STACK ANNEX HE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. PERCY W. AMES. Ex Libris C. K.. OGDEN m EXTRACTED FROM "LECTUBES ON ENGLISH LITERATI!^' LONDON : ASHEB AND CO. IRo^al Society of literature. AN ADDRESS ON THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, INTRODUCTORY TO A SERIES OF LECTURES BY MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. PEECY W. AMES, Secretary. JANUARY llth, 1893. THE REV. THE MASTER OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, D.D., VICE-PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. LONDON: ASHER AND CO. THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITEEATUEE. IN the History of the Royal Society of Literature, recently compiled by our Vice-President, Mr. E. W. Brabrook, it will be found that, at the founda- tion of the Society, one of the first duties of the Council was to elect ten Eoyal Associates, who were to be persons of distinguished learning, authors of some creditable work of literature, and men of good moral character. They were each to be reci- pients, by the bounty of the king, of one hundred guineas per annum, and by the regulations it was provided that every Eoyal Associate should on his admission choose some branch of literature, and that it should be his duty to communicate to the Council, once a year at least, a disquisition or essay on some point relative to that branch of literature chosen by him. Many of the circumstances of these early lectures it is not possible to revive, and others it is not desirable to do so, but the present Council, animated by the same spirit and desire as our Founders, to employ all available means for the cultivation and preservation of literary taste, and the promotion of a knowledge of the best literature of our land, have instituted the present series of lectures. 6 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. The advantages to be derived from such a course are sufficiently obvious, but we may notice a few considerations which should lead us to cordially welcome, at the present time, every movement in the direction of employing pure literature as an instrument of popular education. For the last twenty years, the increasing predominance of sub- jects other than literary in our national education has been most marked. An active movement has been observable to deprive Letters of the prominent place they had hitherto occupied. Not only has this proposed revolution in the curricula of our schools and colleges been to a large extent accom- plished, to the delight of the devotees of Natural Science, but confident predictions have been uttered that the revolution will be complete, that Art and Letters will be entirely replaced by the absorb- ing pursuit of the knowledge afforded in physical science. It is much to be regretted that men, equally endowed with so many excellent qualities, having so much in common, vigorous common sense, genuine admiration for mental culture, and sincerity in their desire for rational educational systems, should, nevertheless, be so warmly opposed as are many of the special pleaders for the claims of Science and Letters respectively. It is surely better for all to admit that " the scientific method of investigation is a most valuable discipline, and that it is desir- able that every one should have some experience of it," and on the other hand, it is folly to deny that " Art and Poetry and Eloquence have the capa- bility of refreshing and delighting us, and possess THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 7 for mankind a fortifying, elevating, quickening, and suggestive power." However, for the time being the partisans of Science are popularly supposed to have the victory. Although this triumph has been over the Classics, and a great effort has been made to introduce the study of English Literature, yet the effort has admittedly been a failure, and gloomy prognostications are to be heard with reference to the future of modern literature as well as antique. These apprehensions have been felt elsewhere in Europe. The late M. Eenan asserted, that " one hundred years hence the whole of the historical and critical studies in which his life had been passed, and his reputation made, will have fallen into neglect, and that natural science will exclusively occupy man's attention." No one, familiar with the history of our literature, will for a moment accept this view. It is only by the pursuit of this study that we can rightly appreciate the history of the race. Literature is the voice of the people, and in the survival and con- tinuity of the English tongue we can realize more fully than in the pages of the chronicler, the strength and persistence of the national spirit. It has not, of course, always been at its best. It has suffered suppression from Danish and Nor- man Conquests and feudal tyranny, and has had its periods of stagnation and neglect, but it could not be finally silenced and has always revived, and with abounding life and vigour and brilliancy, has shown under ever-varying forms the same national characteristics that marked its earliest expression. It will last while the race endures, and will always remain a source of pure delight. THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. I believe that so long as man exists, from the very constitution of the human mind, there will always be moral and aesthetic cravings, which Science, however attractive, can never gratify. I think therefore that the " splendour and rapid march of the Physical Sciences " have partially eclipsed but will never extinguish the interest in the older sub- ject of literature. However, some of those whose opinions carry weight in the scholastic world have asserted that it rannot be taught, and that the experiment has failed. The signs of this failure are to be found in the modi- lications of certain examinational requirements, in which literature has been degraded to a secondary place, or altogether eliminated, or recognised only in connection with Philology. Mr. Churton Collins has pointed out the principal causes of this failure. " Literature has been regarded as mere material for the study of words. All that constitutes its intrinsic value has been ignored. Its masterpieces have been resolved into exercises in grammar, syntax, and etymology ; its history into a barren catalogue of names and works and dates. No faculty but that of memory has been called into play in studying it." That it should have failed therefore to commend itself as an instrument of education is no more than might have been expected. Men have written much in recent years on the subject of education, and it has been on the whole assumed that the success of these writers has at least equalled their industry. The method of modern Culture has been systematized and reduced to a science. It has been freed from superstition and THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 9 bigotry, and become eminently rationalistic in spirit. Then again, all studies have been appraised and valued, and " saleable knowledge " is the most sought. The aim and purpose of modern culture are distinctly utilitarian. No wonder the proper study of literature can find no place in the system. Indeed it is better out of it. Mr. John Morley, in his able address at the Mansion House a few years ago, pointed out the necessity in these days for finding some effective agency for cherishing within us the Ideal, and herein is the great value of literature to all those who seek the higher education, with a genuine desire for true culture. It supplies a want, which however much the exclu- sively scientific may ignore, will make itself felt in the human heart. It was well said by Cardinal Newman that " the object of literature in education is to open the mind, to correct it, to refine it, to enable it to comprehend and digest its know- ledge, to give it power over its own faculties, application, flexibility, method, critical exactness, sagacity, address, and expression." We need not pause to support the truism that literature is a most valuable agent in self-culture. But we can avoid the mistake of those who confound its pur- suit with education, or regard it as the sole and sufficient agent. Burke said (quoted by Morley), " What is the education of the world ? Reading a parcel of books ? No ! Restraint and discipline, examples of virtue and of justice, these are what form the education of the world." Let us avoid all extravagance, however, and remember that it con- 10 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. tains " the best that has been thought and said in the world," and therefore regard it as a priceless factor in self-cultivation. The aim of the present series of lectures is not to deal with literature as a whole, nor to attempt a com- plete scheme of literary education. It is rather the less ambitious one of assisting the English reader in his study of " that seasoned life of man, preserved and stored up in Bookes," and that, to him, most interesting part of literature, in which are found the songs of his forefathers, their thoughts and wisdom, their hopes and aspirations, their humour and pathos. If it be thought, since the whole of that literature is already open to all, that teachers and guide books and lecturers are superfluous and even obstructive in the risk of encouraging the frivolous habit of talking about books and authors, instead of reading them, a very little reflection will justify their employment. We have to remember the general disinclination to enter upon such a study and the necessity for calling into activity new aspirations and longings which herein find their gratification. The difficulty of this task with those who do not read at all is greatly increased in the case of others who have formed the unwholesome habit of reading merely for reading's sake, or acquired an insatiable appetite for the curious and new. And when this difficulty is overcome a further one is presented in the abundance of materials, a difficulty which daily increases. While some studious men are earnest advocates of systematic reading, others, like the late Lord Sherbrooke, seem to think that the best results follow when it is miscellaneous and desul- THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 11 tory, and certainly Defoe, Swift and Johnson, among others that could be named, indulged in that practice. I suppose we all admit, in a general way, that syste- matic reading, which we have heard advocated all our lives, is the right method, yet if we attempt to keep pace with the literature of the day our reading inevitably becomes desultory. But to read every- thing that comes in one's way is surely fatal to mental improvement. To eat overmuch is an offence against the body and interferes with physical health : it is a graver abuse of the mind to overload it with materials it cannot assimilate, cramping its energies, enfeebling its powers, and leaving it dwarfed and distorted. It is of the highest importance then that judgment should be exercised in dealing with the " pathless immensity " presented in literature. To know what to select and what to reject is the first great need. Then the faculty of memory, least intelligent in itself, but most essential to true intelligence, must be con- sidered. Only such reading that leaves its mark, whose influence is retained, is adapted to permanently affect the mind. If good, it will nourish and develop : if evil, it will poison and corrupt. Therefore the masterpieces should be read again and again. Finally, time and opportunity should be taken for the exercise of reflection, that the new thoughts, the generous motives, the grand conceptions, the heroic resolves, the reverence for the true and beautiful, that which reflects the " delight and aroma of life," may all take up their abode with us and become part of our character and being. The aim of our course then, and the duty of the lecturer, are to stimulate the desire to know the brightest minds in Literature, and 12 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. to assist the cultivation of the difficult habit of reading with judgment, memory, and reflection. Although it is proposed to confine our course to English literature, the opportunity will doubtless be seized again and again of urging the necessity of extending private reading far beyond these limits. The intelligent and earnest student will not ex- clude any of the masterpieces in other European or in ancient literature. The principles of true art and the highest types can only be discovered by employing the comparative method. And the numer- ous admirable translations now existing, bring the best within the reach of all; and great as these are, our own literature does not lose in interest and splendour, or become less precious an inheritance to us after the comparison. The student of Shakespeare is indeed better able to appreciate his superlative excellences, and at the same time to comprehend more fully the perfection of dramatic art and the laws of the human mind, by reading in this connec- tion ^Eschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, among the ancients, Tasso, Goethe and Moliere, to take the names that first come to one's mind, among the moderns. And for similar purposes Dante. is read with Milton, Cervantes with Fielding, Emerson with Bacon and Carlyle. But so far as concerns the present series of lectures the selection of subjects will be confined to our own literature. There is one other limitation, which will probably be maintained, which will exclude the works of living authors, and this for the following reasc ns. There is greater need for lectures on the literature of the past than on that of the present. No one will hazard the THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 13 opinion that contemporary literature does not receive sufficient attention. The real danger is that the past should be neglected and forgotten. Again, truer and more impartial judgment maybe expected on authors and their works belonging to periods which lie beyond the influence of the interests and passions of our own time. In these days when differences of opinion are so prevalent, it is difficult for even the calmest and most judicious mind to judge disinteres- tedly of the opinions and doings of contemporaries, and so the study of the literature of the past is a discipline in candour, tolerance, and impartiality of judgment. Principal Caird, Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Uni- versity, in speaking of the study of History, says what is equally applicable to literature : " Time takes little account of conventional greatness ; it consigns to oblivion whole hosts of those who possessed only arbitrary claims to honour, and con- fers immortality on many who, in their own day, were obscure or little noted." Moreover, self-advertise- ment is so characteristic of the present day, success seems so dependent upon getting talked about and keeping constantly in the public eye, that it is difficult to distinguish among contemporary litera- ture what is transient from what is lasting. Again, fiction practically constitutes the literature of to-day, and novelists and dramatists are now referred to different camps, and it is said that the nineteenth century is about to close in a battle all along the line between the Eomancists and the Eealists. o I do not propose to express an opinion and only refer to the matter to illustrate some of the obstacles 14 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. to the formation of final literary judgments upon living writers. The very definite antagonism existing is shown by their own writings. Eobert Louis Stevenson, the first, probably, of English Eomancists, while writing on this subject, introduces the following cutting passage : " Hence," he says, " when we read the English Eealists, the incredulous wonder with which we observe the hero's constancy under the submerging tide of dulness, and how he bears up with his jibbing sweetheart and endures the chatter of idiot girls, and stands by his whole unfeatured wilderness instead of seeking relief in drink or foreign travel. Hence, in the French, in that meat market of middle-aged sensuality, the disgusted surprise with which we see the hero drift sidelong, and practically quite untempted, into every description of misconduct and dishonour. In each we miss the personal poetry, the enchanted atmos- phere, that rainbow work of fancy that clothes what is naked and seems to ennoble what is base ; in each, life falls dead like dough, instead of soaring away like a balloon into the colours of the sunset ; each is inconceivable, for no man lives in the ex- ternal truth, among salts and acids, but in the warm phantasmagoric chamber of his brain with the painted windows and the storied walls." When M. Zola and his friends see the phrase, " that meat market of middle-aged sensuality," we may be sure there is no immediate prospect of a cessation of hostilities. On the other hand it is believed by certain critics that if the Eealists would but " degrade that everlasting problem which they have quite unnecessarily included in their inipedi- THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 15 menta, as to how much or how little should be said in print about the relations between the sexes, to a second place, and photograph life simply as it appears to them with its imperfections, its miseries, and its ennui" they would have the unequivocal support of all those who seriously wish to ameliorate the social and material conditions of life. The ideal realist therefore would appear to have a mis- sion in our rapidly democratised society. But however that may be, it is, I think, clear that no judgment commanding general acceptance, upon present day literature, can be looked for in our own time. Lastly, I am disposed to think v that the books best worth reading belong to the literature of past ages. Eelating to all the most general experiences of the human spirit, the virtues, the vices, the elemental passions, the hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, love and sympathy, the best thoughts have already been crystallised in the choicest language. We are accustomed in other branches of art to look to the past for the most perfect models of ex- ternal grace, and a similar expectant search in literature is correspondingly rewarded. If we con- sider the one question of form we discover among the immortal books of writers dead long ago the finest perception of the various capacities of our language and the utmost skill in its idiomatic em- ployment ; opulence of diction combined with the most exquisite arrangement of words making the prose often musical like the melody of measured verse. And if we take the history of ideals we shall find that the summit of modern mind has not anything 16 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. to surpass the highest revelations of mind in the past, which still constitute the durable propositions of the creeds of higher and more civilized humanity. As revelations of existence and expressions of higher manhood they are almost unapproachable. I am, of course, now referring to the past in its widest sense, and including Teutonic literature, but no proposition is likely to find general acceptance which exalts the past above the present ; and indeed it entirely depends upon our point of view and standard of comparison. When we think of the practical and utilitarian achievements of the modern nations of Europe, of the extraordinary developments in all the physical sciences and manufactures, the result of endless discovery and invention, all of which tend to ameliorate and add pleasure to the conditions of life, and to humanise it accordingly, and still more when we contemplate the more equable administration of justice, the larger arena for intellect and character, the wider distribution of wealth, the noble extension of liberty and equality, all directly the outcome of the quickened sense of public justice in all civilized nations, we have good reason to be satisfied with modern progress, for in all these respects the present is an advance upon the past. Nevertheless, if we confine our examination to our present subject of enquiry and make purely idealistic comparisons, we shall find examples of the ancient development of idea, which are both higher in tone and more exquisitely sensitive and delicate in outline and finish, though less cosmopolitan in practical ten- dencies. If any one object that the operation of the THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 17 law of evolution necessarily involves the in- feriority of the earlier to the later manifestations of mind in historic times, let him but recall the sublime efforts of the ancient Greeks in architec- ture, in sculpture, in poetry, and in philosophy. Such an objector has much yet to learn of the application of the doctrine of evolution to the phenomena of mind. These truths, for example, that man as at present constituted is typically a being with limits of potentiality, and that the progress of his mental development within these limits is not in direct and unbroken correspondence with the course of time. The progress of the human mind is more comparable to the advancing and receding waves of the incoming tide. The height attained by any single wave depends upon proximate causes and local circumstances not necessarily affecting the rest, but the advance of the entire tide results from a profounder cause whose influence all feel and obey. And so advancing knowledge and idea become diffused among the people and irre- sistibly raise the general standard of intelligence and develop what we may term the progress of the species. But this progress is not, to change the simile, like an unbroken rising ground, unvaried in its ascent. It is delightfully featured and relieved by those "flowers of the race, the true sons of genius," upon whose memory we love to dwell when contemplating the progress of humanity ; but these great men, the chosen masters of the intellectual world, o'ertop the moderns as much as the ancients. I do not wish to be understood as saying that the mind of man, having already reached so high a B IS THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. point, cannot be expected to do so again, nor do I wish to assert that some of the living writers, who delight us so much, may not in the judgment of posterity be placed in that select company ; but no unanimity of opinion can be looked for in their own day, and I think it is wiser to avoid any approach to invidious comparisons. Now after eliminating from our course foreign and contemporary literature, we next pass to the consideration as to the best way in which the study can be promoted in that vast library furnished by our own forefathers, and this leads us to examine the mutual relations of lecturer and student, and what may be expected of each. Let us deal with the latter first, and the problem has at once to be faced, as to what to read? It is a favourite but not altogether a satisfactory answer to this question to give a list of one hundred books. However interesting these lists may be as a topic of dis- cussion, and useful as types of rational reading, it is too mechanical a device to be regarded as a plan of education for all. The problem is not capable of so simple a solution. While none but a pedant believes that reading can suffice for a man's education, it should, nevertheless, follow the same lines and leave no part of our nature and character untouched. Mr. Frederic Harrison, the assistance of whose suggestive work on the Choice of Books I desire to acknowledge and to recommend at the same time, eloquently pleads for the habit of "reading wit) i a purpose," and for " reading the best." There can be no doubt that many whose reading is but a " refined THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 19 idleness," would associate with the idea of reading with a purpose an uncomfortable impression of tediousness and effort, and they turn away from the greatest and best. They have never, come under the gracious influence of the poets and the true realism, whose mission is to find out " where joy resides and to give it a voice far beyond sing- ing." They have not experienced, as Matthew Arnold expresses it, " the security one enjoys with truly classic work, the fulness of pleasure, the cordial satisfaction." It is as curious as regrettable that there should be any disinclination to partake of so rich a feast, but it is probable that it indicates an undeveloped quite as much as a vitiated taste. Then we have to consider the busy classes, whose members of necessity read for purposes of recreation and not of study, and who naturally prefer the authors who possess the gift of sending the anxious, weary and worried man of affairs off to sleep in a tolerably hopeful and comfortable frame of mind. The philosophy of such soothing writers styled Lullabists by the ingenious author of Present day Literary Portents, is that honest labour, honest love, goodness, virtue, genuine merit of all kinds not only deserve success, but in nine cases out of ten com- mand it. " For the refined and delicate of fibre," says this writer, " Scott and Tennyson are the favourite lullabists, for others, the escape from the troubles of life is a good laugh. Hence the growth of professedly comic papers, the shoals of parodists and punsters, burlesquists and society clowns, the hurly-burly of humorists, old and new, who en- B 2 20 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. deavour, not always with perfect success, to keep British sides shaking from Land's End to Cape Wrath by making faces at seriousness." No sensible man thinks that all reading should be serious ; light reading is one of the most delightful restoratives, and in our climate and latitude, in which so much time has to be spent indoors, one of the most convenient also. It is only necessary to urge that the scope of such reading should be extended, that for this innocent purpose we need not exclusively employ what is inferior or trivial. Equally efficient, indeed far more so, will be found those gems of literary art which play upon the imagination, gently stir the feeling and touch the heart. We need to break free from " that monstrous custom " which would absorb our brief leisure in impelling us to devour early copies and new print, and to cultivate and refine our taste so to value the pearls of great price, those " thoughts in blossom," the poetic writings of our literature. Poetry, which realises Shelley's description as " the record of the best and happiest moments of the best and happiest minds," is surely fitted to relieve the tired brain with its refreshing fragrance. And those who have or acquire appreciation of the spontaneous irrepressible music of lyrical poetry have an inexhaustible resource in Milton, Shake- speare, Shelley, Herrick, Coleridge, Keats, Tennyson, and other masters of the " language of the gods." If any ask, how may these be inexhaustible ? he cannot surely have felt the touch of their inspira- tion. Eemember Coleridge's critical aphorism on the test of true poetry, " that not the poem which THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 21 we have read, but that to which we return \\ith the greatest pleasure, possesses the genuine power and claims the name of essential poetry " ; and what Keats has said on the all-pervading influence of Beauty : " A thing of beauty is a joy for ever ; Its loveliness increases ; it will never Pass into nothingness, but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing ; Therefore on every morrow are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth, Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways Made for our searching ! Yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon, Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep ; and such are daffodils, With the green world they live in ; and clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make 'Gainst the hot season ; the mid-forest brake, Ilich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms ; And such too is the grandeur of the dooms We have imagined for the mighty dead ; All lovely tales that we have heard or read ; An endless fountain of immortal drink, Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink." But those who are gifted with greater leisure and the serious purpose of self-culture, will find satisfaction only in the more systematic and com- prehensive study of our literature, historically and critically, and will trace the growth and development to the fulness of perfection in all its departments. 22 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. In dramatic poetry such a student will not only familiarise himself with the masterpieces of Shake- speare, but will read Norton and Sackville's GOT- boduc, the earliest in the series of tragedies, and in which the first application of blank verse to dra- matic composition is found, a species of versification which experience has shown to be best adapted to them, and the other predecessors of Shakespeare, Edwards, Lillie, Peele, Greene, Nash, and Christopher Marlowe. These all show, in different degree, a cer- tain richness of idea and command of language. Henry Mackenzie in Essays on the Old Drama, says, " 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." Campbell regards the Absalom of Peele as the " earliest fountain of pathos and harmony that can be traced in our dramatic poetry." Hallam speaks of Greene's " easy and spirited versification, remind- ing us of Shakespeare," and all know " Marlowe's mighty line." The student will not neglect, like so many do, " Rare Ben Jonson," supreme among " literary giants of energy and invention." Mr. Swinburne has pointed out the defect in Jonson's genius, which I think suffi- ciently explains why he is not so great a favourite with the general reader. He says, " the flowers of his growing have every quality but one, which belongs to the rarest and finest among flowers ; they have colour, form, variety, fertility, vigour ; the one thing they want is fragrance." And again, " the singing power which answers in verse to the odour of a blossom, to the colouring of a picture, to the flavour THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 23 of a fruit, that quality without which they may be good, commendable, admirable, but cannot be delightful, was not a natural gift of this great writer." Then the imagery, wit and humour of Beaumont and Fletcher, the grace and dignity of Massinger, will further enrich the study and reward the student. Again the critical examination of prose literature is an excellent discipline. Dr. Angus has pointed out a delusion which seems to be prevalent, that the creative faculty is not to be expected in prose litera- ture. While the poet is called the Maker, and endowed in the popular imagination with the divine gift of the creation of ideas, the important truth is lost sight of, that the greatest prose writers employ, no less than the poets, imaginativeness, skill in per- ceiving and describing analogies, and in their writ- ings are to be found the " exquisite beauty of words set in perfect shape, as the beautiful dress of noble thought." The historical study of prose makes us familiar with Sir John Mandeville, the first writer of new English prose, with Eeginald Pecock, the first theo- logian who wrote in English, and with Sir Thomas More, one of the noblest and best of men and purest of writers who wrote the first history in English. The study of style in prose is full of object lessons of the false and the true. We see examples of " low- creeping matter clothed with high-flown language " ; of writers so false in style that we are reminded of Talleyrand's cynical observation that " language was given to man to conceal his thoughts." Others who think chiefly of style, far less of idea, who subordinate 24 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. truth to antithesis and sacrifice character and repu- tation to a telling phrase or epigram ; still others whose pompous and ponderous rhythm justify the application to them of Macaulay's remarks on Dr. Johnson, " as soon as he took his pen in his hand to write for the public, his style became systematically vicious. All his books are written in a learned language which nobody hears from his mother or his nurse, in a language in which nobody ever quarrels, or drives bargains, or makes love, in a language in which nobody ever thinks." In delightful contrast with all this is the writing of those whose characteristic is perfect sincerity, who illustrate the maxim that the " basis of all excellence is truth," whose sentences are clear as " mountain water flowing over a rock," simple, manly, and straightforward. For directness and simplicity, and power of always making himself understood, no writer can surpass Swift. In the familiar and colloquial style with a wealth of language and ex- treme realism, probably Defoe is the most remark- able. And in saying precisely what he meant to say no writer has succeeded better than Bunyan. While for perfect ease combined with refined elegance, few surpass Sidney and Addison. The latter's style, Lord Lytton says, " 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 high-bred ; it is the most perfect form of English." Dr. Morell's observations on the construc- tion of sentences are, I think, worth quoting : " The tendency of prose has been al ways towards shorter and more compact sentences. In the fourteenth cen- THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITEKATURE. 25 tury, for example, Sir John Mandeville hardly knows when to end his sentences, some of which overflow the page, and his notion of organising a sentence is extremely weak and vague. On the other hand, the sentences of Macaulay, in the nineteenth century, are short, compact, and highly organized. Defoe's sen- tences are long and clumsy ; Charles Lamb's are infi- nitely sweet and pleasant to hear ; and perhaps Thac- keray's are the most genuinely attractive and easy to read." And then our late Fellow compares the four- teenth century prose to the heavy springless broad- wheeled wagon, and that of the nineteenth to the light hung and graceful carriage. Nevertheless the grandest prose style of all belongs to the seventeenth century in the pages of Milton, and it requires Macaulay's pen to do it justice. " The prose works of Milton deserve," he says, " the attention of every man who wishes to become acquainted with the full power of the Eng- lish language. They abound with passages, com- pared with which the finest descriptions of Burke sink into significance. They are a perfect field of cloth of gold ; not even in the Paradise Lost has the great poet ever risen higher than in those parts of his controversial works, in which his feelings, excited by conflict, find a vent in bursts of devo- tional and lyric rapture. It is, to borrow his own majestic language, a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies." Closely allied to this subject of enquiry is the study of language itself in literature. Only by this means can we obtain an adequate conception of the true value of expression, which alone gives immor- tality to thought. We observe the circumstances 26 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. and the laws of its steady and continuous growth, as well as of those comparatively sudden augmentations due to special causes, as the national awakening in the time of Edward the Third, the great revival of letters, the invention of printing, the Information, &c., or to individual writers who greatly enriched our vocabulary, like Chaucer, Mandeville, Langlande, Caxton, Bacon, and Shakespeare, and to the influence of translations, all contributing affluence, vigour, clearness and polish to the medium in which the people, similarly growing in knowledge, sensibility, and power, found utterance for their feeling and their thought. Finally, we must remember that English literature, rightly understood, includes also scientific works that are more than mere text books. Many of these, indeed, excite emotions of wonder and delight, and show a distinct connection with what is beautiful and morally excellent ; others disclose grand conceptions and noble interpretations of Nature's methods and phenomena, and no earnest student will regret a determination to explore a body of literature which includes the masterpieces of the great and admirable Darwin. Turning again to the general reader, who requires the time or opportunity, or perhaps the inclination for systematic study, and is yet urged to read the best, how may he know the best ? The most reliable criteria of what is most whole- some and excellent are found iu those subjective experiences, those subtle, varied and indefinable influences, by which we gauge the worth, moral and intellectual, of the men we associate with, as well us THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 27 of the books we read. Those writings surely are the best companions which show us the hidden beauty of things, which reveal the deeper meaning of life, which give us a healthier and a happier interest in our fellow men, our work, and our surroundings. Those who prefer the assistance which the well- expressed opinion of a competent critic gives, will find the characters of a " classic," well estimated in the definition of Saint-Beuve : "An author who has enriched the human mind, who has really added to its treasure, who has got it to take a step farther ; who has discovered some unequivocal moral truth, or penetrated to some eternal passion, in that heart of man where it seemed as though all were known and explored ; who has produced his thought, or his observation, or his invention, under some form, no matter what, so it be great, large, acute, and reasonable, sane and beautiful in itself; who has spoken to all in a style of his own. yet a style that finds itself the style of everybody, in a style that is at once new and antique, and is the contemporary of all the ages." We pass now to the consideration of the particular ways in which the lecturer on literature may afford the most useful help. Obviously the competent lecturer has knowledge, sympathy, and power of expression. Knowledge not only of the external facts, the phenomena of literary history, but of the laws to which they may be referred, and not only sympathy with beautiful sentiment, but that trained and cultured sensibility, which gives the finest feel- ing for appropriate expression and perfect harmony. And in respect of power of expression he should, as 28 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Matthew Arnold puts it, " have the merit of so touch- ing men and works of which the general reader knows, and can be expected to know very little, as to make them cease to be mere names, as to give a real sense of their power and charm." The lecturer will show how the slowness of Ger- man thought and the quickness of Celtic thought have combined to make the national character which is reflected in our literature. The exponent of a period will not only give a clear exposition of its distinguishing characters and general environment, but will illustrate the continuity of our literary history by tracing the antecedent conditions of which it is the outcome, as well as its own effects and influences. The interpreter of poetry must be familiar with the brightest minds, with Chaucer and Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, and Tennyson. He must know the fascination of " pure and flawless workmanship," of clear-cut crystalline speech. He must be in sympathy with genius in its most unre- strained and wildest moods, and show as the Rev. James Byrne has done in the case of Eobert Burns, how the very spirits of love, of lust, of friendship, of independence, of drunkenness, of religious adoration, of universal sympathy, are all invoked in turns by the mighty magician in all their life and power, bringing with them "airs from Heaven or blasts from Hell." Again he will guide the student to the appre- ciation of Wordsworth, that fount of inspiration, whereby he may obtain glorious visions of beauty in the face of Nature, and hear the sweet music of her voice, whispering all of best and purest and THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 29 tenderest that has ever passed within him. He will show how Tennyson and Spenser are alike in truthfulness of detail, love of allegory, beauty of sentiment and expression and exquisite choice of words. In the plays of Shakespeare, as John Beattie Crozier has brilliantly suggested, he will conduct the student through the dazzling lustre of the writing, the rich and resplendent imagery, and teach him to appreciate, " beneath that magnificence of expression and wealth of metaphor, more striking signs of the poet's genius in his immense and subtle knowledge of the laws of the human heart down to its finest and most evanescent experiences, which enabled Shakespeare to follow, with the fatal sure- ness of a hound following the trail, the winding, ever-fluctuating and evanishing line of thought and passion." Again he will show the student that he enters upon a new world when he begins the study of literature, a higher world of thought and idea, wherein we are enabled to realize the identity of nature and essential likeness of men. Great indeed are the inequalities in degree, in power and insight, and those who excel in these respects are here held in their true estimation and are justly regarded as the real glory of the nation, but all the superficial differences of the material world, which foster the delusion that men are of different natures, fade away before the grand moral and spiritual identity which is so clearly seen in the World of Idea. In the republic of letters, kings cast aside the royal mantle and the large- hearted Alfred labours side by side with the monk 30 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. of St. David's. How completely people are blinded to real merit in their own time and how dispropor- tionate are their estimates of their contemporaries are seen in the history of every age. In the World of Letters things are seen in their due proportion, and real merit ultimately determines success. Another curiously interesting point noticeable is the frequency with which we meet with instances of genius that could only blossom apparently away from the ordinary discipline of scholastic training, which seemed either not adapted to its development or not required for it. The examples are numerous of poets, scholars, men like Gibbon, Swift, Dryden, Walter Scott, Byron, Wordsworth, Thomas Carlyle, who have no academic distinction recorded in their biographies. Although these are exceptional cases yet they also convey a lesson and teach us to distin- guish, more accurately, innate genius from learning, the man himself from his acquirements. I desire now to say a word about the present series of lectures. The gentlemen who will address you on subsequent occasions have selected interesting sub- jects, which are, however, independent of each other. The time at disposal after the resolution was taken was not sufficient to organise a systematic course arranged according to a definite plan of connected subjects, successive epochs or schools of writers. It is wholly miscellaneous in character, but it need not be less interesting or instructive on that account. A brief reference to some of the promised lectures will perhaps here be admissible. Mr. K. B. Holt will discourse upon " Miracle Plays," that curious and striking employment of the dramatic instinct in man THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 31 to bring the legends of the saints home to the hearts of the illiterate. It is a subject fruitful in ideas and full of interest, as lying not only at the foundation of our general literature, but affording materials for the enquiry as to how far they may be regarded as con- stituting the origin of dramatic representation. Then Mr. E. W. Brabrook has promised a lecture on the Lite- rary treatment of History. A noble subject, scarce any more inspiring. A few weeks ago a master mind in science was taken from us,* one who, like the Hebrew prophet, gazed upon the dry bones until, to his trained imagination, they became clothed with flesh, and the long extinct creatures stood pictured before us as in life. So in late years the scattered records of dead and forgotten ages have so ingeniously been pieced together that the Past, like some fossil mammal, stands reconstructed before us. Not only " the great panorama of events, moving in vast per- spective and outline along the ages," but the very life of the people has been vividly portrayed. Our excellent Vice-President is well qualified to deal with so grand a topic. Dr. Douglas Lithgow will lecture on the Influence of the Lake Poets upon Literature, when we may hope to enjoy the refreshing grace and charm of poetry, and seek to behold with him the " bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies." Dr. Knighton, who re- cently in an admirable discourse on Greek and Latin Wit, added one more to the series of papers which stand over his name in our Transactions, will lecture on Gog and Magog. However interesting these lec- tures may be, their real object will only be attained * Sir Richard Owen, Hon. F.R.S.L. 32 THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. if those who attend them are induced to make a personal acquaintance with the subjects treated. But enough perhaps has been said upon the dis- ciplinary and educative character of the study of literature. It contains other sources of interest ; it brings to our knowledge many whom it is a delight to know. While some excite our reverent admira- tion, and some afford endless entertainment, there are others who call forth deeper feelings, by the love- ableness of their character. The noble-minded, in whom pride and vanity, resentment and self-love have no place, who in pure simplicity and singleness of heart give their great knowledge and power unre- servedly to the world, solely that all may share their own happiness ; men whose lives seem realised ideals of what is most excellent in moral beauty. As Kingsley said, " the doctrines which they held are a matter not for us, but for God and their own souls. The deeds which they did are matter for us and for all England." And what a grand company they make, singled out from all the ages, from Baeda at Jarrow O D 7 1,200 years ago, to Charles Darwin at Downe village, in our own time, all now gracing " England's Pantheon of beneficent and healthy manhood." Harrison and Suns, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St. Jforftjt'* Lane.