham was the son of a chief baron of the Irish Exchequer,, and came to London on the appointment of his father to the same office in the English Exchequer. At Oxford, where he studied, be was noted for his love of play, and the same propensity fol- lowed him to Lincoln's Inn. To avert his father's anger, and apparently in the hope of curing the habit, he wrote a penitential Essay on Gaming. The remedy, however, was not effectual, and 140 POETRY PHILOSOPHIC POETS. after his father's death he gambled away nearly all his property. During the civil war he sided with the king, and had several ap- pointments. On the Restoration he was made surveyor of the royal buildings, and was knighted. His Cooper's Hill is partly descriptive. The scene is laid oil an eminence near Windsor, where he takes a survey of the land- scape, from the tower of St. Paul's on the eastern horizon, to that of St. George's at. Windsor. These, with the river at his feet, the ruins of an old abbey, the plains of Runnymede, and a stag hunt which he describes with much force, are the chief ob- jects on the canvas, all the rest being filled with philosophic, and somewhat striking reflections. The poem is not an ordinary one, and once had a wide reputation. The couplets are vigorous and rhythmical, the thought is close, and the language nervous and appropriate. At the same time it must be admitted, that there is nothing to warm or touch the heart. Pope's epithet, ' majestic Denham,' Hallam thinks too flattering. 135. The imaginative allegory of Spenser produced a natural reaction. In the later years of queen Elizabeth, and especially Philosophic in the reign of James I., a large section of English P 06 * 8 - poets had acquired a taste for philosophy. Sen- tentious reasoning and remote analogies were more welcome to them than nimble fancy and obvious resemblance.* Sometimes they have been divided into two schools, the metaphysical and the philosophic. But they may be fairly regarded as one : they agree in appealing to the reason rather than the imagination, and are generally distinguished by lack of simplicity and pedantic learning or equally pedantic ratiocination. In some of the writers of this class the analogies they trace are mere conceits, and the reasoner overlies the poet. But in others we have vigorous Sismondi has well described our sical comparisons, pompous and over- metaphysical or fantastic poets, when wrought descriptions, with a species of tpeaking of the Neapolitan Marini, he poetical punning and research, were describes him 'as the celebrated inno- soon esteemed under his authority, as vator on classic Italian taste, who first beauties of the first order.' Lit. of the seduced the poets of the seventeenth South rf Europe. (Roscoe), ii., p. 262. century into that laboured and affected It is as a poet of tins school only that style, which his own richness and viva- Cowley is entitled to the praise of dty of imagination were so well calcu- Clarendon 'as having made a flight latfd to recommend. The most whim- beyond all men.' Autobiog. i, ?o. DA VIES. 14 1 thinking, combined with beautiful imagery, and even with tender feeling, unsurpassed till we reach Pope's age. The chief writers are Sir John Davies (1570-1626), Fulk Gre- ville, Lord Brooke (1554-1628), Dr. John Donne (1573-1631), Richard Crashaw (died 1650), William Habington (1605-1654), and Abraham Cowley (1618-1667). 136. Davies, an English barrister, and afterwards chief justice of Ireland, was the author of a long philosophic poem entitled Nosce Teipsum ; or, the Soul of Man and the Immortality thereof. It was first published in 1599, and went through four editions in the author's lifetime. It is one of the earliest poems of the kind in our language, and is as remarkable for its ingenious similes as for its logical truth. It contains lines, says Hallam, which outweigh much of the descriptive and imaginative poetry of the last two centuries, ' whether we estimate it by the pleasure they impart, or by the intellectual power they display.' The versification is the four-line stanza the quatrain so familiar in Davenant and in Dryden. R His general style is neither artificial nor careless, * while for precision and clearness, for felicity and strength, it has never been surpassed.' b This poem is as much religious as it is philosophical. He shows with great beauty, how God made the soul in his own image, and how it is again to be renewed. It may be added that the first reports of law cases published in Ireland were made by Davies, whose preface to the volume is said * to be the best that was ever prefixed to a law work.' d 137. Lord Brooke, * friend to Sir Philip Sidney,' as he calls him- The sense of feeling, Davies thus illustrates : Much like a subtle spider, which doth sit In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide ; If aught do touch the utmost thread of it, She feels it instantly on every side. The Soul and the Immortality thereof. A stanza that Pope condenses into a single couplet : The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine, Feels at each thread and lives along the line. Essay on Man. Milton and Pope are good examples of the skilful appropriation and improvement 3f the thoughts of their predecessors, b Sou they. c Nahum Tate's preface to his republication of the Nosce Teipsum. d See ilie Memoir prefixed to Mr. George Chalmers' reprint of Da vies,' Law Tracts. 142 POETRY FANTASTIC POETS. self in the inscription placed upon his grave, is the author of A Lord Brooke Treatise on Human Learning, A Treatise on Monarchy, and A Treatise on Religion. These poems show deep reflection and extensive learning ; but the language is obscure, and the rhymes and metre are cumbrous and unskilful. It is his merit that he discusses themes which were hereafter, in the writings of Harington and Locke, to excite wide interest. Southey thinks that Dryden's tragic style, which is very diffe- rent from the ease and simplicity of his prose, is formed on Lord Brooke's, more than on that of any other author. 138. Donne, Crashaw, and Cowley, are called by Johnson metaphysical poets, a title he gives them to indicate that for Fantastic direct thought and natural imagery they substitute poets. conceits, and remote, often merely verbal, analogies. Perhaps the title is not quite accurate, fantastic being a some- what more satisfactory term ; and certainly there is much in all these poets that is natural and truly poetical. Still the title may fairly be retained, and it must be admitted, that there is enough in their writings to justify the application of this epithet to them. Its appropriateness may be illustrated by a single example. Donne, whom Johnson regards as the founder of the school, 8 has to describe a broken heart ; he enters a room where his mistress is present : Love alas ! At one first blow did shiver it as glass. This image he wants to use so as to please the reader's fancy, and perhaps to excite his feeling ; and he thus proceeds Yet nothing can to nothing fall, Nor any place be empty quite ; Therefore I think my breast hath all Those pieces still, though they do not unite. And now, as broken glasses show A hundred lesser faces, so My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore, But, after one such love, can *ove no more. 139. Donne, related through his mother to Sir Thomas More Srtft Tobugon's Live*, and especially bis Life of Con-ley. DONNE: CRASHAW 143 and to Heywood the epigrammatist, was of a Catholic family, but after much consideration he joined the English Church. At the age of forty-two he became a clergyman, and was made in succession chaplain to James i., preacher at Lincoln's Inn, and Dean of St. Paul's. He died in 1631, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His memoir, by Izaak Walton, is one of our classical biographies. His works consist of sermons which were celebrated in their age, satires, elegiacs, and religious poems, and were collected and published in 1650 by his son. In his own day he had very considerable reputation as a poet ; and though he was little thought of in the eighteenth century, in our own his reputation has revived, and he has now many admirers. His faults are his conceits and his inharmonious metres. His excellences consist in his learning, his subtle fancy, his terse and forcible style. His wit is very caustic, yet often playful, and he is the first to write satire in rhyming couplets the metre carried to such perfection by Dryden and Pope. 140. Crashaw was the son of a preacher at the Temple. The date of his birth is uncertain ; but in 1637 he was chosen a Fellow of Peter House, Cambridge, having been sent to that college from the Charterhouse. With an enthusiastic attachment to religious forms he became a Roman Catholic, and, unlike his contemporary Chillingworth, who had for a time embraced the same views, he remained in that community, and is among those whom Archbishop Usher censures. He had, as Hallam thinks, 'a soft heart and feeble judgment.' After he left Cambridge he went to France, where the friendship of Cowley obtained for him the notice of Henrietta, the queen of Charles I. He became secretary to one of the cardinals, and a canon of the church of Loretto. He died about 1650. His chief works are translations. Among these the more im- portant are The Massacre of the Innocents, by Marini, one of the Concetti of the Italian school, the Dieslrce; his Musical Duett, a translation, though without acknowledgment, from a poem by Strada, the Jesuit. Crashaw, however, adds to it many lines and fancies of his own. He translated also several of the Psalms ; his versions of the hundred and thirty-seventh and twenty- third being the best known. In 1646 appeared his 144 POETRY HABINGTON. pieces, Steps to the Temple, TJie Delights of the Muses, and Carmen Deo Nostro, etc. Pope, who largely uses Crashaw, and acknowledges his obliga- tions to him, says that he must be considered rather as a versifier and wit than a poet ; his excellences consisting in pretty concep- tions, glittering expressions, and something of a neat cast of verse.* Coleridge, who was better able to appreciate him, speaks more favourably of his ability. He praises his imagination, ' his power and opulence of invention,' and thinks the lines on St. Theresa the finest Crashaw has written, combining, as they do r richness of thought and of diction. ' These verses,' adds Coleridge, * were present to my mind while writing the second part of Christabel.' b As a religious poet he deserves still higher praise. His Psalms, his Hymn to the Nativity, and his Hymn to the Morning may be found in many collections. In a volume of Latin poems he published while at Cambridge occurs the well- known conceit on the miracle at Cana : Lympha pudica Deum vidit ct crubuit. The modest water saw its God and blushed.' 141. Among the metaphysical or fantastic poets is sometimes reckoned William Habington (1605-1654), though he belongs as in naturally to the same class as Quarles. His father and uncle are said to have been implicated in Babing- ton's conspiracy, and the latter was executed in consequence. His mother was a daughter of Lord Morley, and is believed to have written the famous letter of warning which led to the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. The family were Eoman Catholics, and the son studied at St. Omer's. He afterwards married Lucy, daughter of the first Lord Powis, and celebrates her under the title of Castara. When about thirty, he published his poems, T/w Mistress, The Wife, and The Holy Man, each containing several pieces written on a plan afterwards adopted by Cowley. The last, The Holy Man, is superior to the rest in vigour and fresh- ness. Southey thinks Habington the freest from licentiousness of all the writers of his age, and he himself says that he hopes ' a chaste muse will prove more acceptable and will weigh heavier in the balance of esteem than the opposite.' The wooing which his a Letter to Henry Cromwell, Literary *> Letters and Conversations of Cole- Cvn-espondence, p. 302. ridge, i., 196. COWLEY. 145 'poems describe is ' aristocratic and virtuous/ and ends * in satis- 'fied conjugal affection.'* 142. Cowley, a writer of the raciest and clearest prose, exhibits the bad qualities of the metaphysical school in the greatest per- fection, though he has excellences, and was the most popular poet of his time. lie was born in London, and was the son of a stationer in Cheapside. His father dying, proba- bly before his son's birth, the widow gained him admission into Westminster School, whence he went to Trinity College, Cam- bridge, and afterwards to Oxford. Taking part with the royalists, he accompanied queen Henrietta to France, where he resided for twelve years, acting as secretary, and being intrusted with the deciphering of the correspondence between the queen and her friends. In 1656 he returned to London, where he published his poems, professing to be of no party. On the death of Cromwell he went again to France, and at the iiestoration hoped to receive some appointment under the crown. His claim, however, was overlooked ; indeed he was suspected by the government of Charles n., as during his residence in London he had been sus- pected by the Puritans in both cases probably unjustly. Ulti- mately he obtained an allowance of 300?. a year, and lived in the later years of his life at Chertsey. He was an active member of the Royal Society founded in that reign . b He died in 1667, aftd was interred with great pomp ia Westminster Abbey, the king * affirming that he had not left a better man behind him.' Cowley commenced to write at a very early age, and when in his thirteenth year published a volume of poems. His poetical works have been divided into four parts, viz., i. Miscellanies (in- cluding his Poetical JSlossoms ; his Anacreontics, among the happiest of his pieces, racy and spirited ; his Lines on the Deatli of William Hervey, his college friend ; his Elegy on the Deatli of Crashaw, his finest work in Johnson's opinion) : 2. Mistress, or Jjove Verses, ' full of analogies that have no semblance of truth, B Masson's Milton. c ' The first couplet,' says Hallam, Bacon at last, a mighty man, arose ' Is very beautiful, but the poem contains Whom a wise king and Nature chose little else of much value.' Lord Chancellor of both their laws. Poet and saint ! To thee alone are given 6dc to tlw Royal Society. The two most sacred names of earth and heaven. 2 L 146 POETIIY LYRIC POETS. except from the double sense of words aiid thoughts that unite the coldness of subtilty with the hyperbolical extravagance of counterfeited passion ;' 3. Pindaric Odes, full of beauties and of blemishes ; 4. Davideis, a poem on the life and troubles of David. This last was not finished, and contains many noble lines. Hallam speaks highly of the beauty of particular passages, or rather lines, in all his works, but feels strongly his faults ; Johnson, who has written his life with great care, speaks more highly ; Cowley's own contemporaries, most highly of all." 143. The conceits of the school of poets just named are an evidence of declining taste : if it were needed, additional evidence might be found in the lyric poems of the age. These Lyric poets. / * poems, however, extend over seventy or eighty years, reckoning from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, and many of them are of great beauty. Some, indeed, have never been surpassed. These lyrical poems appeared sometimes in the separate volumes tif their authors, but still oftener in popular collections of poetry, which began at this time to be formed. The earliest was, as we have seen, Tottel's Miscellany (1557). The second was published in 1576, and was quaintly called The Paradise of Dainty Devices, with which John Boddenham's name is connected, and which contains pieces by between twenty and thirty different writers. The third was The Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions, edited by Thomas Proctor (1578) ; and the fourth, A Handful of Pleasant Delites, by Clement Robinson (1584). In 1600 ap- peared England's Helicon, with pieces by Sidney, Raleigh, Mar- lowe, Breton, Lodge, Greene, Shakespeare, and others ; and in 1602 Davison's Poetical Rhapsody. Later and enlarged editions of this last were published in 1608 and in 1621. In the next fifty years many collections were published, including Sonnets and Madrigals by Byrd, Wilbye, etc. The two principal of these collections, the Paradise of Dainty Devices and the Helicon, have been published by Brydges, and can easily be compared, as they lie side by side in the same volume. The last contains of the best lyrics in our language. Here are found the ' Who now reads Cowley ? If he pleases Forgot his epic, nay Pindaric, art ; yet, Bu t still I love the language of his heart. His moral pleases, not his pointed wit ; . POPE. SHAKESPEARE. 147 song of Marlowe, ' Come live with me, and be my love,' and the equally beautiful answer of Raleigh, ' If that the world and love were young.' The lines on the Sotd's Errand, sometimes ascribed to Syl- vester, sometimes to Raleigh, sometimes to Pembroke, are in Davison's Rhapsody. Many of the lyrics in the Paradise &f Dainty Devices and most of the Helicon are on love or on simple passion. The former are generally defective in taste and in simplicity ; they are also characterised by a tone of sadness (like the rest of the poems of the book) which it is not easy to explain. Some ascribe it to the melancholy spirit of the Petrarch poetry, others to the reflective seriousness produced by the religious changes of the age, and others to the stern persecuting* tendencies of the reign of Mary. The latter are nearly all graceful and simple, neither ancient nor modern, but belonging in style and in thought to all time. Love in them is generally sportive, playful, and 'triumphant. Towards the close of the reign of Charles I. lyrics are often deformed by verbal fancies and mere conceits, as a little later they are by levity and licentiousness. In Milton, Marvel, Herbert, and Wotton, they include a wider range of subjects, and give ex- pression more largely to religious sentiments, to political feeling, and to philosophy itself. From their days to the days of Burns and Cowper the poetry of simple feeling is almost silent in our literature, though later and towards our own age it gives some of its purest and noblest utterances. 144. Besides the miscellaneous pieces published in these works, there are poems of this age that deserve special mention. In Venus and ^593 appeared the Venus and Adonis of Shakespeare, Adonis. < the first heir of his invention,' and in the following year The Rape of Lucrece. In 1609, his sonnets were pub- lished a hundred and fifty-four in all addressed by the pub- lisher, Thomas Thorpe, to W. H., probably William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. The sonnets are divided into two or more series, but really relate to the same period of the poet's life. They set forth an attachment to some woman, an attachment that does not seem to have touched his heart very deeply, and which was overpowered by his attachment to his friend. This last is described in language so strong as to L 2 148 POETRY SONNETS. seem adulatory and extravagant. These sonnets are attributed to Shakespeare, and it is certain that he tried this kind of com- position and excelled in it. Still, the volume was long over- looked, and some have maintained that it is altogether unworthy of Shakespeare's fame. It is now however admitted that the sonnets are remarkably beautiful in language and in imagery, while they bear frequent traces of the reflective power that cha- racterised the great dramatist. The same excellences belong to the other works of the poet ; yet we wish, with Hallam, that he had never written them. The Vemts and Adonis, with fine de- scriptive passages, is licentious : Lucrece must have been written hastily, though it is rich in pathos and in reflection ; while in the Sonnets, there is an amount of weakness and folly which every admirer of Shakespeare must be unwilling to associate' with his name. The Passionate Pilgrim, ascribed to W. Shake- speare, and published in 1599, is a collection of poems to which Shakespeare contributed only two sonnets and some verses from Love's Labour Lost : the other pieces are by Marlowe, Raleigh, and Bamfield. The use of Shakespeare's name was a trick of the bookseller's. 145. The sonnet, it may be added, is a kind of composition which abounds in this age. Spenser, Shakespeare, Drummond, Daniel, Origin of Dray ton, are all sonneteers, though they have de- sonnets. ' parted from the true type. The sonnet is of Italian origin. Its ideal is, that it contain one theme running through the fourteen lines, and that these be connected by rhymes so distant as to compel the reading of the whole in order to catch the thought. The Italian rules require the same rhymes in the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth lines, and the same in the second, third, sixth, and seventh : for the last six, the rhymes may be either ab, ab, ab ; or, abc, abc ; or, abc, bac. This system of versification, admitting but two rhymes in the first eight lines, is well suited to the Italian language, in which rhyming syllables are very numerous, but not to English. Hence there is amongst us a strong tendency to make the sonnet consist of three quatrains of alternate rhymes followed by a rhyming couplet the worst form for the sonnet, because it naturally makes the last two lines epigrammatic, throwing all the point into them. This was the common form in the time of Shakespeare. JONSON: RALEIGH: CAKEW. 140 Besides the pieces of Shakespeare, there are in this age lyric poems by Suckling (1608-1641), Jonson (1574-1637), Raleigh (1552-1618), Carew (1589 -1639), Lovelace (1618-1658), Herrick (1591-1674), Wither (1588-1667), Browne (1620-1666), and Waller (1605-1687). 146. Jonson's minor poems are nearly all beautiful: nor haa his taste in poetry ever been excelled. Among his best-known Jonson's minor pieces are his songs, ' Drink to me only,' ' See the poems. chariot at hand,' ' Follow the shadow ' and his epi- taphs on the Lord Herbert and the Countess of Pembroke. 147. Raleigh's short poems display imagination, energy of thought, and great delicacy of expression. Spenser's sonnet in his praise, and his sonnet in praise of Spenser, a are proofs of the genius of both. One of the best speci- mens of his versification is an epitaph on Sir Philip Sidney, written in the metre of Tennyson's In Memoriam, and not unlike that poem in its spirit. 148. Carew occupies one of the first places of his class, both in time and in excellence. His longest piece is a masque entitled ^ Ccelum Britannicum, and was set to music by hia friend, Dr. Lawes, the poetical musician of that age. His songs alone are now read. Strictly speaking, there is no- thing great about them, but they are very finished and beautiful, though there is much licentiousness mingled with his grace. Clarendon remarks of his poems that * for the sharpness of his fancy and the elegance of his language, they are at least equal, if not superior, to any of that time ; but that his glory is, that after fifty years of his life spent with less exactness than it ought to have been, he died with the greatest remorse for the license ' of his writings. Like most of his school, his love of conceits was insuperable, and showed itself even in grave themes. Thus he speaks in one of his epitaphs of the soul of the daughter of Sir Thomas Wentworth, as having Broke the outward shell of sin, And so was hatched a cherubim. Sir John Suckling is a writer who excels nearly all otheni a ' Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay.' 150 POETRY SUCKLING : HERKICK. in gaiety and ease. He was the son of the comptroller of the household of Charles i. He served tinder Gusta- vus Adolphus, and in the civil war raised a regi- ment which was famous for its cowardice and finery. The grace of his songs is said to be inimitable. It is to him we owe the often-quoted image of the lady dancing : Her feet beneath her petticoat, Like little mice stole in and out, As if they feared the light. Richard Ix>ve!ace is best known by a single song, To Altkca, in which oocur the lines, Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage ; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage. Byron's image in the Bride of Alydos, ' The mind, the music breathing from her face,' has been censured as fanciful. Sir E. Brydges defends it, and notes that the same image is hi Love- lace, who speaks of the music of her face. Lovelace's other poems are all inferior, though there are taste and nature in them. His Odes, Sonnets, and Songs, were published in 1649. 149. One of the most extraordinary of our lyric poets is Kobert Herrick. He was bom in Cheapside, London, and was presented Herrick. ^ v Charles i. to the vicarage of Dean Prior in Devon- shire. After about twenty years of residence, he was sequestered in the civil war, and, rejoicing in his freedom from the ' rude salvages ' of Devon, came and resided at West- minster, being supported chiefly by royalists. He dropped the title of reverend, and hi 1647, published his Noble Numbers; or, Pious Pieces. In 1648 appeared Hesperides; or, the Works of Robert Herrick, Esq. After the Restoration, he was replaced in his vicarage, and died in 1674. His poems were long neglected, but they have since found many admirers. The secular poems, written probably in his youth, are sportive and fanciful, with more than occasional licen- tiousness. Great gaiety and natural tenderness, with language at once vigorous and picturesque, are his excellences. His religious poems are less joyous and natural than the rest, but WITHER. 151 \Yillmott warmly praises them. The Litany to the Holy Spirit, is certainly impressive, as is his Christmas Carol, and Tlie White Island; or, the Place of the Blest. His life is said to have been unspotted by the licence which his earlier songs express, and he has touchingly mourned over his * unbaptised rhymes.' a 150. George Wither is classed with Milton among the Puritan poets, and was one of the most voluminous writers of his age. He was a native of Hampshire, and received his education at Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1613 he published a satire entitled Abuses Stript and Whipt, for which he was thown into prison, where ho composed the Shepherds' Hunting, one of the most beautiful of his pieces. In the civil war he raised a troop of horse for the Parliament, and was taken prisoner. When in danger of being executed, Denham is said to have saved his life by a joke. He besought the royalists to spare Wither, on the ground that so long as Wither lived he (Denham) was not the worst poet in England. After his re- lease, he became a major-general in Cromwell's army, and acquired considerable property in return for what he had lost in the public cause. At the Restoration he was stripped of all, and was again thrown into prison. In 1663, he was released under bond of good behaviour, and died in London four years later. In 1622, he published a collection of his poems, with the title, Mistress of Philarete, and in 1635, his collection of Emblems, Ancient and Modern. A catalogue of his numerous works may be found in Brydges, many of them being mentioned in Will- inott. Hallam reckons his lines On his Muse, which may be found in Ellis, as superior to almost all the lyric poetry of that age. Among his assailants are Jonson (who makes him the original of his Chronomastix, ' the prince of libellists,' in his masque of Time Vindicated), Heylin, Butler (the author of Hudibras, who puts him with Prynne and Vicars), and Taylor, water poet and royalist. Among his modern admirers are Southey * ' For every sentence, clause, and word, But if 'mongst all Thou findest on Anthony & Wood. Willmott, i., 298. 158 POETRY SANDYS. holding his office. ' An ambassador/ says he, ' is an honest map- sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.' Towards the close of his life he took deacon's orders, to qualify him to be Provost of Eton, where he died in 1639. His writings were published in 1651, under the title of Reliquiae Wottoniance, and his life has been written by his friend Walton, who boasts tliat he had often ' fished and conversed with him.' He was rather the scholar and the patron of letters than himself a poet. Yet he appreciated true poetry, for he enthusiastically praised Milton's Comus, and he has written some beautiful pieces, nmong which his lines on A Happie Life are mentioned with admiration by Drummond. 161. George Sandys was the youngest son of the Archbishop of York. After leaving the university he travelled through a great part of Europe and Palestine. He also visited Vir- ginia, and Dray ton speaks of him as treasurer of the company there.* The journal of his travels is written with much clearness and simplicity ; and it is said that Addison, in the history of his Italian tour, took Sandys as his model. On his return he resided chiefly with his sister near Witney, where he had much intimacy with Lord Falkland, who has addressed to him several of his poems. In 1621 he published the second edition of his translation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid, in 1636 his Paraphrase of the Psalms, in 1642 a translation of the Song of Songs, and the Passion of Christ, a Latin tragedy by Grotius. He died in 1643. Sandys' Ovid is greatly admired by Pope ; and Sandys himself Dryden reckons the best versifier of his age. The Paraphrase of the Psalms Burney deemed 'the most harmonious in our language/ In his religious poems there is the same even glow as in Herbert, with a more flowing style, though without his quaint- ness and pathos. a This visit is sometimes spoken of as conjectural ; but Sandys himself, In a poem entitled ' Review of God's Mercies to him in his Travels! speaks of the perils from which he had been preserved in America : ' From the bloody massacres Of faithless Indians ; from their treacherous wars/ His Ovid he translated while in Virginia; and it is claimed as one of the earliest American books. See DUYCKLTSCK'S Encyclopaedia of American Literature roL i. QUARLES. 159 162. Francis Quarles was born near Eomford, in Essex, took his degree of B.A. at Cambridge in 1608, and soon after entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn. He was cup-bearer to Elizabeth the queen of Bohemia, secretary to Arch- bishop Usher (who warmly praises him in a letter to Vossius), and chronologer to the city of London. This last was the title of the city poet, an office previously filled by Middletonand Jonson. The last occupant of it was Elkanah Settle, 172 3^1 724. In the civil war Quarles sided with the court, and was so harassed by the opposite party, that the vexation he suffered is said to have hastened his death. Among his friends was Drayton, the epi- taph over whose grave at Westminster was written by Quarles. His principal poems are TJie Feast for Worms; or, The History of Jonah, which he calls ' his morning muse/ probably therefore one of his earliest pieces ; the Quintessence of Meditation, which Fuller the historian praises, and which seems to have a good deal of the strength, though without the polish, of Pope ; his History of Queen Esther ; Argalus and Parthcnia, not a worthy specimen of his style ; Sion's Elegies, a paraphrase of the Lamen- tations ; his Emblems, of which the first edition appeared in 1 635 ; and his Hieroglyphics. These Emllems were illustrated in the first editions by most ridiculous prints ; and yet, as Southey has noted, it is the prints that have been most popular, while the poems have been neglected. It is owing to both, however, that Quarles became so early what Philips, Milton's nephew, calls him, ' the darling of our plebeian judgments.' After the Restoration Quarles was completely forgotten, and Pope even gives him a place in the Dunciad. The better taste, or, as Campbell says, the more charitable criticism, of modern times has admitted him into * the laurelled fraternity of the poets/ and he is now admired for his quaintness, vigour,* and occasional beauty. EmHems, compositions which unite poetry and pictures to inculcate lessons of moral wisdom, had been used by Wither ; but the Pia Desideria of Hermann Hugo seems to have suggested Quarles' plan ; while on the other hand Quarles' point, and his union of wit with devotion, are said to have aided Young in the 'Tie vain te fly ... the further off we go, The siting of Justice deals the heavier blow I liis figure is not unworthy of Milton. 160 POETRY MINOR POETS. composition of his Night Thoughts. It is worth noting that in some modern editions of the Emblems the pictures alone remain, another text having been substituted for what Quarles wrote.* In 1641 he published the Enchiridion, a collection of brief assays and aphorisms. The style is affectedly antithetical, but vigorous, and sometimes even eloquent. He fairly fulfils his own rule, though not perfectly : ' Clothe not thy language,' says he, ' either with obscurity or affectation ... he that speaks from the understanding to the understanding is the best inter- preter.' 6 163. Besides the greater names already noticed, there are others more or less illustrious, and belonging to different schools of poetic composition. Among these are Barnes, author of T 1 * Vimm Centurie of Spiritual Sonnets (1595) ; Henry Constable, author of Spiritual Sonnettfs (1590), a favourite of Jon son's, and a writer of much 'ambrosial music ;' e Davison, editor of the Political Rhapsody, and author of many sonnets and versions of the Psalms ; Sylvester, the translator of Du Bartas, a worthy friend of Bishop Hall's, and a poet who won the affection of Milton and of Dryden, and whose whole works were published in 1633 and again in 1644 ; Dr. H. King, chaplain of James L, and Bishop of Chichester, who published in 1657 a volume of Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes and Sonnets, of which Sic Vita and the Dirge are best known ; Corbet (1582-1635), the merry Bishop of Norwich, whose poems were collected and printed in 1647 ; William Cartwright (1611-1643), Ben Jonson's adopted poetical son, who wrote, says Jonson, ' like a man,' and whose poems were received with extraordinary applause ; Thomas Randolph (1605-34), author of five dramatic pieces and of Miscellaneous Poems ; John Cleveland (1613-1658), a vigorous satirical writer, whom Butler partly imitated, though his poems are spoiled by conceits; James Shirley (1594-1666), who puolished a volume of poems in 1646, though his best-known Among his best pieces is one on delight in God only : ' I love, and have some cause to love the earth,' etc. b His bathos is sometimes ridiculous enough. Thus, in the emblem on Man and Tennis: ' Man is a tennis, his flesh the wall, The gamesters God and Satan ; the heart's the ball,' etc. for twenty lines, c Jonson. MILTON. 161 piece, Death's Final Conquest, occurs in ere of his dramas; John Chalkhill (1683), whose pastoral romance, Thealma, is warmly praised by Izaac Walton, and who is described as the Mend of Edmund Spenser : the scene is laid in Arcadia, and the poem contains a description of the golden age, and then of the iron age, injured by tyranny and wrong : the plot is obscure, but there are fine lines, the measure being in heroic couplets varied, like Milton's Lycidas, by breaks in the middle of the line. 164. It has been usual to speak of Milton as the poet cf the Commonwealth, forming with Wither and Marvel a small but noble band. Truth compels us to say that this Milton. . * classification is not just. Milton s sympathies are well known. As a prose writer his finest pieces are in defence of freedom and of the government of Cromwell. His public life was spent, and his severest sacrifices incurred, in the service of the Protector. In all his poetry, moreover, there is the seriousness and noble sentiment of an earnestly religious man. But as a poet he stands alone. Wither was in later life the poet of the Eound- heads, as Butler was the poet of the Cavaliers, and each defended a cause that was dear to him as he best might. But no such statement can be made of Milton, nor must we claim for a party, even though it be that of his own friends the Puritans, what he himself meant for mankind. In an important sense Milton belonged to the school of Spenser. ' We poets/ says Dryden, ' have our lineal descendants and clans, as well as other families, and Milton has acknowledged to me that Spenser was his original.* From Milton himself we gather that Spenser and Shakespeare were his favourite poets for style, and yet more for his imaginativeness and beauty ; but, though he belongs to Spenser's school, and is properly an imagina- tive poet, this classification fails to represent his merits. He is, indeed, inferior on the whole to Shakespeare ; but for sublimity, grandeur, and imaginativeness combined, he is second to none in the whole range of authors, ancient and modern. 165. Milton was born in Bread Street, London, on the 9th of December, 1608, and came of a gentle stock. His father, who had been disinherited for embracing the Protestant faith, was a Prefece to FaMet. 162 POETRY MILTON'S LIFE. money scrivener, and must have acquired a respectable com- petence, as he retired to a country house at Horton, in Bucking- hamshire. The father united to other accomplishments some proficiency in music, and the son was skilled in the same art, adding his testimony to that of Luther, as Oberlin and Legh Richmond added theirs that it exercises a holy and cheering influence on the character. Milton's first preceptor was Thomas Young, a Puritan minister of great learning and worth, and his earliest studies were chiefly poetical. In the same street in which Milton lived was the office of Lownes, the Puritan printer, from whom he probably borrowed the works of Sylvester and Spenser, both great favourites with the poet. In his childhood he must have given proof of extraordinary powers ; and his father designed him for the church. In this plan Milton himself concurred, but 'coming to some maturity of years,' he preferred ' blameless silence ' to what he called ' servi- tude and forswearing,' and consecrated himself to the service of patriotism and literature. That he was sincere in his scruples no one can doubt who knows the man, or who reads that sonnet of his on entering his twenty-third year, in which he resolves to walk under the never-sleeping watchfulness of the ' Great Task- master's eye/ In his fifteenth year he was sent, already a scholar, to St. Paul's School, and two years afterwards to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he complained, as Robert Hall did nearly two centuries later, that the country wanted trees and shade. In 1632 he left Cambridge, after taking his Master's de- gree, and resided for five years at home, continuing his studies till he had gone the round of all learning, adding to his stores from philosophy and theology, and from 1he literature of every age and almost of all countries. By this time, indeed, his acquire- ments were as remarkable as his genius. Poetical genius is of very uncertain development, sometimes showing itself early and sometimes late in life. The best poetry of Chaucer and Dryden, and all the poetry of Cowper were written in their mature age. On the other hand, Pope * lisped in num- bers,' and he never excelled the pieces he wrote when twenty. Tasso, before he was nineteen, had sketched part of the Jerusalem Delivered, and Boccaccio composed stories when in his ninth year. Cowley's poems were written in his childhood. Sehiller was a poet at fourteen, and Klopstock at nineteen. Mil- MILTON'S EARLT GENIUS. 163 ton belonged to the same class. Aubrey slates that he was a poet before he was ten years old. Some of his versions of the Psalms, including the 13 6th (' Let us with a gladsome mind '), were written before he was sixteen. In his twenty-first year he composed his ' Hymn to the Nativity,' the finest ode, as Hallam thinks, in our language. His ' Sonnet to Shakespeare' was written in 1630, and was prefixed in 1632 to the second folio edition of Shakespeare's works, and is probably the first piece of his that appeared in print an honour that Hallam seems inclined to con- fer upon his * Sonnet on entering his Twenty- third Year.' During his stay at Horton (1632-1638) he wrote the short poetic portion of the masque of the Arcades, and the most graceful and fanciful of all his poems, the Comus. Both seem to have been written in 1634 the first for the Countess Dowager of Derby, an early patron of Spenser, then residing at Harefield Place, near Horton, and the second for the Earl of Bridge water. Comus was written at the request of Henry Lawes, the musician, who taught music in the earl's family, and is based on an incident that occurred to some young members of the family who were lost in Haywood Forest, near Ludlow. The original of the lady in Comus was the daughter of the Earl of Bridgewater, and the patron and friend of Jeremy Taylor. The masque was published by Lawes, though without Milton's name, in 1637. It shows the extent of his reading, and in the melody of its versification, the sweetness of its imagery, * and Doric delicacy of its songs and odes,' as Sir H. Wotton expressed it, it has never been surpassed. Three years before it was written, Richard Baxter, then a lad, resided for a year and a half in Ludlow Castle, and was dis- pleased, as he tells us, with the tippling and profanity of the place. Had he stayed a little longer he might have seen, in Comus, a stage play rebuking the revelry which he condemned.* To the same period (1637) belong Lycidas, a monody on the death of his college friend King, and L? Allegro and 11 Penseroso, two of the most perfect gems in our literature, though these last were not published till 1645. Beautiful as these earlier poems of Milton are, they seem to have received but little attention at first. Wotton warmly praised Comus, as we have seen. Archbishop Sancroft is known to have admired the Ode to the Nativity, and some of the Psalms. Matron's Life, i., p. 571. 164 POETRY^COMUS AND MINOR POEMS. But Pope and Warburton were the first formally to notice the volume that contains them (published in 1645), though seventy years after it was published. Now, however, it is admitted that Comus is at once the most imaginative, the most melodious, and the most classical of all our masques. ' The very want of what may be called personality, none of the characters having names except Comus himself, who is a very indefinite being, enhances the ideality of the fiction by an indistinctness not unpleasing to the imagination.'* Lycidas, which Johnson treats with con- temptuous depreciation, is regarded by Warton, and afterwards by Hallam, as a good test of real poetic feeling. I? Allegro and especially H Penseroso ' satisfy the ciitics and delight man- kind.' In the Ode to the Nativity, a grandeur and simplicity, a breadth of manner, an imagination at once elevated and restrained reign throughout ; while the Sonnets have obtained of late years the admiration of all real lovers of poetry . b Even without his epics, these minor poems alone would have rendered their author immortal. In 1638, when Milton was about thirty years old, he visited the continent, where he remained for fifteen months. During that time he travelled to Florence, Rome, and Naples, returning homewards by the * Leman Lake ' to Geneva and Paris. Every- where he was received with respect and admiration, numbering among his friends Galileo, then a prisoner in the Inquisition, Manso, the friend and biographer of Tasso, and Diodati, the exile for conscience' sake at Geneva. His personal beauty, his great learning, and his skill in Italian and Latin verse, seem to have excited universal surprise. On his return, which was hastened by the mutterings of the coming storm, he at once took a side and defended freedom. He entered upon this struggle with all the ardour that might be ex- pected from his temperament and convictions, and with this date commences the second period of his life. Between 1 640 and the Restoration (1660) all his great prose works, except the History of England, were written. The third period, the period of his epics, begins with the Restoration. Hallam, iii., 46. The thing became a trumpet, whence b Hallam. he blew c Some of the first of his sonnets come Soul-animating strains alas too few ! later. It is of the sonnet in Milton's Among the most interesting on poetic, hands that Wordsworth says . or on personal grounds, are L, vii., viii. MILTON'S PROSE WRITINGS. 165 On Milton's arrival in London he took pupils, among whom were Lis nephews, J. and E. Philips, both men of some eminence, and he is said to have given them an education at once thorough and com- prehensive. On Sunday he read with them the Greek Testament, and gave them besides a scheme of theology founded chiefly on the writings of Dutch divines. In 1641 he began his career as a prose writer. Laud was now defending ceremonies and church discipline in relation to them. Usher and Hall, with greater learning, were defending episcopacy. Milton threw himself with his scholarship into this struggle, and wrote vehement treatises on both subjects. The initials of the names of his associates (Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, etc.) formed the war- name of Smectymnuus, and in 1642 he published his Apology for that writer, incidentally vindicating his own character from the aspersions that had been cast upon it. The notice which this piece contains of his personal habits is highly interesting ; and among other things he hints that the man who is hereafter to write laudable things ought himself to be a true poem, * to have in himself the experience and practice of all that is praiseworthy.' In his Season of Church Government he intimates still further the kind of work he is contemplating. ' Time serves not now, and perhaps it might seem too profuse to give any certain account of what the mind, at home in the spacious circle of her musing, hath liberty to propose to herself, though of highest hope and hardest attempting ; whether that epic form whereof the two poems of Homer and those other two of Virgil and Tasso are a diffuse, and the Book of Job a brief model ; or whether the rules of Aristotle herein are strictly to be kept, or nature to be followed, which in them that know art and use judgment is no trans- gression but an enriching of art ; and, lastly, what king or knight before the Conquest might be chosen in whom to lay the pattern of a Christian hero.' He then proceeds to explain his plans, which, though plucked from him by 'abortive and foredated discovery,' he hopes one day to fulfil, and expresses the deep re- gret with which he embarks in the troubled sea of noisy and hoarse disputes, and is taken from ' beholding the bright coun- tenance of truth.' xvl., xviil., xix., xx., and xxii. Macaulay Anthology, or still more ' of the collects thinks thy display a sobriety and of the English Liturgy.' Edinburgh fie greatness of mind without a parallel. view, Aug. 1825, art. ' Milton.' They remind us, he adds, of the Greek 166 POETRY MILTON'S AREOPAGITICA, In 1643 Milton married Mary Powell, the daughter of a royalist gentleman of respectability in Oxfordshire. He seems to have known the family in his student days ; but the alliance must have been hastily formed, and it proved unhappy. After a temporary separation, in which both parties are to be pitied, and during which Milton wrote his pamphlets on Divorce, he received her to his home again, and gave generous shelter to her family after the triumph of the Republican party. In 1644 appeared his Tractate On Education, and hia Areopagitica, or Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing, the most eloquent prose pro- duction of his pen, a production that entitles him, as Sir James Mackintosh expresses it, ' to be considered the first defender in Europe of a free and unfettered conscience.' In time he was not the first, but he certainly was the first in eminence and power." His book on Education was written at the request of his friend Hartlib, whom Cowley proposed as a model of the professors of his imaginary college. The system he proposes is a beautiful dream ; though with a preference for the ancients, even in philo- sophy and metaphysics, such as was hardly to be expected in so sweeping a reformer. In 1649 ne was appointed Latin or Foreign Secretary to the Council of State, with a salary of 300?. a year, which he soon shared with Meadowes, and in 1657 with his friend Marvell. The publication and rapid circulation of Bishop Gauden's Icon Basttike, then supposed to have been King Charles' own produc- tion, had meanwhile" produced a great sensation, and in the same year appeared Milton's Eiconoclastes. In the following year was published his reply to Salmasius, the most learned man in Europe after Grotius, who had defended the claims and con- duct of King Charles. In the first of these pieces Milton shows what he deems the true character of the martyr, and in the second he defends the rights of the people against the divine right of kings. Hobbes, who had his own way of defending tyranny, professed himself unable to decide whose language was best, or whose arguments were worst. Milton's style even Johnson has warmly praised ; and for the argument the Council of State formally declare ' their resentment and good acceptance of the same.' Milton also received the congratulations of all the leaders of his party, and the compliments of the foreign ministers then in England. AND OTHER PROSE WORKS. 167 For nearly ten years past the eyesight of the poet had been failing, owing, as he tells us, to the ' wearisome studies and mid- night watchings v of his youth. The last remains of this blessing he sacrificed to his Defensio pro Popuio Anglicano, and in 1652 he be- came hopelessly blind. This defence produced a reply, in which Milton's blindness is referred to as a judgment upon his abuse of his powers. In a second Defence, written with touching elo- quence, he professes his belief that his blindness incurred in so noble a cause makes him belong still more to the protection and mercy of the Supreme Father. ' This high dispensation,' he adds, ' hath rendered us almost sacred, so that the darkness has been brought upon us not so much by the dimness of our eyes as by the shadow of His protecting wings.' With this publication, Milton ended his controversial labours. With a pension of 150?., he gave himself to those more congenial pursuits, from which he had been too long estranged. At the Restoration, the Act of Indemnity ultimately secured him from prosecution, and though he was for a time under concealment, and even in custody of the serjeant-at-arms, he was released through the interposition, it is said, of Sir William Davenant. Milton's other prose works deserve mention. In 1661 he pub- lished his English Accidence, and in 1672, his Logic (Artis LogiccB plenior Institutio). Johnson, with noble eloquence, praises the dignity of this great man, who ' did not disdain the meanest services to literature,' but put the ' Epic lyre out of his hand to lighten the difficulties of humble learning.' In 1670 he published Six Books of the History of England, reaching to the Norman Conquest. ' The style of this history,' says Warburton ' is one of great simplicity, contrary to his custom in his prose writings, and is the better for it ; but he sometimes rises into a surprising grandeur in the sentiment and expressions, as at the conclusion of his second book, and I never saw anything equal to this, but the conclusion of Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World.' His Treatise on True Eeligion was printed in 1673. He wrote likewise a treatise on theology. The manuscript of this last was discovered, in 1823, in the State Paper Office. It was published in the original Latin, and translated by Dr. Sumner, Bishop of Winchester (Cambridge, 1825). The volume is written in a calm and reverent spirit, but confirms the opinion which the Paradise Lost first originated, that Milton, while believing in the 168 POETRY MILTON'S PROSE. proper sacrifice of Christ, had adopted Arian views of His person and dignity. These views he must have adopted late in life, as in his early works he speaks of the Arians as * no true Mends ot Christ.' Bishop Burgess, indeed, has questioned the genuineness of this work ; but there is no sufficient ground for this suspicion. The study of these prose writings of Milton, especially of those written during the Commonwealth, is essential for any one who would rightly estimate his character. They were written in English or in Latin, and they bear all the marks of his genius, are crowded with learning, and yet the learning is fused by the writer's ardour into a mass of glowing argument of persuasive and even poetic eloquence. The style is highly Latinised in its fabric and in its inversions. It shows also a tendency, com- mon to so many of his contemporaries, to sink from the highest flights suddenly to the ground. But still loftiness is more sus- tained than in most of the writers of that age, and it exhibits much of the force and beauty for which his poetry is so remark- able. Coleridge thinks it the model style of a philosophical re- publican, as Cowley's is of the first-rate gentleman. Hume's criticism on Demosthenes is not inapplicable to Milton : ' he dis- plays vehement reasoning, disdainful anger, fearlessness, freedom, all hurried along with a violent inflammation of language, and involved in a chain of elaborate argument.' His prose works, as a whole, * deserve the attention of every man who wishes to become acquainted with the full power of the English language. They abound with passages, compared with which the finest descriptions of Burke sink into insignificance. They are a perfect field of cloth of gold. Not even in the Para- dise Lost has the great poet ever risen higher than in those parts of his controversial works, in which his feelings, excited by con- flict, find a vent in bursts of devotional and lyric rapture. It is, to borrow his own majestic language, a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies.' b Whatever may be thought of his political views, it is impos- sible to doubt that Milton was influenced by feelings of the loftiest patriotism. If his anger seems intemperate, let it be remembered that he lived in the midst of the battle, when the passions of all parties were goaded into fury. To feel strongly WDlmott, ti., 80. MH ton's prose Btyle is unusually ccld Macaulay. Hallam's estimate of and guarded. PARADISE LOST. 169 to speak gently at such seasons is the gift of few, and it may even be questioned whether, during the strife, such a combination of qualities is for men even possible. In 1664 Milton married his third wife, and when the plague broke out, in 1665, he retired to Chalfont in Buckinghamshire, where his Quaker friend Elwood, offered him what he calls ' a pretty box,' as a temporary residence. On Elwood's afterwards visiting him, Milton delivered to him a manuscript, which, says Elwood, ' he bade me to take home and read at my leisure. . . I found it to be that excellent poem, the Paradise Lost." This poem, which we light upon thus unexpectedly, occupied seven years in the composition, having been begun in 1658, and it had probably been the subject of meditation long before. When ready for the press, a difficulty arose about licensing it, several passages being supposed to contain political allusions. At length the license was granted, and Milton at once disposed of the poem to S. Simmons in consideration of 5?. then paid, and an additional loZ. on the sale of three thousand copies. It appeared in 1667 'in small quarto, neatly bound, and at the price of three shillings.' In two years lol. had been paid a fact that indicates what is now considered to have been a good sale. Dr. Barrow, the physician, Andrew Marvel, and John Dryden, all praised it, the last pronouncing it * the grandest and most sublime poem ever produced.'* When, in 1688, Tonson published the folio edition, the most eminent men of the age were among the five hundred subscribers. Addison's papers in the Spectator first made it known to the general public, and it has been since his day one of the glories of England. The Paradise Lost was first written in ten books or cantos, but in the second edition was divided so as to make twelve. It begins with the Council of Satan and the fallen angels, the de- scription of the erection of Pandemonium, and ends with the ex- pulsion from Paradise. The subject of each book the reader can easily learn for himself from Milton's own outline. This theme is admitted to be the finest ever chosen for a heroic poem, as it is the best adapted to Milton's genius. The Iliad, the JEneid, the Divine Comedy are all wanting in epic completeness, in closeness of connection, or in general interest. The Odyssey, the Pharsalia, the Thebaid, Jerusalem Delivered, epics of the * Preface to The State of Innocenoc. 170 POETRY MILTON. second class (though some of them nearly approach the first), are liable to the same exceptions. For the most part they appeal only to a class. The Paradise Lost is the epic of the race. It has been customary to compare Milton with the other three great epic poets. Homer, whom he is least like, he resembles in his mastery of his own tongue, and in the simple grandeur of some of his descriptions. Virgil he resembles in grace and melody. But it is with Dante he has been most often compared. The two were not unlike in their personal history. Both were statesmen, both were lovers, both had been disappointed in public life and in love. In Dante this experience had produced only bitterness : in Milton it had worked ' the peaceable fruits of righteousness.' The Divine Comedy is an exhibition of pride struggling with misery, nor is there any work which is so uniformly mournful : the intensity of feeling becomes even unbearable. The Paradise Lost justifies the ways of God to man, iinbreeds and cherishes the seeds of virtue and public civility, allays the perturbations of the mind, and sets the affections in right tone, celebrates in glo- rious and lofty hymns the throne and equipage of God's almighti- ness, and what He works and what He suffers to be wrought with His Providence in His Church.' In Dante, the noble and generous spirit succumbs : in Milton, the strength of his mind and the confidence of his religious faith overcome every calamity. Though ever serious, and even sometimes stern, there is in all his writings a beauty and a tenderness which the Italian never reached. To take a single example, his character of Eve has been quoted as an evidence of the bitterness of disappointed hope and of his contempt for woman. b Yet in spite of all that Milton must have suffered, we feel that in the domestic life he sketches, there is all the warmth and glow of Oriental manners, all the gallantry of rnediasval chivalry, with all the quiet affection of an English home. Dryden, who generally appreciates Milton's excellence, sneers at Satan as his hero, and modern critics have felt attracted by the force of his intellect to admire and to pity him. It is true, as Coleridge finely remarks, ' that around this character the poet has thrown a singularity of feeling, a grandeur of soberness, and a ruined splendour, which constitute the very height of poetic -Reason tf Church Government. > Quarterly Review, June, 1825. PARADISE LOST. 171 sublimity ;' * but, on the other hand, he has carefully marked in him his intense selfishness, has shown his pride and sensual in- dulgence, his ambition and cunning, in a way that must excite disgust, though not unmingled with awe. In carrying out his plan, the arrangement of the Paradise Lost, is admirable. Every part succeeds in an order at once noble and natural. In the incidents and personages are found great simplicity, wonderful narrative power, and the utmost richness of invention ; while the style is in beauty and grandeur worthy of the theme. Sometimes he condenses a long history into a few sentences ; sometimes he presents spiritual existences, even a hell, with a vividness which rivals the memory or the senses ; while the details of his pictures are filled in from nature, and story, and art. The first two books will give the best idea of the poet's power, and the reader can, by thorough study of these, judge for himself. The metre of Milton in his Paradise Lost, though not invented by him, was first employed by him in an original epic poem, and is managed with a skill that makes it a new power in our litera- ture. Hazlitt thinks it the only blank verse in the language except Shakespeare's that deserves the name of verse. But this judgment is too sweeping. Blank verse was introduced into our literature by Surrey, and his translation of the second and fourth books of the ^Eneid is a good specimen of its suitableness for a heroic poem. Grimoald next used it ; then Sackville in his Gor- boduc, which appeared some five years after the JEneid of Surrey. The Steel Qlass of Gascoigne (1576) is the next specimen, and then Peele, Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare use it in their dramas. Jonson's plays, especially, show a degree of majesty and beauty in metre not surpassed till Milton's day. In Milton's preface to the Paradise Lost, he has defended its metre, * boasting of his ancient liberty from the troublesome and modern bondage of rimeing.' Its excellence depends chiefly on two qualities the variety of the pauses and the flow of the verses into each other ; or, as he himself expresses it, the skill with which the sense is variously drawn out from one verse to another. * A comparison of his style with that of others,' says Johnson, ' will show that he excelled as much in the lower as in the higher parts of his art, and that his skill in harmony was not less than his Remains, p. 176. 172 POETRY MILTON. invention or his learning.' It has been justly said, that 'the ever-changing cadence of Milton's metre is as beautiful in itself, and as delicately responsive to the impressions required to be conveyed, as anything that can be found in the multitudinous billow-like harmonies of the Homeric hexameters.'* ' Was there ever anything so. delightful,' says Cowper, 'as the music of the Paradise Lost ! It is like that of a fine organ, has the fullest and deepest tones of majesty with all the softness and elegance of the Dorian lute ; variety without end, and never equalled except perhaps by VirgiL' b Johnson, who prefers the artificial heroic rhymes of Dryden, confesses that he could never read lines with pauses on the sixth syllable without feeling. 167. The companion-poem of the Paradise Lost is the Paradise Regained. It was suggested, as Milton tells us, by the question- Paradise ings of Elwood, and is said to have been written at Regained. Chalfont. It consists of but four books, and its sub- ject is simply the temptation. Bentley quotes Paradise Lost c to show that Milton himself first deemed the restoration to Paradise as completed at the resurrection. Whether he avoided the grand theme of the death of our Lord from the consciousness of failing powers, or from certain changes in his belief such as have been already indicated, is not certain. But the fact remains : the whole poem is built upon the narrative of the fourth chapter of St. Matthew a subject too narrow for the purpose of contrast with the subject of Paradise Lost, and too narrow, it might be supposed, for the display of his genius. The plan is undoubtedly wanting in dramatic completeness; yet Milton himself main- tained that the poem was at least equal to its predecessor. It certainly shows his powers in their ripest form. Everywhere the most consummate art is apparent, and the fourth book, giving a description of the greatness of Rome and of the intellectual glory of Athens, proves that the poet had lost none either of his fancy or of his learning. If inferior to Paradise Lost in effectiveness, as most admit, it is still superior to any epic that has since made its appearance. It differs from Paradise Lost in the greater rich- ness of its moral sentiment, and in appealing rather to the con- templative faculty than to the imagination* Shaw. b Letters. c Book x., 182. SAMSON AGONISTES. 173 1 68. To the same period belongs Milton's last work, the Sam- son Agonistes, a tragedy constructed according to the rules of the Samson Grecian drama. Looking indeed at our reverence for Agonistes. Scripture characters, and at the skill with which Sam- son's history >s presented, the English reader will gather a juster conception of the manner of the Greek tragedians from this piece than from Greek plays. Coleridge, who sees Milton himself in all his characters, even in Satan and in Eve, justly thinks that in Samson we have the vehemence, the pride, the piety of its author, and the fallen condition of his party. Bishop Newton and Atterbury agree in deeming it equal to the finest tragedies of antiquity. Warton sees in it the style of ^Eschylus. Hurd pro- nounces it the most finished and the most artificial of all Milton's productions. Johnson questions its accordance with classical rules (while Hallam defends it in this respect), but admits that it abounds in wisdom and piety, in fruits of genius and learning ; and Cumberland, an authority in matters of effect, 'feels the catastrophe to be unparalleled in terror and in majesty.' Amid these diversities of judgment, it may be safely affirmed that as a drama, Samson Agonistes is the least successful effort of Milton's genius. Its defect is in the quality which Coleridge notices ; a quality which gives it personal interest, but takes from its effec- tiveness as a drama. The dialogue is soliloquy, the hero is the author ; and this forced blending of the personal and the dra- matic in the same piece, and under such circumstances, we feel to be an incongruous combination.* Milton died on Sunday, the 8th of November, 1674, and was buried in St. Giles', Cripplegate, being followed to the grave by ' all his learned great friends then in London, not without a friendly concourse of the vulgar.'. By his first marriage he had three daughters, whom he taught to read and pronounce several languages, though they knew only their own. They were living apart from him some years before his death, and he complains of them as { undutiful and unkind.' His widow inherited a fortune of loooZ., of which she gave 100?. to each of his daughters. Their acknowledgments of these sums still exist, and show that their education must have been defective. The first makes her mark, and the second misspells her name. We may best close this review by adding the opinions of a few See Macaulay's Review CampbelL BEAUMONT: KEN: STANLEY. 177 Gothic romance, and are written with great earnestness and solemnity. He professes to have followed Spenser, whose Faery Queen was read by More's father in winter evenings, but his melody is a very faint echo of Spenser's music. His Song of the Soul, Southey severely condemns ; and there is, it is to be feared, little hope of a successful appeal from his decision. More's glory is, that he attacked Hobbes' philosophy in a way that excited the admiration both of that writer and of Addison, who in the Spectator has strongly recommended his ethical system. 171. Joseph Beaumont, a contemporary and opponent of More, was chaplain to Bishop Wren, and may claim a place here as the author of Psyche, an elaborate composition repre- Beaumont. ,, . ' . ,,. . sentmg the intercourse of the human spirit with Christ. Southey thinks it does not deserve to be kept from oblivion ; but Pope notes that it contains many flowers worth gathering, though it must be confessed we sometimes grow weary before we can find them. There is evidence in the works of Milton, Pope, Collins, and Southey, that they had all read him, and had taken hints from his pages. 172. Nor ought Ken to be omitted. He was educated at Winchester, and was, hi 1666, elected fellow of that foundation. At that time, Morley was Bishop of Winchester, and Izaak Walton, who had given Morley a home in the days of the Commonwealth, had now come to pass the evening of life with his friend. It was in that company Ken composed, for the use of the Winchester scholars, the three hymns, on Morn- ing, Evening, and Midnight, by which he is best known. His chief eminence, however, he gained as preacher and bishop. Bowles conjectures, with much reason, that he was the original of Dryden's ' Good Parson,' as was Wycliffe probably of Chaucer's. 173. Stanley, Cotton, and Eochester, are chiefly lyric poets. Stanley is best known as the editor of JEschylus, and author of the History of Philosophy. His Poems, published in Cotton.' 1651, contain several translations from Anacreon, Rochester. Moschus, and others, besides original verses. These last are distinguished by richness of style and of thought, and by variety of metre, though occasionally deformed by the conceits of 2 H 178 POETRY CHAMBER! A YNE. the Cowley school. Cotton is immortalised as one of the friends of Walton. He had a house on the Dove in Derbyshire, where he and Izaak used to fish and talk. He also wrote Travesties of the ^neid not creditable to him, and imitations of Luciau, trans- lated the Horace of Corneille, and the Essays of Montaigne, be- sides some lines of true poetry. He went to Ireland as captain in the army, and his Voyage to Ireland, seems, as Campbell re- marks, to be an anticipation of Anstey's New Bath Guide. His invitation to Walton to visit him contains flowing and even touching stanzas. The Earl of Rochester was one of the most profligate members of a profligate court. His letters to his wife however, show him to have been a man of tender and playful feeling, while the Memoir by Bishop Burnet gives a striking history of his repentance. That chapter of Isaiah, in which sixteen hundred years before, a treasurer of Queen Candace found peace, was the means of giving a like blessing to this English earl and wit. Burnet's Memoir Johnson describes ' as one which the critic ought to read for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments, and the saint for its piety.' Rochester's poems are for the most part in keeping with his life gay, easy, and graceful ; some of them sweet and musical, many of them licentious. They give glimpses at the same time of a vigorous mind and fertile imagination. Their author died from physical decay at the early age of thirty-three." 174. The poems of Chamberlayne and of Roscommon are of a different order, though neither can claim more than a third or Chamberlayne. fourth-rate place in our literature. Chamberlayne re- Roscoinmon. s \& e & a t Shaftesbury in the reigns of Charles i. and IT. His chief work is Pharonnida, a Heroic Poem, published in 1659. The scene is laid partly in Sicily, but chiefly in Greece, and the poem itself contains an almost endless succession of plots and adventures. The imagery is often very beautiful, and the emo- tions excited and described strong and passionate, but the style is slovenly and the whole piece wearisome. Among his excellences may be mentioned his keen perception of natural beauty. Indeed he has given several descriptions of the It is to Rochester we owe the ' Here lies our sovereign lord the king, epitaph on Charles n., written at that Whose word no man relies on ; monarch's request and made the ground Who never said a foolish thing, of the disgrace of the writer : And never did a wise one.' BUTLER. 179 glories of the morning, in a manner not unworthy of Milton. His works were long neglected till, in 1819, Campbell called at- tention to them by quoting largely in his Specimens from the Pharonnida. Roscommon was born in Ireland, and was godson of Strafford. He died in 1684, repeating in his last moments some of the lines of his own translation of the Dies Irce. He was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey. The piece on which his reputation chiefly depends is his Essay on Trans- ited Verse. This poem was long popular: both Dryden and Pope praised it, and the former tested the accuracy of its rules by his own practice. The language is always harmonious, and the versification smooth, but it wants vigour. It is greatly to his credit that, though he lived amid scenes that must have made vice familiar, his pen is free from licentious influences. He deserved in this respect the honour Pope has given him : ' In all Charles's days, Roscommon only boasts unspotted lays.' 175. The poet of the Eoyalist party of the Civil War was Samitel Butler (1612-1680). It has been usual to set him against Milton, and to regard the one as the poet of the Republicans, and the other of the Cavaliers. But this comparison is unjust to them both. Milton is not properly a Republican poet, while as a poet he is as superior to Butler as Spenser is to Skelton. In his own class, indeed, Butler stands un- rivalled ' first and last,' as his epitaph expresses it ; but the class is a very different one from that to which the author of Comus and of Paradise Lost belongs. It is Butler's praise that of burlesque satire, the satire that depends for its effectiveness upon the con- trast between the style and the sentiments, or between the ad- ventitious sentiments and the subject, he is perfect master. He has also adorned his work with great learning, and with thoughts that are occasionally beautiful and profound. No book was more applauded or admired by his contemporaries, who, alas, read the poem and left the poet to die in want, and to be buried in an obscure grave by a comparatively humble friend. But to com- pare him with Milton is to confound the lowest steps in the temple of poetry with the highest, and a tickled fancy with the noblest emotions of sublimity and beauty. Butler was born in 1612, and was educated at the Free School N 2 180 POETRT HUDIBRAS. in Worcester. He is said, by his brother, to have been at both universities, but Johnson thinks it more likely he was at neither, and that he acquired his great learning by means more creditable to his own diligence than to his teachers. As a young man he became clerk to a Worcestershire justice, and after some time, was received into the family of the Countess of Kent, through the influence, it is said, of Selden, who was steward and, it is hinted, husband of that lady. Here he had the use of a good library, quiet retirement, and the company of intelligent men. Still later he is found in the family of Sir Samuel Luke, one of Crom well's officers ; and here he found the originals of those characters he was afterwards to paint. The first part of his poem was probably written at this time. On the Eestoration, he ob- tained some humble preferment, and published, in 1663, the first part of Sir Hudibras. It was at once introduced to the court, by the influence of the Earl of Dorset, was immediately studied, and praised by all the party. The following year the second part appeared, and again the author was praised. But praise was his only reward. Clarendon, indeed, promised him a ' place of great value,' but beyond a promise he seems never to have gone. In spite of all these discouragements, Butler published, in 1678, the third part of his poem, which, however, was still unfinished, and unfinished it has remained. He died in 1680, worn out by de- ferred hope. He was buried in the churchyard of Covent Garden, and forty years later a Lord Mayor of London erected a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey. 176. The history of Butler's chief poem is taken from the Don Quixote of Cervantes, ' a book,' says Johnson, ' to which the highest Hudibras mm d ma 7 be indebted without disgrace/ The aims of the two, however, are very different. Cervantes seeks to make Quixote ridiculous and lovable, and succeeds; Butler to make Hudibras ridiculous and detestable. The folly of degenerate chivalry is the subject of the first ; the vices and the hypocrisy of the Republican party of the second ; and it will be seen that Butler's subject is the more difficult of the two. Detestation and ridicule are opposite feelings, and yet, if Hudi- bras may only be taken as a specimen of his friends, the laughter and the abhorrence are both complete. There is properly in this poem no plot, Sir Hudibras and his HUDIBRAS. 181 squire (who are supposed to represent a Presbyterian, Sir Samuel Luke, and an Independent) go forth to stop the amusements of the common people, against which the Hump Parliament had passed some severe Acts. It is in the description of the scenes in which they mingle, hi his sketches of character, and in the most humorous dialogue in which the two heroes indulge, that the power of the book consists. Portraits of cheats of every kind are drawn, analogies are brought in from widely-scattered sources, and the whole is set off with a depth of real wisdom that is sometimes very instructive. Many of the couplets have become proverbial, and are quoted by multitudes who know not whence they come. Of course it is not his business to sketch the nobler qualities of the Puritans, and we should probably do even Butler injus- tice, if we regarded his satire as intended to describe the whole party. Johnson, indeed, notes that some of his attacks are plainly and even absurdly unjust. He blames the Puritan swords and the Puritan astrology, whereas their swords proved sharper and heavier than those of the cavaliers, and in astrology the Puritans were certainly not more superstitious than their neigh- bours the time of the attempted escape from Carisbrook having been carefully fixed at Charles' request, by some star-gazing friend. But if we regard the book as a description of pretenders to sanc- tity, of quacks in politics and in learning, it may be read with great admiration. Many of its allusions, indeed, are now unknown, or need historical research to make them intelligible to us, and many of its analogies are mere conceits. Moreover we know the life only from the pictures, and we cannot delight in the pictures from our knowledge of the life. Hence the poem, as a whole, is tedious. Still, it is a most amusing and witty satire, showing wonderful skill in extracting jests from the driest stores, and written in a style at once varied and idiomatic. The metre is the octo-syllablic line of the Trouveres, of tho old Norman romances, and of the legends of the Bound Table. The humour is aug- mented when we remember the stately incidents that were once described in similar lines. It must be added that parts of Hudibras are marred by the grossness of the allusions. The other poetic writings of Butler are of the same class, and are marked by the same pointedness of wit, and variety of allu- sion. In The Ekphant in the Moon he attacked the Royal 162 POETRY DRYDEN AND HIS SUCCESSORS. Society, which had been recently formed, and which deserved better treatment at his hand. Herein, however, he only followed the wits of his day. A volume of posthumous prose writings contains sketches of characters in the manner of Earle, Feltham, and Fuller. SECTION IV. DBYDEN AND POPE AND THEIB SUCCESSORS. THE ARTIFICIAL SCHOOL OP POETRT. 177. "Writers who are fond of tracing the influence of foreign literature upon our own, note that Chaucer writes after the manner of the Proven$als, though his poems are improved by the study of early Italian models, the foreign in- Boccaccio and Petrarch ; that Surrey, Wyat, and Vaux ?o l !SS S thSL must h^ 6 studied the works of Ariosto and Tasso the second Italian school and have formed their lyric poetry on those models; that Spenser based his poems on Provencal models, guided in part by the authors of the kter Italian school ; and that our metaphysical or fantastic poets borrow from the third Italian school, of which Marini was the founder. The poets of the Restoration Dry den, Addison, Prior, and Pope are admirers and imitators chiefly of French poetry. 178. There is no doubt truth in this connection of our Eng- lish poets with the principal foreign schools. Dryden not only Ajuster imitates the French poets in the use of rhyming classification. h ero j c me tre in his dramas, but both he and Pope show much of the transparency of language and vigour of style that distinguish French writers. There is however, a principle of classification that gives a juster conception than this of the poets of whom we have now to treat. Chaucer is largely the poet of character and of practical life. Spenser and Milton are both poets of imagination, the former romantic, and the latter classical. The fantastic poets, Donne, Crashaw, Cowley, and Sprat, are poets of conceits ; Dryden and Pope are poets of art, portraying character and teaching truth with a measure of good sense, vigour, harmony, and clearness, such as had never beers equalled. Of their school they are immeasurably the first, though that school is certainly not the highest in poetry. 179. Of Dry den's lifo and dramas, a fuller account will bo DRYDEN. 18,S found elsewhere. As a poet his is the great name in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. Born in 1631, Dryden. ^ e ^^ ^ ^. g ^^.^y.gix^ y ear Before he wrote any poetry (except his dramas) likely to establish his fame. His Astrcea Redux on the Restoration, had appeared a few years before, and displayed the harmony and point which Denham and Wal- ler had taught the public to expect, even in second-rate poets. But it was not till 1667, when his Annus Mirabilis appeared, that the poetical qualities were recognised, which raised him above the crowd. This poem was intended to commemorate the calamities of the preceding year the plague, the great fire, and the Dutch war. The sentiments have no moral dignity : he praises unduly a king who disgraced the throne : he praises un- duly a war which is now regarded as one of the most humi- liating of our history. Of imagination the poem is utterly destitute ; but the style is that of a master, throughout vigorous and majestic. The metre, the four-line stanza with alternate rhymes, is borrowed from Davenant's Gondibert. It is not favourable to quickness of movement, but it is favourable to vigorous language and to condensed thinking; and in these quali- ties the poem certainly excels. Between the publication of this piece and the next, more than a dozen years elapse. During that period Dryden was busy writing for the stage, and was perfecting himself in a metre (the heroic couplet) which he afterwards used in most of his poems. Its fitness for striking epigrammatic sentiment, especially in satire, is undoubted, and yet Dryden was the first to use it with ease, rapidity, and effectiveness. Occasionally the sense runs beyond the second line, and the heroic triplet becomes necessary. This however, does not often happen, and when done it is with little injury to the emphasis or to the harmony of the verse. This metre he first used in his Absalom and Achitophel (168 i), a poem half polemic and half satirical. It contains a large num- ber of finely-drawn portraits. Among these Shaftesbury, Buck- ingham, Settle, and Titus Oates are the most remarkable. Thoroughly to appreciate the satire we need to know the personal history of the men ; but even to the literary student, who knows but little of the political history, the sketches have great vigour and beauty. The second part of the poem, published in 1681, contains only two hundred lines of Dry den's the characters of 184 POETKY DKYDEN. Settle and Shadwell under th^atles of Doeg and Og the rest being written by Tate. The Medal, a third satire, which ap- pared hi March of the same year, is directed against Shaftesbury alone, and is generally regarded as inferior to the Absalom. In all these pieces appears an excellence unknown hi previous satirical writings. From Skelton to Marvel the satire is gene- rally so severe and coarse, that it excites disgust hi the reader. In Dryden it is always so tempered with discretion and wit, that our feeling is with the writer even when our judgment -is against him. Mac Flecknoe (1682) is a personal literary satire on Shad well, his rival. It is one of the earliest personal satires in our lan- guage, and even the subject fails to bring out Dryden's qualities. Yet the excellence of the poem is better sustained, Hallam thinks, than in any preceding composition of equal length. Flecknoe, it may be added, is the name of an Irish poet of but small powers, and Shadwell is represented by means of the patronymic prefix as the heir of his genius and fame. The foregoing are Dryden's satirical pieces. His didactic poems are the Eeligio Laici (1682), and the Hind and Panther (1687). Scott notes that Dryden's excellence consists in the power of reasoning and of expressing the results in appropriate language ; and nowhere else does this excellency more strikingly appear. The latter poem was written by Dryden as a recent convert to Romanism, which he then deemed the winning side, and he was one who never spared a weak or conquered foe. The fable is clumsy and ridiculous : yet many are ready to listen to the arguments of the Hind and the replies of the Panther, who would turn away from the discussions of a priest and parson, and it must be admitted that the grotesqueuess of the whole is part of its power. Both poems contain sketches of great beauty and inte- resting allusions to the history and convictions of the writer. The wit is always sharp and ready, and the reasoning often close and cogent. Many of the lines are among the most musical in our language. The beginning of each poem has been specially praised in this respect. Dryden's fame as a lyric poet rests chiefly on his Ode to St. Cecilia, and partly on his Ode on the Death of Mrs. Kittigrew. The latter is much applauded by Johnson : the former was once deemed the finest ode in our language, but modern criticism DRYDEN'S FABLES. 185 assigns it a lower place. A mos^jknergetic lyric it certainly is, and it is remarkable for the raciness and vigour of its expressions, and the general adaptation of the language to the sentiment. The narrative part of the poem describes the passions excited in the mind of Alexander by the harper Timotheus, each strophe paint- ing a vision and exemplifying the vision it paints. The poem concludes with an allusion to the supposed invention of music by Cecilia. The whole is said to have been written in a few hours. Dryden's powers as a narrative poet are seen chiefly in his latest productions, the Fables and stories modernised from Boccac- cio and Chaucer the most popular probably of his works. The versification in all, is admirable ; the great fault is the want of that power over emotion, which gives to narrative poetry its great charm, a want owing largely to deficiency of feeling in Dryden himself. He lacks sympathy with his heroes, and he fails to describe the circumstances which are calculated to excite feeling. His paraphrase of Chaucer's Tale of Palamon and Ar- cite (the Knight's Tale), and of Chaucer's character of a good par- son, may be mentioned as instances in which he has failed even to preserve the pathos of his model. The feeling all evaporates, the nicer touches of character disappear, though there are many beautiful lines and happy expressions which a careful reader will probably never forget.* As a translator he owes less to his version of Yirgil than to his versions of the satires of Juvenal and Persius, and of some of the Odes of Horace. The fact is, that he wanted the grace of the Mantuan poet, while between him and the Roman satirists, there was much in common, the same energy of expression, the same power of declamation, the same fondness for what is coarse. The sense he sometimes misses, but the general spirit he has caught and represented to perfection. a ' I admire Dryden's talents and genius the word poetical, being neither of the highly ; but his is not a poetical genius. imagination nor of the passions, I mean The only qualities I can find in Dryden the amiable, the ennobling, the intense that are essentially poetical, are a certain passions. I do not mean to say that ardour and impetuosity of mind, with there is nothing of this in Dryden ; but an excellent ear. It may seem strange as little I think as is possible considering that I do not add to this, command of how much he has written There language ; that he certainly has, and of is not a single image from nature in the such language too -as it is desirable that whole of his works.' WORDSWORTH, a poet should possess. But it is not LocJdiart's Life of Swtt, ii., p. 287. language that is in the highest sense of 186 POETRY DRYDEN'S PROSE. 1 80. It deserves special mention, that Dryden's finest prose writings were ] prefixed to his poems. His Essay on Dramatic His prose Poetry, in which he discusses the disputed question as writings. fa ne employment of rhyme in tragedy, originated in his Dedication of Tlie Rival Ladies, and his Treatise on Satire was prefixed to his translation of Juvenal. In these and other pre- faces he has travelled over nearly the whole field of criticism, as it was marked out in that day. His judgments on Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and others, though not always such as later inquiry has confirmed, show the independence of his views and the catholicity of his taste. It is remarkable also that his taste kept bettering to the very last, Cowley and Sylvester having given place, as he tells us, to Shakespeare and to Milton. He is the first critic in our language that deserves the name. 1 8 1. It is curious to notice how, up to this time, nearly all criticism originated in questions connected with poetic composition. Criticism and The very earliest specimen of English criticism is poetry. found in ' certain notes ' of instruction concerning the making of verse or rhyme in English (1575) by George Gascoyne. It consists of but ten pages, and yet contains a good deal of judi- cious thought. Webbe, the author of A Discourse of English Poetry (1586), discusses the use of Latin metres and their adapta- tion to our English tongue. Puttenham's Art of English Poesie comes next, and was published in 1589: 'it is well written in measured prose.' He praises Sidney and Spenser ; and for ditty and amorous odes, Raleigh ; while Gascoyne is praised for good metre and a plentiful vein. Sidney's Defence of Poesie is hardly critical : he rather ' avoids critical censures, and aims only at de- fending his art,'* and yet written as it was in answer to Gosson, b and against the men who deemed poetry a useless exercise of our powers, and not comparable for discipline to philosophy or history, it must have called attention to critical questions of the most important kind. All these works, however, are very inferior to Dryden's prefaces. 182. The other poets of the age of Dryden are but little known. In this respect, their history differs from that of the inferior poets Other poets of of tne preceding age, many of whom, though long Dryden's age. neglected, have regained esteem and are more Hallam, *> Oosson's Scftcrt qf Abuse, 15-79, was dedicated to Sir P. Sidney. MINOR POETS. 187 highly appreciated by a class of modern writers than they were by their contemporaries. Nor is it difficult to account for the inferiority of the poets of the time of Charles n. and of William. The Restoration made a marked change in the poetry of the age, even more than in the prose. * The lyre was carried from the temple to the Theatre,' a and some of the best authors devoted their strength to writing for the stage. The artificial taste, moreover, introduced in the reign of Charles n., and the low moral tone of society, tended to destroy in poets everything natural and generous. Their ambition came to be, to write like men of the world. Soaring fancy, deep emotion, even new imagery they renounced, and hence they differ only in the ease and harmony of their versification, or at most in their good sense and acuteness. The Revolution effected no change for the better : the artificial taste remained, and, though public morality im- proved, yet the theatre still claimed the services of the wits, while the state of public affairs absorbed the attention of men of intellectual power. Of the twenty or thirty poets who may be said to have flourished between the death of Milton and the noonday splendour of Pope's fame, by far the greater majority might be blotted from our literature and not be regretted or even missed. 183. William Cleland (1661-168 9) satirised the Jacobite army in a piece known as the Island Host (1678), but is best known by a wild fanciful poem entitled Hallo my Fancy. Thomas Shad well (1640-1692), the rival of Drydeii and Poet Laureate after him, has some comic power, and gained credit for his plays. Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset (1647- 1705)9 was the friend of Butler, of Waller, and of Dryden. He is excessively praised by Prior for two or three brief pieces, but they contain little worth remembering. Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, a Privy Councillor of James n. and of William, wrote a poem entitled an Essay on Satire, which Dryden is said to have improved, but it bears no marks of that master's hand : and an Essay on Poetry. This last is his best piece and was praised by both Dryden and Pope. It is written in heroic cou- plets, and is said to have suggested Pope's Essay on Criticism. It contains no poetry but is sensibly and sometimes forcibly h \VillnMJtt. 188 POETRY MIXOR POETS. written. John Pomfret (1667-1703) is the author of some Pindaric Essays, and of a poem called The Choice, which describes a country life. Similar scenes are painted by Swift in his imita- tion of the sixth Satire of Horace, and later by Thomson and Cowper. The glow and beauty of these last paintings have com- pletely eclipsed their predecessors. Nevertheless both Johnson and Southey speak of TJie Choice as once the most popular poem in our language. John Phillips (1676-1718), is now known only from a parody on Milton's epic, entitled The Splendid Shilling. He also imitated the Oeorgics in a poem On Cider. Both evince talent, though not of the highest kind, nor employed for the noblest purpose. In 1699, Sir Samuel G-arth, an eminent phy- sician, published a poem entitled The Dispensary. It is mock- heroic, and was written on the war then waging between the Col- lege of Physicians and the Apothecaries. The latter had claimed the right to prescribe as well as compound medicines : the former threatened to compound as well as prescribe. The college gained a temporary victory; but in 1703 the House of Lords decided that the Apothecaries were entitled to fill both offices. The piece consists of six cantos, and ridicules some of the most eminent apothecaries of the day. It passed through several editions, and each edition was enlarged and, it is said, improved. The versification is smooth and forcible, and is one of the earliest specimens of carrying the sense beyond the rhyming couplet without requiring in all such cases a third rhyming line. The poem is now little read, but lines are still occasionally quoted from it Another physician, Sir Richard Blackmore (1676-1729), wrote an epic poem, Prince Arthur. It was composed, as he says, while he passed up and down the streets, or, as Dryden says, ' to the rumbling of his chariot wheels.* In his poem on The Creation, which Johnson includes in his edition of the poets, he seeks to demonstrate the existence of a Divine eternal mind. The poem wants neither ' harmony of numbers, accuracy of thought, nor elegance of diction/ a and the whole unites ornament with strength, and ease with closeness. Addison warmly praises it, and even compares it with the Paradise Lost* Blackmore was satirised by Pope and greatly admired by John Locke. Thomas Parnell (167 9-1 71 8), was of Irish birth, an accomplished scholar, and Archdeacon of Clogher. His poems are hymns, translations, Johnson. b Spectator, 339 SWIFT. 18? songs, and epistles. His most celebrated piece is The Hermit, which Pope pronounced ' very good/ The versification is smooth and the style at once grave and picturesque. His Fairy Tale Goldsmith deems one of the finest productions in any language, and the Night Piece on Death he preferred to Gray's Elegy, a pre- ference, however, in which few modern readers will concur, the metre alone (eight-syllabled lines) being fatal to it. Parnell found fast friends in Bolingbroke, Pope, Arbuthnot, and Gay. His versification is remarkably melodious ; without the vigour of Pope, but also without his mannerism. Ambrose Phillips (1675- 1749), owed his f ame * D P art to tne writings of Addison and Pope. His first published poems were printed in the same volume with Pope's first poems, the Pastorals of Phillips "being the first piece in Tonson's Miscellany (1709), as Pope's Pastorals are the last. Tickell praised Phillips' pastorals as the best in the language. Pope answered by a comparative criticism on both, giving the preference to Phillips, but taking care that in the quo- tations his own should have the advantage. Phillips' Pastorals are poor compositions, it must be confessed, but he was an easy versifier, and Goldsmith praises the opening lines of his Epistle to the Earl of Dorset, as * incomparably fine/ a Certain short pieces by which he paid court, as Johnson says, to all ages and characters, procured him the nickname of Namby Paniby. The title was first given him by Carey, the dramatist, and was at once adopted by Pope as suitable to Phillips' * eminence in the infantile style.' b Like many of the literary men of that age, Phillips received from government several appointments, from which he obtained a respectable competency. Jonathan Swift (1667-1 745\ though entitled to a high place among the prose writers of his age, is but an indifferent poet. It is difficult to forget the man while reading his works ; and in poetry his character certainly detracts from the value of all he has written. ' His muse,' says Smollet, ' is mere misanthropy ' and nastiness. Yet if these qualities can be forgotten, his satire is often just and admirable, while his humour is always pleasant when ' From frozen climes and endless tracts ' Timely blossom, infant fair, of snow, Fondling of a happy pair, From streams which northern winds Every morn and every night forbid to flow,' etc. Their solicitous delight,' etc. t> C. G. To Miss Charlotte Pulteney The se*>e?w-nietre of our hymns. in her Mother's arms. May i, 1-324. 190 POETRY PRIOR. not coarse. His Baucis and Philemon (1708), his Rhapsody on Poetry (1733), and the Cadenus and Vanessa are the pieces best known. Goldsmith, Swift's countryman, finds many of his poems very fine, but the beauty is all of a low kind, and the reader is never sure in what depths a decent and even noble beginning may end. Thomas Tickell (1686-1740), the friend and admirer of Addison, is now known best by his Elegy on the death of that eminent man, and by his ballad of Colin and Lucy* He also translated the first book of the Iliad, which was published at the same time as Pope's. Addison and the Whigs praised Tickell's, the produc- tion of one who was Whigissimus, as Swift called him : the Tories praised Pope's. Among the unhappy results of this rivalry was the breach of the friendship that had subsisted between Ad- dison and Pope, a breach never healed. To this quarrel we "owe Pope's Character of Atticus a piece of satire written with some truth, but with more malignity. Tickell's satire, composed in imitation of the Prophecy of Nereus, to ridicule the Earl of Mar and the Jacobite rising of 1715, contains some vigorous lines. 184. A fuller notice seems due to Prior, Gay, Addison, and Ramsay. Matthew Prior (i 664-1 721) was born near Wimbourne in Dorsetshire, was educated at Westminster, and afterwards, through the patronage of the Earl of Dorset, at St. John's, Cambridge. Through the influence of the same friend he was appointed in succession secretary of several embassies, and entered Parliament in 1701 as member for East Grimstead. After joining the Whig party and celebrating the victories of Blenheim and Ramilies he deserted to the side of their opponents on the impeachment of Lord Somers. He afterwards accompanied Lord Bolingbroke to Paris, where he remained till he rose to the rank of ambassador. On his return to England he was imprisoned for his supposed share in the Treaty of Utrecht. After an imprisonment of two years he was released without trial, ' He taught us how to live ; and (oh ! ' I hear a voice you cannot hear, too high Which says I must not stay ; The price for knowledge) taught us I see a hand you cannot see, how to die.' Which beckons me away.' Tickell's Ode on the Death of Addison. Tickell's Colin and Lucy. ' Perhaps One of the finest in the language,' the best in our language,' Goldsmith, Goldsmith : preferred by Johnson to The prettiest in the world/ Gay. Lycidas. GAY. 161 and found himself at fifty-three, and after all his public employ- ments, with no other means of support but his Cambridge fellow- ship. He was then advised to publish an edition of his collected works, and raised by it four thousand guineas, a sum which was doubled by a generous gift of Harley's, Earl of Oxford. This provision he enjoyed only a short time, dying at Wimpole, Lord Oxford's seat, in his fifty-seventh year. His poems are of different styles and on different themes : songs, epigrams, tales, and odes. One of the earliest was the story of the City and Country Mouse, written by him in conjunction with Charles Montague in ridicule of Dryden's Hind and Panther. His Henry and Emma is a ballad formed on the model of the Nut-Brown Maid, but without the charm and simplicity that distinguish that poem. His latest production was Solomon, an epic poem on a religious theme, deemed by himself and by Cow- per his ablest piece. His characteristic, however, is humour and vivacity, and what Cowper calls ' the charming ease* of his style ; and these qualities are certainly most seen in his shorter pieces. Even metaphysics he can clothe, as in his Alma, with gay and genial pleasantry. He is said to be one of the last of our poets who rely for ornament on pagan machinery. Venus and Mercury, Diana and Jupiter, appear in a way that provokes Johnson's con- tempt. Cowper says more charitably, ' there is a fashion in these things which the doctor seems to have forgotten.' a It must ba added that sometimes he is grossly licentious even for that age. 185. John Gay (1688-1732), the most good-humoured and the best beloved of the wits of Pope's day, was a Devonshire man, born near Great Torrington, and was apprenticed to a silk mercer in London. Not liking this business he threw himself upon literature for support, and was soon made secretary to the Duchess of Monmouth. When twenty-six years of age he published his Shepherd's Week, in Six Pastorals, written to ridicule those of Ambrose Phillips. They display so much humour and give so many entertaining sketches of country life, that they became popular as serious compositions. A year later appeared his Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London, and The Fan, a poem in three books. The first is a mock-heroic piece, painting, with the minuteness of Teniers, the dangers and litter to Univin f 1-781. 192 POETRY ADDISON. sights of the London streets, the hint being taken from Swift's City Shower. Anxious for public employment Gay became, for a short time, in 1714, secretary to Lord Clarendon. This dignity however, soon ended and left him little the richer. In 1720 he published his poems by subscription, and obtained thereby loooZ. By his dramas and operas he amassed altogether about 3000?., and was towards the close of his life, received into the family of the Duke of Queensberry. Here his sole occupation was the composition of his Fables, and occasional correspondence with Swift, Pope, and other friends. He died at the early age of forty-four, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Pope has well sketched his character * Of manners gentle, of affections mild, In wit a man, simplicity a child.' His Fables are among the best in our language, and, though with- out the profuse wit and naive*te of La Fontaine, he shows great ease of versification and much good-natured humour. The Hare with many Friends and the Court of Death deserve mention. His Black-eyed Susan, and ' that pretty ballad,' as Gowper calls it, * 'Twas when the seas were roaring,' are among the best known of his minor poems. His Beggars' Opera, a ' Newgate Pastoral,' though not without political allusions, was written at the sug- gestion of Swift, and is still popular for its music. It brought its author large gains, displaced for a time the Italian opera, and originated the English opera, a kind of light comedy blended with song. The Beggars' Opera, seeking to make rogues attrac- tive, cannot be commended for its moral tendency. 186. The fame of Joseph Addison (1672-1719) rests rather on his prose writings than on his poetry. It was the latter, how- Addison. GVer> tGat *"" St ^ aVC ^ m Distinction, an ^ some f bis pieces are still popular. He was the son of an Eng- lish Dean, and was born at Milston in Wiltshire. At Oxford he wrote with success Latin poetry, and when twenty-two years of age sent an address in English verse to Dryden. In 1693 Dryden published in his Miscellany a translation, by Addison, of the fourth Greorgic, and Dryden warmly commended ' his ingenious Mend.' In the following year he sketched the characters of Chauoer, Spenser, Milton, etc., in an Account of the Greatest ADDISON. 193 English Poets, though these sketches do his fancy or poetic taste small honour. A Poem to His Majesty, Presented to the Lord Keeper, secured a pension of 300?. a-year, which enabled him to visit Italy. While abroad he wrote his Poetical Letter^ to Charles, Lord Halifax (1701), the * Charles Montague' of Prior, and the great patron of literature in that age. This letter de- scribes the ' classic ground ' on which Addison had trod, and it is preceded by what Goldsmith calls a vein of political thinking, new in the poetry of that period : had the harmony of the poem resembled that of Pope's versification it would have been the finest in our language.' With the death of William, Addison's pension ceased, but soon after he gratified the Lord Treasurer Godolphin by a poem, A Gazette in Rhyme on the Victory of Blenheim, aod the closing verses so pleased his lordship a that he gave the poet a Commissionership of Appeals, an office in which he had the honour to succeed John Locke. Soon after, Addison was made Under- Secretary of State, and went to Ireland as secretary to Wharton. He then entered upon his career as essayist. In his Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, he first displayed that delicate humour, knowledge of the world, quiet and refined observation, which all readers now associate with his name. In his graver papers he also displays a degree of imagination and critical taste, and even of deep feeling, which as yet none of his friends had supposed him to possess. 1 * After the publication of Cato he married (1716) the Countess Dowager of Warwick, to whose son he had been tutor. The marriage was not a happy one. The history of Dryden and of Addison in this respect is a warning against the * heraldry of hands, not hearts.' In 1717 he was made Secretary of State. The office he held only for a short time ; he wanted the ready re- source, ' the small change,' c as he himself expressed it, of an effec- tive parliamentary orator. On more than one occasion it is said, also, that his fastidiousness overpowered his skill, and he was * ' So when an angel, by Divine command, With rising tempest shakes a guilty land, Such as of late o'er pale Britannia passed, Calm and serene he drives the furious blast, And, pleased th" Almighty's order to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.' "> See hia papers on Milton and Westminster Abbey, and his Vision of Mirza. c He could draw bills for a thousand pounds, but had not a guinea in his pocket is Johnson's report of this saying. - 2 194 POETRV eEMPILL: RAMSAI. obliged to get a clerk to draw up documents which he could not write to his own satisfaction. On his retirement from the Secre- taryship he received a pension of 1500?. a year, and busied him- self with a work on the Evidences of the Christian Religion, which, however, he left incomplete. He died at Holland House at the early age of forty-seven. His Traveller's Hymn, ' How are Thy servants blessed, Lord,* his Retrospect, * When all thy mercies my God,' and his versions of the ipth and 23rd Psalms are well known. The Traveller's Hymn was an early favourite of Robert Burns. Nor should his translations of classic authors, Ovid especially, be left unmen- tioned. 187. Before a more natural strain of poetry had become popu- lar in England, Scotland possessed several poets whose lyric effusions had much of the simplicity and tenderness which are supposed to belong to a quiet pastoral life. Among these, the family of the Sempills, lairds of Renfrewshire, is illustrious. To Robert Sempill (1595-1669) we owe the introduction of a new kind of stanza which Ramsay and Burns made popular.* His son Francis is the author of some well-known rustic songs, Maggie Lauder and the oldest version of Aidd Lang Syne. Early in the eighteenth century (1708), James Watson of Edin- burgh, published a Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems, and a little later (1719), a pretended fragment of an old heroic ballad, Hardyknute. This last was a great favourite with Gray and with Percy, who included it in his Reliques, and espe- cially with Walter Scott, who speaks of it as the first poem he ever learnt, and as the last he should forget. But the great name in this department of Scottish poetry is that of Allan Ramsay, who founded the first circulating library in Scot- ^^ land, established the first theatre, which his country- men pulled down ; but is still better known as the representative in the early part of the eighteenth century of the fun and simple tenderness of Scottish life. Ramsay (1686-1757) was born in Lanarkshire, where his father had charge of some lead mines. After receiving a moderate ' Is there a man whose judgment clear Here panse and thro' the starting tear Can others teach the course to steer, Survey this grave.' Yet rnns himself life's mad career BCRXS'S Bardft Epitaph Wild as the wave. RAMSAY. 195 education at the parish school, he was bound apprentice to a wig maker an employment which some of his biographers are very careful to distinguish from the humbler calling of barber Whatever its honours or profits, however, Kamsay left it as soon as he had finished his apprenticeship. In his twenty-fourth year he married the daughter of a writer or attorney. As a means of support he published some small poetic productions in a cheap form ; and soon after set up as a bookseller near ' Niddry Wynd.' In that capacity he prepared a new edition of King James's Christ's Kirk on the Green, to which he added two stanzas of his own, displaying genuine humour and a perfect knowledge of the Scot- tish tongue. One of these stanzas, describing how a drunken husband was won home from the village ale-house by the gentle persuasion of his wife, has been. made the subject of one of Wil- kie's finest paintings. In 1724 he published The. Tea-table Mis- cellany, a collection of songs written by himself, Mallet, and others, and The Evergreen, a collection of poems from the Banna- tyne MSS., written before 1600. Instead of simply transcribing these last he often adds to them. One of the poems, The Vision, is the offspring of his own brain, and shows high powers of poetry. In 1725 appeared his pastoral drama, The Gentle Shepherd, the first rudiments of which had been published some years before in the form of two pastoral dialogues. The piece was republished in London and in Dublin, and received the warm admiration of Pope, Gay, and the public generally. It is a genuine pastoral, and is unlike most of the pastoral poetry of modern Europe. The characters are peasants, and though the Shepherd and his Mis- tress are seen to be equal to any position, they preserve the sim- plicity and the habits of their own sphere with complete consis- tency. Many of the verses of the poem have passed into proverbs, and still continue the delight of the classes they describe. A second volume of poems appeared in 1728, and in 1730 he pub- lished a collection of Fables. The Epistles of the former no doubt suggested those of Burns, and several of the stanzas may fairly be compared with those of Scotland's greatest lyric writer ; but as a whole they are inferior. Eamsay's lyrics want grace and deli- cacy, but some of them, as The Yellow-haired Laddie, are still favourites. At the age of forty-five he ceased to write for the public, and he died at Edinburgh in his seventy-second year. His habitual o 2 196 POETRY. LITERARY MEN IN QUEEN ANNE'S DAY. cheerfulness and racy humour make his biography pleasant reading. His eldest son rose to eminence as a painter, and is not unknown as a man of letters. 1 88. Already have we seen a marked change for the better in the social position of literary men in the fifty years that elapse Litera me b 6 ^ 6611 Milton and Pope. The feeling of Lord in Queen Burghley when he expressed surprise at Queen Anne's day. Elizabet h'g bounty to Spenser, All this for a song/ was shared by many of the statesmen of the following reigns. During eleven years Paradise Lost yielded 1 5?. to its author. At the close of the century, Dryden the poet, who was at the head of the literary men of England, received only 300?. for ten thou- sand lines, such as no other man in England could have written. Within the first few years of the eighteenth century, however, John Gay, a poet of no first-rate ability, cleared loooZ. by a volume of his poems, and before Pope was thirty he had laid aside between 6oooZ. and yoooZ., the fruits of his pen. This change cannot be ascribed to any wide extension of lite- rary taste. The public had not yet begun to buy books or to read them. It was chiefly through subscriptions that these large sums were raised, and subscription lists succeeded only when taken under the patronage of men of rank or station. The fact is that in the reigns of William in. and Anne, literary merit often introduced its possessor into the most distinguished society, and to the highest favours of the State. The Earl of Dorset, the ablest noble poet of the court of Charles 11., had used his influence in support of this practice ; and Montague, Earl of Halifax, who owed his own introduction into public life to his poem on the death of Charles, and to his share in Tlie City and County Mouse, continued the system to which he was himself so largely indebted. Prior, as we have seen, was employed in several important embassies, as were Stepney and Gay. Swift, but for the personal feeling of the Queen, would have been raised to the Episcopal Bench, not certainly for his theology, but for his wit. Ambrose Phillips was Judge of the Prero- gative Court in Ireland ; Tick ell was made secretary to the Lords Justices. Nicholas Kowe was not only poet laureate, but manager of a department of the Customs, clerk to the council of the Prince of Wales, and secretary to presentations to the Lord THEIR REWARDS. 197 Chancellor. Congreve was rewarded for his first comedy with places which made him independent for life. Steele held various offices, from Superintendent of the Royal Stables, to Commis- sioner in Scotland of Forfeited Estates. Addison, it is well known, was Secretary of State. These appointments, honourable and profitable as they must have proved to those who held them, indicate a readiness among both the great parties into which the kingdom was now divided to patronise literature with a benefi- cence that must have been a common advantage, showing itself in other forms, and influencing the position of all literary men. It was the Augustan age of literature, at least in this respect, that its patrons were in high places, and were prepared to give to it substantial rewards. With the accession of the House of Hanover and of Walpole there is a marked change. Walpole had himself no taste for learning, no admiration of genius. He must have noticed that some of the men whom the favour of Halifax had put in office were poor debaters and worse men of business. He therefore changed the system so far as to reward scribbling rather than genius. Not Kensington, but Grub Street; not the House of Commons, but the King's Bench ; not Westminster Abbey, but the parish vault, became the temporary or the lasting abode of men who, had they lived thirty years before, might have been intrusted with an embassy. It is true that literature declined, and that the thirty years which follow the middle of the century have few great names of which to boast ; but this fact does not explain the neglect with which genius was treated. Thomson, Collins, Johnson, Fielding, were some of the most eminent meu of the middle of the eighteenth century ; yet they were all four arrested for debt, and some of them gained their livelihood with the greatest difficulty. To these times, however, we have not yet quite come. 189. The most brilliant name in the first half of the eighteenth century, and one of the most brilliant in our literature, is that of po Alexander Pope. He was born in London in 1688, and claimed to be of * gentle blood.' His father, the son of a clergyman, was placed in a mercantile house at Lisbon, and there became a Roman Catholic. His mother was of the family of the Turners, of Towthorpe, in Yorkshire. Soon after 198 POETRY POPE. the poet's birth his father retired to a small estate at Binfield, near Windsor. Pope was partly educated by the family priest, and partly at a Catholic seminary near Twyford. In his twelfth or thirteenth year he returned home, and devoted himself to a course of self-instruction, completing a plan of study, ' with little other excitement than the desire of excellence.'* When eleven years old he persuaded some friend to take him to Will's Coffee House, where he obtained a glance of 'glorious John' Dry den, a circumstance of which he was ever after fond of boasting. As a boy he was of dwarfish size, and as a youth was always feeble, though with a remarkably expressive face, and eyes full of fire and tenderness. Even before his twelfth year he had written several pieces ; but his literary life can hardly be said to begin before he was sixteen. He then wrote some of his Pastorals (on the Seasons), translated part of Statius, and composed verses in imitation of Waller, Dryden, and other poets. His Pastorals were published in 1709, in Tonson's Miscellany, and in 1711 appeared his Essay on Criticism, the finest piece of argumentative poetry in our language. * This alone,' says Johnson, ' would have placed him among the first critics and the first poets, as it exhibits every mode of excellence that can embellish or dignify didactic compo- sition.' It must have been written when he was only twenty- one. Its precepts may be found substantially in Horace, as they had already been given by Boileau ; but the force and delicacy with which they are set forth, the melody and terseness of the versification, are entirely the poet's own. The Essay was soon followed by The Rape of the Lock. This poem is founded on a frolic of Lord Petre's, who cut off a lock of hair from the head of Arabella Fermor, maid of honour to queen Anne. This incident caused an estrangement between their families, and Pope wrote his piece 'to laugh them together again.' As the poem now stands it is a small epic of five books, in which are described Belinda's toilette, the council of the sylphs under their leadei Ariel, the fatal catastrophe, the loss of the lock, the grim abode of Spleen and the gnomes, the fearful combat between beaux and belles, and the final elevation of the lock of hair as the constella* * Johnson. HIS PERSONAL HISTORY. 199 tion of the Tress of Berenice. All this is set forth with inimitable grace. As originally written the piece was without the super- natural agents which now form so important a part of the epic, and was even then described by Addison as 'a delicious little thing.' Its mimic divinities are a happy substitute for the classic deities of older writers, and for the personified abstractions of the romantic school, and correspond exactly to the mock-heroic character of the whole. As an example of mock-heroic poetry it is unrivalled, blending as it does the most delicate satire with the most lively fancy. Still it is mock heroic, and to a true epic is what a set of Dresden-china figures is to a noble group of statuary. Two years later appeared his Windsor Forest, written after the plan of Denham's Cooper's Hill. This poem, though less artificial than those that belong to Pope's after life, shows the same faults of character. The scenes he describes must have been familial' to him the glades of the forest, the ' purple dyes ' of the ' wild heath ;' yet there is the same want of depth of feeling which we note in his other writings. In his Temple of Fame, a vision after Chaucer, published by Pope in 1715, there is a winter scene described with great force and naturalness. Meanwhile Pope was preparing to translate Homer. As early as 1713 he issued proposals for this work. The first four volumes appeared in 1715, and the whole by 1720. The Odyssey appeared five years later. Of this last he himself translated only twelve books out of the twenty-four, the rest being intrusted to respectable contemporary poets, E. Fenton (1683-1730), and William Broonie (1689-1745) : the last, it is generall} 7 " thought, compiled the notes. From these two works Pope is said to have cleared between 8000?. and 9000?. Both translations are written in the rhymed decasyllabic verse, which Pope had done so much to perfect. However beautiful this metre may be for some pur- poses, as the garb of Old Homer it is singularly inappropriate. Pope's translation has also a double fault : he adds false orna- ments, and he fails to mark the discriminations in speech that "belong to Homer's descriptions. Pope's Iliad is in short *a pretty poem, but not Homer.' a It has, nevertheless, won the admiration and quickened the taste of thousands in whose esteem it has all the excellence, and, what must be deemed in a transla- 200 POETRY POPE. tion, all the faults, of an original work. It is now generally ad- mitted that i'f Pope had translated Virgil, and Dryden Homer, each translator would have done more justice to the peculiarities of the originals. ' While husy with the Iliad, Pope removed from Binfield to Chiswick, where he resided for about two years, till the be- ginning of 1716. He then removed with his mother, now a widow, to Twickenham, and there spent the rest of his life. When at Chiswick he published his collected works. In this volume first appeared the Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady, The Epistle from Sappho to Phaon, a poem taken years before from the fferoides of Ovid, and The Epistles of Eloisa to Abelard, founded on a touching story of mediaeval times. The subject of the first of these poems is a real story ot disappointed love ; and the subject of the last an unhallowed passion, followed by penitence and a life of devotion. Both poems are artificial in their arrangement and diction, yet both contain passages of great beauty, while the last abounds in imagination and feeling. One passion at least the poet has portrayed with great power and skill. All the later years of Pope's life were spent in easy, if not in opulent circumstances. His father had retired from business with a fortune of 2o,oooZ., but had feared to invest it, so that on his death the principal was considerably diminished. Pope's own savings, however, and his economy, had done much to replace this amount, and certainly his position was one of great honour and comfort. He lived in familiar intercourse with most of the courtiers, statesmen, orators, and literary men of his age, Swift and Atterbury, Addison and Bolingbroke (St. John), Arbuthnot and Warburton, Prior and Gay. Having completed the translation of Homer, he next published an edition of Shakespeare, in six volumes, quarto. The preface he prefixed is one of his best prose productions, but his notes are of little value. In fact he wanted the peculiar knowledge of Elizabethan literature, and, it may be added, of the English lan- guage, as well as the diligent research that are so essential to the elucidation of Shakespeare's text. Hence his work was deemed by the public not at all equal to the contemporary edition of Theobald, th-3 work of a far inferior man and a mere literary drudge. This superiority Pope never forgave, and revenged himself somewhr^ POPE. 201 meanly by giving to Theobald a place sf great dignity in the Dunciad. In 1727-1728 he published, in connection with Swift and Arbuthnot, three volumes of Miscellanies. Part of this work was devoted to the Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, a treatise on the abuses of learning and the mistakes of philosophy : it is a kind of literary Don Quixote. The History of John Bull, by Arbuthnot, given in the same volumes, is admirably told, but the prose writing generally is inferior, and very prone to degenerate into personalities and mere invective. Here, however, may be found some of the best -of his satirical poems. Pope belonged to a race proverbially irritable. His success, the malignity and vanity of his disposition, his impatience of all rivalry, the unworthy tone of his remarks on the comparatively low social position of many of the literary men of his age, all combined to make him enemies. At once to punish, and, if pos- sible, to crush them all, he wrote the Dunciad, the most savage and powerful literary satire in any language. It first appeared in an imperfect form in 1728, then enlarged with notes in 1729. The prince of dunces in these editions, is Theobald : in the edition of 1743) to which a fourth book was added, the chief place is re- served for Colley Gibber, actor and dramatic author, and certainly not deserving of this bad eminence. The idea of the poem seems to have been taken from Dry den's MacFlecknoe. The throne of Dulness is left vacant by the death of Shad well, and the poets of the time are made to compete for the dignity. The Dunciad abounds in personalities, and is an example of the highest power prostituted to a selfish end. Yet there are passages of great truth and beauty scattered over it, and at the close the author gives a sketch of the decline and corruption of taste and learning in Europe which may be fairly reckoned among the finest bursts of his genius. In the four following years (1731-1735), Pope was occupied in the composition of his Epistles addressed to Arbuthnot, Burlington, Bathurst, Cobham, and others. These were evidently suggested by the Epistles of Horace. Their tone, half satirical, wholly familiar, rendered them very charming and popular. At the same time appeared his noblest work, the Essay on Man t in four Epistles addressed to Bolingbroke. This Essay is part of a course of moral philosophy which the poet had projected. In the first 202 POETRY POPE. Epistle man is regarded in relation to the universe, in the second to himself, in the third to society, and in the fourth to happiness. The theories advocated are neither new, nor are they always just ; while religiously regarded the poem is lamentably defective, "iet the exquisite vigour and conciseness of the language, the melody of the verse, the aptness of the illustrations, have made the whole a favourite with nearly all writers. There is probably no piece of equal length (out of Shakespeare or Milton) that has supplied to our current literature a larger number of phrases and sentiments remarkable for their mingled truth and beauty. And now the dark period of the poet's life was near. His friends were fast leaving him ; Swift was imbecile, or rather idiotic ; in 1732 he lost Atterbury and Gay ; from Addison he had been long alienated ; in 1733 was taken from him his mother, to whom he had been fondly attached, and whose age he had soothed with a woman's tenderness. His own maladies increased, and were now aggravated with dropsy and asthma. Between 1735 and 1739 he published his Imitations of Horace, poems moral, critical, satiri- cal, containing sometimes the noblest thoughts, and still oftener the fiercest denunciations. In 1742 and 1743 he added the fourth book to the Dunciad, announcing the establishment of the kingdom of Dulness throughout the earth. The excite- ment consequent upon the threatened arrival in Scotland of the Pretender, and the proclamation of the government for- bidding Roman Catholics from appearing within ten miles of London, all told upon his physical condition ; and an ' addi- tional proclamation,' as he terms it, * from the Highest of all Powers ' summoned him away. He died at Twickenham on the 3oth of May, 1744. Besides the pieces already mentioned, Pope wrote an Eclogue on the Messiah, an adaptation of the Pollio of Virgil to a sacred theme ; an Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, an inferior imitation, appa- rently, of Dry den's, but illustrating the power of music from the story of Orpheus. He composed also a number of Epitaphs, many of them remarkable for their skill and elegance. * No man,' says Macaulay, 'ever paid compliments better than he: his sweetest confectionery had always a delicate yet stimulating flavour, which was delightful to palates wearied with the coarse preparations of inferior artists.' Some of Pope's earlier imitations of Chaucer and Ovid have all his smoothness of versification, with CHARACTER OF HIS POETRY, 203 a measure of licentiousness for which Pope is as responsible as the original writers. 190. His character and the character of his poetry, have been already indicated in the preceding sketch of his life. Both have been warmly assailed, and as warmly defended. ^ s cnaracter was undoubtedly a collection of contra- dictions. He appreciated excellence, and has admi- rably described it : yet he was guilty of meanness which it ia impossible to defend. He was a steadfast and even a tender friend, a dutiful and loving son : yet his fierceness and petulance and jealousy were unbounded and inexcusable. As a poet he is one of six to scenes from whose works is assigned an honourable place in our new Houses of Parliament his compeers Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, and Dryden. Yet he is not to be compared with Shakespeare or with Milton. He has none of the universality of the first, none of the sublimity of the second. He never describes man or nature ; and there is but little of in- sight or power in his delineations of virtue. The men and women of the eighteenth century are his themes, and his greatest ap- proach to sublimity is in description of malignant passion. Yet for wit, strong sense, taste, the mastery of masculine English, terse and beautiful versification, he is almost unrivalled and cer- tainly unsurpassed, a greater poet in this respect than his master, Dryden. The terms in which, critics describe him will vary of course with their tastes. Men who prefer argumentation to imaginative- ness, vigorous style to exuberant fancy, who deem didactic and ethical poetry the first of all, will give him a very high place, as Johnson and as Lord Carlisle * have done. Happily we are freed from the necessity of criticising such decisions. It is enough to define his class, and to give him in that class a first place. Whether the class itself is the highest is another question. 191. The charm and success of Pope's poetry produced a large number of imitators. Didactic poems blossoming into satire in i Smartiads, Hilliads, etc., antithesis aud easy rhythm soon ending in monotony, became the rage. The See Johnson's Life, and the Earl of Roscoe's Life, Pope's Works, vol. ii., and Carlisle's Lecture on the Poetry of Pope. Campbell's Specimens, Introduction, There is a good discriminative article Ixxxvil, are well worth consulting, in the Edinburgh Review for 1808. 204 POETRY POPE'S SUCCESSORS. public grew fatigued with repetitions of his manner : till towards the close of the century the poetry of nature and passion regained its popularity, and the influence of Pope ceased except hi the taste it had created for correct language and polished versifica- tion. And yet the more distinguished of Pope's contemporaries and successors adopted a style of their own. Edward Young is decidedly original in his best pieces. Thomson, who survived Pope by only four years, never copied his satire or wit, but by his glowing descriptions of natural beauty, and his true poetic feelings, vindicated his right to the dignity of Spenser's disciple. Gray and Collins aimed at the imagery and magnificent phrase- ology of the lyric and Pindaric ode. Akenside was a scholar of Pope's only in his theme, and discussed in melodious blank verse the doctrine of ideas, and The Pleasures of Imagination; while Armstrong discussed in the same metre the Art of Preserving Health, and Dyer The Art of Sheep Shearing. Some of the best of the second-rate poets, as Shenstone and Mason, had a manner of their own. In all these, however, and in others besides, the influence of Pope is seen, either in the themes they have chosen or in the melody of their verse. Johnson copied Pope's style closely in its ethical tone, its antithetic forms, and generally in the vigour and rhythm of its versification, as also did Goldsmith, and Campbell, and Byron. These last, it may be added, are disciples of Pope chiefly in the polish of their verses : in them all there is a lyrical power and a depth of feeling such as Pope never displayed. 192. Edward Young (1681-1765), author of the Night Tlwughts, was born at Upham, near Winchester, of which parish his father, afterwards Dean of Salisbury, was rector. He was educated at the Winchester School, and after wanls at New College, though not as resident. In 1708 he obtained a law fellowship at All Souls, Oxford. Four years later he began public life as courtier and poet, his first attempt at verse being an Epistle to Lord Lansdowne. After writing several minor pieces, he produced in 1721 his tragedy, TJie Revenge. It is written with all the elaboration -of the French school, but contains many touches of meditative thought, such as rendered his later works popular. Previous to the publication YOUNG. 205 of this drama he probably went to Ireland with the Duke of Wharton, 'the scorn and wonder of his days,' and he certainly gave up a position in the Exeter family to serve the Duke. After spending some time abroad he returned to England, and between 1725 and 1729, published Characteristic^ Satires on the Universal Passion, the Love of Fame. For this poem the Duke of Grafton presented him with 200?., and he .probably received other sums from the ministry of that day. It is now known that he was in receipt of a pension of 200?. a year from 1725 till his death. The Love of Fame was warmly praised by Johnson and Warton. It abounds in epigrammatic lines, and is at once keen and powerful. It occupies, in Johnson's judgment, a middle place between the Satires of Horace and those of Juvenal, possessing the gaiety of the first with the severer morality of the second. Yet as it touches only on the surface of life ' its power is exhausted by a single perusal.' When upwards of fifty, Young, despairing apparently of political power, entered the church, and in 1728 was made chaplain to George n. Two years later his college presented him to the living of Welwyn, where he spent the rest of his days. In the year 1731 he married a daughter of the Earl of Lich- field, with happier results than followed a similar union in the case of AddisoD and of Dryden. During the remainder of his long life he made several attempts to obtain preferment, but with- out success : indeed it is humbling to read the letters and appeals which he addressed to men in power on this theme. In the early years of his clerical life he published several lyrics, but of these he had, at length, the good sense to think but indif- ferently. To his wife and to her two sons by a former mar- riage he was warmly attached. The wife of one of these, Mrs. Temple, the Narcissa of the Night Thoughts, died at Nice in 1736, and four years later her husband, the Philander of Young; in the following year Mrs. Young herself. To these successive bereavements, and to the anxiety of the poet on behalf of his own son, the Lorenzo, perhaps, of his pen, we owe the Night Thoughts, their gloom and sadness. The first part of this poem appeared in 1 742. Its faults are obvious : between the nine books there is no connection, each book being independent of the rest ; the style ia very strained and artificial ; there is a strong tendency to say witty, smart things, to load his pictures with horrors, to write sensation- 2< indolence, is ' unquestionably one of the duction of its kind since the death ct most magnificent specimens of verse in Milton.' AIKIN. any language.' MONTGOMERY, Lectures 2 p 2 J POEtR Y J OHNSON. His pictures of natural scenery are well drawn and beautifully coloured. Wordsworth praises also his imagination and the purity of his style. His earlier poem is the foundation of his fame. 198. The life of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is the history of the literature of the middle half of the eighteenth century. It is enough to state its leading facts and to refer the student to his earliest or latest biographies, Boswell's inimitable gossip, Carlyle's striking article, or Lord Macaulay's brilliant sketch. Johnson was born at Lichfield on the 1 8th of September, 1709, and was the son of a respectable bookseller. The father contrived to give the son a good edu- cation and entered him at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1728. The father, however, was unable to maintain him there, and Samuel left the university without a degree. He was for a short time an usher in a private school at Market Bosworth. Having married a widow, Mrs. Porter, who was twice his age, he started a school of his own. He had three pupils, one of whom was David Garrick. After an unsuccessful career he left the neighbourhood of Lichfield, where he had been recently re- siding, and came to London, bringing with him Irene, a Tragedy, and his old pupil Garrick. Here he began his profession of public writer, critic, poet, essayist, philologist, and moralist, struggling with poverty, and ultimately gaining for himself a first place among the men of his age. In 1738 appeared his London, in imitation of the third satire of Juvenal, ' one of those imitations,' says Gray, * that have all the ease and all the spirit of an original.' In 1749, appeared The Vanity of Human Wishes, an imitation of Juvenal's tenth satire, a better poem than the preceding, with a deep 'and pathetic morality which has often extracted tears from men whose eyes wonder dry over pages professedly sentimental.' His pictures of \Volsey and Charles of Sweden have all the vigour and harmony of Dryden. Both these poems illustrate a truth upon which Goldsmith insists, viz., that in satire, the force of which depends on the characters and practices condemned, ' imitation will always give a juster idea of the ancients than translation itself.' His Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane, is one of the finest in our language, and his lines On the Death of Levett are remarkably Scott. GfcAY. 211 mournful and tender. Johnson's prose writings consist of con- tributions to The Gentleman's Magazine ; The Life of Savage ( 1 7 44) ; The Rambler (1750-1752); The Dictionary of the English Language, to which he devoted upwards of seven years ; The Idler (1758-1760), another series of Essays; Easselas (1759); 2Vi Journey to the Western Highlands of Scotland (17 75); and The Lives of the Poets (1779-1781). For the selection of these Lives he was not responsible. The work was a bookseller's speculation ; and the choice was determined by the likelihood of popularity. He is the author also of various speeches, sermons, and pamphlets, which last were published anonymously or under assumed names. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him, first, by Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards by the University of Oxford. In 1762 he received a pension from George in. of 300?. a-year, and this he enjoyed till his death on the i3th of December, 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. 199. Thomas Gray (1716-1771) was born in Cornhill, London, where his father, like Milton's, was a money scrivener, in a re- spectable position. The father was of an overbearing temper, and his wife was compelled to separate from him. It was to her exertions in business that Gray was indebted for the advantage of a liberal education, first at Eton, where his uncle was assistant master, and then at St. Peter's College, Cam- bridge. Out of a large family Gray alone had the misfortune, as he expresses it, to survive his mother. This sad early history seems to have given a pensive tone to his whole character. At Eton he made the acquaintance of Horace Walpole, son of the Prime Minister, and when his education was complete Wal- pole induced young Gray to join him in a tour through Italy and France. Walpole was fond of society and Gray of solitude ; so that it is no matter of surprise that the friends parted before the tour was complete. To his friend West, Gray has given some striking, though somewhat affected, descriptions of this journey, and has enriched them with several poems, or fragments of poems, in Latin. On his return Gray retired to Cambridge, and among its libraries and learned societies, with occasional visits to Stoke and to London, he passed the remainder of his life. He now for the first time turned his attention to English poetry. Previously he p 2 212 POETRY THE ELEGY. had devoted his thoughts to the study of the classic languages, and had written pieces in Latin with great elegance. His Latin poems are among the finest specimens of that kind of composition in our literature. Classical study he still pursued, but his poetic compositions were henceforth only in his native tongue. In June, 1742, he wrote his Ode on the Spring, the first English poem he ever finished. It was written at Stoke Pogis, near Windsor, where his mother was residing, and was sent to his friend West, who then lay dead, though for some days Gray was ignorant of his loss. His death occasioned the beautiful sonnet which is inserted in Gray's works. In the following August he wrote the Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, and the Ode on Adversity. About the same time he began his Elegy, though it was not completed in its present form till three or four years later. The Ode to Eton College was published in 1747, and the Elegy in 1751. This last had been handed round in manuscript for some years, so that the publication of it was rather a necessity than a choice. It soon passed through a dozen editions. His Pindaric Odes, including his two great ones, The Progress of Poesy and The Bard, appeared in 1 7 5 7, but met with little success. Gray's nams, however, was now well known, and this same year he was offered the office of poet laureate, rendered vacant by the death of Gibber. Gray declined the appointment, but in 1768 he obtained the more lucrative, and, as he deemed it, the more honourable position of Professor of Modern History at Cambridge. This office he held for three years, but never entered upon its duties. He drew up, however, an admirable sketch of an inaugural speech, and pre- pared a plan of private instruction for his students. He was really too feeble in health to carry out his project, and in 1771 an attack of gout carried him off in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He was buried, according to his desire, by the side of his mother, at Stoke. In 1765 he visited Scotland, and met his brother poet, Dr. Beattie, at Glammis : he also travelled through part of Wales and through the lake scenery of Cumberland. His letters describing these excursions are like the rest of his correspondence, remarkable for precision and . elegance ; for ' a dry scholastic humour,' and no less for touches of natural feeling that excite our love as much as our admiration. 200. The characteristics of Gray's mind appear in his poems in MASON. 213 all their glory. Like Milton, lie had mastered all the classic poetry of antiquity, and much of the poetry of modern Us poetry. ^^ _ ^^ ^ Milton, he admired the creations of Gothic genius. The most cultivated classic of his age, he yet was among the first to welcome the Celtic strains of Macpherson's Ossian, and is known as one of the most skilful translators of the wild superstitions of the Norse nations ; his Fatal Sisters and the Descent of Odin faithfully represent the abruptness and energy of the ancient bards. Add to these qualities fire and life, boldness of imagination, condensed and brilliant expression, deep and quick sympathy, and we have the secret of his success. His Elegy, which Johnson criticised too severely, and which Byron has warmly praised, has received the seal of universal acceptance, while his Pindaric Odes are, as compositions, unsurpassed for majesty and sweetness. If the meaning of his lines is occa- sionally latent, it is never indefinite or confused : repeated perusal may be necessary, but it is always rewarded, and as we read, beauties multiply and brighten to the view. His ear was exqui- sitely fine, and his versification has a harmony and variety found in few of our writers. 201. The name of Gray brings up by natural association that of William Mason (1725-1797), his friend and biographer. He was the son of a clergyman, was born at Hull, and was educated for the same profession. He became succes- sively chaplain of George in., rector of Aston, and precentor of York. His most popular pieces are the dramas of Caractacus and Elfrida, The English Garden, Odes on Independence, Memory, Melancholy, and Tyranny, and several Elegies. His dramas are deemed by Southey to be greatly superior to those that were then popular, though encumbered with choruses. His Odes are inferior to those on the same subjects by Thomson and Shenstone, while his strained and alliterative style exposed him to the ridicule of Lloyd and Colman. Mason was a fervent admirer of Gray, and has often caught his spirit and copied his excellences. His Memoir and Letters of Gray is generally regarded as the first specimen of that style of biography. The subject of the memoir tells his own story, and the reader's conception of his character is gathered from materials supplied in detail by the hero of the biography himself. Boswell states that in his Life 214 POETKY COLLINS. of Johnson, he adopted Mason's plan, as it was afterwards adopted by Hayley in his Life of Cowper, by Moore in his Life of Byron, and by Lockhart in his Life of Scott. 202. William Collins (1720-1759), another of our lyric poets, was a native of Chichester, where his father was hatter and alderman. Collins was admitted a scholar of Win- chester School in 1733, and was first on the list for admission to New College, Oxford. As there was no vacancy on that foundation he entered elsewhere as a commoner. Three years afterwards he quitted the university with a high character for ' ability and indolence.' While yet a youth he published an epistle to Hanmer on his edition of Shakespeare, and a collection of Persian or Oriental Edogues. On leaving the university (1744) he proceeded to London, a literary adventurer, * with many projects in his head, and little money in his pocket." It was not, however, till 1747 that he published his Odes, and these seem to have been forced from him by his necessities. Unhappily they fell stillborn from the press, and the author was compelled to go abroad to escape from the pecuniary difficulties under which he was struggling. He first called hi all the unsold copies of his Odes, burnt them, and then, raising a few guineas on a promised translation of Aristotle's Poetics, went to his uncle, who was serving with his regiment in Germany. On the death of this uncle Collins became entitled to a sum of 2000?. The first use he made of what was to him a fortune was to repay the sums that had been advanced to him. He hoped now to enjoy life, but it was too late ; his mind and his body were both diseased. It was found necessary to place him under restraint. In that state, with intervals of gentle, quiet suffering, he remained till his death in 1759. His poetic compositions fill but a few pages, and were at first coldly received. After his death, however, they began to be appreciated, and now he * is of all our minor poets the one who has shown most of the higher qualities of poetry ,' b His Ode to the Passions especially, which may be compared with Dry den's Alexander's Feast, was soon extolled by the critics, and was fre- quently recited in the theatres. His Oriental Eclogues are also now recognised as among the earliest representations of Eastern Johnson. k Hazlitt. ARMSTRONG. 215 Imagery and of Eastern life. Campbell thinks that his works, most of which were written before he was thirty, will bear com- parison with whatever Milton wrote under that age. They ex- hibit, indeed, ' less exuberant wealth of genius, but more exquisite touches of pathos/ He certainly deserves to be reckoned with Jonson, Milton, Dryden, and Gray, among the first lyric writers in our literature. 203. Armstrong and Akenside are poets of another class, the one attempting to incorporate material science with poetry, and the other mental philosophy. John Armstrong (1709-1779) was born at Castleton, in Roxburghshire, where his father was minister, and was educated for the medical profession at the university of Edinburgh. After taking his degree he removed to London, where he took to literature, from inclination as well perhaps as from necessity. In 1744 appeared the poem on which his reputation chiefly rests TJie Art of Preserving Health, and it was soon followed by two others on Benevolence and Taste. In 1760 he was appointed physician to the forces in Germany. On the peace in 1763 he returned to London, where he practised till his death in 1779. He was a man of more than ordinary taste in the fine arts, and of shrewd, caustic, conversational powers ; yet if the character which Thom- son gives him in the Castle of Indolence be just, the exercise of those powers must have been intermittent rather than con- tinuous : ' With him was sometimes joined in silent walk One shyer still, who quite detested talk.' Some of the stanzas of that poem, those, for example, that speak of the diseases arising from sloth, Armstrong wrote ; and they form, it must be admitted, a quiet background to the strongly-coloured pictures of the Castle, rather than a prominent part of the scene. The Art of Preserving Health is divided into four books, which treat of air, diet, exercise, and the passions. Milton, in the vision of Adam, has turned disease itself into a subject of sublimity. Armstrong claims the praise of having traced with poetic beauty both diseases and their remedies. His verse re- sembles Cowper's in its vigour, but it wants the imaginativeness and grace which distinguish the writings of that poet. Various prose pieces, Sketches Try Launcelot Temple (1758), 216 POETRY AKENSIDE. Miscellanies (1770), were written by Armstrong, but add nothing to his fame. The writer shows an increase of splenetic humour, creditable neither to his feeling nor to his philosophy. 204. Mark Akenside (1721-1770) the son of a butcher, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne. An accident inhis early years, caused by the fall of his father's cleaver on his foot, lamed him for life, and perpetuated the memory of his lowly birth. He received his education at the grammar school of that town, where Lord Eldon, Lord Stowell, and Lord Collingwood also received the rudiments of learning : he afterwards graduated at the universities of Edinburgh and Leyden. On his return to England he settled for a short time at Northampton, then at Hampstead, and finally in London. Here he gained ultimately the highest honours of his profession, and when he died was physician to the queen. His chief poem, on The Pleasures of Imagination, he completed before he left Leyden. On reaching London it was sent to Dodsley, who, by Pope's advice, purchased and published it. The sum he gave was 120^., then deemed a large amount for such a work. It immediately gained a measure of celebrity which it has scarcely maintained. In later life Aken- side altered it in parts without improving it : he made it, indeed, only more dry and scholastic, and is said to have remodelled some of the passages which in their primitive state are still most ad- mired and popular. He also published a collection of Odes, and in 1 746 he engaged to write in the Museum, a periodical then issued by Dodsley's house. Akenside's genius was decidedly classical : he had extensive learning, lofty conceptions, and a true love and knowledge of nature. His Puritan origin and tastes gave an earnestness to his moral views which pervades all his writing. His ear, though not equal to Gray's, was correct, and his blank verse is free and beau- tifully modulated, deserving to be studied by all who would excel in that truly English metre. His philosophical ideas are taken chiefly from Plato, Shaftesbury, and Hutcheson. He adopted Addison's threefold division of the sources of the plea- sures of imagination, though in his later edition he substituted another. The poem is seldom read continuously, but it contains many passages of great force and beauty ; those for example where he speaks of the death of Csesar, where he compares nature SHENSTONE. 217 and art, where he describes the final causes of the emotion of taste, and in a fragment of a fourth book, where he sketches the landscape on the banks of his native Tyne, and notes the feelings of his own boyhood. His Hymn to tlie Naiads has the true classic ring, and has caught the manner and the feeling of Calli- machus. His inscriptions, those for example on Chaucer and Shakespeare, are reckoned among our best, and have been imitated by both Southey and Wordsworth. His odes are his least suc- cessful productions ; his Ode to the Earl of Huntingdon having received most favour. Yet withal, his popularity was greater in his own day that it is likely to be in ours popularity attributable to the influence of the writings of Gray, and especially to the revived study of Milton and other classic models through the notes and writings of Warton. It may be added that, upon the question sometimes discussed, whether the progress of science is favourable to poetry, Akenside differs from Campbell. The latter speaks of poetic feelings that yield ' to cold material laws :' the former holds that the ' rainbow's tinctured hues ' shine the more brightly when science has inves- tigated and explained them. 205. Nature and description flourish again in Shenstone and Goldsmith. William Shenstone (1714-1 763) was born at the Lea- sowes, in Shropshire, a small estate which he made by hi g taste, * the envy of the great, and the admiration of the skilful -' a He was first tau g nt at a dame-school, and has immortalised his teacher in The Schoolmis- tress. In 1732 he entered Pembroke College, Oxford, and, on the Leasowes coming into his own hand, he retired to that place and there remained most of his life, influenced therein partly by his fondness for gardening, and partly by disappointed love and dis- appointed ambition. Here he wrote his pastorals and his elegies works which, if not remarkable for genius, are certainly among the best of the class to which they belong. They abound in simplicity and pathos, though they are wanting in force and variety. Campbell thinks, and probably with justice, that if he had gone more into living nature for subjects, and had described their realities with the same fond and naive touches which give a Johnson. ' Shenstone educated the dening -which has become the model of uation into that taste for landscape gar- Europe.' D'ISEAELI, Curios, of Lit. 218 POETRY GOLDSMITH. BO much deiightfulness to Ms Schoolmistress, he would have increased his fame. His Schoolmistress was published in 1742, though it was written at college. The poem is a descriptive sketch in imita- tion of Spenser's style, ' so quaint and ludicrous, yet so true to nature,'* that it reminds the reader of the paintings of Wilkie or of Webster. His Pastoral Ballad is a happy specimen of that kind of composition, and, it may be added, one of the latest ; the Arcadianisms in which it indulges having given place to the real-life descriptions which are found in Burns and Hogg. The whole is written in the well-known metre : * She gazed as I slowly withdrew, My path I could hardly discern ; So sweetly she bade me adieu, I thought that she bade me return.' His prose essays and letters occupy two volumes of the three of his works as published by Dodsley ; the former are good speci- mens of English style ; without the learning of Cowley, but with a good deal of his ease and elegance. 206. Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) was born at Pallas, county Longford, Ireland, and was the son of the curate of that parish. Goldsmith. ^ s ^ atner afterwards became rector of Kilkenny West, hi the county of Westmeath. In this dis- trict, Goldsmith spent his boyhood, and here, at Lissoy especially, a neighbouring hamlet, he found the materials for his Deserted Village. In 1745 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar, and after a somewhat irregular course (for in his case ' the child was father of the man ') he took his degree of B.A. in 1749. Aided by his uncle, he proceeded to Edinburgh, where he studied medi- cine for two sessions, still in difficulties, owing sometimes to his heedless extravagance, and sometimes to his generous disposition. He is next found at Leyden, having had a remarkable deliverance from shipwreck before reaching that place. In 1755 he set out on a pedestrian tour with, it is said, a guinea, a shirt, and a flute. In his journey he visited Flanders, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, often earning a welcome, as he tells us in his Traveller, by his music. At Padua he stayed some months, and, there, is supposed Chambers. GOLDSMITH. 219 to have taken his degree of doctor of medicine. In 1756 he reached England unknown and poor, but with dreams of tame and wealth. Here he first obtained a place as assistant to a chemist in Monument Yard. Then he commenced practice as a physician in a humble way at Bankside, in South wark ; then be- came reader and corrector of the press to Richardson, the novelist ; then usher of a school at Peckham ; then reviewer and critic to the MontUy Eeview. After a vain attempt to pass an exami- nation at Surgeon's Hall, he gave himself up to literature, and lived thenceforward solely by his pen. In this character ' every- thing he touched he adorned,'* and he became celebrated as prose writer, as historian, as novelist, and as poet. The style of every- thing he wrote is remarkable for its idiomatic clearness ; as his- torian and naturalist his ' facts ' are often erroneous or partial. Among his most successful prose writings are his Chinese Letters, afterwards published under the title of The Citizen of the World, and the History of England, in a series of letters from & nobleman to his son : the latter was extensively popular, and was generally ascribed to Lord Lyttelton. In December, 1764, appeared his poem of The Traveller. It was immediately re- ceived with universal applause, and was pronounced by Charles J. Fox one of the finest poems in our language. Meanwhile, his pecuniary difficulties rather increased than diminished ; and in 1766, Johnson, who had long been his friend, found him in his lodgings in great perplexity, threatened by the bailiffs without and by his landlady within. The sale of the Vicar of Wakefield, which Johnson effected for 6ol., gave him temporary relief, and secured for him a first place among the writers of his age. His ballad, The Hermit, came out in the following year ; and in 1768, the publication of the Good-natured Man made a change in the reigning fashion of comedy, by substituting innocent mirth for questionable sentimentality. His Deserted Village appeared in 1770, and in 1773 his second comedy She Stoops to Con- quer: between these two appeared his Roman History, and later, his History of England in four volumes, and his History of Greece in two. These were all written to order for the booksellers, but with a grace which no other man could have given to works executed in that way. His last and largest work is his History of Animated Nature, which was to be completed Jobiison's Epitaph. 220 POETKY GOLDSMITH. in eight volumes, and was to be paid for at the rate of a hundred guineas a volume ; but before the work was completed, his health foiled, and on the 4th of April he died in the forty- seventh year of his age. He was interred in the Temple burial ground, and a monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. 207. Goldsmith's character was a strange mixture of littleness and attractiveness. His vanity and thoughtless profusion qualities that seemed to justify even Boswell in looking down upon him are obvious enough. On the other hand, the simplicity, strength, and pathos displayed in his writings, his open-handed beneficence, running however sometimes into folly or even vice, and the tender affection which -he inspired in men like Burke and Eeynolds, are proofs that he had nobler qualities than cursory readers of Boswell's Johnson might suppose. But whatever may be thought of his personal character, of his writings there is but one opinion. His poetry enjoys 'a calm and steady popularity.' It has no traces of daring genius or of prolific invention, but it abounds hi natural delicacy and correctness, with occasional elevated views of a philosophic kind ; the whole written with great harmony and terseness of style, and saturated with gentle and tender feeling. The plan of the Traveller is natural and simple. The poet has reached some Alpine height, whence he looks down on the king- doms below : he views the scene with delight, but sighs to think that the sum of human bliss is so small. Is there no spot, he is ready to ask, where true happiness can be found ? Natives of many countries are summoned, and each commends his own. The poet concludes that if nations are compared, their happiness will be found to be about the same ; and he illustrates his opinion by describing the manners and government of Italy and Switzerland, of France, Holland, and England. In beauty of description, in strong sententious reasoning, in bursts of true poetry, these lines have seldom been surpassed. His character of the men of England, Johnson used to read with great energy and feeling. The Deserted Village professes to give the history of Auburn. Amid much beauty and truth, the author advocates the pursuit of agriculture, as more likely to conduce to the happiness of a people than the development of commerce or of manufactures ; condemns the luxurious and selfish spirit of hastily acquired MINOR POETS. 221 wealth, and complains that it generally produces the pomp arid solitude of a feudal mansion, without its hospitality and protec- tion. Johnson notes that the Village is somewhat an echo of the Traveller. Campbell thinks it the better poem. Macaulay thinks it inferior, too limited in its views, and somewhat incongruous in its details. 8 Whatever be thought of these criticisms, or of the political economy of the poem, no reader will question the deliciousness of the fancy or the nobleness of the moral sentiment. b 208. The obligations of our literature to the minor poets of this period we must summarise in a briefer form. We owe to WILLIAM SOMERVILLE (1692-1742) squire and poet the Chase, a poem in blank verse (1735), an( i Occasional JOHN BYROM (1691-1763) Manchester man and shorthand writer, tutor of Gibbon and of Horace Walpole a felicitous pastoral piece entitled Careless Content, written in the very style of the age of Elizabeth, and extensively popular in that day : MATTHEW GREEN (1696-1737) a dyspeptic Custom-house clerk the Spleen, a poem which Pope and Gray warmly praise, written in Hudibrastic verse, to cure the low spirits to which its author was subject : c RICHARD SAVAGE (1696-1 74 3) the reputed son of Earl Rivers a volume of poems containing the Wanderer (1729), and the Bastard (1728), the latter written with much truth and earnest feeling : WILLIAM OLDYS (1696-1761) Norroy King at Arms, and author of a life of Raleigh the Anacreontic lines, ' Busy, curious, thirsty fly :' WILLIAM HAMILTON (1704-1754) the 'volunteer laureate' of the Jacobites the Braes of Yarrow, a ballad of real nature He shrewdly remarks : ' It is made Though the sentiment is borrowed from up of incongruous parts. The village in Young. its happy days is a true English village; In his Retaliation, a fragment on the the village in its decay is an Irish character of Burke, Garrick, Beynolds, village.' etc., there are several lines illustrative of his shrewdness and wit : b In his ballad on Edwin and Angt- ' And to party gave up what was Una we have the lines : meant for mankind.' ' Man wants but little here below c Here is found the oft-quoted line, Nor wants that little long :' Throw but a stone, the giant dies.' 222 POETRY MINOR POETS. and pastoral simplicity; which suggested the three poems of Wordsworth on the same theme : ISAAC HAWKINS BBOWNE (1706-1766) member of Parliament imitations of Gibber, A. Phillips, Thomson, Young, and Swift (1736), in which he hits off their peculiarities with a skill unsur- passed either by Anstey in the New Bath Guide, or by the Smiths in the Rejected Addresses : HENBY BBOOKE (1706-1783) an Irishman, early loved by Pope, Lyttelton, and Chatham several dramatic pieces, of which Gustavus Vasa is best known ; and a philosophical poem on Universal Beauty : SIB C. H. WILLIAMS (1709-1759) some trenchant satires, and some gross poems, though fewer than are included in his collected works (1822) : EDWABD MOORE (1712-1757) son of a dissenting minister at Abingdon a volume of Fabksfor the Female Sex, which rank next to Gay's; the effective tragedy of the Gamester; and several poems of which Goldsmith thinks highly : RICHARD GLOVEB (1712-1785) London merchant, and mem- ber of Parliament a poem written when the author was but six- teen, to the Memory of Newton, prefixed by Pemberton to his View of the Newtonian Philosophy ; the publication of Green's poem on the Spleen ; Leonidas, in nine books, afterwards increased to twelve, a poem praised by Fielding, by Lord Cobham, Chatham, and other friends of liberty, and even by Southey for a kind of Spartan severity that commands respect ; and Admiral Hosier's Ghost, a ballad intended to raise the national spirit against the Spaniards : WILLIAM WHITEHE AD (171 5-1 7 85) Poet Laureate after Gray had declined the office two indifferent dramas, The Roman Father and Creusa, and a lively poem on Variety, often quoted in the last century : JAMES MERRICK (1720-1769) Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and tutor of Lord North a version of the Psalms, several hymns and short poems of great elegance, including the Wish and the Chameleon : JAMES GRAINGER (1721-1766) translator of Tibullus, and for some years a resident hi St. Kitt's a poem on the Sugar Cane, 4 flat and formal," and an Ode on Solitude (1755), the opening Southey. MINOR POETS. 223 lines of which Johnson pronounced very noble,* and ' the whole containing some of the sublimest images of nature :' b THOMAS BLACKLOCK (1721-1791) blind almost from his birth sermons and theological treatises ; an article on Blindness in the Encyclopaedia Britannica; and a volume of poems (1746- 1756), which, though tame and commonplace, contain descrip- tions that under the circumstances are remarkable enough; Burns was indebted to him for kindly sympathy at a time when it was much needed : CHRISTOPHER SMART (1722-1770) an unfortunate man cf genius, of whom Gray truly prophesied a jail or Bedlam The Hilliad ; a translation of the Fables of Phasdrus ; several Psalms and Parables in verse ; and a Song to David, possessing great vigour, and written on the walls of the madhouse where he was confined : TOBIAS SMOLLETT (1721-1771) novelist and historian the Ode to Independence, a piece that possesses much of the strength of Dryden, combined with an elevation of moral sentiment not common in that author ; the Ode to Leven Water, a piece that Scott warmly praises ; and the Tears of Scotland, wept over the severities of the Duke of Cumberland after the battle of Culloden : his fame, however, rests chiefly on his prose writings ; his poetry, though pure in tone, is wanting in force and life : JOHN SCOTT (1730-1783) a Quaker poet An Essay on Painting, full of good sense; Amwett, a descriptive poem in blank verse ; both rich in descriptions of nature ; Moral Eclogues, and Oriental Eclogues of a more questionable quality : WILLIAM FALCONER (17 30-1 769) mariner the Shipwreck, a poem at the head of its class, describing a calamity which he himself had witnessed, and by which he was to die ; The Dema- gogue, a political satire aimed at Churchill and his party, and written with manly energy : CHARLES CHURCHILL (1731-1764) 'the comet of a season; a clergyman, a Wilkite and a reprobate the Eosciad, a keen personal satire; the Epistle to Hogarth; The Ghost; Gotham; and other pieces, none likely to find willing readers, though his satire is bitter and vigorous, and was once very formidable, ' and his versification has a swing peculiarly his own ;' even Cowper praising some of his lines as noble and beautiful : ERASMUS DARWIN (1731-1802) physician, a materialist in ft Croker s Boswell, iv.i so. * Percy's Reliques, ii., 362. 224 POETRY MINOR POETS. poetry as in philosophy Tlie Botanic Garden, in three parts (1781-1792), with an account of the economy of vegetation, and of The Loves of the Plants, all personified or controlled by gnomes and sylphs ; besides the Temple of Nature, published after his death, and a feeble echo of his earlier work : W. J. MICKLE (1734-1788) printer at the Clarendon Press, and secretary to his kinsman, Commodore Johnstone a free and flowery translation (1771-1776) of the Lusiad of Camoens, a Portuguese epic, which had a large sale ; Syr Martyn, a moral poem in the manner of Spenser, and sundry ballads of great pathos and beauty, of which Cumnor Hall suggested Scott's Kenttworth: to him we owe also the Mariner's Wife with its lines of inimitable tenderness ; * His very foot has music in't As he comes up the stair' lines, however, supplied by Dr. Beattie ; and its well-known re- frain, ' There is nae luck about the house :' JOHN LAXGHOBNE (1735-1779) lecturer at St John's, Clerk- enwell, preacher at Lincoln's Inn, and county magistrate the best translation of Plutarch's Lives ; sundry sermons and me- moirs ; and, in poetry, The Country Justice, with many touching though somewhat too elegant descriptions of the miseries of humble life the same theme as Crabbe's, but without his raciness or power ; Owen of Carron, a ballad founded on the old Scotch tale of GU Morrice, to which, however, it is decidedly inferior : JAMES BEATTIE (1735-1803) Professor of Moral Philosophy at Aberdeen the Essay on Truth (1770), a singularly clear and popular treatise ; and, in poetry, The Minstrel (1771), a descrip- tive poem on the progress of genius, written in the Spenserian stanza, with great harmony of style, rich imagery, and delicate sentiment, the whole warmly praised by Gray, and received with applause by all classes : JOHN WOLCOT, better known as Peter Pindar (1738-1819) physician, clergyman, and satirist sundry epistles on the topics and public men of the times ; the Lousiad; Peter's Prophecies, and some sixty poetical pamphlets, all showing facility and ease of expression and illustration, and raising the writer to an equality with Churchill at least, as caricaturist and satirist : to him we are indebted also for the discovery of the genius of Opie, a Cornish boy, and eminent painter : MINOR POETS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 225 W. H. EGBERTS (1745-1791) D.D., and Provost of Eton A Poetical Essay on the Attributes of the Deity, A Poetical Epistle to Charles Anstey on the English poets, and Judah Re- stored (1774), a work of considerable merit : WILLIAM HAYLEY (1748-1820) the friend and biographer of Cowper, country gentleman, and one of the most popular poets of his day Essays on Painting and on Epic Poetry ; several unsuccessful tragedies, and fairly successful epitaphs (on Mr. Unwin and Cowper for example) ; and The Triumphs of Temper (1781), his best piece; poems which, though not deserving the sweeping censure of Byron, ' for ever feeble, and for ever tame,' were greatly overrated, as now they have fallen below their proper level: to his influence Cowper was indebted for the pension conferred on him by Pitt : SIR WILLIAM JONES (1746-1 794) a modern Crichton, Indian judge, and Oriental scholar various learned treatises ; an Essay., on the Law of Bailments, a standard work of its class ; and, in poetry, translations and paxaphrases, of which the Persian Song of Hafiz is now best known, though ' it is not his poetry that will perpetuate his name :' a JOHN LOGAN (1748-1788) minister at Leith, afterwards writer for the press, whose history illustrates ' the calamities of authors ' Runnimede, a drama which cost him his parish, and was not allowed to be acted, as the Barons were thought by the Lord Chamberlain to express themselves too strongly ; two volumes of sermons, which have had considerable popularity ; an Ode to the. Cuckoo, * magical stanzas of melody and sentiment/ admired by Burke ; The Braes of Yarrow ; a dramatic poem entitled The Lovers ; A Visit to the Country in Autumn ; and several hymns ; all written with tenderness, and in language select and poetical : EGBERT FERGUSSON (1750-1774) the poet of Scottish city life, one of the most fruitful contributors to Ruddimarfs Weekly Magazine, and the poetical progenitor of Burns, who cherished for him a somewhat extravagant admiration Auld Reekie ; an Address to the Tron Kirk Bell ; with other pieces descriptive of local manners, and exhibiting broad comic humour; and The Farmer's Ingle, which suggested the Cotter's Saturday Night of Burns : WILLIAM GIFFORD (1756-1826) shoemaker, self-made trans- " Southey. Quarterly Review, vol. xi. 226 POETRY MINOR POETS. later and critic, editor of the Anti-Jacobin and the Quarterly- The Baviad, a paraphrase of the first satire of Persius, and directed against the sentimental poetasters of his day ; the Mceviad, an imitation of Horace, directed against the corruptors of dramatic art ; an Epistle to Peter Pindar, more remarkable for its vehemence than for its power ; various short poems, dis- tinguished in their satire by pungency, and often happy in expression : WILLIAM SOTHEBY (1757-1833) chiefly known as a successful translator of tragedy, * who imitated everybody, and sometimes surpassed his models'" the play of Orestes, formed on the model of the ancient Greek drama ; Constance of Castille, a poem in tea cantos, in imitation of Scott's poetical romances ; a poem on Italy ; a short poem on Saul (1807), and especially a translation of Wieland's Oberon (1798), which charmed its author; a trans- lation of the Oeorgics (1810-1815), and of the Iliad and Odyssey (1831-1832) a gigantic undertaking for a man upwards of seventy years of age, and executed, as Wilson thinks, in a way superior to the versions of Dryden and Pope, though less Homeric than the version of Cowper. b 209. We shall fail to do justice to;the poetry of the eighteenth century unless some note be taken of its hymn writers. There are some that belong to the seventeenth century whom the world will not willingly let die Herbert, Witller M* 011 * Baxter, Ken, J. Mason, Austin, and William Burkitt. But those that occupy the largest place in the religious life of England belong to the eighteenth, and to the period we are now discussing. A good hymn has been described by a modern authority as 'a poem possessing simplicity, freshness, and reality of feeling ; a consistent elevation of tone, and a rhythm easy and harmonious, but not jingling 01 trivial.' 6 It must be also a lyrical ode, t.e., an ode fitted for the utterance ot natural sentiment in song. Conceits, affected feeling, meanness of style, a didactic tone, are fatal to it. And it is in the combination of these good qualities that the best hymns of the eighteenth century excel. Various causes concurred to draw attention to this kind of composition. The translations of Sternhold and Hopkins, and Byron. b Wilson's Critical Essays, voL iv. c Roundell Palmer HYMN WK1TERS. 227 the somewhat improved version of Tate and Brady, are, as a whole, wanting in all the essential qualities upon which Sir Koundell Palmer insists, and are faulty alike in style and in sen- timent : they have little poetry in them, and they fail to express the feelings which must struggle for utterance in an earnest heart under the dispensation of the Gospel. A taste for congre- gational psalmody had also sprung up in different communities, to whom the old chant, adapted only to the very language of Scrip- ture, seemed monotonous. The popularity moreover of the melo- dious versification of Pope and his school, created a demand for something more harmonious and artistic in public hymnody; while the quickened religious life connected with the revival of religion in the latter half of the century, made a collection of evangelical hymns a necessity. As in other cases, the demand created a supply. 210. The first, partly to create this want, as well as to meet it, was Isaac Watts (1674-1748). He was horn at Southampton, Watts and and gave indications of genius while yet a child. At others. the age of sixteen it was proposed to raise a subscrip- tion for his support at the University, but he decided to abide by the faith of his fathers, and was sent to a dissenting academy. After being for some time tutor to Sir John Hartopp's family, he became minister at Mark Lane, London. In 1712 he was inVited to spend a few days with Sir Thomas Abney, and re- mained, as he tells us, upwards of thirty years, till his death, enjoying uninterrupted friendship in a family ' which, for piety, order, harmony, and every virtue, was a house of God.' a It is to these happy circumstances that we are indebted for many of his works. Treatises on Log-ic and The Improvement of the Mind, sermons, essays, and poems, employed his pen till, full of years and honours, he entered into rest on the 25th of November, 1748. His lyric poems, though now little read, display natural feeling and good taste. His hymns are still among the best of our lyric songs, forty out of the four hundred of the Book of Praise being taken from Dr. Watts, while a large number are to be found in every collection of psalmody. His Divine Songs for Children give him the privilege of being better loved and more studied than any other writer of verse in the language. Dr. Gibbon's Life. Q 2 228 POETRY HYMN WRITERS. Dr. Watts was followed in this good work by John Berridge, vicar of Ever ton (1716-1793); John Newton, African slave- dealer, vicar of Olney, and friend of Cowper (1725-1809); Martin Madan (1726-1790), founder and first chaplain of the Lock Hospital; A. M. Toplady (1740-1778) ; and Edward Per- ronet, son of the vicar of Shoreham (1785) : By Simon Browne, of Old Jewry (1720) ; Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), Northampton, pastor and tutor; Joseph Hart (1712-1768), of Jewin Street: By John Wesley (1703-1791) and his brother Charles (1708- 1788); William Williams (1717-1791), Welshman, clergyman, and Methodist; Thomas Olivers (1725-1779), Welshman and Wesleyan : By John Cennick (1717-1755), churchman, Methodist, and Moravian : By Ralph Erskine (1685-1752), Presbyterian minister at Dun- fermline ; Logan (1770), and Michael Bruce (1768) : By Beddome (1717-1795), of Bourton ; Samuel Stennet (1727- 1795); John Fawcett (1739-1817); Robert Robinson, of Cam- bridge (1735-1790); Benjamin Wallin (1711- 1782) ; Benjamin Frances (1734-1799); Samuel Medley (1738-1799); and Miss Steele, of Broughton (1716-1778), in Hampshire. The hymns of these writers would fill several volumes. Some of each, it may be safely said, will guide the devotions, and give Their excel- expression to the feelings of the Christian church ,for lence. a g es to come. The authors are classified in this list according to the religious denomination to which they belonged ; but from most of then* hymns, it would be impossible to tell the sect of the author. Their hymns breathe out the devout thankful- ness and the longing hope that are common to all true Christians, and in this respect the writers have one Lord and one faith. SECTION V. COWPER, WORDSWORTH, AND MODERN POETS. 211. Ballad poetry is a power in most communities. 'Give me,' said Fletcher of Saltoun, ' the making of the ballads of a influence of nation, and I care not who makes the laws.' It was a ballad poetry. Ballad singer who led the Normans to victory at the battle of Senlac. The Welsh bards inspired their countrymen with such fury, that Wales remained unconquered till they were destroyed. The Swiss air of the Ranz des Vaches is forbidden to PERCY'S RELIQUES. 229 be played by the bands of Swiss regiments on foreign service. Lord Wharton's song, the Lilliburlero (a great favourite of Uncle Toby's), had no slight influence on the Eevolution. The Marseillaise Hymn shook the throne of the Bourbons, and Dibdin's naval songs helped to quell the mutiny at the Nore. 212. Nor less is their influence on taste. From the year 1765, when Dr. T. Percy, afterwards bishop of Dromore, pub- Percy's lished his Beliques of English Poetry, may be dated Reiiques. th e rev ival of a love of nature, of simplicity, and of true passion, as distinguished from the cold correctness of the preceding half century. These volumes contained several ol songs and ballads, and a selection of the best lyrical pieces of modern authors. Percy has also added some of his own : his ballad, Nancy, wilt thou go with me ? The Hermit of Wark- worth, and the cento, entitled The Friar of Orders Gray, a compilation to some extent from fragments of ancient ballads, deserve special mention. The influence of this volume was wide and general. It gave the first impulse to the genius of Scott, who in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, collected, similar relics of northern genius : it may be traced in Cowper, and Wordsworth, and Coleridge. *I do not think,' says "Words- worth, ' that there is an able writer in verse of the present day, who would not be proud to acknowledge his obligations to the Eeliques : I know that it is so with my friends : for myself I am happy to make a public avowal of my own.' Percy was born at Bridgnorth in 1728, and was bishop of Dromore from 1782 till his death in 1811. He was the friend ^ Johnson and Gold- smith, and hailed the rising genius of Sir Walter Scott. 213. This influence of the Religues was confirmed by the labours of the Wartons, a family to whom most departments of English literature are under obligation. Thomas 3 * Warton, the historian of English poetry, was the second son of Dr. Warton of Magdalen College, Oxford, who was twice appointed Professor of Poetry in that University. His son Thomas was born in 1728, and died in 1790. In 1757, twelve years after the death of his father, he was appointed Pro- fessor of Poetry. One of his earliest publications was an elaborate essay on the Faery Queen. He also edited Milton's minor poems an edition which Leigh Hunt calls, because of its notes, 230 POETRr PHE WARTONS. a wilderness of sweets. His reputation, however, rests chiefly on his History of English Poetry (1774-1781), in which he traces its progress from its origin to the reign of Elizabeth, ' the most poetical age,' as he calls it, ' of our annals.' What Pope and Gray had planned, Warton executed, and his work is now a storehouse of facts connected with our early literature facts equally curious and valuable. In 1785 he was appointed poet laureate and also Camden Professor of History. His own poetry is remarkable for a kind of martial spirit and Gothic fancy ; some of his sonnets Hazlitt reckons among the finest in ouj language. His elder brother, Joseph Warton, the schoolfellow of Collins, the editor of an edition of Pope's works, and an intimate friend of Johnson's, was head master of Winchester School, and, though inferior as a poet to his brother, has written some pieces that deserve a place in our poetical collections. His Ode to Fancy is generally deemed his best piece. His Essay on Pope's genius and writings is a valuable contribution to our literary criticism. 214. One of the first effects of this attention to our ancient poetry in the eighteenth century was the publication of three of the Lite most remarkable literary frauds which the world has forgeries.- ever seen, by Macpherson, Chatterton, and Ireland. Ireland. Those of William H. Ireland (1777-1835) consisted of the Shakespeare forgeries, and owed their popularity to little else than Ireland's skill in the mechanical imitation of old writing, and to the unaccountable credulity of the public. One of the plays, Vortigem, which he reproduced as Shakespeare's, was acted in 1795, and John Kemble took a part in it. Ireland soon after acknowledged that he was the author of these forgeries. Macpherson and Chatterton owed their temporary popularity to other influences. The former had some foundation for the so- called poems of Ossian, and he has at all events filled his pages with incidents and allusions taken from Celtic antiquity. Chat- terton threw all the critics off their guard by his youth he was but eighteen when he died and that he should have possessed at that age the ripeness, the genius, the antiquarian taste and acquirements which the poems displayed, seemed in the highest degree improbable. For the public faith therefore in the authenti- city of the Ossian and Rowley frauds much may be said in excuse. MACPHERSON: OSSIAN. 231 215. James Macpherson (1738-1796) was born at Kingussie, and was intended for the Scotch church. Some years he spent as teacher of a school at Kuthven, and afterwards of a P rivate pupil who became Lord Lynedoch. In 1759 he made the acquaintance of Mr. Home, the author of Douglas, to whom he showed what professed to be translations of some ancient Gaelic poetry. In the following year he published a small volume of Fragments, which excited such general attention that a subscription was made to enable him to visit the Highlands and collect other pieces. The results ap- peared when, in 1762, he published Fingal, an epic poem, in six books, and in 1763, Temora, in eight books. The sale of both works was immense, but grave doubts were at once raised as to their genuineness. Many in the Highlands affirmed that the name of Ossian and innumerable events and persons mentioned in Fingal had been familiar to them from their childhood. It was said also, and is now acknowledged, that there are Celtic remains in Ireland as well as in Scotland, which prove the exist- ence of traditions not unlike those which Macpherson has em- bodied in Ossian. It must be added that most of the pieces which are confessedly written by Macpherson, his Highlander, an heroic poem in six cantos, (1758), and his prose translation of the Iliad (1773), are inferior to Ossian. All this was urged in proof of the authenticity and antiquity of the poems. The English critics on the other hand, Johnson included, doubted the possi- bility of the existence in the third and fourth centuries of such chivalrous feelings and sentiments as Fingal describes, and the possibility of handing these down through long and uncertain traditions to modern times. They asked, and asked in vain, for the original Gaelic poems, the sight of which would have settled the controversy. They appealed to the numerous passages in Ossian clearly borrowed from Homer, the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, and Thomson the last a very favourite poet in Scotland. They noted the fact that extant MSB. which speak of Ossian speak of him as a contemporary of St. Patrick, who lived centuries later than the time assigned to the alleged Ossian and his poems, while the few verses that are attributed to him on more solid grounds have an entirely different character. Such were the arguments on the other side. The result is, as dispassionate critics on both sides of the Tweed allow, that there 232 POETRY CHATTERTON. are no such epic poems as Ossian represents, but that a large amount of tradition and incident has been dressed up and embel- lished by Macpherson himself. By the sale of these poems Mac- pherson realised about 1200?. Some years later he defended the taxation of America, replied to the Letters of Junius, entered Parliament as member for Camelford, and was agent of the Nabob of Arcot. He acquired a handsome fortune, and died in 1796, ' making no sign,' nor leav- ing a single hint to throw light upon this controversy. In accordance with his will he was buried in Westminster Abbey, and a monument was erected to his memory on his estate at Belleville, in his native parish. The wild imagery of Ossian and its sensational language made the poem long popular throughout Europe. Gray praised it, and Napoleon copied it. In Germany and in Russia there still lingers the conviction that it is the production of a true genius. 216. No name in our literature affords an example of earlier precocity or of a sadder career than that of the ' marvellous boy who perished in his pride,' Thomas Chatterton. He was born at Bristol in 1752, was son of a sexton and parish schoolmaster, and died by suicide before he had completed his eighteenth year. Yet in that brief interval he gave proof of power unsurpassed in one so young, and executed a number of forgeries almost without parallel for ingenuity and variety. The writings which he passed off as originals he professes to have discovered in 'Cannynge's Coffre/ a chest preserved in the muniment room of the old church of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. These he produced gradually, generally taking advantage of some public occurrence likely to give them an interest. In October, 1768, a new bridge across the Avon was opened, and forthwith he sent an account of the ceremonies that took place on the opening of the old bridge processions, tournaments, and reli- gious solemnities. Mr. Burguin, who was fond of heraldic honours, he supplies with a pedigree reaching back to William the Conqueror. Tc another citizen he presents the Romaunt of the Cnyghte, written by one of his ancestors between four and five hundred years before. To a religious citizen he gives an ancient fragment of a sermon on the Holy Spirit, ivroten by Thomas Rowley in the fifteenth century. To another with anti- HIS HISTORY. 2S3 quarian tastes lie gives an account of the churches of the city three hundred years before ; and to Horace Walpole, who was busy writing the History of British Painters, he gives a record of Carvellers and Peyncters who once flourished in Bristol. Besides all these forgeries he sent to the Town and Country Magazine a number of poems which occasioned a sharp controversy. Gray and Mason at once pronounced them spurious imitations, but many maintained their genuineness. Meanwhile Chatterton had obtained a release from the attorney's office where he had served for the last three years, and had come to London. Here he wrote for magazines and newspapers, gaining thereby a very precarious subsistence. At last he grew despondent, took to drinking, which aggravated his constitutional tendencies, and after being reduced to actual want, tore up his papers, and destroyed himself by taking arsenic. He was interred in the burying-ground of the Shoe Lane Workhouse, and the citizens of Bristol afterwards erected, in their city, a monument to his memory. His poems, published under the name of Kowley, consist of the tragedy of Etta, the Ode to Mia, a ballad entitled The Bristow Tragedy, or the Death of Sir Charles Bowdin, some pastoral poems, and other minor pieces. The Ode to Ella has all the air of a modern poem, except spelling and phraseology. Most of the others have allusions and a style more or less appropriate to the time in which they profess to have been written ; but they are none of them likely to deceive a competent scholar. Chatterton dis- plays occasionally great power of satire, and generally a luxuriance of fancy and richness of invention, which, considering his youth were not unworthy of Spenser. His avowed compositions are very inferior to the forgeries a fact that Scott explains by sup- posing that in the forgeries all his powers must have been taxed to the utmost to support the deception. 217. The poets who belong to the latest stage of our literature, though all showing the influence of the master spirits of the reign of Queen Anne, and all illustrating that love of & ' the natural which had sprung up towards the close of the eighteenth century, are as widely different in style and character as the poets of any earlier period. Some excel in vivid descriptions of natural scenery, and of common life, as Cowper, Crabbe and Southey ; some in the expression of religious senti- 234 POETRY RETURN TO NATURE : COWPER. ment, as Grahame and Pollok, or of ethical wisdom, as Words- worth and Coleridge ; some are eminently lyrical, as Burns, Shelley, Keats, Moore, Hood, and our hymn writers ; some have theme* of every kind, as Scott, Byron, Moore, Campbell, K. and E. B. Browning, and Tennyson. It may be added that nearly all thr. tendencies which we note ia Cowper and Southey become in- tensified as we approach our own age: later poets 'carry to further perfection simplicity of narrative, reverence for human passion and character, and devoted love of nature ; while main- taining on the whole the advances in art made since the Restor- ation, they renew the half-forgotten melody and depth of tone which mark the Elizabethan writers, and with a richness of language and a variety of metre never previously attained.'* 218. William Cowper (1731-1800) begins this series: 'the most popular poet of his generation, and the best of the English letter- writers.* 1 * He was born at Berkhampstead, where his father was rector. Of noble family on both sides, he was appointed, after a few years spent at the law, with Thurlow for his fellow-student, to a clerkship in the House of Lords ; but having to appear before that august body, he was overcome by nervous terror and attempted suicide. The ap- pointment was of course given up, and after he had been some time at St. Albans under medical treatment, he retired to that seclusion which he never afterwards left. He went first to Huntingdon, where his brother resided. There he formed an acquaintance with a clergyman of the name of Unwin, and be- came a member of his family. On Mr. Unwin's death he con- tinued to reside with his widow, and now the names of Mary Unwin and William Cowper are indissolubly joined in the story of Cowper's life as well as in his writings. On the advice of John Newton, a man remarkable in many ways, and then curate at Olney, the Unwins and Cowper removed to that town. Here he engaged, at Newton's suggestion, in writing hymns ; but his melancholy gaming ground, he was for two years laid aside. On his recovery in 1775, he took to gardening, to hare-keeping, and to poetry. This last became his favourite employment. In 1782, when he was past fifty, he published his first volume, containing Table Talk, the Progress of Error, Conversation, Expostulation^ F. T Palgrave. b Soathey. COWPER. 235 Hope, Charity, etc., all of them marked by an earnest tone, and containing several protests against the infidelity which the school of Voltaire was then seeking to make popular. The sale was slow, both from the themes of which it treats and from a certain want of melody that impaired the versification ; but the book was warmly praised by Johnson, then near his end, and by Franklin. Lady Austen, a widow who had come to reside in that neigh- bourhood, now made the acquaintance of Cowper,. told him the story of John Gilpin, whose feats of horsemanship he was to immortalise, and advised him to try his hand at blank verse. This advice produced the Task, and in the same volume appeared Tirocinium, John Gilpin, published two years before, and the Sofa. The Task, says Southey, ' is one of the best didactic poems in our language ;' ' a glorious poem,' as Burns calls it ; at once descriptive, moral, and satirical ;' and its success was instant and decided. After the publication of this volume Cowper entered upon the more arduous work of the translation of Homer, setting himself forty lines a day. At length the forty thousand verses were completed, and in 1791 he published the whole by subscription in two volumes quarto, * The best version of the great poet/ as both Southey and Wilson think. Mean- while the friendship with Lady Austen had been dissolved, and Cowper had removed to Weston, about a mile from Olney. Here he had for a time the society of his cousin, Lady Hesketh, and of the Throckmortons, the owners of Weston. But his malady returned, and was aggravated by the illness of Mrs. Unwin. Hoping that both might be relieved by a change of scene, he removed again into Norfolk, where his friend Hayley was settled. There, in 1796, Mrs. Unwin died; and after her death the poet lingered on for three years under the same dark shadow of de- spondency, occasionally writing, and listening with interest to all that was read to him, but without permanent relief. His last piece, The Castaway, which shows no decay of mental power, though he was then in his seventieth year, is amongst the most touching poems in any language. Cowper' s personal history is one of the most affecting in lite- rature. He had the richest wit and humour, yet a large part of his life was spent in sadness. Of an eminently humble and con- fiding spirit, he lived in dread of eternal condemnation. He to Mrs. Dnnlop, Letter of Dec. 25, 1795. 236 POETRY COWPER'S EXCELLENCES. wrote pieces which have given consolation to all classes of Chris- tians, yet he himself took no comfort from them : he even re- garded them as aggravations of his guilt. Happily all this has now passed away. He bequeathed an inexhaustible treasure to mankind, and he now knows the blessedness he has so touch- ingly described. The qualities which give Cowper a high place in our poesy i't is not difficult to define. For humour and quiet satire ; for ap- preciation of natural beauty and domestic life ; for strong good sense and devout piety; for public spirit and occasional sub- limity ; for gentle and noble sentiment ; for fine descriptive powers employed with skill on outward scenes and on character ; for ease and colloquial freedom of style ; and for the strength and harmony of his later versification especially, he has rarely been equalled : and for these qualities combined he has never been surpassed. And it is this combination that most excitea admiration. His satire is often keen but never personal. He is earnestly religious,* but his religion never blunts his sensibilities to the glories of nature ; nor does it ever, though eminently spiritual, unfit him to appreciate the sacredness of human rights or the fault of wrong- doing. He has evidently been polished by intercourse with the world, but he has preserved a very unworldly degree of purity and simplicity. Never was poet more lonely or sad, and yet by none has domestic happiness been more impressively described. With the ripeness and decision of age, he has the sportiveness and susceptibility of youth. Nor is it easy to decide whether we are attracted most by the excellence of each quality or by the softness and harmony of the whole. No one of these qualities, however, nor the combination of them all is sufficient to explain the healthy influence he exerted on English poetry or the love with which he is now regarded. He is practically the founder of the modern school of poets an honour he owes chiefly to his reality and naturalness. It is this excellence which gives attractiveness to all he has written. Pope's poems are, at least, as finished as the best of Cowper's, and more finished than most of his earlier pieces. Young is often apparently as religious, sometimes as merry, and certainly as * ' The religion of The Task is the that exalts and ennobles man.' BTJENB. religion of God and nature ; the religion To Mrs. Durdop, Dec., 1795. BURNS. 237 witty. Thomson's pictures of nature have greater variety and more ideal "beauty than Cowper's. But Pope's poetry is art, Cowper's nature. Young's religion and mirth seem to belong to two different men. From every line Cowper has written the very man beams forth, always natural, consistent, and unaffected ; while his descriptions of nature excite sensations rather than ideas, and the poet lives and moves in every scene. In short, his poetry has the polish and vigour of the eighteenth century, the warmth and feeling of the seventeenth, with a naturalness and a reality all his own. And this last, the naturalness and a reality of a loving, gentle, devout heart, is the secret of his strength. 219. Contemporary with Cowper is the greatest poet that Scotland has produced, Eobert Burns (1759-1 796). They worked together, though unconsciously, to bring back poetry to truth and nature, and each has exercised great influence on his age and nation. Burns was born at Alloway, near Ayr, and received a common school education. His chief advances in general knowledge he owed to the books he read, among which he mentions as favourites the Spectator, the works of Pope, and the poems of Allan Eamsay ; among unprinted books were the songs and ballads, mostly of unknown authorship, which then circulated through that part of Scotland, and some of which were collected by Percy and by Scott. A little later Burns' reading became more extensive, and to his list of favourites were added Thomson, Shenstdne, Sterne, and Henry Mackenzie. When sixteen years of age he fell in love, and his feelings, as he tells us, at once burst into song. His first volume of poetry was issued in 1786, from the provincial press of Kilmarnock : it became immediately popular, and has ever since exercised the greatest influence on the mind and taste of Scotland. His Tarn o'Shanter was deemed by Burns himself to be his best piece, and in this judgment Campbell, Wilson, and Montgomery concur. The combination it exhibits of the terrible and the ludicrous is very characteristic. His Bruce's Address, A Cotters Saturday Night, the Mountain Daisy, the Mousie's Nest, and his lyric to Mary in Heaven are equally characteristic, though in a very different strain ; as are Mary Morison and Ae fond Kiss, 1 a poem that contains,' says Scott, ' the essence of a thousand love tales.' Indeed nothing is more remarkable in Burns than his 238 POETRY CRABBE. range of subjects, and the appropriateness both of language and of feeling with which he treats them. Romantic landscape, the superstitions of the country, the delights of good fellowship, the aspirations of ambition, the passion of love, all are treated with a master hand, while he displays in each, as occasion requires, the pathos of Sterne or of Richardson, the humour of Smollett, the descriptive power of Thomson, and the sarcasm of Pope or of Churchill : though all are too often disfigured with irreverence and licentiousness. His songs, however, are the main foundation of his popularity : of these he has written upwards of two hundred with great geniality and power. The common Scottish dialect was never used with more freshness or grace than by him. The success of his poetry induced him to take the farm- of Ellisland near Dumfries, where he married his 'bonny Jean,' and united the functions of exciseman with those of farmer. He entered upon his new occupation at Whitsuntide, 17 8S. The farming proved a bad speculation. In 1791 he relinquished it and removed to Dumfries, subsisting entirely upon his income in the Excise, which yielded about 70?. a year. In his office, a dangerous one to men of his tendencies, intemperance gradually gained upon him ; disappointment and self-reproach embittered his life ; want threatened him ; and in his thirty-seventh year he sank into an untimely grave. A more mournful history the records of our literature do not supply. It must be added that in his poems are sad proofs that he quarrelled with the moral teaching of Pres- byterianism, as well as with what he deemed its narrowness and doctrines. His youth and early manhood, his simplicity and genius, it is impossible to contemplate without admiration ; but his closing years were darkened by neglect, and, alas ! by low habits unworthy of his fame. a His letters, published in Dr. Currie's Life of Bums, must be read by all who would understand his character, though they give a less favourable impression of his naturalness and simplicity than his poems. 220. A third poet who ranks with Cowper and Burns in pro- ' Like all other mortal beings he had timent. His Epistle to a Young Friend his faults; great even in the eyes of (1786), and the Verses left at a Friend' t men ; grievous in the eyes of heaven.' House, are specimens. The last contains WILSON'S Speech at the Sums' Festival. the well-known lines : Some of his earlier poems, it should be ' May they rejoice, no wand'rer lost, added, are rich in beautiful religious sen- A family in heaven !' CRABBE. 239 moting a healthy taste in poetry is George Crabbe, * nature's sternest painter, yet the best,' as Byron styles him. Crabbe. in 1 754 at Aldboruugh in Suffolk, where his father was collector of salt duties. Though in poor circum- stances, the father gave him a fair education, and apprenticed him to a surgeon apothecary. George finding his prospects uncertain, abandoned the profession and proceeded to London, where he found a friend in Edmund Burke, under whose auspices The Library was published in 1781. Aided by Thurlow, he entered into holy orders, and was successively curate of Aldborough and chaplain to the Duke of Kutland. In 1783 appeared The Village, u poem revised and praised by both Burke and Johnson. Its success was immediate and complete : some of its descriptions that, for example, of the parish workhouse are largely quoted and admired for their close observation and stern truthfulness. In 1807 he published The Parish Register, a work in which Charles James Fox took an interest, especially in the story of Phebe Dawson. In 1810 appeared The Borough, and two years later the Tales, containing probably the finest of his delineations of humble life. In 1814 the Duke of Rutland, in whose neighbourhood at Belvoir Castle, Crabbe had been labouring for some years, presented him to the living of Trowbridge, and there he passed the remain- der of his life, spending a considerable part of his liberal income and of his time and strength in acts of beneficence and charity. His love of literature still continued, and in 1819 he published his last work of any pretension, TJie Tales of the Hall. This vo- lume was received with less enthusiasm than his previous works ; and it must be acknowledged that the author's skill lay rather in sketching the characters of humble life than those of a higher class. Crabbe had great fondness for nature, great power of delinea- tion, and a quiet shrewdness of observation which excited the admiration of Campbell and others who knew him. He died in 1832, and a complete edition of his works, for the copyright of which Mr. Murray had given the handsome sum of 3000?., was published in 1834, with a good memoir written by his son. Ths characteristic of Grabbers poetry is its truthfulness. Pre- vious pictures of rural life he knew to be largely untrue: he made it, therefore, his business to describe the Parish as he found it. The whole picture is dark and humiliating, yet in many of his sketches there are ssenea as bright and glowing as anything in 240 POETRY SCOT! 1 . Scott. His power in painting a landscape is unsurpassed : a long waste of sand, fens covered with rushes, and pools of water, be- come in his treatment objects of interest and even of beauty. With his rough energy of description, his manly style of versifi- cation, and the intense interest of many of his stories, there is nothing wanting in his poems but more humour and more kindly human feeling to make them universally popular. 32i. The poet of nature is not confined to the contemplation of external beauty or of rural simplicity. His province includes passion and sentiment, and all that gives dignity and greatness to human character. Scott and Byron are as really natural poets as are Cowper and Wordsworth. Walter Scott (1771-1832) was born in Edinburgh, and was the son of a writer to the signet. His mother was daughter of Dr. w i Sco t. Rutherford, Professor of Medicine in the University of that city. By both sides he was connected with those ancient Border families whose deeds and characters his genius was to make immortal. A weakly constitution, and a lameness which he contracted in early life, induced his friends to send him into the country, and his boyhood was spent near Kelso, within reach of many of the scenes which he has enshrined in his writings. When but thirteen years of age he read Percy's Rdiques, and that work acted upon his fancy as Spenser's Faery Queen acted upon the fancy of Cowley, exciting an intense love for poetry, and especially for poetry of the ballad form. At the High School of Edinburgh, and at the University, he gained no great character for scholarship, being averse to Greek, addicted to athletic sports, and fond of miscellaneous reading. He acquired, however, a taste for German literature, which was then begin- ning, under the patronage of Henry Mackenzie, the author of the Man of Feeling, to attract attention. Afterwards, among his first literary productions, he published, in 1796, translations of Biirger's Lenore and The Wild Huntsman. At Gilsland he became acquainted with Miss Carpenter, whom he married. The young couple retired from Edinburgh to reside at Lasswade, and Scott's life was henceforth one of severe study. In 1799 appeared his translation of Gdtz of the Iron Sand, and the same year he obtained the appointment of Sheriff-substitute of Selkirkshire, worth about 300^. a year. Scott now made some of his raids, as HIS POEMS. 241 lie called them, into the districts of Liddesdale and Annandale, in continuation of a plan he had already formed for collecting Border ballads. In 1802 the result appeared in the publication of the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. In the care with which this work was compiled, containing, as it did, some forty pieces never before published, and in the wide and picturesque learning with which the whole was illustrated, might have been seen the germs of that taste for romantic poetry, as well as for antiquarian lore, which was soon to make him, in those fields, the first man of his country or age. He next edited the romance of Sir Tristrem, which he supposed to have been written by Thomas the Rhymer, who nourished about 1280. This tale he illustrated with a com- mentary, and completed by adding a number of lines in imitation of the original. He now changed his residence to Ashestiel on the Tweed, and in 1805 published The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the first of those works which were to exercise such influence on our later literature. The success of this volume was immense, and it sug- gested to Scott that poetry was his calling rather than the bar. Shortly after the publication of the Lay he unhappily entered into partnership with his old schoolfellow, James Bannatyne, a printer in Edinburgh, though his connection with that firm was long kept secret. In 1806 his friends obtained for him a principal clerkship in the Court of Session, worth at first 800?. a year ; and this, with the profits of his works, must have yielded him a handsome income. In 1808 appeared his great poem of Marmion, the most magnificent of his chivalrous poems, and in 1810 The Lady of the Lake t which was still more popular than its predecessors. In quick succession came The Vision of Don Roderick (1811), Rokeby, and The Bridal of Triermain (1813), The Lord of the Isles (1814), The Field of Waterloo (1815), and Harold the Dauntless (1817). These later poems, it must be admitted, arc much inferior to the earlier ones. The public were growing weary of his style ; the genius of Byron began to appear above the horizon ; and Scott, who was too wise and too generous to complain, resolved to try his hand in a new kind of composition, in which he was to reap still larger rewards. He left the old vein and struck into another still richer than the first. Meanwhile by his poems he had done more to revolutionize the public taste than any of his predecessors for the last hundred years. 2 B 242 POETRY CHARACTER OF SCOTT'S POEMS. Besides these poems and his novels, which last belong to the later period of his life (1814-1831), he edited the works of Dryden (1808) and of Swift (1814), with biographies and notes, wrote the amusing Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1830), The Tales of a Grandfather, and The Life of Napoleon (1827). The Lay of tJie Last Minstrel is a Border story of the sixteenth century, related by a minstrel for the amusement of the Duchess of Buccleuch. The character of the aged minstrel, the last of his race, and that of Margaret of Branksome are finely sketched. The goblin page, the tourney, the raid, and the attack upon the castle are all described with great energy, while each picture is set in a frame of natural beauty and moral reflection, often very impressive. Here occur the description of Melrose and the stanzas on the love of country, familiar to most readers. Mar- mion is a tale of Flodden Field, and the main action has a loftier historical interest than the Lay. As a poem, however, it is less complete. Norham Castle, the fierce onset of the Battle of Flodden, the death of Marmion, are all well-known scenes. In The Lady of the Lake, Scott entered upon new ground. He intro- duces us to the wild mountaineers of the Highlands and to the chivalrous court of James v. The adventures of the disguised king, the sombre character of Eoderick Dhu, the grace and ten- derness of Ellen Douglas, are easily recalled. The Lady of the Lake was the most popular of Scott's poems. In a few months after its publication twenty thousand copies were sold, and the district of Loch Katrine, where the action is laid, was visited by thousands of tourists. The glamour of the poet's genius is thrown, as Macaulay expresses it, over the whole region, and even over the barbarous tribes that peopled it. The comparative merits of the different poems of Scott are now easily settled. The first three are unquestionably the greatest, according to Scott himself. The interest of The Lay of the Last Minstrel depends chiefly upon the style, that of Marmion upon the descriptions, that of The Lady of the Lake upon the incidents. Rokeby contains many beautiful descriptions, but the epoch of the civil war, to which it belongs, is one in which Scott is less at home than amid the customs of feudalism ; and the lover, who is the centre of the picture, is generally regarded as insipid and unreal. The Lord of the Isles, with its account of the exploits of Eobert Bruce, is a favourable theme for Scott's tastes. The HIS POPULARITY. 243 scenery of the Western Highlands, with its savage grandeur, and the struggle of Bannockburn, are described with all the vigour and life of the master's hand ; but the poem wants interest, depending for effect, as it does, almost entirely on description, Harold the Dauntless and the Bridal of Triermain are anachron- isms. The old Scald, whose character is given in the former, is made a chivalrous Christian gentleman, while Triermain is a legend of the cycle of King Arthur, treated theatrically and feebly. The Vision of Don Roderick, though based upon an interesting tradition, is really a psean on the defeat of the French in the Peninsula, as The Field of Waterloo is a like psean on the great victory of modern times. In both the author strives to be forcible and picturesque, but he is clearly outside his magic circle, and the reader feels that the mighty wizard is shorn of half his strength. Yet all these poems have passages of great tenderness and power. Many of his shorter ballads, Glenfirilas, The Eve of St. John, and many of the lyrics introduced into his volumes, are of acknowledged beauty. The martial energy of the Pibroch o' Donuil Dhu, the graceful gallantry of Young Lochinvar, sung by Lady Heron in Marmion, the solemn sadness of the Hymn of the Hebrew Maid in Ivarihoe, the sly jollity of Donald Caird t have never been surpassed, and seldom equalled. 222. The secret of the success of Scott's poetry lay partly in his subjects, partly in his mode of treating them, and partly in his versification. He loves to sketch knighthood and chivalry, baronial castles, the camp, the court, the grove, with antique manners and institutions. To these he adds beautiful descriptions of natural scenery, and graphic delinea- tions of passion and character. His personages he takes sometimes from history and sometimes from imagination, the former idealised by fancy, and the latter made the more real by being associated with men and women already familiar to us on the page of history or in actual life. The knights of Spenser, the everyday characters of Chaucer, the ladies of Shakespeare, the antiquarian lore of Drayton, all meet on his canvas, and everything capable of life seems endowed with it. In this power of vivifying and hai- monising all his characters, Scott is second only to Shakespeare. For background he has magnificent groupings of landscape and incident, which acquire additional charm from the power he gives K 2 244 POETRY BYRON AND SCOTT. them, of exciting human sentiment and emotion. The opening de- scription in RoTceby, and the verses found at the beginning of most of the cantos in his other poems are examples. His general manner of treatment is also well suited for popular effect. Pre- vious sketches of chivalry and of antiquity were made in stilted and obsolete phraseology : Scott's language is always forcible and transparent. His characters are all typical rather than indi- vidual, and as such they excite universal sympathy. They are drawn, moreover, by broad and vigorous strokes, not by a delicate analysis of motives, or a curious exhibition of contending passion. It is life that he reveals, not anatomy ; and we learn to love his heroes as personal friends. His versification, moreover, is ever appropriate to his purpose : it is based upon the eight-syllabled rhyming metre of the Trouveres, which was admirably adapted by its easy flow for narrative poems. But that metre alone would have been very monotonous : Scott has therefore blended with it a frequent mixture of other kinds of English verse, trochaic, dac- tylic, and anapsestic : his most common expedient is to employ a short six-syllabled line after octo-syllabic couplets or triplets a variety that gives at once melody and strength. At other times he makes the third and sixth lines rhyme, forming a six-line stanza. The idea of this versification Scott himself says was taken from the example of Coleridge, and especially from the Christabel, in which the metre is irregular, and often very musical.' 223. Byron and Scott are not easily compared. Scott is the poet of romantic history, Byron of actual and everyday life. Scott Byron and develops his characters through his plot, Byron by Scott. direct description of their thoughts and speech. Scott is seldom seen in his lines, Byron is the chief figure in his. Scott is ever trustful, gentle, unselfish, chivalrous : in Byron we have lofty genius and generous impulses in strangest combination with misanthropy, scepticism, and licentiousness: Scott is intensely human, Byron ' Satanic/ Both, however, are mannerists, and both are writers of animated poetry. Both excel in painting strong passion in contrast with feminine softness and delicacy (Scott's skill in passion-painting being shown chiefly in his novels), but the softness of Byron's beauties is sensual and Eastern. 234. George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), was born in BYRON'S HISTORY. 245 London, and was the son of a profligate father, and an Aberdeen- shire heiress of ancient family, and of a very fond Byron. . , . ... .,-,- , , , yet passionate disposition. Her husband soon squandered her property, and she, with her son, retired to Aber- deen, where they spent some years in very narrow circumstances. The death of Byron's great-uncle made him heir apparent to one of the oldest English baronies and to large encumbered estates, including the noble residence of Newstead Abbey. On succeeding to the title he was sent to a private school at Dulwich, then to Harrow, and afterwards, in 1805, to Cambridge. Here he was distinguished by his moody temperament, his irregularities, his friendship for men of great talent and sceptical principles, his desultory reading, especially in Oriental history and travels, and by his strong precocious feeling for already, while still a boy, he had felt, with morbid violence, the passion of love, first for Mary Duff and then for Mary Chaworth. It was while at Cambridge, in 1807, that he wrote Hours of Idleness, by Lord Byron, a, Minor. There are in this volume some indications of genius, but many more of want of judgment and taste. A short critique in the Edinburgh Review, supposed to have been written by Lord Brougham, called attention to its faults, saying nothing in its praise. The young poet replied in vigorous style in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, attacking not only the Edinburgh, but nearly all the eminent literary men of the day. Ashamed of this publication, he tried to suppress it, and then left England for a couple of years of travel. In the spring of 18 1 2 he published the first two cantos of Childe Harold. This poem was received at once with the utmost enthusiasm. ' I awoke,' says the author, * one morning and found myself famous.' It was soon followed by a succession of Eastern tales upon somewhat the same plan as Scott's, The Giaour and TheBrideofAlydosin 1813, The Corsair and Lara in 1814. In Childe Harold he had adopted the Spenserian stanza ; in The Corsair and Lara, he adopted the heroic couplet, and in the rest the somewhat irregular octo- syllabic metre of Scott. With a style as free and energetic as that of the Northern poet, with feelings far more intense, with scenery, manners, and passions at least as fresh as his, it can excite no surprise that the light of Scott's genius paled before Byron's. He was now the lion of the metropolis, and indulged freely in 246 POETRY BYRON'S HISTORY. all its pleasures and excesses. At this time (1815) he married Miss Milbanke, the daughter of a Durham baronet, and a lady of considerable expectations. The marriage proved an unhappy one, and may bo said to have cast its shadow over the whole of. the poet's subsequent life. Domestic discomfort was em- bittered by extravagance and embarrassment. They parted, and the poet, wounded by the public scandal of the separation, left England never again to return. The remainder of his life he spent in Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. There he sought relief by passionate misanthropic attacks on all that his countrymen held sacred, and by habits of sensuality and vice which were as un worthy of his genius as they were mischievous in their influence upon his character and health. While in England he had written The Siege of Corinth, a tale remarkable for the force and variety of its descriptions, and Parisina, a repulsive though pathetic story. During the first six months of his residence at Geneva he pro- duced the third canto of Childe Harold, the finest of the whole, and The Prisoner of Chilian, a painful story told with inimitable tenderness. In 1817 appeared his dramatic poem of Manfred, rich in detached passages of great grandeur, but without dramatic completeness, and the fragment of Tasso. In the following year, while at Venice, and during a memorable visit to Rome, he com- pleted Childe Harold, and threw off his slight .poem of Beppo. At Ravenna he resided till 1821, where he wrote Mazeppa and his dramas, most of them declamatory and undramatic ; some of them, as Cain and Manfred, illustrating his mocking sceptical spirit, partly real and partly assumed, and others of them, Werner and Sardanapalus, popular from the opportunities they give for stage effect. At this time he plunged into gross excesses, and associated, as Shelley notes, with persons of low character and lorals. When rescued in part from this degradation, it was only to fall in love with the young wife of an old and wealthy noble- man, who left her husband and resided with the poet till he de- parted for Greece. The result of these habits is seen in Don Juan, the first five cantos of which were published in 1821 : in the following year he published ten more. In none of his writings does he display more wit, more knowledge of human nature, or more vigour of thought and imagery but all is debased by wild profanity and gross licentiousness. In 1823 he set sail for Greece to aid that unhappy country in its struggles for independence. In BYRON'S QUALITIES. 24? this work lie combined great practical wisdom with warm sym- pathy, and in three months had done much to compose differences and to promote patriotic feeling among all classes. He was seized with the marsh fever of Missolonghi, and sank under it, the more easily from the excesses which had already weakened his constitution. He died in 1824, at the early age of thirty-six, the names of his wife and child and sister still lingering upon his lips. His remains were brought to England, and interred in the family vault at Hucknall, near Newstead. 225. The qualities of Lord Byron's poetry are easily indicated. Childe Harold is certainly one of the finest poems of this century ; His poetry the third book especially, containing sketches of and genius. Swiss scenery and striking reflections on Napoleon, Yoltaire, and Rousseau, with the magnificent description of Waterloo, is a masterpiece. In intensity of feeling, richness and melody of expression, and gloomy misanthropical tone, it stands alone in our literature. Both Jeffrey and Scott, the representa- tives of different classes of critics, have praised it for its beauty and power.* His romantic tales are too numerous for lengthened examina- tion, and they all exhibit similar peculiarities of thought and treatment. They are in general mere fragments : they describe brief hours of passion and of action, never in any case a whole life. The chief personages, moreover, are two, and two only. The first i&a man, who adorns or overshadows every scone, sometimes as author, sometimes as subject of the reflections on which the interest chiefly turns. Whether he is 'Harold looking on his receding country and the setting sun, the Giaour casting his scowl on crucifix and censer, Conrad leaning on his sword by the watch-tower, Lara smiling on the dancers, Alp gazing steadily on the cloud as it passes the moon, Manfred wandering among the precipices of the Oberland, Uzzo on the judgment-seat, Ugo at the bar, Cain presenting his unacceptable offering and talking argumentative blasphemy ;' there is essential sameness in them all. Such differences as exist are due to age and circumstances. Everywhere it is Byron who speaks a man proud and moody, 'with defiance on his brow and misery in his heart;' full of scorn and revenge, yet capable of deep, strong feeling. Charac- * Edinburgh Review, vol. 27. Quarterly Review, No. xxxi. 248 POETRY BYRON'S QUALITIES. ters not representative of himself are all insipid and unnatural. The second is a woman, all softness and gentleness, ' loving tc caress and to be caressed,' but a true Oriental in unintelligence, in passionateness, and, if need be, in ferocity. Withal, these poems abound in impressive descriptions, tender, passionate, pro- found, though all are coloured by the feelings and the indivi- duality of the writer. Among the poems that illustrate his power may be mentioned his satires, The Vision of Judgment, a severe attack on Southey, The Age of Bronze, a piece of vehement description, and The Curse, of Minerva, directed against Lord Elgin for despoiling the Par- thenon. Amid all the fierceness which these poems exhibit, there are passages remarkably picturesque and beautiful. Perhaps the most tender of all his pieces is The Dream, a con- densed and touching life drama representing his own history. The genius of Lord Byron is one of the most remarkable in cur literature for originality, versatility, and energy. It is true that his quick sense of beauty made him a mimic of other poets : it is true that as the wealth of his own resources raised him above the suspicion of unfair copying, he never scrupled to imitate whatever he most admired ; but it is no less true that he is on the whole one of the most original writers of his age. His versa- tility is perhaps less obvious. The monotony of his motives and of his characters strikes every reader ; but, characters and tone apart, his style and imagery and sentiments are endlessly diver- sified, nor has he treated a single subject in which he has not excelled. His energy, however, is his most striking quality : * thoughts that breathe and words that burn ' are the common staple of his poetry. He. is everywhere impressive, not only in passages, but through the whole body and tissue of his com- positions. With all this we cannot but concur in Lord Jeffrey's judg- ment : * the general tendency of Lord Byron's writings we believe to be in the highest degree pernicious ; though his poems abound in sentiments of great dignity and tenderness, as well as in pas- sages of infinite sublimity and beauty ;' it is ' their tendency to destroy all belief in the reality of virtue, and to make all enthu- siasm and consistency of affection ridiculous.' * His sarcasm blasts alike the weeds of hypocrisy and cant, and the flowers of Jeffrey's Eftay, 1i. 121 ; i 122 . MOORE, 249 faith and of holiest affections> It may be added that his plan of blending in one and the same character lofty superiority and con- tempt for common-place virtue, heroism and sensuality, great intellectual power and a mocking profane spirit, is as unnatural as it is mischievous. 226. Thomas Moore (1779-1852), the friend and biographer of Byron, was the poet of fancy, wit, and sensibility, as Byron Moore was ^ P oet ^ passion and energy. He was a na- tive of Dublin, and his parents were Boman Catholics. In 1793, when Parliament opened the University of Dublin to all classes, young Moore was sent to it, and he there distinguished himself by his classical attainments. In 1 799 he went to London, nominally to study law, but really to commence a career of great popularity and success as a literary man. He first appeared as an author in a translation of the Odes of Anacreon (1800), which he dedicated to the Prince of Wales. In this volume the Teian bard is set forth in a highly-coloured and voluptuous style a style , however, which displays much of the elegance and refinement of Moore's later works. In 1801 he ventured upon the publication of a volume of original poetry under the assumed name of Thomas Little, an allusion at once to his name and to his stature. In these pieces there is a warmth and indelicacy of feeling of which Moore himself was afterwards ashamed. Meanwhile he had become, by his conversational powers and musical skill, a great favourite in all circles, and had formed a taste for fashionable frivolity which injured the dignity and independence of his character. In 1803 he was appointed to a government office in the Bermudas, an appointment which enabled him to visit America and the Antilles, and to which we owe a volume of Odes and Epistles published in 1806. The duties of the office were to be discharged by a deputy, and as he proved unfaithful to his trust, the poet was subject to serious loss. The defalcations of the agent Moore replaced from the fruits of his literary labours. Henceforth, nearly the whole of his long life was devoted to writing many of his works obtaining immense success. One of the most popular of these was his volume of Irish Melodies, a collection ot about a hundred and twenty lyrics a Shaw, p. 431. 250 POETRY -MOORE'S POEMS. adapted to Irish national airs of great beauty, and some of thorn of great antiquity, the music being arranged by Sir John Steven- son, an Irish composer of some celebrity. The versification of these songs has never been surpassed for melody and appropriate- ness : they have also the merit of redeeming from words vulgar and sometimes indecent, airs which they have consecrated to the memory of the glories and sufferings of Ireland. Besides these songs, Moore composed about seventy others, intended to be sung to tunes peculiar to various countries. These he called National Airs. Though inferior to the former in intensity of natural feel- ing, they have all the appropriateness and refinement of expression that distinguish the Irish Melodies. A similar collection of Sacred Songs he also published, but these form a less happy specimen of his lyrical genius. All these songs possess a certain finish of beauty which is very charming : those on Ireland and on the sufferings of Ireland, especially, are characterised by great vigour, reality, and tenderness. The more elaborate poems of Moore are Lotto, RooJch (1817) and The Loves of the Angels (1823). The former is by far the best. Lalla Eookh is an Oriental romance, consisting, like Hogg's Queen's Wake, of several stories strung together. It opens with a prose love tale describing the journey of an Oriental princess to the King of Bucharia, her betrothed husband. While stopping on the way for repose, a poet is introduced, who accompanies the travellers, chants four separate poems, wins her love, and turns out to be the King of Bucharia. The four poems are The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, The Fire Worshippers, Paradise and the Peri, and The Light of the Harem. The first is written in heroic couplets, and is a poem of great energy : the other three are written in the eight-syllable irregular rhyme which Scott and Byron have rendered so popular. The simplest and the best of these is Paradise and the Peri. It describes the efforts of an exiled fairy to regain admission into heaven : she offers successively the last drop of blood of a patriot, the last sigh of a devoted lover, and the tear of a penitent. Many of the descriptions are beau- tiful, and Oriental scenery and manners are sketched with the greatest vividness and truth. The Loves of the Angels is a story based upon the passage in Genesis in which the ' sons of God ' are said to have become enamoured of * the daughters of men.' The meaning attached to the text is a questionable interpreta- MOORE'S PItOSE. 251 tion, and the treatment of it is tedious and generally uninterest- ing. The poem somewhat resembles and has been compared with the Heaven and Earth of Lord Byron : the latter is said to be free from the speculative daring so common in his writings, and the former has nothing equivocal in it but the title, ' and that may occasion some idle flutter and some trifling disappoint- ment.'* Moore introduces in his poem three angels, who, by their earthly love, have forfeited their celestial privileges, and who tell each in turn the story of his passion and its punish- ment. After the publication of Lalla Rookh, Moore visited Paris in company with Mr. Kogers, and there found materials for his Fudge Family in Paris, one of his satires. This piece, like all his sati- rical writings The Twopenny Post-Bag and others combines, in a remarkable degree, quaintness, ingenuity, and wit. The illustrations are taken from the most various and remote sources, and the whole are described with a degree of elegance and artistic refinement as effective as, in that kind of composition, they were new. In 1 8 1 9 he visited the Continent again in company with Lord John Russell. During this journey he wrote Rhymes on the Rood. When the travellers separated, Moore went on to Venice, where he spent some time with Lord Byron. There he wrote most of his Fables of the Holy Alliance. In 1 8 2 2 he returned to Paris, where he remained, till, by his pen, he had repaid the losses caused by the dishonesty of his deputy in Bermuda. On his return to England, he wrote a number of political squibs for the Times. His last original prose work was Tlie Epicurean, an Eastern tale full of the spirit and materials of poetry : it describes the conversion to Christianity, through the influence of love, of an Athenian philosopher who visits Egypt and is initiated into the mysteries of Isis. In 1841-1842 he published a complete collection of his poetical works in ten volumes, with several interestfng per- sonal details. Subsequently, his mind gave way, and the closing years of his life were clouded by imbecility. His memoirs, journals, and correspondence were placed after his death in the hands of Lord John Russell, and by this posthumous work a sum of 3000?. was obtained for Mr. Moore's widow. Moore's excellences consist in the gracefulness of his thoughts ind sentiments, the wit and fancy of his allusions and imagery, Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxviii. 252 POETRY CAMPBELL. and the music and refinement of his versification. His great fault is the irreverence and indelicacy of many of his pieces * fault which, it is said, belonged not to the poet himself but only to his writings. 227. Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) was born in Glasgow, of a good Highland family, and received his education in the uni- belL vers i tv f tnat c ^y where he was distinguished for his translations from the Greek poets. His genius showed itself very early : between fourteen and sixteen he wrote several pieces, all evincing taste and skilful diction. In 1799, when only twenty- two years of age, he published his Pleasures of Hope, which passed through four editions in twelve months, and captivated all readers by its exquisite melody and generous sentiments. Shortly after its publication he went abroad, where the scenes and battle-fields he visited suggested some of the finest lyrics in our language. The first of these was The Exile of Erin, originating hi a meeting with some political exiles who had been concerned in the Irish Rebellion. To the seventh edition of the Pleasures of Hope were appended verses on Hohen- linden, LochieVs Warning, and the most popular of his songs, Ye Mariners of England. The following year he settled in London, married, and devoted himself to literature. For the booksellers he wrote several articles in Encyclopaedias, and compiled Annals of Great Britain. In 1809 he published his second great poem, Gertrude of Wyoming, a Pennsylvanian Tale, a poem of beau- tiful home scenes, with a closing picture of the death of the heroine, inferior to nothing he had previously written. Various poems, including The Last Man, The Rainbow, The Battle of the Baltic, and O'Connor's Child, were published about the same time. They are all remarkable either for grandeur, lyrical energy, pathos, or finish, and generally for more than one of these qualities. In 1 8 1 9 he published his Specimens of the British Poets, with biographies and critical notices written with great justness and often with much beauty. In 1824 he published Theodoric and other poems. After being elected three years in succession Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, and writing various books, Letters from Algiers, The Life of Mrs. Siddons, and The Life of Petrarch, he retired in failing health to Boulogne, where he died in June, 1844. He was interred in Westminster Abbey, SHELLEY. 253 followed to his grave by a large number of public men, who admired his devotion to the cause of freedom and education no less than his genius. His biography was prepared and published by his friend and literary executor, Dr. Beattie. His lyrics are his finest pieces ; but in nearly all he wrote there is an ideal loveliness, a refinement of imagery, a concentrated power of expression, a depth of feeling, and a sensitiveness of nature, always charming. His first poem, The Pleasures of Hope, shows much of the passion that belongs to Scott and Byron; his last great poem, much of the quiet reflection and touching sentiment which belong to the most modern school of poetical writers. _. 228. The life of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) is not un- like Byron's. There was a similar title to wealth and honours, Sheiie *^ e same Boyhood f nerce passion, an unhappy train- ing, an early manhood of blighted domestic life blighted by his own folly and crime, a spirit of atheistic revolt against all religious and social claims though this last was greatly diminished towards the close of his course, after his marriage with the daughter of William Godwin, and might have been diminished much more, had his life not terminated prematurely by drowning when he was but thirty years old. From earliest years he showed poetic tastes, and when only eighteen he produced the atheistical poem of Queen Mab, written in the rhythm of Southey's Thalaba, and containing passages of great melody and beauty. The fault of this poem, besides its sceptical notes, mere repetitions of the sneers of Voltaire and others, is the vagueness of the meaning. His next piece was Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude, intended to sketch the sufferings of a genius like his own : he thirsts for a friend who shall under- stand and sympathise with him, and blighted by disappointment; sinks into an untimely grave. The descriptions of scenery in thia poem are singularly rich and beautiful : the whole is written in blank verse. The Revolt of Islam, written while the poet re- sided at Marlow, has the same peculiarities of thought and style as Alastor, though with less human interest and more energy. HeUas and The Witch of Atlas belong more or less to the same class as Queen Mab : all contain attacks on kingcraft, priestcraft., religion, and marriage, with airy pictures, scenes, and beings of 254 POETRY KEATS. the utmost indistinctness and unearthly splendour. In Italy lie wrote his Adonais, an elegy on the death of Keats, a touching monument over the grave of his friend. Here, also, he composed the Prometheus Unbound, a classic drama, and in the following year, 1819, The Cenci, a tragedy, one of the finest of the poet's productions, a tale that reminds the reader of the dramas of Otway. His odes on The Skylark and The Cloud are more poetical and perfect than any other of his pieces. The Sensitive Plant is a good specimen of the beauty and gracefulness of his versification, of the fancifulness of his imagery, and of the pro- foundness of his meaning, which now seems within our grasp and again eludes it. 229. John Keats (i795~i82i)was born in Moorfields, London, and was apprenticed to a surgeon. During his apprenticeship he ^^ devoted part of his time to literature, and in 1817 published a volume of juvenile poems. In 181 8 ap- peared his Endymion, a poetic romance, founded in part on the model of Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess. It was severely reviewed in the Quarterly by J. W. Croker. The review wounded the keen susceptibility of the young poet, and was supposed to have hastened his death, but erroneously, as the consumption of which he died was hereditary, and his health was already weakened by attendance upon a dying brother. The poem has many faults, yet it gives evidence of a rich though undisciplined imagination.* In 1820 it was reviewed by Jeffrey in a genial spirit, but too late to cheer the then dying poet. Keats, however, profited by the criticisms of the Quarterly, and later wrote the fragment of a remarkable poem, Hyperion, taken, like Endymion, from mythological sources, and written in an airy strain of classic imagery, and with a large amount of pensive, quiet beauty. His latest volume, containing, among other pieces, The Eve cf St. Agnes and the Pot of Basil, a story versified from Boccaccio, proves that his natural tendency to ornamentation and imagery was only the more exuberant when freed from the restraints of ancient classic themes. The blending of these qualities with quaintness and extreme simplicity produces an unpleasant effect upon the reader: it reminds him of the grace of an Elysium One of its lines has become very familiar : ' A thing of beauty la a joy for ever.' HOOD. 255 mingling with the sights, sounds, and smells of a farmstead. Yet Keats is one of the greatest of our young poets. As a last effort for life he went to Naples, and then to Kome, but in vain : he lingered and sank, dying on the 27th of December, 1821. " He was buried in the romantic and lovely cemetery of the Pro- testants, under the pyramid which is the tomb of Cestius, and the massy walls and towers, now mouldering and desolate, which formed the circuit of ancient Borne.' a 230. One of the greatest masters of humorous poetry in our language is Thomas Hood (1798-1845). He was a native of T Hood London, and was educated for business. His health failing, he was sent to Dundee, his father's native town. There he first showed a taste for literature, and contri- buted his earliest pieces to local newspapers and a local maga- zine. On his return to London he was put as apprentice to an engraver, and learned enough of drawing to be able to illustrate his own productions. About the year 1821 he gave himself to literature as a profession, and contributed regularly to the London, Magazine, the New Monthly which he edited for some years, and to a magazine that bore his own name. His life, like that of most men who depend on literature, was an incessant struggle. When prostrated by disease, government allowed him a small pen- sion; and after his death, in 1845, m 's friends made a generous effort for the support of his widow and family. Since his death his poetical works have been collected, and form four volumes : Poems, Poems of Wit and Humour, Hood's Own, or Laughter from Tear to Year, and Whims and Oddities. His prose works are decidedly inferior to his poetry. His National Tales, published in 1827, had a moderate sale. His Up the Rhine has been more popular, and is a clever satire on the absurdities of English travellers. Hood's style is his own, and is of three kinds. Sometimes his pieces are a succession of puns, amusing by the number and the strangeness of the relations which they suggest ; as in the Tale of a Trumpet and Miss Kilmansegg. Sometimes this comic element is entirely wanting, and his pieces strike by the remarkable knowledge they display of the secrets of the human heart, by their earnest tone of moral feeling, or by the richness of the fancy, a Shelby 50 POETRY WORDSWORTH. Specimens of each of these qualities may be found in The Dream of Eugene Aram, The Song of the Shirt (one of his latest and most impressive poems), and the Plea of the Midsummer Fairies. But most frequently he blends in the same piece humour and seriousness, touching at the same moment the springs of laughter and the sources of tears, exciting at once fun and kindness. Even puns the lowest form of wit become in his hands in- struments of genuine humour and of deepest pathos. At other tunes the incongruity is in the thought, as in the Parental Ode to my Son. His highest praise is, that he ever jokes for noble ends. His very levities, verbal or otherwise, are directed to some generous and kindly purpose. He tempts men to laugh, and then leads them to pity and relieve. 231. An earlier place might have been assigned to the Lake Poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey; but though they The Lake belong to the last century, the fulness of their in- poefc- fluence was not felt till our own tune, and it is only within the last thirty years that they became a power in literature. William Wordsworth (1770-1850), 'the greatest of metaphy- sical poets,' as he has been unhappily called, say rather of meditative and descriptive poets, was a native of Cockermouth. Both his brother, Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, and himself went to Hawkshead School, and after- wards to Cambridge. When he had taken his degree he visited France, and in common with many of his countrymen, Coleridge, Southey, Burns, and Campbell, hailed the French Revolution as the beginning of a new era of human happiness. Declining to enter the church or to study law, he devoted himself to literature, His reliance for support for many years was the interest of a sum of aoooZ. which had come to him from his father's estate and from the legacy of a friend. He settled near Crewkerne, where ho formed a life friendship with Coleridge. In 1798 appeared the Lyrical Ballads, to which Coleridge contributed The Ancient Mariner, and two or three other pieces ; the rest are by Words- worth, three or four of them in his best manner, -three or four partly good, and the rest of a class almost universally condemned. They were written, on principle, upon the humblest subjects and in the language of humblest life. The attempt was not a suc WORDSWORTH 257 cess : the volume remained unsold, and the mixture of ludicrous images and colloquial plainness with passages of tenderness and pathos prompted ridicule which, it must be confessed, was too well deserved. In 1798 he and Coleridge visited Germany, and on his return to England, he settled at Grasmere. In 1802, having received an addition to his property, he married Mary Hutchinson, ' a Phantom of delight,' who seems to have been in every way a helpmeet for him. In 1803 he visited Scotland -a visit that suggested several of his most popular minor poems. During these years he was busy writing The Prelude ; or, the Growth of a Poet's Mind: it was finished in 1805, but was not published till after his death. In 1807 appeared two volumes of poems from his pen, which, though they were exposed to severe criticism, were felt to display a love of nature at once ennobling and impressive. They contain the Feast of Brougham Castle and some of his finest smaller pieces. Here also appeared his first sonnets, and some of the best of them a kind of composition in which it is acknowledged that he excels. In 1813 he removed to Rydal Mount, and about the same time he was appointed stamp distributor for the county of Westmoreland, an office that yielded him 500?. a year. With his simple habits he had long been independent, and this accession to his income made him even wealthy. In 1814 appeared The Excursion, a philosophic poem in blank verse. It is part of a projected epic, with no plot, and with characters which have neither life nor probability. The principal of these is a Scottish pedlar who traverses the mountain in company with the poet, and who discourses with great brilliancy ' of truth, of grandeur, beauty, love, and hope. 1 The themes discussed are among the noblest, and there are passages of description, of senti- ment, and of eloquence surpassed by no poet of this or the pre- ceding century. In 1815 appeared The Wlrite Doe of Rylstone, a romantic narrative poem on the ruin of a northern family during the civil war. This was followed by sonnets and by The Wag- goner, which had been written some time before. Peter Bell was published in 1819. The author states that it had been completed twenty years before, and that he had repeatedly revised and corrected it that it might be worthy of a place in our literature. The work is meant to be serious, but there is such a strange blending of the solemn and touching, with what is absurd 258 POETRY WORDSWORTH. in detail and in language, that the reader hesitates between admi- ration and ridicule or disgust. His Laodamia, his Vernal Ode, the Ode to Lycoris and Dion are beautiful classic poems both in sentiment and in diction. His Intimations of Immortality and his lines on Tintern Abbey are among the best specimens of his meditative and imaginative style. His fame was now reaching its height. Scott and Byron had both enchanted the nation for a time and had passed away. In 1842, Wordsworth published a complete collection of his works, and on the death of Southey, he was made poet iaureate. From that time his character as a poet has been winning influence among all classes. He died in 1850, after completing his eightieth year. 232. Coleridge, who knew Wordsworth well, claims for his poetry the folio whig qualities : ist. An austere purity of lan- , guage ... a perfect appropriateness of the words to )ei7 ' the meaning, and. A correspondent weight and sanity of the thoughts and sentiments won, not from books, but from the poet's own meditations : they are fresh and have the dew upon them. Even throughout his smaller poems there is not one which is not rendered valuable by some just and original reflection. 3rd. The sinewy strength and originality of single lines and paragraphs. 4th. The perfect truth of nature in his images and descriptions. 5th. A meditative pathos, union of deep and subtle thought with sensibility ; a sympathy with men as men. . . . and lastly, the grandeur of imagination in the highest and strictest sense of the word ... in this power he stands nearest of modern writers to Shakespeare and Milton/ This is high praise, and it may seem at first sight difficult to reconcile it with the estimate formed by many of his power and genius. The fact is, that Wordsworth's poetry is of very dif- ferent kinds and in very different styles. His earliest pieces, the Descriptive Sketches and The Evening Walk (1793), are copies of the metre and language of Pope : his next, Guilt and Sorrow; or, Incidents on Salisbury Plain (1794), ^ i n the style of Spenser. Then comes the bald simplicity of many of his lyrical ballads ; and, last of all, we have in violation of what was supposed to be his principle, lofty themes, appropriate Biogrv.phia Literaria. COLERIDGE. 259 Imagery, intense feeling, noble sometimes even turgid utterance qualities that often remind the reader of Milton. His sonnets, especially those in praise of liberty and patriotism, are among the finest in our tongue. Of no writer, therefore, is it more important to ask, before we proceed to give judgment, what style of Words- worth's is it we have to criticise the earliest, the middle, or the last. There is now a pretty general agreement among all critics as to his faults and excellences. He ranks with Cowper, because he is the strenuous advocate of simplicity and naturalness, though he did not always understand or consistently adhere to his own principle. Wordsworth is one of the most moral of our poets, and is gene- rally regarded as one of the most religious. In his Excursion and in his Ecclesiastical Sonnets, reverent homage is paid to reli- gious truth ; nor is there in all he has written a single line ' which dying he could wish to blot ;' and yet it is impossible not to concur with Wilson, ' that, though we have much fine poetry, and some high philosophy, it would puzzle the most ingenious to detect much or any Christian religion.' The absence of a specific recognition of Christ as Lord and Saviour by one * who believes himself to be of the order of the high priests of nature,' in scenes where the recognition is necessary, or ' the poet must be false to nature, to virtue, to life, and to death,' Wilson thinks is greatly to be deplored, ' shocks far deeper feelings than those of taste, and throws over the whole poem an unhappy suspicion of hollowness and insincerity in that poetical religion which at the best is a sorry substitute indeed for the light that is from heaven.' Therefore it is he believes The Excursion will never become, like Tlie Task or the Night Thoughts, a bosom-book endeared to all ranks and conditions of Christian people. * Wordsworth's in- spiration is drawn from the book of nature, not from the Book ofGod,' a 233. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) was bom at Ottery St. Mary, and was educated at Christ's Hospital, where he had Charles Lamb as a fellow pupil, and where he be- came head scholar. After entering Cambridge, ho left without taking his degree, and enlisted in the dragoons. A Recreations of Christopher North, vol. ii. See a good and concise critiqno In Coleridge'? Table Talk. July 21, 1832 itfO POETRY COLERiLGE. Latin sentence betrayed him, and one of the officers communicated with his friends, who obtained his discharge. He next formed a plan, in conjunction with Sou they, whose wife's sister he after- wards married, to emigrate to the banks of the Susquehanna, there to found a model republic. In this happy state all were to be equal the wives to cook for the community and the hus- bands to labour and cultivate literature. This ' Pantisocracy,' however, as Coleridge called it, fell through for want of funds. He then resolved to cultivate literature at home. While residing at Stowey he published some of his most beautiful pieces, his Ode to France, his Ode on the Departing Year, the first part of Christabel, The Ancient Mariner, and his tragedy, Remorse. At this time he held Unitarian views, and officiated as minister, first at Taunton and then at Shrewsbury, though for a short time only. In 1798, the kindness of the Wedgwoods enabled him to visit Germany, where he remained for fourteen months. On his return in 1800, he found Southey settled atKeswick and Words- worth at Grasmere, and went to live with the former. All his opinions became completely changed : the republican became a royalist, and the Unitarian a believer in the Trinity. In the same year he published his translation of Schiller's Wattenstein a faith- ful translation, yet with all the freshness and charm of an original work. While at Eeswick he commenced a literary periodical called The Friend, which extended to twenty-seven numbers. The essays are often mystical, but not seldom acute and eloquent. In 1816, chiefly through the recommendation of Lord Byron, he published the remainder of Christdbel, the second part of which he had written in 1800. He next contributed to various periodicals, and wrote several characteristic prose treatises, the Statesman's Manual, a lay sermon (1816), a second lay sermon (1817), the Biogra^hia Literaria (two volumes), and later, Aids to Reflec- tion (1825), and a work on the Constitution of Church and State (1830). Some years before, in 1810, he quitted the Lakes, leaving his wife and children dependent on Southey ; and, in 1815, took up his residence with his friend Mr. Gillman, a sur- geon at Highgate, and there he wrote and talked in his glorious monologues, listened to by many rapt and enthusiastic disciples, till his death in 1834. Coleridge is a divine, a philosopher, and critic, as well as a poet, nor is it easy to say in which department he most excels ; HIS PROSE AND POETRY. ?.6l though as a thinker he has been far more influential than as a poet. The great misfortune is that everything he has left is frag- mentary. What we have is often beautiful, rich, and even gigantic, but it is all incomplete. It is easy, indeed, to excuse this result. Much of his life was spent in poverty and dependence, much in disappointment and ill health, much in the morbid excitement and depression consequent on the habit of opium-eating a habit, however, which he completely conquered. But the result is none the less to be deplored : his rare powers, his exhaustless resources, his colloquial eloquence, his great critical skill, might have made 'him the best teacher of his times, as many deem him to have been the best thinker. His poems are chiefly lyrical : the Ode on the Departing Year, and that supposed to be written at sunrise in the Valley of Chamouni, are both very fine. Wilson thinks the latter one of the noblest in our language.* The Ancient Mariner is one of the most original and striking ; the images are strangely fantastic and spectral, and the melody wild and unearthly. Oenevieve is a most exquisite love poem, carefully finished, most subtle and delicate in the feelings it describes. His Ode to France (really to Liberty) Shelley praises as the finest of modern times, though this is hardly true if those by Collins and Gray be included in his list : but it is certainly a noble composition. Christabel is a wild mysterious story, probably not without meaning, though it is hard to discover. Its versification is founded on what Coleridge called a new principle. The line is counted by accents, not by syllables ; ' though,' the writer says, * it may vary from seven to twelve, yet in each the accents will be found to be only four.* In fact the principle is not new ; it is as old as our Anglo-Saxon poetry, and was known both to Chaucer and to Shakespeare : it was new, however, to modern readers, and was a great relief from the monotony of the school of Pope : it delighted Scott and Byron, and was largely imitated by them. In Coleridge's lectures on Shakespeare he has done more to give an idea of the breadth and grasp of the genius of that poet than any other Englishman ; ' he was the first to show that Hamlet must have been written by one who was both the greatest genius and the most consummate artist that ever existed.' 1 * His criticisms on Wordsworth and on our old divines are all remark- - Eisayn. vol. lii, * Shaw. 262 POETRY SOUTHEY. able for insight and for genial sympathy with what is true and beautiful. They have even led some to reckon him the pro- foundest literary analyst of our times. 234. Robert Southey (1774-1843) was born at Bristol, and was sent by an uncle to Westminster School, whence he was expelled for writing an article against flogging in public schools. He, however, entered Balliol College, Oxford, but made no great progress in classical study, and left without a de- gree. His friends intended him for the Church, but his early religious opinions disappointed those hopes. He took up warmly Coleridge's * Pantisocracy,' and tried, by a volume of poems, Moschus and Bion, which he published in connection with Robert Lovell, to raise funds for that enterprise. His chief dependence, however, was upon his Joan of Arc, a poem which he composed in six weeks in 1793. Happily he found a friend and kind- hearted bookseller, Joseph Cottle, to publish it, but it brought the author little beyond the fifty guineas which were paid for the copyright. In the poem as originally written the heroine is conducted, as in Dante, to the abode of departed spirits, where she is introduced to the 'mighty hunters of mankind,' from Ximrod to the hero of Agincourt. In the second edition this vision is omitted. In 1795 Southey accompanied his uncle to Lisbon. On the morning of his departure he was married to Miss Fricker, of Bristol, Cottle supplying the ring for that ceremony. During the six months of his stay in Portugal he studied Spanish and Portuguese, and ultimately obtained a good knowledge of both languages. On his return to England he took to his home the widow of his brother-in-law and brother poet, Lovell one of the many generous acts that endeared his memory to his friends ; he also gave himself to that life of patient literary industry which he never relinquished while life and mental vigour remained. After a second visit to Portugal for health, he went to Cumberland, where he took up his abode at Greta Bridge, near Keswick, and there continued to reside for the remainder of his life. During these years he was dependent chiefly on the kindness of a college friend, C. W. W. Wynn, who had allowed him 160?. a year. This allowance he received till 1807, when he obtained a pension from the Crown of 200?. : he had meanwhile given up his republican opinions, and had be- HIS EPICS. 263 come a somewhat intolerant friend of the constitution in Church and State. While in Portugal Southey finished a second epic, Thataba the Destroyer, an Arabian fiction, full of magicians and monsters. The hero fights with demons and enchanters, but at last overthrows the dominion of powers of evil in the Domdaniel Cavern, ' under the roots of the ocean.' The poem is written without rhyme, in an irregular metre, which in his skilful hands has great harmony. Its excellence consists in its descriptions, which are often very beautiful Its chief fault is that its characters are divested of all human passion, and have interest only from their strangeness and mystery. Thalaba was published in 1801. Three years later he published a volume of Metrical Tales, in which there is a degree of vigour and originality not found in his larger writings. He had strong legendary tastes, and easily caught the tone of monastic times. His simplicity of style and tenderness of spirit suited such themes, though in him, as in other members of the Lake school, these qualities are apt to degenerate into mean- ness of thought and of expression. In 1805 appeared Madoc, an epic poem, founded on the history of a Welsh hero. Madoc is supposed to have visited America in the twelfth century, and hia contests with the Mexicans, and his conversion of the people from their idolatry, form the chief theme. There is ample scope, of course, for picturesque description and for the narration of won- derful adventures, and with these the poem is crowded, but as a whole it is languid and unimpressive. Like his previous epics it is written in blank verse and in the same metre as Joan of Arc. The Curse of Kehama appeared in 1810, a poem of the same structure as Ttialaba, but written in rhyme. The story is founded on Hindoo mythology, and the scene is laid alternately in the terrestrial paradise under the sea, in the heaven of hea- vens, and in hell. The principal actors are most unhuman men, a sorceress, a ghost, and several Hindoo deities. Vivid scene- painting is its excellence an excellence in which Landor thinks Southey has surpassed all modern poets, and there are passages in it of great beauty, as where he speaks of love ' They sin who tell us Love can die,' and where he describes the approach to the Indian Hades in lines which Scott deems equal in grandeur to anything he ever read. 264 POETRY SOUTHEFS PROSE. 1 onr years later appeared Roderick, the Last of the Ooihs, a poem ir blank verse, founded on the punishment and the re- pentance of the last Gothic king of Spain. Here also there are some glorious descriptive passages, and several scenes of tender- ness and pathos, but the poem as a whole wants reality and human interest. In 1813 Southey accepted the office of poet laureate, and henceforth supplied the usual laureate odes. They are too often characterised by a fierce opposition to his earlier views, and provoked, in consequence, a good deal of hostility. In one of them, his Vision of Judgment, he attempted to revive the hexameter verse in English. The metre failed, and the sentiment called forth a Vision of Judgment from Byron, one of his severest satires. The latest of Southey's poetical works was a volume of narrative verses, Att for Love and the Pilgrim of ComposteUa. Some of his youthful ballads, it may be added, were deservedly popular : his Lord William, Mary the Maid of the Inn, and the Old Woman of Berkeley, were deemed, forty years ago, among the best specimens of that kind of composition. His fondness for legends and supernatural stories is seen in a piece that is still popular, The Devil's Thoughts ; one of the best of the lines, how- ever, which has passed into a proverb, is Coleridge's : ' For his darling em Is the pride that apes humility.' In 1834 Southey's wife sank into a state of helpless imbecility, in which she continued for three years ; some time after her death he married Caroline Bowles, the poetess, and an old friend. Shortly after, his own mind failed, and in that state he remained till his death, in 1843. He left for his children about 1 2,oooZ., and one of the best private libraries in the kingdom. During his mental illness his chief pleasure was in walking round his library and handling the books he could no longer read. The poems of Southey are a small portion of his writings. Be- tween the ages of twenty and thirty he is said to have destroyed as much poetry as he afterwards published : he also wrote in- numerable articles in Reviews, filled volumes with the results of his reading and thought on morals, philosophy, politics, and literature. In some of his works, as in the Doctor, there is a humour that reminds the reader of Swift, and all nre remarkable for the purity and the vigour of their English. His Life of Nelson MINOR POETS. 2 65 is perhaps the most likely to retain its place as an English classic. The Lives of the British Admirals, the History of Brazil and of The Peninsular War, the Life of Wesley, of Bunyan, and of Cowper, are all well written; but several of them display a measure of prejudice and of temper not creditable to his judicial character as a critic, or to his genial spirit as a man. 235. The obligations of our literature to the minor poets of this period we must summarise in a briefer form. We owe to W. L. BOWLES (1762-1850) whom Coleridge characterises as * tender and manly/ a volume of Sonnets (1789), natural and Minor ets rea ^' ^ n ^ e( ^ anc ^ harmonious,* the Spirit of Dis- covery ly Sea(iSos), and The Little Villager's Verse Boole ; to him also we are indebted for a long controversy on the poetical merits of Pope ; Bowles deeming him * no poet,' Camp- bell and Byron warmly defending him : WILLIAM HURDIS (1763-1801) the friend of Cowper, curate of Burwash, Professor of Poetry at Oxford and D.D. The Village Curate (1788), Adriano, or the First of June, and The Favourite of the Village, the last poem a sequel to the first, and, like most sequels, more even and polished, but less vigorous ; both con- taining passages which remind the reader of the Task, and which Cowper might have been proud to acknowledge : SAMUEL ROGERS (1763-1855) banker, patron of men of taste and letters The Pleasures of Memory, a work of classical and graceful beauty (1792), Human Life (1819), The Voyage of Columbus, Miscellaneous Poems; and Italy (1822), a descriptive poem in blank verse, and containing half-conversational sketches of Italian life and scenery, all finished with great nicety and skill : b ROBERT BLOOMFIELD (1766-1823) farmer's boy, and, through the influence of the Duke of Grafton, government clerk, with a somewhat unhappy lot in both positions The Farmer's Boy (1798), Rural Tales (1810), Wild Flowers, and ether pieces; volumes of cheerful description of rural life with much moral feeling and smoothness of versification: his great fault is his want of passion his great excellence, the truth and reality of his Coleridge. Ward has no heart they say; bat J The late Lord Dudley (Ward) had deny it ; spoken freely of the poet, who retaliated He has a heart he geta his speeches i n the caustic epigram : by it. 266 POETRY MINOR POETS. delineations : some of his lines, those for example on the Soldier's Home, Wilson thinks equal to Bums' : MBS. HUNTER (1742-1821) wife of the eminent surgeon, and sister of Everard Home verses and songs which were extensively read in their day, and some of which Haydn has * married to immortal ' music : MRS. OPIE (1769-1853) wife of the artist, herself a novelist, and friend of most of the literary celebrities of her age a volume of miscellaneous poems published in 1802 : MBS. GBANT (1754-1838), of Laggan authoress of Letters from the Mountains several poems on the manners and scenery of the Highlands, topics which were to become still more popular under the treatment of Scott : MBS. TIGHE (1773-1810) a lady of passionate and refined imagination Psyche, a poem in six cantos on the story of Cupid and Psyche (Love and the Soul), written with much grace and brilliancy : HON. W. K. SPENCEB (1770-1834) a brilliant talker and an easy writer of compliment, parodied in the Rejected Addresses several pieces, of which Beth-Gelert and some stanzas praised by Scott are best known ; in prose he is the author of Lives of the Poets, intended as a supplement to Johnson's volume : JAMES HOGG (1770-1835) ' Ettrick Shepherd,' assistant of Scott in collecting that Border Minstrelsy, which he imitated in a volume of poems under the title of The Mountain Bard (1807) The Queen's Wake (1813), a legendary poem consisting of ballads and tales supposed to be sung to Queen Mary at the royal wake held at Holyrood, and various poems ; Mador of the Moor, written in the Spenserian stanza, The Pilgrims of the Sun, in blank verse, etc. ; Kilmeny, in The Queen's Wake, is one of the most delicate fairy tales ever conceived ; his Ode to the Skylark is well known and greatly admired for its lyrical spirit, while several of his longer poems are remarkable for their imaginative- ness and beauty ; indeed he may be regarded as the most creative of the uneducated poets : EEV. H. F. GABY (1772-1844) an eminent classical scholar a translation of Dante in blank verse (1805-1 8 14), of the Odes of Pindar, and of the Birds of Aristophanes all written with taste and skill ; they have received the warcn approval of Coleridge, and of most classical students : MINOli POETS. 267 JOHN LEYDEN (1775-1811) Oriental scholar and co-worker with Scott in the minstrelsy of the Scottish border Scenes of Infancy, descriptive of Teviotdale, and some ballads of a much higher order; one of them, The Mermaid, Scott has highly praised for the melody of its numbers : JAMES SMITH (1775-1839), and HORACE SMITH (1779-1 849) a modern union not unlike that of Beaumont and Fletcher Horace in London, and the Eejected Addresses (1812), an imita- tion of modern poets which had immense success ; to Horace we owe various humorous sketches in the New Monthly Maga- zine, of which the Address to the Mummy is the most felicitous compound of fact and sentiment ; and to James, various fictions, among'which BramUetye House, written in imitation of Walter Scott's novels, is one of the best : WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR(i775-i864) best known as a clas- sical prose writer, advocating, however, a kind of * literary Jaco- binism,' which springs out of an incorrigible self-love, and defends whatever others condemn Gebir, an epic ; Julian, a tragedy which Southey praises ; and various lyrical pieces of pathos and beauty ; his prose works, Imaginary Conversations, a series of dialogues extending over all history, and including almost all themes, his Last Fruit off an Old Tree, and Dry Sticks, will probably live in our literature : CHARLES LAMB (1775-1835) Christ's Hospital boy, India House clerk, and friend of Coleridge a volume of Album Verses (1830), and John Woodvil, a play written in imitation of the Elizabethan dramatists ; to him we are still more indebted for Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, selected with fine critical taste, and most of all for the Essays of Elia, written in ' poetic prose,' and containing noble examples of a quaint racy humour, unique in its kind, and unequalled since the days of Addison : EEV. Gr. CROLY (1780-1860) a native of Dublin, and rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, a voluminous writer in history, fiction, and poetry Paris in 1815,, a description of the art treasures of that city; The Angel of the World (1820); Illustrations from the Antique ; The Modern Orlando, a satirical poem (1846, 1855) ; besides his prose romance of Salathiel, a tale founded on the Wan- dering Jew ; and Tales of the Great St. Bernard all characterised by a certain gorgeousness of imagination though wanting in feeling : 268 POETRY MINOR POETS. EBENEZES ELLIOTT (1781-1849) iron-founder, corn-law rhymer, and Yorkshire poet two volumes of prose and verse, con- taining truthful sketches of the condition of the working classes, though impaired by harsh and unjust aspersions; his Corn- Law Rhymes and other pieces were warmly praised by Sou they and Wilson, and are often remarkable, not only for strong feeling ' hammered short off,' as he himself expressed it, but for true eloquence and noble sentiment : REGINALD HEBEB (1783-1826) fellow of All Souls, vicar of Hodnet, and bishop of Calcutta the best prize poem, it is said, ever produced at Oxford, Palestine,* some beautiful hymns, and, in prose, the Hampton Lecture for 1815 on the Person and Office of the Holy Spirit, and a Life of Jeremy Taylor prefixed to an edition of his works, besides journals and sermons : LEIGH HUNT (1784-1859) a lively descriptive poet, with something of the passion of 'tropical blood,' schoolfellow at Christ's Hospital of Coleridge and Lamb, companion of Lord Byron, whom he offended by the utterance of disappointed feel- ing the Story of Rimini, an Italian tale in verse, with beau- tiful lines and passages ; two volumes of poetry, Foliage and The Feast of the Poets ; Captain Sword and Captain Pen (1835), a poetical outburst against war ; The Palfrey (1842), a narrative poem with much sprightly description and rich imagery ; besides essays published in the Indicator, and lives of Wycherly and other dramatists of the Restoration : ALLAN CUNNINGHAM (1784-1842) sculptor and assistant of Chantrey, novelist and biographer of Burns and Wilkie, and writer of Scottish ballads various songs and fragments in Cro- mek's Remains of NitJisdale Song ; Sir Marmaduke Maxwell, a dramatic poem ; most of his poetic pieces being remarkable for simplicity and tenderness : ' A wet sheet and a flowing sea,' one of his sea songs, is well known : PROFESSOR WILSON (1785-1854) Newdigate prizeman, pro- fessor of Moral Philosophy hi the University of Edinburgh, the 'Christopher North' of BlackwoodThe Isle of Palms (1812), To a hint of Sir Walter Scott, who one of the finest images in the observed when the poem was read to piece: him, that in the lines on Solomon's No hammer fell no ponderous axes Temple one circumstance had been rung; omitted, viz., that no tools were used Like some tall palm the mystic Ui the building, we are Indebted for fabric sprang. MINOR POETS. 269 The City of the Plague (1816), and several short poems, 'all characterised chiefly by the gentler sympathies of our nature, and by a certain tranquillising sweetness which is apt to appear dul- ness to some readers ;' a we owe to him also prose writings in which there is a strange mixture half shrewd and bitter, half graceful and tender ; while in criticism especially, he displays great discrimination and luxuriance ; his praise and censure being alike prodigal, and ' his eloquence as the rush of mighty waters :' b H. KIEKE WHITE (1785-1806) a protege* of Simeon, who fell a victim to over study, whose memory Byron embalmed in some beautiful lines, whose death Southey deemed a loss to our lite- rature hymns, sonnets, and lyric pieces, written before he had reached his twentieth year, all distinguished by plaintive ten- derness and pleasing fancy, though without the certain indications of great genius which we have in the equally early writings of Cowley or of Chatterton : THOMAS PRINGLE (1788-183 4) editor of Friendship's Offering, secretary of the African Society, and resident for some time in Cafireland Scenes of Teviotdale, and African Sketches in prose and in verse ; the piece, ' Afar in the Desert,' being much admired by Coleridge : CHARLES WOLFE (1791-182 3) curate in the diocese of Armagh, who, like Kirke White, was carried off by consumption two or three brief poems ; a song adapted to the Irish air of Oramma- chree, If I had thought thou couldst have died ;' and Lines on the Burial of Sir John Moore, which last has obtained as wide a popularity as any single production in our language : JOHN CLAUE (1793-1864) a Northamptonshire peasant, and in the very front rank of * uneducated poets ' Poems descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, The Village Minstrel and other Poems (1821), in two volumes, distinguished by a taste for natural beauty and skill in painting it, and by no small amount of pathos and tenderness ; his struggles with poverty, like those of Burns, Chatterton, and Bloomfield, ended disastrously, and he sank into mental despondency, from which death has recently given him release : FELICIA D. HEMANS (1793-1835) a lady of German and Irish descent, with much of the thoughtful tender enthusiasm that might be expected from her parentage The Forest Sane- Jeffrey, b Haliam. 270 POETRY MINOR POETS. tuary, her best long poem (1826), Records of Woman (1828), Lays of Leisure Hours, National Lyrics, Songs of the Affections (1830), Hymns for Childhood (1834), an< ^ sonnets under the title of Thoughts during Sickness; poems that appeal too much to the ear and too little to the intellect, and yet abound in beauty and feeling, and blend in a very striking way the utterance of a patient spirit with eager longings for the ' Better Land :' HAETLEY COLERIDGE (1796-1849) son of S. T. Coleridge, and a youth of precocious fancy in prose the Lives of Northern Worthies in three volumes; Essays and Marginalia (1851), besides his poems, which include some fine sonnets, and many passages that remind the reader of Wordsworth : T. HAYNES BAYLY (1797-1839) a man of good family and fortune, but, like Wilson, reduced to comparative poverty by the misconduct of others several dramas, Perfect ion , TJie Wit- ness, Sold for a Song, and a larger number of popular songs than any other modern writer except Moore ; among these may be named, ' She wore a wreath of roses,' and * Oh, no, we never mention her ;' some lines on The Neglected Child, contain a good moral ; his pieces, which fill several volumes, are characterised by happy natural diction, and often by beautiful thoughts : WILLIAM MOTHERWELL (1797-1835) editor of the Glasgow Courier, deputy-sheriff-clerk of Paisley, antiquarian and poet several pathetic and sentimental lyrics, and a volume entitled Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern (182 7), containing a collection of Scottish ballads, prefaced by an admirable historical introduction : HERBERT KNOWLES (1798-1817) a native of Canterbury some fine religious stanzas with much of the earnestness of Cowper : D. M. Mois. (1798-1851) the A of Blackwood, a surgeon at Musselburgh The Legend of Genevitve, with other tales and poems (1824), Domestic Verses (1843), of which Casa Wappy is one of the happiest, and the prose tale of Mansie Waugh all distinguished by freshness of fancy, and the later pieces by ripe thought : A. A. WATTS (1799-1864) newspaper editor Poetical Sketches (1822), Lyrics of the Heart (1850), and a long series of annual volumes, The Literary Souvenir, etc., in which short proso and poetic pieces by popular writers were associated with beau- tiful engravings : HYMN-WRITERS. 271 LORD MACAULAY (1800-1862) the Lays of Ancient Rome, (1842), in which he chants the martial stories of Horatius Codes, the battle of the Lake Kegillus, the death of Virginia, and the prophecy of Capys, with a simplicity and a fire that win our hearts; other ballads Ivry , a Song of the Huguenots, and The Armada, a Fragment, with the same qualities ; besides prose writings which, for brilliancy and effectiveness have never been surpassed : THOMAS AIRD (1802-1862) editor of the Dumfries Courier, friend of Wilson, and editor of the Life of Moir several prose sketches, and a few poems descriptive of Scottish scenery and manners, most of them written with a wild imaginativeness and rough grandeur : T. K. HARVEY (1804-1859) native of the neighbourhood ot Paisley, and for some time editor of the Athenaeum The Poetical Sketch-book (1829), Illustrations of Modern Sculpture (1832), Tlie English Helicon (1841), all written with an easy grace and richness of imagination that place him high among the minor poets of our age : LETITIA E. LANDON (1802-1838) who was bora in London, and died wife of Governor Maclean at Cape Coast Castle Poetical Sketches which appeared in the Literary Gazette under the signature of L. E. L. ; The Improvisatrice (1824), and twc more volumes of poetry, nearly all treating not so much of nature as of themes and persons which history has rendered sacred. 236. This list needs, for completeness, the addition of the reli- gious poets and the hymn writers of the last half century. The r former are Grahame, Pollok, and Montgomery, and hymn- James Grahame (1765-1811) was born in Glas- gow, studied for the profession of the law, and became a clergyman of the Church of England. Ill health, however, compelled him to relinquish active duty. Besides a dramatic poem on Mary, Queen of Scots, published in 1801, he wrote TJte Sabbath Walks, Biblical Pictures, The Birds of Scotland, and British Oeorgics, all in blank verse. The Sabbath Walks is his best piece, and is rich in descriptions of Scottish scenery and in devotional feeling. He reminds the reader of Cowper, though he wants his humour and the easy variety of his versification. Robert Pollok (1799-1827), a young licentiate of the Scotch 272 POETRY HYMN-WRlTfcKS. Secession Church, is now well known as the author of a poem, in blank verse, entitled The Course of Time. It has the double ad- vantage of a poetical fancy and of an earnest evangelical spirit ; and its popularity is attested by the fact that it has gone through between twenty and thirty editions. The poem is in ten books, and reminds the reader sometimes of the dignity of Milton, and at other times of the sententiousness of Young. Its aim is to describe the spiritual life and destiny of man, and it abounds with pictures and narratives that illustrate the power of virtue and of vice. It is energetic in style, and often beautiful, though sometimes harsh both in diction and in thought : probably if his life had been spared, time would have mellowed the fruits of the poet's genius. After studying in Glasgow, and writing a series of prose Tales of the Covenanters, he found his constitution under- mined by consumption. In the hope of checking the disease he removed to the south of England, and died at Shirley, near Southampton. The same year witnessed his appearance as a poet and preacher, and mourned his early death. He owed his first popularity to the discernment of Professor Wilson. James Montgomery (1771-1854), born at Irvine, was the son of a Moravian missionary, and was educated at the Moravian School, at Fulneck. He was for thirty years editor of the SJiejfield Iris, a weekly journal which he established and con- ducted with marked ability. Twice he was convicted of political libels, fined and imprisoned ; but, as he himself testifies, all the parties who took a share in those prosecutions were not only reconciled to him, but proved in after life among his warm friends. His first volume of poetry was The Wanderer of Switzerland, and other Poems (i 806). It was authoritatively denounced by the Edin* burgh Review as destined to die ; but notwithstanding was long popular, and twenty editions of it have been published. In 1807 he published The West Indies, a poem in honour of the abolition of the slave trade ; it was written at the request of Mr. Bowyer, to accompany a set of plates on this subject, and possesses a degree of vigorous description and of poetic feeling not found in his first work. The World before the Flood appeared in 1813. It is written in heroic couplets and in ten cantos, containing much elevated sentiment and pure feeling. In 1819 he published Greenland, a poem in five cantos, giving the history of the missions of the Moravian Church in that country. The Pelican HYMN-WKITEKS. 273 Island is the kst of his larger poems ; it describes the ancient haunts of the pelican in the islands of New Holland. This piece shows more felicity of diction and more power of fancy than any of his previous works. In 183 0-1831, Montgomery delivered a course of lectures at the Eoyal Institution on Poetry and General Literature, which were published in 1833, and a pension of 200?. a year was bestowed upon him about the same time, at the suggestion of Sir Kobert Peel. A collected edition of his works was issued in 1841, in four volumes. Besides the larger poems of Montgomery, which are dis- tinguished by passages of great beauty, he is known as the author of a great number of short pieces and hymns. Everything he has written is characterised by an earnest religious tone, while his simplicity of taste, depth of feeling, and the picturesque beauty of his descriptions commend his writings to critics of all classes. His hymns especially illustrate, as Wilson expresses it, 'the close connection there is between a pure heart and a fine fancy ;' ' the simplest feelings and thoughts he intertwines with the flowers of poetry, filling his readers with surprise that they are capable of such adornment, and with pleasure that the adorn- ment becomes them adding wonder to love.' a 237. Among later hymn-writers, no longer living, may be men- tioned Josiah Conder (1789-1855), for twenty-three years editor of the Eclectic Review, and of the Modern Traveller in thirty-three volumes, and author of several able works on biblical criticism. His poems, The Star in the East and other Poems (18 24), Sacred Poems (1837), show a cultivated taste and often a rich fancy. In hymn writing he professes to be a disciple of Montgomery, and some of his pieces have become very popular. To Thomas Kelly (1769-1855), son of Judge Kelly, of Ireland, educated as a clergy- man of the Established Church, and for many years pastor of a Congregational Church in Dublin, we owe some hymns of great beauty and lyric power. To Henry F. Lyte (1793-1847), suc- cessively curate at Marazion, Lymington, and North Brixham, we owe A Metrical Version of the Psalms (1836), and a volume of Poems, chiefly religious, published in 1833. His well-known hymn ' Abide with me ! fast falls the eventide,' and many more, may be iustly reckoned among the gems of sacred verse. Recreations Sacred I'cetry, vol. ii. * T 274 POETRY ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. The productions of living hymn writers, Keble, Bonar, Elliott, wo cannot specify ; many of them are second to none that have been referred to in this list. We can likewise give only the names of a few living poets, Alfred Tennyson (1810), poet laureate ; Charles Mackay (1812), author of The Hbpe of the World, Voices from the Crowd, Egeria, etc. ; Robert Browning (1812), author of Paracelsus, Dramatic Lyrics, etc. ; W. E. Aytoun (1813), author of the Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers, and the mock-heroic drama Firmilian, etc. ; Philip J. Bailey (1816), author of Festus ; Coventry Patmore (1823), author of The Angel in the House ; Gerald Massey (1828), the author of the ballad Babe Christabel, and other poems ; and Alexander Smith (1830), author of the Life Drama. Of many others, the poets of the million, space will not allow us to give even the names. Such is a brief summary of works which for creative genius, striking diction, and noble sentiment, are unsurpassed by those of any nation, ancient or modern. NOTE ON ENGLISH VERSIFICATION. 238. In the Hand-book of the English Tongue may be found an account of English rhymes and metres. Referring to that volume for details, we have now to show how rhymes and metres are built up into poems. Let the following facts, however, be first of all carefully noted : Syllables are in English long or short, according to the length of the vowel, and not, as in Latin, according to the length of the syllable as a whole. Afoot or measure is made up not of long and short syllables, but of an accented syllable, and its connected unaccented f d gaga syllable, or syllables ; and a line in such feet is said to be metrical. Rhythm, so far as it differs from metre, is numerical proportion or harmony. As applied to poetry, the words are often coextensive in meaning ; but they sometimes differ. A line may be rhythmical, but not metrical ; as when accented syllables have more than two unaccented syllables connected with them. Much of the poetry of the Anglo-Saxons is of this kind ; as are many of Chaucer's lines, Coleridge's Christabel and his Ancient Mariner. We have the converse of this when the proper RHYME: STANZA: PAUSE. 275 number of syllables is preserved, but the accents are fewer than the metre properly requires. Many of Shakespeare's decasyllabic lines have only four accents ; an arrangement that quickens the movement of the dialogue, and is excusable in the drama. In the Excursion, and generally in didactic poems, it offends the ear. Rhyme is in English the recurrence of identical final sounds with like accents, and with different preceding consonants. Every part of this definition is essential. If the sound is not final, but initial, as in c apt alliteration's artful aid,' the metre is alliterative, the common rhyme of the Anglo- Saxon. If it is neither necessarily initial nor final, it may be Scan- dinavian, as in ' DeptfAs eye hath not fa^Aomed,' or Spanish, as when ' charger' and ' Alhambra' are regarded as rhyming words. In neither case is it English. If the words are without like accentsi as sk^- and hdppily, the rhyme is imperfect. If the preceding consonants are not different, it may be good French rhyme in which the rhyming syllables are sometimes identical, but it is not English. Hill, fill ; quiet, diet ; tenderly, slenderly, are the only correct typical forms of modern English rhyming. Though our metre depends on accent, we employ without impropriety classic terminology to describe the analogous English measures. Thus we have Iambic feet (a!6ng) and metres, Trochaic (faster), Dactylic (merrily), Anapaestic (cava- lier), and Amphibrachic (Helvellyn). We have also Spondees (him, wh6) ; but these seldom occur, and none of our metres take their name from them. Metrical lines sometimes stand alone, or are simply continuous. Sometimes they are made into verses or stanzas. As * verse/ Stanza what ^ owever > * s applied to single lines, to stanzas and to poesy itself, it is better to avoid the use of that term. In nearly all metres a pause (or caesura) is required in each line. Puttenham taught that in ten-syllabled verse the pause is always on the fourth syllable. Chaucer generally ac ^ s on ^' 8 m ^ e > an( ^ Wyat and Surrey always ob- serve it. In the Romance eight-syllabled metre, the pause is also on the fourth, and in the Alexandrine on the sixth syllable. Spenser, and especially Milton, set aside all these rules. In the eight-syllabed metre of L' Allegro and 11 Penseroso the pause is on the second, third, fourth, or fifth syllable, and in the Paradise Lost the place of the pause is as constantly charging. T 2 276 POETRY UNRHYMING VERSE. Milton's example in this respect has been followed by the greatest authorities of later times. Perhaps the most important improve- ment in Milton's blank verse is that he makes the verse run on into several lines, not ending with each, nor even with the couplet. 239. English metres may be divided first of all into unrnymed and rhymed. Of the UNBHYMED or blank verse, we have not manv EngUshmetre8 * varieties. Among them are the classic metres Hexameters, Pentameters, Sapphics, Alcaics all founded on the models of the Latin tongue. These were introduced by Harvey, Spenser, and others, at the end of the sixteenth century, and though revived by Watts, and again by Southey, Whewell, and others, can hardly be said to flourish. In some of Longfellow's pieces, however, the hexameter aided by initial rhymes is both beautiful and popular. Common Hank verse varies in length from four-syllabled metre to fifteen syllables. Of the former we have examples, blended with metres of six and of eight syllables, in Spenser's Mourning Muse of TJiestylis. Of trochaic octosyllabic unrhymed metre, Hiawatha is an example. Decasyllabic metre the common heroic verse is the blank verse of Shakespeare and Milton. It has properly ten syllables and five accents. In Shake- speare it has generally but/owr, for dramatic poetry representing dialogue and passion is naturally more rapid than the epic. Occasionally, also, a redundant syllable is found. This verse would be monotonous but for the above variations (to which most writers add occasional trochees for iambuses at the be- ginning of the line or at the end), and but for great freedom in the use of the pause, which is inserted not only at the end of the second foot, but at the end of the first and of the third. Twelve-syllabled metres called also Alexandrines have in strictness six accents, and are generally rhyming. They form the heroic metre of France. Fifteen-syllabled blank metre is used by Newman in his version of Homer. It is the metre which Chapman uses, though without the rhyme, and en- riched by the addition of a syllable.* gentle friend ! If thou and I from this encounter scaping, Hereafter might for ever be from eld and death exempted. RHYMING VERSE. 277 The Sestine, a measure borrowed from the Italian, is a stanza of six lines without rhyme ; the art consisting in ringing the changes on six final words through the whole poem, which must be finished in six stanzas, with three lines over. An example may be seen in Spenser's August. Choral unrhymed metres are best named from the metre that prevails in them ; iambic and dactylic, as in Southey's Thaldba* or trochaic, as in the Strayed Reveller* EHYMING METRES are either continuous or in stanzas. These last extend from three lines to eighteen, and in Pindaric Odes to twenty-eight, or even more. The lines are from e ' octometers (iambic or trochaic) of sixteen syllables to monometers of two ; and if of anapsests or dactyls, from twenty-two syllables, the last foot being generally an accented syllable, to monometers of three syllables. There are few dactylic lines, however, of more than six feet, and few anapaestic lines of more than four feet. The following are the more important rhyming metres : OCTOMETERS, or sixteen-syllable metre. Continuous : IAMBIC. Long-metre Hymns. TROCHAIC. Long-metre (peculiar) Hymns. Stanzas with middle rhymes and four final rhymes (2, 4, 5, 6), lines 2, 4, 6, irregular. Poe's Haven. OCTOMETERS CATALECTIC, i.e. with a syllable short. Continuous : IAMBIC. Newman's Homer. TROCHAIC. Longfellow's Belfrey of Bruges, Locksley Hall Stanzas of four lines: Milman's Brother thou art gone before us, Hymns in 8.7. c HEPTAMETERS, or fourteen-syllable metre. Continuous: IAMBIC, Chapman's Homer, Phaer's JEneid, Golding's Ovid, Amantium Tree, Chevy Chase, John Gilpinf Macaulay's Battle of Ivry, Ballads, c and Common-metre Hymns.* TROCHAIC, as in the Old Version of the LXX. Psalm. HEPTAMETER, FREE VERSE (i. e. with occasional dactyls, and anapaests in place of iambuses. Continuous : Chaucer's Tale of Gamelin, Adam Bell, The Nut Brown Maid. ' Sail on, sail on, quoth Thalaba, b ' Faster, faster, Sail on in Allah's name. | Cfrce gddde'ss.' In the Domdaniel caverns, c Generally printed in four-line stanzas; Under the roots of the ocean.' but the lines are really continuous, when only the second and fourth rhyme. 278 POETRY RHYMING VERSE. HEPTAMETEK and HEXAMETER (Alexandrine) alternately. Continuous: Surrey's Description of Love, Wyat's Complaint oj Absence. HEXAMETER or ALEXANDRINES. Continuous : IAMBIC, Surrey's Ecclesiastes, Dray ten's Polyolbion, in stanzas of four lines alternate rhyme, Phoebe's Sonnets in Lodge, Euphues' Golden Legend. The Short Metre of our Hymns with the second and fourth lines rhyming. TROCHAIC: Heber*s Holy I Holy! in stanzas with alternate rhymes, and the Trochaic IT'S of our Hymns; each line ending in a long syllable. DACTYLIC : Longfellow's Evangeline. HEXAMETER, FREE. Continuous rhyme with various feet : Chaucer's Tale of Beryn, and the Prologue; Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, with a hyper- metrical foot; Lines in the Passionate Pilgrim, etc., with a defective foot found in occasional lines : the endecasyllable, the heroic metre of the Italians. PENTAMETER, or ten-syllable metre. Continuous, or Rhyming Couplet, called by the French Rime plate : Chaucer's Prologue, many of The Tales, Lydgate's Story of Thebes, Gawin Douglas' JEneid, Spenser's Mother Hubbard, and most modern heroic poetry. Stanzas of three lines, with one rhyme throughout: Psalms by Sandys, Quarles, etc. Several of Ben Jonson's poems, King Charles' Elegy preserved by Burnet.* Stanzas of four lines, with alternate rhymes, called by the French, rime croissee or entrelassee, our Elegiac metre : Surrey's Windsor Castle, Spenser's Colin Clout, Davies' Gondibert, Gray's Elegy, Dryden's Annus Mirdbilis. Stanzas of five lines, with two rhymes (i, 2, 5 : 3, 4, or i, 3 : 2, 4, 5 ) : Chaucer's Cuckoo and Nightingale, G. Douglas' Prologue to the loth jEneid and some of Wyat's pieces. Stanzas of sir lines, with three rhymes (two alternate and a rhyming couplet) : Chaucer in some of the Envoys, Spenser's Astrophel and December, Tears of the Muses, Gascoyne's Passion, Southwell's Changes, or Times go by Turns, and Raleigh's Defiance ; with two rhymes (i, 4, 6 : 2, 3, 5), Spenser's October : very common in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. * ' Nature and law by thy divine decree (The only root of righteous royaltie) With this dim diadem invested me/ RHYMING VERSE: PENTAMETERS. 279 Stanzas of seven lines with three rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4, 5 : 6, 7: or, i 3' 2, 4: 5, 6, 7: or, 1,3: 2, 4, 6: 5, 7): Chaucer's Clerk of Oxenford, Troilus and Cresseide, Assembly of Foules, Flower and Leaf, Hardynge's Chronicle, Gower's Epistle to Henry IV., Barclay's Ship of Fools, Occleve, Lydgate's Fall of Princes, G. Douglas' Prologue, Spenser's Hymns to Love and Beauty, Mil ton's Ode on the Nativity, G. Fletcher's Purple Island: ' Rhyme- Royal,' a common favourite up to the age of Elizabeth. Stanzas of eight lines with a single rhyme : The Shrift, Ellis, iii. 119. Stanzas of eight lines with two rhymes (1,3,6,8: 2,4,5, 7) : Spenser's June. Stanzas of eight lines with three rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4, 5, 7 : 6, 8 : or, 1, 3 ' 2, 4, 5 8 : 6, 7: or, i, 3 : 2, 4, 5 : 6, 7, 8): Chaucer's Monk's Tale, Lydgate's Ballads, Spenser's November, G. Douglas' Prologue to nth jiEneid, G. Fletcher's Christ's Triumph. Stanzas of eight lines with three rhymes (i, 3, 5 : 2, 4, 6 : 7, 8), the otaua n'ma of Ariosto and Tasso : Spenser's Minopotmos, Byron's Morgante Maggiore. Stanzas of nine lines with three rhymes (i, 2, 4, 5 : 3, 6, 7: 8. 9). G. Douglas' Prologue to 5th JEneid, Lindsay's Prologue of Papingo Testament. Stanzas of nine lines with two rhymes (i, 2, 4, 5, 8 : 3, 6, 7, 9) . Chaucer's Complaint of Annelida, G. Douglas' Prologue to 3rd JEneid. Stanzas of nine lines, the last line of 9 or sometimes of 8, an Alexandrine ; with three rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4, 5, 7 : 6, 8. 9 : or if eight, I, 3 : 2, 4, 5 : 6, 7, 8) : The Faerie Queen, * Spenserian Stanza.' Ten syllables (i, 3, 5, 6): four syllables (2, 4, 7, 8) ; eight syllables (9); with four rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4: 5, 6, 9: 7, 8): Spenser's Lay to Eliza in April. Stanzas of ten lines, an Alexandrine first, ten syllables (2, 3, 4, 5, 9) ; eight syllables (6, 7) ; four syllables (8, 10) being the refrain ; with four rhymes : Spenser's Allegory of Dido in November. Stanzas of thirteen lines, mixed, the last four verses being of four syl- lables with four rhymes (1,3,5,7: 2, 4, 6, 8 : 9, 13 : 10, u, 12) : Douglas' Prologue to the 8th JEneid. Stanzas of fourteen lines, or sonnet, with five rhymes (i, 4, 5, 8; 2 > 3 6, 7: 9, 12: 10, 13 : n, 14): Milton's Sonnets, 7th, gth, loth, and I3th; several of Wordsworth's : the true sonnet. Other rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4, 5, 7 : 6, 8, 9, u : 10, 12 : 13, 14), Spenser's Amoretti (i, 4, 5, 8 : 2, 3, 6, 7 : four next alternate, with couplet at the end), Sonnets of Wyat (first eight, regular or alternate, the last six, alternate or at pleasure), Milton's 8th, nth, I2th, I4th: 280 POETRY RHYMING VERSE: TETRAMETERS. two rhymes (the first twelve alternate and a rhyming couplet) : Surrey On Spring, and Complaint by Night: Seven rhymes (i, 3: 2, 4: 5, 7: 6, 8 : 9, ii : 10, 12 : and 13, 14): Daniel's Delia, Shakespeare's Sonnets generally : not a true sonnet. Stanzas of fourteen lines with seven rhymes (three quatrains rhyming alternately and a rhyming couplet), Spenser's Vision of Petrarch ; with five rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4, 5, 7 : 6, 8, 9, n : 10, 12 : 13, 14), Spenser's Visions of Worldly Vanity. Stanzas of eighteen lines with four of six syllables (5, 10, 15, 16), and the last an Alexandrine: seven rhymes (i, 4, 5 : 2, 3 : four next alternate, 10 answering to 9: u, 12, 14: 13, 15, 16: 17, 1 8): Spenser's Prothalamion and Ep&halamium. The mea- sures in these stanzas are often mixed. Terza Eima with rhymes i and 3: 2,4,6: 5, 7, 9; 8, 10, n, etc. : the last and the last but two rhyme. The measure of Dante, used also by the Provencals, who seem to have invented it for their Syrvientes or Satires : Surrey's Restless State of a Lover, Milton's Second Psalm, Byron's Prophecy of Dante. PENTAMETER FREE, with trochees or iambuses indifferently. Continuous : Spenser's Proeme to August, Davies' Satires, with irregu lar rhymes, Milton's Lycidas. These are all iambic metres. Trochaic pentameters are very rare. Amongst the most recent are those by Hemans and Longfellow.* TETRAMETERS or eight-syllabled metre. IAMBIC. Continuous: The common Proven9al and Welsh metre, the metre of Hudibras, of Gay's Fables, of Scott's Poetical Romances. Continuous in couplets : Chaucer's House of Fame, Romance of the Rose, Owl and Nightingale, Gower's Confessio, Lydgate's Thebes. Stanzas of three lines with single rhyme : Randolph's Epithalamium, Tennyson's A still small Voice, Newton's Why should I fear ? Stanzas of four lines with rhymes (1,3: 2,4: or, 1,4: 2,3): Wyat's Prayer against Disdain, Tennyson's In Memoriam ; or with one rhyme, Wyat's Renunciation of Love. Stanzas of five lines with two rhymes (i, 2, 4: 3, 5: or, I, 3 : 2 4, 5) : Wyat To his Lute, Cotton On his Mistress, the Queen of Bohemia. Stanzas of six lines with one rhyme : Raleigh's Shepherd's description of Love ; with three rhymes (four alternate and two last a couplet), Surrey's Lover's Comfort, Gascoigne's Arraignment, Withers' Morning (1641), C. Wesley's Morning (1740). Stanzas of seven lines with three rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4, 5 : 6, 7)' Wyat's Suit of Grace, Lover's Mistrust. Handbook of English Tongue, p. 357. RHYMING VERSE TRIMETERS. 281 Stanzas of eight lines with two rhymes (alternate) : Elegiac Iambic metre: Chaucer's Ploughman's Tale; with three rhymes (i, 3: 2, 4, 5, 7 : 6, 8) : Chaucer's Ballad in praise of Women, Lydgate's Complaint. Stanzas of nine lines (the second, of six syllables) with four rhymes (i, 3 : 2, 4, 7 : 5, 6 : 8, 9) : Habington's Castara. Stanzas of ten lines with four rhymes (i, 2 : 3, 4, 5 : 6, 7, 8 : 9, 10), some of Jonson's Songs. TETRAMETER FREE, with iambic, trochaic, spondaic, anapaestic, or amphibrachic feet. Continuous rhymes : Bevis of Southampton, Spenser's February, May, and September. TETRAMETER FREE with three rhymes (1,2: 4, 5: 3 and 6): Spenser's Proeme of March. TETRAMETER HYPERMETRICAL : many lines of Hudibras, Burns' poem to a Mouse. Of four lines mixed : six, eight, ten-syllabled metre with rhyme (i, 3 : 2, 4), Quarles' Matins, and others ; alternately with verses of six or five syllables and alternate rhyme, Spenser's Roundelay in August, Spenser's July. Of six lines mixed, with verses of ten syllables (8, 10, 8, 10, 8, 8), with alternate rhymes (i, 3, 5 : 2, 4, 6), Quarles' Flower; with verses (3rd and 6th) of six syllables, Chaucer's Sir Thopas, The Green Knight. Of eight lines mixed, with verses of seven syllables, and three rhymes (i, 5 : 2, 4, 6, 8 : 3, 7), Jonson's Drink to me only. With verses of seven syllables, without stanzas, Milton's Z' Allegro, It Penseroso, part of Comus, Epitaph on Marchioness of Winchester. With verses of six syllables or other varieties, Coleridge's Christabel, Poems by Scott and by Byron. These are all iambic metres. Trochaic tetrameters especially in the form of seven-syllabled lines are both common and beautiful, i r couplets and in stanzas. TRIMETERS, or six-syllabled metres. Stanzas : several songs of the sixteenth century ; Moore's I saw the Moon rise clear, Cowper's version of Prov. viii. Trimeters combined with deficient tetrameters from the 7.6 of our Hymns ; and with complete tetrameters, the 8 . 6's. Heber's Missionary Hymn, Burns' song to John Barleycorn. Stanzas of six lines (with rhymes i, 3, 4: 2, 5, 6) : Jonson's Ode on Himself. Stanzas of eight lines, mixed with dimeters : Donne's poem Sweetest Love, I do not go. 282 POETRY RHYMING VERSE: BROKEN STANZA. DIMETERS, or four-syllabled metres : These abound in Skelton and in Drayton. Campion's Anacreontics ara also written in this metre,* which he deemed specially suitable for chonises. Continuous rhymes with a redundant syllable may be seen in Jonson's Address to Mr. J. Surges. Stanzas of six lines (with rhymes r, 4: 2, 3 : 5,6) may be seen in Jonson's Hymn to the Father. DIMETERS mixed with MONOMETERS form what may be called ' under Shakespeare's sanction, the faery dialect of England.' b MONOMETERS, or two-syllabled meters : These are seldom found in stanzas except as bobs, or pendants, to other lines. Monometers, dimeters, and trimeters, in ten-line stanzas may be seen in Jonson's Ode to Sir W. Sidney. Besides all these metres, which are more or less regular, our poets have been in the habit of giving variety by breaking the lines in their stanzas, or, as it may be described, by mixing monometers, dimeters, and trimeters with lines of greater length. Stanzas of this kind were first introduced by Marot, from Geneva, and are very common in the early and in the late devo- tional poetry of Protestant Europe. They are also found in Italian writers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and were intro- duced through them into the conceits and somewhat elaborate piety of our * metaphysical poets.' Examples maybe seen in Jon- son's Epitaph on one of the boys of Queen Elizabeth's chapel, in his verses against Itime, in Donne's version of the 137^ Psalm, and hi Herbert's * Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright ' the measure adopted by Pope in his first poem the Ode to Solitude, and by Byron in his last, ' 'Tis time this heart should be unmoved/ Sometimes this breaking of the line begins the stanza, and is repeated in the third or a later line, as in Waller's piece Go, lovely rose I and in Sir William Jones' What constitutes a state? Not high-i-aised battlement or laboured mound. * * * No men, high-minded men : 'The steel we touch, D 'On the ground Forced ne'er so much, Sleep sound.' Yet still removes Midsummer Fight's Dream, iii., i. To that It loves.' See Guest's English Rhythms, L, 186. c ' Weep witn me all ye that read This little story; And know, for whom yon shed a tear, Death's self is sorry/ RHYMING VERSE: BROKEN STANZA. 283 sometimes in the last, as in Bryant's Address to a Water-Fowl. Sometimes an Alexandrine is added to the broken stanza, as in Warton's Verses on a Suicide, and in Cowley's Ode to Light. All these metres, it may be added, have a history. A know- ledge of that history alone would have detected the forgery of Chatterton. He adopts for the poem of Rowley, a stanza not known in our poetry till the days of Spenser. In addition to these tricks of the poet's art, poems are some- times written with the same words at the beginning and end of each stanza, sometimes with the repetition of a peculiar rhythm, or of the same words at the end only. The rondeau, roundle, or roundelay, is an example of the former. Such poems consists of two or three stanzas, each having two rhymes. The metre was introduced into England by Marot in his version of the Psalms. A specimen may be seen in Cotton's lines, beginning and ending Thou fool ! When the last line is repeated in each stanza, we have verses that resemble those of Cowper, My Mary. This kind of verse was a great favourite with Dunbar, who used it in nearly one third of his poems. When a peculiar rhythm was repeated at the close of each verse, though of different words, followed by the same words, the trick was called a wheel : as in Chrisfs Kirk on the Green, in which each stanza ends with : Full gay, or Full loud, etc., At Christ's Kirk on the Green that day 1 and in Wither's Hence away I a Another style, the virelay or veering-lay, was so called from the fact that the second rhyming word of one stanza was made the first rhyming word of the next ; the first and last lines of each stanza being alike. True virelays, however, are very rare. Imperfect specimens may be seen in Gascoigne's Voyage into Holland, and in Cotton's Cruel Fair. There has recently been a large importation of such metres, through translations of German and other foreign poetry, chiefly sacred. In a language like ours, possessing few rhymes, and therefore dependent for variety of versification on the form of the stanza ? such contributions are always welcome ; and if musical are likely to have a permanent place in our literature. Ellis' Specimens, iii., 74. CHAPTER V. THE DBAMA. A good drama is a story told by action and dialogue, where the spirit and style of the speeches allotted to each character are well distinguished from the others, and are true to that particular character and to nature.' JEFFREY. 240. THE Drama : its origin. 241. Dramas of the early centuries of the Christian era. Mysteries. Harrowing of Hell. Chester and Townley Mysteries. 242. Moralities. ' Every Man.' * Lusty Juventus.' Bale's Plays. The Three Estates/ 243. Earliest English Comedy. 244. The Earliest Tragedy. Sidney's Criticism. 245. Tragedy and Comedy. Tragi-Comedies. Farces. 246. Romantic and Classic Schools. Nature and importance of this distinction. 24.7. The Unities. Aristotle's rule. The French School. The English. 248. Dramatic writers before the age of Shakespeare. 249. Peele, Greene, Marlowe. 250. Tragedies ascribed to Shakespeare. 251. Increase of Plays and Theatres. 252. Theatre of the sixteenth century. Great difference between the Dramas of books and the Drama of the modern Theatre. 253. Masks ; their meaning and numbers. 254. The Elizabethan age of English Literature. Play writers, Poets and Prose writers. 255. Shakespeare's Life and Works. 256. His Plays : how divided and arranged. 25 7. Progress of the Poet's mind. Estimate of each Play. 258. Editions of his Works. Editors and Com- mentators. 259. His Faults. 260. The moral tendency of his Writings. 261. Summary of his Character. 262. Illustrations of his Genius and Influence. 263. Jonson : his Life and Works, Plays, Essays, Grammar. 264. Beaumont and Fletcher. 265. Massinger. 266. Ford. 267. Webster. Other Dramatists. 268. Suspension of Play-writing. The Civil War. Theatres closed. Grounds of this decision. 269. Comus. Samson Agonistes. 270. The Restoration. Opening of two Theatres. Davenant. 271. Dryden: his Life. Tragedies. The Rehearsal. 272. Otway, Lee, etc. 273. Comedy of Manners: Wycherley, Congrere, Farquhar. 274. Rowe, Lillo, etc. 275. Moral character of the Drama- tists of the Restoration. 276. Jeremy Collier. Effect of his attacks on the Stage. 277. Addison. 278. Young. 279. Thomson, Mallet. 280. Home. 281. Farces. Fielding, Macklin, Foote. 282. Qualities THE DRAMA OF EARLY AGES. 285 needed in Dramatic Writing. 283. Kotzebue's Dramas. Translations for the Stage. Sheridan, Inchbald, Lewis, Canning. 284. Plays of Passion. Joanna Baillie. 285. Plays of Incident. Colman, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Holcroft, Colman, jun. 286. Modern Dramas. Attention to Decoration. Coleridge, Byron, Taylor, etc. 287. Knowles, Talfourd. 288. On the moral influence of the Theatre. 240. All nations have, probably, amused themselves with oral or with scenic representations. The games of children abound in both. Every parable, is a dramatic picture; and men f v i v id imagination and of forcible utter- ance naturally describe and embellish their thoughts dramatically. Hence discussions on the origin of the drama must be very limited in their range, or very voluminous and unprofitable in their results. Hence, also, objections to the drama, to be intelligent and effective, must be founded, not on the thing itself, but upon its concomitants and its abuse. 241. Soon after the old plays of heathen writers had become unwelcome throughout the ancient Christian world, their place was supplied by dramas on sacred subjects. Such were enacted at Constantinople in the first centuries of our era ; and though there are few traces of them in the west, there is reason to believe that they were not uncom- mon during the dark ages. Matthew Paris mentions incidentally, as nothing unusual, that a miracle-play, or mystery, as it was called, on the story of St. Catherine, was performed at "Dunstable at the beginning of the twelfth century, and that the manager was Geoffrey, afterwards Abbot of St. Albans. In the reign of Henry n. (1154), several of these Scripture plays were acted in London, and between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century they were performed almost every year at Chester and in other large towns. They were always founded, either on Scripture subjects or on the lives of martyrs and saints. Generally, they were acted in convents ; and as the language was at first Latin, the performers must have been chiefly the clergy. For effect they depended rather upon the scenes than upon the story. In one of these Mysteries, The Harrowing of Hell t said to be the most ancient production in the dramatic form 286 THE DRAMA MYSTEEIES AND MORALITIES in our language, and belonging to the age of Edward in. (1327), the Lord and Safehan, Adam and Eve, are among the principal characters. The Chester Mysteries (dating from 1327), the Townley Mysteries, and an analysis of all the extant mysteries of our literature, may be seen in the second volume of Collier's His- tory of Dramatic Poetry. They kept possession of the stage for three hundred years, and ceased to be represented early in the sixteenth century. The aim of most of the writers of these plays must have been to bring home the iact and truths of the Christian faith to the heart and imagination of the people, and to gratify their taste for amusement and recreation. 242. Next to these in time come the Moralities of a some- what later age. In them, sentiments and abstract ideas, as Mercy, Truth, are represented by persons, and scope is afforded for ingenuity in delineating the characters and in assigning appropriate speeches to each. Satan is con- stantly introduced, and is attended by a public character called The Vice. At first, The Vice answered simply to his name, but by degrees he assumed the distinctness of a human personality, in which he came very near to our well-known Punch." He rebuked and ridiculed the Devil, and criticised many scenes of actual life. In the religious discussions of the early part of the sixteenth century, the stage thus came to be used for the defence of both the old and the new faith. The Mysteries were originally religious, the Moralities ethical : both now became theological and 'j^wrr M ' P^ em ^ c ' Every Man, published early in the reign of Henry VHL, was a defence of Catholicism, as Lusty Juventus, published in the reign of Edward vi., was of Protest- antism. In 1529, Luther and his wife Kate were satirised in a Latin Morality acted at Gray's Inn. Ten years later, the clergy were satirised in the Morality of The Three Estate^ acted at Linlithgow before James v. In the same century, Bishop Bale (1495-1563) wrote several dramas to help on the Pveforma- tion. Four of these are still extant, and one, Kynge Man, has recently been published. In 1543, an English statute was passed, prohibiting every play that intermeddled with the interpretation of Scripture (a statute that aimed chiefly Hallam, i., 4^8. EARLIEST COMEDY AND TRAGEDY. 287 at the Catholic dramas), and modifying a previous statute which forbade plays that contained anything contrary to the doctrine of the Church of Home. In 1549, the council of Edward vr. prohibited all plays by proclamation; Reformed Interludes, however, were afterwards permitted. These Moralities, it may be added, can be traced to the time of Henry \n., and abounded in the reign of Henry vm., when acting first became a distinct 243. Meanwhile, the revival of ancient learning had made men familiar with the classic models of Plautus and of Seneca. In Italy, Earliest the comedies of the former had been imitated by Comedy. Ariosto ; and in England, Nicholas Udall, one of the masters of Eton, and afterwards of Westminster, published his Ralph Roister Doister, the earliest known English comedy, which he modelled after the comedies of Terence. The hero, a siily town rake, undergoes several misadventures, which are set forth with much comic power. The exact date of this publication is not known, but it must have been written before 1551. It was soon followed (about 1563) by Gammer Gurton's Needle, by John Still, Master of Trinity, Cambridge, and Bishop of Bath and Wells. This is a piece of low rustic humour, the point turn- ing on the loss and recovery of the needle with which Gammer Gurton was mending a garment belonging to her man Hodge. It is much inferior to Roister both in dialogue and in plot. 244. The earliest known tragedy, Gorboduc; or, Ferrex and Porrex* was acted before Queen Elizabeth at Whitehall in 1562. The first three acts were written by T. Norton, a iragSy barrister, an associate of Sternhold and Hopkins in the translation of the Psalms, and the latter two by Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset. This tra- gedy has a double claim to notice. It was the first of the series ; and it was the first in which blank verse, recently introduced a ' Many can yield right sage and grave advice Of patient sprite to others wrapped in wo, And can in speech both rule and conquer kind (nature), Who if by proof they might feel nature's force Would shew themselves men as they are indeed, yvhir.h now will needs be gods.' Gvrbodw, 1561. 288 THE DRAMA TRAGEDY AND COMEDY EXPLAINED. into our language by the Earl of Surrey, was applied to dramatic composition. The subject, like King Lear, is taken from the fabulous annals of Geoffrey of Monmouth, though not regarded as fabulous till Milton's day. The choice shows the fondness with which the English people cherished the events of their by- gone history. In The Defence of Poesie, Sir Philip Sidney praises this play for its ' stately speeches and well-sounding phrases,' but censures it for its neglect of dramatic unities, which he thinks all play- writers ought to observe. The facts which form the groundwork of Sidney's criticism are as he represents them. Gorboduc is full of illustrations of the present from the past. It discusses the blessings of peace and settled government, the folly of popular risings, the evils of a doubtful succession, ' a dainty dish to set before a queen ;' and to do justice to these themes, several actions have to be dramatised, and those actions cannot be shown at the same time or in the same place. But the principles on which Sidney's criticism is founded are not so readily admissible. They assume, in fact, a narrow and artificial definition of dramatic art, such as some of the greatest play- wrights in our language have disregarded. 245. We have been led insensibly into the use of terms that need to be explained; 'unities,' 'classic models,' and, by im- plication, their opposite, ' romantic models/ ' comedy,' 'tragedy.' With the Greeks, then, from whom most of these terms are taken, tragedy meant ' a re- presentation of a serious, complete, and important action,' which might involve a transition from prosperity to adversity (its more modern meaning), or from adversity to prosperity ; while a comedy was a representation of a mean and ridiculous action tending to excite laughter. Hence the Philoctetes of Sophocles, and the Alcestis of Euripides, with many others, are called tragedies, though not ending tragically in the modern sense. By degrees, however, it came to be thought that every tragedy must have a sad ending ; and as tragedy thus narrowed its meaning, the meaning of comedy extended, till it included every tragedy which ended happily. It is on this ground that Dante called his work La Commedia, and that The Merchant of Venice is reckoned among the comedies of Shakespeare, though it is really as much a tragedy as the Alcestis. Dramas of this last class were after- ROMANTIC AND CLASSIC SCHOOLS OF ART. 2S& wards called tragi-corriedies a name of Spanish, origin and since the last part of the seventeenth century the term comedy has been restricted to plays in which amusing matter pre- ponderates. A shorter and more extravagant kind, in which any trick was permitted in order to raise a laugh, so that the action bo not taken out of the sphere of real life, was invented in the eighteenth century, under the name of farce. a It must be added, however, that farce, the thing itself, goes back at least three centuries earlier. Maitre Patelin, one of the most amusing French farces, containing the story which originated the French phrase, ' Let us return to our muttons,' was printed in 1490; while in Henry vm.'s day the interludes of Heywood belong really to the same class. 246. All the dramatic productions of modern Europe are moulded, like its poetry, after one of two models, called, since the time of Schlegel (though the distinction is of English or ig m an< ^ mu ch earlier), the ancient or classic, and the mediaeval or romantic b the one an imitation of the models of Greece and Rome, and the other a refinement of the rude performances the Mysteries and Moralities of later times. This statement, however, explains but very imperfectly the dif- ference between the two schools. Classic dramas, for example, are not only formed on Greek and Roman models, and subject there- fore to classic rules of construction ; but they have been written for the most part by men who were imbued with the classic spirit, and who recoil from the spirit and products of the ages that have intervened between themselves and the antiquity which they love. On the other hand, the romantic or modern drama, while it adopts the divisions of the ancient drama (acts, pro- logues, and occasionally the chorus), is really founded on the literature of the Middle Ages, is generally written by men im- bued with the spirit of their country and time, who appeal to audiences of strong feeling, perhaps of defective taste, and generally of intense nationality. Hence the subjects of these two schools differ as widely as their mode of treatment. National ' Farce ' means something stuffed, when applied to art, what grew out of t. e. with viands of all sorts, and as a the ruins ot the older Latin or ancient word reminds the reader of The Oxford civilisation. See for explanation The Sausage of our own generation. Afternoon lectures on English Literoir b Romance, or Romanesque, means, ture, delivered ID Dublin. 2 u 290 THE DRAMA THE UNITIES. history, daily social life, with all its varieties of incident and character, form the materials of the romantic dramatists. Some brief but expressive incident of ancient history, the occurrences of a single day at Rome or at Gaza, with such characters as Cato and Samson, and such treatment as befits a classic theme, form the materials of the classic dramatists. It need hardly be added that these two modes of treatment have, ever since the revival of letters, contended for the empire of the human mind in Europe, not in literature only, but in all departments of taste. 247. Whatever may be thought of the relative claims of these two schools hi other respects, on the subject of the unities modern . ^ sympathy is largely against the classic models. Among the rules which Aristotle, the ancient master of sesthetics and logic, gathered, as he tells us, from the practice of the Greek dramatists, was one which maintained that the action of every effective tragedy is ' one, complete and important/ * It must further endeavour to conclude itself within one revolu- tion of the sun, or nearly so.' The first of these rules prescribes what has been called unity of action, and the second unity of time. A third rule, not formally stated by Aristotle, but im- plied in his teaching, and nearly always observed by the Greek tragedians, requires that the action be transacted in the same locality. This is unity of place. In Italy these unities were carefully observed, hi the early age of the drama at all events. The French dramatists long struggled to defend and enforce them ; while in Spain and in England they were generally neglected, and even condemned. These unities were the battle-field of taste for ages. ' They have no higher origin,' say the advocates of the one side, ' than the mechanical difficulty of shifting the scenes on the primitive stage,'* and were never of authority. ' They are neglected,' say the advocates of the other side, 'only by the dramatists of nations which are intensely vain and self-conscious, dramatists who are compelled to draw their materials from national history, where the preservation of the unities is exceedingly difficult.' 11 But without adopting either of these extreme views, it is enough to say, that if the aim of the drama be to sketch character, to portray the working of emotion, to gathef Marsh. b T. Arnold, THE UNITIES. 291 up the lessons of history, then the arbitrary prescription which these rules imply must be disregarded. Nature never exhibits a man's whole character, or illustrates and develops a master passion, or blends the acts and penalties of a nation's destiny in a single day, or in a single scene. The transactions of human life are not balanced by the Great Judge every four-and-twenty hours. Sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed. In the moral world, as in the physical, time is an essential element. The question involves, of course, a choice of difficulties. It is not natural to listen to the conspirators at Eome, hear Caesar's reproach against Brutus, and within an hour witness the defeat at Philippi. The ' Ides of March ' come on us un- awares. But this violation of literal 1?ruth is insignificant com- pared with the crowding into a day of the events and moral results, which we cannot think of as unfolded without long in- tervals, and under various conditions of character and time and place. It is a case of letter against spirit, of accuracy of form against accuracy of fact. It follows that the classic unities must, with rare exceptions, conceal or withhold the moral lessons taught in history ; or they must teach it, not by acts, but by narrative ; or they must enact scenes which involve more un- naturalness, and a greater disregard of substantial truth, than the opposite system. Though this reasoning is sound, however, probably the example of Shakespeare has done more to modify the theory of the French school of dramatists than anything besides. Though these unities are thus classed together, it must bo added that they are not equally important, nor do they all rest on the same principle. The unities of time and place are really not essential, even to the kind of effectiveness for which the French expositors of Aristotle plead. But unity of action, rightly understood, is essential. This means that the action of the drama should be one action, and not two actions or more, and that all the details should be subordinate to the main story. This doctrine is true, and it may safely be affirmed, that if the unities of time and place are largely conducive to unity of action, they also ought to be preserved. Shakespeare himself has illustrated this principle, both by observing and by violating it. Sometimes the total neglect of the unities of time and place exposes the poet tc the risk of losing all unity of action, and sometimes, with the u 2 292 THE DRAMA DRAMATISTS BEFORE SHAKESPEARE. freedom which Milton claims for him as 'Nature's child,' he preserves the true unity of action, the unity of impression, as it has been called, ' unity of feeling and of character and interest,' as Coleridge calls it, without attending to the two minor unities upon which the French critics insist. The conclusion seems to be, Unity of impression certainly, and the unities of time and place, that is, truth in form and in circumstances, if possible : but natural development and completeness, truth in reality and in spirit, in any case.' 248. The thirty years that elapsed between the publication of Gorboduc and the age of Shakespeare witnessed a marked im- provement in the drama. Most of the popular writers writerfbefore Edwards (1523-1566), amemberof Lincoln's Inn ; Shakespeare. Li u iej t ^ e Euphuist (1553-1600), educated at Mag- dalen Hall, Oxford, and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth ; Peele (died 1590), a member of Christ Church, Oxford; Greene (1560- 1 592), a graduate of Clare Hall ; Nash (i 564-1600), of St. John's, Cambridge; Christopher Marlowe (1563-1593), a graduate of Bennet College, Cambridge were men who had received a liberal education ; and though they wrote to supply the demand for novelty and excitement, they have excellences of language and sentiment which commend them to thoughtful readers. ' If we seek for a poetical image, a burst of passion, a beautiful sentiment, a trait of nature, we seek not in vain in the works of our oldest dramatists.'" The more beautiful thoughts of these writers may be seen in the specimens published by Charles Lamb in 1808. He quotes from them to illustrate what he calls ' the moral sense of our ancestors, to show in what manner they felt when they placed themselves, by the power of imagination, in trying circumstances, in the con- flict of duty and passion, or the strife of contending duties, what a ' This now seems to be common sense ; Dr. Johnson we conceive has pretty well but it was otherwise a century ago. settled this question.' JEFFREY, ii., 99. Johnson, who held the views advocated Dr. Johnson, it may be added, owes in the text, was " frightened at his own many of his ideas to a paper of Far- temerity," and afraid to stand " against quhar's on this subject. See some good the authorities which might be produced remarks of Scott's in his Essay on the agains him." ' MACAULAT'S Review of Drama. Prose Works, vi., p. 298-321. Moore's Life of Lord Byron. Edinburgh b Essays on the old Drama. Black- Review. wood's Magazine, ii. Said to be written ' English dramatic poetry soars above by Henry Mackenzie, the unities, just as the imagination does. MARLOWE AND OTHERS. 293 sort of loves and enmities were theirs, how their griefs were tempered and their joys abated.' 4 249. Of the writers just named the chief are Peele, Greene, and Marlowe. Peele's principal plays are his Edward the First, David Peele, Greene, ana< Bethsdbe, and Absalom. The chief merit of the Marlowe. author lay in the improvement he made in our dramatic verse. Yet Campbell reckons his Absalom ' the earliest fountain of pathos and harmony that can be traced in our dramatic poetry.' b His legendary story, called The Old Wives' Tale (1595), is said to have given Milton the rude outline of the Masque of Comus. In Greene's plays, of which Orlando Furioso is the best tragedy, and Friar Bacon the best comedy, there is much to justify the decision of Hallam : he succeeds pretty well in that florid and gay style, a little redundant in images, which Shakespeare fre- quently gives to his princes and courtiers, and which renders some unimpassioned scenes in his historical plays effective and brilliant. He is superior to Peele, though his writings are dis- figured by occasional angry allusions to Shakespeare. Marlowe's plays are tragedies, stately and solemn, with sometimes excessive passion, but all expressed in language richly imaginative. It is to him we owe the general use on the stage of blank verse, in respect to which he received and deserved the compliment of Ben Jonson, who speaks of ' Marlowe's mighty line.' His chief plays are Tamburlaine the Great, in which, with much rant, are many passages of wild grandeur and great beauty ; The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, a tale of necromancy and fearful splendour, to which Goethe, the author of the modern Faust, acknowledged his great obligations; The Rich Jew of Malta, and Edward the Second. The death scene of Edward the Second, Charles Lamb quotes as 4 one which moves pity and terror beyond any scene, Essays of Elia, second series. but he had elegance of fancy, gracefulness b ' Peele is the oldest genuine dramatic of expression, and melody of versifica- poet of our language. His fancy is rich tion.' J. P. COLLIER'S History of English. and his feeling tender. . . Nor is there Dramatic Poetry to the time nf Shake- such sweetness of versification and Ima- speare, i8ji, vol. iii., 191. An " excellent gery to be found in our blank verse history," that supersedes the earlier anterior to Shakespeare.' CAMPBELL. works of Langbaine, Reid, and Haw. Hallam thinks this praise excessive kins.' HALLAM. (ii. J-J8). c Hallam, ii., 173. Peele's genius was not boldly original 294 THE DRAMA SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ancient or modern.' One of the actors in Marlowe's plays was Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich College. All these, men of good education and of fine talent, lived irregular lives, and died ignominiously ; Marlowe in a street brawl, in his thirty- first year; Greene on a surfeit of pickled herrings and Rhenish wine, after warning his companions against his example. His Groat's Worth of Wit bought with a Million cf Repentance is in truth a touching appeal, which it is not easy to reconcile with his own continuance in the course of life which it is intended to condemn.* 250. To this same age belong several dramas of which the authorship is unknown. Some of them are very effective, and Dramas as- are ^ art ^ ier noteworthy because regarded by some cribed to critics as the first productions of Shakespeare's pen. Shakespeare. Among these are ^ Merry flevil of Edmonton, The Yorkshire Tragedy f> and Arden of Faversham. Modern critics (two or three Germans excepted) have abandoned the theory which connects these dramas with Shakespeare's name. They are published in Dodsley's Collection. 251. The improvement effected by these authors hi dramatic * Of Greene, Tieck says that ' a happy of truth unknown to his predecessors.' talent, a clear spirit, and a lively imagi- CAMPBELL'S Life of Shakespeare, p. 23. nation, characterise all his writings.' ' Marlowe was the greatest tragic In richness of fancy" Greene is in- writer that preceded Shakespeare. Of ferior to Peele; and with the exception his plays, "Faustus" is the finest, and of his amusing comedy " Friar Bacon," "Edward the Second" the most equal.' there is perhaps but little to admire in JKFFBEY. his dramatic productions.' DYCE. 'These three gifted men (Peele, Next Marlowe, bathed in the Thespian Greene, and Marlowe), though they often springs, present to us pictures that in design and Had in him those brave translunary colouring outrage the truth of nature, things are the earliest of our tragic writers who That the first poets had. DRATTOX. exhibit any just delineation of the Marlowe ever happy in his buskin'd workings of passion ; and their language, muse though now swelling into bombast and Pity it is that wit so ill should dwell, now sinking into meanness, is generally Wit lent from heaven, but vices sent rich with poetry.' DTCE, Pede's Works, from helL prefc 35. Return from Parnassus, 1602. b And 'tis set down by Heaven's Just Marlowe was the only great man decree, among Shakespeare's precursors; his That Riot's child must needs be conceptions were strong and original Beggary. and he delineated character with a degree The Yorkshire Tragedy, 1 604. THEATRE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 295 composition was at least equalled by the increasing patronage Increase of bestowed on the drama by the Court and by learned Plays. bodies. At Lincoln's Inn and at Gray's Inn many dramas were enacted; and between 1568 and 1580 no fewer than fifty-two dramas were acted at Court, under the superintendence of the Master of the Bevels. The first licensed theatre in London was opened at Blackfriars in 1576, and before the close of the century there were five public theatres, and several private esta- blishments. Two hundred players are said to have resided in and near the metropolis at that time. By 1631 as many as seventeen new playhouses had been built, though the privilege of licensing private houses had been taken away from peers by an early Act of James i. 252. The theatre of the sixteenth century deserves notice, if only to contrast it with the theatre of our own day. The f th b^cting was generally of wood, and of circular form, Sixteenth open to the weather, except the stage and part of the boxes. In the pit or yard sat the middle classes, who were spectators. In boxes below the galleries sat the cavaliers and dames of the Court, or sometimes in the stools on the stage. Around them, or on rushes that were strewed about, sat or reclined the young gallants of the time. The performance began at three in the afternoon, and the commencement was in- dicated by the hoisting of a flag on the top of the theatre and by the sounding of trumpets. The stage was without moveable scenery, and so remained till after the Kestoration. The place of action of the play was indicated on a board that was hung up during the performance, and the chief events of the coming scene, by what was called a dumb show. A chorus commented upon the story, and suggested the moral lesson of the whole. Women were not allowed to act, and the female parts were played by boys or by young men. At the end, the buffoon of the company recited a rhyming medley, into which he often contrived to in- troduce smart or satirical allusions to public men or passing events, and before dismissing the audience the actors knelt in front of the stage and offered up a prayer for the queen ! Clearly the concomitants of the drama before the time of Shakespeare were very different from those of our day. The want of ecenery, the absence of actresses, the time of meeting, the open 296 THE DRAMA MASKS. sky, the absorption of the attention of the audience in the thoughts and wit of the play, all contributed to make the drama a much less sensuous and a more intellectual thing than it became after the Restoration. An eminent authority,* indeed, has attri~ buted to the modern mechanical and sensuous attractiveness of the theatre, much of the decay of later dramatic literature ; and cer- tainly the moral influence of the drama, which was never great, has in later times largely declined. Let it in any case be noted that the drama of the theatre and the drama of books are very different things. In the last the attention is directed chiefly to the sentiment; in the second it is divided between the sentiment and the concomitants, concomitants which are often mischievous just in proportion as they are pleasing. 1 * 253. Besides the regular drama, the age of James I. and of the Charleses is noteworthy for another kind of entertainment called the Mask, a combination of scenery, music, and poetry. The origin of the mask may be found in the 'revels' and * shows' which were so common in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Henry viii. had several such entertainments, in which a set of masked characters appeared. At first the maskers acted only in pantomime, generally closing with a dance. Somewhat later, poetical dialogue and music were added, till at length the first writers of the age contributed to make these exhibitions worthy of the occasion and of the audience. Jonson composed twenty-three masks : one of Milton's finest productions is the Comus ; and on several occasions Inigo Jones, the great architect, was the mechanist. These masks generally took place in the hall of a palace or of some large building, and were prepared for festive occasions, such as the birth or the marriage of a prince or noble. The characters were always allegorical and mythological, gods and goddesses mingling with Beauty, Fortitude, Day, and Night, etc. In de- fence of this practice, which seems to our modern notions not in good taste, it must be remarked that classic imagery and personages were then new, and that it was not deemed pedantic to make allusions to the poetic creations of Grecian antiquity. For the most part the story was simple, and the charm of the piece de- Dyoe. of Shakespeare considered with reference * See Lamb's Essay On the Tragedies to their fitness for stage representation. THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. 297 pended upon the dress and the decorations, upon the felicity and piquancy of the conversation of the assumed characters, or upon the skill with which it represented the purposes and cir- cumstances of the real characters of the actors, or it might be of the spectators. In the first six years of the reign of Charles n., a sum of lo tween 4000?. and 5000?. was spent by the Court alone on these entertainments. 254. Never could there have been gathered together at any time in our history a number of more gifted men than the writers who nourished towards the close of the reign EHzabethf of Elizabeth, and at the beginning of the reign of her successor. Could we have summoned them to a meeting at ' The Mermaid,' where Ealeigh formed his club, and where there often assembled Shakespeare, and Jonson, and Beau- mont, and Fletcher, there would have come Chapman from Hertfordshire (1557-1634), the author of the Blind Beggar of Alexandria, and partly of Eastward Hoe ! but best known as the translator of Homer ; the gentle * and well-languaged ' Daniel from Taunton (1562-1619); Francis Beaumont, the son of a judge, from Grace Dieu, in Leicestershire (1586-1616), with his friend, John Fletcher, the son of a bishop (1576-1625); Ford, from Devon (1586-1630) ; Massinger, from the neighbourhood of Wilton House (1584-1640); Heywood (who was writing from 1596 to 1640), from Lincolnshire ; from London, Jonson and Webster, and somewhat later, Shirley ; from places unknown, Dekker (d. 1638), and Middleton (1570-1627), and Marston (d. 1634); and lastly, William Shakespeare (1564-1616). If we might also summon the poets and prose writers of the same age, we should have Spenser (born in London, 1553-1599), with his Faery Queen, and the Warwickshire Dray ton (1563- 1631), with his Polyolbion, the Yorkshire Fairfax with his Tasso, the two Fletchers, Phineas (1584-1650) and Giles ; the satirists, John Donne (1583-1631) and Bishop Hall (1574-1656); the lyric and religious poets, Francis Quarles (1592-1644.), George Herbert (1593-1632), and Eobert Herrick (1591-1674). Prose would be represented by the 'chivalrous' Sidney (1554-1586) and the ' judicious' Hooker (1553-1600), by Walton (1568- 1639), and Raleigh (1552-1618), and Bacon (1561-1626). 298 THE DRAMA SHAKESPEARE. These are among the names that make this era 'by far tho mightiest in the history of English literature, or indeed of human intellect and capacity. In point of real force and originality of genius, neither the age of Pericles, nor the age of Augustus, nor the times of Leo x., nor of Louis xiv., can come at all into comparison ; for in that short period we shall find the names of almost all the very great men that this nation has produced, men not merely of great talents and accomplishments, but of vast compass and reach of understanding, and of minds truly creative and original, not perfecting Art by the delicacy of their taste, or digesting knowledge by the justness of their reasoning, but making vast and substantial additions to the materials upon which taste and reason must hereafter be employed, and enlarging to an incredible and unparalleled extent both the stores and the resources of the human faculties.'* 255. Of all these, for creative power, William Shakespeare is certainly chief. He was born at Stratford-on-Avon in April, Shakes e I564 ' ^ S0me ^ n tiie twent y- tnird of tn ^t month, St. George's day. His father had settled at Stratford as a wool-comber or glover, and had married a rustic heiress, Mary Arden. By degrees he rose to be High Bailiff and Chief Alderman of the place, though afterwards he was reduced to comparative poverty. William was the eldest of six children, and, after some time spent at the grammar-school of the town, is said to have assisted in his father's business. It has also been conjectured that he entered a lawyer's office, as his works abound in legal phrases and illustrations. b The amount of education he received has been matter of much inquiry. Ben Jonson, who prided himself on his classical knowledge, says that Shakespeare knew * little Latin and less Greek.' This epigrammatic saying seems to admit that he knew something of both, though it is probable that Greek was not then accessible in schools. Latin he must have known. If we may judge from the number of Latinised phrases he uses, from his choice of two classical subjects for his early poetry, from the frequent and happy allusions in his dramas to Edinburgh Review, xviiL, 275. though without name, as one of those * The late Lord Chancellor Campbell who ' leave the trade of Noverint (know has written a volume to prove that all men), whereto they were born . . Shakespeare must have studied law. and afford you whole Hamlets, I should Nash, a contemporary, speaks of him, say handful3 ; of tragical speeches.' SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE. 299 the mythology of the Ancients, he must have been imhued with a taste for classical learning. When little more than eighteen years of age he married Ann Hathaway, the daughter of a sub- stantial yeoman, but seven years older than himself. Before he was one-and-twenty three children, the first a daughter, the second and third twins, a daughter and a son, were born to him. He nad no family besides. One of his daughters had three sons, but these all died without issue, and with them the lineal descendants of the poet became extinct. Within a year of the birth of these children, Shakespeare quitted Stratford, and, like many young authors since, threw himself for support on the public of London. The reason for that removal is not certain. It has been supposed that his departure was hastened by a lampoon on Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlcote, in whose park he is said to have committed some depredation. This charge, however, was never brought against him in his lifetime, and is hardly consistent with his return to the place, and the evident honour in which he was held by its inhabit- ants. It may even have grown out of his play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, where there is a coarse joke on Sir Thomas' coat of arms. Perhaps the small town of Strat- ford did not offer scope enough for his ambition, or support enough for his family ; or, most probably of all, as Burbage, the greatest actor of his day, the future performer of Richard, Hamlet, and Othello, was himself a Stratford man, Shakespeare may have been induced by him to adopt the theatre as his vocation. It is certainly singular that the names of both appear on a certificate addressed to the Privy Council in 1589 by the shareholders of the Blackfriars Theatre. There Shakespeare is reckoned among her majesty's poor players, and is the eleventh on a list of fifteen. In 1596 his name is fifth in a list of eight proprietors, and in 1603 he is second in the patent granted by King James. As an actor of plays he is said by a contemporary, supposed to be Lord Southampton, to have been 'of good account;' but it is as a writer of plays that he has reached the eminence which the world now gives him. In the midst of all his brilliant success the poet early looked forward to a permanent residence in his native place. He visited it every year, and as wealth flowed in, he made at various periods between 1597 and 1605 investments in lands and houses at Strat- 300 THE DRAMA SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS. ford. The latest entry of his name among the king's players is 1604, but he was still living in London in 1609. About the year 1612 he finally retired to the country. He seems to have had some leaning to the Puritan party, as in the records of the town there is an entry of a present of * sack and claret ' given to a 'preacher at New Place,' the residence of the poet and the principal house at Stratford.* Four years he must have spent in this retirement. His will is dated on the 25 th of March, 1616, and on the 23rd of April he died, having just completed his fifty-second year. About the date of some of Shakespeare's plays, and even about the number, there has been much discussion. Eleven of his dramas were printed in his lifetime, probably from pirated copies. It was the interest of all parties, authors and stage managers alike, that new and popular plays should not be published, and it is certain, moreover, that Shakespeare revised his best productions, again and again filling up the first outline, and heightening the humour or the force of the dialogues and of the characters. In the fourteen years between 1 584 and 1 598 he had written at least thir- teen plays, assuming Titus Andronicus to be his, which, however, there is no sufficient reason for doing. Much Ado About Nothing was acted in 1600, Twelfth Night and Othello were acted in i6o2, b though not published till later. Hamlet first appeared in 1603, King Lear in 1608. Macbeth certainly existed in 1610. The three Roman plays, Julius Ccesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus, are supposed by Mr. Knight to have been written after Shakespeare retired from the stage. The Tempest is said to have been the last he wrote, and as such (says Mr. Campbell), * it has a sort of sacredness, typifying himself unconsciously as a wise, potent, and benevolent magician.' In 1623 appeared the first corrected edition of his dramas, containing thirty-five plays in all. This was seven years after his own death, and six months after the death of his widow. At this time Dr. Harris, an eminent nence, Dod, Cleaver, Scndder, Whately nonconformist preacher, lectured at all Puritan preachers within the church 8tratford-on-Avon every other week, resided in that neighbourhood, and pro- when ttere was a great resort both of bably visited the place. See PATTBOX'S the chief gentry and choicest preachers Rise and Proffress of Religious Life in and professors hi those parts, and amongst England, p. 198, them that noble and learned knight Sir ' > Collier. Thomas Lucy.' Others of no less emi- COAIEDIES: HISTORIES: TRAGEDIES. 301 256. But perhaps it will be more instructive to name the plays of Shakespeare in the order in which he wrote them. That order His Pia w ^ ^ e ^ ounc ^ * throw light u P on tn e growth of the poet's mind, and will go far to vindicate and explain the high place which critics have assigned to him. These plays are divided into three classes comedies, histories, and tragedies. Of the fourteen comedies, the plots of five The Taming of the Shrew (in part), The Merchant of Venice, AW 8 Well that Ends Well, Much Ado about Nothing, Measure for Measure are Italian; and two are classical The Comedy of Errors and the Twelfth Night, taken from the Mensechmi of Plautus. Of the remaining seven, the plots of two Midsummer Night's Dream and As you like it are from mediaeval sources. That of the Two Gentlemen of Verona is Spanish ; that of the Merry Wives of Windsor is English ; that of Love's Labour Lost is apparently French ; while that of the Winter's Tale and of the Tempest are of unknown origin. Of the plots of Shake- speare's eleven tragedies, four Timon of Athens, and the three Kornan plays are classical : reckoning Pericles as Shakespeare's twelfth tragedy, it also is classical : a two Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida are mediseval : two Romeo and Juliet and Othello are Italian : and three Cymbeline, Lear, and Macbeth are from the legendary history of Britain. For the classical tragedies, Shakespeare depended chiefly on North's translation of Plutarch's Lives, which he must have seen about the year 1607, and for his national histories he depended chiefly on Holinshed's Chronicle. As early as 1591 Greene refers to Shakespeare as already known among dramatic writers : and there is reason for believing that the Comedy of Errors was written in 1586. This play, which is his earliest dramatic production, has remained un- changed. The Two Gentlemen of Verona is the second of his plays, and is now probably in its original state. The third is ' Pericles ' was first printed in 1609, that the plot of it was an early and very and was said on the title-page to be by imperfect production of Shakespeare's, William Shakespeare. Other editions and that he continued to improve the appeared in 1611, 1619, i6jo, and 1635. language and the sentiment even to the It was first placed in fcis collected works last, seems very probable. But it is not in the third folio edition of 1664. safe to treat the play as throwing light Opinions as to its genuineness have on the progress of the author's own been long divided. Mr. Knight's decision, mind. 302 THE DRAMA PROGRESS OF SHAKESPEARE'S MIND. Love's Labour Lost, which underwent many changes before it took the form in which we now find it. The fourth is The Taming of the Shrew, published in 1594. To this earlier period belong also two tragedies in their original form Hamlet, which is merely a sketch of the present drama, and Borneo and Juliet. If the first part of Henry the Sixth is really Shakespeare's, as some of it is, it also must be added to this list. 257. In two of these plays Henry the Sixth and The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare is largely a borrower. In them all are marks of a youthful genius. The style is but half formed : the quips and conceits, which he never gave up, are fantastic and abundant : the characters are but partially developed, and are wanting in seriousness and eleva- tion : above all, in the fancy there is such an air of coarseness and unreality, such a deficiency of energy and passion, as proves that the author had not yet reached his full powers. And yet he had already gone beyond his predecessors. Comedy itself, as a description of daily life, was a novelty. Each play has some passages which no dramatist then living could have written. The dialogue is easy and gay, beyond anything that had been heard upon the stage ; while for romantic painting, the author is equal to Greene, and for tragic power to Marlowe, the qualities in which those authors excelled. To the next six or eight years, the second period of Shake- speare's life as an author, belong the historical plays, except Henry the Sixth and Henry the Eighth a collection of six in all ; seven comedies, The Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Att's Well that Ends Wett, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing, As you like it, Twelfth Night, and The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602), afterwards materially altered. Measure for Measure is a little later (1603), and towards the end of the period he re- wrote Romeo and Juliet. All these show an immense advance upon his previous compo- sitions. His chronicle plays are generally based on the facts of history, and exhibit so iruthfully the national character, as well as the facts, that Coleridge deems them a better help to the knowledge of history for the periods over which they extend than any other writings. In some of these plays, as in Richard the Second, largely in Richard the Third, as well as in Henry the SHAKESPEARE'S GREATEST WORKS. 303 Eighth, all the characters are real, and the scenes free from those fantastic representations, which, however natural, are sometimes felt to mar the effectiveness of the play. In several of these plays, moreover, there is a profound insight into human nature, both characteristic and instructive. Among the comedies, Hallam reckons The Midsummer Night's Dream the most beau- tiful conception that ever visited the mind of a poet, while the language, as he thinks, sparkles with perpetual brightness. The Merchant of Venice, generally deemed the finest of the comedies, is remarkable for the skill of the plot, the copiousness of the wit, and the beauty of the language, which last, however, is occa- sionally spoiled by metaphysical obscurity. Romeo and Juliet contains some of the most beautiful passages in our language, and has probably drawn more tears than any of the plays : it exhi- bits, however, juvenile faults and conceits, quibbles and occa- sional bombast. In all the plays of the second period the lan- guage is more elevated and vigorous, the versification more finished, and often more joyous, while the characters are more strongly marked, and are drawn with deeper insight into human nature ; the whole being pervaded by a vein of philosophic con- templation which has never been surpassed. This same quality is found in Measure for Measure, where it is finely contrasted with humour. The latest productions of Shakespeare's genius, those of the third period, are also the finest. ' In Lear, Hamlet (in its im- proved form), Othello, Macbeth, and The Tempest, all his won- derful faculties and acquirements are found combined his wit, pathos, passion, and sublimity, his profound knowledge and observation of mankind mellowed by a refined humanity and benevolence, his imagination richer from skilful culture and added stores of information, his unrivalled language, his imagery and versification.'* Of these, the first place is generally assigned to Macbeth; others prefer Othello, and the few, Lear. Macbeth Mr. Hallam agrees with Drake in thinking ' the greatest effort of his genius, the most sublime and impressive drama the world has ever beheld.' 5 258. The first edition of Shakespeare's collected works was Chambers, 1., 196. and sound criticism oil their relative b See Hallam, iii., 87, for a good epi- merits, tome of the history of Shakespeare's plays 304 THE DRAMA EDITIONS OF HIS WORKS. published, as we have seen, in 1623, a second and very inac- curately printed edition in 1632, a third in 1644, and a fourth m I68 5- Then be an im P roved texts and commentaries. Eowe, the poet (1709), Pope (1715), Hanmer (1744),* Theobald, Warburton (1747), Johnson (1765), Steevens, Malone, Reed, Chalmers, all tried their hand with various success. Hurd and Kames did much by criticism to call attention to his writings. In the present century men of nearly every country of Europe have commented upon his genius and characters ; Goethe and Lessing, Schlegel, Tieck, b and Gervi- nus, among the Germans ; Guizot and Vericour among the French ; Coleridge, Hazlitt and Lamb, Mrs. Jameson, and Mrs. Cowden Clarke, among ourselves ; nor should we omit the editions of his works by Knight, Collier, Dyce, Singer, Staunton, Halliwell, and others. It may indeed be safely said that there is tora! en ~ no w " ter wnose productions have been so carefully analysed and illustrated, so eloquently expounded, or so universally admired. For a philosophical examination of his writings, the student may consult Schlegel and Coleridge, whose views are sometimes singularly alike; for an eloquent estimate of his character and times, Guizot ; and for a discussion of the women of Shakespeare, a discussion at once compact and satisfactory, the Essays of Mrs. Jameson. 259. The faults of Shakespeare are upon the surface of his writings, and it is unwise not to admit them. The effect of his . , l passionate scenes is often weakened by conceits and verbal quibbles, and some of the finest passages are injured by the needless obscurity of his language. Occasion- ally, this language is obscure from its obsoleteness, very often from the profoundness of the thought, but not seldom from what seems affectation or carelessness, so that the attention of the reader is divided between the text and the commentary, and in such cases without an adequate recompence for his care and pains. a 60. It may not be amiss to add, that the plays of Shake- With Capell's Notes. atic and perfect that Shakespeare is welt b Schlegel and Tieck are aLo atliaors nigh naturalised in Germany, of translations of -Shakespeare so idiom- MORAL TENDENCY OF SHAKESPEARE'S WRITINGS. 305 speare have a decidedly good moral tendency. Human crimes and passions are indeed represented in them ; but Moral ten- always in such a way as to render the delineation dencyofhis , , . . ' m , . writings. awful and instructive. There are also occasionally licentious expressions and allusions, which would have been much better omitted ; but these never enter into the substance of the play, or even of the scene. They belong to the age more than to the man, and it is always easy to omit them in the reading without injuring the sense. Between the dramatic productions of Shakespeare's own contemporaries, particularly Jonson, Ford, and Beaumont, and still more between those of the period of the ^Restoration and the dramas of Shakespeare, the contrast is most marked and painful. In fact, Shakespeare is as superior in moral tone to most of the dramatists of the seven- teenth century as he is in creative genius.* It may be added that there is in Shakespeare a reverence for Scripture which shows at least the tastes of the time, and no less, it may be hoped, his sympathy with them. There are ' above five hundred passages in his works which are taken apparently from Scripture originals, being either verbally or substantially founded on quotations from Holy Writ.' And there are about c four hundred sentences besides these expressive of sentiments taken from the same source.' 5 Yet we can go no farther. His genius is unrivalled ; but it is the earthly and the natural he paints. Of the heavenly and the supernatural the spiritual, in the highest sense he says little. Perhaps the man felt more than the poet reveals. Perhaps he deemed the place not fit for such utterances. Perhaps he deemed human life alone to be the proper subject for dramatic treatment. Still the fact remains. His characters are all human. For the divine, we must turn to another book and to other Teachers. 261. On the whole the summary of Mr. Hallam is as just as any Vericotir notes the same fact about p. 163. Some of these passages are of the state of the drama in modern France, great beauty : and urges French writers to copy Shake- All the souls that are, were forfeit speare, and so to retrieve the character once : of French theatrical representation. And he that might the vantage best Lecture ix. have took, See Dr. Wordsworth's ShaJcespeare Found out the remedy. and the Bible, and Pattison's Rise and Measure for Measure, act il Progress of Religious Life in England, 2 x 306 THE DRAMA SHAKESPEARE'S GENIUS: HOW PROVED. we can quote. ' The name of Shakespeare is the greatest in our literature: it is the greatest in all literature. No Summary. , . . , , man ever came near him in the creative powers of his mind. No man had ever such strength at once and such variety of imagination. Coleridge has most felicitously applied to him a Greek epithet given before to I know not whom, cer- tainly none so deserving of it the thousand-souled (the myriad- minded) Shakespeare. The number of characters in his plays is astonishingly great, without reckoning those who, although transient, have often their individuality all distinct all types of human life in well-defined differences. . . Compare with him Homer, the tragedians of Greece, the poets of Italy, Plautus, Cervantes, Molifere, Addison, Le Sage, Fielding, Richardson, Scott, the Romancers of the elder or later schools, one man has far more than surpassed them all. Others may have been as sublime, others may have been more pathetic, others may have equalled him in grace and purity of language, and have shunned some of his faults, but the philosophy of Shakespeare, his intimate searching out of the human heart, whether in the gnomic form of sentence or in the dramatic exhibition of character, is a grand peculiarity of his own.' 262. There are threeor four familiar illustrations of Shakespeare's genius and influence that any inquirer can examine for himself. Mode of ( a ") ^ et ki m ^ or exam PH examine the catalogue of proving his any good library to ascertain the number of Shake- genius, spearian publications issued in the last two hundred Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built thyself a live-long monument. MILTON, on Shaketpeare, i6jo. Thee, Shakespeare, poets ever shall adore, Whose wealthy fancy left so vast a store, They still refine thy rough but precious ore. JOHN EVELYN, To Envy. The pride of nature and the shame of schools, Born to create, and not to learn from rules. Qf Shakespeare. A Prologue. By Sir C. Sedley, Wit and Poet of the tune of James n. Each change of many-coloured life he drew, Exhausted worlds and then imagined new. JOHSSON, Of Shakespeare, in the Prologue to the Drury Lane Opening. There are no other plays that paint human nature, that strike off the charac- teristics of men with all the freshness and sharpness of the original, and speak the language of all the passions, not like a mimic but an echo, neither softer nor louder nor differently modulated from the spontaneous effusions of art.' JEFFREY i., $92, (of Shakespeare). SHAKESPEARE'S GENIUS: HOW PROVED. 307 and fifty years. He will find at least a hundred editions of his complete works ; and at least three hundred Commentaries. A Shakespeare Library, indeed, could not be completed under 2000 separate works, containing many more than 2000 vols. a (&.) Let him examine any collection of the Beauties of the Stage or of English poetry, in which extracts are arranged under different heads ; let him select the most striking, beautiful and true ; and he will find that the specimens selected are in three cases out of every four Shakespeare's. (c.) Let him examine a collection of passages all taken from Shakespeare's plays and arranged under different heads, and he will be struck to find that, though the same theme is often dis- cussed in two or more passages, sometimes in a dozen, there are no two passages alike. Had every play been utterly forgotten as soon as it was written the unlikeness could not have been more marked. (d.) Let him read any one play, Hamlet for example, and mark the lines and phrases that have passed into our current literature and have become ' familiar as household words,' and he will be surprised at their number and impressiveness. A few may be added as- a specimen : < For the apparel oft proclaims the man.' HAMLET i., 3. For loan oft loses both itself and friend ; And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.' i., 3. ' Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven ; whilst Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads/ i., 3. ' I am native here, And to the manner born.' i., 4. ' It is a custom More honoured in the breach than in the observance.' i., 4. ' Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.' i., 4. 1 1 could a tale unfold.' i., 5. Oh, Hamlet, what a falling-off was there 1' i., 5. ' No reckoning made, but sent to my account.' i., 5. ' Remember thee ! while memory holds a seat.' i., 5. * And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire.' i., 5. ' There needs no ghost to tell us this.' i., 5. Afherueum, March, 1864. In Bonn's speariana fill more than a hundred pages edition of Lowndes' Bibliographer's of double column and small type. Manual, Shakespeare and Sliake- x 2 508 THE DRAMA JONSON. * There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' i., 5. ' The time is out of joint.' i., 5. * Brevity is the soul of wit.' iu, 2. ' To sleep, perchance, to dream; ay, there's the rub.' iii., I. ' Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.' hi., I. * The native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.* iii. : 7. ' The observ'd of all observers.' iii., I. It ont-herods Herod.' iii., 2. * Suit the action to the word.' iii., 2. ' To hold the mirror up to nature/ iii., 2. ' It will discourse most excellent music.' iii., 2. * Words without thoughts never to heaven go.' iii., J. * A king of shreds and patches.' iii., 4. * Look here, upon this picture, and on this.' iii., 4. * Lay not that flattering unction to your soul.' iii., 4. * Assume a virtue, if you have it not.' iii., 4. * There's such divinity doth hedge a king.' iv., 5. 'Alas, poor Yorick!' v., i. ' Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table in a roar.' v., I. * To what base uses we may return, Horatio I' v., I. * There's a divinity that shapes our ends Rough hew them as we will.' v., 2. ' A bat a very palpable hit.' v., 2. 263. By Shakespeare's contemporaries, and by posterity, the second place among the dramatic authors of this period is given to Ben Jonson : near Jonson, and in some respects be- fore him, are Beaumont and Fletcher, and Massinger. In all the qualities of a dramatist, Jonson excels ; but he is often hard, ungenial, and pedantic, wearing what Milton calls 'his learned sock ' too often. Beaumont and Fletcher excel in im- agery, and in humour and wit. Their great fault is, as Schlegel says, the want of seriousness and depth, and of the judgment that prescribes the due limits to every part of composition.* Mas- singer is distinguished by the grace and dignity of his sentiments, and by his pure and idiomatic English. Perhaps his style is too homely ; running, as Coleridge thinks, into one extreme, as KaHam, tB. HIS PLAYS. 309 Milton's Samson Agonistes runs into the other. But it is im- possible to read his works without feeling their charm. Ben Jonson was born in Westminster, where his. father, of a Scottish family, had been a clergyman. After serving in the Low Countries as a common soldier with great credit for bravery, he is found at the age of twenty married and settled as an actor in London. In this calling he did not succeed, and in 1596 he pro- duced his first comedy Every Man in his Humour. In a revised edition of this play acted in 1598 at the Globe, Shakespeare was one of the performers. In 1599 appeared Every Man out of his Humour, a play inferior to the former. Two other comedies, Cynthia's Revels and the Poetaster followed. In the latter he at- tacked some brother dramatists, who replied with great spirit, and silenced Jonson for two years. In 1603 he produced his classic drama Sejanus ; then, after some time, his three chief comedies, Volpone, or the Fox, Epicene, or the Silent Woman, and the Alchemist. Of these the best are the Alchemist and the Fox. In the first, the Puritans are made to do penance on the stage, as they frequently did in the comedies of this period. His second classic tragedy, Catiline* appeared in 1611, and in 1619, king James, with whom he was a favourite, made him Poet Laureate. The same year he visited Scotland on foot, and spent some weeks with Drummond the Hawthornden poet and laird, who has left behind no favourable sketch of the dramatist. He was evidently the opposite of the * gentle Shakespeare,' a passionate, jealous friend, and made the worse by the habit of intemperance in which he indulged, though when his better nature prevailed he was capable of generous feeling, and of the just appreciation of genius and character. Indeed, Drummond acknowledges that ' he was While commonwealths afford a Cati- line, Laborious Jonson shall be thought divine. T. EVELYN. He has no 'faith in Physic : he does think, Most of our doctors are the greater danger, And worse disease t' escape. JONSON'S Fox. When it concerns himself, Who is angry at a slander, makes it true. JONSOK'S Calilive. Break Phant'sie from thy case ot cloud And tho' it be a waking dream, Yet let it like an odour rise, To all the senses here, And fall like sleep upon their eyes, Or music in their ear. JONSON'S Masque, The Vision of Delight. Death ere thou hast slain another Learned and fair and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee. Epitaph on Sidney's Sinter, Countess of Pembroke. 810 THE DRAMA JONSON'S PROSE. passionately kind and angry, vindictive, but, if answered, at him- self.' Gifford, his editor, has warmly defended Jonson, and accuses Drummond of underhand dealing in the case ; but, as Hallam and Campbell observe, without reason. Drummond records the incidents of Jonson's visit in a book he never pub- lished, perhaps never meant to publish. Jonson died in 1637, and his body was buried upright in Westminster Abbey. Upon his tombstone were inscribed these words only, ' rare Ben Jon- son.' His comedies and tragedies are sixteen in number, and his masks and other court entertainments thirty-five. Besides these, he wrote a book entitled Timber (i. e. Sylva) ; or, Discoveries made upon Men and Matter. It is chiefly a collection of moral remarks and criticisms, unconnected, judicious, witty, and often severe. The * English grammar,' which is extant under his name, is but part of the work he wrote on that subject. It contains many very good suggestions on the grammar of our tongue. It is one of the earliest of our grammars, as the Timber is one of the earliest specimens of literary criticism. His common characters in comedy are clever original por- traits, but often exaggerated and repulsive. The smiles they call forth are not of mirth, but of scorn or disgust, while they seldom excite sympathy, admiration, or love. In the region of pure fancy, as in the Cynthia, and the Sad Shepherd the last of his plays, and which was left unfinished at his death he greatly excels. His language and imagery and ideal conceptions of cha- racter are alike beautiful. His Roman tragedies are formed (as are all his plays professedly) on the classic models, and with much classic learning not always skilfully inlaid ; but they have little of the true classic spirit. The characters are * robust and richly graced,' but stiff and unnatural : they are to those of Shakespeare what sculpture is to actual life. In another respect he differs from the great English dramatist. His plays rather tend to bring into contempt the religious earnestness and scriptural tastes which then distinguished a large portion of the public.' 264. In Beaumont and Fletcher we have two young men of genius and of good birth, living together ten years, and writing Beaumont and * n un i n a series of thirty-eight plays, the joint pro- Fletcher, duction of the two, besides the fourteen which are Chambers, L, 208. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. 311 said to have been written by Fletcher alone. Such joint authorship was not uncommon in that age, though known only in the history of the drama. Francis Beaumont was the son of a judge who resided at Grace Dieu, in Leicestershire. He was born in 1586, and was educated at Cambridge. He entered at the Inner Temple, but does not seem to have followed the study of the law. He died in March, 1615-16, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. John Fletcher was the son of Dr. Fletcher, Bishop of Bristol. He was born in 1576, and died ol the plague in 1625. Their plays were not printed till 1647, so that the order in which they were written is not known, nor is it possible to distinguish the authorship of the plays themselves. The first play in the collected works, though not the earliest, is The Maid's Tragedy, one of the best of the series. PhUaster is one of the best-known, and was long the most popular a posi- tion it owed to its poetry, and to the characters of Philaster and Bellario. The Elder Brother is reckoned among the best. Of Fletcher's comedies, The Faithful Shepherdess stands highest ol his productions. It is an imitation in part of the Pastor Fido of Guarini, and it suggested to Milton the plan of Comus. It is rich in imagination and in picturesque noble metaphor, in tenderness and purity of language, and it must be added in indecency and absurdity. It seems, in fact, to deserve the criticism of Schlegel, who calls it ' an immodest eulogy of modesty.' The skill and power of Beaumont and Fletcher are seen chiefly in their comedies, not in their tragedies. They are, indeed, the founders of the comedy of intrigue, the kind of comedy that pre- vailed during the latter part of the seventeenth century, and did much mischief in the hands of Wycherley, Congreve, and Dry- den. It has been said by one not prone to take needless excep- tion, that the plays of these writers, even when beautiful and essentially moral, as in The Maid's Tragedy, are such as a re- spectable woman can hardly read. They abound in studiously protracted indecency, which is so much incorporated with their substance that few of them can be altered so as to be fit for the stage. The alteration destroys the plot, and takes away most of the wit* 265. While Beaumont and Fletcher were in the height of their 312 THE DRAMA MASSINGER : FORD. fame, another dramatist appeared, superior to them in tragedy, and . sharing with them in other departments the admiration of the more thoughtful of his age. Massinger, himself a tragic poet, had also a tragic history. The son of a servant of the Earl of Pembroke, brought up probably at Wilton House, where Sidney had written his Arcadia, and trained at Oxford, he com- menced writing for the stage in James's reign. After a life of struggles and poverty he was found dead in his bed in his house at Bankside, Southwark, one morning in March, 1639. In the parish register the only note is ' Philip Massinger, a stranger.' Of the many plays he wrote eighteen have been preserved. The Virgin Martyr, The City Madam, and A New Way to Pay Old Debts, are his best-known productions. The last is s.till popular, chiefly from the originality and effectiveness of Over- reach, one of the characters. Massinger's sketches of human nature resemble Jonson's in their coarseness and depravity. Of genuine humour he has none. His tragedies, of which The Duke of Milan is the best, are of a high order. Hallam thinks him in this de- partment second only to Shakespeare, and in serious comedy, comedy, that is, in which the depth of the interest and the general elevation of the style indicate a higher purpose than mere amuse- ment, he thinks him hardly inferior to Jonson. 266. Of the other dramatists of this period John Ford (1586- 1639) has great power, especially in pathos.* He was of a Devonshire family, and was bred to the profession of the law. * Love, and love in guilt or in sorrow,' is the emotion he portrays. ' Of comic ability he does not display a particle.' His finest tragedy is The Broken Heart. His Brother and Sister (1633), a ^ e f criminal love, contains fine poetry, but is harrowing to the feelings, and mischievous to the taste. Perkin Warbeck is a spirited historical drama. 267. Webster, 'the noble minded,' as Hazlitt calls him, belongs to the first part of James's reign, is one of the second-rate dramatists, and ranks next to Ford, and other His tragedies abound in terror and sorrow. The Dramatist*. Duchess O f Ma ifi, and TIic White Devil, are the best Ford is one of the ornaments of our In that he displays a peculiar depth ancient drama; but interests us in love and delicacy of feeling.' CAMPBELL, only. [And in friendship. Giffoixl.] Kssay, p. 94. WEBSTER AND OTHER DRAMATISTS. of them. 8 They are both skilful in delineating guilt, and they illustrate the savage taste of the Italian school of dramatic authors. In the Duchess of Malfi scarcely characters enough are left alive to bury the dead.b John Marston is a ranting tragedian, who deals in ghosts and murders, and has a bitter indignation against the vices and follies of men, which shows itself in satire or in invective; Chapman, who wrote comedies from 1598 to 1620, is extrava- gant, occasionally didactical, but without genius or nature. Dekker deserves a higher place, showing both pathos and humour. His style is often choice and elegant. Fortunatus, or the Wishing Cap, is one of his best dramas. Middle ton is often amusing and spirited : The Witch, and Women Beware Women, are his best pieces. Thomas Hey wood, who wrote for the stage from 1596 to 1640, was the most voluminous author of this period. Two hundred and twenty plays, he tells us, he composed wholly, or in part, and of these twenty-three remain, among which are The English Traveller and The Lancashire Witclies. His scenes are more easy and less exciting than those of Middleton or Webster, while the general tone is more pure and moral. James Shirley, 6 the last in the list, was born in London in 1596. He graduated at Oxford, and became for a while a curate near St. Albans. He then settled in London, and became a voluminous dramatic writer. Thirty-nine plays proceeded from his pen, and have been published by Gifford, in six octavo volumes. To this editing he owes some of his modern celebrity. When his first play was licensed the ' Master of the Revels' praised it, because ' free from oaths and obscenity, trusting that this encouragement would (Of Reputation.) It Is my nature, him. ' But he lived,' Campbell adds, If once I part from any man I meet ' in a degenerate age of dramatic taste.' I am never found again. WEBSTER'S Unfortunate Duchess. b Hallam, iii., 122. c ' Shirley was the best of our good old dramatists. . . His language sparkles with the most exquisite images. . . His tragedies are defective in fire, grandeur, and passion ; but in his comedies, " The Gamester," " The Lady of Pleasure," we get the most favourable idea of his powers.' CAMPBELL. Dryden, in Mac Flecknoe, speaks contemptuously oi A trembling apprehension always waits Our highest joys. SHIRLEY'S Parricide Her eye did seem to labour with a tear Which suddenly took birth, but over- weighed With its own swelling dropt upon hei bosom. Tlie Brothers. Quoted by Farmer as among the best of hip many beau- tiful lines. 314 THE DRAMA SUSPENSION OF PLAYS, induce the poet to pursue this beneficial and cleanly way of poetry :' and this character he has fairly maintained, though the morality of this most moral of the writers of that age goes far to account for that feeling against play-acting which the Puritans soon manifested. The best of his plays is The Gamester. The style is generally polished, and the similes often beautiful, but he has * no force, little pathos, and less wit> 268. There was now a suspension of the drama for nearly twenty years. The civil war had broken out, and on Septem- ber and, 1642, the Long Parliament issued an ordinance 'suppressing public stage plays through- out the kingdom during these calamitous times.' In the propriety of that ordinance at the time, and for "the reason assigned, all parties probably would concur. Six years later (January 22nd, 1648) another ordinance entirely suppressed them. This forcible suppression of plays by law is an act that may be fairly questioned, both as to the principle of such a measure, and the wisdom of it. But in defence of the Puritans there are various facts that need to be remembered. When the dramatists of the age speak of religion, they speak of it in a way which was not likely to satisfy earnest men of any side. They are neither Catholics nor Protestants : they seem wavering be- tween the two systems, or they make a system for themselves of parts selected from both. Celibacy they treat with mysterious reverence. Virtuous Jesuits and interesting friars are introduced on the stage. Hamlet's father's ghost describes himself as still in purgatory Till the foul crimes done in the days of nature. Are burnt and purged away.' b All this the Puritans, as earnest, decided, religious men, had been taught not only to question, but to condemn. Moreover, their own doctrines and practices had been ridiculed on the stage, and some of their writers had been introduced in ways not very flatter- ing. The actors were ' malignants ' to a man, or with a single exception, one having joined the parliamentary party, and de- fended himself on the ground that he was a Presbyterian, though * Hallam, iii., 121. article entitled Burleigh and his Times. * See Macaulay's description in bis Edinburgh Heview, April, 1832. THE KESTORATIOH. 315 an actor.* In self-defence the Puritans did what Elizabeth or James would certainly have done, nay, what both the clergy and the great towns had done in the previous centuiy. Above all for these are the chief reasons very many of the plays of the preceding twenty years were on moral grounds * painful to read, and scarcely decent to name,' b while the Puritans deemed life too serious a thing to be spent at plays, where the sole purpose seemed to be to gratify the taste for amusement by entertain- ments at once frivolous and vicious. Such amusements they held were favourable neither to freedom nor to godliness. In short, it was the drama as it then existed which they censured, and the censure they put in the form of a law, on the supposition that it was the business of the magistrate to control the amusements oi the people, and that the supreme ruler in the state might wisely do by force what most now feel would be better done by moral influence and the gentler restraints of domestic life. This action of the government, it may be added, was the result in part of popular feeling. As early as 1625, A Short Treatise against Stage Plays had created a good deal of excitement, which was deepened by Prynne's Histrio-Mastix (1633). 269. The Camus (first acted in 1634) and the Samson Agonistes (1671) of Milton, among the earliest and latest productions respectively of that poet who in our literature is second only to Shakespeare, may be more appropri- ately noticed with his poems. In the first are various traces of Spenser, Fletcher, and Shakespeare : in the second, much of the severe simplicity and restricted incident of the ancient drama. These works are a proof, if any were needed, that a Puritan was not necessarily an enemy of learning or of taste ; while they show how an author may * moralise his song,' and yet indulge in richest imagery and in beautiful sentiment. 270. With the restoration of the monarchy under Charles u. there came the restoration of the drama. Two theatres were See Disraeli's Ciirtoeittes of Lite- i856),itisnaintained that the Judgment rature. of the Puritans on the immorality and b Macaulay. mischievous influence of the theatre, as c In a remarkable article by Mr it existed at this time, has been ratified Kicgsley (North British Review, March, by the consent of modern England. 316 THE DKAMA DRYDEN. licensed in the metropolis, one under the direct patronage of Charles, called the King's, and the other under that of his brother, and called the Duke's. Of the former, Killigrew was manager, and Dave- nant of the other. By Davenant two important changes were made in theatrical management. He introduced moveable scenery, and he regularly* employed female players. Both changes proved a great attraction. Instead, however, of reproducing the dramas of Shakespeare and Jonson, the playwrights sought to gratify the taste of the Court by re- curring to French and Spanish models. The former were rhyming and heroic plays, founded on daring enterprises and ro- mantic adventures, and had been dignified by the skill and genius of Corneille and Racine. Spanish comedies abounded in intrigues and disguises. The rhyme and romance of the first the intrigues and disguises of the second found in Dryden a suc- cessful imitator. 271. John Dryden was the grandson of a Northamptonshire baronet, and was born at Aldwinckle, in 1631. His relations on both sides had adopted Puritan opinions, and he grew up under Puritan influences. From Westminster School he entered, in 1650, at Trinity College, Cambridge, and for seven years nothing is known of his life. In 1657 he came to London, and seems to have acted as secretary to Sir G. Pickering, 'Noll's Lord Chamberlain,' as Shadwell calls him. On Cromwell's death he wrote some heroic verses of great vigour, and on the Restoration in 1660 found his occupation gone. He \vas then twenty-eight years of age. Twenty-eight years later, at the Revolution, he found himself in the same position, and on both occasions betook himself to literature as his resource. Between 1662 and 1694 he produced twenty-six plays, of which twelve are tragedies and nine comedies. b Among the most popular The first English actress was intro- age of Queen Henriette, had introduced duced on the stage in the play of Othello actresses, but the public did not wel- in the reign of Charles n. 1661. The come the innovation. BORAH'S Annc.lt reason given in the prologue is that of the English, Stage, p. 59. Our women are defective and so sized, b Passions in men oppressed are donblv fou'd think they were some of the strong. DKTDEN'S King Arthur. guard disguised.' DISRAELI. Trust reposed in noble natures, A French company, under the patron- Obliges them the more. Assignation, THE REHEARSAL. 317 of these are The Indian Queen (1663-64) ; The Indian Emperor, and The Conquest of Granada (1672). In this last we have in a concentrated form the romance and extravagance, the splendour and fable, that distinguished all his heroic writings. The scene is laid in the Moorish kingdom of Granada, and the 8 ' time is the age of Ferdinand and Isabella. Almanzor, an invincible Moorish knight, interrupts the fight between two Moorish factions at Granada, und by the might of his arm puts the combatants to flight. He then offers his services to the Moorish King Boabdelin. He transfers several times his allegiance, and the side he supports always routs its adversary with ease. To this tale of romantic valour is appended a tale of equally romantic love, and the whole is set off with the utmost gorgeous- ness of dress and ornateness of style. To a satirist this kind of play offered an easy mark, and soon the Duke of Buckingham combined with Sprat and Butler to ridicule Dryden and the public taste. This pro- The Rehearsal. . L . J ,. , , . __ _ , * duction was the famous comedy of The Rehearsal (1671), in which Dryden himself is introduced in the character of Bayes. The success of the comedy was unbounded. Though with little genuine wit, it is a clever travesty of the prevailing mode, and after the publication of it Dryden wrote but one tragedy in the heroic style, Aurungzebe (1675), and then aban- doned it for a manner more natural and less stilted. Buckingham himself Dryden never forgave, and years later sketched his When wild In woods the noble savage ran. Conquest of Granada, pi. i., i. Men are but children of a larger growth. AH for Love, iv., i. Forgiveness to the injured does belong, But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong. Conquest of Granada, pi. ii., i, 2. Neuters in their middle way of steering Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring. .Ep. Duke of Guise, Strange cosenage ! None would live past years again : Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain. Aurungzebe, iv., i. Love either finds equality or makes it. Marriage a la Mode. King's titles commonly begin by force, Which time wears off and mellows into right. Spanith Friar. A setting sun Should leave a track of glory in the sky. Don Sebastian All things are hush'd, as Nature's self lay dead, The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head, The little birds in dreams their songs repeat. The Indian Emperor; lines once celebrated ; but in Wordsworth's opinion ' vague, bombastic, senseless.' 318 THE DRAMA DRYDEN'S POEMS. character with a bold and immortal pencil as Zimri, in his Absalom and Achitophel. In his Essay on Dramatic Poesy (1668) Dryden had alluded to blank verse as too low for a poem, and much too low for tragedy. But as his taste improved he changed his opinion, and Aurungzebe is the last rhyming play he wrote. Among his comedies are The Marriage a la Mode, The Assig- nation, The State of Innocence, or the Fall of Man, a play founded on Milton's Paradise Lost, Att for Love, and Love Tri- umphant. The finest of his tragedies is Don Sebastian, published in 1690. All these have fallen into oblivion. In his tragedies he often reasons impressively, and exhibits great wealth of lan- guage and of imagery, but he had no depth of feeling and little power of construction. All his comedies, and all the comic parts of his tragedies, are filled with gross allusions, and are as false to nature as they are offensive to taste and morality. ' His love,' it has been said, ' is always licentious, and his tenderness a mere trick of the stage.'* In 1670 Dryden was made poet laureate, with an income 01 nearly 300?. a year. For ten years he employed his pen in writing dramas and critical essays, which last were generally prefixed to the dramas. The play of The Spanish Friar (1682) created a degree of poli tical hostility which had important results upon the life of the poet. In 1681 he published his Absalom and Achi- tophel, a poem written in the style of a scriptural narrative. It was intended as an attack on the Whig Puritan party. The Duke of Monmouth was Absalom, the Earl of Shaftesbury Achi- tophel, and the Duke of Buckingham Zimri. The poem is the most perfect satire in our language, and is as rich in striking beautiful thought as it is trenchant. In 1684 appeared his Eeligio Laici, a defence of the Church of England, though evincing sceptical tendencies. These tenden- cies ended in his adopting the Koman Catholic faith, strength- ened, as it is supposed they were, by the leaning of James n. and some of the court party. Johnson and Sir Walter Scott, who have carefully examined the facts and have written the life of the poet (Johnson hi a biography that is the most eloquent and discriminating of all his Lives of the Poets, and Sir Walter in the Chambers, English Literatrtre. DRYDEN: LEE: ETC. 319 life prefixed to Dryden's works), agree in acquitting Dryden of mercenary motives in this change. His reasons he has given in The Hind and Panther, a poem of great vigour, which was replied to by various writers, and parodied in a joint production by Prior and Charles Montague, The City Mouse and Country Mouse. The Eevolution of 1688 deprived Dryden of his offices, his place being filled by Shadwell, his old opponent. For the rest of his life he was more or less troubled by poverty, but his genius was undiminished. In 1697, appeared his Ode to St. Cecilia, better known as Alexander's Feast, one of the finest lyrics incur language. The same year he published translations of Juvenal, Persius, and Virgil, and in 1700 his Fables and translations from Ovid and Boccaccio with modern versions of Chaucer, the whole forming the best specimens of his versification. He died on the ist of May, 1700, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey. 372. Other dramatists of this age were, T. Otway (1651-1685^ Nathaniel Lee* (d. 1692), John Crowne (wrote 1671-1698), and T. Shadwell (1640-1692). The principal plays of Otway were The Orphan (1680), over which Scott thinks more tears have been shed than over Borneo and Juliet, though its indelicacy has long since driven it from the theatre, and Venice Preserved* (1682), still one of the most popu- lar tragedies. Otway was a disciple of Dryden's, and is said to excel him in his characters, and even in his style. His life was very brieij and was chequered by want and extravagance. Most of these writers, it may be added, gained questionable eminence by remodelling some of Shakespeare's dramas. 273. Meanwhile, for the complicated intrigues in which Dryden had so largely indulged, the delineation of the manners of fashion- When Greeks Joined Greeks, then was the tug of war. LEE, Alexander the Great, iv. 2. He like a pyramid reversed is grown. Theodosia. How superior is Shakespeare's image : He doth bestride the world lake a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves. Julius Ccesar. o Suspicion's but at best a coward virtue. OTWAY*S Venice Preserved. Oh woman, lovely woman ! Nature made thee To temper man : we had been brutes without you. Venice Preserwh 320 THE DRAMA ROWE: LILLO: ETC. able life had been substituted by a new school of dramatists. They took their tone from Moliere, and their plays Manners?' are distinguished by witty dialogue and lively inci- dent. The chief writers of this school are, William Wycherley* (1640-1715), Sir George Etheridge (1636-1694), William Congreve b (1669-1729), Sir John Vanbrugh (1666-1726), ' architect and comic writer,' and George Farquhar (1678-1 707). Congreve was the most eminent of them all, and has left five plays, of which one, The Mourning Bride, is a tragedy. He was the intimate friend of Dryden, who appointed him his literary executor. 274. Three other dramatists of this period deserve mention: Thomas Southerner (1659-1746), Nicholas Bowe e (1673-171-8), * ' Believe your friend honest to make him so, if be be not so ; since, if you dis- trust him, you make his falsehood a piece of justice.' ' It is a very common feeling in us never to be satisfied with our fortune, and never dissatisfied with our sense and conduct.' ' Lies, artifice, and tricks are as sure a mark of a low and poor spirit as passing bad money is of a poor low purse,' The silence of a wise man is more wrong to mankind than the slanderer's speech.' WTCHEBLET, Maxims and Reflections. As long as men are false or women vain, In pointed satire Wycherley shall reign. EVELYK. > How reverend is the face of this tall pile, Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads To bear aloft its arched and ponderous roof, By its own weight made steadfast and unmoveable, Looking tranquillity < COXGBEVE, The Mourning Bride, ii. j. Johnson deemed this passage the most poetical in the whole range of the drama, Others think it worth nothing. Probably, says Hallam, the truth lies between th* two. If he speaks Tis scarce above a word ; as he was born Alone to do, and did disdain to talk. The Mourning Bride. Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.' The Mourning Bride, i. 3. Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned.' The Mourning Bride, iiL I Ferdinand Mendez Piuto was but a type of thee.' Low. for Love, ii. 1. c Lie heavy on him earth ! for he Laid many a heavy load on thee ! i*. EVAS On Yanbrugh. d When guilt is in its blush of infancy, It trembles in a tenderness of shame. SODTHERKE, Spartan Dame, Do pity me. Pity's akin to love. Oroonoko, ii. I. I think, therefore I am. Hard state of man, That proves his being by an argument^- Loyal Brother The noise Sinks like the murmurs of a falling wind, And softens Into silence. HOWE'S Jane Shrr?, DRAMATISTS OF THE RESTORATION. 321 and William Lillo a (1693-1739). The chief plays of Southerns Southerne are ^ sa ^ e ^ a > or ^ e Fatal Marriage, and Oroonoko. Kowe, The last is founded on an actual occurrence, Oroonoko having been stolen from Africa and carried to the West Indies. Hallam notes that Southerne is the first English writer who denounced the slave trade and the horrors of West Indian slavery. Rowe was poet laureate under George i., and was a great favourite in society. He was the first editor of Shakespeare, and facts of the life of the great dramatist were first collected by him. He translated Lucan's Pharsalia, and wrote two volumes of poetry. His poetry, however, never rises above a lew me- diocrity. His tragedies, Tamerlane, The Fair Penitent, Jane Shore, and Lady Jane Grey, abound in passion and tenderness. His Jane Shore is still occasionally performed, and The Fair Penitent, with its character of the ' gallant gay Lothario/ was long a popular piece. Eowe was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his epitaph was written by his friend Pope. Lillo is the author of George Barnwell and The Fatal Curio- sity. He is a forcible painter of the scenes of humble life. If it be true, as Campbell thinks, that high life and low are both proper themes for tragedy, rather than middle life, this fact may suggest an explanation of the popularity of such dramas, not so dishonourable to our national character as is generally supposed. It is, nevertheless, a bad sign when there is a taste for what is base and revolting on the stage, and in that quality low life dramas are prone to indulge. 275. 'On the moral character of the comic dramatists of the Kestoration from Dryden to Congreve, it is not easy,' says Ma- Morai charac- caulay, * to be too severe. This part of our litera- ter of the ture is a disgrace to our language and our national character. It is clever indeed, but it is, in the most emphatic sense of the words, "earthly, sensual, devilish." We find ourselves in a world in which the ladies are like very profligate, impudent, and unfeeling men, and in which the men are too bad for any place but Pandemonium or Norfolk Island. We are surrounded by foreheads of bronze, hearts like the nether e Exalted soul^ Have passions in proportion violent. LTLLO'S Elmcrick. 2 y 822 THE DRAMA COLLIER ON THE STAGE. millstone, and tongues set on fire of hell.' It is not only, he goes on to show, that there is great coarseness of expression, nor is it only that we are made familiar with scenes which must tend to demoralize public taste as well as public principles, but vice is nearly always associated with wLat men value most and de- sire most, and virtue with everything ridiculous and degrading. In nearly every play, the man who does an injury to his neigh- bour is graceful, sensible, .spirited, and the person who suffers the injury is a fool, a tyrant, or both.'* It is not possible in this outline to omit all allusions to these works. They contain pas- sages of great beauty and force. Their Immoral character has had great influence on the public feeling in relation to the stage. The less exceptionable of the plays we have mentioned : but as a whole, they deserve the comparison which Macaulay has drawn. ' The old drama had much that is reprehensible ; but the drama of the last half of the century is "unspeakably worse. The Puritans boasted that the unclean spirit was cast out : the house was swept, empty, and garnished. Now the fiend returned to his abode, and he returned not alone ; he took to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself: they entered in and dwelt together, and the second possession was worse than the first.' 1 * 276. These evils were not left unrebuked. In 1698, Jeremy Collier (1650-1726), a clergyman bred at Cambridge, a non- Jerem Corner J uror ' a warm advocate therefore of hereditary right, ier ' published his Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage. Baxter and Burnet, represen- tatives of the Puritan and Low Church parties, might have written on this subject in vain ; but a book from such a source could not fail to excite interest, and in fact it threw the whole literary world into commotion. It has serious faults, defective scholarship, and occasional extravagance ; but it is still worth reading, and abounds in wit and humour. Its style is at once Macaulay's ' Leigh Hunt,' Edinburgh Review, Jan. 1841. b The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame, Nor wish'd for Jonson's art or Shakespeare's flame. Themselves they studied ; as they felt, they writ ; Intrigue was plot, obscenity was wit : Till shame regained the post that sense betray'd, And Virtue called oblivion to her aid. JOHNSON'S Prologue to the Drury Lane Opening. ADDISON. 323 excellent and various, while for the rhetoric of honest indignation, it is unsurpassed. ISIor is it without interest to mark how single- handed he attacks the wit and learning of the age, from D'Urfey up to 'glorious John' himself. It was thought that Dryden would defend himself and his fellow playwrights by replying. Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Wycherley took the field, and were beaten at their own weapons by Collier's Defence and Second Defence. Dryden, whose nature was very sensitive, is said to have been deeply hurt, but his conscience smote him, and magnani- mously he pleaded guilty to the charge. In the preface to the Fables, published a little later (1700), he complains that Collier had in many places perverted his meaning, but frankly acknow- ledges that he has been justly reproved. ' If,' said he, ' Mr. Collier be my enemy, let him triumph ; but if he be my friend, as I have given him no personal occasion to be otherwise, he will be glad of my repentance.' In a brief time, Collier's attack produced its results. * The intellect of the country became ashamed of the stage, and turned its strength to cultivate other branches of literature:'* nor have we much in the way of dramatic composition that needs notice till we reach our own times. 277. Early in the eighteenth century, Addison (1672-1719), who had already entered upon his brillinnt career as an essayist, published Cato (1713), b a drama based on the classic models. Pope thought the play deficient in inte- rest, and his judgment has been confirmed by the literary taste of later times. But he wrote a prologue in his best manner, and the piece was performed with almost unexampled success. It was translated into French, Italian, and German, and was acted by the Jesuits in their college at St. Omers. It abounds in generous and patriotic sentiment, but owed most of its success * See Arnold, p. 137. b When liberty ia gone, Life grows insipid, and has lost its relish. ADDISON, Cato. 'Tls not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius: we'll deserve it. Cato, L 1 The woman that deliberates is lost. Cato, iv. 1. It must be so. Plato, thou reasonest welL "Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Cato, v. L Y 2 324 THE DRAMA YOUNG : JOHNSON : THOMSON. in England to the state of parties. The Whigs applauded the liberal sentiments it contains, and the Tories applauded them to show that they did not account them as censures upon their party. 278. Edward Young (1681-1765), the author of the Night Thoughts, wrote three tragedies before he became a clergyman. They all end in suicide. The Revenge, which is still sometimes acted, has many passages of deep feeling and forcible description. Dr. Johnson's Irene was performed hi 1749. It met with little acceptance and has never been revived. It is destitute of simplicity and pathos, but contains noble sentiments. When asked how he felt when the piece was. condemned: ' Like the monument, sir/ was his reply. 279. James Thomson (1700-1748), the author of The Seasons, produced five tragedies between 1729 and 1740, one of which, _ Soplionisba, is remembered for a line that condemned Inomson. , . the play Oh Sophonisba, Sophonisba Oh F They are none of them worthy of his name though free from the moral defects of the previous age. m Mallet, the author of Mustapha, a party play directed against Walpole; Glover, the author of Leonidas; Brooke, b the author of Ghistamu Vasa ; Dr. Browne, of JBarbarossa, all contributed to this class of literature, and, helped by Garrick and other actors, their works had temporary popularity, but they occupy no place in our permanent litera- ture. In 1753, Edward Moore (1712-1757), who had imitated Gay's Fables, published The Gamester, a piece which, by its touching exhibition of the evils of gambling, was received with great a Not one immoral or corrupted thought, b What is power One line which, dying, he could wish But the nice conduct of another's to blot. weakness. BBOOKE'S Gustavo*. LTTTELTOX'S Prologue to Thomson's posthumous Play of Coriolanus, And oft the cloud which mars our pro- This prologue Is reckoned, with Pope's to sent hour, Cato, and Johnson's to the Drury Lane Serves but to lighten all our future Opening, among the best In our Ian- days. DH. BBOWXE, Barbarossa. HOME. 325 favour. Mason's (1725-1797) Elfrida and Caractacus were also popular, though now known only as dramatic poems. 280. The most natural of all the dramatic compositions of this period, was the Do" As women wish to be who love their lords. HOME, Douglas, \., i. ' I am greatly struck with " Douglas," though It has infinite faults : the author seems to me to have retrieved the true language of the stage; and there is one scene (between Matilda and the old peasant) so masterly that it strikes me blind to all the defects in the world.' GRAY, Works, p. 201. Home visited London when young, and his future power was foretold by Collins: Home, thou returu'st from Thames, whose naiads long Have seen thee lingering with a fond delay, 'Mid those soft friends whose hearts some future day Shall melt perhaps to hear thy tragic song.' COLLINS' Ode on Highland Superstitions, inscribed to John Home, 1740 32S THE DRAMA FARCES. 281. To the reign of George n. belongs a species of comedy called the farce, a species almost peculiar to our literature. Among the earliest writers of farces was David Gar- rick (i 7 1 6-1 7 79). He was a native of Lichfield and the pupil of Dr. Johnson, with whom he came to London. A liking for the stage led him to attempt the character of Richard HI., and his success was so complete, that he adopted the profession of an actor. As one of the most efficient managers and actors, he has the merit of having banished from the theatre many pieces of immoral tendency, while his own personal character tended to give respectability and dignity to the profession. Field- ing wrote several pieces, of which Tom Tltumb is still popular. Macklin wrote Love a la Mode (1760), and The Man of the World, the latter as a satirical sketch of Scottish character de- scribed in the person of Sir Pertinax Macsycophant. The High Life Below Stairs (17 59) by Townley, master of the Merchant Taylors' School, is a happy burlesque on the affectation and extravagance of servants in aping the manners of their masters. The most eminent writer of this class, however, was Sam Foote (1721-1777), who was educated at Oxford, and took to dramatic writing after he had squandered his fortune. Johnson, who disliked the man for his loose morals, admits his amazing power and the fascination of his conversation. His plays are twenty in number, and he used to boast, at the close of life, that he had added sixteen new characters to the stage Jerry Sneak and Major Sturgeon, in the Mayor of Garratt, being among the best. In the Minor he attacks the Methodists, as Jonson had attacked the Puritans upwards of a century before. 282. It would seem, from the history of the drama, that some- thing more is needed than genius and power for the successful Qualities playwright. Comic writers have not always succeeded neededTn in comedy, and poets skilled in delineating life and play-writing, p^jo^ ] iave O ft en failed in tragedy. Fielding and Smollett are examples of the first, Byron and Scott of the second. Campbell thinks that besides genius and power there is needed a peculiar faculty for the invention of incidents adapted to dramatic effect a faculty seldom found in men who are not professional players, or who are not intimately acquainted with the theatre. B A fellow feeling makes us vrondrons kind. GAEBICK, Epilogue In 1176 DRAMAS FROM THE GERMAN. 327 There are exceptions to this rule, as Dryden, Congreve, Talfourd : but generally, the rale holds. It is probably owing to this fact that so many modern English dramas are borrowed from foreign sources German or French. The sentiment and the dialogue are often our own, but all that gives effectiveness plot and in- cident are appropriated wherever the writer may find them. 283. The next stage of the English drama illustrates the truth of these remarks. The theatre was now losing the little attractiveness which it had regained, and a fresh attempt was made to add to its charms by the intro- duction of plays from Germany plays that appeal, amid much exaggeration, to the deeper sympathies of human nature. One of the first was The Stranger (1797), an adapta- tion from Kotzebue, made for the most part by Sheridan. The principal characters were acted by Mrs. Siddons and Kemble. In 1799, Sheridan adapted another of Kotzebue's pieces, Pizarro. Its subject forces into contrast the grandeur and romance of Spain, and the immoralities and superstitions of the new world. The piece being introduced with all the aids of splendid scenery and fine acting, it became exceedingly popular. Some of the senti- ments and descriptions of Pizarro are said to have formed part of Sheridan's speech on the impeachment of Hastings. A third drama of Kotzebue's was translated by Mrs. Inch- kald, and actea under tlie title of Lovers' Vows. To this same school belongs The Castle Spectre of Matthew Lewis a play full of supernatural horrors, though with much poetical feeling. Lewis also published T7ie Minister an adaptation from a play of Schiller, and several others of the same character, which, however, are now entirely forgotten. These plays are nearly all mischievous in their moral tendency. They abound in pernicious pictures, though sometimes the lesson they seek to teach is itself true. Sir Walter Scott Molten- was for a time. fascinated with them, and translated a play of Goethe's though of a different stamp. Be- sides the objection just named, he finds fault with them for put- ting noble sentiments into the lips of persons least qualified by habit and education to express them, and for describing the better-educated classes as uniformly deficient in feelings of libe- rality and honour. This contrast, he adds, may be true in parti- 328 THE DRAMA PLAYS OF INCIDENT. cular instances, and being used sparingly, might convey a good moral lesson ; but when assumed on all occasions, it forms the groundwork of a kind of intellectual Jacobinism, which is as mischievous as it is untrue. Dramas of this class were ridi- culed for their extravagance by Canning and Ellis in their satire, The Ravers. They were thus driven from the stage. Their merit is, that they deal with feeling not with manners, with human nature and not with conventional life, and that they directed the attention of English readeus not only to Kotzebue, but to Goethe and Schiller. 284. It is not unlikely that we owe to these German produc- tions Joanna Baillie's volumes on the Passions. She published -in 1798 A Series of Plays : in which it is attempted to de- ' lineate the stronger Passions of the Mind, each Passion being the subject of a Tragedy and a Comedy. In the introduction she discusses the drama, and maintains the supremacy of simple nature over all decoration and refinement. This theory, which found an admirable exponent in Wordsworth, she illustrated in her writings. As acting dramas her works are failures, each tragedy with its single passion wanting incident, variety, and life. But as reading dramas they have had considerable success. Five volumes have been published, and all have been largely read. Their unity and simple masculine style are among their chief excellences. Miss Baillie was the daughter of a Scottish minister, and was born at Both well in 1762. She was a personal friend of most of her distinguished literary contemporaries, and died at Hampstead in 1851. 285. Meanwhile other dramatic authors had appeared, who showed their skill quite as much in adapting sentiment and inci- dent to the stage, as in their creative genius. Colley incident. Gibber (1671-1757), George Colman (17 3 3-1794), Colman, etc. Arthur Murphy (1727-1805), Eichard Cumberland (1732-1811), all added to the stock of acting plays; Colman introducing for the first time on the stage the character of an Irish gentleman. Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), brought out his Good-natured Man, in which appears the well-drawn character of Croaker, and in 1 793 She stoops to Conquer 9 one of the SHERIDAN : ETC. 329 Inost successful comedies ever written. It is founded on a ridiculous incident, two travelling parties mistaking a gentleman's house for an inn, an adventure which is said to have occurred to Goldsmith himself. The piece is rich in characters, in humour, vivacity, and dialogue. To the same class belong the writings of K. B. Sheridan (1750-1816). The Rivals, St. Patrick's Day, and the Duenna, are among his earlier pieces. Of these, Tile Rivals is the most successful. The self-willed Sir Anthony, the Irish fortune-hunter, the novel-reading Lydia, who thinks disguises and elopements essential to happiness, Mrs. Malaprop and Bob Acres are ah 1 felicitously drawn. In 1777 he published The School for Scandal, the best comedy, it is said, of modern times. Some of the characters, as Charles and Joseph Surface, are taken from Fielding, as some of his earlier characters are taken from Smollett. But the piece itself is, as Moore describes it, * an El Dorado of wit.' Its moral is objectionable on the same ground as the moral of so many of the earlier plays. The rake is always generous and warm-hearted, while seriousness is always associated with hypo- crisy or meanness. The Critic,* another of his pieces, is formed after the plan of The Rehearsal. Sir Fretful Plagiary (who re- presents Cumberland), Sneer, the essence of critical bitterness, and Puff, the manager, are reckoned among the happiest efforts of Sheridan's genius. To the younger Colman (1762-1836), the stage owes a number of comic dramas, with characters that have made some of them popular. John Bull (1803), Scott praises as the best comedy of modem times. The character of Ollapod in The Poor Gentleman, a play after the manner of Sterne, and of Pangloss in The Heir at Law (1797), are highly entertaining, though somewhat overcharged. It is to his pen we owe a well- known humorous piece, The Newcastle Apothecary. Colman was a great favourite with George iv., who made him Licenser of Plays. Mrs. Inchbald (1753-1821), wrote several dramas, as did T. Holcroft (1745-1809). Mrs. Inchbald's best play is Such Things Are, and Holcroft's The Road to Ruin. Both writers are known also as. novelists. 286. The present century has been more remarkable for acting, ' t No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope.' SHEBIDAN, The Critic, ii., I. 1 Where they do agree, their unanimity is wonderful ii.. 2. 330 THE DRAMA KNOWLES : TALFOURD. and for attention to decoration and stage effect, than for play- writing. Mrs. Siddons, John Kemble, Edmund Kean, Miss O'Neil, and others, did much to render the theatre popular ; while Kemble, Charles Kean, Phelps, and es- pecially Macready, have striven to encourage the legitimate drama by reviving Shakespeare's plays, and by embellishing them with tasteful scenery and appropriate decoration. Meanwhile many pieces have been written, more or less deserving of notice. The tra- gedies of Coleridge (Remorse), Scott, Byron, Proctor, Milman, Beddoes, and William Smith (Athelwold), are poems rather than dramas, and are better fitted for reading than for acting. The, Ber- tram of the Kev. C. K. Maturin, The Evadne and The Apostate of R. L. Sheil, the Brutus of J. H. Payne, and the farces of O'Keefe and of F. Reynolds, all have merit. Henry Taylor has revived the stormy life of the fourteenth century in his drama on the sub- ject of Philip Van Artevelde,* the brewer king of Ghent (1834), and has written various poems all thoughtful, and some of them highly intellectual. To Douglas Jerrold, humorist and satirist (1803-1857), we owe Black-eyed Susan (1829), one of the most successful nautical plays, and several others. Nearly all the popular genial wits of our age have also attempted the drama, though not all with success. Higher praise is due to Sir E. B. Lytton for his Richelieu and the Lady of Lyons. 287. Two modern dramatists who deserve special mention in connection with the stage, are James S. Knowles, and Thomas Noon Talfourd. Mr. Knowles' first pky, Caius Gracchus, appeared in 1815, and was soon followed by Virgin iiis, which was exceedingly popular. He afterwards wrote The Wife, The Hunchback, The Love Chase, etc. His skill is in his plots, in a lively inventive imagination, and in the poetic colouring which he gives to all his conceptions. Mr. Knowles was born at Cork in 1784. He died in 1862. Tal- fourd, an eloquent barrister and an upright judge, was a native of Reading, and was born in 1795. When forty years old he published Jon, and afterwards TJie Athenian Captive. Both are classic dramas and had considerable success. The Massacre of Glencoe and The CastUian are less known. In 1849 Talfourd was raised to the Bench, and in 1854 he died of apoplexy, while XL 3 world knows nothing of its greatest men.' TAYLOB, Philip Van Artevtlde. 5 MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE THEATRE. 331 delivering the charge to the grand jury at Stafford. His style is remarkably chaste and beautiful, and yet rich in imagery, and hio characters are drawn with great clearness and power. He is also the author of the Life of Charles Lamb and of An Essay on tlie Greek Drama. 288. A few sentences on the moral influence of the theatre may fitly close this brief outline. To the dramatic treatment of history or of truth there is clearly no objection. Shake- Moral iu- speare's historical plays give, as is admitted on all theatre. sides, a better idea of English history than the old chroniclers. Parables well spoken or skilfully penned are dramas, and all great teachers have used them. To the reading of dramas there can be no objection, provided we recognise cer- tain conditions. Let the principal agents be virtuous and the sentiments pure and noble : or, if they describe character or manners, the working of passion in fact as found in actual life, let them be truthful ; and let them be read by those who are of an age to appreciate the thought, and who are not likely to receive mischief from the descriptions. Or, if they are dramas of wit and humour intended for amusement and relaxation, then let them be read sparingly, and be made a relaxation and not a business. Even if they pourtray vice they may be cautiously read, if they render it loathsome, 11 and if the study is likely to help the reader to such knowledge of human nature as may fit him the better for real life. Subject to these conditions the drama is, theoretically speaking, as harmless and as allowable as a novel, or a story, or a poem. But, as we have seen, many dramas are objectionable, and violate one or other of the four conditions we have ventured to prescribe. To dramas as acted, however, that is to the theatre, there are serious objections. The company, the associations, the sensuous- ness of the whole scene, have most of them come to be mischiev- ous, while the plays that are most popular, and are therefore most likely to be acted, are often questionable in character and lowering in tendency. Congreve indeed defended the theatre in this respect by defining comedy, after Aristotle, as ' the imita- a Pope's lines, however, should be Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her remembered : face, ' Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, We first endure, then pity, then oiu- As, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; brace.' 332 THE DRAMA MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE THEATRE. tion of what is worse in human nature.'* But this remark, though a learned excuse for himself, is no plea for the stage, It is the opposite, and forms one ground of our censure. And even if, by chance, the theatre teaches great truths, it fails to impress them upon the mind. The accompaniments, as Johnson held, distract attention and weaken impression. Its beet defence is that it is a recreation ; and, it is added, it may be a harmless recreation. But even if particular plays be harmless, it would be much better to seek recreation in what is less sensuous, more helpful to the cultivation of true taste, less injurious to our youth, and free from the fearful risks which experience and history have shown to be connected with the stage. In all this reasoning we have purposely taken the lowest ground. No argument against the theatre has been advanced which may not be conceded on the ground of morality alone ; and, in fact, every argument has been conceded by moralists, and even by playwrights. If the theatre be estimated from a religious point of view, from its tendency to promote or to hinder the tastes and aspirations of spiritual life, our judgment becomes much more decided. It is not that religion is a system of gloomy restrictions. The delights of friendship and society, the exercise of every faculty in the investigation of philosophy, in the study of literature, or in the cultivation of taste, all arts and all knowledge, are within the range of the enjoyments it allows. Nothing is forbidden but what is evil either in itself or in its influence. Nor is it that religion is not aided by whatever can adorn and refine. The most exquisite relish for the grace and beauty of life is so far from being opposed to exalted piety, that they tend under proper regulations to elevate and perfect one another. But, in fact, a really earnest spiritual man has no taste for such enjoyment as the theatre presents. It affords him no relaxation or pleasure. And iij through the decay of piety, he does find enjoyment there, his whole tone of character is lowered, his consistency and power of usefulness are diminished, and at length the vigour and the Influence of his spiritual life will be lost. Religious instincts are, in this case, a safe guide ; and if men set them at nought, their violation will be followed by rapid deterioration and bitter experience. ft Halkm, iiL, 524, footnote. 333 CHAPTER VI. ENGLISH PROSE WRITERS FROM THE AGE OP CHAUCER TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. SECTION I. PROSE DEFINED AND CLASSIFIED 289. Prose as much the result of creation as Poetry. 290. Classifica- tion of Prose Works, according to their subjects, (i) History, Biography, Travels, and Novels. (2) Philosophy, Theology, Ethics, Politics, ^Esthetics or Taste. (3) Oratory. (4) Miscellaneous Prose Literature: Works of fancy and imagination, of sentiment and reflection, of passion and feeling, of humour and satire. 291. Classification according to their chronology. Seven periods reduced to three : From the age of Chaucer to the death of Elizabeth (pars. 292-317) The seventeenth century (pars. 318-400) The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (pars. 401-513). 289. IT is unfortunate that the popular voice has restricted the creative faculty to poets, and seems to regard the art of Prose creation ' ma ^ n ' ** peculiar to them. The truth is, that ' there is as much creation in good prose as in poetry. Both require upon the part of the writer imaginativeness, skill in perceiving and describing analogies, and in combining words and thoughts. In the great prose authors of our literature these qualities are as conspicuous as in the poets themselves. 290. The classification of works of prose literature may con- veniently be made to correspond to the classifications already Prose works a dopted in poetry. Epic poetry with its varieties, classified as to the heroic, the narrative, the descriptive, the dra- subjects. matic, has, as its counterpart, history, biography, travels, and novels or the prose drama. Didactic poetry- moral, philosophical, and critical corresponds to philosophic prose, theological, moral, political, and aesthetic. Lyric poetry corresponds to oratory ; and the miscellaneous literature that cannot easily be included under these descriptions must be classi- fied as works of fancy and imagination, of sentiment and reflection, 334- PROSE WRITERS CLASSIFIED. of passion and affection, of humcur and satire. They tako a separate place because they are for the most part intended to illustrate or to excite the faculties or emotions under which we have placed them. As prose, however, has generally some practical purpose in view, it is not often necessary to classify it under this miscellaneous division. This classification may be further simplified. History and bio- graphy appeal to the memory ; philosophy appeals to the judg- ment, the reason, and the critical faculty ; oratory, or impassioned utterance, to the heart ; and other kinds of composition largely to the imagination, using that term in its widest sense as the opposite of memory and judgment. It is equally obvious that the same work may belong to several divisions, history, for example, being often philosophic and even imaginative. 291. The periods into which our prose literature naturally divides will be found to synchronise on the whole with those already adopted in the history of our language and of our poetry. We have the writers 1. Of the age of Chaucer and the folio wing century. 2. Of the age of the Reformation, the age of the revival of the study of classical learning. 3. Of the age of Elizabeth, James, and Charles j. 4. Of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. 5. Of the Restoration and the latter part of the seventeenth century. 6. Of the reign of Queen Anne and the eighteenth century ; and 7. Of the last fifty years. Of these the first and second periods are important chiefly from the light they throw upon the history of our language, and on questions connected with the progress of theological sentiment and of learning. The fourth is the great era of Puritan theology. The third, fifth, sixth, and seventh are, for purely literary pur- poses, the most important. The fact is, however, that in giving the history of prose literature, longer periods, and a more rigid classification as to the thought and purpose of the writing, are most convenient. We shall therefore group these seven periods into three: The first, extending from Chaucer to the death of Elizabeth ; FROM CHAUCER TO ELIZABETH. 385 The second, including the writers of the seventeenth century ; The third, those of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The suitableness of this division will appear as we proceed. Occa- sionally it will be found convenient to carry the subjects under discussion beyond the chronological limit, and occasionally to place first the subjects of a division which in another century will more fitly take the second or the third place. The sixteenth century, for example, begins naturally with theology, the seven- teenth with philosophy, and the eighteenth, the age of Queen Anne, with miscellaneous literature. The aim will be to give a just estimate of the most powerful influences at work in each period, and as the subjects of each division will always be indi- cated, the reader can, if he pleases, vary the order for himself. SECTION II. FROM THE AGE OF CHAUCER TO THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH. ABOUT TWO HUNDRED YEARS. THEOLOGY. 292. Wycliffe. 293. Influences at work in the Fifteenth Century: The revival of Letters: The overthrow of the Eastern Empire: The invention of Printing ; Commercial enterprise : The Reformation : Influence of this last. 294. Questions raised by the Reformation. Fisher, More, Pole, Bale. 295. Tyndale, Latimer, Jewell, Bible-translators. 296. Results : Copies of Scriptures: Articles of Faith: Homilies. 297. Questions on Church Order: Cartwright, Parker, and Puritanism. 298. Travers and Hooker. HISTORY. Travels: 299. Mandeville. Chronicles: 300. Early his- tory legendary. Successive stages. Layamon, Manning. 301. De Tre- visa's translation of the Polychronicon. 302. Fabyan, Hall, Graftou. 303. Bellenden, George Buchanan, Leslie. 304. Holinshed. Antiquities: 305. Leland. 306. Stow. 307. Camden, Speed, Spelman, Cotton. Biography: 308. Bale. 309. More. 310. Foxe. 311. Cavendish. 312. Bacon, etc. Histories: 313. Baker. 314. Raleigh. 315. Daniel. 316, Knolles. 317. Usher. The prose writings of the two centuries between Chaucer and the death of Elizabeth are but few. The fifteenth century es- pecially is almost a blank, while the writings of the sixteenth century are chiefly theological and historical. The poets of the period have been already enumerated and their principal works described (pars. 41, 42, 46, 47, 50-56). The prose works of 836 PROSE WYCL1FFE. Chaucer and Caxton, of More and Ascham, of Elyot and Fortescue, of Cheke and Lillie, of Wilson, Cox, and Sidney, the earliest critics, as we may call them, in our literature, have also been mentioned in connection with the history of the language (pars. 65, 67, 78). The theologians and the historians, including under this list travellers, antiquarians, and biographers, still remain for discussion. 292. Long before the era of the Reformation, either on the continent or in England, appeared the great English reformer, W cliff John- ^ e Wycliffe (1324-1384). He was born at Wycliffe, near Richmond, and studied at Oxford. Attaining a high reputation for theology and logic, he was made in succession Master of Baliol and Warden of Canterbury Hall, Oxford. There, and afterwards in his country livings, he attacked the abuses of the Church, the character of the mendi- cant friars, and the papal tribute. After a while he commenced a course of lectures on theology, there being no theological pro- fessor at that time. Many of the leading tenets of Eomanism he questioned, embodying his sentiments in a Latin treatise, the Trialogus. His boldness increased his popularity, and he was selected as a member of the commission that met at Bruges to remonstrate against the power claimed by the Pope over Eng- lish benefices. Some concessions were made to Wycliffe's repre- sentations. On his return home (1374) he was made Prebend of Westbury as well as Rector of Lutterworth. His opinions, how- ever, had created alarm, and he was several times cited for heresy ; but the Church being weakened by the great schism which divided the papacy, and Wycliffe being protected by the king's brother, John of Gaunt, and other nobles, he retained his livings till the last : he was compelled, however, in 1381, to close the theological class, which he had kept up more or less successfully for so many years. Cut off from public employments he retired to Lutterworth, where he wrote a number of treatises on theology, and began his translation of the Bible. In this work he was aided by some of his former pupils, and finished it in 1383, a year before his death. Twenty years afterwards there burst upon his followers a storm of persecution which crushed nearly all dissent till the sixteenth century. * His writings, English and Latin, preserved by stealth only, had by that time become difficult of identification.' Happily TUB FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 337 some of them had reached John Huss, and helped to begin the great German Reformation. In 1484 the bones of Wycliffe were taken up from the chancel of the church at Lutterworth, burnt to ashes, and the ashes thrown into the Swift. ' The Swift,* says Fuller, ' conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which is now dispersed all the world over.' 293. Meanwhile four influences had combined to produce im- portant results throughout the whole of Europe the revival of letters, coeval with the fall of the Eastern empire, Influences in towards the close of the fifteenth century ; the in- the fifteenth jL . . ... ., . . Al J ' century. vention of printing; the rise of the commercial classes, owing to the discovery of the new world, and of the passage to India by the Cape ; and the Reformation. The mightiest of these influences, so far as literature is concerned, was the last. It undermined the authority of Aristotle and of the Schoolmen, it encouraged freedom of inquiry on all subjects, it sent men to examine the Bible for themselves a book every- where favourable to thought and intelligence and it addressed the multitude in their vernacular tongue. The scholars com- plained of this : * all distinctions,' as they saw and said, * were thereby thrown down, and the naked shepherd was levelled with the knight clad in armour.' It needed one or two genera- tions before these influences produced their natural results ; but early in the sixteenth century they were beginning to be felt, a*id by the close they were in full vigour. 294. The first works written under these influences were largely controversial. The subjects to be discussed were the authority of the Bible and of the Church, the supre- Sscussed. niacy of the pope and of the king, the bodily presence of Christ in the Supper, the celibacy of the clergy, the divine right of episcopacy, the proper place of rites and cere- monies, and the great doctrine of Justification by Faith. Among the leading Roman Catholic writers were Bishop Fisher (1459- 1535), Sir Thomas More (1480-1535), and Cardinal Pole (1500- 1558). Among the Protestants were John Bale (1495-1563), made Bishop of Ossory by Edward vi., William Tyndalo 2 45 338 PROSE TVNDALE. (1485 7-1536), Latimer, Cranmer, Hooper, and Ridley, all martyred in 1555, Becon, Cranmer's chaplain (1511-1570), and Bishop Jewell (1521-1571). More's English works fill two black letter folio volumes (1557) : the whole, except the life of Picus of Mirandula, and the life of Edward v., or Richard in. as it is sometimes called, consisting of treatises on devotion, or on controversial theology. Bale is known as a voluminous writer of theological tracts, besides being the writer of pieces noticed already (par. 242), and of a series of Latin Lives of British writers, which is still an authority as a book of reference. 295. William Tyndale, a native of Gloucestershire, adopted in the early part of the reign of Henry vni. many of the opinions of the continental reformers ; after offending the government by expressing them, he sought refuge in Hamburg, where he completed a translation of the Xew Testa- ment. This work was printed at Antwerp, in 1526, though it has since been found that two editions had been already printed, perhaps without the knowledge of the translator. It was at once introduced into England, Tyndale devoting himself to the translation of the Old Testament. His version of the five books of Moses was printed at different foreign towns, and was then collected into one volume, being published ini53o. In 1534 a revision of the New Testament was printed, and with it his labours closed. He was, probably at Henry's instigation, im- prisoned at Antwerp, and after two years was strangled and burned for heresy in October, 1536. The same year his New Testament was published in England, the first translation of the Word of God on English soil. Besides these versions Tyndale wrote treatises, of which The Wicked Mammon, and The True Obedience of a Christian Man, are best known. They are both admirable specimens of English. Cranmer's works fill two large volumes, and Beoon's three. Most of the leaders of Protestantism are still better known as preachers ; their sermons abounding in defences of the new faith, and in powerful appeals to the hearts and consciences of the people. Another spirit meanwhile had come over the age. Henry, who had obtained the title of Defender of the Faith, by attacking Luther, had himself quarrelled with Rome. In 1535 there was TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 339 published the first complete translation of the whole Bible, dedi- cated to the king and queen. The translator was Miles Cover- dale, afterwards Bishop of Exeter. It is based largely on the Vulgate, and from it is taken the version of the Psalms still used in the Book of Common Prayer. In rapid succession appeared ' Matthew's Bible,' which was really edited by John Eogers, the proto-martyr of the reign of Queen Mary, * Cranmer's, or the great Bible* (1539), really a revision of Tyndale's. In the short reign of Edward vi. no new translation was attempted, but edi- tions of previous translations were largely multiplied, fourteen of the Old Testament, and thirty of the New being issued from the press. The accession of Mary stopped this work ; but a new translation was printed at Geneva ; it was a revision of Tyndale's made by Gilby and Sampson, the latter Prebend of St. Paul's, afterwards a Nonconformist, and Whittingham, a brother-in- law of Calvin, refugee, and Fellow of Oxford. The two other versions of the Bible that exercised marked in- fluence on this and the following century were Parker's, or the Bishops' Bible, and the authorised version. Parker's was pub- lished in 1568, and prepared by fifteen translators, the majority of whom were members of the episcopate ; the chief mover was Parker (1504-1578), who had lost all his preferments on the accession of Queen Mary, and was now Archbishop of Canterbury. The authorised verbion belongs to the reign of James. It originated in the Hampton Court conference, where Reynolds, the leader of the Puritan party, and then President of Corpus College, Oxford, proposed that there should be a new version : and it was published in 1611. Among the translators, Oriental and rab- binical erudition was most fully represented, and its influence is very visible in the translation. Perhaps we ought to include in the controversial works of this age Jewell's celebrated Apology for the Church of England: it is written in Latin, with spirit and terseness. The Defence of the Apology is in English, and is much more diffuse : the Jesuit Harding was his opponent. 296. The results of these labours are seen in various facts. There was, first, a large multiplication of copies of the Scrip- tures in the vernacular language, and a large increase of printing on all themes. As many as a hundred 8*0 PROSE CHURCH QUESTIONS. editions of various versions of Scripture had appeared before the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, and printers had multi- plied from four, the number in all England at the beginning of the reign of Henry vin., to fifty-seven, the number at the death of Edward vi. Thirty-one of this number, or more than half, had taken part in the printing of the Scriptures. During the reign of Elizabeth there appeared eighty-five editions of the Eng- lish Bible, and forty-eight of the New Testament, sixty of the former being impressions of the Geneva version. There was, secondl}', the settlement of the Articles and of the Prayer Book of the Church of England (1545-1571), the translation of the Psalms into metre for the use of English congregations (i 548- 1563) ; and there was, thirdly, the publication of the Books of Homilies (1547-1563), every Homily and every Article repre- senting the result of protracted discussion both in speech and in print. 297. Mixed up with these questions between Protestantism and Popery were others that referred to Church order and to ritualistic observances. Out of the Church there were small bodies of Baptists and Independents, and a more considerable body of Presbyterians. In the Church a large body of both clergy and laity, who had received a univer- sity education, were disposed favourably to the Presbyterian government established by Calvin at Geneva, and by Knox in Scotland. Others who were on the whole in favour of episcopacy preferred a simpler ritual and a more rigid church discipline. This controversy now raged. On the one side were Thomas Cartwright (1535-1603), Margaret Professor of Divinity, Hugh Broughton (1549-1612), one of the most learned men of his tune, and Travels, the opponent of Eichard Hooker. On the other were the Archbishops Parker, Bancroft, and Whitgift. Hence originated the great Puritan party, the first act of Nonconformity (1559-1564), the exile or the deprivation of Bernard Gilpin, Miles Coverdale, and many other eminent men, the Mar-Prelate pamphlets, and a series of discussions which have continued more or less to our own age. Many of the results of these contro- versies are deplorable ; but the mental activity which they ex- cited among all classes had undoubtedly great influence on the literature of the next age. HOOKER. 341 298. One work at least of undying fame we owe to them, tha Ecclesiastical Polity of Bichard Hooker (1553-1600). This dis- Hooker's tinguished man was born at Exeter and educated at Ecclesiastical Oxford. There he became eminent for his learning Polity. an( j pi e fy } and after acting as tutor to the son of Bishop Sandys and to the grand-nephew of Cranmer, he entered holy orders and was appointed in 1585, Master of the Temple, The Afternoon Lecturer there was Walter Travers, a man of learning and eloquence, but of Genevan tendencies both in theo- logy and on Church government. By degrees, the preaching of the two men became more and more antagonistic, till it was com- monly reported ' that the forenoon sermon was Canterbury, and the afternoon Genevan.' At length Whitgift suspended Travers, and thereupon Hooker asked leave to retire into the country that he might live in peace and complete a work which he had al- ready begun, On the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. In conse- quence of this appeal he was appointed in 1591 to the living of Boscomb in Wiltshire, where he finished four books of his treatise, which were published in 1594. In the folio whig year Queen Elizabeth presented him to the rectory of Bishop's Bourne in Kent, where he finished the fifth book, which was published in 1597, and wrote three others, which, however, did not appear till 1647. At Bourne, Hooker spent the rest of his life in the faithful discharge of his duties. The first book of his Polity is an ethical disquisition on law in general. To appreciate it we need to keep in mind that Occam, the founder of the school of the Nominalists, had taught that moral distinctions originated in the arbitrary appoint- ment of God, ' and that no act is evil but as it is prohibited by Him, or which cannot be made good if commanded by Him.' Koman Catholics, who had held that practical theology, t. e., morals, was based on the traditional teaching of the Church, and Protestants, who insisted on taking ethical duty only from the Bible, confirmed this mistake. On none of these prin- ciples could there be a science of morality : every ethical question must become at once a question of interpretation, and the only standard of morality is Scripture or tradition. Melancthon and the more intelligent reformers saw the mischief of this system. ' Those precepts,' says he, ' which learned men have committed to writing, transcribing them from the common reason and common 342 PROSE HOOKER. feelings of human nature, ore to be accounted not less divine than those contained in the tables given to Moses ; nor was it God's intention to supersede by a law graven on stone that which is written with His own ringer on the table of the heart.' This principle, which needs care of course in applying, seems the dic- tate of common sense, and yet it needed the profound sagacity of Hooker to secure for it anything like currency among the great men of the sixteenth century, and many years were to elapse before it was applied to the formation of a sound ethical philoso- phy. It is to the consideration of those great laws which God has written on men's hearts and on the frame of the universe, that the first book of the Polity is devoted. Towards the close occurs one of the noblest outbursts of feeling and one of the finest sentences in our language. The second book of Hooker is devoted to a different question. The Puritans are supposed to have held that, though Scripture may not be the exclusive ground of human duty, it is at least in matters of religion. Hooker maintained on the contrary that ritual observances are variable, and that ' no certain form of polity is set down in Scripture as indispensable for a Christian Church.'" Hence he justifies the ceremonies of the Church of England, ' not as Scriptural but as indifferent,' and tries to show that the 'godly discipline ' of the Presbyterian party, though a lawful form of Church government, is not the only form that Scripture allows. In all his argument there is great earnestness of feeling and ful- ness of detail. Hooker's chief excellence, apart from the admirable doctrine of the first book, is his style. ' So stately and graceful is the march of his periods, so various the fall of his musical cadences upon the ear, so rich in images, so condensed in sentences, so grave and noble in diction, so little of vulgarity is there in his racy idiom, of pedantry in his learned phrase, that I know not whether any later writer has more admirably displayed the capacity of our language or produced passages more worthy of comparison with the splendid monuments of antiquity ;' b though it must be added that for clearness and vigour it would sometimes have been better if he had taken his sentences to pieces or had interspersed among them others of brevity and point. Hallam's Constitutional History, cbap. iv b Hallam. HISTORY ITS SUCCESSIVE STAGES. 343 Some of Hooker's sermons, it may be added, as those on Justi- fication ~by Faith, and on the Perpetuity of Faith in God's Elect, are among the best defences of the doctrines they discuss. More than one eminent man has expressed his obligations to them as the means of his establishment in the fundamental truths of the Gospel. 299. The earliest book of English prose belongs to the reign of Edward m., and is a book of travels. It was written by Mandeville, who was born at St. Alban's in 1300, T MaMeviiie. left En land for the East in 1322, and died at Liege in 1371. He visited Palestine, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India and China, spending three years at Pekin. Many copies of his work were circulated in manuscript, and the earliest edition in English was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1499. The standard edition appeared in 1725, and was reprinted with notes and glossary by Mr. Halliwell in 1839^ 300. The successive stages of historical literature seem to have been pretty much the same in all nations. It is first History- legendary in matter, and generally poetical in form. its successive The poetical legend then gives place to the simple stages ' chronicle, which is itself sometimes legendary. This, in turn, passes into philosophic narrative which tells the story of national life so as to exhibit those influences that mould it, influences at work both from without and from within. It is thus that the ballad poem of Homer passes into the chronicle history of Herodotus, and this is followed by the philosophic sketches of Thucydides. It is thus that the ballads of the early Latin poets are succeeded by the chronicle history of Livy, and this by the profound and philosophic pages of Tacitus. 'It may be laid down as a rule that history begins in novel and ends in essay .' b The ballad period of English history includes, as we have seen, See par. 40. is a philosophy of deepest interest. > Edinburgh Review, vol. 4-7, 1828. This philosophy applied to actual life, When history Is studied as a whole on a larger or smaller scale, forms what either of one nation or of many, and the is now called social science ; or less laws that regulate the progress of na- happily for the term is a hybrid - - tions, in virtue, knowledge, industry, sociology. and happiness, are ascertained, the result 344 PROSEHISTORY. the semi-Saxon writers, Layamon, monk of Ernsley (1180), the rhyming chronicles of Kobert of Gloster, who flourished a hun- dred years later, and of Robert Manning, monk of Bourne, in Lincolnshire. The last was taken in part from the French metrical chronicle of Langtoft, and all were indebted to Wace's Britain, to the Latin prose chronicles, and especially to Geoffrey of Monrnouth, whose Historia Britannica was the great store- house for them all. 301. The English prose chroniclers begin with John de Tre- visa's translation of the Polychronicon of Higden. This work of ! hronioon Higden's is a universal history in seven books. A >n " part only was printed in Gale's Scriptores xv* T*e- visa's translation, however, which was completed in 1385, includes the whole work, and Caxton who printed it added an eighth book, bringing the narrative from 1357 to 1400. Its author died at Chester in 1370. 302. Next in time comes the metrical chronicle of John Hard- ing, who nourished in the reign of Edward iv. ; then the prose Fab an chronicles of Fabyan, Hall, and Grafton. Fabyan Haii, ' was alderman and sheriff of London in the reign of Henry vn., and wrote a gossiping History of England from the days of Brutus to the year 1485. Hall, who was Judge of the Sheriff's Court in the same city, wrote the history of the houses of York and Lancaster, and brings down the story to the year 1532. Grafton, author and printer, continues Hall's history to the death of Henry viu. His abridgment of the chronicles of England was written in prison, where he was confined for printing the proclamation which declared the succession of Lady Jane Grey to the crown. 303 . Meanwhile the process of historical chronicling commenced in Scotland. The first author in English was John Bellenden, JBellenden one ^ ^ -Lords ^ Session in the reign of Queen Mary and a favourite of James v. By the king's command he translated Hector Boece's History of Scotland and the first five books of Livy. The translation is somewhat free, and. additions are made to it by the translator himself. The * Oxford, 1691. BUCHANAN: LESLIE: HOLINSHED. S45 original work was in Latin, and contains some of the wildest fables of the old chroniclers. Bellenden's translation is the earliest specimen of Scottish literary prose. It was published in 1526. The first original work in that language was also historical, and was entitled The Complaynt of Scotland. It was published at St. Andrews in 1548, and was written by ' an unknown hand.' Other Scottish authors claim mention. Among the earliest of them is George Buchanan (1506-1582), distinguished as a writer of classical Latinity rather than of English. He was Professor of Latin at Bourdeaux and Coimbra, Pro- testant Principal of St. Leonard College, St. Andrews, and tutor of Queen Mary and James VI. Having in those troublous times offended his pupil, he spent the last few years of his life in retire- ment, where he wrote in Latin his History of Scotland, which was published in 1582. * If his accuracy and impartiality,' says Robertson, ' had been equal to his taste and to the rigour and purity of his style, his history might be placed on a level with the most admired compositions of the ancients, but unhappily he clothes with all the beauties and graces of fiction those legends which formerly had only its wildness and extravagance.' To John Leslie, Bishop of Ross (died 1596), chronicler of Queen Mary, chief founder of the Scottish Colleges at Rome, Paris, and Douay, we owe, besides various historical works in Latin, a History of Scotland from 1436 to 1561, which was published for the first time in English in 1830 by the Bannatyne Club: to Sir James Melvil (1530-1606), Privy Councillor of Queen Mary, we owe Memoirs of Affairs of State relating to the reigns of Elizabeth, Mary, and James, written in a simple style, and containing an account of events which are not recorded in any other document : the whole was printed in 1683 ; and to William Drummond (1585-1649), poet and tra- veller, we owe The History of the Five Jameses, a work of some historical value, and remarkable chiefly as inculcating * the right divine of kings ' and the doctrine of passive obedience. 304. Perhaps the most illustrious of all this class of chroniclers was Holinshed (d. 1580), whose chronicles, written and trans- Hoiins lated partly by himself, and partly by William Harrison, and others, form the source of many of Shakespeare's plays. It was probably through Holinshed that 346 PROSE ANTIQUARIANS. Shakespeare became acquainted with the story of Lear and of Cymbdine. The plot of Macbeth and the facts of most of the historical plays are taken from the same source, details being often filled in from Hall's Chronicle, from Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, and from Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Prefixed to Holinshed is a valuable sketch of the state of England in the sixteenth century. 305. Occupying a middle place between the old chroniclers and the modern historians, are the antiquarians and the earlier biographers of our literature. Their work implies attention to details and the careful examination of facts the beginning of course of all accurate history. The close of the sixteenth century is remarkable for the following eminent antiquaries Leland, Stow, Camden, Speed, Spelman, and Cotton. John Leland (d. 1552), the earliest English antiquarian writer, and one of our ablest scholars, was educated at St. Paul's School, and was one of the chaplains of Henry vm. Having a great taste for antiquities, he obtained from the king a commis- sion to examine records and papers. Armed with this authority, he visited different parts of the kingdom, and collected an im- mense mass of materials. The results of his inquiries he pub- lished in several works, most of them written in Latin ; but the most important his Itinerary is in English. It gives a full account of the places he visited, together with a catalogue of English authors. Being prepared with great care, it is at once the beginning and the model of all later inquiries into our national antiquities. The original edition was * geuen as a new yeares gyfte to Kynge Henry the vnJ.,' and was published in 1549. Three years afterwards, Leland died insane ; his mind weakened, as it seems, by excessive application to his favourite study. 306. John Stow (1525-1605) was the son of a tailor, and was himself brought up to his father's business. Having a decided turn for antiquarian research, he travelled on foot through a large part of England, and examined cathedral and other libraries, finding many precious treasures scattered and wasted by the breaking up of the monasteries. Aided by the bounty of Archbishop Parker, he published the STOW: CAM DEN: SPEED. 347 results of his inquiries. His Summary of English Chronicles was printed in 1565, and dedicated to the Earl of Leicester. In 1598 appeared his Survey of London, his best known work, and the foundation of all later histories of the metropolis. His largest work. The Chronicle or History of England, seems never to have been published, 8 but an abstract of it, entitled Florcs Historiarum ; or, Annals of England, appeared in 1600. IS tow was regarded by his contemporaries as the highest authority, and was often quoted by them. In the last years of his life he had literally to beg his bread, James I. having given him the royal licence to repair to churches and to receive the charitable benevolence of well disposed people. He died in 1605, and his monument may still be seen in the church of St. Andre w-under- Shaft, London. 307. William Camden (1551-1623) was born in London, and was head master of Westminster School. The leisure hours of Camden *" s earlier life he devoted to the study of antiquities, and travelled through most of the eastern and northern counties of England. The results he published in a Latin work, entitled Britannia, which appeared in 1586; a sixth edition was translated into English, and published in 1610, by Philemon Holland, the translator of Pliny, etc. This volume is the great store-house of all our antiquarian and topographical knowledge. The best edition is that edited by Mr. Gough and published with augmentations in 1789. Besides this work, Camden published A Collection of Ancient English Historians, and wrote An Account of the Monuments and Inscriptions of Westminster Abbey, as well as Latin histories of the Gunpowder Plot and the Eeign of Elizabeth. He died at the age of seventy- two, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. One of the ablest of Camden's contemporaries was John Speed (1552-1629) author and tailor. He published in i6i4aZfts- tory of Great Britain, long deemed the best that had as yet appeared : it is remarkable for the care with which the author sifts his authorities, and for its rejection of many of the fables of the preceding chroniclers : it extends from the earliest times a What is called Stow's Chronicle was Stow's papers with additions by the published in 1616 by Howes after Stow's editor, death : it is a compilation made up from 48 PROSE BIOGRAPHY. to the union of the two crowns under James I. Speed w also the autkor of the best maps in his day of the shires and cities of England. Sir Henry Spelman (1562-1641) is a legal and ecclesiastical antiquary. His best known works are his Olossarium Archaio- logicum and a History of the English Councils. Sir Robert Cotton (1570-1631) was a diligent collector of records, charters, and papers of every kind. Be- sides aiding Camden, he wrote several works of antiquarian interest; but he is now most favourably remembered for the valuable library of manuscripts formed by him. After it had been increased by his son and grandson, it became, in 1706, the property of the nation, and was in 1757 deposited in the British Museum. Unhappily, a fire had previously destroyed upwards of a hundred of the most precious documents. The manu- scripts which Cotton collected possess the additional interest of having been examined by some of the greatest English scholars : Kaleigh, Herbert, Bacon, Usher, Selden, all speak of their personal obligations to the collector : in the two centuries which have elapsed since Cotton's death, many hundreds must have examined them. 308. Biography, one of the most instructive departments of historical literature, finds early and influential representatives in Bale, More, Foxe, and Cavendish. John Bale, Bishop of Ossory (1495-1563), was one of the warmest friends of the Reformation. He wrote in defence of its doctrines many tracts both in Latin and in English, besides several dramatic pieces and interludes, some of which he had acted at Kilkenny on behalf of the new faith. His most celebrated book is in Latin, and is entitled an Account of the Most Illustrious Writers of Great Britain (1548-1557), from Japhet, as he tells us, to the year 1557. With some fabu- lous history, it contains also a good deal that is partially inac- curate. Chronicles, written by him in English on the Death of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, the first of the nobility who died for adherence to WyclinVs doctrine, and on the death of Anne Askew, ' martyred in Smythfelde,' contain much that is beautiful. In him, and still more in Foxe, it is wonderful lo notice what pathos and power personal sympathy with the event 3 BISHOP BALE : MORE. 349 they describe gave even to a style of writing otherwise bald and uninteresting. In their works, dry chronicling has often given place to utterances the most touching and impressive. 309. In More's History of Edward v., of his brother, and of Kichard in., we have one of the earliest attempts to blend with narrative striking and original thought : it is also in Mr. Hallam's judgment the earliest specimen of dig- nified idiomatic prose. More minutely it may be said, that scarcely any of the vocabulary is obsolete, and though the structure of his sentences is often such as modern usage has not confirmed, yet the composition has, as a whole, * an ease and rotundity/ as Mack- intosh expresses it, * of which there is no model in any preceding writer of English prose.'* Strictly speaking, the volume is not a biography but a history. Horace Walpole, who went over the same ground as More, thinks that More's statements will not stand a comparison with the original authorities. Sir Thomas More (1480-1535) was the son of a judge of the King's Bench, and was educated at Oxford. After a successful practice in his profession and the fulfilment of many duties as reader in law at one of the inns of court, and even as lecturer of divinity, he was made Lord Chancellor in 1529, the first layman appointed to thart office. He was a zealous Catholic, and not alto- gether free from the persecuting spirit of his party and his age. After a life of honour and toil, he was unjustly condemned to death by Henry vin. on the charge of attempting to deprive the king of his title of supreme head of the church. More expressly refused ' to meddle with that matter,' and was condemned for words which he never uttered, and which, if uttered, were not sufficient to justify the charge. There are few men with whom most readers sympathise so little in religious belief whose memory is so revered. In the pictures of Holbein, in his life by Roper and by Mackintosh, and in his correspondence with Erasmus, where he is seen in his house at Chelsea paying reverence to his parents and playing with his children, he has become endeared to modern readers ; while his cheerful disposition is^ just such as we naturally associate with true greatness, and welcome wherever it is found. Besides the History of Edward the Fifth, More wrote some a Life of Sir T. More 550 PROSE BIOGRAPHY. poems and some theological and other tracts. He is best known, however, by his Utopia (' No-land '), one of his earliest works ; it has given a word to our language, and describes the social arrangements which he thought most likely to secure, in the greatest degree, the happiness and the improvement of a people. Some of his suggestions are really Utopian : * that every one be content with the necessaries of life care in clothing only for what is most durable, and in eating for what is plain.' In this way greed and indolence, with all the evils that follow in their train, he thinks will be destroyed. On the other hand, many of his suggestions are before his age : instead of severely punishing theft, we ought, he says, to educate the people and improve their condition ; there ought to be no war but for the grossest injury to ourselves or to our allies, and the glory of a general should be in proportion to the bloodlessness of his victo- ries : nor must any man be punished for his religion, for punish- ment may make hypocrites but cannot make Christians.* This treatise of More's commenced what proved to be a fashion in our literature. The New Atlantis of Bacon gave an outline of the Koyal Society, and the Oceana of Harrington, of a model republic : indeed, plans of imaginary gtates came to be an easy mode of rebuking existing evils and of setting forth, in a dramatic form, theories of desired good. 310. One of the most illustrious of our early biographers is John Foxe (1517-1587), a native of Boston, and a student at Oxford. After protracted inquiry, he avowed his adoption of Protestant doctrines, and was expelled in consequence from his college in 1545. For some years he was without a certain dwelling-place, engaged now as a tutor to the family of the Duchess of Richmond, and now as corrector of the press for Oporinus, the printer of Basle. On the accession of Eliza- beth, he was received into favour, and might have had consider- able preferment : he felt a difficulty however in subscription, and declined all otfers made to him except that of a prebendal stall at Salisbury. Here he gained a high character for modesty,. great merits, conscientiousness, and learning. His Acts and Monuments The volume was first published in son in 1624, and by Bishop Bumet in Latin about the year 1518, and was i68j. translated into English by Ralph Robin- FOXE : CAVENDISH : BACON. 351 he published in 1563, the result of eleven years of hard toil ; the work gives a histoiy of the troubles wrought and practised by Romish prelates, specially in this realm of England, for the last five hundred years. Burnet bears strong testimony to the gene- ral accuracy of this compilation, 8 and its general value is un- questioned. The narrative is sometimes rude and even coarse, but it is impossible not to be struck with its fervour and simpli- city. The work contributed largely not only to the spread of the principles of the Reformation, but to the formation of habits of religious inquiry and of intellectual activity among all classes . b 311. Biographers of less name are George Cavendish (d. 1557), the author of a Life of Cardinal Wolsey, warmly praised by Singer for its natural eloquence, and freely used by Holinshed, and, through him, by Shakespeare: Sir John Hay ward (d. 1627), the author of a Life of Henry the Fourth (1599), of Lives of the Three Norman Kings, (1613), and of the Life and Reign of Edward the Sixth (includ- ing part of Elizabeth), (1630); in all which he adopted the dramatic style of making his characters deliver speeches in which they express their policy: and Arthur Wilson (1596-1652), author of The Life and Reign of James tlie First. 312. Bacon's Life of Henry the Seventh is a great advance on most preceding biographies. The style is generally clear and precise, though there is sometimes a stiffness and ambitiousness which injure its simplicity. It is re- markable chiefly, however, for its philosophic spirit, motives are carefully analysed and actions weighed, laws and events affect- ing the progress of trade and agriculture are examined and de- scribed, and the whole is written with an evident purpose to enable the reader to gather from history those great lessons which he may hereafter turn to useful account. The History of the Reign of .Henry the Eighth, by Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1581-1648), is sometimes compared with Bacons . Henry the Seventh. Lord Orford deems it a master- Loia Herbert. * . . piece of biography, and it is certainly a good speci- 8 Preface to the History of the Re- published in the reign of Elizabeth; formation. every parish was bound to have a copy Four editions of Foxe's folios were in the church, 352 PROSE HISTORIES: BAKER. men of manly composition. Herbert is also one of the earliest of our autobiographers, though his memoirs were not printed till 1764- 313. And now the blended research and philosophical disquisi- tion which have already begun to show themselves in some Histories portions of our historical literature, maybe traced in larger histories. Among these may be mentioned the Chronicle of Sir Richard Baker (1568-1645), the History of the World of Sir Walter Ealeigh (1552-1618), the History of England of Samuel Daniel (1562-1619), the Hi-story of the Turks by Eichard Knolles (d. 1610), and the Annals and Chronologia oftlie Bible of James Usher (1581-1656). Baker's Chronicle was compiled, as the author assures us, * with such care and diligence, that, if all other chronicles were lost, this only would be sufficient to inform posterity of all pas- sages worthy to be known.' Blount, however, has shown that it contains many errors, and though several of these were corrected in the edition printed in 1730, the book as a whole nas but small authority. The style is described by Sir Henry Wotton, the writer's friend, as facile, ' full of sweet raptures and researching conceits.' The volume has special interest, as it was long a favourite with all classes, and especially with the country gentlemen of the seventeenth century. Addison tells us that it was the companion of Sir Roger de Coverley. a The book was written in the Fleet Prison, and was first published in 1641. 314. Raleigh's life is one of the most affecting in our history. He was born in 1552 of an ancient Devonshire family, and from . his youth showed great intellectual acuteness and fondness for adventure. Before he was twenty he had fought for the Protestant cause in the wars of France and of the Netherlands, and soon after we find him visiting the coast of Newfoundland in company with his half-brother, Sir. Hum- phrey Gilbert. In 1580 he joined Lord Grey of Wilton, in an attempt to put down the rebellion in Ireland. Sent home with despatches, his handsome person and winning address attracted the attention of Elizabeth, and he at once became a favourite. His Spectator, No. j 29. RALEIGH. 353 love of adventure soon revived, and in 15^4, he received a patent from the Crown for the discovery and settlement of unknown countries in the Far West ; and though he was prevented from sailing with his friends, yet we owe to him indirectly the settle- ment of Virginia and the introduction into England of tobacco and of the potato : this last was first cultivated on Raleigh's property in Ireland. After offending Elizabeth by his marriage with the daughter of Sir N. Throgmorton, he visited Guiana, which he took possession of in the queen's name. On his return he pub- lished the history of the discovery. With the accession oi James i., Raleigh's more serious troubles began. Cecil seems to have poisoned the king's mind against him, and probably Raleigh's own imprudence helped the plans of his adversaries. He was at all events implicated in the alleged plot to place Arabella Stuart on the throne, and was tried for high treason, Through the virulence of Coke and the servility of the jury, he was found guilty and sentenced, but he was imprisoned and not executed all parties apparently feeling ashamed of the verdict. On his release, after an imprisonment of twelve years, he pro- jected a secret expedition to Jamaica, with the view of planting the country and working the mines. Through the treachery of James, who disclosed the plan to the Spaniards, the expedition failed. Raleigh was disgraced, and after various attempts had been made to find a better accusation against him, he was exe- cuted in fulfilment of his old sentence. One of the most interesting facts of his life is his intimacy with Spenser, who calls him, in one of his sonnets, ' the summer's nightingale/ and in Colin Clout, ' the shepherd of the ocean.' Raleigh's History of the World was written during his impri- sonment ; it embraces a period extending from the creation to the fall of the Macedonian Empire, B.C. 170, and was printed in 1614. Raleigh himself ascribes its abmpt termination to the death of Prince Henry, but perhaps he had grown weary of his task, and the hope of new adventures allured him. Part of his work the description, for example, of the antediluvian world the discussions on the site of Paradise and the travels of Cain, are of little worth ; but the sketches of the history of Greece and Rome are given with more exactness and vigour than in any pre- vious writer. For the learning his work displays, he was in- debted to Ben Jonson, Dr. Burrell, Rector of Northwold, and 2 2 A 354 PROSE HISTORIES: DANIEL. others ; but the political reflections, the illustrative episodes fix in modern times, the plain eloquence, the philosophic exactness, the consistency, and energy, and genius of the whole, are his own, and -have given the book a classical reputation in our lan- guage. Hume has warmly praised it, and Tytler commends it as ' vigorous and purely English, possessing an antique richness of ornament, similar to what pleases us when we see a stately manor house, and compare it with our more modern mansions.' His Maxims of State, the Cabinet Council, the Sceptic, and Advice to his Son, are among his best known minor pieces: they contain much good counsel, though not free from a certain worldliness which his hard experience must have fostered : some of his remarks on the service of God, in the last named of these pieces, are striking and just. One of the finest passages in our language is to be found to- wards the close of his History. 315. Samuel Daniel, already mentioned as a poet, was also distin- guished as a prose writer. His History of England extending from the Norman Conquest to the end of the reign of Edward m., is divided into two parts, and was published in 1613 and 1618. A third part was added by John Trussel, con- tinuing the history to the death of Richard m. ; but this is de- cidedly inferior to the portions contributed by Daniel. As a histo- rian, Daniel relies on common authorities, though he warns us against the uncertainty of the early history of nations in a way not usual with the old chroniclers : still there is little new matter to justify special commendation. But his style is remarkable : himself attached to the court, he seems to have written as the court spoke, with idiomatic purity and ease. This last quality is almost in excess ; it begets a feeling of feebleness or of negli- gence, and it is so marked that Hallam thinks it difficult to dis- tinguish his style from the style of the writings of the reign of Queen Anne. 316. Richard Knolles is a historian whose style all critics have praised. He was master of a free school at Sandwich, in Kent, Knolles. and autllor of tlie ^ >istor y f the Turks (1610). His subject is perhaps unfortunate, as Johnson deemed it, and wanting in general interest. His work, moreover, shows no KNOLLES: USHER. 355 great depth of thought or fulness of learning ; but * his style, though obscured by time, and sometimes vitiated by false wit, is pure, nervous, elevated, and clear.' Hallam places him in this respect among the best of our early writers, and thinks, that on comparison, he will be found to paint better than Kobertson, and to invest his story with a deeper interest.* 317. James Usher, the friend of Camden and Cotton, a Pro- fessor of Divinity in the University of Dublin, was born in that Usher city in 1581. He was eminently skilled hi theology, and when the Irish Church determined in 1615 to assert its independence, Usher had the chief hand in drawing up its Articles. Their Calvinistic and evangelical tone exposed him to the charge of Puritanism a charge strengthened by his low notions of the episcopal office. King James was so satisfied with his explanations on these points, that he raised him to the see of Meath, and afterwards to the Archbishopric of Armagh and Primacy of Ireland. In the Civil War he sided with the Eoyalists, and maintained the absolute unlawfulness of the struggle. The Irish Rebellion in 1641 drove him from his see : he found refuge, however, at Oxford with the king, and after a wandering life, died at Reigate in 1656. His most celebrated work is his Annals (1650-1654), giving in two parts a chronological digest of universal history from the creation of the world to the times of Vespasian ; a third part, intended to complete the history, he never finished. The volume was received throughout Europe with great applause, and its system of chronology is the system recognised in most histories. It is based for Scripture dates on the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and fixes the three great epochs of the deluge, the exodus, and the return from Babylon in a way that is generally regarded as satisfactory. It must be added, however, that in profane history, dates are not easily fixed with entire accuracy before the Olympiads, nor in Scripture history before the building of the Temple (B.C. 1003): the duration of the antediluvian world, the period between the deluge and the call of Abraham, and between the exodus and the reign of Saul, are all uncertain, in consequence chiefly of the variations of reading of the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Septuagint texts. Still Usher's book is even in our Hallam, iii., 148, 2 A 2 356 PROSE THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. day the standard book, a decisive proof of its value. After hia death, another work was published (1660) under the title of Chronologia Sacra, in which he investigates more fully Scripture chronology, and gives the grounds of the principal epochs which he had fixed in his Annals. SECTION EH. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUBY. PHILOSOPHY, ETC. Science: 318. State of, at the beginning of the SeTenteenth Century. 319. Marked change in, by the end of the Century. 320. Bacon, his Life and chief Works. 321. Influence of his writings in England. Three methods of philosophising. The Royal Society. 322. In- fluence of his writings throughout Europe on Physics. 323. On Mental Science. 324. On particular questions and on the Method of Study. 325. On Ethics. 326. His Essays. 327. Other Essayists Jonson, Dekker, Earle, Overbury, Feltham, Browne, Clarendon, etc. Physical Science: 328. Boyle's wri tings and influence, Chemistry. 329. Ray. Natural History. 330. Grew, Botany. 331. Sydenham, Medical Science. 332. T. Burnet, as yet no Geology. 333. Newton, the System of the Universe, Optics, etc. 334. Moral Science: 335. Albericus Gentilis, Grotius. 336. Hobbes, and his influence. 337. Cudworth, Cumberland, Clarke. Political Science: 338. Harrington, Filmer, Sidney, Locke. 339. Thomas Mun, Child. 340. Locke on the Currency. 341. Others. Mental Science: 342. Stanley. 343. Gale, Cudworth, More, Norris. 344. Wallis, Aldrich (Logic}. 343. Dalgarno, Wilkins (Language}. 346. Locke his works and influence. HISTORY, ETC. Travels: 347. Hakluyt. 348. Purchas. 349. Davis. 350. Sandys, Lithgow, Howell. Antiquities: 351. Selden. 352. Dug- dale, Ashmole. 353. Wood, Rymer. Contemporary Memoirs, more or less political. 354. May, Whitelocke. 355. Clarendon. 356. Burnett. 35 7. Other Histories, more or less polemical : Spotiswood, Calderwood. 358. Echard, Oldmixon. 359. Collier, Neal, and others. 360. Non- polemical Biographies and Histories : 361. Walton. 362. Thomas Fuller. 363. Strype. 364. Evelyn. 365. Grammont. 366. Pepys. 367. Pri- deaux, Potter, Kennet. 368. Newspapers. MISCELLANEOUS LEARNING. 369. Foundation of the Bodleian. 370. State of Learning at Oxford, especially of Hebrew and Oriental languages. Authorised Version of the Bible, 1611. Polyglots: Complutensian, Antwerp and London. Commentaries on Scripture. Critici Sacri* Poli Synopsis. 371. Spencer, Pococke, Hyde. Classical learo ing of Gataker and others. 372. Bentley, C. Boyle. Epistles of Phalaris. 373. Temple, Swift, W. Cotton. The Battle of the Books. SCIENCE IN 1600 AND IN 1700 357 THEOLOGY.- 3 74. Origin of Puritanism. 375. Hooper and his suo cessors. 376. Reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I. Laud. 377. Doctrinal Puritans. 378. Presbyterianism. 379. Independency. Savoy Conference. Other Sects. 380. The Latitudinarians. The Non- jurors. 381. Connexion of these facts with the History of Literature. 382. Theology at Cambridge: Sibbes, Preston, Gouge, Mede, Calamy, Clarke, Arrowsmith, Sheppard, Whately, Scudder, Hildersham, Ames>, Davenant, Burroughs, Pearson, D. Clarkson, Trueman, Charnock, Marshall, Bale, Gurnall, Whichcote, Culverwell, John Smith, Worthington. 383. Theology at Oxford: Ball, Bolton, Caryl, Manton, Flavel, Owen, Gale, Goodwin, Alleine, etc. 384. Preachers in London: Episcopalian and Nonconformist. 385. Owen. 386. Howe. 387. Sameness of human nature and of religious errors. Chillingworth. 388. John Hales. 389. Archbishop Leighton. 390. Jeremy Taylor. 391. Isaac Barrow. 392. Preaching in the Seven- teenth Century : Influence of South and Tillotson. 393. South. 394. Til- lotson. 395. Hale, Stillingfleet, Sherlock, Henry, Fox, Barclay, Penn. 396. Scholarship: Hammond and others. 397. Scotch writers: Euther- ford, Traill, Halyburton, Boston. 398. Baxter. 399. Bunyan. 400. Questions settled: the supremacy of Scripture, and forgiveness through free and righteous mercy. 318. There was little or no science in England, and there are therefore no treatises on science, till the seventeenth century ; all departments physics, mental science, ethics, Science in politics are alike barren. In the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries some great truths had been disco- vered. Algebra had been introduced into Europe from Arabia, and the first printed book upon it had been published towards the close of the fifteenth century. Leonardo da Vinci, the painter and engineer (1452-1519), had taught Europe the study of ra- tional mechanics for the first time, apparently, since the days of Archimedes. Copernicus had just announced and defended the true system of the world. Towards the close of the fifteenth century Kepler and Galileo had applied the method of observation to investigation of nature, and had reached some generalisa- tions which are still associated with their names. Paracelsus (1493-1540) had succeeded in directing attention to chemistry, and had begun to apply it experimentally to the treatment of disease. In our own country, Napier, of Merchiston, , had recently invented logarithms, and had 358 PROSE SCIENCE. considerable improvements in trigonometry. Dr. Gilbert (1540- 1603) had discovered some of the properties of the loadstone, and had enabled Lord Bacon to appeal to him as an example of the wisdom of founding philosophical theories on experiment, But these facts are exceptional and isolated there was as yet no science. 319. A hundred years later at the close of the seventeenth century there was a marvellous change. Observation and expe- riment were recognised as essential to all progress in natural knowledge : mathematical science had been enriched with some of its noblest treasures, and had been applied with great skill to mechanics and physics : the grandest mecha-. nical theory of any age that of gravitation had been esta- blished and applied to the explanation of both earthly and heavenly phenomena. While men were questioning Nature in all her departments as to her facts and laws, the foundation of the modern science of ethics had been laid. Politics had risen to the dignity of a philosophy, though still largely speculative, and the science of the human mind was studied anew under the guidance of individual consciousness as well as of the recorded experience of the past. These changes are owing chiefly to the influence of Bacon : in physics to Boyle, and especially to Isaac Newton and his colleagues, Hooke, Barrow, Cotes, Brook Taylor, and Halley ; in ethics to Hobbes, Cumberland, Cudworth, More, Clarke, and Shaftesbury ; in politics to Harrington, Sidney, and Locke ; and in mental science to Locke, in some sense the founder in England of inductive psychology. 320. The political life of Francis Bacon (1561-1627) is not one upon which the reader dwells with satisfaction. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper in the reign of Elizabeth, and the nephew of Burleigh. Sir Nicho- las was a sample of the statesmen whom the queen delighted to honour men of practical wisdom and of great moderation in their religious opinions. From his early boyhood, Bacon showed such vivacity of mind and sedateness of manner, that Elizabeth used to call him her young Lord Keeper. At thirteen he was sent to Cambridge, and at sixteen he had already quarrelled with BACON. 359 the philosophy of Aristotle, * not,' as he was wont to say, ' for the worthlessness of the author, who possessed all high attributes, but for the unfruitfulness of his method, a method rich only in disputation, but barren of works for the benefit of the life of man.' After finishing his studies, his father sent him abroad, and he visited France, Germany, and Italy, settling for some time at Poictiers. The death of his father in 1579 compelled him to return and to enter upon some profession. He seems to have felt his proper calling to be philosophy, but after in vain pressing his kinsman, Burieigh, to give him some place under government he devoted himself to the law, and entered at Gray's Inn. He soon became eminent as an advocate, though both Lord Bur- ieigh and his son, Eobert Cecil, refused to help him, on the plea that he was too fond of books and theories to make a useful public servant. The help which his uncle and cousin refused he soon obtained from the generosity and affection of the Earl of Essex, who attempted to secure for him the post of solicitor- general, and presented him with a considerable estate. On the death of Elizabeth in 1603, his position improved. He was now attached to Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, had been knighted at the coronation of James, and was just married to the daughter of a London alderman a lady of some fortune. He had been already for some years in Parliament, and was elected in 1592 member for Middlesex. As a parliamentary orator he was warmly praised by Ben Jonson, who often heard him. At length, in 1617, he obtained the object of his ambition, and was made Lord Chancellor, with the title of Baron Yerulam, and three years afterwards he became Viscount St. Albans. When attorney-general, he had to prosecute Essex, his former patron, for high treason, and conducted the prosecution with more earnestness and bitterness than were welcome to on-lookers. As chancellor, he is accused of allowing Villiers to influence the proceedings of his court, and is charged with receiving large sums of money from suitors. He pleaded guilty to thrae-and-twenty charges, was fined 40,000?., deprived of his chancellorship, made incapable ot holding office under the crown, and imprisoned during the king's pleasure. Every part of this sentence the king remitted ; but Bacon was a broken-hearted man, struggled with pecuniary diffi- culties for five years, and died in 1626, struck with a fever caught \vhile making some experiments. He was buried at St. Albans, 360 PKOSE SCIENCE. His personal character has had many defenders. Among the earliest was Rawley, his biographer ; among the latter, Montagu, Spedding, and Dixon. On the other hand he has been severely condemned by Hume, Hallam, Lingard, Macaulay, and Camp- bell. Many of the charges against him are unfounded, and others of them are greatly exaggerated ; yet when we think of his intel- lect, the beauty and truthfulness of his writings, we Icng to find in the man more nobleness and independence : he is far from deserving Pope's censure, but we still miss the great and heroic qualities with which our reverence would fain clothe him. During his public life, his ripest and best thoughts were given to literature. In 1597, he published the first edition of his Essays the last edition appearing in 1625. These short papers, as he himself says, 'coming home to men's business and bosoms, and ' like the late new half-pence, of which the pieces are small, but the silver is good.' The subjects are of great variety and in- terest, and in the handling of them there is a singular combination of the imaginative and the intellectual, condensed brilliancy of illustration with profundity of thought. Like Shakespeare, Bacon is at once ' the richest and the most concise ' of our authors. * The volume may be read,' says Mr. Stewart, ' in a few hours, and yet after the twentieth perusal, one seldom fails to remark in it something overlooked before.' In 1605 he published another work still popular, Of the Pro- ficiency and Advancement of Learning: it was afterwards enlarged and published in Latin under the title, De Augmentis Scientiarum, constituting the introduction to his great work, the Instauratio Scientiarum, i. e., the Institution of the Sciences. The first part of the intended treatise, * On the Classification of the Sciences,' was never written : the second part, called the Novum Organum, is the work on which his reputation as a philosopher chiefly rests. It is written in Latin, and first appeared in 1620 ; it consists of a number of Aphorisms, in which the principles and importance of the inductive method are laid down and demon- strated. The third part of the Instauratio is the Historia Natu- ralis the ' collection of materials ' out of which the glorious build- ing of true science is to be reared : of this Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum is a specimen. To this department of the Inductive Philosophy Bacon himself contributed also the History of the Winds, Of Life Uftd Death illustrations at once of the need of his method and o/ INFLUENCE OF BACON. 3iU his admirable adaptedness to natural science. The fourth pait is called Scala Intettectw, the ladder of the mind, or the Thread of the Labyrinth, indicating the steps whereby the mind is trained for such work, whereby it is kept from wandering into dangerous paths. Two other parts projected by the author were never completed ' Conjectural Kesults ' hereafter to be verified ; * Prac- tical Kesults ' or science applied to ' the endowment of man's life with new commodities.' His Wisdom of the Ancients appeared in 1610, and is an ingenious attempt to discover secret meanings in the mythological fables of antiquity. His New Atlantis is intended to represent the studies and successes of the coming scientific millennium, and is important as having suggested, it is said, the formation of the Eoyal Society. His style is unsurpassed for brilliancy, richness, and expres- siveness of imagery, and at the same time for conciseness and point: the thought is nearly always just, and often profound. His better and more important works may be briefly described as books of ' philosophy, practical or scientific, with all the splen- dour, but with none of the vagueness of poetry.' 321. To form a just estimate of the influence of Bacon's writ- ings, it is necessary to keep in mind the methods of investigating truth prevalent before the publication of them. his writings These methods he has himself classified as the so- lu England, phistical, the empirical, and the superstitious. In sophistical methods, experience was but partially consulted, as in the scientific treatises of Aristotle, or was wholly neglected, as in the physical theories of the later schoolmen, its place being supplied by a verbal logic drawn from the philosophy of lan- guage or from the necessary conditions of human thought. la. methods empirical, science was founded on a hasty generalisation of facts, as in the reasonings of Gilbert and Kepler ; while in methods superstitious, philosophy was founded on theology, as in the physics of the Platonists and the earlier Schoolmen. It is true that towards tte close of the sixteenth century the first and the third of these methods, and the systems that had originated in them, had become somewhat unpopular. The revival of Nominalism a doctrine that involved an important truth on the origin of human knowledge, the success of the chemical and metaUurgic arts, the genera,! frt^dom of thought, all operated ir\ 362 PBOSE -BACON. undermining their authority ; their errors had been detected by the discoveries of Fracasta and Kopernik, and were now being exposed with some bitterness by Ramus and Telesio, while Galileo, by his boldness and by his brilliant success, was giving to inductive inquiry an impulse which it had never yet ex- perienced.* Still there was needed a master spirit, at once philosophical and practical, to raise the art of induction to the dignity of a science : it had been adopted from accident or from taste, it was now to be defended and applied on principle. And this is Bacon's merit he was the first who taught accurately the philosophy, the importance, the method, and the extensive application of the inductive process, and is therefore justly regarded as the father of experimental science. To the philosophy of induction a considerable part of the trea- tise De Augmentis Scientiarum and of the Novum Organum is devoted. After giving a sketch of the state of science in his own age, he proceeds to trace to their origin the perverse methods of philosophising that were then prevalent. He shows the folly of a blind reverence for antiquity ' in matters where our times are more ancient than those that were before us,' and of the use of logic not as a form of argument but in place of inquiry. ' The deficiencies ' of the scholastic systems he proves from the confes- sions of their advocates, from the little progress that men had made in the knowledge of nature, and from the * barrenness ' of practical results. Finding that in these respects there was nothing but failure, he concluded that ' science must be advanced on other principles.' The defence that Bacon has given of his own method is founded partly on the admitted need of some change, but still more on arguments drawn from the nature of the mind. His whole system was made to rest indeed on two truths the first, that man's knowledge of external things is dependent on observation ; the second, that true science requires the harmonious exercise of all his powers. b For his remarks on induction, on the rules he has given for its guidance, and on its extension to all the sciences whose defi- See Drinkwater's Lives of Galileo b ' The analysis of the human mind and Kepler two of the finest pieces of was Bacon's instrument, as geometry v, ?-.<* scientific biography in our language. Newton's.' Guizot. THE INDUCTIVE METHOD. 363 ciencies he has noted, the reader must examine the works of Bacon himself." In a very able paper of Lord Macaulay's, Bacon's Logic, the foundation of his fame according to Gassendi and his early admirers, is represented as of small value, for in it he * only told men to do what they were all doing.' But this objection is not just : it has been urged in the same form by practical men against all systems of logic, of rhetoric, and of grammar, and might be urged with equal propriety against all treatises on art or practical science. It is in this case, moreover, inconsistent with facts. When Bacon appeared, men were not generally practising induction in the investigation of nature, whatever they might be doing in the business of life. The reasonings of the schoolmen to prove that the earth is spherical, and that the planets move round it in circular orbits, the decision of the doctors of Pisa in rejecting the evidence of their senses be- cause they were able to quote against them chapter and verse from the writings of Aristotle, the notable section of Stubbe on the * Deceitfulness of Telescopes/ his complaints of the changes in the methods of ratiocination, which 'certain arrogant and ignorant experimenters' had introduced, and of the 'fetters which had thus been prepared for all ingenuity and learning,' the terms of depreciation in which a host of writers speak of modern systems as for the most part 'artificial and pedantic' when compared with the ' simple and natural ' science of ear- lier inquiries, all show how little homage was then paid to the award of experience. Appeals to phenomena were in fact as heterodox in physics as appeals to Scripture in questions of theology. Even when men appealed to nature and employed the inductive method, they needed a master to teach them the use of the instrument. No doubt unlettered men had used it in every age. In its simplest form it is described by Aristotle : Kepler gives a somewhat whimsical account of it and of his own improvements : by Galileo, an incomparably superior man, a few practical additions were made to it ; but by Bacon, the instrument was minutely described, and men were urged to use it. It may be called the same tool in the hands of Kepler and of Wells, just as we speak of the steam-engine of the Marquis of Worcester and the steam-engine of Watt ; but between the De Aug., bk. iil., c. 4. Novum, Organwm, i, aph. ioj-6, 127. 364 PROSE BACON. induction of the one and the induction of the other, there is as wide a difference as between the admirable paper of Wells on ' the theory of Dew ' and the fortunate guesses and fantastic reasonings of Kepler on the * Copernican system.' It must not be supposed from this statement that Bacon's rules of induction form the most important part of his treatises. The first place is due really to his treatise De Augmentis (with the exception of the Essays, the most popular of all his works), and to the first book of the Organum. They contain his refuta- tion of the errors of previous systems, his defence of induction, his announcement of its value as an instrument of inquiry, and his remarks on its application to all those sciences in which ex- perience is the guide. Second to these in influence are the -pro- found reflections with which his works abound on numerous questions of ethical and political philosophy, which, besides form- ing a treasure of moral and jurispnidential wisdom, stimulated the thought and suggested the inquiries of after times. For the rules of induction and a specimen of the application of them, the reader may refer with great advantage to the admirable treatise of Sir John Herschel. 322. The first practical effect of Bacon's writing was produced in this country in the department of physics. Meetings were held in the rooms of Dr. Wilkins, at Oxford, for the pur- On Physics. _ ... ,. '. ' ,. pose of cultivating natural science and making expe- riments. Out of these meetings sprang the Royal Society (1638, chartered 1662); and the more important members, WaUtt, Wilkins, Childrey, Boyle, Sprat, Digby, all recognised Ikcon as practically their founder. Within forty years of Bacon's death, a Fellow of Sidney College, and author of a treatise De plenitu- dine Mundi, and a friend of Otto Guericke's, complained that in his time Bacon's authority in matters of science was supreme, and that his followers had become worshippers of those very idola tiitatri which he himself had condemned. The * laconical philo- sopher ' was now with the mere schoolmen a term of reproach. On the continent of Europe the influence of Bacon's writings was earlier and wider than in England. Many treatises were written on his method, and academies were formed Germanv Ita b r Switzerland, Russia, and Swe- den ; and in nearly all their reports Bacon is e* INFLUENCE ON PHYSICS. 365 pressly recognised as. the master by whose precepts all experi- mental philosophers professed to be guided. In France his authority was very widely acknowledged during the first fifty years after the publication of the Organum. ' However nume- rous and important be the discoveries reserved for posterity,' it was said, * it will always be just to say of him, that he laid the foundation of their success, so that the glory of this great man, so far from diminishing with the progress of time, is destined to receive perpetual increase.' So wrote Gassendi, * the Bacon of France/ as Degerando calls him. Yet in France, the scholastic phi- losophy remained the ascendant system even after the publication of the philosophy of Newton, nor did it give place to the doc- trines of Descartes till Newton had overturned them. The truth is, that for a hundred years after Bacon's death, his writings were more praised than read, and more read than practised an inconsistency which D'Alembert ascribes to the peculiarities of the national character. ' Our nation,' he says, ' has a particular regard for novelties in matters of taste, but is extremely attached to old opinions in matters of science : whatever is of the senti- mental kind must be obvious to us, and ceases -to please if it do not strike us immediately ; but the ardour with which we re- ceive it presently cools, and we grow disgusted as soon as gra- tified. On the other hand, when we attain to possession after long meditation, we are desirous of making the enjoyment as lasting as the pursuit.'* At length the Letters of Voltaire on the English Nation, the Essays of Condillac, the Discourse of D'Alembert, and the Analysis of Bacon's Philosophy, by Deluc, brought the inductive method more prominently into notice, and since the appearance of these works he has been studied and honoured as the author and restorer of inductive philosophy in that country. 323. The influence of Bacon's writings on the science of the mind has been more fully discussed by foreign writers than by Englishmen. Bonald, Degerando, Schlegel, and Cousin, all maintain that modern psychology owes much of its progress directly or indirectly to his writings. * The philosophy of Locke/ says Degerando, 'ought to have been called the philosophy of Bacon / and for this reason, Ditcours Preliminaire. 366 PROSE BACON. that the great principle of modern psychology is in fact the very principle on which Bacon has founded his entire system. He tells us again and again that experience exterior and interior, that is, in the phraseology of Locke, sensation or reflection, is the only origin of human knowledge, and that if men look for the truths of science, either physical or psychological, in the ' dreams of their own fancy/ their attempts to discover truth will be entirely futile. * Francis Bacon thought thus : Man, the minister of nature, understands as much as his observation of it, either with regard to things or the mind, permits him, and neither knows nor is capable of more/ Bacon's first scholars, Hobbes in England, and Gassendi and afterwards Condillac in France, traced too much to 'exterior experience,* pure sensation. Locke himself appealed to sen- sation and reflection, and all regarded Bacon as their master. * I humbly beseech Mr. Locke,' writes one of his ablest oppo- nents, 'that he would unbiassedly consider whether (since he cannot suspect his own excellent parts) this new way of philoso- phising be not the sole cause of all his mistakes/ This ' new way ' the same writer characterised in a work, published in the preceding year, * as the experimental method, whose author is that great man, Sir Francis Bacon ; but which is now demon- strated to be false, both by the confessions of its followers and by the difficulties which of necessity adhere to it/ 324. Besides the advantages which the early diffusion of the method of Bacon has conferred upon the science of the mind, he has given one of the best illustrations of the s a S y ethoda of cautious and sober spirit in which such subjects should be investigated. Himself possessed of the brightest fancy, he has employed it only in the illustration of truth : he infused the very spirit of poetry into his description of facts, but in his examination of them, he was guided solely by the spirit of the inductive system. His remarks on the scholastic discussions as to the nature of the mind, on the limits of its faculties, on the respective provinces of reason and faith in matters of revelation, may tie referred to in proof: they have tended to promote a spirit of submission, they have diminished SolidrPhilosophy Asserted, by J. S., London, 1697. Method of Science, by John Smith, London, 1696 INFLUENCE ON ETHICS. 36? the labour of discovery by confining inquiry within narrower bounds, and have thus saved an incredible waste of effort which had previously been expended on useless or irreverent specula- tion. It is this quality of the spirit of Bacon which modern readers notice in the theological writings of Butler and of Chalmers. Nor should we omit to notice the influence of his writings on the progress of an inquiry into questions not immediately connected with the method of science. His observations for example on the power of words are familiar to most readers : their originality and importance are less known. It is remarkable that among all the treatises of the ancient metaphysicians there is not one on this subject. Bacon was literally the first to point out the evils re- sulting from the abuse of words and from their reaction upon tho mind. Locke and Leibnitz carried out his suggestions, and ana- lysed about the same time the prejudices to which Bacon had re- ferred. Condillac, professedly following in the footsteps of Locke, prosecuted the subject to a greater extent than his master, and with still greater success. He explained the use of analogy in the terms of mental philosophy, and illustrated the connection between precision in the language of science and distinct consistent apprehensions of truth. One of the completest modern books on this subject is that of Degerando, On Signs viewed in relation to our Intellectual Operations, in which he has done ample justice to Bacon. Hobbes in several of his treatises, Harris in his Hermes (i757)> and more recently, in another department, Dr. Whately and Dr. Hampden, have also called attention to this most import- ant of logical questions." 325. The influence of the writings of Bacon on ethical science was owing partly to his incidental allusions to the subject, partly ,. to the stress he laid upon the necessity of attending to practical virtue, and partly to his general method. Descartes published his Discourse on the Passions, the notion of which he took from the De Augmentis, and several books were a It is a proof of the influence of Bacon, seventeen, seven of which were printed that by 1665 his treatise De Augmentis abroad: by 1677 the Novum Organum had gone through eighteen editions, of had gone through nine editions, six of which eight were printed abroad : by which were printed in England. 1669 the New Atlantis had gone through 36S PROSE BACON. published in Germany with the same practical object in view, all suggested by Bacon's works. In 1696, Werenfeld published his Geyrgics of the Mind ; or, Practical Pathology, the idea of which was taken, as the title indicates, from the De Augmentis : he also tells us in the preface that Gassendi, More, Malebranche, were all more or less indebted to Bacon, though they had not thought it necessary to acknowledge their obligations. Several books were also written applying his method to ethics. In 1677 while More and Cudworth were reviving in England the Plato- nisrn of Alexandria, Placcius, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Hamburg, published a work in which he sketches the history of moral science, and gives rules for collecting facts with a view to the discovery of new or sounder principles. It was not however till the next century, that the method of observation had superseded in ethics the older methods of the schools. 326. The Essays of Bacon are a good specimen of his moral writings, and had extensive literary influence of another kind ; they belong to a class of literature then new in our language collections of short condensed reflections on moral prudence, character, and manners. The volume was first published in 1597, and contained only ten essays, all much briefer than in their present form : others were added in 1612; and the whole were enlarged in 1625. Bacon himself describes them as ' brief notes set down rather significantly than curiously,' and calls them modestly Essays a late word, he adds, though the thing is ancient, ' dispersed meditations ' being found in Seneca's Epistles and elsewhere. Their excellence is admitted on all hands : Voltaire, Johnson, Burke, Stewart, Mackintosh, Hallam, all have praised them. ' They are deeper,' says Hallam, 1 and more discriminating than any earlier and almost than any later work in the English language, full of recondite observation, long matured and carefully sifted. It is true that we might wish for more vivacity and ease . . . The sentences have also too apothegmatic a form and want coherence . . . but it is from this condensation, from this gravity, that the work derives its pecu- liar impressiveness ... it might be introduced into a sound method of education, one that should make wisdom rather than mere knowledge its object, and might become a text-book of exac ESSAYS. 369 minatioii in our schools.'* It became at once popular, and by 1632 had passed through a dozen editions.* 327. The Essays originated a style of composition of great interest, "but not always possessing the same qualities. Their similar peculiarity is that they are eminently practical : some- works, times they describe human nature, and so sketch cha- racter ; but they often dissect it, and so become philosophical, and occasionally sarcastic : oftener than either they give counsels and aim to improve it. In all these qualities they had imitators : writers on manners, character, moral prudence, and social life. Ben Jonson, Bacon's friend and admirer, was among the first : he wrote, Timber ; or, Discoveries made upon Man and Matter, partly a collection of moral remarks unconnected, judicious, some- times severe and partly of literary criticisms ; the only book indeed on criticism in the first half of the seventeenth century. The style is vigorous and suggestive, but the thought common- place. Thomas Dekker, the dramatist, published several prose works, of which the GulCs Horn Book (1609) describes the follies of the town, and seeks to expose them to ridicule. In 1628 John Eaiie, Chaplain and Tutor of Prince Charles, and after the Re- storation, Bishop of Worcester and subsequently of Salisbury, pub- lished anonymously, Microcosmographia ; or the Ways of the World discovered in Essays and Characters. The characters are sketched with great acuteness and humour, though the style is disfigured with the affectation of the age. The chapter on The Sceptic is one of the best known, and the whole book has additional value from the light it throws incidentally on the manners of the times. Earle had been preceded in this style of sketching by Sir Thomas Overbury, who was poisoned in the Tower in 1613. His Cha- racters ; or, Witty Descriptions of the Properties of sundry Persons, are often very happy. Every sentence is meant to have a point or to be a witticism. There is nothing profound or striking in the sentiment, which is often little better than a conceit ; but the book shows graphic skill, and occasionally beauty of imagery. Cowley's Essays deserve mention as among the earliest models of good prose writing ; his Essay on Cromwell especially, is easy and graceful throughout, with the exception of the close. The quaint Hallam, ii., 515. > An admirable edition with notes has recently been edited by Archbishop Whately 2 2 B 370 PROSB ESSAYS. antithetic style which he uses in his poetry is here dropped, and he gives thought an expression alike natural and flowing. To Owen Feltham we are indebted for a book very popular in its day, the Resolves, the first part of which appeared in 1627, and the second about thirty years later. The volume contains the moral reflections of an earnest and thoughtful mind ; and though Hallam complains of the style as wanting in elegance and vigour, and as full of words unauthorised by any usage, he admits that there is pervading the book a certain contemplative sadness that is agreeable : others find there occasional picturesqueness of ex- pression, and a fine vein of thought. The Religio Medici (a physician's religion), of Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), is another specimen of the same style. It was published in 1642, and raised its author, who had recently settled as a physician at Norwich, to great fame. It became widely popular, and was soon translated into several languages, ' exciting the attention of the public by the novelty of the para- doxes, the dignity of the sentiment, the multitude of the allusions, the subtlety of the disquisitions, and the strength of the lan- guage." 1 The author gives himself, as Coleridge notes, with the utmost entireness to his subject, and never wanders. He is full of ' good thoughts and conceits, all set off with a diction truly magnificent though hyper-latinistic.' In religious questions he is sometimes disposed to be sceptical, sometimes paradoxical, cftener credulous. Belonging to a class then numerous, who halted between Popery and Protestantism, there is in his writing a measure of vacillation that probably represented exactly the state of his mind. His best work is his Urn Burial, rich in ideality of style and in whimsicalness of fancy. A collection of brief essays entitled Christian Morals, was published in 1726, and later, Johnson prefixed to it a life of the author. To this list others may be added. The Meditations of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, ' the English Seneca,' are alike rich in imagery, and sententious in expression. The Table Talk of Selden abounds in bright sallies of shrewd racy thoughts. The Brief Discourse concerning the different Wits of Men, published by Dr. Charleton (1619-1707), the friend of Hobbes, and the physician of Charles n., gives some lively sketches of character, Dr. Johnson. ESSAYS: BURTON. 371 and ascribes the differences between men to the form and size of their brains. In Scotland Sir George Mackenzie (1636-1697), Lord Advocate under Charles 11. and James n., is author of moral essays on Happiness, The Religious Stoic, etc., that are good models of pure English. He and Evelyn both wrote on the com- parative advantages of solitary and public life, taking opposite sides. Nor are the Essays of Clarendon and the prose sketches of Samuel Butler unworthy of the fame of their authors in other departments. It is hardly fitting to place in this list The Anatomy of Melan- choly by Kobert Burton. The work seems a scholar's common- place book, a collection of adversaria ; yet as it abounds in obser- vations on life and books it may be reckoned among essays. Burton was born at Lindley in Leicestershire (1576-1640), studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and became rector of Seagrave. He resided, however, at his college, and ' led a monastic life,' a mere spectator of other men's fortunes and adventures. His work The Anatomy of Melancholy by Democritus, Jun. t was published in 1621. It is devoted to the discussion of all the forms of the disease it treats of, and the methods of cure which imagi- nation and experience have suggested. The whole is interspersed with learned quotations, and abounds in shrewd and amusing re- marks. It was at once successful, and made the fortune of the publisher. Warton praises its l variety of learning,' ' its rude wit and shapeless elegance,' ' its agreeable tales,' and 'its uncom- mon quaintness of style.' Johnson testifies that it is ' the only book that ever took him from his bed sooner than he wished,' and Byron calls it ' the most amusing and instructive medley of quotations and classical anecdotes ' he ever perused. Prefixed to the Anatomy is a poem of twelve stanzas on melan- choly, from which Milton borrowed some of the imagery of 11 Penseroso: and in 1798 Dr. Ferriar of Manchester created some Bensation by showing that Sterne had copied passages verbatim without acknowledgment. To many other authors it is thought to have supplied materials of easy and cheap scholarship. Burton, who believed in astrology, foretold the time of his own decease and fulfilled his prediction : a circumstance, to which his epitaph, written by himself, alludes, when it speaks of him' as owing ' to Melancholy, Life and Death.' He was buried in the Cathedral at Oxford. 2 Y. 2 372 PROSEBOYLE. 328. The most eminent of Bacon's early disciples in England was Robert Boyle (1627-1691), son of the Earl of Cork. He Ph sical was ec ^ ucate d at Elm and Geneva, and settled science: in England in 1644, where he devoted himself Boy 16 - to chemistry and natural philosophy. His works fill six quarto volumes, two-thirds of which consist of accounts of his experimental researches in those sciences : the rest consist of theological pieces on The Style of Scripture, on The Reconcilableness of Reason and Religion, on Seraphic Love, on Final Causes, and on The Christian Virtuoso, in which he shows that ' a man addicted to natural philosophy is rather assisted than indisposed thereby to be a good Christian/ A youthful work in an essay form published in 1665, and entitled Occasional Reflections on several Subjects, excited Swift's ridicule, and it certainly wants the taste and judgment of his later writings. His interest in religion is shown by the time and the money he gave to the propagation of the Gospel and the translation of Scripture, 8 and by his will, in which he provides for the delivery of eight sermons yearly in London for proving the truth of the Christian faith, though the preacher * is not to discuss the controversies that are among Christians themselves.' His religious writings have considerable value, and the style is clear and precise. His Discourse on Final Causes modifies the impression which some remarks of Bacon were likely to produce. Bacon had asserted that the study of final causes was often mischievous to science : he had noted that men are apt to consider the reasons for an arrangement before they have fully ascertained what the arrange- ment is, and that, having once settled the reason, further inquiry into the arrangement seems to them a denial of the wisdom and goodness of the Creator in making it. More and Cudworth both blamed Bacon as if he had questioned the doctrine of final causes itself. The Cartesians had denied the doctrine, holding that no adaptation of means to ends in the universe gives proof of an in- telligent Providence. Boyle sought to correct this mistake, and took a wider view than previous writers had taken. He held that there was probably design everywhere, and that in many cases familiar to us we could cite proofs of it, either in adaptation He largely aided Elyot and Seaman In prcrldlr.c translations of the New iament for the Indians and the Turks. RAY. 73 to individual happiness or to great cosmical ends, the former re- ferring to men, and the latter to the creation at large. Born the year of Bacon's death, Boyle has been spoken of as designed to succeed him in his great work. And he is his succes- sor, not indeed in grasp and comprehensiveness of intellect, but in the patient and successful pursuit of experimental truth. In natural philosophy he made several important discoveries. To him we owe the improvement of the air-pump and the announce- ment of the law of the elasticity of the air. His chief honour, however, is that he was the first to direct attention to chemistry as the science of the atomic constituents of bodies. In his Scep- tical Chemist (1661), he taught that the 'four elements ' of the Peripatetics have no existence as such, and that the true elements of bodies are atoms of different sizes and shapes, the doctrine in substance of our own time. 329. What Boyle did for chemistry was done for natura 1 history by his colleague in the Royal Society, John Eay (1628- I 7s)i the son of an Essex blacksmith. Hitherto natural history had been merely descriptive, was unaided by anatomy, and was not entitled to bo regarded as a science. Hay commenced his work by publishing the History of Birds (1676), and the History of Fishes (1686), of his friend Willoughby, with whom he had travelled through part of Europe : his own book, the Synopsis Methodica, did not appear till 1693. Animals he divided into those with blood and those without blood, the former breathing through lungs and the latter through gills ; the cetacea he knew to be blooded animals, but out of deference for popular impressions he reckoned them among fishes. He further divided them into viviparous and oviparous. Quadru- peds he classified according to their claws or hoofs or teeth ; while he carefully recommended the study of comparative anatomy as the commencement of all accurate knowledge. In all these re- spects he may claim to be the founder of modern natural science, For his popular fame Eay is chiefly indebted to a treatise pub- lished in 1691, and entitled The Wisdom and Goodness of God manifested in Creation. The book was rapidly republished, and was translated into French, German, and Dutch. Boyle, Stilling- fieet, and Wilkins had all called attention to the marks of design in nature ; but Ray was the first to systematise the subject, and 374 PROSE GREW: SYDENHAM. to make it intelligible to the common reader. Herein, indeed, he anticipates Paley, whose admirable work on Natural Tlteoloyy was suggested by Ray's volume, from which he has taken somecf his most striking illustrations. In 1672 Ray published a collection of English proverbs, and in 1700 Persuasive to a Holy Life. His Collection of English Words not generally used (1674) is a valuable contribution to our philo- logical stores. 330. Nor ought the name of Nehemiah Grew (1628-1711) to be omitted from this list. He was born at Coventry, and edu- cated as a physician. In 1677 he was elected Secre- tary of the Royal Society, and was much esteemed both for piety and for learning. To him we owe the commence- ment in this country of the science of botany. In 1682 he pub- lished his Anatomy of Plants, and in that and subsequent works has carried observation so far that comparatively few discoveries of importance in the mere anatomy of plants have been made since his tune. His great discovery is the sexual system of plants. In 1701 he published the Cosmographia Sacra; or, A Discourse of the Universe as the Creature and Kingdom of God. 331. Among the first of physicians who applied the Baconian principles of philosophy to medicine Hallam reckons Thomas Sydenham, the friend of Locke (1624-1689). Para- celsus had suggested the application of chemistry to the cure of disease, and his disciple Van Helmont, and Sj'lvius, the founder of the Chemi-ciatric School, had held that most diseases are results of excessive acidity hi the human system, and must be cured by alkaline treatment, ' thus degrading the phy- sician,' it was said, ' into a mere brewer.' A second school had sprung up in Italy, called the ratio-mathematical, which explained everything by static and hydraulic laws. The third was the ex- perimental or empirical school, which held that till we knew more of disease and of the qualities of substances, it was the physician's business to use experience. This was Sydenhani's principle, and he was himself unrivalled for the accuracy of his observations : fever and small-pox he is said to have treated with peculiar skill. About the same time the discovery of several new remedies, the Jesuits' or Peruvian bark especially, added to the credit of the T. BUKNET : NEWTON. 375 Empiricists. These remedies were unknown to previous physi- cians, nor could their efficacy be explained on any existing hypothesis. 332. Geology had as yet no existence as a science. The only treatise that professes to discuss it is The Sacred Theory of the Earth, by Dr. Thomas Burnet (1635-1715), Master of the Charter House and an able scholar. The first edition appeared in 1680, and was written in Latin ; the second, in Eng- lish, appeared in 1691. The book seems to have been suggested during a journey which the author made across the Alps and Apennines ; and it professes to give an account ' of the original of the earth and of all the general changes it hath already undergone or is to undergo till the consummation of all things.' In a scien- tific point of view it is of no value, but it contains a good deal of vigorous writing. When describing the final conflagration of the world an event that takes place in order that the surface of the earth may be reduced to smoothness, in preparation for the new world that is to arise out of the ruins his language becomes magnificent : * a funeral oration ' it is, as Addison describes it, not unfit to be pronounced over the globe itself.' 333. The first place among the followers of Bacon is due to Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who was born at Woolsthorpe, in Lincolnshire. From his childhood he showed a strong taste for mechanics, and at Trinity College, Cam- bridge, he made such progress that in 1669 Isaac Barrow, his tutor, resigned in his favour the Lucasian professorship of mathe- matics. In 1688 he was elected Member of Parliament for the University, an office he held during several Parliaments,. In 1695 he was appointed Warden (and became afterwards Master) of the Mint. In 1703 he was made President of the Royal Society, receiving from Queen Anne, in 1705, the honour of knighthood. To his genius and sagacity the world owes some of the most splendid discoveries in mathematics and in natural phi- losophy among the former the Calculus or Fluxions, and among the latter our knowledge of the law of gravitation and of the ele- ments of light. The work on gravitation which explains me- chanically the system of the universe, was written in Latin, and appeared in 1687 racier the title of Mathematical Principles 376 PROSE NEWTON. of Natural Philosophy (Philosophies Naturalis Principia Mathe- matted). His other discoveries were made in the course of thirty years, and were published in his Optics (1704), a volume which was translated in 1706 into Latin by Dr. Clarke, to whom Newton presented 500?. Like his countrymen Boyle, Eay, and Locke, Newton devoted much attention to theology as well as to natural science. Among a large number of papers which he left behind him two were pub- lished ; one, Observations on tfie Prophecies, printed after his death, and the other An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions 0} Scripture, edited by Horsley in 1779. He wrote also some papers of value on ancient chronology. The state of Newton's mind in the last years of his life has been a subject of some controversy : he seems to have suffered in 1692-1693 from mental depression, and it has been hinted by Biot that his powers were permanently impaired. It is remark- able that hi this year he wrote, at the request of Dr. Bentley, his four letters On the Existence of the Deity, displaying great vigour and freshness. In recent times Sir David Brews ter has established the fact that the illness was but temporary, and that towards the close of his life his mind possessed all the power that had ever distinguished it. He died in 1727, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. From a paper published for the first time in Brewster's Life, it seems that Newton adopted views on the person of Christ not unlike those held by Milton (par. 164). Among the excellences of Newton's character was his humility and truthfulness. His epitaph speaks of him as ' the glory of human nature,' ' an intelligent, penetrating, and faithful interpreter of nature, antiquity, and the sacred writings,' ' maintaining in his philosophy the majesty of the Supreme Being, and in his manners expressing the simplicity of the gospel.' The more eminent of Newton's contemporaries were in mathe- matics, Barrow, the Gregories, Maclaurin, Wallis, Whiston, Clarke, and Cotes ; and in natural philosophy, Bishop Ward, Robert Halley, Hooke, Brooke Taylor, Bradley, Lord Brouncker, and Wren. The continental names of greatest eminence are Descartes and Leibnitz, with both of whom Newton's name is intimately associated with the first in a controversy on the system of the world, with the second on the discovery of the calculus. It deserves to be carefully marked that the men most illustrious ETHICS: HOBBES. 377 for philosophy in the seventeenth century Bacon, Boyle, Ray, and Newton were distinguished by their reverence for Scripture and devout su omission to its lessons. 334. Moral science, in modern times, opens with the discussion of the rights of belligerents. Nor is it difficult to explain the connexion of these two subjects. The extension of Moral science. . . . . . commerce and the increased intercourse of civilised nations in the sixteenth century made these rights of great im- portance, and to settle them it was necessary to consider those principles of equity, those legum leges, as Bacon had called them, which underlie all law. 335. The first treatise on this subject has been supposed to be that of Grotius, De Jure Belli et Pads; but Albericus Gentilis (died 1611), who was driven from Italy for his attachment to the reformed faith, and who became in 1582 Professor of ^ v ^ -kaw at O^ 01 *^ published a book on the same subject in 1588-1589 : he is, therefore, the precursor of Grotius by about forty years. To the settlement of these questions Bacon contributed by several pregnant passages on the principles of law, passages to which Mackintosh has alluded in his lectures On the Law of Nature and of Nations. 336. The first English writer on the subject of ethics after Bacon is Thomas Hobbes, who by the vigour, the novelty, and, it may be added, the heresies of his writings, directed the attention of all classes to mental, ethical, and political science. Hobbes was born at Malmesbury in 1588, and after studying at Oxford he became travelling tutor to Lord Cavendish, afterwards Earl of Devonshire. On his return to England he enjoyed the intimacy of Bacon, Lord Herbert, and Ben Jonson. After the death of his old pupil he travelled again with the new peer, and visited Pisa, where he formed the acquaintance of Galileo. In 1640, being a zealous royalist, fce retired to Paris, where he lived on terms of friendship with Descartes, and where in 1647 he was appointed tutor to Prince Charles. Already he had begun a series of works on political and ethical questions. In 1642 he published, first in Latin and then in English, his Philosophic Rudiments concerning Government 378 PKOSE HOBBES. and Society ; the principles it maintains he more fully developed in his Leviathan ; or, the Matter, Form, and Power of the Com-' monwealth (1651), having previously published in 1650 a small Treatise on Human Nature, and a book on the Body Politic, both of which are included hi the Leviathan, though with several im- portant omissions and additions. The religious sentiments of the Leviathan, as well as its political views, raised a great outcry against the author, and he was compelled to leave Paris. He retired to England, where he resided with the Devonshire family, and became intimate with Selden and Cowley. In 1654 appeared his Letters on Liberty and Necessity, in which he advocates the views of the philosophical necessitarian with great subtlety and power. His mathematical notions were less tenable : he had not begun that study till he was forty, and his mistakes created some ridicule : he strenuously held that he had discovered the quadra- ture of the circle ; and though refuted, was never silenced on that question. On the Restoration he received a pension of lool. a year from the king, but his chief works continued to provoke re- plies from all parties. Bishop Bramhall attacked his Letters on Necessity, Clarendon his political principles, Cud worth and Cum- berland his ethical system. When upwards of eighty he translated the Iliad and the Odyssey. His translation of Thucydides, made in 1629, is still one of the best versions of that author : it was undertaken to promote his own views on the evils of popular rule. In 1674 Hobbes retired to Chatsworth, where he spent the rest of his life. He continued to write up to the close. Among the latest productions of his pen is the Behemoth ; or, the His- tory of t/ie Civil War from 1640 to 1660, published after his death, which took place in 1679. The titles of his books, the Leviathan and the Behemoth, are both intended to express the author's dread of an unruly people, which can be tamed, if at all, only by untempered despotism. It is not easy to realise in our time the feelings which Hobbes' writings created in the seventeenth century among all classes : ' he was the terror of the last age,' says Warburton, ' as Tindall and Collins are of this.' Nor was the feeling unfounded. In fithics, Hobbes held and taught that there is no natural distinction between right and wrong, and that both depend for their quality upon the will of the magistrate. In Theology he held that upon the same will all religious duty rests, that therefore every man is HOBBESo 379 bound in conscience to believe and obey whatever the magistrate ordains : persecution in favour of the religion of the State being part of the business of the government. In Political Science he held, as Locke afterwards held, that all men are created equal, and that prior to government they have equal rights to all the good things of the world : on the establishment of government, however, all natural rights cease ; the ruling power is supreme, can do no wrong, and can be punished for no mis-government. All this he taught at a time when there were thousands who wished to raise the kingly office into despotism, to relax the obli- gations of morality, and to make religion a mere matter of state policy. He added that all men were influenced only by self-in- terest all virtue being in his view simply Icve of power. The emotions of the heart he blotted out of the map of human nature, and ascribed all acts to intellectual deliberation alone, and maintained that in that deliberation men are to look only at their own interests. In Mental Philosophy he was a sensationist, hold- ing that there is no conception in a man's ' mind which hath not at first totally or in part been begotten upon the organs of sense/ a He adds indeed justly, that we have two kinds of knowledge the one sense, or knowledge original and remembrance of the same ; the other science, or knowledge of the truth of proposi- tions derived from the understanding: only -this last statement is qualified by the explanation that both kinds are but expe- rience, one of things from without, the other derived from the proper use of words in language ; and experience being but re- membrance, all knowledge is remembrance. This is sensation- alism, and of the sensationalist school Hobbes is really the founder. With all these errors and half truths there are in his writings several whole truths of great value. The theory of association of ideas, which Locke just touches upon in his Essay, and which Hartley has so fully developed, is clearly described by Hobbes in his Treatise on Human Nature}* His remarks on the doctrine of necessity contain the germs of most of the arguments which Jonathan Edwards has so strikingly introduced into his bock on the Will. On language as essential for purposes of logical reasoning, and on the relation between words and general notions Leviathan, c, i. b Ch. iv., and in Leviathan iii. 380 PROSE HOBBES. he is a strong nominalist, and has stated the question as clearly as Whately. To him may be traced also what Stewart calls ' the philological materialism ' of Home Tooke : things are re- garded as mere names, and the etymology of the name is regarded by both as an explanation of the thing itself. Thus Tooke thought *,hat he had answered the great question of all ages, * What is truth ?' by saying simply, ' What each man troweth !' In his remarks on the aim of philosophy, namely, to ascertain the established connexion between events in order to determine their causes, he has anticipated the speculations of Dr. Thomas Brown, though he has avoided apparently the error of that eminent meta- physician when he seems to make cause to be simply * stated antecedency.' His remarks on the incomprehensibility of God remind the reader very forcibly of the reasoning of Mr. Mansel : ' We use His name/ says he, * not to make us conceive, for He is incomprehensible, and His greatness and power are inconceivable, but that we may know Him.' He has pushed this principle too far : indeed he seems disposed to materialise all intellectual pro- cesses, and when he fails to force things immaterial to our faculties into something imaginable, he Is apt to reject them as unmeaning or as untrue. It is through this fault that he has been regarded as an atheist, though strictly speaking the charge is not true : yet if the being of God is admitted, he practically denies his character and rule ; while his theory of virtue is altogether de- grading in the highest degree. His excellences are twofold. First, his philosophy is based professedly on observation alone. He is, as to time, the father of experimental psychology, though Locke claims that honour from the fact that his writings were more generally received and that they exerted wider influence. Secondly, his style is unrivalled : it is, as Mackintosh remarks, the perfection of didactic language, short, clear, precise, pithy : he has never more than one meaning, and that meaning never requires a second thought to find it. In this judgment Lord Macaulay concurs : his style, he adds, is more precise and luminous than has ever been employed by any other metaphysical writer.* It may be added that the reader finds endless amusement in the paradoxical sentiment and shrewd thoughts with which most of his works abound. History, L, 1 80. CUDWORTH: BISHOP CUMBERLAND. 381 337. The chief opponents of Hobbes in ethical science were Cudworth, Cumberland, and Clarke. Ralph Cudworth (1617- 1688) was one of the most eminent men educated at the English universities during the rule of the Puritans, and was one of the leaders of the Latitudinarian or Arminian party a party that included all shades of belief, though its leaders, Jeremy Taylor, Burnet, and others, were evangelical. By his Intellectual System (1678), the first portion of a much larger work, he attacked the Epicurean philosophy and its atheistic tendencies: the other two parts of this work were intended to prove the moral perfections of God and the freedom of human action, but they seem never to have been written. A posthumous volume on morals was published by Dr. Chandler, entitled A Treatise concerning Eternital and Immutable Morality (1731) : in it he maintains against Hobbes that there are, many conceptions discernible by the reason alone, and among them the conceptions of justice and duty : these conceptions he thinks eternal, existing from everlasting in the Divine mind, as indestructible and unchangeable as that mind itself. Bishop Eichard Cum- berland (1632-1718) was the only professed answerer of Hobbes, though both Cudworth and Clarke really wrote in reply to his theories. Cumberland calls his treatise Laws of Nature, and in it he seeks to establish the conclusions of Grotius, resting his defence of natural law not on authority, as Grotius did, but on benevolence and the desire of happiness, which he thinks are essen- tial parts of man's nature. The work had the effect of introducing Grotius and Puffendorf into the universities of this country, where they became the text-books of ethical and political instruction. After some interval, Samuel Clarke (1675-1729), philologer, mathematician, and divine, resolved to demonstrate the attri- butes and being of God from a few axioms and definitions, in the manner of geometry. Whatever may be thought of the a priori argument, as it is called, for the being of God, it is 'certain that Clarke has based his ethical system on a just founda- tion: morality is in his view acting and feeling in harmony with the relations of things. Bight reason is on its side, though probably most men will reach moral duties more easily in the method adopted by Butler. It is also to his honour that he defended the doctrine of moral liberty against the Fatalist school which Hobbes had fostered. Its real founder in that extreme 382 PROSE POLITICAL SCIENCE. form was Spinoza, and one of its warmest supporters, Anthony Collins. Clarke, however, belongs really to the eighteenth century. 338. In the department of political science there were four other writers whose works originated in the civil struggle which Political Hobhes sought to control. Of these James Harring- ecience: ton (1611-1677) is the earliest. He was a pupil of Harrington, chillingworth's, was one of the Parliamentary Com- missioners during the Civil War, and apart from his politics, somewhat of a favourite with Charles I. His work is entitled Oceana, and was published in 1656. It is a political romance, giving the author's idea of a republic framed so as to secure the greatest amount of freedom and happiness. Oceana is England, and the Lord Archon is Cromwell, both being idealised so as to represent what they ought to be rather than what they really were. All power, he thinks, ought to originate in property, and chiefly in land (not, as Bacon had held, in knowledge), and to be proportionate to it : only an agrarian law must fix and maintain the proper balance of lands. The result of his proposed arrange- ment, however, if carried out, would be the establishment of an aristocracy, and not, in the modem sense, of a republic. To that age, when the plans of an imaginary republic were subjects of frequent debate, the Oceana was well adapted ; and even in our own times it is admired as a work of genius and invention. ' The style, however, wants ease and fluency, but the goodness of the matter,' Hume adds, c makes compensation.' At the .Restoration Harrington was regarded with suspicion, and was imprisoned for a tune. He died in 1677. In 1680, Sir Eobert Filmer published his PatriarcTia; or, Tlie Natural Power of the Kings of England asserted. He revived a theory which was a great favourite with King James, and which derives the power of the crown by paternal authority, from Adam and from God : he holds the * right divine of kings ' independently t of the people's choice and in spite of any positive laws : he inti- mates that there is a wide-spread prejudice among both Papists and Protestants in favour of natural liberty, but denies that this doctrine is taught in the Fathers. The theory is admitted to be very questionable even as an exposition of the origin of civil com- munities as a reason why all actual sovereigns should reign HARRINGTON : SIDNEY, 383 with untempered despotism it is monstrous, and tho defence of it is certainly trifling and feeble. The work was answered by Algernon Sidney (1621-1683), son of the Earl of Leicester, member of the Council of State on the deposition of Richard Cromwell, and a patriot whose character was without a flaw, till it appeared that he had ac- cepted money from France in the hope of ultimately establishing his darling republic. His Discourses on Government first appeared in 1698, and in them the writer seeks to prove that Filmer 'has not used one argument that is not false, nor cited one author whom he has not perverted or abused.' The style is too diffuse, the volume forming a folio of four hundred and sixty-two pages, but the work would have retained a place in our literature if it had not been superseded by the treatise of Locke. Sidney does not condemn a limited monarchy, and the republic he pre- fers to it is really like that of Harrington an aristocracy. 339. Both the philosophers and the 'merchant adventurers' of the seventeenth century turned attention to the subject of trade and national wealth. Several passages may be science 010 found in the works of Ealeigh, Bacon, and Hobbes, and in books of travel of that age, bearing on these ques- tions, and containing sometimes profound remarks on the whole subject, but oftener giving brief hints of a narrower range : on particular trades, the precious metals, and the laws aflfecting them, papers were also written by Raleigh, Evelyn, Josiah Tucker, and others,* though the difficult subject of political economy as the science of national wealth belongs properly to the next century. The first of the literary merchants who called attention to commercial questions was Thomas Mun. His work, England's Treasure lyy Foreign Trade, was not published till 1664, but must have been written more than thirty years before. Mun teaches that the great object of trade is to sell more to strangers yearly than we consume of theirs in return, the difference being paid in silver or gold: we must therefore sell as cheaply as possible, and the result will be increased trade and increased wealth. This is the principle 01 what has been called ' the mercantile system.' It seems never to have struck Mr. Mun that as our gold and silver increase, See a valuable collection of papers edited by Lord Overstone. 384 PROSE HUN: CHILD: LOCKE. the grcatei in money value will be the cost of production, unless, indeed, the community agree to lay up money and not to use it, when of course wealth itself becomes profitless. It is to Mun'a credit, however, that he treats gold and silver as common articles of trade, and leaves their exportation to the operation of the common law of demand and supply. In 1694," Sir Josiah Child, the eminent banker, wrote A Dis- course of Trade, to which he added a paper Against Usury. The chief aim of this publication is to reduce the legal interest of money from six per cent, to four. The argument is that all previous reductions had tended to the increase of trade and of wealth. It made all the difference of course whether previous reductions were natural or forced : low rates of interest that are consequences of abundant supplies of money do increase trade ; forced low rates only promote viola- tions of the law or send money into other channels. It required all the vigour of Bentham's intellect to make it clear that the price of money, like the price of everything else, should be left to the demand and supply ; and even Adam Smith had to change his views on this question, convinced by the arguments of The Defence of Usury. An abler book than Child's, on the true principles of commerce, was Sir Dudley North's Discourse on Trade (1691). 340. Among the difficulties of the government of William in., the most serious were created by the scarcity of the precious metals and the depreciated condition of the currency. : L own( jes, the Secretary of the Treasury, supposed that if the ounce of silver were corned into seven shillings instead of five, foreign nations would give us a propor- tionately larger quantity of silk and wine : could not the same principle be applied to the clipped coinage of the kingdom ? if not, who is to replace it and bear the loss ? It was reserved for Locke to settle these perplexed questions. In his Considerations tf the Consequences of lowering the Interest and raising the Value of Money (1691), he lays down principles most of which are now generally received, and which were at the time of great importance. lie seems to understand that while money is, by McCulloch says the second edition was published hi 1690 ; Pol. Econ.< cap. i. 1694 IB the date given in Lowndes. MENTAL SCIENCE. 385 its inconsumable nature and by the constancy of the demand for it, one of the most important articles of exchange, it is only an article of exchange. He was disposed to hold, in advance of his age, that the price of money should be left unfixed, and he pro- tests against calling five shillings seven, on the ground that thereby every creditor will be robbed of so much of his debt, and on the further ground that no foreigner would give more for the nominal seven shillings than for the actual five. He sug- gested that the clipped money should be received by the Trea- sury for a time at its full nominal value, but that after that it should be taken only at its value by weight. These questions, though some of them are now regarded as creating no difficulty, originated scores of pamphlets, and even threatened the stability of the throne. 341. To the same century belong a number of statistical works, showing that political philosophers were at length begin- ning at the right end, not with general theorems to be applied to every new case, but with isolated details which were to be grouped and examined with a view to ascertain their principles. Among them may be reckoned Grant's Observations on the Bills of Mor- tality (1661), Sir William Petty 's Political Arithmetic (1691), and Dr. Charles Davenant's Essay on Ways and Means (1693), and on various other questions connected with the trade and revenue of England. 342. Before giving an outline of the life and labours of Locke, there are a few names that claim notice in mental science. In 1655, Thomas Stanley, D.D. (1625-1678), pub- lished his Histor y of Philosophy, which comes down to the time of Carneades, the founder of the New Academy (B.C. 213). His work is chiefly biographical, and is derived largely from Diogenes Laertius: the account of Plato- nism is given from Alcinous an independent expositor of his master's views; the account of the Peripatetic philosophy is taken from Aristotle; the doctrines of the Stoics and of the Epicureans being described from the independent inquiries of Stanley himself. The book belongs to mental science, but the author is rather a historian than a critic. 343. The Ccurt of the Gentiles, published in 1669 by Thoo- 2 2 c 6SQ PKOSE GALE: GL, ANVIL, philus Gale, is a work of much more learning, and aims to prove u ^ that all Gentile philosophy was borrowed from the Scriptures, or at least from the writings of the Jews. Gale has been called a Platonist, but he has no title to be regarded as belonging to that school, and makes morality dependent upon the will of God a notion that Plato would certainly have repu- diated. Cudworth's Intellectual System is also largely histo- rical, the fourth chapter being devoted to proofs from general be- lief of the unity of a supreme God. The curious reader will note that his doctrine of plastic energy, the power whereby the Deity acts on matter, and which energy Cudworth seems often to regard as a sentient being, is a form of the Demiurgic doctrine of the old Christian heresies, as it is an anticipation of that * vital force* to which some modern naturalists attribute the phenomena of animal and vegetable life. The tendency of modern philosophy, however, is to regard the true vital force of the universe as God himself, who alone has the unity of purpose, the power of causation, and the infinite intelligence which are required for His works, and are manifest in them. Henry More and John Norris of Bemerton, deserve notice as two of the chief Platonists of the seventeenth century. More (1614-1687) held with Gale that the wisdom of the Hebrews had descended through Pythagoras to Plato, and that in the writings of that great master the true principles of philosophy were to be found. His treatise on The Immortality of the Soul (1659), his Enchiridion Eihicum and Enchiridion Metaphysicum are among his best-known treatises. Norris is the author of an Essay on the Ideal World, which however was not published till 1701-2. He is a writer of fine genius and noble sentiment. Both he and More are still better known as theologians. 344. In spite of the attacks on Aristotle by the advocates of the new philosophy, there were many who held that the dispu- tatious of the schools were the best discipline for I OHanvii. y un S minds, and there were some who held that the old method of inquiry was the true one. The latter were attacked by Joseph Glanvil in his Vanity of Dog- matising, a work which had great popularity, and which is better known under the title of the second edition as the Scepsis (1665). This treatise contains much on the new WALLIS: ALDR1CH: DALGARNO. 387 philosophy that is just, but it is occasionally rhapsodical and ex- travagant. A surer means of promoting the proper use of logic was adopted by Wallis and Aldrich. In 1687 tho former published his Institutio Logica, which he claims to be an improvement upon the common system : he thinks himself the first to treat singular proposi- tions as universals, and has reduced hypothetical syllogisms to categorical by a method of his own. In 1691, a similar treatise, the Compendium Artis Logicce, was published by Dr. Aldrich, Dean of Christ Church. Aldrich is eminent for inusic as well as for logic, and we owe to him about forty of our finest anthems. 345. The abuse of words and the classification of ideas, themes more or less touched upon in several of the treatises already men- Universal lan- tioned, suggested to two ingenious men the notion of 6 i>agarno a un i versa "l language the invention of signs that Wilkins.' should represent to all nations the same thoughts, and that should moreover show the connexion of related thoughts. George Dalgarno, a native of Aberdeen, published his Ars Sig~ norum in 1661, and dedicated it to Charles 11. In 1668, Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, published his Essay towards a Philo- sophical Language, in which he sought the same results in a way somewhat more satisfactory. Both attempts were premature: things and ideas had not then been successfully examined or classified. Dalgarno's signs are simply combinations of the Eng- lish alphabet with additions from the Greek : Wilkins' signs are arbitrary characters of greater variety and appropriateness. Whether the thought will ever be carried out, so as to form a really philosophic language, is very questionable. It is upon this classification and the use of appropriate signs that the in- struction of the deaf and dumb is now made to depend. Dal- garno was probably the first to apply some such system to this practical and important work. It may be added that Dalgarno was the first English grammarian that traced all other parts of speech to the noun. a 346. The English metaphysical writer most distinguished at once for originality and soundness is John Locke, a man equally Hallara, iii., 363. 2 c 2 388 PROSE LOCKE. illustrious for simplicity of character and for devotion to the inte- j^^. rests of freedom and of truth. He was born in 1632, His works and received the rudiments of his education at West- and influence, minster, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he remained from 1651 to 1664. During this period he seems to have studied the Aristotelian philosophy, and, like Milton, grew disgusted with its verbal subtleties. He intended preparing for the medical profession, and must have made con- siderable progress in the science of medicine ; but the delicacy of his own health compelled him to relinquish the design. After visiting Germany as the secretary of Sir Walter Yane, he returned to Oxford, and was offered by the Duke of Ormond preferment in the Irish Church. Like Milton he excused himself, not feeling sure that he was fit for that work, and being careful, as he him- self tells us, not to engage in a calling ' wherein if one chance to be a bungler, there is no retreat.' In 1666 he made the acquaint- ance of Lord Ashley, afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury, Chancellor, and head of the parliamentary opposition, and the author of the Habeas Corpus Act. The intimacy between them introduced Locke to Sheffield, to the Earl of Halifax, and to other wits of that age. While residing with Lord Ashley, Locke un- dertook the education first of his son and then of his grand- son, the third earl, and known to us as an able philosophic writer of the reign of Queen Anne, the author of the Character- istics. When, in 1672, Lord Ashley became Chancellor, Locke received the appointment of Secretary of Presentations, but held it only till the following year, when his patron was deprived of the seals. In 1675 Locke's state of health compelled him to visit France, and he spent some time at Montpelier, where he mingled in the literary society of the day. His letters written at this time are very animated and amusing. On the return of Shaftes- bury to power in 1679, he was rejoined by Locke, but after a stormy agitation, created by the Exclusion Bill, both retired to Holland, where Shaftesbury died in 1683, an< i where Locke resided for some years, reckoning among his personal friends Le Clerc and Limborch. Here he published his Letter concerning Toleration, one of the most original and vigorous of his pieces. It appeared first in Latin, but was at once translated into French, Dutch, and English: three additional letters were afterwards HIS VARIOUS WRITINGS. 389 added in further defence of his views. At this time Locke was deprived of his studentship at Christ's Church, his liberal senti- ments being obnoxious to that venerable body. The Revolution of 1688 witnessed the triumph of his principles, and restored him to his native land, to commence a public career of great usefulness and even brilliancy. Soon after his return he took an active part in carrying out the plan of the government for calling in and re- issuing the silver coinage an operation which Macaulay has described with much power; and in 1695 he was made a member of the Board of Trade, though from ill health he had to resign that office. In 1690 he published his most celebrated work, the Essay on the Human Understanding, a treatise on which he had been engaged for eighteen years. About the same time appeared his two treatises on Civil Government in defence of the principles of the Revolution, or, as he himself expresses it, ' to establish the throne of our great restorer, King William, .... and to justify to the world the people of England, whose love of their just and natural rights, which are essential to preserve them, saved the nation when it was on the very brink of slavery and ruin.' His other productions are Thoughts concerning Education (1693), a book in which he discountenances exclusive attention to philology as the means of disciplining the mind ; The ^Reason- ableness of Christianity (1695), with two Vindications of the work (1696), and an admirable little book on The Conduct of the Understanding, published after his death. Letters and miscel- laneous pieces have since been published, some at the beginning of the last century, others in Lord King's Life of Locke. The last years of his life were spent at Gates, in Essex, the seat of Sir F. M^sham, and were soothed by the affection and kindness of Lady Masham, the daughter of Cudworth. He died in 1704, in the seventy-second year of his age. The influence of the writings of Locke it is difficult to over- estimate. His Letter on Toleration goes over, in part, the same ground as Milton's Areopagitica, and Jeremy Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying. Milton's argument is based largely on the majesty of truth, and on the solemn duty of men to follow wherever she leads. Jeremy Taylor insists on the justice of allowing diversity of religious opinions from the difficulty of ascertaining truth. Locke adopts the theory that government is essentially a compact for procuring, preserving, and advancing man's civil interests 390 PROSE LOCKE. only : this is its chief, if not its sole end, and it is wrong to sacri- fice the primary end to ends that are secondary or even question- able. He therefore pleaded for the toleration of all modes of worship not immoral in themselves or involving doctrines directly inimical to the stability of the ruling power. His two Treatises on Civil Government are devoted, the first to an examination of Filmer's arguments, and the second to the announcement and vindication of the principles on which he thinks government is founded. The state of nature is a state ot equality and freedom, but of freedom within the bounds of natural law. This last is an important modification of the doctrine of Hobbes. The law of nature is binding, Locke holds, on all, and it is itself sufficient to prevent a state of nature from becoming a state of licence : it has force between men in their original condi- tion, as, after societies have been formed, it has force between communities. Natural liberty being defined to be freedom from any superior power except the law of nature, civil liberty is free- dom from any power except that which a legislature established by consent of the commonwealth has confirmed. The difficulty that men do not formally consent to the government under which they live, Locke meets by maintaining that the occupation of land, or even residence, within the jurisdiction of a community, is itself tacit consent. The parliament which declared the throne of James n. vacant, made the ground of their declaration that he had broken the social compact between himself and the people ; and Dr. Whewell has justly said, this phrase represents per- haps more accurately than any other ' the mutual relations of the governor and the governed, and of all classes to one another/* Whatever may be thought, however, of the soundness of Locke's theory and it may be questioned whether even the Revolution would have stood the test which his theory implies it is certain that his treatises exerted great influence on the history of both Europe and America, and that it changed the mode of thought and speech even among writers who did not accept his explana- tion of the facts. His work on Education, which may be regarded as an intro- duction to the Conduct of the Understanding, contains sound principles. It is admitted to be too austere, and attaches to mere Moral Science, ii., 800.849. LOCKE'S ESSAY: ITS INFLUENCE. 391 education a greater power than facts justify. Hallam thinks it the source of nearly everything good that has been written upon this subject. The Conduct of the Understanding was intended as a supple- mental chapter to the Essay, and is regarded by Hallam as one of the best treatises that can be put into the hands of a youth when the reasoning faculties are being developed : it is adapted to foster a spirit of manly independence, blended with sufficient deference for the authority of great names. The Essay of Locke is the work for which he is best known. It was at once frequently reprinted, and became the code of Eng- lish philosophy. Its merits are threefold first, that it is largely a system of inductive psychology based on observation, and that it introduced this method of philosophy to all classes. Hobbes, in England, had already acknowledged this principle, as had Descartes in France ; but Locke adhered to the method more consistently than either of them, while the popularity of his writings on freedom and on religion gained for the Essay a celebrity greater than that of both his competitors: he is, therefore practically the founder of the experimental science of the mind in this country. The second excellence is that it is in its principles and aim substantially sound. Locke holds that all our simple ideas are derived from sensation and from reflection : on the first he is clear and consistent ; on the second he is neither clear nor consistent. The misapprehension of his meaning did no doubt strengthen the sceptical tendencies of the following century, or, at all events, it supplied men of sceptical tendencies with arguments against the truth, and his writings have been quoted by his French followers in defence of pure sensationalism ; but recent and candid interpreters are now agreed that Lockism is not sensationalism, but a combination of sensation and reason such as underlies most of the more trustworthy systems of modern times. It is but "just to add that, while Locke's style is thoroughly idiomatic and familiar, and made so on principle, it is wanting in the precision so essential in metaphysical discussion : the am- biguity of his language has indeed done great mischief, both to the appreciation of his excellences, and to the truth he meant to defend. His third and chief excellence, however, is In the tendency of his works to exert a beneficial influence on the minds of his readers. *Few books/ says Sir James Mackintosh, 'have contributed 32 PROSE TRAVELS. more to rectify prejudice, to undermine established errors, bo dif- fuse a just mode of thinking, to excite a fearless spirit of inquiry, and yet to confine it within the boundaries which nature has pre- scribed to the human understanding. An amendment of the general habits of thought is in most parts of knowledge an object as important as even the discovery of new truths, though it is not so palpable, nor in its nature so capable of being estimated by superficial observers. In the mental and moral world, which scarcely admits of anything which can be called discovery, the correction of the intellectual habits is probably the greatest service which can be rendered to science. In this respect the merit of Locke is unrivalled. His writings have diffused throughout the civilised world the love of civil liberty, the spirit of toleration and charity in religious differences, the disposition to reject whatever is obscure, fantastical, or hypothetical in speculation, to reduce verbal disputes to their proper value, to abandon problems which admit of no solution, to distrust whatever cannot be clearly ex- pressed, to render theory the simple explanation of facts, and to prefer those studies which most directly contribute to human happiness. If Bacon first discovered the rules by which know- edge is improved, Locke has most contributed to make men ob- serve them.' 347. Fifty years after the printing of Mandeville's Travels the spirit of commercial enterprise and of national activity, which belongs to the middle of the sixteenth century, added greatly to our geographical knowledge. Expe- ditions were fitted out, sometimes by the State, and sometimes on private speculation, to find new openings for trade, and espe- cially to discover a north-west passage to the Eastern hemisphere. The rivalry between England and Spain, and afterwards between England and Holland, produced a band of navigators whose skill and daring shown sometimes in commercial undertakings, some- times in privateering, laid the foundation of that empire of the sea which England so long claimed. Drake, Frobisher, Davis, Ealeigh, are all distinguished in this department. Their adven- tures contributed to the naval greatness of the country, and the record of them, often written in simple and picturesque language, began a branch of literature of deep interest to Englishmen the HAKLUYT: PURCHAS. 3b3 narrative of maritime discovery. It extends from Richard Hak- myt (1553-1616), Samuel Purchas (1577-1628), and John Davis (born 1595), down to the innumerable volumes of our own day volumes which give the history of discovery in all lands, and in every sea. Hakluyt was a Westminster boy, and was born in London in 1553. At Oxford he had a high reputation for linguistic and HaWuvt geographical learning, lectured on cosmography, and corresponded with the eminent geographers, Ortelius and Mercator.* After acting for some years as Chaplain to the British Embassy at Paris, he was appointed by Raleigh one of the council to whom he assigned his patent for prosecuting dis- coveries in America. Between 1598 and 1600 he published his great work in three volumes, The Principal Navigations and Discoveries of the English Nation, made ty Sea or over Land, within these last Fifteen Hundred Years. He also published translations of other geographical books, and on his death, in 1616, his numerous papers passed into Purchas' hands. 348. Purchas, himself a clergyman, had already published a volume entitled, Purchas, his Pilgrimage ; or, Relations of the Purchas World, and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places discovered from the Creation unto this present (1613-1626). On obtaining Hakluyt's papers he compiled a his- tory of voyages in four volumes, Purchas, his Pilgrimes, which was published in 1625. These five volumes contain many papers of great value, and have been of much utility to later writers. It is a peculiarity of the author that he mingles largely theological reflections and discussions with his narratives. He professes to have consulted twelve hundred authors : his knowledge is less accurate but more comprehensive than Hakluyt's. Purchas wrote also the Microcosmos; or, The History of Man (1619), and some other pieces. He died in 1628. 349. Davis was a daring and skilful navigator, as well as historian of his own discoveries. He was one of the Devonshire men who threw such glory on the age of Elizabeth. In 1585 he sailed for the North Sea, hoping to reach * A line map found in a few of the phical knowledge at the end of the six- copies of the first edition of Halduyt teenth century, gives a good idea of the state of geogra- 394 PROSE TRAVELS. China, and discovered the strait which has ever since borne his name. In 1595 he published The World 's Hydrographical De- scription, now a very scarce volume, ' wherein is proved, not only by aucthoritie of writers, but also by late experience of trauellers, the reasons of substantiall probabilitie, that the worlde in all his zones, clymats, and places is habitable and inhabited, and his seas likewise universally nauigable,' and then proceeds to affirm the existence of a north-west passage. Davis afterwards went for five voyages to the East Indies, and was killed in 1605 in an encounter with some Japanese near Malacca. 350. Travels of another kind were recorded by George Sandys (died 1643), so n of tne Archbishop of York, a poet and translator gand of some eminence. In 1610 he started for the East, and in 1615 published Four Books, containing a Description of the Turkish Empire, of Egypt, etc. This work enjoyed great popularity and was made the model of Addison's Travels. Sandys seems to have been one of the first to quote the allusions of the ancient poets to the places through which he passed, a plan so successfully adopted by Dodwell, Eustace, and others. Another traveller of a very different kind was William Lithgow, who walked, according to his own statement, " thirty-six thousand Li w miles, and visited the most famous countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa." In 1640 he published, TJie total Discourse of his rare Adventures and painful Peregri- nations in Nineteen Tears' Travels perfited by three dear bougld Voyages in surveying forty-eight Kingdoms, twenty-one Repub- lics and two hundred Islands. He seems to have travelled from the love of adventure simply. At Malaga the Spaniards put him in prison as a spy, and subjected him to torture and severe suf- fering. From the effects of this suffering he never recovered, and died in 1640. To this class belongs also the name of James Howell (1596- 1666). He was born in Carmarthenshire, and studied at Here- How ford and at Oxford. Going to London in search of some employment he became secretary to a patent glass manufactory. In 1619 he went abroad on the business of the company, and visited different parts of Holland, Italy, Spain, and France. In 1627 he was chosen Member of Parliament for ANTIQUARIANS. 395 Richmond, and in 1630 went to Copenhagen as Secretary to the English Ambassador. At the ^Restoration he was made Historio- grapher Eoyal, and was the first to fill that office. Among his numerous publications, some forty in all, his Familiar Letters, Epistdce Ho-Elianas, first printed in 1645, ^ ave permanent in- terest. The volume is among the earliest specimens of epistolary literature in our language : it contains many striking remarks or, the events and characters of the age, and especially on the state and manners of the countries he visited. His Instructions for Foreign Travel (1642), has many shrewd and humorous sug- gestions. 351. The antiquarians of the seventeenth century begin with John Selden (1584-1654), the most learned man of his age. . His first works were published between 1607 and 1610, and relate to Sussex his native county. His largest English work, a Treatise on Titles of Honour, ap- peared in 1614, and is still an authority on the degrees of nobility in England, and on the origin of similar dignities in other coun- tries. Three years later he published a treatise on the Idols of the Syrians, a work that gained great celebrity throughout Europe. In the following year he offended many of the ruling party by his History of Tithes, wherein he denied their divine right. As a Member of Parliament he took the popular side, though always opposed to the extreme measure of civil war. In 1640 he was elected by the University of Oxford a Member of the Long Parlia- ment, and both then and previously his papers on parliamentary law and privilege exercised great influence on the decisions of the ruling body. In 1643 ne was appointed Keeper of the Eecords in the Tower. Among other works of his that deserve mention are his treatise on the Arundel marbles, which were brought from Greece in 1627 ; various books on legal and ecclesiastical antiqui- ties, especially those of the Jewish nation ; and his answer to Grotius on the dominion of the sea. His entire works fill three large folio volumes, and were published in a collected form in 1726. His Table Talk, a collection * of the excellent things that fell from him,' as its editor describes it, is still popular, and is distinguished by great acuteness and humour. All authorities agree in the character they give to this eminent man : Milton speaks of him as * the chief of the learned men of his age,' and 396 PROSE ANTIQUARIANS. Clarendon his political opponent, passes upon him the following eulogy : * He was a person whom no character can flatter, he was of so stupendous a learning in all kinds and in all languages that a man would have thought he had been entirely conversant amongst books : yet his humanity, affability, and courtesy were such that he would have been thought to have been bred in the best courts, but that his good nature, charity, and delight in doing good, exceeded that breeding.' Selden's funeral sermon was preached by his friend Archbishop Usher, and his library was given by his executors to the Bodleian. 352. Sir William Dugdale (1605-1686) was eminent for .his knowledge of heraldry and of antiquities. His Baronage of England is the best work on that subject, and his Antiquities of Warwickshire has long occupied a first place among county histories. His great work, however, is the Monasticon Anglicanum (1655-1673), in which he was assisted by Dodsworth. The work was intended to give the history of the religious foundations which existed in England before the Refor- mation, and three of the volumes were written by him. Many of his manuscripts are now in the Bodleian at Oxford. The edition of the Monasticon by Ellis and others (1817-1830: 1846), is enriched with much additional information. His son-in-law, Elias Ashmole (1617-1692), is the author of the Institution, Laws, and Ceremonies of the Order of the Garter (1672) ; and his collection of coins, relics, and manuscripts formed the foundation of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. John Aubrey (1626-1700), who studied at Oxford, aided Dug- dale, and acquired a taste for curiosities which showed itself in his study of popular superstitions, ghost stories, and dreams. The results of his inquiries he published in his Miscellanies. Many of his manuscripts are still preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, and in the library of the Royal Society. 353. Anthony Wood (1631-1695), a native of Oxford, was an inquirer of a higher order. To him we owe the AthencB Oxonienses, an account of most of the eminent writers educated at Oxford. His work is often one- CONTEMPORARY MEMOIRS. 397 sided and partial, but the facts he has collected are of great value, His Antiquities, a history of the University of Oxford, though written in English, was published only in Latin, having been translated into that tongue by Bishop Fell. To Thomas Kymer, who was appointed Historiographer Royal in 1692, we owe the publication of a collection of treatises under the title of Foedera, Conventiones, et Ada Publica, ab anno 1101. The whole appeared in fifteen volumes folio, to which five more were added after Kymer's death. These volumes are of great importance in the study of our history, though the materials they contain are somewhat unskilfully compiled. Between fifty and sixty manuscript volumes of Rymer's are now in the British Museum. These antiquarian volumes were many of them prepared amid the struggles of the Civil War, and contributed in some degree to the strife. Selden's tracts were often on questions of the day the rights of the Crown or of the Parliament ; and Dugdale's Monas- ticon gave rise to a number of lawsuits, and strengthened the dread of Popery, which it was thought he was seeking to rein- troduce. 354. The seventeenth century was most remarkable in the department of history for contemporary memoirs of the events of the time. The spirit of the Tudors had not been favourable to the publication of such histories. Holinshed had been called to account for his Chro- nicles, and Hayward had been imprisoned for his Life of Henry IV. not for the felony of it, as Bacon suggested to Elizabeth he might have been, his conceits being stolen from Cornelius Tacitus, but for what her majesty deemed its treason. The times, moreover, were exciting, and the actors in them were anxious to defend their party. Even the retrospective histories of the age, secular and ecclesiastical, give evidence that they were prepared in part to illustrate the principles and strengthen the cause of the writer. There is little to be said against this spirit, but it is important that the student should know of its exist- ence, and make allowance for it in his estimate both of books and of facts. Fairness therefore requires that the works of this period should be read in couples rather than apart. If we refer on the one 398 PKOSE CLARENDON. side to the History of the Parliament of 1640, by Thomas May (1593-1650), its secretary, who gives a candid and clear account of the beginning of the Civil War, written in a terse vigorous style ; to the anti-royalist Memorials of Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605-1676), the legal adviser of Hampden, though, like Selden, averse to bloodshed ; or to the Memoirs of Edward Ludlow, * a furious but honest republican,' as Warburton calls him; we must read on the other the Sighs of Bishop Gauden, his religious and loyal protestations against the army, or the Short View of Peter Heyliru If we read the Icon Basilike of Bishop Gauden we must read the Iconoclastes of Milton. If we read Clarendon's History of the Rebellion we must read also Burnet's History of His Own Times. After Calamy's Lives of the Ejected Clergy we must add Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy. If we read Baxter's Narrative of His Life and Times, and Lucy Hutchinson's Memoirs of her husband, we must read the much less touching story of the troubles of Laud and the life of Lady Fanshaw. If we come down later and investigate the privileges of Parliament, we must read, on the one side, Tyrrell, who in his five folio volumes, entitled, A General History of England, both Civil and Ecclesiastical, from the Earliest Times (1700-1704), advocates the Whig view ; and Dr. Brady, on the other, who in his Intro- duction to the Old English History (1684), advocates the rights of the monarch neither of these works, however, though in folio, bringing the history lower than the reign of Richard n. Some of these works Whitelocke's Memorials and Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs for example are of the nature of private diaries not intended for publication, and have therefore the greater claim to regard. Whitelocke, especially, is a standard authority on the period to which he refers. 355. Of these writers, Clarendon and Burnet deserve special mention. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (1608-1674), was the son of a Wiltshire gentleman. He studied at Oxford, intending to enter the Church, but on the death of two of his elder brothers he removed to London and gave himself to the study of law. Here he made the acquaintance of Falkland, Selden, Chillingworth, and other eminent public men, and deemed it his ' highest honour to be of their company.' In 1640 he entered parliament and devoted himself to public HIS STYLE. 389 affairs. In the struggles between Charles and the popular party, he was often consulted by the king, and drew up many of the royalist papers. After following the fortunes of Charles at home, and of his son abroad, he returned to England at the Kestoration, and took his seat as (Speaker of the House of Lords and as Lord High Chancellor. In the same year, 1660, his daughter married the Duke of York, so that he became grandfather of two of our queens Mary and Anne. At the coronation in 1661, he was made Earl of Clarendon, and was presented by the king with a gift of 20,000?. The chancellorship he retained till 1665, when the unpopularity of some of his measures, and his opposi- tion to the extravagance of the court, created many enemies : he therefore resigned his office, and retired to France. There he busied himself in writing his History of the Great Rebellion, a book which is deservedly placed among the first of its class the class of histories in which disquisition is combined with descrip- tion, the explanation of motives and of characters with the narration of events. The style of Clarendon is exceedingly loose and ungrammatical, the sentences prolix and involved. Yet in character-painting the work is unrivalled. Though in narration he is often infe- rior, yet there is sometimes a majesty and a beauty in his de- scriptions which had not, up to that time, been found in historical composition. He shows strong royalist prepossessions, and his legal turn of mind sometimes unfits him for taking a compre- hensive view of men and things ; but his high sense of national honour, and his general fairness, when the facts he describes are within his own knowledge, and when he takes pains and time to set them forth, make his volumes of great worth. The History was not intended for publication till after the death of the chief actors, and in fact it was not published till 1707. It was then edited by Bishop Sprat and Dean Aldrich, who altered some passages and omitted others. The original text, however, was restored in the edition printed at Oxford in eight volumes in 1826. Clarendon's later work, his Life and the Continuation, is less accurate and less interesting than his History. It also was printed complete in the Oxford edition of 1827. Among other works of Clarendon's are an answer to the Leviathan of Hobbes, and an essay on the Com- parative Advantages of an Active and a Contemplative Life, in 400 PROSE BURNET. which he gives good reasons for preferring the former as the more conducive both to the happiness of the individual and to the good of the community. 356. Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715) was equally eminent in theology, in politics, and in history. His father was a Scottish B Bumet ^y a ^ st an( ^ Episcopalian, raised to the bench as one of the Scotch judges. His mother was a Presbyte- rian, daughter of the Covenanting leader, Johnston of Warris- toun, whom Cromwell made a peer and Charles n. a martyr. This parentage must have taught young Gilbert the virtues of toleration. Burnet was educated at Aberdeen, and became successively minister at Saltoun and Professor of Divinity at Glasgow. Here he was offered a bishopric, but declining it, he moved to London and received the appointment of Preacher at the Rolls Chapel and Lecturer of St. Clement's. In these offices he was exceed- ingly popular : his frank manner and ready eloquence drew large congregations. His reputation was increased by the publication, in 1679-1681, of the History of the Reformation, in two volumes, to which a third was added in 1714. This work is still one of the best histories of that important event. He next published an account of the life and death of the Earl of Rochester, the libertine, infidel, and poet, whom he had attended on his deathbed, and to whom his teaching had brought peace : the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah was blessed to him, as it had been sixteen centuries before to an Ethiopian eunuch. This Life appeared in 1680. A bishopric was again within his reach, but he declined it, and about the same time wrote earnestly and respectfully to the king on his vices and misgovernment. Charles threw the letter into the fire, and seemed severely offended. Later, Burnet attended Lord Russell to the scaffold, and wrote an account of the noble sufferer's last moments. This deepened the offence, and Burnet was deprived of his offices as lecturer and preacher. He still found work how- ever. Several treatises and sermons were written, some on tole- ration, others on Popery, and in 1682-1685, he published lives of Sir Matthew Hale and Bishop Bedell. Travelling abroad, he visited Switzerland and Italy, where he wrote letters remarkably ' curious and entertaining,' which were HISTORIES: SPOTISWOOD. 401 published at Amsterdam in 1686. He finally settled at the Hague, where he became one of the advisers of the Prince of Orange. At the Revolution he accompanied William as chaplain, and was soon after raised to the bishopric of Salisbury. Besides a long list of works written by him, he published An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, still one of our standard books. He died in 1715. Among his papers he left for publication, the History of His Own Times a full narrative of events from the beginning of the Civil War to the year 1713. The work was ordered not to be published till some years after his death. It appeared in 1723 with some passages left out, though they are now restored. The history was at once attacked by the Jacobite and Tory party. Swift and Lansdowne denied its accuracy, Pope and Arbuthnot ridiculed its style ; but with all its faults, it is a life-like and important addition to our historical treasures. Burnet was garrulous and egotistical ; but he was honest, shrewd, and generous a faithful chronicler, whose pages must be read by the historian, and will always be read by the public. The cha- racter-painting of the first volume, in which he has sketched Milton, Vane, Baxter, Hobbes, Marvell, and others, is remarkably good and striking. 357. The same tendency to write history in a party spirit, which we note in England in the middle of the seventeenth Other histo- century, is found at a somewhat earlier period in ries< Scotland, and in England it perpetuated itself into the eighteenth century. In Scotland we have Spotiswood and Calderwood, and in England we have Echard and Oldmixon, Collier and Neal. Their works belong to the early part of the eighteenth century, but the men themselves to the seven- teenth, and it is the history of the seventeenth which they discuss. John Spotiswood (born 1565) was Archbishop of Glasgow and St. Andrews, and was a strenuous supporter of James vi.'s noH pl ans f r introducing Episcopacy into Scotland. He was a favourite both with that monarch and with Charles I., the latter making him, in 1635, Chancellor of Scot- land. At the suggestion of James, he wrote a History of the Church of Scotland from A.D. 203 to 1625, and it was published 2 2 p 402 PROSE HISTORf. in London in 1655. It is regarded as on the whole a truthful narrative, though written with an obvious bias. Scotland was in no mood for meeting the king's wishes on this question, and Spotiswood was compelled to leave the kingdom. He retired to London, where he died just before the breaking out of the Civil War. David Calderwood (1575-1651) was an eminent Presbyterian divine and minister in Roxburghshire. When, in 1 61 7, James vi. Calderwood summone< l a Parliament and sought to arrange for the introduction of Episcopacy, Calderwood and others drew up a strong protest against the measure, and though they induced the king to lay it aside, they were themselves in- volved in trouble. Calderwood was summoned before the High Commission at St. Andrew's, imprisoned, and then banished the kingdom. He went to Holland, and there remained till James's death in 1625. On his return he retired to Edinburgh, where he occupied himself in collecting materials for his True History of the Church of Scotland from the Death of James F. to the Death of James VI. An abridgment of this work was published in 1678, and the work itself has recently appeared in eight volumes under the auspices of the Woodrow Society. The original manuscript, in six volumes folio, is still preserved in the library of the University of Glasgow. The style is not attrac- tive, but the book has great value as a collection of important historical facts. 358. Laurence Ecliard (1671-1730) was educated at Cam- bridge, and was ultimately a prebend of Lincoln. His leisure he Echard. spent in historical research, and published several works of value. His History of England (1700- 1718) extends from the time of Julius Csesar to the Revolution. The early portion is impartial, and is more complete than any pre- vious history ; but when he reaches the seventeenth century he loses both his fairness and his good sense : yet his book was leng popular, especially with the Royalists. He was warmly attacked by Oldmixon (1673-1742), who was a strong opponent of the Stuarts. Oldmixon's principal works are A Critical History of England Olrlmixon. ( X 7 26 ) an( * ^e R^tory of the Stuarts (1730). The whole were published in three volumes folio between COLLIER: NEAL. 403 1730 and 1739. His talent is said to be moderate, and his work not without useful information.* 359. Jeremy Collier (1650-1726), a nonjuring clergyman is the author of many works. That for which he is best known is . his Ecclesiastical History, which extends from the first planting of Christianity to the end of the reign of Charles n. He also translated Moreri's great Historical Dic- tionary (1701-1721), which ultimately appeared in four volumes folio, and had a large sale. His Ecclesiastical History contains many valuable documents, but produced great discussion, his chief opponents, Bishops Nicolson, Burnet, and Kennet, being members of the English Church. Collier was himself a man of most exemplary character, the author of a very effective attack upon the stage, b and notwithstanding the apparent asperity of his writings, he was personally distinguished by his cheerfulness and amenity. Daniel Neal (1678-1747), the historian of the Puritans, was educated at Merchant Taylors* School, and at Utrecht. He be- came minister of a congregation in Jewin Street. His great work is a History of the Puritans. He is also the author of a History of New England (1720). He presents, as may be ex- pected, the other side of the shield of truth ; but his works are valuable, * being based on documentary and oral evi- dence.' These are but specimens of the contemporary historians of this age : the student who wishes to examine others must consult Bishop Rennet's Complete History of England and his Register ; Rushworth's Historical Collection (1618-1648), with leanings to the side of the Parliament ; Nelson's Impartial Collection, with leanings to the side of the Crown ; the Collections of State Papers, Ordinances, and the works of Winwood, Burton, Strafford, Fair- fax, Hacket, etc. The constitutional questions at issue were discussed apart from history by some men of the greatest name. On the one side were Hobbes and Filmer ; on the other Milton, Har- rington, Sidney, and Locke. 360. Besides these writers, who for the most part took sides in Edinburgh Review. b See par. 276. c Arnold, 2 D 2 404 PROSE WALTON. the great controversies of the age, there are others who deservo ,. . mention, and who practically stand aloof from them biographies all. Among biographers and historians are Walton, rtes ' Fuller, and Strype : among writers of memoirs are Evelyn, Grammont, and Pepys. 361. Izaak Walton (1593-1683) was one of the most popular of the writers of this century a position he owes to his simplicity, his fondness for country rambles, his powers of de- scription, his humour, his quaint wise thoughts, his pure and benevolent character. At fifty years of age he retired from business, having made a competency by his trade as linen- draper, first in Cornhill, then in Fleet Street. His wife, whom he had married twenty years before, was the sister of Bishop Ken, through whom probably, and his own qualities, he gained the acquaintance of many of the eminent men and dignitaries of the time. His first work was written before he had left business the Life of Dr. Donne, prefixed to his sermons, and published in 1640. It was followed by the Life of Sir H. Wotton, whose literary remains Walton edited. Some years later appeared the Life of Richard Hooker (1662), the Life of George Herbert (1670), the Life of Bishop Sanderson (1678) all circumstantial, simple, and touch- ing. Walton's principal production, his Complete Angler; or, the Contemplative Man's Recreation, appeared in 1653, and passed through five editions during the author's life. To the fifth edition (1676) is added a second part by Charles Cotton, poet, and adopted son of Walton. It was written in ten days, and is said to display much technical knowledge and accuracy. It is to this work that the river * Dove ' owes part of its fame. The Angler is one of the popular books of our language. It is written largely in the form of dialogue, and owes much of its suc- cess to the genial disposition of Piscator : it abounds, moreover, in minute pictures of rural life, and combines picturesque poetry and gentle morality with a style at once antiquated and clear. 362. Aldwinkle is the native place of both Thomas Fuller and John Dryden. Fuller (1608-1661) was educated at Cambridge, where his maternal uncle, Dr. Davenant, was Master of Queens' College. After taking the highest honours FULLER. 405 of the university, he became one of the most popular preachers in the town. Through his uncle's influence he was made a prebend of Salisbury, and was in succession rector of Broad Windsor, lecturer at the Savoy, and chaplain to Charles I. After the taking of Exeter he became lecturer at St. Bride's, in Fleet Street, but was soon silenced. Through John Howe's influence he passed the ' Triers/ however, and on the Restoration regained his lecture- ship at the Savoy, and was made chaplain to the king. But for his premature death he would no doubt have received a bishopric. During these struggles his sermons excited the displeasure of both parties an argument foe his sincerity and moderation, if not for his worldly wisdom. His earliest works, except sermons, are his History of the Hdy War (1640), and his Holy and Profane State (1642), 'a col- lection of characters, moral essays, and lives.' While attending the army he was very busy collecting materials for his History of Worthies, and he now proceeded to turn these materials to account. In 1656 was published his Church History of Britain, from the time of our Lord to the year 1648. His Worthies of England he completed in 1660, but it was not published till after his death. To his Church History was appended the History of Cambridge and of Waltham Abbey the whole forming a considerable folio volume. Besides these historical works he wrote many sermons and several books on practical or expository theology : A Pisgah View of Palestine (1650), Good Thoughts in Bad Times (1645), and, after the Restoration, Mixed Contemplations in Better Times (1660). All his compositions have the same faults and the same excel- lencesa somewhat loose style, with many trite and romantic stories, but withal an amount of wit and beauty and variety of truth, combined with practical wisdom, unsurpassed in any of the writers of that age. Coleridge a puts him next to Shakespeare, as the writer who excites in him ' the sense and emotion of the marvellous.' His humour is indisputably attractive to many minds, and it is admitted that his Church History of Britain has never been superseded. The composition of all his works is strongly antithetic and euphuistic, but in him euphuism is part of the wit. * Kates on English Divine?, 406 PROSE STRYPE. 363. John Strype (1643-1737)18 the author of some of the most valuable of our memoirs. He wrote the Life of Cranmer (1694), the Life of Sir Thomas Smith (1698), of Cheke (1795), of Grindal (1710), of Parker (1711), and of Whitgift (1718), besides Annals of the Reformation, in four volumes, and Ecclesiastical Memorials, in three (1721). He also edited part of Lightfoot's works and Stew's Survey of London. He was the son of a refugee, John Van Strype, a native of Brabant. After receiving his education at Cambridge, he be- came sinecure rector of Terring, in Sussex, and lecturer at Hackney. He was laborious, intelligent, and truthful. His literary merits are acknowledged by all parties. A complete and uniform edition of his works was published at the Clarendon Press in 1812-1828, making twenty-seven volumes in all. 364. John Evelyn (1620-1706), a gentleman in fortune and in character, is well known as the author of several scientific treatises written in a popular style. Among these are the Sylva, a Dis- course on Forest Trees (1664), and the Terra, a Discourse on the Earth (1675). He was also among the first to cultivate garden- ing and ornamental planting, and his grounds at Sayes Court, near Deptford, were visited by a great number of his countrymen and foreigners. During the greater part of his life he kept a Diary, which now forms one of the most valuable collections of historical materials for the latter half of the seventeenth century. It was published in 1818, and records common incidents of daily life as well as events of national importance. His description of the profaneness and dissoluteness of the last Sunday of Charles H.'S life is shocking: 'six days after,' he adds, 'all was in the dust.' 365. In 1713 the Memoirs du Comte de Grammont were pub- lished, and were translated in the following year. The author came to England in 1662, and was one of the most brilliant adventurers at the English court. He married the sister of Anthony Hamilton, a member of the Aber- com and Ormond families, and towards the close of his life he dedicated these memoirs to his brother-in-law. The scandalous Chronicle is admitted to be substantially a true record : it has GRAMMONT : PEPYS. 407 often been republished, and was edited with notes by Sir Walter Scott (i 8 1 1). 366. Samuel Pepys (1632-1703) is immortalised by his Diary ', which was deciphered and published by Lord Braybrooke in 1825. Pepys was the son of a tailor, and entered Cambridge as a sizar. Through the influence of his cousin, Sir Edward Montagu, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, he became secretary to the General of the Fleet, clerk to the Accountant of the Navy, and at last secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of Charles n. and James n. Pepys' Diary, written with the utmost frankness and naivete, is a Dutch picture of the times, and gives a better insight into public and social life, into the domestic economy and amusements of the time, than any more formal history. 367. Beyond the limits of English history are other names requiring mention. Dr. Humphrey Prideaux (1648-1724), Archdeacon of Suffolk, and Hebrew Lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford ; Dr. Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury (1674-1747), and Basil Kennet (1674-1714), chaplain of the English factory at Leghorn. Prideaux was the author of a work still popular, The Connec- tion (/the Old and New Testament (1715-1717), and the Life P 'd ux of Mahomet (1697). His Connection, giving the history of the interval between the Old Testament and the New, is a work of great value. His library he presented to Clare Hall, Cambridge. Dr. Potter is the author of the well known and often published Antiquities of Greece. The book is superseded by modern inquiry, but it claims notice as the first publication of that kind. Ken- net's Eomce Antiques Notitia, conferred a like benefit on Latin literature. His work was for a century the class book on that subject. Now both it and its suc- cessor, Adam's Roman Antiquities, are largely superseded by books that embody the results of more recent investigation. 368. Meanwhile a new style of chroniclers had appeared in our history, the newspaper. In the middle of the six- teenth century, during a war between the Venetians and the Turks, the desire for news had called forth written 408 PROS& NEWSPAPERS. sheet.'., which were read in public places to any who were willing to pay a small sum (a gazetta) for that privilege. Somewhat later the father of Montaigne had introduced a like luxury into France, and had stuck up placards (afficties) on the walls of public places for general information. The reign of James i. is remarkable for the commencement of a similar system in England. The events of the Thirty Years' War and the exploits of Gustavus Adolphus excited intense interest in this country. To meet the feeling the Weekly Nevjes a first appeared in print on the 2$rd May, 1622, and was a very small and meagre chronicle the more important intelligence, both foreign and domestic, being still conveyed through the news-letters of those days, a kind of composition that afforded support to many writers. At the commencement of the Civil War Diurnals and Mer- curies greatly multiplied, and several of the large towns had one of their own. They were published at first weekly, then twice or thrice a week. So important were these deemed that each of the rival armies took with it a printer. After the Restoration these papers were continued, though sub- ject to a licenser: they grew naturally less political, and their in- formation became more varied. The Kingdom's Intelligencer was begun in London in 1662, and gave much useful information obituaries, notices of proceedings in Parliament, and in the Courts of Law. In 1663 Roger 1' Estrange published his Intelligencer ' for the satisfaction and information of the people.' He was a warm advocate of the Crown, but contrived to make his paper very popular and entertaining. He continued it till the appear- ance of the London Gazette, called at first the Oxford Gazette, from the fact that the Court had removed from London to that city in consequence of the plague. The first number appeared on the ist January, 1665. Publications similar to the Intelligencer multiplied yet more, and as many as seventy appeared between 1661 and 1688. In 1709 the first morning paper was printed, the Daily Courant, and from this time political questions are largely introduced as well as general intelligence. It is now admitted that the three the visit of the Spanish Armada, on the newspapers, entitled The English Mer- genuineness of which the introduction of curie, Nos. 50, 51, and 54, preserved newspapers is ascribed to Lord Burleigh, among Dr. Birch's historical collection are forgeries practical jokes of Dr. in the British Museum, professing to be Birch himself. See Watts' Letter to A. ' published by authority ' at the time of Pg.ni*n t $%., London, 18*9, LEARNING. 409 The first Scotch newspaper was a reprint of the Mercurtus FoliticuSy a London diurnal, and was published at Leith, for the amusement of some of Cromwell's soldiers : it appeared on the a6th of October, 1653. Between 1660 and 1667 a couple of original papers were published in Scotland. Then we find only reprints up to the end of the century, when (1699) ^ e Edinburgh Gazette was first established. 369. The scholarship of the first half of the seventeenth century is almost as remarkable as the intellectual vigour displayed in other departments. The great endowments of the English Uni- versities attracted to them a large resident class, of whom some were teachers, but others enjoyed unbroken leisure for study. Above all, the religious excitement of the Keformation led men to examine Scripture and to meddle with all knowledge that might help them to understand and explain it. At the beginning of the century a library was founded at Ox- ford by Sir Thomas Bodley, -with a munificence which has made his name immortal. The building was completed in 1606, and . large funds were bequeathed for the purchase of books. The Earl of Pembroke, Selden, and Laud added to its stores : through Laud especially, it became rich in Oriental manuscripts. About the same time Usher founded the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and considerable additions were made to the public library at Cambridge. 370. The effect of the Eeformation in England was first seen in the increased attention paid to Hebrew and to Greek. In all Protestant countries of Europe those languages were State of learn- , ,. , .,, ,, , x & ing at Oxford now studied with fresh zeal, and in England Hebrew and elsewhere. eS pe C i a Uy was popular. It may be said indeed, that from the death of Elizabeth to the Eestoration there was a more general knowledge of Hebrew, both among the laity and the clergy, than at any period of equal length, either before or since. Ainsworth, Godwin, Lightfoot, Selden, and Pococke were among the chief of these scholars ; and they were scarcely, if at all, inferior to their foreign contemporaries Bochart, a Protestant minister at Caen ; Cappel, Professor at Saumur ; the Buxtorfs, Professors of Hebrew at Basle, and De Dieu at teyden. 410 POETKY -AUTHORISED VEKSION. This learning produced important results in Biblical science. To the Biblical scholars of that age we are indebted for the Authorised Version of the Bible published by autho- rit y of Kir> S James in 161 1. This work is the fruit of the labours of forty-seven men of learning, some residing at Westminster and others at Cambridge and Oxford. Among the most eminent are Dr. L. Andrewes, Dean of West- minster and at la-t Bishop of Winchester, Dr. J. Keynolds, President of Corpus Christi College, * whose memory and reading were near to a miracle,' as Bishop Hall describes them, Sir Henry Savile, Provost of Eton, William Bedwell, the tutor of Erpenius and Pococke, and many others. Several of them were eminent Orientalists, and hence the Eastern versions had great influence on the translation. This revised translation was greatly facilitated by the recent publication of various ancient versions of Scripture in the Polyglots and in separate forms. For the earliest Polyglots we are indebted chiefly to foreign printers. Early in the sixteenth century Cardinal Ximenes of Toledo, * dreading the spread of false doctrines with captious interpretations of the Scripture, which whilst they deluded the simple might appear unanswerable to the learned,' devoted much tune and large sums to the preparation of the Complutensian Polyglot. It contained the Hebrew, Greek, and Chaldee of the Old Testament, with a Latin version of each, and the Greek and Latin of the New. The whole was printed in 1517; but the Cardinal dying soon after, doubts were raised whether it ought to be circulated, nor was it till 1522 that copies were distributed to the world at large. The next Polyglot was published at Antwerp, and was exe- cuted between 1558 and 1573. In addition to the versions given in the Polyglot of Ximenes, it contains the Syriac version of the Testament, and a version into Latin by Pagninus, with a large apparatus of grammars and lexicons at the close. The London Polyglot (1654-1657) was prepared by Brian Walton, afterwards Bishop of Chester, and was aided by Cromwell. It added the following versions to the versions given by Ximenes the Sama- ritan, the Syriac, the Cretic, the Ethiopic, the Persic, \viih a Latin version of various Targums. Lexicons were added by Dr. Castell, who spent all his fortune of 12,000^. upon his POLYGLOTS: COMMENTARIES. 411 two volumes, and who, through the incessant labour required in the preparation of them, became nearly blind. Hutter, Wolder, and Schindler, had all been working in the same way. Nor had less been done in separate volumes. Eobert Stephen alone the Paris printer, through whom Francis I. gained greater glory, De Thou says, than from all the warlike and pacific undertakings in which he was engaged published in ten years (between 1544 and 1554) two editions of the Hebrew Bible, three of the Greek Testament, seventeen of the Latin versions of Scripture, three Concordances, and twenty-seven Commentaries on the Bible, Jewish and Christian. For printing these books he was cen- sured by both king and pope ; but he went on with his work at risks not inferior to those incurred by the foremost reformers, and is not less entitled to our admiration. At the same time, commentaries on Scripture became nume- rous. The Eeformation on the Continent began with the exposi- tions of Luther and Melancthon, and even in the Commentaries. -,->., , , i T . -, Komish Church there were many who praised these portions of their writings, but hesitated to follow them into their new faith. Zwingle and Calvin both engaged largely in the same work. Calvin's Commentaries, and those of Beza and of Diodati, exercised great influence not only in France and Italy but in England : they were translated into English, and brief notes taken from them were incorporated in the Genevan and other versions of the English Scriptures. On a still larger scale were the collections of critical commentaries which appeared soon after the publication of the Polyglots, and which were no doubt suggested by them. The first was published by Father de la Haye in 1642 : it appeared under the title of Biblia Magna, in five volumes folio, and then as Biblia Maxima, in nineteen. A much more valuable collec- tion was published by our countryman, Pearson, and others, in 1660, as a companion of Walton's Polyglot: it was called Critici Sacri, and appeared in nine volumes folio. A somewhat briefer collection of a very useful kind was published fourteen years later under the title of Synopsis Criticorum, the editor being Matthew Poole. These works, with the six volumes of Walton's Polyglot and the two folio volumes of CastelFs Lexi- con, twenty- two volumes in all, were begun and finished hi the qity of London in the comparatively short space of twenty years, 412 PKOSE LEARNING. at the expense of a few noblemen and divines and that amid the distractions of the Civil War. 371. Besides the names already mentioned, there are those of Spencer, Pococke, and Hyde. Spencer's treatise De Legi- bus Hebrceorum is one of great learning. It gave O ff ence> however, by suggesting that several of the institutions of the Mosaic law were borrowed from the Egyptians, the fact being, as Michaelis has shown, that the alleged borrowings were rather contrasts than resemblances. Towards the close of the century, Pococke published various translations from the Arabic, the A nnals of Eutychius (1658), and others. Hyde also published the History of the Religion of the Persians (1700), in which he warmly praises the religion of Zoroaster. The novelty of the subject gained fcr the book con- siderable credit ; but the increase of Oriental information in later times, makes it difficult for any book of the seventeenth century on such topics, to keep its ground. Of the Indian lan- guages, little or nothing was yet known. The an- tearaing c * ent dassic languages had made less progress than the Oriental amid the disturbances of the seventeenth century. Duport, Greek Professor at Cambridge, had a high character for learning, but he was almost alone. Barrow, who was made a Greek Professor in 1660, complains that he had no pupils. Yet there are a few exceptions. In 1 65 1, Thomas Gataker, Preacher at Lincoln's Inn, and one of the Assembly of Divines, published his Adversaria, which continental critics warmly praised. In 1652 he edited Marcus Antoninus y the earliest edition, Hallam thinks, of a classic published in England with original notes. Then comes Stanley with his edition of J^schy- lus (1663), Meric Casaubon with his Persius, Pearson with Diogenes Laertius, Gale with lamblichus, Hudson with his edi- tions of Thucydides and Josephus ; Potter, and William Baxter, all more or less eminent as scholars and as editors. 372. The greatest scholar, however, beyond comparison, was Richard Bentley (born 1661), though he belongs in part to the following century. He graduated at Cambridge, but spent some years at Oxford as well as in London, engaged chiefly in philological study. Being appointed the first ORIENTAL AND CLASSICAL. 413 preacher of the Boyle Lectures, his sermons created some sensa- tion, and were published in 1693. Soon after he became keeper of the royal library at St. James', and while in that office, his first literary controversy arose. It originated in a few lines of Sir William Temple's, who, in his essay On Ancient and Modern Learning, eulogised the Epistles of Phalaris as undoubtedly genuine. Bentley, in a dissertation appended to Wotton's He- flections on Ancient and Modern Learning, a reply to Temple, gave evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, Charles Boyle, a member of the family of the Earl of Cork, had published an edi- tion of the Epistles, with some reflections on Bentley for persona- lity and incivility in withdrawing a book which he said Bentley had lent him. In his dissertation, Bentley noticed and answered this charge ; and in the next year, Boyle, assisted very largely, as it now seems, by Atterbury and by Aldrich, printed an examina- tion of Bentley's dissertation, ' Boyle against Bentley,' as it was briefly called. Other combatants entered the field, and Swift, with his Battle of the Books, increased the din of war. For some time it was thought that Bentley was silenced, but in 1699, appeared his Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris, * Bentley against Boyle,' and covered his opponents with ridicule. He proved the Epistles to be full of anachronisms and a palpable forgery. In learning, he excels all his adversaries put together, and by his wit he foiled even the wits of the age at their own weapon. By his reasoning power and sarcastic humour, his scholarship and subtlety, he gained for himself a first place in classic critical literature. His book, though the controversy has long ceased, is still read as an admirable specimen of critical investigation. In taste, he was lamentably defective, his edition of Milton raising the laugh against him on all sides. 373. Sir William Temple (1628-1698) can hardly be reckoned among the learned men of his age, though he gave occasion to one of the most celebrated literary controversies which have occurred in England. He was a pupil of Cudworth's, and took an active part as ambassador at the Hague in the Triple Alliance formed for checking the career of Louis xiv. He was afterwards employed in negotiating the marriage between the Princess Mary and William of Orange. On his return to England, he was pressed by Charles n. to be- 414 PROSE EPISTLES OF PHALARIS. come Secretary of State, but declined this trust. To help tho king in his difficulties, however, he suggested the appointment of a Privy Council, consisting of the great officers of state, on whose advice the king should always act, and by whom all important public affairs should be discussed. He was for a time a member of this council, but in 1685 retired from public life. He was, however, often consulted by King William, who had great faith in his caution and knowledge but not in his courage and deci- sion. In his retirement, Temple wrote several essays and political tracts On the Gardens of Epicurus, On Heroic Virtue, On Poetry, etc. His style is not very clear nor precise, but he is one of the masters of harmony of cadence. Johnson indeed - says, that he was the first who wrote harmonious prose ; but this must have been hi forgetfulness of Cowley and Dryden, to say nothing of our earlier writers Hooker and Drummond. His essay On Ancient and Modern Learning originated in a French work by Perrault on The Age of Louis the Great. The aim of the writer is to prove that the ancient classic authors are excelled by those of modern times. The French defender of the ancients was Boileau ; their English defender, Sir William Temple. Unhappily, Temple was in learning altogether unfit for this work : he knew neither of the great schools which he attempted to compare ; hence, he ascribes to the ancients a know- ledge of all the sciences, and proves his case by appealing to the fables of antiquity. In his list of the moderns, he omits Shakespeare and Milton among the poets ; and among the philo- sophers, he omits Bacon and Newton. Among other proofs of the superiority of the ancients, he quotes from the Greek Epistles of Phalaris, and shows thereby, as he says, that the * oldest books we have are still among the best.' He notes that some have supposed these Epistles to be the production, not of Phalaris, who lived five centuries before Christ, but of an author who lived in the decline of Greek literature. This supposition he answers by enumerating the excellences of the Epistles, and pronounces the man ' to have little skill who cannot find out that the work is an original.' Swift afterwards helped his patron by his famous Battle of the Books. How Temple was answered we have just seen. An able reply to Temple was written by William Wotton THEOLOGY. 415 (1666-1726), a clergyman residing in Buckinghamshire, a man of William precocious and remarkable learning. His work Hallam Wotton. pronounces the * most solid that was written in any country upon this famous dispute.' He takes, as might be ex- pected, a middle course, admitting the eminence of the ancients in poetry and eloquence, but maintaining the superiority of the moderns in all the philosophical sciences. 374. We have already indicated the struggles which preceded the adoption of the Articles of the English Church and the pass- Ori 'n of & ^ ^ Act of Uniformity of the reign of Eliza- Puritanism beth. To understand the merits of the theological in England, literature of the seventeenth century it is necessary to carry that history a little farther. The discussions between Hooper and Cranmer in 1550, tho Hampton Court Conference held in 1604 in the presence of James i., between Dr. Reynolds and his }>arty on the one side and Archbishop Whitgift on the other, the Savoy Conference in 1 66 1 where Baxter and Sheldon were leaders, mark the suc- cessive stages of a controversy that extends over more than a hundred years, a controversy of momentous interest on religious grounds, and from its influence on the literature of the nation. 375. When Hooper was abroad he formed the friendship of Bullinger, one of the leaders of the Protestant cause in Switzer- land. On his return to England in the reign of Edward vi., his piety and talents were at once ap- preciated, and he was nominated to the see of Glou- cester. But he demurred first to the oath of supremacy, and then to the robes in which the newly elected bishop was to be consecrated. The oath, in which an appeal was made to the saints as well as to God, was altered by the king's own hand ; but the difficulty of the vestments remained. Peter Martyr and Bucer, who were then Professors of Divinity at Oxford and Cam- bridge, advised him to wear them not as scriptural but as harm- less and even as legal. For once at least he did wear them, but it seems to have been against his conscience, and great interest was excited by his misgivings. Four years afterwards, in the year * 5 5 5 > he was martyred at Gloucester. Hooper's eloquence and holi* 416 PROSE THEOLOGY. ness and death endeared his memory to the Reformers, and his scruples were shared by many of the clergy. On the accession of Mary, the foreign professors and the German Protestants, who had settled in England in considerable numbers, were all commanded to leave the kingdom, and there went with them nearly a thousand of our countrymen, who deemed it unsafe to remain. Frankfort, Basle, Zurich, and Geneva, were filled with English settlers, and in those towns their religious tastes became simpler and stronger. Forms grew less welcome to them, and some probably learned to prefer the Genevan model of Church order and discipline to Episcopacy. On the death of Mary they returned to England: 'they went abroad,' says Peter Heylin, ' Zwinglian Gospellers ' and they came back Puritans. On the passing of the Act of Uniformity by Elizabeth, many good men were ejected, among whom were Miles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, and John Foxe, the Martyrologist : they both died in poverty, the first victims of this new persecuting spirit. 376. During part of the reign of Elizabeth, Puritans continued to multiply, gaining strength in London, and in the two chief seats of learning. The firm and overbearing policy Elizabeth etc. f th 6 q ue en however discouraged them, and towards the close of her reign their numbers diminished ; though without the Church the Brownists, as they were called, became more numerous and influential. The Puritans were as a body still in the Church. On the accession of James the moderate Puritan party presented a petition signed by eight hundred of the clergy asking redress. They wished for less popery in the vestments of the clergy and for the alteration of some parts of the Church service, the Absolution and the use of the Cross in Baptism for example. James dis- missed them with fair promises, and the Hampton Court Confer- ence was the result of their appeal. Dr. Reynolds and Mr. Knewstub, both eminent Cambridge men, represented the Puri- tan party, and Whitgift the other side. Doctrinal difference as yet there was none, except so far as it might be supposed to be implied in their objections. They said nothing against prelacy, nor did they plead for Genevan Church order. The Puritans were moderate Calvinists : Whitgift was a High Calvinist ; but they were prepared even to accept the Lambeth Articles, as they DOCTRINAL PURITANS. 417 were called, in which higher Calvinism was maintained. The only things in dispute were forms and some expressions or prac- tices sanctioned by the Prayer Book, and which they thought liable to serious misinterpretation. Little however was gained by this Conference, though to Dr. Eeynolds' suggestion we are in- debted for the Authorised Version of the Bible. 377. On the death of Whitgift a new system of theology be- came popular with the king and with some of his advisers. The Calvinism in which James had been bred, and which he began to associate in his mind with Presbytery, was discountenanced : and for the first time doctrinal differences arose between the two parties in the Church. When Charles i. came to the throne and took Laud to his counsels, the Eomanizing tendencies Doctrinal of the party became at once apparent. New forms and Puritans. ceremonies were introduced : sacramental efficacy was proclaimed : to the injunctions of Elizabeth new regulations were added : lighted tapers were placed on the altars : the churches were decorated with the images of saints : the Book of Sports was ordered to be published in every parish church : the Lord's Supper was pronounced a sacrifice, and the minister a sacrificing priest. In consequence of these changes multitudes, as Bishop Sanderson and Bishop Hall afiirm, were forced into the ranks of the Puritan clergy : several were compelled to resign their livings, and a few, to use the king's expression, * were harried out of the land.' Among the most prominent were Bishops Davenant, Hall, Williams, and Carleton, and they were soon known by the name of Doctrinal Puritans, a title given to them against their will by the followers of Laud. They held and taught the doctrines of the Eeformation in opposition to the sacramental system which had been recently introduced. So far they agreed with the earlier Puritans, as they did also with Cranmer and Kidley, and Martyr and Bucer, and Hooker ; but to forms they raised no objection, and therefore the name of Puritan is apt in their case to mislead. To make the division between the two parties more marked, the disciples of Laud were generally Arminians, and the Doctrinal Puritans moderate Calvinists. Both parties were still in the Church. Soon after the outbreak of the civil war, the Church of Eng- land fell. Many of these Doctrinal Puritans were among tho 2 2 B 418 PROSE THEOLOGY. severest sufferers, and they were, some of them, among tha most decided opponents of the Republicans : others were favoured by the authorities, and continued to preach till the Restoration. 378. Meanwhile there had sprang up outside the Church, aud partly within it, a strong feeling in favour of another ecclesiastical system. This feeling had been largely promoted by esbyterian- fa e Scotch, who were warmly attached to Presbyte- rianism, and who had marched twenty thousand soldiers into England to assist the Parliament. It was promoted also by further intercourse with the Continent and by the recol- lections of a former generation. The London clergy petitioned for reform, and the House of Commons resolved to call an assembly of learned and godly divines and others to settle the government and the Liturgy of the Church of England. They met in Henry VIL'S Chapel on the ist of July, 1643, tne world- famous Westminster Assembly. Here for a time were gathered Archbishop Usher, the Bishops of Exeter and Bristol, Dr. San- derson, Dr. Hammond, six or ten Independents, thirty members of the two Houses of Parliament, and about a hundred ministers besides, who were mostly in favour of Presby terianism. All pro- fessed to be anxious for a pure and spiritual Church. The Assembly's Confession and Catechisms were the results of this conference, results in which all parties agreed : they were pub- lished in 1647 and 1648, and as theological productions are entitled to great respect. After protracted discussion it was carried that Presbyterianism was a Divine ordinance, and an attempt was made to give the Church courts power to prohibit all private assemblies and to prevent the publication of all unlicensed books. But when these decisions were referred to the House of Commons, and afterwards to the army, where the Independents were strong, great opposition was threatened. Milton protested that Presbyter was bnt * priest writ large,' and in his Areopagitica pleaded with unrivalled eloquence for a free press. Selden, who in the Assembly had advocated the Erastian doctrine, that a Church is only a common association of men without any divine rights, and Whitelocke in his place in Parliament, joined in the protest, the latter affirming that men should not be punished in their secular interests for their religious delinquencies. A few Presbyteries were formed, PRESBYTERIANISM : INDEPENDENCY. 419 but within the year the Presbyterian party lost ground : their chiefs were threatened with impeachment, and their rule was at an end. 379. Burroughes, John Goodwin the Arminian, and John Owen had all pleaded in favour of toleration and liberty of conscience, but for a time in vain. Now however, the Indepen- ' dents formed a powerful body. Anxious to complete their organization they appealed to Cromwell for leave to hold a conference. He reluctantly consented, and they met at the Savoy in September, 1658. About a hundred churches were repre- sented, and a committee was appointed to draw up a confession of faith. Among its members were Thomas Goodwin, Nye, Caryl, and Greenhill, with Dr. John Owen at their head. They adopted in substance the Assembly's Confession, as the Baptists did afterwards, simply omitting the passages on Presbyterianism and inserting some words in favour of congregational order. The preface was written by Owen, and insists upon the necessity of for- bearance and charity among Christian men : the whole document however, takes as granted the right of the magistrate to defend and propagate the truth. At the Restoration, both parties, the Presbyterians and the Independents, would have laid aside their differences and have joined the Church on the basis of Archbishop Usher's * reduced Episcopacy.' This was proposed at the Savoy Conference held in 1 66 1, but was haughtily rejected by the prelates and the court. Baxter and the moderate Presbyterians were willing to admit that their assemblies might be governed by a bishop, and the moderate Episcopalians were willing to admit that the bishop might be assisted and even controlled by a clerical council, but the scheme failed. Bishoprics were offered to Calamy, Baxter, and Reynolds, the Puritan leaders, and Deaneries to Manton and Bates, but all were declined except by Reynolds, who became Bishop of Norwich. The plea they used was, that till the terms of conformity were known, they could not accept preferment with a safe conscience. In 1 66 1 the Savoy Conference was held, but it only ended in widening the breach between the two great parties : Clarendon was now powerful in the Privy Council, and was inveterate against the Presbyterians, the bishops were disposed to be severe, 2 E 2 420 PROSE THEOLOGY. and the House of Commons was eager for revenge : and in 1662 the Act of Uniformity was passed, requiring the clergy to declare their unfeigned assent and consent to everything in the Book of Common Prayer. As the result two thousand of the Puritan clergy resigned their livings. By the Corporation Act, the Con- venticle Act, the Five Mile Act, and at last by the Test Act, the Nonconformists were forbidden to preach, and were deprived of all secular offices of profit and trust. The fall of Clarendon gave some hope of carrying a measure in favour of the nonconforming clergy, and in 1668 a project of comprehension was renewed by Tillotson, Stillingfleet, and Reynolds, and communicated to Bates, Manton, and Baxter. This project, however, failed through the clamours of the Sheldon party ; and thereupon the House of Commons passed ' a resolu- tion that no Act for the comprehension or indulgence of Dis- senters should be brought into that House.' For twenty years there was great suffering on all sides, but the only effect was to strengthen the Popish tendencies of the Court, and to give greater vigour to the various dissenting communities which had mean- while sprung up in the country. Soon after the Eevolution an Act of comprehension was prepared, and passed the House of Lords, substituting a promise of general conformity for the pro- mise of assent and consent, but it was thrown out in the House of Commons. The Toleration Act, however, was passed in 1689, and thenceforward Nonconformity and Dissent became recognized by the law. 380. Meanwhile two new parties had come into existence in the Church. The first were men of liberal minds and studious habits, old enough to see the mistakes of their con- Latitudina- temporaries, and young enough to strike out a path for themselves. Many of them had been educated under the Puritans at both universities : all wrote and spoke of them with kindness an I moderation : they were, moreover, nearly all anti-Calvinistic in their creed. Careful to avoid the errors into which the Puritans had fallen through the extreme use of Scripture language, the introduction of sacred things on trivial occasions, the high doctrinal tone of the Puritan preaching, they fell into more serious error. They ceased to quote Scripture either in their daily talk or in the pulpit. They spoke as philoeo- LATITUDE ARIANS: NONJUKORS. 421 phers rather than as divines ; and though they gave an occasional dissertation on the Trinity, and insisted upon the necessity of a holy life, they seldom touched on the great truths of the gospel. On church questions they adhered to the Liturgy, but would have allowed great freedom to their conscientious nonconforming brethren. This is the school to which Whichcbte, Cudworth, More, and Worthington belonged ; and it was to their influence that we owe the characters of Tillotson, Patrick, Stillingfleet, Sherlock, and Tenison, the greatest men of the next generation. The school was called the Philosophic in the person of its founders, the Latitudinarian in the person of its later members. It is instructive to notice how powerless they became to arrest the decay of piety, or to effect a second reformation. The other party consisted of men whose notion of the divine right of kings led them to believe that nothing could free a peo- . pie from their allegiance, and who therefore felt bound to adhere to the oath they had taken to King James. They bore the name of NOD jurors ; and there were among them Bancroft, the Archbishop, and a considerable number of the clergy. They retained most of the forms of the English Church, and kept up a separate organization for a century in the hope of one day seeing a Stuart upon the throne. On the death of the Pretender they merged into the Scottish Episcopal Church. To this party belonged Bishop Ken, Charles Leslie, and Atterbury. The effect of these struggles, and still more of the profligacy of the ^Restoration, had brought religion at the end of the seven- teenth century to a very low ebb. The Church was as much divided as ever ; not, indeed, into Puritans and their opponents, but into High and Low Church. Macaulay has drawn the cha- racter of the parochial clergy at this period in very dark colours, and his representations are sustained by Bishop Burnet, the author of the Pastoral Care. f Political and party spirit/ says he, * eat out what little of piety remains amongst us :' the Ember weeks, he further tells us, when candidates were examined for holy orders, were the misery of his life ; and he augurs the worst results from the ignorance and the incapacity of the future race of clergymen who were then passing raider his hands : there were noble exceptions, but this was to a large extent the character of the clergy. The influence of this low religious life on the reli- gious literature of the eighteenth century will presently be seen. 422 PROSE-THEOLOGY. 381. This account of the parties of the seventeenth century has been given at length for more than one reason, (i) It illustrates the prodigious activity of that age the age ot Shakespeare and Bacon, of Hohbes and Milton, of with literature. a i eign ^ Selden, of Hampden and Cromwell; while there was as much doing in theology as if the whole intel- lect of the country had been devoted to that theme. Indeed it may be said that each department of our literature, poetry excepted, was as productive in the seventeenth century as all departments together had been in the sixteenth. (2) It enables us the better to appreciate each man's merits. A knowledge of the exact stand- point of eminent writers in relation to the learning and theories of their age is as essential in theology as in philosophy, and the praise or blame awarded to each must be looked at in con- nexion with his system. (3) Above all it simplifies our work, by setting aside a large amount of controversial literature. Treatises on priestly vestments, on the divine right of episcopacy, on the oath of supremacy, have no place here : our business is with the great writers and the great works of the period. That these are enough will be clear from the mere enumeration of names. Among the earlier Puritans were William Perkins, Richard Sibbes, John Preston, and Samuel Clarke. Among moderate men who loved the gospel, and felt few Puritanical difficulties, were Lancelot Andrewes, Joseph Mede, John Donne, and Joseph Hall, Thomas Fuller, Thomas Adams, and Robert Leighton. Among the later Puritans were Edmund Calamy, Thomas Goodwin, Richard Baxter, John Owen, William Bates, Stephen Charnock, John Flavel, Joseph Alleine, Philip Henry, Samuel Clarke, jun., and John Howe, all of whom became Nonconformists. Among divines who remained in the Church, and who were most of them faithful to the gospel, were John Pearson, Isaac Barrow, Robert South, Gilbert Burnet, and John Tillotson. Among the later of the Nonconformists were John Caryl, Greenhill, Jeremiah Burroughes, David Clarkson, William Gouge, and Daniel Burgess, most of whom had been ministers of the Established Church. Others, now in the Church and now out, were Reynolds, Hildersham, and Byfield. Among the Baptists were John Tombes, John Bunyan, John Gifford, Henry Jessey, Hansard Knollys, and Benjamin Keach. And there were besides, the Quakers, Fox, Penn, and Barclay, not to mention a host of lesser though still eminent CAMBRIDGE : SIBBES AND OTHERS. 425 names. Among religious laymen an honoured place is due to Boyle and Hale. 382. Most of the eminent theologians of the seventeenth century were to be found either at the universities or in London, and an occasional visit to those places would have made tlie stu(ient familiar with nearly all of them. When Charles i. was ascending the throne (1625), the Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, was Richard Sibbes (1577-1635). At the beginning of the century he had entered at St. John's as a sub-sizar, and had undergone a marvellous religious change under the preaching of Paul Bayne, one of the doctrinal Puritans, and the author of some beautiful letters and an Exposi- tion of the Ephesians. Bayne was preacher at St. Andrew's, where he had succeeded William Perkins, another Puritan (1558- 1602), whose preaching had filled Cambridge, Fuller tells us, with the fragrance of the gospel, and whose works are still read with interest. Sibbes' preaching was blessed in turn to Cotton, and Cotton's to John Preston, who was now Master at Emmanuel, while Sibbes was Master at Catherine Hall. Both were frequent preachers at St. Mary's, the university church. Among the more valuable of Sibbes' published volumes are The Bruised Reed and The Soul's Conflict. Both books were favourites with Eichard Baxter and Izaak Walton. Among Sibbes' occasional hearers at St. Mary's, were John Milton, who was then at Christ's; Jeremy Taylor, who had entered as a * poor scholar,' and who afterwards became Fellow of All Souls, Oxford; Thomas Gouge (1605-1681), son of Dr. William Gouge, then a student at King's, and who when * outed ' for Nonconformity, spent his fortune in works of charity, visited Wales every year for the purpose of Bible circulation, and Christ's Hospital every week for the purpose of catechizing the children, and thus became qualified to speak of various truths, and especially of the Surest Way of Thriving ; George Herbert, Fellow of Trinity, poet and Public Orator ; and Joseph Mede (1586-1638), who was now Fellow at Christ's, and the author of the Clavis Apocalyptica, the work that led the way in the right interpretation of the prophecies of Scripture, and which is still a standard book in that department of literature. Among his occa- sional hearers were also Thomas Fuller, the historian, with his 424 PROSE THEOLOGY. wonderful memory and ready wit ; Edmund Calamy (i 600-1 666), who had recently taken his degree at Pembroke, and was now lecturing at Bury, soon to be driven out for refusing to read the Book of Sports, and well known hereafter for several sermons and treatises; Samuel Clarke (1599-1682), who had just left Em- manuel, and was soon to gain eminence for his Marrow of Eccle- siastical History, a volume of English biography, praised by Fuller ; and perhaps his son Samuel, the author of Annotations on the Bible (1690), who was a student at Pembroke, whence he went to become minister at Alcester, and where for a short time he gave Richard Baxter a home ; John Arrowsmith, Fellow of St. John's, of which he was afterwards, on the -ap- pointment of the Earl of Manchester, Master, and later still, Master of Trinity, the author of A CJiain of Principles, or A Collection of Theological Aphorisms (1659), the Tactica Sacra, and the God-Man, a posthumous work (1660) ; the renowned Thomas Goodwin (1601-1679), who, though best known in connexion with Oxford, and as the friend of Oliver Cromwell, whom he attended on his death-bed, was about this time Fellow of Catherine Hall ; Thomas Shepherd, of Emmanuel (born 1605), author of various sermons and learned treatises, and reckoned by Fuller among the learned men of his college ; and William Bridge (1600-1670), Fellow of Emmanuel, who was silenced for Nonconformity and ejected, but is honoured as the author of various theological works. Among the men of learning who occasionally heard him were A. Whelock, then at Clare Hall, the translator of the New Testament into Persian, the editor of Bede, and the assistant of his friend, Edmund Castell ; Castell himself (bora 1606), already looking weary with study; Brian Walton (bom 1600), now at Peterhouse ; and John Lightfoot (1602-1675), now or recently at Christ's College, already busied with Rabbinical and Oriental literature, whom the Parlia- mentary visitors made Master of Catherine Hall, and who re- tained his post after the Restoration, chiefly through the influence of Sheldon. Among the laymen were Lord Wriothesley, son of Shakespeare's Earl of Southampton, ' whose bright face was often seen in the church,' and Sir Dudley North, both members of St. John's. At King's was Edmund Waller, and at Trinity, Thomaa Randolph, both known to us already as poets. If we could introduce the reader to the more eminent of Sibbes 5 SIBBES' CONTEMPORARIES. 425 contemporaries, including under that phrase those that studied with him at the beginning of the century and those who were at the University when he left, they would be found to be some of the most remarkable men of their time. From Christ's Col- lege had recently gone William Whately (1583-1639) to settle as lecturer at Banbury, the author of an able treatise on Regene- ration; Henry Scudder, the author of A Christian's Daily Walk, a favourite book of Baxter and Owen ; and A. Hilder- sharn (1563-1631), the author of treatises rich in practical and experimental divinity. There were, at the beginning of the century, Thomas Adams, at Sidney College; Samuel Ward, afterwards lecturer at Ipswich, persecuted for nonconformity, and author of several tracts of great scarcity and worth ; William Ames (1576-1633), who had inveighed against the immorality of the University, and who, amid the storm he raised, took refuge at the Hague, where, under the name of Amesius, he wrote several well-known books on theology and on ethics, espe- cially his 'Medulla Theologies, and his treatise, De Conscientia; Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646), minister of the Nonconformist churches at Rotterdam, Stepney, and Cripplegate, and author of a learned Commentary on Hosea; John Donne (1573-1631), divine and poet, who studied at Trinity and became Dean of St. Paul's, leaving behind him sermons which now rank high for pathos and dignity. Among the later members of the University were Samuel Cradock, a Nonconformist, author of a System of Divinity and a Harmony of the Evangelists ; John Pearson (1612-1686), of King's, afterwards Master of Trinity (1662) and Bishop of Chester, whose Exposition of the Creed is one of the best-written pieces of theology in our language ; David Clarkson (1620-1686), one of the most eminent of the Nonconformists, Fellow of Clare Hall, and tutor of Tillotson, who succeeded him in his fellowship, the co-pastor and successor of Dr. Owen, and author of several discourses ; Joseph Trueman (d. 1671), a memoer of Clare Hall, author of The Great Propi- tiation, and of a discourse on Natural and Moral Impotency, in which he anticipates some of the best-known modern distinctions on freedom and necessity; Stephen Charnock (1628-1680), who went while yet a youth to Emmanuel College, and afterwards to New College, Oxford, the author of one of the best treatises in our language On the Attributes of God, and a preacher for several years 426 PROSE THEOLOGY. in London ; Stephen Marshal, who was one of the most popular chaplains of the House of Commons in the days of the Parlia- ment, who died in 1655, and was buried in Westminster Abbey ; the ' Silver-tongued* Bates (1625-1699), who studied at Emmanuel's and King's, was Chaplain to Charles n., an active member of the Savoy Conference, was ejected in 1662, the friend of Tillotson and the author of several treatises, of which the best known is his Harmony of the Divine Perfections in the Work of Redemption; and "William Gurnal (1617-1674), Fellow of Emmanuel and minister at Lavenham, the author of the Chris- tian in Complete Armour ', a popular treatise on practical divinity. Add to this list several eminent members of Emmanuel College Tuckney, its president, a man of great learning and candour ; Benjamin Whichcote, Provost of King's, Professor of Divinity, afterwards Minister at St. Ann's, Blackfriars, and author of some admirable sermons, and of a book of Aphorisms on religion ; Henry More; Ralph Cud worth ; and John Davenant (d. 1641), Master of Queen's in 1614, sent by King James with Bishop Hall and the ' ever-memorable Hales ' to the Synod of Dort, Bishop of Salisbury, and author of an Exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians; Nathaniel Culver well, author of an impressive treatise on The Light of Nature, recently edited by Dr. Caird; John Smith (1618-1652), the pupil of Whichcote, and author of Select Discourses, a book of uncommon penetration and learning ; and John Worthington (1618-1671), Fellow and Master of Jesus, editor of the Select Discourses, and author of the Life of John Smith, his college friend. Such are a few, a few only, of the names that made the seven- teenth century illustrious for theology. The greatest names of all, those of Baxter, Owen, Howe, and Bunyan among the Non- conformists ; of Taylor, Leighton, Barrow, Tillotson, and South, among those who adhered throughout to Episcopacy, deserve fuller mention. 383. Oxford sympathised much less with theological inquiry and less with the Parliament than Cambridge. It was the University of Laud, the adviser of Charles I. in some Sford. 87 at ^ kk unw i sest measures, and of Juxon, the chaplain who attended him in his last moments. There, moreover were educated some of the most eminent of the Non- OXFORD: OWEN AND OTHEBS. 427 jurors, Ken, and Kettlewell, and Hickes. Some of its most learned men, indeed, were members of the Puritan party, Prynne, of Histriomastix celebrity, a member of Oriel ; John Hampden, the patriot ; and George Wither, the Republican poet of Mag- dalen; John Ball, of Brazenose (1585-1640), the Puritan writer On Faith, and on The Power of Godliness; Robert Bolton (1572-1631) of Lincoln, the first Greek scholar of his age, author of The Four Last Things, and of other works, all written in a style sometimes florid and sometimes magnificent ; Joseph Caryl, of Exeter (1602-1673), the author of an elaborate Commentary on Job; Thomas Manton, of Wadham (1620-1677), ordained by Bishop Hall before he was twenty, minister at Stoke Newington, chaplain to Cromwell, though he protested against the execution of the king, one of the best preachers in England, Bishop Usher says, and one of the ablest expositors of Scripture; John Flavel, of University College (1627-1691), Minister at Deptford and at Dartmouth, who, though silenced by the Act of Uniformity, continued preaching till his death, the author of the Fountain of Life Opened, Husbandry Spiri- tualized, and many other treatises. But the great men of Oxford were generally of another class. Now, however, the Puritan authority was in the ascendant. All Souls, where Sheldon, after- wards archbishop, was warden till 1648, was now presided over by a nominee of the Parliament. St. John's, where Laud and Juxon had been Masters, was under the care of Thankful Owen, an able man, though very unlike his predecessors. At Magdalen, Thomas Goodwin, the Puritan, was President, and at Christ's Church, the Dean was John Owen (1651), who became in the following year Vice-Chancellor. The Hebrew Professor was Dr. Pocock, a Eoyalist and a Prelatist, but carried through the ordeal of the Parliamentary Triers by Owen's influence. The Savilian Professor of Mathematics was Wallis, who had used his mathema- tical skill in deciphering the intercepted letters of the Eoyalists ; and the Warden of Wadham was Dr. Wilkins, afterwards Bishop of Chester, and brother-in-law of Cromwell. He was now divid- ing his thoughts between the possibility of a passage to the moon and the hope of framing a language of symbols that should be everywhere intelligible. These two learned gentlemen met weekly in rooms at Wadham to talk over questions connected with the new philosophy, and were joined by a tall sickly man, 428 PROSE THEOLOGY. Robert Boyle, and a young scholar of All Souls, Christopher Wren : Sydenham, the founder of the new school of medicine, will soon join them. Jeremy Taylor had been here some years before, having a fellowship at All Souls, but he had been sequestered, and was now school-keeping in Wales. Robert Sanderson, one of the ablest writers on ethics and divinity, had also just left Christ's College, a man of great learning and ability both as author and as preacher. Owen's predecessor was Edward Reynolds, who had been a member of the West- minster Assembly, and who was at the Restoration made Bishop of Norwich: he was the author of a treatise On the Passions, and of several volumes of elaborate and striking sermons. The previous Dean was John Fell, and the Sub-Dean, Dr. Hammond, both men of great learning. Fell became Bishop of Oxford, and aided the criticism of the text of the New Testament : Hammond was the author of four folio volumes, expository and practical. Owen and Goodwin proved no dishonour to the University, and among their pupils were men bearing some of the most eminent names in our literature. At Christ Church were Robert South, the wit and divine ; John Locke, the philosopher ; and Philip Henry, the model pastor, all of whom must have listened to Owen's teaching. At Magdalen were Richard Cumberland, a pupil of Goodwin's, eminent for historical learning and for ethical in- quiry ; Theophilus Gale, author of The Court of the Gentiles, a full account of ancient philosophy, and author of various sermons ; and John Howe, * the prince of theologians.' At Wadham was Bishop Sprat, the historian of the Royal Society, and at Corpus was Joseph Alleine, the author of The Alarm. Indeed, both Burnet and Clarendon bear witness to the good condition of the University when it passed from under Owen's care into the hands of his successors. During most of this time, Owen and Goodwin, from their interest in the spiritual welfare of the members of the University, added to their regular work the duty of preaching on alternate Sundays at St Mary's, 384. It has been noticed already that the greatest theologians of the seventeenth century were to be found at the Universities or in London. About the time when Tillotson was preaching at Lincoln's Inn, there were Wake and Jeremy Collier at Gray's Inn, Sherlock at the Temple, LONDON: TILLOTSON AND OTHERS. 429 Bui-net at the Eolls, Stillingfleet at St. Paul's, Patrick at Covent Garden, Sharp at St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, Tenison at St. Martin's, Sprat at St. Margaret's, Beveridge at St. Peter's, Cornhill. Most of these men were famous for learning or for eloquence. Nine of them became bishops and four archbishops, and all were London clergy . a Nor were those connected with the Nonconformist bodies men of less eminence. Between the Commonwealth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, there were lecturing at Pinners Hall, Bates, Manton, Owen, Howe, Mat. Mead, and Daniel Williams : at Jewin-street, the meeting-house of Lardner, Benson, and R. Price, was Dr. W. Harris ; at Carter-lane, Doctor's Commons, were in succession, Sylvester, Baxter, Edmund Calamy, and Jeremiah Burroughs ; at Crosby-square were Charnock and Dr. Grosvenor ; at Bmy-street were Caryl, Owen, and D. Clarkson ; at Silver-street, among the Presbyterians, were Dr. Jacomb; and among the Independents, Philip Nye and Daniel Neal; at Haberdashers' Hall were Strong, the author of The Covenants, and Theophilus Gale, of the Court of the Gentiles; at Salters' Hall was Nathaniel Taylor, * the dissenting South,' and Spilsbury, the brother-in-law of Bishop Hall; at the Three Cranes in Thames-street, Thomas Gouge and Thomas Ridgeley, the author of a well-known Body of Divinity ; and in other parts of London were Hansard Knollys, Henry d'Anvers, Daniel Dyke, William Kiffen, Joseph Stennett, Daniel Burgess, Thomas Yincent, Henry Denne, and later Dr. James Foster, whom Pope names as the model preacher of his age. All these men were authors, and their works still claim a place in our theological literature. 385. John Owen was born in 1616, being the son of the minister of a small parish in Oxfordshire, a descendant of a long line of Welsh ancestors. When quite young, he went to Queen's College, Oxford, with an ardent passion for study, to which he gave nearly twenty hours out of the four-and-twenty, and made great progress in all departments of knowledge, 'from mathematics to music.' He intended enter- ing the Church of England, but his plans were changed by a visitation of religious earnestness while yet a student. There- upon his conscience grew tender, perhaps morbidly tender ; and Laud's new code of statutes for the regulation of the University a Macaulay, 1. 330. 430 PROSE THEOLOGY. filled him with alarm and drove him from the place. Happening to reside for a time in London, he went to hear EdmondCalarny, then a celebrated preacher. Calamy, however, was from home, and his place was supplied by a country minister, whose name Owen could never ascertain. The message of the truth was blessed to him ; his fears were dispelled, and gradually he gained an earnestness and a definiteness of purpose in life such as he had not yet known. In the Gospel he found peace, and to the cause of the Gospel he consecrated all his powers. A book which he published at this time attracting the at- tention of the Parliament, he was presented to the living of Ford- ham, and afterwards to that of Coggleshall, both in Essex. Here his reputation grew so rapidly that in 1649 Cromwell took him to Ireland, where he was employed in remodelling Trinity Col- lege, Dublin. After visiting Edinburgh with Cromwell he was made Dean of Christ Church, and in the following year (1652), Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford an office he retained till Cromwell's death. After the Kestoration, Clarendon offered him church preferment, but he felt bound to decline it. For some time he suffered from the persecuting spirit of the times, though his sufferings were strangely alleviated by the respect of all parties and the personal kindness of the king, who on one occasion sent for him and gave him a thousand guineas to distribute among his coreligionists. The later years of Owen's life he spent in London, where he suc- ceeded Caryl as minister, and where he was himself followed by Isaac Watts. A large portion of his time must have been devoted to literary work, for he wrote some thirty volumes, among which his Exposition of the Hebrews is one of the most elaborate. At length his pen dropped from his hand ; and on Bartholomew's Day, 1683, after hearing that the printer had just put to press his Meditation on the Glory of Christ, he fell asleep, and all that glory was at once revealed. ' On the 4th September a vast funeral procession, including the carriages of sixty-seven noblemen and gentlemen, with long trains of mourning coaches and horsemen, took the road to Finsbury, and there in a new burying-ground within a few paces of Goodwin's grave, and near the spot where five years later John Bunyan was interred, they laid the dust of Dr. Owen.' ft Hamilton's Christian Classics, ii. q. OWEN : HOWE, 431 Owen's fame does not rest on his style, but partly on his posi- tion and personal manners, though chiefly on his thoughts. He possessed, Wood tells us, ' a comely personage, graceful behaviour in the pulpit, an eloquent elocution, a whining deportment,' and was equally ready for business and for speech. His sentences are often tedious and involved, his diction dry and pointless : he firmly repudiates ' eloquence and ornaments,' and yet for exhaus- tive thought, logical skill, and extensive learning, all pervaded with a deep and tender spirituality, there is no greater man than Owen. Eobert Hall could 'never read him;' yet Cecil deemed him one of our richest writers. Dr. Welsh in his later years read nothing but the Bible, the Olney Hymns, and Owen's Spiritual Mindedness, while the publication and sale of two complete editions of his works in upwards of twenty volumes, and during one generation, attest the estimate in which his writings are held by general readers. It may be added that theo- logically Owen is more Calvinistic than Calvin, and that he was one of the first in England to teach the doctrine of a restricted Atonement. 386. Like Owen and Flavel and Matthew Henry, John Howe was the son of a minister, and was born at Loughborough in Leices- tershire in 1630. He began his career at Cambridge, but soon left for Oxford, where he became a fellow of Magdalen, and joined the Congregational Church under the pas- toral care of the President of Magdalen, Dr. Thomas Goodwin. In his twenty-third year he was appointed minister of Great Torrington in Devonshire. There he became acquainted with the noble family of the Eussells, married the daughter of Mr. Hughes of Plymouth, a minister equally renowned and beloved in that district, and there he preached, and wrote his two treatises On the Blessedness of the Righteous and On Delighting in God. Happening to visit London he went to worship one Sunday at AVhitehall, and there the keen eye of Cromwell observed him. He was commanded to preach on the following Sunday ; and in the end, though sorely against his own will, he became one of Cromwell's chaplains. His ministry was now transferred to West- minster, where all classes seem to have profited by it, the poor and simple instructed by its piety and scripturalness, and the 432 PROSE THEOLOGY. more thoughtful and intelligent by its fulness and depth. His influence with the Protector was very great, and was always used for others, not for himself. On one occasion he appealed to Cromwell to make Seth Ward, who was one of the greatest mathematicians of England, Principal of Jesus College : the ap- plication was too late, but Cromwell gave Howe's friend an in- come equal to the salary of the office. At the Eestoration, Howe gratefully resumed his charge at Torrington, and there, by a curious coincidence, Dr. Ward was his diocesan. The Act of Uniformity drove him from his living, though the bishop tried to argue him out of his scruples. For some time he preached at the houses of different members of his congregation, but despair- ing of any continuous labour he accepted an invitation to become chaplain to Lord Massarene at Antrim Castle in Ireland, and there he resided for five years. In 1676 he came to London to take the pastorate of a church in Silver-street, where he had an intelligent and affectionate people. After an anxious and broken ministry, he settled at Utrecht, having gone abroad with Philip, Lord Wharton, and there with Burnet and other refugees he waited for better times. On the expulsion of the Stuarts he returned to England and resumed his ministry at Silver-street. ' His blameless character, his commanding intellect, his concilia- tory spirit, and his advancing years made him the centre of a very general reverence and affection.'* Eound his death-bed gathered many friends and ministers, to whom he expatiated on that bless- edness which he had so often described, and which he was so soon to see. Among these were Eichard Cromwell, to whom he had been chaplain five and forty years before, and who was now a quiet country gentleman, and a mail of exemplary Christian character. Howe died in 1705. His characteristic qualities are majesty and comprehensiveness, and his writings have been preferred by many eminent and com- petent judges to those of any other Puritan divine. Eobert Hall used to * admire exceedingly* his Living Temple, which, like Augustine's City of God, is a kind of system of divinity, his Redeemer's Tears, and especially his Defence of the Sincerity cfthe. Gospel-o/er, or the Beconcilableness of God's Prescience of the Sins of Men with His Counsels and Warnings and whatever means He Hamilton's Christian elastics. CHILLINGWOKTH. 433 us to prevent them. This treatise is, as Hall thinks, the most profound and the most philosophical of all his writings. Howe was, like many of the men of his age, too fond of divisions in his composition, and his style is wanting in grace and clearness. 387. It is curious to notice how human nature repeats itself. In our own century the study of the Fathers has been pressed upon us by some as the only means of arriving at bumanSature, religious truth : others have preached the doctrine of nnd of religious sacramental efficacy, others a simple evangelism re- solving everything into faith and love, and others a latitudinarianism which lays stress upon intelligence and earnestness, studies Christian doctrine in the light of philo- sophy, and claims for candour and sincerity the place which is due rather to the love of the truth, and of the truth as it is in Christ. These controversies were carried on with no less vehemence in the seventeenth century. About the year 1628 John Daille, who had been chaplain to the Huguenot Mornay family, and was residing at Paris as Protestant minister and author, published a treatise on The Eight Use of the Fathers. He there maintains that they cannot be the judges in modern religious controversies, partly because it is difficult or even impossible to find out what they teach, and partly because they are themselves fallible. The book was a favourite one with Lord Falkland, who translated part of it into English, while two of Falkland's friends, Chillingworth and Hales, found in it materials to help them in their revolt against church authority. Both these great men were Arminians, and were strongly opposed to the Puritans, but both deliberately declined to use the Fathers in defence of their views. William Chillingworth (1602-1644) was born at Oxford, where he also studied. Under the influence of Fisher the Jesuit, Ch'ir rth. ^ e en tered the Romish Church and removed to Douay. The argument that weighed most with him was, that the church of Eome supplied that infallible living guide in matters of faith which he thought that most men need. After adopting his new creed, however, he discovered that there is no more infalli- bility at Rome than at Canterbury, and that instead of having one book to study a single Bible, he had now a hundred books, all less simple and more uncertain than the teaching of the Book of God. 2 2 F 434 PROSE THEOLOGY. He therefore returned to the Protestant faith. A Jesuit called Knott, but whose true name was Wilson, a Morpeth man (1580- 1656), having written a book to prove that unrepenting Protes- tants could not be saved, Chillingworth replied in his famous answer, Tlie Religion of Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation (1637). This work, which answers Knott's, paiv.^raph by paragraph, and almost sentence by sentence, is a model of clear reasoning, and one of the ablest defences of the Protestant cause. It has the great excellence of adhering to the question in dispute, and of avoiding all ambiguities of language. Its main doctrine is, that every- thing necessary to be believed is clearly laid down in Scripture. Of tradition, which was now becoming a popular authority with some parties in the Church, he speaks very slightingly ; and while admitting that doctrines held universally and from the first (ab omnibus, semper, ubique,to adopt the definition of Vincentius), are no doubt primitive truths, he thinks that it is impossible to ascertain what they are, and that the doctrines which come the nearest to this definition (among which he names Chiliasm and Infant Communion) are rejected by all denomina- tions in modern times. Though written in answer to Knott, The Religion of Protestants has the excellence common to every great book : it is understood and appreciated without the necessity of any reference to the volume it answers. Chillingworth 's Arminian notions raised against him the charge of Latitudinarianism, and the charge was confirmed by his refusal to subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles, the necessary condition of preferment in the Church. It seems however to have been subscription to which Chillingworth objected rather than to the Articles themselves. In his treatise he protests against ' deify- ing our own interpretations and enforcing them upon others,' and holds that * this restraining of the words of God from their gene- rality of understanding, and of men from that liberty which Christ and his apostles left them, is the only fountain of all the schisms of the Church and that which makes them immortal/ After a time his scruples were overcome, and in 1638 he was promoted to be Chancellor of Salisbury. He remained till the close of life the personal friend of Laud, though his book became the favourite of the more liberal school of divines, and had among its wannest admirers Tillotson and Locke. Lord Clarendon praises Chillingworth for his subtlety of understanding, his quickness of HALES: LE1GHTON. 435 argument, and gentleness of temper, qualities in which, he adds, * he had a great advantage over all the men I ever knew.' 388. A still bolder defender of the same general views was 'the ever memorable' John Hales of Eton (1584-1656). He Halea was an em ^ nent Greek scholar, and was appointed Professor of that tongue at Oxford in 1612. Ini6i8 he went to the Hague as chaplain to Sir D. Carleton, and attended the Synod of Dort. Up to this time he had been a Calvinist ; but the reasonings and the genial spirit of Episcopius, the leader of the Arminian party, led him to change his faith, and as he himself says * to bid John Calvin good night.' On his return to England he accepted a fellowship at Eton offered to him by his friend the Provost, Sir H. Savile. After the defeat of the Royalists he was deprived of his fellowship for refusing the ' Engagement ' or oath of fidelity to the Commonwealth as then established. For his support under these circumstances he sold a part of his library at a great loss both of money and of feeling : he continued, however, to retain the good opinion of all parties, both by his scholarship and by his courteous cheerful independence. His learning is at- tested by Bishop Pearson, Dr. Heylin, Andrew Marvel, and Clarendon, most of whom had occasion to avail themselves of it. In religion he was remarkably charitable and tolerant. His Sermons are clear and simple in style, in sentiment wanting in evangelicalness, and occasionally tending, as Hallam notes, to Socinianism. His Tract concerning Schism and Schismatics was intended to protest against Church authority in matters of faith. The disunion of Christians he ascribes to the multiply ing of tests, and to the ambition of churchmen in power : fewer tests and more simplicity and love are the remedies which he proposes for existing evils. Some passages excited the suspicion of Laud, an old friend of the author ; but on conference between the two, Laud was so well pleased with his explanations that he pressed on his acceptance a prebendal stall at Windsor. Some of the harsh and strong expressions of the first edition of Schism he softened or omitted in the second. 389. Leighton, Taylor, and Barrow are examples of men as conscientious as the Puritans, who yet took an oppo- site side, and suffered for conscience* sake. Kobert Leighton was born in 1613 and was the son of a Puritan 2 r2 133 PROSE THEOLOGY. who suffered much persecution. After receiving a good edu- cation at home he was sent to Edinburgh, where he gave early proof of talent and of piety. His knowledge of mathematics and the gentleness of his temper are specially mentioned by his con- temporaries. When he had finished his studies at the University he resided for some years in France, and on his return to Eng- land he became Presbyterian minister of Newbattle near Edin- burgh. In his parish he was a most exemplary pastor. When Charles L was confined by the Commissioners of the Parliament in Holmby House, ' The Engagement ' was formed to rescue him. Leighton, wearied of the divisions of the country, and probably dreading the downfall of the monarchy, declared for the Engage - ment, and gave up his connexion with Presbyterians to join the Episcopalians. For this decision the Presbyterians denounced him as an apostate, and the other party gave him the hearty wel- come so often reserved for new converts. Having resigned his charge he was chosen, by the magistrates and town council of Edinburgh, Principal of the University, and there he delivered the course of Lectures with which his name is still associated. For pure Latinity and sublime thought they have been praised by all parties. This office Leighton held for ten years. In 1662 he was made Bishop of Dunblane, accepting the office with reluctance and misgiving. His hope seems to have been to re- concile differences and to soften animosity. Finding that harsh measures were used to force Episcopacy on the Scottish people he remonstrated with the King, and was for the time quieted with fair speeches. In 1670 he was appointed, still against his will, Archbishop of Glasgow ; for twelve months he declined to act upon the appointment and resigned it in 1673 : after a second and third resignation he vacated the office and retired to his Bishopric of Dunblane. Displeased with the Court, and despair- ing of effecting further good in public life, he removed to England, and resided at Broadhurst in Sussex. There in peace and active benevolence he spent the remainder of his days, dying in 1684. His character is sketched with great affection by Bishop Burnet : c he had,' says he, * a sublime strain in preaching, with so grave a gesture, and such a majesty both of thought, of language, and of pronunciation, that I never once saw a wandering eye where he preached, and have seen whole assemblies often melted in tears before him.' His Commentary on the First Epistle of Peter is LEIGHTON: TAYLOR. 437 rich in evangelical sentiment, and contains 'much learning without parade, sound theology without stiffness, and great elo- quence with natural language and appropriate imagery.' It has had many admirers, from Doddridge to Coleridge. With the latter it was a special favourite, and extracts from it form the basis and not the least interesting part of the Aids to Reflecti&n. 390. The most imaginative of the divines of the seventeenth century was Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), the Spenser of theolo- gical literature, though not, as some have called him, the Shakespeare. He is without the insight or philosophy or unity of the great dramatist, but he strongly re- sembles the author of the Faery Queen in richness of fancy, in music of language, as well as in the tendency to be led away by some favourite image or to be lost in some absorbing reverie. He has also the faults incident to this temperament : he sometimes heaps epithet on epithet and image on image : ' all the quaint conceits of his fancy and the curious stores of his learning are dragged in, till both precision and propriety are lost.' Yet even in this exuberance there are method and purpose. His discourses are like the speeches of the orator, and seek to produce their effect by reiteration ; or like the later pictures of Turner, in which it is at first difficult to look through masses of colour apparently laid on without discrimination, but in which, when we have looked through them, there is always meaning and beauty. Gorgeous, moreover, as his imagery often is, it is generally natural, taken from trees and birds and flowers, from the sun and sky, from infancy and youth ; so that there is always freshness of feeling and of fancy, even when we are tempted to complain of excess. Above all, this vivid style is evidently his own. It is inseparable from the man : hence it remained with him till the last, unaffected by the sober- ing influence of the Civil War, in which he both shared and suf- fered, and even by the dry discussions of casuistry in which he was tempted to join. Taylor was born at Cambridge, and was descended from a re- spectable family that had settled in the county of Gloucester, one of whose members had suffered martyrdom in Queen Mary's days. His father was a barber, and the son entered Caius College as a sizar. Here he took his degree. Having gone to London in to deliver some lectures for a college friend at St. Paul's, his 438 PROSE THEOLOGY. 'florid and youthful beauty ' and his eloquent discourses procured him the patronage of Archbishop Laud, the friend of learning, if not of freedom. Through his influence he obtained a fellowship in All Souls, Oxford, was made chaplain to the Archbishop, and rector of Uppingham in Rutland. In 1639 he married, and in three years lost his wife, who borc him throe sons. The early death of all these clouded the life of their father, and probably helped to give to his writings that tinge of sadness which most readers perceive. The Civil War was now raging, and Taylor joined the Cavaliers. By royal mandate he was made D.D., and by the king's command wrote his Defence, of Episcopacy. In 1641, while acting as chaplain to the royal army, he was taken prisoner near Cardigan. He was soon released ; but finding his occupation gone, he resolved with two friends to establish a school in Carmarthenshire. After a while he was interdicted from teaching. Twice he seems to have been imprisoned, though without any peculiar severity. * In the great storm which dashed the vessel of the church in pieces,' says he, ' I know not whether I have been more preserved by the courtesy of my friends or by the gentleness and mercies of a noble enemy.'* Here he published in 1647 his Liberty of Prophesying (i.e. of preaching), shewing the unreasonableness of prescribing to other men's faith and the iniquity of persecuting differing opinions. This work is perhaps of ' all Taylor's writings that which shows him farthest in advance of the age in which he lived, and of the ecclesiastical system in which he had been reared. It is the first distinct and avowed defence of that toleration which had been ventured in England/ His argument is based upon the maxim of Erasmus, that the fundamental truths of the gospel are com- prised in the Apostles' Creed, and that all beyond that creed is too uncertain to warrant us in condemning those who differ from us. For truths not contained in that creed he thinks that Scripture gives us no ' internal medium of interpretation, that tradition to which men appeal is dubious and insufficient, that the authority of councils is precarious from their inconsistency and their liability to factious passion, that the alleged infallibility of the Pope is un- founded, and the judgment of the Fathers often mutually contra- dictory, while the writings and records of all these unsatisfactory Preface to tte Liberty of Prophesying, TAYLOR, 439 authorities are subject to wilful interpolation and to accidental mistakes. He suggests that churches should be formed on the plan of admitting to their communion all who profess the Apos- tles' Creed, and affirms, as Hales had affirmed before him, that ' he is rather the schismatic who makes unnecessary and inconve- nient impositions, than he who disobeys them because he cannot do otherwise without violating his conscience.' The reasonings of Taylor are clearly in favour of universal toleration, but he seems to have felt some difficulty in applying them. He tolerates diversities on doctrines not contained in the Apostles' Creed, but on doctrines contained in that creed he seems to insist on intolerance, in order that the authority of the magis- trate may be upheld. In his seventeenth chapter he advises the magistrate before framing a law of discipline to consider whether it may be reasonably disliked by any who are to obey it : but when once it is enacted it must, he says, be enforced, and worship inconsistent with it must be put down. Whether this chapter was intended to rebuke the Puritan party, who refused to submit to ecclesiastical discipline, or whether the chapter itself is a later interpolation, as Hallam seems disposed to think, is not certain : but it is obviously not in keeping with the general argument of the book. In the same chapter he pleads earnestly for the toler- ation of the Baptists, whose views are ' so plausible and erro- neous,' though he thinks they must be restrained from preaching their notions on the unlawfulness of war or on capital punishment. He also goes beyond Milton, and holds that Koman Catholics are to be tolerated except when they assert the Pope's power of depos- ing princes or of dispensing with oaths. The double principle he advocates is that toleration should be universal, only that the magistrate must see to the safety of the commonwealth : * then whether such or such a sect be to be tolerated is a question rather political than religions.' The treatise ends with the well- known parable of Abraham, found, as Taylor says, in ' the Jews' books,' but really in an Arabian author, This story Franklin told, without stating whence he had taken it, and for many years it continued to be quoted with his name. It is not found in the first edition of Taylor's work, and indeed the book from which it Is supposed to be taken was not published till 1651. The fault of Taylor's volume, is partly the ground on which he rests his argument, and partly the tone of exaggeration in which 440 PROSE THEOLOGY. lie defends it. Is the certainty of any truth a reason for not tolerating its opposite ? Is it the grand reason for toleration that, on many questions, truth cannot be known ? This is surely no self- evident principle, and yet it forms the basis of all his reasoning. In support of this argument Taylor also exaggerates the uncer- tainty of truth. He throws doubt upon many questions which dispassionate inquirers would not hesitate to affirm, and which he himself has affirmed in more than one of his other works. This tendency indeed to make exaggerated statements pervades his writings : he seems to have written on the principle of stating the opinion he is affirming in the strongest form, and then, finding that he has gone too far, instead of softening and modifying 'the expressions he has used, he inserts something of an opposite kind equally unguarded. Hence it is easy to quote from his writings contradictory statements, and even to represent him as holding opinions which he is known to condemn. While in Wales, Taylor married Mrs. Bridges, a natural daugh- ter of Charles I., and the owner of an estate in Carmarthen. Her property, however, must have been diminished by fines, or perhaps by the defence of the royal cause. At all events Taylor was com- pelled to accept of the generosity of his friend, John Evelyn, who contributed for some years to his support. In 1648, soon after the publication of The Liberty of Prophe- sying, he published The Life of Christ, our great Exemplar, a work that became deservedly popular. It was followed by treatises on Holy Living and Holy Dying the last originating in a serious illness of the Countess of Carbery's, and by several Sermons. He wrote also at this time The Golden Grove, a manual of devotion, which took its name from the residence of the Earl of Carbery, his neighbour and patron. He next published a course of Sermons for the Year, and some tracts on Original Sin, in which he showed a tendency to adopt the Pelagian error on that doctrine. All his sermons have a high character : his piety and charity commend them to most readers, ' while his poetical imagination, the large accumulation of facts and reason- ings and touching incidents, his erudition, which pours itself forth in quotation till his pieces become in some places almost a garland of flowers from all other writers,' have charms which interest those whose hearts are less influenced by the thought. His elo- quence indeed is not of the highest class : his style is too much BARROW. 441 that of a declaimer who lives in an age when taste is vitiated, and when impressiveness is supposed to depend more upon the words than upon the sentiment. Yet he is the greatest preacher of his class, and will always find readers to admire, though it is never safe to copy him. In 1657 he became the minister of a number of Episcopalians who met for worship in London. In the following year he went to Ireland, and became preacher in the church at Lisburn under the patronage of the Earl of Conway. In 1660 he visited London to publish his Ductor Dubitantium, the most elaborate of his works, though not the most successful. Taylor's mind was not well qualified for discussions of casuistry ; his fertility and acuteness were poor substitutes for the strong good sense and firm grasp of great principles which such questions require. The journey however exercised an important influence on his history. The Commonwealth was then on the eve of dissolution, and he opportunely signed the declaration of the Royalists. Charles soon entered the metropolis, amid such acclamations as made him ex- press surprise that he had ever been suffered to leave it, and in three months Taylor was appointed to the bishopric of Down and Connor, to which the see of Dromore was afterwards annexed, * on account of his virtue, wisdom, and industry.' His latest work was his Dissuasive from, Popery, published in 1664. Here he repeats the principles he had laid down in his Liberty of Prophe- sying, rejecting all but Scripture authority, and denouncing the inconsistencies and fallacies of tradition. Here again the learning is profuse, but less exact and used with less scrupulousness than could be wished. His new honours he enjoyed for only six years, and died of fever at Lisburn in 1667. His works were first pub- lished in a collected form by Reginald Heber in 1822, and a third edition appeared in 1839." 391. The name of Isaac Barrow is second only to that of Newton in mathematics : in theology, it is, in its own class, second Barrow to none * Barrow was born in London, it is sup- posed in 1630. He entered as a scholar at the Char- ter House, which had then been recently opened ; but he proved an idle and quarrelsome boy. From the Charter House he moved The Contemplations on Man, sometimes included in Taylor's works, are not his. 442 PROSE THEOLOGY. to Cambridge, where he became a student of Trinity College, and gained the good opinion of Dr. Hill, the Presbyterian Master. He was elected Fellow of his college, but, despairing of promotion in a church avowedly anti-Episcopal, he devoted himself to the study of medicine, and had as a fellow student John Ray the naturalist. Soon after, his uncle, the future Bishop of St. Asaph, suggested that by his fellowship he was bound to study theology ; Barrow thereupon relinquished natural science, and with a conscien- tiousness that distinguished him through Me, resumed the study of divinity. Happening to note in reading Eusebius how import- ant a knowledge of astronomy seemed to be to the accurate settle- ment of chronological questions, he took up that science : he then found it needful to master Euclid, and then Conic Sections, till in a few years he became one of the first mathematicians of his age. His earliest publication was an edition of Euclid's Elements (1655), in which he gives the fifteen books entire. In 1655, having been disappointed in his hope of obtaining a Greek profes- sorship at Cambridge, vacated by the death of Duport, he went abroad and spent four years in visiting the principal countries of Europe. At Constantinople he studied with great delight the works of Chrysostom, * the golden-mouthed/ most of which were composed in that city. In 1659 he returned to England, and at the Restoration was elected to the Greek Chair at Cambridge. In 1662 he obtained an office still more to his taste, being made Professor of Geometry in Gresham College. The same year Mr. Lucas founded a professorship of mathematics at Cambridge, and Barrow received the first appointment. This office he held six years, and towards the end of that time prepared for the press his Lectiones Opticce, though the work was not published till 1672, The text was revised by his favourite student Isaac Newton, who supplied some important additions. In 1669 Barrow resigned his professorship, and was succeeded at his own request by his illustrious pupil. Besides the edition of Euclid he published editions of Archimedes, Apollonius, and Theodosius (1675): he wrote also Lectures on Geometry y which contain much that is both original and profound. After resigning his mathematical chair he lived quietly at college, writing sermons and studying theology. In 1672 he reached the height of his ambition, and was made Master of Trinity: three years later he became Vice-Chancellor of the BARROW. 443 University. Amid all his honours his personal habits remained unchanged. With few wants, he gave away in charity most of what he received, either to the poor, or later to the collection of the great library at Trinity which he founded and enriched. At his sermons he continued to work as if his living depended upon them. He was still in the vigour of manhood when the hand of death seized him. In 1677 he went to London to preach the Passion Sermon at Guildhall. It was the last sermon but one he ever preached, and only the second that had brought him any pecuniary remuneration, for, though he wrote many ser- mons, he preached very few. He must have discoursed at great length, and was probably exhausted by the service. At all events he took cold, and was laid up with fever. In a few weeks he died * in a mean lodging at a saddler's near Charing Cross, the place he had used for several years/ He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a marble monument, erected by his friends, records his learn- ing and worth. A more durable memorial is to be found in his theological works, consisting of the most eloquent Exposition of the Creed, as the exposition by Pearson, his predecessor at Trinity, is the most learned ; Expositions of the Lord's Prayer and of the Decalogue ; Sermons and Treatises on the Pope's Supremacy and on the Unity of the Church. His works were published in three volumes folio a few years after his death. ' Of all the men I ever had the happiness of knowing,' says Tillotson, * he was the freest from offending in word, coming as near as is possible for human frailty to the perfect idea of St. James's " perfect man." ' * It is the whimsical regret of his biographer, A. Hill, that he could hear of no calumny from which to vindicate him, and there can be no doubt that the happy equanimity of his spirit, his superiority to selfish considerations, his humility and large bene- volence, secured for him an unusual amount of good will> In judging of his sermons it must be kept in mind that they were not written for an actual audience. They are really treatises on subjects that struck or interested his own mind. He him- self tells us that * had he been a settled preacher he should have made them shorter,' and it may be added he would probably have left out scholastic phrases, and have quoted less from Aristotle and Seneca. As it is, they include with his other treatises * the * Hamilton's Life, prefixed to Barrow's works. 444 PROSE THEOLOGY. whole domain of theology and morals. There is scarcely a question which is not exhausted, and by his copiousness of language placed in every point of view and examined with the most conscientious accuracy.' It is largely to Barrow we owe the reunion in religious teaching of morality and religion, a reunion characteristic of much of our English theology. His eight ser- mons on the government of the tongue may be referred to as among the finest specimens of exhaustive moral teaching. At the same time it must be added that he too often appeals to motives of a moral or rational or temporal kind, without fully recognising the importance and power of those motives which we sum up in one word The Cross. As a writer his style is strong, flowing, and cumulative, not entirely free from vulgarism, sometimes weakened by parentheses, yet on the whole dignified and impressive. He closes, as Cole- ridge remarks, the first great period of the English language, as Dryden begins the second.* Stewart notes with truth that he displays in his works * a certain air of powerful and of conscious facility in the execution of whatever he undertakes. Whether the subject be mathematical, metaphysical, or theological, he seems always to bring to it a mind which feels itself superior to the occasion, and which in contending with the greatest difficul- ties puts forth but half its strength.' 392. Every reader who has looked into the writings of the Puritans must have been struck with the style of their sermons. Preaching in ^atimer and the Gospellers of his day spoke to the people direct, and that direct style was common in teenth century. England, till the middle of the reign of Elizabeth. It was thus Henry Smith preached at St Clement Danes, as did Walter Travers, the colleague and opponent of Richard Hooker at the Temple. With the later years of Elizabeth and the reign of James another fashion was introduced. Both the Tudor queen and her successor were jealous of the pulpit, and especially jealous of appeals to the people. To this influence in part, and in part to the euphuistic tastes of the age, the alteration of the style of sermonising is to be attributed. The natural method of treating a text is to seize the leading thought, to present it entire, to ex- Hamilton's elastics, ii., 587, PREACHERS : SOUTH : TILLOTSON. 445 plain and apply it. The Puritans dissected it and made each morsel the theme of a separate disquisition, ' spicing the whole with puns and quips and verbal jingles/ which tickled the fancy and probably helped the memory. In many of their sermons there was great ingenuity, often no small beauty of language and thought, and nearly always glorious truth : their method more- over called attention to God's words, and impressed them at once on the memory and on the heart. But it was not to be defended ; and we now come to two preachers who introduced a sounder system, South and Tillotson, though both were want- Tmotson d ^ m some ^ *ke more i m P ortant qualities of their predecessors. Both were educated under Puritans and sectaries South under Owen at Oxford, Tillotson under Clarkson at Cambridge ; both joined the church of England ; both were chaplains of Charles n. ; both were admirable sermon- writers, though in very different styles. But here the likeness between the two men ends. South showed great contempt for science, and reserved for the Eoyal Society the bitterness which was not expended on fanatics : Tillotson could correspond with Halley about comets, and discuss the journey to the moon or the ' universal character ' with his wife's step-father and Cromwell's brother-in-law, Dr. Wilkins. South never thought of his early associates but with rancour, or spoke of them but as knaves or hypocrites : Tillotson longed to comprehend them in the church, and made several attempts to widen the door or remove what he deemed to be their scruples. South's temper was so fiery and his tongue so rasping that his foes dreaded his onslaughts, while his humour was so uncertain that his friends who thought they had most reason to count upon his affection were often the likeliest to suffer: Tillotson shared the love of all round him, * edited the books of his friends, acted as guardian to their orphan families or as executor to their wills.' ' South, in some respects the better theologian, and incomparably the more brilliant thinker, accomplished little or nothing for the cause of our common Chris- tianity ; whilst in his living day, Tillotson's arguments and affec- tionate appeals were profoundly felt by listening thousands, and long after he was gone, his name continued in the kingdom a tower of strength to the Church of England.' 1 * a Hamilton, iii., 24. 446 PROSE THEOLOGY, 393. Robert South (1633-1716) was born at Hackney, and was educated under Dr. Busby at Westminster. At Oxford he entered as a student at Christ Church, and had as his fellow-student John Locke, while John Owen was Dean. There he showed the same qualities which we note with dissatisfaction in his later years a keen wit, an ill humour, an overhearing temper, and no small shrewdness in taking care of himself. In 1660 he was chosen University Orator, and his abilities attracting the notice of Clarendon, who was then Chan- cellor of Oxford and Lord High Chancellor of England, South was appointed his chaplain. In the first sermon he preached before the court he broke down, but soon became a favourite, and was promised a bishopric. In 1663 he was made Prebend of West- minster, and in 1670 Canon of Christ Church and Rector of Islip ; but he never received higher promotion. His income as rector he spent generously on the parish. As the Revolution drew on he was sadly puzzled. Declining to take part with either side, he announced that he should * go into retirement, and give himself unto prayer.' There he remained till the Revolution was completed. As soon as William was king de facto he took the oath of allegiance and retained his preferment. He lived to witness the accession of George i. and died in 1716: he was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his grave is still marked by an elaborate monument. South's fame as a preacher is owing to very obvious qualities. First of all he has strong practical sense, and shows it in address- ing his hearers in plain forcible English, in rejecting the techni- cal phraseology and the endless divisions of his predecessors, and especially in selecting arguments and illustrations likeliest to produce conviction. Then, like Thomas Fuller, he has a ready wit. His sermons sparkle with coruscations that must have lighted up many a smile, and sometimes for there is much honest feeling about them have warmed many a heart. Add to these his liveliness, natural eloquence, vigour, and freshness, and it is not difficult to understand his popularity. Of tender and evangelical feeling there is but little trace in his writings. Yet his sermons are still well worth reading, and are rich in sagacious thought, brilliant imagery, and vigorous racy utterances, His discourse on Man created in Ood's image, is one of the best known, and certainly nothing had then appeared more poetical in conception, or more exquisite in language. In 1693 he pub- SOUTH: TILLOTSON. 447 lished Animadversions on SherlocWs Vindication of the Doctrine cf the Trinity, which are written with great virulence and unbe- coming personality. 394. John Tillotson (1630-1694) was a native of Yorkshire, where his father was known as a man of strong sense and of emi- nent piety. In his seventeenth year he was sent to Clare Hall, Cambridge, and had David Clarkson as his tutor. With such an ancestry and such training it can excite no surprise that the first sermon he published was one delivered at the morning exercise in Cripplegate a nonconformist service. Meanwhile, however, the study of Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants, had modified his earlier opinions, and on the passing of the Act of Uniformity, in 1662, he accepted the curacy of Cheshunt near London. In the following year he was elected Preacher at Lincoln's Inn, and soon after obtained a lectureship at St. Lawrence, Jewry, where crowds went to hear him, and where he was regarded as a model of pulpit eloquence. Three influences were now at work in the state. Libertinism was running to excess at the Court, in literature, and on the stage. As a consequence men were learning to doubt what they thought they had an interest in doubting ; while on the other hand there was a reaction in favour of the Romish church. Profligacy, infidelity, and Popery, were beginning to take posses- sion of the nation, as they had for some time had a strong hold upon the Court. These threefold evils Tillotson sought to meet. Among his ablest writings are some sermons against Transub- stantiation and others in favour of Natural Eeligion and on the first principles of the Christian faith, ' temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come.' Whether discourses on such themes were the likeliest to gain the end of the preacher may be ques- tioned. It must even be conceded that Tillotson's example in- troduced a style of preaching which in a few years confounded law and gospel, * and while teaching many useful lessons, at last forgot to tell sinners the only way to heaven.' Yet it is certain that there was no preacher at the close of the seventeenth century whose sermons better pleased the sober-minded members of the church of England, that drew larger congregations of serious hearers, or that left a deeper impression on the public mind. 448 PROSE THEOLOGY. In 1672 Tillotson was made Dean of Canterbury, and \\hen the Prince of Orange came to the throne he became Archbishop, and Primate of all England. He survived his promotion scarcely more than three years, and his sermons formed the only property he had to bequeath to his widow. Owing to his celebrity as a divine they were sold for what was then the large sum of 2500 guineas, and though now little read they long continued to be popular. Indeed they are still models of clearness and of prac- tical teaching, though wanting in unction and in evangelical fulness. 395. Time fails to tell of Matthew Hale (1609-1676), one of the most unimpeachable of judges, counsel of Archbishop Jal Laud: of Christopher Love, the personal friend of Stiiiingfleet, Richard Baxter and John Tillotson, and the author of Contemplations, which the devout Christian man may still read with profit: of Edward Stiiiingfleet (1635-1699), Bishop of Worcester, whose principal work, the Origines Sacrce ; or, A Eational Account of the Grounds of Natural and Revealed Religion, is still a classic in that department, and whose sermons, published after his death, are marked 1 >y strong sense and a forci- ble style: of William Sherlock (1641 1707), Dean of St. Paul's, whose Vindication of the Trinity (1691) led to a controversy with South, and whose Practical Discourse concerning Death was for a long time one of the most popular theological books in the language ; his Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul shows at once the probability of a future life, and our need of a reve- lation to prove it certain: of Matthew Henry (1662-1704), the son of Philip Henry, for five-and-twenty years pastor at Chester, and for the last three years of his life at Hackney, and whose Commentary formed the * daily reading,' of Robert Hall and Thomas Chalmers, and is remarkable alike for the copious- ness and pious ingenuity of its thoughts, and for the strength and simplicity of its language. Nor is it possible to do more than name George Fox (1624-1690), the founder of Quakerism, whose Journals and Epistles and Doctrinal Pieces fill three folio volumes . Robert Barclay (1648-1690), the author of the Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1676), a learned and popular defence of Quaker doctrine, dedicated to Charles n., in a preface characterised by manly simplicity and by true pathos: and RUTHERFORD: TRAIL, ETC. 449 William Penn (1642-1718), the son of the admiral, and the founder of the State of Pennsylvania, the author of No Cross no Crown (1668), written appropriately enough in prison, and of several other works polemical or defensive. 396. The biblical scholarship of the century has been already noticed. In general theological scholarship there are some names that deserve mention besides those already given. In l6 5 J was Published the Fur Predestinatus, which was ascribed to Sancroft, though really a translation of a Dutch tract. The Harmonia Apostolica of Bishop Bull ap- peared in 1669 : it seeks to reconcile the apostles Paul and James by making James as the later writer the standard by which to interpret the language of Paul. The Paraphrase and Annotations of Hammond on the New Testament (1659, best & 1702) belongs to the same class; these are all in favour of the Arminian theology, and advocate views opposed to those set forth in the writings of Owen and other leading Puritans. 397. The Scotch writers on divinity are not numerous, and the more popular belong to the later part of the century. One of the Scotch writers . ablest was Samuel Kutherford (1610-1661), author Rutherford, 'of The Trial and Triumph of Faith. He was silenced TraU, etc. . Q ^^ f or preaching against the Articles of Perth, and was for a time imprisoned. His letters, many of which were written in jail, are fine specimens of a Christian spirit and of rich Christian experience ; they have also literary value as specimens of the English then in use among literary men. In 1639 he was appointed Professor of Divinity at the New College, St. Andrew's, and afterwards became rector. He was a strong Presbyterian, and was one of the Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly. His Lex Hex, a Treatise of Civil Polity, written in reply to the Bishop of Boss, was, after the Eestoration, burned, by order of the Committee of Estates. Kobert Trail (1642-1716) was educated at Edinburgh and Utrecht, and was ordained in 1670, in London, where he laboured till his death, with the exception of an interval of seven years, during which he visited Scotland, and was imprisoned for preaching. His works consist of four volumes of sermons, which have been frequently re- published. Towards the close of the century appeared The 2 2 G 450 PROSE THEOLOGY. Marrow of Modern Divinity (1645), a ok written by Edward Fisher, Gentleman Commoner at Oxford, schoolmaster in Wales and afterwards in Ireland. The work, which is decidedly Calvinistic and spiritual in tone, plain and pithy in style, excited a warm controversy. It was denounced by the ruling party in the Scottish Assembly, and defended by some of the most devout ministers in the church. It was edited with notes by Philalethes Irenasus (i.e., Thomas Boston, of Ettrick), and was long popular; the 'Marrow Controversy' being an era in the history of the Kirk of Scotland. Two other ministers claim notice here, though coming a little later. Thomas Halyburton (1674-1712) was for some time a parish minister, and then Professor of Divinity at St. Andrew's : his Natural Religion Insufficient is an elaborate work, and was written in confutation of the Deism of Lord Herbert's De Veritatc and Charles Blount's (1654-1693) Anima Mundi. The Great Concern of Salvation is still popular, as are his Communion Sermons. Thomas Boston (1676-1732) was one of the most laborious ministers of this century, or rather of the early part of the follow- ing. He was minister of Ettrick, and a leading member of the party in the church of Scotland that was opposed to patronage and tests. His Four- fold State, first printed in 1720, has had a large circulation, and continues to be popular ; his sermons on The Crook in the Lot, have also been largely read. He was an active writer in the * Marrow Controversy.' The first collected edition of his works was published in 1852, and consists of twelve octavo volumes. 398. Eichard Baxter (1615-1691) and John Bunyan (1628- 1683) are among the most remarkable writers of their own or of any age. Baxter was born in Shropshire, and was educated in the free school of Wroxeter, and after- wards under the care of Mr. Wickstead, of Ludlow. There, a large library was accessible to him the only advantage he seems to have gained from Mr. Wickstead's tuition. After receiving ordi- nation from the Bishop of Worcester, he obtained employment as schoolmaster at Dudley, and there he preached his first sermon. He was never at college : like Erasmus and Scaliger, and Andrew Fuller and Carey, he was his own teacher : * my faults,' said BAXTER. 451 he to Anthony Wood, who had written to ask whether he was an Oxonian, 'are no disgrace to any university, for I was of none : weakness and pain helped me to study how to die : that set me on studying how to live, and that on studying the doctrine from which I must fetch my motives and comforts : beginning with necessities, I proceeded by degrees, and am now going to see that for which I have lived and studied.' To feeble health and pro- tracted suffering he was indebted for much of his earnestness and wisdom. In 1640 he removed to Kidderminster, where he laboured, with a slight interruption caused by the Civil War, for sixteen years. In that town he illustrated by his life his own book, The Be- formed Pastor, ' teaching men from house to house,' and warning them day and night with tears : his memory is still fragrant there. At the outset of the Civil War he sided on the whole with the parliament : more accurately he may be said to have been the friend of the Constitution, against both the great parties, and, as might have been expected, he was blamed by both. After the battle of Edgehill, during which he was preaching for his friend Samuel Clarke, of Alcester, he accepted the chaplaincy of Colonel Whalley's regiment, and continued to discharge the duties of his office with earnestness and popularity. He soon found it, how- ever, no congenial post : he distrusted Cromwell, and was grieved with the narrow views of some of the leaders. At length his health failed : ' it pleased God to take him from all public employments.' The leisure which his illness secured him he used in collecting and writing down his thoughts of that country upon the borders of which he seemed to stand. How touching is the whole scene ! The worn enfeebled man gathers up his feet ex- pecting to die ; the din of battle is still in his ears, around him is a suffering country and a distracted church: he turns his thoughts to the better land. The whole picture is a repeti- tion of the Pilgrim's visit to the Delectable Mountains, where the eye could trace the outlines of the New Jerusalem, and the ear already caught the music of the harping of the many harpers. The sights he saw and the sounds he heard he has recorded in the Saint's Everlasting Best, one of the most useful and popular of his works. Soon after this illness he visited London for medical advice, 2 G 2 452 PROSE THEOLOGY. and preached before the Parliament on the day preceding the vote that was to bring back King Charles. At the Restoration he was offered a bishopric, but felt compelled, on conscientious grounds, to decline it. He preached for some time under the protection of a licence granted by Sheldon, and at length a chapel was built for him in Oxendon Street : there he ministered but once, when the arm of the law closed the place. Under the various Acts of Parliament passed in the reign of Charles n. he was several times imprisoned, his library was sold, and he was driven, a feeble aged man, from place to place, without a home. In 1685 he was, on frivolous grounds, condemned by the infamous Jeffreys for sedition, but by the king's favour the fine inflicted by the sentence was remitted. The last years of his life were spent more peacefully : he died in Charter-house Yard, in 1691, reckon- ing among his personal friends Barrow, Wilkins, and Hale. A few years after his death there was published A Narrative of the most Memorable Passages of his Life and Times, a highly in- structive volume, and a great, favourite with Dr. Johnson and with Coleridge, both of whom praise its sincerity and substantial truthfulness. Besides the works already mentioned, Baxter is the author of A Call to the Unconverted to Turn and Live, one of the most impressive volumes ever written: twenty thousand copies are said to have been sold in the first year after it was published. Baxter's example is one of the most instructive in our literature. With him activity was a passion. Sometimes the devoted friend, oftener the victim, of the ruling powers, he was at the same time a voluminous writer and a laborious pastor. Three-and-twenty octavo volumes of practical writings, such, Barrow says, as were never mended, forty more of controversy and personal history, attest his diligence in one department : hundreds of visits paid to his parishioners, and prolonged conversations with each of them, attest it in another. He did the work of a city missionary at Kidderminster, and wrote more pages than many students now read. And all this was done amid great bodily weakness. He entered the ministry with what would now be called the symptoms of a confirmed consumption : he seemed ever living upon the brink of the grave. Great energy or noble achievement was hardly to be looked for from such a sufferer : had he spent his time in telling BAXTER: BUNYAN. 453 liis ailments, had he even retired from the field to the hospital, it would be easy to find circumstances to excuse, if not to justify, such a course. But instead of yielding to selfish complaint or valetudinarian indolence, he manfully held on his way, a cheerful traveller to the very close. ' In deaths oft ' he was also * in labours more abundant.' There is a shorter road to repose amid bodily afflictions than talking of them, and that road Baxter found. His books have been warmly praised by Flavel and Usher, by Manton and Doddridge, by Addison and Johnson. Wilberforce deemed them ' a treasury of Christian wisdom,' and the man himself among * the highest ornaments of the Church of England.' The style is one of the finest specimens of direct masculine Eng- lish, and is a model for all who wish to talk to people instead of talking at them or before them: every sentence strikes home. His life, written by Orme, has been prefixed to the last collected edition of his practical works, and a genial review of his character and labours may be seen in the Essays of Sir James Stephen. 399. Two hundred years ago there stood on the bridge which spans the Ouse at Bedford, an old gaol : it has long since disap- peared, but it is immortalized as the place where John Bunyan wrote some of his most memorable books. Grace Abounding, his own history, and the Pilgrim's Progress, every Christian's history, are to be added to De Saci's Version of the New Testament and Rutherford's Letters as part of the prison literature of the Christian Church. The Pilgrim's Progress was suggested, as the author tells us, when he was writing upon another theme. It was quickly written, dashed off, as it seems, in vacant hours, though not published till some years after his release. The author had many engagements : his popu- larity as a preacher brought pressing calls, so that he had little time to revise his manuscript or to superintend the printing. It must be added that his friends were divided on the desirableness of publishing the book : ' Some said Print it, John, others said Not so.' The Pilgrim therefore has a history not unlike that of Milton's Paradise Lost, or Prideaux's Connection, or De Foe's Robinson Crusoe. All these books, now world-famous, were re- garded when in manuscript with distrust. At length Bunyan, though loth to offend his friends, ended their feuds and published his volume. Its success was immediate, and in that age almost 454 PROSE THEOLOGY. unparalleled : the book was soon translated into French, Dutch, and Welsh, and during the author's lifetime a hundred thousand copies were circulated in England, besides many editions in America. Since Bunyan's death, which took place in the year 1688 ' of glorious memory,' the Pilgrim has visited nearly all lands : it has been parodied, illustrated, and translated, almost without end : the ablest artists and the humblest have tried their skill upon it : seven times at least it has been * done into verse : ' a hundred and fifty years ago it was adapted, by a change of names and the omission of Giant Pope and others, to the creed of the Romish Church : it has been rendered, as Southey remarks, into evciy language of Europe, and into more other languages than any book except the Bible : the Religious Tract Society alone, has printed it in thirty different tongues. The secret of the success of Bunyan's volume is threefold. The work is one of the finest specimens of the richness and power of our Saxon tongue : * there is no book in our literature,' says Lord Macaulay, ' on which we would so readily stake the fame of the old unpolluted English language, no book which shows so well how rich that language is in its own proper wealth, and how little it has been improved by all that it has borrowed.' This is one secret of its influence. As a piece of imaginative dramatic literature it is unequalled : Lord Kames thinks it in this respect like Homer. Dr. Johnson, who never read books through, made an exception in favour of Bunyan, and when he had done wished it longer. Noting that it begins very much like Dante, Disraeli calls its author the ' Spen- ser of the people.' Franklin thinks that De Foe and Richardson have imitated him. Swift thought him ' more entertaining and more informing than any of the metaphysicians of his time.' Thousands have been delighted with the style, as was Dr. Adam Clarke when a mere boy, who have never seen down into the depth of its meaning. Its chief charm however is its spiritual significance. The Pun- dit who engaged to translate it into Singalese was often so affected as not to be able to proceed. * The Pilgrim's Progress? says Toplady, ' is the finest allegory extant, describing every stage of a Christian's experience from conversion to glory in the most art- less simplicity of language, yet peculiarly rich with spiritual BUNYAN. 455 unction : it is in short a masterpiece of piety and genius.' On the same ground Dr. Arnold deemed it the wisest and one of the best hooks ever written : * I cannot trust myself,' he used to say, 4 to read the account of Christian going up to the celestial gate after his passage through the river of death : the Pilgrim's Progress seems to me a complete reflection of Scripture :' and this is its highest praise. The honours thus given to Bunyan have not always been ac- corded to him. Charles n. spoke only the sentiment of his age when he called him * the illiterate tinker,' though Dr. Owen nobly defended his humble friend, and expressed his readiness to give up all his learning if he might write and preach as the tinker wrote and preached. If Whi thread, the friend of Chatham, bequeathed 500?. to the church at Bedford in honour of Bunyan's memory, the coarse paper and poor printing of his books show that their readers were then chiefly amongst the lowest class. Only fifty years ago Cowper said that he did not dare to name him in his verse for fear of moving a sneer. Now how- ever he occupies his proper place. Macaulay reckons him one of the two minds of the seventeenth century that possessed the imaginative faculty in the highest degree John Milton being the other ; and within the last few years a statue has been awarded him. in the New Houses of Parliament. The tinker of Elstow is now honoured as one of the great teachers of his country for all time. In addition to the Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan wrote another alle- gorical piece The Holy War, which has excited much attention, and is a more ingenious and elaborate allegory than the Pilgrim. His other works fill two folio volumes and have the same qualities in style as his more popular books. His biography has been written by many authors, and the Memoirs by Southey and Offor deserve special mention : his character and life have also been sketched with great beauty and genial appreciation by Lord Macaulay. 400. The two questions which the theological writings of the seventeenth century most freely discussed or illus- trated are ' The Bible the onl y rule of faitb >' and ' Sal- vation by God's free mercy through Christ alone.' The first is in substance the thesis of the treatises of Chiilingwortb 456 PROSE THEOLOGY : LESSONS. and Hales, and Taylor, and Locke, and their arguments may be safely regarded as conclusive. Persecution for conscience' sake and Articles of Faith on points not defined in Scripture are not easily reconciled with this principle : but even those writers who have defended these, generally assert that nothing is to be made a matter of faith that is not a matter of revelation, nor must men be pressed to believe anything which is not taught in Scripture or cannot be proved from thence. They acknowledged the prin- ciple even when they foiled in applying it. Besides this formal concession it must be kept in mind that all the expositions of Scripture, popular and exegetical, the systematic treatises on theology, the critical apparatus formed for ascertaining and fixing the text, and the whole tone of preaching, appealing as it does to the Bible, are practical recognitions of the principle even more important than the simple announcement of it. All parties sought to defend their views by appeals to God's Word, and in this way acknowledged its supreme authority. The second thesis is even more important. Men are sinners by their acts and in their nature: their best doings are sinful, their very penitence and faith imperfect, and for any fatt?' fiedby mer i tor i us saving efficacy utterly worthless, much more their acts of merely ritual observance. God who hates sin is infinitely willing to forgive : He has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth: He will welcome all who come to Him hating sin and seeking forgiveness. Yet is this mercy exercised only through His Son who dies for sinners, and so reveals at once the love and the righteousness of the Father. To come to God therefore men must know Jesus Christ, and trust in Him. This knowledge and trust are themselves holy impulses, the germs of a holy life, for they imply penitence and submission, a sense of the evil of sin, and a struggle to be free. Yet is it not because of any merit in them that God forgives : though they form the beginning of holiness, they are also imperfect and sinful : they can cancel no sin, can never vindicate the broken law or prove how God abhors iniquity. Reasonable as this evangelical faith is, essentially becoming, it is produced in man's heart only by the truth of the Gospel, ' the power of God ;' nor is it produced there, such is man's love of sin and pride, but by long discipline ; nor by discipline, such is still man's pride and love of sin, unless there be added the special help of the Holy Ghost. Out of this EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 457 changed mental state, the acceptance of free undeserved forgive- ness, secured for us by the death of our Lord, and realised in us by the teaching of the truth and of the Spirit, there springs, ac- cording to the Puritan theology, a life of holy service. When men believe, they become partakers of a Divine nature, with tastes and convictions which bind them to holiness, and they thus judge that they are to live to Him who died for them, and who has made them doubly His own by creating and recreating power, and further by redeeming love. Religion with them begins within and works outwardly. Its first duty is penitence and faith, and its first blessing free and complete forgiveness ; its latest duty faith and obedience, and its latest blessing completed holiness and everlasting life. It is with such truths, and with such truths in this order, that the theology of the seventeenth century abounds ; nor is it too much to affirm that they are the secret of its strength. SECTION IV. THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. GENERAL LITERATURE. 401. Literary Character of the Eighteenth Century: Opinions divided. 402. Three Periods : Character of each. 403. Nineteenth Century. 404. John Dryden as a Prose writer. 405. The Essayists. 406. R. Steele. 407. Addison. 408. Swift. 409. Loid Bolingbroke. 410. John Amory. 411. Lady Mary Montagu. 412. Horace Walpole. 413. Essays: Later Essayists. 414. Commencement of Magazines and Reviews: Effect on Literature. 415. Dr. Johnson. 416. Blackstone. 417. Ferguson. 418. De Lolme. 419. Bentham. 420. A. Smith. 421. Malthus, Ricardo, etc. 422. Parliamentary Orators: Chatham, etc. 423. Junius. 424. Burke. 425. Reynolds, Gilpin, Alison, etc. 426. Criticism: Lord Kames, Blair, Campbell, Whately. 427. Harris, Tooke, Monboddo. 428. Malone, Nichols, D'Israeli, Brydges. 429. Jeffrey. 430. Hazlitt, De Quincey. 431. Smith. 432. C. Lainb. 433. Other writers. 434. Scholars: Person. 435. Historians of Litera- ture, Warton, Hallam, Ellis, etc. Publication Societies. PHILOSOPHY. Mental and Moral Science : 436. Influence of Bacon and Locke. 43 7. Schools and Systems : Sensationalism and Idealism : Philosophy of consequences, Philosophy of principles. 438. Classified list of authors. 439. Dodwell. 440. Mandeville, Gay, Tucker, 441. Hart- ley, Priestley, Darwin. 442. Berkeley, Collier. 443. Hume. 444. Paley. 445. Later writers of the Sensationalist and Utilitarian schools, Mill, etc. 446. Shaftesbury, Wollaston. 447. Clarke. 448. Butler. 449 Hutcheson. 450. Warburton. 45 r. Price, Harris, Gisborne. 452. 458 PROSE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Reid. 453. Stewart. 454. Brown. 455. Hamilton. 456. Other writers: Whateiy. 457. Physical Science. Histories: Herschel, Whe- well, and others. Geology : Smith, Miller, etc. THEOLOGY. Infidelity and Apologists : 458. Rise of Infidelity. Deism. 459. Lord Herbert. 460. Hobbes. 461. Blount, Toland, Shaftesbury. 462. Scripture Text. A. Collins. 463. Woolston. 464. Tindall, Morgan, Chubb, with replies to each. 465. Nothing new under the sun. 466. Bolingbroke. 467. Hume. 468. Gibbon, Paine. 469. Owen. 470. Clas- sification of Christian evidence. 471. Warburton, Butler. 472* Bampton, Warburton, and Hulsean Lectures. 473. Other remedies : Increase of Biblical Studies. 474, Systematic and Polemical Theolojy. 475. Patristic Theology. Ecclesiastical History. 476. Devotional Theo- logy. 477. Law, 'Whole Duty of Man.' 478. Whitefield. 479. Newton. 480. Thomas Scott and others. 481. Two other schools. 482. Wesley. 483. J. Hervey and others. 484. Lowth (W. and R.), Watson, Horsier, etc. 485. Doddridge and others. 486. The Erskines, Webster, Chalmers, etc, 487. Hall, Foster. 488. Other writers. List of Theological writers. HISTORY. TJie Eighteenth Century . 489. Rapin. 490. Carte. 491. Hume. 492. Smollett. 493. Goldsmith. 494. Henry. 495. Robert- son. 496. Gibbon. 497. Minor Historians, English and Scotch. 498. Roman and Grecian History, etc. 499. Universal History. 500. Memoirs. 501. Biographies, classified. 502. True biography defined. 503. Anti- quarians. 504. Travels, classified. 505. Cyclopaedias: their number and character. 506. The Nineteenth Century. 507. Lingard. 508. Turner. 509. Mackintosh. 510 Hallam. 511. Macaulay. 512. Other writers. 513. True significancy of history. 401. On the literary merits of the eighteenth century opinions are widely divided. By the men who lived in it, it was deemed, Literary merit ^P^i^ty the early part of it, the Augustan age. By of eighteenth the men of the nineteenth century it has been unduly itury. depreciated. It is too near to our times to have the charm of antiquity, and it is too remote in some of its modes of thought and even in its tastes to secure our hearty admiration. It may be admitted, on the one hand, that the century was cold, dissatisfied and critical. It rather quarrelled with old principles in poetry and in religion than created new. It preferred forms to substance. Rhythm, elegance of phrase, symmetry of proportion were held in higher esteem than warm feeling, grand thoughts, creative genius. Among all classes, moreover, the opinions that HOW DIVIDED. 469 were most popular bad little in them that was noble or heroic : they naturally found their expression in a philosophy that had no higher motive than utility, in a religion that discussed evidences and practical morality, and in poetry largely didactic and mechanical. On the other hand the century is richer than any preceding one in works that blend pleasure with instruction. It increased prodigiously the stores of knowledge, creating whole departments of science. It is the age of metaphysical disquisition, of political economy, of public eloquence. It pro- duced many books of great excellence both in matter and in ex- pression ; while the study of its writers is essential, if we are to form a just estimate of the language or of the literature of our own time. 402. The centuiy naturally divides itself into three periods, each occupying about a generation. The first includes the reigns of Queen Anne and George I., and extends from 1702 divided 7 to 1 7 a 7. The writers of this earlier age were deemed, during the eighteenth century, the first or nearly the first the country had ever known. But this judgment is not confirmed by posterity, except in the case of Addison and Pope. The rest of the prose writers have the place that is due to a polished and natural style, and the poets are admitted to display great skill in descriptions of artificial life, and in terse, epigram- matic reasoning. ' Speaking generally of that generation of authors, it may be said that as poets they have no force or great- ness of fancy, no pathos and no enthusiasm, and as philosophers no comprehensive depth or originality. They are sagacious, no doubtneat, clear, and reasonable, but for the most part, cold, timid, and superficial.' * Writing with infinite good sense and great grace and vivacity, and above all writing, for the first time, in a tone that was peculiar to the upper ranks of society, and upon subjects which were almost exclusively interesting to them, they naturally figured as the most accomplished, fashionable, and perfect writers that the world had ever seen, and made the wild luxuriance and humble sweetness of our earlier authors appear rude and untutored in the comparison.'* Such is Lord Jeffrey's judg- ment, substantially j ust though somewhat severe. There are some men in that age who take a first place in our literature, and there * Jeffrey. 460 PROSE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. are compositions of theirs which even now we cannot surpass. The satire of Dryden and Pope, the taste and fancy of Addison, perhaps the wit of Arbuthnot, are all remarkable, and certainly they deserve warmer praise than Jeffrey gives them. The second period includes the reign of George n., and extends from 1727 to 1760. Pope was still a leader in letters, and vindi- cated his claim by his moral essays and his imitations of Horace. Hume and Robertson were beginning their career. Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett were giving amusement and instruction by their fictions, as was Hogarth with his pencil ; while in moral philo- sophy Jonathan Ed wards and Joseph Butler were laying the founda tion of sounder systems than had yet been recognised in England. Poets were becoming more natural ; and Johnson was beginning to exercise that influence on style as well as on general literature, which makes him the autocrat of the last half of the century. The third period extends from 1760 to 1800. Books had now the general public for their readers, and authors were counted by hundreds : ' almost every man,' as Johnson notes, ' had come to write, and to express himself correctly.' The American War called forth the eloquence of Chatham, as later the French Revo- lution called forth the eloquence of Burke. The publication of Warton's History of Poetry and of Percy's fieliques revived a taste for the bold and freer style of our earlier writers. Johnson's ponderous Latinised composition was counteracted in part by the simplicity of Goldsmith and of Mackenzie. Authoresses increased, especially among the novelists. Gibbon succeeded Hume and Robertson. Reid laid the foundation of the school of common- sense philosophers, and Adam Smith of political science. In one department of theology, Paley, Blair, and Campbell attracted attention by a style that was eminently popular if not profound ; in another, evangelical life had been quickened by the labours and writings of Whitefield and Wesley, of Doddridge and Romaine. 403. The nineteenth century manifests great advance in nearly every department of literature. In Poetry it may challenge com- parison with the seventeenth century in earnestness, ^k t ^ ie e ig nteen th m polish : nor is it inferior in power of thought, if we except from the compari- son works like those of Shakespeare and Milton, which belong to all time, and are characteristic not so much of the age as of DRYDEN. 46J the race. In the Drama it is inferior to the seventeenth century, and to the eighteenth, except in skilful adaptation of plays taken from foreign sources. The Criticism of the nineteenth century is unequalled by anything in earlier times. If we have no Hume or Gibbon, we can correct both, and point to historians with much more learning than the first and with all the brilliance and power of the second. In Ethical Science we have no Butler ; but Logic and Metaphysics have certainly made progress. In Theology we miss the fulness and earnestness of the Puritan age, but we are greatly in advance of the Apologists and other Divines of the eighteenth century, and excel any previous age in Biblical scholar- ship. In Miscellaneous Literature, where we waste strength, this century displays unrivalled humour, vigour, and terseness. There are published every month in magazines and newspapers many articles equal in merit to the ordinary papers of Addison and Steele. 404. The connecting link between the prose writers of the days of James i. and those of Queen Anne, is John Dryden. He had little knowledge of our old authors : Chaucer he found often unintelligible: expressions in Jonson and Shakespeare, which we now know to have been the current language of their age, he deemed incorrect. But he understood the genius of the English tongue, and as a prose writer had a ?trong preference for English idioms as compared with the inver- sions and Latinisms in which many of the writers of the seven- teenth century indulged. He seems moreover after the Kestora- tion to have emulated the politest and most popular writers of the French nation, copying the ease of Montaigne and the dig- nity of Balzac. Strength, variety, animation, and grace are among the qualities of his style. He has also a freedom from mannerism, which forms an important excellence in the founder of a school of composition. * Dryden,' says Johnson, ' is always another and the same : he never exhibits a second time the same elegance in the same form, nor appears to have any art other than that of expressing with clearness what he thinks with vigour. His style could not be easily imitated, either seriously or ridicu- lously, for it is always equal and always varied : it has no promi- nent or discriminative characters.' It must be admitted, how- ever, that after the Revolution he took less pains with his 462 PROSE DRYDKX writing : vulgarisms become more frequent, and his periods are careless and even slovenly. Dryden has written no extensive pieces in prose, his works consisting chiefly of prefaces, dedications, and critical essays pre- fixed to his poems and plays. Among these the chief are his Essay on Dramatic Poesy and its subsequent defence, the Parallel of Poetry and Painting, the Origin and Progress of Satire, and the Discourse on Epic Poetry. His dedications offend by flattery which is often untrue and nearly always fulsome. They contain passages, however, of gracefulness unsurpassed, perhaps, in our language, and the flattery in which they indulge is partly the fault of the age. His critical essays are written in -a more negligent style. ' Every word,' says Johnson, * seems to drop by chance, though it falls into its proper place : nothing is cold or languid : the whole is airy, animated, and vigorous : what is little is good, what is great is splendid.' According to the same critic, the Essay on Dramatic Poesy t first published in 1668 and reprinted in 1684, was the first regular and valuable treatise on the art of writing. The criticism is nearly confined to the drama, and the man who has studied modern criticism ' will not find much increase of knowledge, or much novelty of instruction,' or much profoundness of thought: yet through the predominating good sense the piece is very pleasant read- ing. His criticisms moreover are often relieved by exquisite descriptions. ' The prose of these prefaces,' says Scott, ' may rank with the best in the English language : it is no less of his own formation than his versification, is equally spirited and equally harmonious : without the long pedantic sentences of Clarendon it is dignified when dignity is becoming, and is lively without the strained and absurd allusions and metaphors which were often mistaken for wit by many of the author's contempora- ries.' Malone tells us that Dryden's prose writings were care- fully studied by Burke, and Congreve notes that Dryden himself used to say that if he had ' a talent for English prose it was owing to his having often read the writings of Tillotson.'* Such is the genealogy of two of the finest styles in English composition. 405. The eighteenth century begins with a new style of com- Contfreve'a dedication of Pryden's Plays. THE ESSAYISTS: STEELE. 463 position in our language the periodical miscellany, consisting largely of essays on the manners of the age. In the essays and characters of the preceding century we have com- ,ssa 8 ' positions not unlike those we have now to examine, as the French had already the Essays of Montaigne and the Characters of La Bruyere, the last hitting off with satirical humour the artificial life of the Court of Louis xiv. But it was reserved for the wits of the reign of Queen Anne to use this kind of composition for the exposure of fashionable follies, and to keep up the interest by publishing the papers periodically. The pioneer in this department was De Foe, who in 1 704 began a periodical and literary journal called Tlie Review. It was pub- lished thrice a week on post nights, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and continued for nine years. The editor acted as censor of manners, wrote light papers on current events, and dis- coursed on trade and commerce. The JReview was something between the old essay and the modem newspaper, and had con- siderable popularity. It was not however till Steele and Addi- son threw their strength into this kind of miscellany, that it be- came a power in literature : they have the chief credit of this achievement, though they were aided by Pope and Arbuthnot and by others of inferior name. 406. To Eichard Steele, a man of English parentage but bom in Dublin (1671-1729), who was employed by the government to write The Gazette during the war of the Spanish Succession, we are indebted for the Tatler, the first of the periodical miscellanies. Young Steele was sent by the Duke of Ormond's influence to the Charter House, and there he found Addison, a youth three years older than himself. Between these two an intimacy was formed which is one of the most memorable in literature. Steele always regarded Addison with affectionate veneration : ' through the school and through the world, whereso- ever his strange fortune led this erring, wayward, affectionate crea- ture, Joseph Addison was always his head boy.'* After studying at Oxford, Steele enlisted in the Guards as a private, and was in consequence disinherited. Here he became a favourite, and was soon promoted to the rank of captain. He then indulged in the vices and the follies of the age, and to check his irregularities Thackeray's English Humourists. 464 PROSE THE ESSAYISTS. wrote a treatise called The Christian Hero, which lie published in 1701. The book contains some fine passages, but seems to have exercised little influence on the author. He next turned to play-writing, and in this, in 1722, achieved a great success by the production of The Conscious Lovers. He was now a popular man about town, and to secure his in- fluence Harley, the Whig minister, made him Gazetteer and Gentleman Usher to Prince George. In this office he had ample means ; but his reckless behaviour produced a long succession of troubles, from which Addison tried more than once to relieve him. In 1709 a happy thought seems to have occurred to him. Through his office of Gazetteer he obtained early foreign intelli- gence. The success of Defoe's Review suggested to him that, if he could use this intelligence in papers devoted in part to passing events, and in part to the manners of the age, a large band of readers might be found, and large profits. Hence sprang the Tatler, the first number of which appeared on the I2th April, 1709. Steele's nom de plume was Isaac Bickerstaffe, Esq., astrologer, a name which Swift had already made familiar in his ridicule of Partridge, the maker of almanacs. Addison had no previous knowledge of this scheme, but he resolved to assist it. After the eightieth number he became a regular contributor, and wrote some of the best papers ; but Steele gave the work its cha- racter as a capital censor of manners, a teacher of public taste, and an exponent of English feeling. That ' Dick Steele ' should have undertaken some part of this task is another proof of the versa- tility and inconsistency of his genius. The Tatler continued to appear thrice a week till the 2nd of January, 1710-11. By this time Steele's party were out of office, and he lost his appointment as Gazetteer. His success, however, as essayist induced him to continue the character, and on the ist of March, 1710-11, ap- peared the first number of the Spectator. The plan, which was conceived and drawn by Addison, was carried out with immense popularity, through five hundred and fifty five numbers, eighty numbers more being afterwards added by Addison chiefly, the finest of them all, in 1714 ; and the whole forming eight volumes, of which as volumes ten thousand copies were sold. The Specta- tor first ceased in December, 1712, and in the March following appeared the Guardian, which was also issued daily and extended to a hundred and seventy-five numbers. Of the two hundred STEELE. 465 and seventy-one papers of the Tatler, Steele wrote one hundred and eighty-eight, Addison forty-two, some of which are equal to anything Addison ever wrote, and the two conjointly thirty-six. Of six hundred and thirty-five Spectators, Addison wrote two hundred and seventy-six, Steele two hundred and forty ; and of one hundred and seventy-five Guardians, Steele wrote eighty- two and Addison fifty-three. The other papers in this long series were written by Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Berkeley, Budgell, and Hughes. Later Steele attempted other periodicals, the English- man, the Reader, etc., but they added little to his fame. Steele now entered more actively into political life. He ob- tained a seat in Parliament, defended the Protestant succession, which he thought in danger, published a pamphlet entitled the Crisis, and was in consequence expelled from the House of Commons. The death of Queen Anne placed the Whig party again in the ascendancy. In the new reign Steele was knighted by George I., and received a place in the royal household. In Parliament he opposed the Peerage Bill, which was intended to limit the number of Peers, and the South Sea scheme. His pecuniary difficulties increasing, he retired to a seat in Wales left him by his second wife, and there died in 1729. Steele himself was ' one of those people whom it is impossible to hate or to respect. His temper was sweet, his affections warm, his spirits lively, his passions strong, and his principles weak. His life was spent in sinning and repenting, in inculcat- ing what was right and doing what was wrong.' a But as a man of genius his qualities are undoubted, though not of the highest order. He tried all kinds of light literature : he was satirist, humorist, critic, and story-teller, who must, like the poet, be born not made, and he excels in all these characters. His pictures of London society are remarkable for their reality and for the inimitable touches of nature to be found in them. His conceptions of female character are generally elevated and noble, presenting in that respect a contrast to those of many of the writers of his age. There is also in most of his papers proof of considerable dramatic skill : his Sir Eoger de Coverley and his Will Honeycomb are as familiar to many modern readers as their personal friends. It is to Addison indeed we owe the finishing a Macaulay. 2 2 H 466 PROSE THE ESSAYISTS. touches that make these characters immortal, but it was Steolo who first sketched them. The moral influence of these miscellanies is admitted to have been good; contemporary authors agree in bearing witness to this fact, and it is further confirmed by the marked improve- ment which was soon apparent in literature, and in general society. The truth is there still lingered in the public mind the notion that genius was closely allied to profligacy, private virtue to dulness or moroseness. This error the Tatter, and, still more, the Spectator, dispelled : they showed it was possible to combine the morality of Tillotson with the wit of Congreve : ' so effectually indeed did they retort on vice the mockery which had recently been directed against virtue, that since their time the open viola- tion of decency has always been considered among us the mark of a fool, and this revolution the greatest and most salutary ever affected by any satirist they accomplished without writing one personal lampoon.'* 407. But this praise is mainly due to the influence of Addison, the greatest of the miscellaneous writers of this century. When the Toiler was first planned Steele meant it to con- tain the foreign news, theatrical criticisms, and the literary gossip of Will's and the Grecian, with occasional notices of reigning beauties, notorious sharpers, and popular preachers. Soon after Addison joined it, its character was changed, and it was ' raised to a greater thing ' than was ever intended. At first Addison's excellence hardly at all appeared, but in the end it became evident that a new era had arisen both in our language and in our literature. ' The mere choice and arrangement of his words would have sufficed to make his Essays classical ; for never, not even by Dryden, not even by Temple, had the English language been written with such sweetness, grace, and facility.'* Johnson's eulogium has now passed into an axiom : ' whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.' ' In wit he is not inferior to Cowley or Butler. No single ode of Cowley's contains so many happy analogies as are crowded into the lines to Sir Godfrey Kneller, and we would undertake to collect from the Spectator Macanlav. ADDISON. 467 as great a number of ingenious illustrations as can be found in Hudibras.' His humour, his power of drawing mirth from the common incidents of life, not unsoftened by gentle feeling, is un- surpassed ; and what adds greatly to his credit is, that with boundless power of making men ridiculous, he has .never abused it. Living in times of strong party excitement, and amid many provocations, he has not left behind him ' a single taunt that can be called ungenerous or unkind.' To these qualities must be added the faculty of invention in a very high degree. As an observer of manners and of human nature he is in the first class ; and what he observed he describes not, like Clarendon, by an elaborate enumeration of habits and tastes, but by making the men exhibit themselves. When as yet there was no novel, Addison created characters and interwove the story of each into an interesting narrative. * If we wish any- thing more vivid than Addison's best portraits we must go either to Shakespeare or to Cervantes/ His papers on Milton are the best of his literary criticisms ; the Saturday papers are generally grave moral essays, supposed to be specially fit for the next day's reading. The other writings of Addison deserve notice on other grounds. His Essays on the Pleasures of the Imagination, published in the Spectator, Dugald Stewart reckons as the earliest specimens of aesthetic criticism in our language. The subject became a favourite one with both English and continental essayists. Among the best-known English treatises are Akenside's Poem on imagination, Burke on The Sublime and the Beautiful, and the works by Alison and Knight. Addison seems to have been the first to classify the pleasures of imagination under such heads as novelty, beauty, and sublimity. In his remarks on several parts of Italy in 1701-3 ho writes with great simplicity and purity of style, and shows an intimate knowledge of Latin poets ; of prose writers and Greek writers he seems to have known but little. In his Dialogues on the Usefulness of Ancient Medals there is the same one-sided knowledge of his subject: 'no one would suspect from this treatise that the Greek coins were in historical interest and in beauty of execution far superior to those of Kome.' 408. A contemporary of Addison's, of more power but of a 2 ii Z 468 PROSETHE ESSAYISTS. very different spirit, was Jonathan Swift. Swift had been brought up in connexion with the same political party as Addison. He was bred a Whig under Sir William Temple, and during the reign of William in. was a strenuous advocate of the principles of the Revolution. His first patrons were Somers, Halifax, and Portland, and his first work of any importance was a defence of his patrons, who had been impeached by the House of Commons. It was published in 1701 under the title of A Discourse of the Contrast between the Nobles and Com- mons of Athens and Rome. It is plainly written, without any of the irony that later distinguished his style. His next work was the Battle of the Books, the earliest piece in which his peculiar genius is discernible. It was prepared in support of the views of his patron Sir William Temple. It betrays a good deal of bitter feeling against Bentley, a feeling which he communicated ap- parently to Pope and Arbutlmot: personal satire and racy humour characterise the volume. The same qualities abound in his next work, The Tale of a Tub (1704), which is generally re- garded as the masterpiece of the writer in his peculiar style. Such is Hallam's opinion, while Jeffrey, the representative of a somewhat different taste, deems it dull and tedious. It was in- tended to throw ridicule upon the Catholics and Presbyterians, and to gain influence for the High Church party. It was pub- lished anonymously, and contains much to which any clergyman might well scruple to put his name. Deeming himself unvalued by his old friends, who were now likely to be driven from office, Swift joined the Tories and became at once their most formidable champion. This change he indi- cated in his Sentiments of a Church of England Man, published in 1708, and in various political tracts on the Conduct of tlw Allies (1712), and on The Public Spirit of the Old Whigs (1714). The bitter accusations against his former friends which these pamphlets contain gained him small advantage. He was regarded by the Queen and the heads of the Church, whose party he thus espoused, with the greatest dislike, nor could he do more than extort from them the deanery of St. Patrick, an ecclesiastical dignity of no great value, and requiring residence in a country which he detested. On the accession of George i. all hope of preferment was at an end, and he remained till the close of his life in a state of disappointed bitterness, relieved a little by SWIFT. 469 intercourse with Addison, and by friendly correspondence with Bolingbroke, Pope, and Gray, and ending in the failure of all mental power. During these later years he wrote some of his most effective works. His Proposal for the use of Irish Manu- factures, and his Letters ~by Mr. B. Drapier against Wood's patent for supplying Ireland with a copper coinage were especially popular. In 1726 appeared Gulliver's Travels, the most original of his productions. It is really a political pamphlet, and contains many satirical allusions to the great parties of the State, the Prince of Wales, Walpole, and Bolingbroke, though most readers feel only the fascination of the story. The charms of his style, its purity and naturalness, appear in this narrative to greater ad- vantage than in any other of his works. Among the more characteristic of his later pieces may be mentioned Polite Conver- sation, a satire on the frivolities of fashionable life, and exces- sively entertaining ; his Directions for Servants, which, though of a lower pitch, contains much of his racy humour ; and the Arguments to prove tliat the Abolition of Christianity may, as things now stand, be attended with some inconveniences : of this last the humour is used for a noble end. His Journal to Stella, a posthumous publication, is not to be judged as a literary work, but reveals the author, and gives a minute and able account of an extraordinary period of English history. Swift's libels on the characters of public men, his selfishness, and his treatment of Stella and Vanessa are blots on his character which it is impos- sible to efface. His excellences as a writer have been generally admitted. His style is confessedly a model of masculine vigour and perspi- cuity : it is essentially homely and low, but, unlike most styles of that kind, is remarkably rich in the variety of its words and phrases. He illustrates admirably an important principle of com- position, that when a man has mastered his subject and is confi- dent of his cause, nothing more is needed to make him a vigorous writer but to resist the temptation to write finely, and to keep himself to a clear and strong exposition of his theme. Half of the bad writing of the age is owing to the fact that men have not possessed themselves of what they wish to say, and the other half to their desire to say it finely and eloquently. Both these evils Swift avoids. In humour, in irony, in the talent of debasing and defiling 470 PROSE THE ESSAYISTS. what he hates, he is without a rival. The way in which ha produces his effect is not easily explained ; but one peculiarity must strike every reader : he expresses sentiments the most ab- surd, the most atrocious, sometimes the most original, as if they were commonplace truths, and maintains them always in the most grave and familiar language, with a consistency and inge- nuity that palliates their extravagance and seems often to give a pledge of his own sincerity.* The best edition of Swift's works is that edited by Sir Walter Scott in nineteen volumes. 409. Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, was one of the most influential of the wits and of the patrons of wits in the reign of Queen Anne, though his influence has long passed away. He was born at Battersea in 1678, and died therein 1751. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. After a wild life he entered Parliament, and became successively Secretary at War and Secretary of State, being raised to the peerage in 1712. His share in the treaty of Utrecht, and his connexion with the Stuarts, exposed him, on the accession of George I., to the threat of impeachment. Thereupon he retired to France where lie became Secretary to the Pretender. Dismissed from this office for incapacity or neglect, he betook himself to literature, and wrote Reflections on Exile, and a letter to Sir A\ r illiam Wyndham de- fending his conduct. In 1723 he received the pardon of the Crown and returned to England. His family property was re- stored to him, but he was excluded from the House of Lords. For some years he took an active part in politics, attacking Wai- pole and the Whigs, who were now in the ascendant. In 1735 he retired again to France, and there, during a residence of seven years he wrote his letter On the Study of History, and On the True Use of Retirement. Both these and his previous Reflections on, Exile are full of ' resounding nothings,' by which he sought to comfort his own mind in a banishment that was evidently irksome. On his return to England he settled at Battersea, and there spent the last ten years of his life. In 1749 he published his Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism and his Idea of a Patriot King, to which was prefixed a preface written in a strain of bitter invective. After his death in 1751, Mallet, to whom he had left all his * J ffrey. BOLJNGBROKE: AMORY. 471 manuscripts, published a complete edition of his works in five volumes. In these he appears as an avowed disbeliever in Chris- tianity, his arguments being based entirely on an exaggerated statement of its abuses. Bolingbroke's mental character is a strange mixture. He was vain, vindictive, and ambitious ; he was also eloquent and imaginative : for Pope and Swift he shows an amount of sym- pathy which wins our respect, though it is too cold and selfish to excite our love. His works exhibit a mixture of another kind. They are remarkable for their union of feeble thought and beautiful diction : they have been considered as 'an example of the abstract perfection of style, and by them we may judge what are the powers of language as separated from sentiment, and in what proportions elegance, and harmony, and rhythm contri- bute to the production of real eloquence.'* Burke had heard this style pronounced inimitable. At once to prove the inaccuracy of this description, and to answer the sophisms in his argument against religion, Burke wrote his Vindication of Natural Society as his first work. As Bolingbroke had argued against religion from the abuses that were connected with it, Burke argued from the miseries connected with society that men ought to return to a state of savage nature. The imitation was so perfect, that Mallet went to Dodsley's, the publisher, and disclaimed the piece ; while even now many read the essay without the slightest suspicion that it is concealed irony. 410. Among the later essayists of this age is John Amory (1692- i759)j whose Life of John Buncle is still occasionally quoted. Amoiy was probably an Irishman. He was bred a physician, and is found residing at Westminster in 1757. In 1755 he publ ished Memoirs of the Lives of several Ladies of Great Britain, and in 1756-1760, his Life ofJohnuncle, Esq. The first work contains the biography of a number of fictitious characters, as the last is supposed to be an equally fictitious bio- graphy of himself. In the first, he visits the hill country of Northumberland, and meets there a young lady, the daughter of a college friend who had been disinherited for refusing to sign the Thirty-nine Articles. The young lady introduces her father's friend to other ladies, and they together visit the western Rogers' Introduction to Burke's Works. 472 PROSE LETTER-WRITERS. islands. The Memoir gives an account of this visit, and of the various philosophical disquisitions in which they indulge upon the way. In the Life of John Buncle and his seven wives, Amory discusses the subject of earthquakes, phlogiston, then a popular theme, fluxions, the Athanasian Creed, and muscular motion. The whole is such a farrago as Burton or Eabelais might have collected, with something of the odd thoughts and quaint humour that distinguish those writers. One object of both books is to illustrate the truth and the influence of Unita- rian principles of religion. The ladies he visits and the ladies he won are all represented as models of beauty and intelligence, who largely owe their high qualities to their religious faith. 411. Pope and Cowper have already been mentioned as letter writers ; we must reserve a place for Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Horace Walpole, both of whom excelled in Mouiagu. ry epistolary correspondence. Pope's letters are literary and artificial, Walpole's witty and sarcastic, Cowper's inimitably natural and humorous, and Lady Mary's full of anecdote, smart sayings, and just reflections all expressed in language remarkably clear and graceful. Lady Mary, daughter of the Duke of Kingston, was born in 1 690, and was educated under the care of Bishop Burnet. In 1712 she married Edward Wortley Montagu, and was introduced into the company of Addison, Pope, and other wits of the reign of Queen Anne. In 1716, her husband was appointed ambassador to the Porte, and Lady Mary accompanied him to Constantinople. During her journey and her residence in the East, she corre- sponded with her friends in England, and sketched to the life the sceneiy and manners of countries she visited. Observing how the Turks practised inoculation for small-pox, she inoculated her infant son and introduced the practice into England. In 1718 her husband was recalled from his embassy. On their return they settled, by the advice of Pope, at Twickenham, where, however, the two wits did not long remain friends. In 1739 failing health compelled Lady Mary to travel abroad. After visiting Borne, Naples, etc., she settled at Lovere in the Venetian territory, and thence continued her correspondence with the members of her family and other friends. Oa the death of her husband, whom she had left in England she returned homo in MONTAGU: WALPOLE. 473 1761, and died in the following year. Her letters were published surreptitiously in 1763, and have recently been edited by her great-grandson, Lord Wharncliffe. Even in his edition, however, there are several spurious letters, not of the most creditable kind, written by John Cleland towards the close of the century. In all her letters the authoress is a lady of rank and fashion : sho writes with great talent and wit, but is wanting in delicacy : sometimes from mere outspokenness she seems hard and unfeel- ing. Her works are admirable specimens, however, of easy and familiar writing. 412. Horace Walpole, the youngest son of Sir Robert and, by the death of his nephew, Earl of Orford, was bom in 1717 and H Wai le ^ ec * e *kty years after in 1797. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and had the poet Gray as his fellow-student, and for a time as his travelling companion. Through his father's influence he obtained offices under govern- ment of the value of nearly five thousand a year, and with this sum gratified his taste for architecture and antiquities. When about thirty years of age, he purchased some ground at Twicken- ham, and there commenced improving a small house which stood upon it, till he had changed it into a feudal castle. This * Straw- berry Hill ' he filled with works of art, rare books, and curio- sities of all descriptions : hence also issued those privately printed volumes which were so eagerly sought for by book collectors. The collection was dispersed in 1843 by public sale. In 1742 he became member of parliament, and took part in the ' great Walpolean battle/ which terminated in the retirement of his father, Sir Robert. After this event, he devoted himself chiefly to his literary pursuits. In 1758 he wrote his Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors; in 1761, his Anecdotes of Painting in England; in 1765, his Castle of Otranto; in 1767, his His- toric Doubts of the character and person of Eichard the Third ; and soon after, his Memoirs of the Court of George the Second. The foundation of his fame, however, is his correspondence, which extends over more than sixty years, and in which we have a most pleasant mixture of wit arid shrewdness, and a less plea- sant mixture of scoffing sarcasm and sparkling language. Every- thing he has written is readable, the author having the capital gift of seizing on those parts of a subject which are likeliest to l>e 474 PROSE LATE P k ESSAYISTS. popular ; but his Letters are most readable of all : ' faults are far less offensive to us in his correspondence than in his books ; his wild, absurd, and ever-changing opinions about men and things are more easily pardoned here than elsewhere, while his bitter depreciating disposition is more under control .' In his style of writing he is a strong mannerist, coining new words and altering the meaning of old words, twisting sentences, noting analogies as subtle and abstruse as those that delighted Covvley and Donne ; but all is done with such naturalness and ease that we accept the mannerism as part of the man, and are rather the more interested hi him on that ground. His letters were printed in 1841 in six volumes, and more recently in 1857-1859, under the editorial care of Peter Cunningham in nine. 413. The political essay which had been commenced in Queen Anne's reign became again popular towards the close of the reign of George n. Both in politics and in the description ^ manners > much, indeed, had been written in the interval. Between 1726 and 1731 appeared the Craftsman, a political paper in which Bolingbroke was one of the chief contributors. It fills seven volumes, and was con- tinued after Bolingbroke had ceased to write for it. In 1718 Ambrose Phillips began the Freethinker, intended ' to restore the deluded part of mankind to reason and common sense,' and it was kept up till three volumes were published. In 1746 appeared the Museum, which also filled three volumes, and reckoned among its contributors the two Wartons, Horace Walpole, and Aken- side. But the Ramller (1750) was the first of these publications which was destined to occupy a permanent place in our lite- rature. The Rambler was succeeded by the Adventurer, which was published twice a week under the editorship of Dr. Hawks- worth. The first number appeared in November, 1752 ; the hundred and thirty-ninth, and last, in 1754. Meanwhile there had been started two weekly periodicals the World and the Connoisseur. The World was edited by Edward Moore, the author of the tragedy of the Gamester.* He also received assistance from Lord Lyttelton, Walpole, Soame Jenyns, and others. The first number appeared in January, 1753; the two hundred and ninth, and last, in December, 1756. It is Macaulay. '> See paragraph 2:9. AUTHORESSES. 475 one of the most readable of this series, and reached a sale of two thousand five hundred a week. The Connoisseur was esta- blished by George Colrnan. The first number appeared in January, 1754, and the last in September, 1756. Among its contributors was Cowper the poet, who sent a few essays in that easy style which distinguishes his letters. This list closes with Johnson's Idler, which was published weekly, from April, 1758, to April, 1760. Twelve of the numbers were contributed by Thomas Wartoii, Langton, and Reynolds. The Idler is, as a whole, more spirited and gay than tbe Rambler. Goldsmith's Citizen of the World is sometimes regarded as a periodical, but it was not published at regular intervals nor in a separate form ; it is therefore rather a novel than a periodical mis- cellany. Twenty years later this kind of publication was revived in Scotland. The first work was the Mirror, which appeared in Edinburgh under the editorship of Henry Mackenzie, the author of the Man of Feeling. The paper continued at the rate of a number a week from January, 1779, to May, 1780. A little later came the Lounger, also a weekly paper having Mackenzie as its chief contributor. The first number was published in February, 1785 ; the hundred and first, and last, in January, 1787. After an interval, during which politics attracted great attention, they almost monopolised the weekly press. For many years before this date, authorship had become a dis- tinct profession. It was now cultivated by all classes and by both sexes, not only as a means of support, but as Authoresses. ,. ., ,, J , . c c ,,, i the recreation of the leisure of men of wealth, and as an embellishment of domestic life. Accordingly, we have a number of female authors whose works once exercised no small influence on the tastes of the age. Besides the names of Mrs. Hannah Cowley, the author of Poems and Miscellaneous Pieces; Mrs. Frances Sheridan, the mother of Richard B. Sheridan ; Mrs. C. Lennox, the friend of Johnson, the author of Shakespeare Illustrated, and the translator of Sully's Memoirs ; and a little later, Mrs. Charlotte Brooke and Miss Sophia Lee ; there are Anna Williams, whose volume of Miscellanies appeared in 1766 ; Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the translator of Epictetus and the author of Poems, Essays, and Letters; her correspondent and friend, Miss Catherine Talbot, whose works, now forgotten, had reached 476 PROSE MAGAZINES. an eighth edition in 1812; Mrs. Elizabeth Montague (1720- 1800), the pupil of Conyers Middleton, the founder of the Blue Stocking Club, whose Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare (1769), in answer to M. Voltaire, was once famous, though now of value chiefly as showing from its apologetic tone how low critical taste had sunk in that age; Mrs. Chapone (1727-1801), the author of Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773), and the favourite correspondent of Samuel Richard- son ; Mrs. Macaulay, the republican historian and pamphleteer, whom Johnson so disliked, whose History of England from the Accession of James the first to the Restoration (published 1763- 1771) once attracted much attention; and Miss Helen Maria Williams, whose political writings did not appear till after the French Revolution, but who was known some years before as a writer of verse. Many of these authors are distinguished by good sense, elegance, and vigour of style, and allusions to them may be found in great numbers in the literary histories of the times, especially in the memoirs of Johnson, Beattie, and Mrs. More. Mrs. More herself, Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. Inchbald, and Mrs. Charlotte Smith reached their celebrity at a somewhat later date. 414. The early half of the eighteenth century is remarkable as the era of the commencement of magazines and reviews. Towards the close of the reign of George n. there were, NicQols tells us >* ^ man 7 as fifty-five weekly pub- lications of this class. A monthly periodical was first started by Edward Cave, Johnson's early friend and patron, who published the first number of the Gentleman's Magazine in 1731 : it still holds on its way as a treasury of literary and archaeological information. Cave mentions in his preface that every month a hundred sheets were published by the London press, and as many elsewhere. Many of the papers which these ephemeral publications contained were of value, and Cave proposed at first simply to reprint and preserve them. Afterwards original communications were introduced. His work had such success that there sprang up a host of imitators. In 1756 the Literary Magazine, or Universal Review, appeared, and lasted three years, supported during that time chiefly by Johnson's contributions. Anec&-Ui. REVIEWS. 477 The Lady's Magazine and The Public Ledger contained many of Goldsmith's Essays, while the British Magazine rejoiced in the patronage of a royal licence and in the editorship of Smollett. As early as 1739 the Scots' Magazine was published in Edinburgh, and continued a repository of Scottish song and of Scottish prose tales down to 1826. The earliest periodical devoted to criticism was the Monthly Review, established in 1749 by Griffiths, the bookseller. Among its contributors were Goldsmith, who boarded with Griffiths, Langham, and Kippis. As the Monthly was Whiggish and LOTV church, the Critical Review was started in 1756 on the othsr side, and was placed under the editorship of Smollett. Both re- views held their ground into our own century, and the former is still prized for its critical judgments and information. They were the chief works of the kind previous to the publication of the British Critic in 1793. In the middle of the century (1758), the Annual Register was commenced by Dodsley on the suggestion of Burke, who himself contributed to the work, and wrote the historical no- tices for some years. The Edinburgh, Review (1802), the Eclec- tic (1805), the Quarterly, (1809), and the Westminster (1824), belong to the nineteenth century, and several more to our own day. These magazines are evidence of two facts which have exer- cised great influence on the development of modern literature. They prove a large increase of readers, and they show by their contents that authors had begun to * intermeddle with all knowledge.' Some of the ablest literary men of the cen- tury are miscellaneous writers. Nothing seems to come amiss to them criticism, politics, philosophy, poetry, fiction. Some of these departments of thought they may be said to have created, and all of them, under their culture, have made such progress as the previous century had not known. 415. In the general literature of the latter half of the century, a first place is undoubtedly due to Samuel Johnson. He must Johnson k ave ^ nown personally or by report, Sherlock, But- ler, Warburton, Horsley, Lowth, Doddridge, Watts, Wesley, Whitefield, Campbell, the Wartons, Goldsmith, Mon- boddo, Robertson, Hume, Blair, Hartley, Adam Smith, Reid, 478 PROSE JOHNSON. Blackstone, Burke, Chatham, Reynolds ; yet for sagacity, inde- pendence, force, and influence he was surpassed by few of them, and in the department of literature by none. Soon after he came to London, Johnson contributed various papers to the Gentleman's Magazine. In 1738 appeared his Lon- don, a satire; in 1749 the Vanity of Human Wishes, imitations of the third and tenth satires of Juvenal, and among the best imita- tions of a classic author we possess. In 1750 he commenced the Rambler, and continued it twice a week without interruption for two years. Of the entire number of papers only four were fur- nished by other contributors, so that the volumes are really the production of one mind, and that mind as remarkable for its idiosyncrasies of thought and style as for its power. The papers therefore are at once striking and monotonous. In 1755 appeared his Dictionary of the English Language, a work that had occu- pied a great part of his time during the previous seven years. When on the eve of publication, Lord Chesterfield attempted to conciliate the author by two papers printed in The Woiid, and recommending the book. Johnson deemed this attempt to be ' false and hollow,' and addressed to his lordship an indignant letter. Johnson, it seems, did Chesterfield injustice ; but the lettei remains a fine specimen of wounded pride and somewhat surly independence. The dictionary is still one of our standard works, not eminent for its philological research, but very happy in its definitions and its illustrative quotations. In 1765 Johnson published his edition of Shakespeare, with little that is noteworthy in his elucidations of the text, but with an admirable preface. In 1770 and 1771 appeared two political pamphlets, T/ie False Alarm and Thoughts on the Falk- land Islands. The sentiment in both is always vigorous and earnest, though apt to become intolerant and contemptuous. In 1775 his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland excited great interest and some ill-feeling. The journey itself greatly gratified the author, appealing to his fondness for feudalism and to his taste for grand scenery. He was a keen observer, and his descriptions please the fancy while they inform the judgment. Scotland owes to his complaints of the absence of trees some of her finest forests. Johnson's best prose work is also one of his latest, The Lives of the Poets. It did not appear till 1781, but it shows all the JOHNSON. 479 vigour of thought, that distinguishes his earlier writings, with much more freedom of style and richness of illustration than any of them. The work begins with Cowley's life ; it therefore omits some of the greatest names in our literature : mere rhymesters, moreover, have found a place in his gallery. It must be conceded that to some of the acknowledged masters of poetic composi- tion he has done injustice. Milton he is readier to blame than to praise, though his criticisms on Paradise Lost are striking and often profound. Gray is treated with coarse insensibility, which does more dishonour to the critic than to the object of his censure. But on the other hand some of the biogra- phies and critiques are masterpieces, and have done more for criticism as a science than all preceding compositions of the kind. The great influence which Johnson exercised was due partly to his character and partly to his mental power and style. His manly appearance, his stern integrity, his love of argument and of society, his repartee and brow-beating, all helped to make him a man of mark in his time. His style contrasts strongly with Swift's, which is simple and direct, and with Addison's, which is idiomatic and graceful. * Long- tailed words in osity and ation,' and the balanced pomp of antithetic clauses had with him, and soon had r/if.h others, an irresistible charm. Though these peculiarities ure apt to become somewhat ridiculous in feebler hands, and even in his own, yet they have great force, especially when the feeling of the writer has glow enough to give to the massive paragraph heat to kindle the whole. Even when this warmth is wanting his sentences often roll on the ear ' like the sound of the distant sea/ and we are so delighted with the melody of the utterance that we care not to scrutinize too closely the thought. That the style has been too highly praised and too often copied, cannot be questioned ; but it has now fallen into undeserved neglect. Our modern literature would be th. more likely to live if it had learned to combine the vigorous, high- toned thinking of Johnson with the sustained diction in which he was somewhat too prone to indulge. Johnson's merit as a thinker is seen chiefly in two departments, morals and criticism ; and his excellence depends, curiously enough, on opposite qualities. When writing of morals there is little that is new or striking in the general principles he advocates j but in 480 PROSE BLACKSTOXE. the elucidation of particular questions he shows great sagacity, clearness, and elevation. When writing criticism, on the other hand, he often fails in details, manifesting defective susceptibility and tP.ste ; but in the mastery of great principles he is often far in advance of his age. In both departments he is a critic of strong sense and solid judgment rather than of subtlety and refinement, and in both it will ever be to his praise that he has assailed all sentimentalisin and licentiousness. He did more in fact than any of his contemporaries to create a pure and invigorating atmosphere in the fields of literature which were now beginning to be culti- vated on all sides. His views, it must be added, are often incon- sistent, partly through uncertainty of temper, partly through strong personal and political prejudices, but chiefly from the fact that he does not seem to have matured his opinions into a cohe- rent system, even upon those questions which oftenest occupied his thoughts. The very quickness of his insight and the fulness of his Style may have contributed to the conviction that he had seen through truth when he had only seen into it, and have led him to believe that he thoroughly comprehended what he only apprehended and could so clearly express. 416. Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) claims the first place when we pass from the department of pure literature to that of public life. His work entitled Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765), is the result of the first attempt to popularise legal knowledge. It exhibits a logical and comprehensive mind, and is written in a style of great clearness and purity. He has sometimes been charged with defending the interests of the crown against the rights of the people, and with preferring legal forms and precedents to common sense and equity. But this charge has not much foundation. When, in the House of Commons, he seemed to advocate a course of servile obedience to the court, he was answered out of his own book ; and attention to precedents is, after all, a commendable weakness when it is the business of a writer to expound our constitution. The Com- mentaries have never been superseded by any later work, though additions and corrections have been made by various writers to bring their teaching into harmony with the altered state of our law. Sir William's history, it may be added, is sometimes un- critical and erroneous. FERGUSON: DE LOLME. 481 417. Adam Ferguson (1724-1816), was successively minister of the Kirk of Scotland, associate and friend of Kobertson and Fer Blair, tutor in Lord Bute's family, and Professor of Natural and of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. He was also entrusted with the office of secretary to the Commissioners who went to America to negotiate with the revolted colonists. On his return he resumed his professorship, and died at St. Andrews in his ninety-fourth year. In 1766 he published the History of Civil Society, in 1776 a Reply to Dr. Price on Civil and Religious Liberty, in 1769 Institutes of Moral Philosophy, and in 1792 Institutes of Moral and Political Philosophy. In all his books there is the same kind of excellence an earnest spirit and somewhat striking philosophical reflections. Gray speaks of his Histwy of Civil Society as 'containing strains of uncommon eloquence . . . though written in a style too short-winded and sententious.' 418. A book that was once warmly praised is De Lolme's Con* stitution of England. Junius recommends it as ' deep, solid, and ingenious.' The author was a native of Geneva : lie first wrote his work in French and published it in Holland. In 1773 he published an English edition, dedicating it to George in. He wrote also a number of political treatises, and expected help from the English government. Disappointed in this respect, he retired to Geneva, and died in 1807 at the ago of sixty-two. De Lolme's work, though it skilfully indicates the excellences of the British constitution, is too indiscriminate in its praise, and our age has not confirmed the favourable decision of Junius and his contemporaries. The style is a good specimen of idiomatic English, and shows how completely the author had mastered our tongue. 419. One of the most extraordinary and eminent writers on the science of jurisprudence was Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). He lived in intercourse with the leading men of three generations, among whom he was most active and in- fluential in propagating his opinions. He was the son of a London solicitor, and was educated at Westminster and at Queen's College, Oxford. He entered college in his fourteenth year, and was known even then as * the philosopher.' His degree he took in 2 2 i 482 PROSE POLITICAL ECONOMY. 1763, and was afterwards called to the Bar ; but he had a stroug dislike to the legal profession and never practised. His first literary work was an examination of a passage in Blackstonc's Commentaries, entitled A Fragment on Government (1776). It was published anonymously, and was ascribed to Lord Mansfield, Lord Camden, and others, a sufficiently flattering compliment to its merits. This work was prompted, Bentham tells us, by ' a passion for improvement,' and this passion was at once stimulated ond guided by a phrase which he seems to have taken from Priestley, ' the greatest happiness of the greatest number.' * Therein,' says he, * I saw delineated for the first time a plain as well as a true standard for whatever is right or wrong ." . . whether in the field of morals or of politics.' In all his writings this phrase represents the leading and pervading principle. During the fifty years that followed the publication of this treatise he wrote and printed a large number of works ; on Usury (1787) ; on The Principles of Morals and Politics (1789), to which a most amusing autobiographical preface is prefixed ; on Civil and Penal Legislation (1802) ; on Fallacies, originally published by Dumont in French, etc. These works display an extensive and profound acquaintance with the principles of jurisprudence, a department in which his ' greatest happiness principle ' is of the utmost value. Ethically regarded his writings are much less satisfactory, and he exhibits throughout an amount of self-complacency, hardening now and then into arrogance, which is amusing to the common reader, but a little exasperating to an opponent. On the death of his father in 1792 Bentham came into property which enabled him to live with simple elegance. Occupying one of his London houses, he employed a number of young men as secretaries, maintained a large correspondence, and added daily to his works, By great temperance and care, his life, which was spent amid the society of a few devoted friends, was prolonged till he reached his eighty-fourth year. His works were collected and published by Dr. (now Sir John) Bowring and J. Hill Burton. In his later writings Bentham adopted a nomenclature and a style which made them almost unintelligible even to the initiated. Part of them however were translated into French by M. Dumont, and re-translations from his text form now the most popular English form of Beutham's treatises. Another of his disciples, James Mill, has diffused the principles of his master in inde- BENTHAM: ADAM SMITH. 483 pendent works. Sir S. Eomilly has explained and criticised them in the Edinburgh Review; and Sir James Mackintosh has done his ethical system and his personal character ample justice in the dissertation he prefixed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. One of the best proofs, indeed, of the genius and power of Bentham, is the hold which he gained over some of the ablest and most earnest thinkers of the last and the present generation, and it is undoubtedly to his writings and spirit that we owe many of our modern improvements in legislation. 420. The founder of the science of political economy is Adam Smith (1723-1790). He was born at Kircaldy in Fifeshire, and A Smith was e ^ ucate d at Glasgow and at Balliol College, Ox- ford. His friends intended him for a clergyman, but his own preference was for philosophy and literature, and to these subjects he devoted his life. After giving a course of lectures in Edinburgh on Khetoric and Belles Lettres, he was elected in 1751 Professor of Logic at Glasgow. In the following year he suc- ceeded Hutcheson as Professor of Moral Philosophy in the same University. Some of the views of his predecessors he adopted, blending them with his own. The result appeared in T/ie Theory of Moral Sentiments, which was published in 1759. In 1764 he accompanied the young Duke of Buccleuch to the Continent as travelling tutor, and after spending two years abroad he returned to his native town. Ten years he gave to hard study, and in 1776 published his great work An Enquiry into the Nature and the Causes of the Wealth of Nations. In 1778 he was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Customs, and his later days were spent in literary ease and comfort. Dr. Smith's ethical work is not satisfactory. The notion that morality is purely a matter of feeling, and is based oil sympathy, is a very imperfect representation of the facts. Yet this theory is enforced with such beauty of language and such richness of illustration, that the book is still read with great interest by many who, with Gray, fail to xmderstand or decline to accept its metaphysics. The writer, indeed, has been called the most eloquent of modern moralists, an honour, however, which he may be said, with more justice, to share with Dr. Thomas Brown. Political science Smith may be said to have founded and per- fected. Some of its leading principles had been indicated by 2 i 2 484 PROSE POLITICAL ECONOMY. Hobbes and by Locke. Facts had been collected and noted by Hume and by some of tbe merchant essayists to whom we have already referred ; but it is to Smith \ve owe the science. His book is alike remarkable for knowledge of trade and commerce, for sound reasoning on general principles, for practical sagacity, and for the richness and flow of its style. Its conclusions may be most conveniently summed up in the words of one of its latest commentators, Mr. McCullooh : ' He showed that the only source of the opulence of nations is labour, that the natural wish to aug- ment o.ur fortunes and rise in the world is the cause of riches being accumulated : he demonstrated that labour is productive of wealth when employed in manufacture and commerce, as well as when it is employed in the cultivation of land : he traced the various means by which labour may be rendered most effective, and gave a most admirable analysis and exposition of the pro- digious addition made to its efficacy by its division among diffe- rent individuals and countries, and by the employment of accu- mulated wealth or capital, in industrious undertaking. He also showed, in opposition to the commonly received opinions of the merchants, politicians, and statesmen of his time, that wealth does not consist in the abundance of gold and silver, but in the abun- dance of the various necessaries, conveniences, and enjoyments of life ; that it is in every case sound policy to leave individuals to pursue their own interest in their own way ; that in prosecuting branches of industry advantageous to themselves they necessarily prosecute such as are advantageous to the public ; and that every regulation intended to force industry into particular channels, or to determine the species of commercial intercourse to be carried on between different parts of the same country, or between dis- tant and independent countries is impolitic and pernicious.' 11 Some few of Smith's conclusions are now questioned or disowned ; but the merits of his work remain untouched. ' It produced,' says Mackintosh somewhat prematurely, it must be confessed ' an immediate, general, and irrevocable change in some of the most important parts of the legislation of all civilized states.' It has altered laws and treaties, and has proved as conducive to the inter- ests of peace and good will as to the increase of national wealth. b Principles of Political Economy, p. 57. b See a striking estimate of Adam Smith's two works in Buckle's History qf Civilisation, it 442. MALTHUS: RICARDO: MILL. 485 421. Towards the close of the last century appeared a work that excited great controversy : An Essay on the Principle of Population as it affects the future Improvement of S ciet y C 1 79 8 )- Its author was the Rev. T. R. Malthus (1766-1836), a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. A second edition, greatly improved, was published in 1802, contain- ing the results of personal observation during a visit to Northern Europe. His theory is, in brief, that population has a tendency to increase faster than the means of subsistence. The natural conclusion is that marriage should be discouraged by moral, or, if need be, by legal restraints. He also wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Sent (1815), and a work on the Principles of Political Economy (1820). For the last thirty years of his life, Mr. Malthus was Professor of History and Poli- tical Economy at Haileybury College. One of the ablest books on political science, after the treatise of Adam Smith, was written by David Kicardo (1772-1823), under the title of Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817). Mr. Ricardo accumulated a large fortune as a stockbroker, and was, during the last years of his life, Member of Parliament for Portaiiington. On his favourite subject he was a great autho- rity, and his papers are all marked by originality and power. In 1821, James Mill, the historian of British India, published The Elements of Political Economy, an elementary treatise on the science as modified by Ricardo. In 1831, Dr. Wbately delivered Lectures at Oxford as Professor of Political Economy, lectures distinguished by all the clearness and vigour for which that author was remarkable. In 1827, a good elementary trea- tise was published by Mrs. Marcet under the title of Conversa- tions on Political Economy. In 1832, Dr. Chalmers wrote on Political Economy in connection with the Moral Prospects of Society. In this work he insisted that no amount of skill or of labour would suffice to meet the necessities of the rapidly in- creasing population, and that men must either cease to multiply or starve. To J. R. McCulloch we owe Principles of Political Economy (Encyclo. Brit, and in 1825), various contributions on this science to the Edinburgh Review, and some admirable Dic- tionaries of commerce and geography. Meanwhile, the Malthusians were not suffered to advocate their doctrines unrebuked. Cobbett denounced them with great 45o PROSE ORATORY. vigour, and Coleridge ridiculed their fears. In 1831, M. T Sadleir, a plain man of business (1788-1835), published The Law of Population, in which he seeks to disprove the assertions of Malthus. The same year, Nassau W. Senior, their ablest oppo- nent, and Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, published Two Lectures on Population, in which he denies the soundness ot the doctrines in question, and suggests that there are influences at work which will ultimately check the evils which political eco- nomy dreads, or meet the necessities which the increase of the people is likely to create. Mr. Senior is also author of a Treatise on Political Economy, published originally in the Encyclopedia Metropolitana. 422. The eighteenth century marks the commencement of parliamentary oratory, and of the public discussion of political questions in a form adapted to exercise a direct in- fluence upon the government. This new power in the state owes its origin chiefly to the increased facility of circu- lating the speeches delivered in Parliament, and of appealing, by means of newspapers, to the intelligence or the passions of the people. The great men of the seventeenth century, with all their warm debates and skilful word fencing, reached only those who heard them. The 'winged words' of the great men of the eighteenth century flew to the ends of the earth, and if they themselves preferred to speak through the press, their utterances found a ready and effective channel in the newspapers or maga- zines of that day. Henceforth, it has been said, the pen or the tongue, not the sword, is the arbiter of the destinies of nations. If opinion now rules the world, it is humbling to think how much it owes its dignity to increased mechanical facility for fixing and diffusing it. Even mind is indebted for its power, though Lot for its authority, to paper and print. Among the earliest who used this wonderful faculty was the first William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham (1708-1778). He was educated at Eton, whence he went as student to Trinity College, Oxford. After a brief cornetcy in the Blues, and before he was twenty-one years of age, he entered Parliament, where he soon became conspicuous. In 1 740 he made a speech on the Bill for registering seamen, and in reply, Walpole taunted him with his youth. Pitt answered in a CHATHAM. 487 rejoinder which has become memorable. This speech is given by Dr. Johnson, who then reported for the Gentleman's Magazine, and though Johnson's report is clothed in his peculiar style, it must represent the substance of the speech itself. It is a master- piece of dignity and sarcasm. For many years Pitt continued one of the most influential men of his time, and though his acceptance of a peerage (1766) lowered 'the great Commoner' in public esteem, ho still ' shook the Senate ' with his appeals. When upwards of sixty, and enfeebled by disease, he delivered his speech against the employment of the Indians in the American War, and announced principles which have never ceased to guide, in like emergencies, the decisions of our public men. In 1778 he went to the House of Lords to rouse the country against what he deemed the ignominious surrender of part of America for, though he had always protested against the injustice with which the colonies were treated, he protested as strenuously against their independence and, when rising to reply he was struck down with mortal sickness, dying, after a few weeks, at Hayes, in his seventieth year. This scene forms the subject of a well-known picture by Copley ; and the character of Chatham has been sketched by some of our ablest writers, Grattan, Brougham, and Macaulay. Grattan's sketch, especially, is drawn with great richness and vigour. Chatham was buried in Westminster Abbey near the northern door in a spot ever since appropriated to statesmen. Here were laid in succession the shattered frames of the younger Pitt, Fox, Grattan, Canning, and Wilberforce. Other names suggested by that of Chatham are those of C. J. Fox (1749-1806) and William Pitt (1759-1806). Both were great parliamentary leaders, the representatives of parties and of principles, who carried parliamentary eloquence to a degree of excellence which it had not previously attained. 423. Two names that require further notice are Junius and Burke. When Junius commenced his career as a public writer, J-nius discontent had spread throughout the nation. The contest with the American colonies, the pressure of tax- ation, the low state of the country, were among the causes of the prevailing discontent, which was deepened by the feebleness of the government under Lord North, the power of the opposition led 488 PROSE JUNIUS. on by Chatham and Burke, and the 'poisonous influence,' as Lord North called it, of the North Briton, a publication edited by John Wilkes. In 1769 appeared the first of a series of poli- tical letters bearing the name of Junius letters which have now taken their place among the best specimens of vigorous English. The most popular newspaper of that day was the Public Adver- tiser, published by Woodfall, a man of character and education. To this paper the first letter was sent. It was followed by various letters under different signatures, and extending over about two years. In 1772 the whole were collected by Woodfall, revised by their author, and reprinted in two volumes. The best edition is that published in 1812. The principles advocated in these celebrated letters form" the least effective part of them ; though they are often moderate and sound, and occasionally constitutional maxims are set forth in striking language. The personality is the element that contributed most to their success in that age. They attacked the govern- ment, the court, and even the king, with unrivalled boldness. The sarcasm retailed much private scandal, and blasted more than one eminent public character. Now it is their style that gives them their chief interest. The point, the energy, the brilliancy of the language, the fearlessness and vigour of the invective, the occasional beauty and aptness of the metaphors are all impres- sive, though it must be confessed that the force of the whole is to us greatly weakened by the fact that the writer often mistakes private enmities for public virtues, and that he has often formed uncharitable estimates of the men of his time. The secret of the authorship of these letters may be said to have died with the writer of them. Not even Woodfall had any knowledge of the identity of his correspondent. They have been ascribed to ten or twelve different writers, and the whole question has charms for some minds not unlike those of the inquiry into the history of the Man with the iron mask. It is now generally believed that the real author was Sir Philip Francis. Brougham and Macaulay nave shown that evidence, both external and internal, points almost decisively to him. If the case is not proved, they think that there is an end of oil reasoning on circumstantial evi- dence. 424. The most eloquent, perhaps, and certainly the most philoso- BUB.KE. 489 phic, of the statesmen of the eighteenth century was Edmund B Burke (1730-1 797). He was born in Dublin, and was the son of an attorney. After receiving a good educa- tion at Trinity College he entered as a student at the Middle Temple. He seems, however, early to have given up the intention of following the law, and in 1753 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the chair of Logic in Glasgow. The first year of his life in London he gave to literature. In 1756 he published his parody of Lord Bolingbroke, A Vindication of Natural Society, to show that his style could be imitated and that his principles were unsound. In 1757 appeared A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful. For several years he aided Dodsley in the Annual Register, a work which he himself suggested. In 1765 he entered Parliament as Member for Wendover, having acted for some time as secretary to the Marquis of Kockingham. He now took to the writing of political pamphlets. His publications on The State of the Nation and The Present Discontents are models of argumentative discussion. In the debates on the American war and on the Eegency Bill of Mr. Pitt, and in the prosecution of Warren Hastings, he was one of the most active members of the House of Commons, and gained boundless applause by his speeches. In 1790, while the storm that was then rising in France was ' blackening the horizon,' he wrote his memorable Reflections on the French Revolution. He now separated from his old friends and especially from Mr. Fox. But his ardour and vigour were unabated. He appealed From the New to the Old Whigs, wrote Letters to a Noble Lord, other Letters on the Proposals for Peace, and later Letters to a Noble Lord on his Pension (1796), and Letters on a Regicide Peace (1796-1797). Meanwhile he had retired from Parliament. The friendship of the Marquis of Kockingham had enabled him to purchase an estate near Beaconsfield, and there the remainder of his life was spent. In 1795 he received a handsome pension from the Civil List. It was intended to raise him to the peerage, but the death of his only son ' rendered him indifferent if not averse to such a distinction.'* He died in 1797, and was buried in the church at Beaconsfield. This briei summary of his labours gives only the faintest idea of their value. Burke possessed in the highest degree the faculty a (Tharnbers. 490 PROSE .ESTHETICS, of * tracing all things, actions, and events to the laws which determine their existence.'* He was the most scientific of statesmen, and referred habitually to principles. This is his first excellence ; and as all his speeches were written under the con- trol of this faculty, and were carefully prepared for the press, they are still valuable though the circumstances and events to which they relate have passed away : at the same time the imagery and illustration in which they abound make them inter- esting to the literary student. In his political writings he is apt to exaggerate in tone and in statement, and occasionally he trans- gresses the bounds of correct taste. But in various knowledge, in splendid language, in profound philosophical reflection, .they are unsurpassed ; nor would it be possible to find writings more suggestive of lessons of political sagacity applicable to all tune. Genius and splendour characterise his later speeches : the earlier ones have more practical value. His intellectual character and style have been sketched by Mackintosh and Robert Hall. Both wrote amid the excitement of the beginning of our century, and while Burke's denunciations of French liberty seemed harsh and illiberal ; perhaps, therefore, they have failed to do full justice to his merits. Modern criticism is disposed to compare him with Cicero a model that Burke copied in eloquence and in philoso- phy and to affirm that, if the comparison is to extend over both departments, he has at least equalled his original. 425. The mention of Burke's Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), naturally suggests other books of the same class. The subject ^ which he treats had already occupied the attention of Addison and Akenside, and it now became a favourite one with English writers. Burke's aim was to ascertain what the quality is to which we give the name of ' beauty/ and what emotions it excites in the heart, and he hoped rules might be deduced from such an inquiry applicable to the imitative arts. liis theory is not regarded as satisfactory, nor does his treatise Jisplay much of his genius or power. One of the first to apply Burke's suggestions was Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), whose Discourses on Painting were delivered between 1769 and 1790. Sir Joshua himself was a 8 Coleridge. REYNOLDS: ALISON. 491 portrait painter of exquisite taste ; his lectures contain a good deal of suggestive thought and literary illustration, but their critical rules are said to be wanting in accuracy and in definite- ness. The next application of Burke's suggestion was to scenery, and the writers to whom we are indebted for works in this department are the Kev. William Gilpin (1724-1804) and Sir Uvedale Price (1747-1829). The former is author of Remarks on Forest Scenery and Observations on Picturesque Beauty; the latter of Essays on the Picturesque. Gilpin's descriptions of the beauties of trees singly and in groups are often very striking, and his works are enriched with thoughts that may be regarded as even profound. Price's criticisms on gardening and on painting, though not always just, are always remarkable for beauty of description and general accuracy of taste. The pic- turesque he deemed a quality entirely distinct from the beautiful and the sublime. Some of his philosophical distinctions were questioned by Dugald Stewart. In 1790 Archibald Alison published Essays on the Natural Principles of Taste. In this work he maintains that material ob- jects appear beautiful or sublime in consequence of the emotion of pity, love, or sorrow, which they have power to excite, and that this power they acquire by association. In 1805, R. Payne Knight published an elaborate treatise entitled An Analytic Enquiry into the Principles of Taste. It contains much clear and learned criti- cism, with a good deal that is paradoxical. He also is a disciple of the theory of association. The ablest defender of that theory however is Francis Jeifrey, who, in an article on beauty published in the Edinburgh Review, explains the principle with great clear- ness of reasoning and richness of illustration. Other advocates are Dugald Stewart and Dr. Thomas Brown. It must be con- ceded that, as in the case of conscience so in respect to taste, asso- ciation does explain many of the most common and some of the most curious of the facts ; but as an exhaustive theory it seems as unsatisfactory as the theory that resolves all sound into echo. The beautiful is surely an objective quality and excites a corre- spondent emotion. The recent writings of Mr. Ruskin contain admirable discussions on the principles of taste as applied to all art, and in Cousin's Philosophy of the Beautiful (London, 1848), we have an eclectic theory of beauty very different from the doctrine of our Scottish metaphysicians. 492 PROSE CRITICISM. 426. The principles which Burke endeavoured to ascertain in beauty and sublimity, and which other writers on taste sought in K PS te art anc * in natura ^ scener yt soon came to be discussed in relation to style. The first writer on this subject in the eighteenth century was Henry Home (1696-1782), a Scottish lawyer and judge who, under the title of Lord Kames, wrote several metaphysical dissertations. Of these the best is the Elements of Criticism (1762). It is a peculiarity of the book that he rejects all rules based on mere authority and seeks such only as are demonstrably based on human nature. Stewart thinks his treatise the earliest systematic attempt to investigate the metaphysical principles of Art. His Sketches of the History of Man (1773), contains many curious facts and discussions, and his Loose Hints on Education (1781), affirms with clearness and vigour some of those doctrines on that subject which have since become popular. The next work we owe to Hugh Blair (1718-1799), one of the ministers of Edinburgh. His Lectures on Rhetoric were first delivered in 1759 and were published in 1783. The style is somewhat hard and dry, but the work is enriched with a good collection of examples in every department of composition, and with detailed criticisms on authors, both ancient and modern. The best book, however, of this class, is Tlte Philosophy of She- tor ic by Dr. George Campbell (1719-96), principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen. It was published in 1776, and, unlike many works on this subject, it is an original treatise, not a compilation, displaying great research, independent judgment, and much phi- losophical acuteness. Other books by the same author are A Dissertation on Miracles, in answer to Hume, A Translation of the Four Gospels, and A Series of Lectures on Ecclesiastical His- toi-y ; all distinguished by the same qualities. While strenuously defending religious truth Campbell as strenuously opposed the prosecution of those who attacked it. He avowed his grief that any friends o.f religion should betray so great diffidence in the goodness of their cause as to use any more forcible methods of silencing opponents than a candid Christian spirit and solid argu- ment. 'These attacks,' he adds, 'may shake Christianity for a time and threaten to overthrow it, whilst in effect they only serve to make it strike its roots the deeper and stand the firmer ever after.' HARRIS : TOOKE. 493 The admirable practical treatise of Whately on Rhetoric way fairly conclude the list. 427. Meanwhile, Language, as the utterance of thought, was receiving attention in other quarters. In 1752, James Harris of Salisbury, a Member of Parliament, and one of the :e * Lords of the Treasury, published a celebrated work entitled Hermes', or, a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Uni- versal Grammar, in which he has thrown much light on the history and philosophy of language. Harris had a profound knowledge of Greek, but unhappily, when he published his volume, the Gothic and Norse dialects of Europe had attracted little attention among our scholars. To this circumstance some of his errors are to be attributed. The work is, nevertheless, a curious and valuable production. Harris's deficiencies were somewhat supplied, so far as know- ledge of the northern languages is concerned, by John Home Tooke, philologist and politician (1736-1812). He was the son of Mr. Home, a London poulterer, or Turkey merchant, as young Home used to call him, and was educated at Westminster and Cambridge. At his father's suggestion he took orders as a clergyman, but never liked his profession and soon relinquished it for the law. Politically, he became a Wilkite, but soon quarrelled with his leader. As a lawyer, he gained the favour of a client, Mr. Tooke of Purley, who bequeathed to him a fortune of about 8000?. To this connexion we owe the title, and probably the publication of his best work, Epea Pteroenta ; or, the Diversions of Purley (vol. i. 1786, ii. 1805). The work is a farrago of politics, wit, bad metaphysics, and etymology. Tooke's theory is, that particles are really fragments of nouns and verbs. This theory applied to English is largely true ; but when he proceeds to take the etymology of words as a guide to their meaning, and above all, when he treats things as only generalized names whose meanings are to be determined by etymology, we feel instinc- tively that he is building upon analogies which are often whim- sical, or at best accidental, a fabric which is not the temple of truth. Nevertheless, his knowledge of the northern languages, his liveliness and acuteness combine to make his book an inter- esting and valuable accession to our stores. In 1794, he was tried for high treason, eloquently defended by 494 PROSECRITICISM. Erskine, and acquitted. The unspoken speech which Lord Mayor Beckford was to have delivered in reply to George ni., and which is engraved on Beckford's statue in Guildhall, was written by Tooke. The speech is not remarkable, but the circumstances in which it was supposed to have been spoken, gave it great celebrity in a tune of political ferment. Tooke twice tried to gain a seat in parliament as member for Westminster ; but was un- successful. Lord Camelford nominated him for Old Sarum, and a motion was made to expel him on the ground that he was still in orders. This motion, however, was dropped ; but an act was passed to prevent the admission of clergymen in future. Between 1773 and 1792, LordMonboddo published some essays on the origin and progress of language, which excited both ridi- cule and admiration. They contain the results of much learning and shrewdness, with a good deal that is whimsical. 428. Besides the writers on taste and style in general, there were many in this century who made valuable additions to our stores by their criticisms or by their contributions to Nichofs etc. P art i cluar departments of prose literature ; Edmund Malone (1743-1812), J.Nichols (1745-1829), I. Dis- raeli (1766-1848), Sir Egerton Brydges (1762-1837), Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850), William Hazlitt (1778-1830), Thomas de Quincey, and Sydney Smith (1771-1845). These are really re- presentative men, and must be taken as samples of a class, many of whom we cannot notice for want of space, and some because they are Btill amongst us. Edmund Malone, the son of an Irish judge, was born in Dublin. He was called to the English bar, but devoted his life to literature. He was eminent as critic and as antiquary. To him we owe the detection of the Shakespeare forgeries of Ireland. His life of Dryden and of Reynolds, and his edition of Shakespeare contain much useful information, curious comment and skilful criticism. He was the friend of Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, and still more of Johnson's biographer Boswell. Of John Nichols mention has been made already in connection with the Gentleman's Magazine. He was an apprentice of William Bowyer, an eminent London printer, and the author of several philological tracts, as well as of a respectable edition of the Greek Testament with notes. On Bowyer's death, Nichols NICHOLS: DISRAELI. 495 succeeded to the busiress in which he had been for some time a partner, and then became associated with a brother-in-law of Cave, the original proprietor of the Gentleman's Magazine. The more important of Nichols' works are The Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, in eight volumes (1812-1814), and a supplement of illustrations in three volumes. John Nichols represents a class of men not uncommon in modem Europe, who, from William Caxton to Charles Knight, have combined a love of literature with a business knowledge of its mechanical details, and who have cultivated it with the best results to literature itself, though sometimes with great cost to themselves. They have often proved martyrs to principle and to the cause of education, and are well entitled to our respect and admiration. Isaac Disraeli, the father of the present author and statesman, was descended from a Jewish family that had been compelled to leave Spain by the Inquisition in the fifteenth century. The family came to England in 1748. Disraeli, himself, could never make a man of business, and the family at length allowed him to become a man of letters. Few men have done more to diffuse a literary taste than Isaac Disraeli, author of The Curiosities of Literature, and other works. The first volume of the Curiosities was published in 1791, a second appeared in 1793, and the third in 1817. Three other volumes were afterwards published as a second series. He is also the author of Literary Miscellanies of Literary Characters pieces which have been published in a large volume. Still later, and after he had been smitten with partial blindness, he pub- lished the Amenities of Literature. These works consist of detached papers and dissertations on literary men and on literary Subjects, and, though written in a gossipping, pleasant style, they present the fruits of much antiquarian research without the dry- ness which too often distinguishes the writings of the antiquary. His ablest essay is the Literary Character ; or, the History of Men of Genius, drawn from their own feelings and confessions. It was a favourite with Byron. All his works, it may be added, are suggestive and helpful to literary students. To Sir Egerton Brydges we owe the Censura Literaria (second and best edition 1815), in ten volumes, and the British Biblio- grapher, in three volumes. As the editor of the Retrospective Review, he drew attention to many of the finest of our old English 4S3 PROSE CRITICISM. authors, aiding Coleridge, Hazlitt, and Lamb in this laudable work. In 1835 he published an edition of Milton in six volumes. In Sir Egerton's own writings there is a querulous spirit which often displeases the reader. But it is impossible not to admit that his taste and exertions have done much to extend among modern Btudents a juster appreciation of our older literature. 429. Francis Jeffrey was born at Edinburgh in 1773, and when only twenty-one, was called to the bar. For many years he worked hard and lived economically, leading a life of self-denial and literaiy culture till he became a power in the State. In 1802, the Edinburgh Review; was started by Sydney Smith, Francis Horner, Dr. Thomas Brown, Henry Brougham, and Francis Jeffrey. Jeffrey was soon ap- pointed editor an office he filled till 1829. Besides editing the work and infusing his own spirit into the contributors, he himself wrote largely for it the finest articles on poetry and on elegant literature being from his pen. His criticisms on Cowper, Crabbe, Byron, Scott, and Campbell, as well as on the earlier lights of our literature, Shakespeare and Milton, are written with great acuteness and freshness. Occasionally, he is wanting in respect for living genius. Southey, Wordsworth, Lamb, and Montgomery, all suffered in this way. Such in- stances, however, are rare, and the critical judge has often cancelled his previous decision. After he had been raised to the Bench in Scotland, he collected his more important contributions and published them (1844) in three volumes. He himself tells us that his principle had been to combine ethical precepts with literary criticism, and to assert the close connexion between sound intellectual attainments and the higher elements of duty, and of the just and ultimate subordination of the former to the latter. To this principle he generally adheres, and some most vigorous rebukes of licentiousness and of infidelity are to be found in his pages. If he now and then gave up to party what was meant for mankind, it may be affirmed that he has never sacrificed to party the interests of morality or of religion. 430. William Hazlitt was an art critic and a bold vigorous writer, though somewhat prejudiced and paradoxical. He was born at Maids tone, Kent, and began life as painter. As he displayed more appreciation of excellence than HAZLITT: DE QUINCET. 49i creative genius, he soon relinquished the pencil and devoted his life to literature. Among other works he wrote Characters of Shakespeare's Plays (1817), in which he shows great acuteness and discrimination, Lectures on the English Poets delivered at the Surrey Institution (1818), Table Talk; or, Original Essays (1821-1822), Lectures on tJie Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth (1821), and his most elaborate and characteristic book, the life of Napoleon Buonaparte (1818) in four volumes. To him we owe also An Essay on the Fine Arts, published in the Ency- clopaedia Britannica, and various articles on English novelists and other authors in the Edinburgh Review. His Conversations with James Northcote is one of his latest books, and contains many good remarks on art and artists. The uncertainties and disappoint- ments of a literary life and the struggles of political parties, seem to have soured his mind, but it is impossible to read his criticisms on some old poems or picture, for example, without feeling the brilliance of his language, the heartiness of his appreciation of ideal excellence, and the frankness and strength of his character. If he had thought more and felt less, or rather if his feelings had been tutored by greater ripeness of judgment and depth of thought, he would have been one of the most impressive critics of our age. One of the most voluminous of our writers on literature is Thomas de Quincey. His Confessions of an Opium Eater, pub- lished originally in the London Magazine, have given e Quincey. ^.^ g rea fc ce lebrity. Though his purely literary papers are less known, they are all remarkable for clear and masculine style and for the general soundness of their critical principles. He introduced German literature to English readers some years before Carlyle had made it so popular, and some of the best translations of Eichter and Lessing are from his pen. His contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and his articles in Taifs Magazine and other periodicals have been collected, forming a series of sixteen volumes. De Quincey seems to have been fitful, and occasionally ungenial. It is at least certain that in his Literary Eecollectic/ns, published some years ago in Tait, he treated some of his illustrious contemporaries with less delicacy and generosity than might have been expected from him. His papers are, as a whole, admirable specimens of clear thinking, good taste, and idiomatic English. 2 2 K 498 PROSE SYDNEY SMITH. 431. This literary summary may be fitly closed with a brief notice of Sydney Smith and Charles Lamb. Known in our age chiefly as a joker, and in the last age as an opponent of evangelical eftort Methodism as he called it whether in his own Church or in other churches, Smith's literary merits are apt to be forgotten : yet there is no man of this century whose works are richer in masculine sense, in earnest advocacy of what he deemed great principles, or in general fair- ness of judgment, while for wit, shrewdness, and good Saxon English they are unsurpassed, or, taking those qualities together, unrivalled. Apart from his religious tendencies, and making allowance for a certain worldliness of tone which sometimes grates upon the feeling, it may be said that there are few writers in our language that can be read with more amusement and profit. Sydney Smith was born at Wood ford in Essex. He was the son of an improvident English gentleman, who, however, gave his children a good education and placed them in positions to help themselves. Of Smith's two brothers the older, Robert, better known by his school name of Bobus, became a distinguished clas- sical scholar, and adopted the profession of the law. The younger, Courtenay, went to India, where he accumulated great wealth which he bequeathed to Sydney. Sydney was educated at Ox- ford, where he gained a small fellowship. After holding a curacy in a village in the midst of Salisbury Plain, he removed with a pupil to Edinburgh, and there remained five years, preaching at the Episcopal chapel, and meditating politics with the young Whigs of that city. It is to him we owe the suggestion of the Edinburgh Review, and the first numbers were edited by him. When he left Edinburgh, * my Review fell,* he tells us, ' into the stronger hands of Jeffrey and Brougham, and reached the highest point of popularity and success.' In 1804 he came to London, where he preached for some years. Between 1804 and 1806 he delivered a course of lectures on Moral Philosophy at the Royal Institution, London, which were published after his death, and which have certainly contributed to his reputation. Meanwhile his conversational powers gained him great celebrity, and he became ' a diner out of the first water.' His papers in the Edinburgh also extended his popularity, though they robbed him of all hope of promotion from the party then in power. During the brier Whig administration of 1806-1807 he was presented to a living in CHARLES LAMB. 499 Yorkshire, Foston le Clay, and there he wrote a highly amusing political tract entitled Letters on the Subject of the Catholics to my brother Abraham, who lives in the Country : by Peter Ptymley. The success of these letters was immediate and immense. Never, indeed, since Swift's day, had papers appeared so masterly in irony and humour and so strong in argument. After obtaining various pieces of preferment, Mr. Smith was appointed one of the Prebends of St. Paul's (1831), and in 1839 he became, 'by the death of his brother, unexpectedly a rich man.' He died in 1845, and in 1855 a memoir of his life, with a selection from his let- ters, was published by his daughter, Lady Holland. This work gives a very favourable impression of the beneficence of his life, though without at all softening what we have indicated as the less favourable parts of his character. His collected works form three volumes. The themes that Sydney Smith discusses are always practical, and his great object seems to be to correct abuses, to enforce timely reformation, and to defend liberty on principles of common sense. Most of his papers are political, but his Moral Philosophy, while manifesting the same breadth of humour and drollery of illustra- tion that distinguish his other writings, displays more power of analysis and more taste for abstract speculation than many of his admirers would have supposed. He is a good specimen of the shrewd, fearless Englishman, and employs those qualities, together with the peculiar talents to which we have already referred, in the great cause of human improvement. 432. One of the most quaint and humorous writers of this century is Charles Lamb (1775-1835). He was bom in London, and was educated at Christ's Hospital. In 1792 he obtained an appointment in the East India Com- pany's office, and there remained till 1825, when he was allowed to retire on a handsome pension ; became his own master, ' and went home,' as he expressed it, ' for ever.' Lamb and his sister Mary had inherited a taint of insanity, and both suffered from ifr. In 1 796, the sister, in a paroxysm of madness, seized a table knife and stabbed her mother. This sad tragedy coloured the life of both, and called forth a spirit of noble self- denial on Lamb's part. He resolved to remain single and to sacrifice his own feelings in order to provide her a home. She 2 K 2 500 PROSE LAMB: HONE. regained her health, and from the age of twenty-two he devoted his life to her happiness, ' endeared as she was by her stranga calamity and by the constant apprehension of the recurrence of the malady which had caused it.' a Lamb's earliest literary works were in verse, prompted pro- bably by the productions of his friends Coleridge and Words- worth. Twice he essayed the drama, writing John Woodvil, a tragedy, and Mr. H., a farce. The Edinburgh blasted his hopes of the success of the first, and the public rejected the second. ' He consoled his friends, however, by a century of puns,' and gave himself to other work. After writing a series of tales, founded on Shakespeare's plays, in conjunction with his sister, and publishing Specimens of English Dramatic Poets who lived about the Time of Shakespeare, he prepared a series of essays, and published them under the title of JZZfo, in the London Magazine. ' They are all,' says Talfourd, 'carefully elaborated ; yet never were works written in a higher defiance of the conventional pomp of style. A sly hit, a happy pun, a humorous combination, lets the light into the intricacies of the subject, and supplies the place of ponderous sentences. Seeking his materials for the most part from the common paths of life often in the humblest he gives an im- portance to everything, and sheds a grace over all.' Lamb died in 1835 of erysipelas following a slight fall, and 'was buried at Edmonton, amid the tears of a circle of warmly attached friends, and his memory was consecrated by a tribute from the muse Wordsworth.' Lamb's fame he owes principally to his Essays and Letters. His favourite authors were the dramatists of Shakespeare's age, Jeremy Taylor, Sir Thomas Browne, Thomas Fuller, and Mar- garet Countess of Newcastle : and never did the adage noscitur a sociis receive a completer fulfilment. His genial humour, his whims, his punning propensities, the quaintness of his fancies, give strong individuality to all he has written, while his critical taste, pure style, and choice expressions, combine to make him a master of the English essay. 433. Among less eminent writers may be named : William Hone (1779-1842), the author of the Every-Day Book and the Table Book, which give a picturesque account * T. X. Talfourd, Life and tetteri. STEPHEN: PORSON. 501 of old customs ; the volumes were great favourites with Southey and Lamb : John W. Croker (1780-1857), one of the most diligent con- tributors to the Quarterly, of which he was for a time the editor, and the ' Rigby ' of Coningsby, is the author of a number of critical papers showing skill in detecting minute errors skill which Lord Macaulay repaid with evident satisfaction on Croker's edition of Boswell : Sir James Stephen (1789-1859) was for many years Under- secretary of the Colonies, afterwards Professor of Modern History at Cambridge ; he is the author of two volumes of Essays and Lectures on the History of France, written with considerable brilliancy and vigour. Mrs. Jameson, whose Characteristics of Women (1832), and various volumes on art, are written with great feeling and taste ; Arthur Helps, author of Friends in Council (1847-1850), The Companions of my Solitude (1851), and other works written with great discrimination and purity of style ; Thomas Carlyle (b. 1795), author of the Life of Schiller (1825), a translation of Wilhelm Meister (1824), Heroes and Hero Worship (1840), delivered originally as a course of lectures, The French devolu- tion (1837), five volumes of Miscellanies (1848), Oliver Cromwell his Letters and Speeches (1845), an d of the Life of Frederick the Great (1858-1865), we can only name, as they are yet living. 434. The representative of the classical scholarship of the eighteenth century, perhaps, the only name of first-rate ability since the time of Bentley, was Kichard Person (1759- 1808). He was the son of a parish clerk in Norfolk, and raised himself by his prodigious memory and great talent to the Greek professorship in the University of Cambridge. He has left no independent work, but his editions of the first four plays of Euripides and his corrections of the text of ^schylna and of part of Herodotus, show unsurpassed shrewdness and taste in Greek literature. His Adversaria ; or, Notes and Emen- dations of Greek Poets, were published by Monk and Bloomfield. Unhappily, his personal habits were not creditable to him ; his intemperance amounted to a disease : though he strangely blended with these qualities a love of truth and simplicity of character 502 PROSE HISTORIES OF LITERATURE. that at once attracted and offended his friends Some of his sayings were very shrewd and pointed. Two other scholars of less eminence are Dr. Samuel Parr (1747-1825) and his pupil, Dr. Edward Maltby (b. 1770). The former was long head master of the Norwich School, aiid died at Hatton, where he was perpetual curate for more than fr>rty years. His Spited Sermon (1800) of fifty pages, has two hundred and twelve pages of notes. Dr. Maltby was successively Bishop of Chichester and of Durham (1836). He is well known as the editor of Morell's Thesaurus (1802), and as author of Ittus- trdtions of the Truth of the Christian Religion. One of the abtest scholars of our own century was the late J. W. Donaldson (1810-1861). His chief works are The Theatre of the Greeks, the New Cratylus and the Varro- nianus, the two latter on the philology of the Greek and Latin languages. 435. Nor ought we to omit from this section the names of tho historians of literature, or of the societies which have been formed for reprinting the scarce works of our earlier writers - Bishop Percy was one of the first to give a full account of early English romances and ballads. His Essay prefixed to the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, first appeared in 1765, and in an enlarged form in 1794. Warton's History of English Poetry (1774) examines most of our early English literature, and gives many specimens. Tyrwhitt's edition of the Canterbury Tales contains a valuable preliminary Essay on Chaucer's peculiarities, and on the general history of the language itself up to the fourteenth century. In 1792, Pinker- ton printed a collection of Scottish poems, and in 1802 Ritson pub- lished Ancient English Romances ; both volumes with considerable criticism and history. Ellis's Specimens of Early Romances was published in 1805, and his Specimens of Early English Poets in 1803. This last suggested George Burnett's Specimens of English Prose Writers (1807); and these were followed by Specimens of Later Poets edited by Sou they, and by Specimens of all our Poets, edited by Campbell. The Collections by Scott, the History of the Drama by Dunlop and Collier, and the General History of Lite- rature by Hallam, are noticed elsewhere. Modern compilations by Chambers, Craik, Spalding, Arnold, and Sba,w, we can only name. PTOL1CATTON SOCIETIES. 503 Publication Societies belong chiefly to the nineteenth century : the following are the most important : TITLE. RECORD COMMISSION, MASTER OF ROLLS, ETC Roxburgh Club PLACE. London London, 1812 WORKS PUBLISHED. 76 works CHIEF CHARACTER Hist, and Lit. Hist and Lit. 1 loyal Society of Literature . Bannatyne Club London, 182J Edin 182? 5 ,. Lit. Hist and Lit Mai eland Club Surtecs Society Glasg., 1828 Durham, i8}4 75 .1 Hist, and Lit. Lit North of Eng Abbotsford Club. .... Edin., i8j; Ji Hist, and Lit. Hist Spalding Club . . . . Irish Archsel. and Celtic Soc. . i'arker Society Percy Society Aberd., 1839 Dublin, 1840 Camb., 1840 London, 1840 J2 27 _ 5J ,, 04 Hist. Hist. Theol. Lit Wodrow Society . Keel Shakespeare Society. Library of Anglo-Cath. Theol. Philological Society .... vElfric Society . London, 1841 Oxford, 1841 London, 1842 47 32 10 Lit. Shak. Theol. Philol. Lit Chethatn Society .... Spotiswuode Society . . . Calvin Society Hansard Knollys Society . . Caxton Society Manch., 184? Edin., 1843 Edin, 1845 London, 184; London 1845 60 6 52 l 16 Hist. Lit. Eccl. Theol. Calv. Theol. Bapt. Hist Lit. Hakluyt Society . . . . Early English Text Society . London, 1846 London. i86j 31 10 Travels. Phil. Lit. Add to this list the numerous reprints of old and rare books by J. P. Collier, J. 0. Halliwell, by Bonn, Maidment, and J. R. Smith, and by local and private presses. Of these last the fol- lowing are among the most important : Strawberry Hill .... Lee Priory H. Watpole, 1757 . . . Sir E. Brydges i8lj 123 works. Auchinlech Press Newcastle-on-Tyne Middle Hill Press Darlington Press. Sir J. Boswell, 1815 . . Typographical Society, 1818 Sir T. Phillips, 1819 . . U. Allan I! :: no Beldornie Press . E. V. Utterson, 1840 . . . J? ;, 436. The Organum of Bacon and the Essay of Locke have been charged with producing the religious scepticism of the ETHICS etc eighteenth century. The charge is really unjust, influence of There were other influences, as we have seen, that go far to explain it. The spirit which their writings are supposed to have fostered had other advocates, both in 504 PROSE ETHICS. England and on the Continent. Galileo in Italy, Kepler in Northern Europe, Descartes in France, all taught men to adopt new methods of investigation, directed attention to facts rather than to established opinions, and produced such a state of feeling that even in morals authority had small weight. Bacon and Locke moreover firmly guarded against the application of their doctrines to religion and to morality. Bacon maintained that religion belongs to revelation, and that its facts are texts of Scripture. Locke maintained that the just consideration of our- selves and of God would afford 'such foundations of our duty and such rales of action as might place morality among the sciences capable of demonstration.' a The unsettling of received opinions which the Organum excited in physical science, and which may be said to have ended in that department in the establishment of Newton's philosophy, has con- tinued in mental and ethical science down to our own day, nor is it yet determined upon what foundation those sciences are to rest. 437. Admitting that the principles of both sciences are to be settled by appeals to experience in its widest sense, there are still questions that need discussion. What is the essence ^ ^ e c l ua lity of acts which we call virtuous? and what is the nature and the origin of the feeling with which we regard them ? Is the tendency of an act to promote our own good or the good of others its virtuous quality ? Do we ascertain the quality by ascertaining the tendency ? and is our perception of the virtuousness of the act simply the perception of its useful tendency ? These questions are answered in the affirm- ative by the advocates of the philosophy of consequences Gay, Law, Tucker, Paley, Bentham. Or is the quality of virtue an ultimate idea, involved in the relations between different beings, incapable, like equality for example, of further analysis, aod perceived in the same way by the reason, or, if not by the reason, by a faculty that is partly intellectual and partly emotional, and which for convenience we call the moral sense? Or, while affirming this view, may we say that morality is what is adapted to our nature as in the highest sense it is what is adapted to God's nature that it is the acting in accordance with all our powers, with due regard to the subordination which God has JSssay, ok. iv., cp. iii., ft 18. SENSATIONALISM: IDEALISM. 505 instituted between them, particular affections being subjected to self love, and both to conscience ? Such is the view of the advocates of the philosophy of principle, Cud worth, Clarke, Butler. Or is virtue a quality of which we know nothing except by the feeling it excites ? Or is it a quality which in our fallen state we cannot test or ascertain, a quality which we can learn therefore only from Divine teaching ? Such is the view of those who advocate the philosophy of mere feeling ; and of those who deny the existence for man of any ethical system except what is taken from the Bible. The former is the view of Adam Smith, and the latter of Dr. Wardlaw. Or, amidst these conflicting views, are we to grow sceptical, and deny that there is any such thing as virtue ? Such is the philosophy of Hobbes, and practically of Hume. Looking at mental processes, and trying to classify and explain them, we find theories of a similar kind. Some hold that all knowledge is gained only through the senses, and that our ideas are simply generalised sensations, never properly wider than the facts upon which they are founded. This is sensationalism, the philosophy of Condillac, of James Mill, of John Stuart Mill, and of G. H. Lewes. Others hold that, besides these generalised facts, we have ideas which are representatives of eternal truth, axioms, necessary laws of thought. We cannot but think, for example, of every effect as having a cause, and we believe that everything which exists had a cause, God only excepted ; while on all subjects we instinctively form sweeping general propositions which are not based in all their extent on experience. Those who hold the existence of such thoughts and the truth of them are idealists, the greater number of them holding also the reality and truth of the ideas that are obtained from sensation. This is the philo- sophy of Norris, Reid, Beattie, Kant, and Hamilton. Some sen- sationalists admit the reality of these necessary truths, but hold that the connexion between the different parts of the propositions containing them is simply verbal. This is the view of Home Tooke, Whately, and others. Both pure sensationalism and pure idealism tend to scepticism. Their reasoning ends in the denial of an external world, and of the existence of mind itself. We are conscious of sensations 500 PROSE MENTAL PHILOSOPHY only, it is said, and know nothing "but sensations. Whether there is anything without, corresponding to the sensations we feel, or, if there is, whether there is any substance other than the sensible property we feel, it is impossible to decide. It was in this way that Berkeley, reasoning upon what he deemed the sen- sationalism of Locke, denied that we have any proof of the existence of matter. Similarly, Hurne admitted that we have ideas, but held that of anything besides ideas we know nothing neither of the mind nor of God. If, it is said, I am not to gene- ralise on causation, I know nothing in relation to the outer world but my sensations, and in relation to the inner world I know nothing but my ideas : matter and spirit are therefore both un- known. This is the philosophy of scepticism, a phrase that means in this connection, uncertainty on the principles of know- ledge and on the methods of enquiry. It does not affirm that the thing spoken of does not exist, but simply that we can know nothing of it. It has been answered in different ways. Kant appealed to what he called practical reason; Reid to common sense, either of which, they respectively affirm, assures us of the existence of the external world and of our own spirit. Coleridge distinguishes between the understanding, the faculty which generalises according to sense, and the reason, which sees truth by intuition, adopting herein a distinction upon which Clarke and Milton had long before insisted. Sir W. Hamilton maintains that consciousness is itself as decisive a proof of our own existence, and of the existence of something which is not ourselves, as sensation is of sensation, or thought of thought. The philosophy that traces mental science to God, or to some mysterious Divine faculty, or to mere feeling, is rare and can hardly be said to exist among English writers. Perhaps an enquirer of our own day may not unwisely affirm that there is truth, in all these systems, and that they are erro- neous only so far as they are mutually contradictory. In mental science it may be affirmed that there are many ideas which are simply generalised sensations, but that there are besides some necessary truths, fundamental laws of human belief, axioms ; which, however, we must be careful not to multiply needlessly. It may even be admitted that there are ideas which are largely based on feeling or instinct, which we cannot otherwise define or defend than by affirming that they appeal to our nature. This is AND ETHICS. 507 the psychological eclecticism of the French school of Cousin, a school that excites sympathy among several eminent English writers. In ethical science it may be held that virtue is always useful, and that the virtuous element of some acts depends on their utility ; that there is an inherent fitness of virtue which is perceived by the reason and which excites emotion ; that nevertheless the science of ethics is best studied by reference to man's make or constitution ; that conscience is a mysterious power the analysis of which is obscure and difficult, and that while man remains sinful most of his convictions need to be tested and perfected by Revelation. This is the ethical eclecticism of Warburton, Butler, and Chalmers. It may, at first, seem that these questions are rather speculative than practical, are metaphysical rather than ethical ; and yet they involve important consequences. If it is true, for example, * that there is nothing in the intellect which was not first in the sense ;' if ' our belief in necessary truth is simply a generalization of experience ;' a it follows that all reasoning from the facts of nature to the existence of a supreme first cause is unfounded : we have no experience of * world -making,' and can pronounce nothing in relation to it. Similarly, if we are to adopt the mys- tic view (as it has been called) of ethics, and maintain that there is no independent moral science, no moral science for fallen man, but what is taken from Scripture, b ethical science becomes a department of theology, and of course the moral evidence of the truth of Revelation is largely lost. We seem to honour the Bible, but we practically represent God as leaving Himself ' with- out witness.' Besides these questions there are others on the nature of the soul, on perception, on freedom and necessity, on the connexion between our physical organism and the various processes of thought, emotion and volition, which have given rise to protracted discussion, nor can we do more than hint at them as we proceed. 438. Perhaps the more active members of these various schools may be most conveniently set forth in a tabular form. a James Mill. b Wardlaw. 508 FKOSE MENTAL PHILOSOPHY. ft must be carefully noted that with many other points of resemblance and difference, the writers of each class are here spoken of as agreeing or differing only on the origin of ideas, mental or ethical. MKXTAI. SCTEKCK, Sensationalism. ETHICS, The Philosophy of Consequences. MEXTAL SCIENCE, Idealism. ETHICS, The Philosophy of Principle. T. Hobbes. 1588- T. Hobbes, 1588- Lord Herbert. 1581 1679. 1679. -1648. Locke, 1632-1-704. Locke, 1632-1704. R. Cumberland, H.Dodwell 16^1- 1632-1718. 1711. R.Cudworth,i6i7- J. Norris, 1657- 1688. Mandoville, 1670- 1711. W.Wollaston,i659 A. Collins, 1676- 1729. Bp. Berkeley, 1684 -175*. 11JJ. A. Collier, 1680- Bp. Berkeley, 1684- Lord Shaftesbury, 1671-1713. S. Clarke, 1675- I75J. 1729. J. Jackson, 1686- 1763. Gay, 1688-17*2. Balguy, 1686-1748. Bp. Butler, 1692- E. Law, 1703-1787. 1752. Hutcheson, 1694- Hartley, 1705-1757 1747- J. Harris, 1709- W. ^\-arburton, 1780. 1698-1779. Hume, 1711-1776. T.Reid, 1 7 10-1796. J. Edwards, 1703- 1758. A Tucker, 1705- 1774- A.Ferguson, 1724- 1816. Hume, 1711-1776. T. Rutherford, R. Price, 1723-1791 A. Smith, 1723- 1712-1771. 1790. J. H. Tooke, 1736- Beattie, 1735-1803. 1812. Dr. Priestley, 1733- 1804. W. Paley, 1743- 1805. James Mill, 1773- J. Bentbam, 1748- 1832. D. Stewart, 1753- 1828. T.Gisborne,b.i758. Mackintosh, 1765- 1836. W. Belsham, 1750- 1832. 1829. Dr.TJtrown,i778- 1820 Mackintosh, 1765- Sir W. Hamilton. Dr.T.Brown,i778- 1832. 1820. 439. Among the contemporaries of Locke was Henry Dodwell, a non juror, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, who in 1706 wrote an Epistolary Discourse to prove that The Soul is naturally Mortal, but Immortalised ly God Dodwell. ETHICS: MANDEVILLE, 509 for punishment or for reward, Dodwell was answered by Samuel Clarke, and later by Andrew Baxter (1686-1750), a Scotchman educated at Aberdeen, and a successful teacher theiv. Warburton praises his book, An Enquiry into the Nature of the Human Soul f as 'one of the ablest and justest in its notions that the age had produced.' A. Collins defended Dodwell, attack- ing Clarke ; and the subject was further discussed by John Jackson in A Dissertation on Matter and Spirit (1735) ; by Dr. Porteus in his Sermons; by Watts in his Ontology, and by Dodd ridge in his Lectures. An able modern book in which the subject is further discussed with freshness and vigour, is Samuel Drew's Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul (1802). 440. In 1714 Mandeville, a physician, published his Fable of the Bees. In this poem he attempts to show that the vices of selfishness, luxury, and lust are, within certain limits, etc." C * * public benefits, and that all the ' moral virtues are no better than the political offspring which flattery begat on pride.' The work possesses no literary merit, and is remarkable chiefly for the philosophy upon which it is based. It estimates all moral qualities by their tendencies, and suggests that virtue has no real excellence : vice on the contrary is often beneficial, and is then robbed of all its evil. Further progress was made in the same direction by John Gay of Sidney College, Cambridge, who prefixed to King's Origin of Evil a dissertation concerning The Fundamental Principle of Virtue. He there anticipates Paley's teaching that God's will is our law, and that this will is known by the tendency of acts to produce happiness. He even holds that the pursuit of happiness is in every case the pursuit of virtue. Mackintosh notes that Gay has also anticipated the doctrine of Hartley on the association of ideas. On both accounts he has received a larger place in the nistory of philosophy than his general merits deserve. Passing by the lesser names of Edmund Law and T. Euther- ford, the former of whom showed his tendency in notes appended to King's Origin of .Evil, and the latter in his Essay on the Nature and Obligation of Virtue (1721), we come to the work 01 Abraham Tucker. Tucker was a private gentleman residing at Betchworth Castle near Dorking, who under the title of Edward Third and best edition, 1745. 510 PROSE PHILOSOPHY. Search: wrote a treatise entitled The Light of Nature pursued, a treatise which Paley praised as * containing more original thinking than any work of the kind.' It was published in 1768-1774, and is distinguished by great independence and by plain good sense. The author, like Adam Smith and Dr. T. Brown, excelled in illus- tration, and he has used this faculty with a liberality that makes his book a mine of thought for less inventive writers. In meta- physics his doctrine is allied to Hartley's, and in ethics he makes the motive and the measure of virtue our * ultimate good/ 1 pleasure or satisfaction in the highest sense :' things being nover 'light in themselves/ but simply from their tendency to some end. 441. David Hartley was educated at Cambridge, where under Dr. Law's influence he adopted some of the extreme principles of sensationalism. From a hint of Xewton's, to the effect that there were probably vibrations in the substance of the brain, which might throw light upon mental phenomena, he formed a system which he described at length in his Observa- tions on Man % his Frame, his Duty, and his Expectations (1749). This treatise is remarkable as the first attempt to connect the study of the mind with physiology. From an anatomical exami- nation of the nerves, Hartley who had been bred as a physician concluded that it was possible to account for all the facts of sensation by vibrations excited through the medium of external objects, and communicated to the brain. This suggestion was a mere guess, and rather detracted from the influence of his phi- losophy than aided it, but it may have had the effect of calling attention in our own time to the whole question of the connexion between our mental processes and our physical nature. Sir Charles Bell was the first in the present century to direct atten- tion to this subject, and by his discovery of the fact that nerves exist in pairs or sets nerves of sensation and nerves of volition he has made a valuable contribution to this department of mental science. His labours have been followed by the investigations of Dr. Sharpey, Dr. Carpen cer, and Alexander Bain. It has indeed been objected to the enquiry that it tends to materialism, and it may no doubt be prosecuted in a materialistic spirit, but there is no necessary connexion between the two. It is a curious, and may prove a very important question What is precisely HARTLEY: PRIESTLEY. 611 the link between thought and outward things, between impres- sions and ideas, and generally between volition and acts ? The painter and the sculptor have perfected their art by such studies, and may not the metaphysician use them for his ? We may go farther. It is at this very point of connexion between matter and thought, between force and matter, between subject and ob- ject, that the solution of some of the most important questions of mental science may perhaps be found. To Hartley we owe also the doctrine of association. Hobbes had already described the process under the phrase of * trains of thought or of imagination,' and Locke had used the term to express the connexion of thoughts. Hartley uses it to describe 'any combinations of thought or feeling which are capable of becoming habits by means of repetition.' 8 The laws of this pro- cess he has examined and classified, till at length he thinks he has traced to it all the phenomena of man's consciousness. One of Hartley's warmest admirers was Joseph Priestley, whose eminence as a natural philosopher is undoubted, but who has small claim to notice as a metaphysician. Priestley was originally a Calvinist arid became a Unitarian. He was a man of intense energy of character and of restless vanity. His mind, moreover, was * objective in the extreme :' nothing pleased him but the sensational in science, politics, ethics, and religion. His works in all departments excited great opposition, so that he found it necessary, he tells us, to write a pamphlet every year in their defence. In 1791, at the period of the French Revolution, a brutal mob set fire to his house in Birmingham, and destroyed his valuable library and apparatus. Three years after he removed to America, where he pursued his studies till his death in 1804. It is of him that Kobert Hall has written one of his most eloquent passages : * The rsligious tenets of Dr. Priestley appear to me erroneous in the extreme, but I should be sorry to suffer any difference of senti- ment to diminish my sensibility to virtue or my admiration of genius. . . . Distinguished merit will ever rise superior to oppression, and will draw lustre from reproach. The vapours which gather round the rising sun and follow in its course, seldom fail at the close of it to form a magnificent theatre for its " Morell, i. 512 PROSE PHILOSOPHY. reception, and to invest, with variegated tints, and with a softened effulgence, the luminary which they cannot hide.' In philosophy, Priestley is a disciple of Hartley, and thinks that he has thrown as much light upon the theory of the mind as Newton did upon the theory of the natural world. Consistently with his general temperament, Priestley has pushed all Hartley's views to excess. The doctrine of philosophical necessity, which Hartley's reasonings only favoured, Priestley strenuously defends. Morality he bases on utility alone ; and thought, which Hartley had tried to connect with sensation by means of his theory of vibration, Priestley resolves into sensation alone, and the mind itself into nerves and material substance. He admitted, however, the distinct existence of God, and believed in the reality of a future state as well as in the fundamental principles of natural religion. This tendency to resolve all mental processes into the action of material particles, culminated in Dr. Parwin (1731-1802), who maintained that the great infinite Spirit is simply impressional nature ; God himself being to the universe what, on Priestley's system, the mind is to the human frame. 442. Forty years before the publication of Hartley's treatise, Bishop Berkeley had called attention to what he deemed the error of Lockeism. Locke taught what had been held by all philosophers, by Aristotle as well as by Plato, that ideas are the only immediate subjects of consciousness and of knowledge : it is not things we know, but the ideas of things. This doctrine Berkeley firmly believed. He had noticed, however, that this doctrine, as held by the Lockeists, seemed to tend to scepticism. The Lockeists traced these ideas to external nature, and some made the sensible phenomena the exact measure of the ideas taken from it ; ideas not taken from sensible nature, they, therefore, questioned or disowned. Why may not we, said Berkeley, regard these ideas as themselves the things, and the only things, that are real ? We should thus get rid of all sensation- alist restriction, and have a solid foundation for our belief in the existence of God and of moral truth. When it was answered that men do believe in the external world, the originator in fact of the idea itself, Berkeley replied by affirming that men believe in the idea, but not in that invisible substance of which we have nc BERKELEY: HUME. 613 evidence, and which we call matter. This reply he defended by ingenious arguments. Berkeley's first work was his TJieory of Vision (1709). This treatise made an important discovery, showing that many of the properties of hodies are known to us, not by sight, but by other {'acuities, and thence by association and reasoning. In 1710 appeared his Principles of Human Knowledge, and in 1713 the Three Dialogues between Hylas (the defender of matter) and Philonous (the advocate of mind}. In this book his ideal system is explained in language singularly clear and animated. He tries to prove that it is the essence of an object that it be per- ceived, and that the perception is all we know of the reality. This doctrine has been called scepticism : Berkeley meant it as a defence of truth. It is really mysticism ; teaching, as it does, that everything we/eeZ or perceive is real, only the reality is not in an external object but in the feeling or perception, i. e., in the mind itself. It follows, of course, as Berkeley holds, that God, and spirit, and eternity, and morality, are all as real as what we call external nature. In 1732 he published The Minute Philosopher, a series of moral and philosophical dialogues ; and in 1744 the second edition of Siris ; or, a Chain of Philosophical Reflections and Inquiries, beginning with a discussion on the virtues of tar water, and end- ing with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity ; the intervening pages being devoted, it may almost be said, to all the subjects that lie between. Berkeley's personal character was remarkably beautiful and benevolent, and his style is a model of philosophical disquisition. The main doctrine of Berkeley was, curiously enough, advo- cated about the same time by Arthur Collier (1680-1731), who (in 1713) published his Clavis Universalis : being a Demonstra- tion of the Non-existence or Impossibility of an External World. Collier was a studious and retiring man, rector of Langford, in Wilts. His life was published by Robert Benson in 1837, and his tract was republished by Dr. Parr. 443. The transition from Berkeley to Hume is easy and na- Home tural. All philosophers had hitherto seemed to admit that we perceive ideas, not things, and that all our knowledge may be traced to sensation and reflectioa 2 2 L 514 PROSE PHILOSOPHY. Hume adopted this view, and changed only the current phraseo- logy. All mental phenomena, he held, consist of impressions (sensations) or ideas these latter being what remain through memory or association after the impression has ceased. Combin- ing in his theory what has been called the representationist theory of knowledge, and the sensational origin of the ideas that come between the mind and external objects, and feeling dissatisfied with all the arguments which had been used to meet Berkeley's paradox of the non-existence of a material world, H ume concluded that we are sure of nothing but ideas themselves, neither of matter nor of mind. Impressions and ideas express the sum of all our consciousness, and therefore of all our knowledge. ' This view he first published in a youthful and anonymous Treatise on Human Nature (1738), a work which he afterwards re-cast and published under the title of Philosophical Essays concerning the Human Understanding (1749). Neither work, however, attracted much attention at the time. In 1742 he published his Essays; Moral, Political, and Literary a collection of thoughts at once original and popular. His other metaphysical works An Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, The Natural History of Re- ligion, and Dialogues on Natural Religion appeared between 1751 and 1757. The whole were collected and published m two volumes under the title of Essays. (1758, 1764, 1800, etc.) Among other applications of Hume's theory, he reckoned one of the most important to be the correction of the popular idea of power. Every notion, according to his principles, which cannot appeal to some impression or sensation as its source, is delusive, and must be rejected by the philosopher. Of such notions, power is one. Causation, it is evident, is nothing more than the invariable connexion of two events, nor is there any faculty in man by which the link that connects the two can be distin- guished. It was this reasoning that suggested to Kant the necessity of a doctrine of practical reason, and to Reid the philo- sophy of common sense. Hume's ethical system makes the virtue of actions depend entirely upon utility. He was answered on this point by Adam Smith and by Dr. Thomas Brown, who, however, accepted his theory of causation. *It seems impossible,' says Smith, 'that the approbation of virtue should be a sentiment of the same kind as that by which we approve of a convenient, well-contrived HUME: PALEY. 515 building, or that we should have no other reason for praisiug a man than that for which we praise a chest of drawers.' Hume's philosophy, it will be noticed, is as destructive of science and of the daily business of life as it is of morality and religion. Happily some comfort remains, even on Hume's prin- ciples. Impressions and ideas are things we know. Causes, the external world, an infinite intelligent spirit, we cannot know. Nothing is real to us but thought : that is real and true. Virtue, moreover, is doing what we find . produces satisfaction and plea- sure. Does it not follow that to the man who believes in a God the idea is as real and as true as the idea that there is no God is true to Hume himself ? We ought, moreover, to believe, if faith prove conducive, as believers find it does, to their highest good. Apart from these sceptical puzzles, and on the common sub- jects of philosophy, Hume's thoughts are often profound and suggestive, while his style is remarkably clear and flowing. 444. The most influential of the advocates of the theoiy of utility was William Paley, a man of great force of intellect and of as great simplicity of character. He was born at Peterborough in 1743, and was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. After a brief period of clerical service at Greenwich, he was elected a Fellow of his College, and became tutor and lecturer on Moral Philosophy and on the Greek Testa- ment. Through the influence of Dr. Law, who had been his college friend and was now Bishop of Carlisle, he obtained a small living in Westmoreland, and soon rose to be a Prebend of Carlisle, and Archdeacon. In 1785 he published his Elements of Moral and Political Philosophy, in 1790 his Horce Paulinos, and in 1794 his View of the Evidences of Christianity. These works gave him at once great popularity. Within six months he was made Prebend of St. Paul's, Sub- Dean of Lincoln, and Rector of Bishop Wearmouth. The homeliness of his manners, a certain freedom in his conversation, combined with the feeling which had been excited by portions of his writings, created prejudice against him in some quarters. When his name was suggested for a bishopric to George in., his majesty is reported to have ex- claimed, ' What, pigeon Paley !' alluding to a well-known passage in his Moral Philosophy on the origin of property and there was an end of his hopes. 2 L 2 516 PROSE PHILOSOPHY. In 1802 Paley published his Natural Theology, his last and, in the opinion of many, his most impressive book. Three yeais later he rested from his labours, after an active life which forms a model of industry, sociality, and neighbouiiiness, his whole * habits admirab.y set/ to use his own phrase, for enjoyment. Sir James Mackintosh's criticism of the merits of his respective volumes is substantially just, nor are there any volumes of a phi- losophical nature that have been more read, or that have proved more popular among the educated classes of England : * The most original and ingenious of his writings is the Horce Paulinas. The Evidences of Christianity are formed out of a most skilful abridgment of Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel His- tory. . . His Natural Theology is the wonderful work of a man who, after sixty, had studied anatomy in order to write it ; and it could only have been surpassed by a man who, like Sir Charles Bell, to great originality of conception and clearness of exposition added the advantage of a high place in the first class of physio- logists.' Had Paley been content to treat ethics practically, and to explain the application of utility to the duties of daily life, his work would have been received with universal praise. But, un- happily, he lays down principles and defends them. The prin- ciples are generally regarded as unsound, and the defence is a little exasperating to an earnest intelligent student. Virtue he defines as ' doing good to mankind in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting happiness ' a definition that excludes all duty to God and all duties to ourselves, while it makes a regard to everlasting happiness essential to the virtuous- ness of all acts. Even if these objections be regarded as technical, it is still true that our happiness is made the motive and the measure of all virtue. The advocates of other views he treats with something closely approaching to contempt. The existence of a higher spiritual nature, even of a moral sense, he regards as a theme for easy declamation. The Scriptures he wisely ex- cludes from the province of ethics as a human science, and the law of honour (the only other theory of morals he deigns to con- sider) he describes in the language of quiet satire rather than of serious discussion. Equally unsatisfactory is his definition of obligation. Obligation, he tells us, depends entirely upon the command of another who has power to enforce what he enjoins PALEY: MILL. 517 a notion borrowed from Warbui ton. The common lemark that men are sometimes obliged to do what they feel thoy ought not, would have destroyed all this reasoning. Yet, when Faley leaves metaphysics and treats of practical morality, he shows shrewd- ness, strong sense, clearness, and humour in a very high degree, and these qualities have a great charm for all readers. His ethical theory is degrading and unworthy of him ; but, happily, he never recurs to it after he leaves the short chapter in which it is propounded. Paley was answered by Gisborne, Prebendary of Durham, in his Examination of Moral Philosophy, published in 1789. Gis- borne's Enquiry into the Duties of Man (1794), and his En" quiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (1797), are well-known popular writings on those themes. 445. The ablest writer on the side of sensationalism within the last fifty years is James Mill. His Analysis of the Human Mind James Mill (1829) is written with clearness and skill. Hemain- Johr. Stuart tains that we know only sensations and ideas ; and Kill, etc. t k at t ^ e one } aw O f our na ture which accounts for every faculty and every emotion is association. Logic has been discussed with still greater clearness by John Stuart Mill, the son of the preceding. It is, of course, no part of his business to dis- cuss sensationalism ; but he strongly affirms the theory, and makes it the basis of many of his remarks on Principles of Evi- dence and the Methods of Scientific Investigation. The historian of the same school is G. H. Lewes (born 1817), whose Biogra- phical History of Philosophy (1845) investigates the most pro- minent systems which appear in the pages of history * with some vigour and success.'* Positive philosophy, i. e., a philosophy as wide as observed facts, is all that is possible for man. Causes, being, principles, universal truths either scientific or ethical are entirely beyond us. 446. One of the first to point out the evil influence which Locke's supposed rejection of all innate practical Sbaftesbury. principles was likely to exert on morality, was his friend Lord Shaftesbury (1671-1713). His Moral- ists was published in 1709, and a complete collection of hia Moreti, 1. 518 PROSEETHICS. works was published, under the title of Characteristics, in 1714, with plates by Gribelin. Shaftesbury was strictly an idealist though not holding innate ideas. He maintained that our nature is such as necessarily to originate many conceptions wider and nobler than could ever have been derived from the senses alone. In the fourth treatise of his Characteristics he showed that whenever honesty or virtue is presented to men, they recognise and approve it, just aa they recognise the beauty of colour and proportion when a beautiful object is presented to the eye. He holds, at the same time, that virtue is conducive to happiness; only the happiness upon which he most insists is not the material thing that some commend, but the pleasureableness of benevolent affection. Mackintosh praises his works as 4 containing more information of an original and important kind on the theory of ethics than any preceding work of modern times.' The Characteristics was a favourite with Pope. The style is elegant and melodious, though wanting in simplicity and precision. William Wollaston, the author of The Religion of Nature Ddineattd (1722) is also an opponent of Locke. He makes virtue consist in acting according to the truth of things, ' and as originating therefore in man's rational nature.' On the edition of 1724, Benjamin Franklin was employed as compositor. 447. The ablest reasoner, however, of the century on this side was Dr. S. Clarke. He was feorn at Norwich (i 675), a city his father ^^ represented in Parliament, and was educated at Cam- bridge, where he became one of the earliest supporters of the Newtonian philosophy. Having entered the Church, he was api>ointed chaplain to Dr. Moore, Bishop of Norwich, and devoted some 3' ears to theological study. Between 1699 and 1702 he published several theological tracts, and completed Paraphrases of t/ie Evangelists which are still occasionally studied. He then received an appointment to one of the churches of Norwich, and in 1704 was invited to preach the Boyle lec- tures. Whiston, his biographer, relates, that when a mere boy Clarke had been puzzled by the question, whether God could do all things. It was elicited that God could not lie. But, besides this, the little metaphysician settled in his own mind that there was another thing God could not do annihilate the space which CLARKE. 519 was in the room where the question was discussed. This notion seems never to have been forgotten, and he now used it for what has been deemed a profound argument. His first course of lec- tures was entitled A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, and the second, A Discourse on the Obligations of Na- tural Religion and the Truth and Certainty of the Christian Revelation (1705). These volumes, which were afterwards printed as one, attracted much notice, and contain what was then known as the celebrated a priori argument for the being or a God. Sir Isaac Newton had already given the germ of this argument in a Scholium appended to his Principia, as had Cud- worth in his Intellectual System,* and Dr. Henry More in his Handbook of Metaphysics* Immensity (infinite space) and eternity (endless time) are not substances, says Newton, they are attributes : an infinite and eternal Being, therefore, to whom they belong, must Himself exist. Whether this kind of argument is conclusive, may be questioned. Whiston shrewdly hinted to Clarke that the simplest flower of his garden was a stronger proof of God's existence than all his metaphysics. But with- out going that length, Stewart's mode of putting the case, though virtually an abandonment of the a priori argument, seems more conclusive. ' When once,' he says, ' we have esta- blished from the evidence of design round us the existence of an intelligent and powerful cause, we are insensibly led to ascribe to this cause our conceptions of immensity and eternity, and to con- ceive of him as filling the infinite extent of both with His pre- sence and His power. ... It is, moreover, from the immensity of space that the idea of infinity is originally derived, and it is hence we transfer the expression by a sort of metaphor to other objects. ... So that the conceptions of immensity and eternity, if they do not themselves demonstrate the existence of a God, yet necessarily enter into the ideas we form of His beirg rind attributes.' However we prefer to put the argument, it is clear that the idea of the infinite had found a prominent place hi Clarke's system. In the second of these treatises, Clarke sets forth his theory respecting the grounds of morality. He holds that there are certain fixed relations in the universe recognised by the reason, Chap. v. b Chap, viii., gc, 5. MO PROSE ETHICS. and that virtue consists in acting acoordisg to those relations, oi according to the fitness of things. As far as this system goes, it seems sound. His vindication of the disinterestedness of vir- tuous action and of right as resting upon the very nature of God, is worthy of admiration. Had he done more justice to moral feeling and to the supremacy of conscience, he would have given us a complete ethical system. Besides these works he wrote, in the form of letters, A Defence of the Immateriality and Immortality of the Send in reply to Dodwell and Collier. These letters were afterwards published, and it may be said that they form as satisfactory a metaphy- sical argument for immortality as the case admits. In 1709, Dr. Clarke became rector of St. James's, Westminster, and was made chaplain to the Queen. He soon after edited a splendid edition of Caesar's Commentaries, and in 1729 published the first twelve books of the Iliad with a Latin translation and notes. Meanwhile he wrote also a treatise on the Scripture Doc- trine of the Trinity, an Exposition of the Church Catechism, and, finally, many volumes of sermons, which were not published, however, till after his death. Nor ought we to omit his Letters to Leibnitz. That eminent person had intimated to the Princess of Wales that the Newtonian philosophy was physically false and religiously mischievous. The former charge Newton answered, and Clarke the latter. In 1717 these Letters were collected and published. It is to his honour that on the death of Newton he declined the Mastership of the Mint, under the conviction that to a Christian minister no other office can be promotion. 448. A more satisfactory system than any that had yet been propounded was set forth by Bishop Butler in his Sermons on human nature and in his Analogy. Whi]e yet a very young man, residing at Tevvkesbury, he had entered into correspondence with Dr. Clarke on his a priori argu- ment, and had proved his aptness for abstract study. His ser- mons fulfilled the hopes that were thus raised : indeed, they better deserve the name of a complete system of ethics than any- thing that had yet appeared or has appeared since his day. Admitting all that had been said on the fitness of things and on the tendency of virtue to promote happiness, he suggested that the first was an abstruse subject, and that on the second men BUTLER : HUTCHESON. 521 would have different opinions, and feel free to gratify themcelvcs as they pleased. He suggested further that an easier method cf forming an ethical system was to examine human nature, and sea whether we could not find embedded there the principles of virtue. Within, he tells us that there are three classes of phenomena : first, various passions, each with its own object ; secondly, there is a principle that seeks the happiness of others and a principle that seeks our own benevolence and self-love ; lastly, there is in our nature, and superior to all particular propensities, a con- science the principle of moral approbation a power that governs and restrains the affections and passions of the soul, and whose office it is to be supreme. Subjective virtue is the exercise of all these powers on their proper objects, and each within its proper limits passion subordinate to self-love, and all to conscience. Objective virtue he has less clearly defined ; but it does not con- sist in the tendency of acts to produce happiness, though such tendency does exist in all virtuous acts, and in some acts this tendency constitutes all the virtue. It is rather the harmony of each act with the relations in which we stand, or its suitable- ness to our nature, or its intrinsic veracity or justness, its right- ness or its agreeableness to the will and character of God. Perhaps the quality is not further definable, and is really an ultimate idea of the mind. Butler's style is said to be wanting in clearness ; and he has defended it from this charge. But if allowance is made for his theme, and for the conciseness of expression he studies, a careful reader will find no cause of complaint on this ground. 449. To Francis Hutcheson, Scotland is indebted for the revival of a taste for metaphysics, after it had slumbered for two centu- ries, unless we are to accord that honour to a lesr, known name, that of Carmichaei,* his predecessor in the chair of Moral Philosophy in Glasgow. Hutcheson was a native of Ireland. He studied, however, in Glasgow, and after- wards returned to Dublin, where he kept an academy. In the year 1726 he published An Enquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. In this treatise he teaches that, besides our five sense* we have certain internal senses which tf.ves this honour to Canp/chael. 522 PEOSE ETHICS. give rise to the emotions of beauty and sublimity, while another gives rise to our moral feelings. This work introduced the author to Archbishop King, and probably decided his future course. In 1728 he published a second treatise On the Nature and Conduct of the Passions. His reputation was now so high that he was called to the professorship of Moral Philosophy in Glasgow, and entered upon his work in 1729. His most elaborate publication, A System of Moral Philosophy, did not appear till alter his death, and is the chief ground on which his fame rests. His views on the nature of virtue seem borrowed from bhaftesbury, while moral perceptions he ascribed to what he called ' the moral sense.' In some class books which he published he had previously affirmed the existence of certain metaphysical axioms, derived, not from experience, but from the ' connate force of the under- standing.' His style is remarkably clear and elegant. 450. Bishop Warburton deserves special mention in connection with this theme, if only from the fact that he is one of the earliest , ,_ advocates of eclectic ethics. * Clarke and Wollaston/ VVarburton. , j j i -i i says he, 'considered moral obligation as arising Iroin the essential differences and relations of things ; Shaftesbury and Hutcheson, as arising from the moral sense ; and the generality of divines, as arising from the will of God.'* Elsewhere he notes that it is to be regretted that this three-fold cord was ever un- twisted, and that each advocate had affixed * the part he deemed strongest to the throne of God, as the golden link which is to unite and draw all to Him.' b This tendency he rebukes, and suggests that if all three systems were combined, we should do roore justice to truth and secure greater influence for virtue. This is practically the idea of Mackintosh and of Waylaid. Mackin- tosl adds utility and association, and Wayland adds Scripture, and they recommend the erection of a system of ethics on the basis of them all. 451. Though all these writers maintain an ethical system that implies idealism, or some other origin of ideas besides mere sensation, they are not idealists in the sense in which Cud worth and N orris used that term. The view of these idealists was now to find an able defender in the person of a, " jtotcs to 1'iijif. h Divine Legation, book i. PRICE: REID. 523 Welshman and Presbyterian minister, Dr. Richard Price. In 1757 he published a volume of essays, which was republished with additions in 1 787, under the title of A Review of some of the Prin- cipal Questions in Morals. In this work he maintains that there are many ideas besides those of right and wrong, which cannot be re- ferred to either sensation or reflection as their origin. Apart from the moral sense a rational agent can see a difference of fitness aud unfitness in actions ; and whether we call the faculty reason or not, we must ascribe the idea to a faculty by which we understand, and not to one by which we do not understand but only feel. The understanding, he holds, is a new spring of ideas, both on fitness and on other themes. Price is one of the most clear and vigorous writers of his age. Sympathising with Priestley in some of bis religious, and still more in his political, views, he strenuously opposes his ethical system, and has answered him on another subject in his Letters on Materialism and Ptysical Necessity (1778). James Harris taught in his Hermes (1751, 1765), substantially the same theory as Price. His doctrines may be found in the third book and in the notes. 452. The influence of Hume's scepticism in Germany is seen in the writings of Kant, whose doctrine of practical reason was j^ intended as an answer to the sophistry of the English- man. Other works of a similar kind that are to be traced to the same origin, are the writings of Thomas Reid and of the school he formed. Reid was a native of Strachan in Kincar- dineshire, and was educated for the ministry of the kirk of Scot- land. After labouring as a parish minister for some time, he was chosen in 1752, and when forty- two years of age, Professor of Moral Philosophy in King's College, Aberdeen. In 1763 he quitted this post for a like office in the University of Glasgow, and there continued till his death. The old creed on the subject of perception had been, that the only things about which the understanding is conversant are ideas, and that those ideas are representatives of objective reali- ties. Reid himself started his enquiries as a believer in this theory, and for forty years, he tells us, he tried in vain to find evidence to support it. His enquiries ended in his denying the possibility of proof that such ideas had any existence. We are 524 PROSE-ETHICS. conscious, he holds, of the mind, the subject which perceives, and we are conscious of the external object which is perceived; but of the intermediate link between these two, which philosophers have called an idea, we have no evidence either from consciousness or from any other source. From this double consciousness involved in all sensations Reid proceeds to enumerate certain judgments which we instinctively form in relation to the objects themselves. When we see a tree, for example, we are prepared at once from our very sensations to affirm that it exists, that it has a certain shape, that it produces in us, or is the cause of, certain perceptions. These judgments, he adds, are as sure as the simple notion itself: taken together they make up ' the common sense of mankind.' These views were first taught in Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764), his earliest work. His Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man appeared in 1785, and contain the same theory of perception and in- stinctive beliefs more fully explained, together with an ana- lysis of our other intellectual powers. In 1788 appeared the Essays on the Active Powers, in which his moral philosophy is explained. Whatever be thought of his philosophic system, and of some of its details, it must be conceded, as Stewart maintains, that by his logical rigour of investigation Reid is justly entitled to a first place among the writers on mental science. One of Reid's most intelligent scholars was Dr. James Beattie, who in 1760 was elected Professor of Moral Philosophy in Mavis- chal College, Aberdeen. In 1770 he published his Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism. It was written in reply to Hume, and had great popularity. The chief addition he makes in this volume to our metaphysical knowledge is to be found in the distinction he has drawn between the axioms of common sense and the deductions of reason. The whole subject of evidence is also treated by him with great skill. The Elements of Moral Science was published in 1790-1793, and is a digest of his college lectures. The best of his prose works are the Dissertations, Moral and Critical, and his Essays on Poetry and Music. On nearly all questions of zesthetics and morality his suggestions have interest and value. 453. Reid's ablest disciples were men who have made Scottish EEID: STEWART. 525 metaphysics world-famous, Dugald Stewart and Sir William Hamilton. Dugald Stewart, the son of Dr. M. Stewart, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, was horn in that city in 1753. When only nineteen he undertook his father's classes, and two years after was ap- pointed his assistant and successor. More welcome employment was found for him in 1780, when Dr. A. Ferguson retired from the Professorship of Moral Philosophy. Stewart was appointed to succeed him, and fulfilled the duties of his office till 1810, when Dr. T. Brown was associated with him as colleague. By his dignity of manner, his eloquence of style, his taste and learning, Stewart became one of the most fascinating lecturers of any age. He wrote many admirable volumes, but his best works it used to be said, were his pupils. His influence over them seems to have been unbounded. ' All the years I remained about Edinburgh,' says Mr. James Mill, ' I used as often as I could to steal into Mr. Stewart's class to hear a lecture, which was always a high treat. I have heard Pitt and Fox deliver some of their most admired speeches, but I never heard anything nearly so eloquent as some of the lectures of Stewart. The taste for the studies which have formed my favourite pursuits I owe to him.' His work entitled The Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, was published in three volumes. The first appeared in 1792, the second in 1813, and the third in 1827. The first contains an eloquent exposition of the philosophy of Eeid, and was translated into French by M. Prevost of Geneva. The second includes an analysis of the intellectual powers, and an ex- position of 'the fundamental laws of human belief,' a phrase which Stewart wisely substituted for Reid's ' principles of common sense.' This volume was translated into French, by M. Farcy. In 1793 ne published The Outlines of Moral Philosophy, a treatise on the moral phenomena of the mind ; translated into French by M. Jouffroy, with a valuable preface as an introduction. In 1810 appeared the Philosophical Essays, in which many of the subjects of difference between Locke and Reid are clearly examined, with an added disquisition on the philosophy of taste. His most characteristic work, however, is A Dissertation on the Progress of Metaphysical and Ethical Philosophy, written in 1815 for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Stewart's mind was peculiarly fitted for philosophising, even more than for philosophy, and many of 525 PROSED ETHICS. his admirers ground his claim to lasting reputation rather on this history than upon his systematic writings. It is certain that his clear and candid judgment, his extensive acquaintance with his subject in nearly all departments, his easy and often eloquent style, have succeeded in this volume in throwing a charm round themes most forbidding and abstruse. 454. Stewart's colleague and successor, Dr. Thomas Brown, was brought up to the medical profession, and practised as physician for some years. His attention was turned to meta- physics by the perusal of Professor Stewart's first volume. On the establishment of the Edinburgh Review he be- came one of the contributors on philosophy. When a contro- versy arose respecting Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Leslie, who in Ins Essay on Heat, had expressed his approval of Hume's theory of causation, Brown warmly defended him. His views on this question he vindicated in An Enquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect (1804), maintaining therein that all we know of cause is invariable antecedence. Brown's theory is not satisfactory, but the publication of his book prepared the way for his election as colleague of Stewart His philosophic tastes were further shewn by a review of Darwin's Zoonomia. The paper displayed great analytic skill, and, being published anonymously, was attributed to some philosophers of high standing. At the time it was written Brown was only in his twentieth year. Brown's Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind, were, as delivered, highly popular, and are still highly esteemed by many students of mental science. They were not published till after his death, which took place in 1820 while he was in the very height of his reputation. The merits of his philosophy it is not now difficult to define. He repudiates Reid's favourite doctrine of perception. He skilfully criticises the opinions of preceding writers, but very often mistakes them. His doctrine of causation, unhappily, taints his entire system, and disqualifies him from writing satisfactorily on ethical questions. And yet his power of mental analysis is unrivalled among Scottish metaphysicians. His poetic genius invests the most uninteresting subjects with beauty, and it may be added that, in Mackintosh's opinion, he has rendered important service to mental science by an examination of what he calls REID: BROWN: HAMILTON. 527 secondary laws of association or suggestion, laws which must be carefully considered in order to explain the phenomena of the mind. 455. The ablest of all Keid's disciples, perhaps the ablest meta- physician of the present century, is Sir William Hamilton, late Pro- fessor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh. It is not possible here to analyse his writings ; but his edition of Reid, his discussions on the philosophy QiPercep' ion, on Cousin's Eclecticism, on Modern Logic, etc., pub- lished in one large volume (1852), and his Lectures on Metaphy- sics and Logic, published since his death by Professor Mansel and Professor Veitch (1859), are undoubtedly among the most valu- able contributions to metaphysical science in any language. 456. The modem historians of mental science, besides those already named, are William Enfield, who published an abbrevia- tion of Brucker's History (1791); J. D. Morell, who represents idealistic tendencies, as Lewes represents sensationalism (History of Modern Philosophy, 1847, second edition); Robert Blakey, (History of Philosophy in four volumes, 1850); Mackintosh on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy (Dissertation, 1815), and Dr. Whevvell (Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy, 1838-1862). Among those who have popularized metaphysical studies are Dr. John A bercrombie, Jonathan Dymond, Dr. Wardlaw, Dr. Payne, James Douglas (whose works are remarkably fresh and Bti iking), Da vies, Fearn, Spalding, Sewell, and Ferrier. Some ot tnese, the last for example, may claim a high place as original thinkers. Among living writers of eminence are Hampden, Cairns, Whevvell, Way land (of America), Archbishop Thomson, Mansel, Isaao Taylor, A. Bain, McCosh, and Morell. Pel haps we may place under ethics with as much propriety as anywhere else the name of Whately, lute Archbishop of Dub- lin, a man who in intellectual activity and influence has been ex- ceeded by very few in this generation. He was born in 1787 and graduated at Oxford in 1808, having been a student at Oriel. In 1822 be was made Batnpton lecturer, and preached his sermons on The Use and Abuse of Party Feeling in Edigion. In 528 PROSE PHYSICAL SCIENCE. he became principal of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford. In 1830 lie was made Professor of Political Economy, and in the following year was raised to the see of Dublin. In 1821 he wrote Historical Doubt* relative to Napoleon Bonaparte, a logical satire against historical scepticism. In 1826 and 1828 appeared his admirable treatises on Logic and Rhetoric, both having being printed in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitans. The former was attacked by Sir William Hamilton ; both are popular text books of the sciences of which they treat. Whately's theological works, Essays on some of the Difficulties in the writings of St. Paid (1828), Errors of Romanism (1830), Sermons (1833-1836), The Kingdom of Christ, are all distinguished by the same qualities, great clearness of thought and vigour of language, but with some deficiency of earnest spiritual feeling. Among his latest works are the editions of Bacon's Essays (1856), and Paley's Moral Philosophy (1859). In the last he has pointed out Paley's defects as a moralist. He is also the author of several theological treatises published anonymously, and of various tracts on politi- cal economy. 457. The progress of physical science since the close of the seventeenth century is too wide a subject and too little connected with literature to have an independent notice here. The whole is traced with great perspicuity and fulness in the Dissertations prefixed to the recent edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The early history of mathematical and physical science to the time of Newton is given by Professor John Playfair (1748-1819), who occupied the chair of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. The history of the early part of the eighteenth century is given by Sir John Leslie (i 766-1832), the successor of Playfair, and the author of An Ex- perimental Enquiry into the Nature and Propagation of Heat (1804). A sixth dissertation has been added by Professor J. D. Forbes (born 1808), now Principal of the United College, St. Andrews, who has continued the history from 1755 to 1850. Special mention is due to two writers who have written at length on the philosophy of science, Sir John Herschel, and Professor Whewell. The former (born 1790), the son of the musician and eminent astronomer Sir William Herschel, has carried on with great success his father's astronomical labours. HERSCHEL AND OTHERS. . 529 He is the author of a preliminary Discourse on Natural Philosophy (1830), ail exposition and commentary on Lord Bacon's writings and ou the inductive system, and of Outlines of Astronomy (1849: fifth edition, 1858). He is admitted to be profoundly familiar with every branch of physics, while his work on the Differential Calculus shows him to be one of our ablest mathe- maticians. Dr. Whewell is author of The History of the Inductive Sciences, in three volumes (1837), a very able inquiry, displaying equal learning and independent power. Other names are those of Mary Somerville (born 1796), the authoress of the Mechanism of the Heavens (1832), The Connexion of the Physical Sciences and Physical Geography ; C. Babbage (born 1790), the author of The Economy of Manufactures and Machinery (1833), a very valuable treatise translated into several European languages, and of a Ninth Bridgwater Treatise ; Sir D. Brewster (born 1781), flie author of contributions on science that would fill man volumes ; Professor Michael Faraday, author of Researches on Electricity (1831), and of various lectures as charming in style as they are brilliant and clear in exposition. Other works in this department hardly belong to literature, though many of them are remarkable for literary merit and artistic beauty. A somewhat fuller notice may, however, be allowed to geology, as in the previous centuries it had no existence as a science at all. One of the earliest discoverers of modern geology was William Smith, who in 1790 published his General View of British Strata, and in 1815 constructed The Geological Map of England. Here for the first time the crust of the earth's surface was represented as divided into strata, and it was re- commended that geologists should study the fossil remains of each. In the early part of this century Dr. Buckland awakened great interest by his publication of the VindicioR Geologicce (1820), and the Reliquiae Diluviance (1823). In these volumes he maintained the theory of a universal deluge, and appealed in proof of it to the existence of various remains. This theory ae relinquished in his Bridgwater Treatise published in 1836. His Geology and Mineralogy is still one of our best books. Buckland is the originator of the theory which traces many of the changes that have taken place upon the surface of the earth to glacial action, a theory illustrated and defended at length fcy Agassiz and by Professor Forbes. 2 2 M 530 PROSE GEOLOGY. One of the most instructive biographies in our day is that of Hugh Miller (1802-1856), a native of Cromarty, and at the dine of his death editor of the Witness, an Edinbm&h Hugh Miller. ,,.., . . newspaper. Miller was originally a journeyman mason, whose first rise in life was the result of a resolute determination to avoid the drinking usages of his craft. He records that many of his fellow workmen were men of intel- ligence, but notes that intelligence was no safeguard against intemperance and licentiousness, though he found it generally a protection against the meaner vices of thieving and untruth- fulness. The secret of all true integrity and holiness he learned to find in intelligent reverent Christianity. Miller's earliest geological work was the Old Red Sandstone (1841), and his latest The Testimony of the Bocks (1857). Among the rest may be specially mentioned The Footprints of the Creator (1850), and an autobiography, My Schools and my Schoolmasters (1854). In the Footprints he combats the developement theory of creation, holding that it is disproved by existing fossils. In The Testimony of the Rocks he advocates the view that creation as it now exists was perfected after long eras of time, though the reve- lation of the process was given to Moses in a vision of what seemed six days. This was Whi- ton's theory, and. in Miller's hands it is set forth with great beauty and imaginativeness. On the Deluge he holds with Stillingfleet, Pye Smith, and others, that it was universal as to the human race but partial as to the earth. The power of the English language to describe scientific facts with accuracy and vividness, so as to stir both the heart and the imagination, is nowhere exemplified better than in Miller's writings. The works of Professor Sedgwick (born 1787), of Sir R. Mur- chison (born 1792), of Sir C. Lyell (born 1797), and of Professor Owen (born^iSoj), are all of great value, but are precluded from our list. Prefixed to Lyell's Principles of Geology, be*'ng an Attempt to explain th.e former changes of the Earth's surface ty i reference to Causes now in operation (1830-1832) will be fouud a brief history of the science itself. 458. While the Puritans were defending and expounding evan- gelical truth, what was afterwards called the High Church party discussing rites and ceremonies, and the scholars of the seven- THEOLOGY; EVIDENCES. SSi fceenth century preparing their polyglots and commentaries on Infidelit and Scripture, t ^ iere was springing up a s]>irit of unbelief which was to exercise great influence on the literature of apologists. the eighteenth century. That spirit first showed itself in England in the days of Charles I., and animated the writings of Lord Herbert and Hobbes. Between the Revolution and the death of George n. (i 688-1 760), it was at its height. Since the last part of the eighteenth century it has lost power in this country, and become as a system nearly extinct. It assumed first of all the form of Deism attacking the special revelation of Christianity both in its evidence and in its doctrine, and recognised no religion but natural reason or religious instinct. Then, in Gibbon and Paine, it yielded to the moulding power of French philosophy, and became, in many of its disciples, Atheism, showing itself in nearly all as a spirit of ridicule and contempt. Later still, it has been influenced by German rationalism, which admits that there are in Christianity seeds of eternal truth which our religious con- sciousness must appreciate, but that these are covered over in the actual revelation with many errors both philosophic and literary. The rise of Deism as a system dates in England from the days of Bacon. His philosophy was a protest against authority in matters of science, and an appeal to observation and experience. In Bacon and in Locke the experience to which they appealed was largely sensational. In Descartes and in some of Bacon's own disciples, even in Bacon himself when treating of mental philoso- phy, the experience was also intellectual, and included the in- stinctive utterance of consciousness ; though the great founder of modern philosophy has carefully guarded against the conclusion that religion is to be learnt from observation of external nature or of the mind of man. This appeal to intellectual experience, i. e. t to reason, was called, in the seventeenth century, rationalism, and the religious doctrines which were reached by the process a process which admits the existence of a deity and the religious convictions of the moral consciousness, but denies the specific revelation which Christianity affirms were called Deism. 459. The first Englishman of any influence who advocated such a system was Lord Herbert (1581 -1648), the elder brother of the , poet. Though somewhat earlier than Descartes, he l/ora Herbert. . . , i -i / -n-i probably gathered impressions from French society 2 M 2 532 PROSE THEOLOGY. during his embassy in Franco similar to those which moulded Descartes' philosophy. At all events, he has based his religion on natural instincts or axiomatic beliefs, as Descartes did his philosophic system. Among these axiomatic beliefs he reckons for religious purposes five the existence of a God, the duty of worship, the necessity of piety and virtue, the efficacy of repent- ance, and the reality of rewards and punishments both in this life and in the next. The works in which he discusses these and kindred themes include a treatise on Truth (De Veritate, 1624), another on Errors (De Causis Errorum, 1645), the Reli- gion of a Layman (De Religione Laid, 1663), and on the Re- ligion of the Heathen (De Reliyione Gentium'). The conclusions at which he arrives he defends by an examination of all reli- gions, proving that his axiomatic beliefs are found in them all, and by an appeal to an internal illuminating power, not emo- tional or spiritual, but intellectual 'internal reason,' ' common sense,' or however men may please to describe it. All these axioms are self-evident, and whatever is added to them by special religions Herbert deems doubtful, and therefore without obliga- tion. It is a curious instance of his inconsistency that while denying revelation he himself believed that he had a special reve- lation directing the publication of his system. The whole history he has himself described in his autobiography, published in 1764. Herbert was answered by Locke in his Reasonableness of Christianity (1695), by Baxter, Halyburton, and Leland. 460. Hobbes, the philosopher of Malmesbury (1588-1679), de- graded religion to a system of political expediency (see par. 336). The origin of it he professed to find in man's selfish fear of the magistrate, who, therefore, had it com- pletely under his control. Hobbes, however, exercised little direct influence on religious discussions, though in ethical questions he did great mischief. He was answered by Cudworth, Cumber- land, Seth Ward, and Tenison, and his religious opinions are criticised by Leland. 461. From the Eestoration, Deism existed as a recognised system. The gross immorality of the age, the oppo- sition of the clergy as a body to political and reli- gious freedom- the reaction in part that followed the strict- DEISTS: BLOUNT. 633 ness of the Puritan rule, all combined to strengthen unbelief in undiscerning minds. Among the leaders of this party was Charles Blount (1654-1693), a man of good family, of small literary talent, and known in English history as the occasion of the emancipation of the English press by the abolition of the Licensing &ct. a He wrote the Anima Mundi (1679), the Life of Apollo- nius of Tyana (1680), and a number of speculations on the existence of light before the sun, on the question where Eve found thread to stitch her fig-leaves, etc. addressed as letters to Hobhes and others which he called the Oracles of Reason (1685). He added little to Herbert's teaching, except that the soul is material, that the world is eternal, and that punishment in a future world is inconsistent with divine benevolence an axiom- atic denial, it will be noticed, of one of Herbert's axiomatic beliefs. He was answered by Nichols in his Conference with a Theist (1723), and in part by his own disciple, Gildon, whose Deist's Manual (1703) is largely a retractation of his own earlier views. The influence of Locke's philosophy led men with increasing zeal to examine the principles of ethics and of religion, and to exalt reason against mere authority. This exaltation of reason against authority, i. e., of the reason of later inquirers against that of earlier, was productive within its proper sphere of the best results ; but in religion, where reason is apt to be exalted above divine teaching, it did mischief. First appeared writers who reasserted the authority of reason to interpret all mysteries and to set aside whatever it could not interpret. The represen- tative of this class was Toland (1669-1722). He was born an Irish Catholic, but became a Protestant. In 1696, he wrote Christianity not Mysterious, in which he discusses the principles of natural religion. Three years later he attacked the canon of Scripture in a book he entitled Amyntor ; or, a Defence of the Life of Milton. This work was written in Holland, where the author had sought protection from prosecution in his own country. His first book written in a vigorous style, and re- markable as a specimen of the clearness which the influence of the French models had introduced into English composition was condemned as a nuisance by the grand juries of Middlesex and Dublin, was burned by command of the Irish Parliament, and would have been prosecuted by Convocation if the legal * Aiacaulay's History, lv., 352. 534 PROSE THEOLOGY. adviser of that body had not warned them that the prosecution was beyond their power. This opposition seems to have em- bittered the author's temper; it compelled him to leave England, and he resided abroad till the close of his life. He was answered by Norris of Bemerton, by Dr. Samuel Clarke, by Dr. P. Brown ; and on the canon by Jones and Blackball. The question whether reason may pronounce not only on the evidence of a revela- tion but on the contents of it, and the whole of the questions which modern criticism discusses on the genuineness of the books of Scripture, may be said to have originated in England with him. On altogether different grounds Lord Shaftesbury is reckoned among infidel writers. This charge, indeed, may be abundantly substantiated from his Memoirs, though perhaps his other writings do not contain enough to justify it. He casts reflections on the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, as he says, to exalt virtue by making present reward her chief glory ; but as was generally thought, and as his memoirs have since proved, to dis- credit religion. Pope told Warburton that he knew the Charac- teristics had done much harm to revealed religion, and Leland has given good reason in his fifth and sixth letters for reckoning Shaftesbury among the Deists. 462. Meanwhile, the questions which Toland raised on the genuineness of the books of the Bible, had received fresh inte- rest from the inquiries of Dr. John Mill. The various scripture readings of the MSS. of the New Testament had been noticed some time before by Walton in the Prolego- mena to the London Polyglot, and had created great alarm in Dr. Owen's mind, though it was not till Mill's day (1707) that this alarm spread among general readers. Mill's labours and reasonings were attacked by Whitby (1710), and the argument which Whitby employed was soon used by Collins and others against revelation itself, not as needless or as uncertain, but as untrue and even as mischievous. Anthony Collins (1676-1729) was a scholar at Eton, a student At King's College, Cambridge, and a barrister by profession, Collins. though he never practised. His first work was on the deistic controversy. He published in 1713, A Discourse on Free-thinking, occasioned by the Rise and Growth DEISTS: COLLINS: WOOLSTON. 535 of a, Sect called Free-thinkers. The Deists had now received this title, and the object of the book wus to maintain the right of freo inquiry on all subjects moral and religious. The writer aims to prove that free thinking, *. e., the rejection of all authority, is favourable to civilization, quoting in proof the growing disbelief in witchcraft, and argues that it ought to be applied to such themes as the Divine Character, the truth of Scripture, its Canon and its meaning. The whole treatise is an exaggeration of a great truth. That portion of it which discusses the state of the Text of Scripture was refuted most ably by Bentley in his He- marks on Free-thinking. In 1724 he published his Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Rdiyion, a book that originated in Whiston's Sermons on Scripture Prophecies (1708). In this volume he not only dwells on the uncertainty of a book revelation, but under pretence of defending Christianity, tries to show that the prophecies of the Old Testament as quoted in the New have all a mystical meaning, and are applicable to New Testament facts only ideally, not historically. Thus, as in his views on the value of free-thinking he anticipated Buckle, in his ideal interpretation of Scripture he anticipated Strauss. Collins was answered by Whiston, by E. Chandler, Bishop of Durham, in his Defence of Christianity (1725), by Dr. S. Chandler, a fellow- student of Butler's, a Presbyterian minister at Peckham, in his Vindication of the Christian Religion (1728), by Sherlock, Bishop of London, in his Discourse on Prophecy, and in later times by Bishop Newton and others. Nor ought we to omit from this list the Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher of Bishop Berkeley (1732). Berkeley, to whom Pope assigns 'every virtue under heaven/ had recently returned from Rhode Island, disappointed in his hope of forming there a new settlement. His work con- tains a series of moral and philosophical dialogues in defence of the Christian religion, and against the free-thinkers. They dis- cuss all the questions which Collins raised, and occupy deservedly a permanent place in our literature. 463. About the same time Thomas Woolston (1669-1733), Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, came to the aid of Collins, and after defending him, published a Discourse on the Miracles of our Saviour, with several Defences, in which he tries to show that the story of the miracles of 536 PROSE THEOLOGY. Christianity cannot be taken literally, but must be regarded ad a description of Christ's power over the spiritual life in the soul of man. Twenty years before (in 1708) he had defended the alle- gorical interpretation of Scripture in letters of great vigour and coarseness. The humour and irreverence of his publications ex- cited intense discussion, and Voltaire, who was then in England, and was no uninterested witness of what was occurring, states that the immediate sale of them amounted to thirty thousand copies. After being deprived of his Fellowship, Woolston was prosecuted for blasphemy at the instigation of Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London. He was found guilty, sentenced to a year's im- prisonment, and a fine of a hundred pounds. This last his friends would have paid, but he was not able to find security for his good behaviour. He continued, therefore, in prison till his death, in 1733. The titles only of the books published on this controversy form a considerable pamphlet. Among the works of permanent interest which it originated may be mentioned The Trial of the Witnesses, by Dr. Sherlock, the Pastoral Letters of Bishop Gibson, and the works of Dr. Lardner. 464. The deistic controversy now assumed a somewhat dif- ferent form. Toland had objected to the doctrines of Christianity Collins and Woolston to its evidences. It was now to be attacked on the ground of its practical teaching. In 1730 Matthew Tindall (1657-1733), a Fellow of All Souls, a Koinanist by profession in the days of James n., and a Pro- testant after the Revolution, wrote his dialogue, Christianity as old as the Creation, or the Gospel a republication of the Religion of Nature, a book written with great care, and one that has the additional celebrity of having been answered by Butler in his Analogy. Tindall seeks to show that natural religion is perfect, and admits of no additions. Assuming the moral faculty to be the ground of all obligation, he reduces religious truth to mo- rality, and holds that dogmas, positive precepts, and alleged facts, we all uncertain or even demonstrably erroneous. The last part of his work, in which he intended to show that everything really true in Christianity is a republication of the religion of nature, he did not live to complete. Among the alleged proofs of the untrustworthiness of the sacred writers is what he calls the failure of the fulfilment of prophecy, their mistakes on the ques- DEISTS: MORGAN: CHUBB. 537 tion of the speedy coming of our Lord ; and the existence of pre- cepts those for example that command the destruction of the Canaanites which in his judgment shock the moral instincts of men. The work of Tindall was answered by Dr. J. Conybeare (1692-1755), Bishop of Bristol, in his Defence of Revealed Reli~ i , , course of pious study and discipline of which k Kempis and Law were the teachers, but he did not ' find peace ' till a somewhat later period than his friend Whitefield. It was Luther's Preface to the Romans that was blessed to him in that respect. After this great change he still retained a little of the mysticism that distinguished him while a student of Law, as ho also preserved in his Church order some of the Moravian views which he had learnt from Count Zinzendorf. His distinguishing qualities were great power of organization, unbounded devotednesa of property and strength to the welfare of men, and a wonderful faculty of dealing with his fellows man by man, as Whitefield had the faculty of dealing with them in masses. 558 PROSE THEOLOGY Alter labouring a short time as curate to his fatuei, he set off as a missionary to Georgia, where he remained for about two years. On his return in 1738, he commenced field preaching, and travelled through every part of Great Britain and Ireland. For nearly fifty years he continued this wors, and at his death, the number of Methodists in society throughout the world amounted to eighty thousand. They are now upwards of two millions, and they o\ve their organization and much of their spirit to the teaching and labours of their founder. The biblical commentator of the Wesleyans is Dr. A. Clarke, a very able oriental scholar, and author of a good Bibliographical Dictionary and other works. He was educated at Kiugswood School, and became famous in the department of general litera- ture as well as of theology. The systematic theologian was Richard Watson, a man of profound mind and fine taste. His 'JTieoloyical Institutes is a standard book, and his Sermons are some of them among the noblest in our language. 483. While John Wesley was college tutor, he had, as one of his pupils, James Hervey, who after a while became rector of Herve Weston Fa veil. He was a man of feeble health, and had been recommended to follow the ploughman as he turned up the furrow in order to smell the fresh earth. While acting on this recommendation, he asked the ploughman what he deemed the hardest thing in religion. The ploughman respect- fully returned the question, excusing himself as an unlettered man. The minister replied that he thought the hardest thing was to deny sinful self. The ploughman suggested that perhaps there was something harder still, to deny righteous self. The minister pondered over the answer, and ultimately became a con- vert to the ploughman's creed. He had naturally a somewhat gorgeous mind, a vivid imagination, and such a fondness for superlatives, as is not now deemed consistent with good taste. Among the earliest evangelical writers who studied the graces of composition, he has written with more brilliance than simplicity ; and his ornate style, though captivating to readers of small taste, is confessedly displeasing to the better educated. Yet in him this style was natural, and he was both a good and a really able man. Among books of his that were once immensely popular, may be mentioned the Meditations on the Tombs, and On the HEKVEY: BEKK1DGE: ETC. 550 Garden a sort of evangelical natural theology ; Theron and As- pasict : a Series of Letters and Dialogues on the most important subjects of personal religion. This work is really a system of divinity set forth amid the charms of most glorious landscapes and the pleasantries of kindly intercourse. For the first of these works he received 700?., which he distributed in charity; the sale of both was very large. Many preachers copied his style, and those of them who had minds of the same order copied it with success. With others, as with Samuel Parr, the copy ended in such bombast as reflected undeserved contempt on the original. Among other writers who caught the spirit of Wesley or im- bibed the theology of Whitefield, though remaining in the Church, there were in Cornwall, Samuel Walker of Truro, the author of some admirable sermons ; in Devon, and afterwards in Lon- don, Augustus Toplady, the author of some of our most popular hymns, ' Rock of Ages, cleft for me,' etc. In Bedfordshire there lived and laboured John Berridge. He had been a student at Clare Hall, Cambridge, had worked hard and had stored his mind with all kinds of learning. As a preacher, he was humorous, pathetic, or practical, as the case seemed to require, and he excelled in each quality. It is said that not fewer than four thousand persons were awakened to a sense of their sin in one year, under his preaching. The book by which he is best known is The Christian World Unmasked. In it the character- istics of his preaching still survive. There is much close dealing with conscience and no small amount of drollery^ The idea illus- trated throughout is that of a physician prescribing for a patient ignorant of his disease. In Lincolnshire was Thomas Adam (1701-1784), rector of Wintringham, who had been a student of Law the mystic, and who, like Wesley, ' found peace ' in the Epistle to the Romans. To him we owe Private TliouyJits on Reliyion, detached sentences on God and Christ, on sin and faith, much less brilliant and less profound than those of Pascal, but more experimental and devout. In Yorkshire, at Haworth, a place since familiar through Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Bronte, lived William Grimshaw, one of the most remarkable men of this group. In London was William Romaine (1714- J 795) w h began his course as Grcsham professor of astronomy and editor of Calasio's Hebrew Concordance, into which he has coutrived to put a little of his Hutchinsonian philosophy. 560 PROSE THEOLOGY. For nearly fifty years he was one of the lights of evangelical truth, though the times were strongly against him. When morning lecturer at St. George's, Hauover Square, he is said to have ' vulgarised the congregation and ' was therefore dismissed. As evening lecturer at St. Dunstan's he was not suffered to preach till after seven o'clock, and then the churchwardens sometimes refused to light the church. Repeatedly brought into courts of law he still held his own, till at length he was made rector of St. Ann's, Blackfriars, where, for nearly thirty years, he preached his doctrines on The Life, the Walk, and the Triumph of Faith. During most of this time he was one of the characters of London, and those who came to town to see Garrick, ended by going to hear Eomaine. 484. Men of another class, though all remarkable for their learn- ing and power, are the Lowths, William and Robert, Bp. Richard Watson, Conyers Middleton, and Samuel Horsley. William Lowth (1661-1732) was eminent for his classical and theological learning, and is now best known for his Vindication of the Divine Authority and Inspiration of the Old and New Testaments (1692), Directions for the Profitable Head- ing of the Holy Scriptures, and Commentaries oil the Prophets. He also contributed considerably to the notes in Potter's edition of Clemens Alexandrinus and Hudson's edition of Josephus. He was chaplain to the Bishop of Winchester, and one of the pre- bends of the cathedral in that city. Robert Lowth, his son, was one of our ablest biblical commentators. At the age of thirty- one he was elected to the professorship of poetry in the University of Oxford, and in that chair delivered in Latin his Prelections on Hebrew Poetry. Later in life he became in succession Bishop of St. David's, of Oxford, and of London. His Prelections were translated by Gregory, and were long popular. Dr. Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, is best known for his replies to Gibbon the historian, and to Thomas Paine. To the former he addressed An Apology for Christianity, in answer to the chapter in his history on the rise and progress of Christianity ; and when Paine published his Age of Reason, the Bishop replied in his Apology for the Bible. His controversial works are highly honourable to the manliness and candour of his spirit, and are distinguished by clearness and vigour. Besides his sermons he LOWTH: WATSON, ETC. 561 has edited a collection of Theological Tracts written by various authors and published in six volumes. Conyers Middleton (1683-1750) received his education at Trinity College, Cam- bridge, and became one of the most polished classical scholars of his day. His Life of Cicero, published in 1741, is an English classic. At Cambridge he was Woodwardian Professor and after- wards principal librarian. On his return from Italy, in 1729, he published Letters from Rome, showing the exact Conformity between Popery and Paganism ; or, the Religion of the present Romans derived from that of their Ancestors. It is an amusing and able book, and gave rise to much discussion. Samuel Horsley, son of the vicar of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, was edu- cated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he made great progress both in classical and in mathematical learning. In 1759 he became rector of Newington Butts; in 1777, chaplain to Dr. Lowth, Bishop of London ; in 1788, Bishop of St. David's ; and, at last, in 1802, Bishop of St. Asaph. As secretary of the Royal Society, he edited a quarto edition of Newton's works (1785) in five volumes. As a divine he replied to Priestley's Corruptions of Christianity, published valuable translations of Hosea and of the Psalms, besides a good work on Biblical Criticism. His ser- mons are good specimens of vigorous effective preaching of the clear and logical kind. Like Barrow's, they are exhaustive trea- tises, and are specially happy in explaining difficult passages and in teaching how to apply important theological principles. His manner was often arrogant and overbearing ; his political opinions and intolerance were assailed by Kobert Hall in his Apology for the Freedom of the Press. 485. Another history begins at Northampton a place of con- siderable interest to the theologian. There the Eylands lived, father and son. The father (John C.) was a man of ' considerable learning and great force of character, the author of books that are still occasionally looked into, and of Marginalia, that are seldom read wkhout creating a smile. The son was Dr. John Ryland, whose character Kobert Hall has sketched under the title of 'the beloved disciple.' Within a few miles of the town, at Kettering, lived Andrew Fuller, a man whose religious views coincided with Scott's, and whose masculine grasp of truth and power of setting it forth 2 2 o 562 PROSE THEOLOGY. make his volumes invaluable to the theological, student. It was from that same district that Carey went to begin a work in India which has grown and extended, till God's Word is accessible to a hundred and fifty millions of people, and all religious parties have in some degree recognised their duty in relation to it. Here, moreover, was one of the earliest Dissenting Academies institutions which the Nonconformists supported in order to give to their ministry the education which they found it im- possible to gain elsewhere. From the middle of the seventeenth century, men eminent for learning and piety had opened their houses to receive young men who wished to devote themselves to this work. In 1650, Mr. Tombcs, of Bewdley, who had been a clergyman, had students under his care. At Warrihgton, Bristol, Kib worth, and London, others engaged in the same work. Philip Doddridge had declined the offer of the Duchess of Bedford to maintain him at Cambridge, and had studied at Kibworth under the care of David Jennings an esteemed biblical scholar, the author of a good book on Jewish Anti- quities. After settling at Northampton, the need of a learned ministry pressed deeply on his mind and on the minds of others. A large house was taken, and the business of instruction began. Dr. Reynolds, the chancellor of the diocese, threatened a prosecu- tion in the ecclesiastical courts on the ground that the house was not licensed. But Doddridge found a friend in the Earl of Hali- fax. The Earl mentioned the matter to George n., who declared that ' in his reign there should be be no persecution,' and the process dropped. The institution now prospered apace. Forty students, lay and ministerial, from different parts of the king- dom, gathered at Northampton, some of whom became eminent as men of learning and others as ministers. Through Doddridge's influence William Coward bequeathed 20,000?. for permanently founding a college. The learning of Doddridge, his piety, and his catholicity were alike remarkable. He lectured on mathematics, logic, mental philosophy, and divinity. His Family Expositor still instructs the unlettered, helps the studies of the scholar, and edifies the devout believer. Its practical observations and its paraphrases are excellent, while it contains a large amount of criticism akin to that of the fforce Paulina. Some of our best hymns were com- posed by him to be sung at the close of his sermons, and one of DODDRIDGE. 563 the best epigrams in our language, as Johnson deems it, is from his pen, a paraphrase of his own motto, ' Dum vivimus vivamus.' His most popular book, The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, was undertaken at the request of Dr. Watts. It is somewhat mechanical and legal in its tone, but it has proved oil the whole the most effective religious book of the eighteenth century, as Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is the most effective of the seventeenth effective not only in its use fulness to individual readers, but in suggesting like books to men whose works have reached circles from which Doddridge himself was excluded. His Life of Colonel Gardiner, who was one of his hearers, still holds its place amongst our most popular religious biographies, and Doddridge's Life, by Job Orton, Dr. John Brown deemed one of the most instructive for the minister and the student. Of Doddridge's catholicity we have abundant proofs. He cor- responded with Wesley and Whitefield, with Seeker and War- burton, with the Countess of Huntingdon and the ' Rational Dissenters.' Warburton reproached him, with a gentleness he always put on when addressing Doddridge, for editing Hervey's Meditations. Neal warned Irm that he was lowering Dissent by admitting to his pulpit * crazy Whitefield.' When failing health compelled him to visit Lisbon, \Vauburton used his influence with the Post-office to secure for him the captain's room in the packet. He died at Lisbon, and was laid m the burying-ground of the English factory. Among his friends, besides those already named, were Dr. Samuel Clarke, of St. Alban's, author of A Collection of Scriptwe Promises, and Gilbert "West, one of the clerks of the Privy Council, and author of Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Christ. Among his more eminent pupils were Benjamin Fawcett, a successor of Baxter in Kidderminster ; Job Orton, Doddridge's biographer, and the author of a good volume of Sermons to the Aged; Andrew Kippis, one of the chief contributors to the Biographia Britannica, editor of the works of Lardner and Doddridge, a vigorous thinker and a hard worker; and Hugh Farmer, Mr. Coward's chaplain, and minister at Wai- thamstow, the author of works on Miracles and Demoniacs, that were once held in high consideration among theological students. 486. Amid these religious agitations in England it was hardly 2 o 2 564 PROSE THEOLOGY. to be expected that Scotland should "be free from excitement. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century (1740) the two Erskines, Ebenezer (1680-1735) and Ralph (1682- ^S 1 )* separated from the Established Kirk of Scot- land, and founded the Church of the Secession called Burghers, as others separated from them and assumed the title of Anti-Burghers. The Erskines differed from their brethren of the Establishment chiefly on the law of patronage, and their labours formed the commencement of a religious body that has never ceased to exercise influence on the theological literature of the North. Ebenezer Erskine's works, consisting of five volumes of sermons, were printed in 1762-1765. Ralph Erskine is also the author of Gospel Sonnets, and of numerous sermons which were published in 1760. In 1741, during these discussions, George Whitefield visited Scotland, and was welcomed to Edinburgh by Dr. A. Webster (1707-1784), minister of the Tolbooth Church, a leading evangelical clergyman, the founder of the Ministers' Widows' Fund, and the first to attempt a census of his native country. The effect of Whitefield's visit to Cam- buslaug was startling. Tens of thousands were gathered together, and results were produced which many ascribed to sorcery, but which Webster recognised as the proofs of a Divine presence. The scenes of Whitefield's revivals have been frequently repeated on a smaller scale in Scotland, especially through the labours of the Haldanes and others ; as the incidents of Erskine's Secession have been repeated on a much larger scale in our own day by the formation of the Free Kirk. Much of the religious literature of Scotland has been occupied with questions suggested by these movements. Among modern Scottish divines the first place for genius and power is due to Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847). He was born at Anstruther, and was educated partly at St. Andrews, partly at Edinburgh under Professor Play- fair. In 1808 he became minister of Kilmany, where his active mind found employment in lecturing on chemistry and other subjects, and in writing pamphlets on poli- tical and local questions. When the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia was projected, Chalmers was invited to write the article on Christianity. The article was afterwards published as a separate CHALMERS. 565 volume, and is one of the most eloquent defences of the Christian faith. At Kilmany his mind underwent a remarkable change. For twelve years, he tells the people, he had been trying an ex- periment upon them, and had failed. Now he began to be im- pressed with ' the utter alienation of the heart in all its desires and affections from God ;' and ' reconciliation to Him became the distinct and prominent subject of his ministerial exertions ;' ' the free offer of forgiveness through the blood of Christ was urged upon their acceptance ;' and ' the Holy Spirit given through the channel of Christ's media-torship to all who ask Him was set before them as the unceasing subject of their dependence and their prayers.' In the result he found that ' to preach Christ is the only effective way of preaching morality.' Thenceforward he resolved that this should be his great theme. From Kilmany, Chalmers removed in 1815 to Glasgow, and here his fame as a preacher became diffused over England and America. In 1823 he removed to St. Andrews as Professor of Moral Philosophy, and in 1828 he was appointed Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. There he continued to exercise, for fifteen years, a most remarkable influence, excit- ing in the .hearts of his students the conviction that to preach successfully they must dwell chiefly on the truths on which he had insisted when leaving Kilmany, and that to labour suc- cessfully they must be the pastors as well as the teachers of their flocks.* In 1843 Dr. Chalmers seceded from the Established Church with a large body of ministers and people, and contimied one of the most active members of the Free Kirk till his death in 1847. On the 3ist of May he had retired to rest in his usual health, and was found next morning dead in bed, the report of the college, to be presented that day, by his side, and his face undisturbed by a single trace of suffering. The secret of Chalmers* power it is not difficult to describe. He had no advantages of voice, or gesture, or pronunciation ; but he had deep convictions of the truth of his message, a most vigorous faculty of illustration, considerable originality of genius, and an ardour which nothing could resist. ' He buried his ad- versaries,' as Lord Jeffrey describes it, ' under fragments of * 'A house-going minister makes a church-going people,' used to be one of hia favourite sayings. 566 PROSE THEOLOGY. burniiig mountains ;' while truth was illuminated and set forth in most impressive forms. His collected works were published during his lifetime in twenty-five volumes, and nine more were edited after his death by Dr. Hanna, his son-in-law. These last included his Daily Readings, the Institutes of Thedogy, the Prelections on Butler, etc. His Commercial Discourses, in six volumes, his Astronomical Discourses, and his book On the Evi- dences of Christianity are the works which are best known. The first are often very happy in their power of seizing a great truth and presenting it to his readers. The Astronomical Dis- courses contain many passages of great sublimity and beauty. Chalmers was a strenuous opponent of the introduction of the Poor Laws into Scotland, and contributed more to the develop- ment of a system of voluntary effort to meet the necessities of a parish, and to the efficiency of the Sustentation Fund of the Free Kirk than any man of his generation. His shrewd knowledge of his countrymen and of human nature elicited more than once the remark that he was the most * worldly man ' the on-looker had ever known. 487. The year after the Revolution of 1688, the representa- tives of about a hundred Baptist churches met in London, and resolved among other things to raise a fund for Academy assisting young men who were likely to make effi- cient ministers. After existing for nearly a century, there entered the institution thus founded at Bristol, two stu- dents whose names have become widely known and honoured, Robert Hall and John Foster. Robert Hall (1764-1831) was born at Arnsby, and was the son of the minister of that place, a man of earnest religious character, and known as the author of a popular religious trea- tise, the Help to Ziorfs Travellers. After studying at Bristol, he went, in 1781, to King's College, Aberdeen, where he had as his fellow-student Sir James Mackintosh. Both werw warmly attached to the study of Greek literature: both were fond of metaphysical questions. By their class fellows they were known as * Plato and Herodotus,' and the friendship they then formed remained through life. After a brief sojourn at Bristol as tutor, Mr. Hall became in 1790 minister at Cambridge. Hero he published his first pamphlet, Christianity consistent with the ROBERT HALL. 567 Love of Freedom (1791), and in 1793 appeared his Apology for the Freedom of the Press. Tn 1799 his sermon, Modern Infldelity considered with respect to its influence on Society, excited great attention, and was admired alike for its style, for the profound- ness of its thoughts, and for the beauty of its imagery. In 1802 he published Reflections on War, and in 1803, The Sentiments proper to the present crisis. The last has all the fiery energy of a war-lyric, and is one of the most eloquent and stirring of all his compositions. The following year his mind gave way. After a short time he was restored, though only to suffer from a second attack. On his complete restoration he removed to Leicester, where he laboured for twenty years. A sermon which he preached there in 1819, on the death of the Princess Charlotte, is generally considered as one of the most touching and im- pressive of all his discourses. In 1826 he removed to Bristol, where he continued as pastor of the church at Broadmead till his death. In addition to his mental suffering, Mr. Hall was subject for many years to a disease of the kidneys, which inflicted intense pain. This affliction, combined with a fastidious taste, indisposed him to write, so that his published pieces give a very inadequate conception of the vigour of his genius. Enough, however, remains to justify the estimate which all his contemporaries formed of him. He has been compared with Burke, whom he nearly equalled in grasp of mind and in practical sagacity, while he sur- passed him in logical precision and in chasten ess of taste ; and with Mackintosh, whom he equalled in metaphysical acuteness and solid learning, while he greatly surpassed him in richness of imagination. Asa preacher his humility and fervour touched a multitude of hearts who might have listened to mere oratory without any impression. A complete edition of Mr. Hall's works was published, with a life by Dr. O. Gregory, in six volumes. John Foster (1770-1843) was a man of a very different mould, but one of the most original and forcible thinkers of his age. He Job F ter was ^ son ^ a ^ armer wno resided near Hebden Bridge, and who occasionally attended the ministry of William Grimshaw of Haworth. Foster was educated at Bristol under Joseph Hughes, the founder of the Bible Society, and after acting as minister at Newcastle, Dublin, Frome, etc., he died at 568 PROSE THEOLOGY Stapleton, near Bristol. He is best known by Essays, in a Series of Letters, published in 1805. The subjects discussed are, 'On a man's writing memoirs of himself,' ' On decision of character,' * On the application of the epithet Romantic,' and ' On some of the causes by which evangelical religion has been rendered less acceptable to men of cultivated taste.' In 1819 he published a volume on the Evils of Popular Ignorance, a book which Mack- intosh pronounced one of the most original works of this century. Appended to it is a sermon on Christian Missions, which will well repay study. In 1840 were published two volumes of contribu- tions to the Eclectic Review. Two volumes of Lectures, delivered chiefly at Broadmead, were also collected, and published in 1 844-1 847. His essay prefixed to Collins's edition of Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion, is one of the most characteristic and striking of all his pieces. Foster's Life and Correspondence has been published under the editorship of J. E. Ryland, with notices of him as a preacher by John Sheppard of Frome. It is worth noting that both Hall and Foster were much less effective for real usefulness than many preachers of far inferior mental power. They have themselves noted this fact, and though the estimate which each formed of himself is to be received with caution for they both had the humility and the self-renun- ciation of true greatness yet the fact remains. It may suggest lessons of encouragement to less able men, as it certainly suggests important inquiries as to the qualities on which usefulness in the highest sense really depends. 488. To this same district of England belong Samuel Laving- ton (1726-1807) of Bideford, and William Jay of Bath (1769- Other writers. l853 ^' ^ ne sermons f tne former are among the finest specimens of simplicity and tenderness : those of the latter are no less remarkable for fulness of Scripture illus- tration and pointed comment. Models, in other respects, may be found in the sermons of Edward Cooper (d. 1833) and of William Archer Butler (1814-184.8). PRINCIPAL WRITERS. 509 THE PRINCIPAL THEOLOGICAL WRITERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. George Bull . 1634-1710 John Howe . 1630-1705 Daniel Whitby . . 1638-1726 Benjamin Keach . 1640-1704 William Wall . . 1646-1728 Robert Trail . ... 1642-1716 Robert Nelson . . 1656-1715 W. Penn . . . 1644-1718 George Stanhope 1660-1728 D. Burgess . 1645-1712 White Kennett . . 1660-1728 Thos. Wilson . . 1663-1755 Matthew Henry . 1662-1704 John Bingham . 1668-1723 William Whiston . 1667-1752 Bishop Gibson . 1669-1748 Peter Browne 1735 Edmund Calamy 1671-1732 Sir Peter King . . 1669-1733 James Peirce 1673-1726 Thos. Bennett . . 1673-1728 Thomas Halyburton 1674-1712 Basil Kennett . 1674-1714 Benj. Bennet. . 1674-1726 John Hutchinson 1674-1737 Isaac Watts . . 1674-1748 Bishop Hoadley . 1676-1761 William Harris . . 1675-1740 Anthony Collins . 1676-1729 Daniel Wilcox . . 1676-1733 Bishop Sherlock . 1678-1761 Ebenezer Erskine 1680-1755 Thos. Stackhouse 1680-1752 Moses Lowman . 1680-1752 Whole Duty of Man' 1680 John Gale . . . 1680-1721 Bishop D. Waterhind 1683-1740 Simon Browne . 1680-1732 Conyers Middleton . 1683-1750 Nathanael Lardner . 1684-1768 William Law . . 1686-1761 Ralph Erskine 1685-1752 John Jackson 1686-1763 Jeremiah Seed 1747 John Balguy. 1686-1748 R. Ricaltoun . . . 1691-1769 William Berriman . 1688-1749 John Leland . 1691-1766 Thos. Berriman . ^689-1768 D. Jennings . . . 1691-1762 Joseph Butler . . 1692-1752 Joseph Hallet 1692-1744 Bishop Warburton . 1698-1779 Jeremiah Jones . 1693-1724 John Jortin . 1698-1770 Samuel Chandler . 1693-1766 Archbishop Seeker . 1700-1768 John Maclaurin . 1693-1754 Thomas Adam . -. * 1701-1784 John Taylor . . . 1694-1761 John Randolph . 1701-1783 John Gill . . . 1697-1771 Bishop Newton . 1704-1782 James Foster 1697-1752 Philip Skelton. . . 1707-1787 A. Benson . 1699-1763 Matthew Horbery 1707-1773 Micaiah Towgood 1700-1792 Robert Lowth ". 1710-1787 Alexander Cruden . 1701-1770 James Hervey 1714-1758 Philip Doddridge 1702-1751 Samuel Walker . 1714-1761 John Wesley I7 3-i79i John Heylyn 1760 Samuel Wilson . 1703-1750 William Komaine 1714-1795 Benj. Waller . . 1711-1782 Henry Stebbing . 1716-1787 Hugh Farmer 1714-1787 Jacob Bryant 1715-1804 George Whitefield . 1714-1770 Thos. Balguy 1716-1795 Thos. Harmer . 1715-1788 W. S. Powell . . im-1771 Robert Walker . . 1716-178} Benj. Kennicott . 1718-1783 Job Orton . . . 1717-1783 Bishop Kurd . 1720-1808 J. Blair .... 1718-1800 Henry Venn . 1725-1797 John Newton 1725-1807 570 PROSE THEOLOGY. Wm. Jones (Nayland) 1726-1800 George Campbell 1719-1796 John Paikhurst . . 1728-1797 John Erskine 1721-1803 William Newcome . 1729-1800 James Macknight 1721-1800 Dr. Dodd . . . 1729-1777 Alexander Maclaine . 1722-1804 Thos. Percy . . . 1729-1811 John Brown . 1722-1787 Bishop Home . . 1730-1792 J. C. Ryland . . 1723-1792 Bishop Porteous . . 1731-1808 Robert Sandeman . 1723-1771 Bishop Horsley . . 1733-1806 John Hey . . , 1734-1815 Dr. Kippis . . . Samuel Lavington 1725-1795 1726-1807 Bi shop R. Watson . 1737-1816 Samuel Stennett 1727-1795 William Paley . . 1743-1805 Alexander Gerard 1728-1795 Isaac Mil uer . . . 1747-1797 J. Fletcher (Madeley) 1729-1735 Thos. -Scott . . . 1747-1821 Joseph Priestley . . 1735-1804 Samuel Parr. . . 1747-1825 Abraham Booth . 1734-1806 Thos. Robinson . . 17491813 Robert Robinson 1735-1790 Edward Tatham . . 1749-1834 Alexander Geddes 1737-1802 Joseph Milner . . 17501820 C. Evans. 1737-1791 George Toraline . . 17501827 John Fawcett . 1739-1817 Benj. BLiyney . . 1753-1801 Joshua Toulmin . . 1740-1815 W. B. Kiiwan . . 17541805 Georgt Hill . . . 1748-1820 George VVakeficld . 1756-1801 Edward Williams 1750-1813 Herbert Marsh . . 17571839 Thos. Belsham . . 1750-1829 John Venn . . . 17591797 Charles Butler . . 1750-1832 Charles Simeon . . 17591^36 Dr. Bogue . . . 1750-1825 William Wil berforce . 17591833 John Kyland 1753-1825 William Kirby . . 1759-1851 A. Alison 1757-1838 Bishop Vau Mildert . 1765-1836 Dr. J. Jameson . 1758-1838 William Magee . * 17651831 Adam Clarke . . 1760-1832 Legh Richmond . . 1771-1827 Robert Hall . . . 1764-1831 John Jebb . . . 1775-1833 John Dick . . . 1764-1833 John Davison . . 1777-1834 Benj. Boothroyd 1768-1836 Dr. EXOyly . . . 1778-1846 J. A. Haldane . . 1768-1851 Bishop Kaye. . . 1780-1853 John Foster . . . 1770-1843 Bampton Lectures begun 1780 Thos. M'Crie . . 1772-1835 T. H. Home. , . 1780- J. Pye Smith . . 1774-1851 Michael Russell . . 1781-1848 Ralph Wardiaw . 1779-1853 Edward Biekersteth . 1786-1850 Dr. A. Thomson. . 1779-1831 Bishop Blomrield . 1786-1857 Thos. Chalmers . 1780-1847 Archbishop Sumner . 1790 Richard \Vatson . . 1781-1832 A. W. Hare . . . 1793-1834 Walter Wilson . . 1781-1847 Edward Burton . . 17941836 Dr. John Brown. . 1785-1859 J. C. Hare . . . 1795-1848 Robert Balmer . 1787-1844 Benj. Fawcett , . 1718-1^80 John Kitto . . . 1804-1854 HISTORY: RAPIN: CARTE. 571 489. Strange as it may seem, the first complete English history that gained permanent reputation we owe to a Frenchman Rapin de Thoyras, Rapin was one of those Hugue- nots wnom the tyranny of Louis xiv. drove to Eng- land. He reached this country in 1685, and obtained a small pension from William in. From considerations of economy, he settled at Wesel in the Duchy of Cleves, and after the labour of twenty years, finished his history. It was first published at the Hague in seventeen volumes, the last appearing iu 1725, and was soon after translated into English by Nicholas Tyndal. Tyndal's translation contains also a continuation to 1760, written however chiefly by Dr. Birch. In writing his history, Rapin had the advantage of having examined Rymer's Fadera and other collections of important documents. As a foreigner, however, he laboured under serious difficulties, and the earlier part of his work is very inexact. From the time of Henry vin., he is more l rusfc- worthy, and generally, with a slight leaning to the parliamentary side in the Civil War, he is free from partiality. 490. A better history in some respects is that of the nonjuriug clergyman, Thomas Carte. By this time the conditions of his- torical compositions were greatly changed. The in- creasing exactness of learning in all subjects, the con- troversies which had sprung UP as to the po.itical and personal character of great men, the prevalent scepticism, sometimes exces- sive, sometimes just, always demanding inquiry to silence it, had combined to raise the standard of investigation both in history and in philosophy. Carte seemed likely to meet this spirit of the age : he had all materials at his disposal, had carefully examined for the first time the Kolls of Parliament, while a good subscription list seemed to secure for him both space and independence. His first volume, The History of England, by Thomas Carte, an Englishman, appeared in 1747, and proposed to be the commencement of a work of standard authority. Un- happily, he mentioned incidentally the cure of one Thomas Lovell * by the touch of the descendant of a long line of kings, and immediately the loyal subjects of the house of Hanover took the alarm. Heaven had been represented as recognising the Pretender : the City withdrew its subscription, the Court frowned and the rest of the work was finished and published 572 PROSE HISTORY. under difficulties. The fourth volume did not appear till 1755, after the death of its author. The book is too prolix ; but for copiousness of materials and general accuracy of statement, it is the best history that had as yet appeared. As a nonjuror, Carte's views on constitutional questions are to be received with great caution. 491. Before the last volume of Carte was published, a writer who had already gained celebrity in literature and philosophy by a course, it must be confessed, as eccentric as it was brilliant, undertook the, apparently, not very congenial task of writing a history of the House of Stuart. In 1754 appeared the first volume of what was afterwards to prove a history of England the History of the Eeigns of James the First and Charles the First, by David Hume. The second volume appeared in 1756. The History of the House of Tudor followed in 1759, and in 1761 two more volumes completed the work, by a kind of retrograde movement, from Julius Caesar to Henry vn. The first volumes excited strong opposition, and sold slowly. Hume's impulse was to relinquish the work. After a while, however, it became exceedingly popular : edition followed edition, and the author was placed at the head of our English historians. This history is, as a whole, of no high authority. Hundreds of errors have been pointed out in his narrative, some trivial, some important. He was too intolerant and too indifferent to be exact. "With but little sympathy for freedom, he naturally leans to the side of government, even when it wields arbitrary power : hence his indifference to Raleigh and his fondness for James. He has no aspirations for the amelioration of the race, no appreciation of the religious principles which, in this country more, perhaps, than in any other, have controlled or influenced the course of public events. His love of paradox leads him to adopt ridiculous theories, and his pride of intellect leads him unwisely to maintain them. Yet, withal, his history is in style so fasci- nating and easy, in its grouping of facts so picturesque and dramatic, in its reflections so just and often profound, in its esti- mate of conflicting parties so sagacious, in its admissions in favour of opponents so fair, and in its protection cf the interests of learning so liberal, that it will ever be regarded as an honour HUME: SMOLLETT: HENRY. 573 to our literature. On questions that affect the interests of free- dom or religion, and on all questions that require for their in- vestigation patience and care, Hume is to he read with distrust. In other respects he is a model, differing as widely from previous annalists and compilers as the * finished portraits of Reynolds from the rude draughts of a country artist.' 492. Meanwhile, another history was in course of publication, which the booksellers were to connect with Hume. In 1758, Dr. Smollett 8 published in four volumes, A Complete History of England to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle y and afterwards continued it to the year 1765. The portion of this work from the Revolution to the death of George ir., is usually printed as a continuation of Hume. The style is fluent, and the narrative is sometimes sketched with great fairness and skill, as in the history of the Rebellion of 1 745-1 746 ; but the work abounds in errors, and must have been written without the study or thought which such a publication demands. 493. The influence of style in our histories is remarkably shown in the success of Goldsmith as a historian. In 1763 he published A History of England in Letters from a Nobleman to his Son, which was ascribed successively to Lords Chesterfield, Ossory, and Lyttelton. Its popularity in- duced the author to compile a more extended history of England, and to prepare abridgments of Grecian and Roman history. These works have absolutely no authority as histories, and yet from the purity of the style and the grace of the composition they have had a most extensive sale. 494. In 1 77 1, Dr. Robert Henry (1718-1790) announced a his- tory of England on a new plan. He proposed to publish twelve volumes, each to be divided into seven chapters, on the civil and military, and the ecclesiastical affairs, the laws and constitution, the literature, the arts, the commerce, and the manners of the nation during the period. He died, however, after completing the sixth volume, which brings down the narrative to the death of Henry vm. The work was after- wards completed in 1793 by Malcolm Laing. For this history, Henry received the sum of 3200?. from the booksellers, and from See par. 519 574 PROSE HISTORY. the Crown a pension of icoZ. a year a reward not due to his style or even to the accuracy of the research, but to the growing interest among all classes in the domestic life of our ancestors and in the condition of the people. Henry was the first to direct attention to these themes. His idea has been carried out with a large amount of corrected and additional information in the popular history of England by Charles Knight. 'Mrs. Mark- ham's ' History of England is a convenient compendium of the more important results of Henry's inquiries. 495. Two other great names as historians in this country are Robertson and Gibbon. William Robertson (1721-1793), a Presbyterian minister who rose to be principal of the University of Edinburgh and leader of the ' Moderates ' in the church of Scot- land, appeared as a historian in 1759. In that year he published his History of Scotland during the Reigns of Queen Mary and James the Sitth. In 1769 he published his History of the Em- peror diaries the Fifth, and in 1 777 his History of America. The first work, for which he received 600?., gained him a high reputa- tion in his own country : the second and third extended his fame throughout the civilized world. The History of Cliarles the Fifth was translated into French by M. Suard, and the History of America, after being warmly praised by the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, was about to be translated into Spanish when the government prohibited the translation, from a desire appa- rently of preventing discussion on their American administration. The style of Robertson is not equal to Hume's in purity or grace or simplicity, and is somewhat open to Cowper's charge of ' pomp and strut,' but it excited admiration and even surprise among his English contemporaries, and is specially commended by Horace Walpole no mean judge. His chief excellence, how- ever, is the skill with which he masters detail and places them in a luminous order, conducive alike to persp'cuity and to a philosophic estimate of causes and results. His introductory chapter in the History of Scotland and his first volume in the History of Charles the Fifth are remarkable instances of this skill ; while his History of America will never lose its interest, so varied and accurate is the information, so graceful the narrative, so just and striking are the reflections which it contains. GIBBON. 575 496. Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), descended from an ancient family settled in Hampshire, was born at Putney. He entered Gibbon Oxford with an amount of erudition, he tells us, that would have puzzled a doctor, and a degree of igno- rance of which a schoolboy would have been ashamed. From reading the works of Bossuet, and of Parsons the Jesuit, the author of a book* which was the means of Richard Baxter's con- version, he became a Roman Catholic. Thereupon his father sent him to Lausanne to be under the care of a Protestant mi- nister, M. Pavilllard, who ultimately prevailed upon his pupil to return to the Protestant church. In the latter he became 'a philosopher' as the term was then used. All religions were considered, he tells us, by the ' Roman people equally true, by the philosophers equally false, by the magistrate equally useful,' and this seems to have been his own creed. He nowhere avows his disbelief, but he attacks the Christian faith in the way which Byron has so justly described : ' Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer. After visiting England he returned to the continent ; and while at Rome in 1764 his long cherished desire to write some historical work took a definite shape from a romantic incident. * As I sat mute,' says he, ' amidst the ruins of the Capitol while the friars were saying Vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city started in my mind/ He came again to England, but did nothing for some years to carry out his scheme. At length after the death of his father he commenced the composition of his history. In 1776 the first volume appeared, and immediately had almost unprecedented success : three editions were at once published, and both the public and the scholars greeted the author with applause. Meanwhile he had entered Parliament and was an earnest sup- porter of Lord North in the struggle between Great Britain and the American colonies ; ' a mute member,' he tells us for the great speakers filled him with despair, and the bad ones with terror but not inactive, for he was for a time one of the Com- missioners of trade and plantations. In 1781 the second and third volumes of his history appeared and then being disappointed of a place under government, and finding it needful to retrench, " Bunny's Resolutions, 576 PROSE HISTORY. he retired to Lausanne. Four years more of work enabled hiin to complete his history, ' and on the 27th of June, 1787, between eleven and twelve at night he wrote the last lines of the last page in a summer-house in his garden.' It is instructive to note that, though he composed the first chapter of his history three times before he was satisaed with it, and the second and third twice, the first rough draft of all the rest was sent to the press, and not a sheet was seen by any person but the author and the printer. On the completion of his work he brought the manuscript to London, where it was printed in three volumes more. He then went back to Lausanne, where he resided till 1793. The French Revolution and the death of old friends made the place distaste- ful to him. He returned to London, and after undergoing a sur- gical operation died without pain, and apparently without any sense of his danger, on the i6th of January, 1794. Gibbon's purpose originally was to review ' the state and revo- lutions of the Roman city ' from the twelfth to the sixteenth cen- tury. But the plan was greatly extended, and now his history commences with the reign of Trajan (A.D. 98) and ends with the fall of the Eastern empire in 1452 : three supplemental chapters being devoted to his original theme. It is in short The Decline and Fatt of the Roman Empire. The quality in this work that first strikes an intelligent reader is the extent and variety of its learning, and the skill with which the author uses it. Not only are all the events of the history of the principal countries of Europe and Asia mastered and repro- duced on these pages, but there must have been mastered also all the accessories of the history, the art of war, the philosophy, the theology, the jurisprudence, the minute geography of each nation, with all the facts on manners, opinions, and public charac- ters essential to a right appreciation of the state of society in dif- ferent nations and at different times. All must have been studied with great diligence, as all have been mastered and grouped with marvellous success. The results moreover are net only set forth in clear and lucid order, but are quickened into life. The author has identified himself with everything he describes except religion, and paints scenery and manners with all the animation of a native or of an eye-witness. Yet there are serious deficiencies. The style wants simplicity and purity : its ornateness and pomp fatigue the ear and displease GIBBON 577 the taste. Possessing no depth of moral feeling or nobleness of sentiment, the author never touches the grander chords of the heart or creates generous enthusiasm ; while his errors and his omissions give at first an impression unfavourable to his honesty and truthfulness which is not altogether without foundation. When Guizot, his French translator, first read the book, looking only at its artistic skill, he was filled with admiration. On examining it the second time, to compare its quotations with the originals and to weigh the narrative, he formed a strong judgment of its unfairness and partiality. A third reading led him to admit that the immensity of the author's research, the variety of his knowledge, and above all the soundness of his discrimination, made the book in spite of its faults one of the noblest contribu- tions to historical science. It may be added that the notes and corrections of Guizot, of Wenck the German commentator, and of Milman are all included in the recent and best editions of Gibbon's work. On moral and religious questions the history is very unsatis- factory. In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters he gives an account of the growth of Christianity, which he traces entirely to secondary causes, without reference to its Divine origin, and in a way to suggest that it owes nothing to its Divine Author or to the indwelling Spirit. These chapters have often been criticised, and we are indebted to them for a volume of permanent interest, Bishop Watson's Apology for (i.e. defence of) the Bible. It is a more serious fault, because it pervades the book, that the author's imagination is dead to the moral dignity of the Christian system. ' There are occasions indeed when its manifestly beneficial influ- ence compels even him to fairness, and kindles his unguarded eloquence into unusual fervour ; but he soon relapses into a frigid apathy, affects an ostentatiously severe impartiality, and notes all the faults of Christians with bitter and almost malignant sarcasm.' Julian the Apostate is his idol ; let a Christian bishop or a religious king appear, and immediately he hints at enthu- siasm, or superstition, or roguery, and often his sneers or cavils ' leave their trail upon the purest virtue and the most exalted heroism.' 497. Small portions of the field of history were cultivated with a Milinan, 2 2P 578 PROSE HISTORY special care by various authors. To William Harris (i 720-1 770), a dissenting minister of Devonshire, we owe memoirs Sstorians ^ J ames J - Charles i., Cromwell, and Charles 11. : the text is of little worth, but the notes at the foot of each page contain original documents of importance. To Lord Lyttelton we owe a History of the Eeign of Henry the Second, published between 1764 and 1771 ; a somewhat dull book, but valuable for its facts. To Dr. Birch (b. 1705), Secretary of the Royal Society, we owe a volume of Historical Memoirs and Lives, including those of Elizabeth, Ealeigh, and others. To him we are also indebted for the publication of Thurloe's State Papers, as is the British Museum for a large collection of literary mate- rials. To Charles James Fox, statesman and orator (i 749-1 806), we owe a history of the early part of the reign of James n., with an introductory chapter which gives our constitutional history from the time of Henry vii. Fox was very scrupulous of the purity of his language, ' admitting no word for which he had not the authority of Dryden.' He took great pains to verify all his statements. The principles he advocates are noble and generous, but his history wants force and life. It was published by Lord Holland in 1808. To James Grainger we owe a Biographical History of England from Egbert to the Revolution, published between 1769 and 1774. I* was continued by Mark Noble and by Miller to our own century. Particular portions of Scottish history are discussed by William Tytler, of Woodhouselee (1711-1792), in his Inquiry concerning Mary Queen of Scots, in which he examines the history of Robertson and Hume ; by Dr. Gr. Stuart (1742-1 786) in a History of Scotland and in a Dissertation on the British Constitution, works written ' in a florid style, but disfigured, it is said, by affectation and prejudice ' * of him the story is told that he declined to examine some important historical manuscripts, on the ground that he had not time to examine even all the printed materials within his reach ; by Lord Hailes, who published in 1776-1779 the Annals of Scotland from Malcolm in. to the accession of the house of Stuart; by John Pinkerton (1758-1825) in his History of Scotland preceding the reign of Malcolm the Tliird, i.e. 1056, and in his History of Scotland during the reign of the Chambers. HOOKE: MITFORD. 579 Stuarts (1796). both books displaying great research and com- petent learning ; by Malcolm Laing, an ardent friend of liberty, in his History of Scotland from James vi. to Queen Anne (1800 and 1804) ' his merit as an inquirer and judge, both of evidence and of facts, has never been surpassed, though his narrative is wanting in clearness and ease.'* 498. Nor were other fields neglected. Between 1757 and 1771 N. Hooke produced his Roman History, which begins with the building of the city, and continues to the downfall of the Common wealth. The work was patronised by Pope, and still retains its place in our literature. In 1783 Dr. Adam Ferguson (1724-1816), the friend of Robertson, and Professor, first of Natural, and then of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, published his History of the Progress and Termi~ nation of the Roman Republic. It is written in a style which Gray calls ' short-winded and sententious,' and is certainly dry, but it forms a valuable compendium, and is illustrated by many just reflections. In 1786 Dr. J. Gillies (1747-1836), historiogra- pher royal for Scotland, published the History of Ancient Greece, in two volumes quarto. The work is intended to illustrate the value of hereditary monarchy, and is executed with considerable ability. It has passed through at least six editions, and still holds its place among the great books of the last century. Gillies is also the author of a history of the world from Alexander to Augustus. One of the earliest histories of Greece, written with something like the fulness which Gibbon has used for the history of Rome, was the work of William Mitford (1744-1827). Mitford was a member of an ancient Northumberland family, and having suc- ceeded to some landed property, he devoted his life to classical and historical study. The first volume was published in 1784, the last in 1810, and it has since passed through several editions. Byron speaks of him as praising tyrants, spelling oddly, and writing quaintly, and then adds that he is perhaps the best of all modem historians, his Greece being written ' with great learning, labour, research, wrath, and partiality/ these last giving earnest- ness and passion. Mitford is, like Gillies, an ardent advocate of monarchy against democracy. The history cf Greece has been a Edinburgh Review. 2 P 2 580 PROSE HISTORY. written in our time with still more learning and with different political leanings by Dr. Thirlwall and by Mr. Grote. In 1776, R. Watson, Professor of Rhetoric and Principal of one of the colleges at St. Andrew's, wrote a history of Philip n. of Spain, in continuation of Robertson's. In 1796, William Roscoe (1753-1831), a Liverpool banker, and for a short time member of parliament for his native city, published his Life of Lorenzo de Medici, and a little later (1805), his Life of Leo X. The two works give the history of the time between Gibbon's Decline and Robertson's Charles the Fifth. The former was very successful, and both have been prepared with great care. In 1779 Dr. William Russell (1741-1793), a native of Selkirkshire, who raised himself to a position in literature amid many difficulties, published his History of Modern Europe to the year 1763. Ad- ditions have been made to it by later writers, and it still holds its place as a standard work. In 1763-1768 Robert Orme pub- lished a History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from 1745 to 1761, a full and able account, to which all later writers are indebted. The best History of British India, however, is that of James Mill (1773-1836), published in 1817- 1818. Mill himself was a man of acute mind, and the friend of Bentham : he took also a high place among the original meta- physical thinkers and writers of his age. After the publication of his history he entered the service of the East India Company. His work has been continued to the year 1835 by the late Pro- fessor H. H. Wilson. 499. In 1736-1765 the London booksellers published a com- pilation called A Universal History. It is a work of great research, seven volumes folio being devoted to History!* 1 ancient history, and sixteen to modern history. It was also published in octavo in sixty volumes, and sometimes in sixty-five. The principal writers were Archibald Bower (1686-1766), a native of Dundee, educated at St. Omer's, and afterwards a convert to Protestantism, author of a History of the Popes; Dr. J. Campbell (1709-1775), author of Lives of the Admirals, and of many lives in the Biographia Britannica; George Sale (1680-1736), translator of the Koran; and George Psalmanazar (1679-1763), a Frenchman, who pretended to be a native of Formosa, and in proof invented UNIVERSAL HISTORY, ETC. 581 a Formosan alphabet and grammar : Johnson, who knew him well, speaks of him, however, as afterwards a truthful and good man. To these may be added Bolingbroke's Lectures on the Study of History, and much later George Miller's History Philosophi- cally Illustrated (best edit. 1832), and Arnold's Introductory Lectures on Modern History, all of which discuss more or less the questions and principles which are to be kept in view in this study. * The Philosophy of History,' as the science came to be called, is of comparatively modern origin, and is the basis of the 4 Sociology ' of our own times. The last ten years of the reign of George n. are described in the Memoirs of Horace Walpole, son of the Whig statesman Sir Eobert. In this work the secret machinery of government is keenly but not genially described. Walpole's last journal, edited by Dr. Doran, brings down the memoir from 1771 to 1783. His letters contain revelations of the same kind, but are written in a better tone, and are admirable specimens of that kind of compo- sition. In 1775 Macpherson, the translator of Ossian, published a History of Great Britain from the Restoration to the Accession of the House of Hanover. This work is also of the nature of a memoir, and is intended to show the selfishness and the intrigues of the chief movers in the Revolution. Miss Burney's Diary gives clever sketches of the court of George in., but is for historical purposes of small value. These secret histories, it may be added, give a very unfavourable impression of the public virtue of many great men. And it may be observed generally that the ninute and incidental details given by memoir writers are often more interesting and more suggestive of the great lessons of history, than the general narrative of later and probably more philosophic historians These facts show tnat m the eighteenth century history was a favourite study. No other literary labour was more remunera- tive, nor did any other so readily raise those who excelled in it to distinction. 500. Among the memoirs of this century, and occupy ing a middle Memoirs. ^ ace ^ etween his^T and biography proper, are the Memoirs of the lieign of George the Second, by John Lord Hervey, the Sporus of Pope, and the husband of Mary Lepell. 582 PROSE BIOGRAPHY. Hervey was a great favourite of Queen Caroline's, and has drawn one of the most humiliating pictures of court life ever given. Ilia Memoir extends from 1727 to 1737, and was published in 1848 by J. W. Croker. 501. The biography also of this period is very rich, especially if we include, as we conveniently may, the earlier part of the nineteenth century. It is not possible, however, to ^ more ^ an enumerate tne classes into which per- sonal memoirs are generally divided. There are (i) collections of universal biography, (2) of national biography, (3) of class biographies, and (4) individual biographies,- auto- biographical and otherwise. 1. Among the earliest general biographies is the General Biography by Dr. John Aikin and others (1799-1815), in ten volumes ' a worthless compilation,' as Gifford somewhat too strongly calls it ; the General Biographical Dictionary, of Alexander Chalmers (1812-1817), in thirty- two volumes, which is a much improved edition of the London Biographical Dic- tionary, of which several issues had appeared from the year 1763 downwards. In our own times we have the Dictionary of Rose, of Knight in his English Encyclopaedia, and of Mackenzie. Bayle's Dictionary is an interesting book for those who love the biographical part of literature. It appeared in 1710, in four volumes folio, and was incorporated in the General Dictionary, Historical and Critical, published in ten volumes in 1734-1741 2. Among national biographies the first place is due to iheSio- graphia Britannica (1747-1766), a work of great research, but with serious omissions. The edition of Dr. Kippis (1777-1793) is much more full, but it was never carried farther than the commencement of the letter F. A good and complete biogra- phical dictionary of eminent Englishmen is still therefore a desideratum. 3. Of class biographies we have many examples ; Johnson's Lives of the Poets; Hartley Coleridge's Lives of Noi~thern Worthies; Campbell's Lives of the Chief Justices and of the Chan- cellors ; Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury ; Cham- bers' Lives of Eminent Scotsmen; Cunningham's Lives of the Painters ; Game's Lives of Eminent Missionaries. 4. Among personal biographies may be mentioned, as hold,ing ANTIQUITIES. 583 a high place, Boswell's Johnson, Scott's Dryden and Swift, Southey's Nelson, Currie's Burns, Hayley's Cowper with the later lives by Southey and Grimshaw, all enriched with the inimitable letters of the poet, Lockhart's Scott, and Carlyle's Cromwell. Boswell is justly regarded as the prince of biographers. Among autobiographies are Gibbon's Memoirs, and many besides, though in these last we are less rich than our French neighbours. 502. True biography, let it be carefully noted, is not of the outer life but of the inner the life of the soul. It should describe the growth in intelligence and in holiness of an immortal phy e whaf? a " 8 pi r ^> an ^ possesses a charm for thoughtful men beyond that of most other compositions. The mere outer life of many men, however, has often deep interest, and may exercise greater power over the destinies of nations than any material forces, whether of circumstances or of nature. Secular history, in fact, is largely the outer life of great men, as the history of everything holy and divine on earth is the inner life of good men. 503. The antiquarians of the eighteenth century are compara* tively few. William Stukeley, rector of St. George's, Queen Anti uities Sq iiare > London (1687-1765), wrote the Itinerarium Curiosum, in which he gives an account of the Anti- gf^'ties and Curiosities of Great Britain. Edward King (1735- i8oj.\ a barrister, and author of Observations on Ancient Castles, and ot Munimenta Antiqua, in three volumes folio, describes the English architecture prior to the Conquest. John Whittaker, the author of the History of Manchester, appends to his work a review of Celtic and Roman antiquities. Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) published an account of his tour into Scotland and Wales, and gave much antiquarian information, as well as pleasant details of natural scenery. Francis Grose (1731-1791) wrote Antiquities of England and Wales, which appeared in 1773, and Antiquities of Scotland, which appeared in 1789. Neither Pennant nor Grose is reckoned a high authority. Richard Gough (1735-1809) is celebrated both as a topographer and as an antiquary : his British Topography, Topographical Monuments of Great Britain, and his edition of Camden display much industry, and are deemed of great value in those departments. John Nichols (1745-1826) is 584 PROSE TRAVELS. known chiefly as the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, which he conducted for nearly fifty years. He is also the author of Volumes of Anecdotes, and of illustrations of literature in the eighteenth century. As an antiquary he wrote the History and Antiquities of Leicester (1795-1811), and the Royal Progresses of Queen Elizabeth and James the First. Fosbrooke's Encyclo- pedia of Antiquities (1824), and Brand's Popular Antiquities, published with additions by Sir H. Ellis in 1808, are works of great research and value as repositories of curious information. The Every Day Book (1825-1827) and The Year Book (1832) of William Hone also contain many delineations of olden life and manners. 504. Travellers and books of travels multiply with the increas- ing enterprise of the age ; but the eighteenth century is, on the whole, not so fruitful in proportion as the seventeenth daslffied. and nmeteenta - The Voyage round the World in 1740-1744, by George Lord Anson (1697-1762), immortalised, as Cowper says, ' by tears of heroes if not of bards, ? is described by Richard Walter in 1748. The three voyages ot Captain James Cook (1772-1780) have been described by Cook himself and by others who shared with him the perils and honours of his discoveries. Byron's Discoveries on the Coast of Patagonia, and Vancouver's Voyages and Discoveries are all known. The collection of voyages and travels in seventeen volumes by John Pinkerton (1758-1825), published in 1801, gives a good summaiy of the results of discovery up to his time. Travels of another kind and for a different purpose were un- dertaken by Arthur Young, who made tours through France between 1787 and 1789 to ascertain the resources of the country and to promote by comparison the interests of agriculture in England. He commenced the Farmer's Calendar, to which George in. sometimes contributed, and is the author of a number of treatises on rural economy. Towards the close of the century, an embassy was sent to China, Lord Macartney (1737-1806) being placed at its head, and Sir George Staunton (1737-1801) being appointed secretary of legation. The former published his Journal, and the latter his Authentic Account of the Embassy. Both added greatly to our knowledge of the empire and people of China. BRUCE : BURCKHARDT. 585 James Bruce of Kinnaird (1730-1794) devoted many years to travelling in Abyssinia, with the hope of discovering the source of the Nile. In 1790 he published his Travels, and his narrative is one of great interest. At first it was received with suspicion, but later inquiry has, in substance, confirmed it. Between 1805 and 1 8 10, Henry Salt visited the same district, though without reaching so far as Bruce had gone. In Central Africa, one of the most successful travellers was Mungo Park (1771-1805), whose Travels, written in a manly style and replete with natural feeling, were published in 1799 and in 1815. Attempts were made in 1822 to reach Central Africa from the shores of the Mediterranean by Denham, Clapperton, and Dr. Oudney. They reached Lake Tshad, and in 1826, the two former, the survivors of the expedition, published a narrative of their travels. In 1825, Clapperton again started for Africa, and succeeded in crossing the continent from Tripoli to the Bight of Benin : he died, however, in trying to reach Timbuctoo, and gave up his task to his servant, Kichard Lander. For Lander was reserved the honour of discovering the course of the Niger, down which river he sailed in 1830. The account of his travels was publi^d in three volumes by Murray, who is said to have given a thousand guineas for the copyright. A second expedition was less successful. Lander was wounded by a musket shot on the Niger and died at Fernando Po. The history of this journey was written by two officers of the expedition, Macgregor Laird and Mr. Oldfield. Already other parts of Africa had been visited and described by Mr. Bowdich in his mission to Ashantee ; by the Kev. John Campbell in his South Africa, giving an account of his travels to Lattakoo (1819), and in Burchell's Southern Africa (1822). The works of Bowdich and Campbell have special interest. The discoveries of Livingstone, Krapf, Barth, and Speke, belong to our own day. Somewhat earlier, J. L. Burckhardt (1785-1817) had visited Egypt, and had collected large materials illustrative of the state of that country. His Journal and Letters are of great value, and were published after his death between 1819 and 1830. John B. Belzoni also spent four years in Egypt (1815-1819), where he obtained a large collection of Egyptian antiquities, many of which are now in the British Museum. He published a Narra- *g* PROSE TRAVELS. tive ofhis Operations in 1820, and soon after died On his way to Timbuctoo. One of the most voluminous travellers, as well as one of the most instructive, was Dr. E. D. Clarke (1769-1822), the first Professor of Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge. He visited a large part of Europe and of Western Asia, and published his travels in six volumes. The facts are carefully collected, and the style is clear and polished. For these volumes the author received the sum of 7000?., and they became at once popular. Travels in classical lands received a great impulse in modern times from a work entitled Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece during the Middle of the Fourth Century before the -Chris- tian Era. It was written in French by the Abbe* Barthelemy, and gives, in connexion with fictitious history, a picture of the state of Greece in the days of Pericles, sketched with great skill and beauty. It was translated into English in 1791, and excited an enthusiastic attention to the history and geography of that country. It was followed, after a considerable interval, by Sir John C. Hobhouse's Journey through Albania, by Edward Dod well's Classical Tour through Greece (1819), and by Sir William Gell's Journey to the Morea (1823). The Tour of Dod- well, especially, is an able and voluminous work. For Italy we have the long popular but not very accurate Tour of Eustace, an English Catholic priest who visited that country as tutor; the Letters from the North of Italy, by Stewart Rose addressed to Mr. Hallam ; the Italy of Lady Morgan (1821), a ' faithful ' narrative, as Byron calls it, but wanting in delicacy ; and other works by Beckford, Brockedon, etc. Arctic discovery was promoted by the Rosses, Parry, and Frank- lin ; eastern travel by Rae Wilson, C. James Rich, J. S. Bucking- ham, Dr. Madden, and John Carne ; in Persia by Sir John Malcolm, Sir W. Ouseley ; in Georgia and Babylonia by Sir R. K. Porter ; in the Holy Land by J. L. Stephens ; and in the farther East by Sir Stamford Raffles, J. B. Fraser, Lieut.-Colonel Tod, and Sir Alexander Burnes. The travels and discoveries of our own day are certainly second to none in the last two hundred years. A very convenient summary of information on the actual state of the world may be found in the Modern Traveller of Jceiah Conder. It was published in thirty volumes, between 1824 and PINKERTON, 587 1831, r-nd has been largely popular, as many as ten thousand copies of some of the volumes having been sold. Books on the same subject were published under the same title in the previous century : the collection of Pinkerton is the completest we have for that period. 505. Cyclopaedias are dictionaries not of words, but of things > and include in modern usage, arts and sciences, history, geo- ffidias. S ra phy> biography, antiquities, and general know- ledge. A modern cyclopaedia is a library in epitome, with the single exception of poetry and the literature Of the imagination. The importance of publications of this kind may be gathered from the fact that every principal country of Europe ; except Portugal, has its cyclopaedia ; and that in the Nouveau Manuel de BiHiographie of M. Denis and others, the names of a hundred and eighty-nine cyclopaedias are given as having left the press since ohe invention of printing. The earlier cyclopedias in English literature were dictionaries of arts and sciences only, not of biography or of history The first was Harris' Lexicon TecJmicum; or, a Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, and appeared in one volume folio in 1 704 : among its contributors was ' Mr. Isaac Newton. The first work which bore the name of cyclopaedia was the famous Cyclopaedia; or, Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, by Ephraim Chambers, published in 1728. These two volumes obtained wide circulation, and were imitated and ex- panded about twenty years later in the still more famous Ency- clopedic of Diderot and D'Alembert (1751-1777), which was the first to secure a reputation in France. Chambers' was a dictionary of the arts and sciences only, and it retained that character till it reappeared in the larger and more comprehensive form of Eees' Cyclopaedia hi forty-five volumes. Before any of these works were published, there had appeared in France the dictionaries of Corneille, the brother of the great dramatist, and of Furetieve, or from the place where it was published, of ' Frevoux ;' and these appeared before the close of the seventeenth century, and were long popular, especially the last. They give an account not only of arts and sciences, but of the language. The Encyclopaedia of Diderot added the names of places, though biography was still 588 PROSE CYCLOPAEDIAS. excluded. It also sought not only to supply information but to direct opinion in religious, philosophical, and political matters. In a later edition of the same book, commenced in 1782, pub- lished under the name of the Encyclopedic Methodique much new matter was added. About 1770, Goldsmith wrote the prospectus of a cyclopaedia, which he proposed to edit, and to which articles were promised by Johnson, Burke, and Reynolds ; but the plan was not favoured by the booksellers, and was stopped by Goldsmith's death in 1774- In 1745, M. de Coetlegon published a Universal History of the Arts and Sciences, and in 1754, a similar work was published by a society of gentlemen in nine volumes octavo. In 1771 appeared the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britan- nica, professedly written by a society of gentlemen in Scotland, though the society really consisted of Mr. William Smellie alone. Here, for the first time, all the details of science and art were arranged in alphabetical order a plan of great advantage to the mere learner, though of less advantage to the student. The suc- cess of this encyclopsedia, however, was not complete till in the next edition its character was changed. It was then made a cyclopaedia of biography and history, and indeed of the whole circle of learning and knowledge." In this wider meaning of the word, the cyclopaedia had, as its precursor, the Historical Dictionary of Moreri ; b and earlier still, the encyclopsedia of Alsted in 1620, and the Lexicon Universale of Hoffman in four volumes folio (1677-1683). At Venice there appeared, in 1701, the first volume of a Btb- liotheca Universale to be completed in forty-five folio volumes. In English, the earliest exclusively Biographical Dictionary was commenced by Osborne in 1761. In its third edition it was edited by Alexander Chalmers, whose name has given a title to the whole work. In Germany, Zedler planned a complete Universal Lexicon, which however stopped in 1754, when it reached the sixty-eighth volume. It was soon followed however, by similar works, of which the one published in 1704 under the title of Reale Stoat reitungund Conversations-Lexicon was destined to give a name to * See for a history Quarterly Review, voL 70. * Lyons, 1617. BRITANNICA: ENGLISH. 589 several similar undertakings. It continued to be popular for up- wards of a century, and this Conversations-Lexicon was made the basis of many literary enterprises. Brockhaus' Conversations- Lexicon, so called from the name of its publisher, was first trans- lated into the English language (1829-1832) in the United States by Francis Lieber under the title of Encyclopaedia Americana, and in 1841-1862 it was reprinted at Glasgow, with additional matter, under the name of Popular Cyclopaedia. A translation of the latest edition is now in course of publication in London and Edinburgh under the name of Chambers' Cyclopaedia. Mean- while in America the American Cyclopaedia by Ripley and Dana is the most successful. The Encyclopaedias published in England have been very numerous. Bees' (originally Chambers'} appeared in forty-five volumes, but is generally regarded as too diffuse and common- place. The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia by Brewster, the Encyclo- paedia Perth nsis, Encyclopaedia Edinensis, the Encyclopaedia Londinensit the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana (twenty-nine volumes, 1847), and the British Cyclopaedia (1835-1838) have appeared in succession, and all, with the exception perhaps of the Metropolitana, have taken but a second place. The chief en- cyclopaedias are the Britannica and the Penny, or as it is now called in its later issues, the English Cyclopaedia,. The latter is not a mere reprint of the Penny but is largely original. The biographical portion contains, for example, brief bio- graphies of hundreds of living men, all of whom are excluded from the Penny Cyclopaedia and from the Britannica. The last editions of both contain also very able articles on recent discoveries written by eminent men of our own age. Many articles from all the cyclopeedias have been published separately as distinct treatises. Whately's Logic and Rhetoric for example first appeared in the Metropolitana, where also Richardson's Dictionary of the English Language was first published. The English Cyclopaedia is also divisional, i.e., it is published as four distinct works, the Biographical Dictionary of the English Cyclo- pasdia ; the Geographical Dictionary ; the Dictionary of Natural History, and the Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. The Encyclo- paedia Metropolitana and the British Cyclopaedia of Partington (1835-1838) are both divisional, and this is also the principle of the Encydopedie Methodique, a work in a hundred and sixty-six 590 PROSE -HISTORY. quarto volumes of text and fifty-one volumes of plates. This French Cyclopaedia took just half a century in publishing, being commenced in 1782 and finished in 1832. In magnitude it is the greatest work of its kind yet completed. Akin to this last in size and intitlo is the Encydopedie Theo- logique of the Abbe Migne, in a hundred and fifty-nine volumes issued between 1845 and 1860. It contains commentaries on Scripture, and treatises on theology, all in Latin. The same editor is now engaged in preparing a complete edition of the Greek and Latin Fathers extending to three hundred and thirty volumes, to which it is proposed to add two hundred indices. The Encydopedie Theologigue embraces more than ninety" dis- tinct dictionaries or cyclopaedias, of which some are theological in name only. There are no works in English that can compete in fulness with these volumes of Migne's. One of the earliest Biblical Dictiona- ries is that of Calmet, written originally in French and translated by Colson and D'Oyley (1732). It was published with important additions by Charles Taylor between 1797 and 1801. The bibliographical portion of the work shows an extensive acquaint- ance with Roman Catholic writers, while the references to Protestant writers are few and imperfect. The Biblical Cyclo- paedia of W. Jones was published in 1816 and had a considerable sale. The dictionaries of Kitto, Dr. Win. Smith and Dr. Fair- bairn belong to our own day, and exhibit a great advance in scholarship on their predecessors. 506. The historians of the nineteenth century are generally characterised by great care in their investigation of original records, . memoirs, and Acts of Parliament, and sometimes by the nineteenth their style and philosophic spirit. The first effect of century. ^ig i nves tigation has sometimes been to change old opinions of public men and of important events : but as often it has confirmed them : while in other cases old opinions have been modified to represent more accurately the actual facts. Elizabeth, Cromwell, Henry vin. have all gained or lost by this process ; while both the Reformation and the Revolution have been attacked or defended with like results. The writers who have done most to give this critical or philc- L1NGARD. 591 eophic tone to history are Lingard, Turner, Mackintosh, Hallam, and Macaulay. A like sifting process has been carried on for Eoman history by Niebuhr and Arnold, and for Grecian history by Mure and Grote. 507. Dr. Lingard, a Eoman Catholic priest, published in 1819 three volumes of A History of England, and afterwards added d ^ ve more > Bringing down the narrative to the abdi- cation of James n. His talents were of a high order, and he displayed great diligence in collecting and investigating much new material. There is therefore, a freshness about his narrative not often found in writings of this class. Generally ho discusses controverted facts with candour (except on one subject) and acuteness, and gives the result without prolixity or confusion. His style is not unlike Gibbon's in the earlier volumes, but it becomes m^ :e easy and natural towards the close of his work. It is a deficiency of his history that it gives no comprehensive views of so 'iety and no profound reflections on human character, and for this reason it fails to rank in the highest place. On all political questions he preserves a rigid impartiality, an excellence that contrasts strangely with his bias when speaking of the Eoman Catholic Church. Everywhere indeed he is calm and unimpas- sioned, affecting even indifference ; but he displays nevertheless on this theme a want of candour and fairness which it is im- possible to overlook. His earlier volumes are generally free from defects to justify this charge ; nor is there much of which we can complain till he comes to the reign of the Tudors. Even then he is too skilful, too politic, or too honest to praise his own friends : he neither magnifies the virtues of Gardiner nor excuses the cruelties of Bonner ; but he quietly lowers our estimate of their opponents not by sweeping conclusions but by incidental facts which he records with great simplicity and apparent fairness. He thus seeks to degrade the memory of Cranmer, and to darken the shades of the character of Elizabeth. His work was criticised by Dr. John Allen in the Edinburgh Beview, by the Eev. J. H. Todd in his defence of the character of Cranmer, and by others. In 1826 Lingard vindicated hifl character as a historian, and defended himself with great calmness and skill. But he has certainly gone beyond tho meaning of the authorities he has quoted, and has still more 593 PROSE HISTORY, frequently suppressed a portion of the truth. His work has passed through several editions, and has been introduced as a text-book in the universities of France. Besides the History of England, Dr. Lingard is the author of a learned work on the Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church (1809). He died in 1851, aged eighty- two. 508. Sharon Turner, a London solicitor (1768-1847), is the author of a series of works on English history which have gained S Turner ^ or *" m no meaQ reputation. The first is a History of the Anglo-Saxons (1799), to which he devoted six- teen years of indefatigable diligence. The second is a History of England during the Middle Ayes, extending ultimately to the reign of Elizabeth, the whole series forming twelve volumes. The earlier volumes are the best, but all display a love of truth highly commendable, and give much new interesting information on the laws and manners of the people. The great fault, especially of the later volumes, is in the style. It seems founded upon that of Gibbon, and is both pompous and intricate to a degree that often conceals the sense or excites the smile of the reader. Mr. Turner is also the author of a Sacred History of the World in three volumes, which contain a large amount of varied and in- teresting matter. 509. Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832), claims a place in our literature as historian, metaphysician, politician, and critic. He jj.. . was educated for the medical profession, and had as a fellow-student Robert Hall. In 1788 he came to London and applied himself to law. In 1791 he published his Vindicicp, Gallicce, in reply to Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution. It is a remarkable specimen of historical knowledge and of logical power in a young man of six and twenty, and was received with great applause. Mackintosh confessed however, some years after, that like many other of the enthusiastic spirits of that age, he had been deceived in his hopes, and that the * good time coming' was not yet come. In 1803, after having been called to the bar, he defended M. Peltier, a French refugee, who had been indicted for a libel on Xapoleon, then First Consul. He was soon after appointed Eecorder of Bombay, and after seven years of service returned to England with the usual pension of MACKINTOSH: HALLAM. 503 1200?. a year. He now entered Parliament, and in 1827 was made by his friend Canning a Privy Councillor. As a Parlia- mentary orator, he gained no high position. He was an authority and an able speaker on questions of criminal law and national policy : on both subjects, he contributed to the Edinburgh Review articles of permanent interest. He wrote also three volumes of a comprehensive history of England for Lardner's Cyclopaedia, besides three hundred and fifty pages of the History of the Pievo- lution. The history was continued in Lardner by some writer who differs from Mackintosh even on important points. These volumes of Mackintosh are pervaded by calm and luminous phi- losophy, and they give important and just views of the English constitution, and of the changes through which it has passed j but they are defective in style, and they are generally regarded as falling short of the admitted power of the writer. The work in whicJi he has j .hown most power is his Lissertation on the Pro- gress of Ethuil Philosophy, prefixed to recent editions of the Encyclopaedia, 7ritannica. 510. One of the most learned of our constitutional writers is Henry Hallam (1778-1859). He was the son of the Dean of Wells, and waa educated at Eton and Oxford, being afterwards called to the bar by the Inner Temple. As a Com^ missioner of Audit, he enjoyed at once competency and leisure, and devoted his time to historical and critical study. One of his earliest papers was a genial and candid criticism of Scott's Life of Dryden, published in the Edinburgh Eeview for 1808. His first historical work of importance was A. View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages (1818), being an account of the state of Europe from the fifth to the fifteenth century. In 1827 he pub- lished his Constitutional History of England from the accession of Henry vn. to the death of George n., and in 1837-1838 his Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the fifteenth, six- teenth, and seventeenth centuries. His Constitutional History is the best book on that subject, and his Introduction to the Litera- ture of Europe is unrivalled for the justness of its criticism and the variety of its learning. He preserves in all his writings the judicial character ; and while advocating liberal principles he advocates them with great fairness without prejudice or passion. His style is grave and somewhat cold, but occasionally enriched 2 2Q 59-i PROSE HISTORY. with imagery, grace, and feeling. His son, Arthur H. Hallam who died in 1833, is the subject of Tennyson's In Memoriam, and has left behind some touching fiemains in verse and prose, which were printed in 1834. His other son, H. F. Hallam, was taken away, soon after his call to the bar, in 1850. These bereavements were felt keenly by the father, a man of warm and gentle affections. He himself died in 1859, at the age of eighty-three. 511. Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (1800-1859), is the author of some of the most remarkable productions of our age. He was the grandson of the parish minister of Uist, 7> and afterwards of Cardross. Lord Macaulay's father, Zachary, had been sent to Jamaica, where he was soon disgusted with the state of slavery which he found in that island, and on his return to England he became an active supporter of the plans of Clarkson and "Wilberforce for the suppression of the slave trade. He married the daughter of a Bristol bookseller, and called his third son Thomas Babington, after the uncle in whose house at Rothley near Leicester the boy was born. Young Macaulay was educated at Cambridge, where he took high honours. He soon gained celebrity by his contributions to the Etonian and to Knight's Quarterly Magazine, and in 1825 wrote an able article for the Edinburgh on Milton an article that bears marks of a youthful taste, but no less certainly of that genius which has made its author the most brilliant contributor to our critical literature. In 1826 he was called to the bar, and in 1830 he entered parliament. An appointment as legal adviser of the Supreme Council of Calcutta took him to India, where he was placed at the head of the commission for the reform of Indian law. The study of Indian history, to which that appointment led, produced the Essays on Lord Clive (1840) and on Warren Hastings (1841). In 1839, having returned to England, he was elected member for Edinburgh, and filled in succession the offices of Secretary at "War and Paymaster of the Forces. His personal independence of character and some unpopular votes displeased some of his constituents, and he was rejected; but in 1852 he again became the representative of the Scottish metropolis with- out canvass or solicitation. In 1856 his failing health compelled him to leave parliament, and in the following year he was raised MACAULAY. 595 to the peerage as Baron Macaulay of JRothley Temple. In 1859 he died full of honours, if not of years, and was buried in West- minster Abbey. In 1843 Macaulay published a selection of Critical and Histo- rical Essays contributed to the Edinburgh fieview, which are unrivalled among productions of this class. He excelled in all departments of criticism, especially in general literature, history, politics, and philosophy. His papers on Lord Bacon written, it is said, on his voyage to India on Horace Walpole, on Boswell's Johnson, on Addison, Byron, etc., have great literary value. His reviews of Hallam's Constitutional History, of Kanke's Popes, his sketches of Sir Robert Walpole, Chatham, Sir William Temple, Olive, and Hastings, form a series of brilliant historical pictures ; while his recent contributions to the biogra- phical portion of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in the lives of Atterbury, Bunyan, Goldsmith, Johnson, and the second William P.U, exhibit his powers in other and various depart- ments. His finest and most characteristic work is his History of Eng- land from the accession of James n., which he intended to bring down to a period within the memory of living men. The five volumes (1848-1861), the last being posthumous, give the history of little more than fifteen years, leaving nearly the whole of the eighteenth century untouched. The work is therefore in one sense only a fragment. Its success, however, was most extra- ordinary. Eleven large editions of the first volume had been called for before the second appeared, and all have been read either with intense anxiety or with intense admiration. Evidence of the careful examination of facts and documents, great logical clearness and strong sense, skill in analysing character and motives, and occasionally profound truth are manifest throughout. But the marvel of the volumes is the style, and the genius with which facts and events are grouped and described. Never was there such a combination of the good qualities of a history, sound morality, vivid fancy, rhetorical brilliance, fulness of detail, with distinctness and unity of impression. Sometimes, as may be supposed, the details are not minutely accurate ; sometimes the colours are too strong, the figures even distorted, and whole classes caricatured. Penn has been charged with some one else's faults : Maiiborough has a right to complain that the shades in 2 Q 2 598 PROSE HISTORY. his portrait are deepened into blackness: there are scenes and manners of social life not more faithfully copied than some of the sketches of modern caricaturists. These facts, moreover, are signs of likes and dislikes of a party spirit which the student sometimes fears may have coloured other pictures. The thoughtful reader may wish not seldom for something less passionate and more judicial ; but it is nevertheless a marvellous work, and is fitly described ' as one of the glories of our country and literature.' 512. Other modem treatises on history must be summarised very briefly. Hume's England is criticised and its errors are exposed by Brodie in his History of the British Empire from the accession of Charles the First to the Restoration (1822); and "" the heroes of the Civil War find a warm admirer in William Godwin, whose History of the Commonwealth, published between 1824 and 1828, contains a good deal of strong writing, though his verbose declamation is often wearying. To Sir F. Palgrave we owe a History of the Anglo-Saxons (1831), a History of the English Commonwealth (1832), i.e. (as he uses that term) of the English community ; and the History of Normandy and of England (1851-1857) ; all his works showing careful research. To the family of the Tytlers we owe several histories. The representative of the family three generations ago was, as we have seen, * Revered Defender ' of Mary Queen of Scots, as Burns calls him. His son, Lord Woodhouselee, the Scottish judge, wrote a popular Universal History in four volumes ; and his son, Patrick F. Ty tier, is the author of a History of Scotland, built up, *s he tells us, 'upon unquestionable muniments.' William Coxe, Archdeacon of Wells (1747-1828), is the author of a good History of the House of Austria (1807), and of memoirs of Sir Robert and Lord Walpole, as well as of Marl- borough. Southey has given us the hiuory of Brazil in three volumes (1810), and the History of the Peninsular TFar(i823-i828), both written in easy idiomatic English ; but the history of that war is that written by Colonel Napier, and published in six volumes (1828-1840). It is a model of vivid and clear narrative. SOUTHEY : SMYTH : ARNOLD 597 To William Smyth (1764-1849), Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, we owe Lectures on Modern History, written with great conscientiousness ; and to his successor, Sir James Stephen, so long known as Under-Colonial Secretary, we owe Lectures on the History of France (1851), and various eloquent critical and historical contributions to the Edinburgh Eeview, some of which have been republished under the title of Essays on Ecclesiastical Biography (18 5 3). To John Dunlop (d. 1842) we owe a History of Eoman Litera* ture, a History of Fiction in three volumes, (1814) and a History of Spain from 1621 to 1700, all works of considerable merit, especially his History of Fiction. William Cpoke Taylor is known as author of a large number of popular histories of France (1830), of British India (1842), besides M^.aals of Ancient History (1838), and Modern (1838). To t 1 a American historian, W. H. Prescott, the equal of Robertson in narration, and his superior in research, we owe the History of Ferdinand and Isabella (1837), the History of Philip the Second (1855-1858), the Conquest of Mexico (1843), the Conquest of Peru (1847), and other historical works. William Prescott is one of the most successful writers of this century ; and it is said that his works have yielded between 4000?. and 5000?. a year. Thomas Arnold (1795-1842), the well-known Master of Rugby, for a year Professor of Modern History at Oxford, and one of the most vigorous men of our age, is the author of the History of Rome to the end of the second Punic War. Arnold was a dis- ciple of Niebuhr (1776-1831), who first sought to eliminate from the political chronicles of Rome the true history of the origin of that state. Arnold's Lectures on Modern History were published in 1843 after his death. He shares with Mackintosh and Grote the honour of illustrating ancient history by ' modern instances,' sometimes based on resemblance, oftener on contrast. Meri- vale's History of Rome under the Empire was intended to com- plete the history which Arnold's death left unfinished. Nie- buhr's ballad-theory Sir G. C. Lewis has criticised at length in his Inquiry into the Credibility of early Roman History (1855). He denies that we have any materials for ascertaining the primi- tive history of the nations of Italy, but his scepticism in this respect is generally regarded as excessive. The History of the Literature of Ancient Greece, commenced 598 PROSE HISTORY. by Muller, and continued after his death by Dr. Donaldson, appeared in 1838, and was completed in 1858. It is a valued narrative of Greek writers and of the progress of the schools of Greek philosophy. 3STor must Mare's Critical History of the Language and Literature of Greece be omitted. It was pub- lished in 1840-1843 in four volumes, to which a fifth has since been added. Grote's History of Greece extends to twelve volumes, and must have occupied, in writing, a large portion of thirty years. It begins with the earliest legendary history and closes with the age of Alexander. No other writer has so fully realised for him- self and for his readers the actual history of the ancient Greek people, their manners and life. All these investigations and discussions have modified our school histories. It is enough to mention the names of Keightley, Milner, Liddell, Schmitz, and Dr. William Smith, as diligent and successful labourers in this field. Contributions to history have been made by a large number of living authors; among others by Alison, Burton, Carlyle, Chambers, Froude, Massey, Earl Stanhope, and Miss Strickland. 513. History is, in part, the record of human actions and of human character : it is, in part, the record of God's dealings with men. There is no subject, therefore, that more re- L uires an intelligent Christian expositor ; yet few histories have been written on avowedly Christian principles. Perhaps, if the principles are not decidedly anti- Christian, there is advantage in this arrangement ; but it makes it the more important that the reader should himself keep a watchful eye on the lessons that are passing before him, and learn to see a Providence God's hand in history as in the cosmical arrangements of the universe he learns to see God's hand in nature. 599 CHAPTER VII, THE NOVEL. e Poetry must be true, natural, and affecting ; nay, in its most artificial array, that of pure fiction, it must be the fiction that represents truth.' MONTGOMERY'S LECTURES. 5 14. Prose Fiction : its late origin in English Literature. Its place how supplied. Early Romances, Plays, Essays. Sidney, Barclay, Hall, Godwin, Hovvell. First Novel, Robinson Crusoe. Bunyan. 515. De Foe, lite, character and success of his works. Moral teaching. 516. Rapid increase of novel reading : its cause. Essayists. 517. Richardson's life and novels: their character. 518. Fielding's life and novels: their character. 5:9. Smollett's life and novels: their character. 5 20. Sterne : his character and life. Novels : their influence. 521. Other Novelists, imitators of these: their character and moral in- fluence. 522. Modern Novels classified: 523. (a) Romances. Satirical, Comic, Humorous: Swift, Irving, Dickens. 524. Serious and Terrific; Peter Wilkins, Castle of Otranto, Old English Baron, Miss Reeves. 525. Mrs. Radcliffe, her influence. Walpole. 526. Beckford. 527. Lewis. 528. Godwin, St. Leon. 529. Mrs. Shelley, Frankenstein. 530. Scott's Monastery. Ingoldsby Legends. Croker. Mrs. Crowe. Objections to this class of Novels. 531. (6) Artistic Novels. Classified according to the power or emotion they excite the country they describe, Scotch, English, Irish, American, Continental the rank they describe, high-life, middle-life, low-life. Specimens of each class. 532. (c) Didactic Novels. 533. Po/tflca? Holcroft, Godwin, Martineau, Kingsley, Disraeli. 534. IforafRasselas, Moore's Zeluco. 535. Miss Edgeworth. 536. Mrs. More, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Brunton. 537. Recent Writers: Mrs. Hall, Miss Mulock, Miss Yonge, Miss Sewell, Warren, Mrs. Stowe. 538. Estimate of their moral teaching. The remedy of their deficiencies. 539- (<*) Historical Novels: Miss Lee. Scott: his novels classified. 540. Other Writers : Collins, Bulwer Lytton, Kingsley, Grattan, James, Porter, Thackeray, etc. 541. (e) Novels of Adventure : Hope Anastatius, Morier, Fraser, Hamilton, Marryatt, Mayne Reid, etc. 542. (/) Sensational Novels: their evils. 543. Number of Novels, 544. Estimate of their moral influence. 600 PROSE NOVELS. 514. PROSE fiction is a comparatively recent product of English literature. As a delineator of manners, its place was previously supplied by such sketches as may be found in the : Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, or in the Its place how visions of Piers Ploughman ; by the plays of Shake- speare, Jonson, and the dramatists of the Restoration* and later by the periodical papers of Addison, Steele, and the other so-called essayists. For the education of the fancy the people depended on the old metrical romances which abounded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,* and on translations. Among these last may be mentioned the knight-errantry romances of the sixteenth century, the novellettes of Boccaccio, and such French imitations of both as The Palmerin in England (Lyons, En lish trans- * 555 ' trans ^ ate( ^ in 1581), The Amodis de Gaul (said lationsofeariyto be by De Herberay ; translated in 1592), the novels. Eistoire des Amans Fortune's (1558), ascribed to Margaret, Queen of Navarre ; and last, though not least, the humorous writings of Rabelais. Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France were the sources whence these translations were taken. Nor have we in our older literature any original romance worthy of notice except the Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney (1590). The Argenis of Barclay (Rome, 1622) was written in Lathi, and is really a political allegory. The Mundus alter et idem of Joseph Hall, bishop and poet, is an imitation of the later and feebler volumes of Rabelais, and is a satire based on the supposed history of a Terra Australis. The Man in tJie Moon, a publication of Francis Godwin's (written about 1600 and published in 1638), contains some remarkably happy conjectures of modern discovery in natural philosophy, and See specimens in Warton's History part of the work, all indeed after the of English Poetry; and in the collec- first volume, as the production of an lions of Sir Egerton Brydges and Sir Englishman, The volumes proless to H. Ellis. Mallorye's Romance, La, Marie t>e written by an agent of the Porte who (T Arthur, was first printed by Caxton remained at Paris in disguise from 1635 (1485), and is a translation from several to 1682. They consist of letters which French romances. The Seven Champions give the history of the times. These of Christendom, by Johnson, is another, letters suggested the Persian Letters of and is a compilation from several works. Montesquieu and the Jewish Letters of The Turkish Spy, the second volume of Argens, probably also the Chinese which was published in England in Letters of Goldsmith, and in our own 1691, professes to be a translation from day the Letters fr ^ ut ^^ ^ not ^ e ^ on g to ^ e nrsfc c ^ ass f success of his prose fictions. He was defective, as Scott has re- marked, in pathos, in passion, in delicacy of percep- tion, and in delineation of character. His excellence is in the invention and relation of incidents. In the latter he uses a style of great purity, simplicity, and vigour ; in the former he displays such an air of truth, while the events themselves are so natural, that it is difficult not to believe them real. His skill, indeed in feigning realitythe quality to which Dunlop* ascribes most of Eittory tf Fiction. 602 PROS& NOVELS. his success is absolutely startling, and lias deceived the most intelligent. Dr. Mead, the famous physician, appealed, for medical purposes, to the Journal of the Great Plague, and Lord Chatham recommended the Memoirs of a Cavalier as the most authentic account of the civil wars. His True Relation of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal, prefixed to Drelincourt On Death, not only sold an otherwise unsaleable book, but excited extensive inquiries into the alleged facts. So successfully did he ' forge the handwriting of nature,' as it has been called, that his banter was sometimes mistaken for serious argument. For writing The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, a work wherein he, himself a Dissenter, ironically recommends the stake and the gallows, he was put in the pillory. Other satirical writings were pronounced libellous, and some of all parties, both of those he attacked and those he really defended, joined in speaking of his punishment as richly deserved. The moral teaching of De Foe in his novels is generally unex- ceptionable. The distinction between virtue and vice is carefully marked. But from taste or circumstances, he pre- ferred low life - The best drawn characters of his works are pirates and thieves, while the study of them is unrelieved by those touches of nature or by that pro- founder insight into men's motives which render other works of fiction, though liable to the same objection, both instructive and salutary. His Robinson Crusoe and his History of the Great Plague are exceptions to this criticism. The former, it is well known, has done much to man our navy, and has certainly fostered the shiftiness and practical skill for which Englishmen are often remarkable. 516. The success of De Foe called attention to this kind of literature, and the state of society in England at the beginning of the eighteenth century favoured the cultivation of it, Internal peace and the large increase of national writing.- wealth multiplied the number of those who read rather for amusement than for instruction. The stage had lost its attractions partly through the attack of Jeremy Collier and others, and partly through the low morality and de- fective genius of the dramatists of the Eestoration. The popular want in this respect was met for a time by the periodical miscel- PJCHAKDSON. 603 lanists. Steele with his Tatler (April 2, 1709, to January 2, 1711), Addison with his Spectator (1711-12, and ^i* 1 in I 7 I 4), the writers of the Guardian and the Freeholder, delighted all classes, 'adjusted the un- settled practice of daily intercourse with propriety and politeness, and exhibited the character and the manners of the age.'* But when they had written themselves out and their style had become wearisome, or the public taste required a stronger stimu- lant, the experience of De Foe suggested a new provision for this intellectual appetite of the times, and Eichardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne, proceeded at once to supply it. 517. Richardson, a Derbyshire man, was the son of a joiner, and was himself brought up as a printer. He had an extensive business in London, and was successively printer tc Santera. tlie House of Commons, master of the Stationers' Company (1754), an( i king's printer (1760). When about fifty years of age, he wrote his first novel (1741). Urged by some London booksellers to prepare a collection of familiar letters, it occurred to him that these letters would be more read- able if connected with a regular narrative. This thought was acted upon, and in three months, Pamela, the ' true story ' JtilS nOVelS. .- .. -IT-IT -i -i of a simple country girl, was published with such success, that five editions were exhausted in a single year. The book became the rage of the town. Pope praised it as likely to do more good than twenty sermons, and even Dr. Sherlock re- commended it from the pulpit. In 1749 appeared his second and best work the History of Clarissa Harlowe; and, in 1753, the novel in which he represents his model of ' a Christian and a gentleman,' Sir Charles Orandison. Richardson died in 1761, at the age of seventy-two, leaving behind him a high character for benevolence, gentleness, and vanity. Modern taste finds it difficult to read an eight-volumed novel. Even Lord Byron, who was fond of sensational reading, could not finish Clarissa. The epistolary style which ' Richardson adopts, and the large number of minute details with which his works abound are all against them. It must be admitted also, as Coleridge remarks, that the sensibility of his characters is excessive, and the pathos often overpowering Johnson. 604 PROSE NOVELS. qualities which Johnson, who loved strong moral painting, warmly commended. The reader, moreover, grows weary in being introduced only to great people, and cannot forget that it is in Richardson's back shop they are all created. Still Eichardson has great excellences. His writings are full of pictures of the heart ' He makes the passions move at the command of virtue.' His characters are firmly and yet delicately drawn. The story is always naturally evolved ; and, as Scott puts it, ' had we been acquainted with the huge folios of inanity over which our an- cestors yawned, we should have understood the delight they must have experienced from this unexpected return to truth and nature.' 518. Eichardson is the originator of the novel of high life; nearly all his characters being taken from the ' upper ten thou- . sand.' Henry Fielding, the novelist of the middle classes of society, sprang from a branch of the noble house of Denbigh. His father was a general in the army, and his mother the daughter of a judge. He was born in Shropshire in 1707. After an irregular course as law-student and dramatic author, he published his Joseph Andrews in 1742 ; in 1749, Tom Jones; and in 1751, his last novel, Amelia. He died at Lisbon in 1754, having paid a heavy penalty for the follies and excesses of his youth. In the later years of his life he gained both notoriety and experience as an active justice of the peace. To ridicule Eichardson's Pamela, Fielding made the hero of Joseph Andrews a brother of that lady, and Pamela herself he placed, more than once, in a somewhat discreditable position. This liberty Eichardson never forgave. The Parson Adams of Joseph Andrews is one of Fielding's happiest characters. His Tom Jones has been pronounced by Macaulay and other critics the best English novel : and Amelia, whose character was sketched from Fielding's own wife, was the admiration of Dr. Johnson, who is said to have read the novel through at a single sitting. By Byron, Fielding is called ' the prose Homer of human nature ;' ' nor has the world seen,' says Beattie, * since Homer's days, a more artful epic fable.' Other writers have shown richer invention, profound er feeling, nobler virtue; but for humour, satire, freshness, vigour art in the FIELDING : SMOLLETT. 605 arrangements of incidents, and skill in the exhibitkn of genuine human nature without romance, the whcle pcr- Their character. -, -, , , /* r i -i i vaded by a large miusion of wit and wisdom, the fruit of genius and experience, Fielding stands in this depart- ment unrivalled. Such was long the popular estimate, though it may be questioned whether modern taste confirms it. And even his best novels cannot be read aloud in any family circle ; they contain so many passages of needless and offensive coarse- ness. 519. Between the publication of Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, a third novelist appeared, very different from Kichardson and Fielding, and yet, like both, professedly appealing in a11 nis writm S s to nature and truth. Smollett was bom in 1721, near Eenton in Dumbartonshire, and was brought up as a medical practitioner. He entered the navy as a surgeon's mate^ was with the fleet which sailed against tJarthagena, and has given the history of that expedition with great force in Roderick Random. Ultimately he abandoned his profession, and, taking a residence at Chelsea, gave himself to literature. In 1748 he published Roderick Random, in 1751 Peregrine Pickle, in 1753 Ferdinand Count Fathom, in 1755 his translation of Don Quixote, and in 1771 his last novel, Humphrey Clinker. To these may be added his history of England, written it is said in fourteen months ; and an account of his travels on the Continent, in which, amid some gleams of humour and genius, are many prejudices ridiculed by Sterne in his Sentimental Journey. Like Fielding, Smollett died abroad, at Leghorn, in the fifty- first year of his age. The charm of Smollett's writings consists not in their plots nor yet in well-sustained character, but in their broad humour and comic incidents. Tom Bowling in Roderick racter. Cha " Random, and Commodore Trunnion in Peregrine Pickle, are characters indeed well sustained, and are drawn in his happiest manner, but these are exceptions. Count Fathom is the portrait of a complete villain, and is neither instructive nor interesting, though the character of Celinda is touchingly sketched. Humphrey Clinker, his last production, abounds in grave, caustic, humorous observations, and is pervaded by a tone of manly and kindly feeling. Every now and then, 608 PROSE NOVELS. moreover, he evinces a grace and pathos which Fielding never possessed. On the other hand, many of his heroes are conspicu- ous for libertinism and selfishness. His novels generally are dis- figured by a large number of coarse and licentious passages, and occasionally, as in Memoirs of a Lady of Quality, a chapter in- serted in Peregrine Piclde, in consideration of a sum of money paid to the author, the coarseness is doubly discreditable. Richardson had a moral purpose in view, and that purpose is some excuse for what in his works is of questionable tendency. But Fielding and Smollett had no such purpose. They sought merely * to hold the mirror up to nature/ to show the age its likeness without flattery or disguise, and apparently without any concern to improve it. It may be added that Smollett copied Le Sage, with English tastes, and has himself had many copiers. 520. Laurence Sterne is a singular example of contradictions in the literary character. A clergyman bound to teach trutk Sterne his an ^ moran ty> he was dissolute and licentious ; a sen- character and timentalist, often shedding tears and drawing tears, he novels. wag hardhearted an d selfish in conduct ; an original writer, strongly condemning literary dishonesty, he was him- self eminently dishonest, and stole thoughts and illustrations by scores from Burton, and Hall, and Donne. He was born at Clonmel in 1713, was educated at Cambridge, was rector of Sutton and Stillington, in Yorkshire, and Prebend of York. To publish Tristram Shandy, he came to London. Two volumes appeared in 1759, two more in 1761, and two more in 1762. He then took a tour in France, and in 1765 went to Italy. To the former journey we owe some touching sketches in the later volumes (1765-1767) of Tristram Shandy, and among them the sketch of the poor ass with heavy panniers at Lyons ; and to the latter we owe the Sentimental Journey. Like Archbishop Leighton he had wished to die at an inn, and in 1768, on returning to London to publish his last work, he passed away in lodgings in Bond street, with no one but a hired nurse by his bed. He was then at the height of his fame, admired as an eccentric writer and as the wittiest of boon companions. Sterne's influence on the literature of his age was considerable ; and he has had one learned imitator in our own Southey's Doctor exhibiting much of the quaintness, humour, and learning THE MINERVA PRESS. 607 by which Sterne was distinguished. It must be admitted, too ; ThPir charac- ^ ]at Brother Shandy, my Uncle Toby, the Widow ter and in- Wadman, and Dr. Slop will retain their place in the popular memory as long as the kindred creations of Cervantes. But other parts of his works are no longer read. They have no interest of plot or of incident : and though the humour of his characters stirs the heart to tears as well as to laughter, and his pages contain gems of fancy, judgment and feeling, there is an air of false glitter and of positive dirtiness a want of sim- plicity and of decency that disgusts and repels his readers. The character and life of the man are well drawn by Thackeray in his English Humourists. 521. These masters of the modern English novel had many imitators. The stirring adventures of De Foe, the pathos and Other novel! P ass i n f Richardson, the humour and coarseness ot The imitators 'Fielding and Smollett, the sentimentalism of Sterne, of these. t ^ e roman ti c marvels and biting satire of Swift, not yet noticed, were all copied and { travestied ' by inferior writers. Their extrava- ^ Q cn ' cu ^ at ' m o libraries swarmed with their produc- gance and im- tions, known from the place of their publication, by morality. the title of < M iuerva p ress Novels. Their charac- ter may be gathered from the estimate of Macaulay. ' The very name of novel was held in horror by religious people. In decent families, which did not profess extraordinary sanctity, there was a strong feeling against all such works. Sir Anthony Absolute speaking at the beginning of the last quarter of the century spoke the sense of the great body of sober fathers and husbands, when he pronounced the circulating library an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge. This feeling on the part of the grave and reflecting increased the evil from which it had sprung. The novelist having little character to lose, and having few readers among serious people, took without scruple liberties which in our generation seem almost incredible.'* * Most of their novels,' he adds, ' were such as no lady would have written, and many of them such as no lady could without confusion own that she had read.' This abuse was followed by a reaction. Novels became natural without being immoral or indelicate, then moral ; by-and-byc, Edinburgh Review, July, 1843, Madame d'Arbky. 608 PROSE-NOVELS. as the French revolution stirred society to its depths, political, and lastly, in the hands of the great master of modern times Walter Scott, historical. All these were im- provements on the preceding and popular types ; especially the first and the last. The moral and the political novel were less trustworthy, being as often teachers of error as of truth. 522. And now that we have reached the age of prose fiction which numbers its works by thousands of volumes, it seems desirable to ckssify the whole. Only let it be re- membered that every principle of classification is liable to exceptions, and that many fictions might be placed under two or more classes. Carefully note, first of all, what a prose fiction is. It is not simply a tale, a work of imagination. It is a tale with a plan a story with more or less loftiness of style, and ful- Dess ^ Detail, an d- connectedness of action. It is in short a fictitious history, and is to prose what the epic poem is to poetry. Such prose epics may be divided into five classes. If the interest of the narrative turns on supernatural or very marvellous incidents, the story is called a romance* It is to the re S u l ar novel wtat tlie faole is to the parable, a story in the form of history, but with incidents which are from the nature of the case impossible. If the agency is natural, and the chief purpose of the writer is to exhibit character, humour, passion, sentiment, as they are found acting in common life, and he appeals throughout to the imagination or to the feelings, then the fiction is a common novel, artistic or (Esthetic. If the story aims at teaching some moral or political lesson, it is didactic or moral. If it brings up and recreates historical characters and incidents, it is historical. If the fiction is simply a succession of adventures with unity and completeness of plan, it may be called the novel of adventure. To this five-fold division it is intended to adhere. 523. Romantic fiction is largely illustrated in the TJiousand * This distinction is recognized by the Drama) and by other writers, and Scott (Essay on Chivalry, Romany and is in accordance with modern usage. SWIFT: IRVING. 609 and One Nights of Eastern story, but these are beyond our / a -j province. In England it first appeared in the Romances. humorous and satirical style ; the Travels of Lemuel ccT' Gulliver (1726), by Swift, being one of the earliest humorous. specimens. The first sketch of this work is found in Martinus ScriUerus, the joint production of Pope, Swift, and Arbuthnot. But Swift soon took it into his own hands, and it excited the curiosity and interest of all classes. The politicians recognised in the history of Gulliver many satirical allusions to Walpole, Bolingbroke, and the two great contending parties in the state ; while common readers were fascinated by the wonders of the tale. As the story proceeds, the personal satire with which it begins grows into contempt of mankind at large. In the voyage to Brobdingnag and Lilliput the history is largely comic ; and in the voyage to the Houyhnhms, the writer can depict his fellows only under the degrading form of the Yahoos. This work, and the Tale of a Tub which aims at ridiculing the Roman Catholics and Presbyterians, and exalting the Luther- ans (' Martin ') and the English high church party, are the most remarkable writings of its author. Hallam* thinks this last his masterpiece for energetic, idiomatic style, for biting satire, for felicitous analogy. Others give this honour to Gulliver. It is admitted on all hands that while in both, something is borrowed from the True History of Lucian, and the Voyages of Pantagruel of Kabelais, they are among the most original of his works. Gulliver is certainly in style the purest and the most carefully finished of them all. Swift's images and language are sometimes gross and disgusting, betraying a callousness of feeling not honourable to his personal character ; but these qualities are so displayed as to be nearly always offensive. The reader is not attracted by them but repelled. " Later specimens of the satirical, comic, or humorous romance are not numerous. D'Israeli adopted this style in the voyage of Captain Popanilla (1828), satirizing therein the man- ners ^ our own a e< I rvm o nas use ^ it to some ex- tent in Knickerbocker's History of New York (1809), and in some of the stories of the Sketch Book (1820) : his tale of Rip Van Winkle and the Sleepy Hollow are remarkable for their History of Literature, in. 573. 2 2 R 610 PROSE-NOVELS, delicacy and beauty. Nor less attractive, though hardly belonging to the humorous romance, are some of the Legends of the Con- quest of Granada and of the Alhambra by the same author. In the Chimes (1844), the Cricket on the Hearth (1845), the Battle of Life (1846), the Haunted Man (1848), all by Charles Dickens, the same kind of machinery is used to promote kindly feeling among different classes of the community. They are all redolent of tenderness and humour. 524. For the most part, however, the romantic novel is serious and often terrible. One of the earliest specimens is The Life and Romances Adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornish man y written geriousand between 1729 and 1750. The author was long un- known, but in 1835 the sale of Dodsley's papers re- vealed his name, and he was found to be Robert Pultoch of Clement's Inn. The story is modelled on Robinson C rusoe > an( ^ exhibits in the hero the same fortitude, patience, and ingenuity, with a depth and purity of religious feeling then rare in works of fiction. The super- natural element consists of a race of flying women, among whom the shipwrecked hero finds a home. The idea was probably taken from Bishop Wilkins' Discovery of the New World, and it suggested to Southey the race of the Glendoveers, the winged celestial agents in the Curse of Kehama. The style of Peter Wilkins is a good imitation of De Foe, but much of the story is uninteresting and tedious. The true type of the class, however, may be best seen and studied in the Castle of Otranto (1764), by Horace Walpole ; in the Old English Baron (1777), by Miss Reeves ; in the Romance of the Forest (1791) and the Mysteries of Udolpho of Mrs. Rad- cliffe ; in the Vathek(i"j^^)of Beckford; in the Monk (1795) and the Bravo of Venice, by M. G. Lewis; in the St. Leon (1799) of William Godwin ; and later, in the Frankenstein (1817) of his daughter Mrs. Shelley. The Castle of Otranto was intended by its author as a revival of the old Gothic romance, and as a satire on novels of that class. It professes to have been taken from the library of an J?to. f ancient Catholic family in the north of England, and to be printed at Naples in 1529. With the antique, mysterious and romantic style, the modern is blended. Amid REEVES: KADCLIFFE. 611 pictures that walk out of their frames, skeletons and ghosts, we find delicate modern dialogue and chivalrous manners. Horace Walpole, the author, was the third son of the minister Sir Robert Walpole. He was born in 1717, became Earl of Orford in 1791, and died in 1797. He is now best known by his History of Painting, and especially by his Letters. Along with the romance of Walpole is generally found the Gothic story, the Old English Baron, of Miss Eeeves (1725- 1803). Her machinery is more mysterious and more effective than that of her model, but her style is less pointed and elegant She wrote several other novels, ' all marked,' says Scott, * by excellent good sense, pure morality, and a competent command of those qualities which constitute a good romance.' 525. For sensational purposes, however, Miss Eeeves is very inferior to Mrs. Radcliffe ; the poetess, as she has been called, of Mrs Radcliffe romance "fi ct i n > tne * Salvator Rosa ' of the English ' novelists. Dark mountains, fierce storms, wild ban- ditti, ruined castles, strong passions of love and hate, shadows from the invisible world these are the materials of her stories, and they are so used as to create scenes which thrill and haunt the imagination. The most popular of her performances is the Mys- teries of Udolpho, and both it and her earlier work the Romance of the Forest exhibit her powers in their full maturity. In her last work, The Italian (1797), the inquisition, the confessional, the monk, and the rack, are the agents of the plot, and are as impressive and appalling as the supernatural machinery of her earlier productions. She was born in London in 1764, and died in 1823. Of this style of romance, the popularity of Mrs. Radcliffe's writings has made her well nigh the founder, as she is certainly the representative, in the popular mind. It touches Her influence. ..... , ,. .. c , .. the imagination, and for a time powerfully affects it. But it is entirely without moral interest, nor is there any- thing natural or truthful in the characters or dialogues of her novels. On the other hand, her painting of natural scenery is remarkably accurate. Though she had never visited Italy or Switzerland, she has described both with equal truth and beauty, 2 R 2 612 PROSE NOVELS. 526. The VatheTc of Beckford, written, as he tells us, in three daj T s and two nights, when he was but twenty-two years of age, is an Eastern tale. The hero is the grandson of the Caliph Haroun al Easchid (' Aaron the Just '), and is for pride, cruelty, and magnificence, the Eastern Henry vin. He studied the occult sciences, and became, with his mother, the prey of a GHaour a supernatural personage who plays an impor- tant part in the drama, and leads Vathek to destruction. Tho minute painting of Eastern scenery and manners, the description of the hall of Eblis, which has often been compared with the ' happy valley ' of Easselas, the humour and satire, the spirit of mockery and derision, pervading the whole are all remarkable. The volume was a favourite with Byron, and probably suggested more than one of his characters. Beckford, the author, was born in 1759, an ^ when he came of age, inherited a fortune of a million sterling, with large property besides. After spending nearly 300,000?. on his residence at Fonthill, where he lived in Oriental luxury and vice, he sold the estate, dispersed the collection of objects of art and vertfl he had gathered, witnessed the ruin of the building through the fall of a great tower, and died at Bath in 1844. * Of all the glories and prodigalities of this English Sardanapaltis, this splendid romance, the work of three days, is the only durable memorial.' 527. Among Mrs. Radcliffe's most faithful imitators was ' Mat. Lewis,' whose romance of The Monk appeared in 1796. He had then, as he tells us in the rhyming preface, scarcely by Lew k ' seen k* s twentieth year, and his production bears all the marks of youth ' except modesty.'* The hero is Ambrosio, Abbot of the Capuchins at Madrid. He is of great repute for sanctity, and thinks himself superior to all temptation. His passions and fall form the subject of the story. He is tempted by an evil spirit in the form of a beautiful woman, and is at last carried off by Satan himself. It is, on the whole, one of the boldest hobgoblin stories of any age, and is disfigured, espe- cially in the original edition, by passages that should never have Its character ^ >een P eime< *' Meed, he was threatened with a pro- secution on account of some of the scenes the volume contained, and escaped only by promising to recast those parts of Chambers' Enc-ylopadia of English Literature. LEWIS: GODWIN: SHELLEY. 613 his work in later editions. Through life he continued to write in the same strain, sometimes in verse, sometimes in the form of a drama, sometimes in tales. His Tales of Terror, his Tales of Wonder, his Romantic Tales, and, numerous plays all bespeak the same parentage as The Monk, and none of them show signs of any nobler origin. The father of M. G-. Lewis was deputy-secretary of the war- office, and owner of large West Indian property. To this the son succeeded, and in 1815 he visited Jamaica. Of this voyage he wrote a narrative, which forms the most interesting production of his pen. The wrong done to his slaves by a tyrannical overseer induced him to visit Jamaica a second time, and he died on his voyage home, in 1818, of sea-sickness, a martyr, it may be fairly said, to humanity and justice. 528. "William Godwin, the son of a pious Nonconformist minister, and himself educated at Hoxton for the ministry, is known chiefly as a political writer ; but for one of Godwin"' b7 ^is works he claims a place on this list. In 1799 appeared St. Leon, a story of * the miraculous kind,' as he himself tells us. The hero attains the possession of the philosopher's stone, and by means of it secures exhaustless wealth. He at the same time learns the secret of * the elixir of life,' by which he has the power of reviving his youth. The volume has several attractions, among which, the first place is due to the pathos and descriptive power of the author. Nor is a moral wanting : exhaustless wealth and perpetual youth are in themselves no blessing ; on the hero they entail misery on his family, ruin. 529. While Byron and the Shelley s were residing on the banks of the Lake Leman, they agreed, during a week of rain, after amusing themselves by reading German ghost stories, * wr i te something in imitation of them. Byron began his Vampire* and Mrs. Shelley the romance of Frankenstein, * one of those original conceptions that take hold of the public mind at once and for ever.' The work was pub- lished in 1817, and was immediately recognised as worthy of a Moore's Ufe of Byron. 614 PROSE NOVELS. Godwin's daughter and Shelley's wife, showing, in fact, some- thing of the genius of both. Frankenstein, the hero, tells his own stoiy. He is a native of Geneva, studies at Ingolstadt, and, after protracted investigation, gains the power of calling into existence a living and sentient being. He proceeds to use this power, and the being he creates becomes his terror and his plague, and, at length, his murderer. The successive steps of this narra- tive it is difficult to follow without awe, and all are invested with what excites sympathy and interest. Like her father, Mrs. Shelley excels in conceptions of the grand and terrible, but fails in managing and describing the incidents and feelings of common life. After the death of her husband, she devoted herself to lite- rature, and published several works of fiction. She died in 1851, aged fifty-four. 530. Besides these specimens of the romance may be mentioned Scott's Monastery, in which the apparition of the White Lady of Avenel plays an important part in the develop- specimenB merit of the story, and the Bride of Lammermoor (1819), in which a dreadful destiny hangs over the principal agents, and seems supernaturally to impel them to their doom ; TJie Phantom Ship of Captain Marryat, founded on the old legend of the Flying Dutchman ; some of The Ingoldsby Legends, papers contributed to Bcntley's Miscellany by the Bev* Pi. H. Barham, Canon of St. Paul's (b. 1788, d. 1845), who in- dulges in grotesque rhymes and in puns which are occasionally irreverent; The Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland (1825) ; and The Legends of the Lakes (1828), by Thomas Crofton Croker. Croker was a native of Cork, the birthplace of Maginn, Maclise, and many other men of note, and was one of the happiest writers on the legends of his native land. To the same class belong also Mrs. Crowe's Niglitside of Nature (1848), a storehouse of dreams, ghost stories, and supernatural events. Her earnest undoubting style of narrative the quality hi which, as we have seen, De Foe excels, adds greatly to the impressiveness of these tales. The objection to all tales of this class is, that they are chiefly sensational, that they foster the growth of the lowest kind of imagination, leave all that is humane and tender uninstructed ; and, for the most part, do not even profess to teach a moral CLASSIFIED. 615 lesson, nor do they act in any way for good upon the heart. To some of the best of the class, however, these remarks do not altogether apply. 531. Novels that belong to the class artistic are very numerous, and may be classified under various subdivisions and on different principles. Every fiction that has a complete plan Artistic novels an( ^ s ^ or y> an< ^ * s no ^ a romance or a mere tale of adventure, that is not history or a lesson in morals or in politics, belongs to this class. They all aim to be artis- tically skilful and faithful to human nature and facts ; they all Clas ifi d ^ n( ^ their perfection in this skilful fidelity ; but beyond this, they admit the utmost diversity. They may be largely philosophical, c psychological curiosities ' as some one calls them; they may illustrate the workings of human passions and affections; they may be chiefly hu- the C powefsor morous and pathetic, sentimental and reflective, emotions they imaginative and fanciful. This is a classification of them according to the mental qualities they display, the parts of our nature to which they appeal. Goethe's Wilkelm Meister, and, in another way, Bulwer's Student, are examples of the philosophical : the interest in these cases is chiefly {esthetic. Bulwer's Falkland is an example of the emotional. The Senti- mental Journey, is a novel characterised by humour tending to satire, and the Tristram Shandy of Sterne is a novel charac- terised by humour tending to pathos. In Mackenzie's Man of Feeling (1771) we have humour and pathos combined with sen- timent; in Miss Sinclair's Modern Accomplishments (1836) and Modern Society (1837) we have sentiment and reflection; in Bulwer Lytton's Caxtons (1849) we have these qualities combined with profound and striking thought and careful delineation of character; in Peacock's Maid Marian (1822) and Crotchet Castle (1831) we have fancy, and wit, and sarcasm; in the Pilgrims of the Eliine (1834) we have imagination and fancy, with beauty and delicacy of thought. Such is one principle of classification a principle adopted for other purposes by Wordsworth in his poems, and by Joanna Baillie in her plays. Or the whole may be divided into novels illustrative of Eng- lish life, of Scottish life, of Irish life, of American life, of Conti- 616 PROSE NOVELS. nental life : in each class the charm consisting largely in the skill with which peculiarities of human nature are de- - scri k e d, as influenced by national character and cir- Novels of English life are such as Our Village, or Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery (1828-1832), by English. Miss Mitford tlies e are genuine English stories, and are among domestic fictions what Rienzi and the Last Days of Pompeii are as classic tales : My Novel, or Varieties of English Life (1853), and What will he do with it? (1858), both by Bulwer Lytton. Scottish life is illustrated in Miss Porter's Scottish CJiiefs (1810), in Miss Ferrier's Marriage (1818) a work which Scott Scotch. praises as containing some of the happiest illustrations of Scottish character; Scott's Guy Mannering (1815) and The Antiquary (1816), both rich in characters and dialogues illustrative of the middle and lower ranks of Scottish society ; Gait's Annals of the Parish (1821), Sir Andrew Wylie and TJie Last of the Lairds; The Dominie's Legacy (1830), a collection of stories by Andrew Picken ; Professor Wilson's Trials of Margaret Lindsay (1823); Mrs. Oliphant's Passages from the Life of Margaret Maitland (1849), and Lilliesleaf (1855), a continuation of the same story. Irish life is illustrated in the Tales of the O'Hara Family (1825-1826), by John Banim ; Tales of the Munster Festivals Irish. ( l82 ?)> by Gerald Griffin ; and in The Collegians (1829), by the same author ; in Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (1830), by William Carleton; and in the writings of Miss Edgeworth, Lady Morgan, Lover, Lever, and Mrs. S. C. Hall. American life is illustrated in The Spy (1821), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), and the Red Rover . (1827) of J. Fenimore Cooper; in the Sketch Book and other writings of Washington Irving; in the Twice-told Tales (1837-1842), The Mosses from an Old Manse, and the House with the Seven Gables (1851) of Nathaniel Hawthorne; in the Minister's Wooing (1859) f Mrs. Stowe s and in the American Stories, published by Miss Mitford. In Laurie Todd, or the Settlers (1830), by Gait, we have a Scotchman's estimate of the American character a work unsurpassed since CLASSIFIED, 61T De Foe's day for reality of description, knowledge of human nature, and fertility of invention ; and in The Clockmaker, or the Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville (1835-1840), we have a Nova-Scotian*s estimate, the whole richly spiced with shrewd, sarcastic, and somewhat coarse remarks on human nature in general and on American nature in particular. Among the records of Continental life may be mentioned, High-ways and By -way & (1823), by T. L. Grattan; the Hun- qarian Tales of Mrs. Gore ; The Hunqarian Castle Continental. , N ., , r . T ,. n , , ,, T . . , , (1840) of Miss Julia Pardoe ; the Livonian Tales (1846) and Letters (1841) of Lady Eastlake; Don Sebastian t or the House of Braganza (1809), by Miss Porter ; Tlie Reign of Terror, by Mrs. Gore; the Nathalie (1851) of Miss Kavanagh, and the Vilktte (1858) of Miss Bronte". (Swedish life we have in the translated novels of Miss Bremer. Eastern life we have in the Adventures of Hajji Bdba (1824-1828) of Mr. Morier, in the Anastasius of Mr. Hope, and in the Eothen of Mr. King- lake, this last written somewhat in Sterne's discursive style. Australian life is described by Charles Eeade, in Never too Late to Mend; very briefly in the Two Tears Ago of the Rev. C. Kingsley, more fully in the Geoffrey Hamlyn of H. Kingsley. Another classification of novels deserves mention, as it is sanc- tioned by novelists themselves. They are sometimes classified as According to novels of high life, of low life, and of that middle Bocietyttay rank wnicn in English society connects the two. describe. The novels of high life began with Richardson. He was followed by Cumberland, whose Arundel (1789) belongs to this class, and by many others, whose Memoirs ' of a Lady of Quality/ etc., have long been forgotten. They abound most, however, in our own age. Among the better known are the Reginald Dalton (1823) of Lockhart, who sketches student life at Oxford, and gives many pictures of English manners ; the Tremaine (1825), the De Vere (1827), the De Clifford (1841) of Plumer Ward. In the first, we have the man of refinement with a large amount of philosophical and religious discussion ; in the second, the man Df independence with a portraiture of George Canning ; and in the last, the constant man with the history of the secretary to a cabinet minister, disclosing the rivalries and intrigues of political life. The Motlier and Daughters (1831) of Mrs. Gore ; Women as they are (1830), The Cabinet Minister t a 618 PROSE -NOVELS. Tale of the Begency of George the Fourth (1839), Cecil, or the Ad- ventures of a Coxcomb, with Sketches of Club Life (1841), all by the same skilful hand. In 1826 D'Israeli author and states- man published his first novel, Vivian Grey, with a second part in the following year. Like Coningsby and Tancred, this work abounds in references to public men, and in sarcastic views of character and society in high life. In 1828 Bulwer published Pelham, or the Adventures of a Gentleman ; in the same year appeared The Disowned, and in 1829 Devereux. To the same class belong novels by Mrs. Marsh, Lady Fullerton, etc., and last though not least, the Vanity Fair of Thackeray. The great majority, however, of English novels describe the manners and characters of common life and of the middle rank in society. Such are most of Fielding's : the Vicar of Middle-class Wakefidd (1766), the book which by its picturesque descriptions of the habits and feelings of daily life, first led Goethe to study English literature ; such, the Evelina (1778) and the Cecilia (i 782) of Miss Burney (Madame d'Arblay) ; the former a favourite of Johnson and Lord Byron, and said to be ' the best work of fiction that had then appeared since the death of Smollett ;' a destined, moreover, to effect a great revolu- tion in novel writing ; the Canterbury Tales (1797) of Harriet and Sophia Lee; the Simple Story (1791) and the Nature and Art (1797) of Mrs. Inchbald, the latter a favourite of Samuel Rogers ; the Old English Manor House (1793) and other stories of Char- lotte Smith, a favourite of Scott's, and an effective supporter of the authoress of Evelina, in bringing back novel writing to truth and nature ; the Simple Tales (1806), the New Tales (1818), the Tales of real Life and Tales of the Heart, by Mrs. Opie, an authoress over whose pages Miss Sedgwick says she often wept, and to whom Lord Jeffrey awards high praise for simplicity, good sense, and pathos ; the Artless Tales (1793-95) and other novels of Anna Maria Porter ; Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Preju- dice, Mansfield Park, and the other novels of Jane Austen. These last are the types of the novel of common life. Scott and Whately and Macaulay agree in giving her the highest praise. Scott deems ' her power of describing the involvements and feelings and cha- racters of ordinary life, to be the most wonderful he ever met Maomtey. CLASSIFIED. 610 with :' Whately notes her * strong sense, intimate knowledge of human nature, concise narrative, and aim not only blameless but highly commendable ;' b and Macaulay affirms of Mansfield Park that it is one of the best novels ever written by her sex. To the novels of low life belong several of De Foe's, the Roderick Random of Smollett, the Paul Clifford (1830) and Lowlif Iswetia (1847) of Bulwer Lytton, the Eookwood (1834), a history of Kichard Turpin, and most of the novels of Ainsworth. Of a different type, though nominally of the same class, are Oliver Twist and Barna'by Budge, by Dickens ; Mary Barton, a tale of Manchester life (1848), and .#1^(1853), by Mrs. Gaskell ; and Adam Bede (1859), by George Eliot. It will at once be seen that this classification is not felicitous, and is very liable to misapprehension. * Low life ' is an ambigu- Impikatious- ous ex P ress i on 5 an ^- does no ^ depend on the worldly ness of this degree or the physical condition of the characters ification. Delineated, but upon the quality of the emotions which the characters are intended to excite ; whether of sympathy for what is low, or of sympathy for what is high. While, there- fore, the distinction is accurate enough, when * low life ' is identi- cal with what is degrading, it is defective in actual usage ; and especially so, when the characters from low life show the quali- ties which make * the whole world kin,' irradiated by touches of humour and of feeling. Adam- Bede is a better ' gentleman than Pelham, and there are more ' low people ' in Vanity Fair than in Mary Barton. 532. Didactic or moral novels have always some special les- sons in view, lessons which the progress and the end of the story . aims to illustrate and to enforce. In this respect they Didactic differ essentially from the artistic or merely jesthetic class, which aims at the skilful or beautiful representa- tion of things and persons, as they exist in nature and in actual life. 533. They divide naturally into political and moral. Thomas P Holcroft, pedlar, Newmarket-jockey, and dramatic author (b. 1745-1809), was among the first English novelists who made their art subservient to the teaching ot Scott's Diary. <= Edinburgh Kevitw, July. 1845, <> Quarterly Review, 1821. Madame d'Arblay. 620 PROSE NOVELS. political truth. In his Anna St. Ives (1792), he depicts several characters with great force, but introduces them chiefly to make H icroft t ^ iem ve ^ c ^ es f r poetical sentiment. In Hugh Trevor (1794-1797), he traces the growth and development of the evils, which, in his judgment, spring from the existing institutions of society. During the first French revolution his name was included in the indictment against Tooke and Hardy, but no evidence was adduced against him. He died in 1803. The next writer of this class was Godwin, whose novel, Tilings as they are, or The Adventures of Caleb Williams, was published in 1 794. He held generally the perfectibility of man } and the regeneration of society by political changes ; and in Caleb Williams he shows how, by tyrannical power and partial laws, man becomes the destroyer of his fellows. The whole story is so rich in interest, however, that the reader forgets the politics and the satire, and thinks only of the characters and incident. In the appearance of reality, it approaches the fictions of De Foe, while it excites nobler sympathies and abounds in thought and feeling. Godwin died in 1836, a yeoman usher of the Exchequer an office he owed to Earl Grey. To Godwin we owe indirectly the Anti-Jacobin of Canning. Sir Walter Scott mentions that that statesman became a decided opponent of the new ' party of progress,' on receiving from God- win the intimation that the admirers of the French revolution intended to make him the head of the revolution in England. To our own day belong the writings of Miss Martineau and of the Eev. C. Kingsley. In 1832-1834, the former published her Martinean Illustrations of Political Economy and Tales of the Poor Laws. In 1845 appeared a series of tales illus- trative of the working of the game laws. In all these publica- tions she takes her stand as the advocate of popular rights, pushed sometimes to an extreme. She belongs to a family originally of French origin, who fled to England on the revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes. In consideration of her services as a writer on political economy, the government offered her a pen- sion in 1840 an offer which she declined. In Alton Locke, tailor and poet (1850), Kingsley illustrates the ffl le evils of competition and the grievances of the work- ing classes. He shows how Alton is made a Chartist and well nigh an infidel : the remedy he thinks is to be sought MORAL: RASSELAS. 621 in associations of workmen for business purposes, the workmen to be at once ' masters and men.' This principle has been exten- sively tried in various trades; but the satisfactoriness of the results cannot yet be affirmed. In the Blithedale Romance (1852), by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we have the history of the socialist experiment at Brook farm and its failure. In Yeast, a Problem (1851), Mr.Kingsley considers more particularly the condition of the ftgricultural labourers, and advocates what is substantially a system of Christian socialism. In Two Years Ago (i 85 7), he con- tinues his contrasts of life and character with reference to modern events the gold diggings in Australia, the war in the Crimea, and the institutions of the United States. Throughout all these tales there is deep pathos, strong sympathy, graphic description and vivid fancy. In Coningsby, or the New Generation (1844), and in Sybil, or the Two Nations (1845), Mr. Disraeli makes the novel the Disr II medium for discussing party politics. Contemporaries are freely introduced, and the doctrines of 'young England ' or ' the new generation ' are set forth in the author's pointed and epigrammatic style. 534. The moral novel forms a large class ; and probably most novelists would claim to be placed in the list. Without deciding against this claim in any case, it is still convenient to reserve the class for novels which have a decided and obvious moral purpose. Nor is exclusion from the class a hardship. A moral purpose is no security against unsound principles, nor does it prevent writer or reader from judging erroneously of the character and motives of men. Moreover, it will be found that novels excluded from the class, for want of an obvious moral aim, sometimes teach with double force, because they set forth truth only by example, and do not inculcate it in a didactic formal style. Admission, therefore, does not of itself confer any advantage ; nor does exclusion inflict any injury. Perhaps the first place, in time, is due to Dr. Johnson for his Rasselas, the Prince of Abyssinia (1750), a moral tale which he wrote in the nights of a single week to defray the ex- penses of his mother's funeral. Johnson himself is reported to have said that if he had seen the Candide of Voltaire he should not have written Hasselas t as the two works go over 622 PROSE NOVELS. the same ground.* They picture a world full of misery and sin. But Voltaire uses the fact to excite a sneer at religion and Provi- dence, Johnson as an argument for our faith in a coming immor- tality. The story is little else than a series of essays on the efficacy of pilgrimages, the state of the departed, the appearances of the dead, etc., and the eastern philosopher talks much as Johnson did in Bolt Court or at Will's. Young describes the tale as a ' mass of sense,' and its lessons are generally conveyed in language which is at once happy and impressive, and which rises sometimes into remarkable beauty and nobleness. The valley in which Easselas resided is sketched with great poetic feeling. One of the earliest writers of the moral novel is Dr. John Moore, the father of the hero of Corunna. In Zeluco (1786), he aims to prove that inward misery always accompanies vice ; l 'while in Edward (i 796) he gives a model of virtue. In the former he traces with great skill the progress of depravity, and the effects of uncontrolled passion. In the latter, the excellence and happiness of virtue are less impressive, perhaps from the fact that here virtue is always militant; a moral argu- ment in favour of another life. In both, the characters are well sketched, but the plots and incidents are defective. Of his novels Zeluco is the most popular, but Mr. Dunlop deems it inferior to Edward. 535. The works of Miss Edgeworth form an era in novel writing. She stimulated the genius of Walter Scott, got rid ' of the swarms of peers, foundlings, and seducers ' b which had hitherto formed the materials of prose fiction, and sought to diffuse through the whole, good sense and moral truth. With this view she wrote Popular Tales (1814), Tales of Fashionable Life (1809-1812), Patronage (1814), Harrington, intended to counteract the illiberal prejudice against the Jews, and Ormond (1817). In Rosamond (1822) and in Harry and Lucy (1825), she writes for the young with undiminished power and skill. In the second series of fashionable tales were included Vivian, to illustrate the evils of indecision, and the Absentee, one of the two best novels, as Macaulay thinks, ever written by women. In 1834 she published her last novel Helen. Here the a Lord Brougham's Stetch qf Mtaire. b J? fTrey MORE: HAMILTON 628 gradations of vice and folly and the misery that attends falsehood and artifice are drawn with great force and truth. While her aim. is thus moral, it must be added that the ' rich humour, pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact' of her Irish portraits greatly impressed Scott's mind, and led him 1o do for the character of his countrymen what she had attempted so successfully for the character of her own. She was bora at Edgeworthtown, county of Longford- on the same estate that Goldsmith claimed as his birth-place and died in 1849 full of honours. 536. One of the most successful writers of the last century was Mrs. Hannah More, the friend of Johnson, Eeynolds, and Burke. By her writings alone she ^realised about Hannah More. '*"'*, , i 30,000^. ; and after devoting much time and pro- perty to the improvement in education, religion, and material comfort of the neglected district in which she and her sisters lived, she bequeathed to charitable and religious institutions no less a sum than 10,000?. She died in 1833, in her eighty-ninth year. Her chief novel is Calebs in Search of a Wife (i8o9),jn which are many striking thoughts on domestic habits and man- ners, morality, and religion. Ten editions of this work were sold in one year. It is admirably written, with a pleasant vein of gentle irony and sarcasm ; and several of the characters are well drawn. Her Shepherd of Salisbury Plain t Parley the Porter, and others of the Cheap Repository Series, have long been popular tracts. In 1808, Mrs, Hamilton published the Cottagers of Gleriburnic, a tale of cottage life. The scene is laid in a poor hamlet of Scot- land, and the heroine is a retired English governess. ^'This work has been as influential in promoting do- mestic improvement among the rural population of the North as Dr. Johnson's Journey in encouraging the planting of trees. In both there is some exaggeration of colouring, but the pictures are substantially true, and the reproach was only to be wiped off by reformation. The same subject has been discussed and enforced by Miss Brewster and other writers. Mrs. Hamilton was born at Belfast in 1758 ; for many years after her husband's death she resided in Edinburgh. She died at Harrogate in 1816. To the same class as the preceding belong Self -Control (1811) n Scott. 624 PROSE-NOVELS. and Discipline (1814) of Mrs. Brunton. They are both of moral Mr Bru ton. ten ^ enc y an( ^ f superior merit. Self -Control is a sort of Scottish Calebs, and its characters are well conceived and delicately painted. The plot, however, is unskilfully managed. The high principle and purity of Laura, the heroine, give great interest to the history of her adventures. Mrs. Brunton was born in 1778 in Orkney, and died in 1818 at Edin- burgh, where her husband was then residing as one of the ministers of that city. 537. And now we reach our own age, when novels professedly of a moral and religious tendency abound. Among those that Modem sped- Deserve special mention are Mrs. Hall's Sketches of inens." Irish Character (1829-1831), Stories of the Irish Mrs.HaiL Peasantry (1840), and Tales of Woman's Trials (1834). In all these there is a decidedly moral tone, and her characters are hit off with great liveliness and truth. In The Whiteboy (1845), which is by many accounted her best novel, the lessons are both moral and political. In humour, Mrs. Hall is hardly equal to Lady Morgan, nor is her observation so exact as Miss Edgeworth's ; but, in general, the simple truth and purity of sentiment that distinguish her writings impart to them an attractiveness seldom surpassed. In the novels of Miss Mulock, the moral purpose is less marked than in some others, though it is discernible enough. She shows Miss Mulock. W ^ ^ reat s ^ ' k W ^ e tr ^ s an< ^ successes f life improve or injure the character, how continued in- sincerity corrupts the mind, and how every event tends to strengthen and perfect a high mind, and to break the springs of a selfish one.' Her first novel was The Ogilvies (1849): it is ' written with deep earnestness, and is pervaded by a noble philo- sophy.' This was followed by Oliver (1850), and, among others > by John Halifax y Gentleman (1856). In 1853 appeared the Heir of Reddyffe, by Miss C. M. Yonge. This book at once established her literary reputation, which she has maintained in her later writings Heart's- Ease (1854), Daisy CJiain (1856), and Dynevor Terrace (1857). Her children's books have also been exceedingly popular. The * Korth British Review, Nov., i8$8- SEWELL: SINCLAIR; STOWE. 625 tales of Miss Elizabeth Sewell, Amy Herbert, Gertrude, Laneton Parsonage, etc., are all well known, and are admired for their moral tone and their delicate pictures of character. Miss Q-. Jewsbury's novels, Zoe (1845), Constance Herbert (1855), Eight and Wrong (1859) ; Miss Grace Aguilar's Mother's Recompense, and Home Influence; Miss Sinclair's Modern Accomplishments (1836), Modern Society (1837), Modern Flirtations (1855); Mrs. Oliphant's Adam Grceme of Mossgray (1852), Harry Muir (1853), a tale inculcating temperance; Mrs. Wood's East Lynne, and Lord Oakburn's Daughters; and the anonymous authoress of The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell, afterwards Mrs. Milton (1851), the Household of Sir Thomas More, etc., all claim a place on this list, both for their literary merits and their general tendency. Nor should the name of Gr. H. Lewes be omitted. In Ranthorpe (1847), he shows the moral influence of genius on its possessor ; and in Rose, Blanche, and Violet (1848), he traces the progress of character in the gay, the gentle, and the decided, de- molishing what he deems popular fallacies, and satirising the follies of the age. In Warren's Passages from the Diary of a late Physician, we have much strong painting with more or less of a moral aim, and in Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1850), with its sale of upwards of a million copies, we have one of the most graphic and terrible Mrs. Stowe. . /? i i T TI 7 / x\ pictures or slavery ever penned. In Dred (1856) we have the same theme under another form. Mrs. Stowe is daughter of Dr. L. Beecher, a well-known American theologian ; she was born in Connecticut in 1812. 538. So far as these novels are professedly moral, they must all be tested by a Christian standard. Admitting, as we do, the Estimate of c ^ ms of the religion of the Bible, we must censure their moral the false principles it condemns, must judge of teaching. human nature and human improvement, of the proper motives of action, of good and evil, of the true consola- tions in misery, old age, and death, as it judges. Nor will our morality differ materially from that of the heathen, exco.pt, perhaps, in respect to benevolence and humanity, if it be not modified by whatever in the New Testament is intended to exer cise this modifying power. 2 2 628 PROSE NOVELS. So tested, it must be confessed that many of the class of moral novels are lamentably imperfect, They omit or exclude from their moral teaching the leavening influence of Christian truth. The good man, whose character they sketch, is not a Christian. The gospel represents ' a change of heart, called conversion, the assurance of the pardon of sin through Jesus Christ, a habit of devotion approaching so near to intercourse with the supreme object of devotion, that revelation has called it "communion with God," a process of improvement called sanctification, a confidence in the Divine Providence that all things shall work together for good, and a conscious preparation for another life, including a firm hope of eternal felicity ' a all this is essential to happiness ; but the happiness of the novelist often requires no such elements. The evils of poverty and the dread of dying are assuaged by consolations very different from those that consti- tute so much of the value of inspired truth. Human nature is not the depraved thing which the New Testament describes, nor is * the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ' of such momen- tous importance. Unchristian motives are not uncommon ; and a heroic fortitude or peaceful assurance is assigned to men in dying, neither true to facts nor just to Christianity. It is, at all events, very different in its origin and elements from what an Apostle describes ' Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' To- many of the novels of this clafcs, as already enumerated, these remarks do not apply ; but they are applicable to some of the most successful of them. It is this deficiency that led Robert Hall to speak of some of Miss Edge worth's Moral Tales as among the most mischievous, morally, of any he had ever read. She, herself, indeed, is said to have defended them by stating that she took for granted the existence of the truths on which he insisted. But this plea is not satisfactory. Either her good characters who die in peace are Christian or not. If they are not, they cease to be our models : if they are, then her description leaves out of view the very principles to which they owed their goodness. Either the character is defective or the history is untrue. The remedy for these evils it is not easy to find. They per- Foster's Essay O n the aversion of men of taste to Evangelical lleligion, tM>JS, p. j82. SCOTT 627 vade our literature not our novels only ; they meet us in daily life. All, perhaps, that can be done is, ' to urge on the reader Remed of ^ taste ^ e verv serious duty of continually recalling their deficien- to his mind, and if he is a parent or preceptor, of cogently representing to his pupils, the real character of the religion of the New Testament and the reasons which com- mand an inviolable adherence to it.' a 539. Of the historical novel, Sir Walter Scott is the founder. It is true that centuries before, the deeds of Alexander had given rise to many historical tales. It is true also that in Historical 1784, Sophia Lee had published a tale entitled, The Scott 8 ' -Recess, or A Tale of other Times, which is sometimes regarded as our earliest historical fiction. It refers to the reign of Elizabeth, and is a historical novel ; but though long popular, it was not imitated. It stands alone till the days of the great * enchanter of the North.' Of the twenty-seven novels which compose the "Waverley series, twenty are historical, and theao extend from the eleventh century to the eighteenth. To the eleventh century, the time of *^ e firsfc crusade, belongs Count JRobert of Pan's (1831). This novel, however, and ' Castle Dangerous,' were written by Scott after repeated shocks of paralysis, and are mere shadows of his former power. The Betrothed (1825), the Talisman (1825), and Ivanhoe (1821), refer to the twelfth cen- tury. The two latter represent parts of the history of Cceur de Lion, and the last is generally reckoned the most splendid of all his pure romances. Eebecca, the Jewess, in Ivanhoe, Scott himself thought his finest female character. To the thirteenth century none of his novels refer ; and to the fourteenth, only the Fair Maid of Perth (1828), and Castle Dangerous (1831) The former is conceived and finished in his best style. In the fifteenth century he makes an inroad on French history, and in Quentin Durward (1823) he has delineated the character of Louis XL and Charles the Bold in a way that has excited the enthusiastic admiration of French readers. In Anne of Geier- stein (1829) the French power is seen humbled before the arms of the Swiss. The Monastery, and its sequel, the Abbot, both published in 1820, describe the state of Scotland during the Foster. His admirable discussion of this whole question well deserves study. 9 a 9 A a A 628 PROSE NOVELS. religious wars of the sixteenth century. Both are defective in plot, and the former is disfigured by supernatural machinery; but in the Abbot, the character of Mary is beautifully drawn, and the scenery of the Tweed is sketched with all the author'a felicity. The following year (1821), the great rival of Queen Mary, Elizabeth, was pourtrayed in Kenilwortli a wovk that ranks next to Ivanlioe. The seventeenth century seems to have had special charms for Scott, as in it he has laid the plots of no less than five of his novels. James I. appears drawn to the life, in the Fortunes of Nigel (1822), where we have also an account of London life that excels for minuteness and accuracy any contemporary description. In the Legend of Montrose (1819) we have the veteran soldier and pe- dant trained in the one capacity at Marischal College, and, in the other, in the Thirty Years' War under Gustavus Adolphus the incomparable Dugald Dalgetty. Cromwell and his Ironsides, appear in Woodstock (1820). In Pevcril of the Peak (1823), the Cavalier and the Eoundhead parties of the Commonwealth are presented, the former victorious and the latter, though broken, still formidable. And in Old Mortality (1816), deemed by Lockhart and many others the author's best work, the Scottish Covenanters are exposed to the fire and sword of the soldiers of Claverhouse. In the reanimation of the stern and solemn en- thusiasm of these heroes, it is thought that Scott took more delight than in the chivalry with which he animated the brave but dissolute Cavaliers. Four novels belong to the eighteenth century Rob Roy (i 8 1 8), the Heart of Midlothian (1818), Waverley (1814), the first of the series, and Red Gauntlet (1824). Rob Roy revived all the interest in Highland scenery and manners which the Lady of the Lake had excited ; and the character of Baillie Nichol Jarvie is one of the happiest of Scott's productions. The story belongs to the first half of the century, and contrasts the civilized Lowlanders with the wild kilted Highlanders, who still levied black mail and kept up the customs of their fathers cen- turies before. In the Heart of Midlothian, the incidents of the Porteous riots of 1736 are introduced into the story. The Duke of Argyle and Caroline, queen of George IT., are associated with Daviy Deans and his (laughter Jeanie. Waverley is a tale of Lockhart. SCOTT. 629 the rising of the clans of 1745. In Ited Gauntlet, we have the contemplated rising of the English Jacobites a few years later, with blended vigorous, pathetic writing, which embodies some of Scott'b personal history and experience. This classification gives no adequate idea of the immense variety of characters to be found in Scott's novels. In this respect they Their excel- ma ^ ^ e ^ty compared with the dramas of Shake- lencesand speare, nor can it be denied that both writers are great moral teachers often without seeming to teach. Above all, it is due to Scott to acknowledge that, by his tales, he displaced much of the trash under which the shelves of old circu- lating libraries groaned, sweeping away not only the fantastic romances, but novels of questionable moral tendency which suc- ceeded these romances and which were doing much to under- mine the principles of readers of both sexes and of every age. It is a singular illustration of the accuracy of the sketches which Scott's novels contain, that Ivarihoe, which is so often read for amusement, contributed to the formation of the modern school of French historians, and to the publication of Thierry's Norman Conquest* In Scott's personal history there is something very touching and even sublime. Through unwise expenditure in some mea- sure, but chiefly through an unhappy business part- nersn ip> fie was reduced from affluence to poverty, and made liable for debts to the amount of nearly 120,000?. Listening to no overtures of composition with his creditors, he asked only for time ; and in four yeais he had paid off no less than yc,oooZ. Ultimately his strength sank under his self-imposed task but not till he had published more than enough to pay in the end every shilling he owed, and even to buy back the property he had lost. The last scenes of his life, Lockhart reading to him out of the only book a dying man cares to hear so he himself described it are very touching and suggestive. 540. Scott's successors in the historical novel are legion. Lockhart, Ancient history, mediaeval history, and modern his- Coiiins, Lytton, tory have all been illustrated in this way. Valerius [ingsiey.etc. by j^ p Lockhart, the son-in-law and bio- grapher of Scott, is a Eoman story of the time of Trajan. He sketches Vericour'a History of French Literature, chap. i. 630 PROSE NO STELS. Roman society and the history and sufferings ot the ear.y Chris- tians. Antonina, or TJie Fall of Some (1850), by Wilkie Collins, is a classic romance, descriptive of the fifth century. The story ia interesting, but the characters are defective. The Hypatia (1853) of Kingsley, gives with great beauty the history of Christianity at Alexandria in the early age of the Church. In The Last Days of Pompeii and in Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes, Bulwer Lytton has sketched with great power the destruction of that ill-fated city, and the stirring events of the later history of mediseval Rome. To the same writer we owe The Last of the Barons (1843), in which we have the history of the times of Warwick, the king maker. Tt contains also the most beautiful of his female creations, the character of Sybil. In those remark- able books, Palmyra, being Letters of L. M. Piso from Palmyra to his friend Marcus Curtius at Some (New York, 1836) ; Home and the early Christians, being Letters from L. M. Piso from Home, to Fausta, the Daughter of Gracchus at Palmyra (Boston 1838); and Jidian, or Scenes in Judea, all republished in England, we have a vivid and accurate account of Palmyra and Rome in the third century, and of Judea in the days of our Lord. All these works have had a large sale in America, and by ' their fidelity and purity of style deserve the reputation they have gained.' a Morier gives us Eastern history in Zohrdb, the Hostage (1832). Here is described the life of Aga Mohammed Shah who taught Morier * ne Russians to beat the French by making a desert Grattan, before them. Persian manners he also sketches in pTtlJ Ayesha, the Maid of Ears (1834). T. C. Grattan Thackeray. gives in t h e Heiress of Bruges, a Tale of the Year 1600, the struggles of the Flemish against Spain a struggle in which they were aided by the Dutch under Prince Maurice ; and in Mary of Burgundy (1833), we have G. P. R. James' view of the revolt of Ghent. To the same author we are indebted for the historical romance of Piichelieu (1829), Philip Augustus (1831), One in a Thousand, or the Days of Henri Quatre (1835), Attila, a Romance (1837), The Huguenot (1838), and Henry of Guise (1839). Mr. James' original works amount to one hundred and eighty-nine volumes, and 'exhibit a faculty for describing or rather creating scenes, incidents, battles, disguises North American Seview, 183} PORTER: MARTINEAU: HOPE. 631 adventures ' almost endless, 8 though it must be added that the sameness of the author's style and characters is so marked as to become displeasing and even wearisome. In Miss A. M. Porter's Don Sebastian, or tlie House of Bra- ganza (1809), we have an interesting, though melancholy, tale of Portiiguese history. In Mrs. Hall's Buccaneer (1832), we have revived the times of the Protectorate, Cromwell himself being among the characters. In Thackeray's Esmond (1852), we are introduced to Marlborough, to the Chevalier St. George, to Swift, Congreve, Addison, and Steele ; we hear the gossip and witness the scenes of the Court and times of Queen Anne, as if we had lived in them. In the Virginians we have a tale of the days of George in., of Chesterfield, Garrick, and Johnson, with Wash- ington, Wolfe, and the American war clearly seen in the back- ground. In Westward Ho I by Charles Kingsley, we go back to the exciting era of Queen Elizabeth, and sail with Ealeigh, Drake, and Hawkins, visit the Spanish main and the American continent, are present at the defeat of the Armada, and have incidents, characters, and scenery which for freshness and picturesqueness are almost Hawthorne unrivalled. In Hawthorne's Scarltt Letter ( 1 8 50), we Martineau,' have the Puritanism of New England with some Mrs. e oilphant, dark shades and beautiful descriptions. In Miss Ainsworth. Martineau's The Hour and the Man (1840) we have the history of Toussaint 1'Ouverture and of the emancipation of Hayti. In The Camp of Refuge and in The Dutch in the Med- way, the same authoress gives, for the young especially, the history of events in our own country, drawn up with great skill. In Mrs. Oliphant's Magdalen Hepburn (1854), a story of the Scotch Eeformation, Knox is introduced, and the pro- gress oi r that great religious change is carefully traced. In Bar- naby JRudge we have reproduced the history of the Gordon Riots ; and in the Guy Fawkes, Tower of London, etc., of Ainsworth we have history illustrated by descriptions of * low life.' 541. The tales of adventure, the last class of novels, date from (e) Robinson Crusoe, though there is a long blank adventure between De Foe and later popular writers of the Hope. same kind. Peter Wilkins has been already de- scribed. A very different volume is Anastatius, or Memoirs Chambers' Literature, li. 632 PROSE KOVELS f of a Modern Greek, written at the close of the Eighteenth Cen tury, by Thomas Hope. The author was one of our merchant princes and a member of the Amsterdam family, who gained celebrity first of all by the publication of a folio volume on Household Furniture (1803), and on Modern and Ancient Costumes (1809-1812). Anastatius was published as a true history. The hero is a native of Chios, and has a story as various, as romantic, and as licentious as that of Don Juan. In its pro- gress every aspect of Greek and Turkish society is sketched, while sarcasm, pathos, passion, incident, are strangely yet impressively mingled with the narrative. Fifty years ago this was a very popular book, and is still unsurpassed for Oriental wealth of description and imagination. Another book which well illustrates Eastern manners, and is rich in incident and humour, is The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, by Mr. Morier (1824-1828). The hero is an adventurer like Gil Bias and the son of a barber at Ispahan. He mingles among all classes, and fills almost all offices from the meanest to the highest, and tells his adventures in the East and in England. As a picture of Oriental manners, it had, as Scott notes, ' a severe trial to sustain its place in comparison with the romance of Anastatius, but the public found appetite for both.' The satire was so truthful that the Minister of State of Persia, where Morier was for some time Secretary of the Embassy, was instructed by the king to complain of ' that foolish business of a book * as reflecting unduly on the Persian Court. Similar adventures are described in The Kuzzilbash, a Tale of Khorassan (1828), by J. Baillie Fraser. The hero narrates his own story, and tells us of captivities and battles, ' of many accidents by flood and field/ with great vigour and naturalness. TJie Youth and Manhood of Cyril Thornton (1827) gives sketches of college life, of campaigns and other adventures of the author, Captain Hamilton. Towards the close of life Miss Jane Porter wrote Sir Edward Reward's Diary, the whole strongly marked by truth and reality. One of the most successful writers of this class is Captain F. Marryat, R.N. Not fewer than thirty volumes attest his dili- gence, and nearly every volume has had a large sale. He was GLASSCOOK : GLEIG : REID. 633 himself brought up in the navy, and saw much service under Lord Cochrane and in the American and French wars. As a naval author, he is the best painter of sea characters since Smollett, and the incidents of his tales are always striking. Peter Simple is his most . amusing book. Jacob Faithful is one of his best. Mr. Midshipman Easy, Mas- terman Ready, Frank Mildmay, Poor Jack, Percival Keene (1842) are all popular, and are characterized by numerous inci- dents, nautical humours, and racy dialogue. ' He stands second ' it was said though this was twenty years ago ' to no living writer, but Miss Edgeworth.' His strong sense, his utter superi- ority to affectation of all sorts cornmand respect, and in his quiet effectiveness of general narrative he sometimes approaches old De Foe :' his humour is natural and his knowledge of the real workings of human nature rnaturer than any of the band except perhaps Morier and Hook. Other sea tales we have in The Naval Sketch Book (1828), Tales of a Tar (1830), by Captain Glasscock, R.N., full of rich phraseology and comic humour: in Rattlin the ^efer and Outward Bound by Mr. Howard; in Tom Cringle's Log and the Cruise of the Midge by Michael Scott. In Leonard Lindsay (1843), by A. B. Reach, we have a spirited narrative of a buccaneering expedition ; and in The Green Hand, a Sea Story (1846), by George Cupples, we have the adventures of a naval lieutenant, which are full of humorous and startling incident. War adventures maybe found in The Subaltern (1825), in which we have sketches of the Peninsular war, the Chelsea Pen- Gleig sioners (1829), The Hussar (1837), The Light Dra- Maxwell, goon (1844), all by the Rev. G-. R. Gleig; in Stories of Waterloo (1829), and the Adventures of Captain Blake by Captain Maxwell, in the Adventures of an A.ide-de- Camp (1848), and the Romance of War (1846) by James Grant, who served for some time in the 62nd Regiment, and has since written some animated sketches of Scottish history. In describing feats of daring and adventures, Captain Mayne ^.^ Reid has earned great popularity. Among his best known works are the Rijle Rangers (1849), The Desert Home and the Boy Hunters (1852), The. Forest Exiles * Quarterly Review, i8jg. > Professor Masson, British Novelists, 1859. 2 E 3 634 PROSE- NOVELS. (1854), The Quadroon (1856). For descriptive power, for lessons on natural history, and on self-reliance, Captain Eeid deserves praise, but his tales are too improbable to seem real ; they want, therefore, the quality which gives to such writings their great charm. 542. Perhaps there ought to be added to these five classes a sixth : the * sensational ' novel ; a kind of composition which is to the healthy artistic or historical novel, what a fire or a Sensational murder is to common life, what injurious condiments novels: their are to our daily meals. The chief aim of this class is excitement ; an aim as destructive of true art in- the writer as it is mischievous to the taste and improvement of readers. But it is, probably, enough to mention the class to warn the student against it. 543. How inadequately this summary represents the novels of English literature as far as numbers are concerned may be e;athered from the fact that since the publication of Number of J* , _' novels pub- Waverley m 1 8 1 4, some thousands of novels have been published in these islands, that in 1825 a new novel was published every fortnight and that now a new novel is published on the average twice a week. The bearing of this fact on the ethics of novel reading will be noticed below. 544. On the reading of novels there has been much discussion. The common argument that they appeal to the imagination, and that as every reader possesses more or less of this faculty they will be read, is of course true enough ; as is the argument that parables are short novels, and have the sanction of ' the great Teacher ' himself. These reasonings are based on human nature and on the highest example, and tend to prove that we must re- cognise the existence of imagination and seek to instruct men through it. We may go further. Men need amusement. The mind can- not always be on the stretch. A character well drawn, an inci- dent well told, a novel without a moral may be worth study, as are pictures by Wilkie or Webster. Novels of this class Whately praises as more free than some others from risk of mischief. This principle will, of course, restrict the use of them within MORAL INFLUENCE. 635 narrow limits. They are read as a recreation, and are as allow- able and as useful as other recreations are. Further still. When they teach historical truth, sound morality, evangelical principles, common sense, prudence, they are to be so far commended. Even with lower aims they have their place. Let them only ' beguile weary and selfish pain,' ' excite a generous sorrow for vicissitudes not our own,' ' raise the passions into sympathy with heroic struggles,' and they may be very helpful. The imaginative element that is in them makes their teaching the more impressive, and if not mischievous, they are really useful. In fact, however, many of them teach untrue history, imperfect morality, and an unscriptural religion ; while others inspire romantic hopes and call off attention from actual duty. Even when the novelist is on the side of virtue, he is apt to trick out vice in such a garb as makes her more than a match for virtue. The precise Eichardson, for example, has put into the mouth of Lovelace, entangling sophistries against virtue which Sedley, and Villiers, and Rochester, want either depth of liberti- nism or force of mind to invent.* All such novels, Christian principle condemns as unsuitable for general or indiscriminate reading. Even when novels are on the whole of unexceptionable tendency there are considerations in relation to the use of them that deserve thought. On the one hand, the study of ideal excellence improves the taste, while the contemplation of suffering strengthens sym- pathy the spring of benevolence. On the other, Stewart objects that though the study of excellence does improve the taste, the mere contemplation of excellence, not ending in active habits, blunts sensibility ; and the sight of suffering which we are not expected to relieve really hardens. He thinks, moreover, that the elegant distresses of fiction make the mind shrink from the homely miseries of life. The * luxury of woe ' is certainly often indulged by cold hearts and seared consciences. This principle would further restrict the reading of novels to such as are fitted to create generous feeling and are likely to lead readers to act out the feelings they create. Taking a wider view, and looking at the number of novels published and at the fact that many who read them read little else, 636 CONCLUSION. gaining from them the falsest notions of life and truth, and being enfeebled in mental power by the one-sided training they supply, it may be questioned whether novels have not done more harm than good : mentally, habitual novel reading is destructive of real vigour ; and morally, it is destructive of real kindness. The luxury needs to be carefully regulated, if it is to prove a blessing and not a curse. CONCLUSION. 545. LESSONS Study: Business: Books; Poetry: Style: Criticism: Influence : Civilization : Morality : Experience : Religion. 545. And now that we have traversed the five hundred years of English literature, and more hastily the five hundred years that preceded, having examined in all the productions of ten centuries, we may with advantage note a few of the lessons which are suggested by these inquiries. (i.) It may serve to correct some mistakes to note that most of the creators of our literature were close students, and that nearly all had received a liberal education. Knowledge and in- vention, which many are apt to suppose enemies, are really allies. An original mind does not lose its originality by knowing it increases it. The intercourse of mind with mind and thought with thought, is not hostile to individuality : it is helpful to it. Logic must have premises before it can reason : imagination must have types and actual existences before it can combine them into new forms : experience must furnish the seeds, and then meditation will nourish them into life and beauty. Such is thu rule : study is all but essential to the noblest efforts of genius. This principle is true of all departments of intellectual labour. The men who have done most original work in philosophy, Bacon, Newton, Locke ; in history, Hume, Gibbon, Macaulay ; in theology, Owen, Leighton, the Puritans ; in preaching, Baxter, Howe, Henry, Bishop Hall, were all men of good educa- tion. There are a few exceptions in all departments, but it is startling and instructive to find how rare these exceptions are. For most men, careful discipline is the essential condition of all abiding power and extensive influence. LESSONS. 637 (2.) It is worth noting how many eminent literary men have been men of business and engaged in public employments. The two pin-suits have been often deemed incompatible, but Chaucer and Milton, Bumet and Locke, are examples of the combination of them. Even genius and practical talent, still more the appre- ciation of genius and aptness for business, may be combined. Nor has the possibility of combining them ever been more fully illustrated than in our own times. (3.) It is a popular impression that the multiplication of books is an evil. Let men read and study our old writers, it is said, and be content with them. That the masterpieces of former times must be studied is certain ; but the fact remains that each age is different from other ages, and demands a different repre- sentation of truth. The craving for new forms and the adapta- tion of principles to the necessities and tastes of the times are quite consistent with admiration of all excellence. Men admire the old masters in painting and in sculpture ; and show their admiration, not by slavishly reproducing their works, but by cultivating the genius that produced them and then exercising it on new forms of beauty and truth. Bacon and Shakespeare, Milton and Howe, Addison and Burke, will never be superseded, and yet the more men admire them the more eager will they be to catch their spirit and infuse it into works adapted to the age. (4.) It is instructive to mark the province of poetry and the essential condition of poetic success. In prose, anything may be said that is worth saying : poetry is allowable only when the thing to be said is worth saying better than prose can say it. .Poetry therefore requires good thought and strong feeling. It moreover admits and demands qualities of style with which prose can dispense. The thought must be condensed, the imagery vivid, the feeling deep and sustained. Verse that wants these elements will fail, and the strength spent upon it is wasted. Perhaps it is worth adding that the poetry that most naturally combines these elements is lyric, and that most of our modern popular poetry takes this form. (5.) In prose and in poetry one of the most essential qualities is style. Young writers need to be reminded that, while the first qualification for writing is to have something to say, something that is at once a thought and a feeling clearly defined and deeply impressed, the second qualification is to be able to say it 638 CONCLUSION. clearly and impressively. Without the first no man can write, and without the second no writing will live. The greatest men in our literature owe as much to their style as to their thoughts ; in some departments, and in poetry especially, they owe to gtyle even more. Truth, herself, the noblest spirit of all literature, is too often dishonoured by the mean garments in which her disciples clothe her. (6.) In most instances \re have given the characters which fame or criticism has already awarded to the great writers of our country or to their chief works. It is not desirable that the stu- dent's opinion of these writers or of their works should rest upon authority, however venerable or just. It will prove of great service if each will read some of these masterpieces for himself, beginning with those that are of universally acknowledged excellence, and educating his own taste to appreciate them. Then let him ascer- tain the great principles of our intellectual nature to which every- thing that seeks to please and instruct must be accommodated, and by-and-bye he will be able to criticise and judge for himself. The taste of the student needs cultivation as certainly as his reason or his fancy. The judgments of the masters of criticism are among the considerations that ought to form and perfect it. After it has been trained, it may become itself an authority to the student and to as many as he can convince or persuade. (7.) Literature is largely moulded by one age, as it largely moulds the next : it illustrates the tendency of the preceding generation : it becomes a power in the following. On both grounds it deserves study and claims guidance. (8.) In all progress, mental activity, and literature the ex- pression of it hold an important place. Guizot notes that true history is the record of the succession of popular combined with individual opinions, and that without such succession of opinions there is no civilization. The educator of nations is not material law, not force, not commerce, not even sleeping or neglected truth, but the truth that men examine, and discuss, and apply a literature based on eternal truth, but adapted to the questions and exigencies of the times. (9.) Though literature treats largely of human passions and sin whether histoiy, poetry, the drama, or the novel these subjects must be treated in accordance with certain moral and religious sanctions that shall render the delineation just and in. LESSONS. 639 gfoructive. An essentially immoral literature is never lasting a lesson, a consolation, and a rebuke. (10.) The literature of our nation is an experienced teacher on nearly all the questions that have sprung up in our age. ' The thing that hath been is the thing also that shall be.' Men seem to pace round the same circle of error and of truth, nor is there a single question in theology or politics or taste that may not be examined with greater intelligence if we bring to it the light arid experience of previous centuries.* What mistakes in education, in the defence of Christianity, in ethics, in practical life, would be avoided, and what time would be saved which is now spent upon needless discussion, if men but knew how great questions had been examined and settled by their fathers. (n.) Perhaps the most obvious lesson of all this history is that literature needs to be studied under the guidance of Christian truth, and to be carefully guarded by all who take an interest in the moral and spiritual welfare of men. The mightiest of all influences is the literature of a people. It touches every spring of action ; it moulds in a thousand ways a nation's character ; it colours a nation's thoughts, and sentiments, and life. Men must think: mental inactivity means stupor and degradation. To thought, literature is essential. Not even truth physical, moral, or religious, will secure progress unless men give their minds to it, seeking to express it, and illustrate, and apply it. Civilization is merely the result of opinion examined and dis- cussed ; the noblest form of religion is the intelligent submission of the heart and conscience to great spiritual truths : and mental activity is essential to both. If, therefore, it were practicable to repress thought or literature by law or by force, it is not desirable to repress it. What is left to us is to elevate its tone, to improve its character, to help men to judge of it as in the light of a Divine revelation, and as under God's eye. That all therefore who seek the religious improvement of the community, or the sound edu- cation of the young, should help them to form a just estimate of books, so that they may shun the vicious and the degrading, and cultivate the pure, and noble, and spiritual, seems the dictate of common sense. The mere announcement of ths principle vindicates and proves it. a See par.^65. 640 CONCLUSION: LESSONS. And yet all these precautions may fail. The influence of lite- rature is so subtle and incessant, and corrupt nature has such power of perverting even innocent sentiment, that only a healthy spiritual state upon the part of the reader will guard him against this mischief. There are seeds of disease all around 'taking airs,' as one has called them and their power depends mainly upon the condition of the man that moves and breathes in them. A heart hating sin, a heart conscious of the peace of forgiveness, a heart striving to be holy, a heart which regards the increase of human happiness and goodness as the great end for which God himself exercises his power, and for which he means us to exer- cise ours, a heart that realises the dangers of the struggle with evil and that looks up to God for guidance and strength, is essen- tial. With these elements, the study of English literature will not only improve taste, stimulate thought, quicken and deepen feeling, supply noblest sentiment and appropriate utterance, it will prove an unmixed good, invigorating the mind of the student, giving him greater powers, and fitting him for wider usefulness. ADDENDA. WHILE these pages have been going through the press, Mr. Grosart has shown reason for settling an old controversy, and ascribing the Ode to the Cuckoo, and several hymns hitherto regarded as Logan's, to Michael Bruce : see page 225, and compare Works of Michael Bruce ; 1865. The name of Elizabeth Barrett Browning has been inadvertently omitted. She justly claims a high place for purity of sentiment and beauty of style, as well as for intellectual power. The Poems of Elizabeth Barrett were published in 1844, in two volumes, and contain many proofs of rich thought and of fervid imagination. In 1846, she became the wire of rtobert Browning, the poet, and accompanied him to Italy. The outbreak of 1848 supplied themes for her next work, Casa Guidi Windows, in which she gives her impressions of what she witnessed from her house, the Casa Guido, in Florence. In 1856 she published Aurora Leigh, a poem or novel in blank verse giving us the history of a poet's mind. INDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS. Tlie numbers refer to paragraphs ABELARD Par. 26 Bacon, R. Par. 27 Bickerstaff, J. Par. 406 Abercrombie, Dr. 456 Bailey, P. J. 237 Bingham, W. 475 Adorn, T. 483 Baillie, Joanna 284 Birch, Dr. T. 489, 497 Adams, Dr. 367 Bain, A. 441 Blacklock, T. 208 Adams, T. 94, 382 Baker, Sir R. 313 Blackmore, Sir R. 18* Addison, J. 95, 186, 277, Bale, Bp. 242, 294, 308 Blackstone, Sir W. 416 407 Balguy 470 Blair, Dr. H. 426 Aelfric 8, 33 Ball, J. J83 Blair, R. 196 Alkin, J. 501 Ainsworth, J. 370, 540 Ballads 54, 73, 88, 104, 211 Balmer, Dr. 474 Blakey, R. 454 Blind Harry 59 Aird, T. 235 Bampton, Jno. 472 Bloomfield, Bp. 434 Akenside.M. 121,204,413 Banim, J. 531 Bloomfield, Robt. 2*5 Alcuin 26, 74 Barbour, J. 58, 99 Blount, C. 397, 461 Aldhelm n Barclay, A. 514 Boccaccio 177 Aldrich, Dr. H. 344 Barclay, R. 395 Boddenham, J. 143 Alfred 8, 33 Barbara, R. H. 530 Bodley, Sir T. 369 Alison, A. 425 Barnes 163 Bolingbroke, Lord 95, 409, A Heine, J. j8j Harrow, Dr. I. 391 466, 499 Allen, Dr. J. 507 Bates, W. 382 Bolton, R. 383 Ames, W. 382 Battle of Finnpsbnrh 7 Boniface 1 1 Amory, T. 410 Baxter, A. 439 Boothroyd, B. 473 Anacharsis, Travels of 504 Baxter, R. 398 Boston, T. 397 Ancren Riwle 35 Bayle 501 Boswell, Jas. 501 Andrewes, Dr. L. 370 Baylcy, T. H. 235 Bosworth, J. 9 Anglo-Saxon Charters 8 Bayne, P. 382 Bowdich, T. E. 504 Chronicle 8, 23, 35 Bcattie, Dr. J. 208, 452 Bower, A. 499 Laws 8 Beaumont, F. 265 Bowles, Rev. W. L. 235 Annual Register 413 Beaumont, Dr. J. 171 Boyle, C. 372 Anselm 26 Beaumont & Fletcher 264 Boyle, Hon. Robt. 328 Anson, G. 504 Beckford, W. 526 Bradwardine 26 Anstey, C. 109, 17? Becon, Dr. 294 Brady, Dr. 354 Arbuthnot 189, 405, 406, Bedo 4, 74 Brand, J. 503 52J Bellenden, John 303 Brandt, S. 66 Armstrong, J. 191, 203 Belsham, T. 474 Brewster, Sir D. 457 Arnold, Dr. T. 499,512 Belzoni, T. B. 504 British Authors j, note. Arrowsmtth, J. 382 Bennett, Dr. J. 475 II Arthur, Stories of K. 4, 17 Benson, Geo. 473 Brockhaus 505 Articles 296 Bentham, J. 419 Brodie, G. 512 Ascham, R. 7 6, 78 Bentley, R.] 372, 462 Bronte, C. 531 Ashmole, E. 352 Beowulf 7 Brooke, A. 120 Atterbury, F. 380 Aubrey, J. 352 Berkeley, Bp. 442, 462 Bernard, St. 26 Brooke, H. 208 Brooke, Lord 137 Austen, Miss J. 531 Berners, Tx>rd 79 Brown, J. 471 Aytoun, Prof. 237 Berridge, John 483 Brown, Dr. J. 47 j Bevis 17 Brown, Dr. T. 415 4? } BABBAGE, C. 457 Bible, Translators of 72, Browne, A. 151 Bacon, F. Lord j 1 2, j 20-26 295. 370 Browne, J. U. 208 2 2 T 642 INDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS. Browne, P.' Par. 470 Casaubon, M. Par. 371 Cotton, C. Par. 17 j Browne, Sir T. 91, 94, 327 Castell, E. 370 Cotton, R. 307 Browne, W. iji Cave, Edw. 413 Cotton, W. 37? .Browning, R. 237 Cavendish, Geo. j 1 1 Cousin, M. 425 Browning, Mrs. Page 640 Caxton, \V. 65 Coverdale, M. 297, 375 Bruce, Jas. Par. 504 Celano 22 Cowley, A. ioj, 142, 327 Bruce Mich. 210 Chalkhill, J. 163 Cowley, Mrs. 41? Branton, Mrs. 536 Chalmers, A. 501, 50; Cowper, W. 218 Bryant, J. 473 Chalmers, Dr. T. 421, 468, Coxe, W. 512 Brydges, Sir E. 428 486 Crabbe, G. 220 Buchanan, Gee. 303 Chamberlayne, W. 174 Cradock, S. 382 Buckingham, Duke cf ?-i Chambers, E. 505 Cralk, Prof. 95 Buckland, Dr. 457 Chambers, W. 95, 501 Cranmer, T. 294 Buckle, H. T. 420, 462 Chandler, E. 462 Crashaw, R. 103, 140 Bull, Bp. Geo. 396, 474 Chandler, S. 462 Croker, J. W. 43} Bulwer (fee Lytton). Chapman, Geo. 67, 254, Croker, T. C. 530 Bunvan.J. " 399,5^4 267 Crolv, Rev. G. 235 Burckhardt, J. L. 504 Chapone, Mrs. 413 Crosby, T. 475 Burke, Edmund 413, 424 Charlton, Dr, 327 Crowe, Mrs. . 530 Burnett, Geo. 435 Charnock, S. 254, 267, 382 Crowne, J. 272 Burnet, Bp. GiL 356, 334 Chatham, Earl of 422 Cudworth, Dr. R. 337, 343 Buraet, Dr. T. 332 Chatterton, T. 62, 216, 239 Culverwell, X. 382 Burney.F. 499, 531 Chaucer, Geo. 25, 39, 46, Cumberland, Dr. R. 337 Burns, R. 219 112 Cumberland, R. 285 Burroughes, J. 379 382 Cheke, Sir J. 63, 70, 76, 78 Cunningham, A. 235, 501 Burton, Dr. E. 475 Chester Mysteries 241 Currie, Dr. J. 219, 501 Burton, R. 327 Chevy Chase 54, 104 Cynevrulf n Butler, Bp. Jos. 448. 471 Child, Josiah 339 Butler, Sam. 109, 175, 327 Chillingworth, W. 387 DAILLE, J. 387 Butler, W. A. 488 Chubb, T, 464 Dalgamo, G. 345 Byrd 143 Churchill, C. 208 Dana, R. H. 505 Byrom, J. 208 Cibber, Colley 285 Daniel, Sam. 129, 254, 315 Byron 504 Clare, Jno. 235 Darwin, E. 106, 208, 441 Byron, Lord 224, 286, 526 Clarendon, lx>rd 327, 355 Davenant, C. 341 Clarke, Dr. A. 473, 482 Davenant, Dr. J. 377, 382 &EDMOJT / Clarke, Dr. E. D. 504 Davenant, Sir W. 133, 270 Calamv, Ed. 382 Clarke, Sam. 382 Da vie, A. 115 Calamy, Ed. 354 Clarke, Sam. 485 Davies, Sir J. 103, 136 Calderwood, D. 357 Clarke, Dr. Sam. 337, 447 Davis, J. 349 Calmet 505 Clarkson, D. 382, 384 Davison, F. 143 Camden, W. 307 Cleland, Wm. 183 Davison, Rev. J. 470 Campbell, Dr. G. 426 Campbell, J >r. J. 499 Cleveland, Jno. 163 Coleridge, Hartley 235,501 De Coetlegon, 505 Defoe 405,515 Campbell, John 504 Coleridge, S. T. 233, 286 Dekker, 267,3:7 Campbell, Lord 501 De La Haye ; ~o Campbell, T. 55, 105, 227, Colet, Dean 75 De Lolme 418 4*5 Collier, J. 276, 159 Delta (Moir) 235 Canning, Goo. 283 Collier, A. 442 Denham and Clapperton Carew, R. 67 Collier, J. P. 435 504 Carew, T. 148 Collins, A. 462 Denham, Sir J. 107.134 Carleton, Bp. 377 Collins, Wilkie 540 De Quincey, T. 430 Carleton, W. 531 Collins, William 202 Derham, W. 470 Carlisle, Earl of 190 Colman, G. 285, 413 De Trevisa 24, 71, 301 Carlyle, Thos. 433 Colman, G., jun. 285 Dick, Dr. G. 474 Carmichael, Prof. 449 Columbanua n Dickens, C. 523, 53 T, 540 Came, J. 501, 504 Conder, Jos. 237, 504 D'Jsraeli, B. 523, 53L 53? Carpenter, Dr. 441 Congreve. W. 273 D'Israell, Isaac 428 Carte, Thos. 490 Constable, fl. 163 Dixon, W. H. 320 Carter. Eliz. 413 Conybeare, Dr. J 464 Doddridge, P. 474, 485 Cartwright, T. 297 Cook. Captain 504 Dodsley 250,409,413 Cartwright, W. i6j Cooper, Ed. 488 Dodwell, E. 504 Carey, Dr. W. 485 Cooper, J. P 5? i Dodwell, H. 439 Gary, H. F. 2 {5 Corbet, Bp. 163 Donaldson, J. W. 434, 512 Caryl, J. 38,' Cornewall. J. 71 Donne, J. 103, 139, j3J INDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS. 643 Doran, D. Par. 499 Foote, Sam. Par. 281 Grafton, R. Par. ?oi Dorset, Earl of 183 Forbes, Prof. J. P. ^7 Grahame, Jas. 236 Douglas, Gavin 67 Ford, J. 266 Grainger, Dr. J. 497 Douglas, James, 456 Forster, J. 206 Grainger, Jas. 208 D'Oyley 473 Fortescue, Sir J. 61 Grammont, Count 365 Prayton.M. 17,24,101,130 Fosbrooke 503 Grant, James 541 Drew, S. 4?9 Foster, Dr. J. 384 Grant, Mrs. 235 Drumrnond, W. 132, 303 Foster, J. 487 Grattan, T. C. 540 Dryden, J. 107,179,271, Fox, C. J. 422, 497 Gray, T. 199 404 Fox, Geo. 395 Green, M. 208 Dugdale, Sir W. 352 Foxe, John 310,375 Greene, Robt. 249 Dunbar, W. 86, 239 Dunlop, J. 512,435 Francis, Sir P. (see Junius.) Fraser, J. B 541 Gregory, 0. 470 Grew, R. 330 Duns Scotus 26 Froissart, Jean 19 Griffin, b. 531 Dunstan 1 1 Fuller, A. 470, 474, 485 Grimm 9 Dyer, John 101, 197 Fuller, T. 94, 362, 382 Grimshaw, W. 483 Grose, Fr. 503 EARLE, JOHN 327 GAIMER, G. 20 Grossetesie, Bp. 29, 70, 74 Echard, L. 358 Gale, Dr. J. 475 Grote. Gf-o. 498, 512 Eclectic Review 413 Gale, Theop. 343, 383 Grotius, li. 335 Edgeworth, Miss 535, 538 Gait, J. 531 Guillamne de Lorris 19 Edinburgh Review 414 Garnett 95 Gurnal, W. 382 Edwards, B. 248 Garrick, D. 281 Guy of Warwick 17 Edwards, Jon. 402 Garth, Sir S. 183 Eliot, George 531 Gascoigne.G. 120,15^,181 HABIKGTON, W. 141 Elliott, Eben. 23; Gaskell, Mrs. 531 Hailes, Lord 497 Ellis, Geo. 55, 435 Gataker, T. 371 Hakluyt, R. 67, 347 Elsteb. E. 9 Gauden, J. 354 Haldane, J. R. 486 Elyot, Sir T. 76, 78 Gay, J. 185, 440 Hale, Sir M. 395 PiicyclopasdittS 505 Geddes, A. 473 Hales, Alex, de 26 Enfield, W. 456 Gell, Sir W. 504 Hales, J. 382,388 England's Helicon 14? Gentilis, Alben'cus 335 Haliburtou, T. C. 531 Krskine, Eb. & R. 486 Geoffrey de Vinesauf 30 Halifax, Earl of 188 Erskine, Thos. 470 Etherege, Sir G. 273 Geoffrey of Monm. 24 Gest of Kyng Horn 1 7 Hall, Edw. 80, 302 Hall, Bp. Jos. 155, 327, Eustace, J. C. 504 Gesfa Romanorum 25 514 Evelyn, J. 364 Every Man 242 Gibbon, Ed. 468, 496, 501 Gibson, Bp. 463, 464 Hall, Mrs. 537 Hall, Rev. Rob. 487 Gifford, A. 487 Hallam, A. H. 5 10 FABKK, G. S. 473, 475 Gifford, W. 208 Hallam, H. 510 Fabian, Rob. 80, 302 Gilbert, D. 318 Halley, E. 319 Fabliaux 18 Gildas 4 Halyburton, T. 397 Fairfax, Ed. 67 Gildon 461 Hamilton, Capt. 541 Falconer, W. 208 Gill, Dr. J. 473, 474 Hamilton, Mrs. 536 Faushaw, Lady 354 Gillies, Dr. J. 498 Hamilton, Will. 208 Faraday, M. 457 Farmer, H. 485 Gllpiii, Rev. W. 425 Giraldus, Camb. 74 Hamilton, Sir W. 437,455 Hammond, H. 378, 396 Farquhar, G. 273 Fawcett, Ben. 485 Feltham, 0. 327 Gisborne, T. 451 Glanvil, J. 344 Glauville, R. de 28 Hainpden, Bp. 324 Harington, Sir J. 67 Haroun 26 Fenton, E. 189 Glasscock, Capt. 541 Harmer, T. 473 Ferguson, A. 417, 498 Fergusson, R. 208 Gleig, G. R. 541 Glover, R. 208, 279 Harrington, Jas. 338 Harrington, John 1 20 Ferriar, Dr. J. 327 Godwin, F. 514 Harris, Jas. 427, 451 Ferrier, Prof. 456 Godwin, W. 512, 528, 53? Harris' Lexicon 505 Ferrier, Mies 531 Golding, 67 Harris, Wm. 497 Fielding, H. 281,518 Goldsmith, 0. 206, 285, Harry, Blind 59 Filmer, Sir R. 338 49;, 50J.5J i Hart, J. 210 Fisher, Ed. 397 Goodwin, J. 379 Harvey, G. '123 Fisher, John 294 Goodwin, T. 383 Hartley, David 441 Flavel, John 383 Gore, Mrs. 531 Havelok 17 Fletcher, J. 254 Gouge, T. 382 Haweis, Dr. 475 Fletcher, P. & G. 128,127 Gough, R. 503 Hawes, Stephen 52 Florio 67 Gower, John 47, 100, 115 Hawkesworth, John 4ij 2 T a 644 INDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS. Hawthorne, N. Par. 531, Huntingdon, Henry of Kitto. Dr. J. Par. 505 5)3, 540 Par. 24 Knight, C. 65, 494, 501 Hay ley, W. 208, 501 Hurdis, W. 235 Knight, TV. Payne 426 Hayward, Sir J. 31 1, 354 Hutcheson 59 Knolles. R. 315 Hazlitt, W. 430 Hutcheson, Dr. F. 449 Knowles, tL 235 Heber, Reg. 235 Hutchinson, Lucy 354 Knowles, J. S. 287 Hemans, Mrs. 235 Hyde 371 Kotzebue, 283 Henry of Huntingdon 24 Hymns, 104, 210 Henry, Mat 395 w Latin 22 LAIXG, Malcolm 497 Henry, Philip 383 Laird, M. 504 Henry, Dr. Robt. 494 IKCHBALD, Mrs. 283, 285, Lamb, C. 235,4*2 Henryson, Robt. 59 5* Lander, R. 504 Herbert, Geo. 158 Ingulphus 30 Landon, L. R 235 Herbert, Lord 312,459 Ireland, W. H. 214 Lamlor, W. S. 235 Hereford 44 Lanfranc 26 Herrick, R. 149 JACKSON, J. 439 Laughorne, Dr. J. 208 Herschel, Sir J. 457 Hervey, Lord 500 James, G. P. R. 540 James 1., of Scotland 53 Langlande, R. 19, 42, 115 Lardner, X. 463, 470, 473 Hervey, Rev. J. 483 James V. 88 Latham, Dr. 95 Hervey, T. K. 235 Hey, Dr.J. 474 Heylin, Peter 354-375 Jameson, Mrs. 433 Jay, W. 488 Jean de Meun 19 Latimer, Hugh 78, 294 Ijaud, Archbp. 376 Lavington, S. 488 H^ylyn. Dr. J. 474 Jebb, Bp. 473 Law, Edm. 440 Heywood, John 245 Jeffrey, Lord 429 Law, Rev. W. 477 Heywood, Thos. 254, 167 Jennings, D. 473, 485 Layamon 20, 35, 300 Hickes, G. 9 Jenyns, S. 470 Lee, Xath. 272 Higden, R. 24, 301 Jen-old. Douglas 286 Lee, S. and Harriet 530 Hildersham. A. 382 Jewell, Bp. 295 Leigh ton, Robt 389 Hill, G. 474 Jewsbury, Miss 537 Leland, Dr. 460, 461, 464 Hippesley 95 Hinds, Bp. S. 475 John of Salisbury 74 John of Fordnn 57 Leland, John , 305 Lennox, Mrs. C. 413 Hoadley, Dr. Benj. 474 Hobbes, Thos. 336, 460 Hobhouse, Sir J. C. 504 Johnson, Dr. S. 198, 278, 4i5, 5*4 Jones, Jer. 473 Leslie, Charles 380, 470 Leslie, J. 303, 457 L'Estrange, Roger 368 Hoffman 505 Jones, of Nayland 474 Lewes, G. H. 445, 537 Hogg, James 106, 235 Jones, Wm., 475, 505 Lewis, Sir G. C. 512 Holcroft, Thos. 285, 533 Jones, Sir W. 208 Lewis, Mat. 283, 527 Holinshed, R. 80, 304 Jonson, Ben 77, 146, 263, Ley den. John 235 Holland 59 327 Lightfoot, John 370 Holland, Ph. 63, 67 Home, John 280 Joseph of Exeter 22 Judith i Lillie, John 89, 248 Lillo, William 274 Home, H., Ld. Kames 426 Jnnius 423 Lilly, W. 75 Hone, William 433, 503 Justinian 28 Linacre 75 Hood, Thos. 105, 230 Llngard, Dr. J. 507 Hook, F. W. 501 KAMES, Ld. 426 Lithgow, Wm. 3 50 Hook, Theo. C. 541 Kaye, Bp. 475 Locke, Jno. 340, 346, 459 Hooke, Nath. 498 Keats, John 229 Lockhart, J. G. 501,531, Hooker, Rd. 298 Keble, Rev. J. 481 54 Hooper, Bp. 375 Hope, Thos. 531, 541 Keightley, T. 512 Kelly, Rev. T. 237 Logan, John 208 Lombard, Peter 26 Home, Dr. G. 473 Ken, Bp. 172,209,380 Love, C. J95 Home, Rev. T. H. 473 Kennett, Basil 367 Lovelace, R. 148 Horsley Dr. Sam. 484 Kennett, White 359 Lowman, M. 473 Howe, J. 386 Kennicott, Dr 473 Lowth, Robt. a3j Ho well, James 350, 514 Kidder, Bp. 470 Lowth, Wm. 484 Howitt, W. & M. King, Abp. 470 Ludlow, E. 354 Hudson, T. 371 King, Edw. 503 Lullibulero 109 Hughes, John Hulse, J. 472 King, Bp. H. 163 King, Sir P. 475 Lydgate, John 51, 64, no Lyell, Sir C. 4,7 Hume, Alex. King Leir 7 Lyndsay, Sir D. 87 Hume, D. 443, 467, 491 Kinglake 531 Lyte, Rev. H. F. 257 Hunnis, W. 84 Hunt, Leigh 235 Kingsley, Rev. C. 533, 54 Kingsley, Rev. H. 531 Lyttelton, Lord 497 Lytton, Sir E. B. 286,531, Hunter, Mrs, 235 Kippis, Dr. A. 485, 501 54 TNDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS. 645 MACARTNEY Ld. Par. 504 1 Mill, J. S. Par. 437, 445 Ossian Par. 215 Macaulay, Ld. 104, 235, 511 Miller, John 470 Otway, Thos. 272 Macauley, Catherine 413 Miller, Geo. 499 Ouseley, Sir W. 504 Mackay, C. 237 Miller, Hugh 457 Overbury, Sir T. 327 Mackenzie, Sir Geo. 327 Milner Jos. & I. 475 Owen, John 38* 385 Mackenzie, H. 413,531 Milner, T. 512 Owen, R. 469 Mackintosh, J. 456, 509 Milton, John 98, 164, 269 Owl & Nightingale 21, 37 Macklin, 281 Minerva Press novels 521 Macknight, J. 473 Minot, Lawrence 41 PAIXE, Thos. 468 Macpherson, Jas. 215, 499 M'Cosh, Dr. 470 Mitford, Wm. 498 Mitford, Miss 530 Paley, Dr. W. 444 Palgrave, F. T. 105 M'Crie, Dr. Thos. 475 Moir, D. M. 235 Palgrave 77 M'Culloch, J. II. 421 Mouboddo (J. Burnet) 427 Palgrave, Sir F. 512 Magazines 413 Montagu, Lady Mary 411 Pardoe, Mias 530 Malcolm, Sir J. 504 Montague, Mrs. E. 413 Paris, Matthew 24 Mallet, D. 279, 409 Montgomery, Jas. 236 Park, Mungo 504 Malmesbury, Wm. of 24 Malone, Edmund 428 Moore, Dr. John 534 Moore, Edw. 208, 279, 413 Parker, Abp. 295, 297 Parkhurst, J. 473 Malory, Sir T. 65, 514 Moore, Thos. 109, 226 Parnell, Thos. 25, 183 Maltby, Bp. 434 More, Hannah 536 Parr, Dr. Samuel, 434 Malthus, Rev. T. R. 421 More, Dr. H. 170, 343, 447 Parry, Sir Edw. 504 Mandeville, Sir J. 40, 299 More, Sir T. 82, 294, 309 Parsons, Rob. 398, 501 Mandeville 440 Morell, J. D. 456 Paston Letters 62 Manning, Robt. 20, 37, 70, Morgan, C. 464 1'atmore, G. 237 300 Morgan, Lady 504 Peacock 530 Mansel, H. 470 Morier, Jas. 540, 541 Pearson, Dr. J. 382, 474 Manton, T. 383 Mapes, Walter 17 Mosheim, J. L. 475 Motherwell, W. 235 Pecock, Bp. 61 Peele, G. 249 Marcet, Mrs. 421 Muller, K. 0. 512 Peun, Wm. 395 Marie de France 18 Muloch, Miss 537 Pennant, Thos. 503 Markham, Mrs. 494 Mun, T. 339 Pepys, Sarnl. 366 Marlowe, Chr. 249 Murdoch, Dr. J. 475 Percy, Dr. Thos. 2 1 2, 435 Marot.C. 118,239 Mure, Wm. 512 Peter Lombard 26 Marprelate 297 Murphy, Arthur 285 Petty, Sir W. 341 Marry at, Capt. 541 Marsh, Prof. 95 NAPIER, Col. W.F. R. 512 Phaer 67 Phillips, A. 183,188,413 Marsh, Dr. H. 473 Napier 318 Phillips, John 109, 183 Marshall, S. 382 Nash, Thos. 248 Picken, A. 5?: Marston, J. 156, 254, 267 Neal, Dan. 359, 384 Pindar, P. (see Wolcot) Martineau, H. 533, 540 Nelson, Rob. 475 Pinkertou, J. 435, 497, 504 Martyr, Peter, 67 Nennius n Pitt,Wm. 422 Marvell, A. 169 Newcome, Abp. 470, 473 Playfair, Prof. J. 457 Mason, J. 209 Newspapers 368 Pococke, Dr. E. j-\ Mason, W. 20 1, 279 Newton, I^auc 333, 447 Pole, Card. 2 oj Massey, G. ' 237 Newton, Bp. 4^0 Pollok, Robert. 2jo Massey, S. 237 Newton, Rev. J. 210, 479 Pomfret, John, 1 83 Massinger, P. 265 Nichols, John 428, 503 Poole, Mat. 370 Matthew, Paris 24 Nichols, Dr. 461 Pope, A. 63,95,108,189 Westminster 24 Norris, J. 343, 461 Porsori, Rd. 454 Maturin, C. R. 286 North, Sir Dudley 339 Porteus, Dr. B. 459 Maxwell, W. H. 541 North 67 Porter, A. M. & Jane 531, May, Thos. 354 Norton, J. 244 540, 541 Mead, M. 384 Porter, Sir R. K. 504 Mede, J. 382 OCCAM, Wm. of 26 Potter, Abp. ?6i Melvil, Sir J. 303 Occleve, Thos. 50, 116 Powell, W. S. 470 Merivale, 512 O'Keefe, John 286 Prescott, W. H. si 2 Merrick, Jas. 208 Oldmixon 358 Preston, 382 Mickle, W. J. 208 Oldys, Wm. 208 Price, Dr. Rd. 451 Middleton 2f Oliphant, Mrs. 537, 540 Price, Sir Uvedale 42? Middleton, Dr. C. 484 Opie, Mrs. 235. 5J i Prideaux, Dr. II. 367 Middleton, Thos. 267 Orm, or Ormin 21, 35 Priestley, Dr. J. 44! Migne, Abbe 505 Orme, Robt. 498 Pringle, Thos. 235 Mill, Jas. 42 i, 445. 498 Or ton, Job 485 Prior, Mat. 184 Mill, Dr. John 462 Osborne 505 Private Presrcs 435 646 INDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS. Prynne Par. 268 Ryland, Dr. J. Par. 485 Smyth, Wm. Par. 511 Psalmanazar, Geo. 499 Publication Societies 435 Rymer, Thos. 35?, 489 Somerville, Mrs. 457 Somerville, Wm. 208 Pultock, R. 5M SACKVTLLE, Thos. uq, 244 Sotheby, Wm. 208 Purchas, Sam. 548 Sackville, Chas 183 South. Dr. Robt. 392, 393 Purvey 43 Sadleir, M. T. 421 Southerne, Thos. 274 Puttenham, Geo. 181 Sale, Geo. 499 Southey, R. 234, 435, 501, 1 Sancroft, Abp. 395 512 QUABI.ES, F. 162 1 Sandys, Ueo. 161, 350 Southwell, Robt. 157 Quarterly Review 413 Satires 109 Speed, John 307 Savage, Richd. 208 Spelman, Sir H. 9, 307 Radcliffe, Mrs. A. 525 ' Savile, Sir H. 67 Spencer, John 371 Rainolds, J. 37 ! Saxon Chronicle 23 Spencer, Hon. W. 235 Raleigh, Sir Walter 141, i Schmiiz, Dr. 512 Spenser, Edm. 92, 102, 123 147, 314 j Schoolmen, English 30 Spotiswoode, John 357 Ramsay, Allan 104, 187 Sclater, W. 475 Stackhouse, T. 473 Randolph, Thos. J 6 3 , 3 8 2 Scot, Michal 56 Stanhope, Earl 512 Rapin, Paul, 489 Scott, Michael 541 Sumihurst, R. 90 Rafk 9 Scott, John 208 Stanley, Tho. 173, 342, 371 Ray, John 729 Scott, T. 480 Staunton, Sir G. 504 Reach, A. B. 54 1 Scott, Sir W. 221,501,539 Steele, Sir Rd. 406 Reade, Charles 52 Scotus, Duns 26 Stephen, 6ir J. 433.5" Rees, Dr. A. 505 Scudder, H. 382 Stephen, Robt 370 Reeves, Miss Clar 524 Selden, John 351, 353 Stephens, J. L. 504 Keid, Capt Mayno 541 Senipill, J. R. & F. 187 Sterne, Laurence 520 Reid, Dr. Thos. 452 Senior, N. W. 421 Sternhold and Hopkins 118 Reviews 41? Settle, Elk. 161, 179 Stewart, Prof. D. 425, 453 Reynard 19 Sewcll. Miss 537 Still, John 24; Reynolds, Dr. E. 383 Reynolds, or Rainolds, J. Shadwell, Thos. i3?. 271 Shaftesbury, Earl 446, 461 Siillingneet, Edw. 395, 470 Stow, John 306 295, 37> Shakespeare 93, 144. 250, Stowe, Mrs. 537 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 425 Ricardo, D. 421 255 Sheffield, John (Duke of Strong, W. 384 Strype, John 36; Richard, Romance of 17 Buckinghamshire) 183 Stuart, Dr. G 497 Richardson, Dr. 505 Shell, R. L. 286 Stukeley, Wm. 503 Richardson, Sam. 517 Ridgeley, T. 384 Shelley, P. B. 106, 228 Shelley, Mrs. 529 Suckling, Sir J. 148 Surrey, Earl of 67, 84, 1 17 Ritson, Joseph 115 435 Shenstone, W. 101, 205 Swift, J. 183, 373,403, 523 Robert de Brunue (see Sheppard, T. 382 Sydenham, Dr. 331 Manning.) Sheridan, It. B. 283, 285 Sylvester, Joshua 67, 163 Robert of Gloster 20, 37 Sherlock, Bp. 462, 463 Roberts, W. H. 208 Sherlock, Dr. W. 395, 474 TAILLEKEB 17 Robertson, Dr. \V. 495 Shirley, Jas. 163, 267 Talfourd, T. X. 282, ^87 Robinson, R. 475 Sibbes, R. 382 Tasso 177 Robinson, T. 474 Sidney, Algernon 338 Tate and Brady 209 Rochester, Earl of 173 Rochfort, Visct. 84 Sidney, Sir P. 91,122,244, 5H Tauler, J. iu Taylor, Brooke 353 Roger of Wendover 24 Rogers, Sam. 235 Simpson, P. 470 Sinclair, Miss C. 537 Taylor. Isaac 475 Taylor, H. 286 Roland, Chanson de 17 Skelton, John 90 Taylor, Jer. 390 Rolle, Richard 41 Smart, C. 208 Taylor, W. C. 512 Romaine, W. 483 Smellie, W. 505 Tempie, Sir W. 373 Roscoe, Wm. 498 Smith, Adam 420, 443 Tennyson, A. 137, 510 Roscommon, Earl of 1 74 Smith, Alex. 237 Thackeray, Wm. 531, 540 Rose, Rev. 501 Smith, Miss Charlotte 531 Theodore, Abp. " 74 Rose, S. 504 Smith, Dr. J. P. 474 Thirlwall, Bp. 498 Ross, Sir J. 504 Smith, J. and H. 109, 2*5 Thomson, Abp. 470 Rowe, N. 188, 274 Smith, John 382 Thomson, Jas. 100, 195, 279 Rush worth, John 359 Smith, Rev. S. 431 Thorpe, B. 9 Ruskin, John 425 Smith, W. 286 Thwaites, E. 9 Russell, Dr. W 498 Smith, W. 457 Tickell, Thos. 183 Rutherford, T. 440 Smith, Dr. W. 505, 512 Tighe, Mrg. 235 Rutherford, Samuel 397 Ryan, Dr. E, 470 Smollett, T 208,413,492, 519 Tillotson, John 302, JQ4 Tindal, Dr. Mat. 46} INDEX OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORS, 647 find.il, Nicholas Par. 489 Walker, Ed. Par. 354 ' Wilberforce, Wm. Farjto Todd, T. H. 507 Walker, Sam. 483 Wilkins, Dr. John 345,38* Toland, John 461 Wall, Wm. 475 William of Malmesbury 24 Tombes, John 485 Waller, Edm. 152, 382 Williams, Sir C. H. 208 Tonson, J. 183 Wallis, J. 344, 383 Williams, E. 474 Tooke, T. H. 42? Walpole,Hor. 412,500, 524 Williams, Mis3 H. M. 413 Toplady, A. 210 483 Walton, B. 37 Wilson, A. 311 Tottel 83, 143 Walton, Is. 613 Wilson, H. H. 498 Townley 281 Warburton, Bp. 450, 464, Wilson, Prof. John 235 Townley Mysteries 241 Trail, R. 397 47^,472,485 Ward, R, P. 531 Wilson, W. Rae 504 Wireker, N. 22 Travers, W. 298, 392 Ward, Samuel 382 Wither, Geo. 150 Trivet, N. 24 Wardlaw, Dr. 437, 474 Wolcot, Dr. J. 208 Troubadours, and 10 Warren, Samuel 537 Wolfe, Rev. Ch. 235 Trouveres 15, 17 Warton, Jos. 213, 413 Wollaston, W. 446 Trueman, J. 328 Warton,Thos. 213,402,435 Wood, Anthony a 353 Tucker, Ab. 440 Water land, Dan 474 Wood, Mrs. ' 537 Turkish Spy 514 note Turner, Sharon 508 Watson, Bp. 484 Watson, Jamea 187 Woodhouslee, Ld. 512 Woolston, Thos. 463 Tusser, Thos. 83, 85 Watson, Rev. lid. 474, 482 Wordsworth, W. 107, 2?i Tyndale, Wm. 72, 295 Watson, R. 498 Worthington, J. 382 Tyrrell, 354 Watts, A. A. 235 Wotton, Sir H. 160 Tyrwhitt, T. 435 Watts, Isaac 210 Wotton, W. 3^; Tytler, P. F. 512 Tytler, W. 497 Welbe 181 Webster, Dr. A. 486 Wright, Thos. ii, 30, 95 Wyat, Sir T. 67, 84 UDALL, Nich. 243 Webster, John 254, 267 Wesley, John 482 Wycherley, W. 273 WycliSe, John 43, 292 Universal History 499 Universities 29, 75 Usher, Jas. 317 West, Gilbert 196, 485 Whately, Abp. 421,426,456 Whately, W. 382 Wylson, T. 67, 89 Wynkyn de Worde 65, 299 Wyntoun, A, 38 VANBKTJGH, Sir J. 273 Vancouver 504 Whelock, A. 382 Whewell, Prof. 456, 457 XlMENES 370 Vaugfcan, H. 159 Whichcote, B. 382 Whiston, Wm. 462 YOXGE, Miss C. M. 537 v uux, Lord 84 Venn, H. 477 Villiers, Duke of Buck. 271 Vincsauf .jo Whitaker, J. 503 Whitby, D. 462. 47? White, H. K. *J5 Young, A. 504 Young, E. 192, 193, 278 Young, Dr. J. 470 Whitefield, Geo. 478 WAGE, R. 20 Whitelocke, Bulst. 354 W akefield, G. 473 Whole Duty of Man 477 ZEDLSB 595 uv WILLIAM CLOWES AND soxs, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CIIAKIKG CROSS. PUBLICATIONS OF The Bible Handbook. Or, An Introduction to the Study of Sacred Scriptures. 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